The 1996 NU 107 Rock Awards CD - the first of a cool series of live music promos!!

In 1994 the very first NU 107 Rock Awards was launched in Manila. NU 107, being one of the leading alternative music stations in the country, would start an event that would become a yearly shindig for a lot of the commercial and indie bands / artists in the Manila/Cebu music scene. Although there will still be way more bands that are still classified outside the mainstream radio music that people listen to, it would still showcase upcoming bands to a wider audience. The first awards event was a small gathering of music industry people in The Music Hall in Greenhills and due to the 90's band explosion a lot of the great bands that sprung up around 1993-1995, having signed to different major labels, played their own brand of alternative music. But that small event would take off and by the 3rd year of the NU Rock Awards, they would give out freebie CDs to the music industry people, the DJs and artists....and unfortunately, only to a very few (!!!) select members of the public....

The first of this freebie CD, would commemorate the previous year's performances. It would take the cooperation of about 6 major labels to allow their artists' music to appear on this CD and this being a showcase of LIVE music became one of the best CDs that music collectors are looking for, PROMOTIONAL COPY ONLY-NOT FOR SALE, not commercially available to music fans and the buying public! If they account for all the copies that they gave out through the years, I bet most of them are in some big wig label person's drawer or music shelf gathering dust. You can probably get a digital copy of the yearly LIVE albums if you check out all the internet forums and file sharing sites, but to actually own a original freebie copy would still be way more satisfying. Unfortunately this is the one and only original copy that I have so I wouldn't know the artwork of all the CDs that were given away afterwards. If any of you have the originals of the rest of the yearly series please feel free to email me a jpeg of the covers so it can be posted here....at least we can see it...um, look but don't touch...

Various Artists - The 1996 NU 107 Rock Awards

(CD/Promotional Copy/1996/PH)

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• 1. Teeth - Laklak
• 2. True Faith - Shotgun Baby Bang! Bang!
• 3. Color It Red - Hand Painted Sky
• 4. Put3ska - Put3ska Medley
• 5. Rivermaya - Hilo
• 6. Yano - Coño Ka Pre
• 7. Alamid - Sasama Sama
• 8. Wolfgang - Semelin
• 9. The Youth - Tao Po
• 10. Rizal Underground - Rizal Underground Medley
• 11. Eraserheads - Alapaap

Sama na!...Take Out some Chillitees...

About mid last year I received this great looking promotional Limited Edition MP3 Digital Release from a band named Chillitees. If you see the packaging/artwork you would think the same way as me...well, it made me hungry and I ended up literally buying some take out Chinese food before listening to it!

The MP3 EP has 7 songs...all of them in Tagalog. The band plays an exceptional blend of soul/pop and acid jazz-sounding beats....with an added spice of 70's era OPM jazz coolness. It also helps that the singer, Uela Basco, has a voice that sounds like a refreshing cool breeze on a damn hot April day. You will probably be humming some of the songs for days.

The band started around 2001/2002 and is made up of individual members who are also part of other bands or played with other bands in Manila...from Sun Valley Crew, Kulay, Sound, Cambio, If Disco Is A Crime, Forgetting Luna, Murder Of Crows, Helen, Twisted Halo, Etc.
To be honest with you I've never had the pleasure to hear all these bands (most of them anyway...especially the indie bands). But together as Chillitees they have great sounding songs leaving most of their assorted influences by the door and creating something different for this release. The band members are : Uela Basco (vocals), Dan Gil (guitars), Ryan Armamento (flute +vocals), Gino Cruz (vintage keys), Jon Jon Jose (bass), Jon Padilla (guitars), Tim De Ramos (drums) and Paolo Lim (drums).

Prior to the release of their debut album, the band also invited their fans late last year to download the music elements of their song "Sama Na" and asked them to make their own remix. The winning mix of the song will be included in the band's forthcoming album...

...and around February of this year the band independently released their debut album called "Extra Rice"...and included two of the winning remixed songs on the album (It was a TIE!). Anyway, you can get a copy of their album directly from the band. Please check out the details on their official website here.

