Am right now in my newly rented room in Kuala Terengganu. Life here is drastically different from what I am used to, but thank God for broadband! Time goes by pretty slowly at night, especially when I am not tired and there’s nowhere to go and no satellite TV to watch. But I’ve been feeling pretty upbeat and satisfied tonight, after delving into the treasure trove of songs on the internet. (Hours spent in front of the computer screen- sad, I know.)

But after listening to the busloads of unsavoury commercial music on terrestrial radio, getting hold of these new songs have been bliss for me. It’s disappointing that all the English radio stations have practically the same format of operation, ie chart topping music which results in all radio stations playing the same few commercially viable songs. All three stations(which will remain undisclosed) have practically the same playlists; if I hear chart topping song, A, on Radio X and decide to switch to Radio Y, Radio Y will play song A within the next 15 minutes. In the end I just turn off the radio. I swear, if I hear Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie” one more time, I am gonna strangle the first person I see.

Anyway, enough of my rants, here’s two of the many interesting finds I’ve got. In terms of genre the two of them are as unrelated as Paris Hilton and I. One’s the new single by the Scissor Sisters, an NY band who rose to fame with their Elton John-esque dance pop/rock/glam. The other is an excellent folk track by a new 27 year-old singer whom I just knew about called M. Ward.

Here’s the first one, Scissor Sisters’ “I don’t feel like dancing”, the first single to be released from their second album entitled “Ta-Dah”. Don’t let the title fool you, ‘cos you will. If the least of your toes do not tap to the rhythm of this song, I’d suggest that you see a shrink.

And here’s the second song. “Chinese Translation”, a simple guitar-y tune by singer-songwriter M. Ward. The combination of soothing heartfelt rendition of seemingly simple lyrics backed by the reverberating banjo and a longing guitar somehow manages to leaves the heart tingling. Watch the adorable narrative animation inspired by Chinese watercolours, its video is bound to leave you with a little smile. The lyrics are underneath if you can’t get what he’s singing.

So there, something to get you moving, and another to get you smiling.

I sailed a wild, wild sea
climbed up a tall, tall mountain
I met a old, old man
beneath a weeping willow tree
He said now if you got some questions
go and lay them at my feet
but my time here is brief
so you’ll have to pick just three

And I said
What do you do with the pieces of a broken heart
and how can a man like me remain in the light
and if life is really as short as they say
then why is the night so long
and then the sun went down
and he sang for me this song

See I once was a young fool like you
afraid to do the things
that I knew I had to do
So I played an escapade just like you
I played an escapade just like you
I sailed a wild, wild sea
climbed up a tall, tall mountain
I met an old, old man
he sat beneath a sapling tree
He said now if you got some questions
go and lay them at my feet
but my time here is brief
so you’ll have to pick just three

And I said
What do you do with the pieces of a broken heart
and how can a man like me remain in the light
and if life is really as short as they say
then why is the night so long
and then the sun went down
and he played for me this song

After a few months missing in action, I am back!! Lots have happened eversince I last stepped into the blog territory: went for an excellent holiday, got myself graduated, left the UK for home, got somebody pregnant (OK the last one’s fake of course). Will post some random photos from my holidays every now and then.

Today’s post is gonna be another light one, where I introduce another of my musical finds. This time it’s Gym Class Heroes, whom I discovered while aimlessly flipping through the channels of satellite TV (for still jobless, I am). Everyone these days have been talking about Samuel L Jackson’s latest offering to the pile of summer flicks, ‘Snakes on a Plane’. I bumped into its theme song, the amazingly catchy “Bring it (Snakes on a plane)” performed by a collective of musicians Cobra Starship. Do check out the video if you’ve got time. But that’s not the video that I meant to share.

What I intend to introduce is Gym Class Heroes. Travis, the rapper in Gym Class Heroes, also happens to be the rapper in the side project Cobra Starship that I mentioned earlier. Gym Class Heroes are a New York-based hiphop group with Travis as the vocalist or rapper, whichever the correct term is. What sets this group apart is that instead of relying heavily on mixers for loops and samples, the group plays their instruments live to provide the backing to Travis’ rhymes. I visited their website and found them to be pretty damn good. As an introduction, here’s one of their videos, New Friend Request. A pretty amusing video that one, as the song is about adding new friends using MySpace.

www.gymclassheroes.com

Exams are finally over. Feels like a fcken 100-tonne duvet has been lifted off my chest. Am feeling very uncertain about the outcome of this exam. Am aware of how much impact the results of this exam could have on my future, but it makes no sense worrying over something that is over. What I went through this time around has taught me a lot on the limits of my ability. It has also made me realise how some things are beyond human control, no matter how much we try to take control of our destinies.

