#Mandark Ravel (梁丹郡)

[fyeahcindie]

COVID-19 means plenty of time for musicians to post covers to YT.  Let’s check out a few recent tunes:

First up, marvelous Mandark Ravel 梁丹郡 (from 甜約翰 Sweet John, I Mean Us) playing a 馬大文 Vanny Ma song. 

Next, a gorgeous, yet somewhat obscure George Harrison / The Beatles song, performed by Asteriska from the Jakarta band BARASUARA and guitarist Yudhistira Mirza:

Finally, a very intimate rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s The Sound Of Silence, by Amrita Soon:

[fyeahcindie]

I’m really looking forward to hearing this! 👍😄🎶

I Mean Us generously sharing their full 2021 album above! =D

Let's hear one of the first singles, this has just a few repeated lyric lines; the band is super strong and the vocals are ethereal:

Composer: 梁丹郡 Mandark Liang (also in 甜約翰 Sweet John)

Lyrics: 梁丹郡 Mandark Liang & 楊永純 (Vitz Yang)

Arranged & Performed by: I Mean Us:

Vocal/Guitar/Synth: 章羣 Chun Zhang

Vocal/Keyboard: 梁丹郡 Mandark Liang

Guitar: 楊詠淳 Vitz (also in Triple Deer, Chocolate Tiger 猛虎巧克力)

Drums: 呂佩蓬 Pam Lu (PP L)

Bass: 漢克 (陳思翰 Hank Chen) (also in SADOG)

Chorus: 劉庭佐 (Joe Liu) (He is the guitarist in the band hue, and singer w/ 知更 John Stoniae)

Links: I Mean Us YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Albums, Merch, etc.

I Mean Us - Into Innerverse [Full Album] 2021

“Along the marching beats we stride and sing. Shall our dreams and fantasies be shattered to pieces. Deafening roars are what we leave as legacies.” I Mean Us —— This is far beyond just the name of the band, it also means “uniting every single piece of different instruments,  ideas and thoughts as one.” Sometimes the outcome isn’t always perfectly smooth as they expected, but it’s just like every spectacular mountain has its striking edges and corners. The album Into Innerverse was created after facing the bitterness of life and the sorrow of losing friends. All these songs tell different stories, such as a night cruising memory, a self-mumbling moment and an imagination beyond life and death. It has been three years since they released their first debut album. I Mean Us have walked through the pandemic with this world side by side. Those anxious and helpless hours forced them to start digging into the deep innerverse, which was already full of darkness. Till these days, I Mean Us is still exploring the unknown areas in our hearts. They won’t stop cultivating those alternative and surreal sounds even when the time comes to an end.

[fyeahcindie]

Outstanding new single from 林以樂 Yile Lin (aka 斑斑 BenBen)   =D

Written by Yile Lin

Arranged by Yile Lin,  Mandark (梁丹郡),  HLK

Produced by 韓立康 HLK

Credits on screen at the end of the MV.  (Full musician credits at 5:21, all are familiar names to FYCI!)

Links:  林以樂 Spotify,  Skip Skip Ben Ben Instagram,  林以樂 SoundCloud,  林以樂リン·イーラー YouTube,   林以樂 (リン·イーラー) (twitter),  林以樂 (リン·イーラー) Bandcamp,  牡蠣造音 mulii (YouTube),  雀斑樂團 Freckles

[fyeahcindie]

17TV YouTube channel streamed 5+ hours of Saturday’s Golden Indie Music Awards.   (See our previous post!)

The stream starts at around 19 minutes in, with backstage interviews of many acts, including: 美秀集團 Amazing Show, Leaf Yeh 葉穎, 百合花 Lilium, Enno Cheng 鄭宜農, *大象體操 Elephant Gym, HUSH, The Fur., and more.

Really nice to see everybody all dressed up for the occasion and acting a little silly/nervous, but it’s all very charming.  =D

I’ve just started watching, but it looks like there’s a short break at around 1.19.00 after the backstage stuff, then the awards show starts with a live performance (by Flesh Juicer 血肉果汁機) at 1:34.00.   

This video may disappear from the channel, so if you’re interested, watch it asap.    You can also watch at the 17Live+ fb.

*When she interviewed Elephant Gym, KT had been in the middle of getting her hair ready, and was still in her t-shirt and shorts.  =)

UPDATE: If you watch to the end when Elephant Gym accept the award for Best Band, during her speech KT says a few words in Japanese to someone in the crowd --  bass player Seiji Kameda (龜田誠治) from Shiina Ringo/Tokyo Jihen.  On her instagram there’s a short clip of her saying hello to him backstage. ‘我今天見到我的神’

UPDATE:  One nice segment at around 3.45.45 was a medley of songs performed by an all-star all-female ensemble, I think it was to honor some songwriters? 

XinLun Tsai - Vocal (fr. 告五人 Accusefive)

柔 米 Zoomie - Voc/Gtr

令晴 (Niggie) -Bass/Voc  (fr. 孔雀眼 JADE EYES)

Asue Chiu 邱舒 - Gtr/Voc (fr. 百合花 Lilium)

Mandark Ravel (梁丹郡) - Keys (fr. I Mean Us/甜約翰 Sweet John)

李亮瑩 Thrissa Skala - Drums (fr. 眠腦 Sleeping Brain)

There was one other girl on keys that I didn’t recognize. (Anyone know?)  The music director / keyboardist is Yun-Hui Hung 洪筠惠

More info about the all-female segment from KKBOX:

#Free Your Mind－犬青、柔米、邱舒、令晴、亮亮、Mandark

「#Free Your Mind」演出由六位音樂圈的女性創作者演出，告五人「犬青」與柔米作為主唱，帶領本次擔任電吉他手的百合花鼓手「邱舒」、孔雀眼貝斯手「令晴」、眠腦鼓手「亮亮」以及甜約翰與 I Mean Us 的主唱兼鍵盤手「Mandark」共同演出。

演出歌單包括黃韻玲〈喜歡你現在的樣子〉、田馥甄〈愛了很久的朋友〉、藍又時〈曾經太年輕〉、林曉培〈心動〉、黃韻玲〈藍色啤酒海〉，首首均為今年「特殊貢獻獎」得主黃韻玲老師的創作，全女性的演出，獻給了當年開創了「女力」道路的黃韻玲老師。

[fyeahcindie]

Let’s have a listen to the newest demo from 甜約翰 Sweet John  =D

Very polished sound, their demos always sound ready for official release!

Music by 吳浚瑋 Genwie Wu (Voc/Gtr) & *陳冠宇

Lyrics by marvelous Mandark Ravel (梁丹郡) (Keys/Voc)

陳罐頭 Can Chen-Gtr, 阿獎 (石裕獎)-Bass, 小J JJ Jhong (Jay Chung)-Drums

*The co-writing credit is 陳冠宇. There is more than one person with that name on fb, but my guess is that it is Ognam Chen 陳冠宇, because he is in Triple Deer with 楊永純 (Vitz Yang) and Vitz is in I Mean Us with Mandark.  =)

[fyeahcindie]

Some covers for Sunday!  =D

First up, Kuohsun Tseng 國洵 (厭世少年 Angry Youth) and marvelous Mandark Ravel (梁丹郡) (I Mean Us, 甜約翰 Sweet John) join forces to cover a song by OOHYO (우효).  (Song is in English, and Kuoshun wrote the rap part)

Next, 鄭瑜瑄 Dory C puts on a sexy vibe for Ex's & Oh's by Elle King. Dory doesn’t have that same raspy voice as Elle, but it’s still fun!  =D

Finally, something for drum-heads: Mika Pataflafla Chen (DizLike, 無上彩 L DERColoR) with a very creative ‘drum remix’ of Jolin Tsai’s 玫瑰少年 Womxnly:

[fyeahcindie]

TOKYO ACOUSTIC SESSION usually only film around Japan, but recently they traveled to Taiwan for a 2-song unplugged session with I Mean Us!  =D

章羣 Zebrateens (Chun Zhang)-gtr/voc, Mandark Ravel (梁丹郡)-keys/voc (甜約翰 Sweet John), 楊永純 (Vitz Yang)-gtr (Triple Deer, Chocolate Tiger 猛虎巧克力), 漢克 (Hank Chen)-bass (SADOG), 呂佩蓬 Pam Lu (PP L)-drums (Lake Blue 湖水藍)

By the way, this was shot at marvelous Mandark’s home, and you can see & hear her pet bird during the song.  XD

You can also watch at the official site: http://tokyoacousticsession.com/

Last Friday, I Mean Us played in Fukuoka, Japan:

[fyeahcindie]

I Mean Us news: the MV for 《EYƎ》is premiering tomorrow night, and so I’ll post this photo of Marvelous Mandark Ravel (梁丹郡) who recently made a very slight change in her appearance. =D [Photo by cathyyy_0711, Hairstyle by 王梅]

Placeholder for the MV:

Actually, the photo of Mandark is from a recent performance at StarNest MusicFest in Wuhan, China (武漢星巢音樂節) with her other band 甜約翰 Sweet John

Sweet John posted a new demo this week, and of course it’s gorgeous:

[fyeahcindie]

Embedding is hit or miss --

I got MVs piling up around here because half the time the embedding is not working. There is no message saying ‘embedding is disabled’, so I don’t know what the problem is.  *shakes fist*

Anyway, let me link you to some gorgeous new songs, and I hope you will go over to YT and check them out:

1. Newest MV from 甜約翰 Sweet John : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UYOS8Pcsks  (Jazzy pop, with marvelous Mandark Ravel (梁丹郡) dancing around during her piano solo)

2. New MV from a Malaysian artist I don’t think we’ve ever featured, this song is a powerful ballad. Season 周珺慈 (Season Chu) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwTZZecszfo

3. As long as I’m sending you all on a music mission, there’s a new demo over at StreetVoice I would love to share as well. Wheel Of Fortune樂團 (a trio with singer-songwriter 吳艾倫 Wu Ailun, 淮弟 Hwaidy Liu-drums/perc and 火箭 Rocket Lee on guitar. Intimate folk tune with a quirky singalong chorus: https://streetvoice.com/WheelOfFortune/songs/584503/

[fyeahcindie]

This is a feature/interview by Wang Hsin-Chuan with the full I Mean Us band conducted at Yu Cheng Cinema Studio.   I think the article includes an English translation of this video: I Mean Us @CINEMA SESSIONS - Behind The Scene 訪談花絮  (see below)

章羣 Zebrateens (Chun Zhang)-gtr/voc, Mandark Ravel (梁丹郡) (aka Mandark Liang)-keys/voc (甜約翰 Sweet John), 楊永純 (Vitz Young aka Vitz Yang)-gtr (Triple Deer, Chocolate Tiger 猛虎巧克力), 漢克 (Hank Chen)-bass (SADOG), 呂佩蓬 Pam Lu (PP L)-drums (Lake Blue 湖水藍)  

More links: I Mean Us YouTube, iNDIEVOX, SoundCloud

[fyeahcindie]

2 excellent new demos!  =D

First up, 甜約翰 Sweet John. Music by Marvelous Mandark & Genwie Wu, lyrics by Mandark.  [吳浚瑋 Genwie Wu-voc/gtr, Mandark Ravel (梁丹郡)-keys/voc, 陳罐頭 Can Chen-gtr, 阿獎-bass, 小J JJ Jhong (Jay Chung)-drums]

The band are doing mainland dates this month:

Next, we have a bluesy rocker from 三十萬年老虎鉗 Mr. Loud Who Chance:

Music by the full band, lyrics by A-Ray & Roy

Voc-鄭植 Benji, Gtr-阿雷 A-Ray, Gtr-艾倫坡 Alanpo, Bass-晧宇, Drums-子軒 Roy

[fyeahcindie]

Just saw this on marvelous Mandark’s Instagram:

darkwhy:

（每天都超晚回家，要發文的時候都想說⋯隔天再發，結果一天拖一天）

看完採訪覺得自己講話慢到很低能⋯⋯😂 We're honored to be one of

@nprmusic’s 100 artists to watch at @sxsw!

據說是今年第一次有台灣樂團入選這個 #SXSW 精選「#austin100」名單，感謝 NPR Music 的推薦，挑選" #EYヨ "這首不是特別火紅的歌還蠻意外的，這首歌對我來說非常意義非凡，因此覺得非常感動，真的很高興能在這盛大的活動中獲得這麼高的評論和關注，@imeanus 一直是一個無比幸運的樂團，一路上擁有非常多不求回報的愛人將我們向上推，不過除了幸運之外我們也必須有一至的野心 「At various times, the Taiwanese band I Mean Us has listed its self-appointed genres as "cry-crycore," "post-murmur rock" and "broken-hearted" to go with the more descriptive (and no less accurate) likes of "dream-pop" and "shoegaze." Listen to the swelling, ringing "EYヨ," and you'll get a sense of where all that descriptive language meets: at dynamic, emotionally epic, sweetly sung rock that can barely contain its own drama as it builds to a cataclysmic release」

NICE!  =D

I Mean Us is also recommended on the full 55 minute NPR sxsw podcast: The Austin 100: I Mean Us March 5, 2019 • Recommended if you like Sigur Ros, Slowdive and Cocteau Twins.  “We've listened to more than a thousand songs by bands playing this year's festival. On this episode, we share some of our best discoveries before we hit the ground to see as many shows as possible.”

[fyeahcindie]

Soaring, dreamy shoegazer from the debut album from I Mean Us    =D

Written by Marvelous Mandark Ravel, the song just posted earlier today.

The band are: 章羣 Zebrateens (Chun Zhang)-gtr/voc, Mandark Ravel (梁丹郡) aka Mandark Liang-keys/voc (甜約翰 Sweet John), 楊永純 (Vitz Young)-gtr (Triple Deer, Chocolate Tiger 猛虎巧克力), 漢克 (Hank Chen)-bass (SADOG), 呂佩蓬 Pam Lu (PP L)-drums (Lake Blue 湖水藍)

Tour on the way:

The guest act in Kaohsiung will be 鐘禮學 aka 克拉克 Clark from 橙草 Orangegrass, and the guest act in Taipei will be Enno Cheng 鄭宜農 (or maybe her full band Enno Cheng and the Farmers?)

李鑫 profiled the band and investigated the recording progress back in June for Blow/StreetVoice.

[fyeahcindie]

That’s a heavenly choir of TW singers backing up ‘Maa Wei’ at TICC!   =D

The song is If (music/lyrics by Jackie Yu) from Waa’s 在哪裡 Where ep (2011). 

We previewed this gathering of singers a few weeks ago. Left to right, that’s Hang Liu 劉涵 (Infancy 隱分子樂團), DingBuLaDing 丁律妏 (Crispy 脆樂團), Paige Su 蘇珮卿, and Marvelous Mandark Ravel 梁丹郡 (I Mean Us, 甜約翰 Sweet John).

Listen closely to how they divide up the vocal arrangement.  And bravo to 丁律妏 for those stratospheric harmonies!  =D 

lkk31067 YT channel has about 9 songs of the concert posted. (including 1 more song with the choir -- go listen, it’s spectacular!) 

The stage setting was arranged to keep Waa off of her feet as much as possible, not a lot of dancing/jumping as she is 7 months pregnant.  

[fyeahcindie]

甜約翰 Sweet John  

I really wish I could attend a show from these talented peeps! 

吳浚瑋 Genwie Wu-voc, Mandark Ravel (梁丹郡)-voc/keys, 陳罐頭 Can Chen-gtr, 阿獎-bass, 小J JJ Jhong (Jay Chung)-drums

By the way, marvelous Mandark’s other band I Mean Us are recording their album now. They had a listening party live performance at the studio tonight.

[fyeahcindie]

Title track from the debut album by 甜約翰 Sweet John, wow, this band is so talented & tight!   =D   

The album is already in some stores:

💿 實體專輯購買通路・請用行動支持約翰　 　● 博客來 https://goo.gl/pFxftf 　● 五大唱片 https://goo.gl/tRCbPZ 　● 台中特約寄賣點 元氣唱片行 　● 誠品、光南、佳佳等各大唱片行皆有販售

Upcoming gigs:

●12/15 台北 / Legacy 傳 音樂展演空間 / The Next Big Thing 年終回顧場 ●12/16 台南 / TCRC 前科累累俱樂部 / 2017 鐵擊 【夜晚是難免的了】 Autumn Tour 台南場

From a The Next Big Thing TW showcase in March of this year: