Showing 11 - 20 of 117
Go further west
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 23/02/2020
» Throughout their decades-spanning career in the music biz, Pet Shop Boys have always operated within the realm of sophisticated synth-pop that advocates varying degrees of dancefloor abandon. For lyricist Neil Tennant and composer Chris Lowe, however, it's not just about the allure of club culture or pure hedonism. From day one, social consciousness gets woven into the sonic fabric of their music. "In a West End town, a dead-end world/ The East End boys and West End girls," Tennant sings about the class and wealth gap on their 1984 debut single West End Girls.
Indie rock done right
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 09/02/2020
» "When I was 18/ Someone got stabbed in a church/ But I got used to it/ And forgave all the ways and the names/ It was so long ago, anyways," vocalist Jeremy Gaudet recounts on Murder In The Cathedral, the opening track to Kiwi Jr.'s debut album, Football Money. The vivid songwriting, buoyed by his bandmates' jangly instrumentation, is delivered with the kind of drawl that would have you thinking fondly of Pavement's Stephen Malkmus and The Strokes as well as the Modern Lovers' Jonathan Richman and Parquet Courts' Andrew Savage.
Hip-hop's fresh, new voice
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 26/01/2020
» The first time Thailand was bitten by the rap/hip-hop bug was way back in the mid-90s, when the then unknown Joey Boy introduced the sound and singlehandedly dominated the genre with a slew of hits ranging from Fun, Fun, Fun to Samakom Ta Chan Diew and Loy Talay. Despite being a playful, largely pop-oriented rapper, there's no denying that he was the one who paved the way for daring trailblazers like Fukking Hero, Buddha Bless and Thaitanium.
… Baby one more time
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 19/01/2020
» Over the past few years, LA-based artist Sondre Lerche has made it his own little tradition to cover pop hits from the year that's been as a holiday gift to his fans. His past covers range from Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball and Drake's Hotline Bling to Sia's Chandelier and Beyoncé's Countdown. To cap off the end of the decade, Lerche has stepped up his game by essentially pulling a Ryan Adams circa 2015. But, instead of Taylor Swift, it's the former queen of pop, Britney Spears.
In Fine Style
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 12/01/2020
» Since the dissolution of One Direction in 2015, Harry Styles has been striving for the kind of self-reinvention that would set him apart from his peers. And if the success of his 2017 eponymous solo debut is any indication, he's on the right path towards a flourishing post-boy band career, careening down the highway of 70s-style rock stardom à la Mick Jagger and David Bowie. On his latest studio album Fine Line, these classic rock stylings make way for soaring power pop laced with folk-rock and psychedelia. And despite the record's overall heartbreak theme, Styles sounds more at ease with himself than ever.
Into Thin Air
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 05/01/2020
» Fwends' former guitarist Yuki Suwansopa has described his solo project Dimming Air as "a kind of atmosphere that will have an impact on anybody, anywhere, anytime". Evidenced by early singles like Good Morning and First Sat On The Beach, this broad-view approach now gets translated fully into his debut LP, Love Letters In The Sand. And as you may have guessed from its title, the eight-track full-length debut draws inspiration from beaches and, according to the artist himself, is "full of captured moments/memories from the ocean".
Into the Great Unknown
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 08/12/2019
» Over the years, avid neoclassical fans may have seen the name Anne Müller popping up alongside the genre's staples like Nils Frahm, Ben Lukas Boysen and Ólafur Arnalds. And for good reason -- the classically trained Berlin-based cellist and composer is known for her inventive approach to compositions, a skill which has manifested itself in her (perhaps best-known) contribution to Frahm's 2011 7fingers and 2017 Solo Collective Part I, a live project she co-founded with violinist/singer Alex Stolze and pianist/conceptual artist Sebastian Reynolds.
The age of angst
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 01/12/2019
» Maybe it's a sign of the times, but taking a look at the young, emerging artists of today, you might notice that a great many of them tend to speak openly about their anxieties and insecurities. Much like her contemporaries Mitski, Hana Vu and Beabadoobee, 18-year-old singer Griff channels all of these feelings through unfiltered lyrics that read like a page out of her diary.
This woman's work
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 24/11/2019
» "A woman's work/ A woman's prerogative/ A woman's time to embrace/ She must put herself first," the opening verse of Mary Magdalene from FKA twigs' latest full-length album is sung from the perspective of a fallen woman whose fate runs parallel to that of the titular figure. Following her much publicised break-up with actor Robert Pattinson as well as some serious health issues, the English artist finds common ground with the Biblical character.