happppy birthday crush! :)

Seems like we stumbled into a new year already.

Which also means, crush turns a year older!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRUSH!! My oldest friend and partner in musical crime. It’s funny cos we BOTH spent our birthdays in Hong Kong in 2008. Where will 2009 bring us?

ABBA by Agata Nowicka

From our earliest days, crush influenced me with ABBA, and we spent countless hours jumping and twirling around on her parent’s bed yelling “Money, money, money!!! Must be funny!!!” We still sing ABBA now, still jump around, and still like to yell. And we realise having money is more than funny.

Here’s a not exactly very creative cover of Mamma Mia and Madonna’s take on Like An Angel Passing Through My Room.

Sun Yat Fai Lok crush!! 

*swing

Mamma Mia (Abba cover) – Miniature Tigers (click!!)

Like An Angel Passing Through My Room (Abba Cover) – Madonna (click!!)

didn’t anybody tell you?

 

Sundays always turn out to be those unproductive days with too much time spent in bed.

Human is one of those songs I get hooked on for weeks and the tune rings in my head and I sing it out loud in the shower.

I am one of those. Those sing-in-the-shower people who have no shame or concept of noise pollution. The bathroom makes a perfect replacement to a studio anyway.

I stumbled upon Ghost & Liars and felt they had some Travis sort of vibes going on. As for the Damn Yankees, they caught my ear on the 80s countdown on radio sometime this week, and it’s really unmistakably 80s. 

*swing

Human – The Killers (click!)

We’ll Carry On – Ghost & Liars (click!)

Where You Going Now – Damn Yankees (click!)

mr bravado

Everything about James Bond has been cheesily masculine, machismo, bravado. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.

James Bond soundtracks have been equally intentionally badass, with menacing riffs, tough lyrics and titles so mean you either buy wholly into the Bond myth or laugh it away.

Here’s the newest one: Another Way to Die by JACK WHITE and Alicia Keys. I can already see the opening credits sequence in my head. I like Daniel Craig. He’s gritty and contemporary, he’s unshaven and tumble-dry. Which is pretty much the sound of Jack White.

*crush

Another Way to Die- Jack White/ Alicia Keys

happy belated birthday swing!

Us at Swing’s birthday party, many million years ago. Swing always had fabulous puffy dresses, which she passed down to me when she outgrew them. Despite the frills, we were hardly sugar and spice. I once walked into Swing’s birthday party to see her jumping on a chair in a floor-length white frilly gown.

Swing is in hongkong Again. We spent her birthday there last year falling in love with Terrible Toby and dragging our poor tired feet in search of elusive desserts. So I’m left here doing a post that should have come four days ago.

And what more perfect birthday song for her than something game-y. This isn’t quite Supermario, which she loves, but it comes close. The Pacman Remix. There are countless remixes of the Pacman theme, which my groupmate found while looking for a soundtrack for our videogame-inspired video. I still like this one best, but you should do a youtube search and see what’s out there.

Happy Birthday!!!

*crush

Pacman Remix (click!)

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!)

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!)