NO ROME, It’s All Smiles
Signed to UK-based Dirty Hit label that’s also home to the 1975 band, No Rome born Guendoline Rome Viray Gomez is a twenty-something Filipino musician who showed a lot of potential in his initial releases on SoundCloud. That early promise is now fully realized in his debut album that the Pinoy artist has described stylistically as “shoegaze R&B.”
In practice, the music on “It’s All Smiles” goes beyond the traditional concept of the shoegaze genre with now London-based No Rome applying an experimental slant in places on his take on contemporary R&B. Sweeping synths add extra heft to the swooning croon on “Issues (After Dark). Reverb and skittering drumbeat tease the melodic pop high of “When She Comes Around.” Lead single “I Want You” is a genuine easy listening number that justifies the initial buzz on a budding international artist from the Philippines. “It’s All Smiles” is OPM pushed out of its comfort zone and it’s certainly a creative blast.
WINTERLAND, Session Sphere
Thirty seconds in and all preconceived notions about the place of the piano in a rock album goes pfft. Opener “Nostalgia” finds the piano setting up the pace for what turns out to be a mid-tempo instrumental piece. True to its title, “Vision of Uncertainty” is where the keys crash and burn as the thrashing guitars and pummeling drums go for a doom metal ambience. Final track “Passing Storm” emulates instrumentally the passage of the eye of a typhoon with the piano again keeping track of the melodic thread while the other instruments contribute their share in matching sonically the escalation of intensity as the storm waxes and wanes. “Session Sphere” is one odd twinkle in the fading post-rock galaxy.
PROJECT MOONMAN, Gemini
On surface, this album points to a heavy influence of ‘70s Pinoy rock, but listen closely and the package contains some of the most accessible, thought-provoking and downright enjoyable music without going indie on you. The overall vibe is laidback though not ganja-stimulated carefree. Track titles like “Fuck You” and “Igabf” are certified attention-grabbers even as the album cover appears to be a space age punking of Pink Floyd’s “The Dark of the Moon.”
Of course, the band tries its hand on a lot of creamy pies: rock and roll (“Streetlights”), reggae (“I got a bad feeling”), boy band flourish (“Fuck You”) and soft rock (“I Care”). The songs tackle failing relationships, personal feelings, sunny days, and well, caring for another. “Gemini” should be your desert island of subversive fun in the coming deluge of holiday cheer.
KRITIKO, Tama Ko’y Mali
There’s nothing political nor critical about the album while the right that has gone wrong in the title is falling for someone who’s already taken. It’s an eternal issue in the arts but Kritiko, for all the generic implications of his chosen subject matter, unearths new perspectives in music and lyrics with respect to being in troubled relationships. His core argument goes: “Alam kong mali kapag tayo’y nagkikita/Pag dating sayo ako’y mahina/Kailan ba kayo mag-aaway nang ako’y mapuntahan mo?” So come hell or an avenging lover, he’ll be rap-singing “Bakit Ikaw?” and “Kahit Di Tayo” in tones that pierce the heart of the lonely and the soul of the abandoned.
CONVERGE and CHELSEA WOLFE, Bloodmoon: I
Hardcore poster boys meet dark rock princess. In brief, their collaboration at the intersection of instrumental crescendos and operatic vocals Converge has made the unintended sacrifice of slowing down their charging metalcore to almost blues-rock tempo not only to highlight the anguish in the voices of Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon and Chelsea Wolfe but also to accommodate the melody-in-gloomy- circumstances that’s new to the hardcore guys. Ms. Wolfe is at her element in most tracks, particularly in “Scorpion’s Sting” and “Coil.” Mr. Bannon show off his melancholic side in “Lord of Liars” and “Scorpion’s Sting.” The rest of the band explodes magnificently in the frenzied title track and much to the credit of their passion for chaos, they adapt marvelously to the slower tracks.
PORTICO QUARTET, Monument
Electronica collides with customary jazz arrangements in the sophomore release of accomplished instrumental group Portico Quartet. The innovations lay not just in the occasional forays to rock but in the addition of electronic sounds in and around the interplay of guitars and sax, for instance. In effect, electronica help heighten the atmosphere which in the case of the album Monument lean towards tranquil moods. Despite the tonal shifts and melodic textures in the likes of “A.O.E.” and “Warm Data,” the overall feeling they deliver in the end is quiet contentment. Welcome to the next age of jazz?