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I
THE QLE AWARDS
Saturday, November 22, 2008

Listen up: Quark Henares, Luis Katigbak, and Erwin Romulo pick the Best Music of 2008
This was an unbelievably good year for music: don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. That’s why brash boyish filmmaker/
writer/ rakista Quark Henares, all-around artistic force of nature Erwin Romulo and yours truly decided to shout mash
notes to our favorite bands from the rooftops via our own little “awards show.” We’re calling it the QLE Awards
because, well, those are our initials. (Also, as my Tita Pep pointed out, if you say “QLE” out loud it almost sorta sounds
like “Quality”—he he he.)

My column last week, "Rage Against the Rock Awards," generated a lot of feedback, almost all of it positive—thanks for all
the emails and texts, everyone—and now, instead of just complaining about how established shows like the NU107 awards
don’t recognize all the worthy acts while nominating bands that constitute crimes against humanity, Quark, Erwin and I are
presenting the artists and songs we feel strongly deserve your attention if not adoration. (To be fair, as Quark pointed out, a
couple of these acts—Up Dharma Down and Ang Bandang Shirley for example—fell just outside the judging period for this
year’s NU107 Rock Awards, and may well be nominated next year.)

Luckily, we all happen to write for newspapers, so if all goes well, this roster of winners should be in all three major
broadsheets this weekend, which must be a first of sorts. And so, ladeez and gennelmen, welcome to the first ever QLE
Awards:

1. Albums of the year

Ciudad. Bring Your Friends

This is the Wonder Years soundtrack of our generation. Overlooked and under-appreciated, it nonetheless confirms that eerie
phenomenon that befalls all great artists. Remember, even during the Summer of Love, Engelbert Humperdinck beat [The
Beatles] at the charts. But nonetheless, Ciudad will never need any more affirmation from me or any pundit. Listen to this
album. Music like this will never grow old. [Erwin]

Drip. Identity Theft

You will never feel cooler than when you’re listening to Drip. I don’t mean that smug kind of poser-cool that comes with
patronizing the band of the moment—I’m talking about that glorious experience when their music creates a world between
your ears, dark and dramatic, a nocturnal urban narrative with you as the central character beset by sudden dangers and
unexpected pleasures. With scratches and samples, keyboards and beats, and that relentless, yearning, sensual voice,
Identity Theft delivers seeming contradictions—fierce vulnerability, emotional electronica—and changes your life for the
better. [Luis]

Taken by Cars. Endings of a New Kind

From the opening salvo "Uh-oh" to the solemn "Shapeshifter," Endings of a New Kind could end up being a classic among the
younger set. Credit must also be given where credit is due: producer Mong Alcaraz really pushed the band to the limits in this
record, and when compared to the band’s earlier demos this sounds like it was made by a completely different artist. Taken by
Cars has never sounded so good, even compared to their live performances today. [Quark]

2. Songs of the years

Ciudad."My Emptiness"

This is one of the most emotionally affecting ones I’ve ever heard this year. It deals in melancholy (and genuine melancholy
at that―none of this "Take me to the other side" crap) but is never despairing. It’s evidence of a settling maturity in the
band’s music and lyrics, but also proves they haven’t lost their sense of humor. It’s got a disco beat but isn’t dance punk:
rather, like the Itchyworms’ "Love Team," it belongs to the canon of possibly perfect pop songs made in this century. [Erwin]

Up Dharma Down. "Unspoken Definites"

It’s almost impossible to choose a favorite song off Bipolar—they are nearly all utterly excellent—but still, "Unspoken
Definites" stands out, in its almost-painful honesty, in the openness of its music, in the way it takes its influences and
shapes them into something new. [Luis]

Taken by Cars. "Weeknight Memoir (In High Definition)"

It starts in an ambient, quiet hum that suddenly erupts in Sarah Marco demanding at the top of her voice―"HEART
STOPPING-LIAR, ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEXT JOKE?" Umm, ok, not that great in the lyrics department. However, for me
"Weeknight Memoir (In High Definition)" is anthemic―the kind of song that makes you scream at the top of your lungs in the
midst of traffic or start jumping up and down alone in your room. [Quark]

3. Videos of the year

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Pedicab. "Ang Pusa Mo"

What else encapsulates best the weirdness and exhilaration of this year’s music but a video wherein members of this band
get tortured and beaten by a myriad of femme fatales? [Erwin]

Up Dharma Down. "We Give In Sometimes"

It’s hard to match the trippy visuals your mind makes up when you listen to this intricate, dreamlike track, but this video does
a great job. [Luis]

Pedicab. "Ang Pusa Mo"

18 words: Shawn Yao, Tricia Gosingtian, Kim Marvilla, Alodia Gosengfiao, Ashley Gosengfiao, Roni Callanta, Kat Velayo, Roni
Callanta, Dylan, sadomasochism. [Quark]

…and RA Rivera. And, yes, Shawn Yao will save us all: "Fiction na nga, speculative pa." [Erwin]*

4. Live acts of the year

Itchyworms

Excellent musicianship, wicked sense of humor and just brilliant songs. I’m pretty sure that this band’s performances and
music were what kept me from any suicide attempts this year. [Erwin]

Yosha

When a band gets me on my feet, screaming like a cheerleader, for a type of music I don’t even usually like, then I know
they’ve got something special going on. Drawing from soul and jazz, Yosha brings the groove, the virtuosity, and the sheer
joy of music-making, straight to their lucky, lucky audiences. [Luis]

Sandwich

Though their latest album isn’t their best, Sandwich still gives

their proverbial 110 percent every time they perform. Also, as of late they’ve toned down the improvising and have instead
focused on delivering solid performances, occasionally revisiting old favorites such as "Freestyle Analog" and "Cheese Factor
Set to 9." It’s ironic how The Eraserheads Reunion seemed to remind Raimund Marasigan how much he loves this band,
because his recent performances have a fire and vigor in them that seemed to be absent for a while. [Quark]

5. Best new artists

Intolerant AND Loss Of Control just because they’re metal and they don’t give a f**k. [Erwin]

Ang Bandang Shirley

They’re not rock gods or avant-garde experimentalists, they’re the people that you meet, when you’re walking down the
street, each day. Except that they have an enormous talent for impeccable pop tunes and quirky-heartfelt lyrics. And
enormous appetites as well. [Luis]

Taken by Cars

A lot of people accuse Taken by Cars of ripping Bloc Party off. I say they’re better than Bloc Party. Endings of A New Kind is
the kind of debut that feels like it was made after years of meshing and collaborating as artists, and individually the
instrumentalists have that perfect balance of standing out yet sounding completely organic. [Quark]

6. Comeback of the years

Markus Highway

Whoever would’ve thought that Marcus Adoro had it in him to make such inventive, winsome pop music? The sojourn from the
music scene has certainly made his songwriting talents come to fruition. The first bona fide Pinoy surf album. [Erwin]

7. Best album covers

Up Dharma Down. Bipolar

Not as genuinely complex and dazzling as the band’s music contained within, but it sure does a neat job of inviting us into it.
[Erwin and Quark]

Ang Bandang Shirley. Themesongs

C’mon. That Pepper Roxas cover is all sorts of adorable. [Luis]

8. Artists of the year

Up Dharma Down

Surely if any artists this year dominated it would be none other than the Eraserheads. But apart from them, it would surely be
Up Dharma Down, who’ve just released their newest album Bipolar. Just for the fact that they seemed to be the only artist to
still make an impact and not be swallowed up by the Eheads reunion. Also, the fact that the band is still constantly pursuing
myriad ways of conveying and expressing the conflicting forces of human desire but without resort to cliché―is admirable.
Impressive. [Erwin and Luis]

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Ciudad

It seems that Ciudad has always had an identity crisis of sorts. Their first album, Hello! How Are You, Mico The Happy Bear
had that major-label-trying-to-turn-a-unique-artist-into-pop-fodder feel to it. The second, ‘Is That Ciudad?’, ‘Yes,son, it’s me.’
saw the band exploring new musical directions and maturing as artists. The third release, It’s Like A Magic, can’t really be
considered an album because it was mostly a hodgepodge of updated outtakes and old songs throughout their then-11 year
history. This new fourth album, Bring Your Friends, is Ciudad coming full circle, with the band finally accepting that they can
never be pop sensations and unknowingly fulfilling their destiny as one of the most brilliant and unique bands in the country.
[Quark]

*Yes, this is an in-joke. But ,yes, it is also an actual quote from Shawn Yao.

I will explain someday.

Winners will receive absolutely nothing aside from the warm glow of being loved by QLE. (That and P18 will get you a copy of
the Manila Bulletin.) Send questions and comments to Luis at thekingofnothingtodo@yahoo.com.

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