CATTSKI EP
by greyweed


One of the pivotal moments of this era in Pinoy rock is when Korn became less and less of an influence for the younger musicians. This is not saying that Korn is a terrible group to look up to, but it just so happened that most of the bands that followed their footsteps have either ended up sounding exactly like them or have disbanded.

It is in the middle of this that the band Cattski began making music in their native Cebu. Gifted with a brilliant sense of melody and grooves, the band was formed with Cattski Espina on vocals, Anne Muntuerto on rhythm guitars and back-up vocals, Jam Quijano on lead guitars, Brian Sacro on bass and Junnell Codilla on drums. Exactly why they named their band after the vocalist is yet to be revealed. What we, however, should focus on is their music.

The band lists down Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morissette, Plumb and No Doubt as immediate influences. Thankfully, they refuse to be enticed and adopt the flashy guitar solos and bass slapping luridness other modern musicians seem to contribute to today's scene. Instead, the essential Cattski sound is well grounded; a fusion of rock and pop, with the necessary taste of folk to boot. And the variation is refreshing and a welcome introduction to Cebu’s current music movement. A proof of this would be Cattski’s gig with Admit One Productions at Freedom Bar, QC last August where the attendees kept on screaming for more even after the encore.

The self-titled disc is a tangy cocktail of sounds, opening with “Questions,” a terrific song that has a nice basic tune that gives a slightly melancholic quality, making it a pretty good opening to the EP. Pure confusion seem to wail over the folk-tinged vocals, while the guitars give off a sense of inscrutability, undoubtedly making the song fit in with the soundtrack to perhaps the television teen mystery flick Roswell or even the cult-worshipped X-Files.

The second track, "Secrets," then follows with its opening riffs admittedly sounding dangerously close to Incubus’ "Drive". Despite this, it's still a solid offering that puts focus on Espina's skills as a lyricist which is splendidly translated with her own vocals and set atop by a good intrumentation. "Sleeping With The Enemy" is arguably one of the best songs in the EP, carrying sensible pop panache with a catchy tune. It opens with a phone being dialed and an impressive drum-bass interplay sets in. You’ll find yourself nodding to the song or scrambling for the inlay for the lyrics to sing along. But then the last few chords fades as the disturbing ending shoves in with just the phone's busy tone and the mono-induced vocals.

The familiar “High and Low” then caves you in a with a sensation of rapture with the light guitar playing, soothing vocal work in a backdrop of a seemingly pained rhythm section. “Stereotype,” on the other hand carries a catchy beat and a impressive groove and is decidedly the heaviest in the EP, with its soaring bass and solid guitar work. “Drunk” features Anne’s excellent keyboard accompaniment, adding a nice and light feel to it which, true to its title, will make you feel light-headed. It’s a dark, feel-good ditty that sounds melodiously happy but reveals a certain pang of annoyance lying somewhere between the cracks upon close inspection. “High and Low (raw)” is a little sedated compared to the original version, and if not for the lyrics, it would have felt like an entirely different song. Also notable is “Secrets (live)” just right before the EP comes to a close.

The band’s music may not be as tight as most of today's studio produced, radio-ready tracks but that certain “looseness” works well for them. In fact it seems to be an integral part of Cattski’s core vibe, giving their sound a hollow but textured channel for the basic human emotion to funnel through. And they even let themselves experiment and deviate from their roots, allowing a lot of leg room for a healthy dose of eclecticism.

While the vocalist Cattski’s voice slays in a somewhat despondent nature, Anne’s more unperturbed back-up work manages to catch up and even offers to balance out the dejection. Jam, on the other hand, flexes out a variety of angst-ridden yet reposed riffs that screamed of talent, while he manages to stay in the background, grinding Anne’s own rhythmic epicenter. If Cattski is the emo-bomb, Brian is the elegy-master; looking detached, unconcerned and stoic, with his eyes closed as his head nods and waves along with the flow of his exemplary bass playing. Junnell lays in the beats like a pile driver would affect a canvas arena. Yet he is almost always silent, as his drumsticks would ostensibly take over his arms; the result is a set of heavy beats that churn the bass fluidly but fits squarely in the shoebox.

