EINSTEIN CHAKRAS in StickySweetSounds Records

Les Arbre" by EINSTEIN CHAKRAS (full album, the SSS edition) out now for FREE DOWNLOAD!! Contains 3 essential Chakras tracks + remixes and a RARE LIVE performance of "Hangga't Maari (Ayokong Pumatay)"

click here

einsteinchakras out this Nov! Shoot up. Take a sample now!

My alltime favorite punk band EINSTEIN CHAKRAS vs THE ROADSIDE BUMS. Http:// s3records.multiply.com

Light$leep3r: THE NORMAINE SESSIONS (free dload)

it's a full album, it's free, it's light$leep3r. what more can u ask for?

http://tinyurl.com/yzp2co2

QUACK!: The Untold Story of Rubberduckies

Contains 11 essential tracks + 2 WARFREAK remixes from The Roadside Bums and light$leep3r. Only from StickySweetSounds Records.

QUACK!: My Mind is Soaked in Gin (anti-spazm mix) by light$leep3r

its like Sigue Sigue Sputnik with Chuck D of Public Enemy on da mic, and say.. Mudhoney (?!)

http://tinyurl.com/yjudng2

HARDWATER - "Promised Land" complete tracklist

Released by SweetStickySounds Records. Donwload for free anywhere from the North Pole to the South Pole. Everyone's gonna end up dead anyway. Peace, out 'Phine! i'm just playin' >>>>> http://sssrecords.multiply.com/photos/photo/28/1

RUBBERDUCKIES - The Third Prong (DOWNLOAD FOR FREE!)

The Third Prong now available for download here in Multiply! Those in Manila can still probably score original the EP at MiniStop, Munsterrific (Bacolod), or Music Zone (Davao). It's a "mixed mode" CD with the video of "Anti-Climax Villain" featuring old friends and talents from eTelecare and the Klub Gabaldon (aka the bad boys of Ateneo Law).

Track Listing:
- Humdrum
- Aftermath of a Heart Attack
- Lazarus Rising

Happy Independence Day!

Musikang angkop sa nagmumuni-muni ukol sa kalayaan, pambansa man o trip lang:

Einstein Chakras - the most relevant leftist punk band
http://music.download.com/einsteinleftpunk/3600-8705-100714168.html?tag=quickurl

Triad Records mySpace - featuring foodshelterandclothing, ioHann, El Kiko's Way
http://www.myspace.com/triadrecords

kordero - dayuhan!!!
http://music.download.com/kordero/3600-8622-101032555.html?tag=MDL_quickurl

Enjoy!

Is the World running out of fresh ideas?

I think that to be true.

We will be living thru the remainder of our lives with remakes, adaptations, and hopefully more fusionists. The current trend in movies and music has seen no "Next Big Thing" anytime soon since The Matrix and The White Stripes (which is also an echo in itself) respectively. If we delve closer, music hasn't heard a fresh sound that had created the same buzz as Nirvana did in '91. The ensuing era had been one of fusions (or what fsc would fondly say "genre-benders"), knock-offs, and the ever pervasive local "revivals".

Let's make up that list (in no chronological order):
nu-metal - deftones, linkin park, incubus, korn
rap-rock - quarashi, limp bizkit
electronica - Prodigy, chemical brothers, moby
"the" bands - the vines, the hives, the music
glam - the Darkness, velvet revolver
disco - maroon5, kala, daft punk
emo/screamo - thursday, glass jaw, chicosci
hiphop (rebirth) - black eyed peas, kanye west, eminem

acousticaaaaarrrgghhh - paulo santos, nyoy volante, jimmy bondoc
asap modern sing-and-dance interpretations (every Sunday)- all your favorite hits from the 70s to present performed by your favorite local stars, starlets, wannabes, and manufactured outfits.


In movies, if Paolo Dy's most recent blog is any indication, sequels and adaptations will be mainstream Hollywood's main dish for the next hundred or so years (doh!).

The list continues:

Comicbook, cartoon, action figure, novel franchises - Spider-man, X-Men, Transformers, Harry Potters
Sequels - Pirates, Friday, Star Wars
Remakes - Ocean's 11, King Kong,
Remakes with sequels - Ocean's 11
Spoofs - Scary Movie, Not Another Teen Movie, Epic Movie



My question: Are we perhaps entering a new cycle of consciousness where creative frontiers are exhausted and merely regressing, but forward, to our roots?

UFO Sighting in Bacolod - approx. 10pm, May 29th '08

At approximately 10:00 pm, I spotted a UFO in the Eastern sky of Bacolod City. I was driving on my way home along Burgos Road (eastward going to Lopue's) when I noticed an unusual glow in the night sky. It was too bright and its position was too low to be any kind of celestial body. It wasn't an aircraft because it remained stationary.

A Message To All Pirates of "18-in-1 DVD-Movies"

First of all, thank you!

I am a big patron of piracy in all forms: music, movies, software, games. BRING IT ON!!!

I have just recently been an avid buyer of 18-in-1 collections. So long as the movies are at least 2 months old, I am assured of good quality video and subtitles.

Now, here's a tip from a collector: PLEASE start featuring collections by director. You know, Spielberg vs. Lucas, Kevin Smith vs. Richard Linklater, Kubrick vs. Scorsese. Us, serious movie buffs would be most pleased.

And we guarantee only increased business thru your underground distribution channels...

Godspeed, ye pirates!

myPodcast (Greatest Hits)

Worthwhile Promises

Now that election time is over, it's about time we listen to new promises.

Promised Land, the new EP from electro-punk artist Kordero, is a revelation that echoes the prophecy of Cindy Jacobs. With the Philippines gaining international acclaim these recent years, the ex-Rubberduckies frontman believes his motherland has a major role to play in the destiny of humanity. "There's lots of prophecies: the Mayan prophecy of 2012, the prophecy of St. Malachi, the Third Secret of Fatima. Everything seems to be in convergence towards an Age of Awakening. Even the new Pope has been including [the Philippines] in his papal addresses," explains Kordero.

Hear a glimpse of the Good News!! 3 songs are available for free download. Just click here.

The Phenomenology of Sell-Out

When do we spot the peak and pinpoint the start of the decline in the career of any respected band or artist? Foreign or local.

The waning intensity. Some attribute it to ego clashes. Or sometimes the lyrics got lousy and too concerned of the "lifestyle". Yet even some blame it on such puny issues like fashion, looks, and the puniest of them all: RECORD SALES.

Which brings us to another question at the opposite end of the spectrum: SO WHAT IF A RECORD SELLS BIG TIME? Does it remove all musical merit, then? To be honest, I did truly enjoy What's the Story (Morning Glory) and Nevermind. Circus, the Black album, hell even Jacko's Dangerous!

And yet, I listen to bands like foodshelter&clothing, mindrape, or even Jai B (himself climbing fast in the Download.com charts) who've all been making music for at least a decade with none of the above symptoms, lest of all any sort of monetary expectation arising from the creation of such music. The music is steady, in the truest sense of the word .

And that the phenomenology of sell-out can, in reality, be construed as nothing but the by-product of a system that, in the first place, rewarded rich monetary gains to hitmakers (who may otherwise be respectable artists) thereby altering their lifestyles, their perceptions of the world, and ultimately the music that they will be making. So you dig why P. Diddy would be totally fake if he started rapping about foodstamps.

Now suddenly we realize: IN ORDER TO PREVENT A SELL-OUT, DON'T SELL. AT ALL.

Bastardizing Filipino Talent

This month's issue of Reader's Digest (Asian Edition) features an article on First Class Professionals, a hiring agency for Filipino musicians who are "exported" to other countries. In the words of its owner, Jackson Gan: "It's more like in the manufacturing. We groom the talent. We polish it. We package it. We are responsible from raw material to finished product."

Condescendingly titled Filipino Fame, the article patronizes showbandship indicating that the Filipino's musical forte is in copycat as opposed to creativity. To add insult to battery (allow me to use a hyperbole), bands recruited by the agency all have names that start with the word "perfect": Perfect Jam, Perfect Blend, Perfect Fire, Perfect Storm. "I invent the image that any band that is perfect has to belong to me," says Jackson. Perfect Asshole.

It is this writer's contention that everything divine springs from the creative energies of the human person thereby encompassing all creative output from poetry, prose, painting, sculpture, and ultimately, music. Thus did Jesus say that you are the Temple of the Holy Spirit (Corinthians 3:19). For wasn't it in the temple that Jesus' Biblical account of rage only did manifest when the traders and moneychangers desecrated it to make a profit?

And perhaps it's his first name that makes it easier for me to say this but: PUTANG INA MO, JACKSON!


See other related articles: The Phenomenology of Sell-out, Gry and the State of Philippine Music (Part 3), Truth is in You

Pimple Years & the Ghost not Gained

(25:48)

>>>THIRST<<<
Suffice it to say that Rubberduckies is a 90's rock influenced band. Everything from Blind Melon to the Wishkah (Seattle) scene, 311 to Beck, Prodigy to Marilyn Manson. Being resident students of Cervini in the prestigious Ateneo de Manila University, these "promdi punks" had a lot to say about defeatist feelings, ungodly alcohol consumption, and places where they like to bang.

