SAYAW LA, BANOG.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Teacher. Artist. Generous friend.
Rocker in his time and place.

Bong Obong, my favorite uncle left too early.
Forty-six. Left without warning.
Everyone who knew him devastated by the loss.

I would like to think that he lived his years to the fullest. Music, friendship and family were his purpose. Even though he had no wife and children of his own, and actually because of it, he treated his nephews and nieces as sons and daughters. One clear memory I have of him is when he made kites for us when we were kids - a symbol, to me, of letting your dreams take flight.

As an artist, he was a personal influence. His silkscreen printing was a wonder to behold. He introduced me to 'Yano' and turned me into a Gary Granada fan.

As a musician, he was a visionary. He wrote songs that sounded different than the rest during his time. Songs that had impact and are as significant now as they were at the time of release. He briefly shined in the 1990s - the golden age of Calbayog Arts - and even continued to make challenging music in the 2000s. Through all this, Tito Bongbong was underrated, a wild card and an artist who's reluctant of fame.

"Sayaw la, Banog". His most popular song plays inside my head over and over. Realizing that, behind its environmental message, it could also be a personal cry - an unconscious autobiographical composition. What if he is the hawk that dances and soars in the sky? Not being able to return to where he belongs because everything there has been destroyed. It's a sad interpretation but it could be key to understanding what he might have went through.

Although he had many friends and some confidantes, I was not one of the people who deeply knew him as he and I rarely had the chance to see each other. But Tito Bongbong was a beloved man, known for his humility & simplicity, and dearly respected by many. I may not know what his worries were or what he tried to forget & drown in alcohol day by day, night after night; but I'd like to think that through drinking, he was able to keep his sanity since it was also a way to have friends around and have someone to talk to.

Despite his problems, he did good as a person. Despite his talents, he kept a low profile. In spite of a relatively short life, he made a mark in many people's lives. Looking back at what he had accomplished as a man, with the legacy he created, I know that he is happy now.

One of the things my uncle has proven is this line: "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die."

Farewell, Tito Bongbong. Mimingawon gud kami sa imo.

SAYAW LA, BANOG! PALUPARA AN IMO TABANOG!

____________________________________________________________________________________

[Banog Image by Iam Axiom]
Source: http://iamaxiom.deviantart.com/art/BANOG-Great-Philippine-Eagle-144512222

Five Notable Cover Songs

Covering a song is easy as it is only copying something that has been laid on tape. Any musician who has the patience to learn a song can replicate pre-existing music and play it the way it was done before.

The real challenge, however, is turning the song into something new - something fresh to the ears of people who have heard the original version countless times before. Or to surprise those who get familiar with the cover first when they someday discover the original.

Here are five that rise above:


JEFF BUCKLEY - HALLELUJAH
Originally written & performed by Leonard Cohen

The 90s shooting-star owned this song by making it somber, more soulful and yearning.



JOHNNY CASH - HURT
Originally written & performed by Nine Inch Nails

The Man In Black, with his age & wisdom, took this heart-wrenching piece and sang it as if all the words were his.



RYAN ADAMS - WONDERWALL
Originally written & performed by Oasis

Heart-on-sleeve alt-country rocker brings out an ambient and sadder version of this Britpop tune.



CIBO MATTO - ABOUT A GIRL
Originally written & performed by Nirvana

Two awesome Japanese girls pay tribute to a late grunger named Kurt by re-shaping his most-pop song into a bossa nova magnificence.



THE WHITE STRIPES - ONE MORE CUP OF COFFEE
Originally written & performed by Bob Dylan

A sweeping epic by Mr. Zimmerman, Jack & Meg give a muscular rendition that blows you away.

About 'The Dark Knight Rises'

One thing that dwindled in the last decade was the focus of Hollywood on elaborate & realistic action films. Being in the decade of the nerd, the genre was traded for simple-plotted toy & comic book stories which were mostly filled with explosions & CGI to compensate for the lack of complexity.

The shallowness of the Hollywood action genre in the beginning of the millennium still continues. There are a few highlights, of course, thanks to Scorsese, The Bourne series, and the more rugged Bond.

But when Nolan introduced the concept of the grounded superhero film with 'Batman Begins' in 2005, it stood out among the handful of movies at the time. Such was the beginning of another trilogy masterpiece. He followed it up with 'The Dark Knight' in 2008, painting an even darker picture that's actually a true reflection of many parts of the society. In fact, his Bat tales are not merely made-up stories to excite the viewer. They were always social commentaries on what's going on with the world; how not everything is black & white; and that things are fucked up but you can always do something about it.

The challenge is raised even more in the last installment, 'The Dark Knight Rises'. Eradicating evil with another evil - doing what's necessary. The question of whether freedom is more important than order or vice versa. Anarchy. How old wounds remain unhealed and affect what kind of persons we become. These are old themes that seem fresh in the film and, as always has been, gripping. While Ra's al Ghul was a justice freak and Joker was a madman just for the sake of being one, Bane has different intentions. With a stellar cast, 'Rises' presents a maze full of effective performances that sets deep into your bones. The fights are muscular - both figuratively & literally. And the twists, while they may not come as surprises to Batman fans, make the storytelling more interesting.

In spite of being based on a comic-book, the Nolan brothers have molded the stories of our favorite detective into a relatable form. And that's exactly why it works so well - because in all of us there is both a child who is a fan of fantasy and an adult who requires facing reality. It's a talent that no other writer/director can do today.

One can argue that Christopher Nolan hasn't been original since 2000's 'Memento' and he's just delivering rehash of old ideas. But everyone must realize that in our time right now, everything has already been thought of in the past. All you can do is gather different elements and concoct your own formula. And in that sense, Nolan is a genius.

If Films Were Music

INDIE ROCK:
1. Delicatessen (1991)
2. Waking Life (2001)
3. The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)

ROCK N ROLL:
1. Trainspotting (1996)
2. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
3. American Psycho (2000)

GRUNGE:
1. Donnie Darko (2001)
2. Children of Men (2006)
3. Hesher (2010)

GARAGE/ PUNK / LO-FI
1. Bande à Part (1964)
2. Fight Club (1994)
3. Dancer In The Dark (2000)

AVANTE-GARDE/SHOE-GAZE
1. Un Chien Andalou (1929)
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
3. Eraserhead (1977)

POP:
1. Life is Beautiful (1997)
2. What Dreams May Come (1998)
3. Amélie (2001)

CLASSIC ROCK
1. Citizen Kane (1941)
2. The Man With No Name Trilogy
_ a. A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
_ b. For A Few Dollars More (1965)
_ c. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (1966)
3. Taxi Driver (1976)

ORCHESTRAL:
1. Cinema Paradiso (1988)
2. The Virgin Suicides (1999)
3. The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

METAL/INDUSTRIAL:
1. Apocalypse Now (1979)
2. Ghost in the Shell (1995)
3. District 9 (2009)

BALLADS:
1. Casablanca (1942)
2. The Graduate (1967)
3. Before Sunrise (1995) + Before Sunset (2004)

OPM:
1. Insiang (1976)
2. Perfumed Nightmare (1977)
3. Pisay (2007)

_____________________________

Neil & Jack

Forever the Receiver.

Anti-Stagnancy

Notable Phrases & Sentences I posted on Facebook in 2011

01-06 Buksan ang posibilidad na maaaring mali tayo.

01-10 Fear is not respect. Only fools would think otherwise.

01-12 There are those who are sad they evoke your sympathy. And there are those who are whiny you want to put a sock in their mouths.

01-14 Three questions future kids will ask: 1) Where is Pluto? 2) What is a Triceratops? 3) Why don't I know at least one Ophiuchus among old people?

01-18 If you haven't heard, two wrongs don't make a right.

01-19 Art should be a reflection of who we are, how we feel & what our soul yearns at the time we make it.

01-23 Shadows have no faces. Echoes are not voices.

02-05 I'm still a firm believer of proper spelling & grammar. That, these days, is being against the flow.

02-09 Hindi porke banyaga ang kanta o pelikula, hindi na jologs. Hindi porke Tagalog, baduy na.

02-13 Before we tell kids how they should act, we must consider how we acted when we were at their age.

02-16 Hey there's nothing wrong with using other people's ideas to express yours. Just as long as you give them the credit for it.

