Koi No Yokan by Deftones

This is my first music review and someone may ask why. The reason is simple. This time, a good music is novel to the soul.

I heard that the second coming will happen on 26th of May, 2013.  It's true, Deftones will scorch Manila once again after three years and black shirts will drench in blood, sweat, and tears. It's an exaggeration of course, because I'm sure it's mostly sweat. 

But thanks to this news, I just found the time to listen to their latest album, the seventh studio album titled Koi No Yokan which was released in November last year. 

Nu Metal is long overdue in the mainstream but those who remained loyal listening to Deftones since Around the Fur and White Pony days will be rewarded and those who felt the shame in listening to the old sound better throw their nostalgia away. If they sound good, they sound good. My own guerrilla collection of mixed, old, and later songs (ranging from AC/DC to Bob Dylan to Led Zeppelin to White Stripes) may not be easy to categorize in one specific genre but if they all sound good, nobody has that f*in right to unplug them in my ears. 

This collection of 11 songs for 51 minutes is just right on cue. The introductory song Swerve City is perfect as a take-off cut or rather, as a march-of-madness war anthem. Romantic Dreams may be the pseudo-carrier song of the album because it describes the Japanese title Koi No Yokan---translated loosely as "a premonition of love." The shock value of Leathers is a classic Deftones style as much as the catchy introductory beat of Poltergeist, minutes later. Judging the same rhythm and vibe for the intro of Entombed, I thought I was listening to a light version of Minerva. Listen closely to Chino Moreno's first and second line like a lazy banshee, and you'll hear the similarity, one is like a B-side of another. But still, I think Entombed is a decent song. Graphic Nature may sound retro but Tempest is a classic song in the entire 6 minutes. Gauze on the other hand, sounds almost like a Greyhoundz song but Rosemary's dreamlike progression into a headshaker is a plus. Goon Squad may be another retro-sounding Deftones song but here, the absence of Chi Cheng as a bassist (replaced by Sergio Vega) is significant. Lastly, despite its catchy beat, What Happened to You? is the song that may define the whole collection as a pacified and controlled Deftones album and one may wonder when will Cheng's signature low base return? What happened to you indeed. 

Listening to Koi No Yokan made me think that perhaps, there's life after Nu Metal after all. Still, if it sounds good, it sounds good regardless of genre.


Genre: Alt Metal, Nu Metal
Rating: 7.5 out of 10 banshees

Sandata

No uniform day kami sa opisina tuwing sabado. Ibig sabihin pag darating and araw na ito, kanya kanyang diskarte sa pagsuot ng kanya-kanyang paboritong damit. Sa kaso ko na sawang sawa na sa pagsuot nang de-kuwelyong damit limang beses sa isang linggo, masayang masaya na 'pag nasuot ang paboritong t-shirt na may logo ng ika-apat na studio album ng Wolfgang noong 1999: ang Serve in Silence. Trip na trip ko ang design nito dahil simple lang ang in-your-face na mensaheng napakadaling maintindihan ng mga beterano sa pakikinig ng mga tunay na kanta---mga awiting napakalayo mula sa estilo ng kagimbal-gimbal, kaawa-awa at lalambot-lambot na Hipster Generation ngayon.

Suot-suot ko ang mga paboritong t-shirt na ganito ang tema tuwing sabado na may pagpupugay sa lumipas na henerasyon ng punk, metal at alternative music ng dekada '90. Sa dekadang ito kasi ako nabibilang at ipinagmamalaki ko ito hanggang ngayon. Hindi ko lang ito basta sinasabi dahil lang sa trip ko, ito din ay isang deklarasyon at testimonya. Hindi din naman natin nilalahat na wala nang pakinabang at katuturan ang mga awiting naimbento ngayon. Ang sigurado ako, mas orihinal at katangi-tangi ang dekada'90 kumpara sa panahon ngayon na puro gasgas at revival.

Kaya nung nalaman ko na may bagong labas na album ang Wolfgang; ang kanilang ika-pitong concept album na kung saan lahat ng kanta ay isinulat sa wikang Filipino, natuwa ako. Salamat sa Diyos!--sabi ko sa sarili ko. Meron na namang dahilan para mabasag ang mga tenga ko...sa pamamaraang  matagal ko nang alam at sa pamamaraang matagal ko nang gusto. 

North American fans, you are so lucky!

poster art by JP Cuison

Comfort in Your Strangeness

image © Roy Alberto

Cynthia Alexander's departure to the US to seek new challenge as an artist is the current talk in the world of Pinoy Rock. It's true, Rock n Roll is currently hibernating in this country before the invasion of emo, even before NU 107 succumbed to the current trend of "masa" FM and "masa" music brought by lip-synching and pa-cute "artists" who don't know how to write or compose a song but these invasions cannot be prevented. But the good thing is, this role of Rock waiting in the blinds is a recurrent and cyclical phenomenon as we all know in history that after this kind of hiatus, Rock n' Roll always know how to resurrect itself and "disturb" the mainstream for another period of time. Others can choose not to bother much with the mainstream like I do but if it's worth it, then it's still good. No contention here: to each his own, Filipinos deserved their own kind of musical preference.

By sharing two of my favorite songs, I pay homage to Cynthia for inspiring my dormitory nights and mornings with her music in the late 90's. Rephrasing a chorus line that may describe my whole trip with her music; "We are nothing but dust on your feet, dying to be born again..." And I say Amen to that, Cynthia.

Graham Smith Art for Rolling Stone Magazine

I was rediscovering the music of Pearl Jam from their 2009 album Backspacer when I stumbled upon this very cool art by Graham Smith. Commissioned for Rolling Stone Magazine, the heavily inked art describes best the pop and new wave inspired album--experimental but structured, mature but full of energy.

image source

Dont Be Scared, I Wont F¤¢# You Anyway

The subtle sarcasm may be seen in that title of a fictional, twisted love song but SUPER PANALO SOUNDS! by Lourd De Veyra still reminds me more of Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool Aid Acid Test and the film Almost Famous (with ultra hot Kate Hudson as the lead groupie chick) since as soon as you begin to enjoy the rise of the greatest postmodern pinoy rock combo, you will be doused with an ice cold beer to realize that the end also, has just begun. Typical ending for a good story that would have best represented a rock n roll generation if only this book were published in the 90's.

But this central theme will probably make De Veyra's novel a distinctive one given that first; I cannot remember a great Filipino novel that centers on the life and death of a rock n' roll band and second; the obvious warning of taking the high road tells us that it's also not that different from taking the low road.

More like a period novel/historical fiction than just a cautionary tale, I can also remember Barriotic Punk by Mes De Guzman but the carrier story in that book tells us more about a group of die hard punks in the 80's as mere followers of the movement (since they can hardly be considered as artists) and not as frontliners themselves in De Veyra's story. In short, the kids of Barriotic Punk belonged to the mosh pit while the kids of Super Panalo Sounds! belonged to the stage.

The punk-jazz combo of Vic, Milo, Dax, Budik, and Zorro may never be that different from other bands but if you're a music collector, you should be on the lookout for their one and only missing album, courtesy of a man mysteriously named Malcolm. The catch is, everything exists only in the fictional world. Except for Pepe Smith himself.

Extra Joss: This book officially contains 162 pages and I tried counting the number of 'fu€k' words and its derivatives. My tally is 86. It doesn't mean anything for sure but if my count is wrong, somebody let me know.



Rating: 4 grams of "harina" out of 5
Genre: Postmodern, Filipino Novel, Music, Rock n' Roll

Catching a Good Fish

Searching the sea of used books and magazines, this May 2011 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine celebrating Bob Dylan's 70th birthday is a recent good catch. It's an insightful issue as we see music and history experts (and even the rock and film icons themselves) sharing their views on Bob Dylan's best 70 songs and what made "Like A Rolling Stone" a timeless freedom-loving anti-bourgeois anthem that became the best rock 'n roll song of all time.

The New York Times' chief pop music critic Jon Pareles describes well the songwriting and the impact in general: "The most powerful mystery of Dylan's songs is the way that, decade after decade, they shift with each new context. Every Dylan listener has had the illuminating, unsettling sensation of hearing a familiar song suddenly wrap itself around a new situation, with a well-known line suddenly revealing a whole new meaning."

How does it feel

To be on your own

With no direction home

Like a complete unknown

Like a rolling stone

Avengers OST

After viewing the official trailer of The Avengers I'm sure you want to hear again that soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails. The smell of the '90s air is in my head again...

Guess Who's Back on MTV?

MTV just realize that their current shows suck, so they are launching the new season this October 27.  This book-blog owed a lot to the "duo" and of course, to the creator Mike Judge. This generation of JUSTIN, EMO, and GAGA probably needed more endorsers or maybe critics from a realist point of view like that brave honest boy in the story of Emperor's New Clothes but what can I say, good luck to y'all.

Still, nothing beats the Grunge Generation of the 90's man! 

JUST SCREW IT, BUTT-HEAD!!!

all images ©MTV and Mike Judge.

Food for the Gods

Before they became full-pledged Rock 'n Roll Gods they first learn about the world as readers. Part of being perfectly human, they took the time for some breaks in playing their respective weapons-of-choice (i.e. guitar, drums, piano) and opted to read awhile perhaps thinking that investing on their minds might not hurt at all and also might enhance their craft further.

This short list about the favorite book/books of  the modern Rock Idols is I think the first time compiled and published online, and my only assurance as a music fan is that I did my best to cross-check varied sources including my personal archive to finally present them here, aimed to the same loyal fans out there who might not be aware that their idols were also avid readers once in their lifetime.

I hope all of you will like this list.

BOB DYLAN

He basically loved literature and poets like Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine, and Woody Guthrie were his idols. Furthermore, the most memorable book for him was John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath when during his younger days he wrote a school essay about it.

 

BOB MARLEY

Early in his career he despised the church and its dogma but he couldn't hide the fact that his family devotedly read the holy scriptures almost everyday, and until that final week of his days, the Rasta Man converted to Christianity via the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The Archbishop baptized him as Berhane Selassie meaning--- Light of the Trinity. He declared the importance of reading by saying that a page a day is the Rasta way. Though it is subject for inquiry if the Gibson guitar he owned was actually accompanied by a Holy Bible when he was buried on the 21st of May 1981, his conversion brought a new meaning to his well known phrase---Light up the darkness.

  

ELVIS

The only Rock 'n Roll God that you don't need to mention the surname--the first name is enough. Elvis is basically a Christian by virtue of his upbringing and it's not a wonder to expect him loving the Holy Bible. But besides that, he also respected other beliefs and even delved into existential books by reading the Impersonal Life by Joseph Brenner along with Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet. He also liked Albert Camus' The Stranger and Tao Te Tseng by Lao Tzu.

 

JIM MORRISON

Jim is the most prolific of the lot when it comes to book collection. His collection is vast like a library, and it has been rumored that he can also memorize every word and phrase in a specific page, he even challenged a visitor to secretly pick a book from his shelf and read a phrase and Jim can easily answer back with the book title and page number. So much for a rocker to obtain a photographic memory. Maybe that's what pure talent really is all about. His favorites were Jack Kerouac's On the Road, Naked Lunch by William Burroughs, Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce, Albert Camus' The Stranger, and The Plague.

  

JIMMY PAGE

The weirdest of the lot was Jimmy Page's (and apparently his band's) affinity into the occult and ancient mythologies. Le Dragon Rouge and other grimoires like this one above is just one of the many "references" that influenced the band as shown in the cover of the Led Zeppelin IV Album. Deciphering the symbols and its meanings are discussed here.

JOHN LENNON

John as a kid enjoyed Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and made him wish he was the one who wrote the novel. Later, he also loved James Joyce's well-known and highly criticized novel--Finnegans Wake and the sci fi opus The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick.

 

KURT COBAIN

Kurt loved Beatnik literature and the Naked Lunch by William Burroughs is on top of them. But the only book that entertained Kurt more prompting him to write a song about it is Patrick Suskind's Perfume (originally published in Germany as Das Parfum). The central figure of the book is the antihero Grenouille--a character who has a very strong olfactory ability since birth but incredibly has no physical scent and no measure of moral judgment at all. "Scentless Apprentice"  is a tribute song written by Kurt and performed by his band Nirvana in the 1993 album In Utero.

 

STING

Sting is a self-confessed bookworm and late photos of him reading a book in his free time is proof to that. He usually trips with fantasy genre, not counting out that he played the antagonist Feyd Rautha in David Lynch's film adaption of Frank Herbert's sci fi epic Dune in 1984. He also loved the Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake. Of all the classic books, he loved Ulysses by James Joyce and Vladimir Nabokov's most popular and controversial novel Lolita.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There you go, I hope it influenced you to find out more about your own idol's favorite novel or non fiction. I would like to know what you think about this post and any reactions from both ends of the spectrum are highly encouraged. Happy reading!

Smells Like Teen Spirit*

1990s. A decade of Nintendo, Beavis & Butthead, and MTV. For the 19-year old Ned Vizzini, it was a decade for a nerdy young adult to pick the "weapon" and choose that dangerous path to manhood-- in short, a perfect time to define the youthful stage of life once and for all.

Ned published this book in 2002 from his collection of teenage writings and high school anecdotes. All of us have been there and done that. It was a journey into the wild and wacky world of parents and siblings, video games, Magic Cards, dorky backpacks, "Stuy" Tests, demolition derby, alternative music, grunge, Nirvana, Garbage, Pearl Jam, walkman, karate and marathon challenges, home made videos and VHS, Christian Camps and punk chicks, Jimi Hendrix and his ultra wicked guitar playing skills (like he was doin' his mama), turnstile juveniles, snowboarding and broken bones, house painting, Prom nights, Hooters restaurants, and last but not the least--girlfriend.

Ned effortlessly retells it in a simple and real way, just like a friend tells you about past misadventures and conquests. It was revealing and very funny too.


some memorable passages:


When adults asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said, "A cartographer or a civil engineer." Those professions were specific enough to sound smart but vague enough to conceal my real career goal: playing video games.  


Ever since fifth grade, when that girl Rebecca told me I danced like a cricket, I've been a professional wallflower. I like it, in  a perverse way. Standing by the wall, surrounded by other nerdy nondancers, a sort of camaraderie forms. It's safe there, much safer than on the floor.


I finally came home drunk. I was happy about this because Matt Groening, in Work is Hell, lists the twenty-five steps to manhood, and "first time drunk" is number seventeen, right after "first compulsive m@5turb@tion" and just before "first car accident." I had to do it sooner or later.


I wanted a girlfriend all through high school, and when I finally got one, it was confusing and weird and stressful. But it also lived up to the hype, and that's rare. Pot didn't live up to its hype. Cigarettes didn't. The girl did.


I was still a virgin. That was something I worried about every day; something I had worried about since I was thirteen or fourteen; something that particularly worried me because the average American male loses his virginity at sixteen.

Rating: 4 wallflowers
Genre: YA, Quasi-Autobiography

*with apologies to a great 90's band---Nirvana

Revenge of a Rock 'n Roll God

"Music is not Art."

                         - Kurt Cobain, 1967-1994

Most of the people who witnessed a groundbreaking era in the world of music still could not understand why the most enigmatic person in the history of Punk said that line. Even at this age of YouTube, most of the younger hordes (and anonymous commentators) still couldn't see it. During those years of Grunge invasion in the mainstream, kids never bothered to take it seriously and just continued to rally behind Mr. Moustache and his kick-ass band called Nirvana. And sixteen years after his death, I was only able to decipher and understand what Kurt really meant after reading the less-known anthology (published in 1998) compiled by Rock 'n Roll journalists John Rocco, Everett True, and company.

We saw in the '80s how the political machinery, corporate materialism, and greed (specifically in the music industry) became the primary hate targets for adolescents who thought that there would always be a choice better than Ronald Reagan, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Prince, and Madonna. Those were the times when kids decided to look for a genuine root in music (the Beatnik Generation) while at the same time used the current technology to deliver the message. And that message was very angry and very playful. This is actually the birth of the Post-Modern Punk. Not surprisingly, their rivals and brothers in the Metal scene also felt the same way and before realizing it, both parties began to rebel against the current establishment and the recurring social issues by doing it "underground." The major base of operation was in Seattle. That movement is frontlined by The Melvins, Mother Love Bone, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and of course not counting as the least, Nirvana.

Nirvana as a band made only 4 studio albums, but they released two more posthumous "live" compilations-- Unplugged in New York and From the Muddy Banks of Wishkah. Additionally, the band also released tens of singles, EPs, collaborations, raw editions, including the numerous bootleg and stolen studio recordings. But of all their work, the most definitive album was Nevermind followed by Bleach. The album Nevermind allowed them to break into the wall of mainstream Rock 'n Roll awakening and disturbing the sleeping status quo that previously refused to listen.

But just like any tragic story, everything that has a beginning also has its end. After Kurt took Rohypnol and overdosed himself, picked his brand new Remington MII shotgun, loaded it and shot himself pointblank, his critics still "criticized" the death of a heroin junkie, while his followers mourned the loss of a genuine hero.

But before that why did Kurt said that music is not art?

As a kid Kurt loved playing the guitar. He loved listening to the Beatles, Leadbelly, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and later on Black Flag and The Raincoats, among others. Music for him is an opportunity to express his thoughts, his opinions. Playing the music is an act of freedom. But this was during his younger days.

After forming Nirvana and gatecrashing into the mainstream by selling millions of copies of their albums and earning numerous awards, the world became different. Nobody can ignore him anymore even if he went low profile. His words are easily misunderstood and his privacy, destroyed into pieces as his relationship with Courtney became a massive spectacle like a circus show. They were virtually cannibalized by the worldwide media and the press. The magazine interviews spawned controversies because of the lack of context. Of all the things he hated, this lack of context is what Kurt hated most. The lack of context resulted to lack of understanding, and then lack of respect.

This lack of respect by the media for Kurt, Chris, and Dave became a direct proof of the inevitability that Nirvana has turned into a mere commodity and no longer artists. In the words of Mari Earl (Kurt's aunt);

"Music was for Kurt an escape, a way to express what was inside himself. It was an understanding friend, predictable and comforting.When he became famous, music was no longer an escape for him, it was a nightmare of scheduled 'creativity' and harried performances. It was almost as if he became a caricature of himself and the whole grunge movement. Kurt's success only reinforced my suspicions of how the music business operates. By that, I mean the artist becomes a commodity, a can of beans, if you will, merely a saleable product. Can anything drain the human spirit more?"

After his death, the world saw that they can never own Nirvana nor Kurt Cobain. Kurt only belonged to himself, his wife and daughter. It may sound selfish but he needed an escape act and the courage to quit from the claws of opulence. He wanted to show that Nirvana's fate will never become a commodity, that there can only be one Nirvana in this world, and Kurt Cobain can never be replaced.

That was Mr Moustache's final revenge.

hardcore encore:

"If you introduce yourself they say, 'I know who you are.' And if you don't they think you're arrogant."

                                       -- Chris Novoselic

"It's a load of shit on Kurt's mind that he doesn't deserve..."

                                       -- Dave Grohl

"There's a photo-one photo-of Kurt that I really fucking hate. You must've seen it. Taken by an English photographer Martyn Goodacre, it just shows Kurt up close, staring moodily into the camera, black eyeliner on, hair all scrawny-lighting perfect, make-up mussed up perfect, the whole tormented "rock star" schtick perfect. I can't fucking recognize him. It looks nothing like the Kurt Cobain I knew, presents such a one-dimensional, distorted picture of him...and it seems to've been everywhere since his death. Posters, T-shirts, calendars, tribute books. Everywhere. Each time I see it, I catch myself looking at it thinking, "Is this the only way people remember Nirvana as the backing band for a tormented moody fuck-up of an artist? Is this the only way people recognize Kurt Cobain---as the Axl Rose who never made it?

I have nothing against Martyn Goodacre.

It's the lack of context I can't handle."

                                        -- Everett True

Genre: Anthology, Music, Rock 'n Roll, Punk, Grunge Culture

Rating: 4 "JagStangs" out of 5 (my original rating is 4.5, but I took 0.5 for the rough editing)