Pimple Years and the Ghost not Gained is a memoir of Rubberduckies' "garage days" in the relatively futile attempts of the band to conquer the tiny cosmopolis of Katipunan (circa 1995). With artwork from Ceasar Buenviaje.

Listen to Pimple Years @ Philcast!

Join the Club!

Get free mp3's every Friday from Triad Records' growing roster of artists! No catch, no fees!

Join now!
Click on the purple 'Yahoo!' button at the sidebar ---------------------------------------------->


ARTISTS INCLUDE: FOODSHELTER&CLOTHING, EINSTEIN CHAKRAS, LIZARD CHIPS, IOHANN, RUBBERDUCKIES, FALSTAFF HERO, VOICEBOX, ZITHER, ELKIKO'S WAY, MORE...

The Bad Boys are Back!

How are you feeling today?

OKAY?

As we suspected. Just when you thought everything was alright, you wake up to a world where everything is suddenly futile. There is no point to anything, that's the whole point. Now, you can sleep tight 'coz all you need is love... plus! FOODSHELTER&CLOTHING.

We proudly serve you two lines of FSC's favorite recipe for your mind-bending pleasure. One from the future (Almighy Dub Remix), the other from the past (Rx Mix). And for the totally most satisfying Now, click here.

If you hadn't clicked OKAY? yet, click here.

Elkiko's Way release Deus ex Machina

From 7 tracks to 11, Elkiko's Way proves he's got more tricks up his sleeve with Deus ex Machina, a most refreshing electronic novela. It's hard to pinpoint the various musical points of reference, evident in most post-modern artists with wide auditory spectrums. Prog, metal, dance, rock, and even hiphop leanings in the first track hint some collaborations forming in distant nebulaic planes as we speak .

TRACK LISTING
Disorientation
NIN vs Alban (sonicboom mix)
Los Hunyangos
Sarsuela de Kamao
Tony Falcon 2005
Des Kartes
Should we always have to?
Chilled Negra
Downtime
Day Job
The Yearning & the Toil


LISTEN TO THE EXCLUSIVE PODCAST @ PHILCAST REVOLUTION RADIO

Lizard Chips of Davao release Chip Tricks

The Lizard Chips are back with a new limited edition soft release album entitled Chip Tricks, a compilation of 8 original Davaoeno alternative rock songs, 7 music videos, mp3 files, photos, and tons of other freebies and info all in one CD. Chip Tricks features songs composed by the band throughout their 14 year history. These songs reflect the diverse influences, musical versatility, and poetic creativity of the individual band members.

Read more...
Listen to the Lizard Chips Jam session (with special guests The Black Crowes, Green Day, and U2) for that nice, laid back Davao vibe.

What is the Annunaki?

Annunaki is rock n roll with clarity. Catchy and arcane, yet off-key and heavy: like Bob Dylan on a post-Seattle binge. Embrace the oscillating universe and the decelerating vibrations. Fasten your seatbelts. Prepare for 2012.

The Annunaki is here (with Ramones, Pixies, and Superchunk comparisons, our Download.com editors never cease to amaze them).


Download now! or Stream this shit
Listen to Annunaki @ philcast

Paano Nagiging Alipin ang Pilipinas?

Simple lang.

PILIPINAS

PI LIPINA S

PIS LIPIN A


PIS ALIPIN

Pag walang 'pis', alipin ang Pilipinas.

Hanapin mo ang iyong kapayapaan.

Quick Fix

The LoudMeter Channels explained

Tired of emo? Bling-bling hiphop? or sober pretty-boy rockstars?

Look no further than Philcast Revolution Radio for the latest noise in the music underground. A podcast updated bi-weekly with half-hour "theme programming segments", Philcast is more mood-oriented and blends genres in fitting LoudMeter channels.

Recent series include:

+++ BURN - heavy metal, hard rock, industrial, hardcore.
"Electro-Clash of the Titans (NEW!)"
"Raw Shite"
"Metalhead"
"Welcome to the pit!"

>>> THIRST - punk, grunge, alternative, modern rock.
"Glorius G (NEW!)"
"Hot, Phat and... Latin!?"
"Black Cloud Smoke"
"Strobe Lights"
"Bitter Pills 2"
"Hot, Phat and Angry"
"Bitter Pills"

x+x PACE - pop stylings, r&b, hiphop, funk.
"Philcast Battles (NEW!)"
"The Left Stage"
"Pop Rock Series 2"
"Funk Jazzy Bounce"
"Pop Rock Series"
"Back to the Streets"

{{{ CHILL - mellow, ambient, chillout, gospel.
"Lovers' Paradise (NEW!)"
"Easy Pop Series"
"Slowly and Surely"

PHILCAST EXCLUSIVEs - Special podcasts of the latest releases from the Philippines.

"Rubberduckies: Pimple Years and the Ghost not Gained (NEW!)"
"Deus ex Machina"
"Lizard Chips Jam Session"
"Baylans OST (Parts I and II) - Philcast Exclusive"
"Elkiko's Way: Retro-Techno with a twist of Pinoy Action"

Tune in now!

possibilities.

at night i lie, utter and deep confusion.
whirling, swirling, ideas and notions.
i know not the end of this,
as i catch my self speeding to the abyss.

hounded still in sleep,
in wakefulness, floating yet berthed,
bounded by a child's ambition,
battered by my own dereliction.


READ ORIGINAL POST @ 'IN DARKNESS I BECOME...'

Watch Rubberduckies video

Watch "Anti-climax Villain" by Rubberduckies, my ba(n)d of 10 years now. This video was produced and directed by Rubberduckies and Paolo "The Oracle" Dy. We were playin around with the idea of a rage-manifest situationer where choices caused alternate outcomes with the speed of thought. The result was this video, shot on location at Cervini Residence Halls, QC for two straight days. Post-production took 10 months. This video has never been aired in both local and cable music video channels, i.e. MTV, Myx, GMA, ABS-CBN.

Click here to watch.

Elkiko's Way goes LIVE at Download.com

Download.com, the best source for music, software, and other things downloadable is now serving Elkiko's Way (aka Francis Castillo).

With a 7-track EP due next month, take a sample of Elkiko's Way's brand of retro-tech, space age pop, and ambient overtures.

Also streaming at Philcast RevRadio.

ioHann FREE Downloads

"War Cry" has been added to ioHann's artist page in Download.com! This song is further proof of the South-based MC's extensive armada of tricks that includes slick guitar solo's and shaman ramblings.

True to post-modernist form, ioHann likewise dabbles into non-musical territories like play scripts, stage production, and graphic design. "It's all in a day's work," he'd say.

Listen to ioHann and more of that phat smokin hiphop. Tune in to Channel PACE @ Philcast Revolution Radio.

Watch out for the full-length release of this rap prodigy soon...


Download "War Cry" by ioHann

Philcast RevRadio Test Broadcast

Whoa!

A revolution is under way. And the setting is not in Malacanang. Sample this 3-song podcast featuring Rubberduckies, foodshelter&clothing, and Falstaff Hero. Click here...

PLUS!
Soon... "Elkiko's Way" hailing from the prestigious People Support U - garage house/dance/space age pop with a Tony Ferrer (the Charles Bronson of the Philippines) twist.

Love in a Post-Modern World

1 Corinthians 13: 1-2
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing."

In a world of emotional insulation and political privitization, one should remember to take a step back and ask oneself: "How do I love?" It's no longer a mere question of monogamy and sexual orientation. Contemporary psychology and pop culture tend to dismiss emotion in the love agenda. Feelings of love is merely caused by a secretion of the hypothalamus. Even one's closest friends would advise to use the head instead of the heart because "God put the head higher than where the heart is for a reason".

In the "Bourne Identity", Jason Bourne operates on pure instinct. He reads the signs and acts without thinking. Waking up after an episode of severe trauma, he lost all memory of who he is. He had to rely on "gut feel" to survive, in order to know who he was. In a lot of ways, our birth to the physical world resembles Bourne's traumatic episode causing amnesia. We forget who we are. And thus, begins every human person's quest for identity.

Instinct is a function of emotion. When one says: "I have a bad feeling about this", it's a demonstration of emotion in its primal form, i.e. a means to self-preservation. Jeff Bebe, in the movie "Almost Famous" explains the omniscience of instinct. But as fast as people say: "Trust and follow your instincts" will people also tell you to "think before you act". Businessmen and politicians, for example, are cautioned to make decisions of a certain magnitude when under severe emotional stress. Reason and logic are therefore of equal, if not greater, significance as feeling or emotion in any given decision-making process.

"The brain should be a softening influence on the instincts, but the instincts should drive. Trying to reconcile the brain with urges that come out of millions of years ago...the way the brain interprets these instincts, is a heavy trip," illustrates an earnest Jason Lee in character as the outshined singer of Still Water. People tend to associate emotion with disastrous consequences like rage turning into violence, or lust resulting to herpes. How about the last time people planted trees because they felt responsible for the environment? Or the time one returned an envelope full of money and actually felt good?