02-19 Bite the hands that feed you when you realize it's been giving you poison.

03-05 Take a song you like that has a video for it. Think about the music without the suggested visuals. Do you honestly suppose you would've liked it even if you weren't aware the video?

03-06 When we were kids, it wasn't hard to tell the difference between what's real & what's bullsh*t. But we got brainwashed into believing that the king has clothes even if our eyes tell us that he's totally naked parading down the streets. So to the children of today: doubt the so-called adults.

03-19 Hedonism often stifles creativity.

04-11 Boredom should NEVER be an excuse. There's always something exciting to do every minute you're alive!

04-20 Don't be afraid to show your wounds. But don't dwell on it either.

05-11 Being stupid is so mainstream.

05-31 Shells of what we once were; boxes almost empty. Blueprints on the mantel; shapes of what we can be.

06-14 If you're someone who actively pays attention to music as a holistic experience & considers listening to a full album as a ceremony, then I am absolutely certain that you will enjoy it even more on vinyls.

06-15 The paranoid go-getter always tries to pull down those who he thinks are threats; blindly competes against everyone &; digs his own grave.

06-20 Ang buhay ni Rizal ay patunay na handang gumamit ng paraang baluktot ang makapangyarihan upang alisin ang banta ng makatotohanang pag-iisip. Ngunit sa huli, tama ang mananaig pagkat 'di man sadyain, ilalantad nito ang kanilang kasamaan at syang pupukaw sa kamalayan ng marami.

07-14 It is my belief that the soul directly speaks to other souls. It's the reason why our instinct & gut feeling can tell us if what one offers or does is indeed the genuine primal voice of his/her inner being.

07-15 As the giant golden moon greeted me tonight, everything else around turned to black & white.

07-19 Overprotection is either a conscious or an unconscious act to preserve power over others

08-17 Even though you can save money from buying something on sale, you can actually save more if you don't buy it.

09-13 Just because everyone is saying it, doesn't mean it's true. And 'everybody doing it' doesn't make it right.

09-15 Real love is beyond religion, beyond beliefs, and even deeper than romance.

09-22 Brain farts are shallow thoughts quickly announced. We should carefully choose what to say specially in writing. Not everything in our minds should go public.

09-29 Bihira na ang booksmart sa panahong ito. Karamihan ay Google-smart na. Gayunpaman, mas mainam pa ring samahan ito ng pagiging street smart.

10-07 In music, two of the leading genres have fitting names. One is like an instant beautiful floating thing that everyone sees but suddenly POPs and goes away too quickly. The other is a taken-for-granted rugged piece of creation that stands the test of time just like a ROCK - having much more weight and possesses a different kind of beauty.

10-28 We shouldn’t be contented reading/watching other people's stories, marvelling at their paintings or photographs and singing their songs. If we have the ability, we should weave new tales, compose original images and create our own music. Creativity thrives when we share the ideas inside our heads.

10-31 A woman lets go of what she carries inside. Just so she can hold & be with her child.

11-14 Time and again, I have shed old skins - of which I am not ashamed of. For each helped me grow; and gave me chance - to change and adapt, to evolve and not be trapped.

11-21 Loyalty is oftentimes blindness.

11-23 Knowledge is power but all kinds of power can be intoxicating that you may fail to notice the harm it does to others and to yourself. Now pair it with humility and you can do wonders!

12-07 I rarely watch music videos because music is intended for & is best experienced by the ears, not the eyes.

12-12 Watching a noon-time show laughing at people acting stupid just for the money. Then I realize, 'Hey sometimes we look stupid in the office too! And we're there for the money as well. So we might not be different from those TV contestants after all.'

12-20 Take only what you need. But the rich is driven by greed. So as the earth does what is just, the poor turns victim in the rush.

12-25 Merry Christmas one and all! Gather your friends around, open a bottle of wine & believe in miracles!

12-27 Give credit where credit is due. Stop owning other people's works & ideas just for the sake of your false reputation.

Re: Skins

Urbanscape

Putik sa inuming tubig.

Dalawang-sampung tao na puno ng pagtitimpi
Hindi lubos maisip, hindi rin mawari
Sa puso at isipan pansing may bumabalot
Dahan-dahang pag-usbong ng tahimik na sigalot

Bulong niya rito, bulong niya rin doon
Salitang matatalim pabayang itinatapon
Hinugis, itinanim, kinalat nang biglaan
Kanya palang pintas ay kanya mismong kasalanan

Pinunong naturingan ayon sa antas
Nakikipaligsahan sa paraan ng isang ahas
Ngunit kahit sino'y 'di malilinlang
Magtago man sa maskara, kulay mo'y lulutang


_

Malipaca

i For An Eye Films [2011]
Videos, music & image by Rob Equiza

Album Review: Incubus - If Not Now, When?

It's official. Incubus has a pop album.

Well not exactly pop but more of a pop-rock mid-tempo set of songs. 'If Not Now, When?' starts fresh with an 80s feel with the title track. It then proceeds to 'Promises Promises', a sort of groupie-point-of-view song. From there, they basically stay on the same road, not steering much with every tune they present. The melodies are catchy & the music backs them up tightly. Good songs actually make up the whole record. Good, but not necessarily great.

If you've been following the band since the beginning (or at least the middle) of their career, you would know that they are one of those few bands that show growth & evolution through their albums. A group that has a conscious effort to not repeat what they have done in the past as much as possible.

'Fungus Amongus' was full-on funk.
'S.C.I.E.N.C.E.' was funk/rap-metal.
'Make Yourself' was nu-metal.
'Morning View' was modern metal-alternative.
'A Crow Left Of The Murder' was hard rock (& the peak of their greatness).
'Light Grenades' was scattered-modern rock.

With 'If Not Now, When?', they chose to reinvent again & leave their comfort zones more than ever. Chris Kilmore, their previous DJ, fully takes on the role of the keyboard player. Guitarist Mike Einziger steps back, avoiding the flashy riffs & leads. Drummer Jose Pasillas applies a more-bassy sound, forgoing with his signature treble-laden pounding which works well with Ben Kenney's bass-playing. And the fact is that it all works well & perfect. The whole machinery is cool & smooth.

However, it does not offer anything new. It may be new to Incubus but it's a territory that many musicians have been on before. Einziger might try out a Radiohead-like tone here & there or employ 80s riffs on 2 songs but it's nowhere near groundbreaking. As for vocalist/lyricist Brandon Boyd's themes, it still has that poetic attitude. However, like in the previous album, the themes that surround the tracks are mostly about romance. He is more convincing delivering lines with depth. Here he is almost comparable to younger lovelorn singers. The good news is that he sounds less annoying here than on his emo-like takes on Light Grenades. Although the 'ooohs' & 'aahs' he's too comfortable executing sometimes seems off. He unfortunately was not able to fully-adapt to the new genre they decide to take on.

The album is not 100% mid-tempo. There's the lead single 'Adolescents' which is formulaic Incubus & the fast-paced 'Switchblade' which really is a sore-thumb. The most redeeming part of the whole record though is the 2nd part of 'In the Company of Wolves'. The first part sounds like it was written by either Coldplay or Band Of Horses. But it sublimes into a weird & dreamy tune ala-Massive Attack. It's the most space-floating moment you'll get in this 50- minute ride.

In conclusion, Incubus avoided taking risks but by doing that, they took a huge risk at the same time. It's a paradox that, if given enough thought, actually holds true. The risk is losing a large part of their fan base who were too familiar with their previous aggressive & brash music. The not-taking-risks on the other hand is delivering an album full of forgettable hits; songs that may be catchy at first but melt away too easily. Whether they intentionally want to mess with people's minds or not by offering average music, they undoubtedly seem uninspired. Musicians have to be judged by music anyway. Theirs today is sedated - an inkling of what they can do as a powerful band. Better luck next time.

And how do you make sense of it?

