I'm Listening

I did an experiment the other day - come home from work and barred myself from turning on the TV. Just spend the rest of the evening listening to music.

There still quite a few CDs I had bought and listened to maybe once, but never really 'digested'. As with books, I'm a bit of a shopaholic when it comes to CDs. Somehow I want to own a physical CD rather than downloading it off the internet - old fashioned, ain't it?

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On the CD shelf:

1. From the Apres-Midi Selecao shop in Tokyo

We found this little shop is the basement of Parco Shibuya in Tokyo and loved it. You enter the shop and you feel like you're at a beachside bungalow of the cool friend with a kick-ass chill out music collection. (Imagine some soothing music playing in your head...)

They've got a great bossa nova section and the first CD that caught my eye was Joao Gilberto's self-titled album. He's a great songwriter, arranger and guitarist from Brazil among other things - but I would say the thing I love most about him is just his voice. In the spare arrangement on this album (in most songs it's just him on guitar and vocals with the drummer), his soft quietly melodic -- almost melancholy -- voice is the definite highlight.

I was almost out of the door of Parco when I knew I had to run back and get another CD. I'm a sucker for duets and could not resist this album - Domingo by Gal Costa and Caetano Veloso.

Caetano Veloso is another Brazillian great; you may remember him from Pedro Almodovar's Talk to Her where he sings this achingly beautiful song (download it here) at the dinner party just in the middle of the movie.

[It's also him again singing at the opening of Wong Kar Wai's Happy Together with a grander orchestration and the image of a thundering Iguazu Falls. ]

This is another lovely work by him I couldn't resist. Gal Costa I hadn't heard of before but I love her dark and rich voice as well.

I just read somewhere that it was Caetano's first album - wow!

Last but not least, the shop also gave us a free compilation - something called '2005 Third Arrival ~ Rainy Night Edition'. I think it's sort of a sample of the series compilations done by this DJ called Toru Hashimoto and I would say every song is great in its own unique way.

2. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young + Tom Waits + vintage Rolling Stones

I'm getting to like some of the classic blues/folk influenced rock and the guys above are now on the playlist. Nothing like a blues guitar riff or the liquid twang of a pedal steel guitar. If you want a change from the plain vanilla voices you get on American Idol, try:

• Neil Young, CSN&Y: high pitched, "bordering on whiny" - but perfectly conveying a quiet melancholy mood. You have to listen to him on the song 'Helpless'.
• Tom Waits: His voice is "whiskey-harden gravel" - so darn macho. Favorite song: Jersey Girl
• Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stones: To those Rockstar INXS people - see here how rock and roll is done!

Deja Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young












Heartattack and Vine by Tom Waits

Let It Bleed by the Rolling Stones