Results tagged “music” from VANTAN.ORG

Before I switched to jazz piano, I was a classical pianist. My mother found me at the Yamaha organ, playing a song by ear. She said I was just 2 years old; I thought I was closer to 4 as I had to be big enough to climb up the seat. Whatever the case, my parents thought I was a genius, although at this point in time, a certain namesake of mine seems to be having more professional success with her violin ;-)

My namesake, whom the world knows (her initials being VM-N), was born a few months after me; her mother apparently visited my mother and me in the maternity ward shortly after I was born, and asked what my English and Chinese names were - and voila! We so happen to share the same names!

Anyway, I began my journey of classical music on a positive note. I had a very encouraging teacher in Grade 1, and obtained a distinction. However, she migrated and I was given a very fierce teacher from Grades 3-7. I’ve never liked practicing much in the first place and it seemed that more hours were needed with each increase in grade. Especially during the years I was selected to perform in school concerts.

This teacher didn’t just knock my knuckles when I forgot to ‘curve my fingers’ - she grabbed my hands until my knuckles cracked, and pulled my hair and hit my head whenever I made a mistake. I hung on, getting Merits and another Distinction. But by the time I reached Grade 7, the unmentionable happened - I scraped through my exam with a pass.

Up to that point, my requests to change teachers went unheeded by my parents (Aside: I doubt the new generation of parents would allow their kids to be punished in such a way). I left that music school, VDMS - the very thought of which still sends a slight shiver down my spine - and never looked back. After several years of being abused, I was almost amazed to be with a teacher who did not hit me but spoke to me like an adult.

By this time, I was in JC1 (I had skipped piano exams during my O Levels) so things were saner. I took the Grade 8 exam and passed well.

After my A Levels, I started work on my Diploma in music. While still in Singapore, I moved to a more advanced teacher and completed 1 and a half pieces. Then I moved to Bristol for my undergraduate degree. But studying law and music at the same time was quite a daunting task. Plus, finding a good piano teacher in the South West of England when you don’t have a car, proved to be quite difficult. So I decided to forget all about it instead. I had had enough with classical piano and all the high expectations that went with it.

Instead, I developed my taste for jazz, with the help of a few discerning friends, and never looked back. Back in Singapore, I was introduced to VP, my jazz piano teacher and mentor for a few years. And I’m still lovin’ it. Jazz didn’t judge or ostracise you; it was what you wanted it to be. And if you didn’t like the original tune, you could change it and not get your head smacked in.

So in my case, pain is associated with classical music, and musical emancipation with jazz (which is rather fitting, seeing how the blues/jazz evolved from slavery).

But it isn’t necessarily logical that I should view it that way, is it? The self-motivation books I’m reading now are asking me to challenge my perceptions and associations.

So I dug up my old piano exam pieces just now and played through them. Funny how easy they are, after not playing them for so many years.

Feeling braver, I played Schubert’s Moment Musical No. 2. I last performed this at the ballroom of the Swallow Royal Hotel in Bristol in 1997. It brought back good memories. While it was harder than my earlier pieces, I started to remember my fingering and the melody. It came back to life for me and now I want to get it up to performance standard again.

More challenging pieces I’ve played, are about Turkish rondos: For classical music, it’s Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca, for the speed and intensity - the feeling that all the fingers in my hands have to be banging on a different key at breakneck speed. That was one of my Diploma pieces. For jazz, it’s Dave Brubeck’s Blue Rondo a la Turc, which I performed in concert in 2005.

Eventually I’d like to relive the moments I played difficult pieces such as these and stretched myself.

At the very least, I’m starting to enjoy classical music again.

Throughout my life and work, I’ve found that ratings are subjective. You can use quantitative methods to make the methodology more objective, but often these are based on qualitative assessments as well. Of course, if you are looking at something very mechanical, like quality control for widget production, then there’s little to argue about. But for most other areas of life, where a human touch is involved, things are subjective.

Which brings us to a subject that’s one of my all-time favourites (and probably yours as well): Music.

Being a music lover, I listen to a lot of genres. As my collection has grown to over 8,000 tracks, I keep it organised by rating and sorting songs into manual playlists. I also have Smart Playlists which automatically add, remove or re-order songs based on certain criteria. So accurate ratings are needed to keep everything in check.

