Riding A Bicycle

Soft Lipa & Shin-Ski

No Crying

Waa Wei

Track 6

Cheer Chen

The hard part to releasing a critically acclaimed album is following it up. And three musicians have taken on the challenge in their own ways – with varying results.

Taiwanese rapper Soft Lipa, real name Tu Chen-hsi, joined forces with Japanese jazz quintet on the revelatory Moonlight (2010). This time round, he has worked with Japanese hip-hop producer Shin-Ski to produce Riding A Bicycle.

While not as ground-breaking as Moonlight, there is much to admire and enjoy here. Soft Lipa is a master of rhythm and the chorus of Ride a bike, ride a bike is as hypnotic as watching wheels turn. Check out, too, the effortless flow of Minnan track Looking For Ong A.

There are also several collaborations, including with singer-songwriter Lala Hsu and jazz rap outfit ShinSight Trio.

Listen To One Song, which features reggae group Matzka, ponders the connection between listener and song: “It could be popular right now, or long past its prime/Or maybe it seems to exist just for you, with no one else knowing it/You can’t help but wonder, how the writer lives/So close, have you met before?”

Less successful is Taiwanese singer- songwriter Waa Wei’s offering after the elegant electronica of Graceful Porcupine (2010). Parts of No Crying feel like an indulgent exercise with her excesses on full display, from the babyish cooing on Bubble Life to the eight-minute-long Lovers, which incorporates a spoken-word narrative by the poet Hsia Yu.

Head instead for the attitude rock of Close Friends, the drama of One Stone, One Story and the tenderness of ballad Us. And Roarrrr’s lyrics made me laugh out loud: “When I don’t know what to do, I’ll shout ho-yo/When one steps in dog poo, who won’t cry ho-yo”.

Taiwan’s Cheer Chen has followed up the ruminative Immortal (2009) with a single.

It comprises the spoken word track Misty Dance as well as Ephemera, a ballad she first performed during her A Piece Of Summer II tour (2010-2011). The latter is an instant Chen-penned classic filled with hope and loss. Over ukelele and strings, she sings: “Every day, opening our eyes, we are mayflies/Living ordinary lives, vigorously chasing after one dream”.

It does a nice job in helping fans to tide over the dry spell between her albums.

(ST)

Crowd Lu Concert Singapore 2011

Grand Theater at Marina Bay Sands

Last Saturday

Forget the movie Happy Feet. The audience at Crowd Lu’s gig was treated instead to the real deal.

The Taiwanese singer-songwriter was so engrossed in his songs that his feet threatened to dance away from him in a burst of exuberance.

Seized by the music, they would bang together to keep time, twist about in a hypnotic manner or tap with an insistent urgency. At times, one leg would be raised or even two as he balanced on the stool.

It laid to rest any fears that the spontaneity of his performance would be compromised in a larger, grander venue with an audience of 1,800 instead of the 800 at his last solo gig here at St James Power Station’s Dragonfly in January last year.

Indeed, Lu proved that he could deliver a compelling show even without the bells and whistles of a slick set-up. He sported his familiar bowl-cut hairstyle, black-rimmed glasses as well as a striped T-shirt, bermudas and canvas shoes.

Instead of changing costumes, he switched guitars. He was supported by just a drummer, a bassist and a trumpet player.

Vocally, the 26-year-old was in excellent form as he took on ballads, breezy folk-pop and raucous rock numbers. He performed all 11 tracks from his third and latest album Slow Soul (2011) and even went all the way back to the first single he released in 2006, Yuan Ming.

Often, he would give a short introduction of the upcoming number. Zai Jian Afadisi (roughly Goodbye Afa-deus) was inspired by his roommate getting a haircut while Rock’n Roll Style came about as the result of a ravenous breakfast episode.

His songs are refreshingly grounded in life and his palpable optimism is infectious. On disc, a song such as Rainbow almost comes across as twee but you cannot help but smile when he says at the performance: “When you feel that you’re going through a rough patch, just turn on the water hose and, wow, rainbow.”

By the time he sang the joyous Goodbye Pinky Swear off 2009’s Seven Days, he had everyone on his feet and dancing along with the entertaining instructional video of him going through the moves.

For the encore, he opened with Slow Soul and then served crowd-favourite Good Morning, Beautiful Dawn! from debut album 100 Ways For Living (2008) as the fans happily chorused along, “Dui a, dui a” (That’s right).

The final song was the whimsically poignant Wu Di Tie Jin Gang (literally Mazinger Z, a robot from the Japanese anime series of the same name), which was performed by Lu alone with his guitar.

While I had a pang of nostalgia for his previous cosier gigs, it is great that his music is reaching a wider audience. In a world that can sometimes be grey and cynical, we could all do with a dose of the antidote that is Crowd Lu.

(ST)

Girls’ Generation Vol. 3

– The Boys

Girls’ Generation

Five

Ayumi Hamasaki

According to an online poll by ticketing agent Sistic, Korean group Girls’ Generation is the No. 1 live act requested by Singaporeans.

Ahead of their highly anticipated sold-out concerts here on Dec 9 and 10, the nine-member group have released their third Korean album.

It is clear that they have their eye on the global market as two of the songs here are available in different versions.

Mr Taxi, with its catchy nonsensical phrase “Supersonic n’ hypertonic”, was first released in Japanese while the title track The Boys was also released as an English-language single. Not surprisingly, these are among the strongest tracks here.

For the most part, the pop here is either sweet and bubbly, as on Say Yes or My J, or dancey with a sexy edge as on Trick and Oscar. But with the exception of the chirpy Lazy Girl (Dolce Far Niente), they do not leave a strong enough impression, maybe because a key component is missing here – the DVD of irresistibly choreographed music videos.

So what is a J-pop queen to do when K-pop is in the ascendancy and Korean acts are muscling in on her territory? Ayumi Hamasaki sticks to the basics.

In her case, that means writing all the lyrics. She contemplates a past relationship in the R&B duet ANother Song with J-pop band AAA’s Urata Naoya and is touchingly fragile on the ballad Beloved.

It also means offering an eye-popping array of image makeovers. Her chameleon-like guises are on full display in the accompanying DVD, which features music videos and making-ofs for all five tracks on this EP.

In Brillante, a dramatic ballad about going it on her own, she transforms into a blinged-out Egyptian queen surrounded by a mountain of male flesh.

One way or another, she is still royalty.

(ST)

Happy Feet 2

George Miller

The story: In Happy Feet (2006), tap-dancing penguin Mumble (Elijah Wood) found his mate, Gloria (popster Pink takes over from the late Brittany Murphy in the sequel). They now have a son Erik (voice actress E.G. Daily), who cannot dance. A bigger problem looms, though, when their colony is trapped by a massive shelf of ice and it is up to father and son to save the day with help from their friends.

If only this were Bill And Will’s Excellent Adventure.

The two krill are merely tiny players in the movie but they light up the screen every time they come on. Their goofy bromance is gamely played out by Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, who have worked together on films such as the Ocean’s series of heist movies.

The two actors are clearly having fun and they deliver lines such as “Goodbye krill world!” with relish.

Indeed, it is the supporting cast including Hank Azaria as The Mighty Sven, a “penguin” who can fly, and Robin Williams as the lovelorn Ramon as well as the evangelistic Lovelace, who buoy the film with their humorous characterisations.

The addition of the small krill also means that director George Miller, who had helmed the violent action film Mad Max (1979), gets to play around with perspectives here.

One moment, he would zoom in close on the shrimp-like crustacean so that one can even see the texture of the ice, and the next, he would be pulling out to show the vastness of the Antarctic landscape of snow and ice.

The rest of the film can pretty much be described as Glee for the penguin crowd.

It opens with a lavish musical number that mashes up hits including Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation and Justin Timberlake’s SexyBack, with the lyrics changed to “We’re bringing fluffy back”.

Dancing penguins and fluffy little chicks are adorable for about five seconds but the cuteness wears off when every dramatic moment is turned into an opportunity for a song-and-dance production.

A musical is a leap of faith as one does not normally expect a person to burst into song at the drop of a hat. And the suspension of disbelief required to buy into penguins doing that is just too big a jump.

Erik gets his big dramatic moment when his father’s plea for help to the elephant seals is initially rebuffed. But the ballad is delivered in a shrill chipmunkish voice that is more cringing than moving.

I wonder what Bill and Will would have made of that.

(ST)

Legendary Amazons

Frankie Chan

The story: In the 10th century AD, North Song dynasty’s borders were under constant attack by the people of Western Xia. The men of the Yang family have died in battle and Yang Zongbao (Richie Jen) is the latest to be defeated. His son, Wenguang, the clan’s last male scion, is ordered into battle as well and the women of the family, including his great-grandmother Taijun (Cheng Pei-pei) and mother Mu Guiying (Cecilia Cheung), decide to go with him.

There is an entire entertainment cottage industry based on the exploits of the Yang family.

There have been folk tales, plays, novels, a Peking opera titled Female Generals Of The Yang Clan, numerous television drama serials as well as a big-screen adaptation, the Shaw Brothers’ classic 14 Amazons (1972).

The fascination stems in part from the rare opportunity to depict strong and warrior-like women, given that war is often the preserve of the men, as in the case of Peter Chan’s The Warlords (2007).

The dilemma between loyalty to one’s country and responsibilities to one’s family is made all the more poignant, given that it is a group of widows who are fighting for their country.

But in this latest remake, all the high-minded talk of duty and sacrifice merely feels like hogwash with all that stupidity and silliness unfolding on screen.

Despite being wounded in battle, Mu Guiying is able to take out waves of enemy soldiers, who are comic caricatures with their mohawks and dreadlocks.

One fight scene follows another but given the large cast of poorly defined female characters, one’s patience soon wears thin.

On the other hand, too much time is devoted to the impulsive brat that is Wenguang, who is all too eager to fall for an obvious ruse laid out by the enemy.

Then there are the tacky and cheap-looking CGI effects which completely take one out of the story every time they are employed.

Furthermore, an obstacle such as crossing over a gorge is overcome in the most risible and hilarious manner as a metallic rope bridge is somehow woven from the armour the women soldiers are wearing. At this point, Legendary Amazons switches genres from period action to comic fantasy.

And did I mention that soldiers leap about on pogo stick-like devices in one battle scene? It is hard to believe that this is not a spoof and that one is meant to take this movie seriously.

Before the audience gets to the end, there are still the soap opera revelations to get through and a final death scene that is meant to be moving but is epic only in the scale of its failure.

The bright side is, given the thriving cottage industry, it would not be too long before another adaptation comes around to wipe out the memory of this one.

(ST)

Do You Love Me?

Wu Jiahui

Where’s the love for Malaysian singer-songwriter Wu Jiahui? Since his debut album in 2008, which was repackaged for the Taiwanese market last year, he has not released anything new – till this EP.

His high-pitched, crystal-clear voice is still in good form. He begins the album on a high note, literally, on the word Love. However, the songs here lack the immediacy of Although I’m Willing and No Home To Return To from his earlier disc.

Very Me offers a glimpse into the mind of this travelling troubadour: “No matter where I drift in the future/I’ll still have to bring those traces from the past/That’s a heart that’s very me and that belongs to me.”

It sounds like a lonely journey, but one has to admire his resolve: “Whether the road ahead is right or not/Doesn’t matter, I’ve no regrets.”

Nocturnal

Aziatix

Korean-American outfit Aziatix comprise rapper Flowsik, R&B singer-songwriter Eddie Shin and Mandopop singer Nicky Lee.

On their full-length English-language debut, the trio sing and rap mostly about girls over thumping beats and synthesizer hooks. Flowsik brags on Say Yeah: “I’ma show the girls I’m bout it/And they gon’ show me how they ride it.”

It’s all pretty smooth, if somewhat generic and not particularly exciting.

At least the tracks that venture beyond relationships and hook-ups offer something different.

Whatchu Know About Us piles on the football metaphors as they take on the doubters: “Witnessing hatred flying at me from every corner/On the brink of madness but I choose to play it smarter/Work twice as harder, with dreams of being Carter.”

Embrace them or diss them, Aziatix already have their comeback worked out. They declare on A Game: “I don’t care ’bout what you say, just know I’m here and I’m here to stay, hey.”

(ST)

You Are The Apple Of My Eye

Giddens Ko

The story: The playful and rascally 16-year-old Ko Ching-teng (Ko Chen-tung) is made to sit in front of goody-two-shoes Shen Chia-yi (Michelle Chen) in class as punishment. To her annoyance, Chia-yi has orders from the teacher to keep an eye on him. They needle each other incessantly at first but gradually, Ching-teng begins to nurse a crush on Chia-yi.

Writer-director Giddens Ko has made a simple story of first love into a memorable work that is fresh, affecting, and often uproariously funny.

This is not one of those films about teenagers who have been scrubbed clean. The characters in Apple play dumb pranks, and driven by their hormonal urges, make stupid mistakes and swear constantly.

Actually, that is what the boys do. Ko captures beautifully the purity of youth and the poignant fact that boys are simply emotionally less mature compared to girls of the same age.

The casting is perfect with newcomer Ko Chen-tung nailing Ching-teng’s mix of impishness and idealism, swagger and shyness – an endearingly and maddeningly immature boy on the cusp of manhood.

Michelle Chen, last seen in the romantic drama Hear Me (2009), so thoroughly inhabits the role of the sweet-but-not-saintly Chia-yi that she is now seen as the ideal girlfriend by her many male fans.

The chemistry between the two leads is genuine and unforced and you soon find yourself cheering on their tentative relationship.

Since the film is based on the director’s 2007 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, one can sense the palpable affection he has for all the characters here.

The array of quirky classmates include the perpetually aroused Boner (Yen Sheng-yu), basketball-mad Lao Tsao (boyband Lollipop F’s Owodog), failed magician Liao Kai Pien (Tsai Chang-hsien) and the tubby A-ho (Steven Hao) as well as Shen’s good friend Hu Chia-wei (Wan Wan).

They could have been little more than one-note supporting players but the actors and the smartly exaggerated script manage to make each of them memorable in his own way.

The film sags somewhat in the middle after they graduate from high school and go their separate ways but it more than redeems itself with an ending that makes your heart break – and then has you guffawing heartily and leaving the theatre with a grin on your face and a spring in your step.

A real delicious Apple.

(ST)

Mosaic - The National

Esplanade Theatre/Sunday

Lots of bands make broody moody music but none does it like Ohio-born, Brooklyn-based indie rockers The National.

There is frontman Matt Berninger’s distinctive voice – a richly resonant and soulful baritone with a magnetic presence.

And of course, the magnificent songs, drawn largely from their last two acclaimed albums, Boxer (2007) and High Violet (2010). They are mostly written by Berninger and the twin brothers/ guitarists Aaron and Bryce Dessner.

There is the music itself – buzzing guitars, gently propulsive drums and the on-stage presence of a trumpet and a trombone for added texture.

And the lyrics can be strikingly evocative as in Bloodbuzz Ohio – “I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees” – or when Berninger sang of being “showered and blue- blazered” on Mistaken For Strangers.

Indeed, he was looking dapper in a black suit complete with tie and vest while his bandmates were togged out in black and grey.

Unexpectedly, the bearded frontman also had an offbeat sense of humour and, after explaining that he was drinking wine and not urine on stage, he deadpanned at one point: “Time for more swan’s urine. It’s hard to hold down a swan and make it pee into a bottle.”

He might dress like a sombre gentleman but there was a showman side to Berninger as well. During Squalor Victoria, he loosened his tie and let out his inner rock star. He flung the mike-stand to the ground as he shouted the lyrics: “This isn’t working, f*** that.”

For the set-closer Fake Empire, he came down from the stage and was borne aloft by fans as he walked over the seats. It sent the sold-out crowd into a near-frenzy.

Incidentally, an instrumental version of Fake Empire had been featured in American President Barack Obama’s election campaign.

For a moment, it seemed as though Berninger was about to get political when he asked if anyone had been following American politics.

Then he added: “It’s been particularly awful this week... but I won’t talk about it,” before segueing into Terrible Love.

The final song of the evening was the hauntingly cryptic Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks. Over acoustic guitars and mournful brass, the band crooned: “Vanderlyle crybaby cry/Though the water’s a-rising/Still no surprising you.”

Earlier in the evening, Berninger had thanked the crowd for waiting after the band postponed their Asian tour in March due to the earthquake in Japan.

Fans would say that it was worth the wait.

(ST)

One Way Ticket

Wu Bai & China Blue

Leehom New + Best Selections

Wang Lee Hom

Don’t let Blue Moon, the title of the opening track of his new album, fool you: Veteran Taiwanese singer-songwriter Wu Bai has been releasing albums far more consistently than that.

This marks his 16th studio release since 1992’s Loving Others Is A Happy Thing.

Over the years, there has been a distinct shift in his sound as well.

The earnest rock of hard-luck tales in the early releases has evolved into more playful shades.

The ballad Knot ties together a plaintive synth line with guitars: “Late night, perhaps you don’t want to sleep/Dawn breaks, the corners of your eyes still have tears/Maybe it’s like I imagined from head to toe/I know there must be a knot in your heart.”

I Was Wrong pairs woe-is-me lyrics with an unexpectedly breezy melody: “When I’m awake/Tears keep flowing/I think I’m already used to being very lonely.”

Wu Bai’s twangy vocals don’t work with all of the material here.

And the rock ballad version of Sarah Chen’s Dream To Awakening makes one yearn for the Wu Bai of old. Still, you have to respect him for trekking on.

Without quite looking it, Taiwan- based Wang Lee Hom is now a veteran of the music scene as well, with a total of 14 studio albums since 1995’s Love Rival Beethoven. This two-disc release compiles tracks from his Sony years from 1998 to the present.

The R&B-flavoured hits such as Revolution, Shangri-La and A Sun That’s Been Washed In Spring Rain are still a treat to listen to, as are the emo ballads such as Kiss Goodbye and The One And Only.

There are also some pleasant surprises such as the jazzy vibe of the less familiar Love Love Love from 2003’s Unbelievable. What has not improved with time are his self-described “chinked-out” tracks, which attempt to meld hip-hop with Mandopop – the irritatingly pompous Heroes Of Earth even features elements of Chinese opera.

There are two new tracks included here: maudlin ballad Still Love You and the campily fun Fire Power To The Max.

But with the omission of the exuberant Impossible To Miss You and the groovy logic of Loving You Equals Loving Myself, this collection is definitely not firing on all cylinders.

(ST)

23:59

Gilbert Chan

National service is a rite of passage for every Singaporean male and it comes replete with stories about haunted camps and unclean training grounds.

Among the most famous is the one about the bunk with the extra door at the Pulau Tekong camp, perhaps the result of a route march that chillingly ends in tragedy. Given the wealth of material out there, it is disappointing that this film did not do a better job of assimilating those tales into a coherent whole. And despite some creepy atmospherics, the slow-moving flick never quite gathers enough momentum to be truly unsettling.

As for the titular 23:59, writer-director Gilbert Chan points to it as the most potent time for a person to die as his or her spirit will then return to haunt the living. Unfortunately, this promising germ of an idea is never fully exploited. Instead, we get a largely Malaysian cast acting out various soldier stereotypes while Mark Lee (above left) plays the superstitious sergeant, a variation of his Hokkien Beng persona.

By the time the movie wanders into full-on demon-exorcism mode, it almost feels campy rather than horrific.

(ST)

Faye Wong 2011 Concert

Singapore Indoor Stadium/Last Saturday

Banter is part and parcel of every concert experience, except when it comes to a Faye Wong gig.

The Chinese pop diva said “xie xie” (thank you) five times and the sixth time, just to mix things up a bit, she said it in Cantonese. And that was the sum total of what she uttered to the sold-out crowd of 6,500.

Then again, if you are a fan, you were not there for the small talk. A Faye Wong concert is first and foremost about hearing her sing live.

And as a bonus, this concert boasted a few beautifully conceived tableaux. The creative director of the show is Ida Wong, also the producer-director of the tour, which has so far been to Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, Nanjing, Changsha and Wuhan. There was also creative input from director Wong Kar Wai for the visuals.

The show opened with a wintry snowscape. There were trees with bare branches and what appeared to be a huge white rock in the middle of the stage. The structure eventually split apart to reveal Wong as a human chandelier, singing her Cantonese ballad Promise.

Both she and the sound system got off to a shaky start. She sounded tentative and her pitch did not seem too secure.

But by the time she sang her cover of Teresa Teng’s You Are In My Heart, things were beginning to come together and the crowd signalled its approval with a roar.

Winter gave way to spring and Wong changed from her white get-up into an outfit with a flouncy red and white skirt.

Summer arrived with a blast of electric guitars as she took on the invigorating To Love and the electropop of The Last Blossom.

She was beginning to hit her stride as her pipes warmed up, which made it the perfect moment to put on Face. The track was a showstopper on the Scenic Tour (1998) album and live, it was a stunner as Wong switched between an operatic higher register and a twangy lower range.

While she never quite broke into a dance, she would shift about on the balls of her feet and during Bored, she even twirled the microphone over her head.

It was during the Autumn segment that she literally soared. She sat on a structure that seemed to be made of air and light and the entire contraption was hoisted over the stage and then, thrillingly, over the audience.

The ceiling was lit up like a night heavy with stars as she sang Sky and Wishing We Could Last Forever. The effect was heartstoppingly magical.

At other times, the lighting alone was enough to create drama. During her rendition of her early Cantonese hit Cold War, she was strikingly framed by cones of light beamed from different angles.

While her last album was 2003’s To Love, it did not mean that there was no new material at the concert. In a show of versatility, she gave her own take on Karen Mok’s Single Room Double Bed as well as Sinead O’Connor’s A Perfect Indian.

In the final Rebirth segment, Wong wore a white dress with a print pattern of black skulls. She performed New Tenant and then Chanel, as red cloth twirled mesmerisingly from the rafters.

Both numbers, as well as the following Flower On The Other Shore, are from the song cycle that she composed for Fable (2000). Flower is not exactly a crowd-pleasing set-ender and yet, Wong made it work.

She sang it standing in front of a screen, onto which a reflection of her was also projected, lending an other-worldly vibe to the proceedings.

By the end of the song, she was in that other world as depicted by the visuals of sweeping vistas on the screen.

Then intriguingly, the screen tilted and turned into a giant mirrored surface reflecting the audience back to themselves.

The house lights came on as Wong’s voice sang a Buddhist sutra. Slowly, the fans got to their feet and streamed out, too flummoxed to even chorus for an encore.

It was a deliciously enigmatic moment when pop culture and conceptual visual art collided.

Wong might not have said much that night but she certainly made a statement with that ending.

(ST)