In the process of coming up with this list I remembered something my boss used to tell me. Disc jockeys are never the masters of their playlist. They pander to their audience. There may be occasional digs but only because you love it as much as your audience. But for everything else…there’s no way you’re going to play to others the music you play in your bedroom.

I’ll let you in my room for now.

Not my ACTUAL room but...once upon a room.

Warpaint – Set Your Arms [ Download ]

Oh Land – Wolf & I [ Download ]

Cults – Go Outside [ Download ]

Mumford and Sons – The Cave [ Download ]

James Blake – Limit to your love [ Download ]

Window seats are the best! (Source: Click-through)

So I admit: I have been stalling lingering but I’m slowly being coaxed to the thought of being on a plane to a lalaland. The best part of my mental picture of this trip is the actual plane ride. I love riding planes despite the crappy airplane food in some trips I’ve been on and the even crappier music they have on-flight. But for now, let me emphasize on the latter. SERIOUSLY. If you are a point person from any particular airline – especially a certain flag carrier I’m quite familiar with – please, please, PLEASE consult someone on the music you play on board. Including but not limited to the choice of channels for your in-flight music “radio”, I’m not sure what you call it. What is up with all the eighties jazz music? I don’t mean to be an elitist, but honestly, have y’all not heard of music from at least the likes of Buddha Bar? Come on. Or even more tasteful post-rock alternative music NOT adult radio for the young and hip like moi. Consider that in-flight you are not allowed to use your ipod or any electronic device which carries one’s music of choice. That could be 13 hours on the plane in my case. Acceptable. But please, please, PLEASE care to accommodate different demographics when it comes to music and films.

Okay, so now I’m done with my rant.

What kind of music would I want to hear on a plane anyway? Naturally the kind of music that convinces me I’m going to live through the flight!

Anyway, this playlist is in no way my recommendation on what constitutes I’m-gonna-live-after-this-flight music. But I sure would be pleasantly surprised if I hear this music on the plane.

MGMT – Time to pretend [ Download ]

La Roux – In for the kill [ Download ]

Hooverphonic – Mad about you [ Download ]

Jonsi – Tornado [ Download ]

Hey Ocean – California [ Download ]

To which he agreed, before realizing the consequence. He later realized that we had roughly about 12 hours to kill.

“So where are we going?” I asked him.

“I don’t know…” he said, as panic crept up in his expression.

“But you’re supposed to know this city better than I do!”

He looked dumbfounded.

I got up and went to the counter of the coffee shop. Shortly after I asked a few questions, I went back to our table and started packing up.

“Uh…where are we going?” he asked me.

“Trust me.”

“Do you know where we’re going?”

“I think so.”

In the jeep, my friend looked uncomfortable.

“Looks like I’m taking you out of your comfort zone.” I said to him.

He nods.

We finally reached our destination. It is a quaint place in the other side of town called, “The Strip”. Literally. There’s a sign that says so.

We found a place where we could have a warm cheap-ass meal and we decided to have a few drinks.

Over drinks the man could barely hold his alcohol. And then he said, “This is so new to me and yet you do this all the time…these spontaneous trips. My life, on the other hand, is summarized like this: work and home…” After a few more drinks and some issues sorted, he drawls, “You know, I haven’t talked like this with anyone in eight months!”

I just smiled. Mission accomplished.

We capped the night in a corner store with a videoke coin-slot machine. He dedicated the songs, “Puff the magic dragon” and “Leaving on a Jet plane” to me. I understood why he picked the latter song…but PUFF THE MAGIC FRIGGIN DRAGON?! The former on the hand, if taken literally, is a fucked up song about this dragon who eventually lost his friend which prompted him to become a recluse. Gee.

Never too old for videoke.

We exited when the table next to us started singing Aegis. On our way out he said to me, “Let’s meet here five years later. Same place.”

I’m writing this down to remember and also because he snores like an ox. Damn it. I guess I’m going to have to sleep it off in the bus.

Note to self: Tomorrow is my last pitstop before I head back to homebase. I think it’s just about the right time.

For tonight’s playlist, I thought I’d pepper it with a bit of nostalgia. As I always say, things are a lot more memorable when you experience them in a new place. If you happen to have a listen, try doing so somewhere new, somewhere outside your comfort zone. Take your laptop outdoors or load the song in your player and listen to it while you drive your way to work or school. Hopefully…hopefully, you’ll remember this post even after five years.

Eva Cassidy – Fields Of Gold [ Download ]

Adele – Hometown Glory (Hotel Cafe Live) [ Download ]

Peter, Paul & Mary – Puff The Magic Dragon [ Download ]

Paul Simon – Love And Hard Times [ Download ]

Sean Lennon – Tomorrow [ Download ]

If you want to search yourself look for inspiration. Simply, travel.

On the road. Where the heck am I?

On the road I’ve been listening to some tunes that are completely off-tangent from what people usually find me listening to. It’s a mix of post-punk with classic bass licks, dubstep, electro-pop, post-punk, and a few…chipmunks?! No, seriously. It has upped my mood tremendously so have a listen if you want some cheer. Traveling is supposed to refresh your perspective…revitalize you. Today’s playlist sort of represents that.

Recommendation: For ideal listening, grab all the songs by right clicking and save target/link as an mp3 file. Play in the order suggested here and if you know how to set up crossfade on your music player, set it at 8. Enjoy!

Starfucker – Girls just want to have fun (cover) [ Download ]

League – Golden Maps [ Download ]

Get People – Away [ Download ]

Kastle – I know [ Download ]

Cassius – I love you so [ Download ]

I love the rain and it always puts me in a pensive if not sedate mood. It never fails to relax me. Unfortunately, for some of us it doesn’t. I realized this when I was talking to a friend who was one of the survivors of the flash floods that occured last month in Northern Mindanao. The sound of rain makes her nervous and keeps her from getting any shut eye. What more now that the rainy season kicked off early this year?

Our environment will always have a hand in activating emotions in our brain. It varies in each person, depending on their experience of such stimulus. Sometimes we just can’t help it. Memories make fleeting moments permanent. We often find ourselves slaves to our good and bad memories of things.

Everything is perspective. This is how we become resilient. There is hope. Donate NOW.

Walking in the rain will never be the same again for the survivors of Typhoon Sendong. (Photo by: REUTERS)

Giselle Rosselli – Small People [ Download ]

The Honey Trees – To be with you [ Download ]

Blondfire – Oceans [ Download ]

Ashley Chambliss – A little more of you [ Download ]

Gnarls Barkley – Crazy (Basement Jam) [ Download ]

Speaking of maturity, this blog is going on six years. That’s more than half a decade! I’ve had my ins and outs with the world of music. Wish I had the time and energy to tell you what it’s been like for me over the year (musically), but I’d much rather “look forward” to new happenings so to speak.

Though if I’d put the whole year 2011 in retrospect I have only this to say: it was the year of heartbreak for me.

An ironic piece of art which supposedly means "Fuck Love".

No, this won’t turn in to one of those sappy posts wherein I vent about my sorry romantic travails. After all I find that hardly necessary given that I’ve dumped most of my emotional garbage in my other blog. This blog is about music, so music it shall be.

Fact: Music saved my life in 2011. Every time something tragic happened, there would always be a soundtrack to lift my spirits. And vice-versa. Simply put, music was such a big part of my life last year.

I spent somber afternoons with Chet Baker crooning/trumpeting in my player while I wandered the city alone. 2011 was also the year I got in to artists like Crystal Castles, Kavinsky, M83, Thieves like us, to name but a few. Thanks to them, I began accomodating eighties-influenced synth-pop which turns out to be an acquired taste for a lot of us. While on facebook, I established a group named “Kim’s Music Party” which grew into a 100+ strong social network, allowing every member to share the music that they’re currently hooked to. AND thanks to this group, a few members got me in to a genre called “Chill wave”. For weeks on end I would not stop listening to bands like Washed Out and Toro Y Moi. Brilliant! Just what I needed to get in to a meditative mood.

Then toward the BER months of 2011 I found myself spontaneously belting Adele’s heart-wrenching ballad, “Someone like you” (harmonizing with my friend, Rodge, no less). I remember doing so in the shower, in random drunken nights and even in the morning IN a train WITH lots of people quietly making their way to daily business.

I just had to pick this photo of Adele smoking since I think she's cool like that.

I have a lot of tracks in mind right now, I feel like my head is exploding with ideas. This reminds me, I spent New Year’s eve checking out what was on the Best of 2011 in various charts. From The Rolling Stone, to Time, to Ryan Seacrest’s KIIS FM segment and finally the Billboard. I think I took a look at other minor charts and they differ in many ways. Overall, one thing is for sure: Adele dominated music this year. Let alone that my personal yardstick for musical greatness has something to do with the frequency I break in to the song.

At this point in the article, I’d like to share some of the most defining tracks of the year – from my point of view. It’s just a list of the songs that got me through 2011 and are pretty much the same songs that got me starting my year right.

Attention noobs: Feel free to right click on [Download] and scroll to save target/link as. I highly recommend that you play these songs in the order indicated below because I am OC with music like that. But whatever!

M83 – Midnight City [ Download ] – Imagine this song blaring loudly during a night out. It’ll give you a sense of being transported to some kind of musical high. It has a subtle sensuality to the sound, electro-synth clashing with Saxophone? They make it work and it makes me delirious! This song confirms that one, the French are undoubtedly topnotch when it comes to electro music and that two, M83 is one of those artists I ought to kick myself for not knowing about much earlier.

Washed Out – Feel it All Around [ Download ] – My friend Alex showed me a music video of Washed Out and it epitomized precisely what their music is about: chillfuckingwave. You couldn’t be more relaxed just listening to this tune whether you’re hitting the beach or off to a chill out party.

Mogwai – White Noise [ Download ] – This song is the first track off their 2011 album, “Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will”. I wonder how this (arguably) post-rock/core band come up with such immortal tunes. White Noise is self-effacing, unhurried and hands-down epic.

The Joy Formidable – Whirring [ Download ] – I absolutely cannot contain my eargasm when I listen to this song! Sonic guitars right off the bat, spunky vocals then finished off with a guitar ad lib that will literally ring in your ears – perfection! This is possibly one of my most favorite songs this year owing to the fact that it really speaks to my personality AND it’s fronted by one of the most amazing female musicians. You should look up a live version of this song and I dare you to come back and tell me they’re NOT absolutelyfuckingawesome. If you do, I’ll punch you anyway.

Adele – Someone Like You [ Download ] – I think I was Adele-ing through out 2011. ‘Nuff said.

Coldplay – Us Against the World [ Download ] – Although when the new sound first came out it was hard to place Coldplay in all of it. Honestly, I used to think it was their way of pretentiously dabbling in to the highly synthesized sound making a rise in the world of music. The technical tweaking of their sound was so blatant, I despised it. Little did I know… The album Mylo Xyloto would turn out to be one of the most played albums on my playlist. What the heck. Fine, I love it to bits. Down to the instrumental interludes that fill between the songs together. The stuff that make Coldplay concerts absolutely seamless. This song stuck out for me because it managed to retain Coldplay’s organic and melancholic sound while treating it with the new vibe.

Dawes – Time Spent in Los Angeles (KXT Live) [ Download ] – I love this track simply because it speaks to me in so many ways. It’s about finding new love in a new place. I sure need a lot of love to go around this coming year. I am migrating to the US, particularly California, this year. It’s nothing like the song “Rocketeer” by Far East Movement (LA Dreamer version) which at one point was my rough sketch of what the musical vibe of Los Angeles might sound like. Dawes sprinkles that idea with variety and gets me all excited to finally move there and check out the music on that side of the world.

