Nam Ky Khoi Nghia - Asialife HCMC

soundfix
album review
FabricLive 50
DBridge & Instra:
Mental Present
Autonomic
Inspired by their series of
celebrated Autonomic podcasts
in 2009, DBridge &
Instra:Mental continue the fine
lineage of FabricLive mixes with
their experimental and minimal
brand of down-tempo electronic
dance music. Encompassing a
multitude of subgenres (drum n’
bass, electro, dubstep, techno
& ambient) and styles from
the 1980s through to present
day, the deftest of mixing skills
and cutting edge production
techniques take the listener to
mysterious and dark realms
where a panorama of broken
synths and brooding bass-driven
collages reveal themselves over
31 tracks. This is a post-club
chill-out album to come down
to at home in the heady twilight
between fleeting dusk and the
emerging dawn. Memorable
moments include Riya’s “Seems
Like,” a robotic yet soulful glide
with post-garage urban vocals;
the lulling ambience and jazzy
inflections of Stray’s “Pushed”;
and one of the standout tunes of
2009 in Instra:Mental’s “Watching
You.” The only thing missing
is DBridge’s superb “Wonder
Where.”
Pavement
Quarantine The
Past
This career-spanning retrospective
compilation of concert
staples, fan favourites and oddballs
is the perfect introduction
to anyone looking to belatedly
discover the lo-fi indie-rock of
early 90s underground band
Pavement. With their fractured
narratives, occasional blasts of
feedback and off-kilter melodies,
Pavement was highly influential
to numerous American and
British underground bands yet
too strange for the mainstream.
Their loud-quiet-loud-quiet
dynamic is reminiscent of the
Pixies and Sonic Youth, and
tracks such as “Gold Soundz,”
“Stereo,” “Here” and “The Mouth
In The Desert” provided the
sonic blueprint for revered mid-
90s bands such as Weezer and
Modest Mouse. Like all compilations,
Quarantine The Past is
sure to evoke many arguments
regarding track selection among
fans, but pretty much everything
on here is excellent and serves
as a decent primer for their
upcoming world tour.
Gorillaz
Plastic Beach
The world’s biggest cartoon
band (in reality headed up by
Blur’s Damon Albarn and illustrator
Jamie Hewlett) is back with
an important message. Along
with a roster of collaborators
that reads like the guest list to
the weirdest after-party ever
(Lou Reed, Snoop Dog, Bobby
Womack and Mark E. Smith
to name but a few), Gorillaz
provide a dejected social commentary
on the current state
of the world’s environment.
Others along for the ride include
Sinfonia ViVA, The Lebanese
National Orchestra for Oriental
and Arabic Music and Hypnotic
Brass Ensemble. The end result
is one of the smartest, most
intriguing and forward-thinking
pop records recorded. Funk,
hip-hop, alt. rock, electro-pop
and world music are successfully
melded together as each
vocalist stamps their own idiosyncratic
style on this progressive
concept album. There’s no
big single, no “Clint Eastwood”
or “Feel Good Inc.”, but that’s
exactly the point. Plastic Beach
is a body of work designed to be
digested as a whole.
by John Thornton
Goldfrapp
Head First
This fifth LP sees Goldfrapp
departing from the folk-inspired
sound of 2008’s Seventh Tree
and diving head first into pure,
unadulterated 1980s Italodisco.
Stomping glitter beats;
fizzing synths and glossy pop
that shines brighter than Marty
McFly’s DeLorean is the order
of the day. Initially, the radical
change of direction is quite hard
to take as it’s quickly established
that Head First is Goldfrapp’s
most overtly commercial album
to date. It’s so authentically
1980s-tastic it could be a Kylie
Minogue album—something
sure to polarize Goldfrapp fans
the world over. The opening
quartet of “Rocket,” “Believer,”
“Alive” and “Dreaming” will have
ELO, Abba and New Order fans
furiously searching for their old,
ripped Van Halen t-shirt, dusting
off that Jane Fonda aerobics
VHS and punching the sky in
sweaty abandon. Others may
see Head First as that secretive
guilty pleasure you know
you shouldn’t like but listen to
repeatedly on your headphones.
