In her latest release, Dieu Cuoi Cung Doi Cho, Thu Phuong takes a light, soothing approach to Viet Anh’s romantic ballads. Unfortunately, the easy-going style doesn’t fit her too well. What lost is the turbulence that makes her the drama crooner of pop. The pain and anguish she poured into in Nhu Mot Loi Chia Tay and Em Ra Di Mua Thu had dried up.

In her previous albums—particularly Trinh Cong Son’s songbook—Thu Phuong was in a roller-coaster state of her life. Now that the trouble and glory are gone, she doesn’t seem to be interested in taking the soul train anymore. In “Hoa Co Vang Noi Ay,” she doesn’t even want to maneuver her way around the Latin-inspired arrangement. She just drags her bottle-breaking voice through the track. Her vocals get heavier and more tiresome on the bluesy “Ngay Khong Ten,” and she hardly pushes her flow to give the song a livelier jazz. She could have made these two tunes far more superior than what she had done if she drops her emotion and fervor into them. In contrast, the medley closer, “Khong Con Mua Thu” and “Mua Phi Truong,” is the worse track in the album. The mid-tempo arrangement is trivial, yet what irritating is the computer-manipulated voice. Don’t digitize your voice just to sound different. If you want to sound different switch up your vocal range and play around with your timbre.

The biggest glitch of the album is the song selection. Viet Anh’s music is unsuitable for Thu Phuong’s voice. His compositions lack the tensions and the agonies that are needed for Thu Phuong to articulate her singing. This is not the right way for Thu Phuong to reinvent her style. She needs to bring back the soul and the drama.

I thought Duy Manh’s music is sacrilege, until I come across a song titled, “Nhung Be Gai Viet Nam Lam Diem,” with the lyrics read, “Thirty dollars each, yum yum no bum bum.” Can’t get any sicker than that.

I am “Feeling Good” right now. Sometimes life ain’t so bad!

Nowadays, many Vietnamese female singers scream out their souls to be heard, the new face Nguyen Thao barely glides into her soprano, and yet the light touch in her slightly raspy vocals brings us closer to human nature. Unlike Ngoc Khue or Vuong Dung, she doesn’t bring a new style to the pop scene, but she invites us back to the beauty of serenity in her debut Suoi va Co. With the support from nature-inspired lyricist Duong Thu and tranquil productions from Anh Quan and Son Thach, the album is fantastic for a peaceful, quiet experience. In the opening track, “Uoc Muon,” her voice floats like breezing air over the ethereal, bossa nova-inflected arrangement. In “Yen Lang,” her unctuous vocalization wraps around the luscious piano licks like water cascading down from a quiet waterfall. She has also done a marvelous job of redelivering “Bay Vao Ngay Xanh” (even though Thanh Lam, Hong Nhung, and My Linh had covered it successfully) with the funk-flavored feel. Not bad at all!

Saturday with nothing to do, so I decided to jazz up this site a bit. The previous layout was way too white and plain.

From The New York Times, “Behind Bars, He Turns M&M’s Into an Art Form” (inspiring)

From Ghi Chep, “Forbidden Thoughts” (provocative: Must be a Yahoo’s 360 member)

From BBC News, “Bed sharing ‘drains men’s brains’” (interesting)

From The New Yorker, “The Storm of Style” (informative)

Black and White, Asian and Latino, boys and girls, everybody loved Tupac Shakur. Even FOB hommies (including me) loved Pac, even though we had no clue what the hell he was rapping about. We just digged his thug persona and the gangster beats. Every Vietnamese guy that I knew owned a copy of All Eyes on Me, and they all played the same tunes: “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted,” “How Do You Want It,” and of course “California Love (Remix).” For me, the thuggish, ruggish shit on the whole double album was “No More Pain.” The beat was crazy, and Pac’s flow was the illest. I can still rap along to every word whenever I played that track. He is sure a living legend now, but he already knew that in his rhymes, “When I die, I wanna be a livin’ legend, say my name affiliated with this motherfuckin’ game, with no more pain.” Of course, there are plenty of hot tracks on the CDs such as “Heartz of Men,” “Life Goes On,” “Only God Can Judge Me,” Picture Me Rollin’,” and the title track, but Pac made a classic diss after the album released when he “Hit Em Up.” (YouTube rocks!)

Xuan Hieu’s Tinh Nghe Si makes a fabulous hot tube album. Something smooth for your ass. His instrumental (saxophone) interpretation of Vietnamese ballads, including “Mong Duoi Hoa,” “Gio Gio Cho May Ngan Bay,” “Xom Dem,” and “Thu Quyen Ru,” is in the same camp of Kenny G’s jazz playing: wimped-out, soul-deadening, mechanical, and vulgar. The passiveness in Xuan Hieu’s sax sound, particularly in “Ta Ao Xanh” and “Chuyen Ben,” puts people straight to the bed, but not with each other. What makes the album so lame is the lack of improvisation and personal expression. You could sing along with the sax lines like karaoke if you know the lyrics. Yet, why would you want to follow an arrangement with a lethargic rhythm section?

Our dear and generous Dieu has shared 5 Dong Ke’s Tu Tinh Ca, the best Vietnamese a cappella album up to date. So what the heck are you waiting for? Go cop it now for free 99. Thanks Dieu, the quality is fantastic!

Imagine going into a large room and see 500 people giving oral sex and screwing their brains out. What better way to start the summer?

I would love to have a copy of 500 Person Sex for review. LOL! Japanese people are mad freaky, aren’t they?