In M.'s room

Hanging out with M. in his room really brings me back to my secondary school days when I would spend entire afternoons in my best friends' houses. Which is strange considering M. and I are 47 and 33 respectively.

But that is the thing about hanging out with M. The door is closed and you are shut off from the world outside. You don't even have to leave the room to go to the toilet. You listen to music, watch videos and talk about what's happened in your lives. He tinkers with his computer software, then takes out clothes he bought recently and models them for you. Later on, you proceed to other types of activities, but you have to be quiet because his mom is at home. Throughout all this, time seems to stand still so that you only know that it is 2am, 4am, then 6am, only by peering at the little clock on the computer screen.

Extended Souvenir

Yesterday night, 25 years after the song came out, I discovered that there is an EXTRA verse to OMD's "Souvenir" on the extended version that was only available with the limited edition 10-inch single. Imagine that! I was totally blown away...

My situation
It's imagination
There's no excuse
It's instantly a game
The conversation
The combination
I tell the truth
My feelings still remain

OMD is also the reason why I could spell "manoeuvres" at a tender age.
I'm so sad hor?

Oh wait... Cultural reference for zyn!

OMD: Stands for Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. British 80s synthesizer duo. Electronic arty sound in the early 80s later gave way to more commercial style. Best known for writing a song about the Enola Gay (called "Enola Gay"), "If You Leave" which was on the Pretty In Pink soundtrack and "So In Love" (with the seminal lyric "Heaven is cold, without any soul, it's hard to believe... I was so in love with youuuuu!")

Not "cutting" it

The release of the new Scissor Sisters album "Ta-Dah" confirms one thing about me -- that no matter what I say, I'm such a victim of hype.

Scissor Sisters is, of course, one of the trendiest groups to profess a love for today, especially if you are gay. The songs on their first album were kooky but put together in such an un-selfconsciously superb over-the-top disco-glam-kitsch way that at times, you just stopped in your tracks to marvel at its sheer genius. I mean, just check out these lines from "Filthy/Gorgeous":

When you're walkin' down the street
And the man tries to get your business
And the people that you meet
Want to open you up like Christmas
You gotta wrap your fuzzy in a big red bow
Ain't no sum bitch gonna treat me like a ho
I'm a classy honey kissy huggy lovey dovey ghetto princess

Plus, all the remixes they did instantly turned all these other people's ordinary songs into shiny, glittering retro-disco masterpieces. And they did single-handedly make overtly-gay music fun and fashionable even for straight people. So when the second album swung round this week, I was all ready to declare it another winner just based on the cover alone.

Of course, most of the tracks turned out to be pretty horrible. Teaming up with Elton John, just because you sound like Elton John, is not a good idea. There is one track, which is going to be the next single, that actually sounds like "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?". As the truth slowly dawned on me, I kept willing the next track to be good, willing myself to take to the weak songs over-dressed in 3 or 4 charity-shop-record styles all at once. C'mon, I said. It's Scissor Sisters, it has to be good! Just like I say: C'mon, it's Comme des Garcons it has to be nice, just that I don't know why yet...

I've listened to the damned thing three times over now, both the album and its accompanying b-sides bonus disc. Still, if you were to ask for my opinion, I'd still say that "Ta-Dah" is probably "ahead of its time" and "many-layered" (i.e. must listen more to appreciate hidden layers of goodness). That somewhere around middle of the record, "Kiss You Off" starts a string of songs that shows that Scissor Sisters are still at the top of their game. That the bonus CD is better because it is less "self-conscious" and the quirky "Making Ladies" (a song about how to cross-dress as a woman and give yourself a tranny name that manages to rhyme "Faberge" with "negligee") is quite possibly the best thing they ever did, and reason enough to cough up your $20 to buy this instant classic. Sigh.

Walk out to Winter

This morning, I ran into C. at the gym. It was kinda strange because it was 11.30am on a Monday and ordinarily, neither of us would have been there. I'm going into the office at lunchtime these days because the IMF meetings keep me there till midnight. He had taken the day off because his best friend C. was flying off to do a Masters degree overseas.

