I don't really listen to music all that often, but I do enjoy it. It does help to lift spirits and cheer you up a bit, especially when you're feeling bored and there's no one else to talk to. I don't usually listen to music when I read or study, since it tends to take away my concentration and make it harder to absorb stuff. But I do find it useful at times to study with some light background music(nothing with catchy lyrics, please!) to get into a good mood and to drown out the noise in the surroundings...

My favourite genres I stick to are pop, rock and retro mainly. Pretty mainstream stuff mainly, but alternative is okay too. Ballads would have to depend on the song and artiste. Slight ampathy towards hard rock and grunge(I like Metallica...). Country, techno and rap, okay quite neutral, bordering on disdain. Classical is close to disgust(unless Vanessa puts in a zing of rock) while opera is the big no-no.

I have a huge bias towards Chinese music of late, because of the emergence of many new and upcoming potentials. Frankly, it has always been my opinion that Chinese artistes are generally more talented than their English-speaking counterparts. This belief has been further reinforced by the appearance of countless boy bands(what instruments do they play anyway?) and girl groups storming the industry banking on their looks and attitude(problem), shamelessly doing covers of hits by other greats...

Seriously, I think the difference is in the 'youth programmes'. Chinese singers progress through a tough regime of pedalling their unplugged skills to paying audiences at karaoke or music lounges from their school days, waiting to be discovered, while the fellows in the West jam away happily in parks and squares. The oppotunities available are just too different. In Asia, a career in music(read:generally low-paying and insecure) is frowned upon, and only the talented or truly interested ones will preservere, which is why you don't get as many one-hit wonders from them. Chinese artistes are also more willing to try out composition, album production, lyrics writing, songs of different genres or even languanges! Yah, I know some people can sing in English, Spanish, Italian, French... good for him lah.

The Japanese scene is a bit funny though. You have groups which average 14 years of age selling millions of copies and you start wondering what's wrong. But the truth is, underneath their good looks(you can't fault them on that, they're Japanese!), many of them can actually sing quite well, especially when you listen to the ballads. There are the occasionally black sheep though, usually those TV/movie stars who try their hand at singing(remember Zoe and Fann...), but overall still better than the English scene.

When listening to songs, I note mainly for talent in the execution and an overall pleasing effect. I don't really have very strong preferences for any artiste, group or band, because to me talent does not automatically translate into good songs. Either because

Of course there are exceptions who manage to churn out powerful albums one after another, but there's definitely tracks which I don't care much about. I call it the 'efficiency ratio'. That's the percentage of great songs in the CD. So an album with 6 tracks out of 10 which you would want to listen to scores 60%. Rereleased songs, be it wholesale, disco mix, techno mix, dance mix, extended mix, egg mix, latin version, carribean version, christmas version, new year version, whatever... gets half the score only, and less if it sounds worse than before. That'll teach the cheapskates(usually record companies lah) who throw out compilations or bundle a new song with them. I find the efficiency ratio very useful when buying new CDs and estimating the worth of singers. The ones whom I prefer to listen to tend to have high efficiency ratios and I end up having more of their albums.

CD Shopping Tips for Singapore

Overall rating is only based on price and selection, since good service is sadly something we can afford to miss out on when selecting CDs. That is unless you really badly need that rare CD from Timbaktu, which the kind and knowledgeable folks at HMV and Towers can somehow order for you... All in all, I will always buy from Music Warehouse for the cheaper prices storewide(note:JPOP almost non-existant here). They don't stock much on variety though, so check in often whenever you're in the area. Music Junction has the 'Red and Green' label offer where they try to clear less popular stocks by bundling them with other CDs. Sometimes, the 'less popular' CD may just be an old one you have been looking for or wanting to buy... But copies are very limited, so look hard. Music Junction and Sembawang also have many outlets at various malls which makes it cheaper and more convenient to shop. Unfortunately, this also means that an offer or CD available at one outlet may not be at another... Use HMV and Towers only to test out CDs which you intend to buy or to satisfy your craving for that CD which just arrived and can't be found elsewhere. Buy here only if you're really prepared to pay more for their freebies like posters or contests, or must be the first XXX people in Singapore to own a copy of the CD... One last thing - Never go out specifically to shop for CDs! The transport costs would never justify the worth of the CD. Be patient and buy it the next time you go out instead. Once you get your hands on it, it's not as if you won't ever get tired of listening to it...

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