10 FAVORITE FILIPINO ROCK & FOLK SONGS

When a friend asked me what my Top 10 Favorite OPM Rock Songs are, I was taken aback. My elementary years were surrounded by the smooth jazz & ballad cassette tapes that my father would always play on our Astron single-huge-speaker 'karaoke'. During highschool, the limited availability of music in the province exposed me to pop & boybands on MTV. I was infatuated. In hindsight, I think I shouldn't have been too stubborn & instead adapted to my older brother's love for alternative songs. It wasn't until college when I learned to appreciate what I thought was noise before. After a brief fling with hip-hop & modern RnB, it was in the 2000s when I got engaged to rock. The bridge in my case were rap-metal, alternative & OPM rock (Original Pinoy Music). Now I am married to the heart, veins, brain & soul of rock music - along with its feet, limbs, fingers or what-have-you. (I do of course also have never-ending affairs with jazz & classical plus some flirtation with pop from time to time).

I'll be honest. I'm not a big fan of our own mainstream music. For me, most kinds of our country's music were patterned after whatever current global music is famous at the time. If I had to pick the real original music of our country, it would be the ethnic ones.

Having said that, my not-too-deep knowledge of & aloofness from OPM are huge reasons why this list was a personal challenge.

After 5 hours of picking my brain, here's what I've come up with.
(These are in chronological order with regards to the year of release.)
(Click on the title to download song.)


ASIN - Balita
[Masdan mo ang Kapaligiran, 1978]

'Pinoy progressive music', as what our communist-thinking countrymen call it, is a genre of Filipino folk music that proliferated during the Martial Law Era. Until today, songs from that genre are still the most poetic to come out of OPM. I consider ASIN as the best among the early folk bands and this track describes the sad state of the nation during that period.


The Dawn - Enveloped Ideas
[S/T, 1987]

When New Wave & Post-Punk peaked in the 80s, it was inevitable for the Pinoys to ride the wagon. One of its offsprings, The Dawn presented this anthemic youth-relatable song. They were the U2 of our country.


Gary Granada - Bahay
[Pagsamba at Pakikibaka 1989]

Joey Ayala at ang Bagong Lumad - Walang Hanggang Paalam
[Magkabilaan, 1991]

Granada & Ayala were part of my childhood. At one point, my father & his friends were big fans so naturally me & my brothers got familiarized with their music. I consider these two as musical geniuses. 'Bahay' by the former (also a part of the underground artists during the Marcos era) is a beautifully-written folk song that tackles poverty. 'Walang Hanggang Paalam' by the latter is a folk love tune with a warm melancholic melody that melts hearts.


Yano - Banal Na Aso, Santong Kabayo
[S/T, 1994]

Essentialy a bare punk rock duo, Yano was a great socio-political outfit that had a solid debut album. Abay's brave preaching words (sometimes sarcastic, sometimes direct) blended sweetly with Gancio's riffs and sweet leads. Simply put, this track defined their music.


Eraserheads - Spoliarium
[Sticker Happy, 1997]

Pop-rockers Eraserheads had great songs under their belt but it was this song that opened up a whole new world for me when I first heard it. Its sound & dream-like phrases hooked me.


Radioactive Sago Project - Gusto Ko Ng Baboy
[S/T, 2000]

In college, I was trying out all kinds of music. RSP was different. Jazz-rock wasn't something no other bands play. 'Baboy' starts out as a story of a kid's obsession with pigs until he becomes a man & realizes that everywhere he looks, swine can be found in humans. This song is a parade of spoken-word horn-laden monster of a rant. A true gem.


Imago - Rainsong
[Probably Not But Most Definitely, 2001]

Before they wrote mediocre songs, Imago was an ethnic-rock band with their debut album produced by the great Bob Aves himself. Rainsong is water that wets the ears with its cool sound & unintelligible chanted melodies.
[Note: The download link only offers the remixed version.]


Orange & Lemons - Hanggang Kailan (Umuwi Ka Na Baby)
[Strike Whilst The Iron Is Hot, 2005]

Forget about how this band aped Care's "Chandeliers" with their "Pinoy Ako" (& how they denied it thinking everyone is stupid to believe them). Despite their arrogance, 'Hanggang Kailan' is a timeless love song that I'm sure even my grandkids would not be able to resist.


Rico Blanco - Yugto
[Your Universe, 2008]

Epic.
The only reason why I don't have Rivermaya on this list is because I consider this to be the best Filipino song ever written. When Blanco left his band of 14 years, it only took him a year to break the silence and release his first solo album. Although the outcome basically consisted of pop songs & ballads, 'Yugto' stands out with its deep lyrics, sprawling inventiveness & extensive use of instruments.