Even as early as now, Cattski’s talent as a lyricist blinks along words that are simple but refreshing in this day and age of heavy metaphors (pretensious, even) and overt lack of both substance and style. The apparent trend in the EP revolves around laying in a basic metaphor and having a field day around it as it expresses and tell tales while still keeping a toe in reality. A collection of prose weaved by a true wordsmith no less. And the music simply plows in that path inducing a chi of tranquility even as they skulk with perplexity in a milieu of mixed sentiments.

As far as new bands go, this one definitely has what it takes to succeed in terms of conquering the creative side of their musicianship. Even the ones prominently striking the local music scene are noticing them; “Like most Cebu-based bands that I've seen, magaling silang tumugtog, magpatunog ng mga instrumento, magtimpla, at maglaro ng dynamics onstage.” so says a vocalist of one of the leading indie acts in Manila. And not to mention, CEO of Washington-based indie label Know-It-All Records (who have recently taken both the Pin-up Girls and Chain Gang under its wing) has recently expressed interest to do a remix of "Questions."

And since Cattski is a true-blue Cebuano band, there is this inescapable comparison to other Cebu-based groups. Truth is, comparisons are utterly trivial since none of these bands sound anything like Cattski. To sum it all up, Cattski is a Cebuano band playing with an exploitative sound that simmers with an introspective calling to the foreign vibe while still is decidedly local.

And that gives them a definitive quality that may very well help redefine this Korn-forsaken era.

During my training with the company I now work for, we had an activity called a Team Building that had a dangerous resemblance to the reality show Amazing Race. It is “dangerous” by my standards because on the day it was held, the sky was generous enough to provide with us puddles that speckled the entire Ortigas area. And did I mention “Ortigas?” That means the Pasig-Mandaluyong area and that also means that puddles were huge and were lodged on the sidewalks. Good grief!
And thankfully, after running around from place to place -from the Discovery Center to Seattle’s Best (Megamall) to Caltex to Whistle Stop (Shang-ri la) and to other places God knows where I can’t remember- our team won. And so we were given our prize: one SM movies pass each.
Holy crap. I almost had an asthma attack, spent for a cab and literally got drenched and all we get is a movie pass?
Oh well, I just let that pass. It was fun anyway, I tried to fool myself.

Two weeks ago, specifically Thursday last week, I went to Megamall to buy two book, Ermita by F. Sionil Jose and A B N K K B S N P L A ko by Bob Ong, as rewards to myself for sticking up to my work and for raising my standards for what level of pain is still bearable. Because not only have I grown in my endurance to pain, I’ve also become a little bit of a masochist. So there.





Underworld
Kate Beckinsale
Scott Speedman


As I was about to go home, I remembered that I still had that damn movie pass in my bag and it has been a while since I last saw a film. The last films I saw were The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Finding Nemo, and it felt like it were such a long time ago. So when I got to the cinema area, I didn’t want to watch Sharon and Aga in another one of their “feel good” movies, so I looked to the left and saw Underworld, and to the right I saw American Wedding. So it was Kate Beckinsale vs Jason Biggs.
Kate, of course.

