Composers Society of Singapore's "Say Say Borak" on "Experimental Tradents in Popular Music"

 The Composers Society of Singapore has invited me to be the guest speaker to be part of their next online discussion session, Say Say Borak on 20 May 2023. Do join us if you are free.

I will be sharing about some experimental strains of Singaporean experimental musical development via two case studies: avant/post rock outfit, The Observatory and ethereal/ambient duo, aspidistrafly.

You may register via HERE and hope to see you virtually that morning (if you are in Europe)/afternoon (if you are in Asia).

REWIND 2022, Seriously?

 This is later than usual, I admit. The opening up of the world to globalised capitalist fuelled tourism is back and I am no exception to the allure of once again packing up to go to another country to get away from the increasing apprehensive mind space in one's supposed own country. 

I have to say that most of the entries below are not new new releases... quite a few are reissues (especially box sets) and far fewer items listed than previous years (I am reading a lot more books this year). Signs of getting older or just the state of music today, hmmm....

As usual not in any particular order:

Wormrot  - Hiss

The Observatory & Koichi Shimizu - Demon State

John Zorn - Bagatelles Vols 9 - 12

Imperial Triumphant - Spirit Of Ecstasy

Dead Cross - II

Diamanda Galas - Broken Gargoyles

Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems

Chat Pile - God's Country

Bjork - Fossora

Devin Townsend - Lightwork

Sigh - Shiki

Peter Brotzmann/Keiji Haino Duo - The intellect given birth to here (eternity) is too young

Reissues - 

This is the year of Frank Zappa and Les Rallizes Denudes for me hence two from the man and 4 official reissues from the group (finally):

The Mothers - 1971

Frank Zappa - Waka/Wazoo

Les Rallizes Denudes - The Oz Tapes

                                    - 67-69 Studio Et Live

                                    - Mizutani/Les Rallizes Denudes

                                    - 77 Live

The rest of the best:

Lennie Tristano - Personal Recordings 1946 - 1970

William S Burroughs - Ali's Smile

Albert Ayler - Revelations: The Complete ORTF 1970 Fondations Maeght Recordings 

Derek Bailey - Domestic Jungle

Iannis Xenakis - Electroacoustic Works

Sonic Youth - In/Out/In

Lou Reed - Words & Music, May 1965

Stereolab - Pulse Of The Early Brain (Switched On Vol 5)

Dick Landry - 4 Cuts Placed In The First Quarter/Solos/Having Been Built On Sand With Another Base (Basis) In Fact

Neu! - 50

Celtic Frost - Danse Macabre

Voivod - Forgotten In Space

Rewind 2021

 Another year which all our lives have been changed due to a virus and its mutated offsprings.

Great that there are still some great music released as well as some really great reissues to help make life a bit better.

But instead of my usual image-laden listing, I am just putting down my top album of the year (there are actually two sharing the honour, but both from the same artiste) and some really great record labels I deep dived into this year.

So,

Record labels of the year:

Editions Mego - Thanks Peter Rehberg for all the great curation of music on your label since the start of the century, in fact with the expansion of co-curatorial sublabels, the Editions Mego brand has never been stronger until he left us in July. The record shop which I co-ran with Harold would be much lesser without selections from him. RIP,

Southern Lord

Sublime Frequencies

Analog Africa - Africa remains my favourite continent in terms of overall new and old musics with the four labels listed in sequence here. Forward looking, exciting and irreverent. The future of music lies here, I wager. 

Nyege Nyege Tapes 

Hakuna Kulala

PAN

Old Heaven Books

Modern Sky/Badhead

Dipped into K music a bit, most impressed by CL's Alpha and Jambinai's A Hermitage. Former a quirky syncretic mix of all the urban music styles into but breaking a bit of the K-pop mould and the latter, post rock/whatever from the most popular Asian country in the world now.

Mamer from China is as always great, and discovered the joy of Hualun, China's answer to post rock.

My top albums? Portal - Avow and Hagbulbia 

They, to me encapsulates the essence of 2021 and resonate so much with my POV this year.

Signing out but to all out there, stay safe...

Nusasonic:

 Honoured to be in the esteemed company of some of the most essential artists from the region and internationally to talk about historicising music and how cultural referencing can contribute to a better and in-depth discussion about contemporary music and culture. Featuring Nadah El Shazly from Egypt, Amazon Sun from Thailand and Kasimyn of Gabber Modus Operandi from Indonesia. 

Ang Song Ming's Venice Biennale 2019 - A Review, Of Sort...

 I managed to catch Ang Song Ming's Venice Biennale work at the National Museum of Singapore back in November 2020. It was a sort of a commissioned writing piece by local Singapore Studies site, s-pores.com. You may find our article here. 

Interestingly, s-pores.com also asked a fellow writer, Cecily Cheo to review the show too. So a double take thingy which some of you may find fascinating. So to read it, go here. 

Peter Rehberg, R.I.P.

 

I have never met the man. But I had corresponded with Peter in the mid 2000s when I was setting up a record shop locally to fill up the shop stock. We wanted the shop to have some truly great contemporary record labels which were really pushing the musical boundaries in terms of their curated stable of artists. Pita, as it was known then, was definitely one of them. Others included Touch, PSF and Southern Lord. 

It was mainly just a series of emails to procured the best, to me and my shop partner, Harold back then. The shop folded in 2007 and though there was no shop to justify any further purchase, I continue to buy from Peter, his renamed Mego now known as Editions Mego., which rightly gave the label the appropriate gravitas which he and the label deserved with the word "Editions". 

A few years ago, he suddenly emailed me about a possible tour through Singapore. Though I was no longer organising events or running a shop, I tried to link him up with my friends who were still doing so. Eventually, the tour did not come through as there was some changes to his tour itinerary. We promised to make his tour here an eventuality in the future.

That future never will arrive now with his passing. Many of my associates and friends locally and abroad feel the loss of Peter greatly. His curatorial role as a label boss and his work under his solo moniker, Pita, with his musical partners in crime, shaped our musical exploration since the early 2000s with landmark releases by Fennesz, Kevin Drumm, Hecker, General Magic, etc. 

I continued to buy Editions Mego and its sister label releases up till today. Him helming it with his associates always ensure quality and commitment of the tallest order. 

A musical giant has left us but his spirit will live on, RIP. 

Say Say Borak! Composers' Society of Singapore 1st Virtual Discussion Panel on Youtube

Was involved in the Composers' Society of Singapore's first virtual online discussion panel, a re-purposed session from the original series entitled "Say Say Borak" now up on Youtube. This series plans to highlight a theme each time and have a meaningful discourse by inviting musicians, composers, artists and writers to talk and voice their opinions. A sort of a salon a la the 19th century, I suppose. 

We plan to do more, I hope. So tune in here for more future updates.