Archives For new talent

Faye Wong’s baby girl is no longer a baby. Leah Dou (Dou Jingtong, 竇靖童) is freaking 16 years old, and I just discovered that she’s posted a song online. Daughter of Chinese musician Dou Wei (窦唯) and Asian diva Faye Wong, you’d think their daughter would be predestined for musical haven — Of course, in this day and age, you would be more inclined to think that she’d be a spoiled brat. But her introduction makes it seem like she’s a composed young adult.

Seems like Dou and Wong have been decent parents.

Move over Taylor Swift, as much as your first two albums seemed to pave an okay-ish path of songwriting skills with some… vocals, Leah Dou has arrived and hasn’t even started yet. Is not only that she’s Faye Wong’s child (and she’s enormous) , that just got me mildly interested. I clicked on the link thinking “oh, great! Another kid on the internet with a guitar.” But passed the first few chords, the quality of her voice is just… mind-blowing. And I don’t think she’s even trying to impress. She’s just chilling.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/80849421″ params=”color=ff0090&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Of course this comes after her mom’s latest release that has already shot up to my favorite tracks this year, and I doubt any other track will snatch the #1 spot for my yearly music countdown.

You can follow Leah’s activities on Facebook, YouTube, Soundcloud and Twitter… and Weibo.

yammag-interview-laure-shang-plympton-crowd-lu-guangzhong-esteman

From left to right.- Laure Shang Wenjie, animator Bill Plympton, Crowd Lu, and Esteman.

For the past couple of months I’ve been able to interview some of these awesome people. But that you knew if you were following all my ramblings on YAM Magazine.

For some other of my interviews, click here.

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

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.

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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.

TINY-G’s concept is funny. Short girls, who don’t fit he Korean girl group standard of being 1.60m in height at least, are put together. They’re all 18 except for the member who is 15 (the short-haired one). And it doesn’t hurt that they’re all super cute in a non-lolita way. They wear super baggy clothing and look more like they can pull a prank on you than put a move on a guy.

As far as Korean pop music concepts, it doesn’t hurt.

Their latest single, MINIMANIMO [MV], is quite catchy. However, I’m most taken aback by the non-speaking member Mint, from Thailand. So she’s still learning to speak Korean (very well a commendable choice), I wouldn’t even mind at all if TINY-G ever decided to drop a whole verse in Thai just for kicks in one of their future singles.

Having said that, I’m crazy for Mint’s hair. It looks flawless. And she seems to be the shortest one. She’s already become my bias in a group I don’t really have a bias for.

Ever since I listened to Esteman’s feature length debut, I’ve been loving the album. I know I haven’t actually built my Top10 albums this past 2012 (I’m unsure I have enough quality to make a Top10) but 1er Acto is definitely included in this.

Allen, Keaton y Johansson, Presley, Minelli, Sinatra, Cotillard et Piaf, Funes, Bardot, Gaga, Madonna, Davis, Andersson, Lauren, Newman y Travolta, Taylor, Mercury, Coppola, Almodovar, Cruz, Leguizamo, Winehouse, Lennon, Jackson y Monroe.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/44616062″ params=”color=ff0090&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Though, his track with Andrea Echeverri, Aqui Estoy Yo, made it to my Top10 tracks of last year.

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It’s that time of the year again.

You know where to go.

 

Just like I would say in Spanish… “uff, temazo”

This year, Colombian music really threw me off with a few couple of tracks. Monsieur Perine is one of those new groups. Their sound is infectious, taking me into the world of Sylvain Chomet’s Triplettes of Belleville. xD

Exciting things are going to be happening in the musica latina scene, it feels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWK-4a7J31M

You Me by Hamacide + ChaCha

October 15, 2012 — 3 Comments

Just ran into this song- a collaboration between producer Hamacide and Shanghai singer ChaCha on vocals. The EP — which seems more like an elaborate single really — has different remixes by Downstate, Jared Turinsky, Lightswitch Lafayette as well.

With artwork by Lily Xiao.

You can also buy this on Bandcamp.