Category: Music

  • Han Hong – The Woman with the Wonderful Voice

    I know I’ve tagged this with “new talent” and “new music” when in fact it’s not.

    First, a little about Han Hong – according to Chinese Wiki – She’s won the award for the Most Popular Female Singer, as well as the Best Female Artist Award (in mainland China). That means she’s critically acclaimed, and popular among the public – which doesn’t happen often on this side of the world. LOL

    Her voice is often compared (by the fans) to Sarah Brightman for her unique style… music and lyrics. – and everyone loves Brightman… she was even on the Beijing Olympics Opening.

    Now, a little on my story. I first noticed her at the Beijing Paralympic Opening Ceremony – with Andy Lau singing Flying with the Dream – but I didn’t have much luck getting her name or clips back then, so I kinda forgot about it until the day I was watching those music concerts on CCTV back in April and she appeared on stage. My mom thought what an amazing voice! While I added I had seen her in the Paralympic Ceremony… totally forgetting she’s also featured on the Beijing Welcomes You music video (thank you, whoever did those annotations! It’s hard to keep track of so many singers…) – Anyway, that day… I ended up discovering Chris Lee instead of Han Hong… but the wait is OVER!

    Since the beginning, I’ve always thought she had an amazing voice, but the video above moved me so much. It gave me shivers, and almost brought tears to my eyes. No, really. It’s THIS video in particular… this performance. She’s an amazing vocalist! I would love to see her perform with Sarah Brightman herself, or maybe even the lovely women of Celtic Woman – or Meav *tsk tsk*

    I’m not completely sold on her videos – like on most vocalist I follow – but her live performances are so much more worth it. Here are some of her other performances…

    Ommani
    Qinghai Tibetan Plains

  • Michael Jackson R.I.P

    This not just in… but I’ve been watching the TV since it was announced.

    Surprising news… Michael Jackson died. O_o

    NOOOOOOO! Before I get to see him in concert. Damn!

    Read all about it here.

    MJ changed the music industry, and was an idol that went across the generational barrier inspiring tons of people of many different ages… including my uncle and aunt, my older cousins, me and my younger counsin. His video for Remember the Time was the first video I remember ever making an impact as a kid, and will always regard him as a musical visionary.

    —

    Well it’s been a few hours already. I can’t still believe it – this has actually been a day of a lot of deaths (3 more) announcements aroudn here – *sighs* And it seems this has shocked a whole lot of people. My dad was following this story with me… and even my mom, who doesn’t generally give a crap about entertainment news.

    I also found the following entries~~~
    Igor + Andre MJ Tribute
    Cinencuentro.com
    TimesOnline
    – Stage Thriller who Took the Music Industry
    – Fans Mourn Artist
    – In his Own Words
    – Searching for Jackson’s Doctor
    – Death Linked to Painkiller

    — June 29 —
    Pitchfork
    – R.I.P
    – Michael Jackson News and Reactions
    – Music and Videos

  • Rebirth with Cheer Chen, by Keng-Ming Liu

    I just officially joined Vimeo – not entirely sure why, but we’ll see…
    In the meantime, this rocking video and song!

  • Best Remedy to Fight 4?

    Nothing better than the 8! xD
    [reference here]

    LivingSocial: Albums - 888 Album Count

    I just hit the 888 albums on my LivingSocial Album application on Facebook – and with 8 lists! xD – I listened to 4 albums tonight… Monkey Majik with Sora wa Marude (The Sky is so…) and “thank you”, as well as Regina Spektor and Shiina Ringo’s latest~~~ Far, and Sanmon GOSHIPPU (Superficial Gossip, Sanmon Gossip) – whatever your pick on names is…

  • Lucky Thirteen – Watch Over Me

    Fan-made video! And new video posting testing!! LOL

    First, a little about the video.

    I began this… when this episode (Lucky Thirteen) aired back in Oct. 2008 – so it’s been sitting on my computer forever. I worked on it one weekend, and sort of left it there – until this weekend. I’ve begun working on another music video (on a less fan-made side) and thought I should at least finish this one.

    I found Thirteen (I refuse to call her Dr. Hadley or Remy LOL) interesting from the beginning. It was a certain spark, and well… Olivia Wilde is pretty hot – which my friend Mob would be glad to agree on. And I also have to say that I’ve always found Foreman boring, so Foreteen makes me roll my eyes.

    That aside… the song is by Hanson from The Walk, and it immediately brought images of Thirteen and her out-of-control behavior, so I just had to do it.

    On a rant side… YouTube has removed already 2 of my fan-made videos, and I’m expecting them to remove the ones that are left, so I’m now forced to not use it. So please help out by linking back to this site =D

  • Monkey Majik!

