Bitching about Singaporean Musicians

Erm...ok..now what I am going to talk about here has got nothing to do with what you see on TV or hear from the airwaves. Meaning I am not talking about iconized people like Step Sun or Kit Chan. I don't like those, but they deserve the credit. I am more an underground or alternative (term loosely used) kind of guy. I am not even going to touch on the likes of Superbands or Singapore Idols and I do not support these events for good personal reasons.

So that leaves me with pretty much the unsigned bands or musicians that I come to know or heard off. For now, there are a few bands that are slowly getting recognition like Electrico, Ronin etc.

What they have done, I think is a milestone for local musicians. However, there's this other group that sees these emerging bands as over rated, not worthy of musicians, posers and what's not.

Simple fact is this, THEY MADE IT! PERIOD!

We only have the rights to say either we like their style of music or not, to support or not..that's all. We re in no position to say they are good or not as we are first, not at their level, and second, defining what's good is subjective. Till one has proven to be of certain substance then can one be a valid critic. At least, these musicians dare to be who they want to be and not to be living on the fantasy and dreams of someone's else who already accomplished these.

Bitching about Singaporean Musicians

Erm...ok..now what I am going to talk about here has got nothing to do with what you see on TV or hear from the airwaves. Meaning I am not talking about iconized people like Step Sun or Kit Chan. I don't like those, but they deserve the credit. I am more an underground or alternative (term loosely used) kind of guy. I am not even going to touch on the likes of Superbands or Singapore Idols and I do not support these events for good personal reasons.

So that leaves me with pretty much the unsigned bands or musicians that I come to know or heard off. For now, there are a few bands that are slowly getting recognition like Electrico, Ronin etc.

What they have done, I think is a milestone for local musicians. However, there's this other group that sees these emerging bands as over rated, not worthy of musicians, posers and what's not.

Simple fact is this, THEY MADE IT! PERIOD!

We only have the rights to say either we like their style of music or not, to support or not..that's all. We re in no position to say they are good or not as we are first, not at their level, and second, defining what's good is subjective. Till one has proven to be of certain substance then can one be a valid critic. At least, these musicians dare to be who they want to be and not to be living on the fantasy and dreams of someone else who already accomplished these.

Been a while...scalloped guitar neck

Wow.. I can't believe this, the last time i set foot on this little cozy corner of mine was May last year, that is more than half a year ago. Hahaha...

alrite...let's see what has happened and what I would love to share during the past six months or so...

ok...there were these silly hypes, articles concerning bloggers and what they do or did on their blog. Ah nah...those like I said are silly little issues. Bottomline is that the internet is a public domain and whatever that is posted is meant for public viewing, unless secured in some ways. These people post their feelings, pictures and etc. basically to share, get attention or merely just to entertain whoever that comes along. If these people are concern about privacy, then they wouldn't be blogging in the first place. So what's the big deal? Opps...spoke too much already...

Ok...getting down to what usually do here, unload my crap in the hope that you won't wreak with my crap.

I am generally a guitar player, electric, nylon string or steel string folk etc. Of course my favorite will always be a Stratocaster with a scalloped fretboard. The ongoing discussion on the pros and cons of scalloped fretboard versus a normal fretboard has always been around since God knows when. So here're my little one penny worth of opinions in short.

1. Control of vibrato is definitely a plus point as there's no contact between the fretted string and the fretboard. Result of this is greater sustain and wider vibrator.

2. Scalloped frets are indeed harder to play when it comes to speed, because the strings actually cuts into the flesh, and one needs practice in order to get use to the fretboard and gain better control.

3. Chances of notes going off is high if one is not careful and exert too much pressure on the string, causing the string to bend into the scalloped area, hence a change in pitch. However, this flaw can be a plus if one knows how to use it to the fullest. Get the hint?

Ok ... pretty short blog after a long break...

Kiss's Rock The Nation Live!, Whitesnake's Live 2006 DVDs

Was watching both the DVDs over the past couple of weeks. Wow!...these guys are old, but they still have it. Playing their classics and pounding the music out of their passionate souls.

