Saturday, October 31, 2009
moon (2009)
Speaking of Elton John, I would probably take his “Rocket Man” over David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” as my pick for the essential space-travel anthem anytime, never mind that I am a huge Bowie fan. Moon, the directorial debut of Bowie’s firstborn child Duncan Jones, would be my pick for the Halloween DVD this year: not that it is a scary movie, far from it, and the robot voice done by Kevin Spacey is more dull than creepy; and not that the film is particularly good too, and I actually fell asleep halfway through this in the cinema, which is rare for me. This trippy, minimalist but ultimately disappointing sci-fi movie is written specifically for Sam Rockwell, who plays a homesick astronaut, named Sam Bell, contracted by a Korean space company to be stationed on a lunar base for about three years. As Sam confronts the presence of a clone of his self who somehow strayed onto the moon, the film digresses into an identity-crisis puzzle that is perhaps more confusing than convincing. Rockwell, who was particularly good in 2002’s Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, is always watchable of course, and I did like the fact that this film rather successfully work sparse gadgets into the narrative.
Friday, October 30, 2009
come down in time
Well yes, probably don’t mean shit to most everyone, but my favorite Elton John album, Tumbleweed Connection, was released 39 years ago on this day – you can’t get more unfashionable these days than to write about Elton John, to be sure. I love the comforting sound of these familiar country & western songs – yes, another one of those albums I turn to when I’m a little blue, if only to listen to "Come Down In Time" – and he would not record another album that sound quite as thematically cohesive like this. Tumbleweed Connection is also a huge inspiration for another much underrated album I love, Aimee Mann’s The Forgotten Arm. Elton and his lyrics writer Bernie Taupin are apparently these huge Band fans, and you can hear a lot of that influence on Tumbleweed Connection songs like “Country Comfort” and “My Father’s Gun”. I suppose if I was actually a music fan of my current age living in the sixties, the Band would be one of my favorite musicians around too; not so sure how I might take to Elton John though.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
friend's major project
So I’m think I’ll probably take some time to get back into the swing of “publishing” – a lot of attention would be wasted on my Yankees in the World Series anyway – but here’s a pretty long piece written by from one of my close friends that I’ve gotten permission to publish here. His major project, so to say, and a killer playlist by the way, with several unnecessary comments of mine in bold and italics:
Major Project (a.k.a. Before the Fall)
Music has been an integral part of my life since 1995, my first year in junior college, when I got hold of REM’s “Automatic for the People”, Joni Mitchell’s “Turbulent Indigo” and Red House Painters’ “Ocean Beach”. I also received an early and admittedly embarrassing introduction to emo-core via Radiohead’s “The Bends”. Since then, certain songs have served as landmarks and signposts of my life. I sometimes wonder: if I am a music anthropologist, mining through the songs that have marked my existence in the last 15 years, will I have anything meaningful to say about myself? Can I come to you with a song list and hope wishfully that you will know me better? k. vicious: my favorite emo album: heartbreaker by mr adams
I decided to give it a go – to compile a list of songs that scarred and thrilled my private life. At the start of this “major project”, I wanted to categorize the songs into the decades, based primarily on their date of issue. There was no specific reason for doing so, except an archaeological interest in such matters. However, midway through this experiment, I realized I was merely creating a buying list of songs. I was veering towards listing down songs that are critically acclaimed but have little to do with me. This is not a Mojo year-end project, I told myself. I have to be honest. As such, I have left out bands like Television, Mouse on Mars, Slint and Uncle Tupelo – bands that I respect but have not marked my heart.
There are of course certain rules that I adopted during the process of selecting the music. Each musician is only entitled one entry per decade. As such, I have to throw out four or five songs of Joni Mitchell from 1970 to 1979 and settle for “River”. However, I do consider a band member’s side/solo project as a separate entry, which is why Dan Bejar has two bites of the cherry with Destroyer and The New Pornographers in my selection for the last decade. As far as possible, I try to make this an in-and-out list and left out the more “experimental” songs. Furthermore, I must own an original copy of the selected songs, a sign that I have listened to these songs for uncountable times. The “ice-cube” sound of MP3s arrived fairly late in my musical education. I left out jazz altogether, although Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Mingus certainly deserved to make this list. Perhaps that will be another major project for another gap week. k. vicious: okay, got the neil jung reference
Naturally, at the end of such a project, it is also possible to make comments about the music in general through the decades. Without descending into a Pitchfork editorial, I would say that the last decade from 2000 to 2009 is the most diverse in terms of music production. Look away now, if you haven’t, dear MTV fans. k. vicious: “descending”?!?!
Popular perception also tells us that the 1980s was a bad decade. When I examine my list, it isn’t all that bad. The decade gave us Pixies’ first album. Sonic Youth took their no-wave aesthetics and clothed it in bubblegum. I even managed to slip in a 70s Joni Mitchell song “Amelia” via the live album she released in 1980, “Shadows and Light”. But the 1970s is unsurpassed. The end of the western dream is forever enshrined in songs like John Cale’s “Paris 1919” and Neil Young’s “On the Beach”. Set against that, the 1980s will always be the unfulfilled second son.
I hereby present you the play-list of my life. I have listed the songs in a particular sequence, not to rank them, but to create mini narratives within each decade. I do come from an era before the iPod Shuffle. You are more than welcomed to get a copy of the songs in MP3 format.
So what does my play-list say? A close friend Mr. K suggested that I should write a few lines for each selected song. That would take too much time and I am not sure if I want to revisit the self-pity that plagued certain junctures of my life. However, I have decided to add commentaries to certain songs as a way of providing context. k. vicious: Mr. K is so full of shit, but why "self-pity"? more like therapy..
Overall, the process of selecting the music has certainly given me an excuse away from work. The weather has been fairly erratic in Singapore the last few days – just the perfect way to think of friends and lovers who have left and those who have yet to arrive. What else can I say? I guess I’m un-cool, to steal a line from Lester Bang, via Cameron Crowe’s movie “Almost Famous”. While you are out partying, I am at home, picking songs for a road trip that never materialized. What more can my play-list justify?
Wubin
14 October 2009
Singapore, in horrific sunshine after a downpour
1960-69
California Dreamin’ / The Mamas and the Papas
[This is an instance where a song has become etched in my memory due to its inclusion in a film – in this case, Wong Kar-wai’s “Chungking Express”. The movie justified the decision of unsophisticated young filmmakers in East Asia for turning on the slow-mo mode on their video camera.]
The Red Telephone / Love
See Emily Play / Pink Floyd
k. vicious: awesome choices, these last two - see emily play breaks my psychedelic heart
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) / The Beatles
[Nowadays, I associate this song more with the “Norwegian Wood” that Haruki Murakami wrote when he turned 40. He vowed to make all the women cry with that book. Will I bald when I hit 40?]
k. vicious: oh man - my beatles pick (if just one) I am the walrus
Hung Up on a Dream / The Zombies
The Amorous Humphrey Plugg / Scott Walker
I Ain’t Marching Anymore / Phil Ochs
[As a reluctant journalist, this song is a virtual guarantee in my play-list.]
Je t’aime… moi non plus / Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot
Venus in Furs / The Velvet Underground and Nico
[The Velvet Underground connected all the dots from Joy Division to Dalek.]
k. vicious: insanely good segue from gainsbourg to velvets - this should be a mixtape
Suzanne / Leonard Cohen
Dolphins / Tim Buckley
Rhymes and Reasons / John Denver
Ballad in Plain D / Bob Dylan
Who Knows Where the Time Goes / Fairport Convention
[I often wonder why am I such a self-proclaimed British folk fan. There isn’t anything topical that connects my life with what Sandy Denny or Nick Drake was singing then. The sarcasm of Dylan was absent in those songs. But the sense of truncation drew me. That was the end of idealism under the western sky.]
1970-79
Goodbye to Love / Carpenters
So Far Away / Carole King
[Why am I such a sucker for love songs? If you listen carefully, the essence of that decade is captured in the audio quality of this very song.]
What’s Going On / Marvin Gaye
Paris 1919 / John Cale
Starman / David Bowie
Perfect Day / Lou Reed
[The second year of my college life (2000 to 2001) was by far the most difficult phase of my life. I had crashed the cliffs with an imaginary lover. This is the song I was singing to her.]
k. vicious: oh man, like that image - write a short story based on this, except the song is, erm, like you mention, too obvious; for lou (old friend), i'll pick the eternally fucked-up "Coney Island Baby" (I'm not going to play quarterback)
Casey’s Last Ride / Kris Kristofferson
k. vicious: never heard this (gasp!)
Darkness on the Edge of Town / Bruce Springsteen
New Dawn Fades / Joy Division
The Old Man’s Back Again (Dedicated to the Neo-Stalinist Regime) / Scott Walker
k. vicious: haha - kinda like tilt
Way to Blue / Nick Drake
[In my times of isolation, more often than not, I turn to Nick Drake. I used to associate his fading away with an almost romantic sense of heroism.]
Riders on the Storm / The Doors
Avalanche / Leonard Cohen
On the Beach / Neil Young
Your Song / Elton John
Diamonds and Rust / Joan Baez
Idiot Wind / Bob Dylan
I’m a Dreamer / Sandy Denny
River / Joni Mitchell
1980-89
Where is my Mind / Pixies
Candle / Sonic Youth
Everybody Knows / Leonard Cohen
Amelia / Joni Mitchell
[I listen to “Amelia” fairly frequently on long-distance train trips and bus rides across Southeast Asia. The images in Mitchell’s lyrics provide a fitting contrast against the fleeting and impermanent landscape beyond the window. I imagine, with the next fall round the corner, I will be able to survive it better with this simple fact in mind.]
