Ellen Loo

很難用一句話來描述我對Ellen(卢凯彤)的驚艶,她有太多對人迷戀之處,難以盡述。在香港這麼主流商業的環境下,她對自己音樂的堅持,有一種釋懷的堅定。她有漂亮的外在,但她每天苦練吉他,直到讓自己成為一個被尊重的樂手,吉他彈奏,穿透人心。最難的事,是她的音樂和演出裡,沒有雕琢的痕跡,平和自在,專注且平靜。我覺得她的音樂是一汪清澈的泉水,來自一個內在洶湧的瀑布,順流而上,我們將會看到更多,深切期待她的作品—Landy 張培仁 Photo: From Compact Disc

Ellen Loo Concert

Be Perfunctory – Faye Wong

Be Perfunctory Thanks to Xie Qi, a 19 years old Faye-natick, who raised US$200k that we now able to have the actual album in full glory. Previously the 1997 album was released partially in two.

“Xie got the publishing rights from Cinepoly (now Universal Music Group) and approval from Wong’s management, which made the album authentic rather than a bootleg. Though Faye’s representatives didn’t want this album to be released again, they were persuaded by Cinepoly Records and the sincerity of Xie.”

And that my friend is audio winning.

Vinyl Photos

Room Acoustics

Room Tuning

Room acoustics and the space within it is another big component of audio listening pleasure. Take care of the room and the music will follow. Recently, had the honor to have Mr Motu Lin of Acuslik-Labor (Taiwan) and William (Audiosound.biz) drop by to my man cave for some tuning.  Activated the room acoustics so far with tuning resonator bells, resonator discs as well bass tuning board. In the room, i had earlier placed two RPF Diffuser panels as well. It is the Motu product that did the trick to integrate the room and hardware. The result so far is wonderful listening session. Another upgrade in near future to involve the power source.

Rachmaninov Concerto No.3

Gala : Rachmaninov Concerto No.3
SSO , Vladimir Ashkenazy : Conductor
ALEXEI Volodin : Piano

Esplanade Concert Hall has a relatively “dead” sounding acoustic that will give the musician no rooms to hide any mistakes or hesitation. Tonight, the SSO is totally on the BALL !!! That is because the legendar Vladimir Ashkenazy is conducting.

SSO

ASPIDISTRAFLY

ICHIKO ASPIDISTRAFLY-19-Edit

Wasn’t planning to go to Fukushima!Singapore set on Monday. However, a FB message from Andy Yang asking me “Eh how? Fukushima tonight ?” changed my mind.  He said he will be there and these are Killer Sets! The setup was amazing! This is Project Fukushima for the recent Japan earthquake and it features Sean Lam (Hanging Up the Moon) with Leslie among the artists. I wanted to shoot Sean again and hearing Sean duet with Leslie Low was a Joy too. The layers of harmony inherent to the songs suited to a duo performance.

However, it was Aspidistrafly that blown me A.W.A.Y ! I have never heard of them before Monday night 8.15.11  Prior to the start of show, I saw a Goth-Victorian dressed lady walked into the performance hall and gathered she should be one of artists tonight. Little did I know this gig led me to discover a GEM. Aspidistrafly is a duo based in Singapore (but rarely performed here) of April Lee & Ricks Ang. Their music is ambient folk-electonica drone. Whatever. The special set they performed that night was awesome. Only 3 songs worth for their set, but it forever imprinted in my memory of the enjoyment of hearing them live and shooting along with Andy at the other side. Without a word, April & Ricks took there position and started playing….the moment April sang, i was going “WOW!” what a voice, what delight! It moves you. They played covered tributes but make it into their own styles …I don’t even know these are not their material until Fuzz Lee FB comments.  The self-confidence was evident in their world class performance.

FukushimaSo, happily enchanted in their music, I tried to take the best shots I could to capture the moments. After 2 songs, I decided to swap angle to the left stage and there I capture a nice group photo with April in the foreground. After their last songs, the session took a 10 minutes intermission break. I walked to Andy and jaw dropped expression on both our face! “See, don’t want to come lah !!! ”  I was similing sheepishly. Hahhaah.

Go to their website for a sample of their songs.  In the meantime, I am waiting for the release of their 2nd album this year. Now, Aspidistrafly is ONE of my Favorite band! Am particulary stoke to see April & Ricks like the photos I took 🙂

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DSTLLRY

Had a nice relax evening of good cocktails, food and music over at Andrew Lum’s DSTLLRY. Merry Christmas everyone!

Baracharashi Don
Baracharashi Don
Charashi Don
Charashi Don
Master DSTTLRY  Stirring the Rhythm of Life
Master DSTTLRY
Stirring the Rhythm of Life
in a gentle way, you can SHAKE the world
in a gentle way, you can SHAKE the world

2015 Audio Year

It is a good year in my audio journey. Thankful for William of Audiosound.biz to share his passion and time with me. Here are some of the cool stuff, new and vintage that I fell in love with.

Audionet CD Player, Pre-Amp and Power Amp are some of the best in class hardware. Flank on the left is some very nice Mark Levinson 33H power amp, 326s Pre-Amp and vintage Krell power.

New and Vintage

Closeup of Audionet Versatile Integrated Player G3

Audionet VIP G3

Guissani Research Delta Butterfly

Delta Butterfly