Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
The makings of a beautiful mess
A beautiful mess is somewhat of a term that I use to define cathartic moments in life. That's how I would like to describe how clutter when thrown in a mix seems to come out with something beautiful. Just like how chaotic experiences brings out the best in people. Or the experience of being caught the middle of a Sonic Youth song. It is an experience of long lost aural blasts of resonating guitars and the staccato of pounding punk rock drumbeats. It is an experience that can only be found in the middle of PayItForward’s live performance of A Childlike Response To The Nearness Of You.
Because I link doing it "my way"
People who've known me for years and people who've been familiar with my former band PayItForward often ask me why I bother to still play music as a solo act and why opted to do home recordings and tried experimenting with making electronica.
The simple answer to that is because I have never really shaken-off that adolescent drive to play in a band.
the end is the beginning is the end
Earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear meltdowns, economic collapse, political uprisings the list goes on.As earth-shaking catastrophe and widespread hysteria arise over what some consider as signs-of-the-times. We are brought face to face with the awareness of our own mortality and of our own fear of the unknown. But more importantly fear of what we perceive as the end of all things.
Some call this the eschaton, a term concerned with what are believed to be the final events in history: the ultimate destiny of humanity –the end of the world because belief in an absolute end to all things runs universally in all existing cultures.
Curiously what we often forget is that in all these presentations of ending the world with a big bang, we often forget that it is not actually the end. Read more >>>
Happyboy | daisy cutting daisies
What is Happyboy?I believe the better question to ask is who is Happyboy?
Or better yet, why is he happy?
While these are valid I questions I think perhaps the best thing when it comes to making sense out of this creature called Happyboy, it would be best to let his music speak for himself. As beyond being this fascinating individual his is a creative expression of an artists’ interpretation of his life –and in art its always best to let the artwork speak for the artist.
Listen to the track the voice comes from yours truly. Hope you’ll ♥ it as much as I did.
Daisy cutting daisies ft chuck baclagon by gohappyboygo
Oblong | Free Taste
Mark dela Cruz aka Oblong has just released a new EP inspired by the records of Fecal Matter, Japandroids, Weezer, and Eggboy, "FREE TASTE"-- A Collection of 2 new songs and a few killer fillers, all recorded on a 4-track analog recorder. A much edgier-sounding tracks than Oblong's previous ear-candy materials. This is the sound of freaky-ass distorted guitars and steady drum-machine beats, armed with Mark's usual pop-melodic hooks. Raw and lo-fi, short but sweet.
Click here to download the EP for free >>>
never forget the cause | no more guitar heroes
Never Forget The Cause has a new song entitled: No More Guitar Heroes. Which is also included in StickySweetSounds Records recently released compilation entitled: SinSSS. The compilation features artist mostly from Bacolod and Negros Occidental, Philippines but also includes several acts from nearby provinces and from Manila.
Unity Of Opposites | There Goes Another Decade...
Unity of Opposites is an indie electronic music label that supports DIY music projects regardless of their genre. This year they've started to showcase their roster of diverse indie bands in a sampler entitled, There Goes Another Decade which features music from the following artists: Ellen Degenerate, DeathToPuberty, The Loperamides, Never Forget The Cause and more. What's interesting about this compilation is that it can be downloaded for free!Click here to download the sampler>>>
Oblong | Sarah Sing Me To Sleep
It started with him writing on my blog’s guestbook...
This review is submitted way past its self-appointed deadline. I promised Mark, that I’ll have this done 3 days after his request but apparently a lot happened: a weeklong meeting in Bangkok, a weekend project planning in Anilao, mid-terms in my MA and a weeklong battle with flu and a urinary tract infection got in the way.
To make up I searched my old blog m35b to put into context my long digital friendship with Mark (Oblong) that has transcended Blogspot, Friendster, Purevolume, MySpace and Facebook. As I remember meeting Mark way back when Oblong was still in its infancy sometime back in 2004, when he wrote a very kind comment on m35b. During that time blogging was still in its infancy and Friendster testimonials were still considered sacred thus guestbook messages are treasured as well. At that time Mark was still involved Boy Meats Girl a Laguna, indie rock outfit that I vaguely remember watching at a morning show as I was preparing to go to work.
