Archives For Music

Well, that was quick.

And don’t give me that excuse that the voting audience doesn’t like World Music because Han Hong is pretty much World Music too. Shaking bad vibes aside, HAYA Band’s sound fills me with energy. It’s the show’s loss. CoCo loves them too, you can tell. Anyone who loves music could feel their passion and energy.

I usually don’t watch the show myself, just the clips, and wait for the recap that just lists the final ranking~ but, my gosh~~~ is the ranking section annoying as f*ck! Why does that have to last like 30min?

If I’m not mistaken, I’ve been listening to Daiqing Tana (黛青塔娜 / Дайчин Тана) for quite a few months, so total surprised to find out that they’ll be performing in the latest season of I Am A Singer (我是歌手). Strange on its own, because we all know that Chinese people’s music taste is all sorts of conventional love ballad. And I love LOVE LaLa with all my bobo heart, but come one~ COME ON!

Now THAT’s a fuckin’ performance!

Also~ the mysterious Guan Zhe (关喆), who performed that catchy Beijing, Beijing, Wo Ai Beijing (北京,北京,我爱北京) number, will also be participating. Both he and HAYA Band (HAYA乐团) placed last.

If you’re interested, the performances (sans interruptions) are available on Xiami. Including the clean version of HAYA Band.

Also check out HAYA Band’s albums Migration (迁徙) and Crazy Horse (疯马), which are available on Xiami and iTunes. Apparently, you can also buy Migration on CDBaby, and there seems to be an up-to-date-ish Facebook page. However, the best place -always- is Weibo + DaiQing Tana’s.

You probably know I’m excited for Abhishek Kapoor’s Fitoor, of course, mainly because of Tabu xD but also because of the whole tortured emo broken-heart soul of the story. Plus, it’s Amit Trivedi’s music. I was (and usually always am) less excited about the leads… even less with Katrina “I can’ts but I tries” Kaif. Like- I don’t even know why I sat down to watch Phantom, because that’s hilarious.

But I’m always surprise to hear people saying that Katrina sucks at dancing… because I’ve never seen that. I think the first time I saw her was in YRF’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan, and — okay, I was mostly in love with Saans [clip] because that’s a damn good sexy song. LOL — but I don’t remember her sucking in the Ishq Shava [clip] number at all. In fact, I remember I actually said she wasn’t a bad dancer.

And I know everyone EVERYONE loves to hate and hates to love Sheila Ki Jawani [clip], but it appears on so many movies I’ve come to accept its catchy qualities despite movie and content. And even then when it appears people say she’s not a good dancer, she dances alright.My Kaif knowledge ain’t extensive, but even in Dhoom 3 [Kamli][Dhoom Machale Dhoom], she does totally fine. I can’t picture her at all doing Indian dance, but she totally nails modern and contemporary.

They looked pretty good doing this. Who choreographed it?

It’s out, it’s out! You know what to do~

yammag-amys-top50-songs-2015

Yup, once again~

Back in 2010, the YAM Magazine website was launched officially— it was my grandpa’s 5th death anniversary. Today, it’s his 10th year anniversary… also it’s the 5th YAM web anniversary! Numerology galore~~~

Anyway~ I posted my 2015 music highlights~ early, once again. There were a few albums of my biases, but most of these picks are new people I’ve begun following this year. So… happy listening!

amys-2015-music-highlights

I’m not a very big fan of Ayumi Hamasaki, but I remember when I saw this video (and her this song) for the very first time, it held a lot of promise. Sadly, it didn’t. At least from what I was able to listen to~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJmyT7Dfty4

Yup~ no typo there.

They do have indeedy a song called Warm Hole (웜홀, womhol), which everyone’s trying to pretend it’s Wormhole. Considering the song, I wonder how that was gonna fly on a ‘live’ performance, but they did.

The only minus? Lipsync. I’m sure they can come up with a way that JeA doesn’t have to do a choreography and just focus on the vocals, no? Music Core performance of Hot Shot, anyone? She was even great with the Sixth Sense bit. Nothing tops that Music Core performance. Legendary.

…that Brown Eyed Girls’ comeback is just around the corner~

New album comes out in like- one day, Nov. 5th.

And this one sounds like a winner track.

Looks like brand new management, brand new image.

My limit for sap is through the roof, as I got all warm and fuzzy when I found this song Rene Liu recorded with mah gurls Zhou Xun, Kwai Lun Mei and Tang Wei (whom I’ve just recently warmed up). They’re all super cute and super dork and super sappy together. I love it.

The song is called Wish You Well (我要你好好的), a single of Rene’s latest album of the same name, but it’s one of the last songs to get a video. The song Murmur of the Hearts (念念) [MV] is also on this album. I thought maybe it was for a movie, but doesn’t seem likely.

Happy listening~ DORK AWAY!

Yeh Dil Vole! xD

Anyone who’ve seen both Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 1996 directorial debut Khamoshi: The Musical (Silence: The Musical) and last year’s Belgian-French La Famille Bélier -by Eric Lartigau- can spot the similarities between the two (as well as the 1996 German film Beyond Silence (Jenseits der Stille) by Caroline Link). You can even spot the similar plot points by either reading the outline or watching the trailer.

In the pivotal emotional punch of the movie, the daughter (played by Manisha Koirala and Louane Emera respectively) auditions to the coveted singing position, when her (deaf) parents -who had been against the idea- show up to see their daughter perform both vocally and in sign language. Koirala (voiced by playback singer Kavita Krishnamurthy) doing Yeh Dil Sun Raha Hain (This Heart Is Listening), and Emera singing Je Vole (I Fly).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM5SDobPdi0

Though Lartigau’s more modern take is much more musically accessible (let’s be honest, the film starts out with 2008 staple That’s Not My Name [1]), it’s also lighter. Bhansali’s story focuses a big chunk of his running time to tell the story of Manisha’s parents, also incredibly played by Nana Patekar and Seema Biswas, their struggle to raise a (hearing) child in near poverty levels, to the point that Patekar goes door to door with his daughter to make a living selling things.

Of course, both also have a love interest, and both Salman and Ilian Bergala are the weakest link.

I declare- DRAW!