Artists paint emotion in a canvas. Constantly in tune, they seize the instrument (pen, brush, camera) and dive into the emotional experience (or simply emotion or experience because for artists, emotion is also the canvas). Colors have always stood for particular emotions. The color yellow is one of joy, as red stood for lust which should not be confused with its popular sexual connotation. Lust is obsession, a constant desire for life which is not a bad thing at all.

And what about Love, the Greatest Emotion of all? How do we become certain that love is that which we feel? Our elders say: "You just know" like the way we know that we love our mothers. But a relationship with a mother is never "always happy". There are hurts, resentment, or even anger for some, as far as relationships with mothers are concerned. The strange thing is one realizes the immensity of that love to grow proportionally with the so-called "emotional valleys".

White roses signify a love that is pure. How can we tell if something is pure? In chemistry, pure water is H2O in its elemental state. A pure breed is not tainted with other bloodlines. Purity denotes a state of being wholly intact, which also implies the presence of parts or components. Applying the same definition to color, white then is essentially pure, as it is the presence of all colors.

When every strand of emotion has been felt and experienced, is love considered pure and thereby, love truly indeed? So then, does love cease to be an emotion because it is the presence of all emotions? If emotion is the guide and love is the canvas, are we then inescapably saved?


Read original post as 'Postscript' to Gry and the State of Philippine Music

Wiretapped

Below is a layman's interpretation of Republic Act No. 4200 (Anti-Wire Tapping Law, approved June 19, 1965):

AN ACT TO PROHIBIT AND PENALIZE WIRE TAPPING AND OTHER RELATED VIOLATIONS OF THE PRIVACY OF COMMUNICATION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

Section 1.
Unlawful act. Wire-tapping is considered unlawful without permission from the parties being wiretapped.

Possession of any kind of wire-tapped content in whatever form or media is considered unlawful, including any verbal, written, or broadcasted communication to other people of such content.

EXCEPT! for the purposes enumeratd in Section 3.

Section 2.
Penalty. Wire-tapping is punishable by imprisonment of 6 months minimum to 6 years max. Also, perpetual absolute disqualification from public office if wiretapper is a public official.

Section 3.
Exceptions. Peace officers acting under written order of the Court, for investigations involving crimes of "treason, espionage, provoking war and disloyalty in case of war, piracy, mutiny in the high seas, rebellion, conspiracy and proposal to commit rebellion, inciting to rebellion, sedition, conspiracy to commit sedition, inciting to sedition, kidnapping... espionage and other offenses against national security" provided there is sufficient proof that such crimes are being committed.

Section 4. Except for purposes stated in above paragraph, all wiretapped recordings are inadmissible in "any judicial, quasi-judicial, legislative or administrative hearing or investigation".

For full text, click here

Warriors of Song

Beware of us. We are the bearers of truth. We are the singers of the national hymn, the fighters for freedom we've been deceived for 500 years. We are witnesses in time, witnesses to all crimes against sovereignty and the basic dignity of human life. Witnesses to a system conspiring to hide a web of lies.

Our story is not confined to the present. Our story is the history we should have written. By virtue of our past, it is only now we realize we're so much smarter than this. We've walked the road, we know we've fallen. We know walkin the same road would just again lead to this. The future is at hand.

We know this because you know this. We all have been witnesses to the same sun shining and moon waning. The same message in the evening news, the same headlines and fearless views. Like potion, it drew curtains down our eyes.. deceived us to thinking the red cloth was actually the play. The way Christof let Truman to thinking the horizon wasn't a painting. There are those of us who've torn past the red cloth, and saw what behind it could be happening. A future so much closer.

Not brighter, happier, prosperous. It is cornball but truth is we've been divided far too long. Closer to Others, closer to our Selves, closer to our Source and our Destination. For our restless souls know only of one wish, Unity.

End the war!
End greed!
End poverty!
End hunger!
End the lies!

End everything you've considered precious up to before this moment in time. Start over, reboot those memory microprocessing the scarcity of funds. There is more comfort and fill as one gets closer to None. Know once and for all, that we have everything to begin anything. We do not lack. We do not look less or more ugly than the other one.

Our truth and lie is one and same. The only way now is not to blame. This is no one and everyone's fault! So there's no point pointing fingers or pretending "I" didn't have anything to do with it. Instead now, look up and find the strength to walk the demanding terrain. Let nothing steer us save our own.

Let nothing come between.
Let truth be sang and serenade.

Night of the Bat

Reasons to get excited about Batman Begins:

Chris Nolan - I don't care what B-movies or box-office fallouts he'd created or will have created but with Memento, Nolan pulls off the stunt of a lifetime. What better way is there of portraying the beauty of madness than the treacherous tragedy of Leonard Shelby?

Christian Bale - Batman is a psycho. Seeing his parents killed, he cries in the dark, hides behind a mask and wreaks vengeance. And what about Bateman? Christian is murderous at worst, but his performance as the crazed lunatic killer stalking Wall Street is classic. Throw in some Tetragrammaton Cleric stylings, too.

Katie Holmes - She's fucking Tom Cruise now.

The Batmobile - In Batman Forever, Riddler used to croon: "Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg. Batmobile lost one wheel..." Well not this one, it won't! Resembling the Thundertank more than any other Batmobile we've seen on the big screen, I can't wait to see some major car chases.

I'm getting tickets

Music and the Philippine Reality

What does it mean when someone listens to hiphop more than rock 'n roll? And vice-versa? What makes a person prefer a certain genre over another?

Genres, the most general at least, tend to point to varying degrees of loudness. Pop, jazz, rock, rap, gospel, standard,classical all share a certain emotional fiber with the audience it communicates. Rock, for instance, has always gravitated around anger and its transformations. Gospel is about faith and the optimism that ensues.

More importantly, these emotions are tied up to experiences pertaining to one's context, i.e. being born into a certain demographic. Rich, poor, separated parents, the kind of neighborhood one grew up in, etc. Gangsta rap is a medium of expression that arose from a reality of violence, gunshots, and drug trafficking in modern America. Similarly, the oft-referred band explosion of the Philippines in the 90's was a revolt from the numbing formulaic hypocrisies of corporate music and society in general.

There, then, is the connection: music in relation to emotion in relation to experience. This brings us to a realization about people's experiences and musical preferences in general; that there is no such thing as "bad" music or taste in music. For how can one's set of experiences be "wrong" (and thus, listen to a particular type of sound/loudness/genre) when all of us are born into various specific certainties? Surely, the typical rich, happy, playboy will feel as much elation when listening to the "Thong Song" as someone who's submerged in the "River of Deceit".

That within any particular time, all of us are susceptible to new experiences and therefore oscillate from different moods and emotions furthers the inevitable diversity of the musical experience. One could imagine a soundtrack with varying layers of joy, despair, loss, lust, and/or redemption all rolled into a singular coherent reality.

The universality of a particular emotion as conveyed by a "hit" song may well be a gauge of the number of "individual connections" to that emotion. Take "Ang Huling El Bimbo" for example. Telling a bittersweet tale of love, it captured the imagination of an entire country hooked on soap operas.

What becomes precarious in a social, cultural and political level for a country such as the Philippines is the absence of a feedback mechanism of its present, past, and future realities that may well be provided by its artists and musicians. No one is alien to the fact that the mainstream is inundated with foreign crap like Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan, and the Choco-latte's.

We need to listen to our own truth; songs that speak of an indigenous Filipino experience and build a unifying means of influence and relation. Thereby, can we possibly emancipate ourselves from the thrall of our own indiscretions.

Overdubbin my Ass (Echoes of Toys in the Box Music)

We wrote sum of the corniest lyrics in the whole world. Sora had this idea of startin a band after seein Counting Crows play in the Late Show w/ David Letterman. "We have a lil problem," I said. "Nobody knows how to play anythin." I had just learnd how to play Loser with my right hand fingers still swollen from pressing against the frets. Gotta ask for that guitar on my birthday. We can't use the Lumanog for recording. It was gonna sound like tin cans.

Sora had a friend who offered to sell his drum machine for a thousand pesos. We were gonna start jammin during the holidays. Dean wanted to play bass so he'd have to use my old guitar and use the new one only during recording. Have to save up for Type II blanks too, it has a better magnetic formulation that allows more faithful analog. But Sony and TDK were so much on the pricey end, we'd have to make do with SKC. Made in Korea. Sometimes, I bought Goldstars.


I had some melodies runnin thru my head, repeatin 2 chords in the stanza and 3 chords in the chorus. Too much Frances Bean Will Have her Revenge in Seattle. But Sora had such a disco beat goin that Man in the Waterfalls turned out to be a pop number, or at least tries to. Twas bout a girl Boyet and me fell in love with in Iligan, tested our friendship, and broke my heart. Boyet was never into the band thing. His obsession was newscasters and anchors, news shows and their spoofs, network logos and newsroom stylings. We thought he worshipped the band.

One time, during recess. Bongbong said he liked the name Soundgarden coz it meant a source. "Why not name the band, Voicebox? I'll make the shirt design and have it silkscreend by Archie," who was into all sorts of graphic art. He drew cityscapes, detailed robots, ninja battles. "I wrote a rap verse today," Sora interrupted.

December 8th. The gang was all here. The 3 valedictorians are taking centerstage tonight. My new green Gibson ready to be strummed fiercefully. There was enuf beer to stir 7 fifteen year old's into midnight disturbers of d peace. But we weren't in some bar. We were at my home, it was a birthday gathering. Bacolod nitelife in the early 90's was exclusive to exclusive school boys and girls who danced to disco remixes of Losing my Religion and All I Want.

Drums had to be recorded first. Sora pounded on the bass and snare with the sticks, violating all rules of timing, style, and metronome. He was more influenced with drum and bugle than Lars Ulrich or Tre Cool. His rap was absurd! But it was inflammatory. Not to mention, unoriginal. We played with him, of course, while the tape rolled.

After the take, twas my turn to cue. New cassette was placed on deck B, drum tracks played on deck A while I played guitar with echo and reverb. We used the Sony mini-component's karaoke mic, stuck it inside the soundhole. My fingers bled. The new strings were fuckin taut as nipples.

Bass came next. Hardly noticeable, as Dean went along with the guitar and drum rhythm. He was too clumsy we had to retake a lotta times. What a waste of tape. But anyway beer was plenty so who cares, right?

Twix was the name of our dog born of a half-Retriever bitch. The song is sung to the tune of Sunday Bloody Sunday. It was written during a time when mirror images of album covers revealed demonic designs. I could never figure where the chorus came about.

Vice-presidents are about to be the most useless people in the world. Lacking enough will power to be nominated to the top spot, they're chickenshit as chickenshit goes. No. 2 is as good as last.

Interrupt
You figure, "how does Jonathan Richman get away with it?" And more recently, Michael Hung. Hell, we're doin it without label intervention or anyof that shit. So fuck you all metal poseurs, you make me sick. Useless frat gangwars have pushed this nigga to the brink. so back off, my rhymes are warheads. They'll pick u up on a river with the warpigs. And that's just how these words flow outta my eye-lids. Ladies and gentlemen, you just read HDFKM.

Hunger Did F****n Kill Mama is a side-project of Sora with the Bongoman. Breakbeats, a Rapman, and a mic. The proverbial rap vibe. Titles in that unfamous production were Whats Ur Name and This World. He loved rap as much as I love my Nanay.

Lason. Pretty much self-explanatory. I guess my Tagalog was as bad as my ability to reach notes. Funny how language has divided this country for so long.


Voicebox
Dude Not in the Mood

Track Listing:

Vice-President
Twix
Cant I
Whats Ur Name (feat. HDFKM)
Dear Lady
Man in the Waterfalls
She Went Home
Lason
Mutation

Buy the EP for P99 ONLY!

P.S.
Our hats off to Download.com's editors for the Wesley Willis and
Lou Barlow comparisons. We are honored.

Might of the Chakras

Les Arbre
Originally uploaded by Triad Records.

Knop Reyes, singer of leftist punk band Einstein Chakras, on their maiden release Les Arbre ("The Tree"):

Hindi literal na puno, kundi ang puno na sumisimbolo sa manggagawa na nagbibigay ng kanyang lakas sa paggawa ng bunga o produktong nilikha sa ating lahat. Isang organic element na patuloy na nagbabahagi ng buhay. Hinuhubog niya ang kanyang itsura hanggang sa maipakita niya ang tunay niyang dahilan, ang kanyang makasaysayang misyon. Hindi lang economic struggle kundi pati political struggle ang kanyang ipapanalo. Hindi pwedeng bansutin dahil hindi kaya, lalo na't alam na nya kung sino siya at gaano kalalim at kalawak ang kanyang pinag-uugatan.

English Translation
Not tree in the literal sense. "Les Arbre" is symbolic of the proletariat worker's fruit-bearing qualities in the global ecosystem, i.e. an organic element that breathes life. Naturally, the tree develops to manifest its Self and fulfill its historic mission which encompasses both economic and political struggles. Evidently, with this awareness of being, it asserts its sovereignty owing to its vast, deep rootedness in history.

Robertsons Classic Legal

Robertsons
Originally uploaded by Triad Records.

Read the blog

Time and Money

Time is gold, they say. So we're told to spend our time wisely. How do I spend time as opposed to waste time? I spend time watching pirated DVD's and chit-chatting with friends. I waste time falling in love and fighting the trends. But nothing can be more incredulous than the idea of saving time: take a shortcut, instant-just-add-water products, MRT, broadband/DSL, just to save time -- which one then spends by hanging out or having coffee.

On the other hand, how is money spent? Appliances, bills, groceries, load, daily quail egg allocation. How is money wasted? Drugs, gambling, extortion, philandering, pyramid scams. Also, one saves money. Savings, checking, pre-need, TD, mutual funds, blue chips, T-bills. But not to spend though like time, but to earn interest.

Can time earn interest? Exponentially! Expressed in the mathematical expression: T¹
(T raised to the I)

where T = amount of time spent (not saved)
i = amount of self involved (or in economic terms: utilized)


In fact, the relationship between time and money seems to be one of inverse proportion. A wealthy man, who has all the money in the world, will hardly "have" time. Lonely wife? I don't have time. Messed up kids? I don't have time. Meeting with the union? I don't have time. From the opposite end is the man with all the time in the world but hardly any money: a bum. Breakfast? Can't afford it. Place to stay? Can't afford it. Buy some clothes? Can't afford it.

Another verb applicable to both time and money is make. To make money is "to be busy" thus, the word business. To make time is simply "to be busier". People in business can be busier by making time for family, recreation, or even rest.

You know the difference between time and money? One can steal money, not time. Time is like matter and space. It strictly follows the law of conservation. Money exchanges hands, thereby becoming dirty. To compute for GNP, you multiply money by its velocity. What corruption does is suck out a magnifiable amount of money and put it in a vacuum, i.e. Swiss bank account thereby spurring zero economic activity. A most peculiar corrupt Filipino trait, as corruption in most developed countries are almost always reinvested in the domestic economy.

If pork barrel, kickbacks, SOP's, and other grease are pumped into the system instead of becoming shrimp paste, then we weren't gonna be so hung up on galunggong, would we?

The River Em-em

Many of you probably don't know this major waterway. That's because it goes by a different name: Pasig. To continue calling it such, however, would be hugely irresponsible both from an ownership and geographic standpoint. Em-em (pun intended) in reality connects five cities and four municipalities of Metro Manila. Ecologists may argue that it was so named because the river's source, Laguna de Bay spills itself immediately to its mouth in Pasig City. I may not necessarily be an expert on such things (I'm not even a native of the metro), but I've witnessed the seasonal transformations of Em-em when I cross the Guadalupe and Mandaluyong-Makati bridges by foot or take the banca on my way to and from work.

Nowadays, with the defeating summer heat, Em-em is a stinking, black kanal - more accurately so in the Hiligaynon context of the word. Factory excrement and garbage work their way westward to Manila Bay. One would occasionally see a tilapia surface for a split second, as if to let out a cry for help to the terrestrial realm. Sometimes I get the feeling that a giant serpent would suddenly emerge from the muddy bed and wreak vengeance on the perpetrating populace. After all, legend would have it that the snake created the river in exchange for merchants' souls.

The river's stench is so pervasive, it invades even perfumed airconditioned cars, i.e. driving along J.P. Rizal or A. Bonifacio. How sad it is indeed that the names of two of our country's greatest heroes' are parallel to Em-em; their memory merely associated with a "multiply-dead"* body of water. One commiserating with the other two.

Em-em is not merely the responsibility of the Philippine Navy or the DENR (if they ever cared at all). Nor merely of the squatters along her reclaim. Nor merely of Noah's Ark Sugar or RFM. It is the metropolis'. Whoever as much as threw a candy wrapper is guilty as the refineries in Pandacan, if only to beleaguer a point.

Em-em is likewise as much a parallel of this nation's defeated collective pysche as well as for every Filipino's hardened core of hope. To which, we now and in the days to come so painfully await: when will the Great Flood come?

To wash all our afflictions clean and free.


* Double-dead applies merely to meat. Em-em we kill on a regular basis.

Faithless

We have been given numerous reasons for not being allowed airplay. Radio stations at Paragon Plaza said our artists' lyrics were too "deep". One tattooed programming head in that lamp-adorned building along EDSA had the nerve to give us the runaround like he was working in a government office. Meanwhile, this dimwit DJ from rightmost of the radio dial defined hunger as eating only Chippy and Coke for an entire day - the same fella who categorized Korn as hardcore and dubbed all aspiring bands in his (in)famous radio and TV show their respective lil genres. For a supposedly unconventional and nonconformist station, they held the contention that music distribution channels be in their rightful place so as not to evoke the feeling of "buying motor oil from a [dress] shop."

