Time for another round of Peter’s Picks! This collection of songs is definitely an eclectic one. Should give you an idea of why shuffling Peter’s Spotify library is a risky proposition.
Leon Vynehall – Envelopes (Chapter VI)
On his 2018 album Nothing is Still, Leon Vynehall used the story of his grandparent’s emigration from England to New York City to frame a set of beautifully emotional ambient electronic songs. I highly recommend the album if you like this kind of music. “Envelopes (Chapter VI)” is my favorite track, and its music video is appropriately cinematic.
Jacques has one of the more questionable hair styles I’ve ever seen but I’m willing to give him a pass after hearing this fascinating piece of ear candy.
The Blaze – Territory
Another beautifully shot, very cinematic music video.
Myd – Bingo
Based on the cover of this EP, I’d guess that Myd has a good sense of humor. He makes some pretty awesome music to boot.
It’s a shame Alex Gopher hasn’t released more music considering how catchy songs like “On & On” are. “Back to Basics” is another great track on this EP.
Al Green was just over 20 years old when he released this song / debut album in 1967. I’m 36 and can confidently say I’ll never have this much soul.
Fela Kuti – Let’s Start
Nigerian Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti’s music has had a much deserved resurgence over the past several years. This is easily my favorite song of his.
SOS (Sociedad Organizada en Sonido) – Buscaya Da Yada
Can’t say that 1970s Mexican funk is a genre I know a lot about, but this song rocks.
Thunder Tillman – Exact Location of the Soul
Thunder Tillman is a Swedish psychedelic jamrock / electronic music duo that look like time travellers from a hippie sex cult. Their aesthetic seems pretty genuine – one of their most recent releases was the 2022 LP Aural Healing Program for Peace and Longevity, which was accompanied by a hilariously weird “visual healing session”.
Mata Hari – Easy
1970s Australian rock set to a pretty cool animated video.
Twin Peaks are an awesome garage rock band of out of Chicago. “Walk to the One You Love” not surprisingly makes for great walking music.
Dr. Dog – Heart it Races
I’ve loved Dr. Dog, and especially this 2007 cover of an Architecture In Helsinki song, since I was a teenager. They consistently make good music that’s easy to listen to.
This video reminds me of long drives through the Nevada desert. There’s nothing like a good playlist to go along with an “open road, filling endless spaces”.
In terms of where Citymemo is in their creative process, well, they’re right in the thick of it. Four out of eight singles completed for their upcoming album, multiple tour dates including live shows and festivals, and all the scrappiness this roughly one year old not-so-pop-rock band can muster…listen closely for a tale as old as indie music itself.
It all began on Facebook, responses to a simple call to form a band issued by drummer Roger, who was moving genres to rock from R&B. This attracted the attention of lead singer Katree, who with guitarists Samuel and Tangtang attended Zhongyuan University’s music program and who had an overlay of previous music experience harkening back to middle school cover bands and writing music from high school onwards.
The band is too pop to be punk, too emo to be pop, and not emo enough to be emo – in other words, it straddles the line between different genres while still catering to the crowd. Citymemo has performed to friends, other acts’ friends and bar regulars at Riverside in Gongguan and Revolver near CKS Memorial, both in Taipei. They’ve also graced the stage at the Taiwan Music Festival in Kenting, playing with PAPUN BAND and KST, and have performed overseas at Vancouver’s Jade Music Festival as well.
這個樂隊說它龐克又太pop，說它pop又太emo，但是emo的話也未必夠emo – 反正扮演了很多不同的角色，不同的genre，為了讓聽眾更喜歡。城市被忘錄已在台北的Riverside和Revolver演出過，還有在墾丁的Taiwan Music Festival, (PAPUN BAND和KST也有表演的那個），另外也在溫哥華的Jade Music Festival表演過。
Touring and performances in of themselves become high risk investments: “We need to cover our own transportation, lodging and practice space fees besides often having to make a ticket sales threshold in order to make money,” Katree says, “and we hardly get a thousand [NTD] per person when we go to festivals.”
For the singles, bassist Steven and the guitarists can record their parts at home, but specialized recording space is still needed for the drums before the band gets a break with a friend doing the mixing. Indie music is hard anywhere, but livehouses in Taipei have been going out of business “left and right” as well, due to increases in rent and the impact of COVID-19.
The band counts My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Blink-182 and Avril Lavigne as its main influences, with a couple stories already from their live performances. First dates gone to see Citymemo perform have resulted in multiple relationships, attributable perhaps to the band’s triste but romantic lyrics. “We’re not mainstream, but not super indie either,” says Katree, “we want to encourage everyone to believe in themselves and not be afraid.”
樂隊的主要影響者是My Chemical Romance，Paramore，Blink-182和Avril Lavigne。他們的現場表演已經有幾個故事：比如說第一次約會去看Citymemo的人常常會變成伴侶，這也許歸因於樂隊的陳詞濫調但浪漫的歌詞。“我們不是主流，但也不是超級獨立，”Katree說，“我們希望鼓勵每個人相信自己，不要害怕。
If one side of the Citymemo coin is what the band likes to sing about when they’re feeling down, the other side is warmer, sweeter, not as depressing and built for their target audience of 20-30 year olds. The band’s single “Leave, But I Will Stay” shines a light of hope in an otherwise moment of despair. When Katree performed the band’s songs at a summer camp for children, she felt validated when the kids asked how she knew about how they felt inside – going to show the universal messages inside Citymemo’s music.
So what’s next for the band that wants its music to be a companion to your loneliness? More touring and shows, with Citymemo eyeing international gigs after early success in Vancouver. “Follow our instagram!” Tangtang says. Roger closed out our interview with this to say: “Don’t pay attention to what other people tell you to do, do what you want to do, choose [the advice] you want to listen to.”
My friend Peter has another round of Peter’s Picks for your enjoyment:
“It’s time for another round of Peter’s Picks, just in time for the end of summer. I’m happy to be sharing another sampling of the music I’ve been listening to lately. Here we go!
Andrew Bird – Improvisation on a Familiar Theme I first heard Andrew Bird’s music after buying The Mysterious Production of Eggs my junior year of high school in 2005. In the years since, he’s released a whopping 18 albums – essentially all of which I love. Aside from being a prolific multi-instrumentalist, he’s an accomplished violinist, a fantastic vocalist, and a world class whistler. His latest release, Outside Problems, is unsurprisingly beautiful.
Skinshape – Amnesia Skinshape’s music seems specifically made for a summer campfire.
CoryaYo – Still Here Groovy instrumental hip hop like this will always put me in a good mood.
A Tribe Called Quest – Jam ATCQ are one of my all time favorite music acts, period. This track is a summer house party staple and one of their best, in my opinion.
Little Simz – Gorilla This music video popped up randomly on my Youtube feed earlier this summer. It reminds me (fondly) of Missy Elliot.
As someone who’s grossed out by basically all feet, you won’t hear me argue with this title. But according to her Wikifeet score (yes this is a real thing), Taylor Swift might disagree.
Antoine Lang – Faut Pas Rêver (Zimmer Remix) Over the past several years, I’ve come to have an affinity (if not an obsession) for French electropop. This one’s a favorite recent discovery.
Speaking of French electropop, Polo & Pan have been a go-to for years now. The Parisian duo create refreshingly creative and impressively varied music while still having a distinct style. This has easily been the song I’ve revisited most off of their last album.
This interview is about Pale Air’s Dayday: The man, his bar and his band
I first visited Ale Garden for one of the venue’s jam sessions, and later met proprietor Dayday, Shi Xiangtian. Slim of build with a coif of hair and glasses, Dayday wouldn’t look out of place in an office, which is indeed where he spends his days for income. At night, to supplement his earnings and engage his passion for music, he has for the past few years taken on the management of a medium-sized bar and live venue near Fudan University, where I now walk into to partake in Ale Garden’s five-year anniversary.
