When the heaven shines with stars...

As Javanese descend, with Gran who love Javanese song (and Javanese poetry, myth, and poetry), my childhood days filled with song's from Waldjinah, Endang Sukoco, Gesang, and other singers and gamelan groups which name I never knew. And now, eighteen years later, any hints of classic java songs always fill me with nostalgic feelings. Of hot days spent under jambu air (Syzygium samarangense) listening to radio and the wind rustled, with chickens clucked and peeped in the background.

One of those song is "Yen ing Tawang ono Lintang"? Have you heard it? No? Hurry and search in Youtube. The Waldjinah version is a classic, while Mayangsari version bring hint's of modern touch. And if you feeling adventurous, try Ramaaipama version, which, let say, quite interesting.

I love how melancholy and romantic the lyric is. It goes like this:

Yen ing tawang ono lintang, cah ayu
Aku ngenteni tekamu
Marang mego ing angkoso, nimas
Sun takokke pawartamu

(*)
Janji-janji aku eling, cah ayu
Sumedhot rasaning ati
Lintang-lintang ngiwi-iwi, nimas
Tresnaku sundhul wiyati

Dek semono, janjiku disekseni
Mego kartiko, kairing roso tresno asih

Yen ing tawang ono lintang, cah ayu
Rungokno tangis ing ati
Binarung swaraning ratri, nimas
Ngenteni mbulan ndadari
(Repeat *)

And for you English speaker, here the translation ⁽⁺⁾:

When the heaven shines with the stars, ⁽¹⁾ pretty girl
I'm waiting for your presence
To the clouds above the sky, milady
I ask your whereabouts

(*)
All those promises I do remember, pretty girl
Pounding inside my heart
All those stars are mocking (me), milady
(Because) My love touching the heaven

At those times, my promises were witnessed by
All the clouds above, accompanying (my feeling of) love and tenderness

When the heaven shines with the stars, pretty girl
Listen the cries of this heart
Within the sound of the night, milady
Waiting for full moon to shine
(Repeat *)

Beautiful isn't?
Most people think this song is about the singer / composer yearning for his lovers. But, you know what, actually this song is about how the composer waiting for the birth of her daughter! Yep. Her daughter. Who is not born yet. Talk about dramatic.

Most singers made little change here and there, transforming this song into lover song. And that version is the most popular. Love sells after all.

Still, this song is a classic. I love Waldjinah and Mayangsari version. Same song but bring different atmosphere. However, Waldjinah version is still the best. I just love her angelic voice. It soar effortlessly above gamelan. So clean, so powerful. Beautiful.

Try it, maybe you like it. If you by any chance stumble upon CD containing this song, especially the audiophile version, just buy it. You won't regret it.

-------------------------------
⁽⁺⁾:  Of course, it's not direct translation, because it always hard to capture how one language express something to other language, but I guess that translation is as close as it could be.
⁽¹⁾: actual translation is "when in the sky there are stars," / "when in the sky the stars are seen" but the Javanese language used is the flowery form, so I chose to romanticizing it a bit.

Review: Zella Day - Zella Day EP

I stumbled upon this artist from Sputnik Music which got lot of good albums recommendation. So I decided to give it a go and, bam, I was hooked.

Sweet Ophelia,
When young blood escapes
Vows that break
Go up, up away
Zella Day - Sweet Ophelia

This album (or mini album) from Zella Day consisted just of 4 songs, totaling in 12 minutes and 25seconds. But, boy, those four songs just soooo good. I keep hitting replay button again. And again. And again. And again...

So, how should I describe Zella Day? I would say like Lana del Rey met Florence Welch met Elly Ghoulding: the sheer epic result is simply mind blowing.

Many EP is just an epic song with lots of filler. But in Zella Day, there are no filler, all her four songs are strong: good lyrics combined with big hook and blasting melody. Oh, and the melancholy, we must not forget the big dose melancholy.

You did to me so well
Hypnotic taking over me
Make me feel like someone else
You got me talking in my sleep
Zella Day - Hypnotic

The lyrics is good, I love how poetic all her songs are. The theme is mostly about blinded in love.

Take me to the garden of your ecstasy
Make myself a heaven from your falling leaves
Woven in the fabric of your tapestry
Cover me in honeysuckle memories
Zella Day - Compass

From Hypnotic, Sweet Ophelia to Compass and East of Eden, we will meet pounding bass,  strings and layer upon layers of sounds. Her musics is really rich. The only sparsely instrumented is Compass, which only capitalized her vocal.

And she sing really good. Her high register is really good. She soar effortlessly to falsetto, without sounding breathless. However, I would like to hear more of her lower register, because she had this dark voice which I liked.

Call me wild, drinking up the sunshine
Be my man and show me what it feels like
Denim sky unbuttoned down the middle
Spilling out little by little
Zella Day - East of Eden

I would like to see how her full album sounded, I hope it would be even better than this epic EP. If you liked Lana Del Rey, Florence Welch or Elly Ghoulding, I would recommend you to try Zella Day. She is good.

Zella Day + Deadbeef + Aune T1 with Phillips PCC188 + Sennheiser HD600  = eargasm.

Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence

You must already noticed now, that I rather like Lana Del Rey. I really dig her melancholy and old style. Yes her persona is rather made up and not natural. Yes those lips almost certain face job. I don't care. As long as she keep produce music I like, she can put one meter long nose, or third arm or fly or whatever.

This album is very different than her previous two albums. Dark is what it felt at first. But different dark than Born to Die dark. In Born to Die, the darkness is glittering with flashes of neon and orb-lamp. Of recklessness and willfulness. In Ultraviolence, the darkness is lightened only by a splash of fireflies, of fond memories and little bit of sands in moonlight.

Gone is the hip - hop and heavy strings, replaced by echoing electric guitars and -what-is-it-called?-reverb? And simple drum. Simpler band arrangements, with a splash of strings here and there. The result is a fresher sounded album, although still heavy with melancholy and drama.

The lyrics, to be honest, still not 100% good. I mean, //You dance in circles around me // You're fucking crazy // You're crazy for me // is definitely bad. Or // He used to call me DN // That stood for deadly nightshade //. Really? Nightshade as in Potato and Eggplants? And why on earth "hydroponic weed"? At least, nightshade did sounded cool, I'll give you that
But there are gems here and there. The same song which gave us vegetables also give us this gems: // I can hear sirens, sirens // He hit me and it felt like a kiss // I can hear violins, violins //. Domestic abuse or BDSM? You choose.
Oh, and did she just take a jab at USA? //I’m talking about my generation // Talking about that newer nation // And if you don't like it // You can beat it //. What do you think?

I won't go detailed review of each songs here. But if you ask me, personally I like the Bond - movie-esque "Shades of Cool", the twanged "Brooklyn Baby" (really love the guitar), "West Coast" (nice tempo switching there!) and the operatic induced "Money Power Glory".
All in all, this album gave nostalgic vibe, with big doze of melancholy thrown. If Born to Die felt like good girl had her first taste of bad (and loving each second of it), then Born to Die: Paradise Edition felt like grown woman comfortable in her sexy, womanhood, and Ultraviolence felt like a woman who reminiscing how her life gone. Jaded, tired, sad but still starving for love, even a violent one. That how Lana on this album felt.

Lana's voice sounded much stable and matured here. Her voice soaring high and smooth. I really loved how she sounded on "Brooklyn Baby". And those soprano on "Shades of Cool" is really good. I kind of missing her low voice though. There aren't many singer with good rich, dark low voice. And song like "Born to Die" is shining because of those low voice.

This is quite good album. I like how fresh, yet how Lana Del Rey is this album. Dark, nostalgic, and melancholy. In short: a Lana Del Rey album.

Another End of Year. And Another Review of Beyonce Newest Album.

So here we are: on the last month of the year. Another New Year. Another post about how your year go, how much you do, how much your resolutions fulfilled. Reflections. Badda-badda-do. Whatever.

So, I'm thinking about closing this year with a BANG. So do Beyonce. While I still turning my brain inside out (not really, but you get the gist), Queen B drop the bomb of the year in shape of an album consisted of 14 tracks, with 14 VIDEO CLIPS!!!

 Wow. Just... WOW.

Her album is quite dark, and minimalist. Yes there are fat and delicious bass line. But there are very few of those glittering laser and neon light. I'm counting maybe 2 or three. Others are filled with minimalist, slow and dark jam. And with retro, 80's feels sprinkle on the top.

Beyonce vocal, like always, soaring through the simple music, gliding and turning like bird through the sky. A dark, smooth, beautiful bird. Her technique is superb, her breath is strong, and wholly, she is just AWESOME.

