Rock the new year with The Strange Creatures, Genjitsu Stargazing Society, The Geeks PH, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
THE STRANGE CREATURES Phantasms
FEW OPM albums roam freely between genres, and fewer still have the audacity to graft micro-influences within the chosen genre…
Freshman band The Strange Creatures is one such fearless alchemist. Within their debut entitled “Phantasms,” the five-piece Filipino crew presents their mastery of an infectious brand of dream pop that’s equally nostalgic and thrilling in its templateshaking adventurousness.
The album actually exists in a swirling intersection of sounds. Best of the lot, Stargazer, has to be one of the finest local distillations of fuzz tones, power chords and glittery psychedelia in recent memory. It’s made even more magical by the dynamic swings in male and female lead vocals.
The entire affair starts with Moonstruck, levitating on the lush guitars of rising new idol Megumi Acorda. “Palipad Hangin” is the perfect follow-through, suggesting The Cure heading to a vapor trail. At the midpoint of I Feel Like I’m On Drugs, the guitars, synths and vocals come together on a celestial meeting of musical minds. Four tracks later, Dreamy Eyes begins on a classic new-wave mood which, bit-bybit, dissolves into some kind of midnight shoegaze noir.
To be sure, there are echoes of past and present shoegaze-dream pop craftsmen. Let’s give it up for The Strange Creatures for retrofitting an ageless genre to sound fresh and new again. GENJITSU STARGAZING SOCIETY The Universe Is Ours: A 2018 Sampler
THE band describes itself as a counterculture society with a roster of creators who share a common philosophy and outlook in life. It’s also a music label owned, managed and curated by
Kurvine Chua.
The eclectic label has just released an 18song sampler that serves as a foretaste of its inclinations. It’s available on Bandcamp for streaming only.
Lucena City’s post-rock firebrand Tim Awa is among the favorite acts in the compilation. Washington Drama Club’s Lucid Dreams is another choice cut, with muscular, dream pop guitars overlain by sweet female pop singing about “setting fire to your fate.” The Cohens’ Looking For Luh navigates seamlessly between ‘80s pop-rock and full-bodied rock.
Na Mo is one fierce mofo whose I’ve Got Issues on Your Issues reinvents The Cult as a Gothic post-rock anomaly in the 4AD stable. Ozzga serves up a shoegaze stew that reminds of The Smashing Pumpkins in instrumental mode. Only
Zoë Rosal comes on as natural and gloomy as a walk in an empty beach after the rains.
Some tracks like Kino1998’s Casiotonesounding See U and Saved History’s I thought it would be nice to write you a song appear like sketches for future compositions given their brevity. Memoryville, on the other hand, build on a solid hook and melody to transform Don’t Leave into an electro-pop in the mold of classic Ultravox.
The label boasts of selling out many of its releases, mostly in cassettes, so Kurvine and his assorted bunch must be doing something good, with a solid market to go with it.
ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER Hope Downs
CLASSIC rockers, particularly jam bands, were once sidelined by punk rock which alluded to their bloated physique and long-winded performances as too much bull signifying nothing.
Time and punk’s troubled history have allowed jam music to ooze back into the mainstream. Hereabouts, jam bands never left the scene and continue to attract audiences in venues like the ‘70s Bistro and quite recently, The Roadhouse Manila Bay—a premier blues venue.
It’s a pleasure to introduce Australia’s Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, whose new full-length album “Hope Downs” revitalizes classic jam rock in today’s so-called synthetic post-punk landscape. The key to Rolling Blackouts C. F. is the amazing telepathy of traditional guitar-drum-bass cooperation. It’s all about excellent bonding among five players, as opposed to shocking listeners to submission with the novelty or the extreme noise pouring out of the speakers.
As album title, “Hope Downs” does not exactly invite confidence. But once opener An Air Conditioned Man gets going, you’ll be hopelessly hooked by the simplicity of the bass-and-drum collaboration and soaring guitars that have as much appeal in them as an adrenalized REM song. As critic-speak goes, you’re down to the music beyond repair.
Three guitar players share vocal duties, which they dutifully do as naturally as they can, without unnecessary effects. The entire thing therefore becomes an organic venture, as free and easy and accessible as the band’s Aussie forebears The Go-Betweens. This is one serious fever you won’t be aching for an antidote any time soon.
THE GEEKS PH Weirdly! Relatable! Content!
SOPHOMORE slump. Sappy songs. Old-andtired formula. Commercial failure. They’re the textual backdrops that accompany OPM band The Geeks’ third and latest release.
If you stumble upon the band for the first time, all of those unfortunate self-criticisms don’t make any sense. Fact is, The Geeks PH have a knack for producing music that catches instant attention.
Weird? There’s a bunch of unusual song titles like, I Hate This Place as Much as Liz Hates the Winchester, which in execution happily suggests the pop-punk of Siakol enveloped in warm fuzz.
Relatable? Listen to how the band easily transitions from ‘60s pre-Beatles beat in Janice, This Hurts to an exquisite indie pop jangle to embrace across generations. Content? The Pinoy Geeks certainly sing about physical connection, but given quirky song titles especially Hello Coolio (Tru Feelings), you gotta stay happy with melodic tunes which press the right buttons to entertain you for three minutes or less.
And these musical attractions are not nuanced. They are easily recognizable, making The Geeks’ personal experience highly accessible to every Juan.