Walking on a Wire / Linda Thompson
[Fresh out of school, made the Dean’s list and totally jobless in 2003. For some time, I worked as a freelance invigilator for a private exam bureau. I remember meeting a few interesting characters at “work” and wondered then whether it could get any worse. My teacher’s wife, a respected Chinese author in Singapore, put it in a very nice way: “You are now standing at the end of your ‘education’ and asking yourself, ‘Is this it?’”]
k. vicious: the important question is - still hiring freelance invigilators or not?!?
The Boy with the Thorn in his Side / The Smiths
k. vicious: i'll pick "I Won't Share You", totally sick song
Here comes a Regular / The Replacements
It’s the End of the World as We Know it (And I Feel Fine) / REM
Last Harbor / American Music Club
[This is where I stole the name of my website. To reflect my English education in Singapore, I adopted the British spelling. Nevertheless, the song title is such an apt conclusion to a wandering life.]
Everyday is like Sunday / Morrissey
k. vicious: two morrissey eh??
Most of the Time / Bob Dylan
Chinese Envoy / John Cale
[The out-of-place-ness marked that period of my life. The watershed was between 2001 and 2002.]
Solitude Standing / Suzanne Vega
k. vicious: love homer simpson's version of "luka", can die..
The Eternal / Joy Division
1990-99
Into your Arms / The Lemonheads
Natural One / The Folk Implosion
[Whenever I needed to be brave, I would turn to Lou Barlow’s voice, which is really kind of odd on hindsight. Pardon my folly during college.]
k. vicious: lou barlow = total masturbation music (in a good way)
Time Enough for Rocking When We’re Old / The Magnetic Fields
k. vicious: love this one too, in a deeply personal, heartbroken sort of way.. but segue to pavement?
Range Life / Pavement
[There are times when I hope to be as messy as Pavement’s songs.]
Missile ++ / Blondie Redhead
[During college, this song gave me a false sense of superiority against those whom I despised.]
k. vicious:!!!
Round Here / Counting Crows
Teardrop / Massive Attack
Heart Cooks Brain / Modest Mouse
Between the Bars / Elliott Smith
Happy Cycling / Boards of Canada
k. vicious: whoa
Have you Forgotten / Red House Painters
[Put on your raincoat and listen in.]
k. vicious: whoa again
Goddess on a Hiway / Mercury Rev
k. vicious: all-time fave on my ipod
Generation Sex / The Divine Comedy
I Still Have that other Girl / Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach
Driving Sideways / Aimee Mann
Not Dark Yet / Bob Dylan
Last Goodbye / Jeff Buckley
[Jeff Buckley sounded as though he was ready to thrash everything out the window. Sometimes, I pray for that kind of courage.]
Find the River / REM
[Almost every song on this album can make my play-list. This is perhaps an underwhelming choice. But the gist of the entire album is summed up in four minutes. Not bad for a band that was supposedly at the end of its prowess.]
k. vicious: very good choice.. i would pick the same
King of Carrot Flowers Part 1 / Neutral Milk Hotel
Demons / Yo La Tengo
Wrecking Ball / Emmylou Harris
[By now, it must be fairly clear that the metaphor of leaving recurs fairly frequently in my play-list. And yet, we know, deep down inside, it is temporary respite.]
Listen, The Snow is Falling / Galaxie 500
[Come the day when someone would take a chalk and draw a line in front of my feet, proclaiming that this is the end of the world, I hope this song will be playing somewhere out there.]
No Easy Way Down / Mark Eitzel
I am a Scientist / Guided by Voices
I’m the Ocean / Neil Young
Skip Tracer / Sonic Youth
Waiting for the Miracle / Leonard Cohen
[I remember watching “Natural Born Killers” during my GP class at age 18. We had one of the most cynical teachers in school. She probably kick-started something in my mind, but I cannot be sure now. The film left no impression. Neither did Leonard Cohen’s music, until years later.]
Utilitarian / Spoon
Closed Captioned / Fugazi
Atlantic City (Gonna Make a Million Tonight) / East River Pipe
[My dead-end dream of failure is completely articulated in this song.]
Another Night In / Tindersticks
Sunny Sunday / Joni Mitchell
[When I was 18, before I had the means or courage to fly away, I would use the excuse of studying at the airport to take the one-hour bus trip that would tire me out completely before arriving at the terminal. Mitchell would be singing to me about the madness of Van Gogh on those trips. That ritual of going to my mythical Mount Olympus – the viewing gallery of the departure hall – would be repeated by my roommate in college before the arrival of the new millennium. I also remember laying down on the floor of the WTC Hall during the rehearsal of the junior college play while the rest of my peers were having a ball elsewhere. Bad habits generally develop early.]
