Written by Elijah P. TNG is a six-piece post-hardcore-slash-screamo outfit that doesn’t mince words, not for their track titles at the very least. They are the Bulacan locals ready to bring you into their communal experience – a phrase that’s always been highlighted via their socials ever since the inception of their formation. Composed of members from seasoned math-rock and easycore bands from their neighboring towns, TNG released “GAD”, their highly anticipated debut ever since they’ve teased the recordings in live shows. The experience is what sells the band properly. If it weren’t for their live appearances, then TNG would be just another screamo band circulating in the ether, lost in translation. “GAD” acts not only as mere evidence of their live shows but also as permanent imprints of what they could leave in the scene alone. As a six-piece, they’ve been known to cross paths in many music communities in just a span of one casual gig weekend after the other, this album is a 10-track course meal of what they could offer week in and week out. If their live shows wouldn’t convince you enough, then “GAD” acts as proper anticipation for the celebration: build-ups that don’t pull their punches, crescendos that don’t bore, and poetry that keeps you on the edge of your seat while in uncontrollable tears. Tracks like “now (end)”, “eve”, “orb” and “oui” experiment with emotional threshold; Their lead vocalist Alden trading vocal barbs with the rhythm guitarist and lead guitarists intense progression, may it be a quiet preface to an explosive climax or a haunting radio transmission by the outro. Wherever you look at it “GAD” knows when to stop, listen and observe everything that surrounds them sonically. With every minute that passes by their debut record, a memorable guitar bursts through a flammable moment of catharsis: “cty” short for “close to you” is a callback to the classic Carpenters track and their eventual recontextualization of the iconic intro riff; “fee” without any hesitation starts and stops the aggression, ends with a hopeful note for a lover waiting to see the sun shine again, only to realize that they are the beacon of hope they were looking for. The overlooked theme of optimism not only slightly manifests in TNG’s ethos but also in the band’s entire definition of their following moving forward. Seeing “GAD” in its most raw, authentic, and complete form, is a celebration that deserves a warm embrace after listening to the entire album from start to finish. The end product of this album is nothing short of an experience wrapped with so much weight and assurance all at once. Support the art and the artist:
Author: TFL
ALBUM REVIEW: ena mori – DON’T BLAME THE WILD ONE!
Written by Elijah P. “There’s a fire in my kitchen” Ena opens the album with arms as wide as an eagle spreading across the pop concrete. Then all of a sudden, the album now opens a portal. To what seems to be an unintentional anachronism, Offshore Music‘s Ena Mori isn’t a fool to trick us into such sonic nostalgia. Saying that this release is a statement has already run its course in many other publications. “There’s a fire in my kitchen” Ena sings wickedly for less than a minute. It says more than just a “statement”, but rather, what comes next is an experience succeeding many pop records’ longevity. It’s a sure shot from the get-go. “Don’t Blame The Wild One!” is an album that succeeds sonic barriers never before bent in any album ever locally from both an emotional and production standpoint. It asserts pop dominance. Ever since releasing her debut EP at the start of the lockdown, her debut album this time around is expansive, more fruitful, and less banal. By the time this writing is published, the debut project has already gone outside of streaming platforms, acting as a nomad in territories where it was never before tapped by Ena’s refreshing brand of pop music. Performing the songs live all over the Luzon region, the last leg of her album tour stops right at her hometown of Las Pinas. This alone proves that Ena’s not playing around. Not for the rest of “Don’t Blame The Wild One!” 10 tracks at the very least. As the pop-sphere is still in this state of stasis post-Sarah G’s Tala, the well ran dry, and the arrival of Ena Mori’s debut “DON’T BLAME THE WILD ONE!” is an impactful listen from start to finish. But like her album tour, there’s a lot of territory waiting to be uncovered in each listen. Highlights like “TALK! TALK!”, “OH, BLEEDING HEARTS?” and “A HIGHER PLACE!” begs the question that pop structures are supposed to be limitless. With the assistance of her producer Tim Marquez – his production works like a surgical music technician, making sure that there is indeed no musical template to abide by. Symphonic soars and flutters — rhythmically in motion — corresponding to every hook. Ena responds by shouting, yelling, harmonizing and screaming at the top of her lungs to achieve such lengths; Vocal gallops over crushed mallets of kick drums and time reversed-ocean-wave synths; Lyrical phrases calculated over every left turn in the production. What the listener would pick up from all of these spots is that Ena Mori is a jack of all trades. A pop star whose moments are savored by devils in the detail – the devil being a random plugin avoiding a pop cliche. Recently released singles like “RUNAWAY HOLIDAY!” and “SOS” have monumental hooks and driving melodies — the usual boxes that are already ticked, only to be boosted by Ena and company’s envelope-pushing production. But as the highlights glossed over in the debut album, there were moments where the second half of the album starts to slightly go downhill. Lowlights like “WHITEROOM” and the reimagining of “FALL IN LOVE” are tracks that meander after the fantastic 4-5 track run midway in the album. Arguably, these might be track arrangement issues, but by the end of the day, these are tracks that could’ve been emphasized as pop bangers rather than straight-up non-single filler. The last half of “A HIGHER PLACE” ends abruptly, heading straight into “SOS” with no prelude or any build-up whatsoever. If the result was truly intentional, then some listeners would beg to differ since it had the most invested Ena has ever been in terms of vocals. Regardless of whatever intent and purpose this album delivered, it has heart, if not value to Ena’s moment of solidifying her identity as an artist. The debut project has a lot of sonic territory covered, layer after layer, production texture overlapping the other. It achieved something great, but there needs to be more than what was already out. Like any other listener’s natural curiosity: will there ever be more to hear? more to hear besides what was already done? The answer to that query is simple: Don’t blame the wild ones for pushing what’s new. Ena’s only burned the kitchen, she has the rest of her house left to bring it all down. Support the art and the artist:
TRACK REVIEW: Clara Benin – Affable Dork
Written by Elijah P. The colorful and sparse career of Clara Benin hasn’t gone unnoticed. Releasing a single or two every year, earning a spot on intimate shows in familiar places, translating one of their oldest tracks into a different language, it’s always likely to think that her career has been stable – as in steady, but hardly ascending quality-wise. “Affable Dork”, her not-so-new yet recently reincarnated material has unearthed the details of a relationship painted like a movie, whereas Benin’s fiction becomes stranger than reality. The “Affable Dork” in the protagonist’s head is another red flag waiting to reveal itself. The emotional weight that describes the heavy romanticization of the character comes in the form of an underwhelming figure of speech. Her vocal performance has trudged through glossy yet skeletal percussion, string sections, and the likes that would attempt to alleviate Clara’s fairytale forewarning. She’s displayed her greatest strengths – both in a vocal and production sense – only to be executed straight-faced with little to microscaled conviction. But for what it’s worth and its reference to Ruby Sparks, Clara’s 7-year journey of rom-coms and imagined situations has, unfortunately, reached its due date years before folk-pop’s inevitable peak. Support the art & the artist:
TRACK REVIEW: Andrea Obscura – Can I Try Again?
Written by Elijah P. Traversing drum machines, lone guitar work, and messages for the messenger crying themselves to sleep, Devices’ very own Andrea Ramos has worked on a promising solo project that equates to a warm summer hug in their fantastic debut single “Can I Try Again?”. Before Andrea Obscura, Ramos has dipped their toes on a new wave to boom-bap and this is far from the Lower Myth we knew back in their Soundcloud days. Riding along the tricks of the trade seamlessly as a producer can be a rewarding journey as an artist, but taking the helm, in the recording booth, and soloing a green screen is another achievement in itself. This is easily Ramos’ most conversational and honest work to date, and sometimes dating back the years of relearning and unlearning your past self is, nowadays, a cliche; It might be a slog to read but Ramos does it in the most melodically faithful and emotionally genuine way imaginable: A biographical moment was sung captivatingly, verses were intertwined in clever beat switches. “Can I Try Again?” is downright a quarter-life-crisis themed-single for folk wanting to hit the restart button, but to us, it’s a 3-minute audio diary filled with memorable lines, instrumentations that swap dexterously, and melodies that hit close to home. SUPPORT THE ART & THE ARTIST:
ALBUM REVIEW: Basalt Shrine – From Fiery Tongues
Written by Nikolai Dineros With towering layers of distorted guitars, a consuming diabolic ambiance, and the seething, almost theatrical, vocals – Basalt Shrine paints a gloomy backdrop of the occult through a mix of funeral doom, sludge metal, and many more. Basalt Shrine is a five-person supergroup consisting of members from Dagtum, The Insektlife Cycle, Surrogate Prey, Abanglupa, Malicious Birth, Imperial Airwaves, and Kahugyaw – some of which have their own share of crossovers among members, like the Vivo Brothers Ronaldo and Ronnel, who are widely known for their joint works on Dagtum, The Insektlife Cycle, Imperial Airwaves, and most recently, Abanglupa. With them are Bobby Legaspi and Rallye Ryan Ibanez, who have shared the studio as members of Surrogate Prey. ‘From Fiery Tongues’ marks Basalt Shrine’s debut album release. The album, in a way, highlights many of doom metal’s rudimentary concepts all the while crossing boundaries through well-paced progressions and abrupt switch-ups. The transition from the opening track ‘Thawed Slag Blood’, a dark ambient tone-setter to the record, to ‘In The Dirt’s Embrace’, a stoner-ish black metal and drone fusion, is a prime example of the former. There is nothing particularly new to this structure in metal-based projects across the board that it has almost become customary for just about any band nowadays to feature a slow-burning opener. It is also worth noting that ‘In The Dirt’s Embrace’, while it is diverse in style with elements of stoner, drone, and black metal simultaneously thrown into the mix, the song is more of a 12-minute odyssey compartmentalized into two different chapters, each with their own cohesive song structure enough to make for a separate track, than a long-winded melting pot of the same two or three doom riffs that loop ad nauseam. The transition is abrupt, but it gels nicely, somehow. ‘Adorned For Loathing Pigs’ shares many similarities with ‘In The Dirt’s Embrace’ and the title track that comes after it. But unlike the other two songs, it has a more cohesive structure akin to a progressive metal song with a continuous flow. The title track, ‘From Fiery Tongues’, on the other hand, is more traditional in design with an infectious riff so well put together that it will linger on the right side of your brain hours post-listen. It easily has the catchiest – and therefore most memorable – riff in the entire record. And because of that, ‘From Fiery Tongues’ is a personal favorite of mine – quite the ingenious decision by the band to name the entire project after this song, actually. And while I do not recommend listening to an album by bits, ‘From Fiery Tongues’ is what I would consider a good starter to any newcomers to the heavier sides of metal, whether it be doom, sludge, or black metal. In contrast, the closing track ‘The Barren Aftermath’ is just that; a barren aftermath. In my defense, after three hard-hitting, bloodcurdling songs, it’s hard to top what the band has already showcased three songs prior, as far as my expectations go. The album closes out in a calm and collective manner and it seems like the proper way to go. A lukewarm reception seems expected. Who knows what coaxed the Vivo brothers, Legaspi, and Ibanez to start a new band to add to their already expansive backgrounds of projects they’ve started or worked alongside with? For all we – the spectators, the regular consumers of their media – know, they might have just decided it on a whim, perhaps over a bottle of beer. But Basalt Shrine is certainly one band to look out for. What a kickoff that was to one of the Philippines’ most ambitious crossovers in the underground metal scene in 2022! Support the art & the artist: https://basaltshrine.bandcamp.com/album/from-fiery-tongues-2?from=embed
TRACK REVIEW: Sunday Stallone – Saving Face