Crystal Castles – Not in love (featuring Robert Smith) [ Download ] – It’s hyper, jerky, cold and modern. It’s hard to tell if the song speaks about someone who’s in denial or an asshole. While the studio version of this song has its own charm – it is muffled and almost indecipherable, it can’t be denied that this rendition with Robert Smith is simply stunning. Wait a minute…it’s THE Robert Smith of the legendary band The Smiths singing on a Crystal Castles single. That sealed the deal for me.

Roisin Murphy – Overpowered [ Download ] – “When I think that I’m over you, I’m overpowered.” Hook, line and sinker. So 2011 for me.

Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition [ Download ] – Not exactly what you’d expect as the cap for this end of year playlist. Let’s just say, this is the anthem I want to have for the rest of 2012. I’m still on the lookout for that fleeting/permanent Sweet Disposition.

Happy new year, loves!

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!

My Brightest Diamond - Something of an end [Download]

Moby - Shot in the back of the head [Download]

The Books and Jose Gonzales - Cello Song [Download]

I was able to do a phone trial for WOMWorld for the new Nokia E71. I wrote an extensive review on my other blog which I hope you guys should check out. Here’s an excerpt:

Their E71 model inspires enthusiasm among Nokia consumers especially among the growing number of people who have jumped in to the Wireless LAN bandwagon. Personally, it’s about time that mobile phones began to fully embrace the internet and enhance its flexibility and capability to surf it.

It also has its own built-in music player which comes in handy if you don’t have your own mp3 player like in my situation. I use the phone to listen to the Music I’m in to at the moment so I’ll let you in on some of the songs on my current list.

• Ellen Allien & Apparat - Do not break
• Sigur Ros- Gobbledigook
• Trentemoller – Miss you
• De la Mancha – Lotus seven

By the way, the song from Sigur Ros on my playlist from their newest album entitled in a long Icelandic name I can hardly pronounce. The album is a bit happier than the more epic tunes we’re so used to hear from the band like from the original soundtrack of the movie Vanilla Sky. Speaking of movies, the movie The Fountain which is a personal favorite features the song from Trentemoller, a pensive new age tune. Check ‘em out.

Y’all have a nice weekend!

Yesterday, I felt rain on my head.  Walking through a crowded place, everyone is bustling, running for cover, scrounging for a ride home.

Yet I moved through the noisy crowd like the film and music was slow and sad. Like Karen Carpenter cooed at my ear with her cold voice.  I have always wondered why the rain was such a sad occasion on most literary references.

Oh, and by the way Scarlett Johansson can sing.

Now, I have a clear bias for the disk jockey software I was used to before, and I really think that it’s still the best way of smoothly transitioning songs with one another.  I am specifically fond of the program OtsDJ from OtsLabs but unfortunately only the trial version is available online and they come with annoying OtsDJ stingers that I can’t remove.  So that alone eliminated the prospect of my using it for the party.  Its full version is obviously minus the stingers but cost about a whopping USD 999.95.  But that price is good for professional Radio Broadcasting companies, without going through the trouble of renewing their license for the use of the product.  Clearly, Ots targets a niche market but if ordinary people could get their grubby paws on this thing, it’d top ordinary party music players.  It has its own audio leveling initiative, that even if you transition songs manually, it gives you a hint of where to start off without the songs sounding weird next to each other.  Radio networks try to cheat this awkward transitioning by putting on stingers in between say for example, it’d be strange to put a JayZ song next to something from…Josh Groban.  So you put something in between that cleverly inserts your station ID “Killerboop FM, your music priority” blah blah.  (Which reminds me, I have yet to write about HOW to make a good music compilation since the same principles apply). With the case of Ots, it crossfades the songs smoothly next to each other with or without anything inbetween.  You can continuously play music and it’ll fix things for you automatically.

Since I wrote off Ots from my list, I had to come up with a FREE alternative.  And I chose from four different softwares, namely: Virtual DJ, iTunes, Windows Media Player, and Rhapsody.

Virtual DJ probably has the nearest features to Ots but again it’s not for free.  I  managed to buy an installer from a shop in Manila and have the full version installed on my laptop.  The great thing about Virtual DJ is that, as the name implies, its really made for a DJ.  Not the kind of DJ I used to be, but DJs who play for clubs and are technically playing club music.  I didn’t want to play an all club music playlist for the party because of the moderately “behaved” crowd, if you don’t mind me saying.  But had I intended to play for a crowd more open to House music, this would be the most excellent software to use.  It features an Auto Sync beatmapping thing that lets you match the tempo of a song automatically.  It also gives you an option to transition the beats by the number of bar counts in between.  Okay, that’s DJ talk already.  Mind you, this is ALSO another niche product which hits a happy nerve among its enthusiasts.  Plus, if you really get in to the mixing thing, you can record your entire mix via the program, leaving out the hassle of recording hardware that can burn a hole in your pocket. The next thing you know, you can burn your own music mix straight from the desktop.

Moving on to the poor man’s media players?  I hope not.  We all know how GREAT the almighty Apple iTunes is, but let’s measure how functional this player can be for parties.  First of all, I love its crossfade effect.  It’s as smooth as the visual transition interface used for the iPod, hard to explain really.  But by the sound of it, its the best among cheap downloadable music players.  I’ve also noted that building a playlist with iTunes is by far the easiest to deal with.  I like the idea that I can organize all my playlists in a viewable area at the left sidebar, and drag and drop music files from anywhere: even from other media players!  And some music software won’t let you do that.  My big problem with iTunes has more to do with its rather bland aesthetics.  If it’s music and functionality you’re looking for, you wouldn’t mind playing it on a software that looks like a spreadsheet.

I hardly want to talk about Windows Media Player since it’s practically a local software but I considered it because of its really familiar interface.  The newest version out there, which I use on Windows Vista is one that eliminates the standard row of functions, only to appear if you press ALT.  What I don’t like about Media Player is its rather juvenile Visualizations that come along with the package, which the newest version of Winamp has already beat.  (Note: I didn’t include Winamp in this review because I think it deserves an entire post, to follow).  Where was I?  Yes, WMP is so uninteresting these days.  What I do like about it is NOT the fact that you can change the surface colors but that you can incorporate it in such a stylish way on the taskbar.  It’s not on the system tray it’s on the left side of the bar when minimized as you can see in this picture:

Never mind the product placement there.  Anyway, it’s posited at that side of taskbar you get what I mean?  You can set it up via the taskbar properties.  It’s a great way for Windows to monopolize features all over again!

Last but not the least is the most elusive Rhapsody.

My friend uses this for their bar and it’s a great software to use if you want to attend to everyone’s request. Why?  Because it’s powered by no less than the internet!

Real Rhapsody has iTunes’ playlist building flexibility whereas you can access the internet for full albums from your favorite artists.  Its dashboard is intuitive that it makes an artist suggestion for you based on the kind genre of the artists that you look up on Rhapsody.  And because you can access songs so easily from the internet, it’s likewise more accessible when it comes to building a playlist from a database larger than the ones you have on file.  Unfortunately, it comes with a catch: you have to pay.  At least for either a monthly subscription of USD 9.95 or a yearly sum worth USD 20.00, and those are the last prices I checked before the oil hike, yikes. The software itself is downloadable for free and is fairly respectable when it comes to archiving your music without getting confused.  It’s just that, you can get away with other music players that uses less memory for local music playing.

Out of all of the poor man’s category, I’d say iTunes wins this one and I’d recommend this for an easygoing mp3 player experience. As for the other players, most features I liked are superficial ones, and among those who’ve I’ve lauded for their systematic depth of function, it’s such a drag having to dole out so much cash so that you can appreciate some music.  You’d rather burn a CD.