Music I'm listening to (September 2022)
A few days late here, some personal musical updates from these last few months!
In August, I performed with Afterglow Chorus. Here's a video of our performance of "Total Praise", by Richard Smallwood:
It was a joy to sing together with other people again, especially under the leadership of our director Arnold Lee. Our next season is starting rehearsals soon, and I'm also excited to have recruited my friend Jonathan L. from C# days. The next performances are on October 30 and November 6 - let me know if you'd like to come!
Daniel, Viraj, and I also brought a jazz trio to the nicest house party I've ever been invited to. Patrick was out of town, so I got to play the egg shaker as well. Thanks to the hosts, Joanne (not my roommate) and Jon Jen (also not my roommate) for a super cool event.
Photo credit: Grace
And here's the most recent in music I've been listening to.
NIKI - Nicole
I went to see Niki's concert in SF with some friends - one of them was like, I forgot the name of the song, it has kinda angsty high school relationship vibes? That's not nearly specific enough for this album, and I'm a big fan of it. It's her first solo tour and well worth it.
Some lyrical highlights from the album that stuck in my head:
- Was I just a two-year practice round?
- Asian Calvinism
- I'm so glad our paths didn't cross / I'm so glad I'll say it 'til I believe it
- Not a lyric, but the penultimate chord on "Oceans and Engines"
Shoutout as well to the opener Paravi as well for luscious vocals.
Juice - Love No More (Acoustic Version)
Juice is a high-energy rock band that I usually associate with falsetto in choruses and the occasional sick fiddle solo. The original is in a similar style, plus some light but noticeable electronic distortion. This version was a big change of pace when it showed up in my Spotify recommendations.
I basically hold my breath every time the first chorus hits, an octave down from the original. With a less in-your-face guitar part and subbing in the congas for the drumset, there is so much space left for the vocals and emotion to shine.
Casiopea vs The Square Live (2003)
This video is a crossover concert from two huge Japanese fusion bands from the 1970s, Casiopea and T-Square (branded as The Square at the time) - both continue to make music to this day. Imagine Tower of Power and Earth Wind and Fire putting together a concert together - it's basically that, and it's awesome.
Listening to this is pretty nostalgic for me - it physically takes me back to grinding through schoolwork in high school with this on in the background. Usually, hearing Yuh-Ja will break me out of the zone and realize that two hours have passed. Not bad at all.
I've heard from a couple people that it reminds them of music from Mario Kart. On one hand, Mario Kart music is legitimately pretty good (check out this arrangement of Coconut Mall from insaneintherainmusic); on the other hand, it's worth your full attention to watch several talented instrumentalists play hit after hit, with songs that aren't supposed to loop endlessly while you drive.
Past recommendations here. Let me know if you want to play together, or have live music for an event, or have any recs!