Icelandic & Singapore music scenes - Why They Can and We Can't

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

Organising group hugz lah. Not enough love for a moment there mah.
Why, what you want?

heh, no lah, just trying to kacau a bit. Everytime har, got such topic in soft(heh, try searching for singapore scene, scene, local music threads in the forum) half way thru, the threadstarted always disappear and never to come back. In the end, the thread died halfway and after a while new group of people, come in, start the same thing, everything start to go over again.

i always wonder what happen to them though. Never seem to see much of them around here anymore, guess shud be doing more things out there.

 

[edder]

Okay, let's organize a music revolution.

Music revolution to me right here right now is to listen to Overhaul in Damnation, Sonicbrat and Pathein's trippy diepruckerdie

 

[shinobi]

it's not "all over again" lah

because every once in awhile the scene change... just like a movie

but sometimes you watch a period war movie with one sex scene and tons of gory scenes... but in order to sellout they cut the sex scene while the blood still flows, and slap a PG rating on it

but i digress. if anyone knows what i'm talking about can pm me the goods thanks

 

[rottenramone]

i just came back from golden mile thai disco and we're still talking???

 

[shinobi]

thai disco doing wad

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

marketing research perhaps, on the possibility in setting up a singapore style disco.

If thai disco can be a form of business, how bout singapore disco?

why thai disco can and singapore disco cannot!

 

[ac]

Originally Posted by AgingYouth View Post
Blah blah blah blah...
All this is just talk! Go out and do something and live your life at 100% lifeforce!!! >>>>

Ooooh talking smack. Just out of curiosity i googed "a man's life force" and here it is ..... http://www.grupthink.com/answer/82585

And like shinobi says "forum dun talk then do what?" i think if there's nothing to contribute to the conversation, try somewhere else. Working to bring up the scene doesn't mean every discussion that doesn't go the way of mutual self love deserves scorn. That kind of love also kills the scene in the long run.

i'm with rork about the need to be more discerning about the musical output. And i don't have a census poll or survey, but i think the icelanders have enough time to be critical of their own music, without which, you might as well just randomly chop up tracks from the current sample CD of the month, layer with a synth, twiddle some bass and serve up with a dish of autotuned vocals.

 

[edder]

do we really really know how the icelandic people behave and think? awesome!!!

AC Nielson needs choo! :mrgreen: hur hur hur I jest I jest.

I'm equally fascinated with Sigur Ros and their concept of music.

 

[betsybug]

new group of people, come in, start the same thing, everything start to go over again.

Mr Pat, yeah I have read those threads too. Actually I have been lurking anonymously in soft for some time - that's my style; I don't think it's good to plunge straight in, ignorant of the culture/tenor of the community and end up upsetting the natives.

So, I have a fair idea of those threads you mean. And therefore, I did not set out to go over the same grounds ie lament about all the perceived bad stuff that is holding us back. Rather I want to offer the view that,

1. We have a lot going for us,
2. Other countries also have bad stuff going for them
3. That all this doesn't matter anyway - we just have to plunge ahead

So, I am not really keen to go through (yet again) the same catalogue of perceived downsides/rationalisations. But somehow, the siren calls of the old arguments seem always to pull the discussion into those well-trodden paths. In my more devious moods, I can't help wondering if that is because it offers a convenient excuse for us to explain why we still haven't "made it" (and again I qualify this with "whatever that means anyway").

 

[snuffleupagus]

now I know what "life force is" thanks ac!

 

[RoRK]

DANG! And to think that before, I knew nuts about lifeforce!

haha! Eh, but ok if thread title or its avenue is similar. Even if gotch one new shiny nut with which to screw amongst nine old rusted nuts, it's still an improvement that may hopefully allow us to live our nuts to 150% lifeforce - in terms of music of course.

And even then, it's like 10 people looking up at the sky and looking at the clouds - to look for image clouds to see. A few may see the same, one or two or more may see things that only they themselves see.

Gotch same but can be different. Gotch boring but can be oso new, interesting and exciting. And if can oso be beautiful then even more I RIKES!

 

[ac]

=edder


Basically any country is the same as each other, just little socio/geographical differences express themselves in ways that might seem strange/different. So no, you don't really need to know how they think, just ask yourself how you'd react if you had the same sets of circumstance.

