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By Marjorie Gorospe INQUIRER.net THEY describe their music as “rebellious, live and organic.” An indie garage-rock/post-punk band (yes a mouthful) with influences from the Beatles, the Libertines, The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, among others, the Charmes believes they have what it takes to stand out. Formed in 2006, the Charmes is now working on an album. It was formed by long-time friends Brian Josef (vocals and guitars), JB Bulan (lead), Jerome Abello (drums) and Jino Manalo (bass later replaced by Jiggers Vergel de Dios). They all went to the same high school. The Charmes disbanded but later reunited. So the story went: Josef pursued a solo career recording for Sony BMG. He was later nominated as best new male recording artist in Awit Awards. He, however, missed the band and his friends, thus they came together. Josef composes most of the songs. He says personal experiences inspired his songs. Together with the band, they collaborate to fill in the missing gaps, such as rhythm and melody Though this may sound cliché, Josef believes that “being ourselves and just doing great music” is what really matters to them. This is also the reason why the band plays original songs more than covers. The Charms is still working on their album so as of now, you may check out their demos and gig schedules at www.myspace.com/thecharms.

By Agence France-Presse LOS ANGELES -- Lynyrd Skynyrd pianist Billy Powell, one of the longest-serving members of the 1970s supergroup, has died aged 56, the band announced on its website Wednesday. Powell, a survivor of the 1977 plane crash in Mississippi that claimed the lives of six people including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, died on Tuesday, the statement said without giving further details. "Beloved pianist for the Lynyrd Skynyrd Band, Billy Powell, passed away last night," the statement said. "The family and band request your respect and understanding during this difficult time. Thank you." According to celebrity news website TMZ.com, Powell died in the southeastern state of Florida. The Texas-born Powell worked as a roadie for Skynyrd during the group's early years before his keyboard skills were noticed by Van Zant during preparations for a concert. He appeared on the band's debut album and was part of the group's meteoric success through the next four years, a period which saw them produce classic rock anthems including "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird." Powell was seriously injured in the 1977 plane crash that decimated the group, killing Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backing vocalist Cassie Gaines. Powell rejoined the group in 1987 for a tribute tour.

By Clarence Yu AEROSMITH’S Joe Perry pays homage to his idol Chuck Berry with his own recording of "Run Rudolph Run," and it’s about time. According to Aerosmith’s official fan website, AeroForceOne, "Joe has always loved Chuck Berry’s and Keith Richards’ version of this song and has wanted to record it for years now. He also wants to share it with all the fans right here at AF1." A diverse list of artists who have covered the song include Bryan Adams, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Grateful Dead and Billy Idol, a testament to the long lasting recognition of the song first made popular by Chuck Berry in 1958. Perry is reputed to be an ardent admirer of Berry, and it shows in his previous guitar work on songs like "My Girl" off Aerosmith’s Pump (1990) and the axeman often employs Berry’s trademark double-stop licks on his own guitar solos. The recording, available for free download at AeroForceOne, follows the tradition of a swinging, rockabilly beat as previously recorded by Keith Richards. Perry’s voice is ice cool in its lack of emotion, and it is obvious that the recording was engineered to sound like a classic ‘50’s rock and roll song: high on the reverb, with a lot of bar chords, heavy on the crash drum cymbal, with bits of piano flourishes. Perry adds his own mark on the song with his signature buzz sounding solos throughout the song. An accompanying video recorded for the song can be viewed at YouTube. While the song may only be of interest to die-hard Perry and Aerosmith fans, much can be said about Perry’s gesture of making the song free for download. The legendary guitarist has nothing more to prove, and in making this his gift to his fans, it shows a tender side of Perry that he rarely reveals in the rock arena. It can be viewed then as a simple gift from a human being using his God-given talent. Which is, in essence, part of the true spirit of Christmas. Download it now.

By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines--Following the news that Rivermaya has parted ways with its manager Liza Nakpil, a controversy over who owns the Rivermaya trademark has started brewing. A check with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) website shows that former manager Liza Nakpil has applied for the trademark “Rivermaya” on July 7, 2008 under the “Entertainment” classification of goods. According to the IPO, the trademark application of Nakpil is “for updating,” which, according to intellectual property expert and lawyer Jun Rodriguez, indicates that the application is awaiting publication. Meanwhile, the same search on the trademark "Riverymaya" produces another applicant, Mark Edward Escueta who is a member of the band. A closer look reveals that his application is still “pending.” Escueta applied for trademark application on October 10, 2008, and has classified the trademark name "Rivermaya" under “clothing, footwear, headgear” and “entertainment.” In all trademark applications, the rule of thumb is “first to file,” Rodriguez added. As of this writing, officials at the Bureau of Trademarks of the IPO are unavailable for comment.

CAN'T get enough of the song "Umbrella, ella-ella-eh, eh, eh...?" If it keeps ringing in your eardrum over and over again, then surely, you would not want to miss hearing it live from the multi-awarded artist Rihanna as she jams with Grammy nominated singer-songwriter Chris Brown at the Bonifacio Global City Open Field on November 16, 2008. Globe and MTV Philippines will be giving away discounted ticket prices for those who will avail the tickets from October 15 to 31, MTV Philippines announced. A platinum ticket regularly priced at Php 10,000 will be sold for Php 8,000, gold ticket priced at Php 5,000 will be sold at Php 3,000, silver ticket costing Php 3,000 will be sold at Php 1,500, and bronze ticket costing Php 600 will be sold at half the price of Php 300. At the age of 19, fashion icon and R&B sensation Rihanna attained the status of international superstar. She acquired multiple number one hits, two music awards from MTV, and three billboard awards. Aside from the success that she has attained in the music scene, she also extends a hand to charity organization for the needy children. Not only does Rihanna holds the record of being multi-awarded, but also multi-talented Chris Brown has his own share in the limelight for selling worldwide three million copies of his self-titled album, Run It, and 1,920,665 copies in the United States. (Izah Morales)

By Anna Valmero Inquirer.net Manila’s sonic hatcheries crack out the incubators at Club Dredd at Eastwood City for the third Electrostatic Sound Conference held September 24. Manila sound art musicians along with a guest Australian artist played their compositions and shared their music to their followers and to new crowds. The event, spearheaded by New Media Arts Manila, was held to support the musician’s friend who was shot several weeks ago.
“Sound art is an abstraction on what we usually considered music with rhythm, melody and harmony elements. You take away those elements and you come up with sounds that you organize to form the art,” said Singapore-based guest artist Darren Moore. “It encompasses an area of music that may not be mainstream in genre, but with a definite following.” As a form of contemporary art, the media fuses different sounds produced by musical instruments, everyday materials and recorded sound produced by animals, TV or a typical conversation. As such, the content varies because music is relative and perceived differently by people. As such, the pattering of the rain can be a symphony or not, depending on the listener. “You can use any material to produce sound and use that raw sound in your composition or you can synthesize it, depending on the effect you want,” Moore said. “For me, I want to focus on the micro sounds so I use my laptop and some tuners for my piece.” Given the freedom to compose a sound art piece, artists can produce music from any material of their choice and couple that with images to add visualization to the piece. Tad Ermitano took this fusion of music and visualization a level higher. During his turn, he used the sound vibration produced by an amped speaker to provide the motion to a set of small metal balls and colored paint, thus producing a “non-Newtonian fluid” or fluids that do not follow Isaac Newton’s model of fluid dynamics. According to Ermitano, sound art is not limited to the organization of sounds to come up with music. For his piece, he added the live-act motion of his non-Newtonian fluid as to redefine the concoction of music and visualization in sound art.

WHO member Pete Townshend, in close collaboration with mathematician-composer Lawrence Ball and software developer Dave Snowdon, is set to launch an Internet-based service that will allow anyone to create music online. The service, dubbed Lifehouse Method, is essentially web-based software that "creates music, allowing you to 'sit' for a musical portrait just as if you were being painted. The software 'paints' your music. It will only take a few minutes of your time," the website says. Reuters reports at CNET:

British rocker Pete Townshend on Wednesday unveiled an Internet-based software program that will help music fans compose personalized tracks at the click of a button. The Who guitarist-songwriter said that with a voice recording, a digital image and a rhythm clapped into a microphone, his new "Method" software will create spontaneous digital music and allow anyone to be a composer, and possibly a rock star. "You can put data in and get a piece of music out. It's as simple as that," said Townshend, a technical wizard who pioneered the use of the synthesizer more than 35 years ago on the classic Who tunes "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Baba O'Riley."

The service will be available for free starting May 1. But it will eventually be available for subscription on August 1.