Beck Loves Music

I’m almost afraid to tell you about this guy, because when I do, I’ll have expose one of the more bizarre tendencies of my personality.

. . .

First off, what you have to understand about me is my need for thoroughness and order. This doesn’t apply to every area of my life, but for whatever reason, my interaction with media is ruled by it. Could be some correlation with my father, who organized and listened to his music collection in alphabetical order. hm.

Either way, it basically means that when I watch a TV show, I am never really satisfied unless I can watch it from the very first episode and then in order. When I hear a song that I really like, I need to know what album it came from and at least the names of the people in the band.

If I hear an artist that I really like, I end up exhaustively researching their entire discography, watching music videos for hours on end on YouTube, etc. By the time I’ve finished, I know so much about them that I might as well be their biggest fan, even if it turns out that I don’t really like their music that much after all.

Jay Chou was recommended to me by a friend (thanks, Rach) who probably had no idea that her suggestion would take up so much of my spare time. lol

So far, Ye Hui Mei is my favorite of Jay’s nine studio albums, although that could change since I haven’t listened to the other ones extensively enough yet.

Jay is a classically trained musician with some wicked piano skills and a REALLY creative approach to music. He writes all the music himself, and about half the lyrics. You could classify his stuff best as hip-hip, I suppose, since he spends a lot of time rapping and on the standard ballad stuff, but even that classification is a little awkward.

On an amusing note, I guess Jay’s gotten a fair amount of criticism for his vocal style, because apparently he doesn’t enunciate. If I could speak Chinese, that might annoy me too, but I can’t tell the difference anyway.

Personally, I appreciate that he occasionally uses traditional Chinese instrumentation in his music, because, as I was telling my mom the other day, if you’re going to be Chinese, you may as well use Chinese instruments. Embrace the awesome.

Listen to the whole album after the jump!

[my favorites in bold]

In the Name of the Father If you only listen to one song here, listen to this one–it’s amazing! Watch Music Video	Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Coward	Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Clear Day	Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Third Year, Second Class	Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
East Wind Breaks	Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
You Can Hear It	Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The Same Kind of Tune	Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Her Eyelashes	Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Cliffs of Love	Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Rice Fields	Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Double Sabers Watch Music Video	Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.