This, of course, happened minutes after my trainer all of a sudden mentioned to me that he had seen C. in the gym lately. And that in turn happened the morning after I had a dream of C., the first in a long time.

In the dream, I'm sitting at my desk in the office and he suddenly appears in front of me, behind the cubicle partition.

"I'm back," he says cheerfully.

There's a pause. I look up. He's in his usual t-shirt and he's gained weight. I feel a strange mix of relief starting to wash over me and a nervousness that this is too good to be true.

"I've joined Stomp," he adds.

Then he reaches over and holds my hand, just before I wake up.

The Lost Art of the 12 Inch Single

Listening again this weekend to the Eurobeat Style 12" Mix of Bananarama's "Love In The First Degree" made me think of how low-tech remixes in the 1980s used to be, and how much I loved the fact that they were so technologically lousy. How joyous it was to listen to a song build up layer upon layer (the beat, the bass, the synths) then fade out the same way. How exciting were those extra "piak piak" noises added to the beat, the thrilling way the instruments would suddenly cut out leaving the beat and the voice. Those were the days that you had only 1 or at most 2 remixes for each song, so that you would know your favourite remixes so well, you could even sing the beat and synth changes to your friends in mid-conversation.

These days, remixers take a song and make it their own. Sometimes only the bassline of the original remains, or a snatch of singing. The song melds into others and it becomes just another tune in a long string of unrecognisable songs in a DJ set. Anyway, the mix itself is one of 6 or 7 out that were commissioned and you can never remember which is which.

So in fond memory of years gone by, here is a list of my favourite "12 inch single moments", a list that will grow as I remember them:

1. "Bizarre Love Triangle", New Order
"Ting-ti-ting tong tong, ting-ti-ting tong tong... piak piak piak!! (drum roll noises).... piak piak piak!! (longer drum roll noises)"

2. "What Have I Done to Deserve This?", Pet Shop Boys
The Extended Mix starting with sublime "kish kash" banging-on-dustbin noises was on Side A, and the Disco Mix with slightly altered, groovier beat was on Side B. The difference was so subtle yet so obvious.

3. "Drama (Act 2)", Erasure
Lovely plinkety, twinkly synth noises extended... then suddenly a rush of everything playing at once all at the same time. Truly orgasmic when I first heard it at top volume on the 4th floor of Bukit Timah Shopping Centre. K.L. and I literally stopped in our tracks, looked at each other agape, then went into the shop to buy a copy each.

4. "The Reflex (Dance Mix)", Duran Duran
"Ta la la-la, duh-duh-duh-duh-duh reflex, Ta la la-la, duh-duh-duh-duh-duh reflex, duh reflex, duh reflex... FLEK-FLEK-FLEK-FLEK-FLEK!!!"



5. "The Sun Always Shines On TV (US Dance Mix)", A-ha
I first heard this (and the extra groovy percussive beat) on a super-thin 7-inch flexi disc that came free with the 29th March '86 issue of the English music magazine No. 1. Never found the 12", still looking. Still willing to have sex with someone really ugly for it.

6. "Gold (12" Mix)", Spandau Ballet
Oh, that extended intro it's so smooth it's like buttah. The wistful, jazzy piano, the bongo drums at 1:27...

7. "Castles In The Air (Extended Version)", The Colourfield
How do you improve on a thing of utter sadness and beauty? More melancholic guitar! Extended cello solo! Over-the-top string arrangement! "Why should a lonely person care? What can a lonely person share? A broken heart is much too hard to renovate, cos beauty never comes to those who wait..."

8. "I Beg Your Pardon (Club Mix)", Kon Kan
We don't want to hustle? Yes, that's right! Right, we don't want to salsa! Peep! Peep!



9. "Oh Patti (Extended)", Scritti Politti
This was a total sublime sensory experience. Oh the cover, oh the song... Oh the cover, oh the song.



10. "Shake The Disease (Remixed Extended Version)", Depeche Mode
Simply elegant. Still one of the very best Depeche Mode remixes, done at the very height of their career.