In Continuum.

There comes a time in a music-lover's life, when you realize that you are too deeply in love. No, we are not speaking of it in a figuratively way, but you are literally in too deep into the realm of music that you have come to a point whereby the physical environment around you has lost its ability to satiate that endless crave any longer. I am talking about the availability of new music in my country in relative to the others, how difficult it is to find obscure and unknown bands in Singapore. You can't even find it in the biggest music stores legally, and you know that you are in way too deep when you cannot even find most of them illegally over the internet. That is a good way to stop piracy, make your bands and artistes as obscure as possible so that even the pirates can't pirate your music. It is a winning formula, but it causes a mountain of trouble for someone like me. Another day that iTunes store refuses to open in Singapore is another day that I come closer to experiencing internal combustion. Music is getting more and more difficult to find now, and the list of albums that I have yet to get my hands is growing at an exponential rate. Podington Bear, anyone? 

The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Dreaming by Club 8
If I ask you to think of a Swedish band, you are probably going to have just one band in mind: ABBA. Yes, the most famous Swedish band to ever walk the earth, or at least that is the common misconception of Sweden. The truth is, Sweden is actually choked with musical talents that I have only recently discovered. Club 8 is another one of those finds which I call "Label Finds". That is, I found a record label that produced a range of relatively similar music, and I would search through their artist to see which one of them fits my taste. Club 8 is one of those bands, and this album cannot be more soothing and easy on the ears. Once in a while, you need to put down those electronica records and just go back to your roots. Club 8 does somehow sound like some techno band, but it nothing can be further from the truth. Club 8 sounds more like Nouvelle Vague, but without the thick sense of Bossa Nova. Club 8 sounds more like the kind of music you would hear in a lounge at three in the morning, with a few late night drinkers staying back to curb their insomnia. Their other albums definitely have a little more electronic elements, but this album is that one that puts you to sleep - in a very good way. Certain songs are very karaoke-like, but I don't suppose this band is going to find its way into any karaoke lounges anytime soon, unfortunately. 

Albums by the band: 

1. Nouvelle (1996)

2. The Friend I Once Had (1998)

3. Club 8 (2001)

4. Spring Came, Rain Fell (2002)

5. Strangely, Beautiful (2003)

6. The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Dreaming (2007)

Yanni Live at the Acropolis by Yanni 
Now, this is a very very old CD that I somehow dug out from a box. I was reminded of this CD when I saw it in Sarah's library the other day, and suddenly remembered just how good it really is. This live album isn't the highest selling live DVD or any artiste out there for no reason at all. The reason is because this album is that good, although it does not include one of Yanni's most famous track - Aria. Anyway, Yanni is considered under the genre of new age I suppose, along with peers like Kitaro and all the other long-haired composers out there. But Kitaro can bother on experimentalism at times, and his music may not exactly be suitable for most people I would assume. Yanni, however, is ear-friendly for everybody. It is simply not possible for one to not be moved by his track "One Man's Dream", or to be swept off your feet by "Within Attraction". Can I just say, by the way, the latter song features some of the most insane violin playing I have ever heard in my entire life? Karen Briggs and Shahrad Rohani are completely off the hook in this song, completely mind blowing stuff here. Yanni is amazing, even if you want to make fun of him like so many people do with Enya's music. I proudly say that I love Yanni, and his music is brings happiness and life into me. It really does, in the most magical way that only good music can. 

Albums by the artiste: 

1. Optimystique (1980)

2. Keys to Imagination (1986)

3. Out of Silence (1987)

4. Chameleon Days (1988)

5. Niki Nana (1989)

6. Reflections of Passion (1990)

7. In Celebration of Life (1991)

8. Dare to Dream (1992)

9. In My Time (1993)

10. Yanni Live at the Acropolis [Live Album] (1994)

11. If I Could Tell You (2000)

12. Ethnicity (2003)

Migration by Sambassadeur
Sambassadeur, like Club 8, is a "Label Find". They are under the same record label called Labrador Records, and they are a Swedish band as well. Migration probably bears a lot of resemblance to the featured album above, but this album has a thicker sense of retrospective to it somehow. Sambassadeur has a very interesting small-town feel to it, a small town back in the late 1970s. I keep picturing a small yellow truck driving down a long stretch of country road while listening to the first track, "The Park". That is the imagery that Sambassadeur gives me, one that is both comforting and nice in my opinion. This is the album that, I'd say, is the soundtrack to a long road trip that anybody should own. I am usually very critical when it comes to the vocalist of any bands, and I must say that the voice of Anna Persson is very pretty, although not exactly unique. She has a very old town feel like I said, kind of like how The Carpenters used to make you feel I suppose. Play this album when you are out driving, out in the woods camping, or just fishing by a great lake. It just feels like an album that'd potentially drive you out of your front door because of how hopeful it feels somehow. It is an album full of chances and opportunities, and something that I listen to forget my worries.

Albums by the band:

1. Sambassadeur (2005)

2. Migration (2007)

Everyone Alive Wants Answers by Colleen
Colleen, or Cecile Schott, is an ambient and electronic music composer from France. Colleen produces some of the most beautiful and creepy music I have ever heard in my entire life, and I know those two words don't usually come together in the same sentence. Everyone Alive Wants Answers, along with her other album The Golden Morning Breaks probably has some of the most haunting melodies I have ever heard, and they are strangely beautiful in their own rights. In an age when ambient music has become a tad bit repetitive even in the underground music community, Colleen has somehow broke through the conventional and delivered an album that is unlike any other. Using instruments such as the harp, the guitar, wind chimes and music boxes, Colleen has created a beautiful and twisted soundscape that feels almost as if it was plucked straight out of someone's dream. With the effect of the music played backwards, it almost gives the listeners a sense of going back in time and moving forward at the same time. It's like being trapped in an equilibrium, much like how the album grabs your attention late in the night. The music video for the song "I'll Read You A Story" that features a ballerina dancing in slow motion is probably one of the weirdest, but most astounding stuff I know. Colleen is, in a word, awesome. 

Albums by the artiste:

1. Everyone Alive Wants Answers (2003)

2. The Golden Morning Breaks (2005)

3.Mort Aux Vaches (2006)

4. Les Ondes Silencieuses (2007)

Susumu Yokota represents my second attempt into the Japanese music underworld. Mono is a good post-rock band, but then it becomes tiring at times when you realize that no one can surpass Sigur Ros in that field. Susumu Yokota is an acclaimed DJ from Japan, and this is my first time listening to his materials. Repetition is not the cup of tea that suits everybody, but his curious use of loops in this album is strangely alluring in a mystical way. I must say that this album took some getting used to, but the result of my patience was definitely very rewarding. You can hear a gradual growth in the sound in every song, and you slowly hear it develop in maturity as well as in beauty until it fills your whole room in waves of emotions. I have yet to pin-point any specific songs that have caught my attention yet, but so far the entire album has been a beautiful and interesting ride. Such albums can only be listened to from the first song, and not from the second or the third. You tend to lose a sense of continuum because of that, and ambient albums usually take a lot of patience in order for you to enjoy. Susumu Yokota definitely is an Asian electronica artiste that I will be watching out for. A delicate album that is full of life and beauty. 

Albums by the artist (Way too many to name all, so I shall pick a few):

1. Image 1983-1998 (1999)

2. Sakura (1999)

3. Grinning Cat (2001)

4. The Boy and the Tree (2002)

5. Distant Sounds of Summer (2005)

6. LOVE or DIE (2008)