Feature Friday: Up Dharma Down

This week I give you one of my favorite Pinoy [Filipino] bands. How often does it happen that you get a local band featured in TIME Magazine? Not that often. And the feature is well deserved. With the airwaves dominated by foreign artists, and local musicians and bands who want to sound like foreign ones, Up Dharma Down definitely stands out. And it's more than just being, or sounding different that makes this band shine. It's that substance that each song has. Their music has its own genre. Some say it's indie. Others say it's alternative. Either way, their second album Bipolar [released October2008] is definitely something to listen to. Here are a few of my faves.

Official Site | My Space

Feature Friday #02 Passion Pit

The past week has been incredibly insane that squeezing in a Feature Friday to the already up in smoke week would ruin the feature's purpose. Thus, I decided to put it off, and then make a double feature this week to make up for last week. Sound good?

I'm starting things off with one of my current uberfaves, Passion Pit. Passion Pit has been a major fave of mine since a good friend introduced their music to me about a month ago. Their music is a bit hard to place, really. It's got a touch of the 80's, electropop, and something either unique to them, or something I am completely unaware of. They have, although I completely disagree, been compared to MGMT and Hot Chip. Actually, I quote: "Hot Chip meets MGMT". I totally disagree. Being a fan of MGMT, I know MGMT when I hear it, and PP is nowhere near MGMT. What Passion Pit and MGMT do have in common, though, the record label.


With a seemingly carefree attitude with all the success they're in, and sounds this eargasmic, only time (and a bunch of future releases) will tell whether Passion Pit has evolved from "hype band" to a legend in the making. For now, chomp on every cyberspace chow there is on Passion Pit.

Official Site | My Space | Twitter | You Tube | Facebook | imeem