Chillitees - Take Out MP3 EP
(Business card type CDR/Self released/2005/PH)

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Sample some of their songs and go buy their album..

1. Sama Na
2. Tanong
3. Parang Bula (Liquid Spot Live Mix)
4. Ex (Studio Live Version)
5. Nagsasawa Ka Na Ba?
6. Sumayaw
7. Sumayaw (DJ Patch Hustle Vox Mix)


Also check out the freebie mp3 demos
that they posted on their website and email the band and say "Thank You"!

Things Are Getting Complicated in 1986 - The Arrival of Dean's December's Debut Album, "Chemical Wedding"

In late 1985, Deans December was formed by members, Binky Lampano (Vocals), Richard Cabahuatan (Guitars), Jun Lazo (Bass), Mike Cerrada (Drums), Edsel La Rosa (Keyboards) and Gregson Castillo (Guitars) to join an audition for the Brave New Bands at Katrina's. By September of 1986 they would independently release one of the best New Wave / Alternative album from Manila's mid to late 80's local underground music scene. This cassette album was produced by Nitto Palacios (Integrated Circuit) and Engineered by Jim Sarthou (Urban Bandits). By 1987-1988, two of the original (recording) members would have left the group...giving the remaining 4 piece a chance to have a different and harder, edgier sound shifting more on guitars unlike in the album where it was a mixture of a lot of synth/keyboards woven intricately with the guitars/rhythm/bass and drums and Binky's words that were full of social message being preached in an entertaining medium.

Ofcourse this album also contains the classic track "It Doesn't Snow In Manila" which was described in a concert review by Cymbush in The Score (a mid 80s New Wave/Alternative magazine) as "a famous anti-"pa-sosyal-sosyal na social climbers song"...with lyrics like this...

"You who dine with silver spoons
Do you see us cry?"

"If you can only see the face
behind the smile
It only snows in America not in Manila"

"There's sorrow overflowing
It doesn't snow in Manila
Where are you going?
The Children Are Dying
Where are you going when sorrow's overflowing"

...it made this song a favourite among the band's fans especially when it's played live in their gigs. A few years ago, radio station NU 107 had a live broadcast of a Dean's December gig in Mayrics...sad to say that the DJs were all yapping on the air even while the band was already playing the songs...and when they played "It Doesn't Snow in Manila" the Dj had to cut it or splice it into a shorter song...totally making it the worst sounding live version of this classic track that was caught on tape or aired on the radio. Ahhh, I wish they can rebroadcast that show without any cuts.
It was always a great treat to watch the band perform live, especially when you see and hear Binky Lampano's antics and adlibs and his rants and messages for the audience...I even saw them perform one time with him literally kicking off his Military boots and sent it flying into the audience..."Sa inyo na lang boots ko...." exclaimed Binky, I just hoped he didn't have to walk that far to get to his ride!

Maybe one day in the future we can finally see a remastered version of this album, together with extra tracks but for now enjoy their music because it might take another decade or so for that re-issue to materialize...now if someone has a copy of Deans December or Binky Lampano performing live...whether a bootleg, a soundboard quality recording or a video, I hope it re-surfaces to the public, somewhere, somehow...now that would be a treat for any music fan so more people can appreciate the band's contribution and won't forget the music!!

Deans December - Chemical Wedding (CS/Counter Culture/Self released/1986/PH)

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Tracks:

1. Things Are Getting Complicated

2. A Meeting Place

3. First Light

4. Through The Eyes

5. It Doesn't Snow In Manila

6. Manimals

7. If I

Scarlet Tears' Sampler and EP

"Scarlet Tears" by Scarlet Tears, this one track CDR sampler came out either late 2004 or early last year. This is a great upbeat track with big and catchy sound reminiscent of classic New Wave/Goth music like Siouxsie & the Banshees, Ardourn Delirium, All About Eve, Miranda Sex Garden or Ghost Dance with a dose of X-mal D. and Identity Crisis....






















Last year also saw the release of the band's first independently released 5-song EP called "Beneath A Crescent Moon". Aside from "Scarlet Tears" and the title track, there are 3 more great songs in the EP.

