Sunday, January 27, 2013

Sugod Mga Kapatid! The Unofficial Musical Send-Off For Gilas Pilipinas

 
Sugod Mga Kapatid! (2013)
The Unofficial Musical Send-Off For Gilas Pilipinas
Various OPM Artists
01 Sandwich - Sugod
02 Taken By Cars - This Is Our City
03 Rivermaya - Umaaraw, Umuulan
04 Techy Romantics - Run
05 True Faith - Sandalan
06 Sugar Hiccup - Siesyatnebonsotneicostoum
07 Up Dharma Down - Turn It Well
08 Stonefree - Providence
09 Urbandub - A Call To Arms
10 Eraserheads - Alapaap
11 Kala - Bakbakan Na
12 Radioactive Sago Project - George Estregan Groove Explosion
13 Pedicab - Simulan Mo Na
14 Spongecola - Puso
15 Tropical Depression (Feat. Pepe Smith and Jr Kilat) - Ang Himig Natin
16 Quest - Sige Lang
17 Pikaso (Feat. Francis M) - Reach For The Stars
18 Rico Blanco - Ngayon
 
 
 

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Palamig Sa Tag-Init: Manila’s Smoothest Summer Vibes (2CDs)

Funny how our views about things change over time and expanding girth size.

When I was a kid, no, make it when I was still a student back in the 80s to the mid 90s, I looked forward to this two month hiatus between school years to take a break from the daily school grind and do the things I’ve always wanted to do.

Back in grade school, this meant playing in summer basketball tournaments, attending parties and sleepovers, and hanging out with my buddies to admire the opposite sex at play in the playground or in the porn Betamax tapes we rented without let-up.  In high school, it was beach and bar hopping with the boys, enjoying a case of cold SMB by the creek side at the Greenhills car park, and climbing up to Antipolo right before midnight to track some heavenly booties. Due of its graphic content, I’m leaving out the details of my college summer months. What happens in Stealing Heaven stays in Stealing Heaven.

Now that school’s been over for a decade and a half (and with no two hedonism-filled months to look forward to), summer has lost its appeal to me. Gone were the days when the sight of blue skies, white clouds, and salt water spray would send my heart racing and spirit soaring. Nowadays, when summer rolls in and hits me in the face with a thick cloud of tropical steam, I lock myself inside a room, crank up the air con, and dream about skiing down the snow-capped slopes of Aspen commando style. Now that I have lost the spring and muscles of youth, the summer heat has been nothing but a source of irritation, perspiration, and hissy fits.

I created this two-volume mix back in the summer of 2006 not only because it was the year the country rode on the crest of the 2nd wave of the Pinoy rock explosion but also because it was the time the centralized air conditioner of our office bogged down for a month. To make my life (and the lives of my staff) a little more bearable, I played this mix over and over again in the office. The mix may have not stopped me from sweating and losing my temper but at least it kept my ear drums cool…chilled in an icebox of cool riffs, easy beats, and smooth vocals.

Like New York, Aspen is a state of mind.

Tracklist:

Disc 1

01 Sound - Habulan
02 Bamboo - Much Has Been Said
03 Stonefree - Scar
04 Up Dharma Down - Hiwaga
05 Hale - Runaway
06 True Faith - Dreams With You
07 Brownman Revival - Dahan Dahan
08 Rivermaya - If
09 Sandwich - Homerun
10 Orange and Lemons - Heaven Knows (This Angel Has Flown)
11 Itchyworms - Buwan
12 Mojofly - I Don't Want To
13 Narda - Kusina
14 Cueshe - Hump Ahead
15 Bridge - Kahit Na
16 Menaya - What If
17 Pupil - Beautiful Machines

