Posted 1 year, 7 months ago at 11:52 am. 0 comments
Image by Adam
It first came to my attention when my friend posted a picture he shot using iPhone onto his Flickr. The photo above pretty says it all. And then I started seeing my friends talking about this on Facebook. All of a sudden, this hidden concert came out of his closet.
Anyway, I am not going to pay 500 rmb for a Daft Punk show, which might not be much better than some clubs playing Daft Punk. After all I am not a huge fan of Daft Punk.
And today Pitchfork posted an article debunking the whole Daft Punk show in Shanghai calling it a scam. If it turns out to be a hoax, I will say it’s the best scam ever pulled in Shanghai. Everything looks real here, the flier, the website, etc. How come it’s not real?
I called the number showed on the flier, but nobody answered the phone, nor was it off, which is quite weird.
Well, in the end I still can’t be too sure about the whole thing. Is it real or not? We’ll see.
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago at 9:52 am. 0 comments
I was asked by one editors from a major portal website about my predictions on the GRAMMY outcomes. Here is the list.
(Record Of The Year）
Paper Planes M.I.A
(Album Of The Year)
Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends》Coldplay
(Song Of The Year)
I’m Yours Jason Mraz
(Best New Artist)
Duffy
(Best Female Pop Vocal Performance)
I Kissed A Girl Katy Perry
(Best Male Pop Vocal Performance)
I’m Yours Jason Mraz
(Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals)
Viva La Vida Coldplay
(Best Pop Vocal Album)
Long Road Out Of Eden Eagles
(Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance)
Gravity John Mayer
(Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals)
Rock N Roll Train AC/DC
(Best Rock Song)
Sex On Fire Kings Of Leon
(Best Rock Album)
Death Magnetic Metallica
(Best Alternative Music Album)
Evil UrgesMy Morning Jacket
(Best Female R&B Vocal Performance)
Need U Bad Jazmine Sullivan
(Best Male R&B Vocal Performance)
Miss Independent Ne-Yo
(Best Rap Solo Performance)
A Milli Lil Wayne
(Best Rap Album)
Tha Carter III Lil Wayne
I sort of did the work quite unthoroughly. It’s a mix of my opinion and my predictions as well. I did it just for fun. At the end of today we will know if I hit the bull’s eye.
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago at 3:56 pm. 1 comment
It’s disputable to say that the blogs are dead, but it’s also true that personal blogs are giving ways to more professional site-like blogs. Suddenly you are either a professional blogger or you are out. However, there is one substitute for personal blogs – Twitter. The microblogging tool didn’t catch my attention when I was exposed to it at first, but now I haven’t change my idea completely.
I don’t see much sense in updating a blog constantly with small pieces of article where you can post a twitter online, which not only saves time, but also is easier to follow. What I am gonna do is that I am going to shift more than 50% of my blog content to the twitter account of Ultimusic. In that case, I am not gonna post lengthy reviews, which will be posted on the main site occassionally. More singles with download links will be offered at Twitter. I will also write succinctly about the music I am currently listening too. In all, there will be a lot of updates with fewer words.
However, I am still going to write my blog, but only something worth elaborating. Though I really want to diversify the content, I still want to keep it personal and musical. It’s a good thing to mix music and politics, but that’s not really something you can find on a daily basis.
This is the biggest transformation I had about my blogs. It’s not like moving from one host to another. It’s kind of revolutionary too me. I haven’t already miss a great opportunity and now everyone is sort of using Twitter as a blogging platform.
Finally the theme will be changed soon. I am currently looking for some aspirations online. I find the current theme not compact enough.
The whole process will take some time. I’d like to give it a go before I close my blog for good.
Oh yes. Happy New year to everyone who bothers coming here. I’ll be off to Guilin tomorrow. I might as well take advantage of the economic slump to refurnish my blog. I wish you a prosperous new year. I am expecting more music in the next year.
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago at 3:34 pm. 0 comments
It must be a long time. When I opened Wordpress today, I got a brand new platform. For that I am gonna write something.
Yeah. I was being lazy and I just didn’t know where this blog is going. Obviously I can’t be a full-time blogger and I can’t compete with thousands of mp3 blogs out there. I still want this blog to be unique, but without countless blogs, being unique is something you could only wish for. I need some time to figure that out.
At the meantime I’d like to say something about Leon Jackson, winner of the X Factor. He is, with all due respect, one of the worst winners along with Steve Brookstein. He’s a shame for the show by all means. And Leona Lewis is an exception.
I just finished listening to his debut album, which flopped compared with Leona Lewis’ debut. I have to admit the album is decent and I think a lot of work has been put into the album especially the vocal training and stuff. It came out just right. You would hear the difference between When You Believe, which is also included in the album and the rest of the album.
What can Leon Jackson did was to emulate another mellow singer Michael Buble. One interesting twist is that Michael Buble invited Leon Jackson onto the stage. Right Now has the very similar sound with Michael Buble’s music, though Leon Jackson’s pop flair make it more accessible.
He did change a lot as such that I suspect a ghost singer was involved, but with current technology you can turn anyone’s voice into something else, the best example being T-Pain.
It has been reported that Leon Jackson is having a strained relation with Simon Cowell. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is dropped by the label. Let’s face it. His winning was the most unexpected of all time. His singing is so awful that I can’t listen to When You Believe one more time.
I said a lot bad about him and I am not reversing what I said. I just feel somehow that the album is good independent from how he is. His career is still doomed. The newly-crowned Alexandra looks fine, but I still favor the group JLS. Actually I don’t need another Leona Lewis, but another Another Level or Damage would be great.
Posted 1 year, 9 months ago at 3:03 pm. 0 comments
It’s a very much belated post in every senses. I was too lazy busy to make any entry this week and this very post is about a very old song. Recently the third single of MGMT’s debut album Kids enjoys a surge in popularity in UK. It beat the first single Time To Pretend in both chart life and pole position.
Interestingly Time To Pretend was featured in a movie while Kids was featured in American Teen. The song actually is very similar to Time To Pretend in the sense that they both use synth considerably as their main instruments arrangement, but they don’t resemble in any other aspects.
I enjoyed Time To Pretend as much as Kids. Both of them grow on me in the end, and they are both my favorites of 2008, but I still prefer latter. For me Time To Pretend is only good because the opening is spectacular and Kids excels at both its beats and melody. Everytime the song comes up, I would stop what I am doing to be attentive to the song. The chorus is so enticing that I wish it would never end. It still haunts you when it comes to and end. I am simply under its spell.
The album became one of the few album which are legally sold in China. Though I still doubt the reception of the album among fellow citizens, I laud the idea of getting this cd here.
Posted 1 year, 9 months ago at 2:34 pm. 0 comments
I genuinely feel that Ne-Yo’s second album was a flop and his third one is brilliant. Two massive hits have come off the album, Closer and Miss Independent. It seems a lot like Mariah Carey’s comeback after Glitter.
However, both of the two hits are mid to uptempo dance anthems, which deviated from the usual ballad style r&b songs of Ne-Yo. They are cool, but I think a huge ballad would even make the album more appealing.
Now the third single of the new album Year Of The Gentleman, which was improperly named Mad, is a powerful one, which is, in my opinion, on a par with his classic So Sick. The song is so clean cut and polished. The piano arrangement is nice, though a bit conventional, but you can’t really blame him for making a piano ballad, right? The chorus is smooth and exquisite.
The song debuted in Bubbling Under. I expect to see it in the Hot 100 in the following weeks. The song will be heavily promoted in the next couple of weeks when the video will be released and probably will see a physical release in UK.
Posted 1 year, 9 months ago at 4:57 pm. 0 comments
It’s disheartening to see that Robin Thicke’s new album isn’t as successful as his last album, which was a career-wise breakthrough.
