Thursday, February 28, 2008

Korn Song...

I came across this particular Korn song a few weeks ago. But I only really paid attention to the lyrics a few days ago and found it very relevant. Jonathan Davis really just has a knack of hitting themes that are synonymous to my life. Here's the music video of the song and the song's lyrics.



Alone I Break
by Korn

Pick me up
Been bleeding too long
Right here, right now
I'll stop it somehow

I will make it go away
Can't be here no more
Seems this is the only way
I will soon be gone
These feelings will be gone
These feelings will be gone

Now I see the times they change
Leaving doesn't seem so strange
I am hoping I can find
Where to leave my hurt behind
All the shit I seem to take
All alone I seem to break
I have lived the best I can
Does this make me not a man?

Shut me off
I'm ready
Heart stops
I stand alone
Can't be on my own

I will make it go away
Can't be here no more
Seems this is the only way
I will soon be gone
These feelings will be gone
These feelings will be gone

Now I see the times they change
Leaving doesn't seem so strange
I am hoping I can find
Where to leave my hurt behind
All the shit I seem to take
All alone I seem to break
I have lived the best I can
Does this make me not a man?

Am I going to leave this place?
What is it I'm running from?
Is there nothing more to come?
(Am I gonna leave this place?)
Is it always black in space?
Am I going take its place?
Am I going to leave this race?
(Am I going to leave this race?)
I guess God's up in this place?
What is it that I've become?
Is there something more to come?
(More to come)

Now I see the times they change
Leaving doesn't seem so strange
I am hoping I can find
Where to leave my hurt behind
All the shit I seem to take
All alone I seem to break
I have lived the best I can
Does this make me not a man?


I always like to search for a live version of any song that hits me. So here it is.



END OF LINE...

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Photo Essay...









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Saturday, February 23, 2008

Inspired by the Hang...


A few weeks ago, as I was surfing YouTube, I came across some videos of people playing a very unique, never been seen before instrument. As I researched more about it, the more mezmorized I got. The instrument is called the "Hang Drum" (pronounced as "hung"). It's a 8-9 note instrument that sounds very close to a steel drum. The most unique part of the instrument is the fact that you play it with your hands, as opposed to a steel drum that essentially requires sticks or small mallets. You have so much room to either be melodic, percussive, or both when you play it. Since it is a relatively new instrument, there is really no right way of playing the thing. A picture of the 1st and 2nd generation Hang Drums are below.


Apparently, these instruments are very hard to acquire. They are made by two Bermese gentlemen in Switzerland. Currently, you can only purchase one by sending snail mail to the creators. And if they like you, you are allowed to come visit them at a set time 6 months to a year from their response. You get to stay a few days at their workshop, while they custom make a Hang Drum for you. If you look at eBay, Hang Drums are being auctioned there from anywhere between $3,000.00 to $8,000.00 USD. So imagine my disappointment when I heard of it's cost or the alternative difficulty to even get invited to purchase one by the creators.

So until Hang Drums are more accessible and cheaper, I am essentially just an admirer of the instrument and the skilled musicians who play it. One particular artist named, Manu Delago, is by the far, the most skilled Hang Drum player I have come across on the Net. A picture of him playing two 1st generation Hang Drums is below.


First of all, Manu has TWO Hang Drums. The creators have a one Hang Drum per buyer policy. So it's amazing that Manu managed to even own two of them. He is essentially a skilled keyboardist among other instruments before he started specializing on the Hang Drum. He has about 1-2 independent albums out that he sells on his website. If only I had access to a credit card, I'd get his albums in a heartbeat. So for now, I will just have to contend with the few videos that Manu does have on YouTube. One particular video he posted on YouTube has captured my soul eversince I first watched/listenend to it. The YouTube video is below. It is Manu Delago performing a piece he calls "Mono Desire".



