The Best Filipino Indie Music of 2020

The Best Filipino Indie Music of 2020

By Rick Olivares

 

The Coronavirus pandemic halted a great many things all over the world. Music was briefly stopped, but the live and recorded versions found their way to thrive in these unprecedented times. 

 

Artists adapted doing live online shows or recording remotely. With fewer distractions and more time on hand, songs and albums were released. 

 

Here are our choices for some of the best indie releases of 2020.

 

Bloodstained Existence – Barred

Pre-pandemic, it was the Laguna hardcore band Barred that opened 2020 with the scathing Bloodstained Existence that rages against the never-ending litany of sins of society and government. I can only imagine how they would interpret everything that has happened since. 

 

And what an album cover!

 

Zookeeper’s Cardinal Healing Forum – Insektlife Cycle

This neo-psychedelic band‘s latest release on seven-inch vinyl is buoyant and fun. Has the quirkiness of Smash Mouth with the adventurousness of Santana. A fun throwback.

 

The Waiting for the End to Start – Itchyworms. 

Itchyworms’ most introspective album to date gives voice to all those roiled and pent up emotions and feelings during this pandemic. The band gets their yay-yas out and deliver a rollicking album that should get you out of your funk.

 

Sumaya. Sumigaw. Huminga. – One Click Straight

A throwback of an EP that draws on OPM of yesteryear as well as 80 New Wave. Flush with dance feels and good cheer, this EP is a tonic to the pandemic blues the band (and everyone felt). 

 

Golden Age – Olympia Maru

This is how you follow up a debut – with an even better effort. Admittedly, I am not crazy about their debut release. But the second, Golden Age, is far better and focused. And Shinji Tanaka’s live drumming gave the music a lot more than a beat. It propelled their music and gave it more depth.

 

Balik Tanaw – Ebe Dancel

While technically not a new album and is more of a compilation of mostly Dancel’s songs with Sugar Free, it was wholly re-recorded and re-arranged giving the gems a new sheen and poignancy.

 

A lovely album.

 

In Love With You – Phase Two

After what – four decades or more, this song, a staple of DZRJ programming finally sees wax and an official release. It isn’t just the original version but a new version with almost an entirely different crew is on the flipside.

 

A release from left field that has got to be one of the feel good releases of the year.

 

Kontrapunto – Kartel

This year’s version of Kolateral. Picks up where hiphop supergroup Sandata. Only, Kartel broadens the scope of their fields of fire to include other elements of society.

 

The anger is there, but Kartel hope for concrete action on their broadsides.

 

Word Sound Power - Red-I

Dub musician Red-I has been prolific if not well-traveled. His second full-length album (after a string of EP releases), finds Red-I adding jazz, Middle Eastern and Asian rhythms to his take on this branch of Jamaican music. And it is his best effort to date. A solid album.

 

Regenesis – Sound Architects

One of the best of the year. It’s a soundtrack to your unfettered imagination. Deserves to be out on wax. 

Yo: The Hilarious Untold Story behind Francis Magalona’s great debut album.

 

Yo: The Hilarious Untold Story behind Francis Magalona’s great debut album.

By Rick Olivares

 

Polyeast Records recently re-released “Yo,” the debut album, from the late hiphop artist Francis Magalona, and it coincides with the 30^th anniversary of that landmark record that was dropped on an unsuspecting public in August of 1990.

 

“Yo” was the product of several years of hard work and Magalona’s single-minded vision to become a serious rap and hiphop artist. However, before that, he was a mainstay of the evening television show Loveli-Ness, an actor, and a dancer.

 

And around that time, Magalona became friends with some folks who helped provide “a stimulating, non-judgmental environment to allow his creative juices to flow.”

 

“He was together with my sister (Pia), so that’s how we first met and that’s how we got to hang around together,” bared Mark Arroyo, who along with his classmates from the Ateneo de Manila, Jorge Tirona, and John Flores formed a tight-knit circle with the budding musician.

 

The four hit it off with regards to comics, music and records, movies, and drinking. At one point, Tirona, who himself liked to draw and illustrate his favorite Marvel super-heroes, had Magalona color his work (Francis did ink one of Tirona’s Iron Man illustrations).”

 

Magalona though would every now and then beg off from their sessions to head out for his gigs. 

 

“He was being groomed to be this matinee idol to follow his parents who themselves were actors,” said Tirona who now works in a bank in Hawaii. “He wasn’t a big household name and yet, there was this ‘baduy” tag connected to him and people in showbiz but for us, Francis was a regular guy.”

 

Tirona recalled how at that time, they were drinking in the yard in front of his home just outside Ateneo when some street kids came up and said to Magalona, “Oy, kilala kita. Hindi ba sikat ka na artista?’ Francis went, “Yeah, sige. Whatever.’ One of the street kids went, ‘Tawagin ko lang yung mga kaibigan ko. Mga pare, nandito si Aga Mulach.’”

