寂寞良伴 [loneliness' best friend, 2v1g]

great review on 2v1g's album from taiwan premier hifi website, u-audio...

愛上了 [falling for brasiliero]

i think it is an advantage of owning a label - you always get to listen to the first draft of your artiste's recording, before anyone else.

in the case of the bossa princess, we have been listening non-stop to the demo cd for close to a week already. there is something about this album that is quietly enchanting: the brasiliero's rhythm and the sweet rendering of the princess. make no mistake, the princess is not a powerful singer nor a diva-like voice but she has something which is uniquely special. she does not have the diabetic sweetness of olivia ong, nor the lazy tone of lisa ono, she is entirely unique. stefano's job (our vocal coach) is to amplify this special quality to the maximum.

also, this album is our most commercial album to-date, bordering on radio-friendliness. we are most satisfied with our song selections this time as we like every song that we chose for the princess.

the month of september and october will be spent entirely on vocal recording. at the same time, the princess is already planning for cover shoot, publicity, inlay design concept etc etc.

this looks like a super efficient project that all parties enjoy. really, if everyone involved is committed, an album can be cut in just 4- 6 months' time.

somehow, we are confident that there will be a volume II of the 【brasiliero】 album, our tentative title for this debut album, cos we truly enjoy making music of this genre.

星島美聲 [good voice from singapore]

ever wonder why there so many great chinese female vocalists from tiny dot? right from mavis hee, kit chan, tanya chua, stefanie sun, joi cai and now tay kewei... all of them have unique voices that are enchanting.

you know we have an eye for talents and tay kewei from singapore is one that has caught our eyes and ears... but she is signed to s2s, the japanese audiophile label founded by the late ken suzuki, also the mentor who groomed olivia ong, before she was poached by H.I.M.

we met kewei once in NBT. she strikes us as an extremely marketing-savvy singer with a good and unique voice, the very westernized type much like our winnie ho.

tonight she has her maiden (we guess) ticketed concert in esplanade, our dream venue, and we picked up this album cover from facebook.

rock corner is the distributor of s2s products in malaysia, wonder if they would bring in this album?

or if you guys are keen enough to make a group guy, perhaps we could contact kewei directly?

well, for your info, singapore fans of 2v1g and jz8 also do group buys with us!

p/s we couldn't find any sampler for this album but if you want to sample kewei's great voice, you can visit her blog.

全國面市！[2v1g out in the stores!]

something good is happening in the music scene and 2v1g is responsible for it. more and more music lovers are embracing this sort of simple, heartfelt and touching acoustic lifestyle music, over the noisy, overly-commercial, overly-produced, manufactured music in the market.

there's enough publicity for 2v1g so we won't be over-selling it here.

something good is happening in the music scene and 2v1g is responsible for it. more and more music lovers are embracing this sort of simple, heartfelt and touching acoustic lifestyle music, over the noisy, overly-commercial, overly-produced, manufactured music in the market. in fact, it is heartening to know that many of our fans are english-educated music lovers. this bunch of music lovers love chinese pop music but they can't and don't get access to good chinese pop music until they discover our music and our label.

also, some producers are also slowly being influenced into making music like 2v1g/jz8/bossa princess to cater to this niche but growing segment in the market.

of course, we are proud that we are the pioneer in this movement, and we expect to see some newcomers/labels competing with us in the near term.

it is all for the good of the music industry. we welcome competition.

our premise in making music has always been: this world today is already in total chaos, why make it even more complicated?

simple music touches our hearts. simplify your life.

默迪卡！ [merdeka!]

on vimeo....

Solianos Singing " Tanah Pusaka" for Merdeka Day 2010 from Pop pop music on Vimeo.

on megavideo...




on youtube...

Fellow Malaysians, in welcoming Hari Merdeka on 31st August 2010, we at pop pop music have a special present for Malaysia: The Solianos singing our favorite patriotic song, "Tanah Pusaka", in swing/jazz no less, in a special video we did just for this special occasion. Remember to turn on your speakers loud to feel the full impact of the music! If you like it, please help to forward and broadcast it to all your friends!

[note: This video is shot in High Definition (HD) so please adjust your setting accordingly]

親愛的同胞們， 下個星期二就是 國慶日了， 我們 pop pop music 在此呈上 一個特別的國慶禮物給馬來西亞：　超級音樂家族　Solianos 爵士版的 "Tanah Pusaka" 【我的祖國】 的錄影！ 請你把音量開大才能感受到這首歌的震撼！ 你如果喜歡這錄影， 請你幫忙傳送給你的朋友們！

【我的祖國】錄影今晚公開！[tanah pusaka video to be unveiled tongiht! ]

ladies and gentlemen, in conjunction with merdeka day next tuesday, we have prepared a very speical video for you all and we are going to unveil this video at midnight tonight!

we were moved to tears while watching the preview of this video this morning.... really, this is something that touches the deepest corner of our hearts....

if you are a true anak malaysia, please help to broadcast, spread it to all your friends....

coming soon at midnight....

悅耳的巴西音樂 [wonderful braziliero]

Brasiliero, a wonderfully diverse introduction to Brazilian music, is a sophisticated blend of folk-pop and cool jazz, as embraced by artists both well and little known, in the most popular styles: samba, bossa nova, and MBP (musica popular Brasileiro). As with Cuban music, the greatest influence on Brazilian music came from African slaves who were imported to farm sugar, tobacco, and cotton plantations. With that influence comes a complex rhythmic structure and a prevailing sense of melancholy. Bearing this out, "Daca de Solidao" ("Dance of Solitude") is deliciously thick as performed by the dusky-voiced Beth Carvalho. Chico Cesar's "Mama Africa" is a perfect sociopolitical pop hit, blending hard-hitting lyrics with bouncy percussion and Jamaican reggae. Other standouts include Jorge Ben's wiggly feel-good romp "O Namorado da Viuva" ("The Widow's Boyfriend") and Joao Bosco's dancing guitar on "Vatapa," which pays homage to the traditional dish of the same name. --Paige La Grone

maestro tay cher siang corrected us last night, at the end of the recording session. the "bossa nova princess" album is not just only about bossa nova, it falls actually under the bigger umbrella of "braziliero" music, as explained in the paragraph above.

cher siang finished 7 tracks in just 10 hours, a record of achievement! me and my princess were so excited to hear the tracks. (apparently, the princess couldn't sleep last night because of excitement) there were so deliciously good, something that has never been heard in chinese pop music. the addition of bossa guru, cheong, on guitar, gives a decidedly brazilian feel to the instrumentation. the music is so fresh and breezy, like walking in the morning breeze along the beach in south america, or... cherating?

words just fail me in explaining how moved i am with this production. it ranks alongside the solianos "pusaka" as our best production to-date. the "bossa princess" is gonna kick some major arses in the music industry and surprise many many who think chinese pop music is boring and stereotyped.

the music is go great, now the pressure is on the princess to deliver the vocals. with stefano around, our vocal coach, we are confident that the princess will deliver the goods.

the princess wants to release this album before x'mas cos she thinks it would be a good time.

we asked the princess if she is prepared to get famous, to which she said nonchalantly "no".

sometimes, fame is bestowed on those who are least prepared.

大馬能或不能？ [malaysia boleh or tak boleh?]

local hifi blog writes about 2v1g's and pop pop music's breakthrough in the audiophile music scene..

spotlite 報導 [spotlite on 2v1g]

click here to read spotline's report on the press conference last week.

好,但不完美 [good but not perfect]

the double-bill concert concluded on saturday with much good feedback from first-timers, whereas for those who have attended the amazing 2v1g's maiden gig in NBT two years ago, they felt there is still room for improvement.

ok, we won't go over the nitty gritty but just collate some facts and figures....

most outstanding musician(s): roger wang and tay cher siang

most fan base: tay cher siang

most flowers received: winnie ho

most hardworking crew: lim su li of musictoxin

best selling album at the stall: 2v1g's latest album, over 150+ copies sold

best dressed singer: winnie ho

best fireworks: roger and cher siang and his trio playing "corcovado"

best song for winnie ho: airport at 10:30pm (encore)

best song for jeffery: loving you (wei nei chong ching) (encore)

best song for lydia: forever smile

hottest chick spotted: prodigy media's boss, fred chong's girlfriend

best aspect of the concert: the intimacy of the stage

worst aspect of the concert: the flat sound & lighting

芭莎時間來了！ [bossa times are here!]

