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sweetdreamsjeff · 2 months ago

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Jeff Buckley in the U.K.

Jim Irvin, 'From Hallelujah to the Last Goodbye' (Post Hill), May 2018

Excerpted from Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah to the Last Goodbye by Jeff's former manager Dave Lory and former MOJO man Jim Irvin (Post Hill Press).

JEFF BUCKLEY loved British music; the nervous energy in British punk, the wired consciousness of the Clash, the way Siouxsie and the Banshees went from gun-metal moodiness to skies full of fireworks.

He adored the Cocteau Twins, of course, especially Liz Fraser's "impossible voice". He loved how the Smiths called to outsiders and nerds. He loved the textures of Johnny Marr's supple guitar and the mordant presence of Steve Jones's guitar in the Sex Pistols.

Jeff, whose own nervous energy was considerable, became even more wired whenever we went to the UK; he was stimulated by its variety. He also appreciated its compactness – the lack of eight-hour drives between cities was refreshing.

Sony had passed on Live at Sin-é in Europe. We were understandably disappointed, but there was a solution close at hand: Steve Abbott, known to everyone as Abbo, who ran the eccentric indie record label Big Cat and had picked up on many of the promising un-signed bands playing in New York: Pavement, Mercury Rev, Luscious Jackson. He had approached Jeff after Gods & Monsters and Sin-é shows and asked him if he'd like to record with Big Cat, but then Sony stepped in. Jeff felt that he owed Abbo a record, so when Columbia UK passed on Live at Sin-é and Michele Anthony instigated a funding deal with Big Cat, it seemed the perfect opportunity for them to become involved. Abbo jumped at the chance.

Big Cat's small team – Abbo, co-owner Linda Obadiah, Frank Neidlich in marketing, and Jacqui Rice in press – did such a good job that the week it was released in Europe, Live at Sin-é sold over four thousand copies, which was amazing for a complete unknown.

After a Sony conference, where it was clear that a lot of the affiliates were bemused by him, Jeff had a warm-up show at Whelan's in Dublin. By the time he came on, the crowd, several drinks into its evening, had become a little boisterous. Jeff said hello softly, as usual, but no one was really paying attention. Jeff just stood there, waiting. People started to quieten down and watch to see what he would do. There was a pint of his favourite beer, Guinness, sitting on the stool next to him. Jeff lifted the glass to his lips and downed it in one hit. Everyone on the room cheered, and he began the Irish show with the crowd completely on his side.

The audience was more blasé the next night at his London debut at The Borderline, a Western-themed venue under a dubious Mexican diner in Soho, right in the heart of London, a group of local reps for hip American indie labels like Sub Pop and Merge yacking away rather disrespectfully at the bar. In the age of grunge, a lone guy with a guitar softly singing Edith Piaf covers was baffling for some.

"It was an epiphany for me," says Sara Silver, Sony's European head of marketing. "There are some shows where it just feels like you're a voyeur, looking into someone's soul. This was one of those. He was charismatic, but also haunting, and I think because of my particular situation at the time, still suffering from the [loss of my husband], he resonated hugely. This haunting sound was a powerful force, and it was my job to work out how we took it to the world."

A gig the next night in Glasgow meant an early-morning flight back to Heathrow the following morning to catch a session with GLR, London's local BBC station, a slot designed to alert people to the next couple of gigs at the Garage in Islington and at Bunjies, a cute little basement folk club in Central London that dated back to the early 1960s and made Sin-é seem generously proportioned.

Abbo was accompanying Jeff on this run.

"We'd meet regularly at a bar called Tom & Jerry's in New York, hang out and drink Guinness together," Abbo says, "I suppose I became a friend of his, and he didn't seem to have many real friends. I'd only discovered I liked the blues since living in New York, so it was great hanging with him, because he was a huge blues and jazz fan and if there was a guitar around he had to pick it up and show off. He knew every Robert Johnson song, every Muddy Waters tune, Bessie Smith; he introduced me to the physicality of the blues, watching it at close quarters. Everybody talks about his voice, but he was a brilliant guitarist. The guitar was an extension of his body.

"Tim Buckley hadn't really entered my line of vision growing up listening to black music. Singer-songwriters with fluffy hairstyles were not currency on my council estate in Luton! We were in Tom & Jerry's and someone said to Jeff, 'I've been listening to your dad,' and I said, 'Who's your dad?' and he said, 'Tim Buckley.' I knew the name from record shopping; I'd seen the sleeves in the racks, but that's it. But when he came over to Britain there were loads of Tim Buckley fans. And it was a real problem early on, because he really didn't like talking about him."

The traffic from the airport to the GLR studios just off Baker Street was awful. A road accident had slowed everything to a standstill. Jeff's slot on the mid-morning show was fast approaching. "Of course, this was before mobile phones, so I had no way of communicating with the radio station that we were stuck in traffic," says Abbo. "For the last few days on this tour, everyone who'd interviewed Jeff had been asking about his dad. How did Tim write 'Song To The Siren'? Was there stuff in his lyrics that he might have related to? Things Jeff couldn't answer.

"We were listening to GLR while we waited in traffic and the presenter kept saying, 'We're supposed to have this artist, Tim Buckley's son, turning up, but he's late....Will he or won't he turn up?' This went on and on. She must have said 'Tim Buckley's son' about four times and didn't mention Jeff once. Suddenly, he just kicked my car radio in with his big DMs [Doc Martens], just smashed the fascia and then sat back sulking all the way there. I could get another radio, of course, but I was mostly worried he wasn't going to do the performance.

"We finally arrived about forty minutes late and they were all so rude to us, and yet they knew what the problem was, as they were broadcasting traffic updates and warnings of delays themselves. If I were him, I'd have walked out. The female presenter was a typical local radio DJ, a bit gushy and knew nothing about him and his music. I had a word with the station manager to ask her to stop mentioning Tim Buckley, and he handed her a note to that effect. Jeff just sat there silently and she said, 'What are you going to play?' and Jeff said, 'A song.' I'm thinking, 'Oh god, here we go.' And he started to play "Grace." He did this long guitar introduction, went on for about a minute, like he needed to calm himself down before he got to the actual start of the song, and then he launched into the most electrifying performance. The best I ever heard him do it.

"There were about six phones in the control room, and they all started lighting up. 'Who is this? Who is this? It's amazing!' And all the time, Jeff's getting more and more into it. The presenter went from being this standoffish woman to...I swear she would have thrown herself on him given half a chance, the second he finished singing. You could see she was totally enthralled."

Presenter: "You looked quite exhausted at the end of the song."

Jeff: "I was getting a lot of anger out. Something happened on the way here..."

"The phones didn't stop throughout the next song. The station manager said that in all his twelve years at the station, he'd never seen a reaction like it."

Abbo thinks this performance sparked Jeff's breakthrough. There were certainly plenty of people in line outside the Garage in North London that night. Inside, the first stars were taking note. Chrissie Hynde and Jon McEnroe were in the audience. Chrissie had been a big fan and a friend of Tim's, had actually interviewed him while she was briefly a music journalist with the NME, and she was obviously curious to see how his offspring compared. They struck up a conversation after the show and she clearly said the right thing, because he went off with her to jam with the Pretenders in a nearby rehearsal room. I wasn't carrying anything heavy because of a recent lung collapse, and I didn't want Jeff to pull any important muscles, so I asked McEnroe if he wouldn't mind. He happily hauled Jeff's amp downstairs to the car. The Pretenders' jam with special guests Buckley and Mac went on all night.

Bunjies, as I've said, was tiny, a basement folk club and coffee bar on West Street in Soho, along from the Ivy, with gingham tablecloths and melted candles in wine bottles on the tables and a performance area tucked into a couple of arches in what must have been a wine cellar at one point. It looked unchanged since it had begun in the early 1960s, and had seen a couple of folk booms come and go. It was more of a cafe with an open-mic policy by this point, which felt like a good place for Jeff. There wasn't really any need for amplification, so when we arrived for a sound check there was very little to do but see where Jeff was going to stand in the cramped space and gauge how his voice reflected off the nicotine-stained ceilings. While Jeff did that, I went outside for some fresh air and was stunned to see a line of people already waiting to get into the show.

I took a look at the guest list and realised we'd be lucky to fit twenty of this assembling crowd in the tiny space. Every time I looked up, the line was getting further down West Street. I went back into the venue and found Jeff talking to Emma Banks, the agent. He was saying how great the venue was and that he'd like to do something like hand out flowers to everyone before he went on.

"Jesus, you won't believe what's happening out there," I said to them. "The line goes about four blocks. There's no way these people are going to get in. Is there any way we can do two sets?" Jeff was happy to. Emma spoke to the club owner and was told they had some regular club night happening later on. She came back and said, "They can't do it but I've had an idea!" She disappeared up the steps onto the street, and I spoke to Jeff.

"What flowers would you like?"

"White roses," he said.

"I'll get them," I said, and went back up to the street, where the line had grown even longer.

I walked around looking for a florist and bumped into Emma. "I've booked Andy's Forge," she said. "It's a little place just around the corner in Denmark Street. He can go on at 10:30."

I bought as many white roses as I could find. Jeff handed them to people waiting outside and those lucky enough to get into the club, as he squeezed himself into the corner that passed for a stage. He sang upward, listening to his voice reflect off the curved ceiling into this hot, crowded, and attentive space. There must have been a hundred people stuffed in there.

When the show was over, Jeff walked up the steps to the huddle of patient people that Emma had gathered, plus anyone from the first show who wanted to tag along, and led this crowd like the Pied Piper toward Andy's Forge. Abbo was alongside me. "Have you ever seen anything like this before?" I said.

"Never!" he said. And we laughed liked idiots at the wonderful absurdity of hanging out with Jeff.

#jeff buckley #jeffbuckley #Jeff Buckley in the U.K.#Jim Irvin #'From Hallelujah to the Last Goodbye' (Post Hill)#May 2018

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nfumbewalk · 2 months ago

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About Me: Very Abridged Synopsis

Wearing my favorite old & tattered Santa Muerte shirt, my urn necklace with Rodolfo's grave dirt & my sacred ankh both for spiritual purposes and in salute to Rodolfo's MC, the Free Souls.

So, about me post. All posts are about me, but this one covers favorites & shit. 😊

Current space: Not bad. As usual but abilities are heightened. Moon is Full & in Pisces. No wonder the energy is wild. I'm a Pisces rising. Always gets me!

My Astrology: Aquarius, Cancer moon, Pisces rising. Mercury conjunct Mars (natural magician), placements for natural necromancer as well. I'm on the more dangerous side of necromancy because of my astro makeup. You get more water & air, watch out! My makeup is Watery Air, Aquarius signature.

Path: Created myself, but catching on: Muerteria. A solitary path that not only venerates muertos, but works with them exclusively for all of life's highs and lows, trials and tribulations, and everything in between. Some of us use magic with our muerto(s), others do not. Muerteria celebrates independence of thought and actions. Each of us in Muerteria represent a Greater Whole. One requirement for Muerteria is to read The Kybalion, a book about the Seven (7) Hermetic Laws. This is a foundational text of Muerteria. There are others. Are there gods? No. And, no, the muertos are not gods either. Veneration does not mean worship.

Devotee of: Muerteria & Santa Muerte.

Personal:

Height: 4'9"

Weight: I ain't fat. Here's me & Aleister again: (clothes are so baggy, wearing a loose size 12 pants &a loose size large top). He's 5'8" but looks tall to me! That's the average height for men in my family. Though my grandpa Arthur, the Freemason, was only 5'4"!

Ok. Anyway.

Mental Health? No, not touching on that. Just know that I had electroshock therapy because of severe depression & it cured me. I'm overly anxious & have PTSD. I've had the same shrink for 12 years & just got a new therapist.

Felonies? Almost. Skated by with a very serious Misdemeanor. I could have stayed in jail for a year, year & a half. But the judge at my arraignment said 20 months! 😢

Sooo what did I like about jail? NOTHING!!!

What did I hate about jail? EVERYTHING, but especially how cold it is & you get 1 blanket, the horrible food, having no rights, earning privileges, the inmates, being so LOUD, and medical waking me up at 1 AM to check my blood pressure! Oh, I failed to mention the young woman (about 18) who murdered two of her own babies! Weirdo fucking freak.

Favorites -

Music:

I'll start with my early influences. My mom got me started very very early with The Rolling Stones. I'm a life long fan of theirs. My dad liked old country, so I was heavily influenced by Johnny Cash, mostly. There was a lot of Kenny Rogers and Conway Twitty as well.

