Showing 1 - 10 of 40
Y2K Redux
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 03/05/2020
» Born in Japan and raised in London, Rina Sawayama is an artist caught between two cultures and identities.
Full Disclosure
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 05/04/2020
» When brothers Howard and Guy Lawrence released their impressive debut studio album Settle in 2013, the dance music landscape was already crowded with EDM artists scrambling for their next festival-sized drop. But here's a thing, they weren't looking to simply capitalise on the hype.
From the highway all the way to church
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 22/03/2020
» This year's first unlikely collaboration has officially arrived courtesy of Houston trio Khruangbin and their fellow Texans, Leon Bridges.
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.
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.
Forever is a long time
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 29/09/2019
» Let's be frank, bands like Metronomy are hard to come by these days. Call us myopic, but we honestly can't think of any up-and-coming groups who would be savvy enough to come up with classic indie jams like A Thing For Me, The Look, The Bay and Everything Goes My Way. A knack for blending eclectic genres seems to come naturally to the UK quartet, a gift that served them especially well from 2008's Nights Out through to 2014's Love Letters.
On her own terms
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 28/07/2019
» Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Yunalis Zara'ai, aka Yuna, has come a long way since her MySpace days and her 2012 Pharrell Williams-produced self-titled debut. While her early materials exist mostly in the dreamy realm of folk-infused indie-pop, her subsequent output has crossed over into the R&B/hip-hop territory in a way that not many pop upstarts could pull off (her third international studio album, Chapters, welcomes guest appearances from some of the biggest names in R&B like Usher and Jhené Aiko).
Setting it off
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 14/07/2019
» From its humble start lurking in the shadows of J-pop to partially dominating the globe, the unstoppable power of K-pop has been fascinating to witness. Today, in the hazy wake of the Gangnam Style craze, the genre has grown to have its own annual convention, KCON, which is aimed to celebrate South Korean culture at various locations around the world. In North America, K-pop boy bands and girl bands are being received with open arms. Groups like seven-member boyband BTS have even gone so far as to win 2017's Billboard Music Award for Top Social Artist, beating pop royalty like Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande.
Small things considered
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 23/06/2019
» In much the same way that eyes are said to be the window to the soul, band names give us a glimpse into the collective personality lurking behind each group. And as far as Thai band names are concerned, they can range from prosaic (Solitude Is Bliss, My Life As Ali Thomas) and whimsical (Apartment Khunpa, Charblues, Gym and Swim) to absolutely outlandish (Big Ass, Calories Blah Blah). For Sakon Nakhon-based trio Junlaholaan, names represent a curious juxtaposition where two incongruous concepts (jun, micro, and holaan, enormous) coexist to convey a deeply philosophical message. Yes, we are but a tiny speck in the universe -- the band seems to be saying -- but at the same time, a butterfly in Brazil could also cause a tornado in Texas, couldn't it?
Cut above the rest
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 12/05/2019
» We first heard the name Cut The Crab back in 2014 when their single Mai Mee Kam Tob (Without Doubt) was featured in the Future Sound Of Bangkok's envelope-pushing debut compilation. Besides being one of the most forward-thinking records of that year, the compilation also gave us a sample of what local talents were capable of. Along with eclectic artists ranging from DCNXTR and Gramaphone Children (Jaree Thanapura) to Nolens.Volens. and Plastic Section, Cut The Crab stood out among the gifted bunch as a highly promising newcomer with a keen ear for electro-pop brilliance. Even though the band hasn't been exactly prolific over the past few years, the trio-turned-duo are now back at it with the release of their self-titled debut EP, a six-track collection that's been nearly half a decade in the making.