Grimes live in Manila

Last Thursday, Grimes was in the country for a one-night only performance at the Hard Rock Cafe in Makati. I first heard of Grimes a couple of weeks ago through my high school friend, who I recently re-connected with since going our separate ways in college. He introduced me to Oblivion, and I was hooked. Then after a few days, I found out that she will be performing here. Perfect.

I managed to get a ticket because I will be featuring the concert for When In Manila. I also wrote about the concert the previous week in Supreme. I recently started going to gigs and learned that music is better listened to live, and I found myself appreciating genres I never thought I'd like. For example, rock really isn't my thing. But when you listen to Wilderness perform live, it's like you're another person. The same thing happened when I watched Azealia Banks perform at the anniversary party for Magnum. To me, it's more about feeling the music than hearing it.

Anyway, Grimes was more up my alley because I love electronica. Grimes, or Claire Boucher, does not make your ordinary music and is in a genre of her own. Her official genre is indietronica, but The Guardian once said that “by sounding a little like everything you’ve ever heard, the whole sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard.” Her sound is “post-internet,” a mix of synthpop and a breathy and ethereal voice that mixes perfectly to create an electro dream. She sounds a bit like Björk and a bit like Enya.

Her latest album Visions is a work of art. It has been lauded by The New York Times as one of the most impressive albums of 2012. The single Oblivion is Grimes’ most successful release so far, and was named #1 song of 2012 on Pitchfork. Much of the album is just as great, with favorites Genesis, Vowels = Space And Time, and Skin providing a solid backbone for the type of music Grimes plays. Curiously, she made the entire album on Apple’s GarageBand.

Grimes' concert at the Hard Rock Cafe was a riot. She played most of the songs on Visions, and even if she only played eight songs over a set that lasted less than an hour, the energy was out of this world. Grimes opened the set with Symphonia IX and the crowd got wilder as she progressed, singing Circumambient, Nightmusic, and Be A Body. When she performed Oblivion, everybody cheered and went crazy. By the time she closed with Phone Sex, I was already part of my friends’ mosh pit and dancing along with the crowd.

The day after her show, she tweeted “manila was out of this world i will absolutely come back to manila and i suggest to everybody else that they go to manila one day. ”

*With excerpts from my article at When In Manila here. A link to my feature on Supreme here. Photos are by Stephen Lavoie, courtesy of Kind Assault. Follow Grimes on Twitter here and Kind Assault here.

Nananaginip Nang Gising, UP Asterisk's 7th anniversary party

Last Friday, I was in Conspiracy Bar in Quezon City to support my friend Stefan for Nananaginip Nang Gising.  The event is the seventh year anniversary and cult night of Asterisk, the three-time Outstanding Arts and Letters-Based Organization in UP Diliman. Stefan handles social media, and he does a great job of it because I usually get events to feature for Supreme from him. He did the marketing for the event and he invited me, Nikko, and Erin Emocling to represent When In Manila

On a side note, I would also like to congratulate Erin for landing a gig as writer for Yahoo! and VERA Files. She's a great photographer and writer!

Prior to that, I attended the reception of my officemate Rhea Ramilla's wedding. She and her now-husband Bryan finally tied the knot after 13 years of being a couple. She looked absolutely stunning that day and I wish that she will have 13 more years, then 13 more with him. Bryan's a lucky guy.

Nananaginip Nang Gising featured the music of Wilderness, Slow Hello, Plagpul, The Oemons, The Jeffrey Zulueta Experience, TABAKK, Ciudad Tribu, Super Lolo, Sheenola, The Strangeness, Justin Pinon, and poetry by UP UGAT, with live art by Ang Gerilya.

Wilderness played a great set that night, but totally different from the last gig I watched. According to Stefan, a neighbor complained about the noise the bands made and threatened to report them. Wilderness was affected the most because their music can be really loud, what Erin describes as a "bombastic love explosion." At one point, I was handed a tambourine and I jammed with the band for a few songs. It felt really good.

The Oemons were pretty good, too. They look like rockers in a jazz band, complete with a trombone and trumpet, but they play ska. They're a riot to watch and though I didn't exactly understand what they were singing (they mentioned burritos, white men, and bukkake), they were an entertaining band and their music was addicting. I might go to their other gigs.

I enjoyed The Strangeness' set the most. My friend Shinji plays the tambourine, and they describe themselves as a "lo-budge narco country psychedelic garage punk n' soul band... from outer space." It sounds like a lot to digest, but their songs are laidback and perfect for chill Sunday afternoons. They performed one of my favorite Strangeness songs, Being Sober is a Drag. Which really is.

The rest of the event went great. I got to meet Bon, who runs Indiebon, this artist from Ang Gerilya, and Geli Bolinao from Clavel. We promised to collaborate on projects soon. Exciting times ahead!

Asterisk is perhaps the coolest student organization. They hold these fantastic cultural events from Lav Diaz screenings to talks with established cultural creatives. In fact, I'm seriously thinking of going back to school just to join Aste!