April 27th, 2007

CHICOSCI’S TOP 10 FAVORITE ARTISTS

• By : Yvette Tan

April 26th, 2007

BROWNMAN REVIVAL

• By : paochec

Screenwriter Racquel Villavicencio—co-scripter of Batch ’81 and Kisapmata—relates the experience of watching Lav Diaz’s 10-hour opus Ebolusyon at the Toronto film Festival. In keeping with the director’s aesthetic, a particular shot of one of the characters walking had been going on for almost half-an-hour, so she decided to get a snack. After eating and stretching her legs a bit (the film was already pushing its third hour), she went back in. On the screen, the same character was still walking—the same shot, the same take. Strangely enough, this anecdote springs to mind as one listens to the tracks that make up Brownman Revival’s second album, Ayos Din. Not to compare Diaz’s meditation on the Filipino diaspora to an album of pop reggae, but the experience seems similar in eliciting a sense of exasperation. Despite the clicking of track numbers on the counter and the gaps in-between, the songs aren’t that much different from each other, fitting indistinctly into the monolith grind of the album. One is almost tempted to call it a concept album—it’s boring enough, at the very least. However, unlike Diaz’s films, the boredom doesn’t yield any rewards. Much like its predecessor, Brownman’s follow-up to their sleeper hit Steady Lang aspires to nothing more than faux reggae. Most damning and explicit proof of this is that for reggae the prevailing groove on Ayos Din is insipid and safe: it’s almost reggae by rote. Not even the presence of guest musicians such RJ Jacinto and Rico J. Puno becomes noticeable above the torpor of the arrangements and production of the album. If not for the picture at the back, you wouldn’t think the band had a horn section; their parts sound as if they were played on a synthesizer. It’s that soulless. Perhaps the greatest irony would be that for a form of music whose chief aim is to promote good vibes, nothing but contempt is aroused while listening to Brownman Revival. Even more peculiar is that it only reinforces the notion that only white musicians have so far kept reggae interesting since Bob Marley died. In Asia, there’s been interesting groups coming from Japan but this may be due to novelty. It’s too early to tell. For all our affinity for the music and despite the obvious talents of veterans such as Spy and the former Cocojam, it’s arguable that the local scene has yet to produce a definitive recording in the genre. Brownman Revival’s Ayos Din comes nowhere near that goal, and—as the complacency suggested in their album title makes apparent—it didn’t even occur to them to try.

April 26th, 2007

IT’S A BLOC PARTY PARTY!

