Music Matters Live 2014

On Friday I headed down to Clarke Quay for a couple of beers, and also Music Matters Live 2014. I think its really cool that it's becoming a rather big event, and an important fixture in Singapore's music scene, proving that music does indeed matter. I went for the first time last year, and it was pretty interesting. Electrico played together for the first time after a long hiatus. And, Boyce Avenue. Ugh.

It was "Made in Singapore"night, so here are some of my impressions of the performances I saw:

Seyra

I actually first heard this band quite a long time back, maybe 3 or 4 years ago at Baybeats. And I remember being really impressed by their sound and their music. A few years on, and much has changed. Comparisons to Feist and Rachel Yamagata don't really work anymore because their sound has changed ('evolved', would be the hipster term to use). Where the music used to be heavily acoustic guitar-driven, it's now more driven by the bass and rhythm section. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, of course. The tunes are catchy, pretty loud in parts, and ultimately current, i guess. And their use of interesting instruments like the flute and melodica reminds me of Of Monsters and Men, although their sound would better be compared to Two Door Cinema Club. All in all, an interesting, though somewhat unexpected, experience.

Wyd Syd

Pronounced "wide side" (obviously, duh), this band is made up of 5 guys who all look about our age. It took me awhile to classify their music. My friend argued that it was "typical shoegaze". Sonically, I would have to agree. Rampaging bass, pounding drums, howling guitars and a vocalist with a really unique and piercing voice, reminding me a lot of Brian Molko of Placebo. Melodically though, they tend towards groovier and more 'indie' melodies, more dance-y than druggy. And they sound good together. The closest comparison I could think of is probably The Temper Trap. I enjoyed them a lot, although I do wish the vocalist had a less distinct voice.

Sub:shaman

Following Wyd Syd's performance was Sub:shaman. The friend I was there with, his younger brother actually plays in the band, and I had been pre-warned that the music might be a little "too hipster". And well, they are like the strange lovechild of Mogwai and Deftones. Self-described as "dark, groovy and occasionally chaotic", there was an abundance of dissonant chords and sonic landscapes. My friend quite appropriately described it: "eh, they like to purposely do that sia." Vocals clashing with keyboards clashing with guitar, topped off with electronic effects, it was music few could appreciate. And the crowd response was terrible, which did not surprise me the least. We were in Aquacove, a bar where the average age on a normal day is probably on the upside of 35. Patrons were covering their ears, motioning for the performance to be over, and were perhaps as disconcerted and agitated as the music itself. Personally, while I cant say I totally liked it, I do appreciate what they are doing musically. And I would definitely recommend them for those times when you're feeling a little loopy, if you know what I mean.

Take Two

Take Two are a band I've known since they were conceived, considering that I used to play together with their bassist and drummer. And they have been on quite a roll lately, seemingly to be all over the local scene, as well as doing gigs in Kuala Lumpur and Chiang Mai. Or maybe it's because 3/5s of the band are my facebook friends so their notifications always pop up on my newsfeed. Regardless, I think they are a band you guys would like. They are about as typically indie-rock as it gets, catchy dance-y riffs, groovy beats, and lots of sing-a-long "uh oh uh oh"s. Phoenix, The Wombats, you know the sort. And they sound really tight, and have come a long way from when they first started.

The Boxer Rebellion

Here I will sidetrack slightly from the Singapore theme, and quickly mention the headlining act at the main stage. I'm pretty sure you guys have heard of them, they are straight up the Brit-rock alley. They are about as quintessential a four-piece British rock band you can find: three tall handsome skinny men and that one fat, slightly crazed and dishevelled looking fella smacking away on the drums. Groovy guitar licks and bass riffs to get your feet tapping, the largely British crowd there adored them. Of course, also helps that the lead singer has a voice plucked straight from heaven. And it was quite strange actually, hearing such a typically and identifiably British sound amidst all the other genres of music. Refreshing, in a way. While they did not draw the same sort of crowd Boyce Avenue did last year (it was nonsensically packed), they had my heart in an instant.

