Archive for category Indie
Sweden is my music capital!
I can’t begin to describe why I think I should relocate to Sweden. Perhaps the first line of this song will explain: “I’m in love with your brother”.
Sweden is my music mecca, I know it.
The Knife – Pass this on (Live)
The Knife – Pass this on
AHHH!!!! FEVER RAY!
Posted by Kim in Electronic, Genre, Indie, Music, Music Videos on July 16th, 2010
Ack! I am now having a musical orgasm because I just discovered that a member of my favorite band The Knife released a solo project under her pseudonym Fever Ray. And that was back in 2009! Where have I been all this time? It is a FANTASTIC record! I cannot stop listening to its haunting tunes and melancholic (somewhat post-apocalyptic) vibe. My heart is flying high in the clouds of musical ecstasy!
Kings of Convenience – Boat behind
Posted by Kim in Folk, Foreign, Indie, Music Videos on July 7th, 2010
I absolutely dig their album “Declaration of Dependence”. Full of feel good song, healthy for the heart. Thanks to Kaye for bringing my attention this music.
Changes / Indiewho?
My Brightest Diamond
Okay, what just happened there in 2009? It went by like a blur. All snide comments aside about my utter lack of indie juice for that year, I could say that my personal evolution has tremendously affected the course of this website’s content. As I review all my entries it’s been so issue-oriented and later on, I tried to experiment on describing sensations evoked by music and vice-versa. The latter is a somewhat out-of-body experience, if you will, which might require a slight intoxication on my part (again, real or imagined).
But enough of my self-indulgent musings. This year, I wish to introduce a new dimension to this blog which is to feature guest writers. That’s right. Other voices writing on this blog aside from moi. I’m sure by now you’re tired of this highly cynical and weird eccentric behind the keyboard. Fine. We’ll drag in another highly cynical and weird eccentric behind the keyboard! Hah.
So yes, expect some guy named Francis to pop into this scene once in a while. By the way, Francis is a guy I can easily monitor. By that, I don’t mean in the Foucauldian sense of the word nor at a predatory sense whereby I am the stalker and he is the stalkee. No. It is like the kind of monitor where I can see him sitting in front of class and slap his back startling enough that will remind him to write some more. Take not that Francis is in no way being remunerated for his efforts yet (at least as far as cash is concerned because I will probably be subject to some ‘homework collaboration’ in the future should he ask for assistance in the event that I will be guilt-tripped to oblige). But you know! You get the point. He is also a ‘prolific’ indie artist. By that I mean he has his own myspace! (Okay, up to you if you get my sick and twisted humor). Kidding. Again, let’s get that out of the way and just anticipate his words because you can probably pick up a thing or two from this extremely tenacious music geek.
I am also dragging some of my other friends into this salad of music geekery. When they are no longer pretending to be busy – like I used to do. Of course, in case they are telling me matter-of-factly that they have work this blah blah blah, I’m sure I’ll find a way to squeeze out a little piece of their wonderful minds once I’ve found their bargain weakness. So there. That’s what you’ll be expecting this 2010 in Southisms. Shove Kim to the sides with her boring commentaries at late and in with the new fabulous music critics who’ve got some fresh insights in to the musical esse.
Now, time for a playlist. Maestro! Music!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
My Brightest Diamond - Something of an end [Download]
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Moby - Shot in the back of the head [Download]
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The Books and Jose Gonzales - Cello Song [Download]
Imagining music in 1969
1969
1969 was such a great year for music regardless of the historic Woodstock which took place at the outskirts of New York state. 1969’s music glory owes itself to the culture surrounding it at that time. The restlessness of Vietnam protests. The counter-culture youth in face with the highly conservative and blindly patriotic generation that had lived through the traumatic World War II. 1969 was the height of hallucinogenic substances which inspired new ways of recognizing the world. It was also a time of repression and therefore resistance.
1969 also inspired indie. That music celebrates loving the street musician or playing the record on mono. Indie was also about Bob Dylan rejecting to play at Woodstock. Indie was making music for the sake of music. Or music to save lives. And that there was something hateful about record companies, especially after what they have done to The Beatles. And speaking of The Beatles, 1969 was the last time The Beatles were seen in live performance at the rooftop of Apple Records. It was also the year when John Lennon performs as a solo artist and cries, “Give Peace a Chance”. There was something so distinctly resounding about those words at that time, which now is just a song that we happen to know and have heard on the radio before.
1969 was when Bob Marley and the Wailers emerged from obscurity and began to popularize Reggae. It was also Elvis Presley’s most monumental and critically-acclaimed comeback. Simon and Garfunkel and Jackson 5 debuts – a mark of the beginning of another era in music which is the 70’s folk or pop ballad.
When I close my eyes and think about the alternative lifestyles and the music and the pleasures so prolific in 1969, I kind of wish I lived at least a day in that year and just have a look-see of what was going on. Just as though the Times they are a ‘changin. Just to feel that sense of wonder as one watches the first man land on the moon.
Indie music culture in Davao
Posted by Kim in Davao, Indie, Local, Mainstream, Music, The "South" on December 1st, 2009
Gig logos courtesy of tunogtimog.tk
At late, I’ve been sort of a drifter in the so-called local music “scene”, partly because having to go to all the gigs and listening to the same people and the same songs over and over can eventually grow tiring, (not to mention being coaxed in to yet another drinking session, which I have already outgrown) even though it’s totally hip to support the local music scene. A part of me still thinks that showing up to these things is helpful in mobilizing gigs, and as a result you’ve got a healthy music sub/culture. (Note: In fact, this was exactly what Paolo Castillo and the early Kaibans have envisioned. Making music gigs a habit in order for musicians to habitually create and play music.)
Years later I realized that in Davao, the music culture has met some difficulty in departing from the “gig” machinery. On one hand, you have got to admire how the locals have finally warmed up to the idea of recording their original music, also home recording at that. However, recording became an alibi to go out and support yet another gig. I know I’ll divide the discussion on this but I daresay that music distribution hasn’t outgrown selling CDs to friends (even giving them away for free – as alternative interpretations of “indie” permit). And so it comes as no surprise that you have a handful of very talented musicians and even music producers that have a day job. Unless you’re the likes of Noel Cabangon, Gauss Obenza, Bayang Barrios, Popong Landero…you know…the MTS people.
In a “scene” where music is appreciated but not necessarily “sold” (not to be confused with “sold out” as that requires a more complex qualification), being a musician is just not a career option around these parts. And so Davao has made it possible to have a music scene without a music industry. Because the latter for me is manifested by the proliferation of artists who have records people go out of their way to buy in order to listen to. When artists have a listener-ship with demand high enough to “inspire” more music, then tautologically, you’ve got yourself a market. But unlike this ideal scenario you notice that in Mindanao, the artist is lax on the business side of music. Which is fine but it’s symptomatic of obscurantism and a low appreciation of independent music. Independent music is a musical process or genre that is, more often than not, commercially relaxed or devoid of formulaic musicality that the only way to give it artistic justice is for it to be appreciated by as wide an audience as possible.
The Reminder
Feist Live
I don’t like to admit that I like The Carpenters, because in my mind I wouldn’t count them as a personal favorite but as it turns out I do like how their songs sound like without necessarily subscribing to The Carpenters shrine ring. I sometimes find myself bopping my head to the kind of song that reminds me how The Carpenters write their songs. I’m not saying that, the song that I hear which then remind of another, lacks originality. My guess is that people who write these somewhat parallel songs simply share outbursts of sensation, whether melancholy or joy, and share sensibilities that cut across age gaps.
I also say music is always inspired by another music or the sounds of nature, which sounds just the same for everyone if they just listen carefully.
For that matter, I truly admire Feist’s latest ruminations. Her album The Reminder interestingly evokes that kind of musical fervor in me. Her song reverberates in the room in your brain where they keep memories and nostalgia, real or imagined. And washes you with body tingles with each deep instrumental vibration.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I’m writing to you now as I listen through this beautiful album…
A cold heart will burst / if mistrusted first
A calm heart will break / when given a shake
Golden Noises
Eric Calilan on his mobile electronic sound factory. Photo by Andi Baldonado.
All of music comes from sound. Music has no place without it.
Chi’s brainchild is a stark illumination of noise and sound. With the exhibition of “Golden Noises” last Saturday, sound was marvelously deconstructed by several electronic gadgets and makeshift instruments.
Eric Calilan fuses electronic vibrations and crude midi to give his sound set some serious teeth. He severs conventional music bars and devices new time signatures. It’s remarkable what a few twists and buttons can create and express. His renderings are neither crude nor delicate. It is purely alien.
The set was followed by Chuck Fournier’s more melodious but playful sonic renderings. It is truly a sound trip that blows the mind when one follows its unpredictable current and abrupt punctuations. The beat he utilizes toward the end was misleading. There is no rhythm but your heartbeat. Sound has no rhythmic base only fluidity.
Lastly, Toshiyuki Seido has a very direct message. His is an upfront barbaric display. He strikes me as a very sadistic artist, forcing his audiences to painful noise. The volume explodes and reverberates beyond one’s noise threshold. It escalates the body to a shock so great it is only escapable with silence. My interpretation is that he uses his instrument as a torture device, piercing you in strategic points while you are threatened with the knowledge that you can no longer escape. If you stayed and listened, you are secretly a masochist. To some, masochism is a legitimate form of pleasure. And that is probably why I walked out.
Truly, every bit of sound is striking and exhilarating. The concert was both an artistic and emotional exploration.
Animal Collective – Bluish
Posted by Kim in Foreign, Indie, Music, Music Videos on July 29th, 2009
Hey, listen to this. My current sound trip.
Li Eid il Feter Al Mubarrak: End of Ramadan
I know this is a couple of days late, but I believe I have never mentioned to anyone on this blog that I’d love to go to Istanbul someday. My curiosity was piqued when Kaye gave me a promotional music CD for a hotel in Istanbul. It’s a full album featuring different Turkish artists, and although still bordering on the electronica, it wasn’t the Trance Eurasia music I had expected were proponents of their country’s scene. The Music was more diverse than I expected. The Point Hotel’s album collection is aptly titled, “Sweet Dreams”, like you could dream about a very culturally sacrosanct Byzantine Turkey while you’re in Modern Istanbul (formerly Constantinople). I am very in love with the track entitled, “Pink Wings”, which sports undertones of the Islamic beat combined with ethereal vocals.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Point Hotel – Pink Wings [Download]
Again, Eid’l Fet’r.
www.kim.southisms.com
Recent Comments