Friday, April 24, 2009

"In Awe of His Amazing Love" Song Samples Playlist

This is the complete playlist of all the songs in our debut album "In Awe of His Amazing Love" The imeem playlist are the singles released on Radio and it comes in full track for your listening pleasure. The rest of the songs below are the rest of the tracks in the album. These are links of Low Resolution 30 seconder sample tracks courtesy of Fliptunes.   

Stand out tracks from this album are the fan favorite Earthbound Angel, My Love Song, Savior, and Brand New Day. 

 


Thoughts And Notions

 

    The Album is still available at selected House of Praise music outlets nationwide. I think there are only a few copies left. So this is fast becoming a very rare album. We are accepting online orders thru here or through our email and we would be glad to find the album for you and ship it to you once you order a copy. I guess this would be our final promotional effort for the debut album since we would be focusing on the promotion of the new self-titled album. The new album is available at MusicVision DV Soria and at Coffee Works Lim Ket Kai. Contact us for more details. 
    Thanks and God Bless!
    Below is the carrier single from the new Self-titled Album.


Runaway Angel - Thoughts And Notions

Sutil

Rating:★★★★★
Category:Music
Genre: Rock
Artist:Ram Chavez Band
By now everyone must have heard about this Kagayanon singer named Ram Chavez. But for those who still haven’t, let me share a little backgrounder. Ram Chavez was 2nd Runner up of the just recently concluded Pinoy Idol, the local franchise of the ultra successful American Idol series. He was consistently among the favorites to win the tilt, until he lost out to the much more Pop singers that eventually won the tilt. But it would just be a mere stepping stone for a much brighter future ahead. Now Ram and his band has recently released their debut album called SUTIL containing 11 tracks of brilliant songs.

Ram and his band started as a call center band that gained a cult following among the crowd of call center agents who gathers twice a month in a bar joint of their choice to put up their After Shift Jam events. Ramon “Rj” Chavez (considered to be the founder and the main songwriter of the band) recruited ex-Drizzle guitarist Wilbert Tan and Drummer Bong Flores and added Ronald Dub to do Bass duties to form the final line up of the band after Ram’s original composition Kol Center gained a following among his fellow Call Center Agents. Banded together with other veteran musicians, his Kol Center became a massive hit after the new recruits breathed new life into it. With major radio stations in the metro massively playing the song, Sutil was nominated for NU 107’s In the Raw award at the 14th annual NU 107 Rock Awards.

Ram’s band in its early inception was already destined for success. The Pinoy Idol tilt was just an opportunity to introduce himself to the country’s consciousness. But while Pinoy Idol would introduce Ram’s powerful voice, the album Sutil would show his creativity in writing songs that would suit him best. I’m writing my thoughts about it here. One cannot deny that the album’s carrier single, Kol Center, has the catchy alternative pop sensibilities written all over it. Being a call center agent himself, it’s a very suitable anthem for the mushrooming call center denizens in our country. As I mentioned earlier, this song would catch the radio stations’ fancy as it gained massive airplay. But Sutil is not a one song wonder. A quick rundown on their album’s songs would show us the band’s versatility in writing songs that could easily stick in our consciousness. While Ram himself is already a proven songwriting wizard, his collaborations with guitarist Wilbert Tan (a proven legend in the CDO music scene) would make his songs further stand out. Worth mentioning about this is the song called “Hiwaga” and “Worthless”. Wilbert’s playful guitar riffs complement the overall musicality of Ram’s vocal strengths, not to mention Wilbert’s stamping guitar solo that is familiar to those ears that has been long following Wilbert’s previous works. One of those criticisms that get thrown into Ram’s way is that he closely follows Bamboo’s mannerisms and moves onstage. While that may be too overboard, the songs in his band’s album are a whole lot different from Bamboo’s. Well maybe except for the song called “Paradise”, a song that fuses playful Reggae bass lines with alternapop guitars and a sizzling blues guitar solo. But it is not smart to say that he is merely copying whatever Bamboo is writing. Because truth to tell, while the influences might be there, his songs can stand out on its own right.

