Eternal Sunshine (我是陽光的)
Kelly Chen (陳慧琳)
Go East
Canto-pop songstress Kelly Chen (
Over the past five years Chen has managed to carve quite a name out for herself as both a singer and an actress, with her most memorable role coming in the hugely successful Hong Kong police action movie Infernal Affairs (
Her latest album shouldn't
disappoint anyone familiar with her previous releases. Packed with a selection of tunes from standalone songs to theme tunes for a couple of TV dramas and the odd movie, Chen hits all the right notes time and time again.
Sure Mando-pop may not be your thing, but Chen can actually sing and is more than simply a record company creation. Tunes like the hip-hop-like Freedom (
Like nearly all albums released these days the CD comes with a DVD. Here we get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the hardships the songstress endured while making the music video for Freedom as well as a couple of other music videos for tunes from the album.
R.A.Y Band (雷樂隊)
R.A.Y Band (雷樂隊)
Click
Formed by three studio musicians in 2003 the R.A.Y Band (
Individually, guitarist Rashid, drummer Alan (
Considering the trio's reputation as highly sought-after studio musicians it comes as no surprise that the album is well produced, the tunes are tight and well-executed and there's nothing
suspect about their musical attitudes. With the exception of a couple of tunes, however, there is sadly little to scream and shout for and even less to write home about on the trio's debut longplayer.
The album begins well enough with a scorching piece of anthem-like alt-rock titled Rocking with the Big Boys (
Sadly the same cannot be said of the material that follows. While the compositions are certainly not void of songwriting talent the R.A.Y Band appears to be stuck in time warp. Instead of trying to be original the band takes listeners on a sometimes cringingly bad trip through time.
The material is so dated, in fact, that you could be listening to a natty cover band rather than one comprising three of the nation's leading studio musicians. Never too Young to Rock and Roll sounds like a Status Quo tune complete with sing-a-long chorus, Civil Boulevard (
Meal Number 2 [2nd Version] (2號餐)
Nan Quan Mama (南拳媽媽)
Sony
Since the releases of its debut Nan Quan's Summer (
Originally released in mid-August and then re-released with a bonus VCD last week, Nan Quan Mama's second album, Meal Number 2 once again sees the combo choosing to mix it up with a blend of Mando-hip-hop/rap, Mando-pop and straight forward love ballads.
If you happen to be a fan of, or are simply very familiar with Chou's music, then you'll probably find much of Nan Quan's material a poor substitute for the real thing. Whether penned by the self proclaimed "King of Mando-pop" or not, much of Nan Quan's material sounds too Chou-like.
From the album's opener, the moody orchestrated piano driven Mando-hip-hop number Daybreak (
The four-piece does manage to throw one curveball at listeners. The breakneck power-pop number Wild Thing (
Long Time No See (好久不見)
5566
Warner
Taiwan's most plugged boy band released its third album to much hype late last month and, according to one interview, the boys hope the album's less teenage pop/hip-hop oriented sound along with their new "mature" image will prove popular with both long term fans and newcomers to the group alike.
Chances are even if you've never heard 5566 you've seen their faces adorning 7-Eleven stores, as the
President Group played a big part in promoting the band a couple of years ago. Needless to say, with so many 7-Elevens the promotion worked wonders and 5566 went on to score a string of hits. Both of its previous albums fared exceptionally well in local charts and the group's rare performances were sellouts.
So what's new?
Well, what's new is the sound. Gone is the teenage cutesy pop and instead 5566 have grabbed the studio engineer by the throat and set out to impress with an interesting set of musical vibes and song that are more mature and, dare we say it, better then before.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
A fossil jawbone found by a British girl and her father on a beach in Somerset, England belongs to a gigantic marine reptile dating to 202 million years ago that appears to have been among the largest animals ever on Earth. Researchers said on Wednesday the bone, called a surangular, was from a type of ocean-going reptile called an ichthyosaur. Based on its dimensions compared to the same bone in closely related ichthyosaurs, the researchers estimated that the Triassic Period creature, which they named Ichthyotitan severnensis, was between 22-26 meters long. That would make it perhaps the largest-known marine reptile and would