Too Pure / Sebadoh
Guitar and Video Games / Sunny Day Real Estate
Here’s to the Rest of the World / Whiskeytown
2000-09
Hope There’s Someone / Antony and the Johnsons
[My apologies to Sublime 4199 for letting me indulge in some whining. On another day, I would have picked “Fistful of Love” from Antony’s haunting work.]
k. vicious: i'll take Fistfuls..
Leaf House / Animal Collective
Electronic Performers / Air
[This electric orgasm predates the widespread proliferation of self-made sex scandals on the web. Hello, this is my horniness speaking.]
Sad, Sad Song / M Ward
I Love the Valley / Xiu Xiu
To be Alone with You / Sufjan Stevens
Moorestown / Sun Kil Moon
New Hampshire / Sonic Youth
k. vicious: ha, i thought i'm the only idiot who notice this great song!!
Dear Chicago / Ryan Adams
[In the last few years, Ryan Adams has single-handedly kept me afloat with his songs. Whenever he puts his mind to it, he can give you gems like “Dear Chicago” in an album that was supposedly made up of odds-and-ends. Will I die alone and sad? Not with music.]
NYC / Interpol
[The Interpol EP remained on my CD player for weeks. Frankly, I have no connection with NYC. Bruce Gilden’s photographic work has taught me everything to know about the city. When the planes crashed into the towers, I saw it as the natural result of a Middle East policy that cultivated hatred. Perhaps the song gave Interpol and myself a sense of self-importance for vastly different reasons.]
New World / Bjork
We’ve Been Had / The Walkmen
k. vicious: love this one
Hours / TV on the Radio
Forever Close my Eyes / Dalek
Strange Form of Life / Bonnie Prince Billy
[Will Oldham has never sounded so angelic. This is another travel song that I put on fairly frequently. It has a certain, whispering quality that seems to justify the futility of the world.]
Wayside / Back in Time / Gillian Welch
Solitary Man / Johnny Cash
Superpowers / The Dismemberment Plan
[Whenever I needed a song to block out the collapsing world, I would turn to The Dismemberment Plan. But “Superpowers” is more than that. Is there anything wrong to feel good on the spite of others?]
k. vicious: gives me idea for my next mixtape - sentimental man
Hallelujah / Nick Cave and the Seeds
Our Live is Not a Movie or Maybe / Okkervil River
The Facts of Life / Black Box Recorder
Blueberry Boat / The Fiery Furnaces
Everyone Chooses Sides / The Wrens
Lover I Don’t Have to Love / Bright Eyes
k. vicious: "classic" one night stand song
Hotel / Broken Social Scene
Birds in your Garden / Pulp
[Produced by Scott Walker, this album signalled the emergence of Jarvis as a credible songwriter. Jarvis’ sarcastic humour gets me over for another day.]
Pretty Girls / Neko Case
Some Summers They Drop Like Flys / Dirty Three
Trembling Peacock / Destroyer
Up on Your Leopard, Upon the End of Your Feral Days / Sunset Rubdown
Lazy Butterfly / Devendra Banhart
Internal Wrangler / Clinic
Shine a Light / Wolf Parade
The Long Sea / Arab Strap
[Twenty-eight years of foreplay led up to this song. Where will nearly 20 years of wanking lead me?]
Pyramid Song / Radiohead
[The tide of the post-rock movement and the callous invasion of Iraq / Afghanistan fuelled Radiohead’s decision to move away from the emo-core of “The Bends”. The muffled strings behind Thom Yorke’s voice sounded as though the end of morality was near.]
Humpty Dumpty / Aimee Mann
[If I would ever take up my mother’s offer to pay for my driving lessons, this would be my driving song.]
The End of Medicine / The New Pornographers
I am Trying to Break Your Heart / Wilco
Rehearsals for Retirement / Mark Eitzel
[First of all, I know Mark Eitzel writes killer songs. But his smoky delivery has seldom received acclaim. This cover of a Phil Ochs’ song should cast aside any doubts. Look, I am not trying to claim that he has a voice that is similar to Rufus Wainwright. Likewise for Wainwright, Eitzel makes it work. I also associate this song with a quote from the eclectic Robyn Hitchcock, who once said at the peak of his prowess, Why not retire? Why do anything? Now, that’s a call.]
k. vicious, eitzel nerd: you know this man write great songs, right?
One Man Guy / Rufus Wainwright
Bad Dreams / Joni Mitchell
k. vicious: What would the community think?
