Indie musician plays favourites
By Tatat Bunnag
Did you know
Tuan’s favourite World Cup 2014 football team was Holland.
Musician Tawan Siritho Dacpham (Tuan) is a man of many projects. After a year of fronting the well-known indie pop group Cloud Behind, Tuan decided earlier this year to leave the band to pursue different musical endeavours.
So far, Tuan’s new projects have included a folk music duo called Gardener Twins, which he formed with Vuttiphong Mahasamut from Free Typewriter, and Oleander’s Dream, a new indie rock band featuring members of Hariguen Zaboy and Summer Dress.
Besides writing and performing, 23-year-old Tuan is a real music enthusiast who draws his influences from many different genres including pop, folk, rock and electronic music.
“My inspiration comes from all kinds of music, and I usually don’t care about the genre,” Tuan said. “I just love any song that I find catchy and that has a nice musical arrangement.”
Tuan plans to release Gardener Twins’ debut single in August. In the meantime, Student Weekly sat down with Tuan and asked him to tell us about some of his favourite albums.
Saliva Bastards
Saliva Bastards (2006)
“Saliva Bastards were the first Thai band that I really liked. I first heard about their music when I was in Matayom 6.
“This was the only album they released, and I still enjoy listening to it all the time. The unique thing about this album is the variety of music. All the songs sound different from one another, but they blend together well. “Chicken” and “Cloud” are my favourite tracks.”
Pure X
Crawling up the Stairs (2013)
“Pure X are an American indie rock group from Austin, Texas. One of my friends introduced me to this band recently, and I was hooked right away after I heard the song “I Fear What I Feel.” When I listened to entire album, I fell in love with it.
“Pure X produce songs that sound simple, but very effective. I love mid-tempo songs, and this album has a lot of those.”
Slowdive
Souvlaki (1993)
“I first discovered the great band Slowdive from their songs “Here She Comes” and “Machine Gun.”
“Souvlaki is their second album, and it came out in the early ‘90s. Slowdive play the shoegaze style that was really popular in the UK at the time. Their music is very slow and fuzzy. The guitars play simple, emotional melodies. This is a great album for anybody who is new to the band.”
Devendra Banhart
Mala (2013)
“This was my favourite album of last year. In the early 2000s, Devendra was well-known for his weird folk music arrangements, but Mala is a rock and roll record that is quite different from his previous releases. I've always liked people that can vary their style, and Devendra pulls it off very well. I especially like “Mi Negrita,” but all the tracks are great.”
Gorillaz
Plastic Beach (2010)
“Plastic Beach is the third album by English group Gorillaz. I’m not too familiar with electronic music, but this album made me more interested in it. It has a good combination of pop and electronic music.
“Plastic Beach also features lots of famous collaborators including Lou Reed, Little Dragon, Bobby Womack and many more. “Some Kind of Nature” and “On Melancholy Hill” are my favourite songs on this album.”
Vocabulary
- endeavour (n): an attempt to do something new or difficult
enthusiast (n): a person who is very interested in something and spends a lot of time doing it
genre (n): a particular type or style of literature, art, film or music that you can recognise because of its special features
arrangement (n): the way in which a piece of music is put together, organised and performed
hooked (adj): enjoying something very much, so that you want to see it, hear it, etc. as much as possible
vary (v): to make changes to something to make it slightly different
pull something off (phrasal v): to succeed in doing something difficult
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