New Season
Kym Jin Sha
First thought on seeing the Singapore edition bonus best-of disc: Does she have that much material? The answer: Not really, as it comprises tracks from her previous two albums Unbelievable (2006) and Air (2005), neither of which left much of an impression.
Alas, there’s nothing very distinctive about album number three either, filled as it is with lightweight, lacklustre fare. Besides, isn’t the 23-year-old lass too old to be singing A Girl Blooms At 18?
This is not the kind of consistency an artiste wants and there's nothing here for her to stand out in the sweet stakes.
(ST)

Five In The Black
Tohoshinki
Their moniker, Rising Gods Of The East, is a good indication of this boyband’s ambitions.
Not content to ride the Korean wave sweeping the Asian region, the five lads are releasing their second Japanese album in an effort to conquer this large market.
What is on offer here is consistently enjoyable K-filtered-through-J pop,with the requisite repertoire of dance tracks and ballads. The unrelenting slickness can be too much to take in one sitting though.
The DVD of the de rigueur tightly choreographed music videos includes the hit Rising Sun from their previous Japanese album Heart, Mind And Soul.
(ST)

Best ~ Bounce & Lovers
Koda Kumi
You can’t help but admire the efficiency of the Japanese pop machine.
Koda Kumi was named by Japan’s Oricon charts as last year’s best-selling artiste, a feat she accomplished with a steady stream of singles and albums.
She’s constantly in the public eye and ear with something new. Her second single for the year is due out at the end of this month.
This compilation takes the straightforward approach of collecting her ballads on disc one with the dance track music videos on the DVD disc.
Her slightly husky voice holds up well on the songs, with Towards Tomorrow a standout. This only bolsters the theory that any Japanese song with the word“sakura” in it can do no wrong.
Disc two sees her flaunting her moves on her dance hits in a succession of bra tops and hot pants. Female sexual empowerment or exploitation as usual? Your call.
(ST)

Hollywoodland
Allen Coulter
Adrien Brody/Diane Lane/Ben Affleck/Bob Hoskins/126minutes
Hollywood in the 1950s was a town filled with glamour and glitter. Not surprisingly, there was a dark side lurking just beneath.
The deeper private detective Louis Simo (Brody) digs into the death of TV’s Superman George Reeves (Affleck), the more dirt he uncovers and more questions are raised over whether it was suicide or murder.
The movie also tracks Simo’s journey of redemption, which is played out in contrast to the downward slide of Reeves.
Affleck picked up the best actor award unexpectedly at last year’s Venice Film Festival. In fact, he was so sure he did not stand a chance that he left the festival before the awards were announced.
He took a gamble, portraying a charming, handsome actor who has to come to terms with the fact that he would never make it in the movies. But it was Brody and the always reliable Lane, as Reeves’ sugar mummy, who left deeper impressions.
The DVD extras include deleted scenes which are, for a change, complete scenes instead of snippets or out-takes.The featurettes were refreshingly non-gushy, though there was potential for greater depth in the coverage of old Hollywood. It would also have been nice to have a clip or two from Reeves’ Superman series.
(ST)

Stranger Than Fiction
Marc Forster
Will Ferrell/Maggie Gyllenhaal/Dustin Hoffman/Emma Thompson/113 minutes
Maybe it’s not your fault that your life sucks – it’s just written that way.
When Harold Crick (Ferrell) starts hearing a voice (Thompson) narrating his life, he has to figure out who’s writing his story and then, more importantly,how to prevent himself from being killed off.
This was a premise with much potential, though it did remind one of the Charlie Kaufman-scripted Adaptation (2002), which gleefully blurred the lines between the written word and real life as a screen-writer struggled to adapt a book.
Here, director Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball) aims for low-key and droll, but the movie ends up flat and lacking in energy.
Lines like “You don’t like cookies? What’s wrong with you? Everybody likes cookies” did not help.
Thank goodness for Tony Hale (Arrested Development) in the tiny role of Harold’s co-worker, who cannot stop being funny even if he wanted to.
The DVD comes with a number of featurettes, mostly gushy pieces about the actors, the director, the writer and even about Chicago, where the movie was set.
The extended mock TV interview with the author Karen Eiffel (Thompson) by a clueless book channel show host (Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth) fared better.
(ST)

Magic Cyndi
Cyndi Wang
Cyndi Wang is back with a new album after 15 months and she’s feeling a little insecure. Does she continue with her cutie pie image or is it time to shed that look for something more grown-up?
The album cover and lyric booklet helpfully offer two covers. One for those who prefer their Cyndi sweet, the other for those who like her a little more spicy.
It takes more than packaging which covers all tastes for an album to work though.
Her bland voice does not leave much of an impression on hackneyed tracks like Butterfly, with lyrics about spreading one’s wings and venturing forth bravely.
The folk-tinged ballad The Calm Sea That Summer has some potential, but is marred by its rather mundane arrangement.
Wang will have to step up if she’s serious about gunning for Jolin Tsai’s princess tiara.
(ST)

Mayday Jump Concert Singapore 2007
Singapore Expo’s Max Pavilion
Can you feel the L.O.V.E.? Taiwanese rock band Mayday certainly did from the capacity crowd of 7,500 fans at its gig here last Saturday night.
Before the show started, highlights from the group’s past concerts played on the large screens flanking the main stage, stoking the crowd’s anticipation of the night ahead.
The moment the lights dimmed, fans got to their feet and never warmed their seats again for the next three hours.
A rather incongruous big-budget video set in an epidemic-hit future formed the background as guitarists Monster and Stone appeared on different ends of the stage.
With a flourish, a giant cloth screen fell away to reveal the other three members in a thrilling burst of light and pyrotechnics. From then on, the crowd was enthralled.
Mayday’s trademark earnestness translated well onto the stage, with the emotional pull of their songs creating a strong rapport with the audience.
The dancing was largely of the pogo-stick variety, but the sheer energy the band radiated was irresistible.
The chemistry among the members was also fun to watch. When drummer Guan You took the microphone on Rubbish Truck, for example, lead singer Ashin cheekily presented him with a bunch of flowers.
The band packed the first half of the show with heavier rock tracks including Armour and Girl And Boy As One. These were not their best-known tracks, but the sea of cyalume sticks never stopped swaying.
Ashin was in fine form throughout the night. He shone in the acoustic numbers,particularly on the Hokkien track I Love You – Hopeless, thrilling the audience with his heartfelt vocals.
This marked a transition to a new segment and the five lads changed into all-white costumes for the song Angel, off their latest album Born To Love.
On disc, the song borders on being cliched, but with a 7,500-strong back-up chorus, the words suddenly took on a simple ring of truth.
The other band members had their turns in the spotlight as well. Monster and Stone performed guitar solos and bassist Masa surprised with a rendition of Coldplay’s Yellow.
The band saved the best for last, though. They used the rollicking In Love-ing to get the audience to shout and sign L.O.V.E.
The concert ended on a high note with some of their best-loved hits including Peter & Mary, Tenderness and People Life, Ocean Wild, as well as a cover of Beyond’s Paradise.
True to the encore Stubborn, fans lingered on even after the lights went up,singing along to Angel which was being played over the broadcast system.
Their affection was clearly appreciated. Stone told the crowd: “Every time we come here and see so many familiar faces,it’s like coming home.”
They should definitely come home more often.
(ST)

This Love
Khalil Fong
Making a concept album about love is a tricky proposition, but soul boy Khalil Fong delivers with a smooth and assured set of Chinese R&B, best exemplified by the title track.
In addition to romantic love, he also explores notions of platonic and familial love.
While there can be shades of familiarity in some of his compositions, he has enough flair to carry off the material. His versatility is also apparent from his ability to take on genres as diverse as rock and roll and jazz.
He even pulls off a cover of the MOR standard If You Leave Me Now.
Fong is also smart enough to work with top lyricists such as Lin Xi and Zhou Yaohui, who infuse the songs with their lyrical poetry.
The 23-year-old is definitely someone to watch.
(ST)

Play
S.H.E
The lead single Chinese Language has been generating controversy, for allegedly pandering to China, and blitzing the charts. In other words, a marketing executive’s dream.
Guess it is only a matter of time before this gets picked up for our own Speak Mandarin campaign.
Elsewhere, the album takes a playful approach to music-making, even sampling London Bridge Is Falling Down. This has yielded both hits and misses.
The duet with boyband and fellow label mates Fahrenheit on Thank You For The Tenderness will have you scrambling for Mayday’s original version of Tenderness.
On the other hand, Listening To Yuan Weiren Play The Guitar fares better with its unusual point of view of a neighbour being inspired by the composer working on his tunes.
Play also features, for the first time, music and lyrics from the three girls.
There is enough going on here for the trio to still keep things fresh and exciting on their tenth(!) album.
(ST)