One Day in May…

I am pausing to take stock in the new 2008 albums, an exercise sparked by the news that 1976 has a new album coming out shortly. The Taipei band has been on the scene for 12 years already, and their first single off the new album bodes well for the rest of it. It’s called “Knut (努特),” and it’s named after the Berlin Zoo polar bear that captured the hearts of so many around the world after it was abandoned by its mother and reared by a zookeeper. There’s a sad twist to the Knut story, as the zookeeper who raised him in his mother’s absence died very young of a sudden heart attack just over a week ago.

Polar bears have also become a sort of mascot for the fight against global warming, although not without controversy. Picking up on the theme, however, “Knut” addresses the issue of global climate change. You can hear the song and watch the fun video, complete with cartoon bear, here.

1976’s new album is called This Planet (這個星球),* and preorder sales have been so good there’s some talk about them shifting from being an underground band to a more mainstream act, following in the footsteps of the younger sodagreen.

Now, by my count, the albums I’ve been looking for this year that are already out include Jam Hsiao’s eponymous album (have it, but I’ve only listened once), Lu Guangzhong’s 100 Ways for Living 100種生活 (love it), Fusion’s If the Future 如果未来 (didn’t know I needed it ’til I had it, but I adore it…), Khalil Fong’s Wonderland 未來 (haven’t gotten it yet, but it’s easy to find here), PK 14’s City Weather Sailing 城市天气的航行 (on order), and 13 Band’s (erm) Horse-faced sailor’s summer (?) (馬臉水手的夏天) (need it, but I still don’t have the full-length Silver Sun from last year*). Hmm, is that everything? I am uncertain if I should care about Aska Yang or Yoga Lin. On the B’in Music front, there are new albums from Ding Dang, Champion, and Victor Wong, none of which I’ve snapped up yet.

I’m not sure what else is out that I’m missing. I tend to run a few months behind on releases, so a lot of the albums I acquired in the first half of this year were actually 2007 releases (or even earlier…). For example, I have just ordered Tanya Chua’s Hello & Goodbye – I know, I know. I’m terribly remiss on that one.

On the coming soon list, I see: Leehom (November 1, though delays still seem possible), Mayday (who knows when… they have been talking October, but if so, we should be starting to see preorder information), this 1976 album (due out October 24), Cowboy Jay (trying to shed his cowboy image, though I’m not sure he should get off that easy… album due out October 9). We’ve also been hearing that the new Fusion album has been in the recording stage for a while now, so presumably that will come out before the end of the year, and then there’s that whole A-yue superband idea, which may or may not be in the next few months given the fact that A-yue is currently touring; I wouldn’t say no to another album from just him, though. Wasn’t there still a collection of fast songs ready to go that didn’t make it onto the last album?

There are concert albums I sorta want from Cheer Chen and Tizzy Bac; I bought sodagreen’s right away (and now I’m waiting for the China version of the DVD…). I have not yet purchased the 7-Eleven Open Chan CD, though not out of protest so much as apathy. Maybe I’ll still pick it up, though. Cheer and Echo Band both had singles out this year. I’m watching now for news about future albums from Totem and Peng Tan; I’m not sure what is the current status of things for Deserts Chang or Secondhand Rose. But that’s already plenty to keep me busy for a little while, at least.

＊Update: Two corrections. (1) 1976 appears to be calling their new album Asteroid in English. (2) 13 Band’s 2007 album was called Are You the King? (你是王嗎?), not Silver Sun - the latter was the name of their 2006 EP.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 11:49 am and is filed under Chang Chen-yue (A-yue), Cheer Chen, Fish Leong, Fusion Band, Leehom Wang, Mainland China Bands, Mandopop, Mayday, Sodagreen, Victor Wong. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.