Ever since Armin introduced us to Dash Berlin in his already classic Universal Religion 3 set played at Ibiza, I have been following them, hoping for more killer tracks like Till the Sky Falls Down, which was on my repeat list for pretty much the whole year of 2008 and a track I still often listen to.

To my surprise, Dash Berlin actually came out with a /whole album/ full of great tracks. That is pretty rare. Needless to say, I recommend their album “The New Daylight”, that is, if you are into this kind of music. Check out the clip, vocals provided by the awesome Sarah Howells.

There’s always more to see behind your eyes
..
You’re peaceful, impatient
You take all of the chaos in your stride
..
I’ll never let you see what’s in my mind
‘Cause I believe, believe, believe in you
..
And in time be away from here away with you
And I, I will be there to comfort you
‘Cause I believe, believe, believe in you

Interested in the song?

It’s 6pm. I’m sitting in my chair, with a book. I look out the window, and listen to the cars drive by, drifting away in distance.

I imagine we’re walking on the streets, your hand in mine. The sun is setting, radiating a slow golden glow that covers the city, the trees and the streets. Life slows down, and we are no longer in a rush. The occasional talk. Silently smiling at me with your eyes. So natural, yet so extraordinary at the same time. Your hands feel soft. And the world is made just for you and me. Melodies in my head, playing the soundtrack of our life. As time goes by.

Listening to Bobina – Invisible Touch (Ferry Corsten remix) on a very early Sunday morning. Been writing steadily the past few weeks, getting up early, making a pot of tea, putting my headphones on. (I got new headphones!)

The graphic in the YouTube video reminds me of the awesome wallpapers at DeskTopography.

it’s sunday in boston, and the fall weather is gorgeous, but i haven’t been able to see much of it today. mostly because my body was telling me: you’re tired, you need to rest. so that’s what i did. it’s 3pm now, and i just woke up, again. earlier, i was reading in bed with my laptop, fell asleep again.

i feel super refreshed! i also feel like i could have kept on sleeping and sleeping, crazy. two funny things in my dreams:

i was in amsterdam, with a classmate from annenberg, looking for belgium belgian fries. i haven’t had them in so so long. and suddenly in my dream, i crave them. like there is no tomorrow.

another weird thing, walking around in the mall (a mall in holland!), looking for the stand with the belgium belgian fries, i can’t find it. music is blaring in the background. it is that song “til the end of time” from lau siu wai and the other dude. i remember thinking in my dream “wow i just heard that and now they are playing it here in the mall”.

that’s because i listened to it while i was working behind my laptop. so i remembered this in my dream! i sometimes think the dream world and the real are separate realities. not that they don’t influence each other, because of course they do, but if somethings transfer, they warp in the process, change slightly. but in this dream, the me in the dream, clearly remembers something i did in the real, before i fell asleep. pretty mind boggling. (i’m sure i’m not the only one out there, but this is the first time i have a recollection of this after i wake up). enjoy the song (a total classic polygram (now defunct label) karaoke song – from the Laser Disc era – check out the hairdo of the dude – a total relic of the nineties – didn’t we all have a haircut like that at some point?!)

ps anyone knows where i can get some good fries in boston? anyone?

In the park. Music in the distance. Reading.

When a girl came to sit next to me. Quietly.
With headphones.
Her look drifting off. Smoked a cigarette.

I lean back, and gaze at the sky.

After a while she puts out her cigarette
picks up a pocket book from her bag. Japanese.

I’m breathing real slow. Life is good.

(to the girl with headphones who came to sit next to me, in washington square park, on a sunny saturday afternoon – July 25, 2009 ~4pm)

有時候很想聽一些表達你心情的歌。
這兒，這一刻，現在，整天，想的人，這心情。
找到了，很想跟你關心的人分享。
才發現音樂不是真的universal。

（h/t herman）

汽球
作詞：許哲珮　作曲：許哲珮

黑的白的紅的黃的　紫的綠的藍的灰的
你的我的他的她的　大的小的圓的扁的
好的壞的美的醜的
新的舊的各種款式各種花色任你選擇
黑的白的紅的黃的　紫的綠的藍的灰的
你的我的他的她的　大的小的圓的扁的
好的壞的美的醜的
新的舊的各種款式各種花色任我選擇
飛的高高越遠越好　剪斷了線它就死掉
壽命短短高興就好　喜歡就好沒大不了
越變越小越來越小　快要死掉也很驕傲
你不想說就別再說　我不想聽不想再聽
就把一切誓言當作汽球一般隨它而去
我不在意不會在意　放它而去隨它而去
汽球　飄進雲裡　飄進風裡　結束生命
汽球　飄進愛裡　飄進心裡　慢慢死去

Every Little Thing is that for me. Their first CD “Everlasting” blew me away, especially Kaori’s voice. I was used to Cantopop CDs that usually have a few good tracks on each CD at most (I guess American CDs aren’t that different). Rare are the CDs where every track is solid, if not great. And it wasn’t just that almost every track was enjoyable to listen to, it was that they had such a fresh and distinct sound.

But it wasn’t until their second album that they had a song that came to define an era for me.

It’s hard to pick one song, and even this one song, As Time Goes By, has several brilliant versions.

It’s hard to express what this song means for me. It disappears on me at times. I cannot remember the last time I listened to this song. It’s a relic of the pre-iPod era. iPods have drastically changed the way we listen to music, making songs much more persistent, I believe. You don’t lose track of certain songs as much, except for the category of songs you were obsessively listening to before you had an iPod and for some reason never bothered to transfer them.

It was 1998. I started discovering my own music, what I liked, what did not work for me. Strong memories of my first girlfriend. Of having a place for myself, living on my own. Of spreading out my own wings, so convinced and so ready to take on the world.

So convinced, and so fragile at the same time. Growing stronger, as time goes by. But at what cost? Something that is nevertheless inevitable. We leave behind the connections with people we once cared deeply about, intensely shared years of your life with, and whose presence still leaves imprints on who you are and how you remember yourself. The stories we willl tell.

And Every Little Thing will provide the soundtrack for one important chapter of my life. Enjoy.

Sitting on the curb, the cars in front of us driving past. The street light illuminating the little stall where we got our food from: a bowl of beef noodles for me, chicken rice for my friend. We’re waiting for our other friends to join us – there is a party to go to tonight, after all.

We silently eat our food, gazing at the cars passing in front of us. Their lights, yellow and red, illuminating the dark night. It’s chill, but not too cold. A slight breeze keeps us comfortable.

“This rice is good”. I inhale the heat of the soup, take a bite of my noodles, turn my head and smile in agreement.

His friends arrive shortly after – grabbing a quick bite – doing some pre-party drinking from the local 7-11, and off we go, to the second floor in Taipei. The “second floor” is really on the second floor, it turns out. In line, I show my ID to the guard. He looks at the face in my passport, then lifts his eyes, gazes at me for a second or three, looks at my passport again. “It’s okay if you wanna use, but please don’t sell any, okay?” I give him a slightly blank look, smile and go in.

The night is still young – as the evening progresses, people come and go, and the floor fills up. The music becomes more intense, taking over our sensual sensory experiences. We start dancing, and dancing. To the beat that doesn’t stop. Friends come and go, it’s getting late and they start leaving. But it’s me and my friend. And we go on and on. We laugh, we concentrate, we leave our consciousness on the floor. We dance til deep in the night.

It’s getting light when we get out. “The birds are singing, fool!” he shouts at me, laughing, and chucking his half full bottle of water at me, trying to splash me. I laugh and push him back. As we cross the streets, we see people in suit, carrying briefcases, on their way to the train station, ready to go to work.

hearing you speak like that brings back memories of a time when the music really meant something. a time of relating, where people seem to shed the defenses built up while living in this sometimes cruel world…a place where people were friends no matter our backgrounds – where we lived, what we did in life, what ethnicity we were – everything was dropped because the only thing that mattered was that we stepped in time with the beat, and that is how we shared our universe. can’t explain the thoughts and the things we did. it just meant something then and it no longer means the same thing now…

But a nomad’s life is really best characterized by disjunctures and discontinuities. When travel becomes constant and sometimes no longer a choice. It’s a choice as long as you have a home to go back to – opting out is effectively that, returning to the normal. But if a constant journey is the norm – what is there to go back to? Airports, train stations? No, ” home” slowly loses its meaning – it’s a loss of control of direction. Forward, forward, ever forward. A relentless going forward.

The realization that this comes at a price. The impossibility of any continuation. The infeasibility of the long-term. The harm it does to any relationship you have, friendships, kindred souls, even family. Constantly rebuilding – many eventually leave the journey, with perhaps only a few remaining fellow travelers. People stay, but you come and go.

What most people don’t realize: Every time you start anew, a little bit of you dies inside. Freedom, at a price, sometimes too high a price, and sometimes you don’t find out, until you stop, look around, and it’s gone. And you are too afraid to ask: “Was it worth it?”

I leave you with a song from Wu Bai, called “white dove”.

前方啊 沒有方向 身上啊 沒有了衣裳
Straight ahead, without direction, body unclothed

鮮血啊 滲出了翅膀 我的眼淚濕透了胸膛
Blood oozing from my wing, my tears thoroughly soaking my chest

飛翔著 強忍著傷 逃離了獵人的槍
Soaring in the air, bearing the wound, escaping from the hunter’s gun

我的雙腳沒有了知覺 我的心情下冰冷的雪
My feet have no consciousness; feeling like ice-cold snow is falling in my heart

親愛的母親 摯愛的朋友 我會堅定好好的活
Dearest mother, true friend, I can be strong, I will live well

沉默的大地 沉默的天空 紅色的血繼續的流
Silent earth, silent heaven, red blood continuously flows

縱然帶著永遠的傷口 至少我還擁有自由
Even though I carry everlasting scars, at least I still have freedom

飛翔啊 飛在 天空 用力 吹吧無情的風
Soaring in the air, flying in the sky, against the merciless wind

我不會害怕 也無須懦弱 流浪的路我自己走
I will not be afraid, I don’t have to be a coward, roaming everywhere by myself

那是種驕傲 陽光的灑脫 白雲從我腳下掠 過
That is something to take pride in, carefree sunshine, white clouds sweeping by beneath my feet

乾枯的身影 憔悴的面容 揮著翅膀 不再回頭
Withered figure, thin and pallid face, flapping my wings, never turning to look back

縱然帶著永遠的傷口 至少我還擁有自由
Even though I carry everlasting scars, at least I still have freedom