The Soundscapes Project

Ed.Note: I'm Pulling The Plug On This...

2007-07-27T11:07:00.000+08:00

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Soundscape #45: "I (Fucking) Quit!"

2007-07-20T12:52:00.001+08:00

Justindc. Quitting Time (#2), 2005.

I've just left my job of 3 years and 3 months (exact). I do have something lined up but right now, it's me-time (for a little over a week at least). I'm going to try and read more, watch less tv and write this short story that's been playing around in my head. I'm (still) trying to set up the new website for this; hopefully it'd be up soon. Any suggestions or comments? You know where to send them to.

It's not that I try to be random, but damn I'm absolutely fixated on this. How great would it be to bring a lunchbox to work everyday and not have to face the "what to eat" black hole at lunchtime! And to be honest, I'm not *that* particular about food. I can eat the same thing everyday for days on end, I kid you not. I do like to feel healthy about what I'm eating (or at least not guilty) though, so a lunchbox would be great! Now, if only I know how to cook...

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Superdrag - Sucked Out (Regretfully Yours)
2. (2:44) The National - Baby We'll Be Fine (Alligator)
3. (6:07) Matt Pond PA - A Million Middle Fingers (The Nature Of Maps)
4. (8:08) Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime (Remain In Light)
5. (12:23) Andrew Bird - A Nervous Tick Motion Of The Head To The Left (Andrew Bird And The Mysterious Production Of Eggs)
6. (17:23) Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better (You Could Have It So Much Better)
7. (20:04) Camera Obscura - If Looks Could Kill (Let's Get Out Of This Country)
8. (23:35) Headlights - Words Make You Tired (Kill Them With Kindness)
9. (27:24) Aimee Mann - Calling It Quits (Bachelor No. 2)
10. (31:35) Dialogue From Pulp Fiction (Pulp Fiction OST)
11. (32:38) Belle And Sebastian - It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career (The Boy With The Arab Strap)
12. (35:03) Spoon - Lines In The Suit (Girls Can Tell)
13. (38:52) The Martinis - Free (Empire Records OST)

Soundscape #44: "Save The Cheerleader, Save The World"

2007-07-13T08:31:00.000+08:00

Heroes, the show that has held me hostage for 23 Wednesday nights, has just finished its run on tv and the final episode was absolutely crap. I'm so disappointed! What a cop-out ending! Where's the action? Where's the promised drama? The final episode was suffocated by really bad acting and oh, the lines! They were so cheesy I was cringeing through them, hoping, no, praying, for some spark of originality.

I should have known better. Originality in a TV series? What is Heroes if not a big pot of the issues and problems that occupied—and is still occupying—man since the dawn of human consciousness? Sure, it's updated for the modern ADD audience but you don't have to dig too deep into the packaging to see the characters trying to grapple with the issues of good vs evil, the hero and his hubris, the notion of the journey, the problem of the Outsider/Other in each episode. And if you stir into that mix the childhood fantasies we all had—super powers that noone knew about, the conspiracy, the excitement of it all, the inner kid in me is happily willing to come straight back home on Wednesday nights just to watch TV.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy (Black Sheep Boy)
2. (1:21) Pixies - Debaser (Waves Of Mutilation)
3. (4:13) The Organ - Brother (Grab That Gun)
4. (8:14) Voxtrot - Firecracker (S/T)
5. (11:56)The Flaming Lips - Fight Test (Fight Test EP)
6. (16:05) Foo Fighters - Learn To Fly (There Is Nothing Left To Lose)
7. (16:05) Sufjan Stevens - The Man Of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts (Illinois)
8. (20:01) Josh Ritter - Good Man (The Animal Years)
9. (25:47) The Arcade Fire - Intervention (Neon Bible)
10. (29:55) Beulah - A Good Man Is Easy To Kill (The Coast Is Never Clear)
11. (34:11) Bloc Party - Hunting For Witches (A Weekend In The City)
12. (38:31) Mogwai - Glasgow Mega-Snake (Mr Beast)
13. (42:05) M83 - Don't Save Us From The Flames (Before The Dawn Heals Us)
14. (45:37) The Thermals - Here's Your Future (The Body The Blood The Machine)
15. (49:53) Radiohead - There There (The Boney King Of Nowhere) (Hail To The Thief)

Soundscape #43: I Want One And I Want It Now!

2007-07-06T08:30:00.000+08:00

Good god! Can Steve Jobs do no wrong!?? I feel like a little kid captivated by this magician pulling rabbits out of his hat. Steve Jobs has a way of making you realise needs that you've never known you had and by the time he's done, you couldn't imagine how on god's earth you had existed till now without it. And he does it with such ease and elegance almost, you'd have to ask: why didn't anyone figure this out before? 5000 songs in your pocket? 5000 songs in your pocket the size of your credit card?! Goddamn!

Steve Jobs's latest is of course the iPhone. I remember watching the webcast where he first introduced it and he goes: "phone. ipod. internet"..... and repeats the 3 words until the audience start realising that it's just one machine and goes wild cheering. The vibe was rapturous, as if Steve Jobs had just saved the world. Actually, maybe he did! The sale of iPhones started last week and it's made about 600,000 people happy. I think it's a tribute (albeit a whacked one) that OEM models are beginning to appear on auction sites. If the bloody phone weren't hardwired to work only with AT&T networks, I would have gotten one already.

Come, Steve, please, take my money! 2008 cannot come early enough.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Is This Love? (S/T)
2. (3:13) The Streets - Fit But You Know It (A Grand Don't Come For Free)
3. (7:25) Malajube - Montreal -40 (Trompe-L'oeil)
4. (10:45) Tegan & Sara - I Know I Know I Know (So Jealous)
5. (14:29) Robbers On High Street - Love Underground (Tree City)
6. (17:03) Apples In Stereo - I Want (Velocity Of Sound)
7. (19:08) The Mendoza Line - It's A Long Line (But It Moves Quickly) (Fortune)
8. (22:35) We Are Scientists - Worth The Wait (With Love And Squalor)
9. (25:19) The Smiths - I Want The One I Can't Have (Meat Is Murder)
10. (28:32) The Decemberists - Angel, Won't You Call Me (5 Songs EP)
11. (31:10) The White Stripes - I Cant Wait (White Blood Cells)
12. (34:49) Lucky Soul - Ever Yours I Remain (Add Your Light To Mine Baby)
13. (37:51) M. Ward - Eyes On The Prize (Post-War)

Soundscape #42: "Tell Me You Feel This Fire"

2007-06-29T11:07:00.000+08:00

Hughes Leglise. Part Of L'autre Passerelle, November 2006.

Why do we meet the people we meet? How much of it is design and how much is chance? For most of us, the most common places we meet new people is either school or work, no? You would probably start smiling at the uncle at the coffeeshop you frequent but that's still considered your comfort zone. In fact, as we get older, we'd practically go out of our way to not make any eye contact with strangers at all. We block out the external world with our earphones and sunglasses and we walk from Point A to B without seeing anything in between.

But for some reason, I let this wall down the other day and asked a backpacker if he needed help with directions as he looked mighty lost. I made a new friend and became the tour guide (people who know me will seriously laugh at this) for 2 days. And just like that, a connection is made and even as it's so new and fragile, it felt like something worth preserving somehow. In a big soul-less city—where people are self-absorbed, indifferent and disconnected from one another—a connection between 2 strangers is hard to come by. It feels a bit weird when you realise that when we were younger, we thought that connections would be many and easy to come by but as we get older we realise that we only get a few shots at it in life.

To me, these connections among strangers transcend language and all other superficial barriers. Yes, it'd probably be ideal if we understand what the other party is saying but I'm speaking of the moments where you are so comfortable sitting in silence with the person and you know he/she is feeling the same way.

And even, even if I'm imagining this whole thing up, I think I will have someone to show me around in France next year :D

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Norah Jones - Don't Know Why (Come Away With Me)
2. (3:04) Athlete - Chances (Tourist)
3. (7:55) Tegan & Sara - You Wouldn't Like Me (So Jealous)
4. (10:51) Bright Eyes - First Day Of My Life (I'm Wide Awake It's Morning)
5. (13:54) Gene - Your Love, It Lies (Olympian)
6. (17:12) Margot And The Nuclear So And Sos - Talking In Code (The Dust Of Retreat)
7. (20:57) Bloc Party - This Modern Love (Silent Alarm)
8. (25:23) Snow Patrol - Spitting Games (Final Straw)
9. (29:10) Spoon - Stay, Don't Go (Kill The Moonlight)
10. (32:42) Wheat - Don't I Hold You (Hope And Adams)
11. (36:30) Wilco - Say You Miss Me (Being There)
12. (40:38) Death Cab For Cutie - A Movie Script Ending (The Photo Album)

Soundscape #41: "God Doesn't Want Me To Write, But I...I Must" — Franz Kafka

2007-06-22T08:31:00.000+08:00

Franz Kafka, 1883—1924. New Jewish Cemetery,
Stranice, Prague. May 2007.

It is said that when Thomas Mann lent his friend, Albert Einstein, a copy of Kafka's works, it was returned to him with the following remarks "I cannot read this; the human mind is not complicated enough." Albert Camus phrased it in another way: "The whole of Kafka's art consists in compelling the reader to re-read him." Indeed there are so many levels at which one can read Kafka. You can read The Trial as an absurdist satire on the workings of law or you can read The Castle as a portrayal of the inefficacy of the beaurocracy. But no matter how hard you try to stay to the reading you've chosen, it would never stick; Kafka has a way of steering you through unchartered waters. As a friend puts it, his stories lead you into a labyrinth which then peters out and becomes indistinguishable from the real world, which of course is understandably disturbing.

But the beauty of Kafka, to me at least, is precisely because he unsettles you. Through his stories, you realise that not all roads should or have to lead to a destination; not all goals can be fulfilled and therein the beauty lies: for what will we do after we get what we want? It is the struggle that is the most important, even if, no, especially if, it's futile. There is hope only in an unfulfilled goal.

I went to Kafka's grave by myself in Prague and even though I had previously arranged for someone to bring me there, the deal fell through. So I asked for directions, found the station, figured out how to work the tickets and where the right platform is, I arrived at Zelivskeho only to find the station dead quiet with hardly anyone around. And stupid me realised at this point that my rubbish guidebook did not have the area mapped out at all. Noone I asked knew the slightest English. After half an hour, I decided to fuck it and walked right out of the exit (there were 3, I just picked the one in front of me with the most light flooding into the station). It was hot and bright and I asked the guy who was selling flowers where the cemetery is and it was just next to him (hence the flowers, duh). And the nice old man at the cemetery told me where to find Kafka's grave.

I think I must have sat at his grave for at least 2 hours; just sitting there and drinking hot tea (I brought a thermos!) and eating day-old bagel and a muffin. and smoking. copiously. Just sitting there and not thinking about anything. Just sitting there and listening to Beirut (and later bright eyes) and writing and smoking and sitting. I was getting eaten up by mosquitoes but still I sat there until I had to leave, and it's only because I realised I can't sit there forever, even if I had wanted to. And I was glad that the arrangement for someone to bring me here fell through cos there was no way I could have stayed there for 2 hours. And I've never been more glad to be alone.

One of the main reasons for my going to Prague was to visit Kafka's grave and just say hi. It was on my top 10 things to do before I die. Now that I've done it, whatever will I do next?

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Portishead - Mysterons (Dummy)
2. (5:05) Joanna Newsom - Colleen (Joanna Newsom And The Ys Street Band EP)
3. (11:47) Beirut - Mount Wroclai (Idle Days) (Gulag Orkestar)
4. (15:01) Elliott Smith - Bled White (XO)
5. (18:19) Jenny Lewis And The Watson Twins - Rise Up With Fists! (Rabbit Fur Coat)
6. (21:57) The National - Abel (Alligator)
7. (25:36) The Arcade Fire - The Well And The Lighthouse (Neon Bible)
8. (29:36) Iron And Wine/Calexico - He Lays In The Reins (In The Reins)
9. (33:16) Teenage Fanclub - Mellow Doubt (Grand Prix)
10. (36:04) The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build A Home (Ma Fleur)
11. (42:12) The Clientele - Isn't Life Strange (God Save The Clientele)
12. (46:00) Wheat - Be Brave (Hope And Adams)
13. (50:16) Mogwai - I Chose Horses (Mr Beast)

Soundscape #40: "When A Man Is Tired Of London, He Is Tired Of Life"

2007-06-15T08:31:00.000+08:00

Phone booths on some street, May 2007.

There is something inherently incredible about London. On the surface it's like every other big city on the planet: busy, overcrowded, indifferent, paranoid. People are always in a rush and it seems that everyone's only looking out for number 1. London's tube is a joke; The trains are old and rickety and there's no aircon in the carriages. I try to make it a point to go to the toilet before getting on the trains just in case of signal delays. And they happen often enough too. I'm always coming across service announcements and updates. Once, the train I was in actually bypassed a station because "it was too crowded." Similarly, the entire Northern line service was actually cancelled one sunday for "engineering works." I can imagine how people back at home would go apeshit at something like that but Londoners seem to take it in their stride.

People always talk about the dreariness of London but it didn't rain much the entire 8 days we were there. I was pretty disappointed. Everyone else was so grateful for the "pleasant" weather; the hotel staff were telling us that we brought the singapore sun with us...we didn't find that funny at all.

I like that people in London are polite to a fault (most are, anyways). They actually smile back when you smile at them and are probably not thinking that you are mad. People queue up to take the bus here (by the road, not an interchange) and there's a disturbing sense of order on the escalators: everyone stands to the right and let others pass them on the left. I like that it's relatively easy to just talk to a stranger on the tube or the bus. I like the free papers in the tube stations and how people will leave them in the trains for other people. I like how walking down Oxford/Bond street, I'd find 3 different branches of the same shop on the same street. It's crazy deja vu and as I've learnt the hard way, not a good landmark to find your way back!

I'm going to sound like a travel catalog if I don't stop; let's just say that the ludicrously expensive prices of everything in London—a can of ~~coke light~~ diet coke is about S$4.50 and you have to pay 60p (S$1.80!) to go to the toilet—are not going to stop me from going back a third time.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Interpol - C'mere (Antics)
2. (3:10) Belle & Sebastian - Another Sunny Day (The Life Pursuit)
3. (7:14) The Clash - London Calling (London Calling)
4. (10:33) The Go! Team - The Power Is On! (Thunder, Lightning, Strike)
5. (13:47) Malajube - Ton Plat Favori (Tromp L'oeil)
6. (16:19) Spoon - The Way We Get By (Kill The Moonlight)
7. (19:00) Jason Collett - I'll Bring The Sun (Idols Of Exile)
8. (22:32) Of Montreal - My British Tour Diary (Satanic Panic In The Attic)
9. (24:40) White Stripes - Hotel Yorba (White Blood Cells)
10. (26:50) The Raveonettes - Heartbreak Stroll (Chain Gang Of Love)
11. (29:17) Badly Drawn Boy - Born In The U.K. (Born In The U.K.)
12. (31:54) The Mendoza Line - Will You Be Here Tomorrow? (Fortune)
13. (35:05) Yo La Tengo - My Little Corner Of The World (I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One)
14. (37:30) Gene - London, Can You Wait? (Olympian)

Soundscape #39: Sometimes You Have To Walk Alone

2007-06-08T08:31:00.000+08:00

May 2007. New Jewish Cemetery, Prague-Stranice.

There is an instinctual aversion to standing out in the collective unconsciousness of us humans, both physically and mentally. To stand out is to be alone and shunning from a fear of the unknown, we seek warmth and comfort in crowds, willingly giving up our individualities and be one with the majority. We are so used to it that a preference for solitude is likely to brand one as a loner or a social outcast. The one thing I realised from the trip is that there are some things one has to do alone; some feelings and experiences are just not meant to be shared.

I liked being alone with myself, with this side of me I rarely get to see at home; I never even knew it existed. It's a wonderful feeling to be walking around and on and on with no destination in mind but you know that you'd get somewhere. You don't have any expectations but you know you won't be disappointed even if you try.

I've never walked more in my life. Every morning after breakfast in Prague for example, I'd start walking from Point A to B. There is always public transport but the journey is sometimes more interesting than the destination itself. More often than not, I'd discover something more interesting en route; it's like a treasure hunt. If I don't have somewhere I want to be for that day, I'd pick a direction and just walk. It's magical to be walking in a foreign city and be held in wonder at everything. It's hard not to be treated like a tourist in Prague because I'm forever looking up at the gorgeous buildings and its sculptures of angels and saints and gargoyles and I'd be furiously clicking away. Besides, all the asians I see in Prague (there aren't many to begin with) are in tour groups and I'm conspicuously alone. And I got lost a lot. But even when I don't know where I am, I'd just walk along anyway (there was a tourist who approached me for directions and I'd never felt more honoured), fascinated by the new area I'm in, knowing that I'd just walk back the same way I came, so I don't really fit into the cliche of a lost tourist either.

I guess what I'm saying is although I am definitely not a resident here, I'm not strictly a tourist either. It's the in-between, the interstitial, and the feeling begins the moment you start to watch yourself just walking, a movie begins to play in your head of you just walking and the first chords of the soundtrack of your imaginary movie begin to fall into step with your own and it's so apt that you smile to yourself and someone across the street happened to be looking your way and smiled back.

But no matter how many times I replay these scenes in my head of the streets I've walked, the things I've seen and the people that I've met, I know that my eyes have seen more than my mind will ever remember and I feel nostalgic for the lost memories that I wouldn't even know I had.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Bright Eyes - Old Soul Song (For The New World Order) (I'm Wide Awake It's Morning)
2. (4:30) Badly Drawn Boy - Magic In The Air (The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast)
3. (8:15) The Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (Give Up)
4. (12:58) Wilco - Walken (Sky Blue Sky)
5. (17:24) The Organ - Memorize The City (Grab That Gun)
6. (20:22) Teenage Fanclub - Don't Look Back (Grand Prix)
7. (24:04) The National - Fake Empire (Boxer)
8. (27:30) Josh Ritter - Here At The Right Time (The Animal Years)
9. (31:07) Cat Power - Lived In Bars (The Greatest)
10. (34:54) The Clientele - Step Into The Light (Strange Geometry)
11. (38:55) M. Ward - To Go Home (Post-War)
12. (42:45) Elliott Smith - A Fond Farewell (From A Basement On The Hill)
13. (46:44) The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely (Get Lonely)

Ed. Note: Travel Update II

2007-05-24T05:15:00.000+08:00

Just dropping in with a quick note to say that The National gig was excellent! I loved every minute of it. The Annuals were the opening band and they weren't too bad as well. The Astoria is this extremely dark, no, pitch black, venue and the seats were horribly cramped. But who cares!? I was standing and cheering the whole time The National was playing. At the beginning, Matt Berninger said "I'm not much of a talker" and he was singing half the time with one arm folded under the other but when Mr November comes on, the whole crowd went nuts and that was when the party really started, I think. Matt Berninger jumped right into the mosh pit as he sang "I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders". WOW! Imagine doing that in Singapore. I bet he'd be dragged away by security and slapped with a fine.

I felt really lucky to be on the guestlist and this is one of the few times I really believe in serendipity. I attended the gig with a brother of a friend of a friend, talk about randomness! But it was great nonetheless and a big ass cherry on top of my trip.

I leave for Prague tomorrow. Talk to you guys soon. Take care now! I'll be back and bitching before you know it.

Ed. Note: Travel Update I

2007-05-22T03:00:00.000+08:00

Hey all, how's everything in bloody hot singapore?! Everything is great here in London: everything is expensive and everyone is rushing like crazy, ha! And tomorrow is going to be great as well because guess what, I got a spot on the guest list for The National gig! Isn't that great!? I'm very very very happy, no, ecstatic! Check out the band and then tell me you're not jealous!

Ed. Note: Today Is The Day

2007-05-16T09:46:00.000+08:00

Hello boys and girls. I'll be leaving for London and Prague later this evening. I think access to an internet connection will be intermittent at best and I definitely would not have my iTunes library with me. So, I'm sorry that there probably wouldn't be any soundscapes episode for maybe 3 weeks. I've also mentioned that I'm in a bit of a dirge with this so hopefully a trip abroad will start the font flowing again.

If you are reading this, don't just stop; why not go through the archives? I've been doing this for about 38 weeks so hopefully there's a soundtrack for a particular moment in your life. Let me (soundscrobbler at gmaildotcom) know which episode is your favourite and which you hate.

Take care now, and I'll see you guys soon.

Soundscape #38: "Did You Forget That Yellow Bird?"

2007-05-11T08:31:00.000+08:00

Boccacinofoto.Valises Oubliees, 2006.

The yellow bird in the title refers to a canary and mine workers in the past used them to go down the mines first to test for poisonous gases. Cruel, sure, but that was how they work. The title is also taken off a Bright Eyes track ("We Are Nowhere And It's Now"), something I listened to over and over again on the 6-hour coach ride from Manchester to London 2 years ago. My ipod was running low on batteries and I had to listen to the same album over and over because I didn't want to risk changing the tracks and have my ipod remember that it's out of juice and die on me—you know how it is. It's funny how listening to that particular track immediately conjures up memories of that trip.

And I'm going again! I'll be going back to London and also embarking on my Kafka pilgrimage in Prague next week. This has been a long time coming and I've been planning and planning so much that I'm about to go nuts with maps and places to go, plane tickets, rail tickets, hotels, everything. I'd have like 15 tabs open in my browser and getting increasingly confused with the details (Transport Pass or the Oyster? It's a harder decision that you'd think it is); it's hard to keep that big picture in your head. Then when you get home, through your mail come the brochures you've requested and you see all the gorgeous pictures of landscapes, of neon lights and the city, of the people so deliriously happy. The concreteness of the trip and the everything just hit you and you have to sit down and take it all in. Slowly but surely, you start smiling to yourself, thinking "man, I'm really gonna go!" and you know that everything will be alright.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Pink Martini - Sympathique (Sympathique)
2. (2:48) Lloyd Cole - Travelling Light (Antidepressant)
3. (6:32) Gene - London, Can You Wait (Olympian)
4. (9:42) Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (In The Aeroplane Over The Sea)
5. (13:05) Teenage Fanclub - Fear Of Flying (Thirteen)
6. (18:28) Bright Eyes - We Are Nowhere And It's Now (I'm Wide Awake It's Morning)
7. (22:40) Gomez - See The World (How We Operate)
8. (26:45) Trespassers Williams - Different Stars (Different Stars)
9. (31:31) The Clientele - These Days Nothing But Sunshine (God Save The Clientele)
10. (34:55) The Wrens - She Sends Kisses (The Meadowlands)

Ed. Note: Public Announcement Service

2007-05-08T09:29:00.000+08:00

Good morning/afternoon boys and girls. We interrupt our usual soundscapes schedule to bring you this important notice: I sincerely urge you NOT to watch Spider-man 3. Not only is the show more than 2 hours long, its special effects sequences are simply not enough to make up for the extremely stupid cheesy slow and soap-opera-y plot. The lines are contrived, the action predictable, the characters are worse than their 2D counterpart; at least the comics don't pretend to be anything else. And Peter Parker as an emo gia?? wtf, dudes? wtf?

Soundscape #37: This Too Shall Pass

2007-05-04T08:31:00.000+08:00

Hugo Leglise. La Defense, Late Afternoon, 2006.

If you really think about it, we don't live our life by the hour nor the day. If I were to ask you what you had for lunch last Tuesday, would you know? In contrast, some days are forever marked by past events. I realised that for me, I live my life quite half-arsedly half the time. All the self-improvement "gurus" would tell me that I'd have to really grab the bull by its horns. Carpe Diem. Live each day as if it were your last. But can we really do that? It's a bitch to even wake up some mornings, much less make it through the day. Think about it, if it were my last day today, would I really be at work right now? I hardly think so.

It's more likely that we live our lives through moments, through the interstitials. We only know we are alive when we catch ourselves being ourselves in the spaces that were never intended to be such; a different context, perhaps. We only know we are alive when we are about to die. And it's not easy to lie to yourself about something as fundamental as that. If your mind doesn't believe you are going to die today, the harsh reality of it is that you'd still have to be at work earning your keep.

It's those moments that you live for that make life worth living. Looking forward to something and living for it; nothing else would matter. Have you ever looked forward to something so much it hurts, right at the pit of your stomach? Hoping and praying that the planets will align just for you as that cynical voice at the back of your head keeps telling you that it will all be over soon and you'd come crushing down from a great height.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Badly Drawn Boy - The Shining (The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast)
2. (5:20) 18th Dye - Poolhouse Blue (Tribute To A Bus)
3. (12:12) Bloc Party - Waiting For The 7.18 (A Weekend In The City)
4. (16:29) Iron And Wine/Calexico - He Lays In The Reins (In The Reins)
5. (20:08) M. Ward - Deep Dark Well (Transistor Radio)
6. (22:39) Beirut - After The Curtain (KEXP Live)
7. (25:42) Tindersticks - The Not Knowing (Tindersticks)
8. (30:43) Bedhead - The Rest Of The Day (Beheaded)
9. (37:05) Portishead - Wandering Star (Dummy)
10. (41:57) Mogwai - Helicon 1 (Ten Rapid)

*there seems to be something wrong with the font size but i cant figure out what the problem is. if you do, drop me an email, please. I got it! Stupid mistake

Soundscape #36: "What Are You Rebelling Against?"... "Whatever You've Got"

2007-04-28T08:31:00.000+08:00

The other night I watched American Hardcore with a bunch of friends. It's a documentary about the american hardcore punk scene in the late 70s. What really struck me is not the riots and the violence that ensued during some of the gigs or the strong community that surrounded these badass pioneers of the punk scene. Instead, it was their conviction—some of them as young as 14-15—that the mainstream music at that time was not for them and they felt this need to rebel against the status quo of their times. And they gave it their all too. They embody the very first indie spirit if you think about it: making their own records, flyers, organising gigs and as Ian Mackaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi) said, sitting there and literally cutting, folding and gluing thousands of cd sleeves.

But if you think about it, youth is like that regardless of place or time; there is a single-mindedness that you have to admire. It made me think about what I was doing when I was 14-15... probably nothing much. My parents put me in a good school and I was expected to do well, go to university, find a good job, get married, have kids, grow old and die. These are the very same things that the hardcore punks of the 70s were rebelling against. Some things just never change.

For a while, I thought that was what I wanted too. I mean, it's so easy! I wanted a good cushy job that doesn't demand much, you know? Go to work, gossip a little with your colleagues, do a bit of work, email, have lunch and about 4pm, your boy/girlfriend calls and asks if you want to have dinner, you have dinner with said bf/gf, go home to watch some crap korean drama that you just can't miss, sleep, wake up, repeat.

But I can't. And I don't know why. Maybe I'm not wired that way. I did try that for a while (not the korean dramas though, please) and I can feel my mind slowly rotting away; I literally felt stupid. People ask me why? what the hell is your problem? And I don't know what to say. Thing is, I don't know what I want; I only know what I don't want. But that's another topic for a soundscapes episode altogether.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Ted Leo And The Pharmacists - The Sons Of Cain (Living With The Living)
2. (3:59) Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Smells Like Teen Spirit)
3. (8:58) Nada Surf - Popular (High/Low)
4. (12:48) Jimmy Eat World - If You Don't, Don't (Bleed American)
5. (17:21) The Hold Steady - Your Little Hoodrat Friend (Separation Sunday)
6. (21:14) The Go! Team - The Power Is On (Thunder, Lightning, Strike)
7. (24:31) Green Day - F.O.D. (Dookie)
8. (27:22) The Thermals - How We Know (Fuckin A)
9. (30:42) Longwave - We're Not Gonna Crack (There's A Fire)
10. (33:12) And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead - Mistakes And Regrets (Madonna)
11. (37:05) Finch - What It Is To Burn (What It Is To Burn)

Soundscape #35: "Hello Moto"

2007-04-20T08:31:00.000+08:00

Richard Stine. Get That Will You, (Year Unknown).

We are all so used to the mobile lifestyle that not having a mobile seems almost inconceivable. Text messaging too opens a whole new dimension of communication. From a simple "Oy, I'm here. Where are you?" to breakups to cries for help*, text messages eliminate face-to-face interaction; you don't even need to hear the person's voice!

Gone also are the days when people fix a place and time to meet—and keep to it. Nowadays I'm hardly on time for anything. If I don't think I'll make it on time, I'll text ahead to say I'll be late. If I'm early, I'll just roam around until I get a "Oy, I'm here. Where are you" message. It's weird to meet someone without a mobile. A friend forgot hers the other day and I actually had to stay at the agreed spot for a good 15 minutes. It felt really weird.

Being able to reach someone at any time you want also means that one cannot simply switch the mobile off. Hell, my mobile is also my alarm clock so I can't even switch it off at night. We are all so plugged in and it can only get worse from here. How are we to live our lives when life keeps barging in!?

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Saturday Looks Good To Me - Call Me
2. (3:27) Weezer - The World Has Turned And Left Me Here (Weezer Blue)
3. (7:49) The Strokes - The Modern Age (Is This It?)
4. (11:18) Ash - Angel Interceptor (1977)
5. (15:23) Mobius Band - The Loving Sounds Of Static (The Loving Sounds Of Static)
6. (19:29) Crooked Fingers - Call To Love (Dignity And Shame)
7. (22:52) Badly Drawn Boy - The Way Things Used To Be (Born In The U.K.)
8. (27:40) Dean & Britta - Say Goodnight (Back Numbers)
9. (31:32) Earlimart - Nevermind The Phonecalls
10. (35:11) Keane - We Might As Well Be Strangers (Hopes And Fears)
11. (38:22) Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism (Transatlanticism)

*if any of you should ever receive a "please save my sorry ass" text from me, drop everything, call me immediately and get me out of whatever situation I'm in!!

Soundscape #34: "Darkness, And Nothing More"

2007-04-13T08:31:00.000+08:00

Lucian Freud. Reflection (Self-Portrait), 1985.

We all love a horror story once in a while to scare us out of our wits; stories about ghosts, aliens and ominous signs of evil to come. But have we asked ourselves what exactly is evil? It's not just the opposite of all that's good; that would be too passive a definition. It's something more and yet if you think about it, you can't really quantify it either: like a void or a black hole. On the flip side: what is good? Goodness is not just not doing bad things. The notion of good, like that of evil, cannot be defined by its opposition.