Disc 2

01 The Members - Sana'y Naroon Ka
02 Kala - Manila High
03 Mayonnaise - Home
04 Urban Dub - A City of Sleeping Hearts
05 Kjwan - Someday
06 Kapatid - Hangin' Out
07 Sugar Free - Los Baños
08 Soapdish - Dahil Sa Ulan
09 Sheila and The Insects - Maude
10 6 Cycle Mind - Naghihintay
11 Paramita - A Dreamer's Lullaby
12 Barbie's Cradle - Pag-Ibig
13 Rocksteddy - Magpakailanman
14 Join The Club - Lunes
15 Twisted Halo - Asan Na
16 Nerveline - Sunday Paint
17 Spongecola - On The Floor



Check it out:

CD1

CD2

Friday, December 31, 2010

Time Out Of Mind: The Ultimate Lounge Experience

Time out of mind.

That state of being when everything is cool, relaxed, and suave. A time when "revolution" meant watering down your scotch with ice and "evolution" meant taking out the olive and putting in an onion. A place clothed in leopard and sharkskin. An era bathed in gimlets, hi-balls, straight-up, on the rocks, shaken not stirred, hi-octane elixirs dressed in garish garni. A time viewed through the seductive haze of slow-burning lipstick-kissed cigarettes that end up ashtray-dancing with cigar-stubs and cherry stems. The atmosphere mambos to the soundtrack of cool. Rumbling saxophones, jazzy vibes, and the sexy chill of a brush across a cymbal.

Time out of mind.

Care to enter?  Let this mix take you.


Tracklist:

01 The Look Of Love - Burt Bacharach With Dusty Springfield
02 Playboy's Theme - Cy Coleman
03 Lovers In The Park - Don Innes
04 San Francisco Bay - Syd Dale
05 Girl From U.N.C.L.E. - Dave Grusin
06 Soul Sauce (Guacha Guaro) - Cal Tjader
07 Wives And Lovers - Jack Jones
08 Roller Coaster Blues - Diana Dors
09 Tomboy - Steve Gray
10 Jet Society - Cordara Orchestra
11 Double Take - James Clarke
12 The French Connection - Cyril Stapleton & His Orchestra
13 It Takes A Thief - John Gregory & His Orchestra
14 Sunday In New York - Mel Tormé
15 In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning - Frank Sinatra
16 Embassy Row - Dominic Frontiere
17 The Girl From Ipanema - Stan Getz With Astrud Gilberto
18 Samba De Orfeu - Ray Anthony
19 Fever - Peggy Lee
20 Just In Time - Dean Martin
21 Dancing In The Dark - Tony Bennett
22 Ain't That A Kick In The Head - Sammy Davis, Jr.
23 Little Girl - Vic Damone
24 Barefoot In The Park - Keith Mansfield
25 Hammerhead's Apartment - David Whitaker
26 Girl Talk - Billy May
27 Blue In Green - Miles Davis

Check it out

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

More music to remember summers past: Recollections Of An Eighties Summer Volume Two

Here’s Part 2 of my Recollections Of An Eighties Summer mixtape series. Volume One and a ravings-laced backgrounder can be found here.
 
Different tracks, same dreamy theme.

Tracklist

01 Only The Lonely - The Motels
02 Is This Love - Whitesnake
03 How Soon Is Now - The Smiths
04 I Believe (A Soulful Re-Recording) - Tears For Fears
05 Long Hot Summer - The Style Council
06 Tinseltown In The Rain - Blue Nile
07 Here's Where The Story Ends - The Sundays
08 This Is Not America - David Bowie & The Pat Metheny Group
09 Sunday Morning  - Bolshoi
10 The Boys of Summer - Don Henley
11 Human - Human League
12 Oh Patti - Scritti Politti
13 Appetite - Prefab Sprout
14 Nice Girls - Eye To Eye
15 Saved By Zero - The Fixx
16 Save a Prayer - Duran Duran
17 Down To Earth - Curiosity Killed The Cat
18 The First Picture Of You - Lotus Eaters


Check it out

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The Easy Listener's Guide to the Holidays - Retro Christmas

Christmas is upon us and for most of us this means less work and more time to enjoy the Yuletide traffic in EDSA. Nothing gets people into the spirit more than watching the seconds turn to minutes and hours in SLEX while you and your significant other exchange pleasantries about the friendly texts you’ve been getting from someone she doesn’t know.

“Retro Christmas” is a mixtape created by the guys from Ultra Swank. It’s a compilation of 25 well-loved Christmas carols as interpreted by the coolest cats from the 50s and the 60s. Jet-age, space-age, Mad Men music, whatever - this mix is sure to lighten up even the most compromising of situations.

Ho ho ho.

Tracklist
01 Jack Jones - Sleigh Ride
02 Esquivel - Frosty The Snowman
03 The Hollyridge Strings - Santa's Got A Brand New Bag
04 John Barry - Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?
05 Dean Martin - Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
06 Henry Mancini - Winter Wonderland/Silver Bells
07 Eddie Dunstedter - I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
08 John Klein - Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
09 Esquivel - Sun Valley Ski Run
10 The Hollyridge Strings - Santa Claus is Coming To Town
11 Henry Mancini - White Christmas
12 Burt Bacharach - The Bell That Couldn't Jingle
13 Esquivel - Here Comes Santa Claus
14 The Hollyridge Strings - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
15 Henry Mancini - Frosty The Snow Man
16 Al Caiola & Riz Ortolani - Holiday On Skis
17 Ferrante & Teicher and Les Baxter - Sleigh Ride
18 Esquivel - Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
19 Dean Martin - White Christmas
20 The Metro Strings - Christmas
21 Henry Mancini - The Christmas Song
22 John Klein - Winter Wonderland
23 Fred Waring & His Pennsylvanians - Ring Those Christmas Bells
24 Julie London - I'd Like You For Christmas
25 Stan Kenton - What Is A Santa Claus?


Check it out

Friday, December 10, 2010

Broadcast City Days – Rare 80s Grooves from the Vaults of Eat Bulaga

Back in the 80s, I took part in Eat Bulaga’s two-on-two basketball competition. I would have wanted to play point or the 2 guard but Coach Dave (pronounced as “Dobby” like the house elf) had bigger plans for me and so I was forced to resume my God awful role of being the team’s water boy where, among others, I had to wear a basketball jersey that had sleeves. Yep, sleeves. On national TV. 
Our two players came from our championship team that had recently ruled our neighborhood league in Project 4. Taking care of the wings and the paint was Boy Dominguez, AKA “Boy Welding” because his family owned a welding shop while playing both guard positions was his sidekick Jojo Quijencio, AKA “Ki-ke” or “Ekiks” because that’s just how it is with us reprobates.
The big day finally came and so we trekked to Broadcast City in Capitol Hills where we had to wait in line all morning under the heat of the summer sun. At the time I remember wearing a pair of Wayfarer knockoffs, a pair of white Kareem Abdul Jabbar sneaks that perpetually looked brand new no thanks to Coach Dobby, my priceless Casio calculator watch that I would have traded for some playing time, and my ninny of a uniform that had “WATER BOY” emblazoned in the back.
When we were finally ushered inside, I was profoundly struck by how small the studio was. The whole place was cramped, only 30 to 40 seats were reserved for the live audience and obstructing our view of Connie Reyes were these huge unwieldy cameras that looked like the Guns of Navarone. After some waiting, the opening theme started and the show began.
Two hours later, we were on our way home.
Our team did not get the green light to play that day. Apparently, there was a mix-up in Eat Bulaga’s calendar and so our TV appearance was rescheduled for a future date. Weeks later, when our real turn came, I was immersed in far more interesting things down south, one of which was learning how to drown in a secluded lake in our province. When I planed back home right before classes, I learned that Boy and Ekiks got their butts kicked by our neighborhood rivals who eventually emerged as Eat Bulaga’s champs.  
My memories of Eat Bulaga, of course, did not start or stop with this experience. The show has played a lead role in shaping the Pinoy pop culture by starting countless dance crazes and fads that everyone got sucked into like some cosmic vacuum. Now, memories of these crazes are neatly tucked away in the deep recesses of our subconscious, only rising out of their slumber everytime we hear songs forever linked to Eat Bulaga when they were still airing from Broadcast City.  

