What's hot?

By Annie S. Alejo
Ill-J – rapper
Brian Sergio – bassist
Tim Cada – guitars
Jason Asistores – keyboards
Kalayaan “Alay” Magno – drums
Gugoo Umali – Turntablist
If there’s anyone who could dispute the illogical thinking that indie bands are those that don’t make the cut, it’s Ill-J.
Having come from Sun Valley Crew (SVC), Ill-J has seen both the major label landscape and the bumpy road of going it alone as independent artists. SVC had been with a label since they started in 1996, but by 1998, it had gone indie. Ill-J and his crew had held steadfast until they put out their last album as SVC in 2005.
By 2006, Ill-J had already released his first solo album called The Journey. And what a journey it has been, indeed. It was perhaps not quite as unanticipated, but it was nevertheless challenging on all counts.
“It’s a whole different arena,” Ill-J admits. “You don’t get the same support as you do with a major label, particularly media mileage, radio, TV guestings with celebrities, going to dressing rooms and putting make up on… those stuff that the label does for you.”
Well, even the illest rapper enjoys a bit of pampering… and what he mentions is an illustration of what a label’s marketing machinery can do. But it is in the indie arena that musicians sharpen their own claws, and this allows them to dig their way to where they want to be.
As an independent artist, “We do everything ourselves, we book shows ourselves,” he declares now. “When we have to go out of town and do shows, we have to pay for our own… look for our own sponsors. Which makes it extra harder. Instead of focusing on the art, you have to focus on the sponsorship… But it’s all worth it. At the end of the day, it’s the excitement for the music, performing… that’s what keeps us going.”
It was also as an indie artist that Ill-J meets Jigger, a music lover with an indie sensibility who later becomes his manager. “And that was a big help. Before him we were running on three wheels. We just needed an extra push and he balanced it all out. He did the dirty job of booking shows and all that,” Ill-J says of him.
And as such, after releasing a second solo album called Logic For Reason late last year, it was Jigger that saw Ill-J’s new ideas through. Ill-J’s vision was to retain the principal sound of hip-hop but “I wanted the sound to be live instrumentation, just to make it a little bit different.”
So once the album was done, in fact after it had been launched, they’ve created a whole new unit to support Ill-J’s live act. “The bassist, Brian Sergio, is a friend of mine,” I’ll-J begins. “We just talked about jamming, and later on it became official. Because I told these guys that I wanted a live sound… And then he got everybody together.”
Ill-J’s live act now is marked by [...]

Since appearing on the scene in 2006 with a distinctive brand of sun-kissed dance pop, Rihanna has always been a boundary-pushing trendsetter, from her decision to remain a brunette in a sea of suspiciously blonde R&B divas, to her numerous tattoos. In late 2009, Rihanna broke the mold yet again, revealing a new instrospective, fiercely passionate, and to quote from one her new hits, hard persona.
The single was “Russian Roulette” and it was anything but the next “Umbrella”—the tempo slow, the vocals pained, and the lyrics chilling. Gone were the sunny club-bangers of her Caribbean youth. From the lyrics to a provocative video featuring Rihanna literally wearing her heart on her sleeve, she turned heads and ruffled feathers, all while delivering a musical knockout of a single.
A year after singing about sunshine and standing under a communal umbrella, Rihanna unleashed a new image in the latter part of 2009, singing a song about gunplay. Effectively launching one of the most polarizing carrier singles in recent years, unadventurous radio station programmers were left scratching their heads and sweating bullets.
But the fans followed suit. While radio programmers responded tentatively to “Russian Roulette”, the fans lapped it up. In the week of November 12, 2009, the single rocketed 75 to 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart triggered by blockbuster download sales of 132,000. While the song was languishing in the mid-thirties of the radio airplay charts, the fans downloaded the hell out of the song and made it another top 10 hit for Rihanna. The fans spoke and Princess Ri notched another hit in her relatively young career.
This achievement, of course, is nothing new to Rihanna. A year before that, her hit “Disturbia” became her fifth #1 on the Hot Digital Songs, which is the most any artist has amassed since Billboard introduced the chart in October 2004. On Niesen/SoundScan’s running, all-time list of the top 200 songs with the most paid downloads, she has the most songs, undoubtedly earning her title as the Digital Download Queen.
With all her success on the digital front, Rihanna bridges the gap between the music world and the digital world, becoming the perfect artist for a new groundbreaking project that effectively merges the two. For the release of her much-anticipated Rated R album, which contains the hits “Russian Roulette” and “Hard”, the Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG) and Universal Music Group International (UMGI) partnered with Nokia to bring her music to an even bigger audience. This announcement coincides with the global availability of the Nokia X6, a powerful entertainment device that gives Nokia users the hottest tracks and other music exclusives.
In the Philippines, Nokia Philippines has tied up with the Universal Music Group to give users the full-on Rihanna experience. Nokia X6 comes with a voucher for up to 500 FREE music downloads, including three tracks from Rihanna’s acclaimed Rated R album—“Russian Roulette” Additionally Nokia X6 users can download the Come Get Rihanna app on Ovi Store which features Rihanna news, videos, photos, tracks and [...]

