Thai electronic-pop pioneer Petch Osathanugrah is full of surprises. After releasing his long-awaited sophomore album "Let's Talk About Love" last year, 19 years after his successful first outing, he's now chosen to come up with a remastered version of that famous debut album "Thammada… Man Pen Ruang Thammada" ("Ordi-nary … It's Ordinary").

But there's nothing ordinary about Petch, who commissioned Thai visual artists and firm directors to make the  music videos the 10 tracks of "Let's Talk About Love" at a cost of more than Bt10 million.

"They didn't all cost Bt  1 million. Each MV came in at a different price. I only paid Bt20,000 [contemporary artist] Rirkrit Tiravanija's one angle shot on the 'Come With Me' MV,   although the money went to the older guy who starred in the film! These MVs are        designed as works of art," says the respected art  patron.

"Ma Term Khwam Rak" ("Fill Me") and "Nang Rak" ("Flashback  Love") by director Wisit Sassanatieng, and "I Still Love U So" by director Pen-Ek Rattanaruang have been nominated in the Music Videos by Asian Film Directors category at the Pusan Interna-tional Film Festival.

And he hasn't spared any expense for the digital remastering of "Tham-mada", paying Bt1 million to have the work done at the Exchange Studio in London, home to such British superstars as Depeche Mode, with the engineering expertise of Mark Marsh, the man behind the Chemical Brothers, Base-ment Jaxx, and Bjork.

"I was surprised to learn that a cassette of the 1987 release costs Bt900 at Chat-uchak Weekend Market. And I was really flattered when a 20-year-old asked me for a copy.

"The remastered album is well balanced," he says. "A Thai student in Australia posted on Myspace that it sounds ahead of today's music."

By Kitchana Lersakvanitchakul

Daily Xpress