Category: Pop Rock & Alternative

From my limited music exposure, I would say that it is a novelty to see an all-female English rock band out there playing all the instruments of the songs they compose. I often think that female voice is a natural choice for hard rock music because of the higher pitch that floats above the guitar and drum tracks. Guys often have to scream through their lungs to attain the same effect.

And because it is a novelty to see girl rockers, I am usually less critical on the technicality but rather amazed at the fact that they make it in the International scene. My favourite girl rockers? In the following categories …

• My favourite Girl Rock Vocalist – Courtney Love of Hole because of her character. Hole is such a great band. Too bad it is disbanded on 2002 after 3 years of music career leaving us 3 great albums and the feeling of wanting more.
• My favourite Girl Rock Guitarist – Not just any guitarist but one that can play the guitar solo. From the pure raw energy and wild perspective, the winner goes to Brody Armstrong of The Distillers. When The Distillers first emerged from the rock scene back in 2000, it was compared to Hole. Again, too bad it is disbanded and Brody formed Spinnerette in 2007. I am eager to find out what comes out of the new line up. Meanwhile, from the all-rounded perspective of a balance of rhythm and melodic guitar leads, Allison Robertson of The Donnas has a special place in my heart. It’s a tie I guess.
• My favourite Girl Rock Bassist – I have been thinking really hard who are the distinguished female bassists in the International scene. There just ain’t many. Somehow the image of Ginger Sling stuck onto my mind after seeing her performed in Live Earth concert as the new bassist of The Smashing Pumpkins.
• My favourite Girl Rock Drummer – That has to be Meg White of The White Stripes. Some doubts her ability to play drum. But think about this, The White Stripes can’t be that famous without Meg White, right?
• My favourite Girl Band – I first started listening to The Donnas back in 2004 with their album “Gold Medal”. All the members of the band are born in the year of 1979 and they have been best friends playing music together since the eighth grade. That explains the chemistry of the band.

After leaving their major record label Atlantic Records and formed their own, The Donnas has managed to release an album that the fans have been waiting for. The entire album has this arena old school rock vibe that works wonder. There is no one single slow song and all aim to make you want to get out of your seat and dance. The melody is infectious and the music is tight and interestingly varied. I think Brett Anderson sings better in this album compares to the previous one – more emotion involved and more loosen up. Torry Castellano’s drum track is relentlessly energized, though not as fast pace as other rock bands. There are moments when Maya Ford’s bass line shines. However I must say, it is rather subdued in “Bitchin'”, same goes to the guitar solo that I would have expected from Allison Robertson. In this album, Allison Robertson’s emphasis I think is more onto the ambient of the overall sound (as she is the only guitarist in the band). And from that angle, the guitar riffs are memorable. Check out the video below for “Don’t Wait Up For Me”.

The year was 1992 when one day my college friend came back with Bjork’s debut “Debut” borrowed from her classmate from the Mathematics faculty. I was shocked that Bjork’s debut album can be called music. To my ears, it was just incoherent pieces of tracks of … sound … with some very weird melody. What was she thinking?! Strangely, “Army Of Me” from her second album “Post” has changed my mind. Since then, I have slowly become a convert, religiously buying each of her release from “Greatest Hits” onwards.

Bjork, is an acquired taste.

Last month, I had the same feeling when I first listened to her latest album “Volta”, the same feeling as I first listened to “Debut”. What was she thinking?! Is that music? After a few tries, I gave up listening to it just like some of her recent works. Then one day, I picked up her “Greatest Hits” again – an album that I enjoy and strongly recommend to those open minded ones – and got myself … “Bjork-ized”. “Volta” does not deviate from her previous works in as much as I thought it was. Though, the full bodied to-your-face kind of bass is out. The tracks are a lot cleaner. Lots of layers of electric sound – from ship horns to seagull to sound of water and wind to Chinese instruments to orchestral sound to down right unique drum beats. In fact, the more I listen to “Volta”, the more I get to appreciate the genius of music composition. Bjork has turned her voice from merely human voice into a musical instrument, truly blended into the song with many layers of her voice all combined as one. Her voice is so full of emotion.

The opening track of “Volta” – “Earth Intruders” – starts off with powerful beats and ends with the different sound and pitch of the ship’s horns that only becomes apparent with the more powerful track “Declare Independence” towards the end. The duet track “The Dull Flame Of Desire” is a good example of how Bjork can turn something so simple and short into a full song. Below is the full lyrics of “The Dull Flame Of Desire”.