Dayday is there in his signature glasses, sporting a collared v-neck shirt, and downs a shot of Jim Beam. Within moments he takes the stage with a vital sounding shoegaze band, a wall of sound through almost walls of people. Tonight’s performance again features indie bands Thousand Failures and Yeqiu Quan, just as these groups have performed at previous Ale Garden anniversaries. The place is about half full to start, but gradually fills to capacity of about 40-50 standing. Ale Garden needs to have events, public or private, almost every night, in order to draw the mostly student and recent graduate crowd to the bar.
天天戴着他标志性的眼镜，穿着有领子的V 领衬衫，喝下一个 Jim Beam shot。不一会儿，他就带着一支充满活力的盯鞋乐队登台了。今晚的演出再次由独立乐队千败和野球拳担纲，这两支乐队在之前的艾尔花园周年纪念演出中也有过精彩表演。演出开始时，全场只有一半人，但后来逐渐站满了约 40-50 名观众。艾尔花园几乎每晚都需要举办公共或私人活动，以吸引以学生和新毕业生为主的人群到酒吧来。
Dayday says it all started with a musically-inclined cousin, who played the guitar and piano in addition to traditional Chinese instruments guzheng and erhu. In the summer after high school, Dayday picked up his cousin’s guitar and practiced changing frets and chords while watching TV shows, learning to play Escape Plan’s Ten Thousand Sorrows.
While his college roommate was a fingerstyle virtuoso and he spent some time with Fudan University’s rock club, Dayday attributes his time in Taiwan’s Sun Yat-sen University as being most formative, since he played out the kinks in his style there and “pre-made all the mistakes he could make before getting on stage back in Shanghai.” Covering songs by Jay Chou and Metallica and watching the University’s music club put on the Southern District Rock Festival were fun, but his own performances left much to be desired in terms of tightness and professionalism.
Invigorated by his Taiwan experience, Dayday formed bands in his fourth year of college, including Joint, Red-White Dice, and Before the Mirror which only lasted for a semester each. He graduated with regret for not getting into bands earlier, but this regret propelled him to form shoegaze band Pale Air in 2017, which has continued to the present day. Pale Air being a play on words Pale Ale, a beverage which bassist Li Qingyang has a particular fondness for. The band features Xu Weiyang on drums, guitarist and vocalist Zhang Jiangnan, and guitarist Dayday, and 2017 began a carefree time when the band could “play on effects panels all day long” and “immerse [themselves] in the sea of creation.”
Pale Air got its start in various Fudan venues along with Neo Bar, and is now signed with renowned indie music label Shengjian Records. The band recently released a studio album, their first since beginning the project in 2019, with influences such as Slow Dive, DIIV and Ringo Deathstarr. Prolonged creation of the album came from band members going abroad along with impacts from the pandemic, and succeeded in the end with recordings done in an uncle’s basement and Mark Gardener from Ride’s studio in the UK. Mixing was done by Chi from shoegaze band DoZzz, after the last recorded bits were completed in Dirty Fingers’ studio.
For his part, Dayday wonders if he should get started on something other than Ale Garden, which he originally took on because of health reasons. It’s not hard to see him as the driving force and a leader behind Ale Garden’s success – its WeChat posts get hundreds and even thousands of views now in a steady increase from before – and Dayday has tried his hand at organizing shows as well, with mixed results. His experience speaks to the difficulty of making an income in China’s current independent music scene: “It’s hard enough to think about myself, let alone the wider environment,” he admits, but “life becomes more three-dimensional because of music, it records the present, becoming a part of memory.” Here’s hoping fans can appreciate the effort put into the music and Ale Garden before Dayday (maybe) moves on to something new.
(A jam session at Ale Garden) 对于天天来说，他不知道自己是否应该开始做一些其他的事情。如果最初不是因为健康原因选择不工作而接手了艾尔花园，现在的生活又会是怎样的呢？不难看出，他是艾尔花园成功背后的推动者和领导者–现在艾尔花园微信公众号的浏览量已经达到数百甚至数千，比以前稳步上升。他的经历说明了在中国目前的独立音乐场景中赚取收入的难度： 他坦言：”考虑自己已经很困难了，更不用说考虑大环境，但 “因为音乐，生活变得更加立体，音乐作为一种载体记录了当下，成为记忆的一部分。“ 希望乐迷们能在天天（或许）转向新的领域之前，欣赏到他为音乐和艾尔花园所付出的努力。
Friday night kicked off Bob is Tired’s Yuyingtang doubleheader, two sold-out shows over one weekend to draw their successful China touring of the past months to a close.