Once upon a time, you actually had to wait for songs if you wanted to listen to them. In those days, if you loved a song enough, you waited for the next time it popped up on MTV or fiddled with the radio knobs in the hopes of tuning into the right frequency. This was in the dark ages before YouTube and media downloads, of course, the dark ages before the Internet. Those days were sometimes musically bleak, with the occasional MTV Most Wanted request or your favorite radio station’s all-request weekend serving as the beacon of light.
Today, there’s no such thing. If you can’t get the latest Rihanna hit out of your head, all you have to do is go online and download or stream the song. Then we put the song on repeat, hopped up on our MP3 players and on constant rotation everywhere we go. And it’s not just the latest Rihanna. We’ve got everything from Mozart to Morrissey at our fingertips, an “Enter” and a mouse click away.
Nokia takes it one step further, making all your musical needs accessible anywhere and everywhere you go. MusicMix is a music application that allows you to access three of your favorite music sites for free downloadable content: Nokia Indie Artists Club (IAC), the Universal Music Group site and Sonic Boom Philippines. Downloadable and free for your Nokia phone from the Ovi Store, MusicMix is for music fans, which is to say everyone who’s ever loved a song.
The three music sites split the different musical tastes. For the freshest local indie tracks, go to Nokia IAC and sample and download the next great musical discovery. For your favorite local signed bands, Sonic Boom has some of their biggest tracks, as well as wallpapers of the bands. Finally, Universal Music opens its 2,000-track library for a truly diverse musical experience. With your Nokia X6 you can download up to 500 songs from the Universal Music inbox voucher.
To top it all off, your sound trip doesn’t have to end with MusicMix. 45-second tracks are also available for download as ringtones. So instead of a buzz-harshing ring every time your boss calls, you’ve got your shower song giving you a nudge towards a lighter mood.
The MusicMix is just one of the many applications, games, videos, podcasts, productivity tools, web and location-based services that you can access through the Ovi Store. Your personal media network with a social buying experience, the Ovi Store even delivers smart content recommendations based on user actions, handset and locations.
    

There’s no room for being a little touchy-feely here, unless you are talking about Nokia’s latest and greatest music player, the Nokia X6. An awesome touchscreen device so beautiful it’s meant to be touched, the Nokia X6 lets you rediscover new use for your fingers in ways you never dreamed possible.
Go crazy with content, as the Nokia X6 becomes your ultimate platform for serious fun. For the music lovers, get your ultimate fill of one of the hottest R&B divas with Nokia’s Come Get Rihanna application.
Download three Rihanna songs from her latest album Rated R, namely “Russian Roulette,” “Wait Your Turn” and “Hole in My Head” through the Universal Music Group (UMG) voucher that comes with the new Nokia X6. But wait, there’s more—up to 2,000 tracks are also available for download from Universal Music’s library.
As an ultimate music device, the Nokia X6 makes it easy for listeners to access their favorite music, and through Nokia’s Independent Artists Club (IAC), they can download the freshest indie tracks through the MusicMix application free to all Nokia X6 users through the Ovi Store.
There are also loads of other applications from the Ovi Store, plus your fill of the most exciting game content to hit the mobile phone platform. From music to games and everything in between, the X6 will become the gateway to your personal multi-media playground.
    

Kjwan started as a four piece band from Manila that consists of long-time friends and former high school band-mates Marc Abaya (vocals) and Kelley Mangahas (bass), fellow Ateneans Jorel Corpus (guitar) and J-hoon Balbuena (drums), who wrote, recorded and co-produced their self titled album. In 2004 Boogie Romero (guitar), another high school friend of Abaya and Mangahas, joined the band after the album release.
Many describe 2003 as the year when the local rock scene lost its identity. It was at this time when Kjwan burst into the Philippine music scene. They came down hard, raw, in your face, and coined the catchphrase, “Bastusan na!” to signal some heavy rocking. Their self-titled debut album in 2004 spawned the hit song “Daliri” which became an anthem to a new generation of rockers.
If the first album was a simple matter of coming out, the two-year journey of completing their second album, “2 Step Marv”, was a more complicated matter of growing up musically. They were able to craft better songs, hone individual skills and introduce new musical elements to their primarily rock sound.
Kjwan released their third album entitled “13 Seconds to Love” in 2009. The band brought the inspiration that a great song can be determined in just thirteen seconds in their song writing along with love as the common theme.
Soon after the release, Balbuena and Corpus parted ways with the group, leaving Kjwan with only three members: Abaya, Mangahas and Romero.
Blessings showered in as they were given recognitions in the early part of 2009. From the Office of the President and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts they were awarded “Ani Ng Dangal” in recognition and appreciation for winning in the IKON ASEAN in Malaysia and bringing pride and honor to our country and were recognized as an International Awardee in the 21st Awit Awards.
In October 2009, Kjwan marked another milestone by being nominated in all categories in the NU Rock Awards 2009. To date, three singles from the album, namely “Lifeline”, “13 Seconds To Love” and “Pause” have conquered the #1 slot in the NU107 charts.
Presently, radio, television and mall promotional tours are ongoing to promote “13 Seconds To Love”.
With their successful third album and numerous awards and nominations both in the Philippines and across Asia, Kjwan continues to captivate music fans and keep them in anticipation with every new step they take.