I’ve never heard of Party Punk before I joined my new band. So there really is such a thing. I had my first gig with them last night at Frissan’s, which really isn’t saying much because I think I suck. Heh. Self-ridicule is the best promotion ever. I hope Davao hears more from Gravity 404.
So they say that stuff from The Strokes can count as party pank. What about The Breeders and Le Tigre? Isn’t that party-ish enough? I mean one thing I learned though, Party punk is really about simple sounding riffs (note the use of the word sounding), thick bass lines and crazy, crazy sonic guitars, perky, perky beats and definitely non-sappy lyrics at best. How do you qualify that? God knows. Musical classification has always been a fluid theory. You just can’t put your finger on it but it makes sense as soon as you hear the material and you know a little bit of context.
By the way, I ought to plug my friend’s band Narda. They just released their newest album Discotillion which will shortly be going out through the record stores near you. Maybe not too far from now, I’ll be selling some copies myself, if consignment issues push through hahaha. Anyway, they’re this cool retrosoundingpostpunkishgodknowswhat band, but seriously I’m not a reliable source of critique as of yet because 1.) I’ve only heard two songs from their entire album and 2.) one of the dudes from the band’s my friend and I owe him too many backhanded compliments to even have the gall to plug them here. Do correct me if I’ve misinterpreted anything. Tuggishk, for effect.
Will talk more later.
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I almost forgot to mention about this new bar that opened up at McArthur Highway (right next to the old Petron gas station and in front of Ateneo high). It’s called Moonstomp and the place is very Mayrics-ish. I swear, I have found my Ibiza! It’s owned by one of the coolest people you notice around Davao city, if you get out enough.
Last night, they had party punk acts and some electronica. The only band whose name I caught was the one my friend Pink was with, Gravity 404. Loved their set (or at least half of it, because that was all I caught up with). In any case, it’s actually peculiar that I suddenly had the urge to text Jaenor (this guy who has been asking me to session for their band, who I’ve never met in my life) to ask if the offer was still up. And the next day he replied and told me that it was still open. The weirder part is, he was actually in Moonstomp the night I was there and he was with the band I just mentioned. Whoohoo. So at least I know I’m with the right people. (Smiles.) Can’t wait for Wednesday’s jam session.
I really want to start a shoegazer band, but I don’t think anyone’s in to that here. Which reminds me, I miss my bandmates! One’s in Cebu, another’s in US, and then another’s in Manila. Come on, give me a break kids. Davao’s the place to be at this point. We ought to warm up on the scene here.
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I joined a DJ hunt for UR97 just for kicks and for some reason, I’m actually looking forward to advance in this thing. I mean, the way I see it, if I start working as a jock, I’d be earning money. And the money can go to things I want to spend on for example, a ticket back to Manila. Yes, I’m doing the math already.
I mean, how did that go? If my audition meant anything, it certainly would not be nerve-racking. It’s strange enough that it was all too natural to me. Talking. Talking. Talking. And music seemed like a surplus of thought rather than a forefront, because it’s like my second nature already. I was already thinking about how immensely exciting it would be to get to host rock shows if ever I get in. I mean, beat free tickets, y’all! More bands to review for this website!
Okay, okay, maybe I’m getting too excited and I might get my own medicine by not making it eventually. I’m supposed to hear about the results later, but something tells me that if they don’t find anyone promising from the DJ hunt they’ll be holding in other schools - well, well, well.
I’m doing my math already.
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I’m really in the mood for thinking of someone. Yes, this blogger has a “heart” after all.
Reviewing:
1.) Coldplay - Sparks
2.) Damien Rice - The Blower’s daughter
3.) Blur - Out of time
4.) Julie Delpy - Ocean apart
5.) Broken Social Scene - Lover’s spit
***
If you’re ready for this, kids, my music reflects a lot about my “emotional ressonances”. A friend of mine argues that emoting over music is redundant because music is already feeling. The way I see it, it’s hard to deliniate the two, but we ought to realize that a song cannot be a song without the meaning or sentiments that a person can attach to it. So this entails that a person is separate from the song and whatever was meant by either is something that’s unique from each other. In the end, the meanings might converge. Feelings are never redundant, they’re more often than not, refreshed in us through songs. It makes more sense that way.
Does it?
Currently reading Germain Greer’s Sex and Destiny. Western context though, but Greer pulls it off with her wit and superb analysis.
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My apologies, my apologies! I haven’t updated in the longest time but you have to forgive me if I have to attend to the little people who amuse me outside this blogosphere. I was in Kadayawan last week having fun and was very, very busy getting - shall we say - intoxicated by the festival high. Of course, I watched Up Dharma Down up at Jack’s ridge, as if seeing them once wasn’t enough to make me happy. But I do say kudos to the opening acts, especially The Chicha Rones. They’re a bunch of kids from Ateneo de Davao. And hey, I’m plugging for the sake of plugging because they are pretty good. At this point though, I can only say that I’d love to see more originals from them.
