Artist: Charmaine Clamor
Album: My Harana, a Filipino Serenade
Label: Freeham Records

CHARMAINE Clamor is perhaps the leading Fil-Am Jazz singer today. She is among the very few Asian Jazz artists to capture the meticulous sensibilities of Americans. Her landmark record, Flippin’ Out appeared on the JazzWeek World Music Charts for seven straight weeks, remarkable achievement for a mixed language release.

Charmaine’s latest work, My Harana, a Filipino Serenade is not a Jazz record but a traditional Filipino Kundiman record released here in the US.
The 12-track album is Charmaine’s homage to the roots of Filipino music.
She compiled her favorite regional serenade songs of the home country and sang it in her trademark warm and sultry vocal style.

Among the songs she recorded in this collection are:
O, Ilaw (Tagalog), Mekeni King Siping Ku (Kapampangan), Pamulinawen (Ilocano), Ay Kalisud (Ilonggo), Malinac Lay Labi (Pangasinan), Matud Nila (Visayan), and an English track, Labis (Too much).

Artist: Rico Blanco
Album: Your Universe
Label: Warner Music Philippines

Tracklist:

1. Antukin
2. Ayuz
3. Helpless
4. Metropolis
5. Outta This
6. Para Hindi Mawala
7. Say Forever
8. Start Again
9. Your Universe
10. Yugto

AFTER his dramatic departure from Rivermaya, RIco Blanco comes out of the shadows with his debut solo album entitled "Your Universe."
The 10-song album under Warner Philippines is currently being buoyed by his carrier single, "Yugto" and the newly-released follow up single which bears the album's title.
Rather than coming up with a totally different sonic approach, Blanco opted to stay safe and trekked the road that his former band used to rule.

Although "Yugto" is a worthwhile attempt to break new musical grounds with its progressive arrangements and meaty power chords, it is the lone flower in a world resonating with Rivermaya's echoes.

All the songs in this album sound like they were intended for Blanco's estranged bandmates. Hell, yeah, they all sound like Rivermaya songs because whether we accept it or deny it, Rico was the sound of Rivermaya. He wrote almost all the Rivermaya songs, sang most of it, and produced all of it.

Notable tracks are:
Say Forever– A clear salute to Rico's adherence to 80's New Wave.
Start Again
Yugto
Your Universe

Rico should have waited a little longer before coming up with this effort. It would have separated him fully from his Maya work, and thus give credibility to his solo work.
Instead, Rico decided to release "Your Universe" in haste and failed to carve a new road for his solo career. He wasted his chance to do some work he's never tried before. Though we are all glad that Rico is back making new music, his solo album falls short in making his return a kick ass one.

Rico is a great songwriter and we expect more from him than another 'Rivermaya' album.

Rating: •••

Rating System:

• Forget it

•• Points for effort

••• Borrow the album and rip it

•••• Skip lunch and buy the album

••••• Sell Everything and Buy this album.

THE historic launch of Rock in the Box 2, the latest Filipino compilation album from Soulworks Records, dropped hard and it dropped fast. Here is an album that brings a fresh and much needed sound to the Filipino music scene…something that music fans are starving for. The 16-track album does more than bring together Filipino musicians from all over the United States and Toronto, Canada, it presents a solid wall of rock music into a world where much of mainstream music has lost all heart and true soul.

GREENLIGHT Girl is a pop record by a California-based Filipina-American artist named Chelsea E.
Chelsea herself wrote nine of the 16 songs in this album. The others songs were penned by Chelsea’s collaborators and producers.
The album sounds like a trip to the 1990’s–A throwback record.

It evokes sounds of an earlier era governed by names like TLC, Janet Jackson, C.C. Penniston and Paula Abdul.
The songs have all the parts of a template 90’s pop songs: Drum machine, orchestral synth hits, and synthetic sounding distorted guitars (think Janet’s Rhythm Nation)

 There are 16 tracks in the album, but one of my favorites is Dozen Roses .