• By : paochec

Once more, the neo-rock demographic invaded the antiseptic lobbies of Greenbelt 3. Last April 17, 2007, NU107 and Universal Records co-sponsored an exclusive screening of God Bless Bloc Party, Bloc Party’s documentary-cum-electronic press kit from 2005. NU listeners, contest winners, rock scenesters, and a handful of rockstars here and there were in modest attendance. Following through on two successful screenings in the same music-oriented vein—one on Oasis and another one on U2—the country’s premier (and arguably only) rock station again makes good on their promise of being the Big Brother (think George Orwell’s 1984, not ABS-CBN) of rock in the country. I caught up with senior NU jock Francis “Brew” Reyes, who was co-hosting the pre-show with Jack TV newbie Dylan. “I figured, since there are a lot of materials out there which pertain to rock bands that I think most people don’t have access to, [we] might as well show them at a theater and share the experience with everybody. It’s more in line with what we’re doing as a station anyway,” Reyes explained. The Dawn axeman also expounded on how all the other stations were doing straight-line movie premieres anyway, so NU doing something like, say, a Wild Hogs screening, apart from being uncharacteristic, would not be much cause for frantic fanfare. There was some confusion from the audience’s ranks once they got inside the theater. Bloc Party music videos, most of them from the sophomore CD A Weekend in the City, were being shown back-to-back. The videos were intermittently spliced with performance footage, but there was an utter absence of “talkies”—not even on-stage spiels from Okereke—and some of us started feeling like we were watching a straight, performances-only docu. But when Francis Brew and Dylan marched over to the front to do some spiels and conduct the requisite Q-and-A games, you could almost hear sighs of relief: “Hindi pa pala nag-sta-start.” This was the chance for rabid fans who prided themselves on their knowledge of Bloc Party minutiae to win some merch, but even the more casual fans scored, as evidenced by the row where members of pop rock group Ang Bandang Shirley were (they won at least three or four times). The docu proper was not a disappointment at all, with the possible exception of the often poorly mixed live audio. God Bless Bloc Party mostly centers on the brouhaha that surrounded the band upon the release of their debut Silent Alarm. The performances were mostly taken from June, 2005 at the El Ray Theater in Los Angeles, and from July, 2005 at Belfort, France. Of course, there were backstage bits with the band, mostly with Kele Okereke, who candidly discusses the band’s perhaps baffling sudden-popularity, his own personal musical history, and youth culture in general, which he encapsulated as: “I think ‘ennui’ is the word.” However, despite a brewing discontent with politics and capitalism, the lead singer was evasive about Bush’s America, which the band strongly alludes to in tracks like “Price of Gasoline.” Other interesting sequences include Matt Tong’s diatribe against the inanity of the press, where the Asian drummer mostly mumbles and shoe-gazes; the scene featuring the fan who funds her music by being a Vegas stripper; and, perhaps most hilarious of all, the road scene where the band’s rhythm section is ground to a halt beside an earsplitting, bass-heavy, “boom-boom” car. Two black guys were in the other car, and one of them flashes a wad of dollar bills in sheer pride, bewildering the Bloc Party entourage. However, it has to be, hands down, Okereke who takes home the bacon. Asked why he sounded British when he sings, he delivers in deadpan: “I sound British when I speak, too.” Asked whether his quite evident speech defect affected his youth, he ironically stutters his denial: “No, not, not really. No, no, not, not really.” The docu’s directorial work, handled by Ace Norton and Charles Spano, however, was typical rock docu fare, with its shaky, hand-held feel and its random use of varying frame speeds. Toben Seymour’s cinematography was quite predictable, too, but, on some occasions, he executes these neat, deconstructionist performance shots reminiscent of Tom Kirk’s visionary work on Muse’s seminal concert video Hullabaloo. If anything, the seemingly amateurish mode of production of God Bless Bloc Party is metaphorical of the band’s stand against modern consumerism. Nonetheless, if fans just wanna rock out to “Banquet,” “Helicopter,” “She’s Hearing Voices,” and “The Pioneers,” among others, this would be a great companion and a winning candidate for inclusion in one’s video library (the DVD is, as of press time, only available abroad; sorry, folks). The select crowd seemed to agree, and that select crowd included, by the way, people like filmmakers Quark Henares and R.A. Rivera, Diego Mapa of Pedicab, Cambio, and Eggboy, Itchyworm Jugs Jugueta, most of Silent Sanctuary, and some stray members of Ang Bandang Shirley, The Purplechickens, and The Late Isabel, to name a few. “Hopefully, if we keep doing this, we’ll have access to, let’s say, something like the Martin Scorsese documentary on Bob Dylan [No Direction Home, 2005]. Hopefully, something like that we can show in the future,” Francis Reyes added. While Bloc Party fans may at present be more immersed in A Weekend in the City, which veers away from the grating dance-punk magnificence of Silent Alarm and concentrates on a more New Wave-y attack, the docu-film will remind them of that not-so-distant past, which still warrants a lot of looking back on. As Okereke posts in their official site, “It’s not a dance punk record; that shit’s been done to death. Dance punk will not be a noose around our necks.” He also described the sophomore CD as “warm but real… like an episode of Six Feet Under.” Event pix by Grace Mirandilla. Bloc Party photo from the band’s MySpace.