My brother is 8 years my senior and when I was about 12, he got me into 80's New Wave and introduced me to Siouxsie Sioux at 13. I was in 💖love💖!!! I started looking into the punk movement, from there I found a vampire book. It had goths & goth music in it. Found Bauhaus!! Looked at them at the music shop & bought a CD. Instant love! Peter Murphy sounded similar to my other love: Bowie!! 💖

There is so much music that I love. Currently number 1 is The Sisters of Mercy. Right now, I also love Babes in Toyland, Catholic Spit, The Devil & The Universe, Aghast, Stereo Taxic Device, Cocteau Twins (only up to Treasure album - don't really care for shoegaze or dreampop), Dead Spells, Savages, Malefixio (Spanish).

Books -

Occult: ONLY books published before a certain point. I'd say around 1975 or so, but there are good ones later. I just prefer old ones before '75 because I've found much more stability, no fluffy shit (there's some, but that's New Age, not magic & Witchcraft, generally), there's less of the 'good' vs. 'evil' bullshit, and there were more secrets contained within without being easily discovered. I've found gems that have never reached the internet. Seriously!

Other books -

I only read non-fiction. Bio's and true crime are my favorite. "The Executioner's Song," by Norman Mailer is my all time favorite! It's a true crime novel. I'm a Gary Gilmore fan. "Shot in the Heart," written by Mikal Gilmore is better. "Deviant," by Harold Schechter is a good one about ***Ed Gein - who my dad spent time around as a kid*** in small town Wisconsin! It was some time before 1958. My dad was about nine (9) years old. Dad described him as goofy & Elmer Fudd like, dumb acting.

Oh yeah - my mom almost got picked up by Ted Bundy!! Yikes! But yes, seriously, he was in Oregon and she was his type of girl. She had fast instincts, luckily.

Food -

Too much to write. I'd never complete this!

Crystals -

Amethyst - most versatile & radiates HTDE strongly. It charges very quickly in grave dirt.

Shungite: Gets rid of EMF, the muertos love that! Plus they are drawn to the 99% carbon of which this stone is composed of. Humans are carbon beings & the muertos know this. Shungite gives them the energy of the living! So does Orgonite.

Smoky Quartz: Another stone that's versatile & vibrates HTDE strongly. It's very protective and will help with grounding. Wear or carry this stone to a new graveyard, it helps tune in and protects against hostile muertos.

Regular Quartz: This is a stone that I use for multipurpose uses. It's protective, brings in muertos, holds muertos (if properly programmed), empowers everything its used for!

Jet: Used for mourning. I wear it all the time. Yes, I know it's not a crystal. Nor is it heavy. Don't buy French Jet. It's glass.

Obsidian: It's good if you like it & has many properties, like protection and grounding, but a lot of muertos don't like it much. I guess it's too sharp? My muerto doesn't mind it, but he's just neutral about it.

I have a ton more fav crystals but more favorite shit to go...

People -

My hubby. We're glued together. Hermits. My son. A few friends. My dads friend Natasha. That's about it. I don't favorite celebrities.

Movies -

Old Hollywood stuff. Natalie Wood. Greta Garbo, Bette Davis. Joan Crawford, Joan Fontaine, Orson Welles, all Hitchcock, Roman Polanski films - like Rosemary's Baby, Repulsion & The Ninth Gate; newer movies piss me off. I don't need sex in my face. If I want that, I'll watch a porno.

What I'm Known For:

Having a shit ton of useless knowledge about everything. My medical prowess. Being stubborn to a point of such frustration that ppl wanna kill me. I'm just sayin' got an Aquarius signature! Being extremely forgetful but not on purpose. Try having 120-250 joules of electricity on yer head!! I told my son that & he went totally silent for 2 minutes. He knows what joules are. He's a physicist. 😕

I'm also known for my Barstad sarcasm & humor (mom's side), which can go far beyond normal. Lol! I'm very simple & easy to please but don't tell many about that, I'm a total tomboy, if that even exists nowadays? Growing up, I was with my dad a lot, so I lived & breathed cars & junkyards were my sacred ground. Still love cars & will talk about them for hours. Older cars, that is. I still dislike fuel injection, but that's mostly earlier fuel injections, like throttle bodies. Don't think they use those anymore, hells no!

See? Total geek. Love my muertos & my cars. Think my machinist grandpa likes my technical side. I'm still talking to him. I recently channeled my grandpa Arthur, but he came in garbled. Needs work! Love grandpa's!! My dad was a very good one. Sure miss him. 😢

I do have one secret favorite! Old football!! Da Bears! Dick Butkus! And Walter Payton! I've been outed! Hate modern football! Boring, whistle blows too much, too many fines & penalties! Let em play!

That's all! Hope you got through this post in one piece.

M.M. 💖💀💖

#witchblr #witchy vibes #witch aesthetic #necromancy #muerto #witchcraft #goth #about myself #long post #long reads

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yusukesmomjeans · 3 years ago

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Ok, so as a 90s kid, I have some headcanons on the music that Sal and co. listen to:

- Before Sal moved to Knockfell, he listed to radio alt primarily. Some grunge that got airplay, some angsty one hit wonders like Dustin Sheik, a lot of Green Day. If you look up a 90s alt playlist on Spotify, the ones that have all the songs everyone knew, that was what Sal listened to. Henry thought that music was too heavy and dark and depressing, and absolutely panicked when Sal started adding a ton of metal to the rotation. Henry is like weirdly into Jewel, so Sal knows her music and pretends he doesn't like it.

- Ash listens to everything, and I mean everything. It annoys the hell out of everyone else, because if she makes you a mixtape you're basically playing Russian roulette. Is the next track going to be Opeth or opera? Tonic or tonal dissonance? She definitely doesn't think any of the guys listen to enough women, and does her damnedest to broaden their horizons. She likes Skunk Anansie, Bikini Kill, Garbage, The Raincoats, Liz Phair, Meredith Brooks, and above all Courtney Love. She and Sal both love Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger, and sing it really loudly in the car, much to poor Larry's chagrin. (He secretly thinks it's cute and it makes him happy, but he has to put up a fuss because God, Harvey Danger? Really?)

- Todd likes Dream Theater entirely too much. He's also into math rock (stereotyping, sorry), particularly Ent. He also really enjoys a lot of radio alt like Sal. He doesn't have to like a song to memorize it, because his memory is excellent, so he generally chimes in on the Flagpole Sitta car jam just because he can and it's there. He knows a lot of older music because his parents like to put their dusty old records on and dance when they get high, which is why he adores David Bowie. Also unrelated but years down the road I can see Todd coding everyone's MySpaces and making them look incredible because he's the only one who actually knows how to code.

- Neil is a lot like Ash but he likes pretty much everything, which is a big difference that basically cuts out all the truly weird stuff and any country not written by Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, or Reba McEntire. He really likes listening to things Maple recommends because it's really emotional and he's a sweet feelings baby.

- Sweet angel baby Chug loves anything heavy. For being such a scaredy cat, he really does like bands with terrifying cover art and vaguely scary looking musicians. Ash thinks this is hilarious, but doesn't say anything because she doesn't want to hurt Chug's feelings. His favorite band is Sepultura.

- Maple thinks liking the Cocteau Twins is a personality trait. She also really likes Gene Loves Jezebel. She has a venomous hate for NIN and complains loudly any time anyone even brings them up.

- I feel like a poseur even trying to take a stab at what Larry listens to. Definitely Master's Hammer, because Ritual is super atmospheric and still suitably heavy. And everybody likes Mayhem, right? But mostly Sanity's Fall. He knows his shit but sticks to what he likes, and prefers smaller bands and local bands, very "support your local scene and punch your local nazi."

#sally face #sal fisher #larry johnson #ashley campbell #chug cohen #todd morrison #neil sally face #maple cohen #sally face headcanons

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fayewonglibrary · 3 years ago

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Wong’s Way (2011)

An anomaly in the cookie-cutter world of Cantopop, FAYE WONG has paradoxically found success by playing against the rules. Prestige Hong Kong follows her down the road less travelled

FIVE YEARS MAY not seem like that long, but it can be a lifetime in an entertainment industry that feeds off the right-here and the right-now. So it came as a surprise when, half a decade ago, Faye Wong decided to step back from the limelight and resume as much of a normal life as might ever be possible for a woman whose music has sold in the millions and who has combined that side of her existence with an acclaimed acting career.

From an existence playing before tens of thousands, what the Beijing-born Wong longed for at that point in time was a life tucked away in the peace and tranquillity of home – and after almost 20 years in the spotlight, and with her every move followed by a fan base that can be tallied in the millions, who could really blame her?

But as an artist who in an age of corporate conformity flatly refuses to play to any predetermined stereotype, Wong has always preferred to play by her own rules. It may come as a surprise, then, to find out that Faye Wong was not always “Faye” – diehard fans will remember a period in which the artist was known as Shirley Wong Ching-man, an affectation suggested by her record company early in her career, because of the stigma associated with the hip factor (or lack thereof) of mainland Chinese artists and names.

Even Wong’s early hits weren’t what you would call “original” – her first few albums were filled with formulaic Cantopop: collections of saccharine, predictable tunes that failed to properly utilise her delicate, lilting soprano. When she broke out of that shell in 1992, after a short travel hiatus, she finally found success, initially with a cover of a Japanese chart-topper in Cantonese, “Fragile Woman.”

Despite her disinclination to be impacted by her local contemporaries, Wong was not without her influences. She covered songs by The Cranberries, took quirky style cues from Björk and collaborated with the Cocteau Twins. The further she strayed from Cantopop, the more fame she found, penning her own songs and admittedly self-indulgent lyrics. She rapped on “No Exit,” yodelled through “Di-Dar” and even won the hearts of nerds by wailing the English-language title track to the hit video-game Final Fantasy VIII, “Eyes On Me.”

Even when her albums weren’t critical or commercial successes, her fame continued to grow, exponentially and uncontrollably. Her handful of acting roles, including in Chungking Express and 2046, showcased a curious, simultaneous aloofness and magnetism, an infectious, ravishing oddness.

In 2005, two months before she married actor Li Yapeng, she announced that she would take a break from show business. And so for five years there have been sightings, the occasional public appearance and the work for her own charity, but otherwise it’s pretty much been silence from Wong, as her fans – and the world at large – waited.

With that in mind, we should not have been surprised at the reaction to the news that Wong would finally be reemerging, to stage comeback concerts that started in Beijing last October, then took in Shanghai and Taipei before coming to Hong Kong, the place where Wong’s career was launched, for a series of shows in March. Tickets – for all nights, at all venues – sold out in a matter of days and the critical response has been overwhelming.

The headlines said it all: “The Diva is Back.”

What the Wong faithful have found is that their idol has lost none of the passion for the music that forms, as she puts it herself, part of her fate. They’ve been treated to nights filled with the songs that have formed the soundtrack for the lives of a generation here in Hong Kong – and beyond.

When Prestige Hong Kong found the interview-shy 40-year-old, she was in between shows and letting that fate take its course. What Wong wants the world to know is that throughout her storied career there has, she says, never been any real plan. She’s simply a woman who lets the cards fall as they may.

Can you talk a little about your return to the stage and playing live? What brought about the decision to play your recent concerts? I consider this a natural move for me. I’ve been doing several commercials as well as releasing some new singles over the past few years. So this was a natural progression back to live performances. It’s all part of my career.

How did you go about deciding what form the concerts would take and the songs you played? There’s no special form or arrangement that’s deliberately conceived for my concert. I believe my singing is the main source of interaction between the audience and me. Every show is unique and my mood is different, depending on the atmosphere. It’s not my practice to talk much with people or have any planned speech in my concert, because I don’t want the conversation to ruin the whole integrity and mood of the arrangement of the concert. I hope my audiences can indulge themselves with my music, while also digesting the message my show is delivering.

After the recent concerts in Shanghai and Beijing, what’s your feeling about coming back on stage? It feels so good to see all my fans again.

Do you have any plans to work on a new album? If so, will you be writing songs yourself? There’s no plan to work on a whole new album. But there is a possibility to release singles, and maybe I’ll write some songs myself.

How different to you is the experience of playing live now as compared to when your career began? What have you learned and how much has the experience for you changed over the years? I’ve been working with different sets of crews, composers, producers etc since the beginning of my career. Each of these collaborations has opened up a whole new experience and been an amazing inspiration for me. Call it a fireworks feeling.

What was it that initially drew you to the music business? What was it that you found most exciting? I believe singing is my destiny, and it’s fate that this became my career. I find it gratifying that I’m able to touch people’s lives with my songs. It’s a form of good karma.