While Music Matters Live is held in pubs all over Clarke Quay, I think it says a lot of the current music scene that on "Made in Singapore" night, the main fountain stage plays host to K-Pop night, with bad renditions of Lady Gaga songs and scantily clad back up dancers who look less like dancers and more like clubbers in Zouk. But I guess a "Made in Singapore" showcase is a good beginning, and hopefully a sign of greater things to come. I look forward to the day when this local showcase is held on the main stage, and able to attract a local audience beyond just the friends of the band members. That would be the day that we can proudly say that local music does really matter.

Why Music Still Matters

Continuing on from the theme of Gatsby, (but not really), I was thinking in the car while driving home and I thought I should try to write something out. Also, I want to get back into writing and trying to engage with the world, so I thought I should get started here. And hey, lets revive this frankly damn wonderful blog.

It seems to me like classic things are making a comeback, a resurgence of sorts. Vinyl is now the new in thing. It seems everyone these days are putting out their new material on vinyl. There are also a ton of new releases of old albums in vinyl format. New websites are popping up, preaching the gospel of vinyl. This particular website was started in Feb 2013, and dont get me wrong, its a great site, but its a new site. Vinyl then isnt new, but the growing fascination with it is. How else can you explain well, this.

Vinyl never really died, but it has for very long remained a niche market, populated by audiophiles, DJs and music collectors. Nowadays it seems like everyone owns a turntable, and collects records. Honestly, i'm not ready to get into the whole debate over the merits of vinyl over digital music, why vinyl is awesome and what not. It doesnt matter. I think this resurgence is a great thing, regardless of the reason. No need to get all protective and possessive about it. Not hipster enough for that.

interesting data, boring chart. 

interesting data, tumblr chart. 

I do think its interesting to think about the changing trends in terms of music sales. CDs has seen a huge dip in recent times. I myself feel it. There arnt as many CD shops around, thats for sure. I used to walk into HMV at City Link (or wherever, actually) ever single time, spending at least 30 mins in there, much to the chagrin of whoever was with me. I cant do that anymore. I dont even buy CDs that much anymore. The last time i bought a CD was probably when The 2nd Law came out, which is Sept 2012. And even that was more an obligatory purchase rather than a case of walking into a CD shop with nothing in mind and walking out fifty dollars poorer. 

The format on the rise is of course digital singles. iTunes is well, iTunes. What else must we say about iTunes. But its not just iTunes. Youtube, 8tracks, soundcloud, and of course the newly released Google Play Music All Access. The catch phrase of modern media being "on-demand". Technology has allowed to this instantaneous access to media of all forms, beyond just music. Singles have also become so much more definitive. It is so easy for artistes nowadays to be eternally defined by a single song of theirs (see: Psy, Carly Rae Jepsen, Gotye, Fun., LMFAO, the list goes on). The media explosion is massive, and it translates into advertisements  product endorsements, parodies, memes, things that essentially take away from the essential quality of music itself. 

The dominance of singles have resulted in the gradual death of concept albums (but thats another blog entry in itself. i'll get to that in the next couple of weeks). And the dominance of singles is a testament to society's increasingly shortened attention spans. I will be the first to admit that i seldom listen to albums start to finish. Yes, many albums usually contain shit in between that makes it hard to sit through, but the truth is that most of us are really only going for that one or two particular songs. For example, how many Pablo Honey songs do you know, other than Creep? (my answer is one, Inside My Head.) Our attention spans have greatly shortened, (Up till this point i have left my laptop about eight times to do something random and completely pointless, except perhaps to prove my point.) 

and eat some honey. i have a sore throat. 

Also, I think our increasing ability and disposition to multi-task is another reason why music as an activity somehow seems to matter less. When we go to concerts or performances, we have little choice but to participate in the act of watching the performance. But in the comforts of our homes and our daily lives, with ipods, stereo players and well, not that i want to belabour the point but iTunes, we can actually listen to music as we are doing other things. case in point, i have the Gatsby soundtrack playing now as i type this. What this does is take away from the actual act of listening to the music itself. Music as experience, if i may so term it. And thats the beauty of vinyl. You are forced to do nothing but listen to the music. With each side of the record lasting fifteen to twenty minutes, you dont really have the chance to do anything else, because before you know it you have to flip the record. And that's what I actually like and enjoy about it. Its the singular experience, in a world of furious multi-tasking. 

