Feng's Distorted World : 鋒言鋒語

Slowly Minute is is the solo project of 24-year-old Sapporo resident Takahiro Chiba. Takahiro blends crazy melodies that don’t line up with each other into playful electronics and live instrumentation - sounds of harps poking at pianos, beats that feel like the computer is drunk, vocals from a cartoon dreamland, and a strangely cinematic, often hilarious use of classic stock keyboards.

Slowly Minute is signed to indie label Bubble Core Records, the same label for Japanese DJ, Nobukazu Takemura. The track "A Constellation and Shooting Stars", from the album "Tomorrow World", combines a good mix of piano sections and synths to create a totally different lounge music piece, heavily influenced by ambient and jazz. What it really feels like is as if the artist were painting an imagery of what he is trying to present.



Download the track here:
Slowly Minute - A Constellation and Shooting Stars (mp3)

Do visit the artist's page at Bubble Core Records for more info and mp3s.

Salakavala is a suomisaundi psytrance group from Finland. They group has released many tracks on the internet prior to their album "Fractal Fishing". In addition to that, they also host the popular Finnish psy label Antiscarp.

Suomisaundi, is the dark, twisted metamorphosis of psytrance. It is commonly heard at forest parties at Finland and Sweden but in recent years has proliferated to the rest of the psychedelic trance community worldwide. Nevertheless, suomisaundi is still considered a rather underground sect of the already non-mainstream psytrance genre.

I must say its really something of an eye opener for people who are not familiar with psytrance and the suomi music scene in general. This is exactly the sort of music you have to listen to appreciate.

You can download the entire album in 320K mp3 format here:



Salakavala - Treacherous Tunes
1. When it Comes
2. Oatshaker
3. Antifeidaus (feat. Toletrancer)
4. Fifty Kopecs

Recommended tracks: Track 1, Track 3

Do visit Antiscarp Records for more downloads of Salakavala and other suomisaundi artists such as Mullet Mohawk, Igor Swamp, and Puoskari

Recommended by Armand Tanzarian, Post Rock musician and a frequent collaborator of mine, I was coaxed into attending Moonshine for May. Moonshine is a music show that happens every month at Laundry Bar, The Curve, in the suburb of PJ, approximately 30 minutes drive from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.



Four of the best bands in the Malaysian underground scene were featured that night. First up the line, was Estrella, a band which plays jazzy, acoustic music. They were the best band on the night IMHO. Great music for chilling out.



Next up was Furniture, which delivered an ambient, spacey, post-rock set that was made distinct by the vocalist's child-like vocals..



Laila's Lounge is up next. Apparently, they played a rock set reminiscent to Radiohead.



Armand told me that they had saved the best band for the last. They Will Kill Us All (TWKUA for short) was the band everyone in the crowd was cheering for, and they did put on a truly banging set that night. But their music wasn't quite to my liking, its just that they're not quite the usual music I listen to. By the time they had finished playing, the crowd was euphoric, and the music sounded as though it were still pumping in your ears.



And let's NOT forget about getting wasted!!



Enjoy!

Photos courtesy of Laundry Bar

Eluvium is one of the more recent ambient acts I've listened to and really got hooked onto. Coming from the indie music label, Temporary Residence. (Which is Explosions in The Sky's label), you can be assured that Eluvium is definately going to be a listening pleasure.

His 2007 album, Copia is an hour long epic journey through ambient landscapes. Eluvium's works are predominantly piano pieces, with subtle intermissions of strings. The music is emotionally provoking at times, yet it keeps its mostly calm, soothing setting throughout the entire album.



TRACK LISTING
1. Amreik
2. Indoor Swimming at the Space Station
3. Seeing You Off The Edges
4. Prelude For Time Feelers (mp3)
5. Requiem on Frankfort Ave.
6. Radio Ballet
7. (Intermission)
8. After Nature
9. Reciting the Airships
10. Ostinato
11. Hymn #1
12. Repose In Blue

For more downloads, visit Eluvium's label at temporary residence.

My Little Airport has again released a new track on their site after 2 months!! It seems that the rumour is true - they might be releasing a new EP soon. The track entitled "悲傷的採購" literally translates to "purchase of sadness". The track is heavy loaded with synths (casio by p) and has a overall lingering electronic but light feel to it.

My Little Airport的新歌"悲傷的採購"延續了上一首歌"畢業變成失業"的主題，即係時下香港年輕人對工作的觀念和一些社會的現實事情。在這一首歌里，Nicole的聲音和阿p的casio電子鋼琴非常合拍，聽起來有一份好輕鬆，煩惱抛諸腦後的感覺。



Download:
My Little Airport - 悲傷的採購 (mp3)

〈悲傷的採購〉

唱: nicole
曲/詞/編/ programming/ casio : 阿p
監製: my little airport

訂了一季 又到下季
為何人大了就要成為工作的奴隸
最愛作的不可發揮

我的感覺 逐漸流逝
從前曾話過要如何欣賞世界的美麗
現在只懂得放假去消費

如果繼續這樣 我還是我嗎？我還喜歡我嗎？
或者我應該死去吧 總好過變得更差
如果繼續這樣 你還願意嗎？和我奏著結他？
日子不應該這樣吧 而現實就是這樣可怕

You can download more of My Little Airport's tracks from their official site and also read about their past tracks on my posts below:
My Little Airport - 畢業變成失業
我愛官恩娜，都不及愛你的哨牙

Here's a track that I was sent to me by Kevin from Big Scary Monsters Records. The artist featured below is none other than Richard Walters, an indie/folk rock artist, although the track below leans more towards the minimal genre.



While this is not exactly a genre-breaking track of any sort, the track is quite special in the sense that Walter's melancholic singing style blends in surprisingly well with the distinct shoegazing background of repetitive guitars and gentle piano sections. If you're a fan of shoegaze or chillout music, then this is an artist you should try listening to.

Richard Walter's EP "The Pilot Lights" has just released in February and was recorded in part by David Kosten (producer for Air Traffic, Iain Archer, Bat For Lashes and many more) and in part by Guy Sigsworth (ex-member of Frou Frou (along with Imogen Heap) and producer for Björk, Madonna, Lamb and others).

Richard Walters - We Have Your Head (mp3)


You can check out Richard Walters' myspace here and also buy his latest EP at http://www.bsmrocks.com

Cranes is a shoegazing band formed in the mid 1980s in UK. They play mostly alt rock, dream pop, and also sometimes gothic rock. This is a track from their band's 1997 EP entitled "Can't Get Free". The band's style leans heavily towards ambient and ethereal sounds. The shoegaze "feel" is further amplified with the calm, gentle strumming of a solo guitar as well as lead singer Alison Shaw's ever prominent child-like vocals.



Cranes - Perfect World (mp3)

Visit Crane's official site on dadaphonic.com for further details of the band's latest gigs and downloads.

Magyar Posse is a six piece band, capable of conjuring up sounds that are surprisingly fun to listen to. The band is from Finland, and specializes in post rock. The track "International Hussle" below is performed live in Oulu, Finland on 17/04/2005 and is part of a larger liveset performed by Magyar Posse. The track is somewhat progressive and builds upon the steady melody and background. Towards the second hald of the track, a solo violin plays - giving the track some much needed elegance. Towards the end of the track however, the track is extremely distorted sounding, providing a stark contrast of mood as compared to the progression and solo violins.



Magyar Posse - Intercontinental Hussle (mp3)

You might also want to check out Magyar Posse's official site.

The Postal Service is electronic indie band which is popular among the worldwide underground music community. The track featured here "Such Great Heights" has been featured in many various TV series and films such as Grey's Anatomy, and the trailer for the film "Garden State".



In this special remix by house/techno DJ and electronic music artist John Tejada, the track "Such Great Heights" is presented as a rendition of electronic music closer to likes of tech house and electro clash. Light enough to be listened on its own, yet still mixable into house sets, the track is made up of simple beats and light synths - groovy and ideal for mixing into intros of sets.

The Postal Service - Such Great Heights (John Tejada Remix) (mp3)


You may want to also visit postalservicemusic.net and paletterecordings for more info on "The Postal Service"

Been listening to alot of Scandinavian music lately - Bjork, Efterklang, Sigur Ros, and now Lars Horntveth - musical leader of Norwegian ten-man band Jaga Jazzist.



Over the last ten years, he has crafted a truly unique and innovative body of work. While Lars' style is remarkably similar to his works in Jaga Jazzist (of course, they're the same person involved in different projects) but the tracks released under Lars Horntveth's own name are a far more personal piece of work. His track were recorded entirely with real instruments and a nine-piece string ensemble on board to supply some extra textures, with the exception of programmed beats. In the tracks "Tics", strings (in both simple, short bows and pizzicatos) are the instruments of choice chosen by Lars to give the track a curious, playful, yet relaxing mood to it.