Using iTunes, songs can be rated from 1 to 5 stars (or unrated, which is 0 stars). Initially, we may rate things quite subjectively. On a day that we’re tired of hearing songs by a certain artist or genre, we may rate those songs more poorly. We may also feel obliged to rate certain songs more highly simply because they’re at the top of the charts - even if we don’t like the music as much, ourselves. But after a while, we start to figure out what we really want out of this.

Occasionally, I even find myself ‘moderating’ my own ratings - just like how some wine aficionados re-rate a certain vintage as time goes by and tastes have matured. From what I’ve gathered of my own practices, this is how I rate music:

0 stars (35% of my collection) - Neutral or Not Rated for some reason or other. These could be audio recordings I’ve made, podcast files, sermons, speeches, lectures, audiobooks, computer game music - all of which are not inherently ‘bad’ - I simply don’t have an opinion of them, nor do I want them added to any Smart playlist. I also generally avoid rating Gospel & Religious music because I have a different reason for listening to it. If songs were people: This would be the majority of people I may have met but have not really formed a strong impression of, positive or otherwise

1 stars (<0.1%) - Yuck! Why did I buy this in the first place? Probably because it was part of an album. A 1-star song might be deleted from my hard drive because I’d never want to listen to it again. For this reason I don’t have many 1 star songs. People I wouldn’t want to see again

2 stars (about 5%) - Below average songwriting and/or performance. Most likely will be unchecked in iTunes so it won’t go into my iPod/iPhone. This includes a few bad apples by some of my favourite artistes. So, no holds are barred. People on the periphery of my radar - may interact occasionally with them but may not really want to forge a stronger relationship with them

3 stars (about 30%) - Not bad. May include some smash hits that other people may have loved but which I find just OK. Could be pleasant-sounding but boring. Periodically, some 3 star songs may be moved up to 4 stars if I was too hasty in my earlier judgment, if my tastes have matured, or if the song grew on me over time. Decent people whom I’d stay in touch with. As I get to know them better, I will learn more about them and revise my opinions about them.

4 stars (about 28%) - Stuff I like and would be proud to put on any playlist and play at a party. May or may not be a smash hit, but good in my books. The tunes must be fairly catchy, have a nice modulation or something else unusual to help them stand out. Again, some songs may be reviewed over time and bumped up or down a star. People I would call friends, not acquaintances. These include colleagues (current and past) who I get along well with

5 stars (<1.5%) - Music that gives me a high whenever I hear it. Songs I cannot do without, and can listen to anytime. Hard to get tired of. I probably know many of these song lyrics by heart - or almost. I can probably play them by ear, too. Many are old favourites while others are fairly new additions but are instantly likeable and endearing (as with friends and wine). Very occasionally, some 5 star songs will be taken down a notch if I’ve grown tired of them. My closest group of friends, from different walks of life. Mostly those I’ve met a while ago, but I’m open to adding new people.

In summary, when rating songs (or appraising anything else, for that matter), especially if you want a coherent system:

• Be true to yourself. This is especially if your tastes aren’t mainstream. Other people will have a different idea about things, but don’t get affected by this. It’s your stuff. You can always create a playlist that’s popular with mainstream folks, to please the crowds at parties.
• Be consistent. As human beings, we can never be 100% consistent at any point in time. But we can review and fine-tune what we’ve done before, so that a certain standard is established across the board.
• Allow some flexibility. Times change. Tastes change. After several years, you may find yourself relooking a certain artiste or genre. Do it some justice by reviewing the ratings. Again, apply 1) and 2): Make the system adapt to your new tastes, and keep reviewing what you’ve done before.

Note: Points 2) and 3) are not contradictory but complementary. Act consistently on a flexible framework.

Ultimately, as with many things in life, such as good friends and wine, the test of attrition - being exposed to the subject over a period of time - will help you decide if something is worth keeping or reviewing.

About 10 years ago, as a university student, I was influenced by the likes of nu soul artistes such as Maxwell and Erykah Badu. They have greatly influenced how I write and produce some of my own music. Now, Maxwell is about to launch his new album, BLACKsummer’snight on 7 July after an 8 year hiatus, and I’m looking forward to it.

