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Today’s Shuffler: Scott Tang

After copyrighting his first work at age 9 and working feverishly at the piano through his teenage years, Scott went on to major in music at U.C. Berkeley. Since relocating to Los Angeles, Scott has been forcefully involved with both established and emerging Asian-American entertainment groups such as MTV Chi, KSCI TV, ImaginAsian TV/Radio, and many more. He has co-organized a variety of shows in the Los Angeles area such as ChopRock, a showcase of Asian-American artists, the 3rd Annual Asian Hip Hop Summit in Koreatown, YellowHouse in Silverlake, the Komuzika open mic nights in downtown Chinatown, and FuseBox, a night of music and video, in collaboration with MTV World and the VC FilmFest. Recent TV appearances include KSCI’s Chinese talk show “L.A. Living,” the popular Pinoy TV show “Kababayan” and guest hosting the Top Ten Chi Countdown on MTV Chi.

Scott’s debut solo album, “Late Night Drives,” was released independently in July 2005. ChopBlock.com gave it four stars, recognizing that “there’s something overtly genuine about these songs, emanating the kind of enduring soul that many pop artists wish for just a small fraction of. “Late Night Drives” is sparkling contemporary pop music with a rare kind of purity and verve.” The album is full-fledged piano pop, and features Vietnamese pop sensation Trish Trang on background vocals, as well as a production team that has collectively worked with such artists as Fiona Apple, Black Eyed Peas, Rod Stewart, Madonna and Chaka Khan. The music video for “Freeway” premiered on MTV Chi’s Top Ten Chi Countdown, and has appeared on local and national TV and various Asian film festivals.

Scott’s second solo album, “Radiant,” was released in fall 2007 and is available on iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody and Napster. You can listen to tracks from both of his albums right here on our stream. And read BPR’s review by our very own blogger Van. For more info, go to www.scotttang.com or www.myspace.com/scotttang.

On to the shuffle… Read more

Tags: Shuffled!.

I thought I had it in the bag after my Omar Telan interview online. It went smoothly and prepared me for my next interview with Cynthia Lin, actress, musician, dancer, and a free-spirit currently living in New York City. But of course something had to go wrong. Even though I was not speaking with Cynthia my mouth got parched. I reached for my glass of water. The room temperature liquid replenished me and I was ready to move on with my conversation. All of sudden the glass slipped out of my hand before I could set it down onto the table, some water jumped out of the glass to splash onto the right side of my COMPUTER, near the control, shift, and “z” buttons! What do I do? I am interviewing a musician, my computer is going to die on me, all these questions are flowing through my head, and what do I do… I just stare at the water as it seeps deep within the keys of my laptop system. I was in disbelief. Cynthia was patient as I tried to reconnect several times to try to salvage our talk. The interview had to be cut short, but I still got some good material to share with you.

Cynthia: I like this, I can be in my pajamas.

JM: Was it a big transition to move from Chicago to New York City?

Cynthia: Not really, I was born in Chicago and I lived there till I was 11 and then I moved to New Jersey. So, I went to middle school and high school in jersey,and then went to Princeton, so I was always close to New York City. My family would visit the city often, especially to see musicals. Broadway was one of my dreams.

JM: So your love of music started young through your parents?

Cynthia: My parents supported my artistic activities and my whole family loves music and singing, but my parents didn’t really push the music thing. We all took piano lessons, but none of us liked to practice. Actually from a young age I had decided that I wanted to be a doctor. Of course my parents were fine with that.

JM: Do you still have aspirations in medicine?

Cynthia: I gave up on that freshman year of college. It was too competitive, pre-med that is.

JM: What was it like going to school there?

Cynthia: I think it’s the best school in the world for undergraduate education. Socially, it’s very Ivy League and it has its upper crusty side. But there are a lot of well-rounded ambitious students, people who have the ability to achieve almost anything. It is an interesting spectrum. There are crazy party kids who happen to be smart.

JM: Were you one of them? Read more

Tags: Interview, music.

Back in my Asian American student conference attending days, I acquired this compilation CD of Asian American artists, Plugged In 2. Honestly, back when I got this CD, it wasn’t something I was really in to. I think this was mostly because I had horrible taste in music while I was in college. Horrible.

I loaded up the CD this past weekend, and it was funny to listen to each track again, nearly a decade later. I remember that the track I probably listened the most to was 5th Platoon’s “And We Do It Like This.” I remember being shocked to learn that one of the members of 5th Platoon was a woman. I don’t think I knew what turntablism was before I went to college, and I certainly never could have dreamed up 5th Platoon and Kuttin Kandi.

The other track that I can specifically remember listening to was “Letter to Our Unborn Children” by I Was Born With 2 Tongues. This was also probably my first exposure to spoken word, and spoken word performed by people that looked like me. It was almost strange to listen to these voices coming out of my speakers, without seeing the faces of the people performing.I was lucky enough to see both of these groups perform live (again, I owe a debt to all the multitudes of student conferences that I was part of). I think that’s where it all started to come together for me - to be able to experience this live, to think about the people behind the music, to come together over their words, to experience this with other people that I feel connected to. That’s when I started to feel connected to these tracks, these songs, this community.

I think music has the power to transport you. And as I listen to these tracks again, now, I can remember what it felt like to listen for the first time, to process over and over what it means to be plugged in, to be in the middle of searching for that place where you feel at home, where you fit in. And where you don’t.
Here’s the track listing of the cd:

Plugged In 2

1. Visions, The Pacifics
2. When U Think About Me, One Vo1ce
3. Hostile Takeover, The Mountain Brothers
4. I Wanna Be Your Man, Kai
5. Letter To Our Unborn Children, 2 Tongues
6. Comet, Mango Pirates
7. Self Sufficient, The Visionaries
8. Girl It’s You, Devotion
9. X-Games, The Wisemen
10. Fender Bender, Kid Koala
11. Balcony Beach, Lyrics Born
12. When I Get Close To You, Jocelyn Enriques
13. Snapshot, Mitsuo Downer Sounds

Does anyone have Plugged In 1?

Tags: Appreciation, CD, music.

They may not be bringing back disco or flares, but this is one cameo you won’t want to miss. Miss Vintage, that is. Miss Vintage is a rock band based in Philadelphia, Penn. The band is comprised of Jason Min (lead guitarist/vocals), Joe Chai (guitarist/vocals), Colin Leaman (bassist) and Brian Skulski (drummer).

Last Wednesday, January 24, Miss Vintage played a gig at T.T. the Bear’s. They performed five songs from their debut album, Runways: All That’s Left, The Roadie, Marry Annette, The Last Time We Cried and their closing number, Temporary Like Me. True to form, these guys have a passionate energy and adorkable charisma that is as yet untainted by the industry’s cynicism. They also happen to have a quirky, trippy sound that lends itself well to indie film soundtracks.

I got to catch up with three of the band members in the back “green room.” We chatted about everything from mixing drugs with pleasure (you’ll see what I mean…) to Kollaboration and everything in between.

Sarah Ip: Hi, guys. Could you tell us a little about yourself - where you’re all from and how you guys met?
Jason Min: I met these guys in Philly. Me and the guitarist [Joe Chai] are from California. We played at a local church together. We met the other guys later on. They’re from Philly. Read more

Tags: Interview, music.