The Earth is waiting...
From the Greenpeace Philippines blog
As a musical genre reggae has always been noted for its tradition of lyrical social criticism, which is embodied in songs that talk about life, love , and the quest for identity that is to be found in the pursuit of freedom from the metaphoric ‘Babylon’ of ignorance to deeply rooted relationships of incongruity in society. By nature reggae music’s lyrics stands as an attempt to raise the political consciousness of the audience, such as by criticizing materialism, or by informing the listener about important subjects that includes the environment.
From an Asian standpoint, reggae finds itself at home in countries like the Philippines and Indonesia as the histories of so many Asian countries share the same plight to that of the country that birthed reggae –Jamaica, thus striking a sense of musical solidarity that transcends space, race and time. Read more>>>
In the End...
I remember reading about how in the end of all things there will, only music – the rhythm of our triune God who loves us.
I remember feeling this vivid singing in the middle of Grace Bible Church’s 61st Anniversary service where church goers from the generations that have been involved in the church sang the hymns and anthems of their eras in sobering act of worship to the God who sustains –His body His church. A few days later a young Andrew Caleb Gorospe led the Asian Theological Seminary’s chapel with his personal songs of worship and awe at the God who inspires art and music…
I see these experiences as glimpses of this celebration that Hans Urs von Balthasar was talking about at the end of his epic 5-volume work on 'theodramatics' entitled: Theo-Drama: Theological Dramatic Theory where the action of God and the human response, especially in the events of Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday are examined unto which he concludes: “It is, finally, a word …beauty is the word that shall be our first. ”1
But for now I can only anticipate, with hesitation, with anxiety and constant expectation that in the middle of all this dissonant noise right now, there is hope that in the end there will only be music…beauty and the triumphant realization of this now omnipresent reality: that indeed God is all in all!
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1 Urs von Balthasar, Hans. Theo-Drama: Theological Dramatic Theory (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1988) p. 609
PayItForward | When I Come Around
This Greenday song was among the reasons why I decided that I want to learn to play the guitar. While Greenday was the band that made me collaborate with my friends: Laix Naguit, Chris Villarante and Jarme Mondragon back in high school to form a punk band.
Personnel
Guitar/Vox - Laix | Bass/Vox - Chuck | Drums - Mark
Ellen Degenerate | Sway
This song was written and originally performed by New Zealand-based pop artist Bic Runga, it originally appeared on her album Drive and on the original motion picture soundtrack of American Pie. Here's Ellen Degenerate's take on the song, hope you'll like it.
personnel: jenny - sings | chuck - guitar/sings | ten - bass | mark - drums
Ellen Degenerate | 3 Small Words
A cover of Josie & The Pussycats' 3 Small Words. Apologies for the crappy video quality Personnel: Jen (vocals), Chuck (guitar), Ten (bass), Mark (drums) know more about the band on their website ellendegenerate.wordpress.com
PayItForward | Lending Yourself
An old song that my band PayItForward haven't played in years. Too bad my camera's memory ran out before we were able to hit the final note.
Rancid: ...And Out Come the Wolves...
A couple of weeks ago in a forest area a couple of miles outside Jakarta I was playing Rancid's Roots Radicals in an acoustic guitar together with a young Indonesian computer hacker doing the lead guitar part and a Dutch anti-nukes activist singing the vocals, we weren't able to finish the song though since the other folks who were with us then insisted that we ought to play a song that they all know and could sing along to so we were then forced to play Oasis' Wonderwall instead.What's interesting with that jam session is that it reminded me of an afternoon sometime in 1996 where in the midst of a summer storm I along with my friend Jarme (who was my constant record shopping buddy at the time) bought two of the most influential records at the time, as it would determine the musical direction that we'd individually pursue in the subsequent years.
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