New album in some ways is defective. The music is conventional. I wasn’t very surprised by it, but kind of amazed by this blue-eye soul singer.
I think choosing The Sweetest Love as the second single is a good idea. I enjoyed the first single Magical, which is a total retro track. The Sweetest Love is a more modern track. If Magical somehow is out of Robin Thicke’s comfort zone, The Sweetest Love is his musical forte. Piano goes quite well with Robin Thicke’s performance. Nice choice for a wedding, isn’t it?
I was intrigued by the catchy melody. I feel the album is good, but doesn’t offer many songs which would give a very good impression.
I don’t understand why the song doesn’t get much support. It has all the chart material, but you can’t see it yet on the Hot 100. Anyway let’s just enjoy the beauty the song brings.
Posted 1 year, 9 months ago at 1:58 pm. 0 comments
Before Heartless was released, Love Lockdown was touted as a breakthrough track for Kanye West in the way that he sings through the song rather than rap along, but then you shouldn’t it rap, right? But somehow I feel the song a bit anemic. And then out came Heartless.
One reviewer that I read said this song wasn’t as “wow” as Heartless. I took it as a negative review. Surprisingly the track is quite a solid one, a great single I may say.
I always felt that Love Lockdown is experimental, which is not going to represent the whole album, but Heartless is a middle of road approach to his new album. It’s not excessively too hiphop or pop. It’s a very nice track with nice and catchy hook and tune. Auto-tune was used quite extensively through out the album, but not on a par with T-Pain.
For now it’s my favorite track on the album, but unfortunately maybe number 4 is the high place it could get.
Posted 1 year, 9 months ago at 4:55 pm. 1 comment
Today The Global Times of China published an article on Guns N’ Roses’ new album, yet again making a non-issue an issue.
In my previous post I already predicted the similar reaction. Last time iTunes Store was facing charges for publishing a pro-independence album on its website.
I think this is totally unnecessary and embarrassing. The title was announced years ago, and itself is confusing at its best. Why does the paper think that the combination of China and democracy is an insult? Aren’t we promoting China-styled democracy? It’s a slap on its own face. The report says that it enrages Chinese listeners, but obviously I am not offended and I think most of Chinese rock music fans don’t mind it. I have seen more sensitive lyrics from Chinese indie bands.
The silliest part is that they not only couldn’t discredit GNR, but also promote their music in China. I can say that now more people want to download their “banned in China” music.
Posted 1 year, 9 months ago at 2:33 pm. 1 comment
If the title is misleading, I am sorry about that. There is nothing political here, at least not explicitly. I am talking about the Gun N’ Roses’ new album Chinese Democracy. However I am interested in the whole concept about the album too. The title was announced while I was still listening to BBC Chinese service a decade ago. I find the name quite confusing. Normally it should be understood as the democracy in China, which is quite nonexistent and furthermore it could mean something more figurative. I was trying to search for any information on the background of the title, but to no avail.
Now let’s talk about the music here. Honestly I hadn’t listened to any Guns N’ Roses’ music before (I might have overheard something here and there). Sometimes I even thought that they were English. So I am here to judge the album, let alone to do a parallel comparison. However that’s why I am suitable for this review exactly. The first impression is most important.
I’m gonna cut to the chase. The album is good (Excuse me for my plain word). The sound is obviously veteran rock. It’s like the new Indiana Jones movie, newly shot but look as if it had been shot in the 70s. I agree with someone saying that it would had been a lot better and successful had it been released ten years ago. Probably Chinese Democracy is the result of them running out of money, but it can’t change the fact that the album is decently good and properly versatile. It’s not boring and it caters to both the new generation and the old one.
I am interested to see how the Chinese media cover the album news. It’s clearly not banned, but the reports will be meager and succint. It already caused a controversy in Hong Kong when TVB rejected to air the commercial for the album because of its sensitive theme. I haven’t fully reviewed the lyrics, and I already heard Falun Gong. This is heavy-weight.