Top 5 Filipino Albums of 2022
2022 was a cool year in Filipino music. Not so much for the Philippines itself, but a lot of musicians and their releases flourished this year.
The pandemic was next to over, Live gigs are back on track again, and now it felt more comfortable than ever to launch your next project.
Being a full-time musician in the country is pretty challenging, considering the economic aspects, the changing mediums of revenue, and that’s amped up if you’re an Independent, up incoming one.
So to everyone on here and part of the Philippine music scene, hats off to you on sticking to your craft and doing it for the music. Mabuhay ang OPM!
#5: Cheats — houseplants
Cheats was always one of those Filipino bands I admire for their energy; both in the studio, and in their live gigs.
There are solid hooks, punchy guitar riffs and blaring sing-alongs in their two albums: Cheats (2015), and Before the Babies (2017), but their music as a whole kinda felt… hollow? If you will.
I have a hard time pinpointing what makes Cheats seem middle-of-the-road for me, but…
Their comeback project, houseplants, sees a more mature and level-headed body of work that I personally enjoyed pretty well.
It’s a solid return-to-form that doesn’t feel like they’ve missed a beat in thier 5-year hiatus. A record with tons of mellower cuts than their previous efforts, sure, but is subsided by cathartic anthems like Morning After.
Houseplants brings a stylistic shine and a more matured edge to them, yet never loses its fun for the life-of-the-party septet.
Check Out: Milk, Snooze (Pinto), Kapit, Cashier Club, Morning After
#4: The Geeks — Sitcom Theme Songs
The Geeks, not to be confused with the Korean hardcore band, are these indie rock staples in the tippy top of the Filipino underground scene, having three albums and an EP under their belt.
I’ve only discovered them pretty recently, and I got hooked in how accessible their adorable melancholic serenades are.
Belting happy-sad serenades about getting old, heartbreaks, the pandemic, getting into old sitcoms, with a meek tone to it all that reminds me a lot of nerd rock, particularly another underground band; spacedog spacecat.
Well, that had to do with the band’s main songwriter also being in the band. But, compared to spacecat’s unambiguous ode to the jarring sound, The Geeks incorporate a bluesier cowboy aesthetic, largely heard with all the guitar slides.
Even though it’s stylistically pretty simple compared to the albums on here, it’s really effective, effortlessly catchy from its fun hooks and guitar melodies.
Check Out: The First Time, The Song of Yesteryear All My Favorite Songs, The Score (Gleeks — 1, Geeks — 0)
#3: Orange & Lemons — La Bulaqueña
Get this, a beloved pop-rock band behind major hits and karaoke staples like Hanggang Kailan, Yakap sa Dilim, and Pinoy Ako, with a status cemented after an abrupt breakup in the middle of their stardom, reunites without its lead vocalist 10 years later.
Reunion albums tend to pan easily, and surely, the band’s first album in 15 years has a lot of pressure weighed onto it.
Not only do they create a solid, cohesive return-to-form, but also an effort that explores new stylings of baroque folk pop sensibilities so well.
As a result, La Bulaqueña is a charming, quaint ode to both the titular Bulaqueña woman and the band’s hometown.
An album for the year-end books not only for its cohesive, down-to-earth sound, thanks to the Rondalla motifs from the mandolin, the piano, the upright bass, but also for Clem Castro’s sweet, all-Tagalog makata songwriting.
With references to Maria Clara, the Bituing Marikit, and the album art taking heavy inspiration from Filipino painter Juan Luna, it’s a record that’s as traditionally Filipino as you can get.
And for a country rooted in borrowing customs and looks, languages, styles from a diverse range of cultures (that’s a topic I won’t get into here), it’s nice to hear it.
For the record: it’s not like the band was headless during their reunion like a Rivermaya or an Imago, Clem Castro is seen as the band’s main songwriter early on, so make of that what you will.
Check Out: La Bulaqueña, Pag-Ibig sa Tabing Dagat, Ikaw ang Aking Tahanan, Awit ni Maria Clara
#2: BLASTER — My Kosmik Island Disk
If cohesiveness was the sole criterion, the solo debut by the IV of Spades guitarist wunderkind takes the mirrorball-shaped cake.
In a scene full of kitschy, straightforward love ballads, BLASTER and his backing band, the Celestial Klowns, kicked off his post-Spades period after a considerable hiatus.
By bringing back the Disco revival motif that many of his peers have worn out, yet still creating a brilliantly lurid soundtrack to the left-field cosmos, as this record seems to pride itself as.
(As you can see, my bias that’s at odds with the dry, emo, post-punk of Zild’s Medisina and One Click Straight’s self-titled is showing)
My Kosmik Island Disk oozes with musical talent; with musical influences ranging from Disco, Psychedelic rock, Progressive rock, Japanese Rock, electronic, and Glam Rock.
From the spacey climax of HUWAG MABAHALA, to the childlike, 7/4 beast that is NARARARARAMDAMAN, to the charging guitar of O KAY GANDA,
The record is instrumentally packed with spontaneous grooves, odd timings, eclectic samples, expansive soundscapes, creating an escapist, spatial atmosphere in a concise 36 minutes.
Is it just me or is this album grossly overlooked? Especially from someone as notable as Blaster Silonga, I don’t see a lot of people going crazy over the album’s artistry.
Nahh I’m not gonna ramble about the modern age or whatever.
Check Out: O KAY GANDA, NARARARARAMDAMAN, HUWAG MABAHALA, KOSMIK DREAM, SA HULI ANG PAGSISISI
#1: ena mori — DON’T BLAME THE WILD ONE!
From her songwriting, her soft industrial production, to her beautifully absurd visuals, ena mori continues to push Pop Music boundaries with her sophomore effort.
I tend to be picky when it comes to pop music, as often its straightforward, overpolished-ness can come across as pandering or at worst, uncreative.
But over the years I begin to appreciate more of its qualities, especially gravitating towards creative underdogs who bend genres and deepen the singer-songwriter envelope.
Ena Mori in particular felt like an acquired taste, Oh, Bleeding Hearts? was a grim, personal track about ena’s social and political guilt. Though overtime, tackling subject matter like that made me appreciate her music a lot more.
Also, the sporatic TALK! TALK! is crammed up and insane and proves the Timothy Run-laced production as pretty remarkable.
It’s not the radio-friendly bright birit-heavy Wish 107.5 Pop, similar to her self-titled EP, nor is it the Korean-influenced forward-thinking P-Pop, nor the post-ironic Hyperpop.
It’s ena’s wild world, a balance of surrealism and weirdness in what seems to be the traditional playing field.
DBTWO! is this artsy, avant-garde record that also details her deepest anxieties, speaking to her rough childhood fitting in as Half-Filipino and Half-Japanese.
Not only that, but the album shows itself as this exuberant moment of power for the odd ones out, people who might’ve felt similarly, giving it a much more significant purpose as it speaks to herself as well.
And it’s all under a bed of peculiar yet catchy synthpop, and it takes the spot of my Favorite Filipino Album of 2022!
Check Out: DBTWO!, Vivid, TALK! TALK! Oh, Bleeding Hearts?, SOS, Runaway Holiday
This is an extended version of my Original Year-End List over on Instagram. Thank you for reading the past year, here’s to a good 2023!
