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Two of the most exciting bands now active in the gig circuit are
both signed under Toti Dalmacion’s Terno Recordings. You have to
wonder when the law of averages will finally catch up to him. But as
of now, the independent label that houses such bands as Radioactive
Sago Project, UpDharmaDown and Paramita is arguably the most
consistent in delivering music of quality and relevance to us common
folk.
Sleepwalk Circus is composed of Francis Lorenzo,
Mike Quiblat, Peavey Nicolas and Paul Yap (who incidentally also
plays bass with UpDharmaDown). In one of their online profiles, the
group describes their music thus: “Don’t sleep for probably like
three days ... then lie down after the third day, but try not to
sleep, just close your eyes. At that point your brain will invent
sounds to either wake you up or try to make you sleep ... those
sounds are similar to our stuff.” Imaginative, but unless you’ve
caught them live or heard their stuff on MySpace or some other
online music site, hardly effective in giving us an idea of what
they really sound like.
Personally, I caught vestiges of drum and bass
and ambient trip-hop in their music, especially with their song, “Wakewalking.”
The band though expresses a strong affinity with the music of
Smashing Pumpkins, especially Lorenzo, who admits to being
influenced by the band in his younger years. Dalmacion meanwhile
insists they remind him of early late 1980s, early 1990s bands like
Revolver and Ride, guitar groups with a strong shoegaze influence.
No wonder then that Francis and company strongly identify with the
genre and consider themselves a shoegazer group.
Musical O meanwhile is composed of Marco
Dinglasan, Chino Soliman, Mario Consunji and Miggy Abesamis. All
barely into their twenties, the guys also tick off the Smashing
Pumpkins as an influence, but add other indie pop/rock bands like
Bloc Party and Broken Social Scene as having shaped their sound. The
similarities with Sleepwalk in terms of sound and sensibilities are
apparent. It’s no surprise though that each band claims to be a
fan of the other, as well as other artists under Terno, particularly
UpDharmaDown. Both bands have also yet to release full-length
albums, and if their initial releases are any indication, they’re
definitely tops in the list for most-anticipated-albums of the year.
It’s certainly not the first time bands have
looked to the West for inspiration, but what makes both Sleepwalk
and Musical O different is how they have tweaked their sound to
appeal to Pinoy audiences. If these two bands have shown us
anything, we Pinoys may just be the world’s masters of taking a
sound and infusing it with our own experiences to create a fresh,
appealing hybrid of music that reflects the best of both worlds.
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