Am not very willing to talk about such things, and so would rather share some new music with whoever pops by this lil’ blog. This is Belle and Sebastian, a prominent indie pop band from right here in Glasgow, Scotland. They’ve been around for many years already, and recently played to a sold out crowd during the Triptych Festival about a month ago also in Glasgow.

As an aside, the Triptych Festival is an eclectic music festival in Scotland that features everything from indie upstarts to folk music legends to radio DJ’s to Japanese jazz ensembles. If you are game for less mainstream music unlike those churned by million dollar earning, wardrobe malfunctioning, stylist-advised and audio-engineered artistes; do visit the Triptych Festival website and launch the media player at the bottom of the page for a wide range of music.

I only heard about Belle and Sebastian after our eccentric tour guide to the Scottish Highlands played their songs as an introduction to the country. Lately, I’ve been listening to them over the radio, and found this song pretty catchy. Here it is, one of their new singles, “The Blues are Still Blue”. I hate to say this, but the vocals and beat of this song is pretty reminiscent of Scissor Sisters. But I’d guess it’s just coincidence that an indie pop band would sound like those New York camp-glam fellas.

Don’t you know that I’ll be around to guide you
Through your weakest moments to leave them behind you
Returning nightmares only shadows
We’ll cast some light and you’ll be alright for now
Crosses all over, heavy on your shoulders
The sirens inside you waiting to step forward
Disturbing silence darkens your sight
We’ll cast some light and you’ll be alright for now
Crosses all over the boulevard
The streets outside your window overflooded
People staring they know you’ve been broken
Repeatedly reminded by the looks on their faces
Ignore them tonight and you’ll be alright
We’ll cast some light and you’ll be alright

-from LyricsMania.com

Following the success of his first single, “Heartbeats” eversince it was used as the background song to the amazing Sony Bravia advert (see my earlier post), Jose Gonzalez has been (in his quiet singer-songwriter sort of way) riding high on the music radar. In his home country Sweden (he’s from Gothenburg), he is quite a well-known artiste already, but the news of his talents have finally reached beyond Scandinavian confines after his TV exposure in the recent months. It has also reached here in the UK, where Channel 4 aired a musical special on him a few months back, not to mention a sold out concert just two nights ago here in Glasgow. Since watching the TV special, yours truly has been on a futile search for the song, “Crosses”, which was a single that was released back in his home country before his international recognition.

Finally, thanks to the smart marketing and revenue-mining brains of his record company, this previously Sweden-only single has been re-released internationally. Good music is always blog-worthy, so I am implore anyone who gives this blog a visit to please click the links below to give his music a listen. The melancholic beauty of his songs hidden beneath just his voice and a guitar needs not much convincing, but merely needs to be shared.

“Crosses”
Jose Gonzales

Click here to watch the video
Click here to get the mp3

On the topic of exceptionally talented singer songwriter’s, I’ve also been listening to Sufjan Stevens. I have yet to muster enough cash for his album, “Illinois”, but it’s at the top of my wishlist along with Jose Gonzalez. Here’s a link to a song from the upcoming album “The Avalanche: Outtakes And Extras From The Illinois Album” that comes out this July. (Oh man, that makes three albums in my CD wishlist). The song is called “The Henney Buggey Band”, all folksy and upbeat. Enjoy.

Click here for Sufjan Stevens’ “The Henney Buggy Band”

Heads up to m3 online for showing me how blogs can be sources of fresh music (no, am not referring to own blog.am no narcissist). Will update blog with links to many other music blogs in future.

Other great finds: Sleaze rock gods Louis XIV. Double entendres with matching attitude. Twee pop fellas Boy Least Likely To. Give them a Google!

A while ago a friend sent me this song, claiming it to be good and apparently meaningful. I scoffed at his ravings, dismissing it as blind love for a song just because he liked the anime (This song is the ending theme of the hugely popular anime “Bleach”). I took a first listen to it rather superficially, without going into the lyrics, but it did not bowl me over then. I thought his judgement of this song as ‘meaningful’ was overrated, that he arrived at this conclusion just by listening to the first line, “Nobody knows who I really am”.

In retrospect, I have to admit that I have underestimated my friend’s(/s’) musical tastes, and my musical snobbery (OK, I am admitting to this) has taken a beating. The thing about soundtrack songs is that you may not appreciate the song until you have seen the TV show/anime/film and are then able to understand the context in which the song was used. Sometimes it may be to a particular scene in the show while other times it could be the overall theme of that show. For instance, after watching a scene in the OC where two characters, Seth and Summer slow-danced to cover version of ‘Wonderwall’ by Ryan Adams, I searched everywhere for the song. Similarly for this song, it was after I began to watch the anime that I understood why this song was chosen to represent its characters.

The song possesses a soothing melody, beautifully delivered Rie’s mellow vocals. Her rhythmic yet non-intrusive piano chords were reminiscent of Carole King’s musical styles, which later came as no surprise as Rie mentioned her and Joni Mitchell (both are 1960’s folk legends) as her musical influences.

Personally, it was the lyrics that markedly changed my perception about the song. As the title suggests, the song employs seemingly simple imagery, yet at times the symbolism can ring so true that they inevitibly induce nods of agreement from yours truly. Apparently, Rie penned this song after her pastor likened life to a ride down the river, where we encounter things that will soon pass us by. And so my friend was right after all, this song is pretty meaningful.

Anyway I’ll cut the crap, watch the video and listen to the lyrics. Half of the song is sung in intelligible English (Rie was raised in Maryland), while for the Japanese lyrics, check out the translation that I have put out below.

Life is Like a Boat
Rie Fu, “Life is Like a Boat” single

Nobody knows who I really am
I never felt this empty before
And if I ever need someone to come along,
Who’s gonna comfort me, and keep me strong?

We are all rowing the boat of fate
The waves keep on coming and we can’t escape
But if we ever get lost on our way
The waves would guide you through another day

Each breath escaping my body becomes transparent and goes far away
And even when I think everything’s dark, I’m only blindfolded

Offering a prayer, I wait for a new day to come
Until the reflection of the sunrise sparkling on the sea disappears completely

Nobody knows who I really am
Maybe they just don’t give a damn
But if I ever need someone to come along
I know you would follow me, and keep me strong

People’s hearts are constantly changing, peeling away fresh layers
with each new phase of the moon

And every time I see your face
The ocean heaves up to my heart
You make me wanna strain at the oars, and soon
I can see the shore

Oh, I can see the shore
When will I see the shore?

I want you to know who I really am
I never thought I’d feel this way towards you
And if you ever need someone to come along,
I will follow you, and keep you strong

And still, the journey goes on, even on these calm days
And still, each new phase of the moon reflects its light onto my heart

Offering a prayer, I wait for a new day to come
Until the reflection of the sunrise sparkling on the sea disappears completely

And every time I see your face
The ocean heaves up to my heart
You make me wanna strain at the oars, and soon
I can see the shore

We are all rowing the boat of fate, the waves keep on coming and we can’t escape
Even that is a beautiful journey; even anything is a beautiful journey

Translation taken from Sarah/Frecklegirl

The Strokes in Glasgow

Originally uploaded by dazedconfused.

So why did the Strokes gig on the 8th of February in Glasgow Carling rock my socks off? Electric is the word. The only analogy I could use to describe my experience that night is to compare it to being subjected to electro-convulsive treatment. The moment the band came on stage was sufficient to give me the goosebumps already, to be given a chance to see the band perform live. The realisation that prior to this, watching them was just an intention I’d never expect to fulfil, and then seeing them in the flesh, that sent another shock through me.

They opened with a song unfamiliar to me, probably a B-side or something taken off their latest album which I haven’t yet had the luxury to purchase. It might not be the best choice of an opener, considering the song wasn’t familiar to the crowd, and neither did it possess the catchiness to get the crowd going. Nevertheless, I was still stunned for a couple minutes by their presence, so it didn’t really matter to me what they were playing.

But the second song definitely brought the house down. They played their fantastic first single of their latest album, a song called “Juicebox”. The wicked opening bassline riffs, and the verse only served to tease the crowd and heightened their anticipation to mosh violently to Julian’s wailings of “Why won’t you come over here, We’ve got a city to love”.

The rest of the gig saw more of the crowd (me included) jigging to the upbeat rhythms of favourites like ‘The Modern Age’, ‘Soma’, ‘Barely Legal’ i.e the whole tracklisting of their first album “Is this it?”. It was only after realizing that the band played 10 out of 11 songs from the first album, that I discover how strong “Is this it?” was as an album compared to their sophomore effort “Room on fire” from which only a select few tracks were played in the gig. But it has to be mentioned that the song that killed the crowd most besides ‘Juicebox’ was the song ‘Reptilia’ taken from their second album. The deafening screams of the audience matched the band’s powerful rendition of this song.

While the band maintained their cool composure by being living statues throughout their performance, they let their music do the talking. Setting the pace for the night were the unrelenting rhythms from drummer Fabrizio Moretti and thumping basslines from Nikolai. The guitarists meanwhile, “Jew-fro”-ed Albert Hammond, Jr and Nick took turns playing the lead and rhythm parts. Albert Hammond struck me more as the guitarist responsible for the driving rhythms and electric sounds in songs like ‘Last Night’, ‘Reptilia’ and ‘The Modern Age’ while Nick Valensi’s forte was in noodling about during the solos. Combined, they were great. Last but not least, there’s Julian Casablancas who delivered his duty which was look cool and sing like he’s drunk (which he probably was anyway).

The audience is part of the reason why it was such a great night. Even Julian himself said towards the end of the gig,”We love you Glasgow, we’ve never played to such a loud crowd before.” That’s what Glaswegians are, loud but receptive.

Of course there were not-so-good moments as well, like instances where the guitars were out of key from the bass, and a few rather bland performances of expectedly upbeat numbers. But what a night it was.

Attending the concert of your favourite band does things to you and your eardrums. Case in point, it is two hours after the concert and I am sitting here in front of the computer screen, oblivious to the fact that I have a test in less than 48 hours or that I haven’t taken my shower. Instead I am sharing my awesome ear sweetening experience to the blogosphere, still buzzing on the inside.

I been crazy about the Strokes eversince I got hold of the song ‘Barely Legal’ via the net while I was still in high school. At a time when anything resembling rock is almost always preceded by the word ‘rap’ (the band L— B-z–t comes to mind, but let’s not mention them at good times like these), it almost seemed that rock was dead. Some guys in my class were into Westlife and the Backstreet Boys for crying out loud. Upon listening to the opening riffs for this mp3 from some unknown band called the Strokes, it gave me the impression that I accidentally downloaded something 60’s, like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, what with their simple 4/4 drumming, repetitive chords that led to a very retro sounding melody in the chorus. Yet at the time when “Rollin’, rollin’ rollin’ rollin’” was everywhere on the radio, they definitely sounded fresh to me despite utilizing and reusing the musical style of the 60’s. Soon, I learnt that the Strokes were part of the garage rock revivalists in the vein of the Velvet Underground and The Stooges. Alongside other bands such as The Hives and The White Stripes, they were a new musical trend taking over the god-awful rap rock over in the West.

Maybe it’s the case of me listening to the Strokes first, but I always thought less of the other garage revivalist bands, considering them as jumping on the bandwagon led by the Strokes. Music critics may consider the Strokes as the ‘boyband’ of the garage revivalists, a band with the right look and the right style, the chosen representatives to be marketed to the MTV-watching masses. While it is undeniable how the Strokes have successfully reintroduced the garage rock trend and skinny jeans and Converse sneakers along the way, it only takes a ticket to a Strokes concert to shut up any detractor denying the Strokes any more credibility than hyped up pin-up boys.

Truth to be told, my excitement for the concert has been piling up eversince I secured a ticket.

Never in my lifetime would I expect to see them in person, they’d never include Kuala Lumpur in their tour dates and I’d never go to the States just to watch them. It was only after I came to the UK that I discovered so many genuinely talented musicians holding live performances throughout the year, one after another. This came as a really pleasant surprise, considering how seldom Kuala Lumpur gets live acts from English-speaking artistes. And back home where most western music is pop, the possibility of a band considered left-field by Malaysian standards (even by American standards) like The Strokes to perform there is zilch. Thus I promised myself to go to at least ONE gig of any bands I listen to but may never reach the Malaysian airwaves.

I have God to thank for letting me be at the right place at the right time. That the year that I was in the UK was also the year when the indie revival is everywhere in the UK, where The Strokes gain mainstream acceptance and thus choose to tour it. Also the perfect timing for me to be able to buy a ticket just TWO days before the concert when it was already sold out within half an hour on the first day of sale.

to be continued…

Aku tak mengerti … apa yang kurasa,
Rindu yang tak pernah … begitu hebatnya
Aku mencintaimu lebih dari yang kau tahu …
Meski kau tak akan pernah tahu

Aku persembahkan … hidupku untukmu,
Telah kurelakan … hatiku padamu,
Namun kau masih bisu … diam seribu bahasa
Dan hati kecilku bicara …

Reff : Baru kusadari …
Cintaku bertepuk sebelah tangan
Kau buat remuk seluruh hatiku …

Semoga waktu akan mengilhami sisi hatimu yang beku,
Semoga akan datang keajaiban, hingga akhirnya kaupun mau

Aku mencintaimu
Lebih dari yang kau tahu …
Meski kau tak kan pernah tahu …

Composer: Ahmad Dhani, for the album “Cintailah Cinta”.
Lyrics courtesy of the official Dewa website.

I did not intend for my first post in this new blog to be the lyrics of a song that is potentially deemed tear-jerking and emotional. But Pupus is one hell of a song, with great chords, great singing, and great lyrics. I find this song entire album so good, I am not sure how may times it has been playing in my computer already. If you want to hear some honest expression through the voice, melody, harmony, rhythm and lyrics, albeit slightly love-oriented (the album name IS Cintailah Cinta after all), then you must NOT give this album a miss. Have to admit that I discovered this album three years late, but it’s arguably the musical gem that I have discovered for 2005.

Of course, speculation on why I chose the lyrics of this particular song is unnecessary and irrelevant, whether it has anything to do with what’s going on in my life. This is because the universal theme of the album is love anyway, a happy or sad ending notwithstanding.

Baladewa!

Oh, and welcome to my new blog!