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

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

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

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

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

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.