Pulse.ph : MUSIC + CULTURE
March 26th, 2007
March 19th, 2007
TOP 10 INFLUENCES ON RADIOACTIVE SAGO PROJECT’S FASHIONISTA ALBUM
PULSE.PH: So you’re saying your songs are not political, they’re more… LOURD DE VEYRA: They’re more Tito-Vic-and-Joey than Freddie Aguilar. Hindi. Mali yun eh. Mas may sense pa yung Tito-Vic-and-Joey songs, mas may wit pa yon. So, if Radioactive Sago Project’s Tangina Mo Andaming Nagugutom Sa Mundo Fashionista Ka Pa Rin was not fueled by today’s burning political issues, what was it fueled by? We have a list. Read more…
March 15th, 2007
ROCK ED: CHANGING SOCIETY, ONE GIG AT A TIME
They came to Manaoag not as pilgrims but as missionaries, spreading quite a different message through the common language of the youth, i.e. rock n’ roll. Rock Ed is perhaps the biggest and most significant gathering of young Filipino artists, at present, pushing for change through alternative education and rock culture. Far from just rebellion, ‘rock culture’ signifies to them the spirit of being creative, uncompromising and progressive. Read more…
March 15th, 2007
I’m finding Norah Jones’ new album, Not Too Late, very relevant at the moment, especially with reminders of the upcoming elections blaring left and right during commutes to and from work. They’re inescapable, really. While the new Norah Jones CD is an appreciated respite from the toils of daily life, she has a song on the album, “My Dear Country,” that compels you to think of your senatorial choices for a bit. It’s not what you expect from sweet-voiced Norah Jones, but it’s well done and in no way contrived. She seems to be as much in her element singing about the deterioration of the American government as she is compelling you to come away with her. The rest of the album is as equally well written. Norah Jones has definitely grown as a songwriter and her thoughts are as mesmerizing as her famous voice. She tells stories both ominous (In a boat that’s built of sticks and hay/We drifted from the shore/with a captain who’s too proud to say/That he dropped the oar – “Sinking Soon”) and lovely (Oops! I hit my elbow on the doorknob/It’s right there/It’s by the bed, next to my head/But I don’t care… – “Little Room”). She has a way with words, and seems to enjoy injecting the most bittersweet of turnarounds, as in “Thinking About You,” which goes You hold my hand, but do you really need me? Sometimes, the title of the song is ironically completely different from what the song is about, such as “The Sun Doesn’t Like You,” which is actually pretty hopeful, and “Broken,” about homeless people being the sweetest thing I have ever seen… Most of the time, the mood of the music itself reflects what’s in the song, such as “Rosie’s Lullabye,” which does extend comfort and solace, and “Not My Friend,” which somehow sounds menacing without having to growl or play loud chords. A good deal of the songs on the album have that country-ish feel, which shows the influence of Willie Nelson and her work with her side band, the Little Willies. Of course, it’s not entirely country, more a fusion of country and jazz, particularly on “Until the End,” “Wake Me Up” and “Be My Somebody.” And the jazz in the album is still enough to remind us of who Norah Jones is, who she was when we first fell in love with her, and why we love her still. I have to admit, this album grew on me. It was good at first listen, but it gets better over time. For someone who made her name with covers of jazz standards and three original songs she had co-written with other people, she has stepped out of her comfort zone and adequately spread her wings, exposing more brilliance than we ever expected. And we did expect a lot, didn’t we?
March 13th, 2007
Drip on YouTube. Oh, yes. This is a live performance of “Swanker,” filmed, apparently, during one of the SweetSpot production nights. Watch gorgeous, dangerous vocalist Beng Calma do her thing! Watch brothers-in-electronica Ian and Malek execute a synchronized dance routine complete with handclaps and high fives! (Kidding.) Just watch.