You can listen to a new track each day and check out his official website. Of course, I’m already a Facebook fan and following him on Twitter, along with over 18,000 others.

What made Maxwell stand out, according to a review I read years ago, was that unlike many other black artistes of his time who sang about sleeping with many women, Maxwell’s songs were about faithfulness and monogamy. However, his sultry vocals and smooth vibes gave his albums a seductiveness good enough to make out with. He may not be as well-known as other artistes but he’s one of my favourites.

Looking out for a new Maxwell album feels like deja vu to me, especially since I’m a student once again. I just hope he doesn’t take as long to produce his next album.

One of my favourite acid jazz songs is ‘Everybody Loves The Sunshine’. As a beginner to acid jazz in my university days, I listened to compilation CDs and thought the song was written by The Quiet Boys, until I heard a new, jazzier rendition of it on our local radio station Lush 99.5.

I then checked iTunes and found umpteen different variations of the song - mostly attributed to Roy Ayers. Then I realised that the song was originally Ayers’. Later on I discovered that his other songs were sampled by Tupac, 50 Cent A Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy and Jill Scott, and covered by class acts like Incognito and even my favourite soulsta mamma Erykah Badu.

I am a great fan of black music, and many of these bands are easily in my shortlist as well. So I had to find out more about this man who inspired other great musicians to relive his music with today’s generation. However, Ayers’ albums are not easy to find in Singapore. There was one album selling at Borders at Import price. I eventually picked up a remastered collection at That CD Shop, and am seriously thinking of checking out his other albums proper… somehow.

You can listen to a remix of the song on his MySpace page. The song was also featured in Grand Theft Auto and has its own Wikipedia entry.

Everybody loves the sunshine; everybody loves Roy.

SXSW music panel. Katrina Carden McMullan, Bill Hochberg (moderator), Jessica Darraby.

Official description: This panel will explore legal and business issues arising from nontraditional uses of music-related intellectual property (music and graphic art copyrights, trademarks, band names and rights of publicity), such as for restaurants, advertising campaigns, gift book publishing, technology sub-branding, and licensing of music and music-related art for toys, games, sports products and even personal hygiene products like toothbrushes.

[Note: as this panel began at 3pm and my previous panel ended at 3.20pm, I missed the first part of this discussion.]

It’s kind of sweet, in a way, that the very last SXSW panel I’m attending (at least for 2008) is on an issue that’s always been close to my heart - intellectual property. I studied Law because I was interested in copyright, especially as I did creative writing and songwriting and experienced the pain of having my own work stolen before (by someone I once considered my best friend - but that’s another story).

Often, artistes don’t realise that a lot of their collaterals can breach intellectual property laws. Or they think their rights have been infringed, want to sue then realise they didn’t register their intellectual property, making it difficult to win. The lawyers’ advice: Ensure that all your trademarks are registered before you proceed with a lawsuit.

Hochberg notes that big artistes do recognise the issues better. He quotes Gene Simmons who said, “I’m not in a rock band. I’m in a rock brand.” Darraby notes that people don’t just buy with their ears - they also buy with their eyes.

Carden McMullan is from Mattel’s in-house legal department, and describes how her company has agreements with movie studios to produce toys. The lawyer’s approach is to limit exposure and therefore liability. Conversely, Darraby, who represents artistes, says talent managers are trying to help their clients get more exposure. They’d want to splinter the IP rights so that their clients own the rights for various mediums.

Darraby feels that lawyers need to listen more to what their clients need to do, instead of having a standard, ‘one size fits all’ approach. She’s seen lawyers not wanting to take on international distribution rights.

While this was a small panel, it was good to have panelists from both sides of the playing field offering opposing perspectives.

SXSW Music panel. Panelists: Justin Sinkovich, Richard Gottehrer, Chris Fagot, Ted Cohen

Official description: Digital retail is a growth market, and recent developments are encouraging for artists and labels alike. While rights management systems have not disappeared entirely, customers are embracing retailers’ DRM-free offerings. Distribution and aggregation are more streamlined. A base of paying customers is slowly building. How can digital retailers maintain this momentum?

The traditional view from the music industry is that music should not be downloaded for free. One panelist even brought up the possibility of having an ‘iPod tax’ for usage, which I thought was ludicrous.

