Moscowfish

The best band to emerge from the growing musical scene in Koh Phangan is Moscowfish. The core of the band consists of 2 Canadians that hail from Vancouver - Ted Hall and Ea Birkett. They've set up a recording studio in a converted fisherman's wooden house on the island. They enthuse alot about the creaky wooden house, but they clearly love the place.

Moscow fish are a live band that mixes electronica with acoustic and electric guitars as well as other instruments. It is hard to pigeon hole Moscowfish they sometimes sound like the triphop of Portishead other times like a folk punk band. On their facebook page Moscowfish describes their music as: Other / chill-out, contemporary creative, folk/punk/blues, / electronica acoustic.

Whatever the genre it is a sound that works, and that is original. Below you can see a Youtube video that they made on Koh Phangan that features images from the island:

You can catch Moscowfish at several venues around the island. They play every Half Moon Party in Ban Tai. The Half Moon Party is a Jungle Party that is held 1 week before and 1 week after the Full Moon Party. To find the schedule for the Half Moon Party click here.

Moscowfish also sometimes play at A's Coffeeshop. To find their latest gig date go to their website: moscowfish.com.

The band also has a soundcloud page with lots of great songs for you to check out:

http://soundcloud.com/moscowfish

Despite the sometimes formulaic nature of the party scene in Koh Phangan it is clear to see that the beautiful island is also starting to attract those who want to create not just 'play' and imitate.

Jungle Experience

The Jungle Experience is one of the several parties in Koh Phangan that sprang up shortly after the Full Moon Party gained international recognition. The party is held in the jungle as opposed to the beach. For people who are really keen on hard techno and psy-trance the Jungle Experience is in some ways better than the FMP.

Ban Tai is the village on the road between Thongsala and Haad Rin. There’s a turning just before the 7-11 for a road that goes to Thong Nai Pan and Than Sadet. About 1 km up this road is the home of the Jungle Experience in Koh Phangan.

The party always happens 2 days before every Full Moon and Black Moon Party. The FMP itself doesn’t always fall exactly on the night of the full moon when there is a clash with a Buddha Day holiday.

Jungle Experience is great value at only 300 Thai Baht for entry with 1 free drink. If you go before 11pm entry is free. Time and effort has been put into the area of the party. There is a river that runs through the site. There are water features, fluorescent displays, a ‘magical flower garden’ and organic light installations.

As well as selling alcohol all night long (although they should stop at 2am) there is also an all night Thai restaurant for those who need to stock up on carbohydrates.

Unlike the Full Moon Party there is one DJ playing at a time. One sound system brings people together. The 12 plus sound systems at the FMP tend to fragment the crowd.

The music at Jungle Experience is very much the ‘Phangan Sound’ – namely hard and progressive beats and psy-trance. It’s what Thai DJs on Koh Phangan do best. The DJ team includes popular Thai and foreign DJs resident on the island.

Naturally the party is made better with fire dancing, VDJ displays and of course the gradual heightening of the tempo as time goes on. The party ends at 8am.

Jungle Experience is not the biggest or most original party in Koh Phangan but for those who love the Half Moon and Black Moon parties it is worth going to. The one sour note is that many of the villagers living in Ban Tai have complained about the noise keeping them up all night. Nobody has paid much attention to them it seems.