Color Me Red, Please

Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Album: Stadium Arcadium
Producer: Rick Rubin
Album Length 2:02:41
Release Date: 5 May 2006
Country: United States of America
Genre: Alternative, Rock
Band Members:
Flea - Bass/Trumpet
John Frusciante - Guitar/Background Vocals
Anthony Kiedis - Vocals
Chad Smith - Drums


Disc One: Jupiter
1. Dani California
2. Snow (Hey Oh)
3. Charlie
4. Stadium Arcadium
5. Hump De Bump
6. She's Only 18
7. Slow Cheetah
8. Torture Me
9. Strip My Mind
10. Especially In Michigan
11. Warlocks
12. C'mon Girl
13. Wet Sand
14. Hey

Disc Two: Mars
1. Desecration Smile
2. Tell Me Baby
3. Hard To Concentrate
4. 21st Century
5. She Looks To Me
6. Readymade
7. If
8. Make You Feel Better
9. Animal Bar
10. So Much I
11. Storm In A Teacup
12. We Believe
13. Turn It Again
14. Death Of A Martian

When Foo Fighters released In Your Honor in 2005, a double disc album - I thought it sucked. Mainly because they tried too hard, and after the first few songs, the album starting to sound too blatant. Every song sound the same, a repetition it's almost like they have recorded a bunch a song, and decided to put it in one album, without filtering out the bad ones, and hence a mundane record. Sorry, sometimes double-album just doesn't do it for me, and the conclusion I have is - don't make a double album unless you can fill the two album with good songs.

Unlike the Foo Fighters or any other double album out there, Red Hot Chili Peppers pulls it off with their most ambitious work yet of their twenty-three-career, Stadium Arcadium, the twenty-eight-song-double disc extravaganza - their most accomplished follow-up to their California recordings.

It's not hard to understand their intention with Stadium Arcadium. Red Hot Chili Peppers have come a long way to reach their status today. When formed in 1983, Red Hot Chili Peppers were a Hollywood band, and after releasing their first 4 miserable album, theme revolves around hard drugs and pathetic sex accompanied by utter chaos and tuneless vocals of Anthony Kiedis, Red Hot Chili Peppers were not million-copies-selling material. Following the death of their funding guitarist, Hillel Slovak, found overdosed in 1988, they traded their Hollywood dreams for the California dream. It was in 1991, they released Blood, Sex, Sugar, Magik under the producer Rick Rubin, the Chilis finally immersed from under the bridge to mainstream market. Gone are the days of socks hanging on their willies, Red Hot Chili Peppers work their way to a define their music, and finally succeded in 1999's Californication, making them the household name in United States. By 2002's By The Way, they already conquered the world selling millions of copies, picture one in every 35 Brittons own a copy of By The Way. And their latest release, Stadium Arcadium is their attempt to consolidate everthing they have done in the last decade, from Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik to Californication to By The Way. Produced by same longtime Red Hot Chili Peppers producer, Rick Rubin, Stadium Arcadium spread out over two hours of joyful listening pleasure of two disc, first named "Jupiter" and the second named "Mars", which each contains 14 songs. This album is a testament of what they do best; a psychedelic mix of spacial guitar-bass breaks with funky and physical arrangements that boost every track so effortlessly.

Much of the credit for this album's success goes to guitarist John Frusciante. Since being told by Kiedis "clean it up, Johnny," and making a come back in Californication, Red Hot Chili Peppers took a new turn in their music path, and in Stadium Arcadium we finally see them in full bloom, and noticed spotlight shifted from lead singer Anthony Kiedis, to John Fruschiante. If anyone loved the almost orgasmic solo by John Frusciante in "Scar Tissue", "Otherside" and "Californication", be prepared to hear the even more orgasmic solo in Stadium Arcadium, thanks to the brilliant arrangement, Frusciante was given a slot to showcase his talent in almost every single track. In fact it's not too exaggerating to dub John Frusciante the best living guitarist, because he is simply a genius. From near-fatal drug addiction to rehab and to the hero in Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante finally able to redeem his spot as a guitar master, and he just can't wait to do it. In the opening track, "Dani California", he showed off his talent with the amazing Jimi Hendrix guitar solo style and then did it again in "Wet Sand". His beautiful and immaculate style creates a new depth and dimention to each track, and hence producing the complete, almost perfect Stadium Arcadium.

