Taste the Atmosphere

Eason Chan

On his last EP Time Flies, Cantopop king Eason Chan (above) served up two gems: conventional ballads No Man’s Land and Tourbillon. On his latest offering, he takes a more experimental approach, including collaborations with three female singers.

The sole English track here, Welcome To The Future, features the other-worldly trills of China singer Sa Dingding over throbbing synthesizers. With Sa singing, “We ride the wings of time/To our future we will fly”, it is like the soundtrack to an unborn sci-fi film.

Chan also teams up with retired singer Rowena Cortes, popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s, for He Says She Says, a gender-based take on relationships. Fellow Hong Kong singer Karen Mok pops up incidentally on backing vocals on the track My Cup Of Tea.

Meanwhile, Ip Man In The Wind, complete with irreverent rap, is a song that offers humorous respite from the recent spate of movies about the wing chun martial arts master.

You have to hand it to Chan for going where his muse takes him, even if the end result is a record that feels a little scattered and less cohesive than previous discs.

Above the Sky, Beyond the Sea

Key Elements

Key Elements is a local a cappella group formed in 2001 and this is their first Mandarin EP. The six members – two women and four men – take turns in the vocal spotlight and the collection features a wide range of musical styles.

Highlights include the sultry slinky The Love I Can’t Have, a 1940s Shanghai Jazz number by Yao Li; the easy charm of Panda Xiong’s Above The Sky, Beyond The Sea; and evergreen oldie The Evening Bell Of Nanping, with its varying rhythms.

All of which goes to show you don’t have to go to the ends of the earth to seek out good music, because it is being made here.

Four Dimensions

Lollipop F

Taiwan’s Lollipop are right on track. Following the trajectory of other meteoric boybands before them, they have reached the stage where they start to splinter.

Now that Prince and Lil Jay have left, they are renamed Lollipop F, comprising Owodog, Fabien, William and A-wei.

The remaining four cover their bases by offering something for everyone – from the perky Today Is A Holiday to the love ballad Blank to the harder-edged Hip Hop Life.

Mostly, it’s a palatable mix. Bonus points to Lollipop F for having a hand in coming up with the material – which suggests that this confection is not yet past its shelf life.

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Confessions

Tetsuya Nakashima

The story: This Japanese drama starts out in a regular, if overly boisterous, middle school classroom. The students are drinking milk, messing around and generally paying little heed to their form teacher Yoko Moriguchi (Takako Matsu).

The only thing that strikes a slightly off-note is that Moriguchi appears cold and does not seem to care that she has lost control of the class. Then, she begins to calmly recount a chilling tale of how her four-year-old daughter was murdered and how she has plotted revenge on those responsible.

The movie then goes on to present confessions from several other points of view, including the perpetrators’.

Confessions uses the sensationalistic murder of a defenceless young child to explore notions of culpability, justice and vengeance. There is even a direct reference to Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime And Punishment, which takes on similar themes.

Issues which have caused much hand-wringing from time to time in Japan, such as bullying in schools and juvenile delinquency, are presented here in an unflinching manner.

The aim here, though, is not to delve into a study of sociological ills or provide easy solutions but to weave these dark threads into a gripping, provocative and darkly mesmerising thriller.

Based on the best-selling and award- winning debut mystery novel by Kanae Minato, the film was a hit in its native Japan where it reigned atop the box office for four weeks.

The material is a good fit for director and scriptwriter Tetsuya Nakashima, who had previously helmed the quirky musical comedy Memories Of Matsuko (2006) and Kamikaze Girls (2004), which tackled youth and identity.

His visual flair is evident here and the scenes of the students drinking milk are stylishly and lovingly portrayed. It is not just pretty images for their own sake, though, and the emphasis on this innocuous activity is to set us up for the sinister twist that is to come.

As the story spirals into ever darker territory, and loneliness, grief and anger gather into a potent mix, he maintains a slightly overwrought tone that works well for the dramatic material.

Admirably, there is no fake happy ending here but one laced with the blackest humour.

The cast of fresh-faced teenage unknowns bring a realistic immediacy to the key roles of the students but the big surprise here has to be Takako Matsu.

Known for playing the sweet young thing in hit idol dramas such as Love Generation (1997) and Hero (2001), she has grown into an increasingly assured actress. As a grieving, vengeful mother, she effectively plays against type, though diabolical is perhaps a bit too much of a stretch for her.

Regardless, these are Confessions you will want to be privy to.

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Unnamed.Poem

Denise Ho

Nine years after her Cantonese debut, charismatic singer Denise Ho (right), protege of the late Anita Mui, is finally releasing her first full-length Mandarin album.

Naturally, expectations are high.

She has certainly put in some hard work and there is no cringe-inducing mangling of Mandarin.

She has also roped in an impressive roster of collaborators, including lyricist Wyman Wong, Mayday frontman Ashin and singers Mavis Fan and Waa Wei.

Instead of sappy, generic love ballads, we get intriguing titles such as Poetry And Nonsense and Alice In Wonderland Syndrome.

