Ear & Eye Candy of the day – MGMT’s Time to Pretend

Trippy video, trippy tune, trippy lyrics (“I’ll move to Paris, shoot some heroin, and fuck with the stars”). YEAH!

OK somehow I can’t embed the video here so you can watch it directly on YouTube here

The Killers – Day & Age

Got my hands on a copy of The Killer’s latest CD, Day & Age. It’s FANTASTIC. Okay okay I know, CDs are for suckers, you can get anything for free by leeching off cyberscape and all. But hey, this just goes to show how much I love this band. I rarely even listen to whole albums, but I do for theirs.

Their sound in this album is pretty different from their previous two. Their second, Sam’s Town, was the one that got me hooked on them initially. Then I started listening to their first album, Hot Fuss, all over again (when Somebody Told me and Mr Brightside played on Mtv I thought they’re just another American punk wannabe band) and realised how much a genius Mr Flowers and his mates are. And for a Las Vegas band, that they sound marvelously English! (BTW, what’s with all the Pearl Jam / Creed -style growling that almost every American band vocalist imitates now, huh?)

Okay, on with my comments on Day & Age. The difference between their sound in this album compared to their sound in Sam’s Town is bigger than Sam’s Town compared to Hot Fuss. So I figure some of their fans might turn away because of this direction they’re taking, but again the album may garner new fans. Madonna had changed her sound a thousand times within the last 2 decades and she’s got no shortgae of fans. The album has a much euro/electro/synth-pop sound and less your typical indie-rock. The sound reminds me a lot of Duran-Duran in the 80’s, with all the synths and minimum guitar rocking and even sax solos that further reminds me of the decade I was born in and also Spandau Ballet in their “True” period. Sure I’ll miss their earlier sound but this is amazing. Their frequently-aired single “Human” is a good sample of the album’s sound and feel. Other tracks that I find a delight are “Spaceman” and “Joyride”.

I think The Killers sound more mature in their second album, and in here I feel they are even more certain of the direction they are going and how they should develop as a band. All in all, AWESOME. I hope they exist through the next century.

I have a few gripes, though.
One, there are only 10 tracks in the album – too few to satisfy my ears. I want more out of this album!
Two, there’s no indication they’ll be dropping by the region, or Singapore in particular, in the near future.
Three, I think Brandon looks cuter with the moustache

Rolling Stones Classic Wakes Grandfather from Coma

From the Telegraph.

A 60-year-old grandfather woke up from a 10-week coma after his favourite Rolling Stones song was blared into his ears.

Sam Carter lost consciousness after contracting severe anaemia but was brought back to life when “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” was blared into his ears.

The anthem was the first single the retired baker from Stoke in Staffordshire ever bought, released in 1965 when he was just 17.

Despite only being given a 30 per cent chance of survival, he woke from his coma after his wife Eva, 65, took the doctor’s advice and played him his favourite tunes through a set of earphones.

After three days of listening to the local Stoke station Signal 2, his eyes opened as soon as he heard the sound of Mick Jagger’s vocals and Keith Richards’ guitar riff.

Sam said: “I can’t remember much from being in a coma, but I do remember that when that song came on it took me right back to when I was a youngster.

“I could remember how excited I was to get it down at the record shop.

“I suddenly had a burst of energy and knew I had a lot more life left in me and that’s when I woke up – to the sound of the first song I ever bought.”

Same, who has three children and six grandchildren, added: “I would love to thank Mick and the rest of the Stones personally – I feel they really did help wake me from my coma.”

Wife Eva said she had switched on the radio at Stoke’s City General Hospital in a last-ditch attempt to bring him back a fortnight ago, after growing increasingly frustrated with his lack of progress.

She said: “I didn’t really think it would work.

“I couldn’t believe it when he started opening his eyes and looked at me. It was like we had been given another chance.”

Fragonard painted with his buttocks, Renoir with his maleness

Last week during the Museum Volunteer training session each of us were given a copy of “The Annotated Mona Lisa“. It a comprehensive, compact, easy-to-read book (no academic arty farty terminologies) – which I’ve been reading day in – day out. I really think I need to catch up on my art, especially in this training period, as I’ve abandoned almost any (visual) art related activity and readings the moment I stepped into Engineering School. Then I got distracted by the textbooks and gathering enough ECA points and all the other things that preoccupies a Singapore university student. Luckily we got heaps of art books at home that I flipped through diligently when I was back in Jakarta, but I can’t remember most of the stuff I read, although some did stick in my head and all the artists’ names sounds just so familiar. I would say this Museum Volunteer thing is a really good opportunity to revisit my interest in art (it was never gone in the first place, but it did diminish) and also I’ll be surrounded by people who are also genuinely interested in art (environment). It’s like being married to a woman, then moving out to live with the girlfriend, and then after a few years rekindling the romance with the wife. You can feel the joy of reminiscing memories and the novelty of another newfound romance.