Of course, Red Hot Chili Peppers are a true band, where everyone plays their part, and no one is ever replaceable. Bassist, Flea, regarded as one of the world's best bassist is in full bloom too, totally taking control of the mostly bass-driven "Tell My Baby" then moving to the funky-franting-popping bass in "Toture Me" and "21st Century" it's a true joy for the listeners. And then there's Kiedis, the lead vocal showing versality throughout the album, from singing with shouting and slurring to his original roots of rap-rock, he embrance each track and layer them with his deep emotions. And last but not least the drummer Chad Smith, beating the drum hard core like there is no tomorrow, creating head-phone candy arrangements that the listener could only enjoy with a pair of high-end headphone, or a sub-woofer.

Now lets start with the content, Disc 1 dubbed Jupiter is unquestionably the side that contain most of the best songs, and I bet most of the singles would've came off Jupiter. Dani the girl.. (By The Way) appeared for the third time in "Dani California", the opening track, also the first single of this album, is probably the popest, and catchiest song in Stadium Arcardium and sure to be another summer anthem. "Charlie" is another powerful gem, starting with monochromatic guitar breaks, and suddenly bursts into the crazy falsetto harmonies of Frusciante's guitar solo. Glimpses of By The Way and Californication influence is evident in the rather mid-tempo tracks "Slow Cheetah", "Strip My Mind" and "Wet Sands" which are equally infectious on it's own way. Omar Rodriguez of Mars Volta made a guest-appeareance on "Especially In Michigan" playing the solo, apparently because John Frusciante appaeared on one of the track in Mars Volta's debut album, De-Loused In Comatorium.

Moving on to Disc 2, the one called Mars, presumably because it's a bit further, and hence harder to reach. While I haven't throughly listened to Mars, there are some worth mentioning highlights include "Desecration Smile", which retains the feeling of "Scar Tissue" and "Californication". "Turn It Again" is a perfect blend of the four-piece, with the spatial bass breaks of Flea, the yearning vocal of Keidis and finally ends with the almost two-minute intricate-final-crushing-mind-blowing guitar solo of Frusciante, this is one of the true gem in the album. Finally, the Chilis experimented a little in "Death of A Martian", the closing track for Stadium Arcadium, revealing the softer side of Red Hot Chili Peppers, with the almost psychedelic bass chanting alongside with Keidi's vocal.

Stadium Arcadium would probably recieve two extreme critique, either very good, or mediocre. For die hard Red Hot Chili Pepper's fans, Stadium Arcadium could probably be their best album to date. For Red Hot Chili Peppers dummies, this album would probably be the best to summarize their musical journeys in twenty three years, and for strict music critics, they would probably think Red Hot Chili Peppers played it way too safe and stayed in their comfort zone. Nothing groundbreaking. Some might say the Chilis could have done better if they narrowed down to few good tracks and working on the strong points instead of working with mere 30 songs and produced a 28 track album. Where I am neither of those, I think Stadium Arcadium is neither about making statement, or breakthrough. Stadium Arcadium is Red Hot Chili Peppers at their top of their game, at their state of total indulgement and freedom, almost like their California-dreams-came-true-moment. Out of 28 tracks of Stadium Arcadium, there are at least 14 stand-out singles, while more songs could possibly grow on the listener, Stadium Arcadium is the 21st century's answer to the period of Queen, Led Zeppelin and Guns 'n' Roses. Stadium Arcadium is an epic.

Beaker's Verdict: A+

Trivia; Stadium Arcadium sold 442,000 units in its first week of release in the U.S alone (2002's By The Way sold 282,000 copies in its first week), and after it's first week of release, it sold over 1 million copies worldwide. Currently Stadium Arcadium topped album sales chart in 24 different countries, making it their most successful album to-date.

Feelin' Rather Ripped

I remembered I picked up Da Vinci Code back in mid 2004 when I was in Wellington. Before that, I have no idea what the book is about. The cover looked boring, and all I know is that I remember seeing it on top of every best-seller shelf every bookstore I went. I found myself picked up the book and read the plot summary on the back cover. What's the fuss? It's just another fiction, but I bought it anyway because I have a 12 hour train ride for me to read when I leave Wellington 4 days later. As soon as I start reading, holy oh my god, it's like so so interesting, I mean,... well anyway, I ended up staying up late, finishing the book in 3 days, because I was simply too obsessed with it and I don't even want to put it down because I just had to know what happened next.

So after almost two years waiting for the movie to hit the big screen, it comfirmed the exciment as well as my fear; it did not live up to my expectation. What I find amusing about the original fiction is that it is so full of adventure and the detailed description of how the codes are being cracked, and how Dan Brown has so richly potrayed each character in the book. And these are exactly what the movie lacks of. Picture this, Ron Howard decided to take the 400 pages book to a butcher shop and had it chopped to pieces. "Wait a minute, how about Leornado DaVinci? I can't possibly butcher him man," says the butcher, and Ron Howard would reply "Don't worry about that, I am sure my viewers had read the book with all the reference books available out there". The movie fails because it left out the most interesting thing the book offered; the meanings behind Da Vinci's work, and the mythologycal background associated with the master himself. Having said that doesn't mean Ron Howard (or the writer for that matter) disrespected the book. They probably have too much respect for it to follow it so faithfully that the movie had to have everything that was mentioned in the book, and that is the reason why it loses so much vital information. For those who went to Venus for vactions, ie, those who had not read the book, they would either find the movie amusing because they don't have the expectation/pressure after having read the book; or totally hated it because they have no fucking clue to what is going on in the movie. Holy Grail? Mary Magdelene? Jesus's Wife? WTF????????? I mean how could a movie that provide so many clues could remain entirely cluesless? Are the viewers supposed to crack the Da Vinci Code themselves? I don't think so.

** Warning: Spoiler Ahead**

So to elaborate where I am coming from, first of, when Langon arrived at the magnificient Lourve, Captain Bezu mentioned about the mysterious 666 pieces of glass used to construct the glass pyramid. Great piece of information huh, probably too great to elaborate further, Langdon rushed to the crime scene where the Lourve curator Jacques Sauniere was killed and had left a weirdshit symbol on his body, some absurd numbers, and some nonsence clues on the floor. Immediately, Sophie came into play and says "It's fibonacci sequence". Then come Robert Langdon, who happened to have just read "O Draconian Devil" written on the floor concluded "it's anagram" and so clever-ly rearranged to word and BANG! "Leornado Da Vinci!!" . So, wow, Fibonacci huh, Anagram huh? Cool, now let's assume that Fibonacci and Anagram has to do with Leornado, so why not go and have a look at the Mona Lisa for some clue? Hmm, probably not, it's just a painting, well, let's move on to the Madonna of the Rocks. Nothing, oh ah, the police is chasing us, we'd better flee the Lourve.

Run Run. Que. Opus Dei, Opus Dei and Opus Dei. Cool. Before the viewer even know what Opus Dei is, comes the death. Well it doesn't take Pentium 4 to process it. It's some religious extremist because where there is Opus Dei, sure we expect to see death. Hmm, wait a minute, what the hell is the thing Silas is wearing? Oh why is he beating himself up? Oh hang on, what does it have to do with Leronado DaVinci then? Pick up a book or maybe sit in the cinema for mere 120 minutes before the movie finally revealed that Opus Dei, is actually an extrimist sect of Catholic and that Silas is actually cleansing his daily sin with those bondage looking tools.

Another problem with the movie is how the characters are being potrayed. I certainly do not question Tom Hanks's (or Audery Tautou) ability to act and I think they suit the characters just fine. But watching the movie, I can't help but to feel an utter disguist to the poor character development and the zero chemistry between them. The plot is not driven by it's character but by the over fast-paced need to find a solution, moving quickly from one scene to another resulting a painfully blatant presonality. But I do praise Ian McKellen for playing the character Leigh Teabing. He is the only character in the movie that actually performed better than what the book described.

Last but not least, I also have problem with the flashbacks to ancient biblical and medieval historical religious wars in the Holy Land and Europe. C'mon, what are you thinking, they look like pieces taken from Kingdom of Heaven oh-my-god. I did expect these flashback and was actually pretty excited as how it will be done in the movie. However, what I did not expect is how poorly it's done. It was just seconds of glimpses accompanied by Robert Langdon's speech about the history, and trust me it's really not convincing at all.

Anyway, this movie is neither bad or good, it's like a religion. Either believe it or not. Watch it and decide for yourself

I Am Confused.

So Rei and I are going to watch Da Vince Code on Saturday since everyone else who is doing design is kinda stressed the hell out of themselves, I am rather excited. It has been released today, which makes NZ first country in the world to premier the movie. However, I checked on rottentomato.com, 24 reviews has been officially posted and 19 out of 24 says the movie sucked. So what the hell? I am confused, will the movie actuall kill the book? Or maybe because people just hated the book because all the fuss it has been getting lately. I am still excited.

想起聽王菲的日子.

無常
曲/詞﹕王菲

夜風微涼
樹搖月晃
雲兒在飛
我在想
水流
花兒香
一片夜色放心上
喜中帶憂
暗中有光
怎麼度
怎麼量
田野
山崗
美麗之下的淒涼
無常
你看那山色湖光
你看那藍天白楊
看不到一絲渺茫
你再看海天碧浪
你再看晚霞曙光
禁不住匆匆忙忙
把希望留給失望

浮躁專輯(1996)

A Little Indie and A Little Metal

Album: Grand Unification
Artist: Fightstar
Release Date: 06 March 2006
Genre: Emo-rock, Metal
Country: London, United Kingdom
Band Members:
Alex Westaway (vocals, guitar)
Charlie Simpson (vocals, guitar)
Dan Haigh (bass)
Omar Abidi (drums)

Fightstar is a rather interesting band. If you have heard of Busted,the teen-pop band and totally hated it, there'd probably be a prejudice about this band because Charlie Simpson used to be in Busted. But then I didn't know when I listened to Grand Unification, and only to found out soon after it. Lucky that I didn't, I find this album surprisingly pleasant. I was mostly intrigued by the album artwork, provoking a sense of doom, dark and mysterious, so as the album.Listening to this album is like being educated in Fightstar's own theories, from opening interlude To Sleep to closing track, Wake Up, Grand Unification is a pretty consistent album which is why it is pleasant. Though it lacks of surprising moments, this album has it's own hiddem gem. Waste a Moment and Open Your Eyes are infectious in it's own way while Grand Unification Part 2 is the song that shows Fightstar's strength, from the message it's trying to say to how they uniquely presented the song. Perhaps Busted would be the reason that killed the hype Fightstar should be getting. Grand Unification is definetly not a masterclass release, moderate at it's best but other than that, the album is very successful in creating the mood for listeners, totally transform the listener into their Grand Unification project. From start to end, this album is worth a listen.
:: Beaker's Verdict: B-


Album: As Fas As The Eyes Can See
Artist: People In Planes
Release Date: 28 March 2006
Genre: Indie-rock
Country: Cardiff, United Kingdom
Band Members:
Gareth Jones (vocals)
Peter Roberts (guitar)
Kris Blight (bass)
John Maloney (drums)
Ian Russell (keyboard)

As Far As The Eyes Can See is one of my favourite album so far in 2006. From Cardiff, UK, People In Plane's debut album is an unique indie album that has been much under-rated. Generally, people can say this is an indie album but really, there are several noticeable genres in this album that it's much more than indie. And this is why this album is so brilliant. Their ability to blend their musical instruments with their vocal perfomance to create songs heavy with atmosphere and complex with melodies is where they come out different than any other indie bands. As Far As.. is a good album full of hidden gems, and the listener would be surprised to find out what the album has to offer songs after songs. The highlight of the album would probably Token Trapped Women, from the words to the guitar riffs to the vocals, this song is a almost a perfection. Falling by the Wayside is also another gem. The vocal performance was stunning accompanied by dark atmospheric slow acoustic guitar riffs. "I'm losing control, falling by the wayside, I'm losing control, falling by the way side.." there is just something painful and gloomy about the way he sings it. Fire would be my ultimate favourite of this album, it's slow and it's dark, the lyrics are brilliant. "The flower grieves the wall..." a sorrow way to kick off the song, and slowly, infecting my ears and then my mood. It's almost like I could feel the pain of the song. Closing track, Narcoleptic is their most ambitious attempt on this album, a blend of blues and rock, this song is unique at it's own right. This album by comparion, quality wise, is a very close follow-up to 2005's The National's third album, Alligator which was also no.3 in my 2005 favourite albums. It's very mood manipulating, and most importantly, People In Planes does not sound like any other bands out there. They've created an album that is pretty honest to themself, as well as to the listeners.

