1. Trang Nhung – Son. Trang Nhung crafted a superb contemporary folks record with great song choices, vocals and arrangements.
2. Lê Cát Trọng Lý. Ms. Le’s self-titled debut showcases her songwriting skills, guitar chops and singing talent.
3. Công Lâm – Chàng Trai Việt. Backup by strong orchestration, Công Lâm shows what it takes to be a Vietnamese man through his charming, authoritative tenor.
4. Ngọc Quy – Hồn Có Mơ Xa. With Ngọc Quy’s fine baritone, classiness and warm intimacy, this album is perfect for late-night relaxation.
5. Hiền Thục – Thiên Sứ. With effortless flow, classy arrangements and the ability to dig deeper into the lyrics, Hiền Thục has found her own voice in Trịnh Công Sơn music.
6. Ánh Tuyết Hát Trịnh Công Sơn. Ánh Tuyết interprets Trịnh Công Sơn music with her lower alto rather than her soprano. The result is mesmerizing.
7. Quang Tuấn – Chiều Vàng. Even though the album is on the safe side, Quang Tuấn delivers the songs as perfect as the way they were written.
8. Quốc Khanh & Đan Nguyên – Nhớ Mẹ. Two sons of the veteran who shared the same asperation brings some freshness to Vietnam war tunes.
9. Nguyễn Hồng Nhung – Dường Như. Nguyễn Hồng Nhung delivers classic ballads with soulfulness and tastefulness, but lacked the uniqueness. The strength of the album, however, is from new tunes like “Duong Nhu” and “Nghiet Nga.”
10. Đàm Vĩnh Hưng – Anh Còn Nợ Em. Đàm Vĩnh Hưng returns to his syrupy signature that once made him popular.

Nhớ Mẹ sounds like a project Quốc Khanh and Đan Nguyên, the two buddies who shared the same inspiration, got together and just made the recordings. Their straightforward approach to classic tunes is surprisingly fresh.

On the title track, the two sing in unison and they sound so in tuned that it is almost impossible to tell them apart. Trúc Hồ made the clever decision of keeping the accompaniment to just strumming guitars to allow the boys to pour out their hearts.

In contrast, “Một Mai Giã Từ Vũ Khí” (Trịnh Lâm Ngân) showcases each individual voice. Đan Nguyên has a slight advantage because the tune fits his signature style, but Quốc Khanh is quite convincing as well with his candid delivery. They both sound marvelous together on the chorus. While Giang Tử’s rendition of the same song is told through a man who had experienced the wartime, Quốc Khanh’s and Đan Nguyên’s version is narrated through the sons of the veteran.

The aspiration is further displayed on Quốc Khanh’s cover of “Anh Không Chết Đâu Em” (Trần Thiện Thanh). Unfortunately Quốc Khanh used an old production from Trúc Hồ instead of coming up with his own. For art sake, he could have remixed it a bit even just slowing down or speeding up the tempo. That’s just pure laziness since he proves that he could make a decent beat for “Trên Đầu Súng” (Anh Việt Thu).

Đan Nguyên steps up his game on “Mất Nhau Rồi” (Ngân Trang), “Thành Phố Sau Lưng” (Hàn Châu) and “Liên Khúc Thành Phố Buồn” (Lam Phương). His phrasing has improved tremendously over the years. He brings a new vibe of youthfulness on the timeless tunes and he knows not to over-sentimentalize the lyrics.

While Nhớ Mẹ is not groundbreaking, it serves as a moment of introspection to remind us the part of Vietnamese history that we could never forget. Quốc Khanh and Đan Nguyên are among many of the Asia family to carry on the tradition.

If music were his spouse, Quang Tuấn is a faithful man. He doesn’t cheat because he makes no attempt on experimenting with new styles. As a result, his work is very predictable. Even without listening to his new release Chiều Vàng, anyone who has heard of Quang Tuấn previous works would get a sense of how he would sing the songs.

On the positive side, Quang Tuấn’s dedication on nurturing the relationship with music and honing his skills paid off. He delivers “Tình Rơi” (Hồ Đăng Long) with a flawless effort. He rides the semi-classical arrangment with poise and elegant. His rendition of “Đường Xa Vạn Dặm” (Trịnh Công Sơn) is damn near perfection as a homage than a reinterpretation. Staying with the written melody worked out well in those cases, but Quang Tuấn could learn a thing or two from his mentor Tuấn Ngọc on the subtlety of flying off notes on “Xin Trả Nợ Người.”

While some of the jazzy arrangements add a bit of new flavors to the classic tunes, Quang Tuấn’s dead-on interpretations, like “Chiều Nay Không Có Em” (Ngô Thụy Miên) and the title track, are a tad tiring. “Đoá Hoa Vô Thường (Trịnh Công Sơn), which clocks in nine and a half minutes, gets worn out even with some uptempo switch-up.

For an independent production, Chiều Vàng is a commendable effort. At the same time, Quang Tuấn has complete creative freedom to do whatever he wants and to break himself out of the box.

Love it when a musician goes the extra miles crafting an experience rather than just cutting an album. Son is an outstanding contemporary folks record to be listened from start to finish thanks to Trang Nhung’s superb music taste and thought-out theme.

From the opening “Son” (Đức Nghĩa) to the closing “Lời Ru Âu Lạc” (Nguyễn Minh Sơn), each composition is selected with care to suit her beautiful voice. Furthermore, she approaches each tune with soul, simplicity, clarity and an appreciation and comprehension of Vietnamese various folks styles.