Have your musical tastes changed or evolved as you matured as a person and as an actress? I admire different types of music and things depending on the different stages of my life.

Did becoming a mother change how you approached both your singing and your career? There was no change. I still sing with the same commitment and feeling, and it’s the same with my career.

And how much, do you think, did this change you as a person? The process of raising a child is part of my evolution as a human being. If you’re not a parent or don’t fully involve yourself as a parent, you’ll never realise this traditional, fulfilling role of parenthood. As a parent, it’s natural to want to show your best side and provide the best example to your child. However, sometimes it’s hard to break habits that may surface from time to time. It’s a painful cycle, because even though you realise your own faults, to change yourself completely requires a lot of courage and determination.

We’re curious about a typical day for Faye Wong. What’s your routine when you’re not performing? What time do you go to bed, what’s your favourite meal and what activities do you share with your kids? Basically, I go to bed and wake up the same time as my kids do. I got used to enjoying the regular pattern of a healthy lifestyle, but that won’t happen coming back to work.

Frankly, there’s so much to do when you take charge of a whole household. My life in the past few years was completely occupied by family and there was no time for me ever to feel bored. Sometimes I feel that I was even busier than when I was working as a singer.

Do you think your children share the same character as you? When I look at my kids, it’s like looking into a mirror and seeing the deepest side of myself.

What are the things that make you most happy now, compared with when you were younger? What do you now cherish most? I cherish everyone and everything. I’m fortunate to appreciate what I have and the people I know.

How do you see your image now? Are you an artist who is careful to control her image, or is it more a case of come what may? The most effortless style suits me best. I aim to be the most natural, honest in my approach. I want it to be pure, not something that seems too contrived or created just to fit the latest trend.

What are you most passionate about? To find the real meaning of life, and share it with lots of people.

What about acting? Is this something you’re keen to pick up again as well? If so, what kinds of films and roles might interest you? Right now, I have no plans on filming.

What are the challenges you see ahead in the next few years? What can your audience expect? My life has no planning, and I’m not a person who conceives everything in advance. It always depends on what’s being offered and what I feel like doing at that moment. There’s no pressure on myself – I leave everything to chance and fate.

The Smile Angel Foundation was founded in Beijing in 2006 by you and your husband, Li Yapeng, after your own child was afflicted with a cleft lip. It’s helped a lot of other children suffering from cleft lips and palates. Has the foundation changed your life or your character in any way? My contribution to Smile Angel Foundation is not as much as my husband’s involvement. He’s very busy working on plans to support the foundation. For me, basically, I’ll attend annual charity events and activities to lend my support.

On this project, we started everything from scratch and are very gratified to see how much it has accomplished. My husband is definitely the driving force behind the foundation, and I really admire his passion, courage and capability.

At your current stage, do you think you have evolved in your perspective of things compared with when you were younger? Can you share your road of growth a little bit? I was a bit stubborn, objective and capricious when I was younger. I’m now more willing to be open-minded and flexible, and always try to remind myself about this. It’s quite difficult to stop old habits surfacing from time to time. But I’m trying hard to accomplish it.

Do you have any advice on how to maintain a woman’s beauty and charm after the age of 30? First of all, you have to accept your age. I believe everyone has their own unique way to create their own charm and maintain their beauty, which is sometimes a very personal approach. One should find one’s own best way; there really is no standard formula for everyone to maintain their beauty. I believe the most natural side of a person is the most beautiful.

You’re acclaimed as a pioneer of alternative music. Does that mean you won’t compromise with the commercial market? I never define my music as “mainstream” or “edgy” or “alternative.” I just do what I like.

Photography / Shameless Eye Production AG Styling / Titi Kwan Hair / Alain Pichon Make-up / Zing Wardrobe / Céline Spring 2011 collection

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SOURCE: PRESTIGE HONG KONG

#2011

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therandombanjo · 5 years ago

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Songs From 2019 (one per artist)

Another mixed bag of stuff i either enjoyed a lot, thought was excellent or interesting (regardless of taste… sort of), emerging artists to maybe look out for, and generally music that for whatever reason connected with me in some way, including the odd earworm i just couldn’t shake. Some artists are left off just to vary a little more from some other popular lists. Hope you enjoy some of this too and find something new to be taken by. Please do buy their music if you can and hopefully from a local independent record store if possible to support their work. There’s a spotify playlist (below) for easier listening but I’ve also posted a few links to extra things on some of them if you want to check them out. Spotify:

(As ever…. as i don’t tumblr or blog or anything (besides this list), this won’t be seen by many (if any?) people so if you like it or think it’s of any worth in any way, please do share this along)

In Alphabetical order:

A.A. Bondy - Killers 3 Abdallah Oumbadougou - Thingalene Alasdair Roberts - Common Clay Alex Rex - Latest Regret Andy Shauf - Try Again Angel Bat Dawid - We Are Starzz Angel Olsen - All Mirrors bonus. her collab with Mark Ronson “True Blue” Anne Müller - Solo? Repeat! Antoinette Konan - Kokoloko Tani Arthur Russell - Words Of Love Asmâa Hamzaoui and Bnat Timbouktou - Sandia Baby Rose - All To Myself BCI - Grateful Bedouine - When You’re Gone Benny The Butcher - Crowns For Kings ft. Black Thought Ben Walker - Afon Better Oblivion Community Center - Chesapeake Beverly Glenn-Copeland - A Little Talk (from a reissue of her 2004 record Primal Prayer) Bibio - Curls The Big Moon - It’s Easy Then Big Thief - a. Not b. Cattails (from 2 excellent albums released in the same year: “U.F.O.F” and “Two Hands”) Bill Callahan - a. What Comes After Certainty b. The Ballad Of The Hulk Bill Fay - Filled With Wonder Once Again Bill Orcutt - Odds Against Tomorrow billy woods - a. Spongebob w/ Kenny Segal b. Western Education Is Forbidden ft. Fielded (From 2 excellent records this year: “Hiding Places” with Kenny Segal, and “Terror Management”) Black Country, New Road - Sunglasses Blu & Oh No - The Lost Angels Anthem ft. Kezia Bon Iver - Hey, Ma Bonnie “Prince” Billy - Beast For Thee Bonny Light Horseman - Bonny Light Horseman (”supergroup” of the great Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D Johnson & Josh Kaufman) Brent Cobb & Jade Bird - Feet Off The Ground Brighde Chaimbeul - O Chiadain an Lo Brigyn - Oer Brittany Howard - Stay High (the video for this, with Terry Crews, is a delight) Bruce Hornsby - Voyager One ft. yMusic Burd Ellen - Sweet Lemany Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Thomas Bartlett - Kestrel Caribou - You and I Caroline Polachek - Door Cate Le Bon - Daylight Matters Caterina Barbieri - Arrows Of Time Clairo - Bags Cochemea - Mitote comfort - Not Passing The Cool Greenhouse - Cardboard Man (a pretty hilarious song about David Cameron) CRAC - You Can’t Turn Your Back On Me (Unreleased old track from ‘76) Cross Record - PYSOL My Castle CZ Wang and Neo Image - Just Off Wave Damon Locks / Black Monument Ensemble - a. Rebuild a Nation b. Power Daniel Norgren - The Flow Danny Brown - Dirty Laundry Daphni - Sizzling ft. Paradise Daughter Of Swords - Fellows (Mountain Man member Alexandra Sauser-Monnig’s 1st solo record) Dave - Psycho David Kilgour - Smoke You Right Out Of Here David Thomas Broughton - Ambiguity (from the 15th anniversary reissue of his remarkable debut album, The Complete Guide To Insufficiency) Denzel Curry - RICKY Destroyer - Crimson Tide Dry Cleaning - Dog Proposal Dubi Dolczek - Do The Gloop Durand Jones & The Indications - Long Way Home Ela Orleans - The Season (From 2012 but on a career retrospective, Movies For Ears, put out this year) Elkhorn - Song Of The Son Emile Mosseri - a. The Last Black Man In San Francisco b. San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair) ft. Mike Marshall (both from the wonderful score for the wonderful film The Last Black Man In San Francisco, the latter a cover of an old song sung here by the guy who sang “I Got 5 On It”!!) Erland Cooper - Haar Ernest Hood - Saturday Morning Doze (from a re-issue of his “self-released proto-ambient masterpiece” in ‘75) Fat White Family - Feet Faye Webster - Room Temperature Fennesz - In My Room Fernando Falcão - As 7 Filhas Da Rainha Sumaia (reissue from ‘87) FKA twigs - cellophane Florist - Shadow Bloom Flowdan - Welcome To London Fontaines D.C. - Roy’s Tune Four Tet / KH - Only Human French Vanilla - All The Time Gang Starr - Family and Loyalty ft. J. Cole Georgia - About Work The Dancefloor Girl Band - Shoulderblades The Good Ones - Will You Be My Protector? (of Rwanda) Grand Veymont - Les Rapides Bleus (of France) Gyedu-Blay Ambolley - Sunkwa (of Ghana) Hailaker - Not Much HAIM - Summer GIrl Hana Vu - Actress Hand Habits - placeholder Hannah Cohen - Get In Line The Harlem Gospel Travellers - If You Can’t Make It Through A Storm Hayden Thorpe - Diviner (Former Wild Beasts frontman’s debut solo record) Helado Negro - Running The Highwomen - Redesigning Women Hiss Golden Messenger - I Need A Teacher Holly Herndon - Frontier Homeboy Sandman - Far Out Hoops - They Say Hotel Neon & Blurstem - Language Of Loss House and Land - Rainbow ‘Mid Life’s Willows Ibibio Sound Machine - Wanna Come Down IDER - Saddest Generation The Innocence Mission - On Your Side International Teachers Of Pop - I Stole Yer Plimsoles ft. Jason Williamson (of Sleaford Mods) Jacken Elswyth - The Banks Of Green Williow Jaimie Branch - nuevo roquero estéreo Jake Xerxes Fussell - The River St. Johns Jamila Woods - ZORA Jayda G - Leave Room 2 Breathe Jenny Hval - Ashes To Ashes Jenny Lewis - Red Bull and Hennessy Jesca Hoop - Outside of Eden ft. Kate Stables (of This Is The Kit) and Jesca’s 12 year-old nephew Justis. This live performance is so sweet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUPmE_hU7Ss Jessica Pratt - As The World Turns Joanna Sternberg - This Is Not Who I Want To Be Joan Shelley - Cycle John Blek - North Star Lady Jordan Rakei - Say Something bonus. under his DJ pseudonym: Dan Kye - Focus Jo Schornikow - Incomplete Joseph Shabason - West of Heaven Julianna Barwick - evening Junius Paul - Baker’s Dozen Kali Malone - Spectacle Of Ritual Kate Teague - Sweetheart Kate Tempest - a. Firesmoke b. People’s Faces Kelly Moran - Halogen (Una Corda) (from a record full of all the bare piano parts she played for her prior record before all the editing and processing) Kim Gordon - Air BnB Kindness - Hard To Believe ft. Jazmine Sullivan KOKOKO! - Buka Dansa (Congolese collective upcycling discarded materials to make their instruments) Konradsen - Baby Hallelujah (of Norway) Lambchop - Everything For You Laura Cannell - a. Sing As The Crow Flies b. Flaxen Fields Laura Stevenson - Lay Back, Arms Out Le Groupe Obscur - Planète Ténèbres Leonard Cohen - Happens To The Heart Leo Svirsky - River Without Banks Little Simz - 101 FM Lizzo - Tempo ft. Missy Elliot Loren Conors & Daniel Carter - Departing Lou Roy - Bite Low Chord - Walkk Lower Dens - Galapagos Mahalia - What You Did ft. Ella Mai Majja - Black James Dean Maria Somerville - This Way Maria Usbeck - Amor Anciano Mary Halvorson & John Dieterich - Vega’s Array (Mary the recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Grant this year, because she is) Mary Lattimore & Mac McCaughan - IV Matana Roberts - As Far As The Eye Can See Meitei - Ike Melanie Charles - Trill Suite, No. 1 (Daydreaming/Skylark) The Menzingers - Anna Messiahs Of Glory - No Other Love (from a collection of rare black gospel from the Midwest between ‘65-’78 put out on Tompkins Square) Mica Levi - a. Hosting b. Lobo y Lady (from the excellent Colombian film Monos) Michael Abels - a. I Got 5 On It (Tethered Mix) b. Pas De Deux (both from the terrific score to the excellent Jordan Peele film, Us) Michael Kiwanuka - Living In Denial Michael Nau - Poor Condition Mike Adams At His Honest Weight - Wonderful To Love Minor Pieces - Rothko (duo of Ian William Craig & newcomer Missy Donaldson) Modern Nature - Footsteps Molly Sarlé - Twisted (Mountain Man member’s 1st solo record) Moodymann - I’ll Provide Moon Duo - Stars Are The Light Moor Mother - After Images Moses Boyd - Stranger Than Fiction Moses Sumney - Polly Mount Eerie & Julie Doiron - Love Without Possession MSYLMA - Inqirad (Rihab-U Dhakir) (Saudi Arabia) The Murder Capital - Don’t Cling To Life Nardeydey - Freefalling The National - Rylan ft. Kate Stables (of This Is The Kit) The New Pornographers - Falling Down The Stairs Of Your Smile Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - a. Waiting For You b. Bright Horses c. Night Raid Nivhek - After Its Own Death: Side A (Liz Harris of Grouper) Noname - Song 32 Octo Octa - Move Your Body ODD OKODDO - Auma (Kenyan/German duo) Øyvind Torvund - Starry Night (Norwegian composer) Pet Shop Boys - Burning The Heather Petter Eldh - Fanfarum for Komarum II Porridge Radio - Give/Take PREGOBLIN - Combustion Purple Mountains - a. Snow Is Falling In Manhattan b. All My Happiness Is Gone c. That’s Just The Way That I Feel Quelle Chris - Obamacare Quinie - Whas At The Windy Rapsody - Ibtihaj ft. D’Angelo & GZA Reb Fountain - Faster Rian Treanor - ATAXIA_A1 Richard Dawson - Two Halves Robert Stillman - All Are Welcome Róisín Murphy - Incapable Rosalía - Milionària Rosenau & Sanborn - Saturday Rozi Plain - Symmetrical Ruth Garbus - Strash Sam Lee - The Moon Shines Bright ft. Elizabeth Fraser (of Cocteau Twins) Sam Wilkes - Run Sandro Perri - Soft Landing SAULT - Smile and Go Seabuckthorn - To Which The Rest Were Dreamt serpentwithfeet - Receipts ft. Ty Dolla $ign Sessa - Flor do Real (of Brazil) Sheer Mag - Hardly To Blame Shit and Shine - No No No No Sinead O Brien - A Thing You Call Joy Siobhan Wilson - Plastic Grave Six Organs Of Admittance - Two Forms Moving Sleaford Mods - Kebab Spider Slow Meadow - Artificial Algorithm Snowy - EFFED ft. Jason Williamson (of Sleaford Mods) SOAK - Knock Me Off My Feet Solange - Binz Sophie Crawford - A Miner’s Life Squid - Houseplants bonus. Their cover of Robert Wyatt’s “PIgs..... In There at End of the Road Festival) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DktZtQbo-YU Stella Donnelly - Old Man SUSS - Ursa Major Swamp Dogg - Sleeping Without You Is A Dragg ft. Justin Vernon & Jenny Lewis Tami T - Birthday Tenesha The Wordsmith - Why White Folks Can’t Call Me Nigga Theon Cross - Activate ft. Moses Boyd & Nubya Garcia Thom Yorke - Dawn Chorus Tierra Whack - Wasteland Tim Hecker - That World Tiny Leaves - Respair Toya Delazy - Funani (of South Africa) Twain - Death (Or S.F.?) Twin Peaks - Dance Through It Tyler Childers - All Your’n Vagabon - Water Me Down Vampire Weekend - This Life Vanishing Twin - Magicians Success Velvet Negroni - Confetti Vendredi Sur Mer - Chewing-Gum (of France) Victoria Monét - Ass Like That Vieo Abiungo - Cobble Together Visible Cloaks - Stratum ft. Yoshio Ojima & Satsuki Shibano Warmduscher - Midnight Dipper Weyes Blood - Andromeda Wilco - Love Is Everywhere (Beware) William Tyler - Our Lady Of The Desert Willie Scott & The Birmingham Spirituals - Keep Your Faith To The Sky (from a collection of obscure 70′s era gospel on Luaka Bop, “The Time For Peace Is Now - Gospel Music About Us”) Xylouris White - Tree Song Ye Vagabonds - The Foggy Dew Zsela - Noise

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moonsandmelodies · 5 years ago

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A Gothic Top 5

As The Banshees were my biggest gateway into my music obsession, I’ve had a fascination for gothic themes for many years now. As picky as I get with the goth rock/darkwave scenes, they generated and influenced several of my all-time favorite albums. To coincide with this Halloween, I’ve decided to look back on five of my most formative gothic, autumnal and/or 'spooky' favorites.

This is more about representing than building an exact top-5, so check out this related list and my Halloween mixes if you want more.

Lene Lovich - Shadows And Dust, 2005

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Lene Lovich is new wave’s wacky witch of the west. Anyone familiar with her distinctive polka-dotted voice will know this already. Shadows And Dust is the lesser-known piece to the puzzle. Despite coming fifteen years after March, Lene sounds more witchy than ever. She tributes the Wicked One herself with all the right gleeful camp on track 9.

Mixing non-forced cabaret drama with speculative themes, SAD is a goth-pop wonderland. SAD plays like a natural step from where she left off, unfazed by time. It never lacks a new trick to show off, be it wispy synth bells (“Ghost Story”), viking-like backing vocals, a grim synth-string intro (“Remember”) or an elaborate Dracula narrative (“Insect Eater”). To top this off, every song has a bouncy hook to get you nodding along. Altogether, it brings me back to Siouxsie's Peepshow. With a bold sing-along and mutant arrangement, “Shapeshifter” makes a worthy “Peek-A-Boo” sequel. And this is coming from a fanatic!

Lene sings like she's stirring a cauldron. Her voice wears a bit on louder sections, but I love her enthusiasm. Her wild-but-warm spirit hasn’t faded a bit, and her deeper, richer tone matches her themes. The sheer thrill she takes in voicing Reinfield on "Insect Eater" is nearly contagious. Sweeter moments like "Remember" show her knack for tender romance isn't gone either.

Even beyond her ‘prime’, Lene had so much more to offer than “Lucky Number”. SAD is a major reason why; the limited release has me wishing more fans got to hear it.

Grimes - Halfaxa, 2010

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In a Simpler Time (tm) before dating billionaires and romanticizing climate change with anime, Claire Boucher packed fresh creative instincts into a computer. On oft-ridiculed Halfaxa, she channeled cathedrals and haunted medieval heirlooms from what many critics dismiss as the lowest dregs in music-making: Garageband. Albums like this tell me they're wrong.

These technical limits and her isolation at the time informed these songs to unique results. Like many albums in this formative time for bedroom e-music, she’s alone with her thoughts here. Like any creative mind, I can lose myself in these thoughts. Naturally, the songs create unique emotional portraits, both vague and pointed. “Devon”, for one, is a raw, rejected love song all the way, but with other highlights like ”Dream Fortress”, I detect so many different feelings at once. It's sad nostalgia for that once-beautiful abandoned heirloom one minute and ghostly horror the next.

Halfaxa is a mind, a universe and a huge antique house. It thrives in surrealism and history’s shadows, but as other reviews stated before, you find human feelings inside. Her devotion to Mariah Carey helped; she stated Halfaxa was her attempt to capture the spacious, haunting effects of group church singing. I know well these vocals can be a bit much with the echoes and caterwauls everywhere, but I would argue the cowgirl-punk approach on Art Angels has it’s own acquired taste.

Halfaxa is ethereal wave’s digital-age niece; any fan should try it.

Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out, 1982

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Bauhaus’ messiness was the main reason I was a ‘casual fan’ rather than worshipper. With that said, Sky’s Gone Out struck me as a thrilling mess if anything. Beyond “Exquisite Corpse”, the songs don’t lose their footing in shouty jam-outs. They had more ambitious ideas and the experience to pull them off by now. They were maturing from the faux-edgy rambling that filled their debut.

Sky’s Gone Out stands out further as the one Bauhaus album where they could pull a true ‘scare’ on me. For all the hammy drama leftover from Mask, this album allows itself to build a stronger atmosphere, one that belongs in bizarre nightmares out of an arthouse film. Sky’s Gone Out has it’s own black-and-white, surrealist world like the cover art.

Complete with piano and sax from a haunted house, “Spirit” isn’t punk as much as a wild, dancing chorus of ghosts. The "Three Shadows” trio is a journey in itself, going from quiet goth-tar disturbance to an underworld's fairground waltz.

Despite everything, the album ends on a quiet, solemn note with “All We Ever Wanted”. It’s the gentlest song to the Bauhaus name. >Peter’s fittingly spectral highs toward the end whirled around my head for years. Fun as songs like “Spirit” and “Bela Lugosi” get, it makes me wish Peter Murphy showed this vulnerable side more often.

Cocteau Twins - Head Over Heels, 1983

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Head Over Heels takes place in the mountains and towering caves of your mind. As the first ’normal’ Cocteau album, this invented ethereal wave as we know it and pioneered the 4AD sound. I’d argue shoegaze’s whole color-wash approach began around here too.

HOH is a thrilling display for Cocteau's leftover goth roots in the more elemental context that would become their trademark. Liz Fraser’s voice settles a bit, sounding freer than ever as she belts, quivers and hums with equal strength. Her usual non-lyrics add to the enigma but her tone posesses incredible warmth and nobility here. The boldness in her delivery is surprising knowing her famous self-deprecation.

The spacious fuzz-guitar draws curiosity but insists to lurk in shadows. It’s a long, long gaze into said caves, where water drips quietly and huge sun rays peer inside. This is the moody, bewitching edge of nature in it’s full glory. It can be “Sugar Hiccup”’s candyland dream sequence or an intimidating divine beast emerging from it’s lair. What never fails to cast a spell on me is “Tinderbox Of A Heart”, a tie with “Fifty Fifty Clown” for my favorite CT song. it works like a travelogue for HOH’s world, where this mountain-cave turns out huge from the outside and all you can do is glare in awe.

Siouxsie And The Banshees - Peepshow, 1988

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As the 33 1/3 book stresses, Peepshow emphasized SATB's art-film interests. At this point, they were more a 'goth pop' group. Far from Juju's raw impact, then, but resuming the moody elegance that graced Dreamhouse and Tinderbox. For each goth-tar you have ”Carousel”’s haunted circus organ, "Rhapsody"s chilly strings and "Peek-A-Boo"'s reversed tango.

Martin McCarrick is the one who took the Banshees (further) beyond rock. Adding cello, accordion and other new flavors, he's one of their most unique members. The result is the band's last goth album, being a few years before "Kiss Them For Me". As if predicting this change, they went all-out with it. Peepshow has all the thrill, variety and surrealism to remind you why this band was so vital to the goth scene. Q gave this apt summary: 'Peepshow takes place in some distorted fairground of the mind where weird and wonderful shapes loom’. In a parallel to Goldfrapp's debut made in a cottage, they recorded these songs in a 17th century mansion. It's the kind of album that puts modern dark cabaret and Hot Topic rock to shame.

Siouxsie sounds like the suave and secretive ringleader in a freakshow. Songs like “Scarecrow” and “Rhapsody” showcase her refining flair for drama. As a whole, Peepshow finds this band at a special middle ground. Yet to hit the Top 40 with “Kiss Them For Me” but on their way, with their middle era's adventurous spirits intact.

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purkkaklubi-blog · 6 years ago

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Shoegaze

a Bit background to one of the most underappreciated genres of the 90s, how the revival of the scene has brought a whole new generation of youth to redefine the genre and what impact the woozy, spinning, swirling, distorted guitar sounds has on me.

I heard about shoegazing first time in 2015. I was listening to quite a lot of Sonic Youth at the time which I guess was the reason on how I found My Bloody Valentine through Spotify algorithm. First thoughts were okay this is nice but doesn’t really evoke any special feelings in me. I just thought it was less poppy and more ’indie’ spin on the 90s alternative rock and grunge scene. Surely now I know I will always go through a small fact and background check on artists, genres, labels and albums before I make any further assumptions on how artistically remarkable something is. Back then I was a bit ignorant on popular-cultures music history. I knew the basics, Elvis and The Beatles, how white men made Disco cool for the white audience, Punk Rock scene breaking out in UK and across the sea beginning of the Rap and DJ scene, synth sounds in your every favorite 80’s aerobic videos, Kurt Cobain’s sudden death shaking the whole rock world, shiny pop stars rising and falling.

I thought back then that good music is good music. Music being boxed into a certain genre didn’t bring any new artistic meaning into it and putting on labels was only limiting and blurring our minds from the actual sounds. Now it seems like the only way I know how to wrap my head around new music is to put labels on them. Maybe i’m not a free soul anymore finding only pleasures in sounds that elaborate with my every unspoken thought and emotion in the comfort of my own bedroom and in the warmness of my bed. Maybe i’ve become and seem to some of you like a boring music square who is ready to start battling you with my non-existing musical knowledge while being blissfully drunk at the que outside the entrance of a club. Maybe I’m overthinking and actually me taking interests in the backgrounds of different music scenes show that i’m passionate and appreciative towards this beautiful art form that has been given to us. In this world where I can’t see sense and find reason behind anything I find it calming that I can analyze and make clear distinctions between different musical styles. That sounds more like this and this sounds more like that. i’m not an absolutist but obviously through history people have always tried to find answers to their questions. We feel anxiety and nervousness when we’re on a mind puzzle we cannot solve. It being possible that music can be pinned down and defined brings me tranquility.

Well, Shoegaze is a bit different for me. I can’t completely pin down what it is cause it feels and sounds that it has gotten influence from so many genres and the origins of where it all began is very blurry.

Shoegaze began to rise somewhere middle of the 80s. In my last post I mentioned about this Scottish ethereal gothic band called Cocteau Twins. Robin Guthrie the guitarist of this certain band began to use the effect pedals in his guitar work. Back in the day he stated that the idea of using pedals came from the lack of sound and texture in electric guitars but later on admitted that it was actually the lack of his own technical skills that made him start to use the effect pedals. Whatever the reason behind it was I’m grateful that he began to use them. Pedals enabled the possibility to create guitar sounds that were atmospheric and otherworldly. Using effects like delay, reverb, distortion, fuzz etc created these layered textures called wall of sounds that combined many genres at the same time. Noise, Drone, Psychedelic, Progressive, Lo-fi even Ambient. Maybe that’s why I’m so fascinated about it. It’s one specific genre but same time you also hear the inspiration coming from the 60s psychedelic bands, Gothic Rock, Noise Rock etc. You get lost because you think it’s a genre on its own balance but then you start to put the pieces together and find out that it has combined all these things together to make it as one. Then again you know it has its own definite style and not just any kind of music made with pedals can be defined as Shoegaze. You need that woozy, head spinning, swirling guitar that takes you on a musical trip. I feel like shoegazers are the ultimate music fans and their process of making something new was looking back at the bands and the music that they loved.

But besides Cocteau Twins or Jesus and the Mary Chain and their noise pop sound it was the defining moment of 1988 debut album Isn’t Anything by My Bloody Valentine and the single You Made Me Realise that a genre was born. From My Bloody Valentine bands like Slowdive, Ride, Chapterhouse, Swervedriver etc got inspiration for their work that on.

So, why is it called Shoegaze? The term was invented by music media, actually specifically by one NME journalist who referred the artists as shoegazers because of their way of performing on stage. They lacked of presence and connection with the audience due the heavy use of guitar effect pedals which led them to stare at their feet all the time so they could switch their pedals right. Often times they were kind of like step dancing through the sets because of the amount of effect shifting. Shoegazer was a slur word in that time and was only used in an offensive way. There wasn't really a lot of appreciation and understanding shown towards the scene. Grunge and Brit pop scenes were hitting hard on that time and music media was praising enormously acts like Nirvana and Oasis. Anything that was considered Shoegaze or related to it was doomed to get bad reviews when it was released. In the end supporters and gigs got smaller and smaller and labels like Creation had to let their Shoegaze artists go.

The history with how Shoegaze was perceived saddens me. To me the music sounds and feels that it was a way ahead of it’s time. Electronica and the so called ’indie pop’ music we have now wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for Shoegaze. Music medias harshness made it hard to be taken seriously and made the scene look like wimpy angsty teens mocking rock music with their amateurish noise playing. Luckily the change of that has come.

Through the whole 00s Shoegaze and Dream pop stayed as an underground scene but in 2010s it began to come back on surface. In 2013 My Bloody Valentine released their 3rd album called MBV, 20 years later when Loveless the 2nd album was released. I think the most significant moment of how Shoegaze is being known again pin points to the digital era we’re living now and social media. Internet and the possibility to access information nowadays is easier and travels faster. You don’t have to go into a record store anymore and spend 8 hours of searching and listening to different albums you have probably picked because of the cover or the name of the artist or band or on what ever genre section it’s in. There is of course nice and authentic feeling into it but all i’m saying is that it takes time and what we have now you can be minutes away from your favorite music. Problem in the 90s was that they didn't have enough promotion and a proper platform to be shown on. Now people can make more decisions based on their own mind and not on what the industry and critics are promoting us. Of course you have to be willing to go searching different informative platforms because the music is not handed to you. Music that is handed has the most radio playing and pop on your recommended page on Youtube, Spotify etc. That music has the most skilled promotion and advertising which means the industry is placing more of their finances in them. It’s strictly business. On Spotify I’m not talking about the recommended artist page which can appear if I listen to a certain artist. That’s based on the algorithm of what other listeners who listen to that specific artist also listen to. I’m talking about the browse page where the first playlists you see are probably something like ”Hits right now!” or ”Top 50 Viral” which are promoted playlists including promoted artists.

Thanks to the internet as a platform Shoegaze has started spreading again without the help of the industry and critique reviews. New bands have come who are inspired of Shoegaze and are making music influenced by that genre. The musical form of the 90s movement has moved on to being Nu-gaze. Nu-gaze is a term to describe a new wave form of Shoegaze. New bands like Wild Nothing and Deerhunter are infusing the old characteristics with other genres and new producing techniques. Also the original form of the genre is very tied to the period it existed in and is a 90s youth scene more than an actual genre so there’s a reason it’s impossible to be a traditionalist in that sense.

Things are looking up. Literally. Because the media can’t crush these new up-comers with their name-calling or ridiculous criticism of being the ”scene that celebrates itself”.

They’re not consistently gazing at their shoes, they’re gazing at something new.

I’ve made a list of 4 essential albums which includes the so called Holy Trinity of Shoegaze. Imagine of having this family tree where these three bands are the founders and when you go up, the branches are separating into other sections of noisier -, dreamier - and ’indie rockier’ Shoegaze. Then there’s a 6 album list recommended by me which contains traditional Shoegaze and Nu-Gaze. The 4 essentials are a must-know if you want to engage with this scene and understand the stylistic features of the music.

4 essential albums

1. Jesus and the Mary Chain - Psychocandy

Psychocandy isn’t actually a Shoegaze album more like Noise Pop and avantgardist Proto-Punk but I listed it here as an essential because of the impact this album did have on this genre that was about to come. The guitar lead blurred by noisiness in the whole album was one of the main

inspirations for Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine. Distorted Guitar leads are defining sound of Shoegaze and this album gives a wide spectrum of static sounds like the pixel rain in your old tv.

This 1985 debut album by band lead by two brothers Jim and William Reid is a wonder work of teenage I don’t give a fuck how I play, I just play. They didn’t care about the looks and actually about anything. Their style of playing and making music was messy, sloppy and lazy as they wanted it to be, it showed the rebelliousness they had against falling into the same patterns and roles as other musicians, not wanting to be molded as the rockstars with all the booze and women (even though they did get heavily drunk while performing). It doesn’t really contain the real social statements of punk rock but still has that familiar adolescent rebellion. Psychocandy found inspiration from 60s girl groups and was filled with easy poppy 3-chord progressions which were masterfully hid with all the noise.

Favorite tracks: Just Like Honey, Taste of Cindy, My Little Underground, Never Understand

2. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (Holy Trinity, part of the noisy side)

The 2nd studio album they released in 1991 after the Shoegaze pioneering album Isn’t Anything, My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless makes you think of the bright vibrant intensive colors and hues burning out, melting and mixing together. It has a tense feeling of abstraction. it’s expressed in a way of mind you can’t express it, not with words at least. Kevin Shields work seems to come from some what sub-conscious mind that is trying to tell you emotions he has. Not with words but with sounds. The whole album is strongly based only on guitar leads and in the engineering of them. Which is probably why Kevin was obsessed with getting the effects and mixing into perfection. In one of Kevin’s interviews he stated that the problem was in the recording sessions, it was nearly impossible the get even the smallest frequencies heard. This album approximately cost 250 000 pounds, it took 2 years to record and the band visited 9 studios in total. After it’s release Creation Records went bankrupt and there has been a bit pointing fingers between both parties on who’s to blame for the downfall. What ever side your on Loveless is a well-deserved masterpiece and all the trouble that went along with it had a meaning into it. I’ll always imagine though if hypothetically financial problems wouldn’t be the issue would’ve there been even more different sound layers and textures? Would’ve it taken even more time to be released? 2 years or maybe even 5? Well we can tell that MBV the 3rd album took 20 years to be released so maybe we can count from that.

Favorite tracks: Only Shallow, When you Sleep, Sometimes

3. Slowdive - Souvlaki (Holy Trinity, part of the dreamy side)

Souvlaki is personally my favorite Shoegaze album. Brian Eno the godfather of ambient worked on three songs here and you can hear the ambient touch he gave into it. This 1993 released 2nd studio album by Slowdive is beautifully made timeless classic that stands out with it’s capability to unite heart-breaking melancholy with the optimistic hopefulness of the future. This kind of music can only come out from a teenagers or young adults mind. It brings that authenticity of emotionality that carries through the younger years when you haven’t build a thick skin yet. The way how the dreamy and hazy sounds and vocals have been tied together with Neil Halstead’s sensitive song-writing builds up into this climax of a cry baby music, in a good way. Souvlaki is a breakup album between the two band members Rachel Goswell, the guitarist and vocalist and Neil Halstead, the second guitarist, vocalist, producer and song-writer. It’s like reading their open diary posts. Their love of writing, playing and producing music was bigger than the personal issues they had so they decided to push them aside and stay professional. All that was kept unsaid transformed into poetic song-writing. Both of them showed truly artistic behavior while noticing the circumstances they were working on. Unfortunately media hated it and called it a soulless and outdated piece of work. After the 3rd album Pygmalion they were signed off and left to pay the rest of the US tour on its halfway. At least they’re getting now the credit they deserved and are back on touring. 2017 they released a new Self-titled comeback album Slowdive which is highly recommendable also.

Favorite tracks: Alison, Machine Gun, When the Sun Hits, Dagger (I could pick them all though)

4. Ride - Nowhere (Holy Trinity, part of the 90s more typical alternative side)

Ride’s 1990 released debut album is a dynamic work of guitar distortion that creates a crashing wall of sound. Like the waves moving upwards and downwards while growing into spirally holes which speed up and eventually shatter when they hit the seashore. And in that same scenery the sounds of the rumbling wind that pierce your eardrums. That is the main feeling that Nowhere contains. It’s an album focused on high energy. It has more melodic and rhythmic patterning and simple song-crafting compared to the other Shoegaze essentials. Ride was signed to Creation Records in 1989 when Alan McGee found interest in them after one of their demos Jesus and Mary Chain’s Jim Reid had a hold on. They were the few Shoegazing bands that had the opportunity of experiencing commercial success and Nowhere hit 11. place in the UK charts. Andy Bell and Mark Gardener had artistic differences between what style direction the band should move on. Their childish arguments and battling with it eventually broke the band in 1996 and the members Bell, Gardener, Laurence Colbert and Steve Queralt moved on to different projects. Bell for example became the bassist of the Brit-Pop band Oasis. In 2015 they reunited on touring and released a new Album Weather Diaries in 2017. Like many other Shoegaze bands Ride wasn’t and still isn’t a fan of being categorized as a Shoegaze band stating that it’s a boring tag. They still have a place on being one of the most influencing and essential bands in shoegazing history.

Favorite tracks: In a Different Place, Vapour trail, Dreams Burn Down

6 albums i recommend:

1. Asobi Seksu - Citrus (Nu-Gaze)

This 2nd studio album released 2006 by the Brooklyn based band is lyrically a smooth mix of english and Japanese language together with poppy candy-colored tunes flourished with happiness. Citrus is a refreshing take on Shoegaze. Yuki Chikudate’s adorably pitched and pretty vocals are a candy topping on a pile of upbeat guitar leads that are washed out with loads of effects and drums which are equally noticeable. In total it’s a catchy album with some jingly-jangle Nu-Gaze pop-tunes.

Favorite Tracks: Red Seas, Exotic Animal Paradise, Thursday

2. Loveliescrushing - Bloweyelashwish (Shoegaze)

Recorded with a simple four-track recorder, 1993 released debut album Bloweyelashwish by Loveliescrushing is an innovative work of otherworldly and precisely structured fuzzy sounds with some interesting choices of additional instruments. Often mistaken of using keyboards Scott Cortes the guitarist and second vocalist used forks, knives, vibrators, paint scrapers and so on to find new creative ways to make his guitar work even more stretched out. His extremely reverbed and lushed guitar leads, thanks to the technical additions, builds up a gothic atmosphere into the sound landscape. The noisy sounds are hectic, evolving and moving towards to this chaotic drone that feels like it’s eating up all the space and becoming a massive blackhole of squeaky static sounds that create a sonic boom. Paired up with softly haunting and beautifully ethereal vocals of Melissa Arpin the duo has made an impressive first album that’s an escape to other world where soothing hypnotizing sounds are waves where you can float on and sink into the bottom of deep ambience.

Favorite Tracks: Moinaexquisitewallflower, Sugaredglowing, Crushing, Darkglassdolleyes

3. Pinkshinyultrablast - Everything Else Matters (Nu-Gaze)

St. Petersburg based band called Pinkshinyultrablast which is named after one of Astrobrite’s albums is a band thats inspiration runs deep in the waters of Shoegaze. 2013 released debut album Everything Else Matters is a strong mix of electronica with extremely delayed vocals of the singer Lyubov Soloveva that bounces between the walls until the ever-growing guitar lead comes in-front of it all with adrenaline pumped kiddy sort of energy. Playful melody and thunderous pop styling of the album makes it one of the many Nu-gaze albums that give a solid ground to it’s genre.

Favorite tracks: Wish We Were, Holy Forest, Umi

4. Medicine - Shot Forth Self Living (Shoegaze)

The noise bottom of shoegazing, Shot Forth Self Living the 1992 debut album by American band Medicine is definitely not suitable for everyone but which has such an intensive and massive static explosion that it has to be noted. The screeching textures of guitar feedback seem to claw their way through your skin until it’s scratched into burning and flaming red rash caused by the noise extremeness. Medicine was the first American band that got a record deal from the British independent label Creation Records. It has been praised of being one of the closest american acts to My Bloody Valentine but I like to think that they brought their own unique touch to the noisy shoegazing scene and weren’t just a follow-ups. They dig deeper into the distorted, fuzzed almost intolerable noise sounds. I shall warn you: do not listen to this album with maximum level of volume. Especially with headphones, i’m pretty sure your hearing would get a bit damaged.

Favorite Tracks: Love You Anywhere, To Your Friends, The Powder

5. Lilys - In the Presence of Nothing (Shoegaze)

Lilys is an interesting band considering the stylistic changes it has gone through the years. First album starting of with the My Bloody Valentine inspired Shoegaze where it took its next direction to another spaces of dream pop, then sudden not-expected obscure change to Mod Revival and the latest releases go back to the bands early roots of more psychedelic rock and shoegazing style. Also it consists only one permanent band member Kurt Heasley and ever-changing visiting members. 1992 first studio album In the Presence of Nothing is characteristically clear Shoegaze album. It has that up-front woozy and distorted guitar with vocals hid underneath that are the main basic shoegazing style My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless defined. It might be a wave rider but it has that alternative rock’s charm that stands on it’s own.

Favorite Tracks: There Is No Such Things As Black Orchids, Elizabeth Colour Wheel, Tone Bender

6. M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts (Nu-Gaze)

Unlike the other Nu-gaze or Shoegaze picks I’ve selected in here 2003 released 2nd studio album Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts by M83 focuses on heavy robotic synthesizer sounds instead of more organic and analogically produced guitar effects. French Electronic Group assembled together by producers Anthony Gonzales, Nicolas Fromageau, Nicolas Barlet and Morgan Daguenet have concentrated producing more of instrumental tracks than ones backed up with vocals. The small amount of vocals this album has are filtered with effects that create an artificial human sound. Signature move of creating heavily breath-taking and majestic chord-progressions which overflow into softly tuned harmonic static until peacefully vanishing away Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts is a standout piece of electronic noise producing. Last song of the album Beauties Can Die floats gently into this complete silence near middle of the song and rises back up from the dark void with evolving synth strings. Something that I haven’t heard more in music producing. Don’t know if it’s just the cheap quality of my speakers that can’t capture all the frequencies of the sound waves or is it just meant to be that way, it brings a fascinating structure to the song anyways.

Favorite Tracks: Run Into Flowers, Be Wild, On a White Lake Near a Green Mountain

Last Words:

In this album listing I tried to focus on recommending albums where you can clearly hear the layered guitars. Especially with the Nu-gaze picks where you can tell it’s definitely influenced by shoegazing. This time there was more experimental albums than albums that could reach a pop success. The focus mainly still was on guitar textures and producing. There’s a bit mixed opinions between what is and what can not be considered Shoegaze. I switched up the albums back and forth from the list cause I wasn’t satisfied with the guitar textures and felt like they were too distant from shoegazing after all which is the reason this post took time to come out. Also back a while ago I found this Tumblr post that was a take on one of Kevin Shields interviews where there is revealed that the actual inspiration for shoegazing was drawn from the american grunge scene. I tried to search how legit it was but couldn’t find a source proper enough in my opinion so I decided to stick with the story that media and all the music enthusiasts support. Went through podcasts, interviews with the artists and old concert footage to find more information. I’m obviously not a skillful writer but I focus on giving accurate information and I hope I managed to get to the bottom of this genre in the most simplest way.

Rey

#shoegaze #noise-pop #dream-pop #neo-psychedelia #psychedelic-rock #drone #ambient #nu-gaze #alternative-rock #jesusandthemarychain #mybloodyvalentine #slowdive #ride #asobiseksu #loveliescrushing #pinkshinyultrablast #medicine #lilys #m83

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stue1967 · 8 years ago

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So me and Rough Trade are back together again after a break. It wasn’t anything serious. They had relaunched their website and it coincided with my credit card lapsing and it all fell into abeyance. I thought I would cold turkey for a while to see if I would miss the Album of the Month service.

The answer was I did a little. The service gives you a physical copy of one album selected by the store and then recommendations of another nine. These can obviously be streamed if you subscribe to such a service. The beauty of it is that you can generally find something worth listening to within these ten selections.

I had found that I was listening to less new music in the period between my last album, Angel Olsen’s “My Woman” in September of last year. Rather coincidentally, the same album has grown on me hugely in the period to become one of my favourites of the year. I’ve been mostly focussed on ECM jazz and classical, which is perfect for the winter months and R’n’B, with Solange’s album “Seat At The Table” getting many plays.

With spring coming, this felt like the right time to reconnect with the Rough Trade Album Club. The relaunch of the club felt like a good opportunity, promising a greater number of member benefits beyond the regular coloured vinyl with exclusive events. Let’s see how it goes.

First up is Holly Macve’s “Golden Eagle”.

This is Macve’s debut LP on ex-Cocteau Twin Simon Raymonde’s Bella Union label. Raymonde is a good judge of talent. I remember fondly one particular evening at the Royal Festival Hall watching Stephanie Dosen, The Kissaway Trail and Midlake celebrating the album’s tenth anniversary. Raymonde spotted Macve at an open mic evening at the Bee’s Mouth in Brighton and signed her up. Originally from Galway, raised in Yorkshire, the LP was produced by Lantern On The Lake’s Paul Gregory in Newcastle. In the meantime, she’s supported personal favourite John Grant and Ryley Walker.

It is a spare record and one can hear the Lanterns influence. Most tracks feature a multi tracked version of Holly’s voice, piano and/or acoustic guitar and that is mostly it aside from a few embellishments such as the odd slide and tremolo guitar on “The Corner Of My Mind”.

Holly’s voice is front and centre along with her rootsy and country influenced songs. It is quite an instrument, blessed with a Hank Williams style falsetto yodel. If I had a criticism, it is that she overuses that yodel and it drifts into affectation occasionally. Some may love it though, although I found it a little wearing and too a slight degree, detracts from the high quality of the songs. “Heartbreak Blues” and “No-one Has The Answers” step the pace up a little but generally this is a slow and easy type of album. “Shell” has a touch of Ladies Of The Canyon era Joni.

The title track is dedicated to Holly’s grandfather, a composer who helped her learn the piano and started her musical education. She started singing around the house before she could talk properly and obviously the musical talent is in her bones. It is a very accomplished debut, stylistically self assured. It closes the album with a stately piano ballad and a choir of multiple Hollys.

It reminds me of Alela Diane, a personal favourite from the late noughties. Hear’s Alela’s early song “Pirate’s Gospel”, a folk sea shanty. Alela has a similar voice but doesn’t go in for the falsetto stuff.

I’ve been listening to the LP a great deal and get a little more from it each time which bodes well. It is available from Rough Trade on red vinyl with a bonus CD of covers, the highlight of which is a gorgeous cover of the Everly Brother’s “All I Have To Do Is Dream” and a decent crack at Ryan Adam’s “Call Me On Your Way Back Home” from my old favourite “Heartbreaker“.

Holly has done a Rough Trade podcast in the shoplifting series, where she picks her interesting records in store. Her selections certainly showed her influences quite clearly and a couple of the songs are stone cold classics IMHO:

Gillian Welch – “Revelator” (from “Time (The Revelator)”(2001)) – 0ne of my very favourite records too

Meilyr Jones – “Refugee” (from “2013” (2013)) – gentle piano track from a Welsh singer songwriter

Angel Olsen – “Lights Out” (from “Burn Your Fire For No Witness”(2014)) – as noted above, I’ve developed a bit of a fondness for Angel’s music over the last few months

Ryan Adams – “Bartering Lines” (from “Heartbreaker” (2000)) – she’s a big fan of “Heartbreaker”, which of course is fine by me!

Mazzy Star – “Fade Into You” (from “So Tonight I May See” (1993)) – another great song but from their second LP, not the first as the podcast states

The songs are all from the classic singer songwriter repertoire, albeit rather recent examples. Holly obviously has a good ear.

I can imagine Holly working well on the summer festival circuit in the acoustic arenas. One to watch.

Back with @RoughTrade with @hollymacve and her debut LP. It's the #albumofthemonth So me and Rough Trade are back together again after a break. It wasn't anything serious. They had relaunched their website and it coincided with my credit card lapsing and it all fell into abeyance.

#Alela Diane #Angel Olsen #Gillian Welch #Holly Macve #Mazzy Star #Rough Trade #Ryan Adams

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savetopnow · 7 years ago

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2018-03-31 13 MUSIC now

MUSIC

Brooklyn Vegan

Albert Hammond Jr played Brooklyn Steel, brought out Hinds (pics, setlist)

Drive-By Truckers & Erika Wennerstrom @ Brooklyn Bowl (night 1 pics, review)

tours announced: The Garden, Nicki Bluhm, Follakzoid, Dave Hause & more

James Murphy & Soulwax began 3-night Despacio party residency (review/playlist)

Big Thief debut new songs in great live video; Buck Meek shares new song too

Consquence of Sound

Identity of the Beyoncé biter has been revealed

Album Review: Royce da 5’9” and DJ Premier Embrace the Next Generation on PRhyme 2

Bill & Ted sequel is closer than ever: “Hopefully within the next month, we’ll have news”

Cameron Diaz says she has officially retired from acting

The Roseanne revival has already been renewed for a second season

Fact Magazine

Carl Craig and more feature in Plastic Dreams, a book documenting the ’90s Paris club scene

Relaxer unveils debut album A Family Disease, releases 22-minute track

Watch a beautiful documentary about Ryuichi Sakamoto’s tsunami-damaged piano

Tom Misch – Against The Clock

Soho Rezanejad is the daring Dane blending darkwave drones and intense philosophy

Fluxblog

Shower Me In Symphonies

Fifth-Dimensional Views

Late Night Games

The Middle Of A Cold Premonition

The Moon Right Behind Me

Idolator

Miley Cyrus Is A Sexy Easter Bunny In ‘Vogue:’ 15 Pics

The Drop: Your Guide To New Music Friday Featuring Tove Lo & The Palms

Tinashe Hits The Courts In Her Vibrant “Me So Bad” Video

Lady Gaga Pays Tribute To Elton John With Her Rousing “Your Song” Cover

Cardi B Warns A Straying Lover To “Be Careful” On Her New Mid-Tempo

Listen to This

Captain Beyond - Captain Beyond [classic rock] 1972

shotty - Don't Care Anymore [Rock/Indie] (2018)

Star Slinger - Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins Rework) [chillwave/dream pop] (2010)

Circus-P - Breathe (With DEX) [Vocaloid/electronic] (2017)

Oh He Dead -- Blood in the Water [indie/rock] [2018]

Popjustice

New Music Good Friday: Post Precious! Dragonette! CHVRCHES!

NONONO’s new one is v excellent and here’s the video

New Music Friday: all hail Let’s Eat Grandma’s miniature pop symphony

Paloma Faith’s branded content is better than your branded content

Saluting the artwork for PRETTYMUCH’s Healthy

Reddit Music

Opinions on Big Proof?

RZA Tried To Buy Back Rare Wu-Tang Album From Martin Shkreli

Weird Al Yankovic covers Billy Idol's Rebel Yell

BROCKHAMPTON signs with RCA Records

Rick Rubin's extraordinary discography. I guarantee that you like 3 albums he's worked on.

Rolling Stone

Watch Neil Young Revisit 'Peace Trail' for New 'Paradox' Video

Watch SZA's Summer Camp-Set 'Broken Clocks' Video

Watch 'Weird Al' Yankovic Scream Through Billy Idol's 'Rebel Yell'

Florence and the Machine, Janet Jackson to Headline 2018 FYF Festival

Review: Kacey Musgraves, Ashley McBryde and Nashville's Powerful Woman-Led Renaissance

Slipped Disc

Sicklist: Murray Perahia cancels US spring tour

Can I still play the old Curtis way?

Breaking: Dude goes to Uni

A Furtwängler returns to the Berlin Philharmonie

Death of an old-school Russian violinist, 80

Spotify Blog

The Weeknd Drops Two New Music Videos Only on Spotify

Taylor Swift’s New Delicate Video Only on Spotify

Spotify Expands Secret Genius With the Launch of Studios

Spotify and Genius Team Up to Launch Déjà Vu Podcast, Hosted by Stereo Williams

Spotify Celebrates Black History Year-Round with Launch of Black History Is Happening Now

We Are the Music Makers

Is SoundCloud any worthy?

Producers, when you just got some dope mixing knowledge that improve your tracks, do you go to your old beats and revise evrything with new knowledge or you move on ?

Help, Amuse.io release date missed

my song was placed in a Spotify curated playlist, now what?

First world problem: I have so many different instruments and I don’t have enough practice time for all of them

#music

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sweetdreamsjeff · 11 months ago

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Jeff Buckley in the U.K.

JEFF BUCKLEY loved British music; the nervous energy in British punk, the wired consciousness of the Clash, the way Siouxsie and the Banshees went from gun-metal moodiness to skies full of fireworks.

Abbo was accompanying Jeff on this run.

Presenter: "You looked quite exhausted at the end of the song."

Jeff: "I was getting a lot of anger out. Something happened on the way here..."

"The phones didn't stop throughout the next song. The station manager said that in all his twelve years at the station, he'd never seen a reaction like it."

"What flowers would you like?"

"White roses," he said.

"I'll get them," I said, and went back up to the street, where the line had grown even longer.

I walked around looking for a florist and bumped into Emma. "I've booked Andy's Forge," she said. "It's a little place just around the corner in Denmark Street. He can go on at 10:30."

"Never!" he said. And we laughed liked idiots at the wonderful absurdity of hanging out with Jeff.

Jim Irvin, 'From Hallelujah to the Last Goodbye' (Post Hill), May 2018

Excerpted from Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah to the Last Goodbye by Jeff's former manager Dave Lory and former MOJO man Jim Irvin (Post Hill Press).

#jeff buckley #jim irvin #dave lory #from hallelujah to the last goodbye

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sweetdreamsjeff · 3 months ago

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Rock: Jeff Buckley - The Garage, London

Sept. 5, 1994

PUB: The Guardian (London, Englad)

By: ANDREW SMITH

AS Jeff Buckley ambled lugubriously on to the stage, the faces of pretty much everyone in the capacity crowd betrayed the same thought - 'How much he looks like his father!'

Dad was Tim Buckley, who, although never rising above cult status in his lifetime, has, since his death from a drug overdose in 1975, come to assume a mythic status in the annals of pop. His greatest legacy, the achingly beautiful Song To The Siren, which was introduced to a new generation by the Cocteau Twins in 1984 and has been covered by many others since, is widely regarded as one of the finest pop songs every written.

For a young singer and song writer such as Jeff, having to live with the Buckley name must at times seem a terrible burden. The surprise is that he appears able to pull the performing off so comfortably. His debut LP, the aptly titled Grace, is a consummate work, evincing a maturity and poise that Jeff's tender years really give him no right to possess.

In a live setting, though, it is his extraordinary voice that impresses you first. It's reminiscent of Doors singer Jim Morrison in the lower registers, and it rises to the kind of liquid, slightly tremulous, falsetto that made Billie Holiday famous. The truth is that you don't get many of these to the pound. Backed by a traditional bass-drums-guitar lineup, Buckley makes good use of this God-given voice.

Most of the songs are love songs, reflective and melancholic in tone, often rising to impassioned, Piaf-esque climaxes - the kind of thing that generally seems crude in the hands of rock performers. But there is nothing crude about the way Buckley sings. Only once, during the encore, an excessively long, free-form reading of the Big Star classic, Kangaroo, was there any hint of indulgence. Even here, if one stuck with it, there were pearls to be plucked. Anyway you listen to it, Jeff Buckley is an exciting and unexpected find.

#jeff buckley #Rock: Jeff Buckley - The Garage #London #the guardian #September 5 1994 #andrew smith

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yusukesmomjeans · 3 years ago

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I posted 26,966 times in 2021

108 posts created (0%)

26858 posts reblogged (100%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 248.7 posts.

I added 254 tags in 2021

#0 - 31 posts

#q - 36 posts

#reblog - 30 posts

#gin speaks - 30 posts

#txt - 28 posts

#inuyasha - 23 posts

#february - 23 posts

#sally face - 21 posts

#homestuck - 16 posts

#art - 16 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#does anyone know if this would also help with the insane allergies everyone’s been having? i don’t know much about plants so it would be coo

My Top Posts in 2021

tumblr_video

Knock knock. It’s a digger, excavating under the bow.

21 notes • Posted 2021-03-26 22:42:44 GMT

Edalyn Clawthorne is not just a milf but THE milf. Send tweet.

22 notes • Posted 2021-08-29 16:01:24 GMT

Ok, so as a 90s kid, I have some headcanons on the music that Sal and co. listen to:

- Maple thinks liking the Cocteau Twins is a personality trait. She also really likes Gene Loves Jezebel. She has a venomous hate for NIN and complains loudly any time anyone even brings them up.

32 notes • Posted 2021-08-02 17:16:52 GMT

The REAL reason Travis punched Sal is because every time he asks what "Sal" is short for he gets an increasingly ridiculous response. "Salivary gland" was the last straw.

37 notes • Posted 2021-02-08 22:32:54 GMT

@natalieironside @sabertoothwalrus

Sometimes my dash just knows things

109 notes • Posted 2021-08-11 13:31:33 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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fayewonglibrary · 3 years ago

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NetEase Special: Relive 20 years of Faye Wong - The Legend (2009)

In 1969, she fell to earth.

In 1989, an album was released in Hong Kong called "Wang Jingwen".

In 2009, it’s "still the same old phrase": If I stop singing, please forget me.

The more she wants you to forget, the more clearly you remember.

Faye Wong, a Beijing gal, created a legend for twenty years.

Beijing Gal

Faye Wong was born on August 8, 1969 at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. When Faye attended Ditan Primary School, she was known for singing and was also selected for the CCTV Junior Choir Group.

But this "little singer" actually had a turbulent childhood. Since her grandfather served as a member of the legislature during the Cultural Revolution, her father was sent to the May Seventh Cadre School due to his background. Faye Wong had to live with her mother. Before the age of fifteen, she took her mother's surname and her father's name "Lin" and her name was temporarily changed to Xia Lin.

Her mother worked as a soprano singer in the Coal Mining Art Troupe. Due to her busy performance schedule and the absence of her husband, she had to send Faye to her aunt's house in Shanghai for care. After the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976, her father returned to Beijing and Faye Wong’s family was reunited.

15 Year Old Teresa Teng

At the end of the first semester of Faye Wong's first year in high school, a Beijing record company was looking for singers in Beijing's performing arts groups. After an audition, the record company selected Faye. But her mother felt that her child should put her studies first and she was explicitly forbidden to sing. However, her father had a different mindset. At that time, he was handling the formalities for Faye to immigrate to Hong Kong. In his reasoning, he thought that if his daughter could gain a little achievement as a pop singer, there may be more opportunities to go to Hong Kong. With her father's persuasion, her mother reluctantly relented. This resulted in the first album Faye Wong recorded in her life: "Where Does The Wind Come From" and subsequently "Miss Charming".

These albums were made entirely of covers of Teresa Teng's songs. Faye Wong at that time had a youthful voice and imitated well. Due to Teresa Teng's popularity in the mainland, the sales of these bubblegum pop albums were quite impressive but overall, people did not remember the name Faye Wong.

Depart for Hong Kong

In 1987, Faye Wong successfully passed her entry exam for the Biology Department at Xiamen University. But she gave up her studies and immigrated to Hong Kong with her father. When she first arrived in Hong Kong, she worked as a model. But soon, she realized that this was not the life she wanted. What she really wanted to do was sing.

Through an introduction by her father's friend, Faye Wong studied music under Dai Sicong. Dai Sicong introduced her to Chen Xiaobao, the general manager of Cinepoly Records. After one meeting, Chen Xiaobao was very impressed by Faye. He gave her a contract and also changed her stage name to "Wang Jingwen" and gave her an English name - "Shirley Wong".

In November 1989, the album "Wang Jingwen" was released. At that time, Faye Wong concealed her personality under the standard packaging of Hong Kong artists. She sang pure uninspired Cantopop songs. Although this album reached gold record sales and also won her the Bronze Award for "Female Newcomer Artist", behind the scenes were undercurrents of conflict between Faye Wong's personality and Hong Kong's entertainment industry.

Run Away, Come Home

After "Wang Jingwen", Faye Wong's next two albums did not receive much response in the market. In 1991, her newly appointed manager Leslie Chan thought that Faye was out of place in Hong Kong and sold her rights to Taiwan's Rock Records for 2 million Hong Kong dollars. In a fit of anger, Faye left for the United States to study music. She also defiantly tore up the Rock Records contract while she was in the United States. While she drifted away, Faye absorbed more influences from Western music, but her career had fallen on tough times.

During New Year of 1992, Faye Wong called her teacher Dai Sicong to send him New Year's greetings. Dai Sicong persuaded her to come back and negotiate with Cinepoly and helped her return to Hong Kong. That year, Faye met Katie Chan, the manager who would change her life.

With the help of Katie Chan, Faye Wong changed her English name to "Faye Wong" and released the album "Coming Home". With the title song "Fragile Woman" (a cover of Miyuki Nakajima's 'Rouge'), Faye Wong became a household name. That year, she won RTHK’s "Golden Song" Award and she joined the ranks of first-line female singers.

No Regrets

In 1993, Faye Wong and Dou Wei had fallen in love. Dou Wei's influence on Faye was undeniable, both in her music and personality. That year, Faye released the album "No Regrets". Faye Wong's lustrous voice also began to take shape. The Mandarin version of the title song "No Regrets" was written by Faye herself. These lyrics were regarded by fans as a true portrayal of who Faye was. "No Regrets" swept Hong Kong’s 1993 awards at Jade Solid Gold and RTHK for best original song and other awards. Faye also won the "Most Popular Female Singer Gold Award” at Hong Kong Commercial Radio’s award ceremony.

Cold War

Faye Wong, who was deeply in love, soon released the album "One Hundred Thousand Whys". In this album, Faye was no longer willing to be passive. She became more involved in the album production process, including styling, cover concept, etc. "Tempted Heart" was also the first time Faye had composed music. The song "Lau Fei Fei" expressed her eagerness to break free of restraints. The Cantonese cover of "Silent All These Years" by Tori Amos was adapted by Lin Xi and became Faye Wong's classic. The release of this album caused a sensation in the stagnant Hong Kong music industry and also made Faye understand more than ever that if music does not come from the depths of the soul, it will not have long-lasting vitality at all.

Farewell to Wang Jingwen

In June 1994, Faye Wong gave up her stage name "Wang Jingwen" and used “Faye Wong” to release the Cantonese album "Random Thoughts". The subversive nature of this album was displayed on the cover with incomplete Chinese characters and phrases such as: "no image" and "no words".