Anyway, back to the Mona Lisa book – I’ve been reading it day in and day out, on my way to the office, during my solitary lunch hours, on my way back from work, as a bed time reading. And this morning I was waken up by names of random Italian artists swimming around in my head. And I tried to fall back to sleep but all I could think about was who these people were and what they painted! This is becoming an obsession. And I still have a binder of excerpts to read. And I need to do a writeup on Jacques Lipchitz, the cubist sculptor. Went to the central library to look up books on him, but apparently most books on Cubism explore paintings almost exclusively. Found a few books written about his work, too. But I need some explanations on a specific, preferrably representative, artwork. Guess I’ll have to spend some time this weekend squatting in the library. *hooray for studying!* I so miss my studying days.

I chatted with a visiting professor during lunch yesterday. He teaches Music Technology in Australia and he’s into experimental music. He’s also created an interesting performance that uses Bluetooth enabled phones (16 of them, swung around the head of students) as instruments. So he mentioned that he got his degree in Music, and reality struck him – he couldn’t make money out of music! At least not decent enough money. So he became an engineer instead. The new occupation had better capability of paying the bills. But it got interesting that now he’s exploring technology (engineering) to create music. So I asked him if people ever wondered what the point of swinging phones was, after a performance. He told me he’d simply reply, “Why are you still here, then?”. But to avoid people who grumble about “what’s the point?” he’d prepared a slide that lists the reasons:

• It’s easier than swinging those huge loud speakers around
• *something I can’t quite recall*
• It gives a spatial sense of sound without the need of fancy DSP
• It’s fun!

Earworm

Woke up this morning with the phrase “INSANE IN THE MEMBRANE” playing over and over in an endless loop in my head. Can’t get it out. Shit.

You know the movie Gangs of New York? Yeah the you-gotta-watch-it-it’s-really-good oscar movie? Well I haven’t watched it. At least not entirely. Got a cheapo pirated copy in my hands and watched it until it stopped working after an hour or so. I CAN’T JUST WATCH A MOVIE HALFWAY! There are unresolved questions! I would imagine the souls of people who die of heart attack in the middle of a movie would haunt HMV. Gotta gotta gotta get a working copy of GONY. Oh and, I think Daniel Day Lewis is much more appealing than Leonardo diCaprio. Maybe this is a sign that I’m getting old. Or maturing in taste.

Sir John Delivered!

The concert was Good! A hundred buck well spent. With the same amount of money, we could’ve gotten a seat behind the stage (obstructed by a huge screen), or on the left hand side of the stage (and watch his back for the whole night) – Although for a mere $475 we could’ve high-fived Elton John. But it’s OK, for memorabilia and for the sake of adding value to my Class 6 tickets, I bootlegged Yellow Brick Road and Rocketman using my cam-phone. Crappy, yeah. Can’t even tell if those down there are human.

I kept thinking, this guy played for the royal family, for the biggest names in the world, even for american idol contestants. This is the short bald guy with extravagant glasses my mom saw on TV in high-school. So this is how it feels to be in near proximity with Elton John while he performs (Although I believe it was crazier when he was bald and less wrinkly. But he’s still good nonetheless).

He started performing just before 8.30 and sang and banged the piano almost non-stop for a good 2.5 hours. At 10 I thought he’d be finishing soon, but no, the concert just got more meriah! For someone his age that’s enviable! But like my aunt said, a busker has to keep his stamina up and most importantly because he has a boyfriend much younger than him. Ahah!

That’s HIM on the piano.

Sir John and The Common Cold

That sounds like what I would name my band, if I ever play in one.

Bonbon, Elisa and I are going to watch Sir Elton John and his band who are playing at the Singapore Indoor Stadium tonight. Yep, trying to catch him before he expires – I don’t know how much longer the magical Sir John can keep his singing and piano banging up.

I caught a cold + cough when I got back from Jakarta but I must must must be well enough to go through the concert tonight! Comon I’ve paid a hundred and one bucks for it! Singapore! And when else can I catch him? Alive? I just hope I don’t start hacking like mad (but maybe that will grab Sir John’s attention huh).

The cough syrup from the doctor is pretty potent and pretty much wonderful. A dose gets me very drowsy and pretty high and it’s a wonderful feeling when you’re slipping in and out of sleep while your eyes stay open the whole while. Like now. I sympathize with those who chug the syrup to get high. But I’m in a dilemma, if I take the syrup I’ll start getting high and “bengong-bengong”, rendering me almost useless even for minimum brainwork. But if I don’t take my dose, I’ll start coughing and hacking like mad. Elisa suggested to reduce the dose, but Shelly has a point – I will start coughing and also bengong-bengong.