Continue reading »]]> This post is a translation of the 15th part in a series of music reviews by my best friend Vũ Lâm Đại (Ki) and his friend Syka Lê Vy (Ka) on their Facebook accounts.

Link to Youtube Playlist: click HERE.

Ki: Because Ka’s birthday is this month, she wanted the playlist to have somewhat of a theme. Based on her (currently) refreshingly carefree laptop-hugging and movie-watching state, the theme is: movie soundtracks. They weren’t necessarily written for the movies, but we happened to hear them from a movie and were impressed. We can’t say they’re “the best of soundtracks” or something along that line, they’re just random choices that we recollect when thinking of the movies we’ve watched.

We hope that through this playlist, those of you who have seen these movies will like the songs a little bit more, and those who haven’t will perhaps find some interest in watching the movies after listening to the music?

P/S: Happy Birthday, Ka. We love you, mwah!

The Moldy Peaches – Anyone Else But You [movie: Juno (2007)]: Juno is a famous teen movie that I’m sure most of us have seen or heard of. In the final scene, the two main characters sit in front of the house, playing the guitar and singing, the camera zooms out and concludes with a gentle kiss. Such happy ending. This song also brings back many personal memories from years ago.

Gene Kelly – Singing In The Rain [movies: Singing In The Rain (1952) and A Clockwork Orange (1971)]: This song with its genteel and life-loving melody left a strong impression on me not from the movie Singing in the Rain (1952) but from a rather violent rape scene in A Clockwork Orange (1971). There are many debatable scenes in A Clockwork Orange that made the movie censored for a long time in the UK, the most infamous of them is the scene where the main antagonist Alex and his gang violently raped a woman in front of her husband while joyously singing “Singing in the Rain”. In fact, every time I hear this pure-hearted song to the part “I’m ready for love”, I’m reminded of Alex’s face. Little is known that Gene Kelly, this song’s singer, had refused to talk to director McDowell of A Clockwork Orange after watching the movie.

Urge Overkill – Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon [movie: Pulp Fiction (1994)]: It’s really hard to listen to this song without thinking of Uma Thurman’s famous dance in Pulp Fiction (1994). This scene represents the entire movie: a soup of pop culture, sex, violence and death. It can be as simple as a dance and as elusive as the abyss that is waiting for Mia and Vinnie, when Mia found heroin in Vinnie’s pocket (that she mistook for coke) and Vinnie found Mia dead by his coat. The line “Girl, you’ll be a woman soon” ends right when Mia collapsed carries more than one meaning: pity Mia because she can’t become a woman, or happy for her because she can be free to do what she wants instead of her current marriage.

Simple Minds - Don’t You (Forget About Me) [movie: The Breakfast Club (1985)]: Perhaps I don’t need to say much about this famous song. Any fan of John Hughes or the 80′s certainly remembers the soundtracks of The Breakfast Club (1985), the 5 characters that represent 5 different groups: The Princess, The Jock, The Criminal, The Brain and The Basket Case, and the song hát Don’t You (Forget about Me). It was even voted as the song of the 80s teenagers, those who were not yet independent in life with future goals and familial burdens.

This song was also mentioned in the movie Pitch Perfect of last year, which is also pretty good.

Michael Andrews & Gary Jules – Mad World [phim: Donnie Darko (2001)]: The first few notes of “Mad World” start near the end of the movie, after Donnie sacrificed himself to close the extra dimension and save the universe. The camera rolls slowly, unveiling the emotions on each character: anxious, troubled and appalled by what has happened, although it happened like a dream. Orzabal’s lyrics soaked in the piano not only describes Donnie’s despair but also reflects Donnie’s own voice from under his grave. [Mai: Donnie Darko is the only movie I've seen in this list, and the rabbit scared the world out of me so I will never watch it again, but to me Mad World is actually not that gloomy, the despair does not lie in one's death but in realizing the circuitousness of a meaningless life. Thus, Donnie was content to sacrifice because his sacrifice gives meaning to his life. Maybe.]

UNKLE feat. Ian Astbury – When Things Explode [movie: Person of Interest Season 1 (2011)]: Person of Interest is one of the few TV shows whose OST I download (I download more movie soundtracks). It’s really true that the film can be so much better if the soundtrack is well chosen (of course there are exceptions like Twilight [Mai: I don't like Twilight soundtrack, and I'd be caught dead watching Twilight]) This song comes on at the end of episode 10 when Reese goes to see Finch while bloodied by a shot and Carter caught up to him. [Mai: Ka seems to be watching quite a few shooting and bloody stuff...] The three protagonists meet face to face, not hiding behind helmets or anonymous calls. It’s like a meeting of friends who became friends through online social networks, when you meet them, you realize that beneath the made-up identities are humans who you can actually trust and befriend.

The Doors – The End [movie: Apocalypse Now (1979)]: The opening scene is dressed in a deadly crimson with the silhouette and the sound of a helicopter flying across the Mekong river, rows of nipa palms burning in bomb fire [Mai: poor nipa palms... ], and The End begins in Jim Morrison’s haunting voice: “This is the end. Beautiful friend. This is the end. My only friend, the end..”

Did you know, in Saigon there’s a club named Apocalypse Now, around 3-4 AM, they turn on this song to prepare for closing.

Clint Mansell - Lux Aeterna [movie: Requiem For a Dream (2000)]: My last pick for May Playlist is the masterpiece Lux Aeterna composed by Clint Mansell. I’m sure many of you have heard it (I can’t remember if I’d featured it in previous playlists [Mai: No, I don't think Ka did]), if not, you probably have heard of the movie Requiem for a Dream, which shares the same director with Black Swan and The Fountain (his name is Darren Aronofsky). After this movie, the song Lux Aeterna gained fame, it was even remixed for the trailer of “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” under the name “Requiem for a Tower”.

I really look forward to the movie Noah (2014) with the re-collaboration between Darren and Clint. Who knows what musical party they have in store for us.