Mushroom Song, for example, is a quirky number about, well, fungi: “Some mushrooms are edible, others are poisonous/Some grow together, others like to be alone/But the prettier they are, the more likely they’ll make you puke.”

But, tellingly, the strongest track here is the lone Cantonese number, How Metal Is Forged, which sounds like it could be the theme song for the Japanese anime Fullmetal Alchemist.

On the CD cover, Ho is perched on a lamp post and about to be lifted, improbably, by a solitary balloon.

But she stops short of taking flight.

Love Flower

Various artists

Before this album came along, I had no idea who Ang It-hong was. The singer-songwriter came to fame in the 1960s and was hailed as the king of Taiwan crooners.

He died from pancreatic cancer in February this year and was presented with a posthumous Special Contribution Award at the Golden Melody Awards.

The record is the brainchild of his son, arranger and producer Eric Hung, who has gathered top Mandopop stars, including Mayday’s Ashin, Crowd Lu and JJ Lin, to pay tribute.

Rather than present straightforward remakes, Hung and his line-up have breathed new life into Ang’s classic Minnan tracks by incorporating them into new songs.

These Minnan-Mandarin mash-ups, such as Old Record with girl group S.H.E, work better than one would expect and elevate this album beyond novelty status.

Hung explains in the liner notes that his original intention was to simply present new arrangements of his father’s songs. But, inspired by the works’ vitality, he has interpreted them differently, so that more people can get to know those classics anew.

There are also new tracks here, including the moving duet Father sung by Jay Chou and Chris Hung, Eric’s elder brother.

As one song blooms after another, Love Flower turns into an unexpectedly cheering celebration of one man’s life and work.

The Beginning

JYJ

TVXQ – also known as Dong Bang Shin Gi or Tohoshinki, meaning “Rising Gods of the East” – was one of the biggest boy bands around in the mid-2000s. The Korean group were popular across Asia and even scored chart-topping Japanese-language hits in Japan.

To the dismay of J- and K-pop fans everywhere, TVXQ disbanded, after members Jun Su, Yoo Chun and Jae Joong successfully sued SM Entertainment last year over their share of the earnings the group brought in.

From the ashes of TVXQ, a new abbreviation group have emerged: JYJ. They may have gone from a quintet to a trio, but their ambition has only grown larger.

With their English-language debut, JYJ aim to break into the global music market. They have cannily roped in big names, such as top American music producer and songwriter Rodney Jerkins and rap star Kanye West to beef up the cred on tracks such as Ayyy Girl and Be My Girl.

Still, one has to question the point of the album that is The Beginning. Why would one want to listen to generic-sounding R&B in mildly stilted English?

Still, while the album is unlikely to break JYJ into the highly competitive Western market, the group’s hordes of Asian fans can ensure that The Beginning will not be the end.

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Le Cirque I

Peggy Hsu

Four-fruit Ice

Crowd Lu

Famous Detective Lost To Sweetheart

Cosmos People

The EP – short for “extended play” single releases – is often thought the lesser cousin of the full- length album. In the right hands, however, it can be a legitimate form, a musical exploration and every bit as compelling as an album.

Conceptually, Taiwanese singer-songwriter Peggy Hsu’s Le Cirque I could well be a spin-off of her earlier track, In Love With The Circus Ringleader, from the album Fine (2009).

Her five-track EP’s cover illustration of a big top towed by a tiny car wearing a top hat already evokes feelings of whimsy.

The image sets you up nicely for songs such as Chocolate Kiss and If I...: “If the plane falls out of the sky, if the ships sinks to the bottom of the sea/If the car bursts into flames, remember how much I love you.”

Swim Ring keeps the quirky quotient up, and is sweet and sad at the same time: “You are my swim ring, tightly surrounding my world/When my eyes open, I wish to see, the mermaid’s face.”

The richly imagined worlds in the tracks here would put to shame some full-length records with a dearth of ideas.

The vibe of fellow singer-songwriter Crowd Lu’s (below) Four-fruit Ice is more laidback, and is reflected in the cover picture of him chill-axing and tucking into a bowl of the icy dessert.

The gem in this four-track collection is Mosquito, with its witty lyrics about the irritating insect: “Finally, you come close to me/Knew that you would be there in summer/But it’s winter, why are you here/And demanding that I accept this unreasonable love.”

There is also the tenderly nostalgic Nice To Meet You, Lu’s thank you and farewell to his school friends upon graduating from university: “Running circles round the field/Time passes year by year/I want to hold back the tears and say, so pleased to meet you/My dear, dear classmates.”

The mood on Famous Detective Lost To Sweetheart is not so much nostalgic as retro. Taiwanese group Cosmos People have gone from being a quartet to a trio and this is the follow-up to their 2009 self-titled debut.

The jazzy, bluesy arrangements hark back to an earlier time, and are paired with lyrics often wry and sometimes biting. Lost To You opens with: “Oh, Lady, Lady, why are your eyes glinting/Is it because my cash can’t win your heart/Good thing the notes are at home/Wait for me to make a bouquet for you.”