The panelists discussed another business model whereby all new singles are released at a very low price. As more people download it, the price increases until it reaches a saturation point, which then determines the worth of that single. It is likened to a ‘stock market’ approach.

A survey’s conducted among us as to who paid for the Radiohead album that was released on a ‘pay as you wish’ model. As previously blogged, I was one of those people so I raised my hand. He asked how many more downloaded it without paying, and I saw only one or two hands raised. It was heartening to know - but perhaps as musicians ourselves, we empathise more with Radiohead’s situation.

Radiohead’s model has taken away three common excuses from music fans who refuse to pay:

1. “I want to sample the music first, but have to pay to download a track, so I might as well download it elsewhere for free.” or “I’d pay for it but I don’t like DRM’s limitations.”
2. “I’d pay $8.99 for it, but it costs $9.99 so I’m going elsewhere to download it for free.”
3. “The music companies are the ones making the money and not passing it on to the artistes, so why should I pay for it?” I never thought this argument worked because artistes do get a cut, even if it isn’t very much.

Gotthehrer feels artistes today are still bound by traditional rules in the midst of new developments. In the good ol’ days you’d just go to a record store and buy something. iTunes has changed it all. Artistes need to ‘go with the flow’. Don’t think of themselves as ‘indie’ just because they’re not with the big labels. “We’re all musicians.” ‘Digital’ makes it possible for everyone to get their music out there. Lastly, he feels musicians should be in it not just for the money but for the love of making music. This draws wide applause from the audience.

The panelists feel that marketing is necessary for artistes. However there’s a limited amount of space. iTunes is pretty reasonable for getting indie music, with their Staff Picks, but there are only so many boxes that they can display.

During the panel discussion, there is occasional talk of ‘changing the law’ and ‘going to Washington’, but surely it isn’t that easy or realistic a solution.

Net neutrality was touched on briefly.

Cohen describes how he’s surprised at the younger generation (i.e. his son) downloading stuff. His son’s justification: “It’s so easy, it doesn’t feel illegal.” Cohen jokes that “a few public executions may help”. I sense the digital divide in attitudes here…

Member of the audience says, “Value is in the eye of the beholder.” Some may value keeping CDs but others see him as “antiquated”!

The panelists seem to refer the most to iTunes and have accepted that this is the biggest player in the digital music market. “If iTunes switched to a subscription model, people would forget about Rhapsody.”

Cohen extends the scope of this subject to other digital content such as books, saying how he met someone who downloads thousands of digital books.

Gottehrer has a more progressive view - the digital world gives artistes great opportunities to get their music out - “don’t be mistaken about it”. Sinkovich too is “excited” about how things are going.

In summary, some interesting issues were brought up at this panel, but of course this is too big and complex an issue to conclude anything significant. Trends to look out for: new devices, faster broadband and phone networks like 4G - these may create more opportunities to download digital music.

I’ll take my hat off to anyone who can distribute all artistes’ music equally, and fairly compensate all parties involved, thereby eliminating the need for illegal downloads. Much, much easier said than done.

SXSW Music panel. Panelists: Gerard Cosloy, Amrit Singh, Sean Adams, Maura Johnston, Carrie Brownstein, Jason Gross

Official description: Music blogs have emerged as tastemakers by incorporating unfiltered opinion, audio/video playback, and immediate publishing. As their initial impact expands into the realm of record labels and event promoters/sponsors, can they retain the personality and quirks that first distinguished them?

Singh shares how his music site received a warning that a music track was posted without permission. Johnston is careful not to do this, citing an incident how they had permission from an EMI publicist to post music, and later received a warning from another department of EMI that they couldn’t. i.e. in some cases one arm doesn’t know what the other arm is doing.

Cosloy says this usually happens with the big artistes and labels. Unknown artistes, conversely, are usually overjoyed when their material is featured.

What makes a good music blog?

Good writing. The same standards applied to music magazines, can be applied to music blogs. Music blogs can also be less commercialised than websites from recording companies.

Adams notes how many music news websites hurry to report sensational news which is lacking in depth. On the other hand, the diversity of music blogs today means that there are now many blogs with very few readers. Brownstein notes many blogs also follow the ‘insular cycle’ by repeating the same news.