Slowdive – Blue Skied An’ Clear [movie: Mysterious Skin (2004)]: The movie’s heinous content (surrounding the topic of child molestation) is told through hazy screens and dreamy melodies by Slowdive, Cocteau Twins and Sigur Rós – a kind of contradicting art, a “mysterious skin” to be peeled off along the storyline, to intensify the bitterness of the truth it cloaks.

Caetano Veloso – Cucurrucucu Paloma [movie: Happy Together (1997) anh Habla Con Ella (2002)]: When she left him, in the house with opened windows, there’s only the pigeon’s currucucu as if crying for him. The song is played at the end of Happy Together when Lê Diệu Huy stands under the Iguazu fall without his lover [Mai: I haven't seen this movie, and there's a bit ambiguity in Ki's description here: was he standing at the base of the waterfall but on the ground and dry, or was he under the water, with water running on his head? UPDATE: in Ki's exact (but translated) words: OMG if someone stands under the Iguazu fall to let water run on his head he would break his neck and flat out dead.], and at the outdoor party in Habla Con Ella, when Marco silently cries when he hears the song, his feelings burden his heart with no outlet. The sadness in the song is woven by the velvety voice of Brazilian legendary Caetano Veloso, like a beautiful end to two entirely different movies about the never-ending sorrow of two star-crossed lovers.

Ludivine Sagnier, Louis Garrel & Clothilde Hesme – Je N’Aime Que Toi [movie: Les Chansons D'Amour (2007)]: Les Chansons D’Amour is the sweetest movie I’ve watched in the last year or two, a strange painting of innocuous love between youngsters. Perhaps the sweetest scene is when the three young lovers dance on the Parisian streets by night and sing: „Je n’aime que toi, la la la…“ [Mai: uh... definitely not my kind of sweets...]

Moderat – A New Error [movie: Laurence Anyways (2012)]: Xavier Dolan’s films are always colorful, the fashion and the music he uses transport you to a haute couture runway. I’d listened to Moderat’s first album a few times but wasn’t impressed. It was not until watching Laurence Anyways, where „A New Error“ was used for a lively, dynamic scene (Ile au Noir), that I had to repeatedly click the Replay button for this song in my iTunes.

Goldfrapp – Horse Tears [movie: 9 Songs (2004)]: In 9 Songs, there was this part, the heroine and her boyfriend went into a nightclub and caressed a stripper, intermittently sparsed by scenes of her doing it alone, Horse Tears plays in the background, a sea of sexual sorrow overflows. The attractive angles and music save the movie from being merely pornography.

Tokyo Kid Brothers - フリーダム (Freedom) [movie: Throw Away Your Books, Rally In The Streets (1971)]: An old Japanese arthouse movie that I haven’t seen, an example of good soundtrack that makes you want to watch the movie. The whole song sounds like a demonstration of youths, full of young ideologies, messy, overflowing and exciting.

Matthieu Chedid – Belleville Rendez-Vous [movie: Les Triplettes de Belleville (2003)]: In this weird but lovely comedy animation, music is used sparingly but brilliantly (try „Cabaret Aspirateur“ on Youtube), as if the music was cast for important supporting role. The ending theme keeps you dancing on and on.

Katyna Ranieri – Oh My Love [movie: Drive (2011)]: I’d like to end the playlist with a soundtrack that has the most cinematography of the sixteen. Used in the climax of Drive, when the unnamed driver is about to kill the mobster, Riz Ortolani’s gentle melody might sound about as fitting for the violent scene as a key in a mismatching lock. [Mai: love this comparison!] But with the talent of director Nicolas Refn, the imagery and the sound support each other to elevate an extraordinary feel for this memorable scene.

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Mai: Perhaps because I haven’t seen these movies (and have no plan of seeing them), the songs don’t evoke the same feelings in me as they have for the KaKi duo, but I like that this playlist has a little bit of everything: something grand, something bitter, something joyous, something intimate, something so deeply painful that leaves you speechless, like an hors d’ouevre platter. (Somehow food has become the best, if not only, way for me to express EVERYthing!)

Continue reading »]]> This post is a translation of the 14thth part in a series of music reviews by my best friend Vũ Lâm Đại (Ki) and his friend Syka Lê Vy (Ka) on their Facebook accounts.

Link: www.dropbox.com/s/eii96r3qu6z66j6/KAKI%20042013.zip
and some old playlists: www.dropbox.com/sh/0l3nl52sbyuyenw/9xWGIBVJVo

KI’S PICK

Phosphorescent – Song For Zula [Muchacho (2013)]
New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle [Brotherhood (1986)]
Toro Y Moi – Cola [Anything In Return (2013)]
Efterklang – Alike [Magic Chairs (2010)]
Otomo Yoshihide’s New Jazz Ensemble – Good Morning [Dreams (2003)] [Mai: my favorite this time. Soft flower petals falling onto the hair of a sleeping maiden is the image that comes to mind when Yoshihide breathes the lyrics. I'm sure spring is influencing my thoughts somehow.]
Buffalo Springfield – Kind Woman [Last Time Around (1968)]
Broken Social Scene – Lover’s Spit [You Forgot It In People (2002)]
Lesley Duncan – Love Song [Sing Children Sing (1971)]

KA’S PICK

Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Come on Eileen [Too-Rye-Ay (1982)]
Belle and Sebastian – Like Dylan In A Movie [If You're Feeling Sinister (1996)]
A Happy Commie – The Catacomb [--] – The author is a very young Vietnamese artist. You can follow him on soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/a-happy-commie. [Mai: what's with the stage name? I'm sensitive about this stuff, and my political conscience prohibits me from supporting this guy. His chewy voice reminds me of the friends that enjoy getting on my nerves just because they find the annoyed Mai funny. That said, the talent is there.]
Autre Ne Veut – Counting [Anxiety (2013)]
M83 feat. Susanne Sundfør – Oblivion [Oblivion OST (2013)]
The Hollies – The Air That I Breathe [Hollies (1974)] [Mai: cheesy like an 80s love movie, but sweet.]
The Antlers – Kettering [Hospice (2009)]
Air – Playground Love [The Virgin Suicides OST (2000)] [Mai: second favorite]

[Mai's overall two-cents: Mellow, pleasant, like a composed man watching his wife and children playing in the park (with the occasional upbeats like "Counting"), this month's playlist keeps the heart in check. The air is clear, no wind blows, the playlist has neither perfume nor dust to irritate your throat (or ear).]

