Written by Noelle Alarcon Proudly wearing their years in the local music scene under their belt, ONE CLICK STRAIGHT’s evolution is evident with every release they put out. Finding their niche through speaking out on matters of the heart, it’s no surprise they came up with “Telepono.” It’s as if they’re professing vulnerabilities through the coiled telephone cord, hoping you’ll make out the earnestness from the receiver. Over time, OCS has always kept their trademark: the production of their music closes in on your ears, engulfing you in the reverb of their spilled truths. This fits their style just right–with the heavy-handed strumming of their guitars, the rattling echo of the snare drum, and the breathy articulation of the Marquez brothers. In “Telepono,” they blend these elements with radio rock staples of the late ‘90s and the early 2000s. These are heard in the littlest quirks, like starting the song with a crescendo to a drum fill, or the brief moment where everything is so distorted the instruments crackle into static, making room for the vocalist’s poignance. It’s tracks like this, inspired by the desolation in cold city dweller settings, (as seen in their single covers) that people connect with most. But like long-distance confessions through the circuit lines, it’s hard to grasp the extent of affection “Ikaw lang ang gustong kausap” encompasses. For a song so honest, its intentions need more than the derivation of song structures that were once in fashion–”Telepono” yearns for the fullness of sound that OCS is known for. Criticisms aside, “Telepono” is another catchy, memorable track from OCS. The warmth it possesses keeps you company in the midst of the biting wind under evening skylines. It’s the late night dial you never expected to ring, whose words are filled with such endearment that they keep you up until the morning.
Category: TRACKS
TRACK REVIEW: Wuji Wuji – Careless
Written by Jayne Caray Despite ending the past year with close to no media presence and zero hints of a release, Wuji Wuji ends it with a surprise announcement; 2024 was not for naught after all, the sextet was busy doing something else, something new. In a Facebook post made 4 days before 2025, the band teases their single called “Careless” from their upcoming release “NOVISION”. Now, the question is, how much difference did one year make? Right off the bat, the latest track signals a stylistic departure from their former releases. Wuji Wuji initially spent 2023 exploring and experimenting with multiple genres. The band initially got recognition as a City Pop act inspired from retro Japanese aesthetics; ranging from the 80’s fluorescent green-tinted street style to the 2000’s old school Hip-Hop. In “Careless”, the band retains a few of these elements, but musically, they have become quite unrecognizable. The Disco and Hip Hop influences from “NOSOUL” are missing as we see the band donning new sonic textures denser and more mature than their previous tracks. The bassline along with the heavy-hitting drums set a slow burn that drones out throughout the entire song. Engulfed in its misery, the vocals drown yet echo a haunting loneliness that resembles aching from the Slow Rock bands of decades past. The single stands as one of the more somber tracks in Wuji Wuji’s discography, a possible indication of the foreign yet intriguing path to be taken by the upcoming EP. It makes one wonder why Wuji Wuji switched up again all of a sudden. Was it a new persona to add? A new direction for the band? Going into the track, “Careless” was initially confusing. The band has changed musical styles throughout the years, making their discography as colorful as ever and so, with 2023’s “Kanluran”, you would expect them to lean heavily into their City Pop roots. As much as this was not the case, the latest single has proved itself worthy of being taken seriously. The dedication and amount of effort the band has poured into their new sound is evident within the single. Wuji Wuji has made it clear that they’re not just messing around and that ending up with a year of inactivity is just the consequence of doing so. Although “Careless” was far from being expected, it still wound up as an endearing change to their discography. Support the art and the artist:
TRACK REVIEW: Arkyalina – Ersatz
Written by Adrian Jade Francisco It is as certain as gravity that the local electronic ecosystem is an infinite realm. Alongside the likes of U-Pistol, Kindred, and LONER, Arkyalina is in his own separate reality. The opening of “Ersatz” uploads his shoegaze-infused digital soundscape domain onto your ears, fading into a cacophonous surge of guitar riffs. Tavin Villanueva’s multi-instrumental ability delivers intricate layers of sounds, where each section of the song is a resonating immersion that grooves vigorously through the gateways of your senses. As the banger chorus hits, Arkyalina’s intense vocals are on display in the background, which feels like a desperate scream to be heard as this “ersatz.” Filled with atmospheric strings and samples that enriches the color of the punching resonance. On top of that, Arkyalina and Kashira’s Calix’s mixing production is a seasoning that gives a full-flavor to this delicacy, leaving no ingredient undercooked for the listener to savor. Arkyalina’s diverse musical talent continues to remain evident, fusing a spectrum of ideas into a seamless alternative pop finesse. Once you hear those melodies, the layers of vocals and instruments, it is a magnet that draws you to come back and listen. “Ersatz” further lays groundwork for Arkyalina as an artist, keeping us anticipated on what the shoegaze electronic cyberpsycho will release next.