The way this was produced one would definitely appreciate not just the songs but also the artwork of this Digipack and its CD sleeve...which is way better than most major releases nowadays. Check out some of the inner sleeve artwork in this picture, they are simply amazing! The Artwork by the way was done by the band's vocalist, Katrina Pallon!

As per the CD sleeve, one song called "The Chalice" was left out of the EP because of certain reasons and they would include this on their next release...hopefully this will come out soon.

Scarlet Tears - Scarlet Tears

(1 track CDR-promo/ Self- Released/2005/PH)

Scarlet Tears - Beneath A Crescent Moon

(CDEP / Self- Released / 2005/PH)

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1) Scarlet Tears

2) Beneath A Crescent Moon

3) Adele Walking on a Spiral Highway

4) Hear Me Out

5) Cold Blooded Lover

Learn more about the band members and check out their current gigs and the stores that are selling their indie released EP here .

check out this song from CDR sampler...SCARLET TEARS

Sugar Hiccup's Mysterious, Beautiful Oracle

In 1995, the major label debut album of Sugar Hiccup was released under BMG Records (Pilipinas). "Oracle" was composed of 10 songs of classic music with wide ranging influences...from Indie, some would say bordering on shoegaze and dreampop, and Cocteau Twins' atmospheric 4AD sound. The band was made up of Melody Del Mundo on Vocals and Keyboards, Czandro Pollack on Guitars, Vocals and Keyboards, Russel Dacasin on Bass and Mervin Panganiban on Drums. One thing that I didn't notice when I first got this more than a decade ago was that the album was produced by Ely Buendia and Raimund Marasigan from Eraserheads.

The CD is currently out-of-print, and I'm not too sure if even tape copies are still available in the stores...but I hope they can re-issue a remastered version of this album with extra tracks and live cuts because I know that there is still a demand from new fans. The band would eventually release another album by 1998 and after that the original line-up would cease to exist. The band would come back by 2005/2006 with their new lead singer, Bea, and a new independently produced album under their own, Ballyhoo Records.

Check out and email the band in their official website HERE
and go out and see their gigs and buy their new album, "Of Tongues and Thoughts"

Better check you neighbour's or older cousins' cd collections and you might get lucky and find a copy for yourself...check out the music from this album....

Sugar Hiccup - Oracle

(CD/BMG Records-Pilipinas/MRCD-67/1995/PH)

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Tracks:

1) Mikaela

2) Sigh

3) Moden De

4) Heoowa

5) Little D

6) Five Years

7) Don't Leave Me

8) Love endowed Intimately

9) Death

10) Us

Music For The Masses

14 months ago, I tried to make a blog about Philippine based music...due to conflict of schedule and plain laziness, I never even got around to the 2nd page of that blog.

I wanted to sort and update past and recent discographies of old and new bands so it will be easier for music collectors like me to hunt down and discover past and present music gems.

Anyways, the music scene in Manila is a mixture of all the genres you can imagine...from Rock, Reggae, Alternative, Folk, Indiepop, Electronica, New Wave, Hip-Hop, Goth, Punk, Jazz, etc...and ofcourse the Pop ballads that seem to make it to the radio and TV stations playlists.

"Pop" music....if you check it on some dictionary, would mean music produced commercially for profit or some music that would appeal to everyone's taste....so how come the music that I grew up with are not the ones that are popular to the masses? the record companies won't even re-issue the classic music that should have been played in everyone's household...from the underground bands that played in the wee hours of the morning in shady and smoky clubs and the bedroom pop music produced DIY by the indiepop underground youth from the suburbs?

Hopefully these bands can take back the word P!O!P! and be the ones that become popular to the masses...because their music should be the ones to inspire the next wave of musicians....I hope I can post in detail some of the best music from the past and present and future music scenes, may it be from the major label bands or the unknown indie band who can't even get their music played in a decent radio station or club. May all their respective tribes and followers multiply. Please leave your politics, egos, musical biases by the door...and play it LOUD.