In this album, she boldly incorporated European elements in songs such as "Dream Person" which was a cover of "Dreams" by the Irish band The Cranberries. "Know Oneself and Each Other" and "Random Thoughts" were covers of the Cocteau Twins, a post-punk band. But at the same time, it also triggered some criticisms about her "copying".

It is also worth mentioning that "Pledge" was a song composed by her and Dou Wei, and Faye wrote the lyrics. The bold lyrics revealed her determination about their relationship with a hint of uncertainty.

Please Myself

In December 1994, with the release of "Please Myself", Faye Wong was responsible for the concept of the album cover. The Hong Kong version of the album is pink with only four small characters "Please Myself" in the center. "Float", composed by Zhang Yadong, was the first collaboration between him and Faye. "Exit" was written by Faye - "I heard that you will have an affair when you are forty years old" - and even predicted the breakdown of her subsequent marriage with Dou Wei.

One side smiles innocently, one side sees through it all

Also in 1994, Faye Wong made her first entry into the Taiwan market. That year, she released the Mandarin albums "Mystery" and "Sky" in Taiwan. As an initial exploration of the Mandarin market, "Mystery" had a rather conservative style, but its title song "I'm Willing" was enormously successful. "Sky" was released in November and did not follow the "Mystery" formula of adapting Cantonese songs into Mandarin. The songs were basically all original creations by local Taiwanese musicians, including "Chesspiece", "Sky", "Angel", and "Reserved". They were all big hits.

These two Mandarin albums were produced by Taiwanese musician Yang Minghuang. It is a pity that he died in a car accident in 1995.

First Concert

At the end of 1994, Faye Wong held the "Most Exciting Concert" at the Hung Hom Coliseum in Hong Kong for 18 consecutive nights. Faye wore sunglasses, long sleeves, danced freely, and jumped randomly. The concert was perceived as perplexing. The atmosphere was definitely subversive in comparison with typical Hong Kong performances at that time. But the audience still went crazy for it. In the corner of the stage, Dou Wei played the drums and flute from time to time. Faye sang "I'm Willing", "Pledge", "Exit", etc. She was firmly seated on the throne of the Heavenly Queen.

Teresa Teng Psyche

Teresa Teng opened the door to Faye Wong's music world and Faye has always had special feelings for her throughout her life. In 1995, coincidentally before Teresa’s death in May, Faye recorded an entire cover album of Teresa’s old songs "The Decadent Sound of Faye". During the recording process, the bad news of Teresa’s death was broken. Faye burst into tears in the recording studio. The album was released in July and the title satirized the original practice of some Mainland Chinese officials who criticized Teresa Teng's songs and condemned her music. All 13 songs were covers of Teresa Teng. Unlike Teresa Teng's gentle and sweet style, Faye's interpretation was more bold and ethereal. After the re-arrangement, "Wishing We Last Forever" has also become one of Faye Wong's own classic songs.

Lost Track

Faye Wong's alternative road was getting more and more clear. In 1995, she released the Cantonese album "Di-Dar". The titles of all the tracks in the album were two-characters [syllables] (such as "Di-Dar"). The lyrics of 9 of the Cantonese songs were written by Lin Xi. Faye Wong composed two songs "Di-Dar" and "Vacation". "Untitled" and "Lost Track" were composed by C.Y. Kong and had a Middle Eastern flavor. "Ambiguous" was a cover Tracy Huang's "Love in the Snow" and it became the most well-known award-winning song from this album. In the MV of "Vacation", Faye Wong is doing nothing in a messy room, revealing a deep sense of desolation and restlessness. On the cover and album booklet, her hairstyle and clothing are set off with a butterfly background, which was very gorgeous. “Di-Dar” is also Faye Wong's last Cantonese album to date.

Fuzao

The Mandarin album "Fuzao" released in 1996 is full of provocative elements. On the cover, Faye Wong does without the heavy makeup of the female artists at the time. She covered her eyes, ears, and mouth to imply the idea of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil".

This was the first time that Zhang Yadong produced a record for Faye Wong. He was responsible for half of the songs. Dou Wei was also responsible for three songs. She had covered the Cocteau Twins in the past and this time she collaborated with them for the first time. They composed two songs for her: "Disappointment" and "Divide". In this album, there is not one single commercial song and the overall atmosphere is cohesive. But for that era, this album deviated too far from the traditional style of the Chinese music industry, resulting in low sales. But its groundbreaking achievement has been praised abroad. Therefore, Faye Wong appeared on the cover of Time magazine. To this day, this album is still highly respected by die-hard Fei fans.

Toy and Help Yourself

In 1997, Cinepoly released two EPs "Toy" and "Help Yourself". The songs included were Faye Wong’s last 10 Cantonese songs recorded for Cinepoly in 1996. Because Faye was pregnant and got married, it was not possible for her to promote. In addition, her contract with Cinepoly expired. The songs were split up and published in two separate EPs to compete with her EMI release. For the cover of “Toy", the photographer went all the way to Beijing to take pictures of Faye. At that time, she had a big belly and a smile on her face. Faye Wong, soon to be a new mother, was overjoyed on the cover. Chan Fai-young showed off his talents for the first time as the composer of "Undercurrents". Later, Anthony Wong also covered this song.

The Beginning of the EMI Era

In 1997, after giving birth to Dou Jingtong, Faye Wong officially signed a contract with EMI for 60 million Hong Kong dollars. Faye requested no more Cantonese albums. In the same year, her first Mandarin album under EMI was released - "Faye Wong".

In this album, Zhang Yadong produced three songs, "You’re Happy (So I'm Happy)", "Bored" and "Nostalgia". Due to the lack of Cantonese songs, along with the album being released during the Asian financial crisis, the sales in Hong Kong were not satisfactory. But it sold more than 500,000 copies in Taiwan. In the same year, Cinepoly released a compilation of Faye’s old songs and the sales even surpassed that of "Faye Wong". Compared with her previous album "Fuzao", the commercial flavor of this record also surprised some music critics.

Sing and Play

At the 1998 Spring Festival Gala, Faye Wong and Na Ying sang "Meet in 1998" and made this song a huge hit. In fall of the same year, Faye released the album "Sing and Play". The overall style was much more lively than her previous album and her vocal style also switched from the previous languid style to using operatic, vibrato, falsetto, and other tones. Faye composed music again and wrote "Emotional Life", "Face", and "Child". "Child" is also the first song that she and Dou Wei dedicated to their daughter.

"Sing and Play" was quite a groundbreaking record. It is the first Chinese pop album recorded using HDCD technology. On the cover, Faye Wong's sunburn makeup style also triggered a wave of imitations.

Scenic Tour

During the Christmas period of the same year, Faye Wong once again held concerts at the Hung Hom Coliseum in Hong Kong. She also began a large-scale tour in Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other cities.

Dou Wei joined the band and Faye Wong on stage. Under the hazy stage effects and lights, Dou Wei was raised up on a platform while playing the drums and caused the audience to cheer again and again. It was similar but also very different from the sight four years prior.

Around the time of her Guangzhou concert, Faye Wong's mother passed away. In this year, tension in Faye and Dou Wei’s relationship gradually increased. The media broke news that the two had quarreled in a hotel. "Scenic Tour" was also the last collaboration between Faye Wong and Dou Wei.

Only Love Strangers

In the song "Exit", Faye Wong once sang: "I heard the world will end in 1999".

1999 arrived and the world did not end. But her marriage with Dou Wei did. In that same year, the release of "Only Love Strangers" caused the media to endlessly speculate on whether this had something to do with "old love is too sad". Although her relationship with Dou Wei broke down, Dou Wei's "brother-in-law" Zhang Yadong was still a regular member of Faye's album production team. Their overall chemistry continued without missing a beat and the opening song "Last Blossom" is one of Faye's breakthroughs. In this song, she used the distortion technique for the first time and conveyed a desperate mentality about the fear of love. She also sang the theme song "Eyes on Me" for the Japanese video game "Final Fantasy VIII" and entered the top ten chart in Japan. She also became the first Chinese singer to hold two consecutive concerts at the Tokyo Budokan.

Fable

In 2000, a new century was beginning but the apocalyptic plot had not yet dissipated. Faye Wong released "Fable" which was a big step for her as a concept album. However, due to the needs of the commercial market, it did not achieve its ultimate goal. The record is divided into two parts. The first five "fables" integrated Faye's compositions, Lin Xi's lyrics of mythology, literature, film and religious ideas, and Zhang Yadong's arrangements. The MVs were also full of a strange and mysterious atmosphere. Although the concept of the first five songs on the album were cohesive and flawless, the last five (and two Cantonese songs) moved closer towards commercialization. As a result, fans were clearly divided into two factions on this album. Some expressed pity - if all 10 songs were in the style of the first five songs, the entire album would have become a classic of pop music.

However, due to the high quality of the songs, "Love Letter to Myself" ("Book of Laughter and Forgetting” in Mandarin) still became hot in KTV to no surprise.

Faye Wong 2001

In 2001, Faye Wong and Nicholas Tse's romance became the focus of media attention. Faye also began to explore the Japanese market with the filming of a Japanese TV drama "Love From A Lie" for Fuji TV. She sang the theme song "Separate Ways".

In that same year, she released her last album under EMI, which had the same name as her first EMI album: "Faye Wong".

This time, Faye tried to collaborate with musicians from all over including Singapore’s Tanya Chua, Taiwan’s Wu Bai and Deep White, the Mainland’s Jin Wulin, and Hong Kong’s Anthony Wong. Nicholas Tse’s "Vertigo" was also written for her. This album can be regarded as Faye's most diverse in genres. After the album was released, the sales were high and she charted in Japan at No. 14 on Oricon. In October and November, Faye once again held concerts in Japan in Osaka and Tokyo.

To Love

In 2002, Faye Wong signed a contract with Sony Music for four albums, and released a new album "To Love" in 2003. In this album, Faye gave up her attempt to work with Hong Kong musicians. She and Zhang Yadong were the primary producers.

She wrote four songs "To Love", "Leave Nothing", "Darling Sunshine", and "April Snow". Zhang Yadong also contributed "Night Makeup" and "Smoke" with a strong electronic style. Faye turned her attention to the Swedish singer Sophie Zelmani with a cover called "Passenger". As with the previous album, this album also included a Nicholas Tse song called "MV".

With the exception of the rock style of "To Love", the arrangement and direction of the overall record transformed from the gorgeous and colorful EMI period to an introverted and lucid style which seemed to indicate that she no longer had intentions of fighting against the music and entertainment industry.

Last Tour

At the end of 2003, Faye Wong held eight consecutive "Faye Extraordinary" concerts at the Hung Hom Coliseum in Hong Kong. From 2004 to 2005, she held concerts in Shanghai, Xi'an, Beijing, Hangzhou, Taipei, Guangzhou and other cities. Although no new albums were released, Faye was more active in movies. She starred in "Chinese Odyssey 2002", "Leaving Me Loving You" and "2046" one after another. She also sang on the soundtrack of "Chinese Odyssey 2002" and the theme songs of "Hero", "I Love You" and the TV drama “Demi Gods and Semi Devils". At the beginning of 2004, Faye Wong and Nicholas Tse's love affair was finally ending, after a period of separation and reunion.

No More Appearances

In 2004, Faye Wong and Li Yapeng's relationship began quietly. Faye remained silent about her relationship status as always. At the end of May 2005, Faye’s manager Katie Chan stated to the media that Faye had begun an "indefinite rest" and Zhang Yadong also revealed to the media that "she had no plans to sing anymore." On May 27, 2006, at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Faye Wong gave birth to her second daughter, Li Yan. In August, Li Yapeng revealed on his blog that his daughter was born with a cleft palate. In order to help more babies, Faye Wong and Li Yapeng established the "Smile Angel Foundation". The well-rested Faye once again wrote a song - "Smiling Angel" and had Lin Xi fill in the lyrics. It was dedicated to her daughter and used as the theme song of the foundation’s launch.

Farewell

From 2008 to 2009, Faye Wong performed twice on stage. The first was on May 18, 2008. She participated in a disaster relief benefit organized by the Central Government to raise funds for the Sichuan Earthquake. She sang "Wishing We Last Forever" with Eason Chan, Faith Yang, and Ah Niu. The second time was on May 8, 2009, Faye participated in the rehearsal of a large-scale performance at Famen Temple in Shaanxi. Faye wore a white dress with light makeup and sang with her hands clasped. Unfortunately, the official performance was cancelled due to weather conditions. No one knows if this was her farewell to singing and we will have to wait and see.

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SOURCE: NETEASE // TRANSLATED BY: FAYE WONG FUZAO

#2009

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