Major Project (a.k.a. Before the Fall)
Music has been an integral part of my life since 1995, my first year in junior college, when I got hold of REM’s “Automatic for the People”, Joni Mitchell’s “Turbulent Indigo” and Red House Painters’ “Ocean Beach”. I also received an early and admittedly embarrassing introduction to emo-core via Radiohead’s “The Bends”. Since then, certain songs have served as landmarks and signposts of my life. I sometimes wonder: if I am a music anthropologist, mining through the songs that have marked my existence in the last 15 years, will I have anything meaningful to say about myself? Can I come to you with a song list and hope wishfully that you will know me better? k. vicious: my favorite emo album: heartbreaker by mr adams
I decided to give it a go – to compile a list of songs that scarred and thrilled my private life. At the start of this “major project”, I wanted to categorize the songs into the decades, based primarily on their date of issue. There was no specific reason for doing so, except an archaeological interest in such matters. However, midway through this experiment, I realized I was merely creating a buying list of songs. I was veering towards listing down songs that are critically acclaimed but have little to do with me. This is not a Mojo year-end project, I told myself. I have to be honest. As such, I have left out bands like Television, Mouse on Mars, Slint and Uncle Tupelo – bands that I respect but have not marked my heart.
There are of course certain rules that I adopted during the process of selecting the music. Each musician is only entitled one entry per decade. As such, I have to throw out four or five songs of Joni Mitchell from 1970 to 1979 and settle for “River”. However, I do consider a band member’s side/solo project as a separate entry, which is why Dan Bejar has two bites of the cherry with Destroyer and The New Pornographers in my selection for the last decade. As far as possible, I try to make this an in-and-out list and left out the more “experimental” songs. Furthermore, I must own an original copy of the selected songs, a sign that I have listened to these songs for uncountable times. The “ice-cube” sound of MP3s arrived fairly late in my musical education. I left out jazz altogether, although Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Mingus certainly deserved to make this list. Perhaps that will be another major project for another gap week. k. vicious: okay, got the neil jung reference
Naturally, at the end of such a project, it is also possible to make comments about the music in general through the decades. Without descending into a Pitchfork editorial, I would say that the last decade from 2000 to 2009 is the most diverse in terms of music production. Look away now, if you haven’t, dear MTV fans. k. vicious: “descending”?!?!
Popular perception also tells us that the 1980s was a bad decade. When I examine my list, it isn’t all that bad. The decade gave us Pixies’ first album. Sonic Youth took their no-wave aesthetics and clothed it in bubblegum. I even managed to slip in a 70s Joni Mitchell song “Amelia” via the live album she released in 1980, “Shadows and Light”. But the 1970s is unsurpassed. The end of the western dream is forever enshrined in songs like John Cale’s “Paris 1919” and Neil Young’s “On the Beach”. Set against that, the 1980s will always be the unfulfilled second son.
I hereby present you the play-list of my life. I have listed the songs in a particular sequence, not to rank them, but to create mini narratives within each decade. I do come from an era before the iPod Shuffle. You are more than welcomed to get a copy of the songs in MP3 format.
So what does my play-list say? A close friend Mr. K suggested that I should write a few lines for each selected song. That would take too much time and I am not sure if I want to revisit the self-pity that plagued certain junctures of my life. However, I have decided to add commentaries to certain songs as a way of providing context. k. vicious: Mr. K is so full of shit, but why "self-pity"? more like therapy..
Overall, the process of selecting the music has certainly given me an excuse away from work. The weather has been fairly erratic in Singapore the last few days – just the perfect way to think of friends and lovers who have left and those who have yet to arrive. What else can I say? I guess I’m un-cool, to steal a line from Lester Bang, via Cameron Crowe’s movie “Almost Famous”. While you are out partying, I am at home, picking songs for a road trip that never materialized. What more can my play-list justify?
Wubin
14 October 2009
Singapore, in horrific sunshine after a downpour
1960-69
California Dreamin’ / The Mamas and the Papas
[This is an instance where a song has become etched in my memory due to its inclusion in a film – in this case, Wong Kar-wai’s “Chungking Express”. The movie justified the decision of unsophisticated young filmmakers in East Asia for turning on the slow-mo mode on their video camera.]
The Red Telephone / Love
See Emily Play / Pink Floyd
k. vicious: awesome choices, these last two - see emily play breaks my psychedelic heart
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) / The Beatles
[Nowadays, I associate this song more with the “Norwegian Wood” that Haruki Murakami wrote when he turned 40. He vowed to make all the women cry with that book. Will I bald when I hit 40?]
k. vicious: oh man - my beatles pick (if just one) I am the walrus
Hung Up on a Dream / The Zombies
The Amorous Humphrey Plugg / Scott Walker
I Ain’t Marching Anymore / Phil Ochs
[As a reluctant journalist, this song is a virtual guarantee in my play-list.]
