No, it’s not a proper review (I leave that up to the experts), but more of an extended observation, which can perhaps be best illustrated with an example of Arthur Phillips’ prose, with our protagonist Julian listening to his Walkman in the Manhattan twilight: …and he had...
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music
On Arthur Phillips, “The Song Is You” (2009).
Where’s The Other Pinay?
Dear Mr. David Byrne, You mean to tell me the one single Pinay singer who actually has a lead vocal on your project didn’t get to be on your cool poster? I mean, she sings lead vocals and all! Sincerely, The Wily Filipino p.s. Thanks, though, for the big spike in visits on my...
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Music Video Quiz #1.
Back in the day — four years ago, a lifetime in Internet terms — when I was more active on Last.fm and had way too much time on my hands, I would change my avatar to a screencap from a music video and have people guess its source. (Back then YouTube wasn’t that popular...
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The Runners-Up!
But wait, there’s more! Of course there were runners-up — twenty, as a matter of fact — that, depending on the time of day or the way the sun streams through a window, could have made this top 15 (+1). And now to put my obsessive-compulsiveness to rest. My Favorite Songs of 2009: 1....
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My 15 (+1) Favorite Songs of 2009: 1. Mos Def, “Quiet Dog” (2009).
1. Mos Def, “Quiet Dog” - From the 2009 album The Ecstatic (Lala link). - Official website. Mos Def’s latest album, The Ecstatic – with a cover featuring a cropped still from Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep, one of the greatest American movies of the last four decades – has been described as his...
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My 15 (+1) Favorite Songs of 2009: 2. The Sea and Cake, “On a Letter” (2008).
2. The Sea and Cake, “On a Letter” - From the 2008 album Car Alarm (Amazon mp3 link). - Official website. I’ve loved the band The Sea and Cake for a long time now, but don’t ask me which of their albums I like the best. They’re a bit of a blur, quite frankly,...
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My 15 (+1) Favorite Songs of 2009: 3. Pinback, “Loro” (1999).
3. Pinback, “Loro” - Official website. - From the 1999 album Pinback. Hmmm. I suppose I can continue writing about why it’s so much easier to write about movies than it is to write about music: for the former, the lazy, fallback option is to simply answer the question “So, what is the movie...
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My 15 (+1) Favorite Songs of 2009: 4. Quantic and his Combo Bárbaro, “Linda Morena” (2009).
3. Quantic and his Combo Bárbaro, “Linda Morena” - From the 2009 album Tradition in Transition. - Official website The closer I get to the top songs, the more ineffable they become; it’s as if the sheer pleasure of the listening experience as such robs you of wordsmithing faculties. (I think it’s why I...
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My 15 (+1) Favorite Songs of 2009: 5. Passion Pit, “Folds in Your Hands” (2009).
5. Passion Pit, “Folds in Your Hands” - From the 2009 album Manners. - Official website. My other favorite album of 2009, Passion Pit’s Manners, dropped like, I don’t know, some sugarcoated candy-flavored meteor from heaven. My friend Laurel claims (I paraphrase here) that it’s “typical Wily Filipino music”, which I take to mean...
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My 15 (+1) Favorite Songs of 2009: 6. Ximena Sariñana, “Vidas Paralelas” (2008).
6. Ximena Sariñana, “Vidas Paralelas” - from the 2008 album Mediocre. - Official website. Sigh – two years of Spanish classes in college have sadly failed me for this song, but my lack of comprehension hasn’t stopped me from loving it anyway. (Parallel lives – I got that, at least, but I never did...
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