The DVD includes a 20-minute short film, but is pretty much a throwaway effort. The best bits are the individual music videos for Famous Detective, Lost To You and Sweetheart.

These days, for music artists who do not yet have an album’s worth of material to put out, the EP is the way to go.

Freed from the constraints of a formal release, they might feel more adventurous and playful in the studio. And it shows in their compositions.

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Miss Elva

Elva Hsiao

From the glitter of Diamond Candy (2009) to the punkish nu-wave neon-glow look she sports for this album, Taiwanese singer Elva Hsiao sure likes to dazzle and shine.

Maybe it’s to distract you from the fact that she is once more serving up the same calculated mix of dance tracks, remakes and ballads. Then again, it’s a formula that works – the record has topped the Taiwanese album chart for three weeks – so why mess with it?

While the track Slim is a remake, it at least has some biting lyrics about the obsession with being thin: “The tastier it is, the more sinful/Fats, please go to the one next to me” and “Treat all those shows with good food like horror flicks”.

The gospel-tinged Dream II ~ I Am Not Afraid actually offers something different but it sounds a little out of place on this collection.

Offering fans visual eye candy with each new album is all part of the game, but Hsiao should bear in mind that it’s the music that should be grabbing one’s attention.

Hao Jiu

Nicky Lee

The title is a pun on Lee’s Chinese name and also means “been so long”.

As the liner notes tell us, it has been 765 days since the Taiwan-based Korean’s last Mandarin album Imperfect (2008).

Given the long wait, you would have thought that the singer-songwriter would want to wow us right off the bat instead of serenading us with a cover of Richard Marx’s Right Here Waiting.

The album closes with yet another cover, Air Supply’s classic ballad Making Love Out Of Nothing At All, which was featured in the soundtrack to the Taiwanese gangster flick, Monga (2010).

Actually, Lee doesn’t do a half-bad job with these two overly familiar songs. There is an appealingly tender gruffness to his voice which landed him the Best Male Singer award for his second album, Baby It’s Me, at the 2007 Golden Melody Awards.

Still, one would have hoped for more original material here.

On the ballad Last Day, he brings some lovely phrasing and colour to the conventional lyrics: “The last day, the last day/Whose tears have blurred the scene/The last day, the last day/Can’t remember why we forgot to say goodbye”.

No More Cryin’, meanwhile, is a fruitful attempt at R&B and also makes for a nice change of pace.

Perhaps Lee could consider making an even bigger change the next time round and take on something apart from love songs.

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Flowers

Norihiro Koizumi

The story: The lives of six women across three generations unfold in Japan from the 1930s to the present. In 1936, Rin (Yu Aoi from Hula Girls, 2006) runs away when she is about to be married off to a man she has never met. The 1960s track the stories of her three grown daughters – Kaoru (Yuko Takeuchi from Be With You, 2004), coping with the grief of losing her husband; Midori (Rena Tanaka from First Love, 2000), who struggles with feminism and femininity; and Sato (Yukie Nakama from Gokusen: The Movie, 2009), who is willing to risk death to have a second child. In the present day, Sato’s daughters Kana (Kyoka Suzuki from Welcome Back, Mr McDonald, 1997) and Kei (Ryoko Hirosue from Departures, 2008) wrestle with expectations and major life decisions.

This will someday make for an interesting cultural studies paper: What kind of a film gets made when a coterie of top-notch actresses is assembled and what does it reveal about attitudes towards women?

There was the tepid remake of the classic about relationships, The Women (2008), from the United States, the deliciously dark and comic murder mystery 8 Women (2002) from France and a documentary-style expose Actresses (2009) from South Korea.

Now comes Flowers from Japan.

There is much to enjoy in this film with its gorgeous cinematography and attention to period detail. It goes from presenting black-and-white scenes of 1930s Japan which evoke the works of the late feted film-maker Yasujiro Ozu to lovingly recreated and colour-corrected depictions of the country in the 1960s.

It is not just the visual details but also changing social mores which are reflected, from strictly defined women’s roles in the 1930s to casual sexual harassment in the 1960s to seeming liberation today.

Director Norihiro Koizumi makes the transitions from one story to another, one era to another, seamless through the use of recurring motifs.

The film is edited in such a way that answers to questions are withheld, thus holding the viewer’s attention. What happens to Rin after she runs away? How did she end up with three daughters?

Then there are the actresses themselves, who are big enough stars in Japan that the film simply opens with beautifully composed shots of each one and her name up on the screen.

There are no dud performances as such though Rena Tanaka’s spunky Midori and Ryoko Hirosue’s ever cheerful Kei are among the more appealing. Hirosue and Kyoka Suzuki also team up for a genuinely moving scene after Kei finds a handwritten note from her mother to the two sisters.

Yet despite all this, the film falls short at the end when it suggests that a woman’s true happiness comes only when she has a child. Surely that is too limiting a message in this time and age.

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