Life and Music

The grand piano is probably one of the best inventions by man.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to play piano well enough, and know enough expressive pieces that can elevate your performance instrument to the grand piano, you should feel very content.

As far as I know, nothing cures stress, anxiety, sadness, depression, worrying (to name a few) better than sitting down for a few hours and submersing one-self into musical heaven. Add a microphone only if neighbours are not around to really reach those emotional notes. If they are around, don't, because it sounds gay and needy.

But I do wish more people didn't quit their instruments when the going got hard. For young readers especially, perhaps it's best to stick through with it until everyone else drops and fails, then that makes you the succeeder. That's my logic of the situation and so far it has worked quite well.

Jay Chou "Broken Strings"

Sometimes in life you just want to sit down, chill out and play some music to soothe yourself. For me, there's no one better than Jay Chou when it comes to that, and one of my favourite slow jam songs has to be Broken Strings. Released on 11th November 2003, this old track brings back some of the originality of Jay's composing that got him famous. With his signature unclear pronunciation of words, the track belongs to no other singer other than himself. It's this originality that makes me greatly admire him and continue to support his new ventures.
The music video is simple in story and the filmography, but I think that greatly accentuates the attitude of people back in the early noughties. It was a carefree lifestyle, very un-materialistic and makes me wish I could have grown up in that era.

BIGBANG BLUE

After all the controversy, after all the wait, the boys are back - and what a comeback it is. A totally new image for all of them including new hairstyles, dress style and changed looks. The most surprising is Daesung who currently rocks G-Dragon's famous full blonde locks. Taeyang has an updated haircut which stands even higher than before, perhaps this is an indication of his age in the industry. But the most important bit is that BIGBANG is back, and the unfortunate events with Daesung and G-Dragon have been for the better. The group explained earlier on in an interview that these events have strengthened the group, making them go back to what they love, re-evaluating their passion to remain a boy band. This shows in the music video, particularly because it reminds of us scenes from "Haru Haru" and "Lies" where the boys drive around cars, lots of running scenes and unconventional to the industry standard of bright lights and dance moves.

But enough of the background check, the song BLUE is a chilled piece including guitar and a synthetic piano and beats. Overall it is an easy listen, reminding me of some American soft rock tune. It's chilled, I'll give you that. What's most surprisingly is T.O.P, who actually sings more and does quite a good job of it with his rusky voice. Hats off to the boys, expecting more things when their album officially drops on March 2nd.

Astiere Apparel Launch

Astiere Apparel is soon launching their first tee and it's something I'm definitely looking forward to! Firstly it's because it is something I took part in, but also that the design is amazingly great! Below is the teaser for the launch, so please stay tune as the site drops on 29th February 2012.

Jay Chou Merchandise

It seems everyone cannot get enough of Jay Chou. Although this may be slightly old news but his laptop cover designs and overall composition of every sound the computer makes (from turning on, beeps, to turning off) this is another masterpiece by Jay Chou. I love his incorporation of traditional Chinese patterns, mixed with a western musical style to have a fusion between the East and West.

If you have an iPad I am envious of you also, because he has released an application which includes piano scores for his music as well as countless other Jay Chou goodies. Link is provided below:

http://itunes.apple.com/om/app/jay-chou-score-sheets/id451920457?mt=8

B.A.P. Review

With recent debut of boy and girl groups from the Kpop industry, I think the best has to be B.A.P (Best, Absolute, Perfect). Firstly isn't the name just awesome? I mean, what ego-driven entertainment company decided to name their new group such a pretentious name, but it seems they were right in naming them exactly that, because their first music video has been FIERCE.

No lie about that, I love the heavy boy band image, especially with the funky light up bunny which is adorable. Everyone in the group has blonde hair, which symbolises their unity and relates to the title of the song: "Warrior". It's some fresh content, with a mix of club-like beats, mixed with glorious rap and glazed with repetitive motifs...digidigidum. What I most love is Zelo's LTE rap in the middle, the speed at which he descends down those notes is astonishing. This rookie band is sure to rocket to stardom very soon, if they have not already.

Big Bang 2012 Comeback

Their last release was "Love Song" and "Stupid Liar" on April 15th 2011. Ever since then the group has been forced to reside to other projects, due to a series of complications such as Daesung's car crash incident and G-Dragon's marijuana case. But their leave of absence is coming to a close, spreading a sigh of relief to all dedicated VIPs - such as myself.

There is no exact date, but their comeback is scheduled to be sometime in February, and that month is approaching rather quickly. But what is in store for VIPs? Perhaps they are going to pick up where they left off last time? Or are they releasing new content produced specially for 2012 after all the downs the group has gone through? Either way I'm still excited over the thought my favourite K-pop group are returning to the spotlight. YG Entertainment are probably going to tease us with countless videos, which I always hate.


Big Bang performing a Japanese version of "Tonight" - I like the overload of English rap at the beginning