Je t’aime… moi non plus / Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot
Venus in Furs / The Velvet Underground and Nico
[The Velvet Underground connected all the dots from Joy Division to Dalek.]
k. vicious: insanely good segue from gainsbourg to velvets - this should be a mixtape
Suzanne / Leonard Cohen
Dolphins / Tim Buckley
Rhymes and Reasons / John Denver
Ballad in Plain D / Bob Dylan
Who Knows Where the Time Goes / Fairport Convention
[I often wonder why am I such a self-proclaimed British folk fan. There isn’t anything topical that connects my life with what Sandy Denny or Nick Drake was singing then. The sarcasm of Dylan was absent in those songs. But the sense of truncation drew me. That was the end of idealism under the western sky.]
1970-79
Goodbye to Love / Carpenters
So Far Away / Carole King
[Why am I such a sucker for love songs? If you listen carefully, the essence of that decade is captured in the audio quality of this very song.]
What’s Going On / Marvin Gaye
Paris 1919 / John Cale
Starman / David Bowie
Perfect Day / Lou Reed
[The second year of my college life (2000 to 2001) was by far the most difficult phase of my life. I had crashed the cliffs with an imaginary lover. This is the song I was singing to her.]
k. vicious: oh man, like that image - write a short story based on this, except the song is, erm, like you mention, too obvious; for lou (old friend), i'll pick the eternally fucked-up "Coney Island Baby" (I'm not going to play quarterback)
Casey’s Last Ride / Kris Kristofferson
k. vicious: never heard this (gasp!)
Darkness on the Edge of Town / Bruce Springsteen
New Dawn Fades / Joy Division
The Old Man’s Back Again (Dedicated to the Neo-Stalinist Regime) / Scott Walker
k. vicious: haha - kinda like tilt
Way to Blue / Nick Drake
[In my times of isolation, more often than not, I turn to Nick Drake. I used to associate his fading away with an almost romantic sense of heroism.]
Riders on the Storm / The Doors
Avalanche / Leonard Cohen
On the Beach / Neil Young
Your Song / Elton John
Diamonds and Rust / Joan Baez
Idiot Wind / Bob Dylan
I’m a Dreamer / Sandy Denny
River / Joni Mitchell
1980-89
Where is my Mind / Pixies
Candle / Sonic Youth
Everybody Knows / Leonard Cohen
Amelia / Joni Mitchell
[I listen to “Amelia” fairly frequently on long-distance train trips and bus rides across Southeast Asia. The images in Mitchell’s lyrics provide a fitting contrast against the fleeting and impermanent landscape beyond the window. I imagine, with the next fall round the corner, I will be able to survive it better with this simple fact in mind.]
Walking on a Wire / Linda Thompson
[Fresh out of school, made the Dean’s list and totally jobless in 2003. For some time, I worked as a freelance invigilator for a private exam bureau. I remember meeting a few interesting characters at “work” and wondered then whether it could get any worse. My teacher’s wife, a respected Chinese author in Singapore, put it in a very nice way: “You are now standing at the end of your ‘education’ and asking yourself, ‘Is this it?’”]
k. vicious: the important question is - still hiring freelance invigilators or not?!?
The Boy with the Thorn in his Side / The Smiths
k. vicious: i'll pick "I Won't Share You", totally sick song
Here comes a Regular / The Replacements
It’s the End of the World as We Know it (And I Feel Fine) / REM
Last Harbor / American Music Club
[This is where I stole the name of my website. To reflect my English education in Singapore, I adopted the British spelling. Nevertheless, the song title is such an apt conclusion to a wandering life.]
Everyday is like Sunday / Morrissey
k. vicious: two morrissey eh??
Most of the Time / Bob Dylan
Chinese Envoy / John Cale
[The out-of-place-ness marked that period of my life. The watershed was between 2001 and 2002.]
Solitude Standing / Suzanne Vega
k. vicious: love homer simpson's version of "luka", can die..
The Eternal / Joy Division
1990-99
Into your Arms / The Lemonheads
Natural One / The Folk Implosion
[Whenever I needed to be brave, I would turn to Lou Barlow’s voice, which is really kind of odd on hindsight. Pardon my folly during college.]
k. vicious: lou barlow = total masturbation music (in a good way)
Time Enough for Rocking When We’re Old / The Magnetic Fields
k. vicious: love this one too, in a deeply personal, heartbroken sort of way.. but segue to pavement?
Range Life / Pavement
[There are times when I hope to be as messy as Pavement’s songs.]
Missile ++ / Blondie Redhead
[During college, this song gave me a false sense of superiority against those whom I despised.]
k. vicious:!!!
