i can’t make head nor tail of this fizzing on my tongue

Early morning and you wake. The 8am Singapore warmth spreads itself on your arm, mynahs are chirping, andyou hear water streaming. Yes it's a concrete canal but look who cares?

Shifting your head to the side you lazily open a groggy eye, and in that muddled threshold of wakefulness and sweet sleep a sense of unutterable delight forms as a half smile grows on your lips. For some reason, for that exact moment in time, in that perfect encapsulation of a Perfect Morning, even though you have seen it often before, you never cease to be amazed and be wonderfully, simply delighted by the sight of her, like you, attempting to open her eyes as her head oh so gently rests on the same pillow.

It is not the wild deep passion so often described in movies and books, not the utterly sweet kind of fluff one is inundated by the world, but simply a feeling that.. is just there.

Not forced nor even concious of it.
Existing in that special half realm
that comes
only once a day.
Lulling
and slow. You know it cannot last
as the morning will eventually go

like dew. You know your mind will
crawl back to wake

and reality,

but just for that moment,

that single point in time,


you are happy.

And so is she

as she returns
a wry smile.



And that is all that matters.

The Reindeer Section - I'll Be Here When You Wake

i am the heart that you call home

A discovery thanks to a friend, and the Decemberists have been lurking in my playlists ever since. How can they not? I cannot think of any who surpasses them as masters of wistful poetic yearning that somehow manages to be both theatrically exuberant yet melancholically autumnal at the same time. An American ' indie band', Colin Meloy leads a motly crew of five, and that coyingly mysterious vocalist you hear echoing in the background is Jenny Conlee who plays the accordion too. Together, they fashion a sound that evokes an unforgettable world of victorian swashbuckling adventures and ladies and eye patched pirates. With an exception. The protaganist is a simple travelling minstrel, not a high and honourable hero everyone so loves.

" The Engine Driver" rises to the occasion of driving passionate heartbreak I have never heard finer done before. Starting with a few simple strums that widens, growing more beautiful as the song progresses, and swelling to a blooming crest about a minute and a half in. Wait for that bit when the xylophones come twinkling in, and that is the sound of a searing heart that at once recognizes it's imploring her to let it go, because he realizes he cant do the same thing he asks.

The Decemberists - The Engine Driver

a link to their site, if only to vist a fine place where the design reflects The Decemberist's sound:

get their latest album picaresque too, available at most good ( and maybe not so good) music retail shops out there! And listen to " The Mariner's Revenge Song".

the actors seemed so happy/ but somehow ended all washed up

Close to a year back a band of five came together in Brooklyn, worked hard, practiced hard, played well, and simply crafted good songs. Following that, they self-released, self-promoted, and self-distributed their very own self-titled debut album. Saidthegramaphone picked them up, pitchfork gave them a 9.0, with one thing leadomg to another Clap Your Hands Say Yeah rode upon a tidal wave of overnight success. All this while refusing to sign on to any big name record label.

Most of the songs put up during the initial frenzy were " The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth" and " Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood". And they are good. Very good. Possesing the trademark indie sound of brash unpolishness, CYHS mixes pure hopeful abandon with drunken melodies that tinkle and shine as beautiful as windchimes on a cool windy evening. Sure you may have to contend with Alec Ounsworth's quirky singing voice, but these songs deserve more than what first impressions may give. Endearingly slippery, CYHS sounds like nothing you have ever heard of.. yet they evoke the sounds of all your favourite songs ever heard, happily defying any sort of attempt at any direct comparisons.

'Poppy, '80s-tinged, and hooky as hell' as how allmusic.com puts them. And it's right. Unfortunately forget about ever hearing CYHS on Singapore radio. Naturally they would rather put up the Arctic Monkeys or something, but the fact is that it seems everyone's *cough* current favourite completely unheard of indie underground pop band (especially by hipster yuppies like these ) is worth listening to. Give them a spin.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Heavy Metal

where you can get the above two mentioned songs:


You will probably die if you live on these kind of songs. Simply too rich, sincere and pure encouraging to stare down all life's troubles with sheer musical goodness and a glint in the eye, oh no it is absoulutely not healthy.

