Boldstar

You Must Have Been A Beautiful Something, What Are You Really? by Boldstar

Despite the economic slowdown in this country and the doldrums that the local music scene finds itself mired in, there remain a small number of courageous musicians who go against the grain, stubborn people who do their utmost to put their music across no matter what the limitations are. Case in point is the band Boldstar. They have recorded their debut album, the eccentrically titled “You Must Have Been A Beautiful Something, What Are You Really?” without major label support and are at present peddling the 19-track CD sans record shop distribution. This brave unit is composed of ex-Blast Ople Marie Jamora on vocals and drums, Itchyworm Jazz Nocholas on vocals and bass, guitarist Echo Singson, and Ciudad’s Justin Sunico on lead guitar. The foursome’s, er, boldness isn’t just some unsubstantiated case of over-confidence. They are sufficiently backed up by excellent tracks! It’s remarkable that the song writing and arrangement are reflective of certain maturity typical of a veteran group. They belie the fact that Boldstar is a very young band, formed around three years ago. The tunes lay bare influences from the ’60s rock-pop of The Beatles, which is of no surprise since Nicholas is from the Fab Four-permeated Itchyworms, ’90s indie artists like Bis, Juliana Hatfield, and even Pinoy rock heroes Eraserheads. Incidentally, Ehead Buddy Zabala produces the album with a couple of tracks done by fellow Ehead/Sandwich statesman/Squid 9’s alter ego Raimund Marasigan. Aside from ransacking the producers’ bedrooms for recording, true to the D.I.Y. aesthetic, Boldstar also trooped to indie-friendly Sound Creation headed by affable engineer Shinji Tanaka.

The 19 songs are so catchy they reverberate around your head long after the final track has played. The usual muddiness of independently produced music is nowhere to be found, a considerable achievement for both band and producers. The vernacular “walang tapon” is the suitable description for the whole album. Discover the wonders of technology and cosmetic surgery with “Betamax” and “Something About Twins And Surgery” respectively, the pop-perfection of “Accident Prone” with its charming bursts of distortion, the bittersweet “Anchor,” alien life in “Salidious,” experiments with spoons and indigenous-Beach Boy (intrigued yet?) ululations in “Condiment Symphony,” and toilet humor in “Pork Siomai” a song that would make Parokya Ni Edgar or even VST proud. Citing what to expect from the album with those six songs isn’t even half of how awesome the whole journey is. These pop gems from Boldstar are effortlessly breathing life into an otherwise decomposing corpse that is the Philippine music scene.

This wonderful collection of songs, which the members have tagged as a “double-album” (get the album and find out for yourself why), is one more massive middle finger pointed at the oft-clueless, musically-deadened major labels. The band set out courageously to do it their way, no compromises, no kowtowing. Another admirable triumph for the local indie scene that we all should prop-up!

(Get your copy for only 199Php by contacting +63918-528-4426, +63917-536-2541, and +63917-345-6692)

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