Round Here / Counting Crows
Teardrop / Massive Attack
Heart Cooks Brain / Modest Mouse
Between the Bars / Elliott Smith
Happy Cycling / Boards of Canada
k. vicious: whoa
Have you Forgotten / Red House Painters
[Put on your raincoat and listen in.]
k. vicious: whoa again
Goddess on a Hiway / Mercury Rev
k. vicious: all-time fave on my ipod
Generation Sex / The Divine Comedy
I Still Have that other Girl / Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach
Driving Sideways / Aimee Mann
Not Dark Yet / Bob Dylan
Last Goodbye / Jeff Buckley
[Jeff Buckley sounded as though he was ready to thrash everything out the window. Sometimes, I pray for that kind of courage.]
Find the River / REM
[Almost every song on this album can make my play-list. This is perhaps an underwhelming choice. But the gist of the entire album is summed up in four minutes. Not bad for a band that was supposedly at the end of its prowess.]
k. vicious: very good choice.. i would pick the same
King of Carrot Flowers Part 1 / Neutral Milk Hotel
Demons / Yo La Tengo
Wrecking Ball / Emmylou Harris
[By now, it must be fairly clear that the metaphor of leaving recurs fairly frequently in my play-list. And yet, we know, deep down inside, it is temporary respite.]
Listen, The Snow is Falling / Galaxie 500
[Come the day when someone would take a chalk and draw a line in front of my feet, proclaiming that this is the end of the world, I hope this song will be playing somewhere out there.]
No Easy Way Down / Mark Eitzel
I am a Scientist / Guided by Voices
I’m the Ocean / Neil Young
Skip Tracer / Sonic Youth
Waiting for the Miracle / Leonard Cohen
[I remember watching “Natural Born Killers” during my GP class at age 18. We had one of the most cynical teachers in school. She probably kick-started something in my mind, but I cannot be sure now. The film left no impression. Neither did Leonard Cohen’s music, until years later.]
Utilitarian / Spoon
Closed Captioned / Fugazi
Atlantic City (Gonna Make a Million Tonight) / East River Pipe
[My dead-end dream of failure is completely articulated in this song.]
Another Night In / Tindersticks
Sunny Sunday / Joni Mitchell
[When I was 18, before I had the means or courage to fly away, I would use the excuse of studying at the airport to take the one-hour bus trip that would tire me out completely before arriving at the terminal. Mitchell would be singing to me about the madness of Van Gogh on those trips. That ritual of going to my mythical Mount Olympus – the viewing gallery of the departure hall – would be repeated by my roommate in college before the arrival of the new millennium. I also remember laying down on the floor of the WTC Hall during the rehearsal of the junior college play while the rest of my peers were having a ball elsewhere. Bad habits generally develop early.]
Too Pure / Sebadoh
Guitar and Video Games / Sunny Day Real Estate
Here’s to the Rest of the World / Whiskeytown
2000-09
Hope There’s Someone / Antony and the Johnsons
[My apologies to Sublime 4199 for letting me indulge in some whining. On another day, I would have picked “Fistful of Love” from Antony’s haunting work.]
k. vicious: i'll take Fistfuls..
Leaf House / Animal Collective
Electronic Performers / Air
[This electric orgasm predates the widespread proliferation of self-made sex scandals on the web. Hello, this is my horniness speaking.]
Sad, Sad Song / M Ward
I Love the Valley / Xiu Xiu
To be Alone with You / Sufjan Stevens
Moorestown / Sun Kil Moon
New Hampshire / Sonic Youth
k. vicious: ha, i thought i'm the only idiot who notice this great song!!
Dear Chicago / Ryan Adams
[In the last few years, Ryan Adams has single-handedly kept me afloat with his songs. Whenever he puts his mind to it, he can give you gems like “Dear Chicago” in an album that was supposedly made up of odds-and-ends. Will I die alone and sad? Not with music.]
NYC / Interpol
[The Interpol EP remained on my CD player for weeks. Frankly, I have no connection with NYC. Bruce Gilden’s photographic work has taught me everything to know about the city. When the planes crashed into the towers, I saw it as the natural result of a Middle East policy that cultivated hatred. Perhaps the song gave Interpol and myself a sense of self-importance for vastly different reasons.]
New World / Bjork
We’ve Been Had / The Walkmen
k. vicious: love this one
Hours / TV on the Radio
Forever Close my Eyes / Dalek
Strange Form of Life / Bonnie Prince Billy
[Will Oldham has never sounded so angelic. This is another travel song that I put on fairly frequently. It has a certain, whispering quality that seems to justify the futility of the world.]
Wayside / Back in Time / Gillian Welch
Solitary Man / Johnny Cash
Superpowers / The Dismemberment Plan
[Whenever I needed a song to block out the collapsing world, I would turn to The Dismemberment Plan. But “Superpowers” is more than that. Is there anything wrong to feel good on the spite of others?]
k. vicious: gives me idea for my next mixtape - sentimental man
Hallelujah / Nick Cave and the Seeds
Our Live is Not a Movie or Maybe / Okkervil River
The Facts of Life / Black Box Recorder
Blueberry Boat / The Fiery Furnaces
Everyone Chooses Sides / The Wrens
Lover I Don’t Have to Love / Bright Eyes
k. vicious: "classic" one night stand song
Hotel / Broken Social Scene
Birds in your Garden / Pulp
[Produced by Scott Walker, this album signalled the emergence of Jarvis as a credible songwriter. Jarvis’ sarcastic humour gets me over for another day.]
Pretty Girls / Neko Case
Some Summers They Drop Like Flys / Dirty Three
Trembling Peacock / Destroyer
Up on Your Leopard, Upon the End of Your Feral Days / Sunset Rubdown
Lazy Butterfly / Devendra Banhart
Internal Wrangler / Clinic
Shine a Light / Wolf Parade
The Long Sea / Arab Strap
[Twenty-eight years of foreplay led up to this song. Where will nearly 20 years of wanking lead me?]
Pyramid Song / Radiohead
[The tide of the post-rock movement and the callous invasion of Iraq / Afghanistan fuelled Radiohead’s decision to move away from the emo-core of “The Bends”. The muffled strings behind Thom Yorke’s voice sounded as though the end of morality was near.]
Humpty Dumpty / Aimee Mann
[If I would ever take up my mother’s offer to pay for my driving lessons, this would be my driving song.]
The End of Medicine / The New Pornographers
I am Trying to Break Your Heart / Wilco
Rehearsals for Retirement / Mark Eitzel
[First of all, I know Mark Eitzel writes killer songs. But his smoky delivery has seldom received acclaim. This cover of a Phil Ochs’ song should cast aside any doubts. Look, I am not trying to claim that he has a voice that is similar to Rufus Wainwright. Likewise for Wainwright, Eitzel makes it work. I also associate this song with a quote from the eclectic Robyn Hitchcock, who once said at the peak of his prowess, Why not retire? Why do anything? Now, that’s a call.]
k. vicious, eitzel nerd: you know this man write great songs, right?
One Man Guy / Rufus Wainwright
Bad Dreams / Joni Mitchell
k. vicious: What would the community think?
Sunday, October 4, 2009
mixtape (oct 2009)
Storm tastes, savagery of microphone memories
White Hinterland “My Love”
Junior Boys “First Time”
A Sunny Day In Glasgow “Passionate Introverts (Dinosaurs)”
Phoenix “Rome (Neighbors remix)”
Mary Timony “Aging Astronauts II”
Au Revoir Simone “Shadows”
Kings Of Convenience “Mrs. Cold”
Fireflies “Cherry Blossom Girl”
Clothilde “Fallait Pas Ecraser La Queue Du Chat”
Scott Walker “30 Century Man”
The Clientele “Joseph Cornell”
The Clean “Linger Longer”
Atlas Sound “So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)”
Le Loup “Forgive Me”
Calamities noun: I pay attention to natural disasters on a fairly regular basis for my work and I can say I’ve just about had it, especially last week when these distressing incidents were unfolding across the region in such quick succession that it felt like infinities. So here’s a quick mixtape to take some of the edge off the sinister gloaming perhaps. The White Hinterlands’ cover of Justin Timberlake is phenomenal, so is Bradford Cox (Atlas Sound) trying his hand with a tune made famous by the Everly Brothers.
White Hinterland “My Love”
Junior Boys “First Time”
A Sunny Day In Glasgow “Passionate Introverts (Dinosaurs)”
Phoenix “Rome (Neighbors remix)”
Mary Timony “Aging Astronauts II”
Au Revoir Simone “Shadows”
Kings Of Convenience “Mrs. Cold”
Fireflies “Cherry Blossom Girl”
Clothilde “Fallait Pas Ecraser La Queue Du Chat”
Scott Walker “30 Century Man”
The Clientele “Joseph Cornell”
The Clean “Linger Longer”
Atlas Sound “So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)”
Le Loup “Forgive Me”
Calamities noun: I pay attention to natural disasters on a fairly regular basis for my work and I can say I’ve just about had it, especially last week when these distressing incidents were unfolding across the region in such quick succession that it felt like infinities. So here’s a quick mixtape to take some of the edge off the sinister gloaming perhaps. The White Hinterlands’ cover of Justin Timberlake is phenomenal, so is Bradford Cox (Atlas Sound) trying his hand with a tune made famous by the Everly Brothers.
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