I know it’s quite late in the game to be citing the best albums of 2010, but at least you can be assured that this list was well thought of. Besides, most of these great albums are sadly overlooked and unheralded. With NU107 gone and with misinformed naysayers asserting that underground music and rock bands are out, coming up with this list became a sort of silent crusade for me. The question of how well these releases and artists actually are is anybody’s call; the reader is free to form his or her own opinion over these things anyway. Anyway, without further ado, here it goes.

1. Loonie: The Ones Who Never Made It (Clay). Loonie, self-designed “half-gangsta, half-genius”—also, former Eat Bulaga! Rappublic of the Philippines participant, Francism hypeman, and one half of the rap duo Stickfiggas—exudes wit and attitude and practically spits forth lyrical fire in his solo outing. Whether it’s in English, Filipino, or Cebuano, or whether it’s in the form of a love song or a vitriolic attack, his material manages to come off as being generally streetwise. And with him getting recently signed by Sony Music, there should be some hope for forward-thinking music to get back in the thick of things as far as the mainstream goes.

2. Bloodshedd: Spare No One/Cog: Culling (Tower of Doom). These are metal releases that push the envelope in terms of musicality, but without losing the ferocious bite that defines its genre. The former is relentlessness exemplified, while the latter is a collection of songs which segue into one another as if interwoven into one grand epic.

3. Hannah+Gabi: Haha Yes (self-produced). “Would it be better if we sleep forever?” Mikey Amistoso asks in “Waiting for the Rainfall,” a sweet yet poignant number which, it could be argued, is representative of this short album that’s made for the emotionally weary and, well, those with good ears. You’ll wish it would go on forever. Love, longing, and escapism in one compact package.

4. Franco: Franco (MCA). Finally, a proper mainstream release from the person regarded as the central figure of the Cebu rock scene. Aided by his stellar bandmates, Franco Reyes dishes out almost a decade’s worth of reggae-tinged combo of metal and grunge.

5. T.S.A.: Back to Kindergarten (RoughDraft)/Throw: Believe (Counterflow). “We never needed to be cared for, all we ever wanted was to believe,” Throw proclaims in their album’s title track, and this may very well be the creed of old-school (you may also say “true”) punk music stalwarts who refuse to stop pumping their clenched fists. The band, well, throws this album and a must-find online EP (‘Wag Kalimutan ang Ingay) as their final salute. T.S.A., on the other hand, reimagines local punk anthems past and present (even covering the latter’s “Akin ‘Yan”). The one quality that makes Believe stand out compared to their other releases, however, is the fact that the old guns open up more here, lyrically speaking, offering up sentiments of reassurance, positivity, and fond farewells without losing the rage and ferocity.

6. Francis Magalona and Ely Buendia: In Love and War (Sony). How can two men who faced death (one finally succumbing after giving a good fight, and the other rocking on like he never did) create such a wonderful pop album brimming with life?

7. Johnoy Danao: Dapithapon (Wombworks). The songwriting and the musicianship are both excellent, but the one thing that carries this album is that voice that can pretty much sing its way out of anything. It kind of makes you wonder: if Johnoy sang his way to the U.N., perhaps there’ll be no more wars. Dear major labels, with the breakthrough platinum success of Noel Cabangon’s recent record, don’t you think it makes perfect sense to sign this dude? (On a related note, check out Johnoy and Kakoy’s equally incendiary stuff. I’ll give you an idea: click here. – Ed.)

8. Good Leaf: Dub Pilipinas (Dub Explosion/Inity)/Pasta Groove: Ill Primitivo (PG/Terno). New adventurous grooves from the underground. PG returns with deeper hip-hop vibes in his soul pastiche while Malabon’s Good Leaf carries the flag for dub music with their hard-to-find debut. Urban Pilipinas is quivering in childbirth.

9. Sleepwalk Circus: Great Secret Show (Terno). No album was more grandiose, more ambitious, and pulled more stops than this one. A “swirling musical vortex,” says Cat Cortes of Arigato, Hato! in an earlier review, and I couldn’t agree more.

10. Gaijin: Welcome Back, Earthling (Locked Down). Jesse Grinter brings his folksy lyricism and frames it with constantly moving, dynamic rock that’s straight from the gut. (Cris O. Ramos, Jr.)

Gaijin photo via their Facebook; Franco photo courtesy of MCA. The second and final installment of this list is here.

RJ Underground Radio 105.9 spent the last few weeks roaming the metro, wreaking musical havoc, and celebrating three years of on-air madness. Three consecutive weekend nights were filled with awesome bands and endless alcohol courtesy of Emperador Light Brandy and The Bar.

The rock jocks of UR—Nick Zinger, Memphis, The Mole, Billy B., and their newest addition, John Hamster, as well as the DJs of UR’s special shows—were present to make sure that craziness ensued and gave away prizes each night.

The tour opened on July 23 at the Eastwood Central Plaza, where Franco, Archipelago, Doki, Sleepwalk Circus, Musical O., Kjwan, Kenyo, Peryodiko, and the ten-year-old guitar wonder Luis Galang blew everyone away.

Then we headed over to Pasay to take over Uno Pizzeria at By the Bay. Even if the rain poured down hard, the music blasted on harder! Paramita, Juan Pablo Dream, Tanya Markova, Top Junk, Lady I, Luna, Soul Republic, The Powertones, and Cheeba gave the people a good reason to brave the crazy weather.

B-side was definitely flipped over during the last leg of the tour, where the sonic sounds of Identikit, Enemies of Saturn, The Out of Body Special, Sugar Hiccup, Reklamo, December Avenue, Salamin, and Turbo Goth satisfied our ears until the wee hours of the morning!

It’s been an awesome three years and the celebration was even better! We’ve got more things coming, so you all better keep on listening to UR 105.9! (Pulse.ph)

On July 15, 2007, a tiny radio station on the FM band started broadcasting. Since then, it has unsuspectingly built a quiet but steady reputation, as well as an avid, discriminating listenership. This month, they are celebrating their third year on air. And not without the appropriate rock ‘n’ roll shindig. This Friday, July 23, 2010, troop over to the Eastwood Central Plaza ‘round 7PM and party with RJ Underground Radio 105.9—with a little help from Franco, Kjwan, and Kenyo, as well as Peryodiko and Archipelago, and, my oh my, those ultra-talented Terno kids Musical O and Sleepwalk Circus! Doki will also be playing. Take those hands out of those pockets, ladies and gents, because entrance is, yes, free! The more awesome thing is that the Eastwood show will only be the first of three shows happening around the metro.

The R U Listening Tour of 2010 is made possible by RJ Underground Radio 105.9 and Emperador Light Brandy, and brought to us by Draven, Gweilos, Club Dredd Eastwood, No Seat Affair, Inc., and Eastwood City Walk, with media partners Uno, Pulp, Pulse.ph, Rakista.com, and Odysseylive.net. (Pulse.ph)

It takes a large dose of courage and credibility to have the word “great” somewhere in the title of your debut album. Sleepwalk Circus, fronted by “Ringmaster” Francis Lorenzo, alongside Peavey “Sideshow” Nicolas on guitars, Jeric “Jack of All Trades” de la Cruz on drums, and Laurie “Annie Oakley” Maravilla on bass, prove they have not only the guts but also what it takes to live up to their self-proclaimed glory. From “Introduction” to “Wakewalking,” the listener is plunged into a swirling musical vortex, the portal for Sleepwalk Circus’ Great Secret Show. We are thrown somewhere where blank canvases and white walls explode with rich melodies and morph into the landscapes of the band’s eerie imaginings that meld with our own.

Imagine that circus folk are the songs themselves: complex, expressive, and loaded with the magic circuses are known to be teeming with. Imagine “The Start” to be the moment when the red curtains are pulled to reveal an elegant trapeze artist in the spotlight, suspended somewhere, swinging, bending, twirling for our infinite pleasures. Track 5, “Sideshow,” is the song for the Mime, who tries to show us the depth of human gestures (or, in the song’s case, the depth of guitar riffs, licks, and trickles cradled by the beating of drums). “Insignificant Opinions” is the Clown’s song. He is in the spotlight now. We laugh but we do not know that he is handsome beneath the makeup and costume—an Adonis. He is cold to laughter. Untouchable. Track 6 is the “Clown’s Lament,” his revenge. “You little s**t suck on this ice!”

Into the seventh track, little snowflakes start to fall out of nowhere, tickling our noses. Snow Snow. The Clown is gone and in his place are ugly characters dancing, circling a beautiful figure bathed in light. We desire her. Him. It. The tiny snowflakes fall faster and harder until everyone but the beautiful figure is buried under a pile of the cold white stuff. We are left mesmerized by Up Dharma Down’s Armi Millare in “Part 2: For You My King,” her voice enveloping the enchanted stage. She is the beautiful figure at the center and as majestic as she has always been. She is Venus, the mermaid, the unicorn—the ideal woman of our dreamscapes.

Track 9: the stage is now open to the audience and we walk slowly towards where the “Flies are Flying.” We realize our limbs are attached to strings. We are puppets and we are part of the Great Secret Show. We ask big existential questions: “Who chose to bring Man down?” “Will they fall down?” From this track to the very last, we sleepwalk through a wild adventure of dynamic melancholy, an adventure not heartbreaking enough to be called sad but not uplifting enough to be called the opposite. Stuck in dreamland limbo, here is the only time we will ever use our ears to walk and dream.

The beauty of this album is that you can forget everything that has been written and it can still be everything you desire it to be. But you’d need a radical pair of dream-oculars. (Cat Cortes)

Great Secret Show cover art provided by Toti Dalmacion of Terno Recordings.