Got nominated by Ken Tan and Rafi Dean to come up with my top 10 tracks of all-time. Otherwise its 7 years bad luck. Kidding, not kidding. What happened to this once popular curse in the 90s? Died? Well, music from that era didn’t which, in turn, informed my current musical palate. 1) Oasis “Masterplan” bit.ly/10tr7IO Liam and Noel’s band was the only outfit I had a long-standing affinity with. They embodied what rock and roll meant to me. But underneath that badassdom, sibling rivalry, and blaring guitars was poetry, one that could be found in the lyrics of “Cast No Shadow” and especially “Masterplan” –a timeless beauty of a track. 2) The Beatles “I Am The Walrus” bit.ly/1oJ5KxP Oasis introduced me to The Beatles and their colourful body of work, which led me to copying chords off their songbook at Tower Records because I couldn’t afford it. How John Lennon came up with the lyrics of “I Am The Walrus” baffled me. Then I found out that lysergic acid diethylamide was the main ingredient in their song writing. I had since acknowledge that the yellow submarine is real. To them. 3) Underworld “Born Slippy .NUXX” youtu.be/XiMrrleH_hI In secondary school there was silent reading. I read Trainspotting and had been a fan of Irvine Welsh and Chuck Palahniuk’s style of writing ever since. A friend lend me a VHS tape of the film which led me to Underworld World and henceforth, electronic dance music in its glorious days. 4) Blur “Parklife” bit.ly/1ibzyiX Blur’s concert in Singapore was the first international act I caught in ’97. Due to their rivalry with Oasis I had to pick a side. I chose the latter. But hey, Blur came to Singapore first and Damon Albarn’s lyrical endeavours informed my style of writing: “I feed the pigeons, I sometimes feed the sparrows too. It gives me a sense of enormous well-being. And then Im happy for the rest of the day safe in the knowledge (that) there will always be a bit of my heart devoted to it.” Genius. 5) Rage Against The Machine “Bombtrack” bit.ly/Vxeqtd First intro solo I mastered on guitar. Fortunately, no guitars were harmed in the process. RATM, and the likes of Faithless, also introduced me to global political and social issues transcribed through music. 6) Sublime “Santeria” bit.ly/1ruqkg0 Autobiographical lyrics piqued my interest the most because it allowed me to step into the lives of people I would not have ordinarily meet. Bradley Nowell’s story and his subsequent heroin overdose introduced a brand of human struggle I would have otherwise missed. Beautiful and frightening at the same time. 7) The Boredphucks “Ai Sio Kan Mai” tny.gs/1rCYCP2 This Singaporean outfit was the first and only band I followed religiously. Sanny Veloo was, in my mind, the best frontman this country had ever seen. For a band that got arrested, banned from performing, and still maintained their outrageous, but tasteful, behaviour is one for the books. 8) Radiohead “Paranoid Android” bit.ly/1ttyidM “Creep” was nice; “Paranoid Android” was great particularly because there was a crescendoing momentum in its abstract madness. 9) Woodkid “Iron” bit.ly/1bqXo4y “Visionary” is not a word to be thrown about lightly. Yoann Lemoine aka Woodkid has a finger in all sorts of creative pies made out of music, art and storytelling. The French have never won a war. Yoann might lead them to a victory over today’s quality of music. 10) Alabama Shakes “You Ain’t Alone” bit.ly/1khPQST This track is the “Lean On Me” for a new generation. Frontwoman Brittany Howard channelling her inner Bill Withers is truly a sight to behold. It’s peppered with “Hey Jude” moments and epitomises, to me at least, what music could be, again. Nominating: Zaki Jufri, Celine Asril, Paul Seow, Daryl Chan, Kavan Spruyt.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 06:34:35 +0000
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