For the first sample article, I posted this on my LiveJournal blog about four years ago, hence the dated taste in music. The piece however, still shows my manner of writing.

Album Wishlist I

Taken from: http://slyrodriguez21.livejournal.com/8139.html

Mar. 7th, 2011

I am the last of the remaining kids of this generation who still believe in the wonders brought by a hard copy of a record and its corresponding album art. I am the last of the remaining few who would even bother and then hardly earn every peso (currency in the Philippines) she's got to buy a record afterwards and then upon doing so would bask in her elation as she hears the songs play one by one.

Yes, music means that much to me. And if only I could have the extra means to get every record that I loved to listen to then I would be one of the happiest kids in the world already. For me, music is the best legacy that I could pass to my children (If I'd ever get married. Adoption is an option too) so I'd have to earn all the records that I think deserves for the next generation to hear. They will not like it but it's all that I could give, next to heaps of paper bearing my drawings, poems and stories.

As I've said before I have a liking to a lot of records, many of which are not even available in the Philippines and the rest remain on a list that I'm earning money for. I don't know how quick that list would be crossed though as I am also saving up to buy a keyboard to get me going to learn how to play the piano.

The following records that I would describe to you are the ones that are on my wish list (regardless if there available in the country or not). I have arranged some by artist.

My Album Wish List

Tegan and Sara (all albums)

I don't know why of the many artists whose records are being sold here not even one or no any record by Tegan and Sara has made it on music shelves while they a section for K-Pop records (no offense K-pop fans) and almost every edition of mainstream music out there with a bit of local talent on local music shelves. The truth is, not everything that's spewed out from the mainstream music business is worth listening to and OPM does not exist anymore (except for the likes of Up Dharma Down and Urbandub). This is the reason why a lot of record stores have shut down. They have been focusing on the wrong crowd for the most part while a cult of Indie music fans have been gathering and ready to spend their money on their favourite artist or band's record. I know I'm ready to spend what I've got to buy from a shelf full of records by Tegan and Sara Quin and so many more artists. There is a lack of diversity in taste and that's what I hate most about it.

Lungs or Between Two Lungs, Florence and the Machine

People unaware of Florence Welch has seen her recently performing for the past Grammys and the Oscars and as well have probably heard Dog Days Are Over on Eat, Pray, Love. Some have heard her sing and well I've been hearing her voice ever since 2009. I admit that it was only earlier this year that I've begun to divulge myself in all things Florence and the Machine (the same goes for Neko Case. I'll talk about her later). Still, it was worth the wait. Every song on Lungs I've unraveled and each proving how much she deserved to win that Grammy award (I'm still bitter, hell-o). I say with no pressure that Florence Welch has one of the greatest voices of this generation that I luckily have been able to have heard. Cosmic Love is just, EPIC. The drums beat as if it were a heart that's actually beating. My Boy Builds Coffins is a sad yet eye-opening song. Howl is a lover screaming for love. Rabbit Heart is a song before an unlikely but worthy sacrifice before a battle. Drumming Song is dramatic description of how someone falls in love. And Between Two Lungs is an album that is a well-fitting debut for a former choir girl who belts out songs with her heart into it.

Neko Case:

The Tigers Have Spoken, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (An album she made out of reading Russian folklore) and Middle Cyclone

The way Neko crafts her songs, from her numerous lyrical references to animal personas among others, a tornado that has fallen in love and as well of a man who turns out is a philanderer and a group of prison girls and her soulful voice has made me believe that there is still hope and a place for a song that actually means something, with words that collide to form poetry and a voice that simply yet elegantly brings it further into life.

She is the reason why I'm beginning to appreciate a music genre I never thought I'd be able to love, which is Country. Although her craft in forming actual poetic lyrics make her stand out. It's an oxymoron but she is atypical in being typically herself.

As of this writing, I am under 'Neko Fever'.

t.A.T.u.

Lyudi Invalidy, Vesyolye Ulibkyi/Happy Smiles, and Waste Management

By a miracle (since I never thought I'd be able to get the chance to again), I was able to find the records of t.A.T.u.'s past albums, 200 Po Vstrechnoy, 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane and Dangerous and Moving. And by that I am closing the book on what once was, and now a band on an uncertain track -- a hiatus and a solo excursion. I'm not expecting to find their other albums here (the ones I've put up the album covers for) but anyone can dream. If I got the first three albums via a miracle then it ain't bad to hope for another.

