#375 Justin Bieber – Baby

“Baby baby baby ohhh like, baby baby baby nooo like, baby baby baby…” Great pop songs have great hooks, and this is why Justin Bieber’s “Baby” is one. In terms of great pop songs called “Baby”, it’s right up there with Os Mutantes, who gave us their very own in 1968. And if the chorus isn’t catchy enough, check out Ludacris’ backup vocals. “Yo, uh huh. Yo, uh huh.” Yo, you know what I mean, dawg. Two great hooks for the price of none, right here on Youtube. Uh huh. – Song-Ming.

mp3: Justin Bieber – Baby (Live on David Letterman)

Song-Ming Ang makes art about music, and recently received the Young Artist Award in Singapore. Congrats Song-Ming!

Music Alliance Pact – November 2011 Issue

SINGAPORE: I’m Waking Up To…
Magus – Riders On Psychedelics
Magus is a new collaboration between Mark Dolmont and Leslie Low, the latter best known for his work with Humpback Oak and The Observatory. Their debut effort is fittingly the first release by Ujikaji Records, a new independent label and distro focusing on experimental music in the region. The album, titled Sun Worshipper, presents a dark and spiritual brew of kraut-inspired psychedelia which makes for an addictively harrowing pilgrimage through the deepest of valleys. – Dan.

To download all 35 songs in one file click here. MAP is published on the 15th of every month, featuring a showcase of music handpicked by bloggers from all over the world.

#374 WU LYF – Spitting Blood

Most of the dust has settled following the mid-year hype and fashionable mystique surrounding young Manchester outfit WU LYF, but it seems never quite completely. I needed some distance from the flurry of media attention surrounding their self-released debut Go Tell Fire to the Mountain, but within a couple of months I couldn’t resist sneaking a peek, finding myself drawn instantly to the band’s stirring rallying call, manifest primarily in Ellery James Roberts’ ravaged, war-battered and often indecipherable (at least to my non-Mancunian ears) vocals. “Spitting Blood” is arguably the finest example of their radical brand of primordial, fist-clenched urgency, especially when deployed with the devasting force of a church organ and spat out in a most joyously combative manifesto. – Dan.

mp3: WU LYF – Spitting Blood

Go Tell Fire to the Mountain is out now on LYF Recordings.

#373 B-Quartet – We Vacate

Of course I’m sad that it’s going to be B-Quartet‘s last gig this coming Tuesday, as they vacate the niche they’ve comfortably carved for themselves at the intersections, on one hand, between post-apocalyptic poetry and (most recently) the philosophy of Theodore Adorno, and on the other, across an astounding diversity of musical genres. With only two albums and an EP released in over a decade, their’s may seem a less than-prolific career and the impending infinite hiatus coming a tad too soon. But the upcoming Lasalle gig, together with White Shoes and the Couples Company from Indonesia and SayCet from France, sounds less like a farewell and more a homecoming shared with new friends. There’s a time for everything, and I’m looking forward to this one. – Dan.

We’re going home, we’re going home.

mp3: B-Quartet – We Vacate

B-Quartet’s last gig is, coincidentally, the first by organisers Figure8. The concert takes place on 8 November (Tuesday), 7pm, at Lasalle College of Arts Main Theatre in Singapore. Please visit the official site for more details.