the princess wants to remain mysterious for now

cher siang's score for "let's go see the cloud"

there are at least two happy people tonight.

me and my bossa princess.

because we finally kick- started the long-in-preparation recording for "my bossa princess" album!

the maestro in tay cher siang, fresh from his double bill concert (in which he won so much praises and admiration), churned out some good music, together with sessionists charles wong (on drums) and vincent ong (on double bass).

the speed and accurary in which cher siang did the tracking (instrumentation) has to be seen to believe. in just 5 hours, he and his trio managed to nail down 5 songs! this is incredible efficiency and production rate. and to make it even more impressive, the music is great!

"my bossa princess", much like the solianos "pusaka" is a genre we have never attempted before and it is a genre never before heard in chinese audiophile music. it sounds fresh, inspiring and fun. the princess, eventho not in her top condition, is visibly pleased with cher siang's music direction. so are we - me and my co-producer-cum-vocal-coach, stefano chen. stefano is classical trained and this is the first time i invited him to co-produce an audiophile album.

the vibes are positive. we believe this album is gonna be another one that beckons mainstream appeal and attention!

go princesss go!

jz8上988"音樂耍 live" [jz8 on air today!]

tune in to 988 FM at 3pm today to hear tay cher siang and lydia chew sing live for the first time in malaysian radio!

at 8pm tonight, jz8 will join labelmate 2v1g, in the first-ever double bill concert held lat the bentley music auditorium.

all tickets have been sold out!

what incredible vibes!

何蕓妮出位了！ [winnie ho stole the show]

for those who attended the press conference@NBT, very few would argue on how outstanding winnie ho was; on and off the stage, she completely stole away the show from roger and jeffery!

the press was not the least interested on my sob story on the music industry. instead they were all ears when winnie ho revealed that she penned the lyrics for roger wang's "love scale" for someone "important" in her life. with that sentence, the press suddenly woke up and pursued the inner story from her! you can read all the chinese press reports on the previous posts. one word sums it all: winnie ho has come of age!

2v1g held its 2nd press conference at the ultra cool NBT for several reasons. first, it was the venue which 2v1g had it maiden gig 2 years ago and it was truly memorable. second, it was NBT where i met roger wang more than 10 years ago and started the whole collaboration thingy.

but 18th august wasn't exactly the best date to have press conference as it clashed with many other chinese artistes who chose the same day to have press conference. a couple of chinese press members didn't turn up but it didn't dampen the spirits, it was still one hell of the press conference because 2v1g performed 4 songs from the new album and it was truly impressive.

cdrama marketing folks told me that they didn't expect winnie ho to be so great on stage. after the performance, they said they are keen to work out an english audiophile album for winnie ho!

a couple of hifi dealers were also impressed by 2v1g's performance; they had nothing but praises for winnie ho and jeffery lim. the dealers were happy that 2v1g manages to bring audiophile music to the masses; it is something never done before anywhere in the world!

it was a hectic day. after the pc, we had to rush to 988 for two programs. one was a pre-recorded one (to be aired on 28th august, saturday 3pm) where the invited artistes need to play music live. this is just too easy for 2v1g. in fact, the two female DJs were speechless when roger wang performed john lennon's "imagine" solo in front of them! they were overwhelmed with mouth agape, like little girls who get to listen to her guitar hero live in person!

later at 10pm, 2v1g had another live program with another female DJ, ying ying. 988 has been very supportive this time in coming up with a nice book to go with 2v1g's new album. more and more young listeners get to know 2v1g and they would buy the album because they want to collect the beautiful book!

now we all look forward to the highly-anticipated double bill concert tomorrow at the bentley music auditorium!

星洲報導 [2v1g in sin chew]

click here to read another sensational report on winnie ho's purported boyfriend whom she penned the lyrics for in the song "love scale".

here's another one from oriental daily. winnie ho is more famous than roger wang!

