it really didnt make sense/

Daft punk live shows -
apparently a feast not only for the ears but also the eyes

So. I wonder if this new found fascination with electronica is here to stay, but really let's enjoy it as much as we can whatever may happen after that no?

I borrowed cobra starship's first album and sigur ros's hvarf/heim last week just to see why both are so high on the charts. I can see why cobra starship is kinda popular, for they deliver rather infectious tunes that are kinda guiltily pleasurable, but not really for sigur ros though. But perhaps it's just hard to reconcile that with the electronic streak im in right now.

Funny isnt it? A friend told me once to face it, that there is a hip hop/ urban/ rnb kid hidden inside me, and she sent over a couple of mia songs that were good but I just couldnt *catch*. I could see why they were good, but something in me just could not latch on to them for long. Of course there are exceptions though, recently that amazing track from Timbaland, especially the live mix from the Shodown album that finds rather often airplay on the hmv shopfloor. It's " The Way I Are", and I force myself not to have it anywhere on the computer or player for fear that I will overplay it too much and kill the magic.

Could it have been an an inner electronica kid inside all the while then? hah. The seeds were probably sown by listening to some Black Box Recorder on the sides while I was in secondary school, maybe a little bit of Air too and dashes of Goldfrapp for good measure. So for this week I borrowed Daft Punk's " Alive 2007", a near perfect transcript of their show that ran in Paris in July this year. I've often read about their live shows online, and suffice to say even listening to it on CD impressed me enough.

Of course there's their most famous song which seems to have recently reignited interest in the Parisian duo who have been steadily mixing crowd firing music since the early 90s. " Bigger Better Faster Stronger" was sampled in a recent hip hop song that was extremely popular but I never did really catch the name of. But what interested me the most was the version here of " Face to Face", a song which I've heard from them before, and possessed much more, and actually more meaningful lyrics than the cursory rudimentary words that passed for " lyrics" in typical crowd dancing tunes. I wasnt disappointed at all, and plugging these album in as I make my way through the evening crowd on the streets of town past the filtering crowd of holiday shoppers is utterly enjoyable.

The thing I've noticed is, is that listening to this kind of music especially alone unphases you a bit. You are drawn very much into yourself, but at the same time you are more aware of things like faces around you. I cant really explain it well and it is probably hard to understand if you do not experience it yourself. You kinda become * colder*, and things which are normally on your mind are pushed away in the haze. I am not saying that this is exactly a good thing, but more and more I find this atmosphere fitting in a town whose streets are the temple for most Singaporeans. A place where we shop, eat, be alone, go with friends, celebrate, flirt, wander and just about anything else. The approaching Christmas is probably heightening all this, but still it's always been there, and just like a temple does blankets everyone with its sense of comfort so much so that most do not admit it.

I hope I do not lose myself by the time Christmas comes round, for though I have not really been the christmas celebrating person what with presents and singings and whatnot, I do sorta find myself looking forward to it this season? Why? I have no idea, I have nothing especially to expect or look forward to, and christmas eve is effectively gone for im working the latest shift at hmv ( god knows how am I to make my way through the crowd once it ends at 11). Perhaps it's just the weather, or perhaps it's just another symptom of me finally coming to understand the malaise that afflicts so many Singaporeans, or people, the feeling of being at once lonely yet seeking the solace of the temple of the streets where noone is alone, and christmas might actually offer the chance of a hope that there is a greater meaning to it this time than what the streets just are at any other time of the year.


DAFT PUNK - FACE TO FACE/ SHORT CIRCUIT


And Im so glad i managed to convince a couple of customers to buy the Concretes album and the doppel live discs from Kraftwerk. The next post will be about some of the most memorable customers Ive seen to, so hang around if you are interested.


I do sound rather alienating dont I? mm hope it passes.