As a whole, Beyonce is a very strong album. Yes, there aren't that many tracks which radio friendly. I like Pretty Hurts (really love the lyric), Partition (oh yeah), Jealous (simple yet strong), Rocket (nice vocal works there!), XO (simply sweet and cheerful) and, the last but not the leaset: Blue (featuring her daughter voice, which very cute).
Personally, I think those are the best tracks. Rocket got very nice vocal and melody works, but the lyric is ... let just say I'm not going to sing it loudly outside

And the video clips got very nice video works. Again, Pretty Hurts, Partition, Jealous, Rocket and Blue shines here. Blow is a fun, 80's retro video. XO is down to earth Beyonce. BUT! (yes, there will always be but) there's this Rihanna-esque from the videos. I keep expect Ri-Ri to pop-out from nowhere and sing the lines, like the one on Drunk in Love, Yonce (yep, you heard me right), and Haunted.
And it got lot of booty. And skins. And booty. Seriously. Yes we guys (I) love booty, but we (I) like them discreet, flash us (me) here and there and we (I) will keep thirsty for more. Flood us (me) in booty and we (I) will get sick of it. Eventually. Or maybe not. LOL.

So, there you are: my review of Queen B newest album, BOMB. Ignore me and enjoy the album (and the videos). This one is really nice and solid album. Just don't hit shuffle, because this album is best enjoyed straight from track 1 to track 14.

pssst... Queen B booty is really HOT!!!

Review: Christina Aguilera - Lotus (updated)

Hello there! How are you? Have you listened to Mrs. Aguilera newest album yet? No? Then maybe you will find this review pretty old-school.

The cover is quite interesting: the naked Mrs. Aguilera rising from a lotus blossom. Don't worry, the interesting parts are hidden, so it's still quite safe. The pinkish color used is bit departure from Christina Aguilera image of sexy, mature diva. It's just so girly, like the cover you will find on some girl-band from Japan or Korea.

The Album Cover.

I have the Lotus Deluxe Version which contained 17 tracks below:

1. Lotus Intro
2. Army of Me
3. Red Hot Kinda Love
4. Make the World Move (feat. CeeLo Green)
5. Your Body
6. Let There Be Love
7. Sing for Me
8. Blank Page
9. Cease Fire
10. Around the World
11. Circles
12. Best of Me
13. Just a Fool (with Blake Shelton)
14. Light Up the Sky
15. Empty Words
16. Shut Up
17. Your Body (Martin Garrix Remix)

This albums is quite diverse in music style, although generally still dance oriented. I loved the marching drum touch on Cease Fire, Around the World and Best of Me (sometimes I found myself humming the chorus baby cease fire, fire, fire, while walking like an idiot. Yes, it's that infectious).
Throw in Christina's vocal of gymnastic, and you got powerful, energetic, toe tapping album. Although personally I feel Mrs. Aguilera sounded bit strained on some songs, but then, that screaming-like, powerful soprano IS Christina brand-style.

The lyrics is quite standards, you know, for a dance pop albums. You got some interesting lyrics now and then (Use my name as your claim to fame / Got my smell of success on your breath on Circle), but others are the usual stuff. I felt this album lyrics is mainly about how she got herself up and strong after some big break-up. Pardon my ignorance, but I really didn't interested on the artist life, all I interested is their musics.

Not all the songs are dance oriented song with bass pounding, however. There are some track's which quite a keeper. I personally like Sing for Me and Blank Page. Just a Fool is quite likeable actually, if not for how it sounded like a battle contest between Christina Aguilera vs. Blake Shelton. Please Mrs. Aguilera, Mr. Shelton, this is not a battle round of the Voice, play nice!!! Speaking about Blake Shelton, I just always thinking his name spelled backward, Shelton Blake sounded just so much more nicer!!! LOL.
Some grippe: the bonus tracks Light Up the Sky sounded like something out of Ryan Tedder's song book while Empty Words sounded just like the one you got from Leona Lewis old album Echo. Why not include more different tracks?

The production isn't that great, with my DR150 (which is quite detailed), I can hear how the instruments got smashed together: no separation, air, soundstage. The bass is mainly on mid-bass area, with big boomy sound to boot. The treble too, get too piercing sometimes, I need toning down about 3-5db on frequencies of 5 kHz and up on my foobar2000 equalizer. I hate doing equalizer, but this album won't listenable for long time if I don't do that.
On busy tracks, Christina vocals is going laid back, thankfully, reducing the fatigue immensely. On the simpler tracks however, you could hear how glorious Christina Aguilera vocal technique is. Pity she didn't includes more of those kind of songs.
Update: the production is really awful, opening a track on audacity, I can see how the track clipped. The compression is really high!

Verdict? Quite easy, if you like Christina Aguilera, you just had to listen to this album. For dance oriented song, maybe you better go to Rihanna albums. This album is a mix-and-match kind of album. Not quite dance-pop (although most of the songs of dance-pop flavored), but not quite balad-pop either. The result is an album which not too mainstream, but also have it's own flavors.

Review: The Haunted Man. Me, not dead, yet.

Me, still alive and kicking, even after missing for like, forever. Okay, not forever, but still, the last blog post is on July, for heaven sake. I'm sorry for abandoning this blog for several month, you know, I got busy with my new job. And just can't muster enough mood and energy for writing.

Anyway, I'm back now, and I hope I can update this blog more regularly. Now, I want to inform you about this cool album by a singer named Bat for Lashes. What a strange name don't you think?! Her album is titled "The Haunted Man". You had to see the album cover: a naked girl (or woman?) shouldering a naked boy (or man?). Really a distinct cover.

The distinct cover.

The track list is below:

1. Lilies
2. All Your Gold
3. Horses of the Sun
4. Oh Yeah
5. Laura
6. Winter Fields
7. The Haunted Man
8. Marilyn
9. A Wall
10. Rest Your Head
11. Deep Sea Diver

The album has a distinct atmosphere. The musics is simple yet powerful, the simplicity of it creating dark, mysterious scenes. You could hear every nuance of Natasha Khan (the singer's real name) voice. Beautiful.

One way or another, this album reminds me to Fiona Apple's last album: both had this beautiful simplicity although I think Bat for Lashes sounded more pop than the more jazzy Fiona Apple. And "The Haunted Man" had a more majestic feeling than "The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw & Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do" (yes, that's Fiona Apple album's title, quite a mouthful yes?).

Overall, I really like Bat for Lashes's The Haunted Man. It carry distinct sound while keeping the music simple, yet not boring to listen to. For you who appreciate good music with good vocals, I recommend you to try this out.

Recommended.

Review: Lana Del Rey - Born To Die

Note: this is my first review on English, so I apologize for any wrong grammar. English isn't my mother language.

This album Born To Die is an album by Lana Del Rey. For you who doesn't know her (yet), she also known as Lizzy Grant. In fact, she has already release an album (or mini-album or EP) before, using Lizzy Grant alias, but all trace of her persona were deleted when Lizzy (or Lana) sign to her current label. In fact, her management make sure ALL trace of Lizzy Grant was deleted, including her EP, website, etc. This "persona killing" is kind of make internet-crowd rather... unhappy. Yes that big italic-bold font I used there.

Anyway, regardless to what internet-crowd said, I would like to make a review (to stretch it a bit) for Lana Del Rey debut album. This album, released January 30th, titled 'Born To Die', composed of 12 tracks (mine is the Special Edition, which included 3 bonus tracks).

The album tracks list:

1.     Born to Die  
2.     Off to the Races  
3.     Blue Jeans  
4.     Video Games  
5.     Diet Mountain Dew  
6.     National Anthem  
7.     Dark Paradise  
8.     Radio  
9.     Carmen  
10.     Million Dollar Man  
11.     Summertime Sadness  
12.     This Is What Makes Us Girls

while the Special Edition bonus tracks are:

13.     Without You 
14.     Lolita 
15.     Lucky Ones   

Del Rey vocal is rather unique. Her voice reminds me to those old songs, when stereo record haven't invented yet. Low, dark, and sultry. Her voice really make 'Born to Die' shine. This dark song, with touch of orchestra, really nice to listen to. Third track 'Video Games' (which gone viral several months ago) also has the same nice tone because Del Reys vocal. And, yes, I'm kind of partial to low and dark voice.

Pity Del Rey didn't use the same voice on the other songs. Yes, she still maintain the same breathy low voice, but the high tone is more like..... bitchy, pardon for the french. Her high on the other song lost the dark and mature voice 'Born to Die' and 'Video Games' has, instead, she sounded whiny.
Don't take me wrong, on some song, this bitchy sound kind of in line with the song, like on the 2nd track, 'Off to the Races', and 'Dark Paradise' (which my 3rd favorite track), but I wish Del Rey go for dark and mature version of her voice.

From lyrical side, I have to point that Del Rey album didn't has the best lyric. It, more or less, has the same tone of 'good girl gone bad' or 'good girl fall for bad boy' etc, but some are rather nice, like when she sang Now my life is sweet like cinnamon / Like a fucking dream I'm living in / Baby love me cause I'm playing on the radio / How do you like me now? on 'Radio'. Or how she sang Money is the anthem of success / So put on mascara, and your party dress on 'National Anthem'. It's all about love, money, party, sex and fame.

So, after listening to this album several days, my opinion is rather mixed. On one side, this album has this dark atmosphere, which I kinda liked, and unique sound to it. Some of the songs has this nice beat, which make me tap my feet. But on the other side, the tone of the songs are kind of similar. This similarity made the album felt whole. BUT, it also could make it dull. Which one is this album lay, I'll let you decide it by yourself.
And we're off to the races, places / Ready, set the gate is down and now we're goin' in / To Las Vegas chaos, Casino Oasis, honey it is time to spin