Sunday 31 May 2009

MV : "Tid ror wicha luem" by Air Suchawadee แอร์ สุชาวดี

Air's current album is very nice, this is a song from an earlier one.

Thursday 28 May 2009

MV : "Kae tor ma bork wa kid tung" by Luang Kai หลวงไก่

Luang Kai is back with his 4th album, i should get it soon but until then here is the title track.

Top 5 CDs of May 09

1) Bew Kalayanee - kumlung jai jark dan klai
2) Cream Pimwalai - nang sao khon mai
3) Ajareeya Bussaba - hua jai... mee ngarn kao
4) Takkatan Cholada - dok neon barn kum
5) Bua Bunchitar - yoo tee nhai jai kor kid tueng

Sunday 24 May 2009

MV : "Roob chua tua dum" by Morgan

Song from Morgan's 2006 album, hope a new album is coming soon!



Update : as if by magic a new album has been released! Actually no its not magic, i saw it was going to be released soon on the R-Siam website a few days ago.

MV : "Petch nai jai ter" by Namfon Patcharin

Nice melody though the singing is a bit weedy, still a decent song.

CD : Kumwarn Weerawech คำหวาน วีรเวศร์ - warn kung warn

The best way to sum up this album would be to call it a lukthung chill out album. Its very relaxing and slow paced music. Its beautifully sung and accompanied like on the opening track "Nokkamin" with it's sweeping strings. Most artists have taken pop and rock influences to fuse with the base lukthung root to create their music, Kumwarn has gone down the classical music and 60s cocktail music route and the result can be very enjoyable like on "Bua karng bueng" with it's strings and xylophone. Its lukthung to listen to in a poolside bar with a martini, dressed as James Bond.



"Dok mai klai mue" and the following tracks cover the same territory, it does became a big samey but the music is so well done. Its an album to put on in the background and let it wash over you. After a while it does tend to drag a bit but in small-ish doses this is a really good album and certainly very different to most other artists at the moment. Need to calm down, this will do the job.

Rating: 8.2/10

Favourite songs : Bua karng bueng, Nokkamin

Sunday 17 May 2009

MV : "Dork mai rim tarng" by Bua Bunchitar บัว บัณชิตา

Really enjoying Bua's second album, this is one of the better songs over the last couple of months.

CD : Thoo Daranee - bor aow... khon kee ju

Thoo Daranee's album is straight forward lukthung, no pretensions to rock or pop or even classical just good old lukthung. Of course this means its not that original. "Sao kern" which opens the album is a case in point, a good fast paced track with some guitar picking and pretty good vocals driving it along. Good little song but not something you haven't heard 100s of times before and often better too (though often a lot worse too!)



Thoo Daranee's vocals are good enough, better than adequate but again do not stand out. The title track "Bor aow khon kee ju" is quite interesting though with some variations in tone and is driven along with exuberance. "Suam kao" has some nice organ but again travels down well worn tracks. "Jarng mun ter" does have an intriguing intro sequence though that sounds like 1970s prog rock.

So its not original but thats not the point. Does it sound good, yes. Can it pass the time, yes. Will it sound great blasting out of a passing taxi's stereo? Oh yes. None of the tracks are what you could call bad and none are exceptional. Its just a pretty good lukthung album.

Rating : 7.5/10

Favourite songs : Suam kao, Sao kern

Monday 11 May 2009

Sunday 10 May 2009

CD : Pure Pure - kong len pood dai

I didn't enjoy Pure Pure's debut last year, i won't say i hated it but it was pretty forgettable. Her singing wasn't bad, even good at times but i couldn't engage with any of the songs. I decided to give her second album a go though and i am glad i did. "Tung jai ma lhork" starts proceedings off and is a terrific start to the album, a mid-paced ballad of a song with great singing, melody and instrumentation. Easily better than her entire previous album on it's own.



Did she just get lucky with that track though? No, "Leh lom luang" is another slow paced song which starts off with some lonesome bluesy guitar before another great melody. If anything its even better than the first song, Pure's vocals scorching through the music with real bite. "Koi" ups the pace a bit, only a bit and is another well sung country song with tasty guitar chords and another good melody.

"Khon kee ai" and "Kong len tee pood dai" keep the good music coming, the later with Pure's vocals cutting through a flute enhanced background. Its not all good, some of the later songs pick up the pace like on "Jeb eak tee ja dee mai" which is a decent fast lukthung song but Pure's vocals seem more suited to the slower songs where she can add to an atmospheric backing and then cut through with a killer chorus. So here we have it, a brilliant album. I'm so glad i gave her a second chance but i now need to check out last year's one again, maybe it wasn't that bad after all?

Rating : 8.9/10

Favourite songs : Leh lom luang, Tung jai ma lhork

Saturday 2 May 2009

MV : "Chao Nai Tee Hug" by Kat Rattikarn แคท รัตกาล

Off Kat's current album. Its a nice album, i like it a lot more than the previous two which i thought were a bit bland.

MV : "Ruk kon mee fan" by A Zeer เอเซียร์

New RS duo, their album is just out. Of course i will get it!