surely time will come to an end soon/ but it's still on your side

Finally some time to sit and write. Or at least to finish up the half attempts at finishing up the post I started last Wednesday. About the first time I've finally gone to a live gig by a Swedish band, and was not disappointed in the least bit all. About the two who I went with without whom I'd not have heard about it in the first place.

Club 8/ Pelle Carlberg ( a double bill!) were scheduled to perform at the Esplanade's recital studio at eight, but dinner and agonizing choices that paralyzed us three over whether to buy their albums at the small counter set up in front of the entrance had to be overcome first. Well Jen got edson and a club 8 album, Grace the legends and another club 8 cd, while I cunningly cheated and bought a compilation of swedish music carried by the Labrador label.

We got pretty good seats as we were early in the queue, sitting ourselves to the left, not five meters away from the band's space. The intimacy and warmth of the studio was palpable and I loved it so, for the sheer proximity and lack of any barrier between us and the band allowed a real feeling of sincerity that was appropriate for the sparse/ heartfelt music to come. Note I do not use the word stage, just space. Until I figure out a way to transfer the pictures from my phone to the computer, we shall just have to make do though.

The spotlights warmed, and Club 8 took their places. Karolina was the last to walk in, but you can tell the whole studio really livened then. Her hair tied tightly back into a shoulder length tail, languid fingers that slowly wrapped themselves around the microphone, she had the whole sense of a coldness that is at once a touch chilling, yet unmistakably *alluring*. The banter was light and at ease, her remarking how pleasantly surprised the band was when they were greeted with a little tropical warmth after stepping off the airport. Sweden is *cold*, she said with a clear and crisp lightly accented english that just about tingled with little crystals at the edges, a characteristic I find common in much of the swedish music I hear.

The highlight of their performance for me would be a close fight between two songs. " The Next Step You'll Take" and their ' famous, or infamous rock and roll song' " Saturday Night Engine". You probably expect this from me now, as both songs were as different from each other as can be.

" The Next Step.." an autumnal and delicately bittersweet yet going along with a spring that belied its melancholy stood out with its particular lyrics, while " Saturday Night Engine" a full blast of unabashed hooky fun that was riffed through with so much energy and sheer life that it just swept me off. The recorded version here does not a single bit of justice to the one we heard. The live version was done twice as fast, sung with an immediancy of *here* and *now* that can never be captured on a mere microphone. My goal now is to hunt down a live version of this song, but still no luck though.

Pelle Carlberg took the stage after the brief interval, and what can I say. Hit songs and ping pong do not usually go together but there he does it. His songs are a fascinating blend of seemingly random inspirations-anecdotes, like when you want to sit down and ' offhandedly' write a poem, spend one hour wracking your brains for any memory to latch on, and finally scrounging out something that does not really matter in the end because it winds up sounding too forced anyway. The only difference is that Carlberg pulls it off. How? I have no idea. A song about a hit song his record label called him up to write? A song about a review of his first album? A song about hearing Im From Barcelona on the radio and being jealous about their chorus?

The thing is that while these were all interesting and catchy, they were too *at the moment*. I get the faint feeling that once the novelty is lost in these songs well they would be probably lost by then. Carlberg covered Mika's ' Grace Kelly' before he left the space. hm I still am just lukewarm towards that song.

There was an autograph session after the gig, which by sheer luck we found ourselves very near the front of the queue. Which meant that we would not feel as embarrassed to pester them with questions and requests then had we begun at the back of the queue and saw how tired they really were. Please allow a bit of embellishment, for a week can do many tricks to the fickle thing memory is.

me: would you recommend other Swedish bands to come to Singapore too?

Karolina: yes, of course.

me: ( before I could stop myself) what about the Concretes?

her: oh you heard of them? you know Victoria Bergsman has a solo album out.. taken by trees i think. You heard it? It's better than the Concretes I think.

me: ( inwardly --- urk! arhjhh! or if there ever is a single word to describe the kind of surprised contentment that comes when something unexpected happily overturns everything else) yes! Any chance you can ask her to come down to Singapore too?

her: yes ok, she has a really lovely voice. Ill be sure to tell her.

here then she smiled.
and my day was made.

Club 8 - The Next Step You'll Take

\
for Grace it would be when she was getting an autograph from Pelle Carlberg, and told him how sad she was that he did not play " Sunday, Lovely Sunday".

" ah so you were the one who shouted for it just now", referring to the part of his gig when he asked the floor for any requests. I admit I goaded grace a little I think * innocent look*. An interesting thing would be that the rest of audience was completely quiet, a fact that I only remember now.

So Carlberg, right there and there at the autograph table, serenaded ( yes serenaded) Grace. Jen was visibly impressed too.



Sundays are slow
Never pretentious, oh no
Silent and closed
And we don't really have to know
Where to go

Holding hands with the one I love
She wears mittens, I wear gloves
There must be someone above
Holding hands with the one I love



And her day was made there and then.
Probably for the next few days too.

i don't care where you're going/ if the music's fine

Club 8 - Saturday Night Engine

What a thoroughly enjoyable Scandinavian evening.
*nods to Jen and Grace*

ah but I really do need sleep now!

and then came the rush of the flood

norah jones was actually not bad at all

Quite unplanned, I watched another double bill, but this time on the big screen. My Blueberry Nights/ Cloverfield may seem an odd match just like how Breakfast At Tiffany's/ Die Hard 4.0 was, but that's just how it goes and I really like it that way.

A very strong highlight of Nights was the soundtrack, which I had for some reason bought way earlier beforehand when the shipment of ltd ed of the cds came into HMV. To the surprise of me then, the only forty copies we brought in sold out *completely* within two days. After watching the show I understand why though, for music is such a nuanced cornerstone of every wong kar wai film so much so that it's not just appropriate background music but as much of the story itself.