Ram also isn't one dimensional, he can easily shift from a rock song to sentimental acoustic songs. Paalam is one such song. While the song may only be accompanied by an acoustic guitar, Ram manages to brilliantly shift his booming rock vocals to a more soulful and honest vocal work. The rest of the tracks in the album offer a fusion of varied influences. Songs that I’m sure would be appreciated in the mainstream music scene. Last I heard, Ram has been given a lot of loving from his fans as his songs has been receiving constant airplay, and Kol Center is even lording the charts in various radio stations in Manila. Ram is the new symbol of what Cagayan de Oro musicians is capable of doing.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Slam Festival '09

Start:     May 1, '09 6:00p
Location:     Provincial Capitol Grounds, Cagayan de Oro City
A Labor Day & SLAM's First anniversary joint Celebration featuring CDO's hottest bands. Plus Fashion and Art exhibit, Henna and Body Painting, fun games and more. Proceeds will benefit children of hinterlands, Opol, Misamis Oriental. Entrance Fee P25 with free drinks. Our new album will also be available at the venue. Part of the album sales will go to the Children of Hinterlands.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Ambush Gig at Star Mart Gusa







Well, since our gig at Energi Bar got cancelled, we decided instead to do an impromptu 3 song set at Star mart Gusa.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Ambush Gig!

We never tried an unplanned gig before. But last saturday, we gave it a try. Because the gig with Ram Chavez Band at Energi Bar got cancelled for some unspecified reasons, the band decided to hang and chill out at Star Mart Gusa. Fortunately, Thrina knew one of the bands that was perfroming that night. Since the band was still amped up and energized to play, we decided to do a surprise Jam when the performing band went for an intermission. We asked permission from Thrina's friend if we could takeover the stage while they were having an intermission. Fortunately, he concurred. And we played 3 songs. 2 songs from the new album, Runaway Angel and Like Heaven, and a cover of a Katy Perry song. The adrenaline was different. Something new and something we haven't felt before. I guess that's how it feels when you do a surprise number. It has been a long night since we came from a wedding gig before the scheduled gig at Energi Bar got cancelled. But we are happy to have done that ambush gig. And we are thankful for being given that opportunity.

This coming April 25th won't be an ambush gig though. We'll be at SM Cagayan de Oro for an Earth Day Jam gig. We would also be selling our new album in our gigs. So if you still haven't purchased a copy at Musicvision or at CoffeeWorks, drop by in our gigs, we'd be happy to personally hand our album to you. See you on the 25th! =)



Thursday, April 16, 2009

Thoughts And Notions with RAM CHAVEZ at Energi Bar

Start:     Apr 18, '09 9:30p
Location:     Energi Bar, Tiano Bros. St. Cagayan de Oro City.
Thoughts And Notions will be performing with Ram Chavez at Energi Bar this coming April 18, 2009.

Thrina with Ram Chavez


Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Thoughts And Notions in Gold Star Daily Newspaper Today

Thoughts And Notions is featured on Gold Star Daily Newspaper under Urban Life Section today. The article is written by Mark D. Francisco

The album is available at Musicvision Divisoria and at Coffeeworks Rosario Arcade, Lim Ket Kai Center for ony P190/CD

Or you could watch our gigs. We will be selling our album at our gigs!

We will be at Energi Bar located at Tiano Bros. St. Cagayan de Oro City this Saturday at 9:30PM with Ram Chavez.

We will be participating in the SM Cagayan de Oro Earth Day Jam '09 this coming April 25, 5PM at SM CDO.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

SM Cagayan de Oro Earth Day Jam '09

Start:     Apr 28, '09 5:00p
Location:     SM Cagayan de Oro
We will be permiering our environmental song called Pagsapit ng Panahon live!



Friday, April 10, 2009

Thoughts And Notions

Rating:★★★★★
Category:Music
Genre: Alternative Rock
Artist:Thoughts And Notions








Thoughts And Notions returns with a bang!

Expansion is always good. Thoughts And Notions' brand new self-titled album is a proof to that. The last time I reviewed their debut album, In Awe of His Amazing Love, I marveled at this young band's eagerness and passion to bring forth their faith driven songs with no nonsense approach following the trails of foreign CCM bands like Jars of Clay and Sixpence None the Richer. This time around, they have expanded their songs' themes as they seek to continue on with their songs' stories. Before listening to their new album, I highly recommend that you should be able to listen to their debut album. Somehow there is a continuity between the two and the themes of the songs from this new album would better be understood if you get to know the root story and the vision of this band. As always, owning a Thoughts And Notions album is like opening an inspiratonal storybook. They just don't give you the standard CD sleeves featuring Album Credits, Lyrics, and Thank You's, but they also communicate to us through an introductory message that shares their thoughts about the album that you have in your hand. Before I could go on and start writing about the album's song contents, I could not proceed without mentioning this album's concept packaging. First things first, the album is packaged in an eco-friendly brown envelope wrapped with a colorful sticker that balances the thoughtful environmental friendly packaging and the eye candy visual artwork done by Jeniffer Aranaydo. And if this alone would enchant you, wait till you get to open the envelope and take a peek at what's inside. The album is loaded with thingymagigs that will make this album even more worthwhile. It contains 2 pre printed CD sleeves, a lyric sheet, a band name sticker, and a Lyric card of the song Beloved Savior. They are calling this album as a "Build Your Own Album" concept as the stuffs loaded in this album would help you create your own album by choosing which of the pre-printed CD sleeves to use if you decide to transfer the CD in a Jewel Case. The pre-printed album cover artworks varies in such a way that it would cover various album cover preferences from the artistic taste (A Mandala painting album cover design courtesy of Kelly Palaganas-Ramos), a more commercial taste (A fresh and light on the eyes album cover design by Alvin Carreon), or to a more personal touch by designing your own album cover utilizing the lyric sheet which has a blank face for you to use as a canvass for your artwork. The packaging alone is no slouch, and this is really a well thought of album presentation. The band clearly expanded the dimensions of audio cd album presentations by making this more personal. Looking at it, it's like a gift from the band to their friends and listeners.

Seeing that the packaging of the album was carefully planned out, I guess it would be fair to raise your expectations on what the album's song contents would be. Specially after knowing that it has been close to 4 years since the band wrote their first song for their debut album (which was wholly a Jasper Tan-Wilbert Tan songwriting tandem), and knowing that the songwriting creative process has been expanded to accomodate the contibutions of the new members (Adonis Berongoy, Erickson Gloria, and Doris Bangot). The album opens to a rousing track called Arise which was written by Jasper and the new members. Indeed it is a rousing song (no pun intended), a perfect song to kickstart the album as it awakes you with it's bouncy guitar riffs, especially when you reach the stinging guitar solo lead up to Thrina's hypnotic wailing of "I will never give up..." I could perfectly imagine this song to be the band's curtain raiser song in their gigs, good song to fire up the crowd. The ending of this song would segue to the opening guitar riffs of their chosen carrier single, the Jasper-Wilbert penned song called Runaway Angel, a riff heavy soaring alternative rock song that is textured with keyboards, giving it a fuller and richer sound. The lyrics is quite poetic and dazzling, playful even, with a smart choice of words that blends in nicely with the many layered sound. Thrina has expanded her vocal acrobatics which is nicely featured in this song. The band turns heavier and louder in the third track of the album called When as Wilbert and Jasper tries to raise their songwriting creativeness to another level. Well, truthfully this song is hard to decipher, from the lyrics down to it's sound. But this is not a song disaster mind you. It's just that this song is most probably the hardest to digest of all the songs in the album. It sounds loud and heavy but still melodic nonetheless, and the lyrics are so deep, which in a way deviates from the simpleness of the band's trademark lyrics. Being the oldest members of the group, I guess both of these guys valiantly tried to experiment on this song. The next string of tracks in the album will show the band's softer side. First up is the song called Cloudy Day. It is a direct descendant of the band's biggest hit song from their debut album called Earthbound Angel. Written by Adonis and Erickson, Cloudy Day has all the right formulas for a sing song ballad. They wrote this song with the appeal of Pinoy's love for ballad songs. The next song is a song that features guest violinist Jan Martin Legazpi's violin tracks. This song reminds us a lot about Freddie Aguilar's song called Anak. Mr. Legazpi's violin tracks soulfully tugs our heart strings as it perfectly blends well with the lyrics of this song which talks about a parent's undying love for their child even if the child has decided to tread his own path in life. Jasper and Wilbert brilliantly captures our sentimental side with this song's heart tugging lyrics and music.

What will a Thoughts And Notions album be if there is no song that expresses their gratitude for God's love? The next song called Beloved Savior would be that song. Beloved Savior is a song written by Adonis and enhanced by Wilbert. It is the song featured on the Lyric Card. This song is perhaps their most honest song to date that speaks about their reverence and gratitude to our God. And the band would like to give this song as a gift to us by using it as the pocket sized lyric card so that we could easily bring it along with us and be reminded of our love for HIM. The next song called A Promise is a Wilbert Tan penned song that has an Orchestraic and grand feel to it. An epic song that enchants you with it's grand sound and dream like tune that could put us in a trance. I could easily imagine this song being played live by the band alongside an orchestra. Seeing and hearing this song live should be a treat. So while this song is grand and a big sounding song, the band strips down to their acoustic guitars in the next song called Safer In My Heart. Jasper and Adonis wrote this song with heart tugging earnestness to show and speak about love's innocent hope and promise. This song clearly shows that the band can also deliver a sound that could capture our attention even if their song is stripped down to the bare essentials. Sometimes we don't need a grand sounding song to garner one's attention, sometimes it would only take us an honest, soulful, and inspirational song like Safer In My Heart to be able to catch our attention and listen to the beating of our heart. The band amazingly shows this facet in them through this song. Doris also provided soulful back up vocals on Thrina's lead vocals in this song. This song also closes the band's soft side in this album as the next song would bring us back to the band's upbeat songs. Like Heaven is a song that closely reminds us of the song My Love Song from their debut album. A hook laden pop song that also shows some traces of Chinese sounding guitar riffs. No surprise there really since Jasper, Wilbert, and Thrina are of Chinese heritage. But this is a smart way of also giving ode to their chinese roots. The last song in the album is where all the band's songwriting creativity comes to a head. Stronger, Higher, Further will show the band members collaborative effort to come out with an anthemic song that talks about hope and courage. Jasper's lyric writing maturity is brightly featured in this song through the use of easily relatable choice of words without losing it's poetic value. I guess this untangles the mess of the song When. By not consciously writing a lyric with the intentions of making it brilliant, but instead allow the lyrics to flow through him and dictate his lyric writing. Meanwhile the song structure was well balanced by the band as the new members provided the song's basic structure and then let Wilbert experiment on the songs final sound. Thus, the anthemic value of this song is kept in tacked as they originally intended this song to be.

But the songs does not end there. The band included two bonus tracks that are so far out from the rest of the tracks in the album. First, there's the tagalog environmental song called Sa Pagsapit ng Panahon. This song has an ethnic and tribal feel to it by using acoustic guitars accompanied by tribal sounding percussions. This song is pinoy na pinoy and as the eco friendly album packaging shows, this band is affectionate towards our environment. The other bonus track in this album meanwhile shows their Mindanaoan roots as they wrote a song in the local bisayan dialect. This song is also sang by Adonis with Thrina doing the backup vocal chores. This song though is actually a full length jingle for a local brand sardines which helped the band financially in producing this album.

Overall, this album has leaped beyond my expectations on their follow up. By expanding the album's packaging concept, song themes, and even the guest musicians and their sound, it actually worked very well for them. And owning both of their albums is an added treat since I'm able to appreciate more the tale that they have weaved in their songs that truly spoke about Faith, Love, Hope, and Redemption. I'm giving this a 5 star for the sole reason that it went beyond my expectations.


Saturday, April 4, 2009

Wedding, Private Affair

Start:     Apr 18, '09 7:00p
Location:     Country Village Hotel
Wedding of our guitarist's Sister. We will be playing some of our Love songs from the new album.