Listening to the Loveless Unbelievers

It may be my advancing age, it may be the company I keep, but I find myself listening more to the prettier side of pop these days.

Understand that I am not referring to, say, Sarah Geronimo — pretty though she may very well be, nor to Justin Bieber, pretty though he may very well be. My definition of pop leans more towards the clever and catchy, not necessarily the multi-million-selling. By “pretty” I mean bands like Stars, Kings of Convenience, and Belle & Sebastian (performing in Singapore this August, for those who didn’t know; see you there) — acts that share qualities like sunny-afternoon melodies, beguiling harmonies and a severe disadvantage in mixed martial arts tournaments.

If you recognized any of those band names with a fond smile, there’s a new group you should be listening to: they’re called The School. Their debut album, “Loveless Unbeliever,” came out earlier this year — gentle and charming and bittersweet, it is not for people whose idea of easy Sunday listening is “Vulgar Display of Power.” It is for daydream believing, for sensitive high school hijinks, for happy flashbacks and falling-in-love montages. More than a sweet sound, The School offers real and memorable songs, which makes up somewhat for their band name being a bitch to Google.

I could go on breathlessly about what a gift this new record seems, but instead I will let a quote from the blog Music is Amazing do my work for me: “For years, all the fans of the best pop waited anxiously for that group that was going to occupy the space left between The Pipettes, Lucky Soul and Belle & Sebastian, heirs of the best pop from the ’60s (The Shirelles, The Ronettes, The Supremes) and the best Scottish pop (Camera Obscura, BMX Bandits). But it’s finally here, ‘Loveless Unbeliever,’ the debut album of The School.”

I’m not sure if it’s been released locally yet, but these days there are other ways to obtain albums, if you know what I mean — nudge nudge, wink wink. (By which of course I mean using your credit card to order it online, or ordering it through one of the legitimate music shops here, or getting a friend or relative coming home from abroad to get you a copy. I don’t know what else you may have been thinking.)

Meiday! Meiday!

According to writer Marian Joy Hernandez, “If you haven’t heard of Meiday! Meiday!, it’s either you’re old, not on Facebook, or dead.” For the benefit of my offline, geriatric zombie readers, Meiday is a regular multi-band concert production, which features a crapload of bands every installment, most of them quite good and some of them the very best the local scene has to offer. It is largely the work of the multi-talented Mei Bastes, “who takes care of the nitty-gritty: from booking bands, to renting equipment, producing shirts, contacting sponsors and hosting the big night” (thanks again, Marian).

Last Saturday, July 10, at Cubao X, Meiday (in cooperation with the UP Underground Music Community) struck again — and as usual, the lineup was fearsome to behold, with mainstays like Pedicab, Ciudad, and Ang Bandang Shirley, regular special guests like Itchyworms, Taken By Cars, and Outerhope, and newer additions like Us-2 Evil-0, Zach and The Action Pact, and live hip-hop band Corporate Lo-Fi. I was particularly excited by the inclusion of Corporate Lo-Fi, because those guys don’t gig nearly often enough (hard to pull the band together when every member has another band and you have so many members, including an awesome horn section). The show started at 5 p.m. and a little bit of chaos was had.

Further listening: Visit The School online at www.myspace.com/theschoolband and theschoolband.blogspot.com. Learn more about Mei and her Day at www.facebook.com/meidaymeiday and meiday.tumblr.com