#MFMF74: Digital Editor Bryan's “No Thanks to Pop Music" Playlist - Men's Folio
Lifestyle, #MFMF

#MFMF74: Digital Editor Bryan’s “No Thanks to Pop Music” Playlist

  • By Bryan Goh


I’m not ashamed to admit that I judge people on Tinder based on what music they listen to. And in fact, the slew of people I’ve dated pretty much have the same music taste as me.

We like rock & roll, riot girl music, synth-pop, rap, euro-pop music and if push comes to shove, a top 40s track that isn’t from Lady Gaga, Katy Perry or Taylor Swift. Or as I call it, the holy trio of basic boy music (hey, no offence).

If you’re probably wondering, “hey, this dude is pretty up his own ass“, take some time to listen to four of my favourite “No thanks to Pop music” songs. They might be a little hard to get into but that’s how ear worms begin.


George Gershwin — Rhapsody in Blue: I first heard this song when it was part of a scene in Fantasia 2000 that depicted life in New York; a throwback to another film I watched by Woody Allen titled Manhattan. I’ve always associated it with that old school cosmopolitan New York city vibe (the gangs! the pizza! the camel coloured trench coats!) and this version is perhaps the most epic one.

Gershwin was so clearly influenced by jazz of the 1920s (it can even be said that many wrote music off at that time as they considered it “negro music”) and it takes a real genius to combine the classical sound of Europe and brash overtures of America into something so entirely new and fantastic.


Phillip Glass — Mad Rush: I consider Phillip Glass a “minimalist musician” as he is quite fond of composing music with repetitive structures. While he has been criticised for doing so, I find that the way he structures his music is quite emotive.

Mad Rush reminds me of the waxing and waning of the moon and perhaps, if I want to get “really feeling” about it, represents the life style of birth to death.



Nobuo Uematsu — Liberi Fatali: Final Fantasy 8 always gets the brunt as the “worst final fantasy ever made” but in my opinion, the franchise really tanked after 10. Anyway, one of the greatest compositions Nobuo Uematsu has ever made was actually his first experiment with a combination of chorus and orchestra for music.

I still get the chills whenever I hear this song (doesn’t help that anything sung in latin by a fully decked out choir sounds more epic) and in fact, I’m replaying Final Fantasy 8. Triple Triad is really addictive.



尹群 — 枫桥夜泊: For those who don’t know and not to humble brag, but I was a guzheng prodigy back when I was younger. This video is of my professor playing one of my favourite pieces (coincidentally, the same piece that led me to winning a national competition) and it is still my dream to bring out the nuances as she does.

The song title translate to “A Maple Bridge under Moonlight” and takes inspiration from the observation and feelings of a passenger as he sails down Jiangnan in late autumn. I guess I’ve aways had a thing for romantic evocative pieces.