Philippines

Well, after this one we're leaving Asia & heading to that land down under. But first, a few treats from the islands of the Philippines.

The Juan de la Cruz Band is a Pilipino rock band formed in 1968. The original Juan de la Cruz Band consisted of Wally Gonzalez – guitar & vocals, Bing Labrador - keyboards, Sandy Tagarro - bass guitar & vocals, Edmund Fortuno - drums, & Alex Cruz - saxophones & flute. In December 1970, the band was featured in the first open-air rock festival in the Philippines, the Antipolo Rock Festival. Shortly thereafter, Sandy Tagarro was replaced by Clifford Ho on bass. Then Edmund Fortuno, Bing Labrador, & Alex Cruz (along with guitarist Vic Naldo & bassist Marlon Ilagan) formed a splinter group, Anak Bayan. The versatile Sandy Tagarro returned to the band, now as drummer (Fortuno's replacement), as well as the band's lead vocalist; Clifford Ho continued on bass. Romy Santos – flute, sax, & clarinet replaced Alex Cruz & Rene Sogueco – keyboards & vocal was recruited to replace Bing Labrador. In the wake of this major line-up revamp, the Juan de la Cruz Band recorded their first album, 1971’s Up in Arms. Up in Arms was not a commercial success & has never been reissued by Vicor Music Corporation. Featured here is the unauthorized compact disc reboot of the LP, excellently re-mastered & re-packaged by Shadoks /Normal Music of Bonn, Germany. It has bonus live tracks from a later edition of the band. Within several months, both keyboardist Rene Sugueco (briefly replaced by Larry Martinez), & bassist Clifford Ho (briefly replaced by Tony Rodriguez) had left the band. During this transition phase that Joey ‘Pepe’ Smith returned to the Philippines from a successful sojourn in Japan & joined the group.

This state of Juan de la Cruz's flux & gradual dissolution led Wally Gonzales to reconvene an all-new powerhouse trio: Gonzales – guitar & vocals; Mike Hanapol – bass, piano, & vocals; & Joey ‘Pepe’ Smith – drums, acoustic guitar, & vocals. The ensuing album Himig Natin by the iconic trio of Gonzales, Smith & Hanopol went on to become the anthem of Manila's post-hippie culture, ushering in what became called Pinoy Rock. Himig Natin fueled the Pinoy Rock scene, which swelled into a movement. The social impact & innovations of the Juan de la Cruz Band inadvertently became the catalyst for the inception of Original Pilipino Music (OPM) & the viability for diverse, Pilipino authored musical genres to emerge & thrive in the Philippines.

JDLC’s music is totally rocked out bluesy stoner jams, with Wally Gonzales’ brilliant acid psych leads. A lot of the lead vocals are done by drummer Joey Smith who’s got the perfect  psychrock delivery for this stuff.

 Juan De La Cruz – Himig Natin, Sunshine TSP 5104, 1973. 

decryption code in comments

Lado A –

Take You Home

I Wanna Say Yeah

Round & Round

Blues Train

Lado B –

Rock & Roll Sa Ulan

Shake Your Brains

Mamasyal Sa Pilipinas

Big Boss Man

Himig Natin

Juan De La Cruz – Up in Arms, Shadoks Music 013, 2001
(reissue with six bonus live tracks).

decryption code in comments

Tracklist –

Justice (where are You)

Stranger in a Strange Land

Mystery Roach

Requiem for a Head

Lady in White Satin

Love of a Woman

bonus live tracks –

Kagatan

Balong Malalim

Beep Beep

Palengke

Langit

Sarap Ng Buhay

*******************************************************

Moscow Olympics formed during the summer of 2006. The band is made up of AJ, Jojo, Melanie, & Richard. Almost immediately they drew comparisons to the likes of Northern Picture Library, Blueboy, & Slowdive for their fused implementation of shoegaze & post-punk. The group’s vocal delivery is undoubtedly within the realm of shoegaze but the bustling instrumentation are tight rhythmically inclined post-punk, yet with a polished reverb-heavy form that brings it all back to their shoegaze roots.

Moscow Olympics’ debut album Cut the World features only 7 tracks & falls just short of 28 minutes. On the album, the band demonstrates a form of musicianship that suggests that the members have been creating music for much longer than the two years Moscow Olympics was together. Their blend of modern production techniques with nostalgic odes to the 80s proves constantly invigorating. It sounds fresh, engaging, & surprisingly organized.

 MoscowOlympics – Cut the World, Lavender Recordings LAV003, 2008. 

decryption code in comments

Tracklist –

What is Left Unsaid

No Winter, No Autumn

Second Trace

Safe

Carolyn

Ocean Sign

Cut the World

Enjoy,

NØ