The Year In My Music

I listen to everything. It doesn't mean I buy everything. Especially the commercial stuff. Also, if you know me semi-well, you'd know I don't download.

Yes gasp. Yes I am the weirdo. Well fark you. We haven't got a system where artistes can make $ and music without record companies, not in the conventional sense anyway. So $ is important and not even the air you breathe is free.

Ok, the two cents done. I bought these albums in 2009:
1. Depeche Mode - Remixes 81-04
2. Razorlight - Razorlight
3. The Roots - Home Grown! The Beginner's Guide To Understanding The Roots, Vol. 1
4. The Finn Brothers - Everyone is Here
5. Richard Ashcroft - Keys To The World
6. Calvin Harris - I'm Not Alone (single)
7. Kings Of Leon - Only By Night
8. Pet Shop Boys - Before (single)
9. The Streets - Everything Is Borrowed
10. Global Underground - Toronto - Deep Dish
11. The Annual 2005
12. Ibiza Annual 2005
13. Global Underground - Shanghai - Nick Warren
14. Emo Love
15. Mambo Jambo, Now & Forever
16. Feel
17. +65 Indie Underground
18. Air - Everybody Hertz (single)

The singles I generally buy for the remixes but the Calvin Harris track, goodness, was seminal. It spoke to the old man in me trying to feel that 25-yr-old trance vibe once again. (Ah the memories of running back into Zouk when Gabriel & Dresden played Motorcycle's As The Rush Comes for the 4th time the same night) Simple electronics, great beat, awesome record.

Most albums I buy because they are on sale and I would like to own them. Especially the other singles and Annuals. Classic dance tracks in the Annuals I bought, Ministry of Sound publishings. The GU albums are credit to the DJs mixing the tracks. The other albums I buy full price because I know they will change the way I think.

The Finn Brothers are the blokes who were in Crowded House, that NZ band with the quirky hits. This album is equally interesting with nice harmonies and melodies, and poignant and funny lyrics.

Kings of Leon blew me away when I heard Sex On Fire on the radio, and then Use Somebody. Amazing rock from deep inside America. Sounding British like the early Killers and scoring big outside the US first. It is little wonder why they are Grammy nominated for next year. I predict a Record Of The Year win for them. Seriously.

Depeche mixes by today's best remixers in a must buy and try. It was a no brainer when I saw the cover in Gramaphone.

Emo Love, Mambo Jambo and Feel are compilations of 3 genres of music. Emo Love has today's radio ballads/love songs from bands like the Fray and Plain White T's. Mambo Jambo had 80 kitschy shit I had to own. I play the Culture Club's Time Clock Of The Heart, Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up, Womack & Womack's Teardrops and Bananarama's Love Truth and Honesty quite a bit. Feel has atmospheric, chill out works from the likes of Moby, Kings of Convenience, Royskopp and EBTG. Variety is good for you, compilations serve me well.

The album you must get is +65 Indie Underground.
It is a 3-disc compilation of local rock/pop songs. It is just great, judging from the first 45mins I've heard today to and from work. Seriously, do not underestimate the talents of Singapore bands. They are not Idol material (heaven forbid!) but they deserve more than a mere mention in local music history. Bands like Humpback Oak, Padres and Stompin Ground inspired the next wave of homegrown musicians like Electrico, Concave Scream and Plain Sunset. The album has 50 individual songs and pieces (some rocking instrumentals) and every track kicks ass or lends weight to some serious, eyebrow stretching consideration about where SG music was, is and could be. If you love your country, get this album.

The +65 Indie Underground FB page >>

Use Somebody - Everyone Is!

Use Somebody from the Kings of Leon is one cool song. Great hook, lingering oh-oh-ohs, emphatic lyrics.



Guess what? Many other bands and artistes think so too. So much so, there's a flurry of acoustic cover scouring Youtube. Mostly female lead voices. Good renditions with their own inflexions and guitar work. Nice.



Like the song? Go buy the CD - Kings of Leon's Only By The Night. Grammy nominated. Critically acclaimed. Despite the way they sound and their European success, they're American. Like the Killers. Maybe US music isn't all about rap and twinkle pop after all.

Stolen from Wikipedia - Awards and accolades
- Only by the Night received a nomination for Best Rock Album at the 51st Grammy Awards with the single "Sex on Fire" receiving two nominations for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best Rock Song. "Sex on Fire" was awarded with the Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals on February 8.

The album was also awarded "2008 Album of the Year" by the UK's Q Magazine, as well as Rolling Stone Magazine voting it as the 20th best album out of their top 50 Best Albums of 2008. The album was also awarded Best International Album and Best International Group at the BRIT Awards. The album is featured on the online article rock (music) in the online Encyclopaedia Britannica as one of rocks "representative works".

The Guitar Weeps

I have come to notice that the use of the electric guitars in music has changed over the decades (gasp!). There was a time when the guitar sound was used to tell a story as part of the song being sung. It was like the guitar spoke, plucked to express a sentiment or feeling. Everything from anger to anguish, people could relate to the screech emanating from the speakers and amps connected to the magical hands of a guitar player. People remember the melodies of the guitar solo and sing them. We may butcher the song but we remember the feeling it brought out.

I am sure there are many examples but these few classics stand out for me:

Journey - Who's Crying Now



Prince and The Revolution - Purple Rain



Whitesnake - Is this love?



Somehow this value of the guitar may have got lost post-80s. A lot of rock these days is constant jangle, rough and loud. It has its appeal but more is told with the lyrics of a song than with any of the instruments. Maybe the emo of the post-modern young person has found its way into the rock mainstream where terk jerky, angst ridden words speak volumes and drown out the six string.

No, I don't play. Yet.

Introducing Jamie Lidell

Alrighty, it's been a while since I talked about music.

Jamie Lidell is a white guy with a soul sound to rock black folks. It's an easy listening sound, nothing harsh but upbeat lively at the same time. The beat is simple, smart and sometimes gets morphed with old skool electronics. Good male vocals are hard to find. And he looks like a nerd (that's now in isn't it?)

The first time I heard him was on Giles Peterson's show Worldwide on BBC1. Now Jamie's got an album out called JIM that's garnered some rave reviews and turned many a listening ear.

Elle:"The best album Prince never made... the freshest sound we've heard this year" Album of the Month The Observer: "A one-man search for the perfect soul song" iDJ: "a dazzlingly brilliant album" ***** Vibe: "Lidell makes retro sound futuristic, without changing a note" Pop Matters: "this material is an absolute pleasure to hear from start to finish... his optimism is unquenchable"

Youtube linked video for the single 'Another Day' is below, and his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel below that. Enjoy.