i'm still alive, thanks for checking in.

the lack of updates has been horrible on my part, that I know. But with finals and a lack of motivation, u get what u give yeah?

music wise, I've been feeling very uninspired of late. Haven't had the time to truly and sincerely appreciate music in its finest. it's all in drips and drabs, lacks cohesiveness and somehow all doesn't seem to quite fit. but some new stuff on the ipod...

the electro-house phase is catching on, and i can't say how much i love steve aoki. that hairy bastard can mix some good shit i must say. 1967 tops it off, followed by Bloc Party. amazing amazing. totally psyched when he cruises into sunny island next weekend at zouk. so watch out for that.

and then there's still the same acoustic folksy stuff that i always love. current obsessions: Lori McKenna - Beautiful Man, William Fitzsimmons and Alexi Murdoch - Orange Sky.

Lori McKenna - Beautiful Man: Great lyrics, great song that will make u warm, fuzzy and sad all at the same time. And introduced by film genius Mr. Zach Braff, so it makes me happy, and makes me think of a particular someone (:

William Fitzsimmons - I can't say how much his music brings such peace in my heart. It's one of those songs that u listen, u are so immersed into it, everything else seems to slowly fade away. Guitar strings are beautiful sounds when plucked the right way and this man's got that magic touch.

Alexi Murdoch - Orange Sky: this is love. this is love.

Snow Patrol's new album, Take The City, sounds promising, so far. But what can I say, Snow Patrol's the shit. Honestly. Signal Fire? Oh, so good.

This is it guys, no bullshit, no pretentiousness. Reading the papers today brings such sadness in my heart. The worlds are at wars, people close to home and everywhere else are dying, epidemics are hitting the cities like they never have before, we are killing more than we are making, we are taking more than we are giving, and it's all because we're too selfish to realise better. What can we do? We need to stop complaining and start thanking, we need to be grateful for what we have, so that when they are taken away from us, we remember what it was like to have that single thing once. We need to start remembering the simpler days, the days when lovers were lovers, friends were friends, none of this whole friends-with-benefits or sex-is-just-for-fun bullshit. we need to know what's right, what's wrong and just do it. how did human relationships get so complicated? we need to focus on going back to the basics. then we can move on. progression has, on the contrary, made life a huge irony and that's not healthy people.

it brings me great sadness to know that the world is coming to its end and there is very little i can do about it. a little at a time yeah? trying is better than sitting back and doing nothing.

love more, hate less, listen more, talk less, hug more, fight less, thank more, complain less. it's a start, it really is my friends.

when u are in love and like.

When you are in love and like, you become a total mess. Your train of thoughts are a blur, your heart's in a mess and your head's so high up in the clouds you can't see the ground. I love the feeling but yet hate it all the same time. Entirely for the fact that I've worked so hard to be my own person, I don't want to lose it all. But yet you can't control these things, and I guess you sometimes just have to let your heart rule your mind. I digress..yet again.

Of course I was listening to Metro Station's Kelsey(in the post below) on imeem.com, and I stumbled upon this other band called 'The Cab'. If pop rock is not your thing, please stop here.

But for all other fellow pop rockers, you will enjoy this band as much as I have. They've got the same happy vibe, the one that makes you want to enjoy every waking moment with that special one, and life's a bed of roses. What can I say, love turns you into a gay motherfucker or at least ME.

Nonetheless, check out tracks like "Vegas Skies" and "Take My Hand". Bordering on emo and mushy, but it communicates my feelings on life, love and happiness through the melody alone.

"Calm your nerves now
Don't worry, just breathe
Are you sure now?
Don't bother packing, let's just leave

Said they wanted change
I hope that you remain the same
To show that this is not a game
Lets end this tragedy today

Now take my hand and we will run away
Down to this place that I know
How did this night become the enemy?
It's over, it's over, it's over

Lay down with me
Let me hold you, baby just breathe
This is ending and we will get through eventually"
The Cab, Take My Hand

I'll admit that some of the tracks will start to sound alike such as "I Run" versus "Take My Hand" but nonetheless, it's still a good listen especially if there's this undying need on your own part to smile for no reason, all because there's that someone special on your mind.

I am scaring myself, shall stop here. :)

Sometimes fancy words arent needed.

Oh my god, I hate to admit this but I LOVE THIS SONG. Never heard of Metro Station, not until 2 nights ago when I was on the phone with a friend and comparing playlists. I'm ashamed to admit that 1/3 of The Jonas Brothers has a part to do with this foursome. But here's reason why you should love this song too,

"So take one word you said
You put it in your bed
You rest your tiny head, on your pillow
You wonder where you're going next
You got your head pushed to my chest
And now you're hoping that someone let's you in
Well I sure'll let you in

You know I'll let you in
Oh kelsey, you

So don't let anyone scare you
You know that I'll protect you, always
Now through the thick and thin
Until the end
You better watch it
You know you don't cross it because
I'm always here for you
And i'll be here for you
And I know, I know, I know
I know how it feels
Believe me, I've been there
And I know, I know, I know
I know what it feels like
Tell me, Kelsey

And I'd swim the ocean for you, the ocean for you
Whoa, oh Kelsey
And I'd swim the ocean for you, the ocean for you
Whoa, oh Kelsey yeah

It's gonna get harder
And it's gonna burn brighter
And it's gonna to feel tougher
Each and every day and
So let me say that I love you
You're all that I've ever wanted
All that I've ever dreamed of to come
And yes, you did come
I want you so bad
Can you feel it too?
You know i'm so, i'm so in love with you
I want you, so much
I need you, so much
I need you, I need you, your touch

And I'd swim the ocean for you, the ocean for you
Whoa, oh Kelsey

And I'd swim the ocean for you, the ocean for you
Whoa, oh Kelsey

And I'd swim the ocean for you, the ocean for you
Whoa, oh Kelsey

And I'd swim the ocean for you, the ocean for you
Whoa, oh Kelsey yeah
kelsey kelsey kelsey kelsey"

The lyrics bother on cheesy but yet at the same time, the idea of the song is so simple. I think there's beauty in its simplicity, and I swear in under 5 secs of listening to the song, all you want to do is, "whooaaaaa oh kelseyyyy".

While I would sound impossibly too young to say this because I am far from old, but this song reminds me of my adolescent years where I am infatuated with a boy, and all I can do is gush and blush whenever I see him. What can I say, we never really leave the bubblegum pop-loving days behind.

It also makes me want to kiss, hug, laugh with the person I love, to share long bus rides and walks in the parks, to feel what it's like to be carefree, knowing that freedom is within our grasps. To know that every night I will go to bed feeling safe, warm and happy. Because I've found the type of love that I've always wanted.

KINGS OF LEON. MUSIC. LOVE. JOY.

Current obsession - Kings of Leon's latest album "Only By The Night". Some solid tunes here, and practically not a single track I can blatantly critique at all. A mish-mash of Stereophonics, Yoav and Guns and Roses, it's magic that which i cant really pin-point but amazing. It opens darkly, with heavy sounds embedded into "Closer", and it eases into a light-hearted track about the city that which I love, "Manhattan" and it closes with the very depressing, "Cold Desert", as if to slowly take a polite exit to what I would say, one of the best albums I've ever heard in 2008.

The album makes me believe that music will win wars, hearts, love and life. It brings to me emotions that are overwhelming but makes me believe that life will be beautiful with just music alone.

Sidetracking to other random things, there are so many gigs I want to go to but if only my pocket wasnt already so dented from my horrendous shopping habits (and bad economy!) Camera Obscura and The Whitest Boy Alive are some bands stopping by the sunny island of Singapore and I'm stoked. Let's see if I get a chance to catch them live!

And I just watched 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona', and I'm feeling the repercussions of living in this tiny city, and a longing to see what the world has to offer me. But I think I'd thrive well in passionate lovers, musicians, art, life and poetry, in all of it's twisted, warped mannerisms. It's so beautiful. And I want that kind of life, a truly beautiful life where I can live out in earthy tones, and to be one with the world. Like the forces of nature, is one with me.

The Fun Never Stops

"You and me will be lying side by side
Forever forever
Underneath this adolescent sky
Together together
And you will hold my heart inside your hand
And You'll be the one, the one to tell me

Oh, we've got a long, long way to go
To get there
We'll get there
But oh, if there's one thing that we know
It's that we will not grow old

You made me swear that our hearts will never die
No never, no never
Cause no one seems to believe that we can fly
Forget them, forget them
Oh, you told me"

It's the infectious voice, the happy rhythm, that makes you want to skip along and sing like you did when you were six. You didn't care that you sounded horrible, that you were awfully out of tune, because then, you were genuinely happy. Ms. Lenka, Melbourne-raised actress turned singer, is releasing her debut album and I can't say I'm not excited at all. She reminds me alot of Regina Spektor, a bit of bubblegum love and happy inflections makes me a happy girl. It's time like these that I feel like even when the world is up in flames, everything will be okay. I picture green grass, flowers, sun shining high and bright, and girls in white dresses everywhere. Smiles, giggles and life is beautiful again.

I heart Lenka :)

awards and stuff

so the mtv asia awards came and went, it felt like it was not too long ago while i was camped out in M2 with my fellow colleagues, snacking on twizzlers and swearing like a vulgar piece of motherf***er (seems like that bug hasnt really left me yet).

The experience in itself was bittersweet. There were many days when I was up in the mountains, I felt like giving up, just throwing in the towel and just walking away. We endured long hours, we fought, we got testy, we were short with each other, we ate crappy food, we slept ridiculously little and everything seemed like it was all going wrong. But it all came through in the end, and I have to say, it feels pretty f***ing awesome.

Hats off to Chee Meng and Wei Keng (my respective bosses) who have taught me so much since Jan 2008 - today. They really delivered a stellar line up despite the many hiccups. Though I still think that the location was crappy as fuck (why bother self-censoring myself), and it's safe to say that I am NOT going to be flying on Malaysian Airlines any time soon, neither am I going to be going up to Genting in the near future, it all came through.

Nonetheless, I came home and slept like a log for 20 hours straight, and I sat next to Panic At The Disco on my flight back home, I have alot of memories to walk away with from this experience. Working on a show entirely on music is one thing, working on a show entirely on POP music is another. I think I suffered the repercussions of poplovingmusic far too much, so much so, I came home and embraced my indie nature to the maximum.

Elbow, M83, Booka Shade, Kina Grannis are some of my finds. If you have some time, check them out. I am off to bed and then it's back to school.

i hate school. I just want to live with music and nothing else. goddamit.

While we all burn.

this always happens. whenever i start something, i always find it hard to keep up with it. it's been a while, but i've been away. i've been living on the road for about 3 weeks with my best friend. from dallas, to LA and the rest of California, life was so good. we had our lives ahead of us, freedom was our middle name and nothing could stop us. that was what it felt like. we cruised the freeways with muse, death cab for cutie, aqualung and goldfrapp, of course, we had good ol' hiphop to party and rock out to. it was the defining adventure of my life. i could live like that forever. no make up, tank tops and flip flops, sun, sand and a whole life ahead of me, life couldnt have gotten better than this.

in Dallas, i got to see one of my favourite bands performing live. Death Cab for Cutie has been with me through every phase of my life. and i definitely cried when "Transatlanticism" and "I will Follow you into the dark" came on. So many memories, so many heartaches but so beautiful. and i have to say that i agree with their latest album alot.

my favourite track of "Narrow Stairs" is "Grapevine Fires". My best friend and I came up with a theory that it is almost inevitable that a good song, a great song, at that, is always a sad one. And this song carries a melancholic tune so intoxicating, you can't help but to be affected but it. And the lyrics are so well-written. Damn all these talented musicians, for putting what we fear is truth down, and so honest, it is almost too painful to listen to it out loud.

"Bixby Canyon Bridge", "No Sunlight" and "You Can Do Better Than Me" are some of my other favourite tracks. I think the best part of this band is for the fact that even though their lyrics are god-damn depressing, it is carried off by a tune that makes you almost forget the real meaning of the songs, until you start to think about it. and it just seems that they've got great music all figured out. watching them, brought alot of emotions into me. it was a mix of awe, amazement, sadness, and happiness. but it was a great night. and we put them on over and over again on our stereo for the next 2 and a half weeks, over defining conversations of life, love and laughter.

we were 21 and 22, we had our lives ahead of us, we were fearless. and all we needed was love.

"And we watched the plumes paint the sky gray,

And she laughed and danced through the field of graves.

There I knew it would be alright.