These are true inspirations as far as I am concern. Why? They Walk the Walk then Talk the Talk.

One thing remains true, audience and fans can tell where they are coming from. These legends knows it and they have to be honest about it. If one is to take note, most of these legends were mere mortals trying to do what they like and enjoy doing so.

Despite the fame, fortune, glamour and status, these people knew where to draw the line at every angle, and where passion and business can mix.

Kiss is one such innovative band. From the start it was clear, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley already had a vision. They wanted to brand themselves as entertainer more than musicians. Eventually, the band grew larger than hell. Merchandise, various franchises and massive marketing made the band Kiss into a major business empire.

But wait a minute...out of all these, what is the core? What is the main drive? It was playing music itself and entertaining people that drove them. They didn't forget people were drawn to them because of their music and their passion to perform.

You will always hear or read that they are always having fun and enjoying what they are doing. That's the bottomline. It was through these that made them form mere mortals to living legends. Oh yes, and not forgetting humble intellectuality.

Whitesnake is another band that has been around since the early 80s. Despite being through constant changes in the entire lineup, Coverdale, the frontman and brainchild, was still able maintain the sound and quality that people can identify as Whitesnake's own. Again, there have been difficulties, especially in this case, where members are changing and you have a job to keep a constant. How is it possible that it maintained and still is one of the best bands of all time? In my opinion, is the drive from your heart that ran on the right passion fuel .

Being an inspiration, is being able to make positive changes in other people's lives, motivate people to take that much bolder step into the unknown, and yet in the end, it is not you who knew of your influence, but it's others. You just do what you knew is true and honest.

The list goes on...but this are the two bands I would like to give tribute to for now.


Check out their DVDs, my rating is " They are still good!"

Improvisation?

Improvisation is a common term used in music for spotaneous musical reaction. What it means basically is playing a melody on the spot over a given chord progression or situation.

So what does improvisation do to you? Well, one thing, music are written, in my opinion, out of improvisation. It also helps you(or at least to me) to improve musically, or increases your chordal sensitivity. Chords are like the background in a picture and the notes or melody over the chord progression are the garnishes and themes.

However, it's really subjective to individual taste and preferences. Some like fast notes, some like legato feels, some like clssical phrases, some prefer fewer notes, so may I ask, who is right and who is wrong? Answer is no one.

Improvisation enhances two things, one is personal style and character, the other, is composition ability.

Listen to Jazz and live music, most of the time, improvisation saves asses and/or give a new lease of life to a particular piece of music.

Dream Theater Live In Singapore 27 Jan 06 @ Singapore Indoor Stadium

Well well, it's about time some top class metal act come play in Singapore. These couple of years, many metal/rock icons have come and gone, from Bon Jovi to Def Leppard, Malmsteen to Vai, etc...However, Dream Theater (DT)'s gig was a highly anticiapted one, or so I thought. Perhaps it was a reaction to their cancellation of the gig last year, I don't know, but attendance was really disappointing. It was three quarter filled to my visual judgement.

I am just going to cut the story short, although the band was technically precise, there were a few flaws in their performance here and there. One of course was the sound, during their first number, the guitars and bass were totally overpowered by the drums and the keyboards especially. Interaction with the audience is minimal, as compared to Metallica, Bon Jovi and Deep Purple etc. Even Kitaro and Yanni had more interaction with the audience when they were here.

Vocalist was lost in the midst, I believed he forgotten or was over powered by the drums. There was also a serious lack of energy, this is the first time, I see a metal gig with a top class act that people actually got tired and sat down, I was one of them. I never did that in my life for major metal acts' gig. The set list wasn't very exciting in my opinion. Seems like they just wanted to get it over and done with.

All is not lost though, Portnoy was entertaining enough with his antics, and also, the show case of their slower numbers actually had hints of Pink Floyd's influence. The encore, Pull Me Under was good...that was a saving grace.

Overall, it's an enjoyable gig, but definitely not the best I have seen and also not the most memorable. They are capable of doing better. My ratings based on entertaining value is 6/10. Simple reason is that I didn't had as much fun as I did with Metallica, Bon Jovi, Malmsteen, Vai and also not forgetting Deep Purple and Black Sabbath.

Why I wrote what I wrote.

Hello everyone, pardon me for my late posting as I was, as usual, caught with many things in life. But now, I am able to squeeze out some moments to address some thoughts.

First of all, I would just want to thank you, friends, who have visited my humble blog from time to time and given me valuable feedbacks and enquiries. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!

With that done, I would like to address certain issues with regards to this little blog. I used to have another blog where I just bitched, complained and sweared at every thing that bugged me. I realised that it gets nothing done and I sincerely apologize for not being able to fullfill some of your desires to read about such generics. My objective here is to share, and perhaps put my two-cent worth in certain issues or knowledge relating to music.

Now, back to music.

I was watching Channel News Asia, where they featured the music festival in China. It was the biggest musical instrument exhibition in Asia. Well, the scale was grand when I saw it in the box. However, there were certain pointers that were highlighted during the festival.

One of which is "Commercialism does not necessary mean giving up your soul or style of music." This makes perfect sense and this is what many bands fails to do. They want to do what other bands are doing and that have proven success. However, what these bands failed to realised is that they are successful not because they are the same as others, but they were different. The worst thing a band can do is attempting to walk in the shadow of another band. Take a good look at Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Kiss, Yngwie Malmsteen, Rainbow, Madonna, Joan Jett, The Kat, Dream Theater, Stain, Creed, Limp Biskit, Air Supply, Elvis Presley, Eric Clapton, Frank Sinatra, Teresa Teng, Jackie Cheung, Anita Mui, Faye Wong, Run DMC, Prodigy, etc. You will realised that these musicians or stars are successful because they dare to be different.

It does not matter what generes, crossed generes or sub-generes, but you better be honest be what you want to say or portray. It doesn't matter how many notes you have in a bar, or how fast or odd your meter ticks. It's what you want to do. As long as you have an identity, that's what matters. Commercialization is basically musician's maturity from the underground to the mainstream and so on. Again, for a musician, Rock Stardom, "Sex, Drugs and Rock And Roll", fame and do not really mix well here if you think sensibly.

I guess so, it's really silly to think that by playing less notes, less technicality, simpler lyrics guarantees you the ticket to commercial success. Listen to the commercial radio, you will realised how many songs that are really difficult playing on the radio.
If you are good at what you do, do it right, do it truthfully, and sometimes with a stroke of luck, rewards will come.

Take some time to think about it...

A darkened composer....

As of late, life and music has taken their fair share of elevations and descents out of my wits. Oh well, you just got to travel the treacherous road instead of the highway sometimes. At least, I am back on my track(almost), still living and that is what counts.

Since my teens, I have always been a fan of orchersteral music, be it classical or modern contemporary pieces. Especially when I am watching a movie, I always pay attention to the soundtrack. Some big names in this line includes John Barry (Dances With Wolf, James Bond), Jerry Goldsmith (Total Recall) and who can forget John Williams (E.T., Jaws, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Superman). These hollywood heavyweights have one common trait- A bright, celebrated sound. Then lurking in a corner, there's one composer that has a different approach to film scoring. This composer is Mr Danny Elfman.

I started to take note of his style when I started watching Tim Burton's films. I started with Bettlejuice and later on, Batman, Nightbreed, Nightmare Before Christmas, Flubber, Mars Attack and the most recent, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.

What's unique about Mr Elfman's music is that, besides being really conventional, he was able to bring out the contrast between playfulness, happiness, sadness, darkness and a whole series of other feels which what other composer till this date, in my opinion, still fails to do. However, he has a very dark, cynical visions in his music, which I think is perfect for Tim Burton's style in films.

Take for e.g. the recent Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, if you realise, the music and songs in the movie, all have a mischievous nature and yet fun, however then it was mysterious and later bright again. It's with all these elememts that his music is so unique as compared to other contemporary composers.

If you have watch Bateman and Batman Returns, you will realise there is a somehow gothic yet grand style with a sense of excitement, especially in the main theme.

He is truly one genius, a Darkenend Composer.....

http://elfman.filmmusic.com/

Enjoy...