If you don't like this, then you are probably deaf.

If you don't like this, then you are probably a smart, discriminating listener.

If you don't like this, then you probably have bad taste.

We can't imagine anyone liking this.

If you don't like this, then you probably like something else.

Rating

Ever since their college days in Ateneo, and even more so when their debut full-length album Little Monsters Under Your Bed was released in 2001, the Itchyworms have always been a solid musical unit with massive (commercial) potential, giving equal priority to catchy songcraft and skillful arrangements. Both qualities alone have always made them a musical force to be reckoned with, but their second album, 2005's ambitious Noontime Show, brought the quartet (Jugs Jugeta - vocals/guitar, Jazz Nicolas - vocals/drums, Kelvin Yu - bass vocals, and Chino Singson - lead guitar/vocals) to the major leagues. With Noontime Show, the 'Worms achieved the rare feat of coming up with a simultaenously critically acclaimed and commercially viable rock record, a "concept album" without pretensions, and an intelligent yet accesible release. Critical reception to it was overwhelmingly postive (it was deservedly named Album Of The Year at the 2006 NU107 Rock Awards), and its singles ("Akin Ka Na Lang," "Beer," and "Love Team") were bona fide hits. Yet, it was a collection of songs intended to cry foul at the local entertainment industry, which seemed to showcase mediocrity (and good looks) over real talent, as well as provided meaningless escapism (as well as meager financial relief, as on many local game show segments) to the hapless masses. Songs like "Theme From Noontime Show" and "Wala Nang P'wedeng Magmahal Sa 'Yo (Stalker Song)," with lines like "Hanggang dito na lang ba ang masa?" and "Kahit wala kang talent, ayus lang, ang puti mo naman eh/'yun naman ang kailangan para sumikat dito sa Pilipinas," were as acrid as they were filled with hooks, and the closing "Production Number," as twelve-minute parody on the typically tasteless production numbers/medleys that ussually appear on noontime variety shows, complete with a tacky host voiceover. While essentially a joke, it's the culmination of Noontime Show's acerbic theme, and the band's ingenious arrangement skills save it from becoming a throwaway track. As near-flawless as the album was, it's still a feat that the 'Worms got away with putting it out at all, and by most accounts, became their most successful release to date. At the very least, Noontime Show definitely whet the appetites of tha band's listeners for the quartet's next move. - Jason Caballa

Rating

Massive usic TV exposure and a solid debut full-lengther combined to sling Weezer to fame in their early days, Weezer, which everyone eventually began referring to as "the Blue Album," featured songs with unaffected personality and melodies like gleaming meat hooks. The album had served the band up as a Geek Rockers Supreme, with upsized wits and a side order of whimsy.

Enter their other albums: soundly written unfortunately recorded with neither-her-nor-there quality. Pinkerton was fuzzier than that patch of moss on your car port wall this goddamn rainy-then-insufferably-humid season. Make Believe, though one of the most successful Weezer albums, was too safe, in a half-assed way. And Maladroit was, if I may be so to-the-point, aptly named, Only Weezer, "the Green Album," came close to reverberating their early work. - Paolo Enrico Melendez

Rating

For all the commercial success that has eluded this fourteen-year-old indie rock outfit, Ciudad should earn some form of recognition for their sheer existence (and persistence) alone. As it is now, they are one of the last remaining bands who have experienced playing shows at the Cubao-era Club Dredd that still exists relatively unscathed (save for guitarist Jeff Cabal's recent migration to the US) and pyschologically stable. They've also succeeded in releasing three albums in a span of five years; the first was even for a big record company, but they've since plied the independent route thereafter. More importantly, their albums (especially 2003's Is That Ciudad? Yes Son It's Me) have been consistently good, if not great. Even their last record, 2005's odds-and-ends compilation Its Like A Magic wasn't half bad, for a bunch of songs that didn't fit in any of theri previous releases.

Perhaps the reason why Ciudad have been taken for granted in some quarters is the fact that they've looked pretty much the same for the last ten years or so. The corporate life may not have been kind to guitarist Justin Sunico and drummer Mitch Singson (who was recently freed from Sugarfree), but both boys (now men) still display the same youthful features (if not exuberance) from their "Sipilyo" days. All the more so with the bassist Mikey Amistoso, who doesn't seem to have gained weight at all since then. He even still has the same high-pitched voice that he sang the now-classics "Bombsite," "Cant' Get To You," and "Strawberry Jam" with. Save for the occasional appearance of facial hair, he doesn't seem to get any older. The band have been largely untouched by fads or fashion trends either, partly because the acts they've looked up to, from Pavement to the Lemonheads to Death Cab For Cutie, don't have particular "look," either. But really it's because they're a band that has always let the music come first. - Jason Caballa