I had heard once before how Sting had sang so evocatively—with all the drama and eloquence—about an ‘empire’ or ‘kingdom’, how there was such madness in passion—and great melancholy too.

But I’ve never heard even once before that there could possibly be an ‘empire’ that is not real, a fake empire that is.

The National is one band that I’ve been listening too most recently and what I’ve read about them did not prove wrong and I could say, their latest album titled “Boxer” is one great listening pleasure that one could play it over and over again and never get tired of it.

“Fake Empire” is one song that could exemplify the greatness of this album along with very evocative lyrics that get ultimately immersed into the melodies, as the song rises to it’s climactic end, with the surprising entrance and reverberation of strings and saxophone, as The National main vocalist Matt Beringer goes on repeating how he has to “hide away in a fake empire”.

How does one hides in an empire that is unreal? It escapes me the most. But with a cool band like The National, it might just as well be possible—a possibly eloquent hideaway.

Watch and listen to The National singing “Fake Empire” at The David Letterman Show.

“When the music’s over…Turn out the lights.”

— Jim Morrison, The Doors, in the song “When The Music’s Over”

When Prince teamed-up last June with UK’s The Mail newspaper in releasing his Planet Earth album for free to millions of fans, Time Magazine considered it a very good ploy. Good to whom or to what, it is not exactly clear. For certain, record companies were not happy with the Prince move and in fact, one record company executive was so pissed off that he had warned (and perhaps wished) that one day, Prince might just end up being known as “The Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores”, referring in half-jest to the American rockstar’s all too all-too-well-known ploy in the past of not using his known screen name in referring to himself but merely by a symbol he had designed himself and thence was referred only to as “The Artist Formerly Known As Prince” for some time about a decade ago.

Now comes Radiohead with it’s new album release “In Rainbows” being made available online before copies of it would hit record stores shelves (if it would ever will), and guess what, digital version of it could be downloaded starting tomorrow, for everyone to get for “an open price”, where the online customer r customers could decide for themselves on what price to pay. So it’s not so free like that of Prince’s Planet Earth, you might want to ask. It is not. But you got to choose the price, which could be as low as two cents. And that’s virtually free, if you ask me.

Why would a big rock band like Radiohead would do such a thing?

(more…)

Despite their band name—Typecast is never a stereotype except if one thinks and associates it with a very famous rock band like The Sex Pistols or Greenday, then that would be alright because the first time I got to encounter their music, I thought it was from some popular punk band from America or perhaps, Australia. And that should be a compliment.

Music critics often lauded local bands such as Hale and Cueshe to be so foreign-sounding, in a positive tone. Usually it was entirely virtuous to propel high originality in the local music scene like for example in that of The Dawn and The Eraserheads, two bands that had navigated success so well while being so Filipino in musicianship. To be so well-rooted into the nativeland’s culture is one good element for every Filipino rock band most especially.

However, in another sense of virtousity is the desire to be world-class and by this, to sound just like every successful band flying high in the international scene. For by the way, un-American bands like INXS and Coldplay was able to embrace global stardom by sounding so well like the standard rock stuff that are so patronized in America at their respective times. So why not a Filipino band to be sounding just like any other famous American rock band and be famous for it so well? Who could blame Typecast for being that?

Typecast is to me the local rock band that could might as well be the one to be described so aptly as so foreign-sounding that it becomes entirely a compliment. Like hey, “I didn’t know “Will You Ever Learn” is a song by a local band. It sounded so good I thought a foreign band sang it”.

Being foreign-sounding is not only the sole virtue of this great new Filipino band; Typecast exudes great musicianship and inflects enormous confidence; with an attitude that states out loud how they are in the scene not merely for fame and fortune but are here to rock and shake the local music scene, to wake up and instill an unknown virtue in musicality, to bring local rock music towards another level.

Typecast has great attitude and lots and lots of confidence in their music. Spunky and brave, they are.

Watch this well-made music video of Typecast’s “Will You Ever Learn“.

Note: I have reservations however about their photo take (with a semi-naked woman in the middle) in the cover of PULP magazine. I don’t subscribe to this form of imagery, I must be clear. I hope as a band they would skirt away from such outlandishness. It would be just unideal.

Ipanema has answered this entirely original tag over there at Under The Canopy and had read through it, reminding me as a result of how the song Endless Love by Lionel Ritchie and Diana Ross was so melancholic and affecting that even I had admitted (in my comments there) that I too was one who hadn’t had escaped it’s very sentimental tune.

So now it’s my turn to list down Five Famous Songs When I Was 18 and say something about them. I have scoured through the net and found this timely site listing the hits of the year 1990 (the year when I was about 18—when I was still never been that and never been this). I realized that in that year, there were so many memorable songs that I could have listed even to as high as twenty but I just got to name five. So now perhaps, I may just list the five songs that I may not necessarily be most fond of (since there were lots of songs that were so popular that year) but those that I think I can say something most of. So now, let’s do this.

In no particular order:

1. It Must Have Been Love by Roxette—Who could forget this very sentimental lament of a brokenhearted individual. This is one love song has a very famous movie that goes with it (Pretty Woman remember?). Before I saw Richard Gere riding virtually on top of his limousine, with roses in hand, I have already heard this song played—either on the radio or on a record I had bought then. The first few lines of this song told everything about it, “Lay a whisper, on my shoulder”, of how melodramatic it was and was in fact so sad and lonely; where a love had apparently gone awry when in the first place “It should have been love, but it’s over now. It’s all that I wanted but I am living without.” How tragic can love and affection become? This song’s lyrics remind the listener that love or relationship could really be gone like whispers in the wind—very fragile and fleeting; like feeling so near and yet so far; like a free ride when you already paid. Or rain in your wedding day.
2. All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You by Heart—This one got me thinking if at all, reasonable censorship do occur in our country, or in America (where the song emanated from) for that matter. Aside from its very catchy hooks, the one that had really occupied my mind whenever I was listening to this song that fateful year was it’s unusual lyrics. I had thought then that it was not really normal that one should hear on a very public manner about “ all I wanna do is to make love to you”. We all know what that means. It means that the singer merely wants to have carnal knowledge (as we law students refer to it back then) with some guy with handsome blue eyes. I don’t mean to be so tight-assed here but at that time, I just found this music’s message to be so unusual and blatant for comfort that I thought the government should have kept it away from the kids, or else they would gain some dangerous ideas you know. Of course, I am aware that Air Supply had been singing about “making love” previously in a so very popular way yet I just could not help but think when Heart’s song went on to say “please, please understand I am in love with another man. And all that he couldn’t give, is the one thing that you have.” What the hell did that line mean? It escapes me.
3. Don’t Know Much by Linda Rondstadt and Aaron Neville—This is one song that I thought had came from the 70’s when I got to hear it initially back then, and even just hours ago if not for this tag that had gotten me researching about music. It has that very old-fashion feel and sound and I mean this in a very good way. It is so simple and relax as Neville’s icy voice floats into the ears like a popular eucalyptus candy, so soothing and calming. The song says, “I don’t know much, but I know I love you. Let me be all you need to love”. If love and loving could be so simple and uncomplicated like this love song, then I believe the world would be a better place by now.
4. I Don’t Have The Heart by James Ingram—Mr. Ingram is one of my most favoritest singer of the modern times (as aside from the era of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennet), along with Peabo Bryson and Lionel Ritchie. And when he had this unexpected hit in 1990(he recorded this when his popularity had already been waning from his peak in the 80’s), you could say I was pleasantly surprised and felt so good that James Ingram has still something good going on with him. Yet, despite the breezy voice of Mr. Ingram and the beautifully unique melodies of this song, the message it got was of despair and tragedy in love where he sang “I don’t have the heart to love you; but I don’t have the heart to hurt you; It’s the last thing I wanna do.” Gee, I wonder to whom downtrodden woman did he sang or made this song for. It just breaks my heart. Sigh.
5. Another Day In Paradise by Phil Collins—I should not be forgetting about this one because it has very distinctive and catchy intro—beating drums with killer keyboards. This song had been so captivating that during that time, and even through years ahead, I just couldn’t seem to pull it out of my system. The tune was so very fresh and excitable that it felt like Phil Collins was a genius scientist who had invented a new way of making music. It was really one good tune. A classic, I dare say. Although later on, I had a discussion about the song with a friend and he had informed me that the song was about poverty and hunger among the street people in America, that it was in fact a very socially-relevant tune from the former drummer and singer of the legendary British band Genesis. As I read through the lyrics (albums mostly already had inserts of lyrics at that time), I did realize that it was really a song about the hardships felt by the marginalized sector in America. It had taken me aback a little upon knowing what the song really had meant and wondered how an ultimately radio-friendly song—one with so very catchy melodies—can be about a very serious social problem.

