All alone at work 🙁

“Southside” featuring Kanye West and “Play Your Cards Right” featuring Bilal.

In my review of Ngoc Ha’s recent album, I said what I want to hear next from Ngoc Ha is a Pham Duy’s album with the collaboration of Duc Tuan. It has yet to happen, but Duc Tuan’s latest album has a few songs Ngoc Ha has recorded in the past for Thuy Nga. “Tinh Hoai Huong” was one of her big hits as well as one of his strong cuts on the record. The reason I never pay much attention to Ngoc Ha before she left Thuy Nga was very obvious: the productions always failed me. So placing Duc Tuan‘s and Ngoc Ha‘s version side by side, we could hear the differences in the orchestration. The digital arrangement in her version is nowhere near the lively orchestrated arrangement in his. Vocally, both are exceptional in their own rights. While he soars like a bird, she takes a flight down to nostalgia, especially when she wraps up the tune with “Que huong ay…” In an interesting contrast, Duc Tuan left out the last three words in his version. My prediction is that both Duc Tuan and Pham Duy are now living in Viet Nam so “que huong ay” isn’t relevant anymore. Any thoughts?

Nowadays celebrities in Viet Nam either get hooked up with Viet Kieu or non-Vietnamese. Even Hong Nhung has found her a Quiet American. I better hurry up and grab Dam Vinh Hung for myself before someone else would. So hands off guys, that bitch is mine.

Finally got a couple of friends 🙂

This album shows off the variety of Giang Son’s compositional styles ranging from pop jazz, bluesy jazz, semi-classical, pop ballad, contemporary folks, R&B to electronica. With four vocalists (Tung Duong, Khanh Linh, Nguyen Thao and My Le) and a bunch of producers including Phan Cuong, Vo Thien Thanh and Minh Dao, the recordings are slapped together like a goddam sandwich. Moving from one track to the next is like playing your whole music collection in the shuffle mode. The sound is all over the place, even within a song. “Nep Ngay” starts off with soft, seductive, Norah Jones-esque pop jazz, but then transforms into Mariah Carey’s belting out R&B ballad. Even without the closing “I Love Music,” we could tell that Giang Son loves her music…a bit too much actually.

Forget that half burger. I got two juicy patties so let’s double up. Damn, it’s doublicious, baby!

Ben bo ao nha minh…

Tristan Taormino’s “Shooting Star” takes a look behind the scene of a BJ film. Very interesting read!

Experiencing MMW’s Shack-man is like taking a trip to the groove planet. From the chill-out opening “Is There Anyone Here That Love My Jesus” to the building-up tempo “Bubblehouse” to the spacious closing “Kenny,” the trio Medekis (keyboards), Martin (drums) and Wood (bass) churn out intoxicating jazz riffs, hypnotizing funk rhythms, and electrifying fusion cuts after cuts.