 

The friends doubled over in laughter and Francis sort of muttered, “I think I’m going to be a rapper to distinguish myself from Aga and the others.”

 

“Francis would often say, ‘Pare, aalis lang ako sandali, mag-That’s (Entertainment) lang ako,’” related Tirona. “We’d keep drinking, and true enough, he would come back two hours later with a plastic full of cash. I’d go, ‘Wow, what a sweet gig!’ I don’t care if it’s baduy or not. It was a sweat deal. Francis knew what he was doing. He’d go out and make the bread, and we’d party some more.”

 

One time, while the barkada was drinking, Magalona opened up and bared, “Pare, huwag niyo akong pagtatawanan pero I want to be a rapper.”

 

“This was around 1988-89 and New Wave was still king. Our reaction was, ‘Really? You aren’t even African-American,” recalled Tirona. 

 

At Magalona’s mention of “rapper” Flores recalls being so shocked he actually spat out the beer he was drinking.

 

“This is pre-Eminem, pre-Vanilla Ice as rap then was Public Enemy, 2LiveCrew, N.W.A, Kurtis Blow, LL Cool J, and others,” chimed in Arroyo who now lives in New Zealand. “But it wasn’t as big as it is today.”

 

“Thankfully, we weren’t very persuasive,” deadpanned Tirona. “Otherwise, history as we know might have been different.”

 

When the group would have parties, the music they would spin was New Wave and Magalona would come in carrying some rap and hiphop records.

 

“During those parties or when we were drinking in Mark’s room, Francis would say, ‘Pare, 11PM nab aka puwede na ako magpatugtog,” laughed Flores who guided the Ateneo Lady Eagles to two UAAP championships in the early years of the new millennium. “We’d then tell him, ‘Hanggang 12 ka lang, ha.’”

 

“At the very beginning, parang pipe dream lang yung pagiging rapper,” added Tirona. “Then he would hand out this yellow pad and pens to all of us and we were supposed to come up with lines.”

 

“‘Pare, tulungan niyo ako; sulat tayo,’” Flores quoted Magalona as saying. “And we’d go, ‘Ano na naman yan? This is so stupid?” We had to write lines and make it rhyme.”

 

“Bigyan niyo ako yung pinaka-matindi niyo na linya para sa chicks,” instructed Francis.

 

The guys wrote lines and Magalona connected them; amended them, with a few anonymously making their way to the songs that would eventually comprise “Yo.”

 

“One time, we were watching Formula 1, and he arrived with a demo tape of ‘Cold Summer Nights,” remembered Flores. “Francis said, ‘Pasensiya na. Nabawasan yung lyrics. dinagdagan ni Jimmy (Antiporda) etc.’”

 

When it began playing, Flores uttered, “Parang si Bobby Brown. Puwede yan!”

 

Magalona was pleased with the response of his friends. 

 

Then a few months later, “Yo” took off scoring massive hits with “Gotta Let Cha Know,”, “Cold Summer Nights,” “My Only One, “Don’t Make Me Over,” and the monster hit, “Mga Kababayan.”

 

“In the last few years, the idea of a making rap music was just an idea for Francis. Now it was a reality,” summed up Arroyo. 

 

Magalona paid tribute to his three friends in the liner notes of the album by writing, “John Flores, Jorge Tirona, and Mark Arroyo, thank you for believing in me.”

 

The success of “Yo” opened the door for other Filipino rap and hiphop acts. 

 

And Magalona followed up that album with another monster album in “Rap is FrancisM” and proceeded to score more records and singles. 

 

“As very close friends of Francis, we are very proud of what he became – a national and cultural icon; a tremendous musician, and a creative guy,” summed up Tirona. “He follows his passions. He wanted to learn golf and he got my dad’s old clubs and got really good at the game. Whatever he sets his mind to do, he gets it done.”

 

“He widened our perspective and we also influenced him. Thankfully, we weren’t persuasive enough to deter him from being a rapper. Otherwise, music history might be different as we know it.”

 

Barbie Almalbis-Honasan pens song for Aspins

Barbie Almalbis-Honasan pens song for Aspins

By Rick Olivares

 

Singer-songwriter Barbie Almalbis-Honasan has just released a new single on all streaming platforms titled, “An Aspin’s Song.”

 

The song is both an homage to a late grand aunt and also a reflection on where Almalbis-Honasan is at this stage of her life. 

 

There is an interesting story behind “An Aspin’s Song.”

 

“My Lolo Rene had nine or 10 siblings. All in Manila. Siya lang yung nasa Roxas City. I didn’t grow up with his siblings. He told me about his younger sister, Nita Hontiveros-Lichauco, or Tata for short, had at that time had about 30 cats and six dogs! And she cared for every one of them. Like who has that many pets? Hindi ko ma-imagine that my Aunt Tata had all that.

 

“When Aunt Tata learned I had become a professional musician, she would tell me to write about the plight Azkals or Aspins as they are called today,” related Barbie. “My Tita Alya (Honasan, who is the aunt of Barbie’s husband, Martin Honasan) is an animal welfare advocate and fur-parent to three Aspins named Kiko, Kikay, and Frankie. She always has a blanket and a cage inside her car and she would use these to rescue Aspins on the street.”

 

Eventually, Barbie took greater interest in the request as she felt it was something important to her relatives; more so when Hontiveros-Lichauco passed away at the age of 93 this past October 2020.  “I just started to have pets in my life (cats), but didn’t know much about dogs. I didn’t want to invent and write about something I didn’t understand so I asked Tita Alya to help write the lyrics,” further explained Almalbis-Honasan. “Writing this was like unfinished business.”

During her life, Hontiveros-Lichauco was the President of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society, which she reorganized in 1986, after having been one of its youngest volunteers in the ’50s. 

 

“When Aunt Tata passed away, it was touching to see this outpouring of love from family and friends and people whose lives she touched,” added Almalbis-Honasan.

 

Her Tita Alya eventually sent the lyrics to Barbie who took the challenge of working differently from her usual methods.

 

“I have never written a song with the lyrics completely done with a rhythm,” pointed out the singer-songwriter. “I did a draft on it and asked Martin to check it.”

 

Recorded at home during this pandemic, “An Aspin’s Song” follows her single from 2019, “Tigre” that was written for her cat, Vernie, and is a heartfelt tribute to her grandaunt as well as the beloved indigenous mixed-breed dog in the Philippines.

 

The soaring, inspirational anthem was mixed and mastered by Magic Montano, and was arranged, performed, and recorded by Barbie Almalbis herself on vocals and guitars, with her backing band, Jonard Bolor on drums, Karel Honasan on bass, Nikko Rivera on keyboards, and Stina Honasan and Midori Ulpindo on backing vocals. 

 

“You might say that these songs about my cats and dogs are about where I am in my life right now. I didn’t grow up with pets, and it is something new in this season of my life. Pets have changed my perspective about animals and life.”

 

Having pets changes the atmosphere at home and they bring out an even more nurturing side of you. And truthfully, they make for a happier home.”

 

Barbie Almalbis’ “An Aspin’s Song” is now out on all digital platforms worldwide via 12 Stone Records and Sony Music Philippines.

 

The Urban Bandits’ Pinoy punk classic “It’s Independence Day” turns 35.

 

The Urban Bandits’ Pinoy punk classic “It’s Independence Day” turns 35.

By Rick Olivares

 

Mga kapitbahay!

 

The punk rock classic album Independence Day from the Urban Bandits that dropped like a dirty nuke in 1985 is now 35 years old.

 

Urban Bandits’ vocalist Arnold Morales’ cry of “mga kapitbahay” to open “No Future sa Pader”, the first track on side two, was like a modern day cry of Balintawak. An announcement that punk rock had made a huge splash in the Philippines with its pointed commentary and it was going to stay.

 

The UB’s – guitarist Ferdie dela Cruz, bassist Dondi Fernandez, drummer Roel dela Cruz, and Morales -- one and only album so far (unless they find common time to record their long-awaited second record in this pandemic after all these years) was an instant classic.

 

For one, the entire album and all 12 of its songs, was recorded live in one day on June 12, 1985 at Studio Z in Valle Verde under the watch of Jim Sarthou. A few overdubs were rendered but for the most part, the recording was done. 

 

“Gawa na lahat ng mga kanta at natutugtog na namin,” recalled Roel dela Cruz. “Kaya pagdating sa studio, mabilis na. Yung ibang kanta na-record sa isang pasada.”

 

The album was – to borrow the parlance of the day, like a Molotov cocktail hurled at a building or a tank. It could even be subversive (given this was pre-EDSA Revolution when rallies, demonstrations, and public outcry had coalesced into a maelstrom of dissent). 

 

In short, it was brilliant. 

 

Twelve tracks of urban mosh and mayhem with a mind for melody. Morales’ voice quaked and quivered with spastic glee. Roel’s drums were like the sound of a dozen or so heads banging their heads on the kick drum while Fur and Dondi laid down a thundering wall of sound. 

 

Independence Day channeled the aggro of British punk imbued with homegrown socio-politico commentary and a sardonic view on everyday life. 

 

“Meron akong na-vanadalize na pader sa may amin sa Sta. Mesa,” bared Morales of the back story behind “No Future sa Pader.”

 

“Sinulat ko gamit ng spray paint, ‘No Future’ at paglabas ko ng bahay namin iyon ang una ko nakikita. Nag-sink in sa isip ko yung kataga kaya isinulat ko bilang kanta.”

 

Of “Nagpapapansin Pansin,” Morales wryly said, “Madami nagpapakuwela noon na obvious naman nagpapapansin lang sila at hindi sila kamukha ng mga batang rebelled ng panahon.”

 

“I Don’t Like Your School” refers to the various schools of thought about the turmoil of the 1980s by different organizations and cause-oriented groups. “Wala naman nagbago,” spat Morales. 

 

And there’s “Manila Girl” that Morales initially performed with his previous band, College, became a semi-hit for the Bandits before hitting the stratosphere for his next crew, Put3ska exactly 10 years later. 

 

Several hundred copies of Independence Day were produced. Within weeks, it sold out. A working and pristine copy of that tape would fetch huge amounts of money today. 

 

“Wala ka na mahanap nung tape,” said Rogel. “Kahit saan ka magtanong. Kung meron man, kanila na yun.”

 

You know what they say about a damn good and hard-to-find album – you can’t keep it out of circulation. Independence Day has been bootlegged on cassette, compact disc, and vinyl ensuring that a new generation of fans will know what the UBs meant back in the 1980s and to Philippine punk rock history.

 

When the UBs reunited for that one night at the B-Side collective in Makati last March 31, 2017, the venue was jammed with fans old and new. 

 

“Just like the old days,” chuckled Morales at the memory. 

 

“Nakakatuwa kasi isa ako sa mga nag-react sa panahon na yun gamit ang musika,” he noted of the band and the music’s enduring legacy. “Para lang akong bata (noon) sa elementary school sa sobrang excited pumasok sa klase.”

 

With the turbulent times we live in today, an Urban Bandits reunion to record that much-awaited second album has been put on hold due to the pandemic. 

 

But Morales, flush after the successful reunions of the UBs and Put3ska in successive years remains hopeful despite the challenges of bringing the original crew together.

 

He doesn’t think lightning will strike twice. 

 

All he knows that the UBs are a product of the times. Then as it is now.

 

And you can almost hear Morales snarling, “Lumilindol na naman. Lumilindol na naman. Ano ba ito sa aking paningin?”

 

 

The Francis M debut album Yo and my autographed cassette inlay

 

Acclaimed post-psychedelic rock band the Insektlife Cycle’s debut LP to be re-released by British indie label

Acclaimed post-psychedelic rock band the Insektlife Cycle’s debut LP to be re-released by British indie label

By Rick Olivares

 

Filipino post-psychedelic band the Insektlife Cycle’s lauded debut album, Vivid Dreams Parade is being re-released by British indie label, Sugarbush, on vinyl. The re-mastered songs – minus four tracks from the original compact disc release that was put out in 2017 by fellow British label, Mega Dodo, has been re-titled, Spectacle of Dreams.

 

According to the Insektlife Cycle’s drummer Nal Vivo, Sugarbush discovered the band from their release early this 2020, the extended play single on vinyl, Zookeepers’ Cardinal Healing Forum that was jointly put out indie labels Friends of the Fish and El Ron del Mundo Records.

 

Said Sugarbush boss, Markus Holler, “Finally got around to playing this limited lathe cut 45 by Filipino prog instrumental band. Really good stuff. On 100 Euros on Discogs already. Tsk. Tsk.”

 

After some initial discussion, Sugarbush will not only re-release the debut album, but also the upcoming third opus of which the band is hard at work.

 

“We agreed to put out the debut album in a new format and re-mastered tracks and a new track listing,” bared Vivo. “We were instructed to keep both sides of the record to strictly 19 minutes each to maintain the quality of the recording. So the band – along with guitarists Nel Vivo and Jay Jumawan (bassist Joy Legason is currently on leave) – chose the tracks to be included.”

 

The band admitted that task was difficult. Even the glorious track “Sungaze” was left out.

 

Only 200 copies of the Spectacle of Dreams will be released (on green vinyl) that will be out early 2021. 

 

The Insektlife Cycle’s releases have been acclaimed both locally and abroad. Their first two albums – Vivid Dreams Cycle and the re-named version Spectacle of Dreams and Temple of the Soul – plus all five of their 7-inch singles – Switzerland Meets the Philippines, Purple Gaze, Schizodellia, The Insektlife Cycle/Cold Bath, and Zookeeper’s Cardinal Healing Forum -- have been picked up by foreign indie labels. 

 

Due to the low press runs of the albums and singles, the band’s releases have been rather pricey in the re-seller’s market.