– Philip Hsu, Contributing Writer
Bob is Tired opens with a tightness not often seen in live acts, immediately proving that while this pop-punk style of music is not necessarily my cup of tea, there’s something else in the water that is propelling this band to its current success. What starts out with very 五月天 and Jay Chou-inspired numbers devolves deliciously into something I last heard with the Brian Jonestown Mass., which is sort of shoegaze but with kick, and undoubtedly sinister.
On the 3rd song rhythms plummet through guitar and chords, setting up psychedelic smoke plunging into null beats: The beat you think is there, but isn’t, setting up excellent dissonance and pulling the audience into the sound. Be it uptempo or a mellow, underwater pop mood, Bob is Tired puts forth a classic 迷魂/銷魂 sound which takes influences from EDM also.
Bob is Tired’s compositions and technical skill are in many ways a cut above its competition, and the band’s musicality is strong, i.e. the composition of the notes and rhythms to produce a musical nature. However, some themes could be better defined – clear experimentation by the artists produces music which is counterintuitive, but at times too subtle. The band’s range is described as a box of chocolates a la Forrest Gump, but that movie’s most quotable characters and lines are from Jenn-ay and Liutenant Dann (you have to say it with a Southern accent), not from the titular protagonist.
We can see the fruits of in-depth musical exploration and investment from the clear themes and ideas in the band’s song after the chocolate monologue, striking direction and vocalizations which punctuate rhythms closely and distinctly.
With this amount of creative output and technical skill, Bob is Tired does not lack direction or ability, but could develop more concepts in its work. We’re looking forward to seeing them again and hoping they’ll extend their stay in the moment, and in the scene.
The Messy 梅西合唱团, Annaki 安娜其, Purple Jam 酱紫, Neotea Store 新茶士多
– THE BOXX
2021.08.01
Pinkie Hello! Pinkie Roar! – The Boxx Rises
Sunday night saw The Boxx’s first live show at its monumental new location on “Laowai Street.” The performance as a whole was impressive at a quality venue, reminiscent of a skillful watercolor exhibition at a fine gallery. However, as is sometimes the case with watercolors, using too much water when mixing colors can result in blurry results, and live music is no exception. Let’s have a look.
Pre-show, we are treated to videos of Japanese artists Kei Hayashi and YMB, the former channeling Usher and Chris Brown in an empty stadium for J-inspired R&B and Soul, the latter sitting in Tatami environments jamming out home recordings in a more Pop Rock style. This seems to please the crowd at the venue, which is mostly comprised of young women dressed like they are going to a picnic.
Unfortunately, since I can’t speak Japanese, all I hear is ahh ahh yayoo oishi desu ga. Those sunny days sitting by the window in swanky Tokyo apartments as your purebred cat saunters by lush bonsai were to me but so many uncut trips past the sake bar Decibel and the eternal silence of St. Mark’s Square.
Enough, the performance begins. Purple Jam which I guess is like Pearl Jam but Purple, says they are the first band to ever perform at this new space, which is nice because it’s a nice space. At this point there’s like 20 people in the audience but Purple Jam are Purple Pros and rock away with an unreleased song featuring nimble xylophonics overlaid on a J-Jazz base. This deserves credit for originality and gusto, and when the sound system miscooperates in the next song, I actually like the resulting sound better than the somewhat canned but better-known number that they end up going with.
I think I am supposed to be happy listening to these songs. They are slightly shorter than, well, the length with which songs are usually played with, but this is not a bad approach to condense songs in a live setting to maintain intensity. By their 3rd song Purple Jam show signs of life as a strong rhythm section pulls the piece through with solid vocals supporting. You can really start to hear the warmth and intensity of the song, even though it’s “soft.” We hear depth and meaning in songwriting: Lyrics with a message, to sink into you, to be content just spending time and life with one’s partner, reveal Purple Jam’s range and depth, which convert well between individual songs in their performance.