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The Vietnamese Original is posted on Sunday Spirit.
Why translate and repost? Because it’s beautiful.

Continue reading »]]> This post is a translation of the 13th part in a series of music reviews by my best friend Vũ Lâm Đại (Ki) and his friend Syka Lê Vy (Ka) on their Facebook accounts.
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http://www.mediafire.com/?6q8c18ic8ahxg

KI’S PICK:

Jai Paul – Jasmine
Andy Stott – Numb
Thomas Feiner – Many Names [Mai: just sad]
Gerry Read – Make A Move
Björk – Virus (Hudson Mohawke’s Peaches & Guacamole Remix)
Holy Other – Love Some1
Earl Sweatshirt – Chum
Evian Christ – Horses In Motor
Tyvek – Midwest Basements
Nicolas Jaar & Theatre Roosevelt – The Ego

KA’S PICK:

Spiritualized – Hey Jane
Nicolas Jaar – Don’t Break My Love
Chromatics – Back From The Grave
Tame Impala – Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
Usher – Climax
CHVRCHES – The Mother We Share
The Weekend – Valerie
Frank Ocean – Pyramids
BenZel & Jessie Ware – If You Love Me
SOHN – Red Lines

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The Vietnamese Original is posted on Sunday Spirit.
Why translate and repost? Because it’s beautiful.

Continue reading »]]> This post is a translation of the 12th part in a series of music reviews by my best friend Vũ Lâm Đại (Ki) and his friend Syka Lê Vy (Ka) on their Facebook accounts.
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[Mai: an image of the dreamy Freiburg in fall. I want to walk this narrow lane.]

Ki: I find this month’s playlist more intimate and easy listening than any other playlists so far, probably because some of the songs had been “pre-ordered” by our listeners. Warning: some of us might be perplexed by the ending track The Caretaker that Ka had placed (the file is neither corrupted nor abridged, this track is really like this). We hope that after listening, “All You Are Going To Want To Do Is Get Back There”, and you’ll press the Replay button for the whole playlist.

http://www.mediafire.com/?5fou49l05vt8llu

KI’S PICK

- Mac Demarco – Freaking Out The Neighborhood [ 2 (2012)]
- Man Man – The Ballas of Butter Beans [Rabbit Habits (2008)]
- Julie Doiron – Pour Toujours [Désormais (2001)]
- Susanne Sundfør – The Brothel [The Brothel (2010)]
- Beck – I Only Have Eyes For You (2012)
- Disclosure ft. Sam Smith – Latch [2012]
- King Krule – Octopus [Rock Bottom / Octopus (2012)]
- Hoàng Quyên – Thu (2011)

KA’S PICK

- Young Unknowns – Far Enough [You Are A Young Unknown (2012)]
- Mikky Ekko – Pull Me Down [2012]
- The Weeknd – Twenty Eight [Trilogy (2012)]
- Seasfire – We Will Wake [We Will Wake (2012)]
- Rhye – Open [2012]
- Foals – Inhaler[Holy Fire (to be released)]
- S O H N – O S C I L L A T E [2012] [Mai: I must have replayed this one about 256 times. The falsetto voice and the slow, sporadic beats resonate in my ears like watching my father's Vietnamese coffee dripping from the press. Strangely nostalgic.]
- The Caretaker – All You Are Going To Want To Do Is Get Back There [An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (2011)]

[Mai's overall feel for this playlist: a movie scene where the heroine is having a passionate affair in slow motion, then wraps herself in a long silk dress, pours a glass of cold water, pretends that it's wine, slowly and serenely takes sips while gazing outside the window. A sparkling city below. In one word, sensual.]

_______________________________________________________________

The Vietnamese Original is posted on Sunday Spirit.
Why translate and repost? Because it’s beautiful.

Continue reading »]]> This post is a translation of the 11th part in a series of music reviews by my best friend Vũ Lâm Đại (Ki) and his friend Syka Lê Vy (Ka) on their Facebook accounts.
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http://www.mediafire.com/?ylvigpc99nwrkby

KA’S PICK

How To Dress Well – Cold Nites [Total Loss (2012)]
Dum Dum Girls – Lord Knows [End of Daze (2012)]
Breakbot (ft. Irfane) – Baby I’m Yours [By Your Side (2012)]
Grizzly Bear – Yet Again [Shields (2012)]
The Raveonettes – Observations [Observator (2012)]
Tame Impala – Elephant [Lonerism (2012)]
Annie – Anniemal [Anniemal (2004)]
Miguel – Use Me [Kaleidoscope Dream (2012)]

KI’S PICK

Arto Lindsay – Whirlwind [Noon Chill (1997)]
Rhye – The Fall [The Fall EP (2012)]
Wild Nothing – Paradise [Nocturne (2012)]
Menomena – Plumage [Moms (2012)]
Mark Eitzel – I Love You But You’re Dead [Don't Be A Stranger (2012)]
Minh Xuân & Phượng Hoàng – Mặt Trời Đen [Saigon Rock & Soul: Vietnamese Classic Tracks 1968 -1974] [Mai: a haunting song. The title means "The Black Sun"]
Vinyl Williams – Inner Space [Lemniscate (2011)]

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The Vietnamese Original is posted on Sunday Spirit.
Why translate and repost? Because it’s beautiful.

Continue reading »]]> This post is a translation of the 10th part in a series of music reviews by my best friend Vũ Lâm Đại (Ki) and his friend Syka Lê Vy (Ka) on their Facebook accounts.
Original review in Vietnamese by Ki, English translation by Mai, cover and banners by Ka

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KI: Pretty sure that everyone is still overdosed by last month’s playlist, so this month, to celebrate the everyone-knows-what-day-it-is day [Mai: it's Ki's birthday], the duo KaKi made a more gentle, easy-listening playlist. Actually, we stole the idea from Pitchfork, where the artists are interviewed about the albums or songs that left the most impression on them since their early days until the days in the lime light, at the ages of 5-10-15-20-25… Ka and Ki ain’t no artists, but for a change of taste we’ll do it anyway. Enjoy!

