By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

SURREAL yet real.

The misty atmosphere in the auditorium welcomed the audience to a seeming dreamland of entertainment. But when the strings, drums, keyboard, and voices began to mingle, it woke the audience to the reality of Pinoy music at its best.

Sugarfree and Up Dharma Down rocked the house as lights danced with the music.

Here’s Sugarfree singing “Hari ng Sablay.”

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By Candice Montenegro, Contributor
INQUIRER.net

THE OTHER day, I had a really bad Last Song Syndrome (LSS) moment. I was just getting out of the car when I heard the ad for this year’s radio ad awards (the chipmunk song about mixed nuts), and I was singing it the entire day. Usually, the cure for LSS is to listen to the song in full, but I never heard the ad again so I went to bed with the awful song still playing in my mind.

LSS, if you still haven’t figured out, is when you hear a song and it gets stuck in your head, usually without you meaning (or wanting) to. I think LSS is every advertisement jingle’s mission; that way they can make you subconsciously want their product or something.

Singers and songwriters probably think the same thing. If a song is LSS-worthy, then it’s more likely that the person will enjoy the song and buy the album. So I guess a song’s LSS-worthiness equates to its success somehow. There are songs that are just catchier than the others, and these songs are usually the ones that make it to the top of the charts. So what makes a song LSS-worthy?

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ARE you ready for a “soporific, alphatropic, REM-tropic, quadrophonic post-music event”? Then head on over (it’s free admission) to the second floor of Mogwai Cafe at Cubao X (you know, the old Marikina Shoe Expo), Gen Romulo Avenue, Araneta Center, Cubao.

Dubbed as Minus Ten Decibels, this event is from New Media Arts Manila in cooperation with Mogwai Film Club.

Here’s more info from the press statement:

Featuring the soft murmurings of Manila’s most innovative composers. Snuggle up with your friends on the dimly-lit, pillow-strewn deck of Mogwai’s screening room while low-level noise/ambient/post-music seeps into your auditory canals from our quasi-surround quadrophonic sound system and corrodes your superior cervical ganglion. Video projections by Lyle Sacris, Jason Tan, and Blums Borres to provide illumination for those who seek both light and enlightenment.

Blums Borres - Caliph8 - Tad Ermitano - Jing Garcia (autoceremony) Malek Lopez - Pow Martinez (Nun Radar)- Lyle Sacris - Jason Tan - Tengal

Mogwai Film Club located on the 2nd floor of Mogwai Cafe is dedicated to showing all sorts of films from Hollywood classics to underground cinema, art-house fare to Pinoy grindhouse flicks. They are open for membership and will be accepting donations during the show.

Minus Ten Decibels is bought to you by Globe, Intel, and Sony Ericsson.

By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

UPDATE: Editor’s note: Corrected error in last name of event director Leo Rialp.

DID you ever imagine you would find yourself listening to your favorite rock band performing with an orchestra at the Cultural Center of the Philippines?

You may raise an eyebrow but symphonic and rock music will be fused together in a concert for a cause on May 2-4.

Fiesta ng Musikang Filipino, an OPM Chronicle, will feature Pinoy rock bands from different eras, including Juan Dela Cruz, Sugarfree, Sinosikat, Radioactive Sago Project, The Dawn, Up Dharma Down, The Jerks and more.

They will be joined by international violinist Lucia Micarelli and the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra.

Here’s an interview I conducted with Mike Hanopol of the legendary Juan Dela Cruz band.

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KITCHIE NADAL talks about her new album, “Love Letter.” Some of the songs in this 17-track album were done in collaboration with other artists.

Video taken by INQUIRER.net online videographer Janie Christine Octia.