在我那堆好像永遠讀不完的舊雜誌中,不時都會發掘到意外驚喜,例如兩年前的台灣古典樂刊MUZIK就介紹了這首由新加坡作曲家羅偉倫為高雄市立國樂團成立廿周年時寫的作品:
還見識了排笙這件我相當陌生的樂器呢.
Friday, February 27, 2015
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Music discovery
I wrote a post about Podcasts recently. That got me interested in subscribing to a few and started listening to them, which I haven't done for a while. The Cool Jazz Countdown has a good combination of smooth jazz and traditional jazz. I have many sources on the latter (e.g., Downbeat magazine, KCSM radio) but not the former. It really experienced a sharp decline. I discovered Eric Darius (who played a sax version of the mega-hit song "Happy" on his album "Retro Forward")
The metal podcast MSRCast introduced me to these 2 bands:
Triosphere
The melodic death band Mors Principium Est has a name that no one can pronounce on the podcast. It's actually Latin for "death is the beginning."
It might sound strange that I "discover" Led Zeppelin just now. Well, my beloved Rhapsody music streaming service just have the entire catalog of Led Zeppelin available! This is huge 'coz I think the band has resisted this for a long time but finally made the deal (must be lucrative) Rhapsody is heavily advertising their latest "crown jewel." This band is definitely among the Top 4 most influential bands (along side the Beatles, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones) IMO. However, I don't own a lot of their music and only know their biggest hit songs. Why? Here's the story: I became interested in rock ~1988 via hair metal. Believe it or not, some cited Led Zeppelin as their influence. So naturally I bought arguably their most famous album Led Zeppelin IV, which contains their most famous tune "Stairway to Heaven." And guess what? I was hugely disappointed: I expected every tune to be as hard rocking as "Rock and Roll" but the only other tune rock enough was "Black Dog." I barely like Stairway since it took forever to reach the climax, i.e., the electric guitar solo. I couldn't stand the even-more-acoustic "Going to California" at all. It will take a few years until I was actually going to California for good. I finally revisit this album on Rhapsody after more than 25 years, and could appreciate the bluesy and acoustic side of Led Zeppelin. I guess my exposure to acoustic jazz/electric blues and finally acoustic blues during all these years helped. I especially enjoyed the 2 DVD set of live performances titled Led Zeppelin from 2003. Yep, I have definitely become a fan after watching that, even though I still couldn't remember the names of their songs. Now I'm "digging deeper" beyond their greatest hits with Rhapsody's "Deep Cut" playlist and I realized Led Zeppelin's sound was actually closer to the Beatles and the Stones than the harder rocking Deep Purple or Black Sabbath!
The metal podcast MSRCast introduced me to these 2 bands:
Triosphere
The melodic death band Mors Principium Est has a name that no one can pronounce on the podcast. It's actually Latin for "death is the beginning."
It might sound strange that I "discover" Led Zeppelin just now. Well, my beloved Rhapsody music streaming service just have the entire catalog of Led Zeppelin available! This is huge 'coz I think the band has resisted this for a long time but finally made the deal (must be lucrative) Rhapsody is heavily advertising their latest "crown jewel." This band is definitely among the Top 4 most influential bands (along side the Beatles, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones) IMO. However, I don't own a lot of their music and only know their biggest hit songs. Why? Here's the story: I became interested in rock ~1988 via hair metal. Believe it or not, some cited Led Zeppelin as their influence. So naturally I bought arguably their most famous album Led Zeppelin IV, which contains their most famous tune "Stairway to Heaven." And guess what? I was hugely disappointed: I expected every tune to be as hard rocking as "Rock and Roll" but the only other tune rock enough was "Black Dog." I barely like Stairway since it took forever to reach the climax, i.e., the electric guitar solo. I couldn't stand the even-more-acoustic "Going to California" at all. It will take a few years until I was actually going to California for good. I finally revisit this album on Rhapsody after more than 25 years, and could appreciate the bluesy and acoustic side of Led Zeppelin. I guess my exposure to acoustic jazz/electric blues and finally acoustic blues during all these years helped. I especially enjoyed the 2 DVD set of live performances titled Led Zeppelin from 2003. Yep, I have definitely become a fan after watching that, even though I still couldn't remember the names of their songs. Now I'm "digging deeper" beyond their greatest hits with Rhapsody's "Deep Cut" playlist and I realized Led Zeppelin's sound was actually closer to the Beatles and the Stones than the harder rocking Deep Purple or Black Sabbath!
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Guitars made with wood from Detroit's abandoned homes
Just read about these guitars from the latest issue of the Acoustic Guitar magazine. And found that the magazine has already posted a video about this last year. It seems that the guitars made with wood that came from Reclaim Detroit, the non-profit that dismantles Detroit's abandoned housing stock for re-use actually sounded pretty good. And you can't beat playing instruments with such history behind it! According to this source, another company/luthier has been working on electric guitars using such wood and priced at ~$2000. It would be a perfect match playing music from Detroit Rock City!
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
iCar is coming
By now it's probably not news that Apple is in the process of developing a car (likely an electric car. Maybe a self-driving one like Google's?) Well, if it's anything like its computer products, one should avoid the 1st version or x.0 update for its cars. Gotta be serious about cars with bugs.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Acceptance speech for Oscar's Best Original Song
... and the Oscar's went to the track "Glory" from the movie "Selma" Next? Controversy!
(Source: watch the video at Time.com)
And John Legend got his share of criticism too. His stat regarding jailed men was correct in terms of absolute number but he should have compared the percentage of population instead.
(Source: watch the video at Time.com)
In his acceptance speech, Common linked the civil rights movement to similar movements in France and Hong Kong. “The spirit of this bridge connects the kid from the South Side of Chicago, dreaming of a better life, to those in France standing up for their freedom of expression, to those in Hong Kong, protesting for democracy,” he said. “This bridge was built on hope, welded with compassion and elevated with love for all human beings.”Well, by supporting Hong Kong's democracy movement from last year, Common has pissed off a lot of pro-establishment folks in HK and China.
John Legend got more explicitly political in his speech. “We say that Selma is now, because the struggle for justice is right now,” he said. “We know that the Voting Rights Act that they fought for 50 years ago is being compromised right now in this country today. We know that right now, the struggle for freedom and justice is real. We live in the most incarcerated country in the world. There are more black men under correctional control today then were under slavery in 1850.”
And John Legend got his share of criticism too. His stat regarding jailed men was correct in terms of absolute number but he should have compared the percentage of population instead.
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