My greatest fear is that music will slowly and surely become an afterthought in our daily lives. We go about doing whatever it is that we do, with music playing in the background, the soundtrack of our lives fading in and out. This is why I don't like radio, among many other reasons. Its too convenient, and ultimately too meaningless. And after watching Gatsby, I must say I really liked the role music played in the crafting of the movie, both in a good, bad but ultimately integral way. 

Music is important, music still matters. And I know music is important to all of us. So i implore you, take some time, set aside whatever it is that you are doing, and just go listen to some music, with nothing else to distract you. Bask in the wonder of musical creation, because its worth it. Dont let music die.

when I got nothing but my aching soul

"What do you want? What do you expect?"

Although Mr Harris or Ms Chia never did place much emphasis on Owl Eyes when we were studying the novel, I couldn't help but let what he says after he meets Nick and Jordan in Gatsby's library (this post's title), jump out at me. It just seemed to encapsulate all the expectations every single character in this riotous roaring twenties story, where everyone was waiting for something to happen and when things did happen, I suppose people just didn't quite know what to do. They didn't know what to do with all their wealth, their time, their feelings, their dreams, their hopes, - all that was convoluted into one big mess which had neither head nor tail. Only Gatsby- the lost, unreadable, obsessive yet admirable Jay Gatsby,  tried his best to make sense of it and keep the green light shining bright in his head.

A lot has been said about the novel of late and everyone fears what Luhrmann's new film might convey or not convey for that matter- several things that I never picked up upon 5 years ago when I first read the book suddenly seem to matter more: Owl Eyes' words, the playfulness between Nick and Daisy (I completely forgot they were cousins), Fitzgerald's description of Myrtle dying, everyone and not just Jordan Baker, was careless.

Come 16 May, I don't quite know what to expect but I'll just watch the film as it is and take it as an extremely razzle-dazzle Baz Age of a film. But re-reading it now, hats off to Fitzgerald for being such a wordsmith. Every single word he wrote was so meticulous, so carefully picked I am tempted to get an audiobook version of the novel just to hear these words because it feels like they were meant to be heard, and not just read.

Letters

I just had to post this (and well, revive this blog). My lit prof writes the BEST emails in the world (and Kel comes a close second). Also, she writes emails to us just about every other day. You could prob make a great book out of all her emails. Makes for great reading. Here are some of the best ones:

1 May: "Ars poetica, etc"
It is mildly annoying me that so many of you writing on Macleish, say, (blithely), 'Macleish says that poems are wordless/mute', etc.  He doesn't.  He says 'A poem should be palpable and mute/as a globed fruit.  The point it not that it is mute, but that it is as palpable and mute as a globed fruit.  The simile is there to be thought about, not ignored.  The enjambment is there for a purposes.  Similarly, it does not say 'A poem should be wordless', but wordless/as a flight of birds.'  So unless you think through the logic of the simile and what he's saying by offering you these images, the poem WILL be mute (to you), because you are failing to register what it is 'saying'.  The point was close reading, not a failure to read.

Re: 'Apple of Trouble'

"The man is 'smallish' indicating that the man is kind of small where he is both small but not small at the same time.'

Re: Uncle Gavin's 'Southern drawls' - this is Sussex, not Texas.  If the reference to Brighton didn't tell you that then the Geog department has something to answer for.

--

1 May
...
Some of you will see things like 'Sheep', 'Goat', 'Pygmy', etc on top of your script.  The caprine and ovine descriptors should be clear from last night's email.  If your script labels you a caprine, do something about the ink in future (should I have the pleasure of your company of your pleasure again, on another module).  If ovine, you may bask in your own virtue.  If you get 'pygmy', this marks 'writing more suitable for Lilliput than NUS'.  I have already had to buy a magnifiying sheet to hold up in front of some of the worst offenders.  It isn't fun.  When you teach in future, it will rebound on you, karmic-ally.  Then you will regret torturing me. 

A note: giraffes are not phallic symbols.  Not everything in a text reduces to sex. 

