Carlo Borja: Music

Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts

I was at a local restaurant earlier tonight for dinner.

Not only did they serve good food, they also had the best music to accompany it with.

Two acoustic singers sang the genre that brings back so many memories of my teenage years. It was relaxing and at the same time nostalgic.

In this age of pop and electronic music, I may be one of those who still want to keep the acoustic genre alive.

Good music makes me happy.

I don't know about you. But, for me gone are the days when music videos matter a lot to people.

Everyone loved watching MTV before. Today, people consume media on demand and the interest for music videos drastically went down.

Hence, the reason why so many artists tend to make flashy, unique and even controversial music videos. They are competing for our attention. (I'm thinking about the likes of Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus)

Though I appreciate their creativity, you cannot beat pure ingenuity. That is where OK Go comes in. If I'm not mistaken, most if not all of their videos have a certain creative uniqueness in them. And, these videos blow all the other music videos away.

Here is their recent single "I Won't Let You Down."

It shows some cool new formations and amazing drone shots. But, wait till you see the last part. You will understand why I said OK Go's creativity is mindblowing.

Check it out for yourself here:

Last June 13, me and my girlfriend went to Manila to watch Hillsong United live in concert.

I grew up listening to and singing their songs at church. That's why I got really excited when I heard that they were coming back here in our country. Now was my chance to finally get to see them live!

Hillsong United Live in Manila

No words could express how really powerful and moving that night was. Araneta Coliseum was packed with people who were gathered together in sincere worship. Everyone was singing, dancing, shouting, jumping and going crazy for Jesus!

I wanted to take a lot of pictures and videos. But, I did not miss the chance to experience the live worship first hand. So, I just took a few, set aside my camera and just sang my heart out for the Lord.

Joel Houston also gave a very powerful and really personal exhortation.

Hillsong United Live in Manila

"These cameras, lights, coliseum, people... all of these things mean nothing if we are not doing this for Jesus."

I was so blessed by how the team led everyone into worship. From the start to the end of the concert, it was very evident that they did not do those things for their own glory. It was Jesus' name that was lifted up.

Hillsong United Live in Manila

The night ended with the team praying for Manila and the Philippines that everyone will come to know and lift up the name of Jesus.

We went home really filled with the Holy Spirit after such an extraordinary and memorable worship experience.

Praise God for the lives of the Hillsong United team and how He touched everyone's hearts during that concert.

Here are a few video clips from my phone:

We were having dinner on a typical Sunday night at a seafood restaurant.

They had this live acoustic performance by 2 talented musicians.

What caught my eye was the acoustic guitarist who had some really cool gear. He played the guitar really well too.

Listening to their awesome set of acoustic songs actually made me reminisce all the stuff I did back when I was still in high school.

I also did the same thing this guy is doing. I always performed at school.

The difference with him and me was that I never really pursued my passion. It's kind of sad actually. Whatever happened to the acoustic singer I was back in high school.

I could still play the guitar now. But, I never invested so much time for improvement. My priorities have changed too.

I should spend some time revisiting that passion. Music is after all in my DNA.

Free entertainment at Panagatan Centrio. This dude is talented.

We had a good dinner during that night by the way.

Here is one of the top trending videos from the past week. It's a wonderful acapella rendition of Taylor Swift's dubstep smash hit "I Knew You Were Trouble" performed by a group called WALK OFF THE EARTH on YouTube.

It's worth sharing because:
1. I love acapellas. I have a renewed love for this kind of music after watching the movie Pitch Perfect (another trending movie today).
2. Taylor Swift shared it on her Facebook page herself. She said it is "SO unbelievably cool"! That alone is amazing.
3. It's beautiful. Really.

Here is the viral video. I bet you would agree this is more refreshing to hear than the original one.

As you may have already known, the catchy song Oppa Gangnam Style by now world famous Korean Superstar PSY has gone to be the most viral music video of all time. I should say that must be because of its equally cheerful and playful horse-galloping dance step.

However, like most songs that have gone viral there comes a point you get sick of listening to it (uhmm.. Call Me Maybe?). That's exactly what happened to me after a few weeks of hearing this song almost everywhere! I still find the dance step really catchy. But, overall the song has lost its effect the first time I heard it.

But then, some YouTubers (also Koreans) with great musical talent came up with a really awesome acoustic cover of the song. The song has sparked my interest again. This acoustic cover of Oppa Gangnam Style by Ra-On is excellent in my opinion. It gave the song a fresh twist and a really refreshing arrangement.

So, here you go - Oppa Gangnam Style in acoustic.

P.S. You can't really use the galloping dance step in this version. So, I recommend just listening to it. :-)

I am currently listening to Maroon 5's new album, Overexposed. I have been really vocal about being a fan of the band ever since I heard their song Sunday Morning (this is one of my all time favorite songs by the way). They create good songs and they continued to do so in this album.

Aside from the famous Payphone song, this album contains Maroon 5's signature electro pop rock music. If you have been a fan of their genre that blends well with Adam Levine's distinct vocal, for sure you will love this even if you've heard it just for the first time.

For me, Maroon 5 never disappoints. Their songs just fit my type of music. Plus, they also get better every time they create new ones. This album is a sure hit.

Audio Solutions, headed by Engineer Mark Anthony Yulo conducted an Audio Engineering Workshop last Thursday, October 6 at Word International Ministries, Corrales, Cagayan de Oro City.

Fortunately, I was one of those who were able to attend the said event. It was a great privilege because there were only 8 of us (only 8 were allowed) during the hands-on workshop. Plus, the speaker totally knew what he was talking about. He has been in the industry for about 13 years already and he has been providing 'audio solutions' to big and notable places. Not to mention his consultancy fee is already at Php250,000 on average.

Basically, we were taught how to use the mixer and the corresponding processors properly. As an audiophile and a musician, this got me excited because it meant an opportunity to improve my musical skills -- technical this time. As the head/facilitator of the music ministry at our church, this training is also important to improve our overall audio setup.

Indeed, the training was successful. Low, Mid and High frequencies sound clearer to me this time. I became more particular with sound produced by speakers and more importantly I was able to apply it at our church. The microphones never sounded that good before and they noticed it.

I still have a lot to explore though. I'm glad the training really helped and also opened a lot of great opportunities for the development of a skill I'm passionate about. Shout out to Sir Mark Yulo of Audio Solutions. Thank you sir! I'm looking forward to seeing you again on the next training here in CDO.

I recently came across this video of 4 of the Philippines' best in the music industry performing in one gig. Jay Durias, Ebe Dancel, Raimund Marasigan and Gabby Alipe were at PunchBowl last September 13, 2011 here in Cagayan de Oro City. I can't believe I actually missed that! Ugh. But anyway, enjoy this YouTube video of them performing their version of Eraserheads' "With a Smile" during that gig.

Credits to JedidiahdelaCruz for uploading the video.

Named "The Philippines' best kept secret" by DJ Mo Twister, Johnoy Danao sure has the voice that could soothe your soul. He is one great talented acoustic artist. Aside from his wonderful original songs, he makes brilliant acoustic covers.

Here's a clip from his regular Sunday night podcast with DJ Mo Twister, Good Times Acoustic. On May 29, 2011 he sang one of Adele's best songs. He gave justice to the song and a refreshing sound to it.

Currently one of my favorite albums, Science & Faith still never failed to showcase the musical talent of The Script!

They never strayed from the style of their debut album. They preferred to sticking with their excellent signature alternative pop rock with heartfelt and very poetic lyrics.

This is definitely one great album to check out if you've already heard and loved The Script.

So I recently discovered Adele and her music. I actually heard of one of her songs before but I wasn't able to dig into her music that much back then.

However, upon seeing that her 21 album (named after her age when she released this album. Her debut album was 19) has been on the top charts of iTunes for the past few weeks already, I decided to listen to the whole thing.

All I can say is she really is a true musician and singer. Lyric wise, the whole album is already awesome. There's a deep poetry in most of her lyrics. The words are accompanied by wonderful piano ballads and some brilliant arrangements that made every song heartfelt, emotional and just plain relaxing.

She is actually one of those artists who could really make music in the truest sense of it. I really love her album by the way.

Here's one of my personal favorites from the album. It's a song originally done by The Cure. 311 has a wonderful version. But, Adele made the song better and sexier.

Here's Lovesong performed live at the Tabernacle in London. Enjoy!

I have always been amazed at the wonders of kinetic typography. It's such a powerful form of visual art that it can even make or break a mood.

So, I recently bumped into this video by the Black Eyed Peas. It is for their song Light Up The Night which is included in their recent album The Beginning. Aside from the fact that I love the group and their new album, this video made the song more interesting. I have always loved the Black Eyed Peas. I was never wrong when I said how passionate they were about their art and music. This video explains it all.

Enjoy some awesome kinetic typography 8 bit style.

I'll try to explain why this is my current favorite album.

I think the whole album is about moving on. The tracks were well arranged so you could see the progression of how one would go through in dealing with such circumstance.

It starts with the wonderful “Need You Now” song. It obviously states how hard it is to deal with a lost relationship. We all know how this song hurts because at one point or another we’ve experienced this. lol.

Tracks 2 & 3 (Our Kind of Love & American Honey) support the first song as they basically reminisce everything you had with the relationship.

The next three tracks (Hello World, Perfect Day and Love This Pain) show how the character is already trying to face the situation even at the point of loving the pain (ugh). This I believe is the point where you really are trying to move on already.

Tracks 7-10 (When You Got A Good Thing, Stars Tonight, If I Knew Then, Something Bout A Woman) is the part where realization kicks in - the turning point I should say. It’s when you realize it should have been this or it should have been that after you’ve tried to help or cheer yourself up from such situation. It’s also the point where you get to find someone new.

The last song “Ready to Love Again” is as brilliant as the first one though on a different context. To quote the lyrics of the song

“Yeah, I’m ready to feel now. No longer am afraid of the fall down. It must be time to move on now without the fear of how it might end. I guess I’m ready to love again.”

This whole country album is filled with such relaxing and excellent melody coupled with beautifully crafted lyrics. This is a masterpiece. You can never go wrong with this one.

Way to go Lady Antebellum!

This review was originally posted on this blog.

I'm Carlo Borja

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Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan

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