People say that reading horror stories or watching horror movies has a cathartic effect. We scream our frustrations out in the process and this shakes us out from the inside. But the downside to this is that people get desensitised by all the portrayal of evil we read or see on screen (be it the big or the small one). We all think evil is so far away but you only have to look into a mirror to see pure unadulterated evil waiting to surface. What is truly evil is the fact that noone seems to acknowledge the fact that evil has to be in this world for good to exist. The line between good and evil is a tenuous one; one cannot exist without the other.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) The Libertines - Can't Stand Me Now (S/T)
2. (3:25) The Thermals - A Stare Like Yours (Fuckin A)
3. (6:11) Smashing Pumpkins - Bodies (Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness)
4. (10:23) Interpol - Evil (Antics)
5. (13:59) Arcade Fire - Black Mirror (Neon Bible)
6. (18:14) Bloc Party - Song For Clay (Disappear Here) (A Weekend In The City)
7. (23:05) Manic Street Preachers - Faster (Holy Bible)
8. (26:59) Nine Inch Nails - You Know What You Are? (With Teeth)
9. (30:43) Okkervil River - For Real (Black Sheep Boy)
10. (35:25) Bonnie "Prince" Billy - I See A Darkness (I See A Darkness)

Soundscape #33: The Devil Is In The Details

2007-04-06T10:49:00.000+08:00

Georges-Pierre Seurat. Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte, 1884—1886.

In this increasingly complicated world, everyone's got his/her eyes on the prize, all looking out for No. 1. Everyone gets swept along by the pace of city life. We all want that big promotion, that new car and that cottage by the loch. In the race to be top rat, we had assimilated all the differences that made us individual and unique. Creativity, the sense of adventure and risk, the pioneering spirit to go into the unknown for its own sake—all the qualities that would stick out in a sea of John Malkoviches—have all been sandpapered down.

It's almost like we are robots programmed to do a certain set of tasks in a certain amount of time. We all think that the hard work we put in will be justified by the big reward, the big destination at the end of it all. But what about the journey itself? We all want the fastest and easiest way to get to where we want to go but often forget that the journey itself has a lot of things to teach us, and they are all just the little things in life. Like that cup of coffee you need to get through the day. Or the smell of the grass and the colour of the sky just before it's about to rain. The cup of tea right beside the book you're reading and the music that's playing in the background.

You know what? Fuck the big picture. Live for the moment, live for the now.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Belle & Sebastian - Is It Wicked Not To Care? (The Boy With The Arab Strap)
2. (3:22) Teenage Fanclub - It's All In My Mind (Man-Made)
3. (7:02) The Broken West - Down In The Valley (I Can't Go On, I'll Go On)
4. (10:54) Flaming Lips - Do You Realize?? (Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots)
5. (14:27) Death Cab For Cutie - The Sound Of Settling (Transatlanticism)
6. (16:41) Toad The Wet Sprocket - All I Want (Fear)
7. (20:00) Wilco - It's Just That Simple (A.M.)
8. (23:44) The New Year - Simple Life (Newness Ends)
9. (27:13) 18th Dye - Easy (& How We Got There First) (Tribute To A Bus)
10. (32:06) Earlimart - Nevermind The Phonecalls
11. (35:43) Evan Dando - All My Life (Baby I'm Bored)

Soundscape #32: "Life Is Too Short For Chess"

2007-03-28T17:37:00.000+08:00

Protopito. Una Partidita, 2006.

It's often been said that it takes mere hours to learn the moves of chess but a lifetime to master the game. And it's true too. Even now, years after I've been playing, I still make stupid mistakes and lose more times than I win. But I love the game; I love sitting down at some quiet cafe and just play chess. I've even played a chess marathon that lasted almost 6 hours till 2 in the morning. There's so much going on in a game that it's impossible to keep track of all your 16 chessmen. Before you know it, you're staring down directly at your opponent's queen flanked by a rook (or bishop or knight or even a pawn) on the other side and wondering where all your pieces are.

Chess is both predictable and not. Each piece can only move in predefined rules but the whole world of possibilities opens up precisely because of the rules. I love that the rules are predictable but the game is not. It is so much like life and also so much unlike it. Both need careful planning and strategising; you not only need to know where your pieces are, you need to know where your opponent's ones are as well. Often, one gets carried away in the game and start making mistakes right, left and centre.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) We Are Scientists - Can't Lose (With Love And Squalor)
2. (3:34) Pete Yorn - Black (Music For The Morning After)
3. (7:42) Elliott Smith - Bled White (XO)
4. (10:59) Centro-Matic - To Unleash The Horses Now (Distance And Clime)
5. (14:50) Tom Petty - It's Good To Be King (Wildflowers)
6. (20:03) The Decemberists - Bandit Queen (Picaresque Bsides)
7. (24:39) Beulah - You Are Only King Once (Yoko)
8. (27:49) Okkervil River - A King And A Queen (Black Sheep Boy)
9. (31:11) Death Cab For Cutie - Bend To Squares (Something About Airplanes)
10. (35:49) Delgados - Make Your Move (The Great Eastern)

Soundscape #31: "Rage, Rage Against The Dying Of The Light"

2007-03-23T08:31:00.000+08:00

Blakes 7. Dark Light, 2006.

Goethe's final words: "More light." By extension, if there were no light, there will be no life. It was fire that first brought light—and life—to our ancestors. Light more than leads the way to food and water; it shows us the faces of our friends and families—and enemies. We often take light for granted because you know, it’s always been there. If you are in a room so dark that you can’t see your fingers right in front of you, you wouldn’t know if you are in a big ballroom or a small attic (let’s leave the sense of touch and echoes out). When you really think about it, light is a context within which we all function. Light literally shows us our limits and boundaries and gives us a choice whether to overcome it or not. That’s why our ancestors were able to go on quests and explorations and thus banishing the darkness from our lands.

Our gift of sight is synonymous with light: we won’t be able to see what’s right in front of us if there were no light. But often the tragic thing is that we refuse to see what’s in our faces even when there is light.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Wolf Parade - Shine A Light (Apologies To The Queen Mary)
2. (3:44) Teenage Fanclub - Speed Of Light (Songs From Northern Britain)
3. (7:33) Athlete - Half Light (Tourist)
4. (11:13) Travis - Follow The Light (The Invisible Band)
5. (14:24) Dean & Britta - The Sun Is Still Sunny (Back Numbers)
6. (18:51) Magnolia Electric Co - The Dark Don't Hide It (What Comes After The Blues)
7. (23:04) Arcade Fire - Une Annee Sans Lumiere (Funeral)
8. (26:46) Interpol - Obstacle 1 (Turn On The Bright Lights)
9. (30:59) David Gray - Nightblindness (White Ladder)
10. (35:22) Yo La Tengo - Shadows (I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One)

Soundscape #30: "Julie Christie, The Rumors Are True"

2007-03-13T15:10:00.000+08:00

When I first read the news on Pitchfork that Yo La Tengo is coming to Singapore back in December 2006, I spilled the coffee I was drinking. And because I couldn't find any information in Singapore, I actually emailed the band to verify (no, I'm not kidding, and they actually replied!). I remember giving the Sistic people shit because they didn't know anything about the gig. I remember shouting, pleading etc with my friend to get the most expensive tickets (we got the $90 ones in the end). I remember standing by the Sistic website, refreshing every 2 seconds, at 8:52 January 11 to get the best tickets available. Even though the seats I got were less than ideal, I kept telling myself that at least I'm going.

From the very beginning where the riffs of "From A Motel 6" began—which, incidentally, I had requested via the email to the band. Whether or not they did it for me, I don't know but that's my story and I'm sticking to it—I knew it's gonna be a real good show. I love the 3rd track ("The Crying Of Lot G") and only a band as accomplished and confident as Yo La Tengo can pull off playing such a soft and quiet track. I thought I could hear a pin drop but when I looked around, I was almost embarrassed to find everyone else dead as a fish. They were just sitting still in their seats; I even saw someone sleeping! The audience do not justify the pure electric energy that the band puts into the gig. There were times when I thought that Ira Kaplan was going to implode and at one point, I could have sworn that he was about to smash his guitar. This is a (late) 40-something man we are talking about.

The chemistry among the band members was amazing, particularly the drums (Georgia Hubley) and bass (James McNew) when lead guitarist Ira Kaplan seemed to have gone nuts on screaming guitar solos. At first glance, the setlist may seem rather inconsistent (from "The Crying Of Lot G" to "Pass The Hatchet" to "Little Eyes"?) but the quality of the performance is always top-notch. Ira Kaplan even took the time to chat with the audience, answering questions ("where are you having dinner" and "who cuts your hair") and asking for song requests (I think I must have shouted myself hoarse with "Blue Line Swinger").

You know how they say that when the gods wanted to be cruel, they'd grant your wishes? I think something bad is going to happen to me soon, because I don't see how anything else can top this.

Setlist, Yo La Tengo Live In Singapore, March 12, 2007:
1. (0:00) From A Motel 6
2. (4:07) The Crying Of Lot G
3. (8:49) Pass The Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind
4. (19:36) Little Eyes
5. (23:57) The Weakest Part
6. (27:00) Beanbag Chair
7. (30:02) Mr. Tough
8. (34:07) I Feel Like Going Home
9. (38:21) Big Day Coming
10. (42:40) Tom Courtenay
11. (46:17) Deeper Into Movies*
12. (51:34) You Can Have It All

Painful: #1, 9
And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out: #2, 12
IANAOYAIWBYA: #3, 5, 6, 7, 8
Summer Sun: #4
Electr-O-Pura: #10
I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One: #11

*This is not the official setlist. I merely saved each track into a playlist on my ipod as they come on. The Straits Times Life (March 14) has the track "We Are An American Band" listed... but I think they've got it wrong.

Soundscape #29: Just You And Me And $5

2007-03-09T08:31:00.000+08:00

Ahhh friends... what will we do without them? It's true that you can't choose your family but how do you tell a "friend" that you no longer want to be friends? Simple. You just don't. It's not a relationship that requires a "we need to talk" session. There's no official breakup that can be initiated, no secret code to be invoked. Slowly but surely, you just drift apart. You don't really quarrel with a friend either. The last time I had one was er... a long time ago. Not that I'm the nicest person around or anything, but between friends, a quarrel means you just exchange a few "wtfs" and you laugh about it, maybe it takes a while, but you move on. Even if the quarrel gets real bad, all you have to do is... drift apart. There will be no late-night sessions on the phone sobbing about the "bastard" to your (other) friend.

Friends are people you bounce your ideas on. They are your tethers to earth when you get too excited about something, and even when you are so excited that you can't contain yourself, they don't judge you at all, not out loud anyway (even if they do, it just leads to a quarrel and that results in... read the preceding paragraph). Friends are people you ask random questions of (see comic). But the best friend that you will ever have is the person who goes to the supermarket with you to buy a couple of rows of sushi and Coke Lights and just sit at the staircase landing somewhere, sharing the food and you won't even need to say a word.

Talk about serendipity! I just came across a Friendship Intelligence Quiz. I've got 72, what about you?

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Rosie Thomas - Say Hello (Buy These Friends Of Mine)*
2. (2:19) The White Stripes - We Are Going To Be Friends (Buy White Blood Cells)
3. (4:40) Spoon - The Way We Get By (Buy Kill The Moonlight)
4. (7:21) Belle & Sebastian - We Are Sleepyheads (Buy The Life Pursuit)
5. (10:52) Luna - Friendly Advice (Buy Bewitched)
6. (17:27) Camera Obscura - I Need All The Friends I Can Get (Buy Let's Get Out Of This Country)
7. (20:44) Bright Eyes - I'll Be Your Friend (Buy One Jug Of Wine, Two Vessels)
8. (24:53) The National - Friend Of Mine (Buy Alligator)
9. (28:19) Jason Collett - Hangover Days (Buy Idols Of Exile)
10. (32:42) Morrissey - There's A Place In Hell For Me And My Friends
11. (35:04) The Hold Steady - Your Little Hoodrat Friend (Buy Separation Sunday)

*Guess who the male vocal is.. go on!

Soundscape #28: "The Secret To Happiness Is Good Health And A Bad Memory"

2007-03-01T15:02:00.000+08:00

Salvador Dali. The Disintegration Of The Persistence Of Memory, 1952/54.

I think my memory is getting from bad to worse, and I don't mean things like forgetting faces or things like phones or ipods (that one I will remember). Apparently entire episodes of my life have mysteriously disappeared without a trace. From small annoying things like buying the same cd/book twice (happens quite a bit) to not remembering a particularly meaningful conversation or experience with a friend. That saddens me alot. It makes me wonder about all those lost conversations I had. Since I don't remember the conversation, does it matter that it took place at all? Have I changed in any way because of the conversation if I don't remember it happening? Does this mean that it didn't mean anything to me at all but it must have, otherwise why would I feel sad?

I don't know if it's a case of time taking its natural course, diluting the intensity of experiences and feelings in its path. Or perhaps that particular memory has atrophied seeing how we no longer have the time—nor the inclination—to revisit the past. Or more likely, we ourselves are getting old and the cup that was once eager for new experiences and new things has overflowed with both weariness and wariness.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) The Mountain Goats - You Or Your Memory (Buy The Sunset Tree)
2. (2:21) Bloc Party - I Still Remember (Buy A Weekend In The City)
3. (6:47) Spoon - Something To Look Forward To (Buy Kill The Moonlight)
4. (9:06) The Strokes - What Ever Happened (Buy Room On Fire)
5. (11:55) Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger (Buy (What's The Story) Morning Glory?)
6. (16:45) Bedhead - Losing Memories (Buy Beheaded)
7. (19:37) Beulah - Don't Forget To Breathe (Buy Yoko)
8. (22:84) Palo Alto - Going Going Gone (Buy Heroes And Villains)
9. (27:55) Wilco - When You Wake Up Feeling Old (Buy Summer Teeth)
10. (31:50) Cat Power - Remember Me

Soundscape #27: Old Skool vs The New

2007-02-23T08:31:00.000+08:00

From Tapedeck [do you remember these!?]

Something old, something new. Anything old can be something new and cool again. What would explain our fixation with all things vintage? I think there is this connection in our minds between vintage and unique. I guess, since unique means one, and that vintage probably also means there aren't many around anyways, we might as well make that equation, right?

I've been guilty of it of cos, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over retro phones and radios and tvs etc. But am I really nostalgic? I doubt it. I remember the phones where you have to stick your finger into each of (was it 7?) numbers and pull it all the way round. That was a pain in the ass now, wasn't it? I remember the radio with the big fat knob where you have to manually tune in to a station (let's not even talk about sound quality; you'd be lucky if you can make out anything at all). I remember my uncle adjusting the antenna on our tv set to get TV3, just for variety. The 1001 things we put up with previously will just be inconveniences now. Can you imagine calling the police on that antique phone of yours? No way, you'd probably be dead by the time you get connected via a switchboard. Or not watching Heroes on Starworld!!??

I didn't think so.

I thought for this week's episode it might be interesting to line up some old songs and their respective covers. Which original and which cover do you prefer?

Playlist: (Old Skool)
1. (0:00) Danger Doom - Old Skool (featuring Talib Kweli)(Buy The Mouse And The Mask)
2. (2:38) Modest Mouse - Float On (Good News For People Who Hates Good News)
3. (6:07) The Postal Service - We Will Be Silhouettes (Buy Give Up)
4. (11:05) OMD - If You Leave (Buy The Best Of)
5. (15:33) Phil Collins - Against All Odds
6. (18:57) Beatles - Two Of Us (Buy Let It Be)
7. (22:21) Roxy Music - More Than This (Buy Avalon)

(Covers)
1. (0:00) Centro-Matic - For New Starts (Buy Fort Recovery)
2. (4:45) Ben Lee - Float On
3. (8:49) The Shins - We Will Be Silhouettes
4. (11:50) Nada Surf - If You Leave
5. (16:45) The Postal Service - Against All Odds
6. (21:02) Aimee Mann & Michael Penn - Two Of Us
7. (24:33) Norah Jones - More Than This

*most of the covers are not in albums. Except for Aimee Mann & Michael Penn's Two Of Us which is from the I Am Sam OST.

Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!

2007-02-21T11:27:00.000+08:00

So. Soundscape #26 marks 26 weeks (duh) of churning out tracks to describe many a life's moment. It's been half a year (8/26, I remember) since the idea hit me in the train. I remember being so excited I couldn't wait to get home. As my good friend Brother Isaac says, "Do eeeiittt." The project has become some sort of a filter/screen for me: life is on the other side and what I see through the screen are possibilities and ideas for the project.

While it's been fun almost every single week, the last thing I want is to let everything stagnate till it becomes a drag to come up with fresh ideas. I'm still enjoying it but I'm not going to deny that I have a short attention span (6 months is an awful long time for me) and I am running out of ideas (such is life). I've bought a webspace last december so that more things can be imagined and planned. I'm dragging my feet on the launch cos I'm just so lazy to export the content from here to there. But I will. Soon. I still need a kickstart though, so I've put up a mini-poll in the sidebar on your left. Let me know what you want.

Tis Was A Dark And Stormy Night...

2007-02-20T13:02:00.000+08:00

Alright so it wasn't storming last night. There were a few drops of rain but nothing major. My friends and I were at the Good Vibrations Festival. We missed most of the acts since we only reached at almost 8 (it started at 4) and half the time we were there, we were either talking to friends and acquaintances (I actually had a long conversation with a stranger I thought was my friend but nevermind about that) or in queues for beer and the toilet. We realised in the end that if we were to make the trek down to civilisation (it's at Fort Canning Park) and buy the beer from 711, it would have been much faster. and cheaper. Bloody bastards selling Heineken for $8 a can! That's crazy! And that crap about checking bags? If only they would!! cos there were bottles and bottles of liquor going round in plastic cups. We felt quite stupid being such obedient robots.

The main highlight of the fest was of course Jurassic 5 and Beastie Boys. Noone needs to pretend they came to watch someone else. Wow. They.Rock. They both have been in the business for a long long time and they still are so enthusiastic, almost proselytising. I've never been into hip-hop and rap so if they can convert me, they can convert anybody. I was jumping and dancing to all the tunes. But sometimes it's really hard when you're 2 millimeters from someone else's sweat and beer breath. Let's just say that it was not a comfortable evening. I made the mistake of wearing jeans when it's a super hot night with what 10000 people all squashed around everyone else. And everyone was drinking copious amounts of alcohol which then resulted in a minefield of bottles and cans. Some idiots were throwing bottles around as well. Glass bottles. There was this ang moh chick next to me who was dancing like a fucking moron with elbows flying everywhere and god, those ~~talons~~ nails!! I would have tried to elbow her back if not for the fact that I fear for my life—she really does look crazymad. And near the end, some guy climbed the rafters onto and above the stage, I guess to get some attention. It took 2 old but remarkably agile security guys to get him down.

I had such a good time last night despite my being a little enochlophobic. But it must be a sign of my advancing age when I practically dragged my two friends out of there to try and get the first cab out back home when it ended.

Soundscape #26: "This Is Chris In The Morning"

2007-02-16T08:31:00.000+08:00

Suggestion: Click on play in the video and wait for it to load before watching. Trust me.

This will take you back: Northern Exposure Theme Song

Chris Stevens, Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 14.

Northern Exposure has a way of making even the most bizzare circumstances seem natural. In that short segment alone, the show makes the flinging of a piano crucial to one's journey of the self and of life. To put it all in context, Maggie's (whose piano was flung) house was (accidentally) burnt down by her mom who came all the way up to Alaska to tell her that she will be divorcing her father. Chris was disappointed to learn that his idea of flinging a cow through the air for art has already been done in Monty Python. "Repetition," he quotes Andy Warhol, "is the death of Art." While each segment may seem disparate and may not end in a beautifully packaged ending as do most sitcoms nowadays, the show more than adequately depicts life's roughened edges.

Each episode in Northern Exposure, through story-and myth-telling, celebrates life as it is, be it beautiful or ugly and grimy. It never panders nor does it ever condescends. It never pretends life is a breeze but it never makes it harder than it has to be. I'm not embarrased to say that every single episode affects me in a very profound way. Not only does each episode challenge my assumptions, biases and preconceptions, it often brings about a new perspective with which I can see life.

The characters, who go through unconventional and sometimes just downright strange events, often see things in such a myriad of ways that it is never boring to hear them expound on any number of subjects, whether you are familiar with the subject at-hand or not. They are erudite but never pedantic. My favourite is of course, the DJ Chris Stevens, who often muses and philosophises on-air in such a real and honest way that one cannot help but wish for his openness of spirit and mind. The show often depicts the search for life's meaning through books, poetry, history, philosophy, history, music, movies, and even food and wine, but in the end, it concludes that the journey itself, not the meaning, is the most important thing of all. Or as Chris will say, "it's the groping, it's the yearning, it's the moving forward."

Playlist:
1. (0:00) The Wedding Present - I'm From Further North Than You (Buy Take Fountain)
2. (3:28) 18th Dye - Easy (& How We Got There First)
3. (8:17) Teenage Fanclub - Take The Long Way Around (Buy Songs From Northern Britain)
4. (11:41) Bonnie Somerville - Winding Road (Buy Garden State OST)
5. (15:08) The Ladybug Transistor - Going Up North (Icicles) (Buy Argyle Heir)
6. (19:10) Sigur Rós - Agætis Byrjun (Buy Agætis Byrjun)
7. (26:45) Portishead - Roads (Buy Dummy)
8. (31:54) Trespassers William - Different Stars (Buy Different Stars)
9. (36:43) Mazzy Star - Flowers In December (Buy Among My Swan)
10. (41:47) Alexi Murdoch - All My Days (Buy Time Without Consequence)
11. (46:42) Bright Eyes - Road To Joy (Buy I'm Wide Awake It's Morning)

Soundscape #25: For I Have Sworn Thee Fair And Thought Thee Bright, Who Art As Black As Hell, As Dark As Night

2007-02-09T08:31:00.000+08:00

Roy Lichtenstein. Hopeless, 1964.

We've all been there. The shock, the disbelief, the heartaches, the sleepless nights, the non-existent appetites, and oh, the things we'd do! It's as if we become a different person when our hearts get broken. We'd lock ourselves in the room, stare at the walls and listen to sad bastard music. Or we'd conjure up countless scenarios where s/he'd beg you to come back (and we'd say no, obviously). We'd do stupid things like hanging around the person's workplace and then running like hell cos s/he might see us. We'd never listen to our friends who try to be there with advice and encouragement. We'd pretend that we are strong enough to handle anything. We'd swing from one extreme emotion to the next, feeling more and more tired with everything.

But after the denial must come the pain. The tears, the very real physical pain in your chest when you wake up, the listlessness. Then the anger. The fault-picking, the incredulity that you've been with someone who's that flawed. You'd rant at anyone who'd listen, each tirade fiercer than the last but ultimately, like a light that's come on, you realise that you are only angry with yourself for being so stupid and so blind. The moment you realise that is the moment the world—that you thought had already come down—comes crashing down.

What trivalises the whole business of heartache is that everytime you survive through one, you'd tell yourself that you will never make the same mistakes again. But of cos, the heart has a memory made of sieve, and we'd do the same thing over and over again. We'd never learn and we'd never remember.

Maybe we don't want to.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Suede - The Wild Ones (Buy Dog Man Star)
2. (4:40) The Streets - Dry Your Eyes **
3. (9:10) Feist - Let It Die (Buy Let It Die)
4. (12:04) Stars - Calendar Girl (Buy Set Yourself On Fire)
5. (16:12) The Delgados - All You Need Is Hate (Buy Hate)
6. (19:08) Dandy Warhols - We Used To Be Friends (Buy Welcome To The Monkey House)
7. (22:29) The Radio Dept. - I Don't Need Love, I've Got My Band (Buy Pulling Our Weight EP)
8. (25:44) Yo La Tengo - You Can Have It All (Buy And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out)
9. (30:19) Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart (Buy Substance)
10. (33:45) Morrissey (without The Smiths in this track)- My Love Life (Live at KROQ)
11. (38:01) Damien Rice - 9 Crimes (Buy 9)
12. (41:39) DeVotchKa - How It Ends (Buy Little Miss Sunshine OST)

* I had wanted to add Nine Inch Nails' Hurt into the playlist but couldn't decide between the original or the Johnny Cash cover. Which do you prefer?

Nine Inch Nails - Hurt
Johnny Cash - Hurt

**if you know who the guest vocal is on this track, email me and I will either burn you a cd or upload a zip file of this soundscape for you. Hint: he's played in Singapore.
Wow that was quick. Congrats, Kob, it is indeed Mr Gywneth Paltrow!

Soundscape #24: "The Clocks Are Striking Thirteen"

2007-02-01T08:31:00.000+08:00

Dom Dada. Crowd Policing, August 2006.

Even if George Orwell meant it as a piece of fiction, 1984 is a prescient account of a very real loss of privacy in our world today. If you need proof, think of Bush and his "Patriot Act" or the recent outrage that it is apparently not illegal for the Pentagon and CIA to go through the bank and credit records of ordinary American citizens. Mr Dick (head) Cheney tried to defend it by saying that it's "reaffirmed in the Patriot Act" and that "there's nothing wrong with it or illegal." Note how, in the context of the article, that he didn't give any real reason or justification, other than citing the Patriot Act. How is it legal to go through someone's personal information without the person's knowledge, much less approval?

I'm reminded of all those countless murder trials I've watched on TV where a murder weapon or something is not "admissible" in the trial because the officer/whoever found it has conducted an illegal search. You have to wonder how TV gets its inspiration from real life when both worlds are becoming increasingly disparate. Why is it that we are suddenly all guilty until proven innocent? All these laws and rules are suffocating our individual freedoms. There is sure to be a record of everywhere you go and everything you do. If you think about it, the old Police song ("Every breath you take, every step you make, I'll be watching you") is a perfect theme song for Big Brother.

So, what do we do when the world is on a direct flight to hell? Listen to your mom: never pick your nose in public; you'd never know who's watching. And always, always, clear your work pc's cache before you leave cos, you know, just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) M83 - Car Chase Terror (Buy Before The Dawn Heals Us)
2. (3:52) Elliott Smith - A Distorted Reality Is Necessity To Be Free (Buy Future Soundtrack For America)
3. (8:15) British Sea Power - Something Wicked (Buy The Decline Of British Sea Power)
4. (11:29) Green Day - Give Me Novacaine (Buy American Idiot)
5. (15:15) The Organ - Brother (Buy Grab That Gun)
6. (19:22) The Thermals - Here's Your Future (Buy The Body The Blood The Machine)
7. (21:46) Arcade Fire - Wake Up (Buy Funeral)
8. (27:20) Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next (Buy This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours)
9. (32:12) Pavement - Fight This Generation (Buy Wowee Zowee)
10. (36:37) Radiohead - You And Whose Army (Buy Amnesiac)
11. (39:45) Nine Inch Nails - March Of The Pigs (Buy Downward Spiral)
12. (42:43) Interpol - Not Even Jail (Buy Antics)
13. (48:26) We Are Scientists - This Means War (Buy The Great Escape EP)

Soundscape #23: "I Like Big Bags And I Cannot Lie"

2007-01-26T08:31:00.000+08:00

What's In My Bag*, January 2007.

I don't understand how some girls function with just a teeny weeny handbag that looks big enough to stuff in a matchbox. And the amazing thing is that if you look into these bags, you'd find their phones, makeup things and even an umbrella! I don't know how they do it; my bags are huge! My biggest bag is probably big enough to transport body parts. Even the smallest bag I have (above) is still a good half the length of my leg.

Pictured above is a scaled-down version of "what's in my bag" (a popular stream on Flickr). Usually there are more stuff but I guess the essentials are above...except for the cd; someone had lent it to me. I forgot my water bottle that day but usually I have a bottle of water in my bag. A book is important too, for those bus rides. I need to have 2 notebooks and a planner. And still, I forget things. Thumbdrive, sunglasses, sweets, hmm what else? oh. Those who know me will know what the M&Ms are for. :)

I couldn't find any songs about big bags, so I thought a good substitute would be a light-hearted mix you can use as background noise while shopping. It will put you in a good mood!

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Let The Cool Goddess Rust Away (Buy S/T)
2. (3:23) Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire - A Nervous Tic Motion Of The Head To The Right (Buy Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production Of Eggs)
3. (8:20) Ambulance Ltd - Heavy Lifting (Buy S/T)
4. (11:53) The Little Ones - Cha Cha Cha (Buy Sing Song)
5. (16:40) The Legends - Call It Ours (Buy Up Against The Legends)
6. (19:07) The Format - She Doesn't Get It (Buy Dog Problems)
7. (23:02) The New Pornographers - All For Swinging You Around (Buy Electric Version)
8. (26:45) Superchunk - So Convinced (Buy Come Pick Me Up)
9. (28:46) Malajube - Montreal -40C (Buy Trompe-L'oeil)
10. (32:06) Beulah - Gravity's Bringing Us Down (Buy The Coast Is Never Clear)
11. (36:43) Pavement - Rattled By The Rush (Buy Wowee Zowee)

*I can't believe I actually forgot to include the most important thing in the picture! You should know what it is.

Soundscape #22: Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall

2007-01-17T11:53:00.000+08:00

Troy McCullough (Idle Type). Cold Rain, November 2006.

I love the rain, even if I'm caught in it. I forgot my umbrella the other day and had to brave the rain and the wind in just a (thin) tshirt, (very heavy, as I realise later) jeans and sandals. I was going to meet a friend but he was waiting for me at the end of this long stretch of unsheltered road. I remember bracing myself at the bus stop just before the stretch and timing the lights so that I can cross 2 roads at one time. When the lights changed, I started running as fast as I could but after a while I realised it's futile as there's no way I could get any wetter than I already was. I gave up and started walking instead. It felt weird to be the only one walking while everyone was dashing in and out of sheltered buildings with colorful umbrellas and trying to avoid stepping into puddles.

Of course, it's a different battle if you're on the dry side of the glass. It's a cliché but it really is great sleeping while it's raining outside. It feels a little otherworldly to wake up and time seems to have stopped. Outside, everything takes on this sheen (sepia or black and white, depending on the rain) and the edges of the buildings seem softened and cars and other things blend into one another. It can feel pretty surreal in a heavy storm. There's also something about the sound of raindrops hitting the windowpane that is immediately comforting. It makes me want to curl back into bed. I wish it'd rain more.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) The Beta Band - Dry The Rain (Buy The Three EPs)
2. (6:03) 18th Dye - Pour (Buy Left *sorry out of print)
3. (8:32) M83 - In The Cold I'm Standing (Buy Before The Dawn Heals Us)
4. (12:37) The Delgados - Come In From The Cold (Buy Hate)
5. (16:14) Travis - Why Does It Always Rain On Me? (Buy The Man Who)
6. (20:39) Teenage Fanclub - Have You Ever Seen The Rain? (CCR Cover)
7. (23:22) Yo La Tengo - Our Way To Fall (Buy And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out)
8. (27:40) Tindersticks - Raindrops (Buy Tindersticks)
9. (33:58) Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Cold & Wet (Buy The Letting Go)
10. (36:12) Engineers - Come In Out Of The Rain (Buy Engineers)
11. (40:22) The White Stripes - In The Cold Cold Night (Buy Elephant)

Soundscape #21: A Cup Of Tea And A Good Book (Or, Alone But Not Lonely)

2007-01-12T08:31:00.000+08:00

Edward Hopper. The Night Window, 1928.

