Written by Gabriel Bagahansol For a while, it seemed as though Zack Tabudlo’s stardom would go on forever. His style of charming pop and R&B tracks dominated the airwaves as the nation shifted back to normalcy from the pandemic, an imperial phase helped by the fact that he would constantly put music out, dropping a new single or album every few months. Lately, though, he couldn’t seem to land a hit song as easily as he used to. His star has been slowing down, and so has his output: he only released four singles last year. But after keeping a relatively low profile for the last few months, Zack is back, and upon brokering a deal with an American record label, it looks as though he’s taking a shot at a big comeback. And just like how it was a couple of years back, he didn’t waste any time. He’s got a new song out. Some might think that Diving sounds just like any other R&B track you can find at one of many chill playlists at your local streaming platform, but this does have enough of that Zack Tabudlo magic that they should probably pay attention to this one. Here, that magic is at its best; you got everything you’ve come to expect from his music, from his vocal melodies and the guitar lines that complement it to his soulful vocal range that goes all the way to an enchanting falsetto (which only shows up once in this song), to his lyrical mastery with the subject of love, which in this case is the tried-and-true topic of obsessive frustration over someone who’s love may not be true at all. It all comes together to form that kind of pop music realism that’ll make you believe this guy is riddled with jealousy and heartbreak and couldn’t snap out of it. As far as heart-rending songs of woefully unrequited love go, this hits all the right spots. While Diving may find itself lost in the shuffle of newer, shinier releases, it has, at least, enough defining qualities to make for a unique listening experience should it find its way to you. Play this a bunch of times and you’ll be reminded of just how good Zack Tabudlo’s music was when you had his music on a loop a few years ago, or caught it at a mall or the radio or TikTok. Will this song immediately help him set the world on fire again? Probably not. But it’s intriguing enough that once it gets pushed to a streaming service playlist in America, someone out there could hear and enjoy it to the point where they’ll soon find themselves diving into a whole world of music they’ve been missing out on. SUPPORT THE ART & THE ARTIST:
Tag: Gabriel Bagahansol
EP REVIEW: Daspan En Walis – Askal Projection Vol. 1
Written by Gabriel Bagahansol When you and your friends listen to “Askal Projection Vol. 1” for the first time, it’s imperative that you lock yourselves in a room and let the first track, “619 (Comfort Zone V),” heighten the energy between all of you. You’re going to need all the power you can bottle from that song: once the members of Daspan En Walis unleash an ecstatic force of noise and grooves, you’d all be hopped up from a renewed sense of vitality, which is just what the band would love you to have. After radiating exciting sounds in different spaces up and down Metro Manila, and through a few singles, throughout last year, Daspan En Walis entered 2025 with their very first collection of songs. Listening through the five tracks that make up Askal Projection Vol. 1, it’s clear that their time cutting their teeth in the gig scene is paying off well, as they have delivered action-packed tunes that examine youth in a hopeful but serious way. The band’s roots in the hardcore punk scene means that most of their songs rarely lament the sign of the times, instead imploring the listener to take action right here and right now, and take a good, hard look at themselves while they’re at it. The fuel that drives Askal Projection Vol. 1 is a righteous form of pragmatism. On the first track, lead vocalist Myxj sounds off on people’s inability to get through their plans and problems, wailing “Walang paggalaw dyan! Gumalaw ka naman!” over the sound of chugging guitars and a hypnotic rhythm section. You can imagine people heeding the call and moshing to this at a Daspan En Walis show, but it’s a call they should all remember once they return to their everyday lives. Things slow down a little on “Therefore I Conclude,” which, ironically, is about people who never stop yapping and always shut themselves out from other people’s ideas. In a time where netizens click first and think later, it’s an indictment of the rudeness that has permeated discourse on social media, and a reminder to never get too heated too fast, or “baka’y ikaw ang mauna, una, una.” “Money Harmony,” meanwhile, calls out the bums who keep going broke on their vices. The swing rhythm the band goes into in the middle of the track makes for a delightful mockery of those good-for-nothings that keep asking other people to fund their lifestyle. This ability to sneer at the wrongdoings of the people around them really is the strength of Daspan En Walis on this EP. However, that means that when they talk about trying to get by these same struggles, it can feel as though the music’s losing a little steam: on “Compute to Commute,” Myxj, along with guitarist Randel, now plays a broke person, in the form of a salaryman trying to make sure he has enough money to pay for his commute. It’s a true tale of the perils of petsa de peligro, where Red Sting could be the only thing keeping you going through a day that seems directionless. It’s a sharp turn after three songs where it seems as though the band has got lots of things figured out, making it a bit out of place at first listen, but they make up for it with a solid performance and a very catchy chant for the coda (“Ubos na naman ang aking salapi!”), the type of which punctuates every song on the project. But the highlight within these five songs is the irresistible funk metal number that closes this EP, “143 (Will You Memorize)”, a song of unbridled love for someone whose lips taste sweeter than Mango-flavored Zest-O. Myxj delivers these fantastically ridiculous lyrics about a romance that rivals all of Lino Brocka’s movies in the best possible vessel for them: a throaty voice that wouldn’t have sounded out of place in 2000s radio. Add the walls of distortion courtesy of guitarists Leoj and Randel, and the smooth rhythm played by bassist Ralf and drummer Jhong, and you get the kind of song that would’ve had a warm, highly- saturated music video that kept airing on a certain music video channel twenty years ago. For as much as Daspan En Walis critiques the messiness of youth, they have just as much fun reveling in it. Daspan en Walis’ “Askal Projection Vol. 1” present a band determined to be an optimistic yet serious voice that’ll jolt their audience into making a change for themselves. In a way, the members of Daspan En Walis have indeed channeled the askals braving streets all over the country: strong, self-assured, and fierce enough to make you keep going, all with a big grin on their faces.
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: