What 5 albums have influenced you the most?

1) Parachutes by Colplay

This is the debut album of Coldplay. Aside from the famous hits in the album, my favorite here would be the underrated song entitled Sparks (listen here).

Famous singles from this album are Yellow, Don’t Panic, and Trouble.

2) Postcards from Heaven by Lighthouse Family

This is the first album I have completely listened to. I can still remember back in December 1998 when my cousin gave a cassette of Lighthouse Family to my father which he had found from the passenger’s seat of our tricycle.

Famous tracks here are Question of Faith, High, and Lost in Space.

3) Make Yourself by Incubus

With hits such as Stellar, Drive, and Pardon Me, this album introduced me to Incubus. Whenever they visit our country for a concert, I always regret not being able to attend the event.

4) Kami nAPO muna by Various Artists

This is a tribute album by various artists here in the Philippines.

Apo Hikings Society, or simple Apo, got this tribute due to their contribution in the musical movement, called Original Pilipino Music (a.k.a. OPM) , here in the country.

A two-disc limited edition is released which contained a second disk with digitally remastered tracks of Apo Hikings Society such as Batang-batang ka pa and When I Met You (listen here).

5) Kimi Tsunagi Five M by ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION

I have known the band because of their song Haruka Kanata, which is an opening theme of Naruto.

In this album, you can listen to tracks such as Kimi to Iu Hana (A Flower called You), and Mirai no Karera (Fragments of the Future).

Asian Kung-Fu Generation, or simply AKFG or Ajikan, is a four famous for their hits such as Rewrite, Blue Train, After Dark, and Solanin.

(Inspiration came from the bonus suggestion of The Daily Post‘s What 5 books have influenced you the most?)

Coldplay’s New Album: Mylo Xyloto

Album art via Coldplay's website

I got an e-mail from The Coldplay Messenger’s newsletter saying the band will be releasing their latest album on October 24, 2011.

With “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall” as their first single of the album, the next single is called “Paradise”, which will be coming out on September 12, 2011. The album is not yet available for pre-order as of this moment.

Also, attached in the newsletter is a contest for the promo CD for “Paradise”, which is exclusive for those who subscribe in Colplay’s Mailing List. So what I did is to join the promo. Hope I could win it. 🙂

More Power to Parody Music: Weird Al is Back

Good news to the supporters of parody music, Weird Al is back! Performing for more than 30 years, it’s good to hear that he has a new upcoming album entitled Alpocalypse. It is his first studio release since Straight Outta Lynwood in 2006. “Perform This Way” is a parody song of Lady Gaga‘s “Born This Way.

from Wikipedia

For a parody artist, releasing the single was not easy since Yankovic has to ask permission from the artist and the recording company. A lot of songs that he has written or created has been denied of permission to be released like “You’re Pitiful“, which is the parody of James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful“. “Perform This Way” was initially denied of permission. But when Lady Gaga heard Weird Al’s version of her popular song on Youtube, she personally allowed Yankovic to release the single.

Other tracks on the 12-tracks album includes:

• “Party in the CIA“, parody of Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the CIA”, .
• “Polka Face“, parody of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” and other current popular songs.
• “TMZ“, parody of “You Belong With Me” by Taylor Swift.
• “Another Tattoo“, parody of B.o.B’s (featuring Bruno Mars) “Nothing on You”.

From the initial posting of Weird Al’s Youtube video:

“The following song was supposed to be the first single from my upcoming album. Unfortunately, it did not receive Lady Gaga’s approval.”

But because of the approval, a new annotation on the video was added: “UPDATE: Lady Gaga approved the song!!! The album will be out on June 21.”

Congratulations! Welcome back Weird Al! Mabuhay ka Weird Al!