Archives For MixTapes

Thank You, Solar-ssi~

November 1, 2017 — Leave a comment

I just wanted to drop a note thanking Solar for releasing Solar Gamsung on tape (yes, I was one of the lucky ones to get it on first order), because that pushed me to clean up the cassette deck I had at home (yes, I’m the old person who still has a cassette player on hand).

Honestly, I thought my deck was busted, I remember testing it a while back and it stopped working. Today, I cleaned it up with alcohol; and though the automatic open/close is faulty as heck and the rewind/fwd doesn’t always work, it plays stuff. And today I listened to my dad’s voice in years. So thank you, Solar-ssi, for making me cry tonight.

My dad used to have a Karaoke bar in the 90s, and ever the music fan and Karaoke-owner, he liked to sing and record himself singing. LOL So now I have 42min. of him singing an array of 14 songs. He was, obviously, a very VERY big Miguel Bose fan. Though, honestly, I had never heard my dad singing (the Spanish version of) I Will Follow You xD Now I’ve finally transferred his tapes on mp3 to keep :) added him to my iTunes library, album cover and all~

Los Doltons’ version of El Ultimo Beso will always be a good memory of him.

I’ve just published a list of 100 songs in Chinese (mostly Mandarin, but also Cantonese… and maybe Hokkien… can’t be sure of that) that’s a great cheat sheet for anyone wanting to show off their knowledge of the scene. There’s definitely a wide variety of artists, so you’re sure to find something you enjoy.

yammag-100-songs-in-chinese-music

Visit YAM Magazine for the list with a link included to the YouTube playlist.

Quickies on Hu Tu Tu

October 9, 2014 — 4 Comments

You do probably know that my Hindi should suck, but that doesn’t stop me from keeping my iTunes library in order… which means I take all of the tracks from Indian movies that I’ve downloaded and try to give an English translation — after all, I should know, at least, what the title of a song means! That, of course, means that titles from hard-to-find movies/OSTs have to do with my own interpretation. One of them is Hu Tu Tu, because no one’s bothered to translate the songs… and my copy of the movie doesn’t come with subtitles in the sung parts.

Most of the titles are easy- Chhai Chhapa Chhai is classic onomatopoeic Gulzar (Jhini Mini Jhini from Maqbool gave me a clue), Jai Hind Hind (Hail, India!), Bandobast Hai (It’s the System), Ghapla Hai Bhai (It’s a Mess, Brother), and Jago Jago Jagte Raho (Get Up, Always Be Awake) seem quite straight forward. Even Yeh Nam Aankhein (These Drenched Eyes) can seem easy when compared to Itna Lamba Kash Lo Yaaron and Nikla Neem Ke Talese Nikla.

So what do those last titles mean?

I’ve sort of translated Itna Lamba Kash Lo Yaaron– since Itna refers to a Quantity (this much or so much), Lamba refers to the Length (height or otherwise), Kash means to Take a Puff or a Smoke (considering the scene), and Yaaron refers to Friends. I sorta translated it to It’s Such a Long Smoke, My Friend. And in the lyrics~

Itna lamba kash lo yaaron, dam nikal jaaye
Zindagi sulagaao yaaron, gam nikal jaaye
Yaaron, yaaron

Dam = (staying) Power
Nikal = Get out/get lost
Sulagaao/Sulagana = Ignite/set on fire
Gam = Regret

It’s such a long smoke, my friend.
Power, be gone.
Life is set on fire, my friend.
Regret, be gone.

How did I do with that?

Though, Nikla Neem Ke Talese Nikla escapes my comprehension. It doesn’t even look Hindi to me- oh, wait. Never mind. *goes crazy* Why is Talese together when it should be Tale Se? As in Nikla Neem Ke Tale Se Nikla (निकला नीम के तले से निकला) *growls*

Anyone ANYONE who is able to help me out with that title and make my life easier?- I’ll love you forever! LOL From the deep Google that I did, Nikla seemed to refer to “being out,” or “something that sticks out” and I know Neem can refer to the bitterness of the Neem tree [1] or the tree itself, and Tale is “the bottom or base of something” — Does that mean… The Bottom of the Neem Tree Turned Upside Down? LOL, I need to watch this movie again. xD

My Dad’s Mayday Playlist

October 6, 2013 — 1 Comment

For the past year, my dad had become a really big Mayday fan. I think this happened right after watching the concert film Mayday 3DNA, he used to show it to his friends and carry the film as well as their discography on his USB ALL THE FREAKING TIME. When I retrieved his USB, he had the discography on.

So… as a means to remember him, I made a short playlist with some of their songs.

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  1. 時光機 (Shi Guang Ji) – Time Machine
  2. 我們 (時時刻刻) (Wo Men (Shi Shi Ke Ke)) – Us/Moment by Moment
  3. 倔強 (Jue Jiang) – Stubborn
  4. 知足 (Zhi Zu) – Contentment
  5. 戀愛ING (Lian Ai-I-N-G) – Love-I-N-G
  6. 盛夏光年 (Sheng Xia Guang Nian) – Eternal Summer
  7. 擁抱 (Yong Bao) – Embrace
  8. 為愛而生 (Wei Ai Er Sheng) – Born to Love
  9. 離開地球表面 (Li Kai Di Qiu Biao Mian) – Leaving the Surface of the Earth
  10. 乾杯 (Gan Bei) – Cheers

Am I starting a series? Nah… I don’t think I can come up with a Jpop list xD

Unlike the Kpop list which it focused 99% of the time on dance pop friendly tracks that went beyond American commercial pop, this “Cpop” list is… not really pop.

Popular music in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mainland China (but mostly Taiwan) tends to be pop/rockish flare. Sure there are dance pop friendly, but even they have moved or are moving more towards pop/rock. They also love indie flavor, and accept not particularly attractiveness in their idols… even though there are some very good looking people who are immensely popular.

To be completely honest, compared to Korea’s pop music charts, Chinese music charts have a broad variety. But then again, compared to Japan’s pop music charts (which is comprised of AKB48 and Arashi xD), even Kpop charts (mostly 2NE1 and Big Bang now that DBSK is gone) seem to have some variety. xD

So this list of great Chinese music includes varying genres from R&B, pop/rock… more rockish, ballads (regular and of the indie type), etc. once again listed by year of release.

Again, it’s a bit weak on the earlier years… but you are welcome to make suggestions (for any year). A few guidelines would be that they cannot be too indie (I couldn’t fit Cheer Cheen or Mavis Fan in the list because they don’t feel completely pop, if you know what I mean), must include MVs (so songs released as singles), not older than late 90s.

Also… song must work as MV too. So no awesome songs but tacky videos. Sorry.

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YouTube link.

What do you like about the Cpop industry?

Who are your fave artists?

This one turned out to be really awesome, if I may say so myself.

Of course, I have been trying to put this together since last year, LOL – so it’d better be good, right? Though, I know there are some repeat tracks if you’ve followed the blog, I think it’s fair to say that the combination of songs has a nice flow. It’s turned out to be a really moody list~

You can check my previous Chinese Music Playlists [1][2]

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  1. Mavis Fan (范曉萱) – I Want Us to Be Together (我要我們在一起)
  2. Waa Wei (魏如萱) – Shangri-La (香格里拉)
  3. Jing Chang (張芸京) – Broken (壞了)
  4. Leehom Wang (王力宏) – Daily Necessities (柴米油鹽醬醋茶)
  5. R-Chord featuring LaLa Hsu (謝和弦 feat. 徐佳瑩) – Under the Willow Tree (柳樹下)
  6. Stefanie Sun (孫燕姿) – Silent All These Years
  7. A-Mei Chang (張惠妹) – What Time Is It Already? (你在看我嗎)
  8. Jing Chang (張芸京) – The Opposite Me (相反的我)
  9. Chris Lee (李宇春) – Lost Heart Crazy (失心瘋)
  10. Dream Girls – Weak (軟弱)
  11. A-Mei Chang (張惠妹) [as AMIT] – After the Sentimental Love of Animals (相愛後動物感傷)*
  12. Stefanie Sun (孫燕姿) – The Kingdom of Fools (愚人的國度)

*Note: There’s some blurred nudity and depictions of sex in that video.

You can check the playlist on YouTube.

I love when I do long and weird titles. xD

I don’t want to offend anyone — I know I’m doing my generalization, but let’s be honest~ I haven’t been into the American commercial pop scene since… I left Britney, and I left her circa her Toxic days too.

Even though people say I’m a music snob (I don’t know why…), I really like my easy-to-digest commercial pop of pretty idols that I can worship,  catchy music, and dance routines. I was big on the dancing, and I’m not talking about jiggly butt dances or Waka Waka stuff — as you know, I prefer my Shakira in her Donde Estan los Ladrones days… — I’m talking about sync dancing that gets you pumped, all the UMPH from the Nsync and Britney days of late 90s and very early 2000s.

I gave a try to the Katy Perrys, the Jonas Bros, the Justin Biebers (yes, yes I did.) — by the time Ke$ha was out, I had already given up. I didn’t even try Miley because her voice exasperates me, so I wouldn’t be able to stand her singing voice.

And then Kpop happened.

Maybe it was because I saw these Asian faces looking back at me — then again, maybe it isn’t — or maybe they put something in my kimchi (though I’m pretty sure I started eating kimchi after my Kpop thing), maybe it’s because they’re just better… who knows, but there’s something so VERY fascinating about the way Kpop is spreading.

We’ve been looking how it’s grown over the past 2 or 3 years into a phenomenon. I wonder how big is going to get, I want to see it get big… but not only Kpop, of course — other types of Asian music. I want to see how Kpopers get famous, Cpopers, — okay, not Jpopers, but definitely Jrockers, and the Taiwan music scene, and the indie Japanese scene~

So obviously, I made a playlist prompted from the Kahi post I did a day or two ago.

These are songs from from the Kpop industry that just stuck out. It’s a bit thin on the earlier years [the playlist is ordered by year], but it begins getting pretty heavy in 2008. I tried picking just songs that are dance pop and not ballads just to keep the list in check — at the moment it has 30 tracks, that I hope will expand into more songs as the months and years go by~

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Here’s the YouTube link.

If you have any suggestions as to what it’s missing, comment away.

*EDIT*

Must include MVs (so songs released as singles), not older than late 90s.
Also… song must work as MV too. So no awesome songs but tacky videos. Sorry.

Now tell me, how did you get into Kpop?

Excuse me, was I supposed to know what #FF meant? LOL

Deftune asked what were YAM’s fave Hip Hop tunes, and I suggested Lauryn. Because Ms. Hill is awesome. And I sure hope she’s coming back. But then again, I don’t know much about Hip Hop.

I took some time to fill up my YouTube Wayne Isham Playlist. Now it contains over 50 videos directed by Isham, but I’ve omitted some — namely most Metallica videos because they don’t let me watch their content, so screw them.

If you missed my write-up on Isham’s work, here you go~

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Here’s the link to the list, and don’t forget to “HEART” this post and/or comment on what videos could be added, or other music video directors for future Music Video Director posts xD

It’s independence day in Peru! So I made you all a playlist again with old school Peruvian rock. Awww, man~~~ those where the days. Or maybe I have my stages… without the internet, I grew up with this music. With the internet, I moved on to music in English… and having Asian friends, I follow so much Asian music now. — Did you noticed the whole front page was filled with Asian music posts??? — And then people call me a music snob.

Anyway, Feliz 28!

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  1. Tierra Sur – Llaman a la Puerte [They’re Calling at the Door]
  2. Yvonne y los Mercantiles – Sin Parar [Without Stopping] – the chorus goes “I want to dance all night long without stopping” though it would translate better to “I want to dance all night long, all night long, all night long”.
  3. Miki Gonzales – Akundun
  4. Sangre Purpura – Que te Pasa Javier [What’s Going On Javier] – which goes “What’s going on, Javier? You look like a woman”
  5. Fragil – Avenida Larco [Larco Avenue]
  6. Los Mojarras – Triciclo Peru [Peru Tricycle]
  7. Los Nosequien y los Nosecuantos (NSQ y NSC) – Las Torres [The Towers]
  8. Autocontrol – Por tu Amor (For your Love) – This one sounds straight out of Saint Seiya.
  9. Arena Hash – Cuando la Cama me Da Vueltas [When the Bed Spins Around]
  10. Los Nosequien y los Nosecuantos (NSQ y NSC) – Magdalena — referring to a Lima district, so the song goes “I live by/for Magdalena, but I’d die for Susana”