14 書香人生 B O O K S & R E V I E W S SUNDAY, JUNE 20, 2010 • TAIPEI TIMES CD Reviews: Taiwan took TV talent Italian noisy fog lingers love summer,” show Happy embarks on throughout croons It Sunday (快樂星期 An a journey A Boyz & Girl’s “I Bearbabes’ 天) champion William through East Asia self-titled debut, and female lead singer Wei (韋禮安), aka and tells the stories never lifts. That’s and bassist “Cookie” WeiBird, three years of his travels using part of the beauty on the opening track to release his debut what was originally of this shoegazer of Year After Year (年 album after winning an American idiom — rock album, which is 年), which cries out the series. The result, this is jazz drummer full of otherworldly to be played during Wei Li-an Debut Pietro Valente’s debut dreamscapes conjured an oceanside drive Eponymous Original release Tales From Pietro Valente Quartet up by reverb effects, a Boyz & Girl with the windows Bearbabes (熊寶貝樂團) Album (韋禮安首張同 the Far East. Tales From the Far East barrage of guitars and Boyz & Girl rolled down. Year After Year (年年) 名全創作專輯), brims The 27-year-old Self-released synthesizers and post- Self-released It’s also well- Himalaya Records with a rare folk- WeiBird (韋禮安) native of Padua, www.pietrovalete.com punk songcraft. boyzandgirl.blogspot.com suited for a stroll bearbabes.com.tw rock elegance that Wei Li-An Debut Eponymous in northern Italy, The album is on a scorching city establishes Wei as one Original Album composed eight tracks inspired by a nine-month trip worth a listen straight through from beginning to end. pavement. The Bearbabes, a trio that has been around of the most polished (韋禮安首張同名全創作專輯) to Thailand, China, India and Taiwan. He lived in It opens with Ghost Parade, an aptly titled number since 2000, play everything from slowcore rock to upbeat singer-songwriters of Linfair Records Taichung in 2007 and 2008 and was active in the jazz saturated with sustaining fuzz and high-pitched power-pop that is radiant but far from saccharine. his generation. www.weibird.com scene in China and Taiwan. squeals, artfully wielded by guitarist and vocalist Jon This second album, said Cookie in an interview On the anthemic On appearances alone, the album theme comes Du (杜澤威), one of the group’s three “Boyz.” printed in the band’s promotional material, is about Story (故事), a homage to Maroon 5’s This Love, Wei across as a little cliche, with song titles that sound The “girl,” guitarist and vocalist Ban Ban (斑斑), aka “loss.” On the radio-friendly Rockable, it hurts so good, builds a paean of youthful romantic yearning with his like outdated TV travel show sound bites (Red Light Bambam Lin (林以樂), surprises as the emotional center especially when she hits those yodeling notes during sun-kissed vocals and tingling guitar chords. “In this in Bangkok and The Spirit of India). Then there’s the of the band. She has a high-pitched, childlike voice that the choruses. story, the ending is not the most important thing,” he cover design, adorned with fortune cookie typefaces was cute and charming with her previous indie-pop Cookie turns on the charm with her honey-smooth philosophizes. and a Chinese dragon emblazoned on the CD. Tourists band Freckles (雀斑). voice on Firefly (螢火), a beautiful piano lullaby, but With Reason (理由), Wei flirts with rhythmic jazz might find it cute. With Boyz & Girl, she sounds eerie and spooked, she’s no Mando-pop prude. She drops the F-bomb and gets it down pat. With credible ad-libbing and For the most part, though, the music is worth the like a kid trapped in a nightmare. In the dark rocker without flinching on Sick N’ Tired, the band’s only jamming motifs in the background, he croons about trip. Valente is a talented drummer with a larger-than- Watch Out! Aikly Is Dead, her whip-cream airy song written entirely in English and a great alt-country- idiotic procrastination with irreverent wit and usual presence in a small jazz ensemble. He catches timbre gets drenched in reverb and wrapped in a flavored tune with spacey pop choruses. musical verve. your attention like a rock drummer would, but not gauze of distortion. Her soaring cries fuel the song’s Guitarist Wei-jun (魏駿) has the band scorching on In the contagious Sunflower in a Cloudy Day (陰天 because he can get loud. exhilarating pace. A City Without December (沒有12月的城市), matched 的向日葵), Wei achieves a melodic catchiness reminiscent Always on the move, Valente chases tone and color, Things really start to blossom on Cannot Touch, by top-notch drumming from Chen Tai-yuan (陳泰元), of the works of Taiwan’s indie queen Cheer Chen (陳綺 extracting every drop of sound he can from the drum a slow-motion sequence built on a hypnotic rhythm who also plays with another indie-rock trio, Windmill 貞). The track begins with a calm, lulling guitar melody kit, whether it’s thunderous rolls from the floor toms played on drums that sounds like it was recorded (風籟坊). and builds into a climactic piano chorus. or cymbal splashes that sizzle and simmer. The drums in a deep cavern. There are no guitars, just ambient Dig deeper into Year After Year, and the band’s On More Perfect (完美一點), the theme song to are busy, but rarely overbearing. The pensive opening synthesizers that shadow Ban Ban, as she whispers cohesiveness and maturity as musicians only becomes China’s romantic comedy Sophie’s Revenge (非常完美), track Di Mare in Male is a nice example of Valente’s and sighs a singsong melody. The ethereal mood brings more apparent. In Dear Stranger (親愛陌生人), they Wei crafts a Mando-pop-meets-lounge-jazz gem with keen awareness of mood and atmosphere. to mind M. Ward’s more recent albums. venture into psychedelic pop territory without getting laid-back vocals and soothing melody. He’s backed by a highly competent quartet — a The synth orchestration continues in the spacey too carried away. Monster (怪物) is a dreamy, slow- Wei updates Good Weather (好天氣) and Waiting pianist, bassist and tenor saxophonist — and together instrumental Passengers, which then gets foiled by burning number that is one of the better examples of Slowly (慢慢等), tracks from his EP that was released they weave familiar Chinese melodies with modern Kiss Me Blindly, a grimy, garage/blues-rock romp. Taiwanese indie rock. last year, and arranges them with more emotional jazz on Shanghai Today and Wide Breath in Beijing, Here the album takes a surprising but rewarding turn — DAVID Chen urgency and maturer vocals. an interpretation of the Chinese folk song Jasmine — Ban Ban’s sassy, spot-on delivery is a sudden breath The album holds together as a coherent folk- Flower (茉莉花). of fresh air, and relieves some of the tension from the rock album with occasional nods to jazz. Neither a These tunes give a sense of genuine appreciation for previous songs. powerhouse nor a virtuosic singer, Wei’s warm vocal the delicate, elegant side of traditional Chinese music, but Boyz & Girl’s noisy soundscape grows to be more timbre is appropriately complemented by songs that Valente sounds most at home on the very funky Muswing, inviting, and the emotional space feels warmer in wax poetic on romantic infatuation and life’s joys. a tribute to kids playing on the streets in India. the later tracks. On a side note, a lot of the lyrics Though he’s a charismatic singer who has garnered In his eagerness to give us a snapshot of his are barely audible without repeated listening, or significant attention through his appearances on a TV journeys, Valente sometimes overdoes it. In Shanghai they’re simply buried in the mix. But the mood and talent show, Wei opted to use an illustration rather than Today he inserts sampled recordings of ambulance atmosphere are pitch-perfect. a close-up of his photogenic face on the album cover. sirens and honking horns, which robs the imagination — DAVID Chen Perhaps the intention was to encourage audiences to (the tenor saxophone does a fine job on its own). It’s pay attention to the music rather than his good looks. songs like the buoyant, bossa nova-tinged Last Mango But with an album this entrancing, that isn’t an issue. in Taiwan that leave a lasting impression. — ANDREW C.C. HUANG — DAVID Chen Hardcover: UK Softcover: UK Rescues and romance Taking it to the limit Alan Furst’s newest tale of intrigue and derring-do finds its Legendary mountaineer Walter Bonatti brings the perils and poetry of protagonist turning up the erotic heat ‘extreme climbing’ to life in ‘The Mountains of My Life” BY JANET MASLIN BY BRADLEY WINTERTON NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, NEW YORK CONTRIBUTING REPORTER he man around whom Alan with Furst’s usual acuity for trans- n 1965 the famous Italian alpinist masks to make this possible), causing Furst’s new spy novel revolves PUBLICATION NOTES European scheming. In the process, Walter Bonatti spectacularly ended PUBLICATION NOTES it to run out two hours before the T is Constantine Zannis, a highly he incorporates enough historical I his career of “extreme climbing” successful pair reached the peak the placed police official in Salonika, background to establish how unstable by pioneering the most direct route up following day. Greece. In late 1940, as Spies of the Greece in general, and Salonika in the north face of the Matterhorn, alone Bonatti felt that he had effectively Balkans begins, Zannis’ specialty particular, have been, and how age-old and in winter.