KA: Truth is, my childhood had nothing to do with music. There was only images of waves, white sand dunes, tree tops and mountains. [Mai: Ka is from Da Nang, so much aesthetics ...] Yeah… it sounds so country pumpkin… When I was little, I liked to go to the beach at 5 AM, at noon I went to the park across the street from my house to play hide-and-seek, and gathered with the neighbor kids in the evening. I only started listening to albums when I was in high school. But Ki kept pleading so I had to squeeze my brain out for some songs when I was 5, 10, 15 and so on… Of course it’s mostly just a general period, not exactly this one at 5 or that one at 15.

KI: Martika – Toy Soldiers
When her name is mentioned, many will ask “who is Martika?” But I’m sure that many will recognize the familiar tune of “Toy Soldier”. When Vietnam started to “open doors” [Mai: the "open door" policy of the communist government in the 1980s that allowed the import of goods and information from non-communist countries], the economy was still bad so advertisements were not flooding your face like now, the spare slots between TV programs were usually filled by international music videos. Richard Marx, Elton John, Michael Jackson, etc. Ever since I was young, I was mesmerized by the pretty ladies [Mai: and he still does ] so I liked Ms. Martika and Ms. Belinda Carlisle. Actually I was too young to read, so I only knew them as Ms Short Hair and Ms Seashore (the videoclip of “Circle In The Sand” by Carlisle was filmed on the beach). Of course I had no idea what “Toy Soldiers” meant, so I knew it as the „step by step“ (…) song. Google searching was a bit tough due to this lack of info.
Come to look at it now, Martika is really pretty!

KA: Michael Jackson – Beat It
Surely every kid at this age went crazy about Michael. I remember that my cousins and I were die-hard fans, every time we were playing and heard his songs come up on TV, we would immediately drop what we were doing and run into the house dancing to his steps. Only after that would we feel satisfied enough to return to our games.
Growing up, Michael didn’t sound as good anymore but my heart still had a spot for him. When he passed away in 2009, I felt my childhood got saddened too. I wonder if anyone else felt the same?

KI: Alanis Morissette – Ironic
Many of us probably remember the yearbooks we passed around in class with the “about me” section? [Mai: I'm not sure what section he's talking about, Vietnamese yearbooks are notebooks that friends and sometimes teachers write in, not the overpriced oversized printed American yearbooks. But I don't keep either kind.] In that section, my “music” part must have had Alanis Morissette. In those days, the news that the youngest girl in history received a Grammy for Album of the Year must have been such an admirable achievement to the kiddy Ki. Perhaps I was too young to understand Alanis’ music, but I liked her innocently for her pretty long hair, her craziness, her off-the-beaten-path songs. Besides, she got so many Grammy’s, she must have been better than the hords of boybands out there.
Now, in 2012, revisiting Alanis, I find her 37 times more talented and interesting than Taylor Swift – the one who dared to take away the “youngest Grammy receiver for Album of the Year” title from my childhood heroine.

KA: Charles Trenet – La Mer
In the younger years, I lived with my maternal grandparents in Da Nang. My grandfather worked really hard (he constructed iron playground structures in the parks) and he was always covered in iron dust, but his heart was so artistic. Every morning, he listened to the radio while sipping tea before going to work. At noon, he listened to music and read books while waiting for grandma to make lunch (he has a giant bookcase, thanks to which I had some to read when I have time ). After work in the evening, he went to the beach to get some wind, read some more, or tended the potted plants on the rooftop. I remember he liked French songs very much, every noon he turned on a French CD while reading.
Two years ago, while watching “The Diving Bell And The Butterfly”, the movie soundtrack has this song [La Mer], I went “ohhh, so this is it, the song that we always heard while having lunch”. Suddenly felt happy, although the movie was super sad.

KI: Jamiroquai – Virtual Insanity
The age of 13, 14 turned me to R&B, hip hop and the naked black men and women like TLC, Destiny’s Child, Nelly… Reaching 15, my music goût got a little calmer, I started listening to quite a bit of classical and got acquainted with jazz. I came to know Jamiroquai from an impressive jazz/bossa-nova titled “Corner of the Earth”. Following the foreign music programs on TV and learning of Jamiroquai’s other songs (“King For A Day”, “Virtual Insanity”, “Deeper Underground”), my first impression was that his clips were sparkling (compared to others of those days, of course), and I like visually impressive things. From the visuals, the hearings also got absorbed little by little. Two of the first albums bought in Vietnam (from the store VNT on Cao Thang street) were “Synkronized” and “A Funk Odyssey” by Jamiroquai. The stupidity of adolescence caused me to spend way too much money in that store. Hmm.

KA: Linkin Park – In The End
Twelve, 13 years old and moving into Saigon, hanging out with friends who listened to foreign music, I was all “oh” and “ah”, like a new horizon was opening up. The biggest benefactor was my friend Ha Anh, in my eyes, it was “wow, this girl knows so many good songs!” So I dove into the handsome boybands like BSB, N’sync…
Fourteen, in the afterschool class [Mai: like many, probably all?, Asian countries, parents pay for their kids to go to extra tutoring classes after school, so yeah, we had class from dawn to dust.], there was a boy, I forgot his name, who kept talking about Linkin Park’s new album, I got curious so I asked to borrow it. So, from 14 until the beginning of college, I turned to rock, spending all day at the store 79-81 to buy albums. I used to have a really good collection: Marilyn Manson, Megadeth, Scorpions, Rage Against the Machine, Metallica, AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, Pink Floyd, Queen, Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses…. Although not too much into the latter albums by Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory was the first ever rock album that I listened to.

KI: Radiohead – All I Need
Truth is, I knew of Thom Yorke before knowing about his band Radiohead, from the duet “I’ve Seen It All” with Björk and the album “The Eraser” – a music memory with Bùi [Mai: another high school best friend of us] because we both fell hard for it. After starting my study abroad program here and getting unlimited information access, I began reading and searching online music magazines, getting acquainted with Radiohead and their famous albums. Radiohead has some significant contribution to my “youth in depression”. Coincidentally, during that time, Radiohead released “In Rainbows” in mp3 format on their website, without any recording company. “Buyers” can give any price they want. Of course the poor-and-cheap-college-student me wouldn’t spend a cent on free music, so I left 0 for the price. I still remember how excitedly I kept on refreshing the group’s webpage on the day of the album release. Even now, “In Rainbows” is still my favorite Radiohead album. Radiohead and Björk are perhaps the first two artists that led me into indie.
The only music magazine that I bought here is a Rolling Stone issue with Thom Yorke on the front cover. Halberstadt station, a day before Christmas.

KA: Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
Yet another album that marked the change in taste of Ka. I remember exactly that this album was bought at the store VNT on Cao Thang Street [Mai: the same store where the adolescent Ki spent a fortune!] because the store owner recommended it. (That was the first and only time, because this store is far from home, not because the music there is not good ). After listening, the ear for bulky rock turned into an ear for life-is-sad gentle music. When I bought this album, this lady wasn’t very famous yet, 3 or 4 months later, she was all over MTV. For Ki, Radiohead and Björk were the artists that introduced him to indie, for me, it’s Amy Winehouse. (Yes, I know, Amy Winehouse is clearly not indie, but after this album, I started to search for songs more diligently )

KI: Hot Chip + Robert Wyatt + Geese – We’re Looking For A Lot Of Love
To this day, perhaps Ki’s taste has reached the black belt of inhomogeneity, so my pick too is something heterogenous that I’ve been listening to often. A combination between Hop Chip – a pretty vernal electronic band – and Robert Wyatt – a well-aged giant in British rock with much influence from jazz; their production is surprisingly harmonious, although not quite fit in either category. Anyhow, I’m getting older, less picky, and my ear is more easily tuned so as not to miss any great album or artist.

KA: Elliott Smith – Between the Bars
I’m only 24 this year, unlike the old Ki already accumulating 25 green springs. If I had to pick an album that doesn’t bore me no matter how many times I listen to, it’s certainly “Either/Or” because the number of replays is already in the order of 100. Not much to say about this album, though, you guys just have to listen to it.

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The Vietnamese Original is posted on Sunday Spirit.
Why translate and repost? Because it’s beautiful.

Continue reading »]]> When I look at someone, sometimes I think “wow, she/he is so pretty”. Then I think about why they look pretty to me. There’s no such thing as “everyone is pretty”. That sentence is meaningless. I’m not talking about inner beauty and all that. I’m talking about appearance. When you look at a bunch of apples on the tree, can you honestly say that every apple is pretty? (Not the apples at the store, those apples look pretty because they were already chosen from a bunch of apples.) If you can choose between a baby seal and a baby alligator for a pet, which one would you choose? If everyone was pretty, then everyone would be average and pretty wouldn’t mean anything. (Not to mention that unlike apples, your appearance also reflects your character.)

What’s true is “everyone CAN be pretty“. So make yourself pretty.

1. Smile. A happy person looks pretty. One guy I know said that he was drawn to his current girlfriend because in a group of girls, she was the one smiling the brightest, and she’s always smiling. Even when every feature on your face is wrong, your smile is not. A smile shows that you’re pleasant, friendly and optimistic, and although a little drama can be cute sometimes, everyone likes a pleasant person. So instinctively, we find a happy person a beautiful person.

2. Be clean. No need for explanation here. Always. Be. Clean.

3. Dress well. In one of her appearances in the Jonathan Ross show, Lady Gaga said that she would rather die than letting her fans see her not wearing high heels. I started liking her since that comment. I’m not saying that I like her fashion (I can’t think of anything she wears that I would wear… well… maybe the hair bow…), but she puts some thoughts into what she wears. That means she respects herself and whoever sees her. There is absolutely ZERO excuse for sweatpants and those shiny gym shorts that make you look like you haven’t showered for days and don’t bother to change out of the shorts that you spilled chow mein on. (Refer to Number 2.) And clogs should stay in the garden (if you absolutely can’t live without them). I don’t mean you should blow your wad on Christian Dior or Prada, or whatever brand name is hot these days. Truth is, don’t follow the latest trend, because most likely, it doesn’t suit you. Don’t buy an expensive shirt because it’s expensive or because your friend recommends it or because your favorite celebrity sports it. Expensive clothes don’t necessarily mean pretty clothes. But avoid wearing cheap-looking material. You should find out what works for your face and your body, and wear that. Everyone has at least one color that they look good in, that complements their skin tone and accentuates their strong points.

Even more importantly, hide your weak points. Everyone has weak points. Those who flaunt them only make themselves offensive to the eye. Those who hide them look beautiful.

(Dressing well includes choosing the most fitting hairstyle. The hair makes a BIG difference.)

4. Be confident. Everybody tells everybody to be confident, but it’s actually a lot harder to do than to say. A compliment on your look can boost your confidence, and when nobody compliments on your look, you can’t be confident that you look good. Now don’t you say that there’s no need to hear a compliment, I can tell myself everyday when I look in the mirror how beautiful I am. But isn’t that a bit like the evil queen in Snow White? There’s a fine line between being confident and being pathetically narcissistic. How does someone know that they’re smart? When they receive good grades in class, win a competition, succeed in their business, or when someone tells them that they’re smart. There has to be some kind of feedback for confirmation. Otherwise, it is narcissism. And it’s also lonely. The same principle applies to beauty. So being confident and receiving confirmation of your beauty are kind of a chicken-and-the-egg thing. The good news is, when you do numbers 1, 2 and 3, either confidence or compliment will come.

By the way, the fastest way to destroy your beauty is to be confident about what you don’t have. This applies to both appearance and inner beauty. So know your weak point and either admit it or hide it, but don’t flaunt it.