I might be going a little overboard on how I feel about Manu's song. But the piece so moved me that it's as if, through Manu's melodies fused with percussive elements, he was trying to tell me that I'm doing fine. But also reminds me that I have so far to go. One of many sleepless nights that I've had, I listened to his song over and over. I was so full of emotion that I had to let it out somehow. So I wrote a song/poem of how I felt that night. Here is what I wrote:



Misery
by Aldous Castro
I just want to sleep
End my misery for the day
This unfounded misery of mine
because I always forget
that I'm lucky where I am in life

The endless loop
of the sounds of hang
begging myself to close my eyes
and give my heart a rest
the soft tones
borderline between percussive and melodic
reminds me where I am
and how far I have to go
the tap of a finger
multiply into a field
that envelops you in its arms
squeezing discomfort that is felt
amongst comforts of the world


It's a first draft and crappily written. I just thought I'd share it. Hopefully, I'll get around to tightening up the lyrics and possibly even write music for it. But for now, it's just an expression of how I felt that night while listening to Manu's song. Thanks for the song, Manu. It has eeringly helped me through many dark and sleepless nights.


END OF LINE...

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Foo Fighters Song...

I was lying down on my bed one night while listening to my iPod, desperately wanting to sleep. Somehow, my mind just wouldn't let me fall asleep. My iPod was set on random and shuffled to a song by the Foo Fighters called "On The Mend".

I have spent many sleepless nights since then with that song as my only company. It so feels like my theme song these days.


I like the studio version better and I found someone who just put the studio track on YouTube. So here it is with the lyrics.



One more day that I've survived
Another night alone
Pay no mind I'm doing fine
I'm breathing on my own

I'm here
And I'm on the mend
I'm here
And I'm on the mend my friend

Wake me when the hour arrives
Wake me with my name
See you somewhere down the line
We're tethered once again

I'm here
And I'm on the mend
I'm here
And I'm on the mend my friend x2

Was it you
Who said hello

Here we go

Close your eyes and stay a while
But take me when you go
Single file we walk the mile
Wandering back home

I'm here
And I'm on the mend
I'm here
And I'm on the mend my friend x2

Was it you
Who said hello

Here we go x4


And for those who want to watch the live version of the song. Here it is. It's pretty good too.



END OF LINE...

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Birthday Celebration in BigSkyMind...

Briggs (my band's vocalist/guitarist) and I threw a party at BigSkyMind to celebrate our birthdays, last Saturday, February 16, 2008. Just don't ask hold old we are. And if you have to ask, it's better answered in private and over a beer. ;)


Most of the pictures in this post were taken by my good friend Jan Gabriel (Thanks Jan!). I thought I'd give her credit for it just to be fair. The rest of the pictures came from my crappy camera on my Treo 650.

We had an open bar, pica-pica, and an interesting dessert (ehem). It was an invite only party for our good friends, with my good man Dennis manning the door, with a guest list and a stamp pad. The stamp is the key to food and booze that night. No stamp on your wrist, nothing is free.


We had some of our friends' bands who play good music perform that night as well. Some of which I'll be putting up pictures of and talk about in this post. The bands that played that night were Liquid Jane, Sidhi, Coffeeshop Conspiracies, SunDownMuse (of course our band had to play at our party), Milagros Dancehall Collective, and Mobster Manila.

Liquid Jane


Chad Rialp, the vocalist/bassist, has been a friend of mine since highschool. And I've been watching Chad play his music eversince they were an acoustic duo called "The Sims", through an acoustic trio as "Liquid Jane", until the full band set-up that it is currently. Highlight of the set for me was, of course, "Hollow Tree", which is my all-time favorite Liquid Jane song. Sorry Chad, I know you invited me to jam Hollow Tree with you guys. I was too zonked to go get my gear from the car and set-up so early in the night. There will be a next time for sure.


A line from one of the songs they played that night stuck in my head; "You're halfway human! You're halfway animal!". So much hatred (lol!). A few thoughts and emotions welled up when I heard Chad sing those lines. But that's probably best left for a whole different other post. ;)

They currently have an album out titled "Newspaper, Bottle". A very well made indie effort.

Sidhi


Sidhi is by far one of my most favorite local bands. I stack them up there with the likes of Urbandub in how entertaining they are. These guys don't even know how good they are. The band is a 4-piece band with a hebrew/reggae/rap style. One of the bigger influences is Matisyahu. But the vocalist's style seems to have a more persian/hebrew accent. And that on its own makes their music sound great. Highlight of their set is my favorite song called "Move On". Listen to the song on their Friendster account. It's really good and it seems to be so relevant to my current situation.

They're coming out with their first album soon. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy.

Coffeeshop Conspiracies


Coffeeshop Conspiracies was named so because of the musings of my good highschool friends Paolo Rodriguez (Coffeeshop vocalist/guitarist) and Benito Gonzalez (previous guitarist of Liquid Jane), while hanging out countless times in Starbucks in Alabang Town Center. The band's music sounds very much like Dave Matthews (one of Pao's biggest influences), fused with jazz and blues elements from Paolo's collective guitar playing experience. They are a 5 piece band, inclusive of a saxophone and keyboards player. I must admit that the added keyboards and saxophone in the music really fills in the gaps of their songs. Like I said before, it makes light-hearted songs sound not so cheesy. They have a crazy-ass drummer named Paolo as well. They just finished their 3 song demo which sounds awesome. So watch out for these guys.

SunDownMuse


This is a band that I'm a part of. So I won't bother giving too much background information on this band. We were missing our lead guitarist, Charles, that night. So we enlisted the guitar expertise of Gino, the guitarist for Liquid Jane. Gino sessioned for us for two gigs late last year. So the impromptu jam session with him that night was loose but not too unfamiliar fortunately.

To be honest, I felt it wasn't one of our better sets; especially since we screwed up the intro of our first song twice. Heck, it was our party anyway and it made for a good laugh. I was slightly disappointed that a lot of my friends left before we got to play. But the people who did stay said we played well. I suppose that was the booze talking (lol!).

Milgaros Dancehall Collective


Milagros Dancehall Collective or MDC are Manila's Dancehall authority, and rightfully so. MDC's music is a little hard to describe without immediately relagating it to the gazillion reggae acts in the scene. When the band is asked how to describe their music, the easiest thing to say is that "it's similar to Sean Paul". It's that kind of reggae/rap music that is easy to groove to and is always an instant crowd favorite. They were missing Sappy, their lead guitarist and co-vocalist, that night. So there was this Shaggy-esque reggae/rap sound that was missing in their sound. It was still good nonetheless and very entertaining.

Mobster Manila


We almost thought these guys weren't going to show up to play anymore that night. But we were glad that they did. Mobster Manila is known to be as entertaining with their look and clothing as it is with their music. It's nice to see a band have a lot of character behind their music, and actually pull out very nice sounding Ska music without a horn section.

Considering that I was recovering from a severe stomach ache, and a number of disappointments of certain people not going to my party, that night was a blast. The free-flowing booze, good food, awesome music, and great friends all around. It was definitely one of my better birthdays. The party ended at around 4:00-5:00AM in traditional BigSkyMind fashion. It definitely got me out of the rut I was in. I'm still riding the feel-good wave from my party. I hope this lasts me for a while. Until the next post....

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Saturday, February 16, 2008

Opening Song...

I'm not sure how to start a blog exactly. But I suppose I'll just post some random thoughts of which no one will be interested in apart from myself. So if you stumble upon this blog, I do hope you like what you read. I seriously doubt it. But I hope that you do.

To start things off, I'll post lyrics to one of my songs. I wrote this particular one a few months ago.

Inner Demon
by Aldous Castro

Naked in the darkness.
Fingers scratching the ground.
Tears flow as the candle dims
Cast shadows of what once was.

The pain pierces into nothingness.
When's it too much to bear?
No one to share in this sorrow
What do you do then?
What do you do then?
What do you do then?

This torturous marriage of body and soul.
Subtly eats you away.
Day after day, hour after hour,
The eternal sting keeps worsening.

The pain pierces into nothingness.
When's it too much to bear?
No one to share in this sorrow
What do you do then?
What do you do then?
What do you do then?

No light at the end of the tunnel.
No reprieve to look forward to.
It only gets grimmer and darker.
Hope is your inner demon toying with you.

The pain pierces into nothingness.
When's it too much to bear?
No one to share in this sorrow
What do you do then?
What do you do then?
What do you do then?

Trying to see
beauty in
loneliness and isolation.
Trying to see
beauty in
loneliness and isolation.

Trying to see
beauty in
loneliness and isolation.

It's time
to put
this mask on again.
It's time
to put
this mask on again.

It's time
to put
this mask on again.



I'm no songwriter mind you. It's one of the only ways I could think off to refocus my emotions to something more positive. I used to only share my songs to people close to me since they know where my songs are coming from. Well, until next time.

END OF LINE... (It's a rip-off from the movie Tron. I just like the way it sounds)