April 19th, 2007

A whole new band, et al

• By : paochec

So, I was at Saguijo last night, interviewing Sino Sikat? at Pinoy Soul Movement night and Sound was the first band of the evening. Exactly last week, I was at Big Sky Mind watching a bunch of other bands (Outerhope, Purplechickens) and Sound. Sound again, yes. It was actually strange because that night at Big Sky, Sound almost looked the way they originally did, with Paolo Lim and Dave Esteban in their usual places. It was then that Sach Castillo announced that the gig was actually an emotional one for them because it would be Paolo’s last gig as an official member of the band, and Dave had already left but he was welcome to play whenever – Dave and Paolo opted to leave the band to concentrate on their new lives as married/soon-to-be-married men.  Same with Dave, Paolo would still play for Sound when he can, especially after the wedding. Last night, at Saguijo, Dru Ubaldo, who had been sessioning for Paolo over the holidays, was announced as Sound’s new drummer, and with Niño Avenido on bass, and no additional percussion elements, Sound’s new sound, so to speak, is so much more different: heavier, I would say, not the supersteady you’ve come to love. It’s not that I don’t love the brand new heavy, it’s just unusual. It will take a little getting-used-to, I suppose. In the wake of Narda’s breakup, I’ve been thinking that there are a lot of bands now that are going through lineup changes but still pressing on with getting their music out there. Of course, they’re not together four years and burned out, so they still have that hopeful “fight-the-good-fight” outlook. And so they may not be the same band you’ve grown to love, and the music may evolve because of it, but it keeps the music from becoming safe and stagnant and I think it should be interesting how this all turns out. As for Sino Sikat?, as some of you may know, Allen Umali has left the band and they had to get someone else (a certain Barney de la Cruz haha) to redo the bass lines. They haven’t yet found a regular replacement, and I’ll save the details for my Artist Feature, but I have to say I like the remaining members’ collective attitude to their no-bassist-status. So far, it’s all good.

April 18th, 2007

MAKING A MIX TAPE

• By : Kristine Lim

UPDATED 04.23.2007 WITH A SAMPLE POST-BREAKUP MIX Making an awesome mix tape can get you laid. I’m proof-positive. I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for my dad’s mad mix taping skills. In the 70s, the cassette tape made its debut and my dad jumped on the bandwagon of home recording. A lifelong music lover, he filled dozens of TDK tapes with his favorite bands. Then he met my mother. He wooed her through song. At the end of the day though, it wasn’t the mix tapes that won her over. It was champoy. But that’s neither here nor there. The point is mix tape skills are hereditary. If you have it, then you have it. If you don’t, then read on. There might be hope for you yet. Read more…