--

30 Apr: "Ink"
There are times where I think of Darwin's survival of the fittest and realise that intelligence is not the thing that best equips the inividual to survive.  It's something a lot more basic like a puppy- like obedience.  The kind that hears His Master's Voice and goes 'woof'.  Or, in this case hears Dr Ang's voice say "dark black or dark blue ink Pilot Supergel 3g. ' and  woofs off enthusiastically to buy out the COOP's supply of pens of the right colour.

on the day of judgement, God will separate out sheep from goats.  I don't need to wait till that day.  Looking at the test scripts, I know that ithe goat population far outstrips the sheep.  Or sheepdog  puppies.  Well don't say i didn't warn people.  On the day of returning there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.....

--

19 Apr
...
You are allowed to bring in drinks, etc. but you must take the debris out with you and dispose of it afterwards because the LT will be used on Monday for a Faculty meeting and I would prefer FASS didn't think that EN students were a crowd of litterbugs and slobby types.  So you will please be good about clearing up after yourselves - I will put a black bin liner at the back of the LT near the doors.  You may bring in notes on poetic forms, scribbled sheets to yourself to remind yourself of this or that.  You may bring in things to keep you comfortable (blankets to keep warm, small snacks (no stinky tofu or parmesan cheese), teddy bears to comfort you in your affliction, whatever.

--

Also, i might have mentioned this to some of you. She dresses like Trelawny, her office is like a time warp back to the Victorian era, and she's just generally queer and awesome. And she speaks at 250 wpm. 

Light from the Middle East

So, as an attempt at reviving our wonderful blog, I thought I'd write about a photography exhibition I just saw - Light from the Middle East: New Photography at the V&A, running from 13th November 2013 - 7 April 2013. 

It was a great exhibition, focusing on Middle Eastern artists from 30 different countries and their use of photography to document, comment and subvert. It was curated into 3 sections, and I've picked out my favourite pieces from each. 

Recording: 

Ahmed Mater

Magnetism I

Photograuvre 

I absolutely loved this piece - at first glance it seemed to be your run-of-the-mill black&white epic pilgrimage shot, but it's actually a photo of a magnetic block drawing a sea of iron filings together. It brought to mind that toy I had when I was a kid - where you used a magnet to manipulate iron filings to give a cartoon man hair or a beard - the way the iron filings followed the magnet everywhere was a source of endless fascination. This unique recreation of the culminating moment of hajj makes an interesting commentary on the nature of religious pilgrimage where individuals are inexplicably drawn towards a single object in a sea of anonymity and singular, collective devotion. 

Reframing: 

Youseff Nabil 

Detail from The Yemeni Sailors of South Shields 

Hand-coloured gelatin silver print 

This was a series of 12 portraits depicting the last surviving Yemeni sailors who settled as ship-workers in South Shields, England. Nabil has hand-coloured black&white photographs in the style of 20thc. Egyptian portraiture. What struck me in particular was the exceptionally youthful way in which  Nabil has chosen to frame these elderly sailors, perhaps suggesting his romanticised nostalgia of their Yemeni cultural past, further elaborated in the juxtaposition of their dark Western suits against elements of traditional garb. 

Resisting: 

Nermine Hammam 

From the series Upekkha

Archival inkjet print 

After spending time working on a print show at my gallery (that just opened yesterday), and being exposed to amazing works by artists such as Sir Peter Blake and Joe Webb, I've come to really appreciate photo manipulation and collage as an artistic practice. Nermine Hammam takes photos of military personnel called in to disperse the recent 2011 uprising in Tahrir Square, and places them in postcard-like fantasy destinations in response to the desires they expressed to be anywhere but the site of conflict.  The striking high-resolution of the images shows a genuine resistance to the photograph's position as conveying the "truth," and blurs the distinction between reality and fantasy. By far my favourite series in the entire exhibition, Hammam's work is for me a perfect combination of medium, message, and visual impact. 

The exhibition showcased a wide range of photographers, techniques and styles, and with my growing interest in photography as a medium, was able to hold my interest despite the horde of people I had to jostle with to read the wall text (an understandable phenomenon for the V&A on a Sunday afternoon). I''m the first to admit that I've always been a bit of a snob to photography and prints as artistic practice, preferring installation and sculptural work, but being exposed to an in-depth study of photography/image theory, as well as learning more about the surprising array of techniques available in the photographic medium (both analog and digital), I'm quite happily on the path to conversion.