One common sentiment these so-called liberators-thru-music shared is vision, literally. People have to see what they hear, be it on MTV or in a live performance. Now we realize why the song "Video Killed the Radio Star" was written. A chiefly auditory-driven industry with visual preoccupations is fundamentally skewed to say the least. And while live performances provide a first-hand means for an audience to experience music, the Philippine reality of being an archipelago (and the whole financial limitation associated with it) lends a vast logistical difficulty. Unless we are content with providing opportunities only to metro inhabitants which have been exactly the case for this country, thus inhibiting all forms of equal representation. Coupled with our economic woes, starving artists do the toughest balancing acts in allocating time and money to rehearsals and recording costs.

There is such a thing as believing without seeing. It's called faith. Sight, they say, is the most inaccurate of the senses. Believe it or not, the things that matter the most are those we don't see: love, trust, hope, justice, truth, God. We either smell, hear, or just mostly feel them. Today, stop seeing and start believing.

What is the Third Prong? (Song Anecdotes)

Last August, Rubberduckies released its first EP entitled The Third Prong. What follows are brief explications of the songs by the band's chief songwriter Reynard Cordero.

Humdrum
Reminiscent of high school frustrations, this song has enough defeatist attitude to qualify as a loser anthem. A song about our miserable daily routines, Humdrum ends with a vow to end one’s life in the face of extreme agony.

Aftermath of a Heart Attack
Originally titled Zombie:Walking (circa 1996) with lyrics encompassing experiences that arose from dorm life, estranged courtship, and sleep deprivation. Six years thereafter and emotional equilibrium notwithstanding, the song took on new meaning after yet another tragic summer.

Lazarus Rising
If you are a wife- or girlfriend-beater, have the decency to turn yourself in to the proper authorities, you pathetic Neanderthal! And if you're the miserable object of domestic violence, call 117 now.

Anti-Climax Villain (hidden video)
When Lord Anger summons, one is bound to abide. Collaborating with acclaimed director Paolo Dy, the band explores the infallibility of emotion in a brawl-infested Exorcist-meets-Minority Report caper.

Don't Tell Me to Pay my Taxes If

..some asshole's just gonna squander my hard-earned money on prostitutes and booze,
..the Countryside Development Fund is never totally put to good use,
..the measly start-up capital we have is wasted on baseless Customs dues,
..a nationally allocated fund is reverse-geometrically reduced
(from regional to local government units, we all know where it goes),
..a highway constructed lacks the thickness in inches to withstand heavy loads,
..Congress just kiss asses and never passed this country's needed laws,

Give to Caesar what
To Caesar is due
Review your law textbooks
Caesar is we, not YOU.

How dare YOU tell me to pay my taxes while
..(simply) you're in business to recover losses last May,
..there are less deep well pumps in a barrio than meals in a day,
..public school teachers' salaries are 6 months delayed
(and government employees on Christmas don't get 13th month pay),
..public health clinics have more worries than aid,
..public hospitals watch the sick die as they wait.

Give to Caesar
What is due Caesar
Once Justice is due
It leaves no pris'ner.

This you leeches beware.

Your Truth is Waiting to be Told

It is always. Be it in fighting for a love condemned for racial differences, painting an image of a memory, or defending employee night travel subsidy in a management meeting.

Let your truth be told as a fruit is peeled, with every thought, word, and deed taking you closer to the fruit to eat. And gravitate slowly from small random acts into one coherent life of truth.

Know your Self
Tell yourself: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Jesus' voice is in all of us. So is Allah's, Buddha's, and Krishna's. Shed off the lie and be your true skin. Go out and live your life according to what has been given you. Discern your path well. In deciding what to do with your life, remember it has to be something you:

• Do best naturally. It just comes out of you without really trying. It could be anything from cooking, solving equations, fixing things to empowering people, direct selling, or caring for endangered species.
• Can do for free. A good gauge is taking money out of the equation. If you can derive benefit from what you do while bereft of financial gain, you're every bit closer to what's close to heart.
• Can do for a living. Be obsessed. You will learn that your "project" will evolve into something greater and grander. The more it does, the likely it is for the world to conspire to your favor.

A Life of Love

The answer to all questions is a question: WHAT WILL LOVE DO? The apostle Paul wrote:

"4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not selfseeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. "

Ask yourself the question in every decision you make.

Robertsons and the Savage Beans

Les Haricots Sauvages
It was not coincidence to have crossed paths with Serge Ducrocq, the rap-influenced frontman of the Swiss ska band, Les Haricots Sauvages. Translating his band's name to literally mean "the savage beans", Ducrocq is an outspoken, flute-learning character who conquered the ill-mannered Manila traffic but not our Fear Factor-caliber delicacy, balut.

Our discussion about music ranged from the inescapable sterility of the majors-run mainstream to the Beans' children's show gig with him on a rabbit costume. We disagreed on some topics, i.e. he was never into the whole Nirvana and Seattle movement, but also found common ground by chanting: " Bang...your...head...to...THIS!!!" of the Faith No More and Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. fame. Remarkably hiphop to the core, he gave a rare impromptu performance of a rap verse in French to a dinner audience of 3 at our very own Dampa seafood market (yours truly was in charge of instrumentation: the proverbial beatbox).

Ducrocq was quick to point out urban nasties like letting your car's headlamps glare on high beam the entire time or blowing horns unneccesarily excessive (in fact, one could get sued for it in Switzerland). And with natural Western tact, he even dissed my Puma Clyde's saying that the brand contributes to Third World exploitation thru cheap labor. "I wear as much Swiss as I can," he mused.

Robertsons
Roughly 3 years back, Converse relaunched its classic Chuck Taylor series with a barrage of teenage potpourri designs and an overwhelming 195% price increase (it nearly tripled). When I first heard of the "hot rods" from then-law student Noel Gascon and curiously surfed the net for it, I was (to be honest) infatuated. Before it hit local stores, they sold for US$30 exclusive of shipping and handling which I already found too steep then. After all, Chuck Taylor's embodied the working class melodrama.

Las Sunday, I was searching for a worthy successor to my EDSA II Chuck's and alas! I found a pair of newly-designed Robertsons sneakers in Landmark. It still had the classic white thread double-stitches of the old Robertsons that I remember were worn by pedicab drivers and construction workers who played streetball (literally) with no more than a Robertsons rubber basketball!

None could have fit better to the ghetto economic principle of form and function vis-a-vis price, i.e. in contrast to the predominant colonial perception that a mere emblem is supposed to make something superior in quality (something I vehemently objected in a Clinton Palanca pseudo-philosophy college lecture).

While there are still industries where our country clearly falls behind in quality and technologically, there are already a few that have major bragging rights for best value and breakthrough.

Khaos Turbo Charger
"Sleeping fish" export technology
Bench
Alamat Comics
Philippines Online
INQ7.net
DMCI Homes
SEC Online Services
Buy & Sell Free Ads
Islander slippers

Greed and the Third World

The popular worldview surrounding the concept of Third World is a lie, or at best a gross misrepresentation. Cable news channels report but only a speck of the nebula: car bomb explosions, ousting of dicktators, currency devaluations, a million dead bodies washed 10 kilometers inland from the coastline. International financing institutions, on the other hand, draw up statistics, bar graphs, obscure executive reports that seemingly alleviate poverty.

Oh yes, the Third World is fucked up. But aren't we all? Maybe the First even more so. Michael Moore will definitely agree from his side of the world.

But here now is a little secret: nothing can fuck you up better than greed.

I see a pledge of US$660 million in tsunami relief funds and merely a fifth of that amount actually delivered. I see a ranking official of the Philippine Armed Forces being tried in the high courts and I earnestly pray: God have mercy on his fat greedy soul. Php303,272,005.99 equals a fleet of luxury vehicles, two mansions, a resort, and other real estate property. It's the same matter, different form.

Greed drives presidents to wage wars in order to have a controlling stake in the world's oil supply. It drives an entire justice system to abandon principle and put innocent men to jail. It drives unfulfilled little boys at age 29 to bed prostitutes and minors. It drives vastly prolific artisans to create caricatures instead of masterpieces. It drives companies to bid for an IPO whilst neglecting human resources. It drives corporate lumberyards to shave 20 hectares of woodforest that results to a nature killing spree.

Can we really end poverty? YES.
Can we speed up the wheels of justice? YES.
Can we stop exploiting our women? YES.

When? Soon is not enough.
It has to be NOW.

How? GIVE UP GREED.

Cheating

Hypothetical Situation:
Bill has a girlfriend named Hillary. They have been together for a year but since they are devout Catholics, they agreed to postpone sex until after they get married. Bill never forced or asked Hillary for sex and she never gave any hint that she wants it. To get his fix, Bill frequents massage parlors and KTV's. After all, there was no verbal agreement that the guy can't get off with other women.

Question: Is the guy cheating on his girlfriend?

Resolution:
Sexuality is perhaps the second greatest perk of being human; free will of course topping the list (remember all those angels complaining in movies how humans are so favored by God?). All souls as pilgrims in the evolution of the universe essentially have one goal: to reach perfection, i.e. become the image and likeness of God. And since God is love, by transitivity, our ultimate end goal is to "be" Love. Then philosophy would have it that because we are in the physical realm, "being" is achieved by "doing".

As such, the principle applies to both free will and sexuality. Think of them as tools to help us in our evolution, i.e. the best sexual experiences are those wherein the act is the ultimate expression of love.

Similarly, Bill is obviously not using sex to his full advantage because he merely satisfies physical yearnings. This is not saying that there is no pleasure in casual sex because sex is intrinsically pleasurable. That promiscuity is "sinful" is not even what I'm driving at. Instead, consider it disadvantageous to one's soul (in the temporal realm) if one goes on an endless quest of unattached sex. It's not a question of morality. It's a question of evolving into every soul's primordial desire: to be one with God. And the sooner one gets to that place, the better.

References:
Random Streams of Gravity

Wake Up!

I pose a question to my generation: where are we headed?

The late night news announced a P20 increase in the price of LPG. Government is hell-bent to increase the VAT to 12%. A jeepney driver in Metro Manila takes home P400 after working 16 hours. P1,000 can buy you an average of 12 items from the grocery. Perhaps the only consolation we have nowadays is the newfound unlimited call and text race of the telco's (thanks to Sun Cellular for catalyzing the flat rate scheme) with the entire country waiting for internetwork connectivity. And oh yes, Pacquiao withstood 12 rounds. Ladies and pigs of the grand courts and session halls, ecstasy-toting bitches in designer clothes, bureau scoundrels, law enforcement and media whores, my beloved fellow countrymen, it is imminent: WE ARE HEADED FOR THE PITS.

Unless things both big and small are instigated NOW, this country -- WE, are not gonna see the light of day, our very existence might as well be spent gnashing teeth, if even just one of us thinks that individual acts do not in any way affect the whole.

What follows is a list of things, initiatives, and common-sense day-to-day roles we can personify and help others do. It's not a complete list so feel free to add an item or two, spread the list to every concerned citizen of the Philippines (even to people in government and/or management). There is only one thing to remember: only we can determine our outcome. Read on and make a conscious decision:

1. Buy products that create jobs for Filipinos. Read the label. If it says: MADE IN THE PHILIPPINES, someone from here gets paid for it.
2. When driving, avoid changing lanes and blasting horns when a PUV in front is picking up/dropping off passengers. They usually start off a few seconds after unless it's a terminal or yellow lane. Remember, commuters wait minutes or hours under the sun (or rain). Have patience and empathy.
3. Respect lines. Fall in them.
4. Don't patronize fixers in government offices.
5. Patronize the underground economy. It's the lifeblood of the low income class: sari-sari stores, wet and flea markets, tiangge's, bangketa's, isawan, squidball vendors, etc.
6. Develop a preference for Filipino franchises. Figaro, Jollibee, Max's, Mr. Quickie, Ice Monster, Jimini Pizza (to name only a few).
7. Give bread or crackers to street folks and kids instead of loose change. Keep food in your glove compartment.
8. Say a prayer.
9. Obey traffic laws.
10. Commend local government for improvements. Feedback need not only be negative.
11. Pay the fare.
12. Support homegrown music.
13. Don't litter. Trash belongs to bins, not floors, streets, or waterways. Better yet, segregate.
14. Don't buy guns. If you have one, throw all your bullets to a safe place.
15. Report child labor and unfair practice to the media.
16. Use family planning.
17. Steer clear of pyramid scams and other get-rich-quick-without-really-working schemes.
18. Start a business that is true to your inclinations. Plan well and obey labor laws.
19. Always bring a condom if you're promiscuous.
20. Report lazy, incompetent, and corrupt government officials to the Office of the Ombudsman. Rotten fruit have to be discarded lest the whole basket rots.
21. Volunteer for civic work.

Motherpoppers (Part I)

I don’t know which is scarier: the country’s looming fiscal crisis or the blatant showbiz pop manufacturing stint of the network giants. Both have outcomes, the former’s being the Philippines’ imminent bankruptcy and the latter’s: our very own cultural idiocy. Both have short- and long-term repercussions and since I lost Macroeconomic Theory to college malt-liquor hangovers, the subject will be limited to the vicinity of my enterprise’s line of business, i.e. an independent record label.

“Perhaps only a few find us entertaining,” goes the chorus of Philippine Music Hydra: A Lyrical Solution sung to the tune of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit if only to dramatize this country’s massive culture of rip-off. And in no period before, ever accomplished in Philippine history will this disease mutate to a full-blown epidemic such as the rate it is going at present. Last weekend, my wife and I watched the standing room grand finals of Starstruck on TV broadcast live from the Araneta Coliseum. While I never doubted the ultimate survivors’ acting capabilities, there develops a whole cultural mindset founded on aesthetics and instant gratification. One of the contestants’ VTR voice-over’s highlighted ambition at the expense of education. These “artists” probably can’t define the words denouement or personification. They’ll become stars anyway, and stars don’t need dictionary meanings to words of no import to daily routine. It’s like calculus and trigonometry: absolutely no practical usefulness whatsoever. But as one erstwhile professor so simply put: “it’s in cultivating an analytical way of thinking.”

Local actors (or at least a great many of them) can’t think straight. Just listen to the scarcity of insight from lead and supporting roles during post-shoot interviews. It’s always the proverbial fare: “fun to shoot, perfect for the whole family, so go watch it!” Another example: one actor’s dismissal of negotiations with video pirates was built on disbelief over our Muslim brothers’ plight of lack. “He was wearing a Rolex watch,” thus did the agency official conclusively infer luxury. Maybe it’s pure naivete on the OMB chairman’s part but fake Rolexes sell for P150 – P200 in tiangge’s and bangketa’s. Dudes, the trick is not knowing what to do but knowing what to solve, or you would have missed the whole point. For instance, the piracy business model is founded on one simple economic principle: people pay for their perceived value of the merchandise. As long as people perceive a DVD movie to be worth P80 and nothing more, the pirates are going to be in business.

The recording industry is no different, and even has its own star supersearch contests to boast. Attractive pubescent teenagers rally to studio auditions for a chance to be criticized on their rendition of hit covers. As far as music goes, nothing should be more musical than performing one’s own piece or creation (e.g. a self-produced or indie record) because anyone can pick up a microphone and sing “New York, New York”. My 6-year old niece can do the whole song-and-dance gig better than half the contestants on TV. And when finalists land the deals, what do they record? A slew of revivals and the same gutless pop ballads and dance numbers.

To be concluded.

Old Miserable Experience

If there was a band or a particular type of sound that emanated from the 90's "alternative" rock explosion that could be at present categorized as Sunday music, it would be Gin Blossoms and their New Miserable Experience. That, taking in context, the Blossoms' brand of rock 'n roll amongst the generation of disillusioned Gen-Xers and their apathy to corporate yuppie falsehoods. The lens by which Douglas Hopkins viewed the world with poetic intoxication and reckless infatuation, stand out as a way of perfectly balanced tension, i.e. of any tuned guitar string, compared to the indulgent blasphemies of Nirvana (or Tool), cocky sexuality of Red Hot Chili Peppers, or the naive atrocity of Radiohead.

More importantly, it's the record's central obsession with romance (just less fleeting than Lemonheads and more lyrically structured than Counting Crows) from the opening refrain of Lost Horizons ("Drink enough of anything to make this girl look new again") to the cautionary ending of Cheatin' ("She had a way just like you do/To make me feel just like a woman should") that renders NME bittersweet in its candor.

I remember first hearing Found Out About You getting spins from 92.7 DYEC, Bacolod's first ever taste of deregulated FM programming courtesy of an obscure 2KW-transmitter station operated by Molave Broadcasting Corp. Then, announcers were free to bring material for the rest of the station's use which gave the perfect opportunity for demigod DJ, Bongoman, to introduce a much-needed rock 'n roll sensibility to the city's numbing musical illiteracy. Whereas then big network contemporaries only dared to play Winds of Change, 'Til Death Do Us Part, and other similar slow rock fare, EC-FM tickled Ilonggo ears with songs from Blind Melon's self-titled, Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream, and Soul Asylum's Grave Dancers Union. What started as Folk, Rock, & Country (FRC: the citywide early evening segment) regulars spilled into the morning jocks' self-made playlists and ultimately to the weekly Cool Hit Countdown.

Hopkins' worsening alcoholism that inevitably led to his expulsion set the stage for one of the most ironic pop hit phenomena. Reading an article about how he got the "shivers" everytime Hey Jealousy played on the radio made me realize the obvious: Gin Blossoms would never sound the same again without Hopkins, just as Nirvana would have "failed to impress" the world had Cobain not killed himself and came out with an REM-sounding encore to In Utero.

In retrospect, NME lends the feeling of victory despite the bruises one incurs after giving romantic love a chance. Sweet as getting the belle of the ball for your prom date, only to not win her hand in courtship. We are simultaneously enviable and laughable, so we simply smile as the memory of a love long gone now acquires a carbon-aged sepia overtone.

Philippine Music Hydra: a Lyrical Solution

Perhaps only a few find us entertaining


We are after all the cocks that crowed tukturu-uk
These years of longer nights
While they mighty corporate giants
Now suffer a formula so fundamentally false.
So what if it's an ass you see
Everytime you see us on tv?
When the going gets tough
This tough gets going, you lil fagetty.
We don't look the least bit ridged-nosed
But remember the equator gets the most sun.
If humans were plants, then we're greenest
Our pollens fly about carried only by bees.
But these dawns becoming later by the day
Makes me wonder the day no dawn... oh God not may!
Will you suppose, a proposition no wise man dare refuse --
A chance to hear something from here you never expected.
A fuckin pepsi challenge to everything foreign clogged down those inner ears.
This here is Music --
When was the last time you've listened to it?
I sincerely observe not quite any of late
FM radio's just trumpeting noises we can't relate
"Yo, come here 'ho" never was our way with ladies,
We serenade and do things crazy to win a heart so fair.
While a W.A.S.P. whines "the weight of the world on my shoulders"
We say: shut up and carry it.
While a black man raps "get rich and die tryin"
We say: get quick! (with respect)
While Bush worships War and makes everyone else pay,
We worship our God, alive with faith.

(Re)Solution:
Listen, never copy.
Osmosis is the key.
Retain the good,
Discard the ugly
Ye of semipermeability.

Piracy and the Philippine Music Hydra

With major labels, radio stations, MTV, production outfits, and the music industry status quo falling prey to piracy, millions in capital funds remain unearned in a desperate battle against a basic rational human behavior vis-à-vis consumption. An entire campaign attacking an intellectual property issue by way of moralization (equating piracy to theft, burglary, and robbery) renders itself futile alongside the continuous evolution of information and communication technology. Phones becoming walkman’s becoming PC’s becoming TV’s all point to an ongoing inevitable digital revolution. The crux remain unscathed with piracy apparently just on the surface of the subject. Is piracy a real enemy? Or is it simply a by-product of change? A good starting place is to examine piracy in its different forms and nuances.

Current Definitions
Piracy, as understood at present, is “committed” in several ways. Primarily, it involves the uncompensated replication and sale of any form of intellectual property. “Best of” mp3’s, genre compilations (various artists), albums, movies, and software are, in this sense, pirated.

Piracy also encompasses reproduction of any optical media (with the use of a PC) without due compensation to the author/s. This includes borrowing a CD from a friend then burning it. Another would be ripping an audio CD by converting .cda files to a data format like .mp3, .wma, or .wav. A third way, which is essentially an offshoot of the first one, is file-sharing. One sets up a PC server and shares music files over the internet.


Players, Factors, and Aspects

Optical Media Board
With its transformation from Videogram Regulatory Board thru RA 9239 on July 28, 2003, the Optical Media Board (OMB) has been sanctioned and tasked with the overall implementation of anti-piracy activities. All imported optical media, for instance, require an OMB clearance in order to be released by the Bureau of Customs. Its domestic activities have included the clean-up of pirated media havens like Baclaran and Greenhills, and close-downs of illegal replication facilities. Other areas, however, like Divisoria, Quiapo, and other isolated parts of Greenhills remain large scale distribution centers especially of the DVD format.

Philippine Association of the Record Industry
Composed of various major and independent labels, PARI has been an authority in the industry for 32 years. With a Code of Ethics on pricing, PARI has managed to keep music prices at levels that would ensure the viability of its members. But due to the onslaught of piracy, CD prices of local releases have shrunk to the P200 to P250 range (half the price of an international release). Membership and annual fees, seemingly to further PARI’s cause and objectives, remain burdensome for start-up labels.

Major labels
All rights reserved. With majors, authors ultimately relinquish all IP rights including derivative income (merchandise, concert ticket sales, endorsements, soundtrack inclusions, etc.) – the basic reason why piracy is considered theft. Artists, in general, are more concerned with the music’s reach. Monetary gains are more of a perk. It is increasingly apparent how and why majors have struggled to preserve the power structure not for IP rights but their bottomlines’ sake.

Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas
The KBP, from the music industry’s perspective, play a most crucial function: marketing. Airplay is still undeniably the most effective means to promote music. Sad to say though, Philippine FM radio playlists remain predominantly colonial. The 1999 Revised KBP Radio Code merely requires radio stations to play four (4) OPM (original Philippine music) in every clockhour, i.e. total of 12-13 songs each exclusive of advertisements, spiels, and station ID’s.

Independent Music
Twenty or so years after the cassette tape came to be, digital (re)production changed the way people listen and make music. With a PC, any versatile musician can record on a multi-track-emulating software complete with recording tips from a world wide web resource. Bypassing exorbitant studio costs and label intervention, indie artists have become Kings of the Underground, a rich and vast pool of untapped original talent.

Universal Clone Players
Another trend worth mentioning is the proliferation of cheap audio-video players that support an increasingly universal array of formats: wav, wma, mp3, mpg, dvd, avi, to name a few. Available mostly in the same pirated media havens, clone players have tremendously complemented the trade coupled with the country’s present economic woes.


The Catch-22

The bona fide pirated music buyer knows for a fact that local artists’ material is a very small percentage compared to the bulk of foreign material. It suddenly becomes clear whose sales are at stake. Majors, in the guise of protecting Philippine artists’ interests, have actually been campaigning for the likes of Britney Spears, Eminem, Korn, and Tatu. These imports, after all, are the ones we hear on the radio, see on TV, and read in the news. By blaming piracy as the reason why they’re not signing up locals, we can backfire by saying that they could have invested the millions of pesos, spent for instance on staging an F4 concert, on innovative strategies of marketing Filipino talent.
At the heart of it, piracy is the scapegoat. It is merely a damage control cheap trick by an industry (and society) that chose aesthetics over passion, smooth talk over discourse. Where popularity is equated to competence, music has become more visual than auditory. But with technology enabling infinite possibilities to create and make music available (from production to end-user reception), the music business denominator could yet return to its more appropriate lever: integrity.

Gry and the State of Philippine Music (Conclusion)

The human brain perceives an object to be white when the object perceived reflects all colors of the spectrum: ROYGBIV. As such, white is not a color. It is the presence of all colors.

Part III. Music. Root word: muse

The point of contention is to apply the rules of etymology in our current context. That is, relating the word music to a catalyst (for lack of a better term) that musicians and artists in general would refer to as the muse. Attaching the suffix -ic to a noun produces an adjective, the meaning of which is an allusion to the root word by way of composition, property, or attribute. Below are three examples:

acid + ic = acidic. composed of acid; acid-forming
Imelda + (if) ic = Imeldific. possessing a compulsive habit of owning shoes
formula + ic = formulaic. performed according to a certain formula

Applying the same formula of juxtaposition, music would mean composed or created of (not by) a muse. Inspiration. Artists say: "When it hits you, it hits you." Thus too, do all works of art become music by definition. Paintings, sculptures, poems, essays, even business models. Inspiration comes in various forms, from the poignant to the mundane. A catchphrase, a smile, a vehicular accident, an expletive, a pop radio jingle, money, drugs, sex.

It is interesting to note that the very definition that produces the adjective is a verb, an action phrase. An Imeldific person has to have shoes. He or she can not have to have shoes and thus cease to be one. A band soundcast to be formulaic will cease to be one if they stopped conforming to formulae. Does the same rule in syntax apply to music? Does music cease to BE the moment it is created in the absence of a muse? An enterprising layman will definitely refute the notion, citing the bulge in his wallet to be as inspiring as the muse that inspired Pacquiao and the Khaos. Money is, after all, the ultimate denominator. In a world of US (and other Western) influence, affluence is the end rather than the means. Many a corporate executive is hailed hero or role model on account of designer suits. Fur coat, crocodile skin, ivory insignia, kill a man while you're at it. The Republic of the Philippines will send a Russian roulette pistol on your 37th birthday. With human lifespans shortening, midlife crises erupt at an earlier age.

To quote Claude DeBussy, "Music is the space between the notes." Technically, that would be composed of Time, Air, or in rare occasions, even Emotion. Notes stand for landmarks in a seeming progression. High to low, soft to loud, fast to slow may all characterize the manner of moving from one landmark to the other. Variance (or Δ) in particular, plays a crucial sonically aesthetic function. Δ (as measured by the amount of Time, Air, Emotion) is enhanced, not just increased, depending on the start and end points, i.e. notes.

Suppose we superimpose the model of measuring Δ to a larger plane, i.e. human development stages: childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age. Or even a canvas (plane) as large as Life itself (in all its cyclic, metaphysical splendor). Suppose further that there was no start point or point of origin. From nil to matter, or conversely what is referred as "making something out of thin air". Mathematically, variance (Δ) is infinite (∞), as such:


Δ = (X2 - X1) /X1
Δ = (1 - 0) /0
Δ = 1 /0
Δ = ∞

where: X1 = start point; X2 = end point


Trip (illustration)
Consider three people: Rogelio, Antonio, Juancho with starting points at Main Avenue (Cubao) and end points at Quezon Avenue (ABS-CBN vicinity). Rogelio pulls out of the driveway in a Mitsubishi Pajero en route to ABS-CBN for his primetime spoof newscast. It takes him 23 minutes. Antonio takes a jeepney to Farmer's and takes the MRT from Cubao station. He's a McDonald's pantry crew. It takes him 31 minutes. Juancho is a squidball vendor on a trisikad. He picks up the day's inventory and pedals to the Mother Ignacia entrance of Building "A" where he can sell mid-evening snacks to down-to-earth celebrities. It takes him 76 minutes.