April 18th, 2007

JOSS STONE

• By : paochec

Pop in Joss Stone’s new album Introducing Joss Stone and the familiar voice of Vinnie Jones kicks in, delivering one of his standard monologues in pretty much the same manner as his voice-overs in Guy Ritchie flicks like Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels: “You see, I know change, I see change, I embody change. The truth is, you gotta have balls to change.” The middle-aged villain’s menacing and broken baritone sounds like a good omen of things to come: soul darling Joss Stone, who frankly doesn’t need much changing, is changing nonetheless. A mere sixteen year-old when she released her debut single “Fell in Love with a Boy” (from Soul Sessions) in 2003, Stone’s credibility was initially a gray area. She looked like the pretty Janis Joplin, sun-child type: occasionally barefoot, a blindingly blonde blonde. However, the single in question was a cover of a song by a notorious indie duo (The White Stripes’ “Fell in Love with a Girl”). People didn’t hurriedly put her under the “cool” file; after all, she R&B-fied a bare-ass punk song. But wait, if you look closely, she’s being backed by ultra-cool The Roots. Hmm. A very curious affair indeed, and she toppled people like Avril Lavigne in the UK female charts. Her sophomore release, Mind, Body & Soul, fared well, too. In Introducing Joss Stone, her third LP, Joss proves that she—as Vinnie Jones put it—has “the balls to change.” The soul ante is upped further, and we see (and hear about) more love, more affection, and more nasty, spanking sex. After all, Joss is no longer sixteen (she just turned twenty this April), and she now has free reign to seek out all the sweet, sweet lovin’ she can get. Putting on the “wild child” guise this time—with a head of beautiful locks of burning red—the soul songstress is putting screaming quotation marks around “change.” “Tell Me ‘Bout It,” the debut single, has an infectious beat reminiscent of Vegas-era gospel (read: Elvis Presley in something like “A Little Less Conversation”). As on the rest of the tracks, Stone splits writing credits, lending her overly specific desires to the otherwise run-of-the-mill R&B tune: “I need a little lovin’ at least two times a day.” She also puts forward the dare of the lifetime: “If the feeling’s real, let’s seal the deal.” (Dream girlfriend? Maybe so.) Other similar libido-infested numbers include “Headturner,” which features a passage or two from soulman Otis Redding’s “Respect,” but with a neo-feminist twist, as Stone urges the faceless man to “feel my heels; I’m walking all over you.” Another is “Tell Me What We’re Gonna Do Now,” featuring Common on rhymes (or, in cruder terms, “requisite guy” role), an updated old-school beat-box number for the new generation, and where, also, the twenty-year-old will perhaps threaten the bejesus out of the likes of the criminally unimaginative Beyoncé Knowles. However, the best numbers off Introducing Joss Stone have to be “Put Your Hands on Me” and “Music” (not to be confused with Madonna’s disgraceful single). The former features beats from honorary Beastie Boy Mix Master Mike; the latter has rhymes from none other than Lauryn Hill, providing great cutting lines like: “Audio scenery, electric love, and rhythmic symmetry; intangible, invisible, but undeniable.” Her buddy Wyclef Jean makes it to the writing and arranging credits, too. In the autobiography department, meanwhile, speculations about Stone’s failed relationship with Beau Dozier will be stoked further. There is no meanness, however, and we see a mature, barely-out-of-her-teens girl who chooses to bury her head in music rather than mope in her room on the phone with a girl-friend. Traces of this are evident in tracks like “Girl They Won’t Believe It,” a Dreamgirls-worthy cut where she declares that she “found some sweet in the bitters of life” and that all she needs is “a kiss from a melody.” Also, in “Music (Outro),” she suggests that “…music’s my Mr. Right, and I know this love will love me right.” Moreover, softness of the non-porno variety (ha ha) is not lacking in Introducing…, as proven by ballads like “Bruised But Not Broken” and “What Were We Thinking?” All in all, Joss Stone’s third outing is not a mere parade of “name” artists and producers. It is an anachronistic collage of soul (often sexed up, but that’s beside the point) that employs Odelay-pattern sampling and Hello, Nasty-type beats. Not very original in general terms, but she really is something special. I don’t listen to this kind of thing at all (I absolutely loathe that awful R&B rat-pack of Knowleses and Aguileras and whoever-else), but I’m gladly making an exception for Stone. She’s a killer.

April 13th, 2007

NOFX HITS MANILA

• By : paochec

AC_FL_RunContent( 'codebase','http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,19,0','width','430','height','100','src','../../nofx/images/front_banner','quality','high','pluginspage','http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer','wmode','transparent','movie','../../nofx/images/front_banner' ); //end AC code Watch out for summer’s BIGGEST SONIC BOOM ever! Sonic Boom Philippines is not your regular gig/prod night, it’s one of the very few, and definitely currently the most popular, prod night that features some of the heaviest acts in the entire country—like Manila boys Dicta License and Hilera, Laguna band Typecast, and the strongforce from Cebu: The Ambassadors, Faspitch and Urbandub. People have come to think less of Sonic Boom as a prod night, abiding by the organizers’ tagline: “monthly mobile music mayhem.” And mayhem it delivers. APRIL 18. WEDNESDAY. 8PM. AMORANTO THEATER HALL, QUEZON CITY. The next Sonic Boom, on the 18th of April, is bound to surpass the regular mayhem, with the special participation of US punk band NOFX and Hong Kong hardcore act King Ly Chee at the Amoranto Theatre Hall in Quezon City. Also on the lineup are three Sonic Boom regulars, perhaps our most explosive acts from the South—Faspitch, The Ambassadors and Urbandub. NOFX is arguably the most successful independent punk group in the US; they’ve been kicking ass and shunning the mainstream since they were formed in 1983. Over the years, they’ve released 10 full-length studio albums and 10 EPs, without major record label support, selling more than 16 million albums worldwide. They’re acknowledged as the pioneers of skate punk, and their songs are political but humorous, with elements of ska and hardcore, among other genres. King Ly Chee is one of the more determined hardcore bands in Asia; based in Hong Kong, they worked tirelessly to change their local soundscape, as well as to bring their music to other cities in Asia and Europe. Their second album Stand Strong debuted at #11 at the HMV music charts in 2003, a record breaker for any band in Hong Kong, much less an aggressive hardcore group. Aside from staunchly finding venues to be heard all over the globe, King Ly Chee in turn organizes shows for different touring bands all over the world, most notably NOFX. King Ly Chee also appears as “nightly opening act” on NOFX’s first ever Asian tour, spanning cities such as Beijing, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta, Bali, and of course, Manila. Urbandub heads the Sound of the Giant South: they broke through in 2003 with their second album Influence, which spawned “Soul Searching,” the Song of the Year at the 2003 NU Rock Awards, and which won Album of the Year in 2004. Their latest album, Embrace, had them nominated for almost every category in 2006, making them truly a force to reckon with. The Ambassadors formed in 2000 and gained momentum through the years through sheer perseverance and hard work. Their second album, Simple Changes, represents the subtle transformation of their sound to a more aggressive, yet more honest, level. They recently won the MYX Bandarito Favorite Performance at this year’s MYX Music Awards. Hitting the top 3 in the Philippine leg of the World Battle of the Bands 2006, Faspitch is now fast becoming a household name with their album The Future of Ear Repair, featuring the monster hit, “A Day Before Pisces” and the more recent “All Under Heaven.” NOFX. King Ly Chee. Urbandub. The Ambassadors. Faspitch. Mayhem, it is. Join the War on Errorism! Get Punk in Drublic! See you there. For more info on NOFX, please drop by: http://www.nofxofficialwebsite.com/ http://www.myspace.com/nofx For more info on the event, please drop by: http://sonicboomphilippines.multiply.com/ * Pulse.ph members have a chance to win tickets to watch this incredible concert! Just log in at Pulse.ph, play the NOFX online game, and win — Pulse.ph is awarding ten pairs of tickets to the highest scorers. (Winners will be informed via cellphone, so please make sure your cellphone number is entered on your profile.) Go to the NoFX Microsite

