Grab on to me (don't ever let go)

I splurged a little tonight on CDs, which was alright, actually, since I last bought new music last February (Sandwich's < S > Marks the Spot). Part of it was because I was trying to save up, but part of it was also because there was nothing out there that I wanted to buy. Prior to the new Sandwich album, I'd bought the new releases by Pupil (Wildlife) and Cambio (Matic), and both were quite disappointing, especially compared to the previous efforts by both bands. I haven't had the chance to be exposed to new music either, since I've stopped watching the music channels in favor of BTV and CNN, and the only time I ever get to listen to the radio is during cab rides (Hi, pangga! May energy ka pa ba?).

Anyway, I walked in to Odyssey at Gateway earlier to get the latest CDs by Pedicab and Moonstar 88. I quickly found the new Pedicab album (Shinji Ilabas Mo Na Ang Helicopter), but there was there was no copy of the Moonstar record. I ended up picking up a bunch of other CDs: Markus Highway (Behold, Rejoice! Surfernando Is hear Nah), Julianne (Grateful), and the re-issue of Kamikazee's self-titled debut album, which their previous record label put out a couple of years ago to capitalize on the band's stardom post-Narda. I was thinking of getting Taken By Cars and Sinosikat? records too, but it was too much for one evening. Perhaps next time.

I haven't listened to the other albums yet, so I'd probably write about them some other time, but the Kamikazee re-issue is disappointing. It had all the songs from the first album, but not the the original artwork or cover material or liner notes. Don't these people realize that if I had just wanted a copy of Tsinelas, I could just download it off Multiply, and that their whole fucking industry is being kept alive by people like me who still buy CDs because we want an artifact, something more than just the music? That's why your whole stupid industry is dying, because it's run by clueless little fucktards who sign Manny Calayan to record contracts and who drop bands like Kamikazee and Sandwich from their labels before their breakout albums.

Sure, there are other bonus stuff on the CD, like old demos by Kamikazee (which were, well, demos for a good reason), and music videos (all of which can be found on YouTube). Still, let's end this post on a good note. Here's the still-awesome video for Kamikazee's Girlfriend, which remains the band's best music video to date. I love the part where the song goes into instrumental while our superhero emotes.

Labels: music

- posted by jaemark @ 6/17/2008 11:33:00 PM