It is always a struggle for time between work and everything else. The only solution is to set up some kind of a momentum or a routine so that the 10000 things you need to take care of will get done. Throughout the working week, it's just about getting from Point A to B, doing everything from A to Z. Sometimes I feel like I'm a robot just trying to accomplish everything I've been programmed to do.

That's why for me and almost everyone else, Friday nights and weekends are manna from heaven. Finally I can have a good dinner, maybe watch a stupid mindless movie with friends without thinking about the time. Friday nights are especially important because you've just finished your stint in hell. Friday nights always smell so much fresher somehow. But even that can get a bit routine-y as well, don't you think? We'd always meet up with more or less the same friends, eat at the same places, and bitch about the same things. I'm sure most of us find comfort in this kind of routine to the extent that a plan-less Friday night or weekend would seem disconcerting. I used to dread the thought of a Friday night alone and wonder what kind of loser I was if I didn't have plans for the weekend.

However, I realise that I don't have time to and for myself anymore. When I'm at home, there is a programmed list of things that I have to do (eat, sleep, tv) and by the time I get them done, I don't have the time to do the other things I want to do, like alphabetise my books and cds, read more, write more. So I'm gonna set aside 1 Friday night a month to go straight home, make some nice tea with lemon and pick up the book that I've been trying to finish for the longest time and just be with myself.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Alexi Murdoch - Blue Mind (Buy Time Without Consequence)
2. (5:40) John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman - You Are Too Beautiful (Buy John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman)
3. (11:13) Miles Davis - Blue In Green (Buy Kind Of Blue)
4. (16:48) Tom Petty - Free Fallin' (Buy Full Moon Fever)
5. (21:02) BB King - The Thrill Is Gone (Buy Why I Sing The Blues)
6. (26:27) Muddy Waters - You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had
7. (29:25) Chet Baker - Look For The Silver Lining (Buy Chet Baker Sings)
8. (32:07) Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Autumn In New York (Buy Best Of Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong)
9. (38:04) Jaymay - Gray Or Blue (Buy See Green Or Blue EP)
10. (41:33) Josh Ritter - In The Dark (Buy The Animal Years)

This Will Be Our Year

2007-01-05T10:02:00.000+08:00

Wow. I thought 2006 was pretty good for music but 2007 is gearing up to be a mind-blowing one as well, with releases from The Shins, Of Montreal, CYHSY, Explosions In The Sky, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Bright Eyes in the first half of the year alone. 2007 is the year for band reunions as well! You get Dinosaur Jr, Roxy Music (with Brian Eno!), even Guns n' Roses (!!)

And there are so many others I'm looking forward to: Andrew Bird, Arcade Fire, Feist, The Go! Team, PJ Harvey, Interpol, The Magnetic Fields, The National, Nine Inch Nails, Postal Service, Radiohead, Shellec, Spoon, Wilco, The Wrens. Wow. Some of the albums have leaked already (not going to tell you which) but I'm going to try and wait for the product that the band wants me to get (and hopefully that means with the jewel case and liner notes, that is, if the bloody stores stock them in a timely manner). It's going to be a very broke year for me I think...

Check out the lists here and here.
What are you looking forward to?

Soundscape #20: I've Got A Devil's Haircut In My Mind

2007-01-05T08:31:00.000+08:00

Kara Yerex (72dpi). Barber, 2005.

You know the stereotype: that people always tell their hairstylists secrets that their own best friends wouldn't know? I think it's true to a certain extent. When you're in the chair and someone is attending to your every need, it kinda makes for a pseudo Freudian setup. It's almost as if you can't not tell your hairstylist all your secrets. It may seem odd at first that you are conversing with your hairstylist via the mirror but after a while, it felt right; it felt as if you are spilling your secrets to the mirror and not to the guy right behind you.

If you ask me what kind of stuff I tell my hairstylist, I really wouldn't be able to recall. Maybe that's why he always massages my head in such a wonderful way that I will let my guard down and even forget the stuff that come out of my mouth. Or maybe it's the nice scent of the mint shampoo he uses on me; I think peppermint really relaxes someone and make him/her spill everything s/he knows. Someone should implement this instead of sleep deprivation or other torture methods if you want to get national secrets from prisoners.

There is more to the stereotype, for me at least, cos my hairstylist likes to reverse it. He's always telling me about his girlfriends (yes, he's not gay! Stereotype #2 busted!) and the problems he's had with them. He loves to gossip about the various customers in the shop and that's when I always ask him if he tells other people the stuff I tell him. Of course he says no. But still... I worry.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) The National - Secret Meeting (Buy Alligator)
2. (3:43) Beck - Devil's Haircut (Buy Odelay)
3. (6:58) Elf Power - Never Believe (Buy Walking With The Beggar Boys)
4. (9:33) The Spinto Band - Did I Tell You (Buy Nice And Nicely Done)
5. (12:44) Pavement - Cut Your Hair (Buy Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain)
6. (15:49) The Magnetic Fields - I Don't Believe You (Buy I)
7. (19:28) The Shins - So Says I (Buy Chutes Too Narrow)
8. (22:15) Longwave - Tell Me I'm Wrong (Buy There's A Fire)
9. (25:51) Bright Eyes - Pull My Hair (Buy Letting Off The Happiness)
10. (29:57) Weezer - Say It Ain't So (Buy Weezer [Blue])
11. (34:17) Yo La Tengo - The Lie And How We Told It (Buy I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One)
12. (37:34) Saturday Looks Good To Me - Not Good With Secrets (Buy All Your Summer Songs)

Soundscape #19: "I'm Leaning On This Broken Fence Between Past And Present Tense"

2006-12-29T11:31:00.000+08:00

Hughes Leglise-Bataille. Station Balard, 2006

I think time only passes quicker when one gets older. I never once thought about the passing of time when I was younger; it always just seemed to be hanging in the shadows and tomorrow always seemed so far away. I became more aware of time's passing when I was in university trying to juggle reading 25 books in one semester and working at the same time. All of a sudden, 3 years of what I thought was hell flew past and the pressure to look for a job—and hang on to it—intensified and that's when hell really began.

Sometimes it's a case of "I don't wanna grow up" (if the Toys 'R Us jingle came to you immediately, face it, you're old too) and other times it's just being grateful for all the experiences and the lessons I've learnt. But even as I'm typing this at home chilling out and just basically slacking around, I find it hard to stay in the moment. I either dwell on the past and what I haven't done or whatever, or think about what's going to happen tomorrow or the day after or the coming year. I think that's a big difference between the insouciant school-going years I spent playing around always in the moment and now, when everything needs to be done yesterday and I spend so much time on something I don't believe in or even care for: my mind is split between work and everything else.

So come next year, I really want to appreciate and be aware of time and its passing. I think when you are physically in one moment and your mind is somewhere else, that's when time really slips through your fingers. Therefore, if I'm going to slack, I want to be aware that I'm slacking. If I'm eating, I want to concentrate on chewing up my food and not having to read some stupid fuck report at the same time. I just want to be in the moment, whatever it may be.

>

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Jason Collett - These Are The Days (Buy Idols Of Exile)
2. (2:54) The White Stripes - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself (Buy Elephant)
3. (5:40) The Weakerthans - Aside (Buy Left And Leaving)
4. (9:04) Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - Then And Not A Moment Before (Buy Jennie That Cries EP)
5. (12:34) New Order - Regret (Buy The Best Of)
6. (16:44) Rogue Wave - Every Moment (Buy Out Of The Shadow)
7. (19:00) Foo Fighters - Times Like These (Buy One By One)
8. (23:24) Spoon - Something To Look Forward To (Buy Kill The Moonlight)
9. (25:43) Ok Go - This Will Be Our Year (Buy Future Soundtrack Of America)
10. (27:48) M. Ward - Poison Cup (Buy Post-War)
11. (30:40) The Velvet Underground - All Tomorrow's Parties (Buy The Velvet Underground & Nico)

Soundscape #18: Cheer Up Emo Kid

2006-12-22T12:45:00.000+08:00

Jesse McCormack. The Scr-Emo, 2006

I don't know exactly when it started but the term "emo" has become a rather derogatory insult you can fling at someone who's behaving depressed and moping around, and especially if they are decked out in tight all-black ensemble, dripping with eyeliners ...and that hair! They look like mini-Cousin Its! What's with the excessive display of melancholy and the constant whining about how shitty life is?

(to avoid confusion, I will refer to the slang "emo" with the quotation marks and the genre, without)

Some argue that the genre of emo music, on the other hand, cannot be more different. According to what seemed to be the "definitive" definition, emo music is simply "emotionally-charged punk rock." Which is fine by me, really. There are some stuff mentioned on that website that I listen to some time ago but would never have categorised as "emo" as the kids would have it now. I don't know. Someone once told me that all music is essentially an expression of one's feelings and thoughts and they undoubtedly come with some kind of emotional tags. Happiness is an emotion too, right? So what makes the genre of emo music a target of such derision?

I'm not about to give a history lesson here but it seems that the subject of emo music itself has shifted from its punk, more anarchistic roots to a more personal (i.e. more one-dimensional) realisation of one's inability to cope with love and/or life. I hold Dashboard Confessional responsible here for the subsequent spawning of bands like Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday and etc etc (I call them "sad bastard music"). Before anyone whips out a razor blade, I just want to suggest that there are more nuances of emotions or more varied and subtle ways of expressing them than the current emo music "scene" (Dashboard Confessional, MCR etc) allow for. Sure, shit happens to everyone, but that doesn't mean that we can't draw courage from these lessons. So, emo kid, cheer up, there are sadder bastards than you out there.

Playlist:

1. (0:00) Metric - Too Little Too Late (Buy Live It Out)
2. (4:21) Bloc Party - This Modern Love (Buy Silent Alarm)
3. (8:46) Gigolo Aunts - The Big Lie (Buy Minor Chords And Major Themes)
4. (12:13) The Wrens - Hopeless (Buy The Meadowlands)
5. (17:22) Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism (Buy Transatlanticism)
6. (25:20) Stars - Your Ex-Lover Is Dead (Buy Set Yourself On Fire)
7. (29:35) The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely (Buy Get Lonely)
8. (33:23) Teenage Fanclub - Mellow Doubt (Buy Grand Prix)
9. (36:12) Elliott Smith - Say Yes (Buy Either/Or)
10. (38:25) The Decemberists - I Don't Mind (Buy 5 Songs EP)
11. (43:06) Bright Eyes - Lua (Buy I'm Wide Awake It's Morning)
12. (47:32) Feist - Let It Die (Buy Let It Die)

Mogwai. Fear. Nothing

2006-12-17T00:44:00.000+08:00

2006 has been a very good year for music I think, just cos there are releases from my 3 most favourite bands. Mr Beast was the most anticipated among all 3 since Mogwai's last studio album was released back in 2004 (Happy Songs For Happy People). Much had been said about their quiet/loud/quiet signature but if you listen carefully there's a lot going on in a Mogwai track than just blowing your eardrums off. And I think Mr Beast shows that there's a gentler side to the band as they incorporate well thought through arrangements and melodies into their q/l/q thing.

2006 is also the year that my wildest dream came true. When I heard that Mogwai is coming back in April, I thought I must be one step closer to my death (since my wish is granted and all that). Oh it would have been a happy death, that's for sure. I remember ticket sales started on 6/6/06...how appropriate, the day of the beast and all that. By some kind of providence or divine intervention, we got first.fucking.row tickets. I couldn't stop grinning or pinching myself that whole day.

I never thought that June—August was just 2 months apart; it felt like 2 fucking years.

If you think that their album rocked, you should have seen them live. Everyone present was touched at some level by the music and it's hard to deny the power of the wall of sound. At times it leaps for your throat when you least expect it (Fear Satan), and as the beast gnaws at your jagular, and life slowly seeps out of your body, you would never have felt more alive.

[mp3] Mogwai - Folk Death 95 (from matador records)

Ed: Alright. It's tiring being so "prolific," posting almost every day this week. This is the last of the "best of 2006" posts and we'll be back with the usual lazy weekly soundscapes episodes. Thanks!

Soundscape #17: I Can't Go On, I'll Go On

2006-12-15T10:30:00.000+08:00

Vik Muniz. Sisyphus, After Tiziano, 2005.

There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn
—Albert Camus, The Myth Of Sisyphus.

The figure of Sisyphus is a powerful metaphor for all our lives, something we can all relate to. If you've been through any kind of routine for any length of time, you'd know what I mean. Don't get me wrong though, I don't mean that a routine has to make one feel a certain way (do you find comfort in a routine or feel burdened by it?) What I mean is that just being alive condemns you to a life with the balls and chains round your ankles.

The curse of a routine is not that you have to do the same thing over and over but that you cannot hope to have any sort of a stability, a construct, or a context without it. If we believe Derrida, nothing will make sense or have any meaning without repetition, seeing how everything derives its meaning from everything else. So I guess when it comes to routines, you're fucked if you do, fucked if you don't. And if we think about it somemore, the only way we can know that we are doing something (eat, sleep, work, repeat) over and over is cos we are conscious of it. Consciousness—that which separates us from animals—is both a curse and a gift. Although we are cursed with yokes round our necks, the mere knowledge of it should lighten the weight just that little and make us more human.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Bright Eyes - At The Bottom Of Everything (Buy I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning)
2. (4:33) Bedhead - The Rest Of The Day (Buy Beheaded)
3. (10:53) Editors - Fall (Buy The Back Room)
4. (15:58) The Decemberists - Eli The Barrow Boy (Buy Picaresque)
5. (19:09) The New Year - One Plus One Minus One Is One (Buy Newness Ends)
6. (23:33) The Wrens - This Boy Is Exhausted (Buy The Meadowlands)
7. (27:52) Manic Street Preachers - From Despair To Where (Buy Gold Against The Soul)
8. (31:14) Finch - What It Is To Burn (Buy What It Is To Burn)
9. (36:07) Yo La Tengo - (Straight Down To The) Bitter End (Buy Electr-O-Pura)
10. (40:04) Arab Strap - There Is No Ending (Buy The Last Romance)

Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo

2006-12-15T00:30:00.000+08:00

I've been a fan of Yo La Tengo for I think 9—10 years now and I've bought every single album (that's using real money in exchange for a physical product). It's really hard to describe what their music is like; you really need to listen to them (you can tell already that this post is going to be a short one). And even then, it's hard to recommend exactly which album to start off with because each album is distinctly Yo La Tengo but yet completely different from its predecessor at the same time.

But with I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass, it is now possible to experience what Yo La Tengo is really about. When I first heard it, I thought it rather uneven but in many ways, IANAOYAIWBYA encapsulates the entire YLT oeuvre. They go from completely quiet and folksy in one track and Sonic Youth-reverb-like in another. I have to admit to being biased here because I just kept playing the album over and over and it grew on me more and more. Be it some other band, I really may not have tried that hard. There are many adjectives out there that try and describe what YLT is like and it can be confusing and even contradictory at times but to me it just means that they will never ever be boring.

AND!! And I think it is 99% confirmed that YLT will be coming down to Singapore for Esplanade's Mosaic festival and when I read that on pitchfork, i think i almost choked on my coffee and the first friend I called couldn't even make out what I was saying cos I was rambling incoherently in excitement. Let's just hope that for the sake of everyone who is coming with me, or whom I've forced to go, that my first-row magic finger still works when I get us the tickets!!

[mp3] Yo La Tengo - Pass The Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind, and Beanbag Chair

I Will Come On The Breath Of The Wind

2006-12-14T00:30:00.000+08:00

If The Crane Wife is not on your list of top 5 albums of 2006, then I don't know where your year's been. It is _ the_ most anticipated album of the year, fueled by the fact that this is their first album under the awnings of a major label (they jumped ship from Kill Rock Stars last year). Everyone's either praying that they don't sell out or waiting for them to fuck up. Well, they did neither. In the first place, I don't see how their music can even reach out to a so-called wider audience; The Decemberists are, after all, a bunch of geeks singing about trapeze artists, sailors' revenge songs, and bicycle thieves. They do like their Romeo-and-Juliet tales in various incarnations but a Top 40 song about how a pair of star-crossed lovers was challenged to a pistol duel by the girl's brother, which led to the accidental shooting of the girl and the lover then vowed to burn the city down... hmmmm.... I can't see it.

In the second place, why mess around with things you know already work? They can't fuck up what they've been doing so well for what, 3 albums and 3 EPs right? In fact, I think The Crane Wife is less radio-friendly than Picaresque, and the 12 min "The Island/Landlord's daughter/You'll not feel the drowning" will alienate the unwary listener more than the fun come-sing-along-with-me "16 Military Wives" (Picaresque).

The Crane Wife is loosely based on a Japanese folk tale but the album has all the classic Decemberists' touches: civil war songs, sea chanties, and murder ballads. Is it Colin Meloy's voice (sometimes he sounds as if he's singing from just one side of his mouth) or the subject matter that makes The Decemberists just about the most unique and wonderful band around today?

The Decemberists - Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then) and O' Valencia!

Everyone Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?: Best Of 2006 (III)

2006-12-13T08:31:00.000+08:00

Listening to The Hold Steady always brings to mind a good time, free flow of beer and lots of fun. Boys And Girls In America is one of the most anticipated releases of 2006 and it doesn't disappoint. It's raucuous and sometimes it's more spoken (or rather, shout) than sung and Craig Finn's voice is definitely an acquired taste but god, the pianos! I love how they are everywhere, it just gives a whole new dimension to the bar-rock that defines the previous albums. And it does pay to decipher exactly what Finn is going on about; he's full of stories about restless kids and drunken nights . You listen to "Chips Ahoy" and tell me you don't feel like jumping onto a table in a pub somewhere with a paper cup overflowing with beer, and dancing your arse off.

M. Ward is on the other end of the spectrum from The Hold Steady, that's for sure. He is more contemplative, more folksy than rock. But while this is true in Transistor Radio, we find him ditching his usual quiet self for a rather surprising uplifing persona. It did take some getting used to but all is good. I particularly love "To go home" and "Post-war." I've been getting into a lot of the american folksy-roots stuff this year but M. Ward always seems a little more intimate and familiar to me. It reminds me of Sunday afternoons where it's hot and bright outside and I've just drew the blinds shut and slumped into my big ass chair, reading a book and trying to forget that Monday will come along very soon (don't ask me why).

The Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy
M. Ward - To Go Home

Everyone Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?: Best Of 2006 (II)

2006-12-12T11:39:00.000+08:00

These are relatively new bands but have caught my ear just cos they are masters of infectious melodies and killer hooks. Margot and The Nuclear So and So's are a massive 8 (I think it's 9 now) member band orchestrating cellos and violins and trumpets with guitars and drums, producing lush heavenly music. While tracks like Skeleton key and Quiet as a Mouse immediately stand out as the better tracks, there is still some unevenness in The Dust Of Retreat. It's almost as if they can't decide if they should rock out or be all quiet and folksy. The random, wtf band name aside, they are a band worth checking out.

If you like girl-boy back-and-forth vocals with an edge, you'd dig Headlights. Coming at you from behind a wall of synthesised keyboards and guitars, there is enough fuzz in Kill Them With Kindness to balance out Erin Fein's sweet voice so that it never gets too saccharine. Everything about Headlights is balance; you get insanely catchy melodies with depressing words, really, that manage to walk the fine line between shoegazing melancholy and cheerful sing-a-longs. The album too is full of ups-and-downs, like MNSS, but the tracks that stand out ("TV," "Put us back together right") make you reach for the repeat button right after they end.

Margot And The Nuclear So And Sos - Skeleton Key (Buy The Dust Of Retreat)
Headlights - TV (Buy Kill Them With Kindness)

Everyone Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?: Best Of 2006

2006-12-11T20:09:00.000+08:00

I tried to compile in my head the best albums I've heard in 2006, and the original 5 I was planning to do (yes, I could do 10 or 14 or 28, but I'm lazy) quickly ballooned. I had also originally planned to rank them but I think that would just be too stressful for me. So, what I'm going to do is to put together a list of the albums with the most play counts on my ipod and feature them over the next few days (hopefully).

So. I think one of the biggest surprises this year must have been Camera Obscura's Let's Get Out Of The Country. Despite being contemporaries, they have always been lurking behind the more popular Belle and Sebastian (The Life Pursuit just doesn't do it for me, sorry). It might have been Tracy Anne Campbell's sweet voice that just seems to make you want to sing along with her; it might have been the clever lyrics and the hooks that just stick.in.your.head. I remember there was this time where I didn't even notice I was humming "let's get out of the country" under my breath, and my friend, who was walking next to me, actually asked me where I want to go.

Puzzles Like You is a pleasant surprise to me too. Sure I liked Spoon And Rafter, but Puzzles just seems so much happier and poppier. I can almost feel the sunshine on my skin when I listen to the tracks. The thing about Mojave 3 is that they are so unpredictable. Just when you think you got them figured out—especially since they were members of Slowdive—out comes an album so confident and forward-looking, you just have to wonder what is going on inside Neil Halstead's head.

Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of The Country (Buy Let's Get Out Of The Country)
Mojave 3 - Puzzles Like You (Buy Puzzles Like You)

Ed. Note:

2006-12-11T14:55:00.000+08:00

Thanks for writing me with the answer to the question posed in the last soundscape (#15). Yes, it's Collective Soul (don't ask me why I was listening to that). You know, here I am thinking that noone will be old enough to know the answer or at least won't be half arsed to google it, when I was the stupid one who forgot to specify exactly how many should write in. I have 3 cds to burn now. bloody hells.

/muttering under my breath

So congrats to david, leon and puikwan (i'm sorry, kobzilla, I did say email). Send me your postal addresses and the soundscape episode you prefer. I'll send them soon... in this lifetime, at least. I promise.

Oh, there will be changes to soundscapes very soon. I bought a domain space and will be transferring all the episodes up, once I get arsed, that is. It's a lot of work and geekery to trudge through. Anyone with ideas/suggestions for expansion? I'm gonna need help taking over the world!

Soundscape #16: "What Really Matters Is What You Like, Not What You ARE Like"

2006-12-08T09:00:00.000+08:00

What does it really mean to get to know a person? When you meet someone new, do you immediately ask loads of questions to figure out what kind of person s/he is? Or would you try and go with the flow and see where the conversation leads you? There is this scene in High Fidelity where Rob, Barry and Dick decide that when meeting someone new, "what really matters is what he/she likes, not what he/she is like." They even talked about making questionnaires for potential partners to answer just so that they won't be embarrassed by her extensive collection of say, Barry Manilow cds (I forgot what the actual reference is in the movie) later on.

As socially unacceptable as that may seem (hey, it sounds fine to me), it does ring true to a certain extent. What you want to do when you meet someone for the first time is to talk about things you have in common, right? I know it may be a little stereotypical but you can probably tell what kind of person I am if I like High Fidelity and the music I put up every week sorta fits into that profile, doesn't it? Of course, much of this is serendipitous. I remember that I got into reading Ayn Rand because I came across an interview about some band that I was listening to at that time who said that they got their name from The Fountainhead*. Or reading Coupland's Gen X just cos I was in the library in between classes, bored out of my mind and came across its bright hot pink cover. Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I never come across that interview or if I decide to skip classes that day. So I was thinking that since I've been doing this for 16 weeks, I should tell you a little more about myself. So here goes: mogwai, yo la tengo, teenage fanclub, the decemberists, explosions in the sky, bedhead/the new year, the wrens, sufjan stevens, bloc party, neutral milk hotel, wilco. Also, don't forget kafka, dostoevsky, salinger, derrida, samuel beckett, camus, nick hornby, douglas coupland.

nice to meet you.
what do you like?

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Mojave 3 - Breaking The Ice (Buy Puzzles Like You)
2. (4:05) The Boy Least Likely To - Be Gentle With Me (Buy The Best Party Ever)
3. (7:54) Voxtrot - The Start Of Something (Buy Raised By Wolves EP)
4. (12:26) Teenage Fanclub - The Concept (Buy Bandwagonesque)
5. (18:01) Air Traffic - Never Even Told Me Her Name (Buy Never Even Told Me Her Name)
6. (20:46) The Spinto Band - Oh Mandy (Buy Nice And Nicely Done)
7. (24:21) Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Me And Mia (Buy Shake The Sheets)
8. (27:56) Dinosaur Jr - I Know Yer Insane (Buy Hand It Over)
9. (31:03) The White Stripes - Why Can't You Be Nicer To Me? (Buy De Stijl)
10. (34:23) The Hold Steady - You Can Make Him Like You (Buy Boys And Girls In America)
11. (37:14) Beulah - My Horoscope Said It Would Be A Bad Year
12. (39:58) Wilco - I Am Trying To Break Your Heart (Buy Yankee Hotel Foxtrot)

* guess the name of the band correctly and I will burn you a copy of this week's soundscapes and send it to you. Email please.

Soundscape #15: I Felt A Funeral In My Brain

2006-12-01T09:00:00.000+08:00

Jacques Louie-David. The Death of Marat, 1793.

Epicurus once said that death is nothing for when you are, death is not; when death is, you are not. He makes perfect sense of course but sometimes it has to be said that human beings can be anything but rational. Else, who can account for the fact that the fear of death ranks higher on most people's lists of phobia than say, spiders?

So why is death so scary? On the surface, death simply means that one ceases to be but if you really think about it, death also means that you flipped the switch on all that could ever be. All the things you ever wanted to do, all the places you wanted to go, all the people you wanted to see, all the things you wished you said or wished you could take back, all the books you wanted to read, all the music you wanted to check out, all gone. I think that is a scarier thought than just *ceasing* to be.

I'm sure some will say that thinking about death is a little macabre but I think that death, being a destination, gives meaning to the journey itself. Anyways, if I'm gone, somebody, please, burn me the following mix to be played at my funeral or wake or whatever. I don't think I'd have a say in the funeral thingies but burn a copy of my funeral mix, blast the amps and maybe we'll be able to chase people I don't want around away.

And! And if anyone would read "Funeral Blues," I would be very touched indeed*

Playlist
1. (0:00) Nancy Sinatra - Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) (Buy Kill Bill Vol. 1 OST)
2. (2:40) Stars - He Lied About Death (Buy Set Yourself On Fire)
3. (7:50) The Velvet Underground - Who Loves The Sun (Buy Peel Slowly And See)
4. (10:36) Aberdeen City - God Is Going To Get Sick Of Me (Buy The Freezing Atlantic)
5. (14:05) The Stills - Love And Death (Buy Logic Will Break Your Heart)
6. (18:22) The Organ - A Sudden Death (Buy Grab That Gun)
7. (21:16) Morrissey - First Of The Gang To Die (Buy You Are The Quarry)
8. (24:55) The Decemberists - We Both Go Down Together (Buy Picaresque)
9. (27:56) Jason Collett - We All Lose One Another (Buy Idols Of Exile)
10. (32:20) Death Cab For Cutie - Title And Registration (Buy Transatlanticism)
11. (36:00) Yo La Tengo - Blue Line Swinger (Buy Electr-O-Pura)

*right, so I won't, or rather, I can't. But you know what I mean.

Soundscape #14: I Turn My Camera On

2006-11-24T09:00:00.000+08:00

London, 2005

I bought a camera recently to replace an old one that doesn't work anymore. It cost me quite a bit, even though I got a pretty good deal with all the freebies and stuff. To make sure that I ~~don't feel like I've wasted my money~~ make use of the camera, I bring it along with me everyday hoping to capture some truly spontaneous moments.

It's been almost 3 months now and while I have no doubt taken some nice pictures, it's rare that I even remember I have a camera with me most of the time, much less capture the truly spontaneous or random moment. And here is the Catch-22: I realise that to be able to even compute that a particular moment is a picture-perfect moment, it is necessary to be in that moment. But, when I'm in a moment, I'm in the moment and to be able to recognise the picture-worthiness of a particular moment, you have to be slightly outside the moment itself, looking in. Odd, innit?

This is especially true when you are on holiday. You look around with fresh eyes, marvelling at all the strangeness and soaking in all the foreign-ness of the place you are in and the last thing you want to do is to dig around your bag for your camera and fumble with the settings. By the time you get everything ready, the moment is already lost. You no longer feel as engaged, as into the moment you were just a while ago. What's important are the experiences and the feelings and no camera will be able to capture that.

Playlist:
1. (0:00) Spoon - I Turn My Camera On (Buy Gimme Fiction)
2. (3:32) Weezer - Photograph (Buy S/T [Green])
3. (5:51) The Cure - Pictures Of You (Buy Disintegration)
4. (9:95) Editors - Camera (Buy The Back Room)
5. (14:97) Lloyd Cole - What's Wrong With This Picture? (Buy Negatives)
6. (20:28) Bishop Allen - Click Click Click Click (Buy July EP)
7. (23:28) Death Cab For Cutie - Photobooth (Buy Forbidden Love EP)
8. (26:74) Cat Power - Living Proof (Buy The Greatest)
9. (29:85) Wilco - Kamera (Buy Yankee Hotel Foxtrot)
10. (33:15) Ryan Adams - Cracks In A Photograph (Suicide Handbook)

Soundscape #13: In The Cold I'm Standing (Where Is Your Happy Place?)

2006-11-17T09:00:00.000+08:00

Georges Seurat. Railway Tracks, 1881.

Everyone has somewhere safe and reassuring to which they can retreat from the world and be alone with themselves. The lucky ones have an actual physical place while the rest of us have to rely on our memories or imaginations.

Whenever I'm stressed or trying to fall asleep, I shut my eyes to go back to my friend's backyard in Manchester. I was staying with her last year and it was really cold, especially in the mornings. I remember my insides shaking like crazy even before I get up. I remember literally hopping around the kitchen freezing to death, while waiting what seemed like forever for the water to boil. But with a mug of steaming hot tea and a cigarette, I would huddle outside on the step to the backyard to smoke while waiting for the tea to cool and wondering what new things and new places to check out later. One morning, as I was stoning out and watching the light blue sky, it occured to me that the telephone/cable poles along the street were positioned in such a way that they seemed to be propping up the sky. One by one in equal distance from one another, each silently braving the cold bitter wind stoically doing its job. Maybe it only seemed that way from where I was sitting, or maybe I was just delirious from the cold.

Stupid as it may sound, I love the cold. Even when my insides were freezing and the tea was taking forever to course through my body; even when my fingers were shaking as I tried to smoke the first cigarette of the day, hell, even when I couldn't feel my fingers shaking... it's invigorating. I feel more awake, more aware, more alive somehow in the cold.

Track Listing:
1. (0:00) Sigur Rós - Untitled #3 (Buy ())
2. (6:27) Explosions In The Sky - Your Hands In Mine (w/strings) (Buy Friday Night Lights OST)
3. (10:37) As The Poets Affirm - Snow White Wings In The Bottomless Blue (Buy The Jaws That Bite, The Claws That Catch)
4. (16:34) Mono - Halo (Buy One Step More And You Die)
5. (24:08) Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Hung Over As The Queen At Maida Vale (John Peel Sessions)
6. (42:31) My Dad Vs Yours - Canyons (Grand Or Otherwise) (Buy Winning Hearts And Minds)
7. (46:10) Mogwai - 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong (Buy Rock Action)
8. (55:43) When They Know You They Will Run - December (Demo)

Soundscape #12: Time Will Have His Fancy, Tomorrow Or Today

2006-11-10T12:00:00.000+08:00

Salvador Dali. The Persistence of Memory, 1931.

About a week ago, I got an email from myself a year back. It was one of those gimmicks where you email yourself in the future. Reading it was quite painful. Somehow I knew that the relationship I was in a year ago wasn't going to last the year. I had also known as I was writing that email a year ago that I would be exactly where I was then: slacking around, being lazy, not doing anything constructive, half-arsed etc. I don't know whether it's cos it's a self-fulfilling prophecy or just (heightened?) self-awareness.

Instead of an email that would come back a year later to bite me in the arse and mock me with its "I told you so's," I would very much prefer an email from the future me to where I am now, just so I have another chance to right the wrongs and fix them right again. Would it be too late to fix things? Maybe I should write to myself in the past instead. What should I say? What would I have myself do different? Would I tell myself to be kinder, more patient with others? Would I tell myself to be more trusting and not be frightened that I'm not in control of my life? Would I tell myself that it is better to be more forgiving or more forgetful?

More importantly, would I listen?

Track Listing:
1. (0:00) The Delgados - The Past That Suits You Best (Buy The Great Eastern)
2. (6:20) Athlete - Yesterday Threw Everything At Me (Buy Tourist)
3. (10:04) Jimmy Eat World - A Praise Chorus (Buy Bleed American)
4. (14:06) Gigolo Aunts - Half A Chance (Buy Minor Chords and Major Themes)
5. (16:59) Kevin Devine - You'll Only End Up Joining Them (Buy Put Your Ghost To Rest)
6. (20:55) Lloyd Cole - Past Imperfect (Buy The Negatives)
7. (25:39) The White Stripes - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself (Buy Elephant)
8. (28:25) Jesse Malin - The Fine Art Of Self Destruction (Buy The Fine Art Of Self Destruction)
9. (32:20) Manic Street Preachers - From Despair To Where (Buy Gold Against The Soul)
10. (35:45) Drive-by Truckers - Hell No, I Ain't Happy (Buy Decoration Day)
11. (40:06) The Stills - Changes Are No Good (Buy Logic Will Break Your Heart)
12. (43:49) Malajube - La Monogamie (Buy Tromp-L'oeil)
13. (48:36) The National - Baby We'll Be Fine (Buy Alligator)

Soundscape #11: "I'm A Non-Practising Jew"

2006-11-03T09:05:00.000+08:00

Michael Hinkle, B.F.F. (Best Friends Forever), 2005.

"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." (Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science," New York Times Magazine, 1930).

I can imagine how worked up some people may get when they come across Nietzsche and his "god is dead" in Thus Spake Zarathustra, but I think he is more against organised religion than religion per se when he likens worshippers to herds of mindless sheep. I have nothing against religion, mind, even though I'm an agnostic. But I think that to be religious, one has to open both mind and heart; i.e. one has to be spiritual first. It doesn't necessarily work the other way though.

Agnosticism is often confused with atheism, but if you really think about it, agnostics do not not believe that there is no god; only that one cannot know if a god exists or not; there is no such knowledge made available to us (or we are not equipped to process this knowledge, should it exist). Literally, agnostic means without (from the greek a) knowledge (greek gnosis). Most people think that agnosticism is a weak cousin of atheism (since atheism rejects or denies the existence of god outright) but as I've once pointed out to a (Christian) friend, it will be much harder to convince an agnostic of god's existence precisely because his/her basic premise is already the fact that there cannot be perceivable evidence (that god exists) or that man is not equipped with the right instruments to process this evidence, should it really exist.

Spirituality is different. Even if you don't believe in god, there is no reason to think that there isn't something magical happening around us everyday. The miracle of life, of animals, of plants, of your friends and family and everything else in between, points to something beyond and outside of ourselves.

Track Listing:
1. (0:00) DeVotchKa - Do You Think There's A Heaven (Buy Little Miss Sunshine OST)
2. (1:23) Wilco - Jesus, Etc (Buy Yankee Hotel Foxtrot)
3. (4:75) Iron And Wine - Naked As We Came (Buy Our Endless Numbered Days)
4. (7:07) David Bazan - Fewer Broken Pieces (Buy Fewer Moving Parts)
5. (10:32) Iron And Wine/Calexico - He Lays In The Reins (Buy In The Reins)
6. (13:75) Jenny Lewis With The Watson Twins - Born Secular (Buy Rabbit Fur Coat)
7. (18:82) Sufjan Stevens - For The Widows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti (Buy Greetings From Michigan)
8. (22:39) The New Pornographers - The Laws Have Changed (Buy Electric Version)
9. (25:65) Yo La Tengo - Demons (Buy Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo)
10. (28:83) Rilo Kiley - The Absence of God (Buy More Adventurous)
11. (32.38) Morrissey - I Have Forgiven Jesus (Buy You Are The Quarry)
12. (35:79) Beulah - Me And Jesus Don't Talk Anymore (Buy Yoko)
13. (40:30) Interpol - Evil (Buy Antics)
14. (43:65) Portishead - Wandering Star (Buy Dummy)
15. (48:21) Radiohead - Where I End And You Begin (The Sky Is Falling In) (Buy Hail To The Thief)

Soundscape #10: Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day?

2006-10-27T12:00:00.000+08:00

Robert Doisneau. Le baiser de l'hôtel de ville, 1950.

Congrats, Michelle and Zoli

There are many many evils that mankind's capable of. We are probably the biggest bane that Earth has ever known, leaving destruction and chaos everywhere but perhaps what has set us apart from mere animals is our potential to do the opposite as well. Funnily enough, with our heightened awareness honed from generations of self-centeredness, or perhaps in spite of it, we still can't see the irony of going out to war against our own kind and going home to our loved ones at the end of the day.

By all logic, man should not have been able to survive for this long but perhaps love, or rather, the notion of love, is the one thing saving us from self-annihilation. Despite all the evils that man does, he is also capable of doing good. I'm not going to expound on the vagaries of love nor its power since I'm neither a cynic nor a poet. But this week's soundscape (tries to) celebrate love and the life together that two individuals have vowed to forever keep.

Track Listing:
1. (0:00) Bright Eyes - First Day Of My Life (Buy I'm Awake It's Morning)
2. (3:02) The Arcade Fire - Crown Of Love (Buy Funeral)
3. (7:41) Saturday Looks Good To Me - Since You Stole My Heart (Buy Every Night)
4. (10:32) Bloc Party - So Here We Are (Buy Silent Alarm)
5. (14:21) Belle & Sebastian - If You Find Yourself Caught In Love (Buy Dear Catastophe Waitress)
6. (18:34) John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman - My One And Only Love (Buy S/T)
7. (23:34) Elliott Smith - Say Yes (Buy Either/Or)
8. (25:48) Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Follow You Into The Dark (Buy Plans)
9. (28:58) Yo La Tengo - You Can Have It All (Buy And Then Nothing Turns Itself Inside Out)
10. (33:35) Radiohead - True Love Waits (Buy I Might Be Wrong)
11. (38:42) Teenage Fanclub - Your Love Is The Place Where I Come From (Buy Songs From Northern Britain)
12. (42:10) The Magnetic Fields - It's Only Time (Buy I)

Soundscape #9: In Your Cubicle No One Can Hear You Scream

2006-10-20T10:57:00.000+08:00

Damien Hirst. The Acquired Inability To Escape, 1992.

There's a printout tacked on my cubicle wall that says "Six Tips for Happiness"; my favourite is the one that says "give yourself permission to be human." It's a little new age-y no doubt but I guess when we reject what we feel (pissed off, sad, fucked up, angry) as immature or unimportant, or simply that "it will pass," you have to wonder which part of you is still "human."

Looking around my little cage, there are articles like "Breath and Stress Reduction" and "10 exercises to do at the computer," scribbled phone numbers to bookstores and music stores (read: escape routes) right above my phone, work/production schedules though my work calendar only has every Tuesday filled out... with the music releases for that week.

Whether we like it or not, cube life is increasingly becoming the standard OS. You can set the clock just by the things I do throughout the day. Granted the routine supposedly provides a stability for our lives so that we can take the time to venture "creatively" outside our comfort zones but I'm so fucking tired from the day-to-day that the routine has somehow become a crutch I keep tripping over. I find myself planning my entire life around work and often saying no to friends who want to meet up for dinner simply cos it's a weeknight and I'm just too fucking tired.

Track Listing:
1. (0:00) Tegan And Sara - Monday Monday Monday (Buy If It Was You)
2. (3:15) The Arcade Fire - Wake Up (Buy Funeral)
3. (8:50) Manic Street Preachers - La Tristesse Durer (Scream To A Sigh) (Buy Gold Against The Soul)
4. (12:57) British Sea Power - Something Wicked (Buy The Decline Of British Sea Power)
5. (15:69) Bedhead - Exramundane (Buy Transaction De Novo)
6. (18:73) The Decemberists - Everything I Try To Do, Nothing Seems To Turn Out Right (Buy Billy Liar EP)
7. (22:76) Jarvis Cocker - Cunts Are Still Running The World (Upcoming Solo Album)
8. (27:24) Radiohead - No Surprises (KROQ Breakfast Acoustic Session)
9. (30:83) Nine Inch Nails - Every Day Is Exactly The Same (Buy With Teeth)
10. (35:37) Secret Machines - Nowhere Again (Buy Now Here Is Nowhere)
11. (39:53) Bright Eyes - The Center Of The World (Buy Fevers And Mirrors)
12. (43:96) The Postal Service - Recycled Air (Buy Give Up)
13. (48:25) Radiohead - Fitter Happier (Buy Ok Computer)

Soundscape #8: Libraries Give Us Power

2006-10-13T09:51:00.000+08:00

The Reading Room at the British Museum.

Dedicated to the memory of Jacques Derrida (July 15,1930-October 8, 2004).

The previous post about randomness got me thinking about its opposite, the ultimate in anal-retentiveness--the library and the dewey decimal system. If you think about it logically, do we really need libraries anymore? Everything we can possibly want to know is already online, google-able and copy-and-paste-able...is it not? But I doubt that will ever happen. There's a sense of permanence attached to libraries in general even as they are modernising themselves to keep up with the changing times. Even if you can look up the title on an online catalog and have the book delivered to your doorstep, it won't ever beat the very real feeling of looking up a catalog number yourself and walking the entire length of an aisle, or across the library floor, scouring the shelves and tilting your head just that little bit to the right, all the while chanting the Call Number to yourself, just in case you forget.

I love libraries, some more than others. It all depends on the vibe that it has; that's what gives it character. I love the tapping sound of shoes as their owners gingerly climb the old rickety staircase at Oldham Library and its dark shelves that are almost sagging under the weight of the books. I remember feeling enchanted by the gothic vibe at Manchester Library where you keep thinking that it's really dark along the aisles even though there is sufficient lighting, which makes you feel that you can somehow disappear into another world among its shelves. But even as there are libraries that embrace you for whoever you are, there are some that hold you at arm's length, with its über modern facilities and gallery-like spaces. The vibe here is clinical, professional and highly efficient no doubt but also very anal and rigid, as if someone is lying in wait for you to fuck up just so that they can tell you to leave the premises immediately.

My absolute favourite, however, is the Reading Room at the British Museum. To say that it's awe-inspiring just doesn't do it justice. I think it's pure unadulterated awe itself, to be able to stand in the middle of the world, time and history itself, all carefully catalogued for you to discover. I remember my heart skipping a beat as I try and process the timeless grandeur of the place where Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde and Gandhi once stood with probably the same jaw-dropping delight.

Track Listing:
1. (0:00) Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life (Buy Everything Must Go)
2. (4:16) Wolf Parade - I'll Believe In Anything (Buy Apologies To The Queen Mary)
3. (8:52) Margot & The Nuclear So And So's - Quiet As A Mouse (Buy The Dust Of Retreat)
4. (12:88) The Envy Corps - Sylvia [The Beekeeper] (Buy I Will Write You Love Letters If You Tell Me To)
5. (15:98) Belle & Sebastian - Wrapped Up In Books (Buy Dear Catastrophe Waitress)
6. (19:32) Death Cab For Cutie - Debate Exposes Doubt (Buy The Photo Album)
7. (23:68) We Are Scientists - Textbook (Buy With Love And Squalor)
8. (27:69) Matt Pond PA - Silence (Buy Green Fury)
9. (30:09) Pavement - Gold Sounds (Buy Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain)
10. (32:48) The Weakerthans - Our Retired Explorer (Buy Reconstruction Site)
11. (34:71) Radiohead - Stop Whispering (Buy Pablo Honey)
12. (39:96) Yo La Tengo - I Heard You Looking (Buy Painful)

Soundscape #7: "Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From? They Just Appear"

2006-10-06T09:16:00.000+08:00

Damien Hirst. Opium, 2000.

Classic, classic line from Empire Records. It sounds retarded, sure, but I love the line, I love the movie. Was it really that good a movie though? I thought so when I first watched it. Maybe it's just easier to like something when you were younger and everything seems so new and fresh and exciting.

When we were younger, it seemed ok not to have everything make sense. Randomness was just another fact of life, a good thing even. But as we got older, somehow it seems harder to just let random stay random. Everything has got to mean something in the grand scheme of things somehow and everything has to be labelled or categorised. It's so stifling! This week's soundscape sticks a finger up at this dewey system of living one's life and celebrates randomness the way it's supposed to be: random.

Track Listing:
1. (0:00) Of Montreal - Disconnect The Dots (Buy Satanic Panic In The Attic)
2. (4:25) Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes (Buy Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production Of Eggs)
3. (6:77) Spoon - I Summon You (Buy Gimme Fiction)
4. (10:32) Bloc Party - Little Thoughts (Buy Little Thoughts/Tulips Single)
5. (13:62) Evan Dando - My Idea (Buy Baby I'm Bored)
6. (15:96) The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize?? (Buy Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots)
7. (19:28) The Thermals - How We Know (Buy Fuckin A)
8. (22:46) The Go! Team - Feel Good By Numbers (Buy Thunder, Lightning, Strike)
9. (24:04) The Magnetic Fields - I Don't Believe You (Buy I)
10. (27:44) The Strokes - Is This It? (Buy Is This It?)

You can also download the episode here.

Soundscape #6: And If You Gaze Long Into An Abyss, The Abyss Also Gazes Into You.

2006-09-30T13:00:00.000+08:00

Richard Stine. The Roads Between, (date unknown)

There are many laws that govern our existence here on earth. Perhaps subtler than the laws of causality, gravity and time, the law of space manifests both postitively and negatively, as well as mentally and physically. For someone who's quite painfully aware of (the lack of) space (I'm claustrophobic), I think that there is a strong relationship between space and its various constructs/confines and one's state of mind. I breathe easier in open spaces and I think clearer too when there aren't hordes of people bearing down on me. Space conjures up so many ideas and their antitheses--we think of freedom but also chaos, endless possibilities but also the paralyzing abyss-- they all attempt to describe the notion of space, but never succeeding to define it.

Space transcends even one's personal state of mind; it dictates the nature of the relationships among people as well. Ever wondered how two people at opposite ends of the earth can claim to look up at the skies and know that they are looking at the same star? Or how a couple can sit right next to each other and feel a world apart?

Track Listing:
1. (0:00) Badly Drawn Boy - The Shining (Buy The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast)
2. (5:18) Dave Matthews Band - The Space Between (Buy Everyday)
3. (9:21) Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (Buy Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space)
4. (12:62) Sigur Rós - Glósóli (Buy Takk)
5. (18:78) The Postal Service - Such Great Heights (Buy Give Up)
6. (23:04) Luna - Lost In Space (Buy Best Of Luna)
7. (26:48) M83 - Don't Save Us From The Flames (Buy Before The Dawn Heals Us)
8. (30:63) Radiohead - Everything In Its Right Place (Buy Kid A)
9. (34:74) My Bloody Valentine - Sometimes (Buy Loveless)
10. (39:93) Mogwai - Helicon 1 (Buy Ten Rapid)

You can also download the episode here.

Soundscape #5: Unplugged!

2006-09-24T17:16:00.000+08:00

Roy Lichtenstein. Vicki, 1964.

I'll be the first to admit the (very) high possibility that I will die without my iPod. I simply cannot imagine going through an entire commute to and from ~~hell~~ work without something to comfort me or distract me along the way. It's really not so much the dread of work from which I need comfort/distraction but the incessant chatter of people along the way. I am highly suspicious of anyone who doesn't need some kind of protection from the chattering crowd. How do these people tune out like that? I realise I haven't actually tried that before, since I've never ever been without music for as long as I have to take public transport. I try to recall the conversations I have with friends during a commute but I don't think I'm objective enough to see my own inanity, so in the spirit of experimentation, I decided to unplug my ipod and plug into the collective.

To say it's deafening is a gross understatement. The sound of traffic--the engine revs, the honking and swerving--is already bad enough, but when you add to that cacophony the incessant schoolgirl giggles, or outright booming laughter, the highpitched bitchy whines about work or the droning baritones of someone's boring day, it's almost all I could bear.

Track Listing:
1. (0.00) Stephin Merritt - What A Fucking Lovely Day! (Buy Showtunes)
2. (1:22) Modest Mouse - The World At Large (Buy Good News For People Who Love Bad News)
3. (5:54) Rilo Kiley - It's A Hit (Buy More Adventurous)
4. (9:82) Kevin Devine - Buried By The Buzz (Buy Split The Country, Split The Street)
5. (13:21) Bloc Party - She's Hearing Voices (Buy Silent Alarm)
6. (16:49) Shout Out Louds - Very Loud (Buy Howl Howl Gaff Gaff)
7. (20:54) Okkervil River - Song Of Our So-Called Friend (Buy Black Sheep Boy)
8. (23:81) Nada Surf - Popular (Buy High/Low)
9. (27:29) We Are Scientists - This Scene Is Dead (Buy With Love And Squalor)
10. (30:72) Arab Strap - There Is No Ending (Buy The Last Romance)

You can also download the entire episode here.

Soundscape #4: This Is Not My Beautiful House

2006-09-16T12:06:00.000+08:00

I don't know if anyone knows this but apparently the Ikea catalogue is printed more times than the bible each year. Pretty mind-boggling eh? Granted, the Ikea catalogue is updated every year and is distributed free. But something within the glossy pages always seems to get me dreamy-- all these beautiful apartments, beds, closets, kitchens and rooms and stuff, you know? I realise though, I don't want just the sofa, or the couch or the Billy bookcase; I want the complete package, the floors, the carpets, sofas, the books, the artfully-cluttered apartment, the perfect mom fixing something in the perfect kitchen... etc. Damnit, I want to live in these pages. Bloody hell. It's all just an evil marketing tool targeted to get you to buy more stuff.

Ranting aside, there's nothing wrong with a little bit of daydreaming, is there? I don't think anyone would take offence to sitting down on a comfy chair and leafing through its colourful pages, sipping tea on a nice quiet Sunday afternoon, with some nice tracks playing in the background to help you fantasise about finally organising that over-flowing closet of yours or alphabetising your CD collection, to throw out the old and welcome the new and the possible.

Track Listing:
1. (0:00) Blood Meridian - Oh Oh Oh (Buy We Almost Made It Home)
2. (3:21) Elliott Smith - Fond Farewell (Buy From A Basement On The Hill)
3. (3:57) Feist - Mushaboom (Buy Let It Die)
4. (10:20) Headlights - Put Us Back Together Right (Buy Kill Them With Kindness)
5. (14:34) Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - Good Kind of Crazy (Buy I Never Thought I Could Feel This Way For A Boy)
6. (18:83) Pavement - Major Leagues (Buy Terror Twilight)
7. (22:07) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - In This Home On Ice (Buy Clap Your Hands Say Yeah)
8. (25:65) The Postal Service - Sleeping In (Buy Give Up)
9. (29:86) Tegan & Sara - I Know I Know I Know (Buy So Jealous)
10. (33:33) The Ladybug Transistor - The Places You'll Call Home (Buy The Ladybug Transistor)
11. (37:34) Yo La Tengo - My Little Corner Of The World (Buy I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One)
12. (39:59) The Weakerthans - Everything Must Go! (Buy Left And Leaving)

You can download this episode here.

Soundscape #3: We Are Nowhere And It's Now

2006-09-10T19:27:00.000+08:00

Edward Hopper. The Long Leg, 1935.

Travelling, whether it's a well-earned reward or an indulgence, somehow always implies a desire to escape, to run away, to see the other side of the fence. It's too easy to think that whatever you leave behind will sort themselves out by the time you return from your trip. Or that you will return with new perspectives and deal with things differently. It's too easy to imagine yourself lying on a beach somewhere and your troubles simply floating away with the wind.

But more often than not, reality can be a cold hard bitch. The logistics of planning a trip alone can be daunting. Where to go, when to go, how to get there, how much to spend, what you need to bring with you, maps, directions, cash, travellers' cheques, languages, phasebooks, tickets, train/bus/plane schedules... the list goes on and on. It can drive you nuts.

This week's soundscape takes the hard shit out of planning a trip for yourself. While it's impossible that you dont have to do anything in preparation for a trip, this batch of songs will take the stress out of the planning and assure you that it's all gonna be worth it. After all, a holiday you take does not merely involve physically packing your bags and catching a plane; it's about a state of mind. Sometimes, the best holiday you can ever give yourself is one away from yourself.

Track Listing:
1. (0:00) Belle and Sebastian - Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying (Buy If You're Feeling Sinister)
2. (3:25) Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (Buy In The Aeroplane Over The Sea)
3. (6:47) Ash - A Life Less Ordinary (Buy OST A Life Less Ordinary)
4. (10:66) The Decemberists - Los Angeles I'm Yours (Buy Her Majesty The Decemberists)
5. (14:87) Spoon - I Turn My Camera On (Buy Gimme Fiction)
6. (18:15) Teenage Fanclub - Take The Long Way Round (Buy Songs From Northern Britain)
7. (21:40) Gomez - Homoa Beach (Buy How We Operate)
8. (24.74) Jason Collett - I'll Bring The Sun (Buy Idols Of Exile)
9. (28:08) 18th Dye - Trains And Boats And Planes (Buy Left)
10. (32:44) Beirut - Postcards From Italy (Buy Gulag Orkestar)
11.(36:61) Kevin Shields - City Girl (Buy OST Lost In Translation)
12. (40:09) The Weakerthans - One Great City! (Buy Reconstruction Site)
13. (42:63) Margot and The Nuclear So and Sos - On A Freezing Chicago Street (Buy The Dust Of Retreat)
14. (45:65) Bright Eyes - We Are Nowhere And It's Now (Buy I'm Wide Awake It's Morning)
15. (49:77) M. Ward - To Go Home (Buy Post-War)

You can also download the entire episode here.

Who's up for some ass-beating!?

2006-09-06T20:07:00.001+08:00

Yo La Tengo's new album, due out next week (9/12), has got to be one of the few albums most anticipated this year, at least for me anyways. I don't have to tell you all the reasons why they are great but suffice it to say that their albums are something I will give good money for, well in advance. And this album is especially special, the wtf title (it's called I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass) aside, cos Matador is giving out passes to preorders that lets you listen to the entire album online, among other exclusive mp3s and stuff.

I've listened to the album and it's great! I dont know how a band can consistently produce such high quality stuff but somehow YLT always manages to pull it off with the greatest of ease and good humor. Evidence? Check this out. Funny shit. I love it!

You Rock, Greg!

2006-09-06T14:48:00.000+08:00

Ssswweeeeetttt!
This is one very good reason why you shouldn't steal music: you get good karma! If you recall from an earlier post, I emailed The Wrens asking them to hold a tshirt shipment for me because I wanted to add Seacaucus and Silver to my order... long story short, Greg Whelan said he would send the cds for free* and he even included the hard-to-get EP, Abbott!!! God, I can die happy now.

*although somehow G now thinks that I owe him one of my kidneys...

Soundscape #2: Hell Is Other People

2006-09-02T13:23:00.000+08:00

One of the most iconic images of the 20th Century, The Scream, by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, was recovered a couple of days ago after being literally ripped off the walls of the Munch museum in Oslo 2 years ago. With The Scream, Munch has portrayed humanity's sense of existential angst and dread as something immediately primal and instinctual. I wonder with our increasingly busy lives now, do we even have time to feel this horror?

This week's soundscape explores this dread we undoubtedly feel, some more than others. I think that the dread and horror that sometimes have us pinned by the throats have somewhat become more introspective, a consequence perhaps of our desensitization towards the very real horrors of the world taking place all around us, all the time.

Track Listing:
1. (0:00) As The Poets Affirm - Polyhymnia (Buy I Want To Tell My Heart To You But I Cannot Say English)
2. (5:05) Portishead - Sour Times (Buy Dummy)
3. (9:18) Nirvana - Lithium (Buy From The Muddy Banks of The Wishka)
4. (13:35) Pavement - Serpentine Pad (Buy Wowee Zowee)
5. (14:51) Nine Inch Nails - Closer (Buy The Downward Spiral)
6. (20:64) Radiohead - You And Whose Army (Buy Amnesiac)
7. (23:75) PJ Harvey - Down By The Water (Black Session) (Buy To Bring You My Love)
8. (26:92) REM - E-Bow The Letter (Buy New Adventures In Hi-Fi)
9. (31:09) The Flaming Lips - Waitin' For A Superman (Buy The Soft Bulletin)
10 (36:33) My Dad Vs Yours - Law Of Unintended Consequence (Buy Winning Hearts and Minds)

I've Made Enough Friends

2006-08-31T21:29:00.000+08:00

I don't know if it's the commercialisation of the music industry or the nature of it all but sometimes listening/discovering new music can feel pretty.. business-like. You read a review of a new cd somewhere, get the cd, slip it into your player (or upload it onto your ipod, whatever), listen to it for a bit, and if you like what you hear, you talk about it with your friends, even obsess over it for a while... but when the next new thing comes along, what do you do with the now-old obsession? It's become a routine-like thing, hasnt it? After a while it can seem a little tiring even.

Sometimes rediscovering the old can be as exciting, even more so, than discovering the next CYHSY or Tapes 'n Tapes. The soundscapes project, which I am trying my darnest to put up (semi) regularly, has me digging through old cds and old times, and I realise more often than not, you will definitely find something you will love all over again.

And it's always nice when you can put a personalised touch to the music you listen to. I was ordering a Wrens tshirt (the previous post rekindled my Wrens phase) when I realise that someone made off with my Silver and Secaucus cds previously. So I emailed Greg Whelan to ask if he could hold the tshirt shipment so that I can add the 2 cds to my order. And he actually said he would send them to me free since I am the only Wrens fan he knows in Singapore! How sweet is that!?

I'm living on the wrong side of the world

2006-08-29T20:34:00.000+08:00

This week, I'm looking forward to M. Ward's Post-War, which was originally supposed to be out last week. I enjoyed his previous Transistor Radio and am rather looking forward to the new one. The thing is, living in Singapore doesnt exactly make listening to new releases very easy. For one, it takes forever for the stores to stock up new stuff, sometimes as long as 2 months (I kid you not). And if they do stock up (like HMV), they often charge outrageous prices.

Preordering from the labels/artists doesnt work as well, since the warehouse will only ship them a couple of days before the release date, and cds usually take about a week or so, sometimes 3 (I kid you not) to reach Singapore. And not to mention that shipping is bloody expensive.

What I usually do is to settle for mp3 subscription services like emusic. For a relatively good price per month, I get a pretty good selection of stuff I need to get and what I want to check out. But recently, due to some copyright shit (geographically-based distribution deals), emusic limits the releases of some cds to only the US. It would be futile to blame emusic for this as they are bound by the contracts they sign etc, but come on, does noone realise the stupidity, the inanity of this arrangement? This is the Internet, fer fucks sakes.

Sometimes it's really hard not to fire up the bittorrents, that's all I'm saying.

Soundscape #1

2006-08-28T10:03:00.000+08:00

Songscapes are moments captured on the fly just before life sweeps them away again and they have the power to bring you outside of your life, even if it's for a while. It's the opposite of catharsis where you wallow in self-pity, waiting for a release that promises to solve everything. You aren't always that lucky. What do you do after all that catharsis, after the pain, after the numbness, after the letting go? You listen to music that brings you to other places other than hurt and pain just so that you will have time to heal whatever needs to be healed and move on.

This is the first in the songscapes series. I wanted it to be happy, optimistic and hopeful but underneath the insane catchiness and hooks of some of these tracks lies a deep and poignant sense of sadness and nostalgia for all that's been lost. I'd like to think that these hooks are deliberately calculated to stick in your head so that you dont forget about the past and that you should learn from it.

Track Listing:

1. (0:00) Neutral Milk Hotel - The King of Carrot Flowers Pt 1 (buy In the Aeroplane Over The Sea)

2. (3:06) Interpol - Not Even Jail (buy Antics)

3. (8:52) Okkervil River - Black (buy Black Sheep Boy)

4. (12:91)Stars - Calendar Girl (Buy Set Yourself On Fire)

5. (16:98) The Wrens - Hopeless (buy The Meadowlands)

6. (22:06) Teenage Fanclub - Sparky's Dream (buy Grand Prix)

7. (25:21) Mojave 3 - Big Star Baby (buy Puzzles Like You)

8. (29:39) Yo La Tengo - Today Is The Day (buy Summer Sun)

9. (34:73) Wilco - Pot Kettle Black (buy Yankee Hotel Foxtrot)

10. (37:98) Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken (buy Let's Get Out Of This Country)

11. (41:47) Headlights - TV (buy Kill Them With Kindness)

12. (43:84) DeVotchKa - How It Ends (buy How It Ends)