foreword

Dear Altec Lansing,

When I bought your ATP3 2.1 computer speaker model as an upgrade from some crappy 2.0 speakers that came with my then-PC I felt bliss – not only was I now able to blast my speakers when it was raining (which I absolutely love and my mom absolutely hates), it didn’t start to distort and feel as if they might explode at any time. It was clear, and it had just the right frequency response for me. It bordered on perfect.

Then I blew it up when I tried playing distorted guitar on them – a really dumb thing on my part, I admit.

So began my quest for the next pair of perfect Altec Lansing speakers – I’ve bought Sonic Gear and Creative speakers for friends and they just never seemed to sound satisfactory, and from experience I was pretty much loyal to your brand. The IT fair arrived and I quickly snagged up one of your newer models that looked so similar to my previous pair – I was really excited about going home and trying them out.

My verdict? Altec Lansing VS4121: most likely designed when the engineer was high on something. Don’t get me wrong, they’re not crappy or anything. They can sound perfect – but only when they’re hovering in mid air. I’m not gonna go into the technical stuff, basically when placed on the table the 500Hz range are so boosted the sound pretty much borders on unlistenable.

Sold it at a loss. Was so traumatized I think I went about half a year without speakers. Painful.

Learnt my lesson, decided if I wanted to buy speakers I was happy with I needed to test them in a quieter environment (compared to the fair). Today I went down to Stereo Electronics (which is an awesome shop that lets you try every pair of earphones that they sell) and painstakingly tested every pair of Altec Lansing speakers that they stocked. Finally settled on a UFO-looking pair, got excited again and went home.

Verdict? The Altec Lansing FX3021 expressionist PLUS model: Sounds great…… but who builds a subwoofer with loose parts that vibrate and make noise when music is playing?!?!?? The wires are also more flimsy, and sometimes far too short. I had to dig up an old cable to connect my computer to the sub.

So Altec Lansing, I don’t know what happened to you and I don’t really care anymore – I’m bycotting you after this pair of speakers. Never again will you have your wares on my table. And floor.

atee

IMOGEN HEAP 29TH MARCH!!!!!!!!!!

IMOGEN HEAP 29TH MARCH!!!!!!!!!!

IMOGEN HEAP 29TH MARCH!!!!!!!!!!

IMOGEN HEAP 29TH MARCH!!!!!!!!!!

I realize when I’m excited my posts pretty much come in the same format.

They’re staging Lion King in Singapore!!!!!!

They’re staging Lion King in Singapore!!!!!!

They’re staging Lion King in Singapore!!!!!!

They’re staging Lion King in Singapore!!!!!!

Have you heard?

They’re staging Lion King in Singapore!!!!!!

So last Thursday night was the Jason Mraz concert. I can’t say it was fantastic, although Henny was all jumpy and making weird noises. The only exciting moment for me was when the brass trio came over to where our seats were, waited, and suddenly Jason Mraz was pointing in our direction and they started playing. I was pretending to play the saxophone beside the saxophone man and looking quite like an idiot, but it was fun.

But back to the concert itself. Most of the songs played were from the newest album We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things which has got a more laid back, groovy sort of feel on most of its tracks – albeit a little too groovy for my liking – and were performed pretty much similarly to the album. Lucky was kind of odd, getting an artiste who sings a whole different genre to duet with him was not a very good decision on the organizers’ part – I can think of a load of local singers off the top of my head who could have done it more comfortably, and suitably. I guess the organizers just don’t know who they are, and don’t really care either. A good performance from her though.

Live High made me feel as if I were in the middle of a chuch service.

When he played I’m Yours I was going mad, not because of the song but because of the crazy number of cameras that were out for that song! I wish I could put up a picture of the spectacle up, it was if someone had lit up the indoor stadium floors with stardust – and I am not exaggerating. It’s like the hats people are going,”Oh gosh that’s the song we paid $145 for, quick record it down so we can watch it for 2 hours at home later to get our money’s worth!”

Seriously – what’s up with all the hats!

Frankly I much preferred his older stuff. You and I both had a nice start to it, The Remedy was awesome but I couldn’t really hear him with the audience screaming out the chorus of one of the few songs they could sing to, Sleeping to Dream was nice… Oh and Mr Curiosity was a big bonus. Nice.

I was kind of wishing he would play a couple of songs alone, or with Toca only – that is the part of watching singer-songwriters that I have come to love, that raw energy and being able to slow down, speed up or pause whenever you liked – but that was not to be.

Well overall it was okay. Worth the $88 seats, though I wouldn’t pay more for it. I still regret not going for his Esplanade concert a few years back, when he was playing in an acoustic setting.

