Remembrances and future-gazing with legends and newbies

FERVIDS, Fervids

AFTER a lazy “1-2-3-4’ count off, Legazpi City-based Fervids unravel the slithering beauty of “Ziggy Wannabe” that namechecks both Lou Reed and David Bowie in musical and lyrical boldness. Right now, it’s the one song where the shoutout “Your moptop looks stupid!” makes sense. Then again, the John Fervid-fronted band lives and thrives in the sonics of the British Invasion initiated by four famous moptops of all time. It’s actually Fervids’ foundation that they manage to multiply from the Bealtesque rock and roll of “Adult Adversary” to the short sharp Stonesy groove of Shawowbox” to the punkish The Strokes energy of “Kursaid Line.” It’s garage rock, all right, and this one’s festooned with jewels from a glittery lineage.

ONE CLICK STRAIGHT, One Click Straight

IT’S the array of beats and rhythms that pulls you in to the sophomore album of One Click Straight, which should also push them into the forefront of today’s new OPM idols. Add the fact that the songs that make up the album deal with timeless issues of youth: selfreliance and independence (“Untitled #2” ), angst (“Hahayaan ,” “Gitna”) and search for true love (“Siya”). Really, the cool backbeat and the handsome riffs make you want to know what the vocalist is talking about and he can be crafty and sideways in his delivery. One Clock Straight is that smart young band deserves more than just a single play or two.

FINE old-time balladry earns a new boost in The Murder Capital’s appropriation of post-punk modus operandi to craft songs that are tender and fierce in the same breath. The frontman sings in clear tones, enunciating every word as though singing only to you. In the same space, the other members of the band launch counterpoints that give love songs an edgy, giddy ambience. Tender and unforgiving, as they were. Palpitating sounds, ambulance siren, and shoegazey synths graze lines like “I saw you watching things you’re not supposed to.” The magic of mixing the traditional with the non-traditional is all over The Murder Capital’s exhilarating new album.

VICEGRIP, Uncertain Joy

DESPITE the band’s powerful name, the music in the EP “Uncertain Joy” smacks of lounge music for seniors in the afternoon of their lives. But hold the thought—it’s hardly dirge-like. Well, opener “Ride” is watered-down attempt at shoegaze and the band quickly picks up the slack in the stomping post-punk of “Sharp Lips Kiss,” the twinkling dance sway of “Telephone Wire” and the new wave jangle of “Uncertain.” There’s still joy in remembering things past and rocking.

GODFATHER of punk. The Ig. The Stooges wild frontman. These claims to ignominious fame has hounded Iggy Pop’s career, if it can be called that, but also kept alive his name in the hearts and minds of true rock fans. Aged 75, Iggy Pop releases a new album that just about rehashes (in a good way) everything that has endeared him to those who love “outsider music.” Right at the start, the self-referencing monster rocker “Frenzy,” he mouths off about kicking the pricks while on a later track, “Modern City Rip-Off,” he sums up his life thus, “I don’t know how to die/I don’t know how to cry.” The best of the lot has to be the final track where he beautifully recycles in your face all things about living desperately on the sidelines. There’s not much nothing new here but it hasn’t stopped the fact that Iggy Pop’s one defiant maddafucka.

WORMROT, Hiss

THIStrio from Singapore is at the top of the heap for 2022 of “The Quietus,” my favorite go-to site for new metal. First off, the music on “Hiss” is self-referential—lots of death metal hisses and ghoulish howls that, I suppose, only the cognoscenti would embrace. At the end of the day (match), what I want to say is that Asians can find their place in the international market outside of The Grammy’s and Billboard. They just happen to be what our former masters tell us is what’s good for us. Time to loosen those ties.

Check out the sounds reviewed on this page on digital music platforms, especially bandcamp.