Most of the time only the bassist is looking at the lead singer or anyone else in the band to keep tempo, which may be helped if the performers walk around the stage more, to generate space in the body which follows into the voice and the overall musicality. The lead singer even remarks that one of his songs makes him want to move around like a rapper, which is the correct instinct here.
An obligatory funk number occurs; the sound is well-blended and enjoyable but doesn’t hold the syncopated descension that traditional funk usually evokes. As the lights come on to shine on the gaudy sheen of cosplay outfits present in the audience, I have to say that Purple Jam did a much better job (Jam?) than people maybe realize. Cohesive playing and surprising, subtle depth coalesce into a warmly charismatic performance which could be potentially elevated in any number of ways – but no rush. We’ll hear more of them yet.
The eyes deceive when I hear the disco balls spinning and Neo Tea Shop takes the stage. “Deceive,” for I have never been to Miami, let alone during the 1980s, yet for the second time now it appears as though the tenor of that time, with Funk, have Resurfaced in Retro. I am not so Hong Kong either, but I only surmise that certain styles have spent themselves across the coursing paths of uninterrupted time to deliver unto us such Siren Songs.
Neo Tea lead singer describes the band’s music as sleepwalking, evoking and reflecting the night, which would be much better served if the band’s rhythms didn’t become plodding at times. Mishaps with sound and smoke unrelated to performers reveal that the technical nature of music is a practiced art, and unfortunately nearly every act experienced such an inspired learning tonight.
After the smoke comes a “Weiweian” slow dance measure, which was very stylish: I distinctly had a vision of prom night, although maybe more middle school dance for this one, those terrible pink dresses and how they just did not have my size tux, but at the end of the day, it’s not about what you were wearing, but who was wearing you on their sleeve. The chaperones may enforce the arm’s-length slow dance, but you can still look quite lightly into your partner’s eyes, then longer, then deeper and longer still until a smile crosses both of your lips and you laugh like the teenagers you are and run to your giggling and similarly awkward friends in the corner. Lovely.
I’m starting to get a feel for this style of music, which seems to be DEPAPEPE influenced by J-Rock; a light air but not sure if Final Fantasy 8 or the sound the Asahi machine makes when you need to replace the keg. By that, I mean FF7 is considered the classic and Kirin is the superior beer, but all games and beer have merit, as long as you are invested enough in your choices. So it is probably not a great look to pull an iconic theme out of a very well-known Coldplay song as your hit song, as subsequently the light air has a chance of becoming just air. Then again, I come from the country that is proud of making Budweiser, so maybe I should just shut up. Overall, I thought this was a good act, and I will remember that Weiweian song for quite some time.
Now it’s always a good sign when you’re just minding your own business and whoops, wave of sound just sweeps off you a bit like those unwanted children of riptides off the Jersey Shore. Songwriting becomes key to stringing vocals and rhythm together and My Word, Annaki are moving, moving onstage, onSTAGE! It’s Alive, Alive!
See, this is the nice part where the drums and guitar both go crazy. Vocals not pushing or shouty but keep intensity, unfortunately a rather unique vocal quality is a bit lost in motion here and would definitely deserve to be brought out more. This drummer is a monster and everyone is working hard to keep up – Nothing a few cardio sessions at your friendly neighborhood Super-Z-Orange-ropes flying-circuit-Circuit-stretchy-stretch-stretch-yogalates can’t improve!
Distortion in the music marks the part where the UFO saucers start flying and death rays beam onto those people waving the signs on the rooftop of Capitol Records. I’m loving it but there’s still only 2 people dancing (well 3 if you include me) and the reason is because some folks in the band – not gonna name any names – are not keeping time.
Will Smith has perfect timing, which is why we buy his reaction to (fake CGI) aliens coming out of spaceships he shot down all by himself in an F/A-18 that can’t even fly at those altitudes at that speed for more than 20 minutes, let alone traverse the entire Grand Canyon after suffering a brutal defeat in LA which is in California, not Nevada; they are 800 km apart.