Written by Louis Pelingen From a distance, there is something fascinating about Sunday Stallone. They’re a 5 man band that was formed in 2018, mostly putting out covers from a few years back. Those covers showcase their musical influences, from DIIV and their dreamy brand of indie rock to Yung Lean and his hypnotic brand of cloud rap and hypnagogic pop. Additionally, their Spotify profile mentions their merge of genres such as shoegaze, IDM, and ambient. The influences and genre meshes mentioned prior do knot together with how they put up those covers, hazy textures with washed-out aesthetics to create a vibe that will leave you floating, especially with how the songs are paced to glaze and echo through the mix. Once you get closer to their debut single, there is a risk that the band pulls through with its wall of sound from the guitars and drums that coast through misty synth patches that elevates even further in the chorus sections. This kind of mixing and maximalist production touches do work well with the intended theme of the song, pushing through times of frustrations and yearning to move forward despite it. However, once you get the scope of this single, it’s just unfortunate that the rest of the song just ends up being limp. As much as the risk from the band trying to make a stunning debut single is appreciative with its maximalist approach, if maximalism is being pushed here, there needs to be robust melodies and effective performances to carry that maximalism to a potent degree because this just does not have both of these factors. Besides the chorus with its decent maximalist swell, the verse melodies on the instrumental and vocal sides need a bit more crunch and flair to them to act as necessary building blocks to the chorus. Give the drums some engaging rhythms, the guitar and bass some diverse licks, and the keyboard some glistening presence that will make the verse melodies feel rich and buoyant. And when it comes to the performance, even with the backing vocals that show up from time to time do add to the yearning of the song, the vocalists on the first and second verse just lack the tone to sell it. And with the vocal melodies on both verses sounding stiff and bland, their performances just drift further away, feeling one note and numb as a result. Despite all of those criticisms, there is still work to be done. While this maximalist approach in the genre-fused music landscape has been made before, Sunday Stallone has the texture and spark to fill in the gaps in that maximalist niche. But the lack of fulfilling melodies, transitions, and performances crumble the maximalist mix and textures to the ground. It’s a notable debut single from the band that may be flawed all around, the chorus does save face from this single completely falling apart. Support the art & the artist:
TRACK REVIEW: Dilaw – Kaloy
Baguio’s very own Dilaw – consisting of rapper/singer Dilaw and instrumentalist Vie Dela Rosa – is one of those acts where they are taking the internet and their face-to-face show attendees by storm. After signing with Warner as of late, the duo’s byproduct of animated rap-rock and ukay culture prop up folk-rap are shaking up their entire roster in terms of uniqueness. But as their output becomes more prevalent and as well as their said live performances, Dilaw Obero and company haven’t exactly reached their X-factor just yet for a couple of reasons. “Kaloy”, their latest single, breeds a new kind of hybrid genre that’s equal parts enticing and questionable: It’s enticing in a way where their superstar of the duo Dilaw Obrero, just doesn’t pull back from their lyrical and vocal punches; But it’s questionable in a sense that their head-scratching sonic choices are outdated and quirky for the sake of being quirky. In short, the rest of their output – including “Kaloy” and other of their unreleased material – has been painfully shallow and derivative thus far. Obrero’s vocal performances have cringy twee-styled screeches where his vocal prowess doesn’t reflect the promising licks in the instrumentals. Their performances overall puts the political undertones buried way down by prioritizing style over actual substance. And “Kaloy” is evident of their troubling, overindulgent renditions that, let alone, become a hindrance to their yellow-hued branding. Support the art & the artist:
TRACK REVIEW: rienne – Honey
Virginia isn’t too far from home, at least for power-pop solo project rienne. Born and raised in the Philippines, bridging together their fixture for local sensibilities and Western-influenced pop songwriting is their specialty. In the universe where pop acts could exceed amp volumes and the overwhelming college parties, rienne’s isn’t just another act that’s stuck in stale lyricism, or rather tethered in bland sentimentality. “Honey” is one of their standout tracks after several trials and errors balancing the rawness of cool lo-fi and Filipino-branded ‘hugot’ in their previous singles: rienne’s not like the others. The track blemishes in catchy harmonies peeking during the choruses while their vocal work, besides the hook-y climaxes, transcends another plane of tweeness to the mix. This is an edge to Virginia’s rich punk history in the course of their hometown’s wispy yet emotive singing. rienne’s “Honey” might be one of your favorite tracks to send your crush to at a party. SUPPORT THE ART & THE ARTIST:
TRACK REVIEW: No Lore – Paumanhin
Siblings Jerald and Tita Halaman are the types to mesh together creative ideas like a blender. Their project No Lore produces a multidisciplinary venture where it requires a sensory experience to their worldbuilding. Tita Halaman and their paintings are always secondary to the accompanying soundscapes. But for No Lore’s case, it’s the other way around. Tita’s dream-pop “harhar” singing style synergizes with Jerald’s indietronica-inspired key presets a la Postal Service. But one can’t help but notice the lack of push with regards to their sound. Take their latest single titled “Paumanhin” for instance. Off The Record‘s latest track is deprived of any emotive strengths amidst a maelstrom of instrumentals that distract the potential harmonies that are supposed to become the highlight of the track. But instead, “Paumanhin” is covered with so many sonic interruptions: heavy kicks above rattling drum machines, arena-sized claps wrapping over synth lines, etc. Additionally, Tita and Jared’s vocals happen to become an underwhelming and vapid performance through and through. Overall, the duo’s brought themselves a sonic palette cleanser, whereas, on an opposite day, the palette’s just reduced into something more cluttered and less of an opus that would less likely become an artistic masterpiece that would hang on an exhibit’s walls. Support the art & the artist:
ALBUM REVIEW: Orange & Lemons – La Bulaquena
Written by Elijah P. 15 years is barely one-fifth of a century; trends and events have passed, figures have become monuments, culture has turned itself to the past and we’re here struggling to become a blender of something that happened 30 years ago. The veil of “OPM” is showing itself to become a rehash of what has been and what was. Indie pop, or pop music in general, has slowly become stale. Alternative music has become the starter pack of many younger listeners. The internet has inevitably redirected our view of alternative music forever. However, for seminal Bulacan indie-pop troupe Orange & Lemons, you’d expect them to dish out something different, all the while picking up where their influences have left off in their latest album titled “La Bulaquena”, their first album in forever. The 10-track album is no way of showing merely tributes to legends and name-checking every little detail behind the scenes. It doesn’t pull off any excuses, Orange & Lemons simply show and not tell. The new album – although vying to become a balance of traditional instrumentation and modern flick of anglophile-inspired indie-pop – has no shortage of melodies through and through, but at what cost? The answer: this is Clem and company’s attempt at reinventing the genre rather than paying true homage to it. All of the tracks circle back to the meaning of what it was like to become scholarly of what is viewed to be archaic in terms of technique and sonics. But that isn’t the lone goal according to the band. O&L loyalists may be surprised by the first couple of tracks. Like this isn’t any “Hannggang Kailan” or another “A Beginning of Something Wonderful”; it’s donned differently with less buttoned-polos and posters of your favorite slick-back C86 vocalist. “La Bulaquena” is treated with amplification of its traditions, wherein examinations of rondallas and kundiman as a whole are done like a pop quiz. The album is expected to behave like a gentleman in barong outfits, but rather Castro, the Del Mundos, and Neroda act as if this is what they have and they do it on their own terms respectively. The album clearly doesn’t imprison itself in its resources, especially with the title track, “Ikaw Ang Aking Tahanan” and “Yakapin Natin Ang Gabi”. There are tracks that exceed everyone’s expectations: headbanging to bandurrias couldn’t be any more exhilarating and refreshing. Although there are tracks that stand out positively, there are others that are entertained as fillers, covers that are fit for a venue of seekers of kundiman, and actual placeholders in a museum. The album, from front to back, face value to its lyrical depths, is conserved as one that wouldn’t come out as rather more innovative or bold; It’s an Orange & Lemons album without their classic setup and yet the entire project keeps within bounds of their familiar sound, even after their 15-year absence of releasing newer material. It is music that wouldn’t come across as material that would pave any of its contemporaries forward, but rather it crystallizes the thought of traditional music not exceeding its expected use. “La Bulaquena” has no tricks or rather little progressive ideas that are enough to gauge another project that would push the kundiman sound to another level in the future. The project needs a little bit of push in sonics: a little more outsider material and fewer instruments that are kept dusted on the inside. Orange & Lemons have accepted that challenge and the result came out well, but remembering it as a body of work barely makes sense in this wide collection of music released this year. SUPPORT THE ART & THE ARTIST: