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Thanks to Bookishly Fabulous for pointing out that Ben Sollee was recently on NPR's "All Things Considered" (July 5, 2008).
It would be seem that Sollee is looking for a fight with Kanye West, who recently disappointed fans at Bonnaroo for being two hours late (performed at 4:30 am). He made national/internet news by blogging about the venue's inability to setup the lighting and Pearl Jam was already an hour late.
This "open letter" song to Kanye West basically tells off West that "you don't need a light show, just good flow".
You can read more about Ben Sollee on our previous W♥M articles.
Other interesting music news: Facebook's a hotbed of celebrity gossips. Lilly Allen and The Chemical Brothers' Ed Simon are back together. Apparently they both changed their facebook status to "in a relationship" and immediately thousand of fans wrote to congratulate them.
Björk seems to be canceling a few concerts, citing throat ailment. I'm not sure why that's so closely followed by the media, but Ex-Whitesnake guitarist is dead. Does anyone even know his name?
The outrageous headline of "Kylie Minogue Saves Fan from Suicide" makes it sound as if Minogue was there on the rooftop talking that person down. The truth is, the fan was listening to his iPod and her song came on and he suddenly didn't want to stab himself. (Lame, right?)
Also, some idiot stole the headstone to Joy Division's Ian Curtis' grave. I hope his ghost haunts him.
The sad news of the collector's mentality of the CD box sets are on its death bed (hint: maybe it's because it's too expensive). The Yahoo story (written by Ed Christman) paints a picture that "Boxed-set sales have fallen off the cliff; they went from something to nothing".
Even at price slashed to about $29.99 (from the regular $49.98), sales continues to decline. At the end of the article, they mentioned that the limited-edition box for Nine Inch Nails' "Ghosts I-IV," ($300) sold really well.
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Links:
weheartmusic.com
This is Mr. Hammonds sophomore album and I've got to say, it's pretty good. Then again, I am biased. Albert Hammond Jr. is my favorite member of the Strokes, or I should say, would seem like less of an a-hole. Don't get me wrong, I like all their albums, but they just don't seem like nice dudes. I don't know, I'm probably wrong. Anyway, I have always liked him and I really loved his 2006 debut album Yours To Keep (which I also wrote about ^.^).
This time around, it does seem like he's having a hard time fixing on a "sound", but that doesn't necessarily mean the album isn't good. Perhaps he's just trying to distance his own sound from his other band. But I wouldn't have found anything wrong with that. Sounding like the Strokes that is. So yeah, I picked the song Lisa and I hope you like it too.
So go ahead and pick up a copy of Como Te Llama today. It's out today
actually. I wanted to do this a couple of days ago, but I've been too busy. So just in time right? Oh, and about a week ago I was at his webpage and it's got this little feature where you can add your picture to the checkerboard background. Well it's pretty much filled up now. I don't know, I thought that was a cute idea. So here is the song I picked and a few links to follow. Commence enjoyment!
Oh yeah! Tour Dates!! go check him out ladies and gents.
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Albert Hammond Jr on MySpace // A. Hammond Jr. dot com
Have you ever broken a bone? If not, what's the worst injury you've sustained?
That was when I was in Secondary School and I was having an informal Hockey training. It was so informal, the number of girls that were present was just Hui Wen and I, my forwarder partner. The guys were training at some other area in school if I remember correctly. Since it was informal, there was no coach and "Safety First" was put aside and we ended up not putting on any shin guard. We never like it either.
We were practicing our hits... and my partner always have a stronger hits than me while I have a slightly better guarding than her but at the moment, I lost my momentum as we passes the ball around. I remember.. I lost concentration and was thinking about the test and homework loads! :O So, my focus was gone and the ball practically flew towards my leg and made quite a huge bump there which swelled up within seconds. The bump was almost the size of a grapefruit, 'bout 12cm in diameter, right in the middle of my left leg.
Hui Wen was so panicked and I couldn't help laughing at her getting worry about it. She was frantically asking, "Pain or not?" numerous times but I continued to giggle as I shook my head in response to her questions. Then, I was sent to the St John's room for treatment and probably it was my mind but I kept on hearing the same question asking non-stop and faces with horrified look on those St. John's girls when they saw my injury. :/ Haha. Silly.
But I LOVE it! It was a great injury! I really thank Hui Wen for that. I was exempted out from PE for weeks! :D
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07/11/08 Traffic Free Festival Torrino
08/30/08 Offset Festival London Album Discography
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Wire have been around for a long time! I'm so very pleased to see that they are still making music, and having listened to their new album, Object 47, I can tell you that they are still amazing after all these years.
Since forming in 1976 in London, this band took their influences of the UK punk scene (Sex Pistols, after all was quite huge from 1975-1978), although I have never really thought of them as pure punk. They reminded me of more art rockers, with a talent for writing very catchy melodies.
Their short, but influential debut album, Pink Flag (1977), seem to have inspired a slew of bands either covering their songs (REM, The Urinals, Minor Threat) or ripping them off (Meanswe@r, Elastica, Clinic). Elastica and Wire eventually settled out of court for "Connection" infringing on "Three Girl Rhumba". Be sure to also check out Line up the Fly article for even more comparison between Elastica and Wire.
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With Object 47 already released in the UK (it looks like July 15th in the US according to amazon), this will be the first studio album in over five years. The album's name comes from this is the 47th release from Wire since their very first Mannequin EP in November 1977.
If you're a fan in the UK, you'll probably already bought the album. Here's a guide to the best songs on the album:
I absolutely thought "One Of Us" was brilliant. The bass instantly will make you move, while the lovable singing of one of us will live to rue the day we met each other will remind you of old school Wire. The song is a free download on their official website.
"Are You Ready?" should make a great object 48, as a single. Let me to try to explain the song to you, it seems to be Colin Newman asking a series of questions, and his guitar answering back.
Are you part of the future, part of the plan?
Are you willing and able to do what you can?
Are you part of the problem, or part of the band?
Are you willing to draw a line in the sand?
Are you true to your friends loyal to your brand?
Are you smoking for China, Iraq or Japan?
Are you searching for something you don't understand?
Do you still hold ambitions of being a man?
The last song is an energetic, driving song, "All Fours". It seems to build up with some excellent drumming here. It is really too bad that it doesn't just keep going on, but it does send the album to a great finish.
So what I have noticed here is that they are more or less sticking with what works here, kind of minimal guitars, bass and drums, and less art/experimental of their early 90s work, after the loss of their drummer, Robert Gotobed.
Speaking of losses, it seems that their longtime guitarist, Bruce Gilbert, was not involved on this album. They look, currently, to be a three-piece band.
Wire's Object 47 was released in the UK yesterday, July 7th, and in the US, July 15th. If you have always loved Wire, then you'll love the new album. They are only doing some music festivals this year, so good luck on finding a good spot to see this legendary band.
I've been enjoying this track quite a lot lately. It's extremely catchy till I actually listened to the lyrics and realise it's erm, kinda naughty. It alludes much to artistes and relationships with underaged groupies I guess. Nonetheless it's good shit for sure and not even Patrick Stump from Fallout Boy featuring on it has deterred me. The seemingly odd combo works out well but I guess that's the beauty of The Roots. They have always pushed the envelope in collabos.
I had the pleasure of interviewing ?uestlove who was an awesome guy. His genuine passion and zeal for hip hop and his music really shone through throughout our conversation but he knows the end game and is mindful of that. Yet he and the band don't succumb to compromising their ideals which is something to be lauded. They truly are a dying breed yo.
"What is it we wanna do?
Now that I'm allowed to be alone with you
Birthday girl it's your birthday
Wherever you wanna go
Now you're old enough to go and see the R-rated show, now
R-rated show"Rest of the lyrics here.
Anyway, I've been having problems listening through entire albums recently which is rather annoying. I'm just skipping through tracks sometimes and it's hindering my joy of music. I miss the days of trawling through various MP3 blogs and sites to listen to all kinds of random stuff and uncovering some gems along the way much to my delight. It's really amazing how much good music there is out there, in Singapore and everywhere else!
Work I guess played a part, seeing how I had stacks of cds to review and not all that much time to enjoy them all properly. I tend to love albums more after a couple of listens rather than at first play. Hopefully I'll get over the lethargy. I do have a lot of good stuff on my MP3 player currently, especially the super-awesome Flight of the Conchords album! You should be aware now of how much I heart FoC. Will post some more stuff soon.
Mom, is the only person I see for most of the mornings since I stopped attending school in February. I can wake up, chat with her, gossips about shows we watched in the previous night and some "history" talk during lunch, if there is any. Usually, there won't be lunch though... but last night, there were some leftovers so there was a chance to chat with her again.
No idea why but today I brought up the "death" topic and asked about how her pap died, and I also found out how pap's pap died, the unveiling reason. As she spoke, I kept on observing her face, searching for the sign of crying but there was nothing. It ended up with me unable to control my tears instead but luckily, it didn't flow. I believe I controlled well.
Mom's pap died of cancer and it was not a peaceful one. He had internal bleeding which he complained it was "stomachache". I was hoping to hear from mom that he died peacefully but it turned out pretty tragic, I find. I never see him before so I was curious about him which led me to question her more regarding to this... Then, I felt I had to stop otherwise I won't know how to react if mom do cries although I didn't spot any signs.
Pap's pap... well, it was a peaceful case, yeap. He died in a coma after a fall, probably? Coma simply is just someone still "sleeping" and since he died in it 4 days after getting into a deep sleep, I believe he decided in his dream that it was time to go. Which made me wonder... if that night I dreamt about death and my heart stopped, will I die in my sleep as well? As though, it was my choice to leave, peacefully?
Will anyone notice? Probably not.
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07/12/08 Annabell’s Akron, OH
Discography
07/19/08 Mickey Finn’s Toledo, OH 08/08/08 Southgate House Newport, KY 08/09/08 Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, OH 09/07/08 Benefest Greensburg, PA
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Mr. Gnome (MySpace) is a great name for a band, isn't it? It conjures up pleasant visions of little rolly-polly Santa Clauses in pointy red felt caps sitting in contemplation beneath dew-heavy dandelion blossoms or riding on fox-back through the halls of a sepiatoned forest. But, wait a sec, here....The cover of Mr. Gnome's first full-length album, Deliver This Creature (available now on Ohio-based label El Marko Records), is a rather creepy affair: silhouettes of children running from or supplicating themselves before an eerie rabbit-eared, blade-fingered eidolon against a washed-out sky. Strange, ethereal imagery that is backed up by the opening chords of the album's lead track, "Pirates": a light guitar melody and vaporous vocals floating over a soft but insistent beat--that suddenly explodes with harsh guitar riffs and vocalist's Nicole Barille's unearthly shouts.
Since their inception in 2005, Cleveland, Ohio's Mr. Gnome have released two EPs that have both raked in a lot of acclaim and comparisons to everyone from Massive Attack to Tool, Portishead to Death From Above 1979 and Bjork. The music of Nicole Barille and Sam Meister has been described as Alt-Rock, Metal, Post-Punk, and Progressive Rock. Basically, that means that no one can really pin 'em down--but I think I can. Imagine a somewhat harder, harsher Dead Can Dance--with more grinding, fuzzy guitars and less medeival instrumentation--and you've prettymuch nailed Mr. Gnome's sound. And it is a good sound (which only adds more credence to my belief that Cleveland, OH, is the northeast's equivalent of Athens, GA).
The combination of ethereal elements (almost always delivered via female vocalists) and heavy music is familiar to any who likes artists such as Evanescence, Lacuna Coil, and Within Temptation. Mr. Gnome definitely sounds similar to those bands, and will no doubt appeal to their fans, but one cannot compare Mr. Gnome to them too closely, for Mr. Gnome's songs are a lot more musically adventurous that anything the more "pop"-oriented Evanescence and others have produced. Traditional song structure is scarce on Deliver This Creature, as Mr. Gnome favors songs that come and go following dramatic patterns unique to each song. Whereas opening track "Pirates" is built upon a pretty straightfoward loud-soft-loud-soft formula, later tracks like the beautiful but somewhat chilling "Night of the Crickets" and the aggressive, screaming "I'm Alright" are as complex as many a prog-rock anthem with their dynamic orchestration. Barille and Meister write songs that scamper up and down the musical spectrum from quiet, breathless interludes and introductions to full-on hard-rock blasts of headbanging power. Nicole Barille sounds a lot like Lisa Germano during Mr. Gnome's quieter moments, and every song has a melodic center that carries it through its convolutions and helps to keep listeners centered. Each song may be a miniature, self-contained psychodrama, but one need not be an experienced prog or Dead Can Dance listener to be able to grab onto each song's hook and ride it while the music bucks and dances beneath them.
In fact, I would think that Mr. Gnome would be an excellent album to introduce fans of "ethereal" music to harder, more intricate acts like Porcupine Tree, Canvas Solaris, and perhaps even Tool. Music that can serve as a bridge between two worlds is always interesting, and very marketable, too. So definitely check out Mr. Gnome's debut album, Deliver This Creature, and see them live at the following shows. You can bet I'll be there in the audience at the Greensburg, PA date!
It's 3.16am right now and my laptop just gave up while I was working on SJ's graphic requests. Oh my... I think I should really get a new laptop with a better performance than my current one, huh? I mean... the whole time as I was working on just a flyer, the laggings was unbearable already but at least, I managed to finish up most of the ones she wanted except for 2 more posters in her requirements.
Anyway, I hope some kind souls from her friends can help her with this cus' I'm emailing over the workfiles and the others that I stored in my thumbdrive just before the laptop gave up to her. They should be able to open up those files in Photoshop though I don't use that, I'm on Fireworks.. and now, goodbye to Fireworks? :( For the time being, definitely.
Well, can you just believe it? Just before my brain gives up, my laptop gave up first! Plus, I was concentrating so hard on it... since I not just concentrate on working on it but I was trying to recall what's the proper resolution and some other questions I haven't figure out yet.
And... it's just a friend's FYP stuffs... but I'm working so hard on it till the wee morning. I don't ever see me working so hard for myself on packing up my portfolio and site.
I'm so, so tired now. It's been so long since I last fought so hard through the night. I just can't help to bring up the question to myself: Why am I slogging so hard while they are having a good sleep right now (I suppose?)? I told CY.. it's another free labour again.. otherwise.. I was thinking of charging. ($_$ ) But... CY didn't help me to ask her colleague regarding this, so I'm unsure about charges.
--- Oh yea.. like I would. Seriously.
As long as I feel it's not a good result or an incomplete work. I totally don't find it's worth to earn money from but so far, the designs I did up for her seemed good to me. I mean.. I can add another piece up into my portfolio again just that I can't understand they just find it messy... hmm.. does that mean only I can understand what I did? :/ I guess it's really a crappy piece of work then.
Oyasumi.
There's this online project called STomp here in SG. It's like a "User-Generated Content" driven portal/platform for "citizen journalists" to submit and report happenings and what not that are out and about town.
I can't say I've checked in on it that often but I think they've done a pretty decent job over the past 2(?) years building it up and getting people to participate.
While I suppose there are instances, from what I've seen, where the on-the-ground reports have been pretty interesting and useful, in supplementing the regular newsfeeds, still the majority of the site seems rather frivolous. They of course welcome you to post pictures online with the relevant reportage or the community to discuss which is a cool point for me.
However, sometimes, people tend to sort of take this role a bit too seriously, or tend to maybe, take on an observer's standpoint rather than just confront the issue. I mean, what's the point of taking the photo if you see something you're unhappy about, then hours later upload somewhere online so you can talk about it? Just get it out and deal with it.
Or, some of the posts venture into almost voyeuristic territory I feel. Some of the complaints can get rather anal. I hate the kids blasting loud music in my trains and buses but I just ask them to keep it down (seriously I do) rather than take a pic. I don't really have problems with PDAs (public displays of affection) though I draw the line at people groping and fondling each other la. I feel however people who take vids of such instances are pervs. Stop harassing the people la.
If they have genuinely committed something to truly offend, commit a criminal offence or something catastrophic, then yeah ok. But petty annoyances, do you really need to get 50 other ppl to validate that? Just deal with it. Get over it or confront the fella (yea i know i might have issues but never without fair reason).
You'll find examples of what I mean on this website called AntiStomp. Although I won't say I hate or dislike the subject of displeasure here ( I think STomp's a good start but naturally can be better), I think the dudes who started this other website has something going on. Here's their reason for starting it.
Maybe I'm just an old fuddy duddy, but I do enjoy dumb pics and vids (such as the excellent Fail Blog) but that's cos most of those sites don't take themselves seriously. What I can't accept are questionable pics and vids trying to pass off as important news
got nothing better to do at home, i even drew on the mio 2wire box, haha~
well, that's what ive left over thingy in my box so i just put them all together here, not "my type".
but anyway its better then a plain black clip.
(sry my cam is in the mid of dying... it cant capture micro very well now so sad.)