March 12th, 2007
Late night in a car workshop-cum rock club somewhere along Katipunan extension: the band playing is laying the histrionics on real thick. The vocalist jumps about, tossing monobloc chairs in the air; the guitarist leaps on and off amps; the bassist jerks spastically around like somebody with hip dysplasia trying to do Tae-bo. Granted, there’s quite a roster of musicians known to go apeshit while performing: Roger Daltrey, Youth of Today, Angus Young, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and a whole bunch of others getting their spines snapped by the amphetamine jolt that is Rock. But then this band’s guitarist snags his foot on the bass cable and cuts off the signal. There is a quick, collective, and obviously embarrassed darting of eyes to the audience, betraying contrivance, an affected if not completely conscious planning out of onstage antics. Simply: a sham. Made more pathetic by the band’s name, which implies ingenuity, evokes a character in Romeo and Juliet, and alludes to some message from the gods. Sure. “Behold: The Untalented.†The next band sets up, bearing a name that is more unassuming, to say the least. Cog: a small component, hidden from view more often than not, and very likely covered in grease and grime and the detritus produced by an efficiently functioning whole. Even phonetically the name is unassuming—monosyllabic, and sounding like somebody’s stifled cough. No surprise then that their stage stances are just as low-key. Bassist Richie Ramos rarely looks up at the crowd. Guitarists Eric Perlas and Joel Patricio, fingers on fret boards a constant blur of chord and note, flank him. Allan Po is barely visible behind the Pearl set, face framed by flashing drum sticks. Sax player Garon Honasan stands stock still while playing. And vocalist Yagi Olaguera sings with his free arm on his side, hand balled into a fist. Their set isn’t so much visual spectacle as aural event, an incidence of fierce and fat low end, vicious treble, clear brass notes, and pensive lyrics by turns snarled and sung over drumming so tight you can’t slip a leaf of Rizla between the measures. People buying drinks at the bar beside the stage pause to stare at the band, and the folks sitting by the table to my left all listen for the first time, nodding to the music, caught along with everyone else in this physics puzzle of outward-blasting music pulling everything into itself. Which is also saying that Cog’s music, drawn from influences such as Math Metal’s polyrhythms and syncopation to 80’s New Wave, is a bit difficult to figure out. Take for example one review of the band’s first full-length album Conflagration, in a men’s magazine a few months back. Sure, the publication is devoted to the penetration of things other than sophisticated music. But the brief, insipid article inexplicably compared Cog to Omaha-grown rap-rock-reggae-kitchen-sink outfit 311. That, plus the reviewer’s sideways appraisal of Conflagration as simply music for the angry combined to form a source of vicious jokes sniping at clueless music review hacks. “We’re always sticking out like sore thumbs,†Perlas tells me during our interview, quite politely, I might add. A more to-the-point observation would have highlighted the capacity of any truly original, and therefore strange, creative output to excite the cognoscenti, astound the layman, and expose the dumb. You guys started right in the middle of the New Metal fad, with the safe, if not boring, half-time groove that numerous local bands readily adapted. Why did you decide to go for atypical time signatures? EVERYONE, POINTING TO JOEL: Ask him! [laughter] JOEL: Hindi ko naman alam na mali ‘yung bilang ko e. RICHIE: And he’s the banker! YAGI: [turning serious] Para maiba ng kaunti. We try to make our music interesting. How did you achieve Conflagration’s level of unity? ALLAN: Some of the songs in the album came from way back. YAGI: Nagsimula sa music, tapos nagka-hiatus kami ng ilang months. It took a long time for everything to happen. Gawa na yung most of the songs, around 70 percent, noong nagsimula kami sa album. Tapos nagbato na ako ng tema, may kinalaman sa fire lahat. I also took some ideas from the cover, kasi naunang matapos. So lahat nag-grow from