Underworld delves into the dark mythos revolving around the centuries-old battle between Vampires and Werwolves. The film is set in the present and supposedly in America; but the buildings and the cobblestone streets, and the apparent absence of trash-filled alleys made the atmosphere decidedly French than American.
In this reality, the werewolves (called Lykan) are the morlocks scrounging around underground. On the other hand, the vampires are of nobility, lounging in a manor drinking blood from wine glasses like champagne; finding slaughter un-dignifying. Not Selene (Kate Beckinsale). Having hunted and killed Liken for the years to avenge the death of her family’s massacre in their hands, she prowls the city armed with nothing but a pair of magnums and her instincts.
While stalking one night, she notices a group of Lykan following a human, Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman). She follows for a closer look only to find out that she has to save the human from the werewolves. But before she succeeds in doing so, he is bitten by Lucian, a werewolf believed to be long dead. She brings Michael to her mansion while she tries to find out what the Lykan wanted with a human. Kraven, the vampire coven’s officer in charge, disapproves of this.
As we would later find out, according to history books, Kraven killed the werewolf ruler Lucian during the Great War; a war waged during the time when Lykans served as daytime servants for the Coven. Marriages across species were severely prohibited because of a prophecy, and Lucian crossed the line by marrying the coven ruler’s daughter Sophia. Viktor, the ruler, had his own daughter executed and Lucian tortured.
And that’s what started the war.
The prophecy (that twins of the Corvinus blood line would be born - half-Lykan, half-Vampire but more powerful than both – would end the war and once again unite the two species) is discovered by Selene, but finds herself smitten by Michael.
As it turns out, Lucian is alive and is seeking for the prophecy to come true by binding a working alliance with Viktor. WHAT A SCAM!
This film features all the blood, gore and violence of Saving Private Ryan, Tomb Raider and The General’s Daughter combined, but with all the sincerest morbid details to last you a lifetime. And I simply loved it.
Unfortunately, it seriously references the Matrix for the costumes; yep all that tight leather, and the black trench coats and dark glasses that licks you all over with both gothic and punk rock fashion statements. And not to mention all the gun-slinging you’ll ever need.
But with all the juicy details the story has to offer –from the historical reference to the very sudden injection of the love angle-, it feels like an overextended mini-series episode. One more bad comment, the werewolves looked more like bad impressions of the Tikbalang in Avalon Comics’ STONE.
But still, this is pure eye-candy! Imagine all the gory scenes, the heart-stopping action, a healthy dose of twists and turns in the story, and Kate Beckinsale! Oh JOY!







The Rundown
The Rock
Sean William Scott
Rosario Dawson
Christopher Walken


I have always been a bad decision-maker, and this bothered me to no end. Just this Wednesday, I went to Megamall to watch another film, which I find is one of my brain’s way of relaxing and allowing all the creative juices to flow out (not necessarily to be used). So once again I find myself standing in the middle of two movie theaters. In front of me was Freaky Friday (something I had been planning to watch since I saw the trailer when I watched The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), and behind me was The Rundown (I’ve read of great reviews about it).
Jamie Lee Curtis vs The Rock. Here we go again…
And just like that I bought a ticket for The Rundown.

The Rundown features Beck (The Rock, and I wouldn’t bother finding out his real name, sorry) as an aspiring restaurateur, something I find so bloody unlikely, who friggin’ hate guns. But he is tied to a not very nice disposition as he explained, “I grew up in a rough neighborhood, and one thing led to another, then I just found myself in the wrong room with the wrong type of people.” And one of those wrong people is Walker, the Don-of-the-Mafia type of big man who gives Beck assignments usually given to a paid hitman, only Beck wouldn’t kill. As a last job before Walker gives Beck his freedom, he has to fly to the Amazon and look for Travis (Sean William Scott), Walker’s son, and bring him back.
Beck endures a biplane ride with a noisy Irish pilot to get to Brazil. He walks up to a fortress, home to Hatcher (Christopher Walken), pays $10,000 to search the forests to find Travis and bring him home.
He walks into a bar where he meets Rosario Dawson who has a very ingenious life; bartender by day, rebel by night. He picks up Travis in that bar, not willingly, mind you. But Hatcher has a change in plan because apparently Travis stumbles upon the map to get the Gato (the Devil’s Cat, a legendary gold statue).
A chase follows though the forest.
This film cracked me up, between Beck’s “options A&B routine” and Travis’ “lighting & thunder” stunts, there seems to be no end to the laugh, but not enough to get me hyperventilating.

DROOOL!