Pop culture musings by Kevin Mathews
Back in the hazy-dazy days of 2001, I had put together a feature on one of my favourite bands, the Electric Light Orchestra, which included reviews of then-new album Zoom and the Eldorado re-issue and Flashback boxset.
Continue reading “PoP20 | PoP LEGENDS : OLÉ ELO – WHAT JEFF LYNNE/ELO MEANS TO … (2001)”
Ahead of Squeeze’s anticipated first gig in Singapore on May 4th, at the University Cultural Centre, here’s a short e-mail interview with founding member and frontman Glenn Tilbrook.
Continue reading “POWER OF POP INTERVIEW : GLENN TILBROOK OF SQUEEZE”
Definitely, one of the highlights of the recently concluded Music Matters Live 2017 was catching Perth quartet Childsaint performing at the Timbre Substation.
Continue reading “PoPTV | MUSIC MATTERS LIVE : CHILDSAINT INTERVIEW”
Gold Coast indie pop band Fairchild is in town for Music Matters Live 2017 and we had the chance to chat with them about their two year stint in the UK, why modern bands need to learn entrepreneurial skills and what the future holds for the band.
Continue reading “PoPTV | MUSIC MATTERS LIVE 2017 – FAIRCHILD INTERVIEW”
Music Matters is all about looking closely at the business aspects of music. Thus, it was appropriate that we spent some quality time discussing with M1LDL1FE (viz. Paddy, David, Peng Sing and Jeryl) about the music business issues a modern Singapore band needs to face.
Continue reading “PoPTV | MUSIC MATTERS LIVE 2017 : M1LDL1FE INTERVIEW”
DEON remains one of our great pop-rock exponents in the local music scene. It’s been awhile since we featured DEON here and are thankful that Music Matters Live 2017 provides us with this opportunity as we talked to Deon Toh, the voice behind the band.
Continue reading “LIVE NEWS | MUSIC MATTERS LIVE 2017 : DEON”
Melbourne band Swim Season draw from the five very different musical backgrounds of its members- James Seymour (Vocals/Guitar), Matthew Jennings (Guitar/Vocals), Danielle Smarrelli (Keys/Vocals), Nelson Yeung (Bass) & Jonathon Ferraro (Drums).
So what can we expect from this quintet with the shiny indie pop sound? Guitarist Matt fills us in.
Continue reading “LIVE NEWS | MUSIC MATTERS LIVE 2017 – SWIM SEASON”
Indian rock band Yesterdrive cite the influences of The Cure, The Ramones and The Band of Horses as being critical to their music, which is right up our alley.
Continue reading “LIVE NEWS | MUSIC MATTERS LIVE 2017 : YESTERDRIVE”
Singapore musicians would be familiar with Mike Spinks, as Spinks has in recent years been instrumental in organising several open mics across the island, most significantly at the Hard Rock Cafe. Now, Spinks has taken the logical step of harnessing the online local music community to initiate the City65 Music Festival to be held on Saturday 15 April 2017 from 2pm. With City65 coming up very soon, we got Spinks to share with us his thoughts about the local music scene, his involvement and of course, the festival itself.
Continue reading “LIVE NEWS : CITY65 MUSIC FESTIVAL 2017 – AN INTERVIEW WITH MIKE SPINKS”
Singer-songwriter Fym Summer has released one of the best EPs of 2017 – the Luna EP. Read what Fym has to say about her journey so far…
US punk rockers Anti-Flag makes their first appearance in Singapore on 13th December at the Aliwal Arts Centre. Singer/bassist Chris #2 took time out of the band’s busy touring schedule to answer our queries.
It’s a brave new (music) world as far as SA is concerned. Founded in 2010, the band takes its name from Northern Chinese dialect, 仨, which means three, as a tribute to their traditional Chinese roots though all three are Singaporeans.
Continue reading “POWER OF POP INTERVIEW: SA – GOING WITH THE FLOW”
When it comes to sharing his opinion about the local music scene, singer-songwriter Nelson Tan does not mince his words.
“The local media, be it TV, radio or print, needs to get out there and feature more local content and talent, instead of the same old few over and over and over again,” Tan declared, “we have many many good songs and great bands made in Singapore that deserve airplay and I feel that we have to give ourselves a chance to appreciate what we have here, not just the familiar names.”