I love your eyes, my dear. Their splendid, sparkling fire. When suddenly you raise them so to cast a swift embracing glance. Like lightning flashing in the sky. But there’s a charm that is greater still. When my love’s eyes are lowered. When all is fired by passion’s kiss. And through the downcast lashes, I see the dull flame of desire – The Dull Flame of Desire by Bjork.

From the content point of view, “Volta” focuses much on internal emotion in an abstract manner. She writes about someone suffering from Pneumonia, suicide bomber, and my favorite, the powerful “Declare Independence” with lyrics as follows.

Justice. Start your own currency. Make your own stamp. Protect your language. Declare independence … Damn colonists. Ignore their patronizing. Tear off their blindfold. Open their eyes. Declare independence. Don’t let them do that to you.

Each release has earned Bjork – Icelander – an award of one sort or another. Her works often strikes me as an outcome of improvisation. It is chaotic to say the least. But to make something as chaotic as Bjork’s music into something so beautiful to listen to, there is only one person in the world who can do that.

Below is the opening track “Earth Intruders”. If you like it, try out “Innocence” as made by one of her fans.

Again, Bjork is an acquired taste. You either love it, or you don’t.

The very first Prince fan I have come to know is my Dad. Amongst many things that my Dad and I have in common (oh gosh, my thinning hair), it is Prince’s “Purple Rain”. As I type this blog, my 72 years old dad is still hospitalized in Hong Kong hoping to return home tomorrow. Perhaps I shall pass him the last 3 studio albums of Prince to cheer him up since “Musicology”, “3121”, and “Planet Earth” have somewhat returned to Prince’s root.

As years pass by, I have met more and more Prince fans – very discreetly. After all, it is not like being a fan of Bon Jovi or Linkin Park that people proclaim in public. I often think that people who are fans of Prince are sort of weird in the unique genius way. For those who are fans of Prince, there seems to be a certain connection that transcends words. My Indonesia friend Andre – a Prince fan himself – got me the very-hard-to-get “Crystal Ball” album (3 CDs in one clear container) from US back in 1997. That added to … you may want to pay attention to this .. my twenty-two Prince album collection out of his 48 albums of studio, hits and compilations, and live recording. I don’t think there is another artist that comes close to Prince in terms of my shelf space occupancy.

Prince first made his number 1 US hit back in 1984 with “When Doves Cry” in his Purple Rain era. It was not until 1994 when his gained a UK number 1 with “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World”. The early nineties was the time when Prince turned himself into a Symbol that the journalists “pronounced” as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince. In his album “Come”, he basically pronounced himself dead with a cover art of “Prince: 1958-1993” in front of a cemetery. So, Prince was dead and here came the Symbol. His 10th studio album released using this symbol (titled “Love Symbol”) is coincidentally both Cynthia and my favorite. That was before we met.

After a long struggle with the music industry, poor distribution and airplay, Prince in recent years has “resurrected” himself and started to distribute some of his albums using his name via different record companies. It is good news to me because you have no clue how hard it is for me to trace all his work.

No one can tell what the next Prince album is like. I think that is the essence of why some of us are so into his music. He is a genius as a composer, producer, and musician, expert in different types of instruments. He started his music career with pop funk, got heavier with more rock element, then he finally gave in to rap only to head towards jazz and instrumental in the early 2000. In his recent releases, he has mellowed down the experimental nature of his work and created something that perhaps appeal to the general public. “Planet Earth” has a good mix of funk and R&B and pop rock. I always enjoy Prince’s guitar solo and I am glad that lately, he plays it more prominently in his albums. I like the opening track “Planet Earth” – very powerful with a strong rock base. I can understand why people enjoy the smooth R&B “Mr. Goodnight”. My favorite has to be the funk track “Chelsea Rodgers”. That one bass line is used throughout the entire track of close to 6 minutes. If you notice, there is only one set of chords that are being played (Bb C and F). The song doesn’t have noticeable chorus but it is such fun to listen to. The ending track “Resolution” closes the album nicely – musically and lyrically.

Now, what does “Planet Earth” has to do with the ongoing discussion between one of my friends who believes that illegal music download is the way to revolutionize the music industry and I who believe that no one works for free and we have to pay for what we get (see previous blog)? Prince released “Planet Earth” in UK for free with the newspaper “The Mail” reaching 3 millions readers or rather listeners in one day. He practically earned himself a bigger sum (8 times over what he gets from his previous album) to a much wider audience. That was in time for his UK tour. And he screwed the music record company and retailers big time. Something that my friend is glad to hear. For those are interested, here is the link to the news from Time.com.

I have almost gotten all of Tori Amos’s studio album except her first one – “Little Earthquakes (1992)”. I remember vividly where I was when I first heard of Tori Amos. Back in 1985 when compact disc first became popular, I have made a switch away from cassette format (the first CD I own is Dire Straits’s Brothers In Arms – one of the first albums to be directed in the CD market). However, as a student, the cost of a CD was too high for me to own everything that I liked. Besides, my mother’s constant nagging on the rate I acquired CD worked as a deterrence too. So I relied on the rental market back in HK to satisfy my needs, to sample the music, and to selectively purchase what I really liked.

Back then, I could not appreciate Tori Amos’s music. I think I even rented the album a second time to try it out. Just did not work for me. Interestingly, my sister Lora seemed to enjoy “Little Earthquakes”.

The one song that opened up my mind turns out to be nothing like any of the songs written by Tori Amos. “Professional Widow” released in 1996 is essentially a song of remix and dance beats that does not resemble her style of piano with the backing of a band. Since then, I have been a converted fan.

I don’t think Tori Amos is at all a mainstream artist. But those who love her music follow her career like a cult. Just how diverse is her work of music? Take a look at her collection “Tales Of A Librarian (2003)”. A 20-song set that was re-recorded because the potential was not fully realised in the original recording. This collection covers a wide range of topics such as metaphysics, epistemology, psychology, ethics, Christianity and Christian theology, political science, social problems and social services, folklore, linguistics, natural sciences, astronomy, animals, medicine and health, agriculture, home and family management, the arts, architecture, recreational and performing arts, collective biography, and the history of North America.

Some claim that her new album “American Doll Posse” is merely a concept album. Some think that her brief touch onto the topic of politics is unnecessary. Some comment that “American Doll Posse” is a mix of album materials and B-side stuffs. I beg to differ.

In “American Doll Posse”, Tori Amos has split herself in five rather distinct personae tackling the areas of beauty and love (Santa), the contradicting views of dark energy (Pip), all works of art in the forms of painting and literature (Clyde), objective documentations that challenge perception of the norm (Isabel), and finally the artist herself who laments the limited experience through finite human filter and hence the need to expand herself into different multiverse (Tori). Each persona takes onto her own set of songs and not only that, each comes with an individual blog site as well. A list of blog sites can be found at the bottom of this review.

At first listen, “American Doll Posse” (23 tracks totalled to 78 minutes of music) can be overwhelming. Layer to an album that is structured in 4 blocks of 5 to 6 songs are these 5 personae taking on their own set of songs (within this block structure). Suddenly, there are 2 added dimensions to the entire listening experience. You can (1) listen to the entire album in sequential order, or (2) treat this album as 4 sub-albums as suggested by the sleeve design, or (3) listen according to the personae of Santa, Pip, Clyde, Isabel, and Tori (click onto the picture on the left to see how I manage my play list manually). I have tried jumping the order of the album according to the persona and it is quite a brand new experience.

From the music viewpoint, Tori Amos adopt a classic rock sound blended with her piano track. “Bouncing Off Clouds” as showcased in the video-clip below is my favorite track of the album. It features her iconic Bosendorfer piano that she brings along whenever she performs live. Check out how she played both her Bosendorfer piano and an electric one at the same time at some parts of the song. It is amazing. If you are agreeable to “Bouncing Off Clouds”, I have the links of “Big Wheel”, “Father’s Son”, “Roosterspur Bridge”, and “Almost Rosey” for you.

The album comes with a DVD that contains a short video of her photo shooting session as well as a song “My Posse Can Do”. “My Posse Can Do” is a great song on its own. Too bad, it couldn’t be fitted into the album of 78 minutes.

I tend to be long-winded when it comes to artists who inspire my own music creation journey. Thanks for your patience and if you are already a Tori Amos fan, I bet you have got “American Doll Posse” the first day it was released.

Related Sites: Clyde’s blog site, Pip’s blog site, Isabel’s blog site, Santa’s blog site, and Tori’s blog site.

It pains me much to write such a title because I have great respect to those who write the lyrics and music of all the songs in the album. Missy Higgins’s debut album “The Sound Of White” is brilliant and should not be missed. If you have not heard of her music, I strongly recommend “The Sound Of White” instead.

Australian singer songwriter Missy Higgins’s key selling point is her honey like mellow voice with a good texture and she has the right technique to control her voice. She may not have a big voice but she certainly has an unique one. That pretty much matches all the mellow songs of hers perfectly. If you are not familiar with Missy Higgins’s music, I urge you to check out the video clip of The Special Two. I have also found two live clips from her previous album as well – Scar and The Sound Of White.

“The Sound Of White” is very piano-driven while “On A Clear Night” is more band-driven. I often think that if the artist’s voice is unique enough, he or she can almost get away with mediocre music. It may be true in this case because while “On A Clear Night” may not have the same level of sparks as her debut, “On A Clear Night” is now certified nine times platinum and is one of the highest selling Australian albums of all time. It is quite an admirable achievement consider that Missy Higgins is originally an Indie singer from Melbourne (how many indie singers from non-US and non-UK countries are well known worldwide?).

There are some tracks from this album that I do enjoy such as “Sugarcane” and “Where I Stood”. Below is the video of “Where I Stood” and if you want more, try out “Steer” – her first single from “On A Clear Night”. On the record, I am still glad that Missy Higgins has released another good album that has added to my music collection. I just wish that it was as brilliant as her previous one.

If you are born after the year of 1979, I bet you one muffin (if you buy me the coffee) that you have heard the Todd Terry remix version of “Missing” from the band Everything But The Girl (EBTG). That song is probably one of my top 20 songs of all time (I should start to keep track of all these songs for one day I may have said it more than 20 times). To hear “Missing”, click onto the link. I bet now you start to remember towards the end of the song when the drum beat disappears and the dance floor is flooded with blinking light in a smoke filled room, you look around seeing everyone in slow step-forward motion engaging in some sort of trance state of mind including yourself … now you remember. Before you make a negative comment on the appearance of Tracey Thorn, she does have a beautiful voice and a wonderful talent. And she tends to draw lots of female fans too (from some of the profiles I have read across the web).

It is rather unfortunately that people equate “Missing” to EBTG’s style. You can’t blame the public for that. After all, “Missing” is probably the most popular song coming from the band giving them the worldwide recognition. I bought the album “Amplified Heart” because of that one song and the rest of the tracks are mainly acoustic. Back then, they were a folk and jazz group.

12 years have passed since “Missing” and Tracey Thorn – the voice of EBTG – has come out with a solo album “Out Of The Woods” with her co-writing the materials with producers from Europe to US (London, Brighton, Nottingham, York, Lisbon, Berlin, and New York). In a way, this array of different talents from different locations have added much variety to her solo album. Music-wise, it is a mix of English pop, folk, and electronica. Those who love “Missing” will rejoice listening to “Out Of The Woods”. Lyrically, it is simple and personal. I especially like the opening lyrics of “By Piccadilly Station I Sat Down And Wept”.

Wait … before you read on, what does that song title reminds you of? Quick quick, it is a game of association.

To me, that reminded me of “By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept” by the famous writer “Paulo Coelho”. The beginning of the song goes something like “Do you ever wonder where love goes? Out there in the ether, I suppose. Sometimes it burns enough to leave a trace in the air. A ghost of me and you in a parallel world somewhere.”.

Tracey Thorn’s voice is hauntingly soothing and relax throughout the album and it is hard not to love all the tracks. However, having a broad team of producers may have added more variety to the album, not all the songs – to me – are of equal standard. I like some a lot more than some others. Enough of words. Let the song do the talking. “It’s All True” – a nice song with a bizarre video. If you like “It’s All True”, you may wish to try “Raise The Roof”. I personally like “A-Z”, “Falling Off A Log”, and epecially “Grand Canyon” a lot but she is not making them into singles … as yet. “Grand Canyon” is as close to “Missing” as you can get.

Last evening we had a little jamming session at my home that went pretty well. Except it overran for an hour. We managed to record more than 90 minutes of live music from 8pm to 11pm. My mother who is recently in town asked me this morning if I wrote all these songs. She was pleasantly surprised and wondered why I don’t work in a music industry. I wish life is that simple. What a role reversal here. I thought parents always want their children to be doctors, lawyers, businessmen … and not to pursue a career in art.

And somehow I was not surprised to see the look in my guitarist’s face when he discovered a new Bon Jovi CD lying on the floor together with piles and piles of CDs. He casually asked if Bon Jovi still produces albums (read: this band still exists?).

“Lost Highway” is Bon Jovi’s 10th studio album and I have got 8 of them from “Slippery When Wet” onwards as well as the box set entitled “100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong” that contains four CDs packed with 38 unreleased and 12 rare tracks. I have been to one of their concerts (the tour for “These Days” album) when I was in UK, waited 12 hours before the band’s appearance, and was close enough to see the band in action.

Okay. I confess that I am a Bon Jovi fan – one of the 100,000,000.

Once in a while, God bless mankind with a rock band that is so consistent album after album. Really, I cannot tell the difference between “These Days”, “Crush”, and “Bounce” – just to pick a few. Each album comes with a bunch of killer faster songs that people all go wild in bars when cover bands play them (who wouldn’t dance and sing along with the recent hits of “It’s My Life”, “Everyday”, or “Have a Nice Day”?). And each album is never short of killer slow songs. Songs like “Always”, “Bed of Roses”, and “I’ll be There for You” bleed hearts.

“Who Says You Can’t Go Home”, a track from their ninth studio album “Have a Nice Day”, has won the Grammy Award for “Best Country Collaboration with Vocals”. Country? That’s right. Listen to the first two tracks of “Lost Highway”, one may be mistaken that Bon Jovi is going country. There is even one song featured LeAnn Rimes. Initially I thought this album is more appropriate as Richie Sambora’s (lead guitarist) solo album (he has two solo albums that have a certain country feel). After a few rounds of listening, I conclude that “Lost Highway” is still a Bon Jovi album with a certain country feel to it. Half of the album is produced by John Shanks (who produced “Have a Nice Day”) and another half by Dahn Huff. I can’t really tell which half is more “country” but two of my favourite songs “(You Want To) Make A Memory” and “We Got It Going On” are produced by Dahn Huff.

I can certainly see that Richie Sambora has put in a lot of hard work in this album. As a backing vocalist, he compliments Jon’s vocal well and as a lead guitarist, there are a fair amount of guitar solos throughout the album. Richie Sambora has been going through a tough period in his life (including a painful divorce) and according to him, he has poured everything he had into this project, every last bit of soul at his command.

Why Nashville you may ask. To Jon, Nashville is full of songwriters and musicians and he wanted to make an album right in the middle of this town of inspiration. It is of no surprise that the last song of the album is “I Love This Town”.

I am not sure how you may react to this album if you are not a hardcore Bon Jovi fan. “Lost Highway” is definitely not one of those commercial pop rock albums that can easily hook onto you. Nor it is a typical Bon Jovi album that you can instantly fall in love with. According to Cynthia, she said the single “(You Want To) Make a Memory” is enough for her to buy the album. Wish to give that song a try? Watch their live performance below. I personally find the song a bit bland. However, the element of simplicity kind of grows on me. As for the non-hardcore fans? Do sample the album thoroughly to see if this country feel is your cup of tea.

Before I sound too excited and enthusiatic like I always do, for the record, I like Maroon 5’s previous album “Songs About Jane” (2004) much better. It is more musical and less commercial. The slow songs in “Songs About Jane” are memorable. Most of the slow songs in “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long” are lame. Some have promising beginning but fall short on the chorus.

Maroon 5’s line up has not changed much. The drummer Ryan Dusick left the band due to injuries and is replaced by Matt Flynn. That shouldn’t change the band’s sound that much but somehow, some of the upbeat songs are more dynamic, which I like. The songs are leaning more towards the mainstream pop rock than previously that are more towards soul and funk rock. Perhaps, a new drummer does make a difference to the sound of the music after all.

I can understand why people like this new album. Cynthia and I have watched Maroon 5 performed in one of American Idol’s result nights. I found the song upbeat and pleasant to listen to and Cynthia has immediately fallen in love with it.