Kraftwerk 3D

楊千嬅《二》數

「想從空幽的眼圈，逐公分那樣轉，為你點算著疲倦。
願歳月難被我數完，地老天荒能轉多少個圈。」
可惜時間有限，會令我們分開，但感動的是彼此的肯定，令我知道我們唯一要克服的難關就只有時間。 

「同偕到老還餘下多少步，還能捏著你再抱幾秒鐘擁抱，
還能與你再聽幾多音樂，還能伴著你再跳幾世紀的舞。誰又會知道，誰願意知道。」
既然是未知又不能控制的，就無須擔憂，只需要珍惜和你的每一秒就足夠了。 

「隨每下心跳繼續數...繼續數。只願延續下去數得到蒼老。」
 聽你的心跳，是我最喜歡做的事。:')

 

楊千嬅《一》可惜的水瓶座

從來也不理解作為水瓶座有什麼可惜，直至那一次，我明白到水瓶座在一段感情裡是有多令人煩厭。

 「誰人待我好、待我差，太清楚。」
 計算，計算他待誰較好，計算他花錢和誰晚飯較多，計算他用時間陪誰較長。計算，總帶著或多或少的質疑。而其實心底裡清楚知道，這些質疑是荒謬的。 

「心裡羨慕那些人，盲目到不計後果。」
 不計較，只要心知那人總和你一起，什麼也真不重要。不要計較小小的瑕疵，忽略了最重要的。盲目，其實是信任的表現吧。

Jason Mraz (Revised and Reblogged from JUL 2012)

Last weekend I went to Jason Mraz’s ‘Tour is a Four Letter Word’ concert. It was full house but I got 2 tickets on the forth row with my best friend! Feeling lucky.

His songs are very good for weekends, chilled and relaxed. I also like his simple and truehearted lyrics. There’s nothing pretentious about him, which is difficult to do when you know you are popular.



There are some very positive and cheerful songs in his latest album. ‘The Freedom Song’, ‘Living in the Moment’, ‘Everything is Sound’, ‘Frank D. Fixer’ etc., these are some nice attitude to live our lives.
He also performed a few old songs, ‘Remedy’, ‘You and I Both’, ‘Mr. Curiosity’, ‘Bella Luna’, ‘Lucky’, ‘I’m Yours’, ‘Make It Mine’, ‘Only Human’, ‘A Beautiful Mess’ etc.



It was so so great! Probably one of the best concerts I’ve been to. He may not be as entertaining as Jamie Cullum, or as charming as John Mayer, but he is so down to earth and truehearted. I guess that’s why he is so popular in Hong Kong. We were stuck in this pretentious world every day. His music helps us to escape from it. No matter how short that time is, it still helps.

Oh, one more thing, Jason and the band kept throwing their guitar picks to the audience as souvenirs. I got one too. Gonna frame it.. haha

New Concept of Digital Music

 (information from www.yankodesign.com)

That’s a “Playlist Player,” made by designer Martin Skelly to bring the digital back to the roots of the tree, the vinyl record. I’m not going to sit here and tell you how much better vinyl sounds than other music, or how much more awesome records are than anything else. You already know that! What Martin Skelly is here to tell you is – listen to your music start to finish, in a record player setting, with the ability to spill beer on it. That is the gosh-honest truth, for real!


In the words given to us at YD, Martin Skelly lets us know specifically that this project is “based on the rich interactions of vinyl records and turns digital playlists into physical objects that you can touch, treasure, drop, lose or spill beer on.” This is awesome.

What this project actually is composed of is a (special) record player and five different color covered records, also of a special nature. Playlists of music are made by you on your computer, (Skelly suggests iTunes,) they are synced to the player with a memory stick, and are then ready to play. Each record represents a playlist. As the record is placed on the box, so too is the corresponding list ready to play.

Here’s where it gets weird or awesome, depending on your specific political view on how music should be listened to. When the music plays, a band of light can be seen emitting from the box and through the translucent record. The light advances from the outer rim toward the middle of the record, just like a pin would playing a real bit of vinyl. This light, however, represents the time left on the list rather than the track being played. Also the light shows you where you are, but the temptation to skip tracks, fast forward, or rewind, are eliminated by the lack of being able to do so. The idea is that just like a record, there are less distractions from the music due to the lack of ease in changing tracks.

Wild enough for you?

Definitely TRON-approved, in my book I’d say. Martin Skelly himself decrees the design reference to be “retro professional” and the materials to be “reminiscent of Seventies hi-fi design.” Spot on, good chap.
Keep them wheels a spinnin.

Designer: Martin Skelly

A song titled as 'Film'

Listening to a song by Aphex Twin called 'Film'.

Searched it on youtube and found many people use this song to accompany their personal edited clips. 
This song is really good as a score for a real life flim.
Yeah yeah... I know it is explicitly stated in the name of the song already...

Redefine 'Stupid'

What is smart? What is stupid?
There is no absolute answer.

Stupidity, is what a government want in their people, so no one would disagree.
Stupidity, is what a corporate want in their customers, so they would never stop buying.

'Get Stupid' is the hidden slogan.
Stupid means to have an empty mind.

Don't be stupid. Think, speak and act.



But then, what is being smart?
In the capitalist world we are living in, being smart means being efficient.
If everyone is 'smart', everything is gonna be pure boredom.

Certain level of stupidity, may result in better decisions.
We may be 'stupid'. But that's why we are having fun.

(This is bullshit, just watch the videos.)

Kings of Convenience in Hong Kong

這星期工作一浪接一浪，frustration一個接一個。唯一的娛樂就是Kings of Convenience這晚。

Opening Act有熟口熟面的Jin Wong，原來在雙年展的Bring Your Own Band見過。這次比上一次唱得好一點，也許上次在西九實在太冷。最後一首歌的演譯令我想起Stevie Griffin自彈自唱的唱腔，有趣。

Kings of Convenience曾經在Myspace發出告示要求觀眾專心聽歌，不要拍照。要拍也不要用閃光燈，也不要用單鏡反光，會制造噪音。對音樂認真的人，對聽眾也會有要求。不過為了滿足觀眾，30分鐘後他們擺 pose 讓大家拍照，連環閃光燈的效果有點像記召，有點誇張。

說實在，我並沒有很熟他們的歌，我只是個半桶水的fan。站在黑漆漆的人群裡，寧靜的空氣，兩把吉他，加上他們的歌聲，即使是沒有印象的歌，都足以把你的心神牢牢的抓著。前半段是較soft，後半段是比較好玩。Erlend 在後段整個人都 hyper 了，跳了他的照牌舞。數到我最喜歡的歌，始終是'Homesick'。

全企位的格局，累得要命，如果所有人都肯坐在地上會多好。

Sex On Fire

As you may know, Ole Scheeren is my tutor in this semester. We haven't met him in a while. Last Friday was his first time to look at our research stuff. We are pretty messed up and need to improve quite a lot.

No time for anything other then studio work.

Well, but music never stops even when I am working. Recently fell in love with another cover by Alex Cornell. Kings of Leon's Sex on Fire. His cover is nearly perfection.

No Distance Left to Run

Blur... 他們在2000年推出的精選大碟，封面上四個Julian Opie的肖像吸引了我，那時開始我才知道Blur的存在。不過始終沒有太注意他們的音樂，畢竟在他們紅透半邊天的時候，我不過是一個小學生。那時候我聽的不過是迪士尼的soundtracks，頂多就是BSB和Spice Girls那種pop group。

近年越來越對他們感興趣。當然，這和他們2009 reunion有關，宣傳和曝光都多了，自然引起注視。但更重要的，似乎是因為我到了20多歲，正正到了他們寫音樂時的那種年紀。聽著他們的音樂，聽到年輕人與年輕人之間的共鳴。無論在哪個年代，年輕人總要追求夢想，過程中難免有各種掙紮。

2009年，他們再度夾band，做了最後一場演唱會。過程被製作了這段記錄片《No Distance Left to Run》。很好的名子，完美的句號。

Almost Alice

At the end of the movie 'Alice in Wonderland', I heard that Avril Lavigne's song. It gives quite a contemporary rock feeling to the film. But her voice is quite annoying indeed.

I later found that there's a project called 'Almost Alice'. They invite a group of musicians to reinterpret the story by their music. Musicians include Franz Ferdinand, All-American Rejects, Plain White T's and some other indie bands. I am now listening to it and it is quite nice.

Give it a try, don't be fooled by the impression Avril Lavigne gave you. Her song is the worst on that album.

Pet Shop Boys

一直對Pet Shop Boys並不熟悉，名子倒有聽過，卻從未有留意。幾年前身處倫敦時見到他們的演唱會海報，身邊好友雀躍地表示若可以親身到場就好了。雖然有好友熏淘，但對於接觸新音樂，多數要自己親身發掘才會提起興趣。

要至2009年他們的最新專輯《Yes》推出，才第一次認真聽他們的音樂。再要至2009年的Brit Awards，看到他們和Lady Gaga和Brandon Flowers(The Killers) 的表演才真正知道他們的音樂和表演是怎樣一回事。這個年齡仍充滿活力迄立不倒，就知他們的功力不簡單。

單單看著他們的大碟Artwork，就知他們的演唱和舞台一定精彩。

My Favourite Youtube Musician

When you search for a song on Youtube, usually a lot of unofficial videos come up. A lot of them would be cover versions of the song. I found this musician when I searched for ‘Alicia Keys – No One’.

I have listened to his others covers and find that we share similar musical taste, which makes me even enjoy his music more. He usually just plays one simple instrument such as guitar or keyboard. His voice is incredible, a bit John Mayer like.

The best part of it, his mp3 can be downloaded at iLike and his homepage.
Try 'Cannonball' and 'Human' too. They are really nice.

His page: http://www.alexcornell.com/
Enjoy!

John Mayer要走的路

John Mayer是現今樂壇的一個重要的icon，可是你可不能把他放入任何一個Genre。Jazz？R&B？Soul？Alternative Rock？似乎都不能蓋括他的音樂，行行地把它當作Pop吧，反正都幾popular。

音樂界一向對這位四項格林美得獎者寄予厚望，以他的才華必能成為新一代音樂巨人。新專輯《Battle Studies》一出，外間的評論直指John Mayer的音樂越來越Pop，尤其新專輯找來Taylor Swift合唱更顯出這趨勢。誰不知一向自我的John Mayer直認自己故意走Pop路線，compromise並無不妥。並說自己很幸運，有最大的自由度做想做的事，同時得到大家的認同，生命裡除了音樂還有很多事要做。

有過人的才能，也不等如要肩負偉大的責任。John Mayer能自如地彈一手好結他，能寫感動人心的歌，也不代表他要走一條Bob Dylan走過的路。結果他選擇了做一件自我，又迎合大眾的事。

講到尾，能做自己喜歡做的就最幸褔。人生苦短，與其做應該做的，倒不如做自己想做的。

《Who Says》，沒有人可以告訴你應該做什麼。

Prepare for The Killers Live in HK

終於，紫色星空下的Royal Albert Hall落入手中。
每次到倫敦都希望落空，不能在Albert Hall看一場音樂會，現在唯有靠DVD止渴。

這個Concert有兩個主角，除了Royal Albert hall，當然就是The Killers。我沒有從一開始就喜歡Killers，他們的第一隻單曲，我更是之後才知道的。第一次認識他們是在電視上看到’All These Things That I’ve Done’ 的video，令人印象深刻的一段黑白西部片。那年稍後時間，看到他們在Live8London的演出，才開始喜歡聽他們的歌。

賭城，令人聯想起性感的showgirl、堆砌的榮華、機會主義大行其道的娛樂場所。在這裡沒有什麼是真實的，說像Dream，卻沒有Fantasy的感覺，倒不如說是Illusion。可是，來自賭城的Killers，卻是一隊踏踏實實的樂隊。簡單的編曲，直接的歌聲。他們的音樂裡有的是賭城的另一面，是西部沙漠的rawness。

在著重包裝和反應遲頓的美國巿場，Killers似乎找不到很明確的定位，反而在他鄉英國，他們的擁護者卻有一大堆，這也許是他們選擇在倫敦Royal Albert Hall拍攝他們第一隻Live Album的原因。

打開包裝，DVD的銀色booklet每頁印了一個不同紫色的圖形，用意不明，可是與通常是演唱會相片的DVD booklet比較，樂隊成功的塑造了我行我素的性格。

是時候為他們的香港演唱會溫書了。