臺灣預購熱潮 [pre-order frenzy in taiwan]

check out 2v1g's pre-order frenzy in taiwan!

中國報報導 [2v1g in china press]

click here for china press's reporting on 2v1g's press conference @NBT.

988 Night听笔记写给你 [988's love diary for 2v1g buyers]

988's DJ ying ying with the special edition love diary that comes together with 2v1g album

really, this is unprecented for audiophile album anywhere in the world!

besides heavily promoting 21vg's latest album, local chinese station 988 is also given away a free love diary - a collection of romantic stories, letters, anecdotes penned by the two very talented DJs, biao min and ying ying. and the title of the book is the same as the song by 2v1g, 【寫給你】， chinese version of roger wang's "love scale", sung by winnie ho.

we have seen the booklet. it is very very tastefully done! we love it very much! it totally gels with the spirits of 2v1g!

there are only 2,000 copies of this book in print, packaged together with 2v1g album! you can get it from cdrama starting 25th august 2010!

from what we know, 2v1g is the 2nd chinese audiophile act that gets mainstream attention after the venerable cai qin!

延遲 [delayed]

apologies to those who wait: retail launch of 2v1g has been delayed to next wednesday 25th august. we have some problems with custom clearance due to the huge quantity for the initial batch of raw discs from hk.

we expect to have some ready stock for sale this saturday at the concert venue.

even if we were to deliver the stock to our distributor on saturday, it will take them a day or two to despatch them to all the retailers in klang valley. hence next wednesday is safe bet.

we seek your understanding for the above delay.

today is the press conference of 2v1g at NBT, we hope to have a good outing! and tonight 2v1g will be on air... stay tuned to 98.8 at 10pm tonight!

roger wang is worried because this is the first time he appears in a chinese radio station and he doesn't know mandarin!

死了 [dead]

even eason chan ended up as deadwood

this album, eason chan's superb mandarin album produced by my fave producer jim lee, won him the best male singer in taiwan's golden melody award last year.

it is also one of my favourite albums from eason chan. it has some great songs, and even a song composed by khalil fong. eason's mandarin albums are always better than his cantonese ones.

it is found selling at RM9.90 at a record shop in puchong. in fact, there are many other good titles being sold at that price. no, the record shop is not closing down. it is merely cleaning up some deadwood and this album is a deadwood.

if such a high standard and excellently produced album can end up this way, what hopes do you have left for the rest of the lesser known artistes and poorer productions?

what does it tell you about the chinese pop music market and more importantly, malaysian chinese pop music lovers' tastes and depth?

you draw you own conclusions.

精彩的一周 [happenig week for 2v1g and jz8]

exact album cover for 2v1g's 2nd album

here's this week's activities at a glance:

1) jz8 will appear in chinese radio station 98.8 on monday night 16th august from 9pm to 11pm

2) 2v1g's press conference for album launch at no black tie on wednesday 18th august 2pm-4pm

3) 2v1g will appear in chinese radio station 98.8 on wednesday night 18th august from 9pm to 11pm

4) jz8 and 2v1g will hold its first double-bill concert on saturday 21st august at the bentley auditorium

5) 2v1g's 2nd album will be available a at the concert on saturday.

it is gonna be one exciting week ahead!

我要寫書！[i want to write a book!]

i always think that my life is blessed, with so much great music and movies at my disposal, but i think there is one thing i didn't do enough and that's reading.

i am now starting to collect books. i always like autobiographies and books that relate to the writer: his opinions, his interests, his life's experiences and topics he likes.

one thing leads to another, i suddenly think of writing a book about my various ventures in the music and hifi business for the last 15 years!

there's definitely enough stories to share. plenty, actually.

i will start with my most memorable venture to-date, music exchange, the legendary 2nd hand cd shop at jalan walter grenier, followed by hifi exchange, followed by music matters, followed by desirable audio boutique (the pioneer hifi blog in his region), then av express (the hifi magazine that was doomed from the start) and finally my fave business thus far, pop pop music. you may not know that pop pop music is my one-man revolution against the pathetic chinese pop and audiophile music industry!

i will also pepper it up with personal encounters: from how and why MACP and the then tower records came to investigate music exchange on a weekly basis, to my lousy partner at hifi exchange and my struggle with music matters, the online indie cd website with my music buddy troy chai.... all the way till the conception of 2v1g and the solianos "pusaka": how i first met roger wang at NBT; how i googled winnie ho's contact in the net upon coming up with the 2v1g concept and why i love the soliano family so much, and definitely not forgetting to mention all those sour grapes in the chinese pop music industry... so many insider's news sure to raise some eyebrows...

it will be no-holds-barred. i would expose all the malpractices, unprofessional people and bad apples in the industry. so those who are in this category, be afraid, be very afraid ;-) i am only half joking, of course. one of my harshest critics used to say i am good in sensationalizing issues....so what? a bit of spicing up is smart journalism.

i would also give my honest-to-goodness views on the hifi industry and music industry in malaysia as well as globally, something i am very sensitive to and constantly keep up-to-date with.

i would give myself one year to write this book, by which time, i hope i would have released the solianos "pusaka", the bossa princess, the decadent sound of teresa teng and roger wang's greatest hits, which all together make 8 albums in the pop pop's catalog.

maybe, after that pop pop can close shop and become a music pirate, which definitely makes more sense and money.

i would make it light-hearted and humorous with many anecdotes and funny incidents. there were many especially during the music exchange days. i hope my partner, surin suksuwan, would help me to recount those incidents and write this chapter as well. surin is a great writer.

i think popular books would want to be the publisher, i am confident ;-)

tentatively, i would call the book "from music exchange to pop pop music", which is not very cool i know but give me time to think of a killer title.

i would think of the table-of-contents in my next post.

maybe to top it all, i would give a best-of-pop-pop-music compilations CD as a free gift attached to the book, a limited edition no less with signatures from all artistes.

good idea!

創新的嘻哈 [awesome lifestyle hip-hop]

this is positively awesome and terminally cool: hip hop overlaying with jazz, new age, chill-out, electronica... we have never heard anything like this before!

soft lipa 【蛋堡】 from taiwan gets nominated in this year's golden melody award in the "best newcomer" category with this album entitled "winter sweet".

this album defies categorization: just listen and tell us how you like it.

you would never guess that the uncles in pop pop music would ever dig this kind of music, would you? yeah, we are indie boys at heart.

check out track #2 and track #9 in particular in the 2 videos and full-album playlist below.

for a short review, read here.

大馬創作才女 [another great malaysian singer-songwriter]

we personally know aki huang shu hui 【黃淑惠】, a great and rather low-profile indie singer-songwriter now based in melaka (jonker street, no less).

aki is an extremely cool and pretty lass. we will tell you more about her later.

recently one of her compositions is picked up by S.H.E's hebe as her debut solo album's hit single.

listen to aki and then compare with hebe's version.

鐘愛一生的印尼情歌 [my all-time fave, widuri]

irene soliano providing vocal guide to "widuri"

tonight solianos did the tracking (instrumental recording) for "widuri", one of my all-time-fave foreign language love songs.

here's the history of why i have this affinity with malay pop music. my parents, being the kiasu type, sent me to kindagarden when i was only 5, so essentially i was one year younger the the rest. i started my primary one in a a chinese school when i was 6, and being in chinese school, one needed to do one extra year in remove class, before you could proceed to form one. (i did my secondary in the then famous acs ipoh, that explains my tri-lingualism).

interjection: by revealing all this history, one could actually tell how old i am... dang.

my parents were smart, after i completed standard 5, they immediately sent me to a malay school, in order to skip remove altogether. i thought that was wicked of them cos i did save one precious year.

the one year in malay school was really eye-opening. not only was i exposed to a completely different culture and mixed with many malay classmates, i also learned to appreciate malay pop songs! i started reading malay entertainment magazines and watching malay programs in RTM.

widuri was one of those malay/indonesian songs that immediately connected with me. it has a lush melody that seems like telling an earth-shattering love story. i love it for the past few decades and have heard many many versions, but not this one done by solianos.

i was glad that the solianos, in particular, ador, our arranger-cum-producer, agreed to let me include this song in the repertoire. in fact, i think ador respects me because i know my malay music so well and widuri is often overdone so coming out with a fresh arrangement is not easy ;-)

ador's arrangement for this song is one of the best so far, with plenty of "attack" and "drama", totally unconventional and full of surprises. i am darn impressed.

this is one song that would raise the eyebrows of even indonesian music lovers, both ador and myself think alike.

suffice to say i love every song in this album, truly and remarkably.

巧遇天后 [meeting sheila majid]

despite our passion in music, we are never the star-gazing kind. so it came as a total surprise when we were told by nick (boss of the ark studio) that "sheila is doing recording" the moment we stepped into the studio yesterday!~

wow, sheila majid! our idol for the past 20 years.... we were so excited much like a kid getting to meet his idol or superstar!

the first sentence that blurted out from our mouth: "hi, kak sheila, we are your biggest fan!"

kak sheila is really petite in real life and she is so friendly.

the first thing kak sheila told us when she knew that we are making music is: "you know, we really have to learn to embrace the digital technology".

see, even kak sheila is moving with times!

we hope to sit down with kak sheila to discuss about music and possible collaboration one day.

第一個十年 [the first ten years]

check out sabahan journalist joanna funk‘s multi-part write-up on roger wang's ten-year anniversary as a recording artiste.

joanna asked roger wang on the whole audiophile music business and how he gets involved with us and pop pop music. also, why roger took up the 2v1g project and how he views this important milestone in his career...

excerpt taken from the article:

“I think this is because Chinese pop music has gotten to a point where everything is over-arranged, over-produced, it’s lost some kind of intimacy. So I think 2V1G gave a breath of fresh air to the whole scene. It’s actually my best-selling album! To the point that it’s been pirated ” Roger dug out the pirated copy! “I had to buy one for myself. It cost me three ringgit!” He laughed. “It has three bonus tracks on it which have nothing to do with us. From Karamunsing.”

interesting read!

many thanks to joanna for her passion in music journalism, it is something we share in common ;-)

音樂工業大洗牌 [reshuffling in music business]

the day of small boys fighting against the big boys is here

fact: physical cd sales have dropped to an unprecedented low level

fact: major labels are bleeding

fact: record stores are suffering

fact: yet more and more new artistes are being launched

fact: if you can achieve 3,000 copies, you are already the best-seller and record-holder

fact: constant exposures in newspaper entertainment pages do not boost physical sales. in the past, chinese pop artistes and media alike like to create gossips, rumors and scandals. these tricks no longer can excite sales. bye bye. sayonara.

fact: kay tse 【謝安琪】, top cantopop diva in hk, latest album "slowness" only sold 5,000+ copies in hong kong and it is already the top-selling album in hk.

fact: pop music lovers will praise your album, say how nice it sounds and touches their hearts... but in the end, they will go to download a copy and save the RM50. bummer.

fact: only audiophiles and hardcore music lovers will buy originals but this community is a tiny group

fact: we are now witnessing a new era in music piracy. even the retail pirates (those shops selling pirated dvds and music cds and pasar malam (night market) peddlers) are being threatened by online piracy. can you imagine how hilarious is the situation when a pirate is complaining about another pirate? piracy is no longer the youth subculture it used to be - it is THE mainstream culture cos everyone is doing it!

against such a miserable backdrop, everyone - labels, musicians, singers, A&R - are now at the same level playing field. no one is better than the other. indie labels can fight head-to-head with major labels in terms of sales, or shall we say, relative sales.

the days of achieving 10,000+ copies (like the 2v1g's debut album) is long gone. you will be happy if your album can sell beyond 1,000 copies. that's the new measure of success. yes, 1,000 copies is the new record. welcome to the new era of suck-ass-sales!

so, is it good to have the same level playing field? yes and no. yes, at least you don't need to splash $ on A&P to become famous. you can rely on facebook, blogs， youtube or the internet in general to spread your presence. yes, at least you don't have to, in order to get a story in the newspapers, work out a sensational scandal about your artiste sleeping with the producer who is married with 3 kids....

this is the era of explosive entertainment availability. music is but one tiny option available to the ever sophisticated consumers. music has to fight with high-definition tv, bluray, media player, iphone 4, ipad, and many others sexier options for attention. the pie is getting smaller. music is simply disposable. people have very short attention span and are getting more discerning. the consumer behavior has changed drastically.

we have no choice but to be the at the top of our game. to be constantly creative and give value to our customers to make them feel it is worth it to spend RM50 buying our cds (eventho' we feel it is already a damn good deal spending only RM50 to buy a RM70K production!) even that alone is not enough. we have to do even more.

the music business is reshuffling and we hope to get more aces!

買票了沒有？ [have you booked?]

Date: 21st August 2010 (Saturday)
Venue: Bentley Music Auditorium, Mutiara Damansara
Time: 8pm – 10pm
Ticket Price: RM90
Booking: Ms Lim Su Li (017-6586513)

two talented acts that have just released their respective albums.

two acts that command great sales at the local record stores.

two acts that have raised eyebrows at the international audiophile music arena.

catch them live performing together in the same stage!

call su li of musictoxin 017-6586513

深愛著你 [we miss him]

it is habitual for me to listen to my bedside music before i sleep every night.

tonight i popped in his cd and my memory floodgate was crushed open all at once...

there was a time where my musical world was all about him. he was like the wang lee-hom of today's pop: a talented singer-songwriter with goody two-shoes, clean cut image and ever a perfectionist. his music is positively motivational and his ballads were so good.

i remember watching an interview of miriam yeung 【楊千嬅】 in "be my guest" 【志云飯局】 by the famous tvb general manager, stephen chen 【陳志云】. miriam openly admitted that she likes the color purple because of him. and miriam wishes her future boyfriend to look like him too. even former miss hong kong, michele rais 【李嘉欣】 is a big fan of him.

many students who grew up in the 80s must have heard of at least one of his hits. he was a permanent idol of mine and my sister in our secondary school days. ACS ipoh being an english-medium school, most of my classmates were true-blue "english-educated" (please， i try not use a type of fruit to describe my classmates!) ones and very few of them listened to cantonese songs. it took someone as courageous as me to influence my classmates into liking his music. very soon, most of my classmates had already bought cassettes of his early albums. see, there were signs that i would be a influential music reviewer even at that early age:-)

his died of drug overdose in 1992. the day the news was announced, me and my sister were shattered. i remember my sister told me that she took some time to recover from that tragic news.

it has been 18 years, and i still occasionally dig out his collections, like tonight, for late-night listening, and enjoy in reminiscing the good old times. but most of my memories were bittersweet ones cos i refuse to believe how times fly, as his music reminds me of my puppy love and my happiest times as a student.

danny, do you know how much i miss your music?

danny, do you know how crappy cantopop is now many years after you left us? it is utterly unbearable, they even dare to call it music. nothing like what you, leslie cheung and alan tam did.

danny, how would you feel if i do a tribute album of you? would you approve? if you do, what are your favorite songs you want us to cover?

danny, can you bless me from the heaven that you live, that your tribute album is one that is commercially successful and would be recognized as a landmark album in the local music industry?

意猶未盡 [can't get enough of love scale]

we predict that this song can carry 2v1g to international stardom ;-)

為何我們會貴？ [why more expensive?]

this is an important post to explain why we sell our cds at full retail price, while cdrama and victoria could be cheaper than us.

a lot of customers and supporters alike think we are over-charging them, which is not the case.

these are the facts and explanations:

1) online orders are for customers who don't go to record shops (some don't even visit once in a year!) , who don't want the hassle of traffic jams, paying parking and prefer instead on the convenience of ordering from their computer. they are willing to pay slightly more to enjoy this convenience.

2) by virtue of selling online, our prices can never be cheaper than the retailers. it is an unspoken code of ethics. else, the retailers would boycott us!

3) we don't mind at all if the customers prefer to buy from the retail outlets. in fact, in a lot of the cases, we direct customers to the nearest record shop most convenient to them.

4) dealer like cdrama orders in bulk from us hence they have a bigger margin to play with. in fact, if you are a cdrama member, you get even more discount. it is a free market, there is no way we could stipulate a fixed retail price for our retailers. we encourage you to become a member of cdrama!

again, we really don't mind if you prefer the cheaper prices from the retailers. we are equally happy that you support the retailers.

anyone who thinks making music can make money must be living in mars. we do this business solely out of passion and strong belief that genuine and sincere music made with passion has a place in the market.

5) also, most audiophile titles from overseas (even hk) cost over Rm55 per piece. so we are not expensive. and they don't even use doug sax or keith yip for mastering ;-)

anyway, wherever you buy from, we sincerely thank you for your support, it means a lot to us.

we can't re-iterate enough that this is a very tough business we are in. if not for your support, we would not be here today.

網上訂購 [online purchase of 2v1g]

2 years in the waiting, isn't it a long time?

many many things happened during this period of time, the good and the bad. music scene has changed for the worse. more illegal downloads, more piracy, less physical sales, more record shops closed down, more musicians quit the business.... despite the discouraging times for music business, we are marching ahead. the music has to go on, 2v1g has to go on....

the good thing is both roger wang and winnie ho have matured considerably; they are in a class of their own now and new guy, jeffery lim, is more than a worthy replacement for regine tai.

you can now sample the songs on the mp3 player on the right panel!

2v1g's second album will be sold in major record shops (except rock corner) nationwide starting 18th august 2010. however, we are open for online reservation now!

as usual, this is an imported cd pressed in hong kong's major high-end cd replication factory, sony dadc. the retail price for the CD is only RM49.90.

___________________________________________________________

important: please direct all email inquiries to musictoxinpro@gmail.com.

for an easier graphical explanation of the payment process, please click here.

however, please take note of the following changes:

1) account for deposit is MUSICTOXIN PRODUCTIONS 514271337806 and not pop pop music

2) send email to musictoxinpro@gmail.com and not poppopmusic@yahoo.com

3) registered airmail rates for overseas (singapore and the rest of the world) have changed:

singapore ---> RM13.00
australia -----> RM13.00
united kingdom -----> RM20.00
USA ------> RM25.00
canada ---> RM25.00

if you have doubts or queries, please call leslie at +60122083790.

thanks for supporting 2v1g!

預購將會開始！[pre-order starts tomorrow!]

master cd of 2v1g will reach us from hk today! and we will post the 6 songs in our usual playlist for you to sample tomorrow.....at the same time, pre-order for the first pressing will start tomorrow too!

retail release date of the album is on the auspicious 18th august, just 3 days before the 821 double-bill concert in bentley auditorium.

unprecedentedly, 2v1g's songs have been on air in 98.8 since last week. we are happy that a mainstream commercial radio station is willing to promote for us!

commercially speaking, it is getting harder to cut an album due to the high production cost vis-a-vis the ever-declining cd sales... we are not sure if this album can surpass the 10,000+ mark set by the debut album but artistically, this is definitely a much better album.

so, show your support en masse if you want to hear more albums from 2v1g in the future! as we say, this may or may not be the last album for 2v1g and it all depends on how this album fares commercially...

for those we have already booked during the KLIAV show, we thank you for your continuous support!

超炫! [terminally cool!]

for those who read chinese, check out this article about the the new compilation cd issued by one of the biggest hifi dealer in taiwan, fu tai, for its 40th anniversary!~

we are proud of jz8 for such a feat! yay!

2v1g 訪問 [2v1g interview with hifi unlimited]

2v1g sans roger wang

check here for an interview of 2v1g with local hifi blog, hifi-unlimited.

曼谷浪漫一夜情 [almost a thai love story]

"saichon" is our dedication to the lovely thai people



"fallen" kicked off the showcase


big bunting promoting love's tapestry showcase



steve, our distributor in thailand, the boss of CAP music



roger and our fave compact system, bose L1... amazing sound, wish we could endorse this product







interview by thailand's major hifi magazine, audiophile/videophile




story to come!