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.