Short of a few bands, iceland doesn't really have that much musical clout, unlike the states/uk/european bands. It's just that the ones that do get out tend to have fanatical devotees. For every cardigans, there's probably thousands more bands that don't make it past their normal watering hole circuit, same as everywhere else.

i think bjork got really lucky with her debut album. The rave/house/techno scene was really taking off and her vocal based tracks stood out. Some cynics might say it's lucky she got with tricky and goldie.

Sigur ros are also quite lucky too. During that period of declining sales, everyone was trying to latch onto something new, and with the internet becoming a lot more mainstream, they managed to gain a traction with their album.

Musically, the icelanders have a great and long tradition of folk and vocal traditions. So great in fact that tolkien found inspiration for his works in them.
I find most of sigur ros's music to be hymn like, i guess in a way being a great bridge between the old and the new, hence their popularity in iceland.

 

[betsybug]

Short of a few bands, iceland doesn't really have that much musical clout, unlike the states/uk/european bands.

ac, you need to think of proportionality here viz:
Iceland - pop 300,000
United Kingdom - pop 60.5million (201 times greater than Iceland)
United States - pop 304.6million (1,015X)
Europe - pop 731million (2,436X) - for convenience, all countries west of Russia

Then, we can fairly compare their musical clout.

 

[betsybug]

Just to add to the above, in terms of soft power, the US far out-weighs the others including the whole of Europe which has more than twice the US population. In this regard, tiny, tiny Iceland punches above its weight class.

bb
*who doesn't believe in luck. *

 

[ac]

hehe did you get that from that article on icelandic musicians punching way past their weight class? I read that too, in fact, that turn of phrase has been used quite a number of times in many articles that it's a little meaningless to me.

Undoubtedly, the soft power of the US sweeps over everything. Like i mentioned, the cultural hegemony of the west, the US really when relative to popular music, means everything is couched in their terms, from the squelches of 303 basslines, to bowed guitars, to gut wrenching emo.

Comparatively, you could wonder why there are icelandic musicians that are fairly famous and assume it's a question of just musical talent, and their musicality allows them to 'punch above their weight class', but i think the reality is that the plugging of the icelandic scene as 'hip' allowed it to cross borders. i especially remember damon albarn forever mentioning the hipness, that it got to be a little silly.

The thing with luck is that there isn't a lot of it. Most of it is hard work, talent, skill and the ability to read the buying public ( if you're looking to sell your work ), the other bits such as the pick up by a different country's media, word of mouth, depends a little on luck.

Well, with the internet, that buzz by the mags and radio stations, might not be the only way to put out that music, so we're going to be in for some interesting times.

 

[AgingYouth]

Holy shit!!!

This thread is still alive!!!

I've nothing to say!!!

Only but to quote my fallen bro bro GuYRENce bro, live your life at 100% lifeforce!!!<< >>>

* Er, which way are the arrows supposed to point? < or >? *

 

[AgingYouth]

Thats why even though I hate bro bro aging youth bro bro guts but i is still RESTEPHER him nong nong cos he is a do'er! Still luvinz you bro bro aging youth bro!

I'll like to dedicate one of my favourite songs from one of my favourite Singapore RAWWWWWKKKKK bands, The Boredphucks. Stay kewl and funkay 4eva!!!

The song is 'Ai Sio Kan Mai?'

 

[betsybug]

hehe did you get that from that article on icelandic musicians punching way past their weight class? I read that too, in fact, that turn of phrase has been used quite a number of times in many articles that it's a little meaningless to me.

No, if I got it anywhere, it will be from all those political analysis pieces about Singapore and our footprint on world perception. But hey, I'll be mighty interested to read that piece you mentioned - where, where?

Luck - don't forget the ability to capitalise on opportunities as and when they arise. The "unlucky" ones sleepwalk through life.

 

[e]

What's up with Northern Europeans.. must be the water they're drinking....

Read this:
http://digital.spin.com/spin/200807/?u1=texterity

Go to "Contents" on the top Navi bar and click on page 76 article entitled "Swedish Music Ministers"

 

[sage]

Sage suggested this film about Iceland's music (we can all blame sage for starting this!) :
"Screaming Masterpiece"! Absolutely nuts about that one

Boo why you blame me? LOL
I'll catch up on the thread on the next break~

Sorry, carry on!