Category: Music

  • 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.

    (more…)

  • Downloads, Streamings, and Buys- Oh, My!

    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?

  • 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.

  • The Brightest Star in the Night Sky

    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.

  • 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!

  • 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

  • Beyonce Breaks Down the Super Bowl

    I have often questioned Beyonce’s IT factor [1][2]. Whether her choice of choreography always left me cold, what she chose to belt, and how her music seems to be only dance club friendly having changed very little throughout the past decade. However, even I have to admit she broke down the Super Bowl Halftime show this year.

    [iframe src=”https://player.yinyuetai.com/video/player/601468/v_0.swf” width=”480″ height=”334″ /]

    via YinYueTai.

    I mildly regret she missed her first floor-screen mark there and the black silhouette was all empty when she was a mere step away from it. BUT, she did rock that multiple-screen Beyonce performance quite flawlessly. And then Kelly and Michelle (could handle it~). It was Destiny’s Child’s first ever performance in like- FOREVER. And I’m shocked how little Michelle has changed, while Kelly and Beyonce had put on some- errr~ years on them. They all looked so kick-ass with their toned arms, and it was like high school all over again.

    My only wish for the performance was that it could’ve ended before Beyonce played Halo, which seemed quite out of place in the show. But I guess she has to fill those 15 minutes? Maybe that’s why there was a power outage afterwards?

    My respect, Beyonce. You’ve earned it.

  • Historia de la Musica by Pablo Morales de los Rios

    Over the years there has been some outstanding whiteboard marker illustration videos, like Drive: The Surprising Truth about what Motivates Us [1], Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson, or variations like James & Amy’s Electric Fence [MV] (drawn by James Cooper).

    Spanish artist Pablo Morales de los Rios takes a look at the history of music and lays it out all on the table.

    It’s a thing of beauty.

  • Laura Pausini + Lara Fabian – La Solitudine Live in Rome

    I’ve watched this performance — specifically this performance — of La Solitudine a few couple of times because I’m astonished by Laura Pausini and Lara Fabian’s voice combination.

    A little part of me regrets never attending a Laura Pausini concert. I love Pausini’s voice, but at the same time most of her songs sound a lot similar to me — like, I can’t tell them apart. I know I should sit myself and just give it all a listen, the same with Lara Fabian’s full discography. Believe, I try to do that as often as I can.

    A multicultural music list is brewing in my head.

  • Brown Eyed Girls Through the Years

    YouTube recommendations worked for once! I ran into this pretty complete compilation of Brown Eyed Girls throughout the years, since their beginnings in 2006. As you may know or not, I discovered BEG from Abracadabra [1] and didn’t appreciate their first two albums completely — I liked them, but just liked them — until my trip to Taiwan when I spent most of my highway time listening to them.

    However, I haven’t actually bothered to look for Brown Eyed Girls performances throughout the years, so I was astonished to actually SEE how much they’ve changed physically. I knew that JeA, Miryo… and specially Narsha had talked about the things they got done, as they often point out the struggle GaIn had to go through for not accepting to undergo whatever their label wanted her to go through. I had seen the photos and some of the old music videos, but to actually see them perform and SEE — it’s shocking.

    I also respect their honesty on the subject.

    I’m also SHOCKED at the part where Miryo kinda reminded me of Bibi, with the hair and the geeky getup, included geeky glasses and all.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8mmM6JJ4LE