Settling Dusk, Pretty Lights & The Breaking of the Night

One little thing is usually harmless. Hundreds of that can be destructive.

Louie Rosales reviews Freeradio's D.E.A.F.

The following is a review of our EP written by a friend & fellow independent musician.

______

At present—an age dominated by K-Pop, autotune pop, and skank pop—it’s not impossible that somewhere someone might sometimes wish he’d rather be deaf. If you are this frustrated someone, listen to DEAF.

Freeradio’s new independent EP kicks off promisingly with the grungy track Deny Me. With an opening riff that declares it is a raw subterranean band you’re listening to (not one of the squeaky clean rock bunch floating in the polluted mainstream) it allows you, right from the get go, to get warmed up for the next song—Emergency, during which you’ll most probably be doing the almost lost art of head-banging.

Emergency, however, seems to be the single misleading song in the record. The opening riff, like the previous song’s, is a clever hook, but as the singer deviates from his usual singing style (he sounds, for the first time ever, like he’s intoxicated; yet effectively conveys the mood of the song) you may need some time to get used to the vocals, or it might fool you into thinking that Freeradio is an unsophisticated garage band. While this song isn’t the most beautiful one in the EP, it has at least the most energetic chorus. Not necessarily great, but just plain hyper fun. Imagine yourself in a small jam-packed music club in the early 90’s, listening to a band rocking out with a drunk front man; Emergency is the song the band is playing. You start to lose yourself and a riot starts. The lead singer’s sings out: settle down, settle down...

And settle down indeed: easily outshining Emergency is the next track, Arms Around—the sort of rock song that starts seemingly tame and ignites with a chorus that oozes through the soul at first emergence.

Forever in the dark and always praying...
The load upon your back won't keep you kneeling...

Had this been released during the early 90’s, this song would have been huge, instantly. Incredibly, this probably isn’t going to be the record’s biggest hit—due to the EP’s epic finale:

Falls Free.

Opening with a melodic female moan, the song churns flaming (but not excessively flashy) guitar work with weighty, unpretentious words into one lingering rock masterwork. Now forget about 90’s semblance; as far as Falls Free is concerned, this EP is timeless.

One might fancy that the gods of rock must have head-banged excessively back in the rock heydays and created a massive dent in the time-space continuum causing four mighty fine songs to swerve and leap from the glorious past directly to the dreary future. But no, this gem comes from present day Calbayog, Philippines.

Track after track, DEAF’s quality goes nowhere but up, Falls Free being the cathartic peak; a tight record with an intentional lo-fi approach, a sublimated dirty finger in the face of generic/autotune-loving freaks.

______

You can download 'D.E.A.F.' here: http://bit.ly/gbKE8q
______

Last Night in America

Over distant winds I am a feather that floats
Rising and falling towards a land that waits
The streets are humming coldly from it's lonely weary throat
I let the clouds grab me to get me back in place

I'm a branch traveling slowly on the current of time
Delivered by deafeaning howls of a moon that's out of sight
The air that moves around me dethrone the big blue sky
And makes this wood invisible to morning & to night

Deep as forests, steep as those hills
Clear as water, hours will fulfill
A rooted longing that never has expired
To lie in the heart and flesh of my city with my breath open wide

__

The April Showers

April 4, 2011


It’s a dark afternoon.
War is happening.
Everyone around me is being shot by machine guns. Some try to fire back but die anyway.
I am unarmed. Large beat-down walls surround me and I am at the center of it all.
Bullets fly in all directions. I run as fast as I can and reach a street that no one seems to cover.
I see my brother inside a tree trunk. He lets me inside and I duck as he stands on top to guard me.

It is night and I arrive at a rebel camp where two of my friends are there.
The old woman tells me that the baby in the crib is mine.
I tell her it’s not as my wife is at home and she is just pregnant.
They all insist that I am the father and as I go nearer to the child, I increasingly get scared.
An eerie orchestral music plays along.
I wake up but it still plays.
I turn off the radio and make a sign of the cross.

__