April 10th, 2007

NARDA’S LAST FLIGHT

• By : paochec

FANTASTIC FOUR It was a giddy February night outside Café Saguijo in Makati. Hordes were spilling out into the street because the bar was already too crowded inside, and this exodus proved a minor distraction to then-members of the band Narda: vocalist Katwo Librando, guitarist Tani Santos, keyboardist Yaps Estagle and drummer/songwriter/bandleader Ryan Villena. It was an all-girl-fronted-bands night and Narda was scheduled past midnight, a sign that Narda were that big already. If you want people to stay after midnight, you schedule the good acts for then. In an interview outside Saguijo that night, I asked them about how they felt about getting “bigger” and they all admitted that they were enjoying it. My last question was “What do you love most about being in this band?”—to which Katwo, Yaps and Tani replied, “Performing live.” Ryan replied differently, saying it’s more writing and recording that interests him. In any case, it seemed like they were enjoying the successes they’d achieved so far and were ready for more successes in the future, and, as Ryan said, he already had new material for the next album. Shortly after, an announcement from Narda: they were going to disband. Their last gig would be on April 12, a gig they cheekily entitled NARDAmaggedon. Estagle had quit the band, which meant they’d have to take the trouble of finding/teaching a replacement amid busy skeds and projects new (Katwo’s) and urgent (Ryan’s). Katwo’s and Ryan’s separate web posts on the upcoming break-up recall how hard it was to take off in Narda’s early days, what with all the lineup changes and other setbacks, and maybe, with yet another lineup change, it was time to lay Narda to rest. “Just imagine how many times I taught ‘Molotov’ to sessionists and aspiring keyboardists and drummers for the past two years… probably more than 30 times,” Ryan writes in an email to the band’s mailing list. “Then we had all these questions going through our minds: ‘Why can’t we move on? Why couldn’t we gain momentum? Why aren’t we getting the right breaks?’ The questions just kept on weighing us down.” He also says that this decision to quit wasn’t a sudden thing. “We had it coming,” he assures. SECRET ORIGINS They started out in 2002 with a wholly different lineup and a different sound. Ryan was introduced to Katwo regarding vocal duties for Lilian, an earlier incarnation of Narda that couldn’t get off the ground with its constant lineup changes. Moving on from Lilian, Katwo and Ryan formed Narda with JV Javier and Ed Ibarra on guitars and Wincy Ong on bass. In 2003, Ibarra had to leave the band for work-related reasons and former Lilian-guitarist, Nico Africa, regrouped with Ryan. Within this span of time, they released four EPs: A Postcard From…, Suwerte, Burador, Salaguinto’t Salagubang, and in 2005,a full-length album, Formika. Constant gigging would soon affect the guitarists’ attempts to balance the band and their day jobs, causing Javier and Africa to amicably leave Narda before the recording of the second album. It was then that the band reformatted its sound, with Ong returning to guitars as the bass was simulated via keyboards, manned by new recruit Jep Cruz. Towards the end of 2005, while putting together material for the next album, Ong opted to leave the band, also in favor of his non-music career. Tani Santos filled his shoes, and the band also got Yaps Estagle as additional synths guy. The sound of the new Narda evolved over this time and was officially launched with the release of Discotillion in September 2006. From sweet, dreamy melodic pop, Narda grew into a dance-punk/garage rock band, with Katwo’s singing unleashing a fury that could only be hinted at in the EPs and the first album. Like Formika, but for different reasons, Discotillion found its way into several year-end “Best of” lists. Unlike Formika, Discotillion catapulted the still-indie band onto a new level of popularity. Of course, the band and their management team worked really hard to get heard, to get the album together, to get played on radio. But with their songs done up to be in-your-face, Narda became harder to overlook. Of course, they wouldn’t say that they were already big the way they wanted to be big, not yet anyway. In that Saguijo interview, Katwo relates that she had heard their old song, “Tanga,” playing on NU earlier that day and the DJ said it was the song “Suwerte” from their first album, Nico. “Di ba, parang, hoy teka teka, maling-mali yung information na nasabak kanina sa radyo eh,” Katwo laughs. “Tinginan na lang kami ni Nico,” she said, referring to her boyfriend Nico, not the former guitar player, nor the title of any of their albums. “So wrong.” Katwo does concede that whether the audience knows them or not, performing live as the reformatted dance-punk Narda had become more fun, really fun for her. She cites performing in provinces, where she realized the audience there had a certain sincerity. “Yung mga tao pupunta talaga para manuod ng banda,” she relates, “Pero makikita mo ‘yung heart nila eh, ‘yung excitement to see the band. So, it’s really exciting.” BLASTS FROM THE PAST Asked how she felt upon hearing “Tanga” on the radio, representative of their old sound, which they haven’t performed since Discotillion, Katwo replies, “Parang iba eh, iba talaga yung kung ano ‘yung Narda ngayon sa old sound ng Narda. Minsan, parang nahihiya ako kasi parang feeling ko parang… alam mo ‘yung feeling na nakita mo ‘yung sarili mo nung first year college ka? Tapos parang ‘yung porma mo mali pa? Parang ganoon. Yun, ganoon yung feeling ko. Parang awkward pero at the same time, proud ka rin na dumaan ka doon, kasi sobrang big deal na yun, especially ‘yung time na first time kong narinig ‘yung song namin sa NU, parang it brings back that memory eh, so parang kinikilig ka pero at the same time nahihiya ka.” She pauses to giggle. “But I guess normal naman ‘yon.” “Do I miss it?” Ryan mulls this over as I turn to him. “Hindi, siguro hindi, kasi nandito naman yun eh…” He touches his heart, then laughs. “Bahagi pa rin naman yun ng songwriting na ginagawa ako. Ngayon lang siguro mas nag-co-concentrate lang with yung present sound ngayon na more of aggressive, pero yung melancholy [feel], nandoon pa rin naman yun with other songs that I write, um not for this band, hindi ko lang alam kung anong banda pa yon, pero nandoon pa naman yun, hindi mawawala yun.” Ryan is referring to two other bands he was planning to get together after finishing his Master’s degree this month. One band is a more openly new wave group he’s forming with Pedicab’s Jason Caballa, Boy Elroy’s Conrad Javier and Narda guitarist Tani Santos. Ryan, Conrad and Jason have all been wanting to form a band since forever, especially one “with an actual bass,” Jason quips. The second band is still in the fertilization stage, a mod group with Robert Martinez of Milagros Dancehall Collective, who, as some of you may remember, was Ryan’s bandmate in the original lineup of Brownman Revival. Ryan plans to play guitars in this band, admitting “matagal ko nang gustong mag-gitara.” These bands would have been around even if Narda was not breaking up: they’re not replacements. Ryan seems to me a songwriting machine, and a prolific one at that. “Parang twenty years from now, di ba, pag singkwenta na ako, alam mo yun, ganoon pa rin ba ako?” he muses. “Pero gusto ko yung maririnig ko na ganito ako dati. Tsaka, this point, natutuwa ako na nagagawa ko yung childhood dream ko noon—punk rock, new wave. Yun yung nakaka-excite ngayon eh, writing new stuff, recording it, hearing it, tapos, pare, ito yung mga idol mo dati, nagagawa mo siya ngayon. Doon ako natutuwa eh.” SUPER POWERS Katwo herself is also in awe of Ryan’s songwriting talents and prolificity. For example, after Ryan tries to explain his songwriting process, basically saying that he’s got all parts in his head at the same time, it was just a matter of teaching it to his bandmates, Katwo praises Ryan by saying, “Skill na yun, yung kung baga pina-play mo pa lang sa gitara alam mo na yung tunog ng lahat. Feeling ko that comes from experience. Ako personally, gagawa ako ng kanta, hindi ko kayang isipin kung anong magiging drums nun eh. Parang if artist ka, if visual artist ka, se-sketch mo pa lang alam mo na yung magiging packaging niya. It comes really with a skill, na si Ryan lang talagang makakapag, at this point, makakapag-provide sa amin nun eh. Ang hirap n’un! Like, lyrics pa lang, alam mo na lahat? It’s hard. “Kaya yung mga songs, pag dating sa amin, ang maganda, okay na kasi ayus na siya eh,” she continues. “Pero at the same time, meron pa rin kaming chance to explore our own comfort zones. Siguro yun talaga yung naging strength ng songs sa album na to, it was structured creatively in a sense na… It’s so hard to work with a person or a songwriter who doesn’t know what to do with the other instruments. Wala kang pupuntahan nun eh. Pero siya, alam na niya eh. So, that gives structure, pero at the same time, since hindi naman kami virtuoso, hindi naman kami Van Halen,” she laughs. “Alam mo yun, na kaya namin lahat sa instruments, yung simple limitations namin, kung anong kaya niya i-play [points at Tani], kung anong kaya niya i-play [points at Yaps], kung anong kaya kong kantahin, yun yung nagiging guideline ng style siguro ng sound namin.” Has Ryan asked her to anything she would have refused to do? “Actually, wala naman…” she says. Then, grins. “Maghubad.” She laughs as she pretends to quote Ryan as band despot. “Tumuwad ka! Bilhan mo ako ng chichirya!” She composes herself to give a more serious answer. “Feeling ko naman, it depends on the artist, in anything you do in life, it will always come to a point na ‘Gusto ko ba ‘tong ginagawa ko? Ayaw ko?’ Sabi nga ng co-worker ni Ryan, ‘Hanapin mo na lang yung joy doon.’ Kung feeling mo boring yung ginagawa mo, hanapan mo ng paraan na magiging masaya ka. And siguro tweaking it to your style. It’s really the style, yung sound, it came from limitations and trying to get out of those limitations and using those limitations to our advantage.” Sadly, this style will exist only in Discotillion, as they retire the band and move on to other things. In a more recent interview with Ryan, after the announcement of the disbandment, the plan was to continue as a three-piece, with Ryan playing the entire rhythm section on the keys. Estagle’s departure meant they would have to get a new keyboardist or a new drummer as Ryan moves to the keys, or have the drum tracks programmed. They tried this out for a gig they couldn’t cancel shortly after Estagle had quit, but it only contributed to the remaining members’ disheartenment. “Napag-isip isip ko na,” Ryan explains. “Siguro, si Katwo rin, we had a meeting, and decided wag na. Kasi ako, naturuan ko na lahat ng matuturuan ko, at ‘pag may butas, tapal lang ng tapal. Para sa akin, wala na eh, I was trying to find a reason for it, pero para saan pa? Pagod na rin kami. Sa lahat ng nangyari, maybe it’s time to move on.” THE END? Ryan doesn’t promise that Narda may return in the future, but he doesn’t discount the possibility either. And it seems, from all that they’ve been through together and all she’s learned from him, Katwo would probably be open to working with Ryan in the future also. In her blog, Katwo speaks of changes and upcoming projects, such as her new all-girl band, Duster, among other major milestones. Hopefully, each will look back at their alter-ego days and feel pride at how far they took the mission. Photos by Nico Puertollano.

April 8th, 2007

Andy Partridge Says

• By : paochec

“I long for young kids to come up with some stuff that’s really going to upset me. But you know what, nobody does. They all want a little piece of the corporate cake, they’re all too stale, playing it safe and calm. I want a band who make their own instruments out of cardboard, play four-hour songs about urinating. I want stuff that’s really out there, because everything else has been done to death, and then redone, and then recycled and redone, and even recycling redone has been recycled and redone. Is it too much to ask for something new, for God’s sake? It sort of started in a big way in the ’90s, this sort of regurgitating; and now it seems like the circles are getting smaller and smaller, tighter and tighter.” — from an interview with Andy Partridge, lead singer/songwriter of XTC. (He’s Magnet magazine’s featured artist this month.)

April 8th, 2007

JESUS WALKS: 10 SONGS ABOUT GOD

• By : Luis Katigbak

So it’s Holy Week, and you’ve already heard Mass and visited a bunch of churches and now you’re at home, trying not to think of the food in the fridge, because you have half a day to go before your fast is over. What to do? Well, you could, you know, pray. Or you could trawl your hard drive for stuff to listen to. And since you might feel just a little guilty cranking up Slayer or Snoop Dogg during this season, you could try and see how many God-oriented songs are already in your collection, not counting stuff by acts that are mostly famous for being Christian and not much else, and not counting stuff that out-and-out sucks (see: MC Hammer’s “Pray.”) Read more…