While her rendition of “Không Thể Và Có Thể” (Phó Đức Phương) is emphatic without over-dramatic, her own “Áo Dài Việt Nam,” which based on her husband’s poetry, is graceful to showcase the elegant beauty of Vietnamese long dress: “Dịu dàng và dịu dàng / chiếc áo thật thứ tha / Nghiêng nghiêng hồn sông núi / Nghiêng nghiêng bóng tre xanh.” I can visualize the mountains part, but not the bamboo part on “áo dài.”

What makes Son so damn enjoyable is that each song stands out on its own and yet goes well together as a whole package thanks to the breathtaking arrangments courtesy of Minh Mẫn and Yên Lam. The incorporation of traditional Vietnamese musical instruments with Western rhythm section and horns not only add new vibes to the album, but also bring out fresh flavors to favorites such as “Giấc Mơ Trưa” (Giáng Son), “Ôi Quê Tôi” (Lê Minh Sơn) and “Chênh Vênh” (Lê Cát Trọng Lý). Haven’t heard a Vietnamese album this good in quite a while.

With two boys occupying both of my waking and sleeping hours, I need to adjust my priorities. I no longer have the luxury of blogging. I’ll still do when I get a chance, but it will be sporadic. For now, my time will split between work and home. My goal is to find a balance between job and life without having the two mixed up.

As I was laying down with the two boys on each of my arms, I felt blessed and fortunate. They are my blood and life. They’ll make my blood pump and take my life to a whole new level. I need to be prepared. I need to refocus my energy wisely before I drain myself out.

Just for a quick second, I completely forgot that there was a child sitting in the backseat. While stuck in traffic, I told the car in front of us, “Come on, move the fuck up.” Dao repeated, “Come on fuck.”

Oops, my bad!

Lil Dan got another blood test today. He doesn’t seem to sweat the needle pinching at all. He gave a half-ass cry when the technician rubbed the tube against the old cut then went back to sleep. He’ll need to get tested again tomorrow since his bilirubin doesn’t seem to drop.

Dan has been eating and pooping well. Changing him is a bit of the challenge, but I am starting to get a hang of the rhythm: poop, pee and poop or poop, poop and pee or pee, poop and poop. He likes to do it without diaper. The more he cries, the more he does it.

After spending two days in the hospital holding Dan, we realize how much Dao has grown. He feels so big when we hug him these days. We should pat ourselves for not doing a bad job raising him. Last night he came into his baby brother’s room and shared his Thomas Train, something he has not done before. When we were at table trains with other kids, he guarded his train by putting them under the bridge and covered them up with his hands. He doesn’t take train away from other kids. He just kept on eye on his preferred train and waited until the other kids don’t play with it anymore. That’s my boy.

Another day, another blood tube. Still no cry today even though he was awake. Our lil Dan is one tough baby. He has been closely monitored for his Bilirubin. His level is peaked out today and should come back down tomorrow. He’s also regaining his weigh thanks to his loving mother for her continuous nursing.

Dan gets lots of love from his big brother. When he cried, Dao gave him kisses and told him, “It’s ok baby brother. Don’t cry. Big brother is here.” The first thing Dao did when he woke up was running over his brother’s room, giving him kisses and reading book to him. He picked out the book that he could memorize by looking at the picture. Already Dao proves to be a great big brother.

Dao continues to crack us up with his reasonings. “Please feed me the pear because it’s too cold.” When Grandma told him that her hands are dirty; therefore, she can’t play with him. He responded to her, “Here’s the towel grandma. Clean your hand and go play with Dao.” To grandpa, “Would you like to help Dao [setting up] bowling?” Seeing Dao continues to develop his personality makes me happy. Seeing him showing his love for his brother makes me proud.

Before having our second child, I was a bit concerned that I wouldn’t be able to love all my children the same way. Now I have discovered that I don’t have to love them the same way. Each of them is unique and my job is to nurture them and love them in their own way. That’s what make each child special.

Like mama, Dan lets nothing get in between him and his sleep, even a pinched needle. Yesterday he needed to get blood test for his jaundice. The technician worried that she would wake him up when she pinched the needle into his foot. I reassured her that he wouldn’t. She was amazed that he made no sound as all even when she squeezed his foot to draw the blood. The day before that he didn’t cry at all in the hospital when another technician took his blood while he was sleeping. The first time when he was awake, however, he was bawling.

Big brother Dao shows mucho love for his little brother. As soon as he woke up, the first thing he wanted to do was to stand by the crib watching his brother sleep. He also helped be getting the Vaseline and diaper when I changed his brother’s diaper. He showed his brother his trains and his iPod.

The gap between the two of them seems to bridge well. If his little brother were to come out when Dao was around two, we would have more tough time with them both. We’re also very fortunate that Dan likes to sleep. He was been sleeping so much ever since he came home from the hostipal. His wait has dropped 10% because he rather be sleeping than taking his milk.

Thanks for all the tweets and comments on Facebook regarding to our new bundle of joy. We all went home yesterday. Lil Dan slept like a log in his own comfortable crib. Big brother Dao kept wanting to look and touch his baby brother. Dao is very gentle to Dan.

If Dao is a copy of me (that’s what most people said), Dan is a copy of Dana. Looking at him reminds me of Dana’s baby picture. Dan is doing great. Still, we’re very fortunate to have grandparents helping us out. It would be tough if we were to do it by ourselves. We’ll have a full schedule for tomorrow.