ALTERNATIVE MUSIC: 2008

Author: Ghostpipe

Robbie Williams has this unique way of delivering songs which annoy and entice you at the same time. Great song this, the lyrics too.

Alive - Pearl Jam

Author: Ghostpipe

In 1991, one band had the grunge rock scene in the palm of their hands with this single possibly being their most memorable hit ever. Eddie Vedder's vocal is both distinct and provoking.

This is truly a great grunge rock song.

Unwell - Matchbox 20

Author: Ghostpipe

Sometimes you just need to be left alone and be left understandably misunderstood, to allow you to figure things out for yourself. And hopefully find a cure for whatever that's making you unwell.

Wonderful video this.

The World of Movies through DVDs

Author: Ghostpipe

When it comes to relaxation at home, nothing beats watching a newly-released movie on DVD. I spend quite a huge sum of money purchasing DVDs, not to mention hours upon hours searching through my favourite store's latest collection of new DVD releases.

The new DVD titles you can easily find on the net these days, as there are many websites which offer online purchases and also gives out great discounts. If you ever find yourself running out of time to physically go through the DVDs collection at your local stores, go to the net instead - it is faster and also more convenient.

Almost Easy - Avenged Sevenfold

Author: Ghostpipe

Love A7X's type of metal sound. Not too hard, not too mild, just enough to be on the edge of things.

This video reminds me of the movie "Spawn".

Little Wonders - Rob Thomas

Author: Ghostpipe

One day I'm going to reach this level of songwriting.
These small hours. These little wonders.

Great lyrics and tune.

Hungry like the Wolf

Author: Ghostpipe

Found this while surfing for great 80's music. This is what I grew up listening to. Great song, great video. Duran Duran. One of the best new wave music makers ever.

Dust in the Wind

Author: Ghostpipe

Kansas' 1977 classic hit, Dust in the Wind. Some songs are simply unexplainable.

This is not the original video, though.

Afterlife - Avenged Sevenfold

Author: Ghostpipe

Alvin told me of this song. Excellent riffs and melody.

The Stare / I Beat You competition

Author: Ghostpipe

I came across this The Stare / I Beat You competition in YouTube with Jessica Alba trying her luck in it. Rather dumb I think. Anyway here it is.

The Best in Satellite TV

Author: Ghostpipe

Satellite TV, a phenomenon that's continuously improving as technology in broadcasting and media communications improves by the day. Today it's almost impossible to live without satellite TV at home or at your workplace.

In order to get the best of satellite TV, you can check out DirecTV which offers some of the very best packages I've seen on the net for satellite TV channels. Direct TV also offers several system options for you to choose from, i.e. systems with DVR, HD or both DVR and HD.

The part I like most about Direct TV is the promotions and free offers which come with their subscription, depending on the packages you're opting for of course. I'm a great movie fan, so naturally I'd go for packages which include HBO, Cinemax and the likes. All the packages are offered at a very reasonable price, which makes Direct TV one of today's satellite TV's most ideal choice for service provider.

I'm packed and I'm holding

Author: Ghostpipe

I memorised the entire lyrics of this song back then just so I could play it in front of my buddies and impress them with my singing and guitar-playing skills. It was easy though, coz the song had only 3 or 4 chords which were painfully repeated over and over again. Loved the tunes and the lyrics. A classic in my list.

Semi-charmed life.

Kickspace needs space

Author: Ghostpipe

The band's been repetitively playing Is It Really You in the last few jam sessions. See my post of 4 Feb 2008 for details of the song. It's actually one of my own favourites. The song was written out of spite for one's own inability to accept one's own true self, true personality. The lyrics don't make much sense but I feel the melody tells the listener that whoever sings this song, wants to let out a buried realisation that he or she has not discovered, or rather refused to admit, about himself or herself until too late.

So much for self-indulgence. I guess all songwriters at some point feel very pathetic about having to explain themselves to the listener or whoever is out there the reason why they write what they write. I mean, for myself, it's always a strange and invigorating feeling that I get when I write some prose or poetry or lyrics down on paper, but I just simply never prepare myself to have to explain to anyone else what I had written. The lyrics is there man, and so is the music. You go figure what it's all about, alright?

I'm going to leave you with Edie by The Cult. I used to listen to The Cult day in day out while I was doing my A-levels years ago. This song is still as good as ever. Ian is a brilliant songwriter.

Song 3: I'll Never Leave You All Alone

Author: Ghostpipe

I wrote this while in Bintulu, north of Sarawak. I was there for a site visit up the Tatau river. I was watching CNN I remembered in the hotel room, and the usual CNN news was on. The words just flowed out like water as I was visualising all these things in my head and wondering how it felt like if I was left alone in a battlefield not knowing what was in store for me next. This song has a war/genocide theme to it, or rather, the aftermath of war/genocide theme.

The papers said it’s safe to breathe today

No body counts in large amounts

Just little sorrowed talks to pass around

The cable news had some light comedy

Of terrorists in suits and ties

Living in self-made pseudo paradise

I heard the radio speak of a name

The man’s insane, out of his mind

But if he is then why are we still blind

Even if the sky should fall

I’ll never leave you all alone to be taken

Even if the end should call

I’ll never leave you all alone and forsaken

Even if the grass grew tall

I’ll never leave you all alone to be taken

Even if the end should call

I’ll never leave you all alone …

Some little children playing in the fields

Above old empty cannon shells

A place where villains rose and heroes fell

A classic case of feeding greed and pride

Destruction of a sanctuary

Where does it leave their future, family

You’ll never miss it in the evening news

A sordid show of attitude

A slandering of ethics in the nude

Even if the sky should fall

I’ll never leave you all alone to be taken

Even if the end should call

I’ll never leave you all alone and forsaken

Even if the grass grew tall

I’ll never leave you all alone to be taken

Even if the end should call

I’ll never leave you all alone …

Club Foot

Author: Ghostpipe

When I first heard this song back in 2004 I thought it was Nine Inch Nails'. Little did I realise it was from a Leicester-based band, English-bred. A Kasabian classic.

This live performance at David Letterman manages to capture the high level of intensity of the song. Brilliant bass lines.

There's no explanation to this amazing phenomenon

Author: Ghostpipe

Scatting is an art, I believe. When done live with a piano accompanyment, it goes beyond the virtually invisible boundary of art to becoming unexplainable. Unexplainable to me at least.

Chick Corea and Bobby McFerrin.

Craftsmanship of Al Di Meola - Solo

Author: Ghostpipe

The best thing about guitar-playing in the 70's is that back then you don't really have a lot of high-tech gizmos to help you create unusual sounds, so you really have to work on developing your skills and nurture creativity in your bloodstream to conjure some magical melodies from your axe.

Al Di Meola.

Stanley Jordan: Jazz Fusion Virtuoso in David Letterman (old archives)

Author: Ghostpipe

Stanley Jordan shares the same birth date with me by the way, except that he's a good 14 years older.

It's simply amazing to see this guy tapping effortlessly with all ten fingers simultaneously. Enjoy the video and accept the fact that God created some men with enormous talent so that most of us could emulate and admire them. And hopefully become like them too.

Some SRV licks with great tone

Author: Ghostpipe

I'm not really an SRV follower but blues has always been my style of playing. The licks in this video is simplicity played at an admirable speed and accuracy.

Give me 2 months.

Song 2: Is It Really You?

Author: Ghostpipe

I wrote this one about 6 months back, while in a state of utter pensiveness after my fishing trip in August 2007. As usual, my lyrics don't make much sense if you just read it off the shelf like a novel or a menu (sometimes I do wish I could write like Chris Daughtry). This song tells about how one should be who they think they ought to and could be, and not to just confine themselves to being who they are at this very moment of their existence. It describes how one is truly free in one's mind, to be whoever one thinks one could be, and by believing so one could actually accomplish what one wants to become.

I had a very tumultuous time in the last couple of years trying to figure out what the flying fairies I really wanted to be. Well I think I'm getting closer to finding the answer, the haze is getting clearer but no so just yet, so I guess I just need to dig a bit deeper into myself. And writing songs is I find the only way for me to dig deeper, safely and surely. Here it is:

In the centre, a human line

Darkness seized the better of my mind

Feeling empty, nothing left behind

Voices came with words I can’t define

Ghostly silence, they move away

Lonely is the one who’s gone astray

Light in water, death is out to play

Caught the sight of life that made me stay

(And) I need, to get back on my feet again

(And) I need, to get back on my feet again

I….I never realized, that you could be the one

To lift me out of despair

I… I searched myself inside, to find the one that I’ve

Been looking for all this time

Final hours, I breathe the sea

Waiting for salvation from the free

Give me your love, give me energy

Is it really you I’m gonna be

(And) I need, to get back on my feet again

(And) I need, to get back on my feet again

I….I never realized, that you could be the one

To lift me out of despair

I… I searched myself inside, to find the one that I’ve

Been looking for all this time

Aaaahh….Is it really you….

Aaaahh….Is it really you….

I….I never realized, that you could be the one

To lift me out of despair

I… I searched myself inside, to find the one that I’ve

Been looking for all this time

I….I never realized, that you could be the one

To lift me out of despair

I… I searched myself inside, to find the one that I’ve

Been looking for all this time

Now this is what I call smooth fretwork!

Author: Ghostpipe

This is what i would describe as effortless fretboard surfing!
I wished I could slide like this. Maybe I could, if I practised more often.

Awesome stuff. Jazz just hits it right where it should.

Song 1: I Had You (performed by Kickspace)

Author: Ghostpipe

I wrote this song way, way back in end of 1995 while still in London trying to survive my final year in Imperial. I remembered working halfway through the chorus and thought, what the fuck am I writing a love song for when I'm not in love with this person anymore? So I turned everything around and changed the lyrics so that it seemed I never regretted that it ever ended. Even though I did. What a sad git I was. Oh well, such is the plight of the artist talking of unrequited love. And all poets share the same sentiment I would like to believe. Enough crock, here are the lyrics as of 2005, written by yours truly and performed exclusively by Kickspace:

When you went your own way there were tears left inside
As I remembered saying "You know how I tried"
To be the only one, who could live beneath the sun
Close where to all your sorrows reside

The voice you left me with didn;t lie or defy
My fingers were too deep in my head to deny
That you were made like this, a temporary bliss
A final kiss before a goodbye

Counting all the times we're together
And old story's frown, frown, frown
Didn't think I'll last forever
Everything's on the ground

But I had you
To hold and touch me
To tell me all of the sad winter stories in your mind
And I had you
To cry and feel for
To tell me all of the high happy dreams you kept inside
I had you, I had you...baby

We stood beside a wall waiting for the right time
To tell each other we can't go on being blind
The streets are going bleak
The answers we both seek
Still asking if this is the wrong crime

Counting all the times we're together
And old story's frown, frown, frown
Didn't think I'll last forever
Everything's on the ground

But I had you
To hold and touch me
To tell me all of the sad winter stories in your mind
And I had you
To cry and feel for
To tell me all of the high happy dreams you kept inside
I had you, I had you...baby

Something like that.
Well folks, that about wraps up this edition of creative-sharing session. My band and I are hoping to re-record this song since the last one we did had not done justice to the rather tenderamatic presentation of the entire song.

Tune in next time for more creativity-in-a-pot session with yours truly.

In the meantime, rock on!

New jamming studio SKYE Music Centre in Kuching, Sarawak

Author: Ghostpipe

It's been centuries since I last updated this joint.

Obviously I've got something very important to say today after months of silence, so listen up:

Good news to all musicians in Kuching City, Sarawak, Malaysia and the nearby areas. There is now a new music centre / jamming studio called SKYE Music Centre which has just opened in the city. It is strategically and conveniently located on the 2^nd floor, corner lot of one of the new shoplot buildings along Jalan Tun Jugah, Simpang Tiga. The address is Lot 11868, 2^nd Floor, Block 16, KCLD Sublot 1, No. 109, Jalan Tun Jugah, 93300 Kuching.

What makes SKYE Music Centre / jamming studio different from the rest?

Size does matter – We do not boast to be the best in terms of musical instruments we provide nor the technology we use, but we do claim to be one that offers the most generous space, a comfortable and conducive as well as inspiring environment for any sort of musically-inclined activity.

Where it’s at – It’s located within a new and upcoming commercial area along Jalan Tun Jugah, which is part of the Simpang Tiga area. You cannot miss the studio; it’s inner walls are painted bright green and there is a banner with domesticated mice playing music on a gong with the title “Skye Music Centre”. This centralized location simply allows anyone to find the place with ease. If you’re still unsure of where it is, here is a quick guide: As you come from the Simpang Tiga flyover heading towards the traffic light to the airport, look to your left just before your eyes catches the Nissan showroom at the corner lot.

The jamming studio opening hours are as follows:

Tuesday to Friday: 2.00pm – 11.00pm

Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday: 10.00am – 11.00pm

Monday: Closed

The rates are charged on an hourly basis of RM 50/hour, and RM25 for the subsequent ½ hour. This is only allowed if there are no subsequent bookings made prior to the previous one.

For safety reasons, only a maximum of 10 persons are allowed inside the studio room at any one time.

Advanced booking / reservations are preferred, please contact the numbers below:

019 895 1326
016 889 6659

We encourage and welcome professional or amateur musicians from all walks of life and from any musical background and influence to come and try out the studio. As long as you are serious about the music you play and you need what we consider as one of the best joints in town to express it, then you are most welcome to SKYE Music Centre.