Ten Chinese Albums to Brag About
2006 – Sodagreen – Little Universe (小宇宙)
Emerging from the Taiwanese indie scene, Sodagreen got signed in time for their self-titled debut album released in 2005. Though I don’t think Little Universe is a better album than, let’s say, their 2009 release, Daylight of Spring (春·日光) [Xiami] — you see WHY I suffered making this list? — Little Universe contains such hits as Little Love Song (小情歌) [MV].
Since those early days, Sodagreen has established itself as one of the most popular and most respected bands in the Chinese music scene. Their latest album, What Is Troubling You (你在煩惱什麼) [Xiami], contained the affecting hit single of the same name [MV].
Listen to Sodagreen’s Little Universe album on Xiami.
2007 – Sa Dingding – Alive (万物生)
I will just say this: Sa Dingding sometimes sings in her own made up language. Now, you may think, “Then, she’s just singing gibberish.” Well, so what? Still sounds amazing. She also sings in Sanskrit and Tibetan — which she, apparently, taught herself. How do you teach yourself those two languages? O_O — Here’s the Sanskrit version of her single, Alive [MV].
She’s a Buddhist, thus her music is heavily influenced by spirituality, as well as folk music of the inner Mongolian region, where she spent her childhood living with her grandmother.
Here’s the Mandarin version of the song~
Listen to Sa Dingding’s Alive on Xiami.
I’m so glad you picked Faye’s Fable to “brag about,” Amy.
While Restless sure is an exceptional album by Western music standards, Fable has a special place in Faye’s discography in that the first five tracks constitute a mini-saga about the Buddhist beliefs of life, love, and destiny. Equally important is the fact that they were all composed by Faye herself, and so this mini-saga does serve as a prototype of the original Faye sound …
And here’s my favorite track from this saga, The Cambrian Age:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5u00t_faye-wong-long-time-ago_music
@Adrienne Lew, if it’s Chinese music we’re bragging about… Faye’s gotta be there. It was either Fable or her 2001 release or Jiang Ai… in the end, had to pick one.
What about the others? Who would you choose?
@amy, there’s one more album you might want to take a look at if it’s Faye’s Cantonese album we are talking about: Di Dar (1995). The title track, Vacation, Lost, and Shooting Stars were kind of trendsetting and pretty much defined Faye’s mystically tragic yet beautiful style of music.
As for other singers, I would say it’s between Eason Chan and Jay Chou. Because of my personal bias towards rock, I’d prefer Eason over Jay (who’s strength is in producing Mandarin-style R&B).
Here are my picks from these two singers’ discography:
Eason Chan – Blurting Out
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/EZlw-q5syq4/
Jay Chou – Williamsburg
@Adrienne Lew, I actually got almost all of Faye’s discography, and I have listened to Di-Dar :)
I’m a little surprised… or maybe not, that you life Jay Chou. Hahaha. I don’t usually like his R&B style, but I definitely like his ballads. I also have a weakness for his country boy style hahaha.
I’m not that familiar with Eason’s body of work, but then again… I have LOADS to catch up with~
No pick of ten albums?
@Amy, haha — no, Jay isn’t exactly my taste. But objectively speaking, he does rule in the Mandarin world of music in Asia … so I feel that I needed to pick a song or two from his discography that has this little extra something in it — like Williamburg. I love that he mixes the organ sound with the R&B beats. But between him and Eason, I’d say in a sense Eason could have been a lot more creative but is unfortunately bounded by the preference for traditional Cantopop style “karaoke” showpieces on the part of many music fans in Hong Kong.
Speaking of this, there’s an album by Jan Lamb that’s pretty “non-mainstream” … “Thirty-Something.” And here’s my pick from that album:
http://divadamrau.blogspot.com/2011/01/karaoke-singing.html
(I refer you to my blog coz there’s also the English translation — which is the whole point of this “pop song” … :P)