This mixtape just aims to do that: to beam us back to a time when life was fun, simple, and easy. 
Tracklist

01 Paradise - Change
02 Try It Out - Gino Soccio
03 Cars - Gary Numan
04 Crime Pays - Hall & Oates
05 Don't Stop Trying - Rodway
06 Wake Dream - Lime
07 Peek-A-Boo! - Devo
08 Lies - Thompson Twins
09 Street Beat - Toni Basil
10 (Hey You) Rock Steady Crew - Rock Steady Crew
11 Mirda Rock - Reggie Griffin & Technofunk
12 There's No Stopping Us - Ollie & Jerry
13 Body Dancer - Magic Fire
14 Rico Mambo - Breakfast Club
15 Rumors - Timex Social Club
16 New York, Rio, Tokyo - Trio Rio
17 Hypnotized - Copyright

Check it out

Friday, December 3, 2010

Recollections of an Eighties Summer

It’s retro Friday in the Metro, and what better way to end the week with an 80s themed compilation. This mix -“Recollections of an Eighties Summer” - is a soundtrack of all the summers I spent back in the decade.  

Some of my memories are quite hazy while others are as vivid as they could possibly get. A case in point is my recollection of spending endless warm twilights sitting near the steps of a neighborhood convenience store, waiting for the chance to catch a glimpse of Elaine, the sunshine of my life back when I was 12, step out of her house and just breathe. While thinking about this, I can also clearly recall the smell of barbecue being grilled near the store, the sight of little girls playing Chinese garter on the other side of the road, and the sound of Martha’s raspy voice coming out of a radio singing:

It happened one summer
It happened one time
It happened forever
For a short time
A place for a moment
An end to dream
Forever I loved you
Forever it seemed

The rest of the songs in the mix have also their own unique visual, olfactory, and auditory attachments. Whether it’s attending remedial algebra in school, bathing under a waterfall in our province, or just playing hooky with my pals, the music they come with continues to tug at me and move me, and gets me wondering how something as precious as childhood can both be fleeting and eternal all at the same time.

Tracklist:

01 The Downtown Lights - Blue Nile
02 No Promises - Ice House
03 Left Of Center - Suzanne Vega
04 Suddenly Last Summer - The Motels
05 Fade Away (Live) - Fra Lippo Lippi
06 Into The Night - Benny Mardones
07 King Of Pain - The Police
08 German Girl - Lotus Eaters
09 Tender Years - John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band
10 Spell - Deon Estus
11 What I Am - Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians
12 Don't Disturb This Groove - The System
13 To Live And Die In LA - Wang Chung
14 When The Lights Go Out - Naked Eyes
15 Motortown - Kane Gang
16 Arizona Sky - China Crisis
17 Voices Carry - Til Tuesday
18 Advice For The Young At Heart - Tears For Fears

Check it out

Monday, November 29, 2010

DM Afterhours - A late night selection of sophisticated chill


It was 1985 when my fanaticism over DM first started.

Wasn’t really like love at first sound. I have actually known about the band even before that, having already heard ear candies like “Just Can’t Get Enough” and “Everything Counts,” from the radio. Though their industrial synth sound was both unique and catchy, all in all their music hardly stood out from the wave of British acts that had been invading Manila since 1980.

Things changed when I finally got hold of their “Some Great Reward” LP that year courtesy of my bro. This 8 track album was a commercial success because three of its songs - “People Are People”, “Somebody”, and “Master and Servant” – topped the charts worldwide.

What got me hooked, however, were the remaining 5 gems in the album. One of them, “Lie to Me”, is a cool 5-minute journey into the non existence of love – how it is only a "promise made for convenience" motivated by shallow self-interest rather than devotion. Somehow, I can still remember how its hypnotic tune and lyrics would put me in a quasi trance before drifting off to dreamland:

Come on and lay with me
Come on and lie to me
Tell me you love me
Say I'm the only one

But I digress.

Now, a quarter of a century later, my passion for the band and their music still remains.  

Nevertheless, despite the breadth of my DM collection, I find it peculiar that not one compilation, official or bootleg, has bothered to explore their chillout side. And so I was left with no other recourse but to take it upon myself and do what Mute Records has failed to do.

"Afterhours" is a collection of their smoothest and chilliest grooves that I mined from their studio albums, official remixes, live performances, and bootlegs. While none of these songs get (or ever got) that much airplay, in the end, it's the haunting that counts.

The whole album is around 80 minutes long. It will fit a traditional blank CD if recorded with little or no pause.

Tracklist:

01 I Am You 
02 Slowblow 
03 Lie To Me
04 Useless (The Kruder+Dorfmeister Session) 
05 Death's Door (Live Devotional Tour)
06 The Things You Said
07 Shine
08 Any Second Now (Voices)
09 Waiting For The Night
10 The Sun & The Rainfall
11 Barrel Of A Gun (Underworld Enhanced Integration)
12 Home (Air "Around The Golf" Remix)
13 The Love Thieves
14 Enjoy The Silence (Raphmode Piano Dub)
15 And Then...
16 I Want It All
17 Dream On (Bushwacka Tough Guy Mix)



Check it out

Le Intro

My love affair with the mixtape began when first I saw my brother fiddle with the Panasonic stereo component that my old man brought home from abroad back in the early 80s.  It was genetically engineered for audio recording – it had a dial that controlled the recording level, another for echo, still another one for tape speed – and my brother made full use of these when creating his own compilations. He would bring his tapes to school where it would make the rounds among his friends and classmates and, in return, they would lend him their latest LPs freshly shipped from the US and Britain. More fuel for the fire.
We had a huge collection of old magnetic master tapes and vinyl back then. The prehistoric 7 inch tapes were my Dad’s and he had a treasure trove of easy listening albums from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Our LP collection of jazz, pop, and rock albums was also pretty extensive and it was built through the combined efforts of my two elder sisters and brother.   
When my brother wasn’t around, I would nick some blank TDK C60s from his stash and create my own mix tape, singling out my favorite tunes from our collection and putting them together in one seamless hodgepodge of pure chaos. My siblings never took my first few attempts seriously and they were not particularly impressed at the way I strung together Manhattan Transfer’s Shaker Song and the Hula-hoop Christmas song from Alvin and the Chipmunks. But as this mixtape was a product of my own creative vision, I ignored my pundits. Well, at least at first.
I eventually grew out of my chipmunk fixation in a span of several constructive yet insulting criticisms and became more selective in what I put in my succeeding brews. 99.5 RT and XB 102 were my sources of materials and they opened my world to Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears, the Cure, New Order, the Smiths and a host of other up and coming acts from the UK. Along the way, my buddies and I teamed up to create a party music mobile group that partly paid for my records addiction and gave me free dibs at the most happening parties in Project 4. Though our equipment was laughable, we were cranking out grooves that had everyone nodding, gyrating and flipping their arms like Roland Orzabal.
As the 80s gave way to the 90s and the millennium, my musical taste also experienced a growth of sorts, expanding to jazz, lounge, and the blues. The mixtape also changed forms; from the handy cassette tape to the CD and now to the oh so convenient but oh so impersonal MP3 playlist. Whatever form you prefer it to be, the essence of the mixtape remains the same - it continues to be an art form that lets you express yourself in ways mere lyrics can’t.  It can range from a casually selected list of favorite cuts, to a conceptual mix of songs linked by a theme or mood (music to watch girls by, anyone?), to a highly personal statement specifically tailored to an intended recipient. 
But enough of the talk. Here’s my blog and may you appreciate my ravings and mixes as much as Alvin the Chipmunk did.
Le peace.