So there goes the five songs that got so popular in the year that I was 18. In return, I’d be naming five other bloggers to list five songs when they were that young and say something about each one of them.

1. Snglguy—I am so well-aware how he loves music that I am so anticipating his kind of list.
2. Eric of Wish You Were Here—He was once a music industry executive and I am so certain he knows his list all too well.
3. Buffwings—I would be so curious about the songs in his lists.
4. Myepinoy—He is also music savvy and I am sure we’d enjoy his retelling of five memorable songs when he was young.
5. Abaniko—He has done lots of cool tags before except a musically-inclined one. It’s time that he must let the world know the music of his younger days.

What’s with Mr. Alec Baldwin? I have been seeing him for a number of times now in the weekend show “Saturday Night Live” and I thought it was merely a passing thing for him for afterall he is (or was) a serious actor first and foremost—or even an action movie starrer as Jack Ryan in Tom Clancy’s superthriller “Hunt For Red October” (who could forget that).

Yet now he seems to be a regular already in the abovementioned show together with Steve Martin and Martin Short. Not that it is entirely unthinkable for Mr. Baldwin to be funny sometimes and be in a comedy show but it is just that I could not seem to well-absorb the idea of him being a television comedian in the likes of Jerry Seinfeld or Ray Romano. But there he was there making funny antics on that weekend comedy show and you know what, he seems to be so good at it that I wonder if I would ever be able to see him in any other light except for a very good and very funny comedian—like he is now. He used to be a drama actor, ain’t he? The guy in “Nuremberg” and “Beetle Juice” ?

So by the way, I got so cracked up laughing at tonight’s episode of “Saturday Night Live” where Mr. Baldwin did a very good imitation of the singing super idol Tony Bennett and my oh my, he was so good at it that he could even closely imitate Mr. Bennet’s inimitable and entirely original voice—that loud husky voice that is like no other.

I am a huge Frank Sinatra follower but whenever I hear the very unique singing prowess of Tony Bennett, I become of double-mind; who is better of the two? Who is better than whom? Although the man they call the Old Blue Eye is still best for me among male crooners.

I first got to hear about Tony Bennett about the time when I was still so fresh out of college from Ateneo de Zamboanga and got hired as a TV reporter for the ABC 5 channel affiliate here. One day, while loitering around the TV station’s premises, I got to meet a couple of very young lady DJ’s and the two had asked me (out of nowhere it had seem) where I was going or what was I up to at that time. In my mind I had thought then that they were overly friendly when I had not even been formally introduced to them previously and I was feeling so uncomfortable.

But being so gentlemanly that I was supposed to be, I smiled back at them and told them perfunctorily that I was planning to hie-off to a nearby record store and buy some music. What album (we don’t call it CD back then) am I planning to score they asked me. I told them that I have nothing particular in mind at that moment but I just see when I get there. Both ladies said that they could come with me and advise me on what to buy (being DJ’s that they were, they should know better ika nga). Not wanting to disappoint them and be misunderstood, I said why not. But in my mind I thought “geezzzz, I ain’t really comfortable with this, buying records with two people I barely know”. It used to be that buying records is some sort of a personal ritual for me, scouring around the stacks of records so slowly and being able to examine the music available in a time of my own, and not be hurried and be able to think for myself.

So to make the story short, they had egged me (more like trapped me) into buying a Tony Bennett album, an MTV unplugged record of the old crooner if I remember correctly. Back then, I was more into rock and roll or new wave kind of music that when I got home, I was feeling a little disgusted that I had to be so polite and had to buy some music of some old famous guy.

But after listening to Tony Bennett for some time, I felt that his voice was just magical and now as I remember that day when two virtual unknowns came to me and offered to become music advisers, I could perhaps thank those two young DJ’s for introducing me to the oh so wonderful sound and voice of Tony Bennet.

I know you’ll like him and his music—it is just wonderful and sublime.

See Mr. Tony Bennett sing the song he is so famous for, “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” here.

Arcade Fire—seems to me like the safest name for a band, especially for a new-wave rock group. It is so gothic sounding even while gothic music is not anymore in vogue these days.

And yet Arcade Fire is making waves in the music scene like a comet on a clear evening sky; that despite of it being merely an upstart band, it had already garnered for itself a Grammy award nomination. That’s an achievement that is hard to follow for any new indie rock band. This ethereal group was formed in the middle of 2003 in Montreal, Quebec and had a debut album titled Funeral which went to become a sleeper hit and was in fact considered an internet phenomenon after getting sold sizably online, following an excellent 9.7 critic rating from Pitchfork.

The first time I had encountered the music of Arcade Fire, I had felt intense familiarity with it as if I had already known them for so long. But the truth is, Arcade Fire is just a new band even though they are playing like refined veterans—with unparalleled intensity and attitude, and a steady no-care-what-the-critics-say rocker gait.

Their music is quite familiar in a sense that it can easily be taken in without any hint of protest from the listening side. Yet the melodies in their songs are so innovative that they are completely original. I do not know exactly if such circumstance could be possible or such combination be reasonably realistic but that’s just how I feel about them. Perhaps, this is the main reason why I had adored Arcade Fire in an instant, where aside from The Fray’s hit singles (How To Save A Life, Over My Head), it is their latest album Neon Bible that is so heavy on my rotation, especially on afternoons in the backyard, sipping smoldering coffee and reading a fresh book or tuning in to the early evening news.

I could well remember the days when the Psychedelic Furs were riding up so high, that listening to Arcade Fire has that same experience I have gotten then; as Richard Butler filled my college years with his heavenly groans singing Pretty In Pink and Ghost In You. This may just altogether be a sign that there is still hope for new wave resurrection, even if many thought that new wave is completely dead. This may also be a hint that the rock music scene could still afford to do some backward steps, to the days when music was an entirely effective form of social expression (of angst and rebellion sometimes); in order to forward whole opinions and forceful digressions; as music then was such a significant means to important aims or objectives.

Arcade Fire’s lyrics are strong and unrelenting; clearly uncompromising and that’s why listening to them for the first time is akin to meeting a long lost friend after a very long and ardous journey from afar, traveling back to the days when bands like U2 and The Smiths was still as outspoken as a dead poet or to that momentous year when a seemingly roguish upstart band from Seattle named Pearl Jam released the very strong and heavy Ten album—a musical work that was filled with stark realism that it resembles what Fyodor Dostoyevsky would have made if he was a modern rock superstar.

In Windowsill, “Don’t wanna live in my father’s house no more Don’t wanna fight in a holy war Don’t want the salesmen knocking at my door I don’t wanna live in America no more…Don’t wanna sit in the windowsill no more…; that’s how strong their opinions can become and so ultimately frank and honest.

And in Crown of Love, the band’s lead-singer and songwriter Win Butler sings, “They say it fades if you let it, love was made to forget it. I carved your name across my eyelids, you pray for rain i pray for blindness. if you still want me, please forgive me, the crown of love is not upon me…” . The emotions gets so high towards the end of this song that in the background, one can hear a cruel violin, feint but insisting, to pursue a lost emotion.

This band has such powerful music, and so affecting lyrics.

Musically, Arcade Fire blows the listener away with crisp instrumentality; combining ethereal digital sounds with the tender sounds of classical instruments like the violin and cello. Half the time—in their livelier pieces—an upbeat bass sound reverberates like a war chant and puts liveliness into the air only the likes of Bruce Springsteen and the Rollingstones could provide previously.

And I could not help but be reminded of the excellent Australian band Midnight Oil , the group that had the historic Diesel And Dust album released in 1989. Win Butler vocals sounds so much like Pete Garrett of Midnight Oil and that’s a good thing since the Aussie band’s distinctive vocal have been often imitated by many bands in the 90’s but clearly never equaled. Perhaps Win Butler is Garrett’s worthy heir apparent.

Arcade Fire should by all sense be the next big thing in the rock music scene. This Canadian band is riding high on the crest of its initial success—both critically and financially—and they only have their superb brand of music to thank for. They have been to the David Letterman show, they have been interviewed by BBC, and they have already appeared on Time Magazine’s front cover. Success is printed all over them in bold capital letters.

Listen to samples of Arcade Fire’s music on Last FM.

Listen now to the single “Crown of Love” from their 1994 Funeral album: