The afterlife of OPM: Beat makers from the future
All this talk of OPM stamped as this and that — alive, dead, dying, crippled — is only proof that we are unsure of our diagnosis. We’re not sure of the fairest thing to call the local music scene, so we speculate and grope in the dark hype that is our respective Twitter feeds. The reality, though, has always been much simpler: OPM is neither fully alive nor dead. OPM is in a transition, and no amount of defensive tweeting can overrule it.
In other words, a lot of local music has yet to be unearthed on a more global scale, and we can’t be happy with just a few packed gigs here and there. Still, there is reason to believe that a good portion of Original Pilipino Music is re-hatching itself as something else, perhaps with a cyborg Pepe Smith as the father and some strange babe as his better half. Whatever the future of OPM holds, we can’t waste that taste. The attention must be redirected back to the musicians themselves and what consumers can do to make giants out of them.
This is where Similar Objects, Eyedress, Love in Athens, and Nights of Rizal come in, possibly by way of a spaceship. These solo synth artists are taking their alien-like beats from the bedroom to wherever there’s an open ear. They’re all in their 20s, raw in their expression, rare in their allusions. If OPM is dead, then this can be the afterlife. Call it Newer Wave, if you will. All this synth is best explored with an openness that first started OPM rolling in the first place.
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FREE DOWNLOAD: Download the Synth City mix for FREE at youngstarphils.tumblr.com. The short mix features two tracks each from Similar Objects, Eyedress, Love in Athens, and Nights of Rizal. Check it out and chill.
Jorge Wieneke IV as Similar ObjectsSimilar objects
Passport details: Jorge Wieneke IV in real life, 22 years old, born and raised in Makati. “I lived in a quaint village surrounded by palms all my life,” he says.
Sounds like: Somebody shrunk and made music inside a Gameboy. The end result: 8-bit hip-hop that cats can space out to.
A look back: “I grew up listening to everything from TLC to the Backstreet Boys, Bone Thugs ‘N’ Harmony, Korn and Tool,” lists Jorge. “But being surrounded by all sorts of consoles influenced me. Gameboy music and its composers really got my attention early on.” Jorge also used to be an art student, before falling in love with “sculpting sound.” He also believes that artists act as a channel for something beyond our usual idea of existence. “And I’m just relaying these messages from a higher state of mind,” he adds. “Another me on another level.”
Heroes: Aphex Twin, Venetian Snares, The Beatles, Flying Lotus, Burial, Earth, Wind and Fire, Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Evans, Deftones, Telefon Tel Aviv, The Album Leaf, James Maynard Keenan, Sun Ra, Steve Reich, MF Doom, and J Dilla. “The composers of (puzzle-action video game) Katamari Damacy were the ish but they’re not my heroes.” (Laughs)
Dream collabs: “Well, if you’re talking about aliens, I’d love to collaborate with Bashar. Just Google it,” he says. Kidding aside, he says he wants to start locally. “I’d love to link up with all the local cats that paved the way for all this and all the guys I look up to like Caliph8, Ill Primitivo, Malek Lopez, and Moon Fear Moon.” On a more ambitious note, he says it would be a dream to link up with Brainfeeder’s Teebs, one half of Telefon Tel Aviv, Portishead, Prefuse 73, Prof.Logik, and FlyLo himself.
A peek into the future: “It’s been a dream of mine to come up with cartoons,” reveals Jorge. “Hopefully if I get my sh*t straight I’ll be able to bring the world inside my head out for all of you to enjoy.” He says he’s also been working on a beat makers’ collective. “Expect more beat heads to start popping out. There is a lot brewing behind the scenes with these cats. I myself am stoked for the music coming out this year. As for me, I’m just gonna continue to be.”
Internet presence: http://soundcloud.com/similarobjects and http://numberlinerecords.com/artists/similarobjects
Francis Maria Regalado as Love in AthensLove in Athens
Passport details: Francis Maria Regalado in real life, hitting 23 years old in November. His family’s from Manila, but he studied all the way down in Davao.
Sounds like: New Order, Jr. with a synthpop, shoegaze reflex. New gaze?
A look back: “Truth is I got into electronic music because I didn’t know anyone back in Davao who wanted to start an instrumental indie band with me,” says Maria, who started solo using various types of software. “I think it was Beatcraft that got me started,” he recalls. “Most of my earlier work was done on FL Studio 4, though. Soon after, I branched out into other digital audio workstations like Reason 4 and 5, then finally, Ableton.”
Heroes: Maria counts Merzbow, Suicide, Bernard Sumner, New Order, Joy Division, Justin Broadrick, Brian Eno, and Aphex Twin as his main influences as far as Love in Athens and Anna Korsakoff (his ambient noise act) go. “For everything else, there’s punk and noisy, weird indie rock from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s,” he adds. “I’m a huge fan of guys who play offset guitars (Shields, Moore/Ranaldo, Mascis), too. It’s more about the ethic than it is about the actual music, personally. These musicians happen to represent attitudes that I find appealing, particularly that whole heart-first approach to songwriting that underlies a lot of punk rock.”
Dream collabs: “Kevin Shields, Stephen O’Malley, and Squarepusher with me on third guitar and an array of circuit-bent noisemakers.”
A peek into the future: “A couple of EPs before a major change in sound.”
Migi de Belen as Nights of RizalInternet presence: http://soundcloud.com/loveinathens and http://numberlinerecords.com/artists/loveinathens
Nights of Rizal
Passport details: Migi de Belen in real life, 26 years old, based in Mandaluyong.
Sounds like: Someone shipped a synthesizer to a samurai centuries ago and found a way to record everything before the equipment died.
A look back: “Nights of Rizal happened as I was studying abroad and homesick,” remembers Migi. “Electronica was a way to make music that sounded complete even if I was alone. My laptop and music software got me through some really depressing days, which, in hindsight, shouldn’t have been depressing.”
Dream collabs: “Bjork, Little Dragon, Flying Lotus, Sepalcure, James Blake, and Telefon Tel Aviv,” he says. “I think I would rather be an apprentice than a collaborator.”
A peek into the future: In the works are an all-vocal EP called Karma Zero, Tagalog collection of electronic songs, as well as some house-backed vocal pop material. “I also play the acoustic guitar and I’m learning piano,” he adds. “But I need to prioritize.”
Internet presence: http://soundcloud.com/nightsofrizal
Idris Vicuña as Eyedress Photos by SAM POTENCIANOEyedress
Passport details: Idris Vicuña in real life, 22 years old, resides in New Manila but was brought up in California, Arizona, and “the universe,” as he puts it.
Sounds like: The nostalgic ‘80s, as sung by his Bart Simpson-shaped sphinx tattoo.
A look back: “There’s no story,” he says of his synth. “My beats are like paintings. The story is all in the lyrics if I ever sing over them.”
Heroes: My bandmates, friends, friends in bands, friends who support bands, everyone out there pushing it,” counts Idris. “Even people who don’t make music inspire me like directors, painters, graffiti artists, sculptors, skaters, my family, god, and the aliens. I look up to all of them.”
Dream collabs: “My dream collab would be with Anne Hathaway, all the babes in babe land, and King Tut if I could go back in time.”
A peek into the future: He says he is down for more collaborations with “friendly people all across the galaxy.” “I might work with some animals in the future, too,” he reveals. “I’m gonna be recording an album in a pet store. More music and award-winning music videos.”
Internet presence: http://soundcloud.com/eyedress and http://numberlinerecords.com/artists/eyedress