And while I’m on that note, what is up with Go Larry Go lately? I haven’t seen them around, at least not as frequent as before. (PLUS, they ditched the UDD gig!) Way back, they did an opening act for Urbandub at Orange Grove which I felt was one of the best underground gigs that had ever taken place in Davao. I miss False Alarm, too. (Nax and his career, sheesh.) And where are you Nadine si Ate? To the vocalist: Bryan, is law school really sucking you in to that vortex of the serious?
I can’t put my finger on it but the rock scene in Davao is pretty immense if we give them enough credit. I’m reluctant to admit that Manila music is a valid subgenre given as to how it does have a distinct sound that just screams Manilacentricism. Because it makes me think: what about Davao music? Do we have a distinct voice to begin with? I just think Cynthia Alexander or Joey Ayala when I hear the word Davao and attach it to the whole music + geography idea. Inasmuch as there was an appreciable attempt from Eric Gancio to establish a community of Davao musical artists, I haven’t felt its waves yet. Show us some love people! Support the natives.
Kids, any gigs lately?
***
I’m re-appreciating the Cardigans.
If you want me, I’m your country. (From their 2003 album, Long Gone Before Daylight - You’re the storm)
Inter-racial much?
***
I’ll be leaving for Butuan this weekend, and I believe that’ll close the entire deal about my being busy. Afterwhich, perhaps I can shift my priorities to…say that band I was yapping about. I’m not sure if I still have his contact number.
But damn, my fingers are itchy.
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New stuff. Some Daring Vids I noticed: One by Sarah McLachlan. This $150,000 budget video, which incidentally cost $15 only. (Whereas the rest of the money went to charity.) Another by Alanis Morissette, a music video of her single “Crazy”, illustrating the neurotic nature of female same-sex relationships. (Ahem. Wow, I can only say kudos to what Brokeback Mountain did for the world.) Daring vids for today’s kids.
For the OPM scene, on the other hand, you have Barbie Almalbis and Kitchie Nadal on the same screen singing together. This could mean either a boost or a desication of their careers, my darlings. I used to be a big fan of the two and now that they’ve gone mainstream (not that there’s anything wrong with it, as long as you don’t purposefully alter what’s already good about your music), I think I’m slowly but surely losing my musical respect for them. Yes, I know they still have water tight arrangements but it all seems so contrived. You’ll see what I’m talking about if you’ll compare their songs back then and now. When Barbie was still with Hungry Young Poets and the earlier years of Barbie’s Cradle, she composed superb songs like Firewoman, Deep, Goodnight, Money for food, Dark and I’m lonely, Sleep…ack! So much more. Now what do you have? You have that smile, smile thing and that other song for Nescafe. See! I don’t even remember their friggin titles. As for Kitchie, she was so much better with Mojofly. Memorable tracks like Another day will never come out on another day seeing as how she runs the shows. Kitchie, can you make more songs like Run, pretty please? Please?
If you ask me what I think, I don’t like how the 2000 mainstream music scene is going. But we have got to mark this decade with something distinct aside from the dawn of such daring videos. One may have noticed that each decade had its own innovation. 70’s for funk and retro, 80’s for New wave, and then 90’s for pop as we know it, to name a few. Now we ought to ask: What is so different about the musical age of 2000? Is it a hodgepodge of musical genres evolved? Or is it a deconstruction of all of it? Worse: Could it be a desication of these genres? The way I see it, I’m more inclined to indie and older tunes since they’re more loyal to making music out of integrity not for popularity. As Gabriel Marcel would put it, we have to fear the day when opinions (especially those concerning the “palace of art”, and music in this sense) are easily swayed by popular vote.
I don’t know with you, reader. Do you ever see this happening?
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It felt like 80’s today, and paradoxically, I didn’t feel too young. This morning, I discovered my first white hair followed by not hitting it off too well with an old schoolmate who “confronted” me because I “interfered” with her affairs, i.e. correct her grammatical lapses in a friendster message. A lot of people will be on my side on the matter, I’m sure.
I was brain dead for a while.
In other news, I heard Styx on the radio while I was hanging outside school. I think they have these afternoon recall sessions and stuff, which made me think about the music of the past few decades. Okay, I’m not exactly an 80’s person, and I happen to be very selective when it comes to this particular decade especially since my inclinations are anything but pop. You’d catch me listening to The Cure, The Smiths (were they even 80’s?), some U2 and some glam rock, i.e. Aerosmith. This is almost ridiculous when you think about it, how my musical background goes. Whereas other 80’s kids were partial to pop music by the dawn of the 90’s (ala Janet Jackson, perhaps?), I was listening to my older brother playing Metallica’s Master of Puppets album and some Megadeath.
What were the sounds of your childhood?
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I do this sometimes: I go around Davao city and walk in to music stores and start “checking the merchandise”. What I actually end up doing is playing a guitar on display. Sometimes, I get inquisitive looks as to whether I decide to buy the guitar or not. Most of the time, the owner or someone gets impressed. There have been times that I get offers to join a band but I always decline. And in more instances, a crowd gathers around when I end up jamming either by myself or with other people who happen to be in the same store.
A while ago, I skipped P.E. class to do this at where Perfect Pitch used to be in G-mall. (It’s called Sound Chaser now, which must be an outlet of the Sound Chaser in Quirino.) In any case, I finally got to play a guitar after months of being utterly deprived. God. I need a new guitar fast and I need to start playing in gigs and stuff.
Before I left Manila, I actually got to play in some joint in Katipunan. The crowd was lovely and were just fun to be with. They were laughing and were actually talking back when I tell them some nonsense about being a probinsyana in the big city. I really miss that scene. I wish I could play in front of a crowd like that here. Here in Davao, I always end up with an unappreciative audience who incidentally can’t get any of the pseudointellectual things I say. (Maybe I’m at the wrong place, any recommendations?) Mind you, in one of my gigs here, I tried mentioning indie bands in my little talks in between people just goggled at me. In Manila, I got applause and “Oh yeah”s from the audience when I mention bands like Modest mouse, Broken Social Scene, Flaming Lips and Sonic Youth as my influences. Here, I don’t get applause unless I play my usual Barbie’s Cradle covers or some really, really familiar song of some really, really familiar female artist. Grr. I wish Davaoenyos would appreciate music that rightfully deserves musical merit rather than give more premium on what is considered “hip” or “hot” tracks of the moments. Remember, great music outlives its hype.
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Aha. What has been keeping me lately, eh? I’m reportedly busy enduring a noble position that leaves people to refer to me as a Deputy Chief Adjudicator, which really shouldn’t impress anyone if you only know me too well. For weeks now, I have been training a promising batch of newbie debaters and nothing more can possibly fatten my already (pressumably) fat heart. Today, the kids had a mini-tournament among themselves, and I’m delighted to know that the trainees assigned to my block (since the entire contingent was divided into four houses, under respective trainers - I, being one of them) ranked impressively today. Yihee! Hope they’ll kick more ass tomorrow. Oh, how those kids make me so proud.
In other news, this guy Jaenor has been egging me to session for them. I’m just really, really sad that my commitments tell me that, right at this moment - inasmuch as I’d love to - I simply cannot take him up on his offer. Although, if I should be more honest with myself, I’m not certain how the guy even plays. All he ever tells me is that their band plays party punk, which sounds really new to me. All I can think of really is ala Interpol or Franz Ferdinand…is this it? (Isn’t that post-punk? Which reminds me, you have got to hear Film school!) I’ll concede that they’re good bands but I’ve never played along those lines. Partly why I regret not being able to join in on Jaenor’s jam sessions is probably because the thought of it sounds challenging to me. God, my fingers haven’t worked since I sold my guitar. I think I need this bad…
I hope I have more time in my hands later.
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Jack Sparrow has got to learn pilates.
He has the knack for it. He wobbles like a drunkard and yet he manages to get from point A to point B (in less time than expected, at that). Plus, he possesses this uncanny flexibility which is native in all those who are pilates-pros. Pirates learn pilates, how’s that?
(Read: Potential spoilers) Aside from Johnny Depp, everyone else seemed so blah. Kiera you’re hot but honey, you don’t look too happy when you were “reunited” with Orlando. What about you, Orlando? What happened? God, if you weren’t so yummy I would have hacked you senseless with a medieval axe. What’s up with all the Alas!-you’re-my-long-lost-father and I-will-save-you-because-daddy-you-were-gone-for-so-long-and-yet-I-love-you theme, which unconsciously alludes to Star Wars? And why can people like Kate Bosworth date him and rub torsos with Brandon Routh at the same time? The world is unfair! Give me back my money!
Yes, we see all the faces were looking for from this year’s input of Pirates of the Carribean (Dead man’s chest) but I had to ask really, why bring in Geoffrey Rush at the end of the movie when we all needed that slob from the start? Would have made things more interesting. I bet he would have blown the heads off those Cannibals, who are incidentally low in attention span, instead of those “pirates” running around the island. Come back and fight, cowards! Do that “Harr!” thing you do. I need sword fight. The only sword fight worth mentioning was when the three “men” in the movie fight over someone’s “heart”. It doesn’t sound right! Sword fight that’s not right? Okay, okay, if I have to give ‘em some credit, I did appreciate some of the antics. Kiera acting like a bimbo, throwing stones at Orlando and Jack and that (forgettable) other guy while they fight. The pirate and his gallivant eye, (as in gallivant), period. The fuzzy feeling you get when you see those giant tentacles flashing at the silver screen. Sitting next to this guy who laughs like a girl so you end up laughing too. Having to see Orlando’s precious, precious back get whipped. (I’m thinking S&M, whohoo!) And a whole lot more.
That’s Hollywood highway-robbing right there, folks. Oh, I can’t wait for the next installment.
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