Next up is the Indigo Girls, that I’m looking forward to! This is a go-broke-with-concerts year. Thought I’d stop at three, and then Rachael Yamagata springs up – still trying to decide if I should watch her again. Time to get a job.

 I’d always thought I’d seen most of it – I mean, the only reason why I started taking interest in her songs was because I happened to stumble upon a bootleg of one of her songs, recorded off someone’s tape recorder while pushing other people around in a free-standing arena in a particular state. I’d heard some of her studio tracks before, but as well-written as her words were it seemed a little boring. But her live performances, surely they can take your breath away.

And so I thought I’d seen and heard most of it, after seeing her live performances on youtube, after having access to loads of bootlegs from her concerts that have occured within a range of 20 years, after hearing them so many times. I did wonder how I’d feel to actually see her perform right here in Singapore – would the magic have been taken away by all that I have already been exposed to?

Well I needn’t have worried. The moment she walked out on stage with the guitar and started talking I knew it would be different. I have heard recordings where people were cheering to every witty line, every line hinting at mockery towards the way the world is working, and here was a half-filled theatre containing people who seemed half-dead to the point where she thought we didn’t really understand the English language – “the grass is always greener… do you have that phrase in your country?” – but it was different. She was standing about 6 metres away (maybe 7, I’m bad with distances) and playing a two-hour concert in my country, in front of me. It was different. And it was mind-blowing. My brains splattered.

I’ve never seen someone rock out on an acoustic guitar as hard as she does, and I don’t think I ever will anyone else. I salute whoever had the courage to bring her in to this sad sad country, because it was an experience of a lifetime.

I can’t say that I’ll die happy now, but I am happy.

Now to go for a Tori Amos concert.

If you haven’t heard about it already, you will now. Ani Difranco in Singapore for the first time, I didn’t even dare dream it. I’d have been unsalvagably ecstatic a few years ago, but now it’s like the calm water of a swamp… sort of. I’m looking forward to it (obviously), and if that wasn’t enough… There’s the Indigo Girls coming down for Mosaic. It’s so awesome that I’m in awe.

It’s a nice cool Christmas Day, I can’t taste the food I eat at all and have to have a tissue stuffed up my nose (both my nostrils) perpetually. Hallelujah.

Playing a full band set at WeekendTRIP this Saturday at 7pm at the Youth Park (scape), alongside Aurigami, Indus Gendi and Angels are Architects.

Be there or be rectangular.

Third Eye Blind: wonderful, wonderful music. Timeless, catchy, and drug induced, I’m assuming – but beautiful. It makes me want to go to that  really nice place that they get to go to. I’m living in a mirror, they get to be holograms.

The sky was gold, it was rose
I was taking sips of it through my nose
And I wish I could get back there
Someplace back there, in the place we used to start

Okay I just had to post this. Mei and I were talking about Hanson, and we were watching their big hit ‘Mmmbop’s video on youtube, made when they were still young, then Mei started commenting…

Mei:
wads with the hairrr
they shld raise a english cocker spaniel
add one more to the family

Hahahahahaha.

Anyway, we just renewed the ‘rental’ for this domain. Gosh, it’s a pain to my wallet. We’re not using it to the max, so if there’s anyone at all who wants a space on here, please let us know! We’d gladly help. Yea. Okay back to youtube-ing the cocker spaniel boys.

Folk gets to me. It’s not most people’s cup of tea, but it gets to me. If I mentioned rawness in music you might think along the lines of maybe the emotional screams of artists like The Used, the Foo Fighters, words of Marilyn Manson maybe, or the nakedness of people on MTV (ha.ha)… But the rawness of good acoustic folk music is so different from all those. It’s really, really RAW.

But I’ll get straight to the point. Introducing a guy (who only had one track in my iTunes, which I liked a lot and I’m wondering why I never did check out his other stuff sooner) who’s pretty darned underrated in the industry, David Gray.

So what about David Gray? Well, he’s awesome with words. Very good words, not your everyday cliched kind. His music is pretty good too – and he’s a great performer live. He tends to wobble his head around when he sings though, but that’s not the point. Check him out over at his official site, and also give him a listen at his myspace. You may have heard of Babylon, it’s the song I’d been hooked on for quite a while, before moving on to see what else he’d got.

Sorry for such a brief review, I got a bit annoyed when I couldn’t find nice pictures of him playing live, or when I found the perfect ones, they couldn’t be used – apparently flickr has some copyright thing going on. Darn. Just go give him a listen, you might just like his stuff. There’ve been some very fortunate people who I made listen. Heheheh.

But who knows what’s waiting
In the wings of time
Dry your eyes
We’re gonna go where we can shine