TRACK REVIEW: The Braille Flowers – The Magician Was Shot Dead (Scarlet Rivers)
Written by Nikolai Dineros If you’re just hopping on The Braille Flowers now and this is the first song you hear from them, we won’t blame you if the dream pop aspect raises a few question marks above your head. The four-piece band started their journey by taking a dream pop-adjacent route in “Just to See You” before going on an indie pop direction in “Lately.” And now, with “The Magician Was Shot Dead (Scarlet Rivers),” the band is pushing a flashier and headbang-worthy sound into their mix. Less delicate and more pedal-to-the-metal, “The Magician Was Shot Dead (Scarlet Rivers)” is as direct as it gets for an alt-rock song. From the guitars that are as gritty as The Smashing Pumpkins in their “Gish” days to the shamelessly harmonic guitar fill-in licks and solo section, it’s almost as if The Braille Flowers was measuring how far they can take this loudness without steering too far from their mellower roots. Even the lyrics, courtesy of Francis Masangkay, now have more wit to them. Francis employs a less self-reflective and vulnerable approach in favor of a more playful and adventurous (yet at the same time, cryptic and self-preserve) approach without sacrificing the emotional core of their songwriting seen in their two previous releases. The band was simply having fun putting together “The Magician Was Shot Dead (Scarlet Rivers),” continuously looking for ways to reinvent themselves. It is still up in the air how The Braille Flowers will navigate their sound with all the genres they have already explored and incorporated into their sound in such a short amount of time. If anything, they have proven themselves capable of writing such captivating songs while adopting different styles, with “The Magician Was Shot Dead (Scarlet Rivers)” being their second-most cohesive thematically, only behind their debut “Just to See You.” On one hand, their listener base may not prefer if the band continues to stray from their dream-pop roots. But on the other hand, it would be interesting to see it all come together, now that they have more than just a couple of tools in their toolkit.
TRACK REVIEW: Fresh-iLL Club – INYAFACE
Written by Gabriel Bagahansol At last, P-Pop is huge. Ever since the genre’s explosion in popularity last year, more and more people are now finally noticing the pop groups that have been honing their craft as trainees in the entertainment industry over the last few years. But amidst the highly engineered careers of today’s Filipino boybands, there is still room for boybands of a different kind: one informed by a commitment to make art on their own terms. Fresh-iLL Club is one of these kinds of acts: the hip-hop collective with the mentality of a bonafide unit. Groups like them have the ability to mix their brash attitude, street cred, and blaring beats with the inviting excitement of pop and R&B, and after giving a taste of their sound with a bunch of singles throughout 2024, they close out the year with “INYAFACE” – a track that really sums up what they have to offer now and in the future. On “INYAFACE”, you hear everything you’d come to expect from a hip-hop group with boyband ambitions: cool, braggadocious verses, with some passionate singing for the bridge, delivered to you in smooth, dynamic flows over a siren-beat that never relents. Though in this case, the latter comes off just a little bit tame. Its ferocity is slightly diminished by a mix that dulls the song with a dollop of bass in the wrong place. However, everything else about the beat works. It allows Fresh-iLL Club to be laid back in their delivery, only going full-throttle when they need to. In the middle of the track, members Sebastian Kidd and D.Vaughn spit rapid-fire lines on just how far the group has come to this point, how dedicated they are to their craft, and how the group will become, in Vaughn’s words, “the face of hip-hop.” It’s the perfect segue to a stunning bridge where Vic Olive reanimates prime Bearface (in the grand tradition of hip-hop boybands channeling their inner BROCKHAMPTON) to brag about the collective aura all seven of them have as FC. It’s clear that Fresh-iLL Club wants to take over the scene. Like with every other future superstar, their ambitions come alive in this track, urgency weaving across the music and the words. You must pay attention. While parts of the track indicate their journey to the top is still ongoing, especially when they’re treading the ground their predecessors ran, the future is nevertheless bright for these boys, who may just stand a chance as they go into the new year. They just need to keep reaching their potential until, one day, FC will be on all y’all’s faces. Support the art & the artist:
TRACK REVIEW: zaniel – C2 NA RED!
Written by Louis Pelingen One thing worth discussing about novelty or meme songs is whether or not they succeed with what they’re specifically trying to joke about, especially if there is something notable to the punchlines and melodic construction for said meme song to work long-term. While there are cases when the memetic humor sadly tilt into corny and flimsy territory, there are times when the artist knows their strengths and then applies them to the song so the meme eventually becomes captivatingly silly and catchy at the end of the day. Fortunately, zaniel’s C2 NA RED! falls into the latter category. What makes C2 NA RED! intriguingly stick is simply due to zaniel’s ability for composition and production, where his built-up experience of comfortably swooning over these cloud rap beats has a clarity that effectively shows up in spades for this song, showcasing the overall quality of his melodic crooning amidst the booming bass and chalky drums that’s well-blended in the mix. Said melodic crooning does add so much to the humor, adding an amount of kooky energy in simply embodying his favoritism of C2’s apple flavor over anything else and feeling exasperated when the store close to him doesn’t have the apple flavor in stock, just as he expected. Short but sweet, C2 NA RED! is a meme song that has enough charm and polish to the melodic craft, eventually enhancing the succinctly silly humor on display. Even if there is a worry that the meme will overshadow zaniel’s future work – an unfortunate side-effect to acts that are slowly establishing their music but are somehow limited by that one big meme song – the strengths that he does share in this track are at least a good presentation for what he’s capable of doing more as an artist. In the meantime, take a sip of this drink, it is certainly a flavor that’s worth gulping from time to time.
TRACK REVIEW: Fragile – Deep Enough
In recent years, we’ve noticed screamo music making a comeback amongst younger generations. Now, it’s referred to as ‘skramz’, which claims to be a contemporary approach to the classic genre. Do a basic search on ‘skramz’ and you’ll probably stumble upon bands like Catalyst…, Knumears, and Vs Self. But the catch is, most of them are from the U.S., whether the rural midwest or some suburbia out of the west coast. This makes their music often reflect Western imagery — something that is hard to relate to and resonate with if you didn’t grow up in America. Especially since most of their songs circulate within the themes of one’s teenage years. Although, thankfully, we have bands like Fragile now, to make skramz more applicable to our locality. There’s no denying that there’s some sense of contentment in finally having a skramz band, that is from the Philippines, and as a matter of fact, from Cavite. Skramz no longer feels like such a distant genre, hanging from the fringes of Western culture. It is now also something that we, as Filipinos, can define for ourselves, in our own version of it, independent from its Western counterpart. The track deep enough is angsty, melancholic, and with guttural vocals. It cuts through the senses like a sharp knife, bellowing with downtrodden lyrics. It provides that satisfying levity that we often feel, from listening to skramz, as if transcending towards heaven, and maybe even hell. The instrumentals hold a feel for nostalgia and sentimentality, which paired with harsh vocals, end up with great contrast and texture. However, the overall ‘recipe’ of the song still reflects a bit of what we hear in bands like Algae Bloom, Versera, and seahorsechoke. While there’s still some room for improvement, one could place priority on originality. Perhaps exploring themes and subjects within their ideas that are not so generic upon their temperament of what’s ‘angsty.’ Maybe something more rooted to the Filipino experience of the coming-of-age. Less on the dread, and more on the context. Asking questions like what is our (Filipinos) account on what torments us? And how can we convey such a niche experience through musicality? Although to add onto that, they’re still a relatively new band, and it always takes time to develop one’s unique sound. With this, comes an opportunity for them to establish a skramz sound that is purely authentic and genuine to the local scene. Despite it being quite common for skramz bands to fall into the trap of repeating a pattern of redundancy out of their own peers’ music, Fragile seems to be a capable band in breaking that frequent occurrence. Hopefully when they do, it won’t be a blueprint to what Western bands have already come up with. For one, they already produce more spirited, vigorous instrumentals that, in all honesty, is difficult to find in this day and age’s gloom-for-doom type of skramz. Despite clearly withholding aesthetics that are influenced by industrialism and perhaps even slightly nihilist, the