That everything would be alright."--Grapevine Fires, Death Cab for Cutie

get some sunshine on a rainy day.

In the event where the rain beats down the entire day and it seems like yet another dreary day gone by, Mr. Jamie Lidell could change that for you.


I love this man. Whenever I put him on, I could just picture very clearly in my head, like kids running down the streets, jumping into a puddles of water and in a very Hollwood manner, stash my brolly aside and dance like no one is watching on the streets. But I'll just leave that fantastic imagination of mine to the four corners of my room, where I can dance in my underwear and feel absolutely happy.

My favourite track would be "Another Day"taken off his new album, Jim. A little bit of blues, a little bit of jazz and that old school motown feel to it, it's a modern day take on classics by The Temptations and Marvin Gaye. It truly is brilliant, and could make a depressing day as such, better.

If you love "Another Day", you would definitely love "A Little Bit of Feel Good" and "Hurricane". It's that foot-tapping, addictive sound that will make you want to drink some wine and get some high, with the songs playing at full blast on your stereo. Akin to KC & The Sunshine Band's "Play that Funky Music White Boy", these old-fashioned motown tracks circa 1960s, littered with a whole bunch of soul, is my choice of medication to chase my blues away.

And slow tracks such as "All I Wanna Do" has got that intoxicating quality that makes you lose your way around his voice. It is like one of those cheesy tracks that comes on in the movies, when the lead actor and actress take their first dance as lovers and they look so annoyingly happy and in love, you can't help but to get affected by it too. And as much as I hate to admit it, you know and I know, we always go "awwww" at the very sight of yet another "happily ever after" ending. (even if it's another fabricated lie of modern day life..but i'll leave that for another day)

And could this man be any sexier? Good god.

Okay, off to more prancing! (:

before everything else.

Before everything else, there was music. Albeit cheesy (and not to mention cliche), it's true. When I was growing up, my parents grooved to the music of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, The Hollies, The Beatles and The Beach Boys. Before I knew it, once I learnt the value of money and er, how to work a walkman, I made mixtapes of my own and bought tons of cassette tapes, the most valued ones being Erasure, Pet Shop Boys and UB40. Of course, having an elder brother, it was only natural that when he hit his i-hate-the-world-angsty-punk-rock phase, I hit it too. Only that I was 12. So at 13, I listened to Silverchair, The Offspring, Ash and Oasis. Yet, like every other pubescent teenager, I became a shameless-boyband-loving groupie (who chased after Westlife when they were in Singapore no less) and Britney became my Madonna. And as embarrassing as it may sound, I am sure that pop-lover in me will always be somewhere lingering in my subconcious (like a beast waiting to be conjured, but I exaggerate).

So with age, comes maturity (I hope), and the soundtrack of "Garden State" changed my life forever. It was in that moment I knew, music is all I'll ever need to get through. I know it sounds stupendously melodramatic, but you can't kid these things.

Now 21, I have an endless list of bands that I love and they change from time to time. I listen to essentially everything I possibly can. But my first loves would be indie, folk, acoustic, electro, house and new wave. Nylon is my bible and I read it religiously every month. And by read, I mean pore over every single article endlessly, highlighting, folding down corners of pages that contains articles that I love and almost ripping it apart.

I guess this blog was overdue. It's about time I started doing some music reviews of my own.


So, I shall begin with Scarlett Johansson's new album "Anywhere I Lay My Head".


I'll be very honest here. When I first heard the album on myspace.com, I thought it was so Hollywood-starlet-try-too-hard-to-be-indie. But it actually grew on me after a few listens. There is a certain Bjork/Fiona Apple quality about her voice that is at once eerie but oddly, rather soothing. An entire album of Tom Waits' covers, she definitely has made it her own, and still with some semblance of the man himself.

My favourite track of the album would be "Anywhere I Lay My Head". I think there's that very subtle dispiriting quality about it but it isn't an overkill. The very fact that she has done something really out of the ordinary makes me think twice about judging her.


To say for sure, her barritone voice intermixed with a low-pitched hum of a melody is an acquired taste. Nonetheless, if you're looking for something to alleviate your mind and just watch the world go by, this album should do the trick. It's kinda like a Tinkerbell-meets-broken-doll type of sound, which you don't get to hear everyday. '


Scarlett, not bad, not bad at all.