Archives For Music

Woah~ Yang Liping

Back in 2012, during the CCTV Spring Gala, I was marveled watching Chinese dancer/choreographer Yang Liping (杨丽萍) doing her Peacock Love dance. First, I know it was totally not intended considering how visual a male peacock could be, but I loved that figuratively it was two male peacocks dancing a “dance of love” while literally it was a male and a female. ;P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F54YqlUa60

Then I was shocked that Yang Liping (after I learned her name, of course) was in her 50s. Just looking at the video, I could have thought she was in her late 20s or her 30s. It was definitely a stretch to find her no in her 40s, but her 50s. In a world where people think 30 is too old, I was even more shocked.

CCTV is doing a special these coming weeks, I think she has retired or something? She recently did a Weibo Talk, so I went on a Yang Liping YouTube binge, where I found this fabulous video, and discovered the amazingness that is Dynamic Yunnan (云南印象).

Posted on April 1, 2013 In Celebrity, Chinese, Clips, English, Music, Sharing, Television , , ,
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Jing Chang Does MJ

jing-chang-michael-jackson

Jing Chang just posted a photo of her in MJ attire.

Though it’s hot from the knee up, I gotta say- shoes are kind of distracting.

Posted on March 31, 2013 In Celebrity, Chinese, English, Music, Sharing, Snapshots , , ,
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Remembering Breakthrough Music Videos

Except for that 3-year break MTV took off the Breakthrough Music Video category, they had continued giving away the prize — which had been given to the likes of Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham — until 2010, when they officially removed the category.

So I ask again, what happened to Breakthrough Music Videos?

As a reminder, I put together a list with all the winners.

[iframe width=”580″ height=”326″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLE88395EDFAA954B7″ /]

If I had been picking winners (from that past post), I chose:

  • 2006 – U2 for Window in the Skies [MV]
  • 2007 – Tom Waits for Come On Up to the House [MV]
  • 2008 – Bjork for Wanderlust [MV]

For the other two years, you know I’m probably partial to SunnyHill [1], but I’ll go with Salyu’s Tadano Tomodachi [1] concept because it’s much more a production concept than a music video concept. For 2012, despite its serious hard-hitting concept [1], I would have to go with Graham Coxon’s What’ll It Take [MV] due to its imaginative execution using fan footage.

So what are some of your favorite music videos?

Posted on March 28, 2013 In English, Music, Music Videos, Sharing, Television , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Get your Swede On with MOVITS!

March 4, 2013 — Leave a comment

What do you get when you put rap, hip-hop and swing together- besides Simon D. [1]. How about adding some western into the mix? With a dash of Esteman and Andrea Echeverri [1]. And how about adding a dash of Swedish into it too? That’s MOVITS! yo~~~

At least that’s them on their latest single [1].

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/76836117″ params=”color=ff0090&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

It’s like… it’s like Glen Hansard rapping in Swedish. LOL

In English, Music, Sharing, Swedish , , ,
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Mayday – Masquerade (Male, Female, One Body)

I just began listening (truly listen) to Mayday’s discography pre the Born to Love days, finishing off titles/pinyin/title translations, when I ran into this song titled Masquerade (Male, Female, One Body) from their 2003 album, Time Machine (時光機). The thing is, the title of the song is Ci Xiong Tong Ti (雌雄同體), which is the term used to refer to “hermaphrodites” (which, by the way, isn’t longer a term accepted for people, who are now referred to as “intersex”). Perplexed, thinking that Google Translate was giving me a wonky translation, I checked the dictionary to double check.

On a quick google search, I found a pretty terrific (singable) translation of the song.

Rather than you understand me—I’d rather be a mystery
A puzzle you just cannot solve, of what’s false and real, it’ll play at your heartstrings
I’ll play you, or play your opposite form; partake in this game of love that you’ve borne.

via NoStarWords @ LJ + starriheavens

My mind was melted. I mean, it’s not VERY often you get playful duality in music, playing on gender-role conventions and completely avoiding the titillation that seethes from… well, everywhere now.

Continue Reading…

Posted on February 20, 2013 In Celebrity, Chinese, English, Lyrics, Music, Music Videos, Pinyin, Sharing , , , , , , ,
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I know so many people who would download loads of music for free, but still buy the stuff they liked (usually discovered from their own or other people’s free downloads). Now those same people listen to Spotify and feel that they have paid the artists, so no longer feel the need to buy the songs they like.

Comment on Artists, Please! Don’t Put Spotify Play Buttons On Your Site…

Additional info: How Much Do Music Artists Earn Online?

Downloads, Streamings, and Buys- Oh, My!

Posted on February 18, 2013 In English, Music, Sharing , , , , , , ,
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TINY-G’s 90s Dancing

I don’t want to say “POWERFUL!!!” because I will feel like the captioning person on Korean variety programs. However, I just stumbled upon this video of TINY-G doing the choreography of their debut [MV], which I liked more than the actual music video. For one, you can actually see what’s going on without much distractions, and you can appreciate that they’re bringing a lot of HMPH! to their dancing in the way that 90s pop music used to have women dancing in not-high-heels and stomping their feet looking that they’re dancing instead of seducing you.

There’s still a long LONG way to go for TINY-G, and we still need to see if their management ever dares to push the girls for a super girly concept for a comeback single like they love to do in Korea — which, sadly, seems like a huge possibility from the few comments I’ve been able to read asking why these tiny girls need to wear such baggy clothing when they’re so minuscule. Apparently people have issues with baggy clothes. Is it not feminine enough?

Would you rather see them stomping with high heels and minis, so they can eff up their kidneys… just so they can look feminine and show their slender bodies to you?

Looking at TINY-G, it brings back memories of me rooting for Britney.

Posted on February 14, 2013 In Clips, English, Korean, Music, Sharing , , ,
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The Brightest Star in the Night Sky

February 14, 2013 — Leave a comment

tao-pao-ji-hua-escape-plan-earth

Just been discovered!

Escape Plan (逃跑计划, Tiao Pao Ji Hua), aka. Perdel Band. Spotted on CNN Travel… as always [1]. Their Rock in China page isn’t up to date, but it’s always a good spot to start with. Besides their 2008 EP titled Take Me Away (带我离开), they released a full length album in early 2012 titled Earth (世界), which contains all the songs from their EP in more slick production, as well as a version of Zaijian Zaijian (再见再见) with lyrics instead of the instrumental piano.

From all the endless bands coming out of China, they seem to be a good substitute of Yuguo while I wait for their new album, which is supposed to come out this March (if I didn’t read wrong)

Sorry, no music embeds.

You can preview web shorter versions of their album on their Douban page or Weibo Music.

In Chinese, English, Music, Posters/Artwork, Sharing , , , , , ,
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The Ultimate Guide to Boy Bands of the 90s

yammag-ultimate-guide-boy-band-90s

What started like a simple post, ended up taking a lot of hours of research and boy band video-watching. I may or not regret it.

Voila! The Ultimate Guide to Boy Bands of the 90s ~

There were boy bands I hadn’t even heard of… and some that I had to dust off my VHS tapes to get their names. Ha!

Posted on February 13, 2013 In English, French, Graphics, Japanese, Jobs, Korean, Music, Sharing, Spanish, Swedish , , , , , , , , ,
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Mavis Fan & 100% – The God of Wealth Has Arrived

I think I was posting a Mavis Fan track on Weibo when I ended up finding Vegetarian Fish, a site that was put up for Mavis Fan’s project with her mother, Miss D.D. Mavis produced the self-titled album for her mother, and sang a version of Doris Day’s Everybody Loves a Lover [1] with a nice mother/daughter moment in their music video.

It’s hard to come by official links when looking in English, so I’m ecstatic that Mavis uses the channel for uploads of her group Mavis Fan & 100%, even if it’s just to wish us all Happy Chinese New Year with a short track/clip of The God of Wealth Has Arrived (財神到, Cai Shen Dao). And the doodles of the video are pretty funny, especially the one featuring Tony Leung because Mavis and Tony were on The Silent War last year. xD

Posted on February 9, 2013 In Celebrity, Chinese, Clips, English, Music, Sharing , , ,
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