sam lee sheng jie

currently loving two songs by sam lee sheng jie, a 36 year old taiwanese artist who sings in mandarin and specializes in sweeping love songs. he is not new to the mandopop scene; he debuted around 2002. As of 2008, he has released a total of five albums. (wikipedia)



i especially enjoy the following two songs: 'just passing by' and 'the songs about you.'



1. 'just passing by' is a confession from a man waiting for his love to get over her unrequited love. the sweeping song really allows for sam's versatility. he is truly versatile and is able to demonstrate his emotions with the rise and fall of the song. he is able to convey the emotions one might go through in the sometimes uphill climb of trying to convince someone to forget the other one.



2. 'the songs for you' is a song from the taiwanese soundtrack of the lake house with keanu reeves and sandra bullock. this upbeat song becomes even sweeter when you see sam's video. he smiles in such a contagiously wonderful way that you want to believe the love he sings about. his voice is again clear and classic. his voice is a mix of jackey cheung's classic mando voice and vic zhao's idol sound.


photo credit goes to chinesemusicblog.com

currently listening to: wang leehom

currently, i am in a c-pop phase. i am listening to the following two songs by wang leehom: 'listen to the pouring rain' and 'heartbeat'. these are two songs from his latest album 'heartbeat.' i feel that his new cd is really a work of art which demonstrates that leehom has come into his own as an artist.


his first release is 'heartbeat', a soft-rock love song that really displays with leehom's strong voice and classical rock taste. a simple piano melody introduces the song, then about 17 seconds latter it drives into a beat that brings to mind the eagles' classic hit 'desperado.' the guitar riff in the middle is leehom's magnificent display piece of this guitar skill.


the second song is 'listen to the pouring rain', a lovely lovely melodic song that is almost perfect. the song is anchored by the snare drum and leehom's perfect-pitch vocals. if you know leehom's previous work, you will be able to hear that he is singing in a slightly higher key; evidence of lessons learned from his peers in c-pop, perhaps. the most magical moment comes when he smoothly incorporates the chorus from ricky nelson's 'listen to the rhythm of the falling rain.' at this point, one almost asks, "ricky who?"



photo credit to 3.bp.blogspot.com

oasis '08

one of my dreams came true in '08 when i got to see oasis live. the chief was fantastic and liam was a rock star. gem was great and andi rocked. They added a new drummer, chris.

liam's voice has changed over the years to a lower raspy version of noel's. the chief himself just gets better with age.

music

my taste in music is as eclectic and varied as my moods. however, i do have two constant things: my two favorite music gods and a somewhat nutty listening pattern. first, i adore jay chou (taiwan) and noel gallagher (uk). second, i listen to r & b in the fall, jazz during winter, pop in spring, and rock in summer. My other favorite music artists are as follows:

Oasis, Yoga Lin, Show Luo, Anson Hu, FLH, S.H.E., Sam Lee, Travis, Richard Aschcroft, David Grey, Damien Rice, Coldplay, U2, Stone Roses, Ian Brown, Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys, the Kooks, Dido, Natasha Bedingfield, Michael Buble, John Legend, and Mary J Blige.

photo credit to yeinjee.com.

Noel working his magic at a 2008 concert.