Has anyone noticed how much better local music is today? It seems that now, more than ever we are hearing the benefits of musicians being able to record decent albums at home as well as having access to music around the world through the Internet. This observation particularly hit home when I had to act as cultural attaché and escort around town some friends from the art scene (I pronounce the word "art" with a British accent for no apparent reason) in New York. Feeling it my patriotic duty, I didn’t hesitate to play the willing tour guide. Of course, I had to do my bit of thinking about what actually was there to show them in the less-than-one-week they were going to be here. Music was at the top of their agenda; so I wrote a list of bands that — in my opinion – represent the best of our music scene. Reading the names I wrote, I was myself amazed at how diverse and exciting even the thought of these bands’ music made me. I also wrote notes on each band, to help me decide on which artist was essential for them to see.
As I have declared before in this column, the music scene has never been better. No one genre is dominating; and even oddball acts are eking out a piece of the territory. The death of genre has thankfully moved away from its spurious origins from ghettos like rap-metal and progressive rock. Though we have to put up with nuisances like the occasional "disco-punk" or even "emo-hop", I can’t say that I find all this posturing unentertaining. There are more great venues for our local artists to play – be it the ultra-chic of MDC (a great place for scene-ing, I’m told), down-tempo bars like Gweilos or – yes — the current hotbed of pop culture Saguijo, to name but a few. (I don’t really go out actually; but I do have a lot of friends who do.) By the time they flew, they only managed to see one, which was a genuine shame. Anyway, I decided to give them my notes and some CDs to them as a sort of enticement for them to come back. Here’s some of what I wrote:
One of only three artists in the country who has a legitimate claim at producing "intelligent dance music" or IDM, Moon Fear Moon is a Kubrick-monolith of sound — utterly fascinating but distinctly alien for any one interpretation. This man-mountain of talent is quietly producing the hidden soundtrack of Manila – a true poet of concrete and broken glass.
Buzzaw guitar riffs and equally brash instrumentation on all fronts seem to preclude this band from being classified as "pop". However, they manage the trick and - although they would be the first to balk at being classified as such – the berserker energy of their songs is all too infectious. Besides, their variety of styles and the cavalier punk sensibilities is all the rage now.
They never perform live but release albums that make you jump up-and-down with glee like the time you heard, "Louie Louie" the first time. Some of their best songs last barely after a minute – a snotty middle-finger to rock acts like Coldplay who can’t seem to do anything without overstating the point. Idiosyncratic yet hummable, they will rule the world someday.
Maybe the sole reason that the local hip-hop awards hasn’t attracted serious critical attention is the fact that it has never given proper respect to local hip-hop’s only intriguing figure. Defiant and uncompromising, Caliph8 has been seriously producing a significant body of work for over a decade. A hip-hop renaissance man, he is the authentic article.
Judging by their current live set, the Radioactive Sago Project can already be called one of the greatest ever Filipino bands in our musical history. This is no exaggeration. Despite their own sabotage of their commercial appeal, they remain engaging and listenable – largely due to frontman’s Lourd de Veyra’s rants and the group’s impeccable musicianship. Truly one of the most baffling pop acts today, a snarling bunch of iconoclasts wearing Cheshire cat grins.