QLE 4.0: Live free or die hard

MANILA, Philippines - Every year since 2008, friends and music enthusiasts Quark Henares, Luis Katigbak, and Erwin Romulo have been putting together a rundown of excellent local music not given the attention it deserves.

Now in its fourth year, QLE, the makers say, will not be stopped.

You would think we would have learned our lesson by now: but no, we will not be stopped, except perhaps by the judicious application of sledgehammers.

Welcome to the QLE Year 4. In 2008, three music-loving, opinionated friends—Quark Henares, Luis Katigbak and Erwin Romulo, hence “QLE”—heads reeling from the wealth of good Philippine music out there, and what we perceived as a lack of appreciation for said music, decided to abuse our positions in the media (such as they were) and launch our own little QLE Awards, which declared our choices for Best Album, Best Song, Best New Artist, and so forth, for the year. And we’ve been doing it every year since, occasionally even throwing together full-on gigs/ceremonies thanks to Gang Badoy and Rock Ed to celebrate the winners.

Here’s what we’ve got for 2011:

Best new artist

Multo

Multo, a.k.a. Allan Lumba, gave us irresistible, instant anthems influenced by “Pacific Northwest indie rock and ‘70s/’80s radio pop.” It’s just a plus that his lyrics and song titles are informed by his doctoral research in history (so you can sing along without feeling the least bit dumb). Regardless of the underlying theories, songs like Several Chapters Ago and In Sum of the Sacred were some of the best reasons to be excited about the music scene in 2011. (LK)

Best live act

Wilderness

You probably shouldn’t expect a band whose members identify their roles as “wood fondler,” “vibrator of doom” and “kama sutra instructor”—and their genre as ‘piyesta/hipstrumental’—to deliver a conventional band experience, and this gang, thankfully, does not. The Dionysian frenzy they whip themselves into is something you really have to witness live. (LK)

Best EP

The Strangeness, “Jesus Camp”

This was the toughest category for me to judge this year: so many excellent EPs came out, the form being the ideal one for bands to release material in now, apparently (heftier than a single, more immediate than an album). This one came out on top because The Strangeness managed to take familiar rock influences and make them sound somehow utterly fresh, because they do it with a laugh and a snarl, and because being sober is such a drag. (LK)

Best song

Some Gorgeous Accident, Panorama

I would be less than honest if I named any other song for this category this year: while there were other possibilities, ranging from the buzzy to the shouty to the sweet, this dreamlike, New Wave-influenced, otherworldly-nostalgic song gently, almost lazily breaks my heart in new ways whenever I listen to it. (LK)

Best album

N.A.

Last year, despite some strong candidates, I could not in good conscience name a full-length album that I thoroughly appreciated from beginning ‘til end, and thus abstained from this category. This year (to save me from tears), I’m doing it again. Luckily, Erwin has three. (LK)

Dance ‘n’ roll: Hopefully, 2012 will bring us an album from dance rockers The Discoball. Photo by Mike Talampas

Tarsius, “Primate”

It grooves, it pulses, it buzzes. It has (almost) no singing, and it’s a damn sexy record. (At least to these inviolate ears.) What more can you really demand from a dance album? Actually quite a lot more it seems. Never relying on only the obvious, Tarsius helps us imagine a world where the disco is a place you listen to the music as well as dance along to it. More, more, more. (ETR)

The Go-Signals, “Secrets and Lies”

Mod’s never gotten its proper respect on these shores despite the valiant efforts of its local adherents since the ’80s. Just ask Mel Maniego, the main-man of power-pop trio The Go-Signals, who was also a member of Private Stock. He’s been at it preaching the gospel for over three decades and it’s only really now we get an album that is a true sonic testament to his status as the Filipino Modfather. This is great stuff and they rock it out even better live too. (ETR)

Skies of Ember, “The Last Train of Thought”

After spending most of their career being lumped in with the “goth” crowd, Skies of Ember finally bust out and made an album that can only be described as gloriously alive. Which just means that there simply isn’t anything dead (or undead) about the songs on this LP. Throughout the years, the band — Dott Seki and a revolving coterie of musicians around him—have honed their instrumental attack into something that isn’t as unwieldy as before but still sounds untamed by too much thinking. This is music of elemental power. (ETR)

Music We’re looking forward to next year

 As much as it’s fun to look back, there are even more reasons to be cheerful in 2012. At least in music, that is. It might take bands a long time to record, but thankfully enough most of our favorites gig often enough to test-drive new material. Judging from various performances, here’s a couple of albums we can’t wait to hear in the coming year.

2012 will hopefully see the release of a full-length album from “hypno-dance-rock” outfit The Discoball (“We still have one last year before the world ends, right?” says bassist Dan Geromo). The new material we’ve been hearing from Love in Athens is to swoon over, and bodes well for next year. And judging from live previews of such songs as the excellent Turn It Well, Up Dharma Down’s third album will be well worth the wait. (LK)

 Up Dharma Down’s new songs for their next one will undoubtedly see Armi Millare continue her reign as the country’s premiere torch singer albeit with a soul that sounds as if it’s disintegrating in a torrent of pixels. (ETR)

 Bent Lynchpin is a collaborative project headed by Caliph8. Their musical process is strikingly similar to how jazz musicians like Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane recorded their best stuff in their day. In fact, to drive the comparison even further, the quintet make music that can be described as “post-hop” as opposed to the “post bop” that those cats called the noises they made. (ETR)