Introducing Pervasion*

*by Pui-Ching Ho

Pui-Ching Ho is in my top 5 favourite friends (if not top 3!) ;), plus I adore him as a composer and a musician; believe me that says a lot. We’ve been friends a long way back, when we both were undergrads – naïve, full of hopes and oh so optimistic. We often hung out, went to gigs, meals, talked about anything and nothing, and listened to music together. Until this day I can’t listen to Damien Rice or Mew or Porcupine Tree and the likes without thinking of him. And missing him, as of the year before last Pui-Ching moved back to Hong Kong to develop his music career. Have I not mentioned? Pui-Ching is brrrrrrrrrrrrrrilliant! I could sit in the dark for hours just listen to his voice and his guitar and he would sing to me his pieces and they were stunningly beautiful. So of course, he’s been thriving in Hong Kong – his popularity is unbelievable. He’s been performing, appeared on TV, interviewed by radio stations, the whole lot! I’m so proud of you, Pui-Ching. Please find below his latest MV called Pervasion. I vividly remember the first time I heard this song and how it struck me as a triumph of both melody and lyric. I hope you all will enjoy it too, and SPREAD THE WORD!!! 

Pervasion is a song I wrote when I was in London and Cambridge. It is now released through my own label White Dimension. As Wong Kar Wai said in In The Mood for Love, feelings come when we are unawared of it. They pervade. But in this modern world we all have been so busy with work and are afraid to disturb each other. Chances slip through our fingers being unnoticed. It is not until we freeze our space and time that we realize we have missed out way too much.

This is one of the 12 songs from my to-be-released concept album Shimmer of Dawn. If you like this song, please do spread the words for me and share it with friends! And please visit our Facebook and Myspace too!

H.N.

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Late Night Stories*

*by Hung Tran

Hung Tran is one of those people who are very dear to me :) We happen to share pretty similar taste in music, arts, films, and things (although it'd be bad of me not to mention that his taste is so much better than mine). He created this beautiful mix which I loved from the first listen, hence me asking his permission to share with all of you. Have a great weekend! 

Two weeks ago I read (and finished) Haruki Murakami's After Dark and found myself falling totally in love with its nocturnal/ surreal/ cinematic atmosphere. Inevitably came the idea of recreating that atmosphere using music; or put it this way: if one day David Lynch knocked on my door and asked me (which would never happen, I know) to choose some music to go with his film adaptation of After Dark, these are the songs I'd give him.

The mix was also made in a way that closely resembles the novel, alternating between bizarreness and calm (with a somewhat peaceful ending). 

[CLICK HERE TO LISTEN]

Photo by Hikaru Inoue

A pretty spot-on review for those who want to find out more about After Dark.

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From Danish Hearts*

*translated from DR with the help of Google Translate ;D 

Christmas is upon us and it means that the music shops are full of Christmas albums. One of the more interesting this year is Nicholas Nørlund’s project ‘From Danish Hearts’, where he collected a handful of young Danish bands and artists and gave them the task of interpreting a well-known Christmas song. The Kissaway Trail has also been invited to participate and they set themselves a challenge of covering one the most loved and hated Christmas songs of all time: Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’. 

A bit of background information: The Kissaway Trail is a five-piece indie rock band from Odense, Denmark. They follow a number of other Danish alternative bands to make names of themselves, such as Mew, The Raveonettes and Carpark North. Three members of The Kissaway Trail (Søren, Thomas and Rune) originally recorded together under the names of 'Hostmom' and 'Isles'. Isles self-released an album called ‘We have decided not to die’ in 2005. Since then, an additional guitarist, Daniel, and drummer Hasse joined the band, while Thomas started to sing alongside Søren making the distinctive two lead-vocal sound that they have today. 

"It is a very difficult number to do", says Soren Corneliussen from The Kissaway Trail. "For us it's the ultimate Christmas track."

But how long will it take to get George Michael’s out of everyone’s head and put The Kissaway Trail’s imprint on a song that everyone from four to ninety knows? "Well, it took Thomas (Fagerlund) two hours to make the draft as we went into the studio and worked on with. We wanted the number to sound like The Kissaway Trail, and it seems we have succeeded quite well."

And now that you have finished, and even think you have got away with it, are there any plans to send the interpretation to the original author, none other than George Michael? "Naaah, I don’t think so. He can find it on Youtube easily enough" says The Kissaway Trail.

Other bands and artists From Danish Hearts are:
Figurines – All I Want For Christmas Is You
Fallulah – Carol Of The Bells
Teitur – Happy Christmas (War Is Over)
The Blue Van – Merry Christmas Everybody
Coco – The Christmas Song
Peter Sommer – Fra Døren (Hansemand)
Sonja Richter – What Are You Doing New Years Eve
Kirsten & Marie – Little Drummer Boy
Jacob Bellens – You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You
The Fireflies – Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)
Nørlund/Giana Factory – En Helt Fantastisk Jul 

Now it’s time to check out this breathtakingly beautiful interpretation of Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’:

Last Christmas

Happy Christmas and A Wondrous New Year to all of you invisible peeps from April and Hien at newyorkcambridge.blogspot.com !!! 

And also, Happy Birthday to two of my most beloved people, T. and M. It's party time! ♥

H.N. 

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