    Just saw them on J-Melo! My first thought… what are these two white guys doing on NHK? I was pretty impressed, actually. They are fun to listen to… almost like having fun while listening to the Barenaked Ladies, only better. So I did a quick search, and found a list…

    Monkey Majik is a group of two Canadians and two Japanese dudes singing in Japan-glish xD
    give it a listen~~~ check out the song Fly, and their song Aishiteru (I Love You)
    actually… both those videos are pretty good. I liked Aishiteru quite a bit~

  • I’m ready for Voltaic!!!

    I dunno if my wallet is, though~~~ xD

    I haven’t bought anything non-Asian for… I dunno how long. xP

    Bjork - Voltaic

    Wow, I still can’t believe I saw Bjork live, right in front hahaha for real. Nearly two years ago~~~ *sighs* – Anyway, here’s the link where you can see the video… it does get you pumping~ WEEEEEE

  • Four is an Unlucky Number – YAM004

    LOL’

    Does that say enough to you? Really, read the editor’s note. Lots of things on this new issue… new problems, new films, new music…

    Reviews of films from the blockbuster season… Star Trek, Wolverine, Terminator Salvation, Up~~~ Brothers Bloom. Short film reviews, concert reviews… of Kiss in Lima. Music reviews of The Sounds, Green Day, Shiina Ringo… a bunch of K-pop courtesy of Julz~~~ off you go to Japan!!! WOOOOO – there’s Life on Mars, House M.D. and my more “professional” review of Yu Aoi’s Portugirl.

    Yam004

    Head over here.

  • My Thirst for Chinese Music…

    has been satisfied this weekend!!

    I had just discovered the Chinese Music Blog~~~ while reading this post – on also one of my new Chinese entertainment stops. – I got interested on the term “Zhong Guo Feng” which is to be translated as Chinese Style, or Wind… Vibe… etc etc.  so I googled and ended up there~~~ I really like the term a lot more than the Chinked Out (nicked by Wang Lee Hom) though.

    A lot of people seem to have a lot of different opinions on what music is what style, and so on~ I tend to think Chinked Out style is more of what LeeHom does, which is combining a lot of Hip Hop with very strong Beijing Opera elements (or other Chinese elements) … I really enjoyed that. *laughs* His latest album wasn’t so Chinked Out style, I thought, but I still liked it since I really also enjoy Rock N’ Roll and Elvis style *laughs*

    Zhong Guo Feng… I dunno if the term was nicked by Jay, but I got introduced to it through him (and my friend Diana, of course *laughs*) – I really do enjoy his Chinese-oriented songs a lot more than his faster Hip Hop dancing tracks. The more piano he’s got in the album, the less he raps in them… the more I dig. xD

    I do enjoy a whole lot more Zhong Guo Feng than any regular nasal dance pop.

    And I love LOVE these new additions to my library. ^^

    Milk@Coffee – Don’t let the name fool you (I foudn a lot of Starbucks related sites on my search) , after all… who can resist good Pop music?? Pop with an Umph! That electronic-y, quirky vibe. I love!!! Some of the songs remind me of Clazziquai in a way, which I also enjoy xD – They’ve got a bunch of great songs like Yi Qi Lai (Together), Space Cake or Lunar Garden~~~

    Yuguo – I think this is by far the most “rock” band [MySpace] I’ve heard in Chinese. You know? We often hear of soooo many Pop acts, it gets a little bit boring. Their 2nd album, Babel, has just been released. It’s a great rock album with bits of electronic… and I think it’s a “themed” album~~ at least, it seems that way from the titles of the tracks. xD

    Cheer Chen – *shrieks* How in the name of insert-God-name-here did I not hear about her before? She’s just recently released her fifth studio album Immortal (Tai Yang, as in Sun), and it’s pretty great… so I’m looking forward to her previous work.

    [Simply Said][Floral Posture][Shou de Yu Yan]

    If I ever go to Taiwan to study, she’s got a brand new stalker. *laughs*

    Add to that debut albums by Vae (linked above) – before there’s any complaints~~~ he’s a doctor. ’nuff said. LOL

    [You He Bu Ke (Why Not?)][Ru Guo Dang Shi (In the Event that)][Duo Yu De Jie Shi (Superfluous Explanation)]

    and LaLa (Xu Jia Ying) – like I said~~~ I enjoy my Zhong Guo Feng, and also good guitar driven songs.

    [Export (Chu Kou)][Oh, Easy (O Yi Xi)]

    Hmm… I seem to be listening to a lot of chick music lately O.o

  • I’m Bouncing off the Walls Again~~

    Woh~~~oh~~~!!

    Freaking bouncers… *note to self* always kick around to get a photographing wristband so bouncers don’t bug. I went to shoot Brett Anderson last night, and well – I actually had never heard of him before I heard he was coming over.

    It was pretty good… though I liked the guitarist better. LOL – He was a great subject tonight, and his shots are some of my favorite of the night… which is running long. I really need to go to sleep, but I wanted to post the set =D

    I’m sorry I couldn’t get a clear shot of the drummer… no lights pointing at him whatsoever!

    and~~~ I dunno why I like this shot so much. xD

    DSC_8764