boston progress radio

Shuffled! is a new feature on BPRLive, in which we ask some of our favorite people on the scene to set their mp3 player of choice to random, and tell us about the first few songs that they hear.

Today’s Shuffler: Christine Miguel.

Christine Miguel has lived, laughed and loved film, television and music since she was a young girl listening to her dad’s 8 track cassettes filled with Teresa Teng and Chinese Opera while watching poorly dubbed kung-fu films. A former entertainment editor for an Asian culture lifestyle magazine, she co-hosted an Asian pop radio show for CKLN 88.1FM in Toronto for 5 years. She has also been featured on CBC Radio twice as one of the many voices in contemporary Asian culture. These days, she blogs both for her own blog POP 88 @ Popcast88.com and 8Asians.com.

She can also be found writing reviews for Suite101.com and recently contributed to the first anthology of Asian Canadian cinema: “Reel Asian: Asian Canada on Screen.”

Obsession du jour are all things Korean: music, food, film and even television. Her Chinese parents from the Philippines are worried.

Name: Christine Miguel
Nickname: Xxxtine, Eggy
Chinese: 陳清美 Hangul: 천청미
Birthdate: July 12, 1978
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Star Sign: Cancer
Zodiac: Horse - Earth Horse to be exact
Blood Type: B+
Height: 164 cm
Never leave home without: Cellphone, Camera
Theme song/Anthem: “Yeah …” by Park Jung Ah (박정아)

Now, on to the shuffle.

You can listen to a few of the tracks from Christine’s Shuffled while you read her post:

Cool
Gwen Stefani
I was never a really big No Doubt fan, but when Gwen Stefani released her album ‘Love.Angel.Music.Baby’, it’s overly catchy hooks kept me really skeptical about her impending success … That is until I heard ‘Cool’. Written by Dallas Austin, the unofficial fourth member of TLC, the story goes, Austin had written ‘Cool’ but needed to find the right voice for it. Stefani who had always been very public about her relationship with bassist Tony, its break-up and growth of their friendship (See: Don’t Speak by No Doubt) gave an added weight and emotional feel that Austin was looking for. What makes most songs really shine is the music video that accompanies it. The Italian local matched with a very refined and elegantly dressed Stefani makes this song timeless and relatable.

I Never Loved You Anyway
The Corrs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8dZXfqFPzQ
It was a St. Patrick’s Day special where they played the Corrs ‘Live at the Royal Albert Hall’ on MuchMoreMusic where I finally realized just how talented this group of siblings were. Their music has been described as ‘Celtic Pop’ to ‘wholesomely raunchy’ and having been to one of their concerts, it was nothing short of a rock concert. I have every single one of their concert DVD releases. - They don’t leave Ireland for Canada very often. This song is just one of the many F-U songs Andrea Corr often writes and disguises as a cute pop track. I just love the irony.

Gamble
Shiina Ringo x Saito Neko
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD0sgoxUJ-k
Right after screening ‘Sakuran’ a Japanese film based on a manga starring Jpunk rocker/ bad girl, Anna Tsuchiya, I ran out and hunted down the soundtrack. Trouble was there was no official release of the soundtrack and after hours of online research, I found out that it was packaged separately from the film. The Music Supervisor for ‘Sakuran’ was Shiina Ringo, who collaborated with violinist Saito Neko, produced this mix of jazz/rock/pop/orchestral sound that is just so grand and awesome to listen to. The album ‘Heisei Fuuzoku’ is a solid listen from beginning to end. In the film, this song is heard when the main character is promoted to Oiran and has her promenade in the street. It’s grand, it’s rebellious, and everything that ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ was not.

Simple Part 1
Will-W feat. Masia One
For those unaware, Toronto actually does have an Asian music scene and every so often they actually come together to do some great collaborations. One of the artists at the forefront is Will-W. Perhaps the most overlooked track on his English album, “Simple Part 1,” is almost an Interlude-like track with Masia One softly rapping and Will-W singing perhaps one of the catchiest hooks I’ve heard in awhile. It’s one of those subtle songs, that sort of gets inside your head and you don’t know that it’s there. I find myself just humming the hook at any randomly given moment and wondering where I actually heard it before.

Popstar x fake star (mash-up Remix)
Hirai Ken
I was already a big fan of ‘Popstar’ so when he decided to mash it with his latest single ‘fake star’ I was curious. It’s rare that I get to hear Asian releases mashed up and so this would be my first listen. I love the irony of titles alongside the jazz/dance fusion of ‘fake star’s verses with ‘Popstar’s pop chorus in a mysterious dub-type remix. His dimples aren’t so bad to look at either.

女友 (그녀들의 수다) (Girlfriends [They’re Chatting])
天上智喜 The Grace（Cheon Sang Ji Hee The Grace)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWPr03EkQ6I
Separated, they’ve had varying degrees of success with solo singles and duo albums – together, they’re a strong group who’s vocal talent is seemingly unheard of in Kpop. Think En Vogues vocals with Pussycat Doll choreography and you would get Cheon Sang Ji Hee The Grace as they’re known in Korea. This year alone, they released both a Korean and Japanese album, each with different songs. This particular song caught my attention when I watched the above clip of them goofing off and just reminds me of what I’m like when I’m with my friends. It’s a fun cute uplifting song with the power vocals to match.

Last 5 posts by shuffled

• Shuffled! Adrian Tomine - May 15th, 2008
• Shuffled! Ed Lin - May 8th, 2008
• Shuffled! Catzie Vilayphonh - May 1st, 2008
• Shuffled! Danny "Dandiggity" Le - April 24th, 2008
• Shuffled! Goh Nakamura - April 17th, 2008

Tags: Shuffled!.