The more I listen to Khanh Ly’s recordings of Trinh Cong Son’s music prior to 1975, the more disappointing I get with her later works. Not only her voice has dreadfully deteriorated (easy on the cig, ma), but also the soulless, fake musical arrangements that killed the aesthetic experience. Especially the productions made from the early days in the States, the monotonous beats served nothing more then just to maintain the rhythm.

While the rain was pouring outside last night, I went through 86 tracks of Trinh’s collection that Khanh Ly had recorded during the mid 60s and 70s, and I just want to throw all my other Trinh’s collections out the window, including her own after 1975. Her voice was incomparable, and she had the whole nine yards (real drums, bass, piano, guitar, saxophone and trumpet) backing her up. I am wondering if our music were influenced by American jazz at the time because even the drums had that jazz’s rollicking style in them. Her version of “Bien Nho” is timeless. Her voice was filled with sentiments, and the muted sax was just soul wrecking. I can barely get through the rendition of “Mua Hong” from Thanh Lam and even Ngoc Lan without yawning, but Khanh Ly’s effortless, ethereal vocals keep me coming back for more. I disliked her latter version of “Xin Mat Troi Ngu Yen,” but her former version is totally irresistible. That cascading piano’s gushes make the tune ageless. But the classic component of the collection is in those political pieces that are rarely covered today. Compositions such as “Chinh Chung Ta Phai Noi,” “Toi Se Di Tham,” “Canh Dong Hoa Binh,” and “Nhung Giot Mau Tro Bong” were simply begging for peace. So I don’t know why they have been banned.

Even though the computer-generated productions today are top-notch, I wish our musicians went back to the basics to bring real humanistic quality to their works. Call me an old-school head, but after listening to these soulful masterpieces and then went back to Ha Tran’s Communication 06, how the fuck did we go from treasure to trash? It’s definitely time for me to give up on Vietnamese contemporary shit and stick to the good oldies. Call me a sell-out, but I’ll be looking for real modern, innovative music elsewhere, besides Viet Nam. Fuck all that Vietnamese acoustic fusion shit.

David Levinthal uses toys as models for his photography. His works are both imaginative and provocative. The “XXX” series gives an illusion between real and fake or women and dolls. Ladies with plastic surgery might identify themselves with the models.

Finally copped an official copy of Don Ho’s Vi Do La Em last weekend. Yes, I actually purchased a legit album, surprising isn’t it? Even though his packaging idea—wrapping the sleeve around the outside cover—is different, it is so damn cumbersome, and will get dirty mighty fast as well. Design wise, he needs some courses on typography. The type choice for the title “Vi Do La Em” is horrendous, and it doesn’t go with a contemporary feel he has going on. He also needs to uncomplicate his design. On the back cover, the decorative ornament doesn’t enhance the layout. Does he need to list Don Ho sings every song? A “featuring Thanh Ha” is all that needed for “Hat Cho Doi.” Why does he put the lyrics of “Vi Do La Em” in all caps and big above the black box while the contact information is so small that is hardly readable? On the credits page, why does he needs the dash in between words? It’s good that he designs his own album, but he is designing for design’s sake instead of communicating the information. One more thing, go light on the Photoshop touch-up, will ya?

While driving in the rain, Quang Dung’s “Anh Xin Lam” touches my soft spot, and Mai Anh Viet’s lyrics sink in, especial on the refrain: “Anh xin lam co dai don buoc chan em / Anh xin lam tang cay che mat than em.” Even an insensitive, vulgar motherfucker like me appreciates romantic shit sometimes. But like Pac said, “Only God can judge me. Nobody else. All you other motherfuckers get out my business.”

Back in middle school, I had Juice for breakfast before heading out to school, and then had Juice again before going to sleep. Juice was part of my daily routine for about a month. Now I am having Juice again on YouTube. The greatest moment in Juice comes on when Q (Omar Epps) called Bishop (Tupac Shakur) crazy (the scene can be watched at the end of this clip, starting at 08:30). You can see the soul-chilling, bone-wrenching, and I-don’t-give-a-fuck charisma on Pac’s face. The soundtrack, “Juice (Know the Ledge),” is also mad wicked. Rakim’s hardcore flows blazes like adrenaline rush over Eric B’s dope beat. Fucking juicy!

Oh shit! Didn’t even realize that today is 10 years after 2pac Shakur was gunned down. Here are some of the coverages on his memory:
NPR’s “Growing Tupac’s Legacy, 10 Years After His Death“
Y! Music’s “Tupac Shakur Retrospective“
Seatle PI’s “10 Years Later, Tupac’s Legacy Lives On“
BBC’s “Why Tupac Still Matters to Fans“

A jaw-dropping animation for Honda from Nexus Productions.

Ha Tran must have been on Ecstasy when she made Doi Thoai 06 (Communication 06), a way-too-over-hyped album in which she sounds mad high over the zoned-out, overdosed beats. By drowning her vocal lines into the space-trance arrangements, electric Ha boasts it up to be her most groundbreaking work up to date. Save me the chuckles, girl. The musical production is nothing more than the softcore, wimped-out, and girlish ripped off from The Crystal Method, The Chemical Brothers, and Prodigy who set the underground breakbeat and bigbeat trend a decade ago. So where does the innovation play in Doi Thoai 06? Weaving Vietnamese aesthetics into acoustic sound? We have fused jazz, blues, world music, r & b, and hip-hop into Vietnamese repertoires, and now Ha Tran takes a step further with the concoction of E-gorging style. Revelation.

The album kicks off Nguyen Xinh Xo’s “Giac Mo La” (Delusive Dream) with speaker-traveling effects, pseudo-organic sounding that works against her voice instead of enhancing it. Then Tran Tien’s “Ra Ngo Ma Yeu” (Leaving The Alley) begins with children singing over soft but big beat, which also ended up overpowering her small voice. The instrumental “Tieng Goi” (The Calling), written by her and her man, is like playing with high-tech effects made possible by GarageBand. The remake of “Mua Bay Thap Co” (Mist Over The Ancient Tower) is a damned sacrilegious rendition. While the beat suggests Gothicism, she sings about Buddhism. She really needs to get off that coke. As for “Deep Water,” she sings, “wet me up” instead of “wake me up” and “unbreakaball” instead of “unbreakable?” The mispronunciations show that if the song was about “Deep Throat,” she could have pulled it off with her technical skills. Breathe in, breathe out, and take it all the way down. (I need to get off the coke myself.)

Doi Thoai 06 has demonstrates, once again, Ha Tran has desperately tried to reinvent herself. I support artist who constantly pushes her work to the next level, but she needs to stay focus on mastering one style before moving on to the next. And the more she attempts to progress beyond Nhat Thuc (Solar Eclipse), the more regress she gets.

The Environmental Risks and Breast Cancer (ERBC) project is a collaborative effort from the Vassar community. The goal of the interactive CD is to inform people about environmental factors that could cause serious breast cancer. Chris Silverman, one of our designers, is the creative mind behind the project, and he has pulled quite a few of those all-night muscles (powered by venti Expresso, which is about 12 shots, from Starbucks) in the past two years to get the CD rolling out. Thanks to his time and efforts, as well as the rest of the ERBC team, the final product, which is beautifully designed with breathtaking 3D animation and audio, is informational, educational, accessible, and approachable. Best of all, you can get a free copy for personal use. I strongly encourage you to sign up for one.

Tran Thai Hoa, goes by Hoa T.T. to differentiate himself from Thuy Nga’s popular male singer with the same name, is an aspiring pop singer who seeks for advice and feedback on his performances. His demos could be listened at his MySpace account. He has a decent voice: youthful and affectionate with a bit too much of honey (particularly on his rendition of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”). Although the demo tracks show his versatility in singing various styles as well as different languages (Vietnamese, English, and French), a distinctive voice is what he is lacking. Both “Loi Ru Cho Con” and “De Danh” are passable, but don’t leave a deep, long-lasting impression. It is a bold attempt to cover “Bonjour Vietnam” just right after the song has been trembling the Vietnamese’s community worldwide, let along in a much slower tempo. But he managed to pull it off with a chord progression approach. The tension-building arrangement allows him to express the lyrics in his own view of the homeland. Not bad at all, but there’s still tremendous amount of work to do to find a place in listeners’ heart. But do keep the passion and the spirit alive!

A brief mentioning of me in “Khi Dam Me = Chia Se” by Ngoc Tram, a recent-graduated jounalist in Viet Nam.