MARIA CAFRA
Gintong Musika at Panahon
Pinoy rock pioneers Maria Cafra, led by the indefatigable Resty Fabunan, have released their 50th-anniversary album that reflects their bedrock roots, essential contributions to Filipino rock, and forward-looking direction. The opening track “Panaginip” echoes local ‘90s hard rock featuring lyrics that are simultaneously surreal and funny. Rootsy influences show up on the second half of the record with its all-blues setting. Old-time Cafra rears its pretty head in “Saludo sa Pinoy Rakenroller” and “Gising Mga Pinoy.” Truly, “sarling atin!”
THE VOWELS THEY ORBIT
Tuloy tuloy tuloy!
Filipino indie pop-rock band The Vowels They Orbit write and sing love songs but they’re hardly silly. Well, “Here In My Arms” has all the optimism of a wedding song while “Bangungot” aspires to be a quirky art-pop project. The other four starting with “Una” and on to “Clutch” are starry-eyed love croons dashed by hints of sadness here and there — the kind that does not stoop to the level of easy rock. The final track, “If You Come Back To Me” despite the blah title, goes head over heels into prime Meghan Trainor territory. You’ll fall in love again with these adventurous music makers.
LIFE INSULAR
A Gilded Age
The tracks on “A Gilded Age” appears to soundtrack the space age, what with periodic inserts of radio bleeps in the mix and lyrics like “A journey past the Heliosphere of Voyagers and Pioneers,” “..the tides of a colder war,” and “A shot across a distant night, a sea of stars and satellites.” Then again, Life Insular pairs them with music that resounds with shoegaze (“A Polar Bear”), folk rock (“NERVA”), The Flying Lizard x Trio (“Baikonur Beat”), and psychedelia in the titular cut. It’s like he’s dialing in the glories of the past into the surreal present and rightly calls it “dreamy, nautical pop.”
CAROLINE POLACHEK
Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
The music projects of songwriter, producer and singer Caroline Polachek have ranged from avant ambient pop to artful electro. This time, on her latest album, she fillets the nature of her desire splashing her vocal acrobatics from operatic to ululation all over it. A trained soprano, she’s still a mesmerizing presence across “Desire, I Want to Turn Into You.” Ms. Polachek ups the ante by supplying her melismatic voice to a sonic gamut from samba to funk to trilling bagpipes. She even does a lovely threesome with Grimes and Dido. Caroline P. really wants you to feel her urgent need.
PARAMORE
This Is Why
You think you’ve got Paramore pegged? Another pretty face fronting a reworked round of retro-emo? If you’re partial to melodic earworms, the recent incarnation of Paramore will take you not to emo ver 6.0 or whatever, but to emo-laced power pop that’s guaranteed to reaffirm your massive crush for Hayley Williams and these are the main reasons why: 1. Her trio has gone past emo-rock and now displays musical prowess that resonates in places with Bloc Party, The Talking Heads and Duran Duran; 2. Hayley remains a beguiling enchantress whether she’s playing an empowered woman or avenging angel, and 3. Paramore resurrects the dynamics of the power trio in the age of digitally tweaked recordings. That pretty face has become an important figure among women who rock!
GORILLAZ
Cracker Island
Here’s a “cartoon band” which has more flesh and brains than your average rock group. Given, ring leader Damon Albarn has a preternatural gift for making great songs and he overcompensates by assembling an unlikely cast of musicians to produce outstanding releases. On their newest titled “Cracker Island,” boundary-pushing tracks feature the likes of Stevie Nicks, reggaeton star Bad Bunny, Thundercat, and Tame Impala. They bring the best out of environmentally dystopian songs like “Silent Running,” “Oil” and “New Gold.” Conceptually, Damon has taken another go at setting his original comic characters in a fresh musical landscape and it’s a remarkable trick that opens up myriad possibilities each time out.