a real MANIC monday!!!!!!!!!!!!

MANIC STREET PREACHERS ON OUR SHORES!!!!

http://www.sistic.com.sg

I have so many favourites from them ( like ‘if you tolerate this then your children will be next’, ‘why so sad’, ‘tsunami’, ‘a design for life’…etc)  and 38 songs on my iTunes. How can I not go!?

*swing

Solitude Sometimes Is – Manic Street Preachers (click!)

Ocean Spray – Manic Street Preachers (click!)

oh darling

Hee hee.

A spoof, because there’s something wrong with our heads. (click!)

*crush and swing

everyone’s in a band now

What happens when Hello Kitty forms a band? Lullatone, who hails from Japan and describes their music as “pajama pop”, attempts to portray just that. What you get is a tinkering toy musical instrument beat, a dialogue between Hello Kitty, and maybe…Dear Daniel?

Lullatone uses child-like voices, which may come across as creepy or create mild pedophile-ish feelings, but really, is much better than Barney. It’s a really interesting mix of influences and music, some like Sesame Street, with indie sounding beats, some Lisa-Ono-ish sounds and cutesy Jap-accented english spoken in slow staccato with music-teacher hands clapping. Their music I will probably not be addicted to, but it’s actually great for laughs (listen to Bathtime Beat!).

Do take them seriously tho, and there is a sweet story and reason behind their music. The couple that makes up Lullatone met while they were in school, and the male half of Lullatone loved composing music. He did so only late at night, while the female Japanese voice in Lullatone slept soundly. So as not to disturb her, the songs he created were all soft and gentle lullabies, which led them to name themselves Lullatone.

My favourite part of this song:

- OK Ms. Kitty, I think I see, but I’m afraid that I am a little hungry.

Kitty: Well, before we go we can have a snack.

- Or we can pack a picnic and put it in my backpack.

Kitty: Oh that sounds great!
What a wonderful date!
The more I think about it I don’t want to wait!

- Yes, I can see your excited state.

Kitty: Ok, let’s start packing. Don’t procrastinate.

*swing

Hello Kitty Makes a Band – Lullatone (click!)

Lullatone’s MySpace (listen to them!)

lulla-log (Lullatone’s blog)

celebration, misunderstation, affirmation

They sure look kinda queer, but Billie The Vision and The Dancers has been awesome in putting up all their music online [FREE] on their site, but if you’re too lazy to go there, we’ve kindly linked one here for a weekend pick me up.

I can’t picture people who look like them to sing songs like Groovy. They look too… diverse? As if the guys in this group would bother about being insane and going to Berlin or New York. One of the MORE insane things I’ve done is carting a very large object that was strewn by the road into my car in the early hours of some morning. I can’t really divulge more information, but feel free to speculate, and share also the MOST INSANE thing you’ve ever done.

*swing

Groovy – Billie The Vision and The Dancers (click!)

happy annie

Their album Through the Window Pane is an album that plays like a musical- each song has a different beat and mood, and it’s layered expressively such that I can almost see spotlights on sad protagonists and backup dancers prancing to the choruslines. The story is one you can make up as you go along.

These are songs from different albums though, because I like to take things out of context.

Prawn is a faithful reader whose Happy Song is Mr Bluesky by Electric Light Orchestra. So she would like Annie, Let’s Not Wait for its similar cheerful electronic chimings and dramatic buildup, especially the part where the little voices go “Annie Annie!”

What makes this song is the bassline, which brings to mind indian drums because of its awesome lilt. Combined with the little AnnieAnnie voices, very Bollywood i’d say.

Another reader, Goldstar, quotes Weezer’s Island in the Sun as his favourite Happy Song. So he would prefer Trains to Brazil: good old Big Beat at a college funfair, with the kind of pounding drum and bass that reminds me of men running down alleys.

This is a poor representation of Guillemots: they do a significant number of slow and poignant songs. But I skip past them all to get to these two on my busrides. Let’s be happy, annie annie.

*crush

Trains to Brazil – Guillemots (click!)

Annie, Let’s Not Wait – Guillemots (click!)

wish you were here

I’m physically tired, from walking through large almost-forests for class, and walking up a hill because I didn’t trust that the bus would come. Here’re two little somethings for tired feet. Happy feet, but tired feet.

*crush

p.s. Received the horrifying news that tashed was suspended, but found it safely there when I got home. If you don’t know tashed, you should still thank it for giving merrymen much of its music merriment.

Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd cover) – Candy Cane (click!)

Falling Into You – Elektone (Singaporean! click!)

well i could dance with you honey

Still basking in happiness, which the beach and the sun does to any old mellow fool.

Before I unveil more Happy Songs from our readers, let’s go disco.

I wish I grew up in the 70s, with synchronized disco dancing and talentimes. But music never stays within its era; even a boyband-era child like me who turned to classic rock–even I need a disco beat now and then.

Thank God for bands like Melody Club, El Presidente and Scissor Sisters for doing unabashedly cheesy disco beats.

And with mamma mia!the movie out, I think we should all be feeling that disco energy. I watched the musical and honestly I hated the story. But that shouldn’t stop us from singing along.

Does Your Mother Know- Abba (click!)

Fever Fever- Melody Club ( cheese alert. but click!)

to amelia

Thank you amelia for that uplifting e-mail with its very surprising sweet things. We started merrymen thinking of ourselves as Robin Hood’s happy helpers, but it still stunned us to no small measure that we do make your world a merrier place. Though we don’t know you, we’re mighty pleased that we’ll all be at camera obscura together.

Here is Amelia’s happy song, bouncing down a highway in an old car, past small barber shops and boys on bicycles.

De Capulet- Help me! Help me! (click!)

And the rest of her energy-drink Happy List:

A.I.S.R. – Gettin’ Better
Jose Vanders – Faces Going Places
New Radicals – You Get What You Give
Owl City – Captains and Cruise Ships
The Beatles – Twist and Shout
Weezer – El Scorcho
Wilco – The Thanks I Get

And a song in return.

Always Your Way- My Vitriol (click!)

*crush

happy birthday ohmytian!

It’s ohmytian’s birthday today so a BIGGG HAPPPPPPPPPY BIRTHDAYYYYYYY scream + hug to a fellow cool music lover! ohmytian is a BIG SUPPORTER of music, an advocate for local talent Tu Zi on Superband (if you’re a fan you guys can rave together!) and constantly shares and recommends new music to me. Her birthday wish is to become a band manager for “a really cool band” sometime in the near future. She has also kindly linked us on her blog, so in honour of her hatching day, here’s one of her recommendations!

Hailing from Montréal, Malajube sings in french with various “ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba da ba”s to garnish their songs. My favourite is the song titled after their hometown, Montréal -40°C, which I have zero idea if they’re actually singing about Montréal, my french isn’t that good yet, désolé!!(that’s sorry in french for the uninformed) It’s extremely catchy, another one you will bop your head to, and after hearing them, you’ll be tempted to go “wooooooo-oooooh woooo-oooh” (you have to listen to the song to get what I’m saying!).

I think it may even make crush’s Happy List. Even if you can’t speak french, the “ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba da ba”s you’ll sure able to sing along to.

*swing

Montréal -40°C –  Malajube (click!)

Malajube’s MySpace (hear them!)

Malajube’s Facebook (add them!)

Malajube on Wikipedia (read about them)

the happy list – crush

What do you listen to when you’re a bit more heartachey than usual? I remember a Project Work project some kids did back in jc. They found that more depressed people listen to pop than any other genre. I agree wholeheartedly. Especially all that mandarin pop with its ambiguous nuances that fit into any situation you happen to be in; banished, banished, banished.

This is my fail-proof happy songlist. It’s cheesy and energetic. I need to get up and go.

I want to hear from you too. What’s your happy list? Is your happiness energetic or mellow? E-mail your list to marrymerrymen@gmail.com, and if you can, send me the song that makes you happiest.

Hooked on a Feeling- BJ Thomas

She’s Fantastic- Sondre Lerche (click!)

I’ve Got a Feeling- Ivy

Brown Eyed Girl- Rolling Stones

Gold Lion- the Yeah Yeah Yeahs

By the Light of the Magical Moon- T. Rex

Fever Fever- Melody Club /”I curse the day that I was born”

Music is the Victim – Scissor Sisters (click!)

Speed King- Rip Slyme

Kids- MGMT

Honey Honey – Abba

*crush