Two real life friends, Ely Buendia and Francis M., were once struggling each of their personal battles and showed to the whole world that their diseases/illnesses will not hinder their passion to make music. Clearly, the collaboration of musical talents of these two individuals created good music together. Even though Francis M. is not here anymore to hear the full album, his legacy lives on as one of the most talented artists in the Filipino music industry. Read the rest of this entry »
Tanya Markova’s album is my current LSS (last song syndrome) for the past few days. I’ve been hearing their song “Picture Picture” in NU 107 for the past weeks and just recently got a hold of their entire album. My friends hate me for singing the “Picture Picture” over and over again. Haha, sorry friends, but I can’t really get it out of my head!
Their album contains 16 tracks but some of them are short fillers. When I first played the album, I can’t help but laugh because of the funny mismatched lyrics and situations combined with girly-man voices, melodious tunes and pop goth. It’s like hearing Ang Bandang Shirley (without a real female vocalist like Selena), slightly tamed Parokya ni Edgar in the Khangkungkernitz era, pop attitude of the Eraserheads in the Ultraelectromagneticpop era, Dodong Cruz and Queen in one. Interesting huh? They definitely reminded me of the Pinoy 90’s rock era. Their band formed in 2004 and when I learned about this, where the f*ck was I and didn’t discover this way, way back? I guess I was in Pinoy Rock hiatus then. Read the rest of this entry »
Drip has become one of my favorite local acts in Manila because of their distinct electronica sound and the soothing voice of Beng. It’s exciting to know that the band will be launching 3 music videos for their songs “Turning Grey”, “Blind” and “Bloodletting”. All of these 3 videos took 2 years in the making so I am quite excited to finally see those songs as music videos. Another good news is that they will be performing some of their new songs from their Spanish album which they collaborated with Instituto Cervantes as a tribute to a Spanish poet Miguel Hernandez. The event is free so anybody can come and join us. By the way, this event is sponsored by Puma. Read the rest of this entry »
Mailing lists in the cyberspace have existed a long time ago and bands these days are taking advantage of the opportunity to interact with their fans both online and offline. On the other hand, the fans also take advantage of that situation because this is the exclusive time a band offers to their fans. Nowadays, clubs allow a handful of bands to perform every night which lessens that set list they’re allowed to perform (usually 3-5 songs per set).
I believe that it was in the late 90’s or early 2000 when local Filipino bands organized lister’s night parties. I remembered some bands such as the Eraserheads, The Dawn, Rivermaya organizing those parties. I was able to attend listers nights of Eraserheads years ago and then few months was The Dawn. Each and every lister’s night I’ve attended in the past and the present were fun and have realized the differences among their crowds. Read the rest of this entry »
Isn’t it cool seeing and hearing your favorite bands perform cover songs every once in a while? Puma paved way for some of our local bands to let Pupil, Imago, Up Dharma Down, Drip, Taken by Cars, Camerawalls and Sleepwalk Circus show their own renditions of classic pop and rock songs. I got the chance to be invited to the Puma Archive Uncovered Manila gig last September 18 (I know it’s a month late, I’m a full time worker ok? ).
If you’re going to ask me, my favorite cover song would be “Ready to Go” by Taken By Cars which was originally sung by Republica. I believe that the song really suits them because Sarah’s energy matches the fast beats of the song. Plus, I got the chance to see the their new bassist/singer Isa Garcia perform for the first time! Read the rest of this entry »
Cebu is a good place to see the best Filipino rock bands. Last weekend (October 16-19), I went to Cebu for the Visayan leg of the Philippine Blog Awards. I arrived in Cebu at around 10 pm. Had dinner with blogger friends and on our way home, we heard the sound of live bands. I’ve been dying to see Cebu based bands. I’m only familiar with the popular ones such as Urbandub, Faspitch, Shiela and the Insects and Jr. Kilat.
Karla and I came to Mango Square, a district filled with bars and establishments. It was a Friday night so everyone’s out chilling out. We didn’t know that it was a free concert by Tanduay Rhum Rock Fest so we decided to watch just one band perform because we’re really tired.
We got the chance to see Sugbuanon, a neo-tribal band. Their music is actually good. They combined tribal instruments with electric guitars, bass and drums. We only heard 3 songs from them, one of which was a cover of a popular song by Yano which is “Banal na Aso, Santong Kabayo”. The vocalist of the band titled the song “St. Bernard vs. Red Horse”. I didn’t get it at first but when they played the intro, I already knew why he titled it like that. They gave a tribal flavor to the song. I actually appreciated their rendition of Yano’s song.
Anyway, they played mostly original songs. The video I took above was an original song entitled “Tabi Po”. Their music is like a combination of Joey Ayala, Pinikpikan and Yano. Actually, the vocalist reminded me of Dong Abay .
The crowd was relatively “tamed”. There were people dancing and trying to slam but generally, they’re ok. Well, probably because the bands there weren’t really worth “slamming”?
I wish I stayed longer as I learned from a forum just now that Sheila and the Insects and Jr. Kilat were also there. Huhu, I didn’t get the chance to see them live! Oh well, I want to go back to Cebu and just watch bands there because I’m curious to know more about the Cebu band scene.
I have been a fan of The Dawn since I was in grade school. The first The Dawn album I had was Puno’t Dulo but I knew that their older songs such as “Enveloped Ideas”, “Love Will Set Us Free”, “Iisang Bangka” and “Salamat” were already hits before my adolescence years. Those songs also became my favorites until now. The Dawn was like The Eraserheads of my generation. If I was born earlier, probably I would be one of the fans who would frequent the bars where they have gigs. When I had the opportunity during my grade school life to watch gigs in bars, they weren’t as active like they were before. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s the Rock Awards season once again so it’s time to vote for your favorite local bands. I’ve just casted my vote. Most of my votes for each category were for Up Dharma Down because I feel that this is their year. There were some from Peryodiko, Pupil, The Dawn and Sugarfree. Although I haven’t really watched the NU 107 Rock Awards live, I vote every year and try to catch it on TV or through the live streaming at NU 107. So if you haven’t casted your vote, please visit www.nu107fm.com and register. Read the rest of this entry »
The first single from the collaboration album of Ely Buendia and Francis M entitled “Higante” is already being played in different radio stations. The single had its first airplay last September 8, 7 pm. Ely shared this info through his Twitter. He Tweeted:
Tune in to your favorite radio station tomorrow at 7pm for the premiere of HIGANTE by Francism and Ely BuendiaRead the rest of this entry »
It’s not common seeing Sugarfree in an intimate set up, most especially with the Manila Symphony Orchestra. I got the chance to experience watching them up close during the Dekada concert held at the Music Museum last August 28th. It was nice seeing familiar friends in the audience area. Karla and I were seated front middle row. We didn’t expect to be seated there. Thanks to Jay DJ of Titik Pilipino for giving us super nice front row seats.
This was actually my first time to see them perform with the Manila Symphony Orchestra. I wasn’t able to watch them 2 years ago. I was working in the night shift then and my gig life was so corny. Read the rest of this entry »
).