Just go with it and say if you had perfect timing, you, too, could save the world from bad music while somehow still acting surprised about Area 51, even though we know the aliens came for the cattle and not us. Ok, what I mean is, timing allows the audience to suspend their (dis)beliefs, and in complex acts especially this is a pretty hard line that needs to be walked. With Annaki’s massive energy, talented sound, strong songwriting, a female lead singer bringing this amount of spunk and overall quite well-put-together package and image, now comes the work to “draw the eyes on the dragon,” to channel chaos further into being.
Something about adult games which I guess is like 50 Shades of Grey follows, but I do like the darker vibes, which diverge into grrrrlrock. Sorry, I do not know what the correct spelling of this word is. I’m seeing twenty one pilots now; I also want to see The Black Keys. Shoegaze influences blend into pop rock a la FIR, but the musical Stratosphere consists of both firmament and pluckering it with greater decision and crispness, the feeling of a single silver jetliner crossing an endless blue sky; I already see the chemtrails, now please also provide the 747.
Experimentation with electronic sound and synth new wave directs towards new directions in Annaki’s repertoire, a real festival crowd-pleaser which to me shows a band very much in sync with itself and understanding the essence of what makes a good song. Now it remains to be a matter of maturing this essence, allowing it to pervade throughout the rest of the band’s work, and throughout a single performance.
Rounding out the four-band set is The Messy, which has one of the best “Spines” – in this instance, driving and tight rhythm between 3-piece guitar, bass, drums, and dual vocalists – I’ve heard in a while. The drummer is also on point although makes me wonder what additional directions this band could find with less restraint.Catchy funk bass lines and guitar riffs draw the audience in and Messy’s Spine keeps it, but after Yelang Disco, everything now sounds like Yelang Disco. Standing mics might be a limitation here, you can see both moving and rhythm freed up when the two lead vocalists walk around the stage with their instruments jamming, which can’t happen with a stationary mic setup. Overall Messy are tight but not constrained, adding cool new wave synth when warranted, which could be improved by developing better focus and themes in the musical notes employed. The vocal sound mix also needed some attention, at least to get it up to the level of KKBox when your uncle starts belting out Deng Li Jun and Auntie lah, just want to go home lah.
Messy play well together and sound awesome, I just have a hard time finding where a style of music traditionally played in smoky bars where mature ladies with deep voices down tequila shots now enters the Chinese mainstream. Franz Ferdinand influences appear with a vengeance, but I think where Penicillin captured quite well the angst of Britpop or post-punk, lyrically and musically songs describing common themes could stand with breaking up or playing a little with emotions, tones, timbre, levels.
To expand on my watercolors metaphor, tonight’s performance was like attending a very enjoyable art gallery exhibition of talented watercolor paintings, but at times so much water was used in mixing the paints such that the individual pieces and paintings became blurry. Not that the blurriness necessarily reduced the enjoyment, but that I became someone who wanted to see the objects or subjects of the paintings more clearly, and yet could not distinctly do so, and then started to wonder why many of the paintings looked quite similar. At times I could indeed see that a piece represented a portrait of a woman, for example, or a landscape or an emotion, but I could not determine from the piece or its introduction alone who that woman is, or what they or those emotions or landscapes mean to the artists who painted them
As a jam or complete piece, and definitely in an entire performance, the audience needs to be challenged aurally to stay engaged, and at times despite real technical skill and quite impeccable teamwork put on play with Messy, I was becoming a bit lost as to which song was which. A re-watch of Saturday Night Fever may be in the cards here, with particular attention to the exact arrangement of John Travolta’s chest hair and the part where the Bee Gees sing, and I quote: “Ahh-Ahh-Ahh-ahh Stayin’ Aliveeee~iveeee~ivvvveeee.”
Having listened to all of the bands featured tonight on the streaming before coming to the show, I had a good feeling about the performance, and it turned out to be as much as I had hoped for, and even better. The venue is actually quite nice as size and surrounding amenities – it seems especially suited to a major rap or hip-hop act – and the staff are professional and involved. Hopefully, more people will be dancing next time around and I am not now banned from the premises for having one too many watermelon juices. Stayin’ Aliveeee~