Continue reading “POWER OF POP INTERVIEW: NELSON TAN DARES TO BELIEVE WITH NEW ALBUM”
Mark Bacino is a Pop Underground favourite whose music (featured in three albums – Pop Job, The Million Dollar Milkshake and Queens English) gets mentioned whenever rock journalists need to define the best power pop music out there. We talked to Bacino about the past (his acclaimed music), the present (his new single, “Not That Guy”) and the future…
Art is life. Certainly a truth that singer-songwriter essence (her real name) adheres to. On her new album – Black Wings – essence digs deep into her personal experience to create emotionally resonating material. Intriguing, no? We thought so and thus, via email, we endeavoured to find out more.
English singer-songwriter Ralegh Long’s new EP – We Are in the Fields – is a lovely pastoral rumination and very much a continuation of his well received Hoverance LP. Ralegh was kind enough to answer a couple of our queries regarding the new EP, via email.
Ever since it was announced that singer-songwriter Chris Collingwood would release a new album under the Look Park moniker, there has been speculation online about the status of Fountains of Wayne, the band with which he made his name. Via email, Collingwood touched upon this issue and how Look Park signals a new era of music making for him.
Seattle’s The Salt Riot released one of the most memorable albums in recent times – Dead Star – that lives up to the promise of what we call ‘The New Rock N Roll’. We connected with lead singer-songwriter and guitarist Julia Vidal via email to gain insight into this intriguing emerging band.
Continue reading “POWER OF POP INTERVIEW – JULIA VIDAL/THE SALT RIOT”
Vancouver quartet JPNSGRLS gave us Circulation two years ago – Power of Pop’s Album of 2014 – and new album, Divorce, proves that Circulation’s artistic success was not a one-off. We caught up with vocalist Charlie Kerr (far right, above) via email to talk about the stories behind Divorce.
Continue reading “POWER OF POP INTERVIEW – CHARLIE KERR/JPNSGRLS”
bittymacbeth (aka Beth Yap) launches her debut album Beauty for Ashes at the Esplanade Recital Studio tomorrow night. Guess what? SOLD OUT! In any case, Beth was kind enough to take part in our PoP Ten for our reading pleasure. Enjoy!
Singer-songwriter DEON has just released Oceans Remix, a free to download EP, available at various digital platforms.
One of the most refreshing discoveries of this year for Power of Pop has to be Glasgow-based indie band, Tuff Love.
Their new album Resort – a compilation of three previously released EPs is the perfect jumping on point for anybody who has not heard of this amazing band yet.
Best part of all this is that based on the answers from Julie and Suse, Tuff Love is as charming, witty and down to earth as their heartfelt music suggests. Enjoy!
The year is almost done but .gif (viz Weish & Din, above) probably delivered one of the best ways to see out an amazing 2015 for Singapore music with its debut album, soma. Here’s what the dynamic duo thought about what the year was all about…
And then just for a moment/You’re lost in the jukebox glow/Hypnotized you make your selections/Psychedelic rock and blue eyed soul (“Are You Ready?”)
For the first time in forever/I lay the needle down inside the groove/And for the first time in forever/I’m hearing bands like they’re all brand new (“Rainy Day Record”)
Two songs that caught my ear on The Light in You, the first Mercury Rev LP since 2008. Which is about the length of time since I saw the band in concert (at Baybeats 2007 at the Esplanade Concert Hall). The hiatus seems to have invigorated Jonathan Donahue & Grasshopper (aka Sean Mackowiak) – the prime movers behind these veteran psychedelic-folk-rockers – as evident on the new album as well as their electrifying performance at the Neon Lights Festival on 29th November at Fort Canning Park.
Continue reading “NEON LIGHTS SPECIAL: MERCURY REV — MUSIC FOR MUSIC’S SAKE”
A good song is a good song!
People often think that pop music needs to divided into different genres and generations and never the twain shall meet. But artists never think that way. It would be fair to describe Swedish-born Berlin-based electronic music producer and DJ Axel Willner (aka The Field) as part of the modern day pop scene & fail to appreciate the fact that Willner is inspired and influenced by music from all genres and all generations. Critics may have labelled The Field under the ‘minimal techno’ genre but throughout his career he has resisted been pigeonholed to such an extent that he has utilised different monikers (Eg. Cordouan, James Larsson, Loops of Your Heart, Porte and Hands) to escape the straightjacket of critics’ and fans’ limited expectations.
As part of the effort to promote The Field’s performance at Neon Lights Festival at 6.15pm, we had an email exchange with the forward-thinking artist.
Continue reading “POWER OF POP INTERVIEW: THE FIELD AT NEON LIGHTS FESTIVAL”