Showing 61 - 70 of 332
James Blake's Changing Form
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 10/03/2019
» "Now I'm confiding, know I may have/ Gone through the motions my whole life/ I hope this is the first day/ That I connect motion to feeling," James Blake wears his heart on his sleeve on the piano-driven opener/title track of his fourth studio album, Assume Form. The candid openness with which Blake addresses depression and anxiety, the struggles he's confessed of having since his 2011 debut album took off, is stunning to witness especially for an artist whose career is mostly built on nuances, abstraction and negative spaces.
Top 20 singles of 2018 (Part 1)
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 23/12/2018
» As is tradition, we're wrapping up the year with a special two-part series featuring some of the best music to have come out locally and globally over the past 12 months. Culled from our 40-plus playlists stretching back to January, these tracks represent trends, cultural highlights and states of mind that reflect the times we're all living in (and trying to make some sense of). We present to you this week the bottom half of our annual round-up, a vibrant batch consisting of pop mainstays like Mariah Carey and exciting newcomers like Hana Vu and Now, Now. And with that said, here's to a new year of fewer whales choking on plastic bags, of nobody getting trapped in a cave, and maybe -- just maybe -- of an election.
Recalling her past life
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 10/02/2019
» While much has already been discussed about the 2016's viral YouTube video in which super producer Pharrell Williams became visibly in awe of singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers and her demo of Alaska, Williams' organic reaction never gets tiring to watch. It's pure, genuine and far more emotional than any of the today's TV singing competitions could ever hope to elicit. And, thanks to that very video, Rogers has garnered well-deserved attention, amassed a sizeable fanbase, and struck a record deal with Capitol Records -- all in just over a year.
With wild abandon
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 09/06/2019
» Over the course of nearly a decade, we have on more than one occasion gushed about how UK outfit Wild Beasts were top-shelf purveyors of erudite indie-rock. Even though they regrettably called it quits in 2017, they remain one of the very few rock bands who managed to strike an impeccable balance between indie and art-rock. Ranging from baroque to barbaric, their five-album discography charts leftfield territories with strutting confidence. Not many rock bands are able to incorporate geeky literary allusions into their songwriting and still look pretty damn cool doing it.
Footloose and fancy-free
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 17/03/2019
» Over the past decade, Beirut's Zach Condon has been a go-to guy for what I like to refer to as "speciality indie rock". This is just a fancy way of saying that the music is unlike your typical indie sound. Beirut are masters when it comes to injecting world music elements into their repertoire, which has accumulated into a sizeable discography since their 2006 debut Gulag Orkestar. And although the boys may have faltered somewhat with previous effort No No No, they're back stronger than ever with their latest, Gallipoli.
J-pop gone rogue
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 07/04/2019
» Anyone who's been to Japan (or spent a decent amount of time on the internet) would have probably come across T-shirts with puzzling or badly translated English. Perusing CHAI's pastel-hued website gives you a similar experience except that everything actually makes sense -- "We Are New Exciting Onna (female) Band From Japan! NEO KAWAII ! COMPLEX IS ART!," its meta description announces. A click and a quick scroll down also give you an overview on the group's "NEO KAWAII" ethos, which essentially goes against any notions of the classic kawaii ("You don't need to have big eyes or have skinny legs to be KAWAII! There should be many more types of KAWAII, and everyone is KAWAII in her own way … Our insecurities make us who we are. The insecurities become art. KAWAII is a never-ending journey!").
Giddy up, boy
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 14/04/2019
» On Mitski's latest album Be The Cowboy, the cowboy image that's classically reserved for American white males is, even though for a fleeting moment, suspended and transferred to the Japanese-American singer-songwriter. According to Mitski, this is part of her mantra, "be the cowboy you wish to see in the world", a joke with herself that she uses to combat feelings of imposter syndrome. Though meant as a joke, it's a kind of joke that digs deep into the firmly rooted notions of masculinity, race and femininity.
Fear No More
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 17/02/2019
» After providing the chart-topping main theme songs alongside Japanese composer Yoko Shimomura for Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, Utada Hikaru returns for the video game series' latest instalment -- this time with EDM producer and self-confessed Kingdom Hearts fan Skrillex in the fold. Titled Face My Fears, the four-track EP marks the continual, almost two-decade-long collaboration between Hikaru and game director Tetsuya Nomura that first began prior to the release of the first game in the early 2000s.
Returning to form
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 31/03/2019
» It's hard to believe it's been nearly two decades since Ladytron unleashed its own version of electropop to the world. Hailing from Liverpool, the quartet of Helen Marnie, Mira Aroyo, Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu first introduced themselves with their 2001 debut 604, a solid 16-track collection heavily influenced by the likes of Kraftwerk, New Order and Depeche Mode. In a period when the UK charts sounded a little uninspired (the No.1 singles ranged from JLo's Love Don't Cost A Thing to Limp Bizkit's Rollin' to Afroman's Because I Got High -- you get the idea), Ladytron's simmering cauldron of synth-pop and electro-industrial almost felt like an act of rebellion.
Widescreen memories
B Magazine, Chanun Poomsawai, Published on 20/01/2019
» Ever since I embarked on this music-criticism journey some five years ago, it's always been a personal mission of mine to be as diverse as possible when it comes to the albums I choose to review. While I'd like to think that mainstream and independent/left-field artists are equally given a chance to shine in this column, there's still a whole world of music out there that needs its due recognition. Which brings me to drummer-turned-piano virtuoso Eiko Ishibashi, a celebrated Japanese musician who, thanks to US-based label Drag City, is getting her releases outside of her native Japan.