5. Be calm. Nobody can be smiley all the time. But even when you’re fuming inside, at least try to be calm on the outside. Even the most beautiful person would look scary (not pretty) when they’re angry. If you’re really good at being calm, you can sport a cool, mysterious, contemplative look.

6. Stay sober. Drunk people are ugly. Don’t argue with me on this one.

Now, why am I filing this post under Of Academia? Because I believe that academic people, who are supposedly smart people, should look pretty. The American media have portrayed us academic people, i.e., “nerds”, as awkward, unsociable, having no sense of style, strange looking, and even disheveled. Why? Because some of us choose to appear that way. Ever since I started teaching, I paid more attention to my look. Academic people are just as much in the performance industry as an actor or a model, because everyday we are appearing in front of our students for hours. And we don’t even have editors to erase our flaws. The students are watching our every move. If we don’t put an effort into how we appear, how can we expect our students to respect our appearance, much less what we say? And this one goes to the students: if you’re a student who comes to class in sweatpants and uncombed hair, am I supposed to think that you respect the class, the classmates and the teacher as much as the party that you got all dressed up for?

I like pretty teachers. Teachers who are friendly, clean, well dressed, confident and calm (and sober, of course). I also like pretty students. In general, I like pretty people. Sure, look isn’t everything, but look is something. That something is the first thing that someone sees when they see you. To make yourself look good means at least 3 things: self respect, confidence, and intelligence. So if you ignore your look and make yourself less than the best that you could be, then don’t complain when people like someone prettier than you.

Continue reading »]]> This post is a translation of the 9th part in a series of music reviews by my best friend Vũ Lâm Đại (Ki) and his friend Syka Lê Vy (Ka) on their Facebook accounts.
Original review in Vietnamese by Ki, English translation by Mai, cover and banners by Ka
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After the rather mellow first half from Ki, those who prefer some happy swaying with be satisfied with the remaining 10 tracks from Ka.

Click to listen to the entire playlist on YouTube (except Port St. Willow’s Hollow, I haven’t found that one on Youtube yet, but you can listen to it here on their bandcamp site)

David Sylvian + Shree Maa – Praise (Pratah Smarami) [Dead Bees On A Cake (1999)]: Sylvian is one of my all time favorite male vocals. However in this month’s playlist, instead of his vocal, let’s listen to Praise, which Sylvian considered the climax of his album Dead Bees On A Cake. Praise was based on a Sanskrit mantra that Shree Maa, an Indian monk, used to chant in the morning when she was living with Sylvian’s family in California. On Sylvian’s silvery orchestration, the beauty of Shree Maa’s voice flows out naturally like a breath, a beauty not polished from hours of vocal practice but raised from the purest piety.

Mount Eerie – Yawning Sky [Clear Moon (2012)]: Clear Moon is a good album but far from easy to digest, partly because of its foggy, multimensional concept and sound. The best way to feel its atmosphere is to inhale all 11 tracks at once. Fortunately, Yawning Sky can stand alone without losing it to be introduced to you. The percussion slow and forlorn, the guitar echos from somewhere distant, the vocal whispers as if covered in fog; can you not think of a yawning sky on the coldest January day.

Tom Zé – A Felicidade [Estudando O Samba (1975)]: not too well known, and not possessing a silky voice like the two tropicalía monumental figures from Brazil Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, Tom Zé’s melodies fell into forgotten lands in nearly two decades and only revived in the 90s thanks to the producer David Byrne’s discovery. Although I’ve only heard of him recently, Tom Zé’s music impresses me with more perspectives, vigor and spontaneity than the other two’s. A Felicidade was a remix of the legendary Tom Jobim’s original. His felicidade (happiness) seems totally different from the original and the other covers, genteel like the sun’s sweet dawn, „tristeza não tem fim, felicidade sim“ – sadness has no end, happiness does.

Ryuichi Sakamoto + Alva Noto – By This River [Summvs (2003)]: ever since I knew how to listen to “quality” music, there’s no artist that I’ve listened to so much as Ryuichi Sakamoto, and personally, may I consider him „The King of Chords“. Though providing no breakthrough, the sensitivity in orchestration makes Sakamoto’s music always charming, whether they are simple melodies, twisted strings of accord or spiky perspectives that he experiments with electronic music. For instance, take By This River, one of his various collaborations with German musician Alva Noto, the rhythm submerges under layers of noise just like the ladyfingers soaked in Amaretto and espresso in a tiramisu [Mai: mmmm yummy. I imagine a hot tub, dark chocolate, and starry sky seen through a glass roof].

The Antlers – Drift Dive [Undersea EP (2012)]: an EP that The Antlers confirms to approximate „the serenity of drifting off to sleep or sinking to the bottom of the ocean“. The beginning track Drift Dive neither contains a sound that directly imitates water nor does it try to drown the listeners in terribly thick mix. The air rises from the simple drum, guitar, and occasional emphasis with trumpet. Drift Dive doesn’t exactly describe the sinking, but more the floating and the broadening view of the splendid surface as we slowly descend to the ocean bed.

Massive Attack ft. Hope Sandoval – Paradise Circus [Heligoland (2010)]: the nice thing about the vocalists like Hope Sandoval is that even when they sing like a streak of cigarette smoke, every single word carries tremendous emotional weight. The suavity when Hope Sandoval exhales the lyrics easily fools our ears and leads us to forget the song’s core meaning: love swallowed by sexual desire. The music video is among the most R-rated MV that I know, with an interview of Georgina Spelvin, a now-aged pornographic actress, telling the emotions in front of the camera, interspersed by cutscenes from her famous movie (porn, of course) – The Devil in Miss Jones. The song (and the clip) is worth-listening (watching) if you have a healthy mind. Just as Spelvin said near the end of the MV, „we are our own devil“.

Port St. Willow – Hollow [Holiday (2012)]: those who have been familiar with The Antlers from Hospice (2009) would also be familiar with Port St. Willow because of their musical similarities. It’s no surprise that the leaders of these two groups are childhood friends and have collaborated on many occasions. With that said, The Antlers carry a somewhat more mainstream style – the rhythm and structure are defined, the vocal is clean (although both groups favor singing in falsetto). Meanwhile, those things seem to melt together in Port St. Willow. If Drift Dive sinks with us into the sea, Hollow stands with us in a vast vast field, where winds of sound steadily caress our senses.

Fiona Apple – Extraordinary Machine [Extraordinary Machine (2005)]: Let’s set aside the new acclaimed Apple’s album and listen to one of her older tracks today. Extraordinary Machine has everything – excellent rhythm, seemingly joking but perfectly apt dynamics, smart lyrics and a pretty voice. Listeners can perceive different images from what they hear, from an unorthodox fashion show to a carousel in the park, but it’s hard to tell that this song was written by a girl who spends 6 years simply… doing house chores, taking the dog for a walk, watching re-runs of Columbo day after day, fascinated with Peter Falk and inspired by… her own laziness. Guess it’s just another way that sets Apple apart from the popular music these days.

Youth Lagoon – July [The Year of Hibernation (2011)]: one day, when you suddenly understand what they’re singing, a song becomes a very personal part of you. When I write this and realize it, July has gone.

Totally Enormous Extinct Disnosaurs – Household Goods [Trouble (2012)]: to end Ki’s Picks this month is a dense upbeat track by “Khủng Long Tuyệt Chủng Vô Cùng Bự” (Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs) [Mai: I wonder what he looks like... UPDATE: he looks pretty slender]. Orlando Higginbottom, the man behind this spaghetti-long stage name, used to say that he doesn’t try to invent any breakthroughs. What makes him happy is watching people dancing to his music no matter how meaningless it is. Household Goods has nothing new, muscular beats, hooks everywhere, synthetics weaving like flashing lights on a dance floor. I’ve never been to a dance floor, but this song is still a hardcore energy drink for mental work or simply, a bike ride home.

Twin Shadow – Golden Light [Confess (2012)]: no need to turn on the music yet, just a look at the track list of Confess releases the fragrance of the 80s with names that you easily would have seen on the billboards of those years (Run My Heart, The One, Be Mine Tonight,…). Starting to get bored? Big mistake. Twin Shadow blew into his music a rare kind of energy that many soulless pieces of the 80s never had. The vocal is not sharp but powerful, the arrangement overflowing but not cumbersome, the lyrics direct but doesn’t fall under “cheesy”. Listening to Golden Light, our ladies can picture themselves on motorcycles behind their loyal lovers, riding into the night to wherever they want.

Passion Pit – I’ll Be Alright [Gossamer (2012)]: an attractive example of maximalism (in contrast to minimalism). Drum flying everywhere, layers of electronic noise exploding like fireworks. But don’t mistake that Michael Angelakos is singing about the top of happiness: “Can you remember ever having any fun?/ Cause when it’s all said and done I always believed we were/ But now I’m not so sure”. The “looks so but not really so” theme throughout Gossamer might came from the reality that Michael is fighting against bipolar disorder. The song depicts powerlessness when Michael recognizes himself as a mess and the best he could do is to let go of his love.

Frank Ocean – Bad Religion [channel ORANGE (2012)]: Listening to Put Your Back N 2 It by Perfume Genius (playlist 06.2012), another homosexual artist, you can feel the emotion from his story about fighting against [Mai: or "for"? Ki wasn't clear here...] himself, about the boundaries that the outside world has built up around his love. Watching Frank Ocean perform Bad Religion on a TV show, what stirred me was not some kind of gender story. He simply stood there, a normal guy, singing sincerely about love: „It’s a bad religion / To be in love with someone / Who could never love you“. Love isn’t wrong, sometimes it’s just an unhealthy religion. He or she? Doesn’t matter. Bad Religion can still be your song.

Crystal Castles – Plague [TBA (2012)] reminds us plenty of Baptism in the group’s second album Crystal Castles II. Although it doesn’t have enough toxicity to bring you down like an epidemic, Plague is more than enough for appetizer, the rain before the hurricane – their upcoming album (Crystal Castles III perhaps?).

The XX – Angels [Coexist (2012)]: many of us would probably scream in ecstasy upon seeing this. The XX is among the few indie bands that experiment and pioneer a music of their own but still sound friendly enough to their audience. What we love in their music is kept whole in Angels: the lonely guitar, Romy’s whispering voice as sweet as honey in tea, the surprising percussion here and there. Something has changed though. If the entire album The XX is music of the night forest, in Angels, we might have caught a glimpse of sunrise.

Daft Punk – Something About Us [Discovery (2001)]: upon mentioning the album Discovery by the French duo Daft Punk, many mainstream music aficionados would remember Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, the famous house number that Kanye West used as a sample in his hit Stronger. However, those who have listened to the entire album must have been most impressed by Something About Us, a rare slow jam piece in a forest of excellent uptempo songs. Borrowing the motifs from 70s-80s funk, Something About Us is like a sexy movie scene with candles, red wine and roses in the bathtub. Relaxing arrangement with keyboard and simple bass, the vocal and the guitar take turns massaging the modest melody. Whether you listen to it on a comfy sofa or in a taxi after a tiring party night, Something About Us sounds perfect.

Electric Light Orchestra – Last Train To London [Discovery (1979)]: another track from another Discovery album.  A disco tune from the 70s best suited for a barbecue on the roof on a nice day, a beer in hand [Mai: dude, beer tastes horrible!] and everyone around us being happy.

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Only In My Dreams [Mature Themes (2012)]: to picture it more easily, Ariel Pink’s music is a mix between Frank Zappa and the psychedelic pop old masters like The Byrds, Pink Floyd and newborns like Wild Nothing, Animal Collective. A mix between candy and drugs. The complexity hidden under the casual laziness in Ariel Pink’s music might take some time to get used to. Only In My Dreams sounds at first a shallow song, even the lyrics resemble what a 12-year-old would say to his classroom crush. However, that very simple content synchronized so well with the seemingly something-off-in-the-head melody makes the track pretty up there.

Jessie Ware – Sweet Talk [Devotion (2012)]: another sweet addition in Ka’s Picks, just as the name suggests. In Sweet Talk, we see again the 80s flavors that contemporary artists have returned to harvest. Womanly, sensitive, perceptive, Jessie Ware reminds us of the R&B splendid madame Sade. The vocal is calm but suave in every word, no strength training exercise to show off her capability like many singers these days. She sings simple: „It’s the sweet words that pull me in / I know I’m the weak one and I won’t say no / You give me a reason so I never go“. [Mai: *sigh* girls are so easily manipulated >.< ]  Sometimes, the charm in a female vocal lies not in the strength but in its “weakness”: „I’m the weak one“ sounds so soft, yet so dangerous. [Mai: she's being persuaded by the "sweet talk", how is she dangerous -.-]

Blur – Under the Westway (2012): The opening and finale of the Olympics this year seems to be a reunion of famous British rock bands: Arctic Monkeys, Paul McCartney, Muse, Beady Eye (post-Oasis), Kaiser Chiefs and even Queen, etc. Many will ask: where’s Blur? Together with other bands in the last decade like Radiohead and Oasis, Blur shaped the characteristic pop-rock of UK today. Under the Westway, a fresh-baked single, certainly reminds people of the Beatles: a marriage between the melancholy of A Day In The Life and the little positivity from Let It Be, the feelings when we gaze up to the skyscrapers in a metropolis, amidst city noise. There’s been rumors lately that Blur will disband for good. If this song is the final period, it’s a pretty ending for a group with so much contribution in our time.

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The Vietnamese Original is posted on Sunday Spirit.
Why translate and repost? Because it’s beautiful.

Continue reading »]]> This post is a translation of the 8th part in a series of music reviews by my best friend Vũ Lâm Đại (Ki) and his friend Syka Lê Vy (Ka) on their Facebook accounts.
Original review in Vietnamese, English translation by Mai.
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Click to listen to the entire playlist on YouTube

The duo Ka-Ki might have slacked off in updating their playlists, but music is never too late to hear. The songs were stored for a while so our playlist this time around does not show a clear theme like the previous ones. But you can choose from it your own tune. The summer liveliness of Take a Walk and Walking on The Dream. The rhythm that flows like a river to its lowland in Varúð. The music by the bar thick of cigarette smoke and alcohol in Baby, or that which can make you suddenly bear hug some stranger at a party like Fire’s Highway. The muscular beats in Wolf & I and Akashic Visions. Or the two folks that make a beautiful duo arranged next to each other: Dyin Day and 1904…

KA’S PICK

Dark Dark Dark – Daydreaming (Wild Go – 2010)
Chromatics – Hands In the Dark (After Dark – 2007)
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Baby (Mature Themes – 2012)
Saint Motel – 1997 (Voyeur – 2012)
Matthew Dear – Her Fantasy (2012)
Oh Land – Wolf & I (Oh Land – 2011)
iamamiwhoiam – Sever (2011)
The Tallest Man On Earth – 1904 (There’s No Leaving Now- 2012)
Passion Pit – Take A Walk (Gossamer – 2012)
Empire of the Sun – Walking On A Dream (Walking On A Dream – 2009)

KI’S PICK

DIIV – How Long Have You known (Oshin – 2012)
Robert Wyatt – Lullaby for Hamza (Cuckooland – 2003)
Japandroids – Fire’s Highway (Celebration Rock – 2012)
Sigur Rós – Varúð (Valtari – 2012)
Anais Mitchell – Dyin Day (Young Man In America – 2012)
Spiritualized – Too Late (Sweet Love Sweet Light – 2012)
Amen Ra – Akashic Visions (Keepers of the Light – 2012)
Daughn Gibson – Dandelions (All Hell – 2012)
Perfume Genius – Floating Spit (Put Your Back N 2 It – 2012)
How To Dress Well – Ocean Floor For Everything (2012)

**Note: The last track, Ocean Floor For Everything, is not a recording fail. The buzz may be irritating at first but it actually signifies How To Dress Well‘s musical style.
_______________________________________________________________

The Vietnamese Original is posted on Sunday Spirit.
Why translate and repost? Because it’s beautiful.

Continue reading »]]> This post is a translation of the 8th part in a series of music reviews by my best friend Vũ Lâm Đại (Ki) and his friend Syka Lê Vy (Ka) on their Facebook accounts.
Original review in Vietnamese, English translation by Mai. [Mai: Actually, no translation this time, the two didn't bother to write any review, just a bunch of songs]
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Ki: Long time no see (cuz Ka likes nothing but sleep and play -.-), the duo Ka-Ki has returned with a compilation to conclude the year: Songs of 2011
Click to listen to the entire playlist on YouTube

Burial and Four Tet and Thom Yorke – Ego
Kurt Vile – Baby’s Arms
Destroyer – Blue Eyes
Purty Ring – Ungirthed
Bill Callahan – Riding for the feeling
Grimes – Oblivion
Real Estate – Green Aisles
Cass McCombs – County Line
John Maus – Believer
Clams Casino – I’m God
Ford and Lopatin – Too Much MIDI
The Rapture – How Deep Is Your Love
Gil Scott Heron and Jame XX – I’ll Take Care of You [Mai: what a response to The Rapture!]
Gang Gang Dance – Mindkilla
Girls – Honey Bunny
Lana Del Rey – Video Games
White Denim – Street Joy

Tim Hecker – The Piano Drop
Bon Iver – Holocene
Toro Y Moi – Still Sound
WU LYF – Heavy Pop
Wye Oak – Plains
Nicolas Jaar – Keep Me There
Colin Stetson – The Star In His Head (Dark Lights Remix)
M83 ft. Zola Jesus – Intro
Lykke Li – Sadness Is a Blessing (Gold Panda Remix)
Mazzy Star – Common Burn
Wild Beasts – Thankless Thing
PJ Harvey – The Glorious Land
King Krule – The Noose of Jah City
James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream
Neon Indian – Polish Girl
St. Vincent – Cruel
Balam Acab – Welcome
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The Vietnamese Original is posted on Sunday Spirit.
Why translate and repost? Because it’s beautiful.