|
By Emerald Salazar, Special to The Manila
Times
Drip is an esteemed pioneer of the trip-hop
genre with its acid jazz grooves, hip-hop loops and femme fatale
vocals. Twisted yet whimsical, sensual yet shady. They don’t label
themselves as trip-hop but embrace its essence nonetheless.
“That’s the thing we’re dealing with right now, like we
don’t want to be into the label of trip-hop because we do play
drum and bass, electro, like all sorts of music. We use all sorts of
electronic software and hard wares and what not. We can actually
create any kind of flavors,” they say.
Drip is composed of four gifted individuals:
Beng Calma with her evocative songwriting and sensuous vocals gives
the band her heart and soul, Ian Morse Magbanua supplying the beat
and the mixes, Malek Lopez with his precise sound engineering
provides the melody and Caliph8 with his phenomenal turntable
improvisations giving the group its funky grooves.
Their independently sophomore album Identity
Theft represents a journey for the band. “This is really a time
for us to discover each other, know about each other and get to know
each band members’ influences.” Calma explains.
Staying true to their indie roots, Drip recently
launched the album at Vintage Pop curious shop at Cubao X, a
bohemian enclave noted for its art galleries, antique stores and
quirky fashion shops. Longtime fans and new ones mingled with
expatriate youths to groove to the beat. As always, Calma enthralls
while Magbanua, Lopez and Caliph8 possess and move people’s puppet
strings with irresistible grooves and hooks. Drip shifts through a
variety of moods—edgy one instant, playful the next, somnolent one
moment, and dramatic the next—and yet masterfully encapsulates all
of it into a masterfully blended and distinctive sound. Their music
is truly an ensemble effort, a fusion of the organic and the
digital.
The band’s live performance highlights the
interplay of pre-programmed beats and digital loops with soulful
improvisational singing and free-flowing syncopated spinning. “I
have control over the programming section. So, when I lay down the
sound for performing live, I make sure that there are some parts
where we can play with, it can get too mechanical, so I need a lot
of room for live jamming.” Magbanua reveals.
Identity Theft is the first Filipino full-length
album to be released with an international Creative Commons license,
permitting other artists to mix their works for non-commercial
purposes. As the most sampled local band in an age when loops and
mixes can be the most original and creative means of expression,
Drips decision to license their music in this ways is most welcome.
“I think it’s great, because as electronic musicians, we
ourselves remix other people so it feels like kind of able to give
back. A lot of other people form frustrations, become a wall against
creativity and we’re trying to take that out and just play with
the songs,” Caliph8 explains. The album even contains remix
kits—directories with separate wav file tracks for bass, chorus,
guitar, drum and voice that are accessible when you plop the CD into
a computer—that make it easier for fellow mixers to use Drip’s
materials.
Drip has opened the tap on creativity. Go with
the flow and let Drip show you the way.
For booking and inquiries, call 0917-5521716,
e-mail sweetspotmusic@gmail.com or visit http://dripmanila.multiply.com
or www.myspace.com/dripmanila.
|
