The Construct

Do you know enough to hold you tears
and stand the test of time
To survive you hold hands together and kneel
but still you act supine

I miss my early morning drives to UP as an undergrad listening to this on the radio on NU 107.

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It’s quite funny how many would consider Christmas caroling as a Pinoy Christmas tradition as Pinoy as puto bumbong and the parol. (Though one can always argue that Christmas or Christianity for that matter is native.)

It’s quite interesting to look back at past Decembers and ponder the evolution of the songs kids sing to get a merciful peso or two from households.

There’s always the Pinoy staples Ang Pasko ay Sumapit, Sa May Bahay Ang Aming Bati, Pasko Na Naman, the favorite encore, “Thank you. Thank you. Ambabait/ambabarat ninyo. Thank you.” and all of their derivatives.

And then there’s also Christmas in Our Hearts by Jose Mari Chan which had become an anthem ever since it was made popular more than a decade ago.

Funny that just recently, I start hearing Boom-Tarat-Tarat being sung by carolers. WTF, right? (But maybe that’s just the burgis in me.) I’m currenly a pop culture philistine and a few Google strokes revealed that a Boom Tarat Pasko Na remix actually exists.

But come on. Does anyone really still feel the spirit of Christmas with that Willie racket? I mean, sure the caroling repertoires established over the years need something fresh or probably a bit of a reboot.

But what’s wrong with going back to basics and making caroling more musically pleasing? Do some do-re-mis and vocal warmups or some shit. Bring a guitar or a tambourine. I remember back in the day when kids were expected to have a decent grasp of the English language that they’d still have more traditional Christmas jingles like Silent Night or the Twelve Days of Christmas.

Anyway, what do I really know? I always fancy Carol of the Bells to be the best soundtrack for murder montage scene (a la Godfather) set during a Christmas season.

Well, at least that raises the performance value of carolers since they do sport some gyrations and dance moves while singing Willie.

Elton John’s Rocketman is definitely a classic. Shatner gave contemporary pop culture something to laugh about. I’d take Stewie over Shatner though.

“Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids.”

I really don’t know what’s with Los Chupacabras recently but for those who have seen them play and liked them, here’s some oodles of great news for you. Carl (their bassist) just freely “leaked” their recorded songs via e-mail and is encouraging us (the ones who got the mail) to spread the love.

hey everyone. this is what the chupacabraz have recorded so far. It’s been in the can so long that maybe it’s time that it got out there. i hope that you guys enjoy the album, and if you like it, then maybe pass it on to your friends, and have them pass it on. -carl

So here are all five songs for your listening pleasure. I’m sure their brand of music would have its cult following no matter how small or large it is. Click on read the entire post link for some streaming goodness.

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Been revisiting Cowboy Bebop recently and I’m stuck in a loop of Green Bird. The piano piece paired with the choral vocals (Yoko Kanno uses her own ‘language’ for the lyrics) just makes the song so damn freaky. Combine that with the visuals of the episode in which the song was used as background music and you get a audio-visual treat. I always fancied to use this song as BGM in something like a Godfather-montage scene.