By way of combining DeBussy's insight (using approximate Time, Air, and Emotion metrics) and the superimposition of landmarks to a particular event or happening, i.e. trip, Juancho's experience is observed to be more musical.

They say: "Where there's fire, there's smoke." Here and now, we can smell the bittersweet burn and hear the crackle of ember. There's a story that needs to be sung. A song that needs to be told.



Postscript

1 Corinthians 13: 1-2
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing."

In a world of emotional insulation and political privitization, one should remember to take a step back and ask oneself: "How do I love?" It's no longer a mere question of monogamy and sexual orientation. Contemporary psychology and pop culture tend to dismiss emotion in the love agenda. Feelings of love is merely caused by a secretion of the hypothalamus. Even one's closest friends would advise to use the head instead of the heart because "God put the head higher than where the heart is for a reason".

In the "Bourne Identity", Jason Bourne operates on pure instinct. He reads the signs and acts without thinking. Waking up after an episode of severe trauma, he lost all memory of who he is. He had to rely on "gut feel" to survive, in order to know who he was. In a lot of ways, our birth to the physical world resembles Bourne's traumatic episode causing amnesia. We forget who we are. And thus, begins every human person's quest for identity.

Instinct is a function of emotion. When one says: "I have a bad feeling about this", it's a demonstration of emotion in its primal form, i.e. a means to self-preservation. Jeff Bebe, in the movie "Almost Famous" explains the omniscience of instinct. But as fast as people say: "Trust and follow your instincts" will people also tell you to "think before you act". Businessmen and politicians, for example, are cautioned to make decisions of a certain magnitude when under severe emotional stress. Reason and logic are therefore of equal, if not greater, significance as feeling or emotion in any given decision-making process.

"The brain should be a softening influence on the instincts, but the instincts should drive. Trying to reconcile the brain with urges that come out of millions of years ago...the way the brain interprets these instincts, is a heavy trip," illustrates an earnest Jason Lee in character as the outshined singer of Still Water. People tend to associate emotion with disastrous consequences like rage turning into violence, or lust resulting to herpes. How about the last time people planted trees because they felt responsible for the environment? Or the time one returned an envelope full of money and actually felt good?

Artists paint emotion in a canvas. Constantly in tune, they seize the instrument (pen, brush, camera) and dive into the emotional experience (or simply emotion or experience because for artists, emotion is also the canvas). Colors have always stood for particular emotions. The color yellow is one of joy, as red stood for lust which should not be confused with its popular sexual connotation. Lust is obsession, a constant desire for life which is not a bad thing at all.

And what about Love, the Greatest Emotion of all? How do we become certain that love is that which we feel? Our elders say: "You just know" like the way we know that we love our mothers. But a relationship with a mother is never "always happy". There are hurts, resentment, or even anger for some, as far as relationships with mothers are concerned. The strange thing is one realizes the immensity of that love to grow proportionally with the so-called "emotional valleys".

White roses signify a love that is pure. How can we tell if something is pure? In chemistry, pure water is H2O in its elemental state. A pure breed is not tainted with other bloodlines. Purity denotes a state of being wholly intact, which also implies the presence of parts or components. Applying the same definition to color, white then is essentially pure, as it is the presence of all colors.

When every strand of emotion has been felt and experienced, is love considered pure and thereby, love truly indeed? So then, does love cease to be an emotion because it is the presence of all emotions? If emotion is the guide and love is the canvas, are we then inescapably saved?

Gry and the State of Philippine Music (Second of 3 Parts)

Part II. Angry. Root word: anger

Here is the story of a man on the brink. Forty two years gets bitter by the day, each one a reminder of things better did differently in the past. It's not exactly hardship that compose the pill to swallow, but rather a hopeless sense of irreverisibility. Cannot close the sale; no one wants to buy home water purifiers from a sales rep with curiously only one ear -- the right one. The left Agapito lost in torturous 1960's when his unit was captured in an encounter with the PC (Philippine Constabulary) in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental. Now he goes to the same municipalities (that never changed much except an obvious proliferation of small Coca-cola billboards), knocking on doors and explains in detail how the beer brewery is causing sea water contamination of the tap, thereby the need to "invest" in a P799 health-ensurance product.

What gets Agapito by each month is his per-issue fee from the provincial magazine. He writes essays or sometimes runs a 5-part series (when he's lucky on a roll). His wife, Linda, lives in a separate hut because they've both agreed to be financially independent of each other. She won't tolerate Agapito's drinking binges when he's on a dry spell. He, on the other hand, could not forgive each time she squanders his commissions in a game of mah jong. Ana and Agapito Jr. have been forcedly married to their spouses because of unwanted pregnancies while little Leebord lived with Linda. It was a convenient set-up: seven years of a mutual cold treatment marriage.

There were years when he burned in anger. Marcos' second term ushered in random assassinations and abductions, billions of foreign debt, massive corruption, and sweeping poverty in the countryside. Agapito was in his college sophomore year studying Finance (after which he planned to take Law), when he first attended a clandestine CPP-NPA meeting. It became the turning point of the most brilliant kid to have ever studied in La Carlota High School -- a fact that most of Agapito's mentors would attest to this day.

Agapito's experience of the dictatorship was first-hand. After all, they were the ones being chased. Kept under tight surveillance by the military, he was lucky enough to elude four "casuals" in a Ceres Liner trip to Isabela. Agapito, whose intuition was keen on imminent danger, stepped off the bus as soon as he recognized rectangular bulges on the four men's waists. In another occasion, he killed two army officers who were trying to rape a farmer's daughter; the kidnapping of whom happened only because it would lure Ka Pito to the enemy camp. He was the favored suitor of Belinda, the most beautiful girl in Isabela. Agapito would later learn that Rene, Belinda's father, had compromised with the PC to provide grains and poultry in return for protection and maintaining the peace. The military agreed and took Belinda as a grand prize bonus. Rene is said to have done nothing but cry in his angry man's chair.

Ka Linda became the karelas of Ka Pito. They roamed the mountains and slept in riverbanks, put up campfires, and killed military men. In one encounter, she saved his life when he caught a bullet on his right shoulder and fell off the Pulang Tubig Falls. Belinda, an excellent swimmer, dove from the 50-foot cliff and rescued Agapito to safety.


To be concluded.

To view timeline of the EDSA uprising, click here.

Gry and the State of Philippine Music (First of 3 Parts)

"Think of words ending in 'gry'. Angry and hungry are two of them. There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? The word is something that everyone uses every day. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is."


Part I. Hungry. Root word: hunger

Hunger is the sensation one gets when the stomach sends a signal to the brain thru pain receptors that the body needs to be fed. In other words, it is a feeling of lack. The stomach is in a state of constant secretion of acids to break down food particles ingested. When there has been a long period of absence of food, the acids become too concentrated, hurting the stomach linings. Hence, one gets hungry.

Ergo, the simplest solution to end one's hunger is to feed. Chicken, beans, leafy vegetables, rice, softdrink. The stomach is the body's second largest consumer of blood (needs the oxygen to burn fuel) next to the brain. Notice how one tends to feel sleepy on a full stomach? Blood is flushed by the pituitary gland to your mid-section depriving most other body parts, i.e. the head and the extremities. The proverbial "Dalawang kamot na lang, meme na!" never sounded truer.

Ergo do we see the symmetrical inverse of the experience of fullness. As opposed to stupor, the brain now recovers control of the blood supply, remains active, wanting some piece of the action for itself. Notice how one has difficulty sleeping when hungry? One gets out of bed, watches a nun with an eye-patch on tv, or stare at the ceiling. Some write words, have some smokes, make music. A great majority become too used to the experienceof hunger simply because they don't have the time to feel it. Sell more pangsahog, make more roundtrips, pedal more passengers, collect more recyclable trash.

In Spanish, hunger is something one has or owns. When one is hungry, one says "Tengo hambre" which literally means "I have hunger". Scientists say that when the brain reaches an optimal peak, one has a mystical experience. Some call it "seeing the soul face-to-face". Bible researchers pinpoint Jesus' exact moment of Knowing to after his fasting of 40 days and 40 nights (before he came down to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday). Posit it to say that the capacity to withstand hunger is proportional to one's capacity to Know. After all, when one is hungry and homeless, one can rely only on oneself. When a human person is in a state of total vulnerability, it is only then that one can Know one's self.

When you see a taong grasa walking around, blabbering, and taunting stares, have you played with the idea that he or she might be speaking gospel truth? Pop culture even echoes this, albeit in a subtler way, in the rap song "Mr. Wendal" by Arrested Development, and the movie "With Honors". If people listened closer, we realize that this has great political, cultural, and social development value to it. The homeless man's perspective could just possibly hold the key. We definitely haven't gotten any better with a whole value system that perceives reality thru the eyes of wealthy, landed congressmen, fun-loving celebrities, and paycheck mill radio stations.

I can't write any further. I have to eat.

Hunger is Fuel for Music

It's true.