Hah but it's just my cup of tea.

last night what we talked about it made so much sense/ but now the haze has ascended it dont make no sense anymore

Yeh you have heard of them before. On the radio. On the net. Even in the Sunday Times recently. The band who exploded onto the scene by smartly building up a critical mass of hype through free downloads, a testament to the strength of the grassroots-indie-blog machine, bypassing the traditional major label release/publicity/blah route.

The Arctic Monkeys sorts of sums up the kind of the print in British consciousness that has been around the past few years, their thick and fast riffs a mash of everything from Oasis to The Strokes. No sense wasting time and space here, just look about anywhere on the net if you want more info about them. Instead, for me I find ' From the Ritz to the Rubble' a pretty good encapsulation of the kind of sound they do.. cool and cockiness jammed into a tune with rabid guitars and clanking drums that just about, almost, catch up with singer/ songwriter Alex Turner's brash energy that tears through lyrics.

It's music for teenagers. A *very* specific sort though. Late beer fueled saturdays out in a country "where fundamentalism is allegiance to a soccer club rather than religion." ( pitchfork). Music with cheeky lyrics for impressing a girl with. Music that brings you through to the dancefloor and out in the morning with a headache. Music that gets overplayed on the radio. Meh.

The Arctic Monkeys - From The Ritz To The Rubble

a link to where it all started..

if i had one million dollars/ i'll buy you a monkey (haven't you always wanted a monkey?)

You know how there are bands out there you recognize by hearing them occasionaly mentioned over the radio , but you never got around to really buying their records or finding out more about them thinking that they are just ' usual' bands that come and go with radio hits, and then one day someone tells you more about them, send s you a couple of older singles and bang! you are gobsmacked when you realize that the band was so much more and different from what you thought.

Introducing The Barenaked Ladies.. they of " Pinch Me", " One Week" and that song about chinese chicken fame. Amiable and giddly irreverent, TBL were different in that they were simply more interested in making someone laugh than being reflective and ' deep'. From what I can tell, a huge aspect of their popularity stemmed from live shows where TBL's signature improvised rapping and stage banter continued to draw in new fans who simply wanted to enjoy a gleeful evening out with friends. Oh well maybe that is why I did not really take notice of them as a lot of their magic were probably lost due to me only listening to their studio hits over the radio.

Nevertheless, " If I Had $1, 000, 000" captures some of that lost sparkle. A charming crowd favourite back when it was released in their native Canada, it rolls along just nicely with a sprinkle of piano here, a dash of violins, a lovely bass that happily tags along in the background. All in all, a gem.

The Barenaked Ladies - If I Had $1, 000, 000

A link to an excellent bio of TBL on allmusic.com..

if you pull me apart dont swallow my heart/ heart!

With a band name like The Starlight Mints, you know what you are in for. Delightfully off kilter music yet oddly melodious, they specialize in songs like ' Submarine #3'. You are happily intrigued when a few playful pulls on the violin starts the song, and before you know it a bizarre smile forms on your face as you simultaneously try to go huh? and wow! when the vocals come on. Not a very easy thing to do I think.

A bit more focused and sharp than fellow pop oddballs Oklahoma mates The Flaming Lips, the Mints are masters of song arrangements that feature all sorts of instruments from trombones, cellos, trumpets to funky sound effects layered with the cheekily boyish vocals of Allan Vest, and somehow, through the whole mix of it all, end up sounding surprisingly and irresisitably simple. Part psychedelic, part groovy, part retro, as another musicblog puts them, imagine a quirky modern Beatles aptly described by a friend of mine. Whenever I put on music by the Mints, their music seem to take on a life of its own, joining you in a world that seem to just infect you, just you, a small and compact private world where things and tunes come together no matter how complicated they initially sound.

Hahh or maybe it's just the feel good vibe they do undeniably well.

The Starlight Mints - Submarine #3

Click on down to their site where they put up some of their other music too.

Plus a bonus song from their latest album, ' Drowaton'. Is not available at HMV though, might have to hunt around at Gramaphone or some Roxy Records. If they release a first single from there, it should be ' Inside Of Me'. *singing* " Well, I don’t need your sympathy, but I could use your company."

The Starlight Mints - Inside Of Me