29.8.10

The Great Spy Experiment: Flower Show Riots


The Great Spy Experiment
Flower Show Riots
9.2008 / 11 tracks, 52.9 mins / Riot! Records, Universal Music Singapore
[Request for Download Link] (123MB)

[Full Review / Commentary / Track List Here]


Maybe I'm a bit old on this, but this is Singaporean music too so I'm giving this a go. The challenge for the Great Spy Experiment is, after you've belted out a song like "Class A Love Affair 2007" at the beginning, you've got to build up on it, tear it down, or continue its blistering strength consistently for the rest of the album. And what does the Great Spy Experiment do? "The Great Decay" tries hard to emulate it, and "Siti in the City" is their final attempt, but nothing can save this album from being bleedingly average. 2007 might be have been the Year of Alternative, but playback factor for the Great Spy Experiment is as dim as the back burner it is.

C6

Track Cuts: "Class A Love Affair 2007"

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Inch Chua: Wallflower


Inch Chua
Wallflower
17.7.2010 / 12 tracks, 39.2 mins / Unsigned
DOWNLOAD (92MB)

[Full Review / Commentary / Track List Here]


Orchestra instruments are apparent here and there, featuring as a rhythmic duet partner in Inch Chua's title track "Wallflower" and lest I forget in the beginning "No. 7", a rather exciting album opener. "Wallflower" is a light, direct complaint, but a beautiful complaint, at how she ain't so pretty and the world needs pretty people and how she wants to be heard but nobody cares to see her blah blah blah, but it's good. It's perfect. So perfect it's lamentable how the first half of the album doesn't do the same thing, and commendable how the rest of the album follows the title track up excellently. There, Inch Chua's voice deservedly shines through without the cacophony and clatter of basic and largely mediocre pop rock.

B4

Track Cuts: "Wallflower", "Pins & Needles", "Goodnight"

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28.8.10

MUON: The New Mutants


MUON
The New Mutants
2008 / 10 tracks , 47.8 mins / Unsigned
DOWNLOAD (88MB)

[Full Review / Commentary / Track List Here]


The 9-minute epic in the middle, "This is Not the End", begins just as any other MUON song on the album. Distorted guitar, noodling, some computer filters, then it begins to crack with a flutter of cymbals and striking guitars like sunlight at the opening of a cave, before skipping the whole of 2001: A Space Odyssey and entering the part where the guy's travelling at light speed with closeups of the protagonist's face through the visor. Real (anti) climax though? "Part X" with its close-yet-no-cigar tease. Talk about sexual dysfunctions while looking at the universe through an observatory in Mars. Oops.

A2

Track Cuts: "Part X"

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27.8.10

ShiGGa Shay: ShiGGa Shay's in the Building! (The Mixtape)


ShiGGa Shay
ShiGGa Shay's in the Building! (The Mixtape)
28.7.2010 / 14 + 1 tracks, 44.6 + 3 min / Unsigned
DOWNLOAD (112MB)

[Full Review / Commentary / Track List Here]

Promising. Wouldn't say he's a surefire star but I don't mind if he is, because he one precocious Asian. (He Asian?) Still, I wouldn't want his Oriental background to be a novelty factor. And that's no issue as he doesn't bank on how he Chinee' in his tracks (bar "Make It Big"). But if he's only going to sound like good old radio staples, his childhood prophecies of being a star is going to fizzle. All in all, his beats' sweet, his flow's gold, his lines' fine, but even that's not enough for this young rapper's struggle to stardom in this mercurial game. ShiGGa doesn't just need to stay in it, he needs to lead it. "I ain't even started yet," he assures on the outro. Good, because ShiGGa's got room for improvement. Which means he's got a lot to do if the closing snippet is all he's guaranteeing.

P.S. He only says there isn't any Crack Music because he Asian. (He Asian?)

B4

Track Cuts: "I'm Asian (feat. Kwizyne)", "Day Dream (feat. Daryl Lai)"

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25.8.10

What's This?













What this? What's Singapore, you should more or less ask me. Singapore's a bustling community, full of vibrant life and aspiring minds, from cultures and races all over the world. We may be one of the smallest countries, but we are more packed and vivid than a 48 colour pencil box.

Now, racism aside, our diverse cultures mix and match to form great works of art. Or, do we form great works of art? Seems like nobody's interested in the arts. Singapore's all business, all economy, all work and government and school and football. Wonder where the great artists have gone, considering the opportunities Singapore has in store for many new forms of visuals, sounds and motions through its 5 million-strong 45 year-long traditional heritage.

Truth is, Singapore's got beat, all right. There's music and movies all around! Not everybody follows the rat-race that is business in Singapore (or, at the very least, part-time). Some follow their passions, passions of inspiring people through books and paintings. Singapore doesn't have a lack of dedicated artists. We have a lack of dedicated followers.

We need to start looking around ourselves and not overseas. We better stop complaining about the lack of culture and arts in Singapore and start fixing it, for we are the problem ourselves! Communities like NoiseSingapore and Audioreload have been doing just that. Now it's our turn to play our part too.

Me? I don't know much about the arts, honestly. The only thing I'm into is music. Just one form of arts. But my ears, though little, is still something I can contribute to the arts industry in Singapore.

This website is a collate of reviews and essays for Singaporean music, either latest or in the past. In true Singaporean style, ratings will go from up A1 to down F9. I will be very critical of some, but I will also, of course, praise. Mind you, if you're insulted or anything, at the very most, this is just one person's opinion. And the artist can always improve in the future. I have little prejudice for artists who have failed to impress before, as I subscribe to the belief of "Late Bloomers". And mind you, "Late Bloomers" shine far stronger than those who burn out early.

I'll try my very best to look out for music myself through sources such as BandCamp, Last.FM and NoiseSingapore but if you want me to check out your stuff, hit me an email at singaporegotbeat@gmail.com detailing yourself (Artist name, label name, album name, date released, maybe a short bio) with a link of an EP, mixtape or album and I'll DEFINITELY review it, under one criterion, that is, that you're Singaporean, of course! Rock, hip-hop, jazz, dance, folk, singer-songwriter, whatever. Just as long as you're a citizen.

Oh yeah, tell me if you're comfortable with me putting up the download link, or if you wish me to direct it to your website or whatever. You know, before I do something wrong and the cops come raining down on me.

And I'm into the distance, but before long I'll hit the waters, as I'm S-s-s-Singaporean.