If you're a fan of Jaga Jazzist or the like, don't wait anymore. Download the track featured below on Lars Horntveth's official site now! You won't be disappointed.

Lars Horntveth - Tics (mp3)

This is the soundtrack for CASSHERN, a Japanese film released in 2004. I know its a bit late for this post but I just couldn't resist writting about it. Apart from The Myth OST and Requiem for a Dream OST, this album is another of the best OSTs released in recent times. The soundtrack consists of 2 CDs, CD1 being a collection of tracks inspired by the movie and CD 2 the tracks that make up the background music in the movie.

The music in these 2 CDs are extremely varied and ranges from j-rock (Hyde, The Back Horn, GLAY), house (Satoshi Tomiie, Towa Tei), lovely ballads (Onitsuka Chihiro, Shiina Ringo, Utada Hikaru) and plain instrumental (Shiro Sagisu in CD2) as well. The track "Requiem" by The Back Horn which is featured in the fight scene between Tetsuya and Burai has become quite a cult favourite and helped boost The Back Horn's popularity worldwide immensely. "Borderline" by Onitsuka Chihiro is also a great track with hauntingly beautiful vocals. The track "誰かの願いが叶うころ (Dare ka no negai kanau koro) by Hikki is the ending theme for the movie. Coupled with a piano solo, the track has a certain melancholic aura to it. As for CD2, my favourite tracks by Shiro Sagisu are "軌道" which is the music for Tetsuya's revival and "The Last Day" during the final scene. Shiro Sagisu's talent combined with his fine use of orchestra and simple strings help make the music both dramatic and emotional in each and every aspect.

Simply put, ther's never a filler or a boring moment in this soundtrack. Instrumental or not, every track is great in its own special way and that's what that makes Our Last Day a great soundtrack.



Our Last Day - Casshern Offical Album

CD1
1. 椎名林檎 / 『茎(ステム)』
2. MONDO GROSSO / 『LIKE NO ONE'S LOOKING』 [Listen Realplayer] [Listen WMP]
3. HYDE / 『MASQUERADE』
4. TOWA TEI / 『ORIGINAL HUMAN』
5. ACIDMAN / 『水写』
6. SS:ST（Shiro SAGISU & Satoshi TOMIIE）[Listen Realplayer] [Listen WMP]
7. 鬼束ちひろ / 『BORDERLINE』 [Listen Realplayer] [Listen WMP]
8. THE BACK HORN / 『レクイエム』
9. GLAY / 『無限のdeja vuから~Peaceful Session~』
10. 宇多田ヒカル / 『誰かの願いが叶うころ』 [Listen Realplayer] [Listen WMP]

CD2
1. 荒廃
2. 暗影
3. 胎動
4. 眩暈
5. 神意
6. 軌道
7. 復活
8. 足音
9. 祈り
10. 幻影
11. 叫び
12. 記憶
13. 輪廻
14. THE LAST DAY

CD2 Composed and Arranged by Shiro SAGISU, Except:
[M-8] Composed by Tomohiko GONDO , Arranged by Tomohiko GONDO and Yuichiro HONDA
[M-9] Composed by Yuichiro HONDA and Tomohiko GONDO , Arranged by Yuichiro HONDA
[M-11] Composed and Arranged by Shiro SAGISU , Additional Production: Yuichiro HONDA
[M-14] Composed and Arranged by Tomohiko GONDO


The film is brilliant, and the soundtrack just blows your mind off, what else can you ask for?



Casshern OST's official site from toshiba-emi

My Little Airport has just released another track on their site last week! The track entitled "畢業變成失業" which literally means "Graduation becomes unemployment" is a really cool track. The song retains the band's usual style and manages to capture the essence and feeling of many Hong Kong's youth which is the helplessness once they graduate and step into society.

My Little Airport 又推出新歌 "畢業變成失業"。新歌亦保留My Little Airport一貫搞笑，輕鬆又可愛的風格，令人聽起來很舒服。更難得是歌詞内容可以形容香港時下好多年輕人剛剛畢業踏出社會，又要面對失業，很迷惶，很無助的一種心態。

真喺好好聽GA!!



Download the track here:
My Little Airport - 畢業變成失業 (mp3)


Here are the lyrics:

唱: nicole
曲/詞/guitars: 阿p
編: 阿p/ nicole/ 阿賢@22cats/阿科@22cats
bass: 阿賢@22cats
drums: 阿科@22cats


一畢業就等於失業，
一畢業就等於失業。

Shoo do do do do do do do
shoo do do do do do do do
shoo do do do do do do do
shoo do do do do do do do。

七個月見左三十九份工，
搵份工仲難過搵老公，
我今日只想留在家中。

Shoo do do do do do do do
shoo do do do do do do do
shoo do do do do do do do
shoo do do do do do do do。

見工見到入左去東涌，
點知份工要去掘山窿，
我今日只想留在家中。
聽見同學逐個搵到工，
但我仍在尋尋覓覓中，
沒有人比我更加「火農」，
不幸正與我結伴中。

Shoo do do do do do do do
shoo do do do do do do do
shoo do do do do do do do
shoo do do do do do do do。

之後見岩份工以為好輕鬆，
因為份工基本上係無人工，
我今日只想留在家中。

Shoo do do do do do do do
shoo do do do do do do do
shoo do do do do do do do
shoo do do do do do do do。

一畢業就已經失業，
一畢業就已經失業。


You might also want to read up on my other posts about My Little Airport here:
我愛官恩娜，都不及愛你的哨牙
HK's best kept secret - My Little Airport

The Pancakes is a Hong Kong based one-girl band consisting of independent singer-songwriter Dejay Choi. The music of the Pancakes is characterized by Dejay's very innocent, almost child-like voice with bright and catchy melodies. The Pancakes has also written songs for multiple McDull movies such as Prince de La Bun ("Gum, Gum, Gum"). Dejay also the voice talent for Miss Chan in all the McDull films. The track "越過高山" (Over the mountain) is a Cantonese track yet it retain's Dejay's style of childlike voices and simple melodies.

The Pancakes 其中一首歌《a》獲九巴選為廣告用歌。Dejay亦都為電影《麥兜故事》及《麥兜菠蘿油王子》中的Miss Chan配音。於2005年憑《麥兜菠蘿油王子》的一首歌《咁咁咁》擊敗其他著名歌手和音樂人奪得香港電影金像獎最佳原創電影歌曲獎。

Try out The Pancakes, I promise you wouldn't be disappointed!



The Pancakes - Everyone has a Secret

1. tamagawa
2. far too fast
3. 越過高山 (mp3) [Download MTV]
4. unexpected obstacles
5. another fifty days
6. fake bossa nova
7. 7a.m.
8. b
9. 中文歌
10. hallo goodbye

Visit The Pancakes official site for more mp3s and lyrics to the tracks.

Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2 is the second in the set of 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies by Franz Liszt. He was a student of Carl Czerny, and noted especially for his showmanship and great skill with the keyboard.

The Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C-sharp minor is particularly well known, due to its frequent use in animated cartoons. The piece has appeared in cartoons such as Mickey Mouse in The Opry House in 1929, and most well known for the Tom & Jerry Academy Award winner "The Cat Concerto". This animation was one of my favourite Tom & Jerry clips and I really enjoyed watching it everytime.



Here is the piece available as a free download, as performed by Sean Bennett, a world-class pianist hailing from Chicago, Illinios who has performed for the foreign consulates of 20 countries.

Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (Performed by Sean Bennett) (mp3)

Testrauschen is a group from Munich, Germany. The group name means "Test Noise" in German and it reflects their style, which is mainly experimental. The group produces ambient, electronic, experimental, sometimes energetic music.



The track "Glad to be here" is really beautiful and sounds hopeful. While sweeping pads in the background conjure a dreamy landscape, the synth leads the main progression towards the buildup. But there's no real climax here, it just sort of dies down in the final moments track. The other track featured here, "Der Panther", offers a somewhat contrasted mood as compared to the first track. Although both tracks are mainly progressive in nature, "Der Panther" is the more repetitive of the two, but still a great track nonetheless.

Although I've only listened to 2 of their tracks, I really like their style - downright simple, no-nonsense, and progressive.

Testrauschen - Glad to be here (mp3)
Testrauschen - Der Panther (mp3)


Want more news and downloads about Testrauschen? Visit them here:
http://www.testrauschen.com/

The track "Monopolist" featured below is from Danish music group, Efterklang's debut album "Tripper". The track is a testament to what the band is exactly capable of, calm and soothing music. Throughout the track, gentle vocals combined with that ever repetitive drum beats and the sweet violin solo coupled with a soft trombone, combine to give you that perfect audiotory experience.



Efterklang - Monopolist (mp3)

Visit them on efterklang.net.

You can read up abit about Efterklang on my blog posts here:
Efterklang
Cacoy is "Kakoii"!! - Another band signed to Efterklang's label.

Shpongle is considered to be one of the most important and influential psychedelic downtempo or Psybient music projects of recent years. It is a project by Simon Posford (Hallucinogen) and Raja Ram. Their 2001 album "Tales of the inexpressible" alongside with their first album "Are you shpongled?" are among to be the most important and genre defining albums in the psychedelic downtempo (psybient) genre.

The track "Dorset Perceptions" is the best track in this album and is just about the right tempo for mixing into other psy/goa and even trance tracks... It's not as hard as Skazi or other Hallucinogen works, yet it is not exactly psybient like Shulman or Leftfield. Spanish and Oriental sounds interwining with classical guitars, flutes, and distorted vocal samples are widely used throughout this album to present you with that Goa groove that's distinctly Shpongle's.



1. Dorset Perception (mp3)
2. Star Shpongled Banner
3. A New Way to Say "hooray"
4. Room 23 (mp3)
5. My Head Feels Like a Frisbee
6. Shpongleyes
7. Once Upon the Sea of Blissful Awarness
8. Around the World in a Tea Daze (mp3)
9. Flute Fruit

Visit Shpongle's fan site and Simon Posford's myspace for more news and mp3 downloads.

L.A.-based live progressive house/trance duo Second Sun is composed of Antoine & Adam. Second Sun first stormed onto the international dance music scene with their single "Empire," which was remixed by Paul Van Dyk and included on his huge selling compilation The Politics of Dancing.

The duo then went a step further collaborating with Paul van Dyk for the track "Crush" in the hit album "Reflections", they have enjoyed formidable reputation as trance artists. Akin to Paul van Dyk's dense production style, Second Sun not only create celestial, heartstring-tugging melodies, but they also incorporate live instrumentation and electronic manipulation that are sure to move minds and feet alike.



Second Sun - The Spell (mp3)

Visit the group's myspace here.

At17 (雁石分天) is a Hong Kong girl band that is pitched to appeal to high school and university students. The group members are Eman Lam (林二汶) and Ellen Joyce Loo (盧凱彤).

At17 seems to be more artistically and musically inclined and contrast significantly when compared other mainstream Cantopop girl groups such as Twins and Cookies. Both Loo and Lam are involved considerably in the songwriting and production for their albums. Loo plays the guitar and piano, and Lam plays the guitar and various percussion instruments.

Their style may be best described as Folktronica and their light melodies and simple lyrics appeal to many teenagers today. The duo have also written multiple tracks for the OST of many Mcdull movies such as Prince de la Bun(麥兜菠蘿油王子). At17 is currently signed to the same record label as Pixeltoy - people mountain people sea (人山人海 - a Chinese proverb which means a lot of people).

Here's the video for the track 三分鐘後 by at17. Its a really cool track.



at17's official website
at17's official blog

Karlheinz Stockhausen is often heralded as one of the most important composers of the 20th century. He is best known for his ground-breaking work in electronic music and controlled chance in serial composition. His works are orchestral but widespread use of electronics throughout his work has had a lasting impact on the more classical, avant-garde, and electronic music communities.

Popular musicians such as Cecil Taylor, The Beatles, Kraftwerk, Coil, Björk, Sonic Youth, Miles Davis (Bergstein 1992), Frank Zappa, and Herbie Hancock cite Stockhausen as an influence.

The tracks featured below are from the CD 50 FREITAG aus LICHT and has a dark, looming atmosphere which is dominant throughout the entire length of the album. The track "Elufa" is somewhat lighter as compared with other tracks in the album with the use of brass instruments and also a choir, but its still shockingly dark and eerie nonetheless.



CD 50 FREITAG aus LICHT

1. FRIDAY TEMPTATION Score Page 1 (mp3)
2. FRIDAY TEMPTATION Tone Scene 1 (mp3)
3. KINDER ORCHESTER (S. 13) (mp3)
4. ELUFA Real Scene (S.130/131) (mp3)
5. CHOR-SPIRALE Real Scene (S. 130/136) (mp3)


More info about this great composer can be found here:
www.stockhausen.org