Pulse.ph : MUSIC + CULTURE
July 29th, 2010
SOME MEN DREAM OF BOMBSHELLS (CERTAIN OTHER MEN, ACTUAL BOMBS). GENUINE BOOKWORMS DREAM OF ARCHAIC FIRST-EDITION RUNS. AND BAND PEOPLE? THEY DREAM OF GUITARS AND PEDAL-CONTROLLED EFFECTS. OWEL ALVERO TALKS TO BARBIE ALMALBIS, ET AL. ABOUT THE NOT-SO-TERRIBLE AFFLICTION KNOWN AS G.A.S., OR GEAR ACQUISITION SYNDROME.
July 16th, 2010
THE BALANCE OF POWER: THE BEATLES IN MONO
HOW MANY BEATLES BOX SETS CAN YOU OWN? APPARENTLY, THE HOLY GRAIL-TYPE SEARCH FOR THE “DEFINITIVE VERSION” OF THE BEATLES’ DISCOGRAPHY HAS NOT ENDED. ELY BUENDIA MAKES HIS PULSE DEBUT WITH AN IMPASSIONED CASE FOR (AND AGAINST) “THE BEATLES IN MONO.”
July 14th, 2010
ON “BEATLESQUE” AND OTHER IDIOMS
FROM BILLBOARD AND “TOP OF THE POPS” TO THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY, THE BEATLES INVADE ON ALL FRONTS.
May 31st, 2010
A QUESTION OF TONGUES: ON JÓNSI’S GO
ICELANDIC, HOPELANDIC, ENGLISH: JÓNSI MAY BE ABLE TO SPEAK IN TONGUES, BUT HIS FANTASY-REPLETE PERSONA SPEAKS LOUDER.
May 21st, 2010
OUR EDITOR APOLOGIZES FOR ROCKISTS THE WORLD OVER, BUT WITH HIS HEAD UP HIGH (WHICH IS PROBABLY AN INAPPROPRIATE STANCE TO HAVE WHEN PLEADING). A MISSION STATEMENT? NOT QUITE.
May 7th, 2010
“NAKALIGO KA NA BA SA JINGLE?”
FROM THE CADENCE-RICH CHANTING OF “BUTZ, BUTZ, BUTZ” TO THE VIDEOKE-LIKE BELLOWING OF “DAGAT NG BASURA,” CAMPAIGN JINGLES PERSIST AS DEATHLESS BITS OF FILIPINIANA.
January 13th, 2010
THAT JOKE ISN’T FUNNY ANYMORE: 2009 IN MEMORIAM
ALDUS SANTOS CHEWS THE FAT WITH FELLOW MUSIC CRITIC ERWIN ROMULO AND DJ MIKEY ABOLA, AND, YEAH, WRITES ABOUT IT HERE.
November 12th, 2009
A WARDING OFF: THE ROCK AWARDS (AMONG OTHER THINGS)
A HARMLESS CEREMONY TO UPHOLD ON A REGULAR BASIS; AFTER ALL, YOU DO IT FOR THE KIDS, NOT THE BICKERING UNCLES AND COUSINS.
October 15th, 2009
In early July, I bought myself a ticket to catch Elvis Costello’s Singapore show on October 5 (talk about fanhood: two full months ahead). More than being this generation’s Bob Dylan—or being rock’s hyper-literate Cole Porter—Costello continues to exhibit a musical lexicon that spans genres and trends. A seminal British punk figure, Costello has since gone on to more adventurous terrain (country onAlmost Blue, violin music on The Juliet Letters, jazz instrumentation on The Sweetest Punch, and, more recently, bluegrass via Secret, Profane and Sugarcane). It’s a shame he’s sometimes caricaturized as the guy who sang “She” onNotting Hill, or the guy who appeared on Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, crooning “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.” What follows below is my successive two-month-long commentary on the guy’s career, a sort of running journal of me prepping for the big show at the Esplanade. After all, if you’re going to spend your days following only onemusician’s career, Declan MacManus (Mr. Costello) is the grandest bet you’ve got. Read more…
September 22nd, 2009
KNIVES OUT: MUSIC IN RESTAURANTS AND HOW IT AFFECTS US
Music is tapestry. We all know it. Bad music is like cheap, shoddy wallpaper, or awkward-looking lace curtains. Music is like landscaping, too. Good music is like a pretty-looking garden, a newly-mowed lawn, or a couple of smartly-positioned potted plants. Being subjected to butt-ugly music is like being made to wait in a hospital lobby with walls painted in catastrophic hues. We may unmindfully walk past our neighbor’s unkempt garden, or choose to openly ignore neon-green hospital walls, but music is different: you can’t see it coming. Hailing a cab, for instance, one would have absolutely no hint as to what music, if any, he will be forced to consume. Being bombarded with repugnant music can be comparable to nursing a fresh stab wound—just as being surprised with music one approves of can be like a warm embrace from a loved one. Read more…
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