2008 Albums

I think I listen to a lot of new music this year comparing to last year. Still, I dig some old music, kraftwerk, nick drake, new order, chet baker, tom waits and many others that haven't come across my mind yet. Those in bold are albums I listened to more often than the rests. Yeah, these are albums I'm really into this year. And some songs I really love.

TV On The Radio - Dear Science

• Golden Age
• Family Tree

Neon Neon - Stainless Style

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

• Oxford Comma
• A-Punk
• Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
  

Glasvegas - Glasvegas

• Geraldine
• It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry
• Go Square Go
• Daddy's Gone
• This is an awesome album!
  

The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement

• The Age Of The Understatement
• Meeting Place
  

Sigur Ros - Mee sue i eyrum vie spilum endalaust

• Gobbledigook
  

M83 - Saturdays=Youth

• Kim & Jessie
• Graveyard Girl
  

Duffy - Rockferry

• Serious
  
• Mercy
• Distant Dreamer
  

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

• Kids
• Electric Feel
• Time to Pretend
  

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

• I Will Possess Your Heart
• Your New Twin Sized Bed
  

The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust

• Hallucinations (the drum is magical)
• This is awesome too!
  

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

• Viva La Vida
• Violet Hill
• Strawberry Swing
  

Adele - 19

• daydreamer
• best for last
• chasing pavements
• first love
• right as rain
  

The Killers - Day & Age

Air France - No Way Down

• the whole ep is fabulous
  

Cat Power - Jukebox

Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles

• Crimewave
  

Emiliana Torrini - Me And Armini

James - Hey Ma

• Hey Ma
• Waterfall
• Oh My Heart
  

Jason Marz - We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things

• I'm Yours
  

Ladytron - Velocifero

• Black Cat
• Ghosts
• Runway
  

Like Honey - Leaves

Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart

• Duet
• Over and Over
  

Slow Down Tallahassee - The Beautiful Light

The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing

• That's Not My Name
• Great Dj
• Be The One
  

Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle - Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle

• Sing Sing
• Don't Kiss Me Goodbye
• One Day
  

The Weepies - Hideaway

Albert Hammond, Jr. - Como Te Llama?

• GFC
• Spooky Couch
• In My Room
  

Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul

• The Shock Of The Lightning
• I'm Outta Time (Get Off Your)
  

Little Joy - Little Joy

Club 8 - The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Dreaming

• Jesus, walk with me
• Heaven
• Whatever You Want

Portishhead - Third

Caged Sky

from my window, i see the caged sky

from my window, i see the sunshine

i could break out and touch the sky

i could break out and get whatever i want

but i have got all i want

i have got my sunshine

so i caged the sky

Tom Waits

I love Tom Waits.
He has a unique voice that touches me.
He writes songs that touches me as well.
Especially slow songs of his.
Martha, Time, The Heart of Saturday Night, I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You
So far, I only digg some of his early albums.
But they're all classics!
I also borrow Tom Waits Anthology from library, which has many tabs/sheets of his songs. Great~

This is a interesting video clip from the movie, Coffee & Cigarettes.
It's kind of awkward between Tom Waits and Iggy Pop... but I love it!

I wish I was him

I wish I was him.
I can just chase people around, eat, poo, drink, pee, hump the doll, and sleep all day.
No need to think much...

Masa is my visitor, because his parents are going back to Taiwan.
He's a good pet; he doesn't do annoying things like other dogs, which is good.
But I don't think he's cute or anything...

Garlic Prawns Pizza!

before putting into the oven

...15 minutes after

result -> great! yummy!

ingredients:

• pizza base mix
  
• tomatoes
• garlic prawns
• pesto paste
• flour
• cheese

L'ignorance

剛好正在讀昆德拉的這本小說 - 無知。

"我想像多年後兩人重逢, 他們會有甚麼樣的機動。從前, 兩人來往頻繁, 於是認為彼此之間繫著相同的經驗, 相同的記憶。 相同的記憶? 誤解就是從這裡開始的: 他們並沒有相同的記憶; 兩人都對這段過去留存著兩、三個小小的情境, 可是各有各的版本; 他們的記憶並不相似; 也沒有交集; 甚至在數量上也不相稱: 其中一人記得另一人的事比另一個人記得還要多; 主要是因為每個人的記憶力有差別, 但也因為他們對彼此的重要性並不一樣。"

對於這段特別有感觸, 有過經驗的人應該都知道。那是種很不舒服的經驗, 感覺好像記憶在某個夜裡記憶被人給偷換似的, 就像在 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 那樣。我有過幾次這樣的經歷, 在面對前女友和舊朋友時。最後, 我屈服了。我實在沒有甚麼把握對他人保證自己是對的, 就算有, 那也只不過是我的想法促使我對某件事情騰空捏造出來的歷史。對於他人, 那只是「騰空捏造出來的」罷了。每個人對事情的見解和想法大多相異, 因此生活中常常有誤解。

"從第一秒鐘開始, 兩人的相遇就建立在一個不公正, 不平等的基礎上, 令人憤慨。"

Rock History

last semester, I took rock music history as an elective course
it was fun and great for a music newb like me to learn in uni
and I did learn a lot more about music than before

from blues, rolling stones, beatles, soul, punk, new-wave, MTV
blah blah blah...

it was fun, cuz all we did in class was watching clips, listening tracks, and talking about their history and influences
one of the class was a jam session played by the lecture and his friends
they played blues, boogie pianos, beatles, police and it was a great session

it was great, cuz I learnt many names, events that I didn't know before
how rock'n'roll was formed, why psychedelic was popular during 60's
blah blah blah...
but one thing I realised was that different type of music use different methods to attract their audiences
like Elvis Presley, he used his look, his expressive energy, and popular tunes
like Jimi Hendrix, he used his amazing guitar techniques and expressive behaviours
like The Beatles, they used their looks, wonderful pop songs
so now, when you are talking about genres of music, I can tell...
metal - techniques, vicious images
pop - looks, sing-along tunes
hip-hop - beats and bass, hard-core images
jazz - i duno this one, just jazzy i guess...
alternative - mainly expressive...
and that's why i'm more attracted to alternative and indie-pop than other genres

though it seemed like a wonderful course, but it got exams too
I did pretty alright except for the final essay...
my poor writing skills only allowed me to write an introduction...
my topic was about "why there's no selling-out for bands nowadays? it's all about just getting heard..."
very interesting topic, and i did a lot of research
I'm just gonna write it here i guess... sigh

- "sales are no longer the absolute indicator of success or popularity that they once were" Nick Horby from 31 songs
- "in the old days, you toured to promote your records. now you release records to promote your tour"
- "we're in a computer age where most of the magic happens in the studio, rather than on stage, and power marketing record companies pump out soulless shit to a multi-medium platform by the minute. In saying that, without the internet, a lot of good music would go unheard..." Van Schie from Van She

I guess that summed up my argument

Now, let's watch the amazing performance from Santana at Woodstock in 1969
this is without the drum solo (awesome), but still good
look at how musicians expressed themselves and delivered to the audiences back then
now musicians deliver to please the audiences
it must be a heaven and hell out there, but I wish I was there...