It sounds childish now thinking about it, but I was a tad disappointed when what was easily the strongest song was introduced so early in the show. I'm always a believer in saving the best for last see? Cat Power's " The Greatest" segues effortlessly with lyrics that take a look at anyone who have realized that getting what they want and being happy are two entirely different things. How this ties into the film I'll leave it up to you.

Nights is one of those rare shows that may seem draggy while you watch it, but coalesces nicely and more importantly, *warmly* as it goes along, which even extends to even after you watch it. Just cut away some of the cheesy exchanges between jude law and norah jones along with toning down the overuse of jarring ' fade to blacks', a wariness of which I still harbor probably left over from my tsd days, and it would have much better for me.

Cat Power - The Greatest

On another note. Another Concretes album was sold! This time to a twentyfivish girl who came in last night looking for Peter, Bjorn and John not simply because of hearing another of those bleh techno mixes of Young Folks on the dance floor, which happens often enough that I just shrug whenever I see Writer's Block sandwiched between Groove Armada and something else while I do cashiering. hai saying it like that is so music snobbish, but *still*.

Anyhow what piqued my interest in her was that she came in asking for their *first* album, and well it somehow led to the Concretes in her hands which she took just one listen of and immediately paid for it. yay.

And someone else in Singapore has the US import of the Pipettes too now. Too bad I didnt see who got it.

and you'll forgive your heart for wasting any time

Neh. Whatever happens at hmv would all be worth it, for I have managed to get a single copy of the Pipette's debut release from the states that would otherwise not have been brought into Singapore at all. Hah yes I know but the uk version of ' We Are The Pipettes' is not enough for me! For s$23 too, about half the price of the uk one.

Besides there are two additional tracks plus the songs have been tweaked and reproduced, and there is a blast of the cover art and inside liner notes. There is nothing quite like turning up your jacket's collar and plugging in the pipettes at eleven at night while walking through a light rain along the road in town to dhoby ghaut. Well it may had developed into a full scale bloody downpour and a sprint like hell later on, but who cares.

The Pipettes sound as refreshing and ever so lively as the first time I heard them two years back, and some of them really do sound better after the new productions. Especially the new extended " It Hurts To See You Dance So Well", which seems much polished and punched than the previous versions of which I've heard.

I supposed the new sleekness and spunk is a reflection of how the Pipettes have grown, from an underground cult live hit to a fully fledged stage act that is in demand in stages from around the world ( the states/ aus/ and oh what I would give to see them here). Their raw sweet sound that was as much a part of their endearing charm has subtly changed into a polished candid tone that is as attractive, if not more so, than before.

More importantly would be that somehow, there is this sense of maturity in the way they sing now, something a little surer, or perhaps the word would be with a honed * elegance*. Haha dont ask me to describe that exactly, for it is the same as one those feelings you sometimes get when you know how someone is just *like*, by being around them even without you even really looking at all.

There is no better example of this than in one of their two new tracks in this album. The opening oooh-ahs are simply magic, sung so plainly sincere that it gives such a refreshing slant to the classic retro opening. The Pipettes know that their vocal harmonies are their most alluring aspect of the music, and have honed it to an absolute stunning peak in " Baby, Just Be Yourself". I mean just listen to the part where they go " I know it's hard/ ..." and tell me if you do not agree with me.

There is only so much I can say with words though so just put the song on please, and enjoy.

The Pipettes - Baby, Just Be Yourself

if I don't care to eat and get running instead

(nope, cant find the image with the bicycle)

Meh my sleep schedule is totally screwed.

2008 rolled in, and if I remember correctly it was the Concrete's ' You Cant Hurry Love' around 12. Just a quirk I find myself doing every year that does not mean anything, to note the song that comes up on my player, and the only way I really ' celebrate' when a year gasps out its last few seconds.

The first show on the small screen I watched this year would be Wes Anderson's Rushmore, which was delightfully lent to me. As again in his films, some of the songs arent bad at all! If a show didn't slip my mind, the last film I watched for the last year was the Breakfast At Tiffany's/ Die Hard 4.0 double bill at 4am viv's place. Weird combination you may think, but nothing like a brainless action show to unwind after hepburn. Tiffany's really not what you think though, there is a certain kind of absurd in it, and I mean the beckett/ harold pinter kind, and of course, there is hepburn. hah thanks for the poster viv. Anyhow I enjoyed both shows thoroughly , but really these musings do not belong here, so I shall leave them for another blog at another time.

Back to the screwed sleep schedule. I think it is actually affecting my playlists. For instance there is a certain kind of music that I find myself selecting as I wake in the morning and run like hell for the train. It's becoming a routine actually. Wake up grab breakfast plug on earphones get to station get on train carriage number 16 since it would exit right at dhoby ghaut's escalators. And when the shift is done, plug on another certain kind of music for the leisure walk from town to dhoby ghaut. Oh what happened to the days of having my playlists decided randomly by shuffle to ensure fairplay to all? ah how circumstances change.

I would be hard pressed to explain the *kind* of music I put on simply with words. But this song invariably finds itself played as the first song every morning for the past two weeks or so.

So someone said it was the perfect " my song" when she suggested tagging a song in a particular album to those that were there. I leave it up to the rest of the readers who know me here to judge. *takes cover*

Im From Barcelona - Oversleeping

Go look this band up if something in this song strikes and tugs at your interest. They are a Swedish ( haha what else can they be ) band that specializes in really constantly hyped music that you just *cant* not but smile to when you hear them.

Careful though tunes like this should be rationed for they lose their magic really quick overplayed. Argh but the temptation!

damn swedes.