又一好評 [another feather in the cap]

taiwan's most popular hifi magazine gives thumb-ups to 2v1g's debut album which has just entered the taiwan market early this month....

hi-fi website u-audio also raved about 2v1g...

sorry, guys, both 2v1g and jz8 albums have been delayed due to a myriad of reasons...

we are targetting x'mas 2009.... thanks for the patience!

神奇 [prodigy]

good things need to travel overseas.

zee avi, or formerly known as kokokaina, was snapped up by a foreign music label (brushfire records) in USA, even before any local labels started accessing her.

we hope she would make malaysians proud.

毒品沒效 [the drugs don't work]

an ambitious project, this.

faith yang (yang nai wen) covers 11 indie/rock classics in this album entitled "self-selected"; classics that are made definitive by the original singers/bands. what a daunting task for faith to emulate the success of the originals. no singer with small guts dares to take this challenge. kudos to faith for her courage.

first track is radiohead's "fake plastic tree" (taken from "the bends"). while one can't compare faith's vocals with thom yorke's and i would give faith the benefit of no-comparison here, i find the backing band sorely lacking. the electric guitar doesn't scale the heights of radiohead's version. the climax is not exciting either. the whole song sounds just flat and one-dimensional.

the same can be said of the verve's "the drugs don't work". the band just does not support the greatness of the song. when i compare faith's version with verve's original, faith's is so ordinary, without the psychedelic feel and dimensionality of the original.

it doesn't mean this album is completely dispensable. faith has her moments but most times she is let down by the band, which is really ordinary. i dont mean to put down on taiwanese musicians (mostly sessionists) but they don't have the coherence, artistic freedom and brilliance of western bands.

i would rate this 6.5/10, a qualified recommendation.

蕾诺 [introducing reno]

who's this beautiful woman?

let's not debate on whether she sings to your liking, reno is a breath of fresh air to this stale and extremely boring malaysian chinese pop scene.

truth be told, we haven't seen anything like reno before. beautiful, sexy, glam, totally westernized and what a big voice.

marketing and packaging wise, she is already miles ahead of many debutants in the scene.

we have no background info on reno whatsoever but we believe the people behind the production is very ambitious and visionary.

check out her album, which will be released in the next two weeks.

we hope to cover more about reno in the near future.

单纯和洁白 [pure and simple]

清明时节。

每一年的这一个季节，我一定回乡扫墓，家乡的妈妈和弟妹也都会等着这一天，大家一起踏青，度过一个意义格外敏感温馨和充满怀古追思的日子。

我在动身启程回家的前两天，写下了这一首歌，歌名《四季》。

春风有心 吹醒了大地 像母亲一双温柔的眼睛
夏日有情 透明了空气 像母亲问候的声音
秋色有意 染黄所有风景 像母亲关怀和叮咛
冬雪有爱 干净了天地 像母亲等待我归家的心

在马来西亚写四季是难于让人信服的，这里一年365天，天天皆夏，一雨成秋，哪里会需要到春风秋雨，夏炎冬寒来描述生于斯长于斯的心情和感受？

写《四季》的动机，除了要写出清明时节，妈妈盼望孩子回家的心，对我而言，我更想道出，回不了家的游子们的心情。

我永远记得，在我生命中的第一场雪，发生在2000年的冬天，那一年，我身在新疆乌鲁木齐，那一个早晨，在清冷的空气中苏醒，推窗一望，漫天遍地的雪花飘着，无止无尽的雪白，心里一阵感动，把手伸向窗外，沁冷的雪花落在掌心，无声的融化，无限的暖意却涌上心头。

那一刻，我第一个想到的人，就是我的妈妈，小时候看图片、照片，春暖花开、夏日炎炎、秋后冬来，一直都不停想象，有一天自己可以和妈妈一起走进那些画面里。

而2000年的冬天，远在万里以外的我啊！当时的兴奋和喜悦却只能自己一个人雀跃、一个人轻叹、一个人微笑。

清明回家前的那一个早晨，坐在靠窗的书桌，2000年的那一幕突然浮现眼前，一腔热血汹涌而上，令我不假思索的写下了《四季》。

妈妈盼望孩子归家的心，不都是最单纯和洁白的爱吗？

写歌最初的心情，不也就是这样的单纯和洁白？

共勉之。

周金亮

态度 [attitude]

态度

人们都说，丝绸道路是骆驼队踩出来的，如果你爱音乐，就会发现，它是用美丽的民歌铺成的------王洛宾

过去的一段日子，我在大马、中国新疆进出往返4年，都是在做音乐。
面对那一片辽阔的土地，土地上的春夏秋冬，是我在生于斯长于斯的马来西亚所不曾拥有和体会过的经历。

那一段日子，我曾经大步疾走迎向风雪，在颤抖中奔向录音室；
我曾经在炎热的夏日下踏上交河古城、高昌古城，向远去的岁月叩问；
我曾经在清晨春风拂脸，万象更新的季节里与不曾相识，真诚敦厚的老百姓在街头巷尾，简陋的小店共座用早餐，炸酱面、一笼笼的小笼包，热腾腾的温馨上座；
那一段日子，我更在秋意萧瑟的黄昏里独自漫步街头，幻想自己正走入电影的画面里。。。。。。

岁月无声的流逝，心里一阵一阵的感动，因为知道，多年以前，我们熟悉的、一首又一首优美的音乐、歌曲、乐章，就是出自这么一个遥远又陌生的地方，就是在这里，今天我踏足的这一块土地------新疆。

我心里埋藏已久的旋律：《青春舞曲》、《半个月亮爬上来》、《阿拉木罕》、《达坂城的姑娘》、《可爱的一朵玫瑰花》、《掀起你的盖头来》、《在那遥远的地方》、《在那银色的月光下》。。。。。。一一如精灵万般风情的舞动。

在吟唱着这一些熟悉的旋律的同时，我更听到了一些再次让我激动的声音，那把来自新疆南部，南疆名城------咯什，世界著名抒情花腔女高音迪里拜尔的声音。。。。。。 《一杯美酒》、《塔里木》、《百灵鸟》，无一不让我热泪上涌。

我不禁问：

要有多大的胸怀才能容纳如斯情感？
要用多大的肺量才能激发如斯的澎湃？
要有多远大的视野才能熬尽长路的孤独？
要用多深的真情才能感动身边对你期望的人？
要有多大的勇气才能让自己坚持不弃万灭不离？
要消耗多少的岁月才能一一印证自己永远的信念？

王洛宾先生把生命交给了音乐；迪里拜尔把岁月都奉献给歌声。

我深深的相信，他们所有成就之最初，皆来自对音乐崇高的敬意、无怨无悔的追求、永垂不朽的衷爱。

这就是态度。

共勉之

周金亮
03052009