Either way, to paraphrase 1980s
pop bible Smash Hits: Goldfrapp
are BACK! BACK! BACK!
xoneFM
top ten
Official XONe fM Vietnam Top 10
this
week
title artist
102 asialife HCMC asialife HCMC 103
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Automatic
Telephone (feat.
Beyonce)
Sorry Sorry Answer
Lang Tham
Mua Roi Lang Tham
Let Me Hear Your
Voice
What Do You Want
From Me
Mau Xanh Tinh Yeu
Lot Xac
Ring Ding Dong
Tokio Hotel
Lady GaGa
Super Junior
Noo Phuoc Thinh
M4U
Big Bang
Adam Lambert
australia Top 10
this
week
title artist
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Angus & Julia
The Fame Monster
Plastic Beach
Sigh No More
Jason Derulo
Recollection
I Dreamed A Dream
Valleys Of Neptune
One Love
Crazy Love
US Top 10
this
week
title artist
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Rude Boy
Nothin' On You (feat.
Bruno Mars)
Telephone (feat.
Beyonce)
Need You Now
Break Your Heart (feat.
Ludacris)
Imma Be
Hey, Soul Sister
BedRock (feat.Lloyd)
TiK ToK
Baby (feat. Ludacris)
US top 10 courtesy of www.billboard.com
Mai Khoi
Nguyen Hai Phong
Shinee
Angus & Julia Stone
Lady Gaga
Gorillaz
Mumford & Sons
Jason Derulo
k.d. lang
Susan Boyle
Jemi Hendrix
David Guetta
Micheal Bolton
Rihanna
B.o.B
Lady Gaga
Lady Antebellum
Taio Cruz
The Black Eyed Peas
Train
Young Money
Ke$ha
Jusin Bieber
endorsed
iTunes LPs
By John Thornton
Since the advent of the mp3,
music purists have complained
that the digital music
format is inferior to its physical
counterpart. In many respects,
this claim is not unfounded.
Compressed sound quality,
lack of artwork and sleeve
innards and the inability to
physically touch the product
are major disadvantages.
The feeling that comes with
purchasing, holding, opening
and playing a brand new
record, be it on vinyl or CD,
is one that totally outweighs
the numbness that associated
with pressing “Buy” in the
iTunes online store.
Take Be Here Now by
Oasis, released in 1997 to
such colossal anticipation
that thousands of fans literally
queued outside HMVs
across the UK for hours just to
purchase a copy. At that time
Be Here Now became the
fastest-selling album in British
history. We’ve yet to witness
a similar level of dedication
or hysteria with a digital-only
release.
Remember how it felt
to admire and analyze the
artwork and sleeve notes,
discovering little facts, insights
and designs that completely
enhanced your overall experience?
Remember the warm
crackle of freshly played vinyl
or the clinical, crystal clear
dynamics of a CD?
Radiohead’s Special Collectors
Edition release of
2001’s Amnesiac is regularly
touted as the perfect example
of the advantages of buying
into the physical format. The
beautifully hand-crafted red
hardback library book not only
contained the CD inside the
book cover but also authenticlooking
library slips and date
stamps. This wonderfully
creative spin on the physical
album format won Thom
Yorke and his collaborator a
Grammy award for Best Recording
Package in 2002.
Realizing that such fundamental
disadvantages needed
to be rectified in order to
recapture a critical market,
Apple struck back with their
own highly creative and
impressive spin on the digital
music format: the iTunes LP.
This particular format has
been designed to reincorporate
the visual aspect of the
record album, with a host of
special features, including
expanded cover art, lyrics,
videos, animation and even
interactive games.
The iTunes LP versions
of albums by Muse, Massive
Attack and Gorillaz have
reenergized the previously dull
format by giving fans more
bang for their buck. Instead of
purchasing several individual
tracks from an album, now
you’ll want to buy the whole
package and experience all
those features you’ve been
missing since swapping your
CD player for an iPod.
You still might not be able
to touch an iTunes LP but it’s
as close as we’re going to get
to the good old days.