sometimes feel

What got me excited in 2011 weren’t well-structured melodic tunes or pop trash as delivered from Lady G*** or Ke$ha . This year was big on the minimal electronic sampled sounds. Echoy spaces and textured sounds punctuated by syncopated beats. Call it post-dubstep or minimal techno, the “scene” headed by the likes of Jamie xx, SBTRKT, Mount Kimbie and James Blake. Carefully produced clean sounds, sharp yet abstract soundscapes. Somehow this music felt very spatial. Layers building upon layers of sampled beats and vocals expanding and contracting.

Favorite music from 2011

James Blake- Wilhelm Scream

Fleet Foxes- Helplessness Blues

Deerhunter- Nothing Ever Happend

Baths- Departure

Mount Kimbie- Carbonated

Jamie xx- Far Nearer

Jacques Greene- Another Girl

Radiohead- Codex

SBTRKT- Wildfire

Girls- Honey Bunny

Koreless- MTI

Smith Westerns- Weekend

The Strokes- Taken For A Fool

Caracal- Wolves

The Vaccines- Blow It Up

HEALTH- USA Boys

Wavves- I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl

White Shoes and The Couples Company- Rented Room

2011 in restrospect.

The past 365 days were mainly about transition from army to university life (and the space in between). Highlights - in chronological order - include Laneway Festival, my trip to New York , Yellowstone Park, Boracay and entering into NUS and Kent Ridge Hall.

2012, ok!

living view

i actually wrote a few paragraphs on post-materialism but dropped it after feeling conflicted/awkward ...and besides glee was loaded and waiting for me to watch it.

so wtvr i' m just gonna share/record-down-for-future-reference some links and stuffs i've been doing.

i've passed driving (last month)! yes! a symbolic step up the proverbial ladder of adulthood. ew. besides working part time on weekdays, i've been helping out a bunch of visiting artist known as ruangrupa as part of the singapore biennale 2011.

sites:

william eadon: his stuff.

holy loly: this just brings rando to a whole new level. weird gifs and badly photoshopped images. it's prolly worth a good study why i find it so engaging, but mostly a good waste of time.

haw-lin: image dumping site but with great click-through links to more beautiful sites.

backyard bill: profiles of creative alt individuals.

hedi slimane fashion diary: <-that's what it is

cartoon stlyes: fashion editorials.

rebel: music blog + interviews

yourmusictoday: source of quality music videos

music:

slava: listening to the song complex housing. fresh beats! so damn fresh

ages: their album "failures" is avalible for free dwnld. ambient sampled sounds.

FLASHLIGHTS: free dwnlds again. listen to the song new hamshire. tropical experimental.

meanwhile i've been updating my website (nope fun) where i interview photographers.

what's new

so here's my (late) list of favorite music from 2010.

my general feeling was that lots of awesome new sonic grounds were covered, but somehow it all seems kinda distant to me. like the new thing with music (that i was listening to) was all about "distortion". The word distortion kept on popping into my thoughts this year, like a theme or something. guitar/synth distortion sounding fuzzy and wonky yet somehow catchy? wtvr! vague description! here goes:

Crystal Castles- Not In Love (ft. Robert Smith)

Foals- This Orient

Two Door Cinema Club- This Is The Life

The XX- Night Time

Bat For Lashes- Glass

Stellarium- Tomorrow’s Monday

Flight Facilities- Crave You (ft. Giselle)

Toro Y Moi- Blessa

Holly Miranda- Waves

Kings Of Leon- Revelry

Memoryhouse- Lately

Best Coast- When I’m With You

Mew- Reprise

Radiohead- Worrywort

Lonely Galaxy- Have A Heart

Pure Ecstasy- Alexandria

Drug Rug- Sooner The Better

CFCF- You Hear Colours

Caribou- Sun

Beach House- Zebra

The Antlers- Kettering

Animal Collective- Daily Routine

jj- My Way

The Helio Sequence- Blood Bleeds

Cloud Cult- Everybody Here Is A Cloud

how will 2011 turn out?

apathy as mainstream attitude

well its been about 3 good loooong weeks since i've officially become a civilian once again. no more army shit for now. it's a bittersweet feeling, like you've been looking forward to this day then suddenly you realize you'll miss everyone. oh well.

recently paid a visit to roxy records and bought myself some local produce. namely stellarium, lunar node and documentary in amber

(which i am listening to now...my ear drums are receiving heavy damage but i'm enjoying every second of it).

sites i've been visiting:

future shipwreck: quirky art, design and artist interviews.

seeyoutomorrow: diy stuffs.

leaving for sieam reap, cambodia tomorrow. bye.

cosmic blaze

i'm currently on medical leave after pulling out my wisdom tooth on monday (yesterday). i think the dentist surgeon guy kind of made a mistake? there are serval stitches a few teeth away from the area the tooth was extracted. plus... there was one point when he said: "my dear son". which probably meant that he cut up some part of my gum accidentally. lucky there was anaesthetic so i didn't feel anything.

i'm finally so damn close to finishing up all this army shit. keep on thinking back on these past two years.

movies that i watched reacently and really liked: gummo, where the wild things are, an education, trainspotting

some new sites i've been checking out:

dis magazine: really original content. by original i mean weird and out there, in a good way.

theofed: really quality hipster stuff going on. not sure what it is but i like it

music!

star slinger: FREE DOWNLOAD. sampled and remixed goodness

evenings: FREE DOWNLOAD. why is such good stuff going for free?? instrumental moody sounds

com truise: some of his free tracks on his site. retro sampled synths. nothing to do with tom cruise.

ouch.

so atec is over. i went to beijing, came back and just got my wisdom tooth pulled out.

i got to do lots of new stuff in beijing with my cousins. new places, new people, new things to buy. made some quick visits to touristy places like tianamen square, forbidden city and great wall. waking up at 11pm everyday, learning korean dance, eating, watching dvds, clogging the toilet.... ahhhh...such memories.

my uncle also lent me his nikon fm2 analog camera. really fun learning the works and such. also bought a ulta wide & slim superheadz camera in an outrageous pink casing (known as pink dress). k wtvr...

recently bought a bunch of albums. radiohead's "com lag(2plus2isfive)", ratatat's "LP4", CSS's "donkey", HEALTH's remix album "disco2", caracal's "phoenix" and plainsunset's "love.songs.for.the.emotionally.wounded". phew.

today i'm on medical leave, so with free time on my hands, i created a tumblr blog. 2 actually! hehe oh well.

personal image dumping blog

photography blog

last weekend i managed to go down for one day of the baybeats feastival 2010 at the esplanade.

the two acts i saw:

elektone- electronic beats backed by live drums, synths and guitar. distorted robot vocal. how come i never heard of this local act before?!

de connextor- electonic outfit from thailand. really interesting programming going on with the lead male sporting a johnny greenwood/ horrors hairstyle. intriguing. their myspace has free downloads.

thats all for now! see ya

fun fun fun

i have been having really good weekends these past few weeks, super eventful. with the arrival of the cousins from beijing, things are a lot more fun. yes. flying kites, eating durians, local bands, bad music, watching videos, dancing wildly, flea market, national museum etc... ahh.

atec is beginning of next month, which means things should get much more relaxed. i hope. then before you know it ord.

also... right now i am typing infront of my new iMac. so gloriously beautiful. colours are so gorgeous.

here are two awesome music blogs that i frequent.

happy please- quality electronica

transparent- all things lo-fi and hazy

till we meet again.