Musical nourishment from Orange & Lemons

From MYX, the local music channel, here is the latest weekly list of the top videos: Back at number one is Untitled by Simple Plan; Tell Me Where It Hurts by M.Y.M.P.; Incomplete by the Backstreet Boys; The Day You Said Goodnight by Hale; I Want to Know What Love Is by Sarah Geronimo; Hallelujah by Bamboo; We Belong Together by Mariah Carey; She’s No You by Jessie McCartney; Stay by Cueshe; Come Get Some by Rooster;

40 Kinds of Sadness by Ryan Cabrera; Going Crazy by Nattalie; Sweet by South Border featuring Jinky Vidal of Freestyle; Same Ground by Kitchie Nadal; You and Me by Lifehouse; The End of Me by Marion Raven; Don’t Phunk with My Heart by the Black Eyed Peas; Lonely by Akon; Cater to You by Destiny’s Child; and Speed of Sound the first single from X&Y by Coldplay.

The album is titled Strike Whilst the Iron is Hot. The name of the group is Orange & Lemons and it is made up of Clem Castro on vocals and electric guitar, Mcoy Fundales on vocals and acoustic guitars, JM Del Mundo on bass and Ace del Mundo on drums. They all come from Bulacan and say that they are here to provide the right sort of musical nourishment to today’s listeners.

That is the reason why they call themselves the healthy sounding Orange & Lemons. Why, they even claim that their rinds (instrumental riffs) and pulp bits (vocals) are truly delicious. I do not know though if they have told anybody yet who is the Orange and who are the Lemons among them.

As is mostly the case with four-part boy groups, it is very obvious that the main influence that drives the music of these guys is no other but the Beatles. That should not come as a surprise. No matter what the time, no matter what the trend, boy groups like to think of themselves as the "new" Beatles or at worse, something similar.

Of course, there is also mention of other bands, most of whom, were also influenced by the Beatles. In the case of Orange & Lemons, those are the Dave Clark Five and the Scandinavian sensation Fra Lippo Lippi. But listen to Strike Whilst the Iron is Hot and you will find that most of their melodies and harmonies certainly hark back to the enduring magic of the fabulous foursome from Liverpool.

Members Clem and Mcoy are the writers of all of the 12 songs in the album and it really makes me feel good to find a new group also writing its own materials. If nobody does then there will be no old hits to revive 10 years from now. Currently getting very good airplay is the first single, a simple but achingly sweet love song titled Hanggang Kailan.

Most interesting of the lot is Rock-A-Bye, which is not the usual lullaby. The next possible big seller is the sentimental Pabango Ng ‘Yong Mata because us Pinoys are always suckers for romantic ballads. The other cuts are Cycle of Love, Heaven Knows (This Angel Has Flown), Yer So Special, The Nerve, Caught in a Line, Lihim, Chatter’s Tale, Tomorrow and the title cut, Strike Whilst the Iron is Hot.

Allow me to introduce one more new release by another new group. The album is titled Ascension and that is also what this duo calls itself. The group is made up of the husband and wife team of Ryan and Bianca Peralta. He plays the drums and she sings. They also write some of their songs. Soft funk is how they describe their music, a groovy blend of R&B and dance influenced by New Edition, Salt ‘n’ Pepa, Sade, TLC and Mary J. Blige.

The album Ascension is made up of nine new originals and one cover, Lean on Me, the Bill Withers classic that became a Club Nouveau hit in the ‘80s. The carrier single is the inspirational Lipad. Take note that while there is a good vibe feel throughout the album, Ascension goes beyond the usual love song to explore other, mostly socially relevant topics. The other cuts are Unchoose, Take Some Time, By My Side, Wait for Me, Let You Go, For You, Like the Way and Bianca’s rap turn titled Turn It Up.