So I finally was able to purchase a copy of Rico Blanco's brand new album, Dating Gawi. I was pretty much surprised with Rico's direction for this new album to the point that I kind of got alienated with this new/old sound. It is actually ironic for me to feel such because I have always been drawn to Rivermaya because of Rico's penchant for creating easy sounding Pop-Rock melodies. Maybe I was far too removed from the sound of Rico Blanco's Rivermaya days (and has accepted the fate of it) that I would never expect Rico to go back to those types of song. Dating Gawi is Rico's back to the basics attempt at creating an album with a band. "With" being the operative word, because this is the first time in years (not heard since his Rivermaya days) that Rico wrote and completed a whole album with the same set of band members from start to finish. And what band members did he get for this album with no less than one half of the legendary Pinoy Rock Band Eraserheads joining him. Former Eraserheads band members Raymund Marasigan (drums) and Buddy Zabala (bass guitars) joins Hale guitarist Roll Martinez (guitars) to complete Rico's new crew. Each of them have already recorded and performed with Rico at different points in Rico's past two albums, so familiarity with them isn't new. And Rico with a band could sound fresh and also a case of deja vu for those of his fans who either have moved on or could not move on with the Rivermaya Blanco.
Rico Blanco and his "New" bandmates. (Photo from Philstar,com)
The chosen carrier single for Dating Gawi is the song called "Videoke Queen", a bombastic sounding ditty that probably is taken out of the pages of Marasigan's sound book. Rico has stated in interviews that before recording the songs, he brought along stick and bones versions of the songs for the whole band to pick on or pitch in their ideas. The guitars in this song prances all over from high to low, and crashes all over the place when the chorus comes. The song leaves you a slight case of last song syndrome if exposed too much to it. The opening track "Parang Wala Na" harkens back to Rivermaya sounds like "Elesi", "Umaaraw, Umuulan", and others like it. My personal favorite in the album, "Sorry Naman", meanwhile evokes the earlier sounding Sugarfree songs of Ebe Dancel when he was still hanging around with Rico Blanco more often. Another favorite here is the song "Wag Mong Aminin" which is a pseudo ballad sounding song that gives us another Rico Blanco masterpiece that aims to tug our heartstrings. The rest of the songs are your standard Rico Blanco songs that really does give you a sense of deja vu if you are familiar with his body of work while he was still with Rivermaya. I listened to the whole album in a loop for countless of hours and honestly at first it gave me a straight line experience. I guess I just missed (in a good way) the innovative, experimental, weird, and big on surprise sound that has been spoiling us since Rico left Rivermaya. Erasing that kind of Rico Blanco songs in my system is hard to flush out in the same way when I had a hard time flushing out those Rivermaya songs of Blanco when he started going solo.
To conclude, Dating Gawi is a beautiful album for all his fans to appreciate on. It won't matter at which part of Rico's musical journey you have come into, this album will appeal to all of you nevertheless. My only gripe is that Rico has left me hanging with only eight tracks in this album.
My favorite song in Japsuki's Pinoy Pop album finally has its own music video. Check out my review of the Pinoy Pop album here and download a copy of the album at itunes.
Perf de Castro resurfaces as he shares to us his own rendition of the Rivermaya song Gravity from the debut album of Rivermaya, where Perf served as the band's lead guitarist in his only album with the band. Perf left the band due to reported "musical differences" which paved the way for Rico Blanco to take over the lead guitar chores (apart from playing keyboards). It was said that Rico had an On the Job Training in learning how to play lead guitars due to the huge void that Perf left behind. According to Perf, Gravity was one of two songs in the Rivermaya debut album that was done as a collective effort of the group. The linear notes credits Perf and Rico for the song. Two years ago, over at Radio Republic PH, Perf would reveal the real reason why he left Rivermaya. Check out the Radio Republic PH interview video below.
It would have been very interesting to know what Rivermaya would have sound like if Perf never left the band. But still, history as we know it, Rivermaya is still one of the most successful bands in the 90's band explosion era (and my favorite among the bands).
Rico Blanco is back with a new album, and what an opportune time to go back to his roots. The album, aptly titled "Dating Gawi" brings back Rico to the type of songs that made his works with his old band from Rivermaya very popular. After going solo and did most of his works experimenting on his musicality (to the extent of coming up with an alter ego Fiesto Bandido in his last album), it came as a surprise to me that Rico has decided to take us back in time. I guess the experimentation could only take you as long as you could take it. Preview the new album below to check it out yourself.
I'll be waiting for this to hit the stores and get it along with Bamboo's album. Rico and Bamboo with a new album! What a great time to be a fan of these ex-Rivermaya heavyweights!
Perhaps the long wait is over for Bamboo fans. After four long years, Bamboo is back with a new album. The Album, titled as "Bless this Mess" is Bamboo's attempt to go back to his roots. In the first Album, "No Water, No Moon" it was more of Bamboo's attempt at Jazz rock and his way of showing his mellower side. Maybe to distinguish himself from his past works that featured more prominently his hard hitting rock side. But old habits do die hard. And as the first/dual single from the album "Bless this Mess" suggests, Bamboo is indeed back to his hard hitting rock side. Consciously done to fuse two songs together to come up with a powerful new single, the songs Nothing Like You and Firepower reintroduces us to the Bamboo that we all love. And that's the Bamboo that punches us in the face as he hits those notes in his songs. Check out the music video below
Bless this Mess is out now in record bars nationwide (though I have yet to get a copy). Album Review will follow as soon as I get my hands on them.
So I've been checking out the net lately for some new Rico Blanco tunes and I was surprised that I missed out a couple of songs released by Rico thru Spotify, Deezer, and iTunes. And with rumors of a new album coming out soon, I've decided to compile some recent singles that Rico wrote for the year. The latest which is a collaboration with Chito Miranda and Parokya ni Edgar. If one could remember, Rico and Chito recorded a mash up song of Rivermaya's Panahon na Naman and Parokya ni Edgar's Harana last year much to every OPM fans' delight. The duo is back this time to breath life into a new song called "Sing". Check out the video below:
Sing - Parokya ni Edgar Feat. Rico Blanco
I also stumbled upon a Kundiman type of song written by Rico Blanco way back in 2013 that sounds so classic Pinoy love song. Kundiman by the way is a Filipino Love Song Genre that permeated the radio waves back in 50s to 70s if I'm not mistaken. The song sent a chill to my spine as it transports me to the past during the time when Filipinos still wore their Barong Tagalog (for men) and Baro't Saya (for women). Hear it yourself here:
Ang Tangi Kong Pangarap - Rico Blanco
There are also other songs one can find in Rico Blanco's iTunes store or hear them for free at Spotify. A notable track that you won't be hearing (or seeing) in YouTube but can only be heard in full thru Spotify is the song All the Seconds in our Hours. A very danceable Rico Blanco tune unlike any other. I think this song is a remnant of Rico Blanco's Your Universe Asian Release album that might have not made the cut. The song could pretty much be grouped together with the songs "Neon Lights" and "China in Me" albeit more on the danceable side than the aforementioned songs.
Now let me leave you behind a sneak peek of Rico's new single for the New Album...
Sigh... music like these, where have you been? While the claims of OPM music is dead seems prevalent these days, songs under the mainstream radio's radar like those contained in Japsuki's Pinoy Pop album are left unnoticed and unheard. To the uninitiated, Japsuki is the pseudonym of Day Dream Cycle's creative force and one time Rivermaya bassist Japs Sergio. He's been using the name to create under the radar yet brilliant songs that the mainstream audience were just too unlucky to not hear of. Since leaving Rivermaya, Japs has released three albums to date. Monologue Whispers, his debut album under the name Japsuki, The Gentle Sound of Chaos with his band Peso Movement, and now Pinoy Pop under the name Japsuki again. I have yet to write album reviews for the first two albums, but give me some time, I'll write them one of these days. Honestly, after Rico Blanco, Japs is my favorite Rivermaya songwriter. I consider him one of the main creative forces of Rivermaya's songs during their rebirth post Bamboo and Nathan. And when Rico left, Japs' creative imprints were all over the post Rico Rivermaya songs. Breaking free from Rivermaya meanwhile, only gave Japs the creative freedom to experiment further and embrace his musical tastes. Monologue Whispers and The Gentle Sound of Chaos are two of his distinct and poles apart types of music.
While Monologue Whispers had Japs dabble into his favorite electronica harmonies, The Gentle Sound of Chaos would bring Japs' garage band sonic chaos. However, Pinoy Pop is a perfect marriage of both musical styles. Think of electronica without being too electronica, and a garage band that is orderly and far from chaotic, perhaps even leaning more towards Folk Rock songs. What works for me is that Japs has written and created songs for this album while touch basing on his being Pinoy, helped largely by an all Pinoy lyrics in the songs. There are lots of songs in this album that would remind you of the yesteryears of the 90's OPM band explosion (Eraserheads and Rivermaya would come to mind) but I wouldn't put it that way. Because even if it reminds you of those bands, the songs in this album sounds so fresh. There are a lot of easy listening tunes here that sounds so relaxing. Take note of the opening track, Comfort Zone, it gives you this marching guitar strumming but never really gets tiring to the ears. There are also a lot of witty songs with so much Pinoy flavor like Southside, Pinoy Time, Username, and Extra Kanin. Tell me, when was the last time you heard songs about mundane Pinoy habits? My personal favorites meanwhile are Ibang Mundo, Lipas Oras, Alala, and of course Hirap Bago Sarap.
Now, Hirap Bago Sarap is just my kind of song. The opening line of "Nagsimula sa patingin-tingin" made me remember Teeth's "Nagsimula sa patiki-tikim" from the song Laklak. Silly I know, but I couldn't help it. Lines like "Tuloy ang Ligaya" (which segues to "aasahang", a line from Eraserheads' Ligaya) and "Himala" in the song also made me smile about slight Rivermaya references, again it's silly of me to correlate the lines to old 90's OPM songs but I just can't help it. Wait, in the song Ibang Mundo, if I heard it right, even slips the line "Wag ka nang umiyak/sayang ang luha" which very much reminds me of the song Sayang, the song that Japs wrote after Rico Blanco left Rivermaya. The songs just sticks on me in the same way how those songs of yesteryears sticks on us up to this day. Buried in our deepest consciousness that continues to be stoked from time to time every time we are awakened to slightly similar yet strikingly fresh songs. Pinoy Pop never really gets tired. The tunes are so classic Japs that I know of from the songs that I've heard from him during his time with Rivermaya. I wonder if Japs had a hard time writing these songs. Because the songs are just so easy on the ears. The melodies are helped largely by Japs cool to the ears vocals. The lyrics, well what can I say? Japs always had that wit in him. And not forced witticism mind you just for the sake of being witty. In writing this, I hope the songs in this album gets to have its day in the sun. Because Japs deserves it. We need more Pinoy Pop like these than the trash that we are hearing in the radio nowadays. Now whoever said OPM is dead?
You can stream/purchase the album at https://japsuki.bandcamp.com/album/pinoy-pop-2015
Well this is a first for Rivermaya. This is the first time that the band would be releasing a repackaged edition of their album that would contain a DVD. The last time Rivermaya included videos in their Audio CD releases was the Rivermaya Live and Acoustic way back in 2002. So this comes as a surprise. This also means that Panatang Makabanda has been successful enough to warrant a new release. Notable inclusions in this repackaged album are:
Music Videos of Tayo Lang Dalawa, Malayang Magmahal, and Pilipinas Kelan Ka Magigising
Lyric Videos
Outtakes
Live Performances
and more...
I'm excited for this release. But one thing that I hope gets to be released in the future is the Rivermaya Bagong Liwanag auditions DVD. I know hopes of having those episodes seen in Studio 23 gets released are slim, but I would love to see those episodes gets releases one day. That was the vocalist auditions that Rivermaya did when Rico Blanco left the band. The auditions netted them Jayson Fernandez who has since left Rivermaya before Panatang Makabanda was recorded and released.
Rico Blanco seems to like making cameo appearances in horror themed movies/tv shows. Last seen in ABS CBN's Imortal T.V. Series and Star Cinema's Segunda Mano movie, Rico is at it again with a new horror/action movie with a title borrowed from Rico's old hit song from Rivermaya, Liwanag Sa Dilim. Rico also used this occasion to breath new life to the song by giving us a new rendition of the song post Rivermaya Rico Blanco style. The new rendition pretty much adheres to the type of songs Rico has been making lately.
The full version of the song can be heard through Deezer.
If Rico Blanco is with Giordano, Bamboo is with Jag Jeans. In a 30 seconder raging sexy rock video, Bamboo showcases Jag Black Jeans partnered with a foreign looking model. Bamboo also recently has been tapped to be Jollibee's new fast food menu, the Garlic Pepper Beef. Check out the commercial below.
I just recently came across with a Rivermaya song that was made specifically for toddlers and kindergarten. Teamed up with Mark Escueta's wife Magdangal, Rivermaya releases a playful song fit for the intended audience. Entitled Reading Books/Magbasa ng Libro and beautifully sang by the husband and wife tandem of Mark Escueta and Jolina Magdangal, the song is a back to back English and alternate Filipino version that teaches the children to learn to enjoy reading books.
Check out a sample of the song below (Filipino Version).
The Jooma Jam Vol. 1 compilation album boasts a stellar all-star line up of Filipino musicians from different genres to help our kids enjoy education and music.
For more info about the album and how to purchase the song, visit their website at: http://joomajam.com/
