You should have seen the guys perform in a gig , they're fanastic & electrifying & pratically the stage belongs to them like iterally . Still pondering whether to get their You'll Be Safe Here disc...
SINGAPORE music just got another boost: A remix of Electrico's Love In New Wave by homegrown DJs Aldrin Quek and Akien has become the latest dance anthem championed by British DJ Pete Tong on his high-profile Essential Mix series on BBC Radio 1 in England.
An institution among electronic music fans, the Essential Mix series - available to millions of listeners worldwide through Internet streams - is the launch pad for some of the world's most enduring dance music.
It was also the show where some of the biggest names in the genre - think the Chemical Brothers and Paul Van Dyk - first made their names with the masses.
Singapore music on the British airwaves is nothing new: Over the years, bands like Astreal, The Padres and Force Vomit have had their work featured on segments by revered British DJ John Peel, a champion of indie music from around the world.
But Electrico's achievement goes beyond mere critical acclaim: The Aldrin and Akien remix is slated for release on Italian dance label Cosmonote Blue on Dec 10 with additional remixes by up-and-coming British producers Matteo ESSE & Sant and Tim Hudson.
Given Tong's seal of approval, the release looks to have a shot at pop chart gold, a prospect that Electrico guitarist Daniel Sassoon welcomed with elation and a touch of surprise.
"It is a fantastic experience to know that our song is creating a buzz in England," the 31-year-old guitarist told Today.
Love In New Wave is the lead single from Electrico's sophomore album Hip City, a self-financed effort was released by major label Universal Music in June.
Having sold more than 2,000 copies of their album, topped the MediaCorp Radio 987FM charts, played shows in Thailand and Australia and been nominated for Favourite Artiste at last year's MTV Asia Awards, Electrico wouldn't appear to need much of a boost.
However, Aldrin and Akien's remix looks set to even further broaden their appeal.
With a synthesised bass line and a catchy electro lead stab, Love In New Wave has been transformed into an epic that is perfect peak-time dance floor fodder.
Sassoon gives much of the credit for the remixed song's success to the men in charge of the re-jig.
In one corner there's Akien (real name Yap Kian San) who in the past two years has quietly had releases on celebrated English labels like Renaissance and Distraekt.
In the other, there's Aldrin, arguably Singapore's most famous DJ thanks to a 10-year residency at Zouk.
"It all started as something completely fun," said Akien of the track. "Electrico's David Tan (also a DJ) wanted a remix of one of their songs to play and approached Aldrin and myself to do something with one of their tracks.
"It's a good feeling to know that one of Singapore's own is making waves around the world. I believe it's a positive sign and will certainly encourage new producers to come forward and make new music."
It also helps that Quek's connections in the world of dance music secured the interest of someone as influential as Tong.
"I first sent the song to Pete Tong after we completed it in June and then thought nothing of it" confessed the 36-year-old DJ, who made contact with Tong two years ago when he was asked to do a mix for Tong's show.
"But I knew we had something when I had other people asking me about the track and Tong started playing it heavily on his radio show, even saying it has the potential to crossover to the pop charts," he said.
The duo admitted to being floored by the response to the remix, adding that it has given them the zeal to pursue further collaborations.
It seems the Pete Tong association will also benefit Electrico in the long run. Already there is talk of a deal with Tong's new production company, which means Love In New Wave could be used as the soundtrack for advertisements or possibly even feature in upcoming movies.
"Honestly, me and electronic music don't go hand in hand," said Sassoon with a laugh when asked about such prospects. "So I wouldn't know what to say about the dance music end of things."
Still, he admitted that the single would likely raise Electrico's already high profile another couple of notches.
"The guys have done an excellent job in giving our song an edge," he said. "What can I say but simply fantastic!"
See the title ? yeah ? I thought I post something funny today & it's not music related , just something I thought everyone should see & have a laugh at.
Who's this Lu Yong guy you might ask ? Well he's my classmate & another of my classmate Eamon is credited for making this video possible .
Basically what happened was that during an Accounting class that the whole class had , Lu Yong for some reasons what-so-ever , decided to take off his expensive pair of Nike shoes . Don't ask me why cos I also have no idea as to why he did that & f.y.i Eamon's the one who's narrating in the video in chinese so if you don't understand chinese or something , apologises in advance.
So Eamon & another of my classmate Hui Kai , being really smart alecks , decided to hide Lu Yong's shoes . Not sure how come Lu Yong never realised something's amiss but the footage Eamon took using his Motorola phone , most of my classmates have already left but some including me stayed back to ask my lecturer some questions.
& yes I was there to witness all this happening & go Hui Kai & Eamon , both of them really captured the whole funny moment & poor Lu Yong , was searching for his previous shoes up & down the room :)
But yeah the story goes in that Lu Yong was trying desperately to find his shoes around the classroom & needless to say , everyone in the class was laughing when that happened & what happened the next day during Maths lesson?
He came to school wearing flip floops hahaha
Will be there be a sequel to the missing shoes ? only time will tell hee
Tracklist :
1) The Gypsy Maid
2) Requiem
3) Child In Paradise
4) Anchem
5) Hall Of The Mountain King
6) Nachrach
7) Beyond Rangoon / Waters Of Irrawaddy
8) March Of The Icons
9) Tango In Ebony
10) Carmen Entr'acce
11) Prelude In C
12) In Paradisum
13) The Way Old Friends Do
Bought Croatian pianist Maksim latest CD aka his 4th , after the release of his debut The Piano Player , Variations Part I & II + also A New World. In which all 4 CDs are released in major label EMI .
Before I say anything else , I know what you're thinking , you like Maksim's music or aka classical music ? shouldn't it be BORING with a capital B ?
I grew up listening to classical music & it's the 1st music genre I was exposed to since I was young . But naturally as I grow older , I kinda rebelled & start listening to anything that's on the radio & more .
It was only a few years ago that I started to go back to my classical roots & then I came across some mainstream classical acts which made classical music which's otherwise sound so boring , sound cool now.
Aside from Maksim , I also listened to Richard Clayderman , Bond (these ladies are lovely & oh so talented , I'm a huge fan of them , there's more to life than just Victory OK ? ) , a bit of 12 Girls Bands & some Vanessa Mae too.
Maksim actually released his 1st album Gestures before The Piano Player but cos Gestures wasn't released under a major label so I'm not gonna consider Gestures as his 1st release.
& before I go on further , yes I have to say that I love Maksim's works , he's so cool & make classical music sounds oh so hip & he's like a hippier version of another pianist Richard Clayderman.
& also I have all 4 CDs of Maksim which's pretty something as the last 3 CDs I got all of them for my 19th b'day from my friend Jenny :)
I never took notice of Maksim before , it was only til the release of his debut single The Flight Of The Bubblebee which made me sit up & take notice of him & also that single shot him to worldwide fame .
+ it does help that he's very good looking & has that bad boy looks going on heh heh but alas he's married boohoohoo & he has a daughter now in which her name's Leeloo which's also the inspiration behind Leeloo's Tune , a song that can be found on Variations Part I & II , bless.
& in the album sleeve of Electrik , there're tons of great pics of Maksim which left me drooling all over the place hee hee
Honestly I don't put all the songs from his CDs into my mp3 , I only choose the selected ones as when comes to classical music or should I say mainstream classical music , I always like to go for the uptempo ones .
The slow ones aka the ballads , I'm not really into them unless for some specific reasons or so , then yeah I would dig them . Some of the ballads that I can think of are Claudine , Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence , 1 of my absolute fave Croatian Rhapsody (the tune of it is fucking awesome) , Olympic Dream , Handel's Sarabande , the beautiful The Flower Duet , Mojito & many more.
Thankfully , in his latest Electrik , there're quite a lot of uptempo ones , a few slow ones that I didn't like in which they almost put me to sleep :S but yeah the uptempo ones are really good.
Standout tracks include The Gypsy Maid , Requiem , Tango In Ebony , Hall Of The Mountain King in which I must add the tune to it's very very familiar so naturally I like it & March Of The Icons.
In fact , on those days that I'm absolutely bored of what to listen or if I have no damn-ing idea to listen next , I always go to my Classical Crossover folder & just plugged Bond or Maksim away !
this's found in the latest issue of hot magazine , issue 59 (4-17 Nov '06) in which the latest 007 James Bond's Daniel Craig's on cover.
Was surprised that hot magazine finally did a review of Electrico's 2nd CD Hip City cos I thought they done a review of it or not a few months ago or so cos the album was released around like what 22nd June '06 so was ecastic to find that they reviewed it.
& honestly it's 1 of the better & good reviews I seen of Hip City which's great but was definitely surprised that they didn't like the title track but still heck doesn't matter .
Look at the no.of stars they scored , 4/5 aka 80/100 aka an A grade in Uni or aka A1 in the O levels .
Ok I'm being lame here so I should stop & shut up !
http://www.myspace.com/electricomusic
Motion In The Ocean's the 3rd album released by UK band McFly . So far , they have released 2 albums prior to this latest release namely Room On The 3rd Floor & Wonderland .
I gave everything a listen & I really like it & I can possibly say that it's their best record they released to date & I personally think that it's a notch better than their previous 2nd CD Wonderland which was fab as well.
McFly kick things off with We Are The Young which's awesome , a very uptempo & kicking track which was followed by their UK #1 singles of Star Girl & Please Please.
Funny enough , Hui Li likes Please Please the moment she 1st listened to it . For me , erm.. I'm still trying to get over the lyrics which was quite porn-y in that sense.
Followed by possibly my personal fave on the album Sorry's Not Good Enough & then the strangely titled Bubble Wrap . I was -_-"' when I saw the title cos I was thinking what the... but luckily the song's really good aside from the title.
Track 6's Transylvania & it's another fab track , I hope it will be released as the 3rd single in which the chorus parts are sung by Dougie ! Usually Dougie does backing vocals but in this song you can specifically hear him sing & his voice's not bad.
Transylvania was written by him so he has a rather big say in the song & he also sings on Nothing which's a track that can be found in their previous CD Wonderland.
Lonely reminds me of Obviously but even better . In fact the moment the guitar intro started for Lonely , it really sounded like Obviously initally but yeah it's a nice song , the lyrics are so aww .
Ballads are in the mix as well , in the form of Little Joanna , Home Is Where The Heart Is . Little Joanna's so cute in fact Tom wrote it for his girlfriend who's Italian dammit
Initally when I saw Friday Night , I thought please don't tell me it's a cover of The Click Five's song but nah it's not .
The 1 track that didn't grab me immediately was Walk In The Sun . I realised that the more you listen to it , the more better it sounds .
The last track on Motion In The Ocean's a really good rendition of Queen's Don't Stop Me Now in which that song & Please Please were a double A side single when it was released & yes both of them went to no1 in the UK single chart.
That so called secret hidden track's nothing merely a track called Slient's A Scary Sound . I don't have it in CD form but only the live rendition & it's not too bad.
Overall , McFly are great , they have matured since their 2003 debut Room On The 3rd Floor & wouldn't be surprised if Motion In The Ocean will give them their 3rd UK #1 album & yes they deserved it .
Hopefully this album will start making waves in Asia soon cos I mean it's about time people find out that there're more to life than just Obviously , All About You & I've Got You .
The Click Five ! From L-R : Joe , Ben , Ethan , Eric & Joey
Punk'd is 1 of my fave TV shows & eariler 5 mins before it was about to end , guess who got punk'd ? none other than The Click Five's lead vocalist Eric Dill haha!
& if that's not 'bad' (or should I say good ? ) enough , the rest in the band had a hand in punking Eric as well haha . The guys are very bad man but on whole I thought it was kinda cute seeing Eric got sabo by his band-mates. You just don't know who to trust isn't it ?
Ok basically in a nutshell , what happened was the 5 of them went bowling & when Eric was about to throw the bowling ball into the alley where the bowling pins are located , the ball he threw crashed & broke the barrier that was holding back the bowling pins !
If that's bad enough , the computer screens where the scores of each lane are being tabulated & kept track , the system crashed & the 'manager' of the bowling arena was nonetheless happy & lashed a couple of not very flattering words on Eric .
Another 2 accomplices also said the same things to Eric as well in which they accused Eric of spoiling a birthday party & around this time he was almost reduced to tears . In a way it's strange as to how come Eric never suspect why the punk'd folks only targeted at him & not everyone in The Click Five together.
& then everyone came into full swing with cameras & all & hahaha , what a cool sight to be behold at & Eric was swearing away & proudly proclaimed that he just got punk'd , with some help from Ethan (still as hot as ever I don't care despite the recent disaster Maggi Mee lookalike hairdo aka Danny's clone alert haha) , Ben (but of course Ben Ben Ben) , Joe & Joey.
& they all live happily ever after ... :)
to watch Eric who got punk'd :
http://www.myspace.com/theclick5