::Beaker's Verdict: A+

Album: Murder Nature
Artist: Head Control System
Release Date: 04 April 2006
Genre: Experimental, Metal
Country: Portugal, Norway
Band Members:
Daniel Cardoso
Kristoffer G. Rygg

I am pretty unfamiliar with heavy metal genre so I don't really know what makes up of this album to be considered as good. I was simply attracted to the title: Murder Nature and hence made an effort to listen to it, and really I quite like it. It's just my instinct that I think this album is pretty good. Kill Me, Rapid Eye Movement and It Hurt are some of my favourites.

::Beaker's Verdict: B

Comfort of Friends

I have a big fucking family - on it's 4th generation of Lim. The oldest in my family is of course my grandmother (Grandpa died before I was borned). I have 3 uncles, 8 aunts and more than 30 cousins. See that's fucked-up factor one. Then, I am the fucking asian which made it fucked-up factor number two. Having said that, asian families are generally fucked up, purely because being asian means holding on to the asian traditional values.

The word family scares me for some reason which I can't quite put it to words. And honest to god I hate it. My family is basically a big fucking drama, just like those prime time soap opera. See, the problem with having a big family is that there are too many people you have to answer to. When something happened, the phone just wouldnt stop ringing, one by one calling just had to know what happened. The words travel fast, and in almost every single case, the story will lost in translation, form bad to worst. Then comes the part everybody love to watch, the blaming game; you blame me, I blames you, she blames her and he blames him. Then after everyone had done some blaming and been blamed, there comes the cold war of prying eyes. They start to talk about you in your back, smile when they see you, then talk about you again. It's almost like it's never going to end.

For me, relying on your family is like walking into a lion's den and being eaten alive. I don't trust my family (again, except my actual family - mum dad bro sis) and I fucking hate them. They just simple don't fucking understand, and I am so fade up of living up to their expectations. I mean, they treat me like I am a fucking dream factory, like I can manufacture dreams for every single one of them, but sorry I am not. When I first told them I wanted to do architecture, non of them said anything (or perhaps they did behind my back) but if I were doing engineering or medicine, I'd probably be the star of the family. I don't know how they could produce so much disguist towards architecture. My uncle was like "Why can't you study architecture by yourself? A lot of architects don't go to university. You can just get books and study it. But it's different with engineering because it is so much harder and you have to go to university" (BTW he's an engineer and a fucking prick) I felt insulted and I felt like spitting on his face. One of my cousin is actually doing bio med, and I think they have no idea what that means and I suppose they assume it must be something bravo like doctor and guess what, they think she is fucking brainy. Why are they so fucking naive. Why are they so shallow. They're adults and they are supposed to know better than me, but obviously they didn't.

Words travel fast in my family, secret leaks and gossips travels. I know my aunts are saying that I am useless because I spent so much money studying architecture, almost spending all of my parents money. Somehow the words got to my mum and she was upset, and I felt guilty. One thing if they talk about me and just me, but I hate it when they talk about my mum. We are a fucking family for fucks sake and this is what it is being a family, talking shits about each other. Fuck them. When I got awards and shits, they didn't even care. All they see is the bad side. Like me smoking, big fucking deal. It's almost like 7 out of 10 architecture students are smoker. Then of course fucking naive old asian cunt, once they thought of cigaretts, instantly, they will relate it to drugs. Yes, they think I am doing drugs and so so so much more it's take me the whole day to list it out. Point is, in my life, I have been trying so hard, so hard to prove that I am not useless. I force myself to indulge in studies and get results and graduate but do they even care? No they don't. All they care is how bad things look and just how good they are at making things look even worst.

That is why, I find comfort from my friends. I am lucky because whether I am back home in M'sia or New Zealand, I have friends that I could find comfort from. People who don't judge me, people who accept me as it, and had never expected anything out of me or the friendship.

Few nights ago, I was having a conversation with Sajeev and Muy in the studio about this particular topic. I don't know how we even go to this conversation but just like me, they are having the same issues with their family, and we came to the conclusion that we are asians and that asians family are fucked up. Life is an utter chaos, I am fucked up, my family is fucked up but it's not the end of the world because I am not alone. Just like Sajeev said "You have to take control of your life". Yes, it's cliche but it's working. For now I manage to convince myself not to give a shit what my family have to say, and I want nothing to do with them, ever. I am taking control of my destiny, not them.


Meanwhile, I really wanna see Rooney playing in World Cup. Fuck Chelsea.

Autumn ' 06

: : : Life is beautiful when you guys are around.