Pulse.ph : MUSIC + CULTURE
April 26th, 2010
A.J. SCHNACK: KURT COBAIN: ABOUT A SON
COBAIN CEASES BEING WHAT HE HATED (I.E., “A CARTOON CHARACTER”) IN A.J. SCHNACK’S INSPIRED AND BEAUTIFULLY SHOT BIOPIC. THE NIRVANA SINGER’S BEEN DEAD SIXTEEN YEARS NOW THIS “CRUELEST MONTH” OF APRIL.
November 4th, 2009
August 12th, 2009
THIRD EYE BLIND’S DON’T BELIEVE A WORD
There it is in the headlines, big, bold and, um, ambitious? Third Eye Blind goes political, or so do the press releases say. Yes, those guys who had been with my peer group during our tender days when we nursed our pretty little heartbreaks to the tune of How’s It Going To Be and had urged us to stage dive with much bravado after receiving our elementary diploma shouting, “Can I graduate,” have just gone to ply a different theme for their musical explorations. Read more…
July 2nd, 2009
OUR LADY PEACE’S ALL YOU DID WAS SAVE MY LIFE
It’s not by coincidence that I find myself burning minutes listening to the song a night after watching a couple of episodes of Grey’s Anatomy for the first time.* And I presume its likeness with the ditty by The Fray (How To Save A Life) used in the Ellen Pompeo-headlined medical drama—which doesn’t reside only on the theme portrayed by the songs’ titles but strangely also in some hallucinatory points in their melodies, the latter being a slower alter-ego of the former—isn’t of direct concurrence as well. Read more…
December 17th, 2008
ERASERHEADS: THE REUNION CONCERT
A must-have for diehards, it goes without saying. For people who missed the show, however, I maintain this: well, you missed it, and no measure of secondhand accounts and TV newsbites will ever approximate the experience. Not even Eraserheads: The Reunion Concert, the audio CD of the live event. Having said that, however, permit me to say that it is a great listen, because, really, how can you go wrong with songs like those? Ely Buendia’s worrisome medical emergency by show-end may have cut the gig to a mere half, but it did affect the song selection in an interesting manner. On the one hand, there are of course the singles (“Alapaap” and “With a Smile,” for instance), and on the other, the fan favorites (“Shake Yer Head” and, say, “Lightyears”). Read more…
October 22nd, 2008
RICO BLANCO: YOUR UNIVERSE [WARNER]
“Yugto,” the first single off Rico Blanco’s debut solo outing Your Universe, is ambition spelt out in bold letters, the fruit of the seeds the composer planted in earlier sound collages such as “Alab ng Puso,” “Liwanag sa Dilim,” and “Bandila.” Despite the fact that the first thing “Yugto” reminded me of was Spinal Tap’s “Stonehenge” from This is Spinal Tap—which was replete with mandolin-addled, Celtic-themed arrangements, and at least three major movements—it is crystal-clear that Blanco is not doing a David St. Hubbins or a Nigel Tufnel: that is to say, he’s dead, dead serious. Read more…
October 9th, 2008
BEHOLD, REJOICE! SURFERNANDO IS HEAR NAH!
When the hit band Eraserheads disbanded back in 2002, fans have always longed to see Ely, Raimund, Buddy and Markus get back on the spotlight. And as time passed, yeah, we heard from each of them… forming their own bands, releasing their own albums… except for lead guitarist Marcus Adoro. And then Adoro gets back like a tidal wave. His band, Markus Highway, released their album called “Behold, Rejoice! Surfernando Is Hear Nah” under Warner Music Philippines. Quoting Wikipedia, “Adoro explains that ‘Markus Highway’ is just a rock and roll name that he likes and he wants to keep at the moment.” And as I start to listen to the album, I prep myself for some entertaining Pinoy rock alternative sound trip. The first song in his album, “Lala”, caught me almost by surprise. It sounded like I was listening to a whole new kind of Eraserheads, yet, having its own identity. The album picks up pace in the following songs and next thing I know, I was humming along to his contemporary lyrics that talk about love, life and… travel. His melodious statements in “Chef-Ra’s Forest”, “Wow Kalabaw”, “Bonfire” and Drive-Thru” give the impression of leaving and just letting go. It doesn’t matter if you’re riding a Carabao, a flying carpet, or if you simply walk, run, swim or fly! Point is, let go of the busy life and just stop to smell the roses! The album’s musicality has a distinct rhythm, the one that makes you feel that it’s simply a good alternative from the usual music that keeps looping in your iPods or MP3 players. With 12 tracks, it may not be long enough to keep you accompanied all throughout the music trip, but it’s enough to refresh one’s LSS (the ‘Last Song Syndrome’ or the song that keeps playing in your head). Plus of course, Markus Highway’s comical lyrics and non-pretentious perception will make you smile. Though Adoro is not new to the whole band thing, this mainstream album could turn out to be a hot buy even if we can’t see or hear him that much on TV or radio. After all, his music deserves to be heard and live up to the legacy they have set in the music industry. Right? Right!.
April 14th, 2008
The night I popped Into the Wild in my player, the lights in my room turned out, the ensuing darkness enveloping the place grew cold, and suddenly, at the center, alit a campfire. From the scene emerged a background of dismal trees and faraway horizons. From the flame’s soft burning came the illumination of a familiar figure. There he was, Eddie Vedder. He was in a small group circling the campfire, gently strumming his guitar. He glanced at me and said with that deep voice of his: “Come sit here and join the circle.” I sat. He began singing. We were in the wild. Read more…
April 3rd, 2008
Perhaps when Don Clark, main man for the art direction and design of Foo Fighter’s sixth studio album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, came up with the idea of laying out a bomb (with a vintage guitar amplifier tube in it) as the album’s iconic image, he was unconsciously thinking of something beyond the creatives – people, this one’s gonna explode in your anticipative faces. And, boy, does this 12-track machinery blast the roof off! Read more…
October 4th, 2007
I was very apprehensive about reviewing Are You Listening?, ex-Cranberries vocalist Dolores O’Riordan’s solo effort. Being a Cranberries fan—at least up ‘til the third album—I had high expectations from one of my favorite frontwomen. I also had a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. There was the obvious worry that her music would sound like a knockoff of her old band’s. Having a voice as unique as Dolores’ is both a blessing and a curse; there was no mistaking The Cranberries for any other band, not with that distinct voice at the helm. The downside of this is that we’d gotten so used to the sound of The Cranberries that it was going to be extra challenging for Dolores to branch out on her own. And then there was the question of the lyrics. After being in a band that did the whole mushy love thing (albeit in a cool way) and the patriotic/ political thing (which was great at first, but later became tiresome), I wondered: what’s she going to do that would set her apart from her past? The answer, unfortunately, turned out to be a little worse than I suspected. Are You Listening? sounds like a half-baked Cranberries (sans lush arrangements) album most of the time, and a half-baked Sinead/ Bjork/ Enya hybrid during others. I don’t even want to talk about the lyrics. I’ve heard better rhymes on Sesame Street. I mean, I’ve never heard the Cookie Monster rhyme “sea” with “sea” and “me” with “me.” Unfortunately, Dolores does just this in “Stay With Me.” Other songs are similarly impaired. “When We Were Young” starts off with Cranberries-style vocal acrobatics, and features a chorus with the lyrics “I wanna get out, I wanna go home/ Is anything better than you on the phone (Repeat x2).” Not exactly something you’d expect from a grown-up, respected musician and mother of two. On “In the Garden,” Dolores channels Sinead O’Connor by way of the music’s simple arrangement and vocals before segueing into a chorus that’s all her. Heavily laced with rock, the chorus complements her beautiful, strong voice. Unfortunately, again, I’ve heard better lyrics on children’s television. Points for effort, though. “Human Spirit” is a quirky mix of pop laced with traditional Irish influences. Unfortunately, the pipes and fiddles only enhance the piece so much, such that you get the feeling that they could have used other instruments to get the same effect. Still, the song has a nice, engaging beat, sort of reggae—but not quite. “Apple of My Eye” is a soft, simple song whose lyrics fit the arrangement well enough to be more than listenable, though if you listen hard enough, you sort of expect Dolores to segue into “Free to Decide” at any moment. Still, it counts as one of the high points of the album. Another high point would be “Black Widow,” which was supposed to be in the last Spider-Man movie but was pulled out at the last minute. The minimalist use of the piano and Dolores’ soft crooning shows off the depth and range of her voice. Just like anyone who’s listened to and loved The Cranberries, I want nothing more than to have Dolores O’Riordan’s solo album succeed, and it breaks my heart to face the reality that it’s just not all there. Dolores has still got a powerful set of lungs and one of the most beautiful voices in the industry, but if she wants to succeed as a solo artist, she’ll need to get a new lyricist and maybe a new arranger. So, to answer the album’s bold title: Yes, I am, but I’m not sure I like what I’m hearing.
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