each other. GARON: And it was a good thing we took time releasing the album, kasi nahinog ‘yung material. How do you map out the band’s sound? ERIC: It comes mostly out of everybody’s influences. YAGI: We’re all fans of each other. Parang, ‘Astig yan a, buuin natin yan’. Everybody tries to contribute something. What’s the status of Conflagration? ERIC: We first pressed 500 copies. We sold around 70 or 80, around that much. Then we decided to put it out with Tower Records. We sold another 60 copies. Now it’s going on nationwide distribution under Tower of Doom and Galaxy Records, so pinull-out muna namin yung mga copies. YAGI: Oo, panibagong push uli. I remember you guys telling the audience at your album launch that you weren’t expecting that many people to show up. ALLAN: We were all nervous. We had no idea how the launch would turn out. ERIC: There were several times when we were arguing, ‘So, do we launch or not?’ JOEL: We were all really ecstatic with the launch’s outcome. None of us expected it would be that successful. GARON: What I liked most was that I didn’t personally know most of the people there. The album comes with a vid file of the song “Collapse.†ERIC: That was shot on location at a farm in Canlubang Laguna. YAGI: I got help conceptualizing the video from Odin Fernandez. JOEL: We actually didn’t expect to get any airtime for it, so we decided to push the boundaries. I went to Recto recently, and saw somebody buying a pirated copy of your album. JOEL: Medyo bad trip, kasi bumababa ang sales nung CD. Pero ok lang din e, kasi exposure. So sa akin, ‘Thank you’ sa mga pirata. YAGI: Ok kung burn lang para sa kaibigan, di maiiwasan yon. And we’ve taken advantage of that in the past, namimigay lang kami, ‘O sige burn ninyo, burn ninyo’. Pero bad trip na may kumikita sa pinaghirapan mo.†RICHIE: We can’t do anything about the piracy problem because culture can’t keep up with the technology. Piracy has beaten 3 kinds of encryptions so far. I’d just like to break even with the production cost, ok na ako doon. YAGI: It’s flattering, even though we’re on the losing end. RICHIE: But piracy also weeds out certain kinds of artists. If you’re no good, you’re dead with piracy. We’re in it for the long run. Can I assume that your ideal fan is one who is willing to shell out that same commitment, then? Everyone nods. YAGI: Yung mga nakaka-appreciate talaga. Yung pag-iisipan yung music. Indeed. Back at the car-workshop gig, the crowd howls in good-natured protest as soon as Olaguera introduces the band’s last song. Cog gives in afterwards, and it is only during the encore that the members begin to mix it up. The audience responds, whooping louder as the song ends, screaming in jest for yet another encore. I look around as the band gathers their things. The people occupying the table to my left are clearly talking about the music they have just heard. They pair their words with motions that are quick, animated, clearly thrilled. The stage is empty by now, but the banter to my left goes on, as the people continue to work out Cog’s music, its little components, its ticking, whirring, startling sum. Visit the band’s MySpace page. Currently taking his MA Literature in Filipino at Ateneo de Manila University, Paolo Enrico Melendez is a published fictionist, university instructor, and clueless music hack.
March 8th, 2007
Political jingles highly amuse me, in fact, I kinda missed them the last few elections — were they banned or something? So when I started hearing the jingles early this year, yes, I was highly amused. Miguel Zubiri’s was kinda unimaginative, but of course everyone’s gonna remember it. I like Kiko Pangilinan’s it’s catchy and edgy. I bet people are thinking, what’s wrong with you? These are the baduyest baduy songs twisted into campaign jingles! Well, I like ‘em better as campaign jingles, at least they’re worth something, unlike when they pretended to be music. And then, on an FX, I heard a campaign jingle that used to be Sandwich’s “Sugod” but instead of “Rock n’ roll hanggang umaga!” a bunch of punks are shouting, “Escudero sa Senado!” If there was a desk on that FX, I would have headdesked it. What’s the world coming to? Let’s go back the way the way things were, Zubiri, Zubiri, boom boom boom.
March 7th, 2007
DRIP AND FRIENDS AT THE VISTA LAUNCH
Last February 3, Microsoft transformed the Music Hall of SM Mall of Asia into a circus. They brought giant jugglers, firedancers, and big, muscled men who wanted you to foresee a future with “bigger and better security.†(Technically, the men weren’t circus acts—given the context, I just thought it’d be a fitting amusement if they surprised us with a Chippendale-inspired number). This circus provided “safe†amusement until the hour of unveiling Windows Vista began. EVENING SPECTACLE The Windows Vista Music Launch capped off the first day of the Microsoft event. The show opened with the official Vista song “Spectacular, Spectacular†(the same banner song from the movie Moulin Rouge). The boys from Drip were at the helm of providing the musical arrangements, lovely Beng Calma was on vocals, and Junji Lerma of Radioactive Sago played guitar. Face-painted Dancemasters provided the accompanying dance number. The show promised to be “so exciting, so delighting.†Aside from the launch, prizes were raffled off to mall-goers who bought personal computers, other computer paraphernalia and Microsoft OS from participating stores earlier in the day. The prizes they gave away looked mighty yummy—a Samsung monitor, an O2 phone, and an HP laptop (making us mere onlookers feel sorry for not getting any goods). Aside from the Vista launch (“their grandest one yetâ€) the evening’s highlight was the performance from the Vista All Stars, a cast of musicians composed of Drip, Lerma, Gabby Alipe of Urbandub, Marc Abaya of Kjwan, Jett Pangan of the Dawn, Acel Bisa of Moonstar88, and Lourd de Veyra of Radioactive Sago Project. VISTA OS: UNVEILED Jojo Ayson of Microsoft Philippines walked us through an overview of the Vista. Playing to the tune of “What a Wonderful World,†the AVP showed the exciting possibilities to be derived from this latest upgrade of Windows. Although he encountered a few bumps along the way (the projector kept shutting down every few minutes or so), hosts Nancy Castiglione and Archie Alemania did much to amuse the audience and relieve the awkward pauses caused by the projector hitch. And the Windows Vista? Interface-wise, it irons out certain illogical kinks in previous Microsoft operating systems—i.e., the “Start†button used to shut down the PC has been replaced by the Windows icon (effectively shutting off at least one source of jokes by Mac-geeks on why using a windows-based PC just doesn’t make sense). To sum up, Vista promises to “provide more security, better connection and a buffed-up entertainment platform.†The Vista AVP ends by saying, “the wow starts NOW.†TRIPPIN’ WITH DRIP If the music launch was a cruise, Drip would be captain of the ship. Their use of turntables and digital mixers allowed for an almost perfect pairing with Microsoft. Aside from being tasked with “Spectacular, Spectacular†and performing one of their originals, “In Between,†Drip, along with Lerma, were given the challenging task of collaborating with each of the Vista All Stars. First up was Gabby Alipe, who performed the songs “View to a Kill,†followed by Urbandub’s “Endless, a Silent Whisper,†which gave the audience their first taste of how the songs would transform musically with Drip in control. Alipe and Drip elicited very eager responses from the audience who were watching intently and clicking away with their own gadgets. After Alipe came Kjwan frontman Marc Abaya who sang “Look of Love,†an original by Prince, and the new Kjwan song “Pintura.†I’m sure, somewhere in that vast mall, he set some colegialas’ hearts aflutter. A short break ensued and some of the fabulous prizes were raffled off. Jett Pangan then came onstage to entertain us all with “Simply Irresistible.†Some people from the audience were singing, even dancing, along. But he was in his element performing the Dawn’s heart-rending “Tulad ng Dati.†Acel Bisa sang an original called “Tomorrowâ€. She was cute, as always—weirdly enough though, her vocals that night were more Bjork than Moonstar88. It was Lourd de Veyra’s performance which proved to be the most exciting and fun. Imagine a Radioactive Sago-cum-Drip version of the song the “Safety Dance,†laced with de Veyra’s usual deadpan delivery, never failing to charm for its (always) welcome tinge of sarcasm. Makes us wish Drip and de Veyra would collaborate more often, because they really jelled so well. De Veyra followed up the “Safety†song with—what else—Sago’s “Gusto Ko Ng Baboy.†And as he ranted about all the pigs in our society (“May baboy na pulitiko, baboy na presidente, baboy na pari, baboy na artistaâ€), he revealed to the world who the biggest pig really is…(“At ang pinakamalaking baboy sa lahat, si…Steve Jobs!â€) Earning the biggest round of applause from the people really out for a kill: the Microsoft guys. The show was capped by another “Spectacular, Spectacular†rendition, this time, with the Vista All Stars performing together. All in all, you could say the launch was a success. The Vista All Stars delivered, each singing a cover presumably based on a theme to promote a specific Vista OS feature (“Simply Irresistibleâ€; “Safety Danceâ€) and one of their originals. Drip exhibited wonderful mastery of the digital gadgets, successfully providing each song with tight support. Best of all, those boys from Drip seemed like they were having genuine fun onstage. While the launch has yet to turn us into Vista-geeks (or make Bill Gates appear more charming), it does affirm how much the music-loving community can benefit from product launches and newly-improved operating systems. Photos by Marco Harder.
March 6th, 2007
Blue Monsoon opens delicately with a gentle drizzle of notes and light drum taps before the title track lets loose a more persistent shower of sound—not at all torrential, but more like a cascading fountain of audible lemonade refreshing your ears. “Blue Monsoon†is a beautiful song that makes you feel like it is a sunny Sunday, even while Sound vocalist Sach Castillo sings about being blue on a rainy day and dreaming “of times of love and sunshine, when everyday was Sunday.†Or rather, it sounds like a welcome cloudburst on a hot, lazy Sunday afternoon. Definitely deserving as the title track, it also serves well as the album’s first song—its best foot put forward, so to speak. I had greatly enjoyed the band’s debut album, bossa Manila, and “Blue Monsoon†kind of greeted me in a familiar way, as if it could still be part of that first release. The album itself does echo bossa Manila in some ways. First of all, both have title tracks which also serve as opening songs, and both title tracks are also reprised as album closers. Both albums also have an instrumental track, and both have a song dedicated to Manila. The perspective of the young urban Pinoy is also a recurring characteristic of this album, much as it is of the first. Which leads me to the difficult part about writing this review: having, inevitably, to weigh the second album against its predecessor. Understand that I only got my copy of bossa Manila last year (the album was released several years ago), and listening to Blue Monsoon now is a bit similar to dating a perfectly charming new guy when I have not yet gotten over that other beautiful, brilliant bastard. Sound still plays their own brand of acid jazz (pogi jazz, some lovingly call it), but there are noticeable differences in the way the songs are written and played. For one thing, there seems to be a bit more directness to Blue Monsoon, from the lyrics to the way the band members confidently attack their respective parts in the songs, to the added diversity in the arrangements. Even the percussions sound louder and more upfront. Also, a greater sense of disenchantment pervades the album; more so than in bossa Manila. Just take last line from the song ‘Bagong Siglo:’ pusong nasawi namulat sa katotohanang mapait at di mapakali nasaan na ang langit? Generally, the songs in Blue Monsoon come from a more mature, more straightforward, however jaded perspective. They sound like the songs of grown men, as opposed to the slightly more hopeful tones of the young urbanites of bossa Manila. However, I think that in the process of maturing, their lyrics shed some of the poetry, and their music, some of its raw charm. Or maybe I just miss starry-eyed songs like “Underwater Dub†and “Space Samba†from the first album. Aside from the title track, my top picks the album are “Bagong Siglo,†“Peligro,†and “Turpentine.†The latter, which is about the suicide of a loved one, really sticks out because of its very slow, very jazzy composition that somehow suits its sad, dark and very personal subject matter. ‘Di Na Natuto’ and ‘Let’s Get It Back’ are likewise favorites—the first, for its worthy re-arrangement of a classic song (APO a la Sound); and the latter, because it really captures the energy of the band as a live act, and while being mostly an instrumental jam, is more like a complete song rather than a filler. On the other hand, I found “The Trouble With Me†and “Idlip†to be a couple of odd pieces that that would have served better as breathers anywhere between the four consecutive Tagalog songs (“Madaling Araw,†“Bagong Siglo,†“Maynila,†and “Peligroâ€) that were a little too much to listen to in that order. The problem with these four songs is not the Tagalog lyrics, but the amount of energy they seem to require for the listener to get through all four. And while they don’t necessarily sound the same, the song “Maynila,†for instance, would have stood out better if not flanked by stronger songs like “Bagong Siglo†and “Peligro.†The four or five other songs, while all good, just did not hit me with strong enough impressions, I guess. In any case, the best songs I have mentioned are all reason enough to spend your P260 on this album, not to mention getting the nicely designed sleeve and really artsy free wallpapers designed by different artists. Call me sentimental, but I would have given bossa Manila a nine—the highest I would safely rate anything. Blue Monsoon, though, comes pretty close to that.
March 2nd, 2007
KAPE! ALAK! SUGAL! BABAE! SAGO!
My friend has a minor problem. He wants to buy the new Radioactive Sago Project album but doesn’t know how to ask for it. “Anong sasabihin ko? Miss, meron na kayong Tangina Mo Andaming Nagugutom Sa Mundo Fashionista Ka Pa Rin?Baka masampal ako sa unang word pa lang.” Read more…
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