overall sound of the band does not sound ‘dead’ and in fact livelier than ever. But maybe that’s the hope we Filipinos have, speaking for itself – always looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. Basically, free of mimicry and replication, without the inclination to imitate earlier skramz bands. Hence, there’s a lot of pressure for a band like Fragile, who is bringing a fresh genre into the community. Yes, screamo has been in the country for years, but skramz is an entirely new variety of it, and its presence is still pristine to the country. Certainly a big responsibility, one can place their bets that as they discover more of their sound, they’ll make a distinct name for Filipino skramz. Support the art & the artist:
TRACK Review: Mellow Fellow – Heaven
Written by Noelle Alarcon In this world, heaven is considered as the be-all, end-all of life’s course. Anything else euphoria-inducing that comes close is the nearest you’ll get to arriving at the cosmological paradise. For indie pop act Mellow Fellow, who emerged from Muntinlupa and is currently located in Canada, the agency to choose yourself is his equivalent of the bliss achieved beyond the stars. True to his name, “Heaven” opens with a mellow assortment of instruments smoothly cascading into his smooth vocals. The keyboard and the guitars twinkle along the periphery. They form the core of his trademark sound, reminiscent of the motifs that defined bedroom pop during the 2010s. The rhythm section doesn’t take a back seat, either. The thick strings of the bass dance to the variations of open-handed drumming, making the symphony full and whole. It creates an environment conducive enough to let his truth bloom across rich textures, intensified by titillating synths and alternating beats. “Heaven” is light and airy, with fierce proclamations adding a little kick to the artist’s signature cool. It propels you into the clouds through the unapologetic honesty its confessions spell out. It’s a reflection of the arduous journey to corporeal nirvana, aurally fleshed out in the highs and lows between the verses and choruses. This is Mellow Fellow’s invitation for you to ascend with him into liberation, through dropping the burdens of life that no longer serve you.
TRACK REVIEW: aunt robert – Mad
Written by Elijah P. Gabe Gomez, better known through their solo project aunt robert, explores indie rock and dream pop with a diaristic approach. Their Spotify bio emphasizes “I like writing short songs,” wholly embodying this sentiment by focusing on emotional depth rather than song length. In their latest single, “Mad,” Gomez is accompanied by a powerful wave of sonic textures—layered guitars and electronic swells of reverb—that create a walloping wall of sound. This sonic backdrop either ushers in a blissful catharsis or points to a bold new direction, moving away from their bedroom pop roots. “Mad” seeks to sound grandiose yet it remains grounded. It is a statement to the entirety of aunt robert’s material. The buildup in the track’s verses creates tension as aunt robert’s whispered vocals and the accompanying band build towards the chorus. The result is a peak that is both cathartic and a display of emotional unease. While it might may seem elementary to craft a song with both quiet and loud dynamics for some, the contemporary execution of these ideas makes “Mad” especially satisfying. The blend of uncompromising electronica, transcendental dream pop, and the innocence of singer-songwriter formulas comes together beautifully. aunt robert consistently delivered a powerful track, making it clear they know how to create something special. Support the art & the artist:
TRACK REVIEW: VINCED, Fern. – SITUATION
Written by Louis Pelingen With Kindred putting their mark within the local music space last year, that doesn’t stop the members from working further and further into their craft. Just this year, some of Kindred’s members started doubling down on putting out singles as a sign of them pushing themselves into refreshing soundscapes. I might be unsure if it does lead to a future release of a solo project, but just pulling up to create a song is good for the time being, keeping things vitalized as each member focuses on something else. Clearly harking upon the 2000s era of R&B, VINCED and Fern. carries their effortlessly pleasant vocal flairs and harmonies that effectively convey the song’s flirtatious winks, pulling in someone to their passionate presence. Despite the instrumental textures coming off a tad wooden and thin – the wonky guitars don’t exactly mesh well with the sleek synths and clean beat – the overall melodic groove that it carries is solid, allowing the song to have some swell and bounce that VINCED and Fern. rides on wondrously. A quality that will enable VINCED and Fern. to pull off a sense of cool in every situation possible. Support the art & the artist: