Where post-grunge meets indie, nth wave emo, and cute Close-Up commercial vibes; where ’90s influences like Eheads and The Smashing Pumpkins, and Mandy Moore coalesced to crystallize the unrealized potential of ’90s original pogi-rocker Jao Mapa into 14 cuts — self produced, DIY, distributed by major label — the mixing of which isn’t always up to major label sheen. Unlike with most of their peers, the rock tunes here actually rock, the guitars, fatter dirtier louder (“22,” “Lunes,” “Partisan”). Loud-quiet-loud pop/rock delivered with balls. They give you quiet interludes just so you turn the volume up (“Neon,” “Jillian”), and then blast your earwax away. A-
Less on chunky riffs, more FM friendly songs. This is a refinement of their sound, maybe the result of having the proper studio equipment, and them focusing on what works best for them (“Movie,” “Myself In You”). Though I sometimes prefer the guitars higher in the mix, and Yael, a bit lower, the more “produced” sound makes this tonally more consistent than their debut. More controlled, but still delivered with balls (“Tuliro,” “Pasubali”). “Tonight, Tonight” might have been the (un)intended Gen X anthem Kurt never wanted to write. Yael Yuzon & co. something similar, a call to arms, but not as grand, not sweeping, but faster, niftier. Not for all the millennials, but for all of their fans — all the hopeless romantics unite (“All We Need”). A
Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass – “Ladyfingers” Been wanting to check this album for a very long time. 90% because of the album cover, 10% because I was curious what music comes in this lovely piece of artwork. A good example of cheesecake album art. Not because a good number of boys bought the album even without knowing the band but because it’s not as blatant and explicit as other cheesecake album covers. What made me finally check the album? “Ladyfingers.” Found it on FB, used in one of those short videos called reels, which usually features unfunny adult jokes and unsolicited thirst traps. Played the song a few more times and I thought, there’s a high chance I already heard this song before. Probably in (old) movies. So, I previewed the whole album, and it’s the only track that sticks so far. It’s track number nine, credited to one Toots Thesielman, on Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass’ Whipped Cream & Other Delights.
Death by Stereo – “Pangarap Ng Lupa” Among the lesser-known bands of the ’90s, Death By Stereo has one of the most interesting stories. They released their eponymous debut in ’95, got airplay mainly on LA105. In Bicol, they also got airplay from Naga City’s rock station DWEB. They released Bangungot the following year with the band now reduced to a power trio. Imagine if Rivermaya lost both Perf de Castro and Bamboo after the first album, that’s what happened to Death By Stereo. They lost their singer Jerome Abalos. Then one of their guitarists also left after recording the first three songs on Bangungot. While they don’t have a Rico Blanco, who could take over the guitars and vocal duties, they have Carl Guinto, who took over the mic duties from Jerome Abalos, in addition to pounding the drums. Maybe he has lower register, but I find his growl more “metal” then Abalos’ work on the first album.
I’m not sure if they’re the first to call Wolfgang, Razorback, and maybe some extent, The Breed, as coño boys, but they actually call them that in one interview. If I’m not wrong, the umbrella term coño-rock came after. Remember the “C is for the coño kids” in Eraserheads’ “The Christmas Alphabet”? Yes, this was around the same time. The issue at the time was that the NU rock awards was biased towards Wolfgang and Razorback, and didn’t recognize other rock and metal bands, like Death By Stereo. I think the consensus at the time, outside of LA105 who played a lot of music from lesser known and underground bands, is that Death By Stereo’s debut kind of sucks (music was OK, but the lyrics were too much to take seriously). Consider them getting their redemption with Bangungot, their second LP. Not sure if NU107 played a song from their debut, but I remember seeing “Pangarap Ng Lupa” on the NU107 weekly charts. Maybe the guys on NU started listening to Bangungot after that “coño boys” interview, which if you think about it, their sentiment is partially true. The rock awards was biased towards certain group of bands and there are deserving bands that never got nominated.
Come the new millennium, Jerome Abalos re-emerged in the mainstream with “Larawang Kupas,” an indelible “jukebox” hit penned by ex-VST Snaffu Rigor. That’s four or five years after he left the band. I remember I was in disbelief when I first learned that the guy who sang the then already popular “Larawang Kupas” was indeed Jerome Abalos. It was like he left this thrash metal band to take over the reigns of Renz Verano and April Boy Regino. Unbelievable. Anyway, Abalos released two albums under Star Records and later re-formed Death By Stereo, and they released a new album Resureksyon. I haven’t listened to the album, but I can assure you it’s heavy metal from album cover alone, and definitely not jukebox.
Imago – “Do” The last time I played this song was long time ago. The time when I relatively have more time for music. But it was also a time when there’s always new music every day, courtesy of the internet. So, I listened to PNBMD probably three times, then I had to move on to Take 2 and other stuff, like Arcade Fire, Belle and Sebastian, Joanna Newsom, Midlake, Eggstone, Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, Architecture In Helsinki, The Purplechickens, Sugarfree, Narda, Ciudad, Marty McFly, Tin Hat Trio, The Books’s The Lemon of Pink, and a lot more. I listened to the song again the other day, after probably not but most definitely two decades. Back then, I thought the song was about telling a guy, “No, you can’t do me.” Not sure I read the lyrics then. So, I checked the lyrics the other day and realized that I was probably wrong. And I’m still not sure what Aia De Leon meant by “You can do anything, but you can’t do me.” Is she saying, I can do all this stuff as a woman, but at the end of the day, I can’t do me, I need a man. Or she is saying, you can do all this stuff, but you can’t do it the way that I do or the way I live my life. Or is it similar to Mitski’s “Nobody butters me up like you, and nobody fucks me like me”? IDK. ¯\(ツ)/¯
Anyway, here’s “Ladyfingers.” Go grab a beer, milk tea, or something. But not Starbucks. And not because they allegedly support genocide, but you can also consider that, and simply because well, they’re expensive. Sigh. But what else isn’t expensive these days?
I would’ve seen them live one time they opened for Rivermaya — had I come early. But I was late — always late to the party. Late to seek this underappreciated mid-aughts little gem. Late to catch this “Reyna Ng Quezon City” back when she was still queen. By the time I got into them, the band wasn’t Juana anymore — the singer left, their name changed, etc. By the time I looked for their CD, I had to do search & rescue in the remaining record stalls in the malls, meet scalpers, join online second-hand CD groups. What did I miss to have on CD? Turns out, plenty. The minor hits “Ikaw Pa Rin,” “Goodbye,” “Pansinin Mo,” and more. “Connected” is your lost ’90s teenage anthem (I am a lost cause I am a zero / Always the victim and never the hero). “Jealous,” another upbeat number, about a bitchy coworker. In “This Year,” Shirley de Guzman does better than Chantal Kreviazuk, whose earlier version of the song appeared on the Serendipity OST. Whether it’s anticipation, yearning or maybe even desperation — mas ramdam mo ‘yung kanta sa version ng Juana. Mas may gigil din ‘yung tugtugan nila. ‘Yung kay Chantal parang medyo tinatamad pa s’ya eh. A
See how a single song, a Koreanovela, massive airplay, and poster girl for-cover art helped this turn mega-platinum. Though probably not in Nina Live! sort of way. Or see how its success made label execs/artist management finally realize how to market Barbie Almalbis et. al: relaunch their careers as solo acts, double-bill ex-Band X and ex-Band Y in concert, expect windfall to come their way. Because everybody loves ’em — except when you’re jealous, or simply just a hater. And we’re not even talking about the product endorsements and TV ads that followed. Outside of the famous Koreanovela/radio hit (yes, the one with Onemig Bondoc cameo in the MV), the rest of this debut hangs seemingly detached from all the drama, a step away from the resulting outward pop/rock princess persona. Not exactly like her previous works with Mojofly, nor something one would call “radio-friendly.” So, if the aforementioned radio hit didn’t convert you already, the rest may not easily convert the lost and the faithless. Or maybe some of them will do. “Run” and “Same Ground,” forgotten first single and solid follow-up probably would. Maybe the one where she gets preachy (“Bulong”), which I don’t like, or the one where she strains her cords (“Fire”), which I do. B+
Let’s get “Garmonbozia” out of the way, the song, not the creamed corn from Twin Peaks. “Leaving You” isn’t as blatant (and thus, they’re less culpable) as that ubiquitous Orange & Lemons hit. At least not until the chorus. At least not until you realize that that riff or that melody also seeps into a couple of other tracks. While Side A doesn’t progress as an impending breakup would, but rather as snapshots at different points in time — “Cold” leads to “Cool Off” (didn’t she leave him already two songs ago?) then on the next, they’re back at square one, status: it’s complicated — it isn’t short on worthwhile cuts, the most compelling of which, well, maybe the one associated with the creamed corn. Or maybe it’s “Cool Off.” Or “Lullaby.” Or, you choose. If first side betrays their influence(s), Side B hints on their bar band origins. But it also has “Sana Naman,” and “Suntok Sa Buwan.” The latter is easily their best track here. Maybe ever. Wait, doesn’t that guitar intro sounds a bit like “Mayonaise”? Don’t tell Billy Corgan; he’s gonna call them rip-offs, sad little bitchy crybaby that he is. B+
This bop-rock posse mixes horns and riffs, low brow and literary, drunken conversations and frenzy orgy, all in a smoky bar where a drunk-ass poet intone his spiels in one dark corner. From pigs to pork barrel, somebody probably thought we were never ready for “Gusto Ko Ng Baboy.” Truth is, we were never ready for this whole album, where Andrew E.’s “Humanap Ka Ng Panget” gets a blow-job makeover (Palagi s’yang nakahalik sa aking *bleeeep*). The early aughts was weird. You have Sandwich, Sago and those “kupaw” bands while the popular radio plays Aiza Seguerra. A-
Reimagined old Manila as if it was all neon, funk and jazz. Squatterjazz instead Squatterpunk. Lourd de Veyra jettisoned the non-Tagalog numbers for ones written spoken in the vernacular. Whether it’s de Veyra having written his best spiels yet or the band being in the perfect groove or both, this set is wittier, sharper, funnier at the same time more immediate, more accessible than the first (“Hello”, “Kape”, “Masarap”). There’s no question “Bad Motherfucker” is a bad motherfucker, but maybe you need at least a liter of gin pomelo in your blood to dig “Gin Pomelo.” And as Malkmus once said, words—they’re diamond-sharp today (“Magbanat ng buto at gawing bulalo”, “Burak sa kape, gamot sa ubo, sa utak ng gago”, the whole of “Alaala Ni Batman”). Also, sage advice: Wag Kang Maingay May Naglalaba. A
Not exactly as wasak as Sago covering songs by other nominees that year in the NU rock awards but damn close. (Or was it Myx? MTV? Can’t remember.) And maybe, just as cluttered. This is the sound of a band who “carte blanche” after two albums—ram in every damn ideas that they could. Sage piece of advice: Alak, Sugal, Kape, Babae, Kabaong. B+
A somewhat sober return to the forms they already bastardized and butchered before, and more. Actually, less — this is their shortest set so far clocking at only 35:37. Just 5 minutes past around the half mark of any of their first three LPs, all of which a little over one hour in length. This has less excess baggage and more focused than the last one. De Veyra still muses about the Pambansang Kamao Manny Pacquiao (“Ang Bansa Ng Pambansa”), among other things. “Trip” is easily their funkiest shit this side of Recto, while “Samboy” (may or may not be a tribute to Samboy Lim or about his affair with Madonna), groovier than anything on TMANSMFKPR. “Miting Ng Mga Atay” is probably their catchiest sing-song in a while. As usual, music good for uneasy listening—that comes with great album art—that comes in the worst of digipak packaging from Terno Recordings. A-
Unlike other sporting anthems before it, “Puso” hits just right in the feels, instead of sounding studied, deliberate. You can’t learn feelings. If they outdo Rico Blanco with this one, they’re also raring to beat OnL with “Wala Kang Katulad” — their laid-back post-grungy take on the old nothing compares to you is so straightforward, seemingly effortless, but effective, no bandurria needed. Too bad the only ones they can’t better this time, are their younger selves. Not on par with the last one nor with their debut. That among the passable cuts are couple of old songs (“A Tear,” “Saturn,” previously recorded on their first EP) should be telling. Skippable track worthy of not-special mention: “G.K.T.,” an unfunny Kamikazee throwaway — maybe worse. B-
This sold more coke than the fisherfolk in Mina-Anud. Sorry, different coke. But still, it delivered barrels and barrels of unhealthy sugar and corn syrup to reach almost quadruple platinum in units redeemed (yes, redeemed, as opposed to units sold). Not bad for a pre-taste, though you could avert having hyperacidity, or worse, diabetes, if you waited for the full-length. Except for the acoustic version of the catchy single (“Tambay”), all songs would be included in the next record. B
You don’t wanna read this. You better head to their frontman’s girlfriend’s rave review of her boyfriend’s pop-rock band’s fourth long player. She used to “hate” them, because they seemed to be as popular as her, and their songs most prolly more popular than hers. Even if she’s a star, a royalty, the Diva / King of Comedy’s wife’s daughter, and designated guardian of kingdoms in Encantadia. But how the turn tables. From being envious, hater, the NME, to becoming the girlfriend, now the band’s undisputed champion, and later soon-to-be wife. And she’s all praises, even for the too obvious (i.e., awful) vodka jingle. Going the VST route with “Warning” is the band branching out we never thought we need, but probably deserve. But no, we don’t need nor deserve the rap-metal one. “Kay Tagal Kitang Hinintay” is the Gosh Dilay masterpiece we all have been waiting for. Thank God, the wait is over. This whole package may not be well worth it, but you’ll be missing Gosh’s latest winner, if you only get the Coca Cola EP. B-
Imagine hardline new wavers with their eyeliners screaming betrayal at the first few bars of Teddy Diaz’s overdriven guitars. Thrash, this is not new wave! But I guess no hardline fans would be able to resist hearing something new from the ’80s only mainstream rock band. They insist that love can’t tear us apart, either too naive or just pretending they never heard Joy Division. Of course, likely they did (“Let Me Dance”), or maybe they thought their fans did not at the time. Trailblazing band of the ’80s most trailblazing idea: rock version of a folk song seven-year-olds usually sing in grade school. B-
Flexing and flexible. As the lone mainstream rock act of the ’80s, maybe they were obliged to cover a lot. In turns jazzy, in turns hard rock boogie, this 8-tracker is bolstered on both ends by the hit beer commercial j/single (“Salamat”), and guitarist Matsuura’s hard rock/heavy metal closer (“Puno’t Dulo”). They’re not immune to saying big message and preaching, probably a side effect of the decade, or of Pinoy rock being still in pre-school stage. Rock ’till you drop is their idea of rock n’ roll. They’re very strictly Catholic, so sex and drugs are a big no-no. B
Excellent bar band, megaplatinum live act. Album-wise, they thrive on singles, always the bestest on each release. Makes one wonder if any group ever put out a mostly killers 8-track in the ’80s. Well, you have Joey Ayala’s Magkabilaan, the Apo Hiking. Among the rock acts, I suppose Identity Crisis, Deans December. Unlike most of their peers, The Dawn were able to release four LPs and then this compilation, with a cherry on top, the SMC-sponsored j/single “Iisang Bangka Tayo” — anthemic, nationalistic, corporate. That’s ’80s consumerism spilling over to the early ’90s. Drink beer, buy this album, for the country. Side A summarizes their career up to this point, a few select chart toppers that put them on the map. Side B highlights their old-fashioned sense of making records: A-sides on Side A, B-sides on Side B, on vinyl and cassette. Well, B-sides aren’t always the lesser tracks, there are exceptions — though in this case it’s clearly not one of those. B
Could be their most focused and coherent work up to this point. Of course, apart from that one cut that sounds like they’ve just discovered industrial rock straight out of Cleveland. Either inspired by the echo reflected by the crop of newer bands hitting the airwaves or their disparate influences finally coalesced into something a tad more in keeping with the times (“Talaga Naman”). Of course, they still preach (seldom a good thing) and yes, they’re still very strictly Catholic (“Faith”). Closing this with “Puno’t Dulo,” an old track off their third LP, would’ve been nice. That they did not include it even as a bonus is kind of a headscratcher. B+
Pretty frontloaded but also pretty consistent, this is probably their best set in years… or decades? It’s that good that “Tulad Ng Dati” birthed a movie and a compilation album. It’s that good they had to include “Laging Narito” as well on the bonus AVCD. After years of pretending or maybe just ignoring that new wavers knew and loved that famed Joy Division single, they remain staunch in their belief that love can’t tear people apart (“Change Is Breaking Us Apart”), but it’s more compelling this time. At times funky, jazzy, sometimes I wonder if they also took or draw from one local grungy rock act from the ’90s. Well, these guys were never exclusively new wave since LP number two. They’ve always flirted with, dabbled in, switched to what’s considered “rock” at the moment, from post-punk, hard, grunge, alt, to cock. And here we confirmed that they’ve moved on already from that alternative-ized Peter, Paul, & Mary hit. A-
A pseudo-greatest hits collection and the band’s pseudo-tribute to their old selves, the aim of which apparently, is to (re)introduce them to fans both old and new, and to capitalize on their renewed popularity brought about by the pseudo-docu/biopic/tribute/anniv movie of same name, where the band play themselves. Of course, this is no mere compilation of (mostly) old and new songs. Most are re-recordings, re-takes of the old (mostly non) hits, plus a few new songs, the best of which, is the title track that originally appeared on their previous album under Warner (and is best listened to in that context). This is more like hits and misses, A-sides and B-sides, except they’re updated versions of the old hits and marginally improved versions of the non-hits. But I do understand the decision to include not just the hits. OctoArts’ The Story of The Dawn did the same thing. These songs need to be out there, for the diehard Bruce Willis fans, completists, and those who don’t have The Story, which is maybe already out of print, or not widely available at the time. Regardless, this is a win-win for the fans, especially those looking for songs from the band’s old and out of print albums (“Enveloped Ideas,” “Salamat”). Also a win-win for the band; they can monetize their old materials once again. B+
Their preference for knotty instrumentation remains intact, seemingly taking the backseat at times, but very much still there. They have more interesting things to say this time, but still not interesting ways to say them. They’re still kings and queens of contradictions, of juxtaposing vaguely familiar with the oddly unfamiliar, oblique music with, almost to a fault, too straightforward, plain as rice lyrics. Melody-wise, they bring to mind Cinderella (the non-hits), Ang Bandang Shirley (ca. 2010’s), and one major Christian Martinez hit. The idiot-proof among them do sound like theme songs from local teen movies from the ’80s (e.g., Pik Pak Boom), just with more cowbells of course — guitars, drums, whatnot, and horns. That or some forgotten deep LP cut from the ’70s. By the way, is the cover a nod to Let It Be? Is that barber shop MV “Cut Your Hair”-inspired? Nevermind. I like the doo-wop number, the slower ones. Though they’ve always been tight, centered, this fixation of theirs on adulting (minus the hashtag) seems to lack a center, and definitely killers — tracks, hooks, memorable turn of phrase. Interesting music that doesn’t sound like anything else, but not beguiling song-music that doesn’t sound like anything else. B
s u p e r u s e l e s s f * c k i n g r e v i e w s 