Music Review 02

Year of the Monster
So 2009 was Gaga's year, ignore Beyonce for her 10 nominations, if B wins more than G; Grammy is history.
The Fame has capture our hearts without us noticing. Suddenly underground friend of mine even go 'Muh-muh-muh-muh~'. And the freaky, alien couture/costumes wore by Gaga which is like for a freak show looks OK; what was considered freakish dress & behaviour became a norm for music lover. A much more contemporary and smarter Madonna rises. So yes I'm biased towards her, because I do not see other much more captivating and talented new artiste out there. But does Monster score this time? I HOPE so.
This album is short for roughly 32 minutes, and this may be the disadvantage Gaga will face this year.
Expect a less contemporary feel to this album. There are loads of late 80's + 90's pop beats in it packed with loads of bizarre lyrics [He ate my heart then he ate my brain...]. Unlike other pop stars, you might need a thinking cap on to know what she's singing about, as this is her strongest link: procuring smart lyrics.
I'm also shocked, very shocked to found out Gaga's softer, vulnerable point here, which can be her weakest link. We get used to her being a rather eccentric feminist- wild and flamboyant who constantly explore art unorthodoxly, that we forgotten that she is much a human like we do, so that when you listen to Telephone carefully, a duet with Beyonce, you'll see a real woman instead of a woman with a multiple mask (poker face) on.
Yet with her (is this her first?) ballad Speechless, we get to know her more personally: emotional yet bold; you will love her more. Monster is quite different from Fame. And I believe with her presence, pop in the future may gain much more respect. Kudos for a wonderful woman who redefines and reinvents.
★★★☆

Be Open & Patience for Freedom

We knew Keys for mostly her soft ballads and some memorable uptempos. That is when her music style is still much rooted to R&B with heavy piano use, smooth soul and with vulnerable, yearning words that praises love as well as the sorrow love has caused.

In this album, I'm surprised by Keys' musical transition towards a favour for more hip-hop beats (neo-soul), added with much more of a sunny feel to it compared to her previous albums, which has this feeling of late night jazz/soul club.

Well this is not a bad thing at all because one can't help to compare Freedom to As I Am; while Keys only just realeased AIA slightly more than two years ago, one would expect a longer hiatus from an artiste to search for a new musical direction. AIA was not that bad, only thing is that it goes down and down towards the end of the album while only the first half of the album is more notable. So, AIA comes up more as a nap time option.

If you are familiar to urban music espcially soul ones, you will enjoy it. Freedom was quite sunny despite the amount of downtempo songs is more than that of up- and midtempos. You'll get more hip-hop beats (Unthinkable (I'm Ready)) packed with helps from vintage keyboards.

According to Keys, this album is about overcoming depression. I do not agree 100% but I do appreciate its effort.

Despite great music numbers, the lyrics fulled with metaphores can be a cliche, and may sound a little bland [...I'm gonna make it without you/Say you love me and put it in a love song...] at times; however some lyrics can be catchy, piercing and memorable [This king-size sheets need more than just a queen]. Its weakest link still lies on the songs arrangements, a reocurring mistake from AIA; as well as some of the beats of certain songs seem to repeat itself in other track like Doesn't Mean Anything with Through It All.

Still, this album leaves me with good impression: it may not be the finest, strongest work from Keys, but music lover shall love this new direction. All you need is to be open for the music to flow in and have the patience to have it crawl into your heart

★★★☆

Record Reports 01

Reading some of the music or movie reviews makes me wanna do some for my own too haha...

I recently bought some pirated music albums as usual haha... And I still have the habit of overlook the Chinese ones because its image to me is still like very bubblegum, silly, teenpop. But I do appreciate talents like A'Mei (or Amite =.=), Yoga Lin, Mayday etc. who are quite original in some ways. Anyway, in case you are looking for some Eng albums to listen to or just simply to read for fun here's what I evaluated. XD

Michael Bublé ~ Crazy Love

♫ ♫ ♫ ♪

For non-pop lovers,this might be just a treat for you. Michael is a jazz singer born with natural, soothing voice. This is the first time I fully embraced jazz/soul music. So I might still not able to appreciate most of the tracks but if you just try to pay attention to the despite stereotyped jazz rythms and beats you might find it pleasent. This might not be the breakthrough for jazz music in this new age nor Buble tried to revolutionise this genre. Still tracks like the commanding Cry Me A River, Georgia In My Mind by the late Ray Charles, You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You and lead single Haven't Met You Yet etc will grab your attention. Perfect for a night time & late noon listening.

Rihanna ~ Rated R

♫ ♫ ♪

Honestly, I like Ri cuz mainly of her hairdo which makes her looks hot haha but despite her looks I did not find her singing good nor she can dance. It's all about her as a fashion (hair) icon and as a sex animal. The cover tells it all: emo and dark. While I do not detest emo and I enjoy occasional dark themes this album may be just a little too irritating at first listen. For me, it's fine to be emo and angry and melancholy, I appreciate that but if you whine too much and most of the lyrics are rather silly except for Russian Roulette, Firebomb and Te Amo, it will feel more like a messed-up album aimed for whining and pissing off which is irritating. I like her being "darker, edgier and angry". But I can't keep myself from comparing this to Good Girl Gone Bad. You can tell she wants more hardcore music in it to bring out the emotion but to get pop and R&B to do this is not much of good effort with tracks like Stupid In Love is just quite plain stupid, she should try crunk. Although some songs are really catchy...

Coldplay ~ Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends

♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

Ok from this segment on its bout my favourite albums of 2008. Coldplay produces some of the great songs for this decade which are memorable and they gain respect from all music lovers. The Latin title meaning 'Long Live Life' sums up what the tracks' themes are. You can expect everyday life written into this album but somehow 'epic-ised' like Viva La Vida, Cemeteries of London etc. This is also the first time I fully embraced alternative music, which though compared to jazz I have more exposure to. It takes time to like this album because most alternative music tends to have the focus more on the music rather than its singing ie you hear the music plays louder the volume of the vocals kinda low; so you might get drifted away from focusing on the tracks. However in the end it pleases the ears and somehow if you open up, the music will fill into you and you will get drifted to a world of music fantasy. Still, if you want to try listen to alternative rock music, I suggest A Rush of Blood to the Head as a starter; as this is a departure from Coldplay's previos efforts where their music matures beyond anyone else, in my opinion.

Alicia Keys ~ As I Am

♫ ♫ ♫ ♪

Most of the artiste from this decade usually tends to switch their music genre into more of pop-friendly or mainstream. But Keys is not one of them, in fact I feel that she keeps venture into the very core of R&B/soul and it somehows manage to appeal the mainstream. Well I can't say this is her best effort but a great deal of her matures and her music gets more classy than ever. Tracks like The Thing About Love, Lesson Learned may not appeals immediately to you but if you give this a more urban feel album a try you may like it. It bore at times because this urban music limits they way the instrument brings itself but this makes me crave for more of Alicia as for Coldplay.