Johnston thinks this is because reporting budgets have been reduced. She says Nick Denton gets around this by asking readers for tips, so he gets news from the primary source, or pretty close to it.

Adams also noted how Paris Hilton got more coverage because of her celebrity status.

Gross cites a recent study which found that blogging has a bigger impact on sales than MySpace. [anyone have a link to this study? I think it’s this one.] Panelists think this is because MySpace can only feature a few bands at the same time.

What’s the best way to get journalists to cover your music?

1. When emailing the press about your music, always send the download links and not the music as an attachment! Their mailboxes are already full.
2. Send music to publications that cover your genre. e.g. Adams has been inundated with funk CDs he’d never listen to.
3. Make your CDs easy to open - don’t shrink wrap them. Sometimes this alone influences whether it gets opened and listened to. (Singh)
4. Don’t send a tome - one person sent a 50-page press release. Panelists agree they wouldn’t read so much.

Official description: This session, hosted by BMI, will take a look at the musician’s relationship with cinema, from composing original scores (Southland Tales) to contributing and licensing his music for film and TV projects (The Bourne Ultimatum, Heat). In addition, it will include a look at ‘moby gratis,’ the musician’s new endeavor to offer some of his music, free-of-charge, to independent filmmakers.

Moby was born on 9/11. He calls it a ‘lazy’ day for his media friends because the tendency is to just reply footage of the planes crashing into buildings.

He did witness the original scene when he heard people screaming, because he lived nearby.

He was named after a whale, but he said it’s better than ‘Ahab’. And at the end of the book, the whale lived.

There’s another DJ in Houston, Texas called Moby but they haven’t had any naming rights issues.

Moby discovered when he was 25 that he had a half-brother. His mum never told him.

He once joked to a journalist that it could have been Karl Rove. The story ran in a gossip column. A couple weeks later, Karl Rove writes to him on official White House stationery assuring him they’re not related :)

The Bush family was Moby’s neighbour in Greenwich, Connecticut.

His first guitar teacher loved jazz fusion. When he was 13-14 he discovered punk rock and was in punk bands.

[shot 2 videos of Moby talking about 1) his student life 2) his views on flawed systems created with the best of intentions, like the welfare state ]

Moby’s comments on his blog and responding to comments: “I want to take lessons from other musicians on how to be vague and esoteric.” He cites Radiohead’s Thom Yorke as an example of being mysterious. Moby adds he himself blogs about going to the grocery store, i.e. more mundane or down-to-earth stuff.

“Licensing music to films is a good way to impress a date.” (laughter) He adds however that may still not be enough to get laid.

He started a website called mobygratis.com as he understood from his filmmaking friends that licensing music for films is painful. His website gives away music to Indie filmmakers. Right now there are 70 pieces of music and he will add more. Vast majority is new, unreleased stuff. He’s only publicised it to film schools and at Sundance so far.

When his music is used in commercial films which generate money, his revenue goes to the Humane Society. A worthy cause. He structured it so he never makes money from it, so he will always do it for the right reason.

Moby says the things he did to make money, made him miserable. Such as DJ’ing at corporate events.

He talks about the guy behind his label, who talent-spotted and signed Depeche Mode and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. While the rest of his signings have been relatively unknown, none have been dropped. Respect!

Moby’s worst album had a 1/10 star rating, but Terence Trent d’Arby loved it and Axel Rose said he had it on repeat in his car.

The best advice he’s given to himself: “Don’t take myself too seriously.”

While he’s a very open person, the one thing he’ll never do is tell people what he does for philanthropy, because he doesn’t want to do it for the wrong reasons. —> Another worthy principle.

Moby’s first project where he did start-to-finish film scores was Southland Tales, directed by Richard Kelly. “The script made no sense to me whatsoever, so I agreed to do it.” (laughter) Actually it was because Kelly wanted to use the music in an unconventional way. And usually music’s the last thing to be done in a film. The crew was filming with his music playing in their ears. His friends hated the final product but Moby’s proud of it, because it’s unusual.

What role does he see for music in activism? He did a political song with the Beastie Boys (?) but adds that fortunately he didn’t write the lyrics. He feels corporations and the world in general is complex and can’t be stereotyped. But the media is misogynistic and homophobic. It’s OK to have a song called Smacked my bitch up but surely they’d not let a song called ‘Smack my black up’ or ‘Smack my Jew up’ get through!

By the end of the 90’s he was ‘dismayed’ at the (low) level at which standards were set. He thinks it’s irresponsible for artistes to make sensational lyrics about abusing people, using hate speech. For Moby Gratis admittedly it will be hard to monitor whether his music will be used in hate films.

His dream project is to work with David Lynch on a movie. Moby respects him greatly as a sound designer. Also Takeshi Katano. He wants to work with more experimental films rather than big Hollywood blockbusters.

I’m impressed that Moby is conscientious enough to repeat every question asked so the rest of us can hear it. He is as intelligent and deep as I expected him to be.

The best way that anyone snuck into his concert: He met a woman in Russia at his concert. The dialogue:

Woman (heavy Russian accent): I snuck into your concert. Moby: How did you sneak into my concert? Woman: I told security I was your prostitute. (laughter) But I am not prostitute. I am student.

On licensing of music: 80-90% of all he’s done is for indie films, but it is hard to ensure his music is not overused. E.g. he gets so many requests to use the song ‘Porcelain’. His advice: Ask to use a less well-known song and you’ll have a better chance of getting it approved.

He listens to a lot of Led Zeppelin. He once got really drunk with Tommy Lee and __ and started a band but nothing came out of it. He misses the Blues influence in Indie rock today, which he feels has become ‘anaemic’.

What’s his workflow? He records his ideas on the piano or guitar, then goes to his studio to do electronic stuff. He uses Ableton, Reason, Logic and Pro Tools. He feels everyone’s familiar with Pro Tools. Ableton is his most favourite, just let it do its thing. (hmm I should give it a second look)

He re-iterates his stance against misogyny. At one scene he told girls who were asked to ‘show him their tits’, not to listen to the calls.

To be continued…

I've long heard of Michael Chiang's play but on Saturday I finally got to see it in musical form. I was quite proud to see homegrown productions take off. The music was good, the acting was humorous without being overdone, the costumes were flamboyant and the storyline was plausible. Some of us gave a standing ovation.

This is the cover of the programme.

After the show we chatted with Dick Lee's family and I asked Dick to autograph the Beauty World CD we had purchased. A large crowd had already gathered inside the Esplanade, queuing up to meet the cast. I followed Dick as he squeezed his way through the throng, with security guards keeping our path clear. He found a marker pen and a counter table and autographed my CD. Then we took this photo:

I first met Dick when his Mad Chinaman album (my favourite) took off and there was a party at his place. I had just begun writing songs and aspired to be like him. I've always wanted to have a photo with him but that eluded me until yesterday.

After that, we joined the queue to meet the rest of the cast, who were in high spirits. Wherever I could recall a good song performance, I'd praise the respective cast member - it's always good to encourage people. And they were appreciative and very friendly, no airs about them.

Me and my sister with comedienne actress Irene Ang, who was roaringly funny as the Cantonese maidservant.

The highlight was meeting the star of the show, Elena Wang. We realised she was from the same school as my sister, and she was delighted to hear about it. Her voice was crystal clear, she hit all the notes, her acting was convincing - truly a rising star.

All in all, it was a most memorable night. Singapore can be proud of this homegrown musical.

Tomorrow, I will be playing keyboards at St George's Church, which is hosting a fundraising event for the Missions to Seafarers. We will play a good number of Christmas Carols and there will be singing by old-timers and children.

If you've got time to spare do come! You'll get to see half of the Moon Jumpers band (myself and bassist Richard), our resident church saxophonist Marv Hixson and a professional drummer, also called Richard! Marv and I had a good rehearsal at my place yesterday. We threw in some jazzy extras that weren't in the programme. Have a listen!

Jingle Bell Rock

Let It Snow!

If you don't mind hearing the rest of our rehearsal, you can listen to each track individually on Odeo.com itself.

Though I am not a massive Radiohead fan, I applaud the band for taking music to the masses in a new way. As you may have heard, their latest album, In Rainbows, is available for free download. If you feel they deserve something, you can decide how much to pay them.

While there's been much dispute between Radiohead and Comscore as to exactly what proportion of users have paid for the album so far, I decided to encourage this new strategy by adding myself to the ranks of those who did pay.

I decided on 5 quid because I felt it should be cheaper than buying the actual CD. Radiohead would have saved on production and distribution costs. They also don't need to pay a record company as the middleman, though they did enlist the services of an online agent to handle transactons.

In time, Radiohead will collate the results from their own website, and the world will learn whether such a business model is viable. My guess is that big Radiohead fans will pay them something. When this happens, other big acts may do the same. It's also the novelty of it all. I probably wouldn't have bought the CD version but I was curious enough to purchase the album this way.

If my hunch is right and Radiohead make a princely profit, this may very well change the landscape of commercial music. Perhaps there really is an 'alternative' pot of gold at the end of this Rainbow.

I've finally launched my band's MySpace page. Check it out here! Do add us as a friend.

I tried uploading one of our MP3s but alas, MySpace told me the file size was too big. It could have specified the file sizes upfront, but nooo, it had to make me wait while the file was uploading, before telling me the file was too big. Brilliant usability. It took me ages to figure out how to start a music page, and I learnt that I couldn't create a second account using the same email address. How troublesome!

Anyway. My band is on a hiatus, namely because my bassist is going to be/is already a father, my other keyboardist is busy teaching, and my drummer is probably working late nights filming. Yup, we're all too busy. But hopefully when I show them this MySpace page, we will try to get together again in the near future.

If you want to listen to our music, check out our podcast. At least Odeo doesn't seem to have problems with file uploads.

Keep jumpin'!

[Update: This post has been Tomorrowed! Thanks DSng.]

It was John Legend's first time in Singapore and we gave him a rousing welcome. Actually, we couldn't seem to stop welcoming him, even when we got to the end of the show.

The concert began choppily, though. The opening act, Tanya MichelleTara Michel, tried hard but at some points sang out of tune. Also, she didn't dance around much - probably because of all the equipment on stage. She kept on shouting out "Singapore" and something to do with it being 2007 and how we felt so multi-cultural, "just like New York". After she reminded us a few more times that it was 2007, I was quite primed and ready for John Legend to appear, so in a way she did a good job. Anyway, since TanyaTara shouted out her web address a couple of times and also mentioned she was on Myspace, I should give her some credit for trying to work the crowd - as well as her web link.

However, it took a while, with moments of light and darkness and false alarms, before the man appeared. I was starting to wonder how much longer we had to wait. Then the Legend appeared and all was forgiven. He was wearing black pants, sneakers, a plain cotton T-shirt and a black jacket. Just like how you'd see him on his album cover.

The crowd was up and dancing from his very first number. We had never seen such an enthusiastic crowd at the Esplanade. However, I think many of those in the front rows were expatriate. Having said that, we also spotted one lady in a tudung, happily dancing and clapping away. One hardcore group never even sat down, throughout the show! There was one lady in white who seemed like a major John Legend fan. She looked like she was ready to do anything for him, with him, etc, you get the idea. Well, maybe standing up is good, because it helps us ... Save Room.

The prior announcement not to use any recording devices or take photographs etc was ignored as many handheld devices lit up, and cameras flashed blatantly, sometimes every other second, while Legend and his band were playing. Legend took it in his stride. I guess perhaps it's our form of PDA (Public Display of Affection - one of my favourite songs). Looking around, the rest of the audience seemed to comprise people mostly people our age - late twenties and thirties. Interesting demographics.

Legend showed he could vary his style. The suave and sophisticated 'Maxine' had its characteristic Latin elements while another song took on a more reggae groove.

But I felt John Legend's distinctive sounds can be found primarily in his ballads. They capture poignant moments, mainly focusing on couplehood, staying together, and being... Ordinary People. By the time he reached that song, he had us all singing the chorus, "Take it slow, take it slow..." And for a moment it was like we all had some personal bond with the man as he sat on his own at the piano. Then the band merged in, the song ended, Legend walked off the stage but we knew he was coming back for the encore because the crowd was raring for more.

And return he did - having changed into a white singlet! Mmm. His voice is so rich that even just talking sounded sexy. The Legend performed two more upbeat numbers, then left the stage for his band to finish the musical fireworks.

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