Welcome to my side of the 'net. I ruminate over music, books, movies, places, or people that have somehow made me what I am or continue to influence me to this day. I usually post links to mp3s of songs I find interesting.
ATTENTION:
The mp3s linked to this site are for evaluation and sample purposes only. The files are only hosted temporarily, so if they're unavailable, it's gone for good. If possible, some of these links are sourced back to the musicians's official website. Please make sure to support the musicians featured herein by buying their records, going to their shows, and purchasing their merch.
I'm sold! I think I'm down with the fairer sex fronting bands from this genre. The heart-on-sleeve lyrics are more believable to me as a listener. Another band that's got a great female tenor on vocals is Laguna-based Effinboiche. With their vocalist Alex Fuentes, this band would've made it much bigger in the Pinoy rock scene. It looks like plans have changed for the group since she has now moved to the US. Hopefully she could find a band that could use her skill and talent--I mean look at the Youtube clip below. Singing live with that range and playing guitar for a high-octane band like that is no easy task. I never thought there was anyone out there that could give Hayley from Paramore a run for her money.
Note: the audio on the Youtube video is very rough, so you've been informed. Download the studio version of the song to really appreciate what's going on with the band's performance.
My favorite weekly broadsheet, The Stranger, is again holding the annual Strangercombie Annual Holiday Gift Auction. Like any other year, this one proves to have something of interest to anyone with extra cash, a competitive streak, and a generous heart. The beneficiary of this year's event will be Seattle's Farestart--a local organization that does skills training the homeless and financially disadvantaged in the community.
Some interesting items up for bid include silkscreened concert posters, an iPod shuffle filled with a playlist by Sub Pop Records head honcho Bruce Pavitt, a SIFF package, karaoke with American Idol Blake Lewis, and many others.
I got to see the UK skinhead drama This Is England a couple of weeks ago. It's the story of a preteen boy in the 80's trying to find sense out of his dad's death during the Falklands conflict by keeping company with a bunch of skinheads. At first, the group was just fine with hanging out and having a good time. Things turned sour though as one of their own got to return from prison spewing hatred--and rhetoric wasn't enough to drive the point home.
I think my expectation for this movie was going to have the same moral complexities that American History X had. Unfortunately the film only delivers what we already know about racist factions and their self-loathing ilk. If anything, the viewer gets to realize the way the subculture contradicts itself, especially with their music choices. I'll have to admit that the reggae soundtrack including Toots and The Maytals was what made me enjoy the film marginally. I also did like the final scene with The Smiths' Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want playing in the background.
Here's a version of that song as covered by Deftones (since you guys and gals may already have heard the original so many times).
This supplementary post is for all the loyal returnees suffering from music download withdrawal.
So I came across this post from I Am Fuel, You Are Friends that alerted me about what looks like a secret Green Day side-project called Foxboro Hottubs. I never really was a GD fan perhaps partly because their rise signaled the end of the 90's Seattle sound, but whatever...I thought I'd give this thing an open-minded listen and actually enjoyed what was going on in the background. The music has Billy Joe's usually overbearing sneering vocals only set to stun for this one. Check out the mod-retro stylings of the group as they try to kick it retro.
They're all elements in the new Baroness video for Wanderlust from Red Album. I've been raving about these boys for the past few months now, so here's another one to puff them up. I know...I've been scouring Youtube for quite a bunch of stuff, thanks for the observation.
I'm melting down over the awesomeness that is Machine Girl. Revenge plot? Check. Gatling-gun arm attachment? Check. Killer Ninja? Check. Drill bra (you read that correctly)? Check. Gratuitous violence? Check. If any of this is turning you on so badly, go ahead and look at the preview below. You'll thank me later. Put me down for a DVD or five.
Yeah, how about another post today to make up for the drought? Here's a great video I found which reimagines Iggy and The Stooges' I Wanna Be Your Dog in peculiar fashion (yes, pun intended).
First off, allow me to apologize for not posting for a while. It looks like some malicious shit was happening to blogdrive's servers, redirecting all the client computers to an unscrupulous search site--screw the opportunists for this, I hope The Feds bring down the hammer on the bastards for their shenanigans.
Anyway, I'd like to extend my congratulations to all awardees at this year's NU 107 Rock Awards. Bamboo seemed to have taken quite a bunch of the awards on the individual achievement departments (even if I didn't care much for their covers album--maybe save for last year's Tatsulok single). I'm glad that there's diversity as evidenced by Radioactive Sago Project (this band, IMO should've gotten more awards) and Sinosikat? bagging some of those accolades. I'd like to really congratulate Marie Jamora again for taking the Video of The Year award for DVDX. It couldn't happen to a better person who also happened to be my music/CD trading contact in Manila way before the days of more convenient P2P filesharing, Youtube, and mail-order (girlfriend, I still have those copies of the Eraserheads fanzines you edited!). Anyway, check out the results:
Best New Artist - Hilera
Vocalist of The Year - Kat Agarrado of Sinosikat?
Guitarist of The Year - Ira Cruz of Bamboo
Bassist of The Year - Nathan Azarcon of Bamboo
Drummer of The Year - Vic Mercado of Bamboo and Mark Escueta of Rivermaya
Best Live Act - Bamboo
In The Raw Award - Reklamo
Song of The Year - Will You Ever Learn by Typecast
Album of The Year - Moonlane Gardens by Orange & Lemons
Artist of The Year - Bamboo
Video of The Year - DVDX by Sandwich (Director: Marie Jamora)
Best Album Packaging - Sarah Gaugler and Clementine for Moonlane Gardens (Orange & Lemons)
Producer of The Year - Lourd de Veyra and Francis De Veyra for Tanginamo Ang Daming Nagugutom Sa Mundo, Fashionista Ka Pa Rin
Listener's Choice Award - Bamboo
Hall Of Fame Award - Mike Villegas and Angelo Villegas
If you don't have anything to do tomorrow...and are inclined to brave the cold weather (not to mention the potential snow dumping we may get), head on over to Neumos to check out Portland's The Thermals. I'm sure they'll be playing quite a bunch of songs from their latest, The Body, The Blood, The Machine. The whole album is a skewering of the overzealous religious right and their influence over the current state of affairs we have all over our country. Makes you think about how some folks in this part of the world aren't that much different from the Taliban, huh?
Carbon/Silicon has been Jones' on-and-off project with ex-Generation X man Tommy James. Their latest release is the mini-album The Crackup Suite. I pretty much like all of the tracks, some of which actually remind me of The Replacements in some parts. I've only got a few reservations about Falun Gong Love Song--some of the lyrics just seemed hastily put-together and not entirely fleshed-out. Who am I to judge though? These guys have been at this whole songwriting business while I was still learning to walk, so I'll shut up now and let the music do the talking.