Lykke Li: Wounded Rhymes

Sweden has a string of musicians, whether we like it or not have time and time again have made its way into our ears. Don't get me started off with ABBA. Lykke Li is no exemption. This indie darling has charmed listeners with her promising debut album Youth Novels (I have this record and I recommend people to buy it) and is now back with her sophomore album Wounded Rhymes. Artistically she has matured with songs that implicitly speak of love and of being a woman and an image that channels that of The Knife and a little bit of Iceland's Bjork. I can't wait for this.

Sara Bareilles and Regina Spektor (all albums)

Sara Bareilles and Regina Spektor are artists that I have a high degree and respect for. yes, both of their recent albums, Kaleidoscope Heart and Far have fared not as much (in terms of charts) as their past albums have, nevertheless their skill as musicians have matured and the music is still there. It would be great to have their records. I'm planning to get Sara's Kaleidoscope Heart.

Hole (Live Through This, Celebrity Skin and Nobody's Daughter)

Courtney Love is not just a name and is not just the late Kurt Cobain's widow. So as Hole. It is not just another band. People might think I'm crazy but if I were to choose between Gwen Stefani (No Doubt era) and Courtney Love, I prefer the latter. Hole would be a testament to Loves efforts as a musician if only Love used it well as a way for her to share her once coke-stained, smoke-filled ingenuity. Malibu from Celebrity Skin can defend that.

Flyleaf and Fireflight (Unbreakable, For Those Who Wait and Memento Mori)

Its bands like Flyleaf and Fireflight that convince me that there's Rock in Christian Rock and that both can coexist side by side. I'll keep it at that.

Lady GaGa

I am a Little Monster, but due to budget constraints, I don't have this album (Monster Remixes)

There are so many bands and artists that dominate my list of records or albums that I'd wish to have but the list has gone far too long I'm afraid. And the albums on my list are only the ones under my top priority. Thats all for now.

Second Sample

This time, it comes from one blogpost that Ive divided into two parts:

http://slyrodriguez21bybentopeii.tumblr.com/post/68686420091/suddenly-last-week-ks-ascent-into-fangirl

http://slyrodriguez21bybentopeii.tumblr.com/post/71164793749/transmissionfnation-greetings-from-the-dwindling

Suddenly, Last Week: Ks Ascent into Fangirl Heaven Headed by the Queen Quins

December 2, 2013

I have been a fan of Tegan and Sara for five years.

Heres a post of me in hopes that I someday would not echo the ending of Bona, a film that starred Nora Aunor. Theres no Beatrice, or perhaps there are two Beatrices, waiting for the reinvented Dante at the end of the Divina Comedia. Everything else today is subject to reinterpretation.

Beginnings:

It all began years ago, when I was a Junior in highschool. I had been reeling from the fact that Avril Lavigne had gone completely in another direction, the poppier route, further from what I had envisioned in my childhood as the punk ideal, or what I had patterned for myself as such.

As I was listening to the now defunct FM radio station, NU107.5, I was looking for anyone who screamed enough for me to care. Then a lady came on screaming, which was something not surprising for a station like NU. Yet there was something different about this lady screaming on the radio.

Im coming around! Nobody likes to but I, really like to cry!

For a teenager, everything made sense. Was it because of the angst in her voice, her lines or the way she sang/screamed CRY? It didnt matter to me. I had managed to listen to half of the song, and soon I had put the lines in my head and looked them up on google.

The song was The Con by Tegan and Sara.

The Con. Ok. Then I thought of all the words that involved the word the con. Con-men. Con-gressmen. Con Carne. Con-vert. I loved the wordplay but soon had to let it go.

Tegan and Sara.

Whats in a name?

Being one with a limited attention span, I soon got swamped in the pursuit of other things, schoolwork and what was left of my already small social life. I hated highschool with a passion, to get out of the hell hole. A silent girl was mistaken for a girl on the edge of a cliff, one who is suicidal and then she is given friends for life support.

The next time I hear the name Tegan and Sara, I was listening to another station, Jam 88.3.

Im not unfaithful but Ill stray.

A kid can be reminded of so many things and loyalty could be as close to a lecture or sticky note on an aging refrigerator or the pages of a yet to be dealt with reading.

The voice was different this time, it was high-pitched and still, screaming though. Then I found out that they were twins. And they sing.

Loyalty would soon be a matter of whose Quin do you refer, Tegan or Sara, Sara or Tegan?

Years onward Back in Your Head would be something Id harken to after I meet them as a 19 year old timid undergrad and her oddly matched shoulder bag, Tegan and Sara CDs and her fan shirt.

At this moment in my life in highschool, I had just cut my hair, one that once crept onto my back the way seaweed would wash onto the shore. I had asked the hair-cutter to unknowingly give me a mullet.

Call It Off was on Channel [V] the other day and one of the first set of questions a noob would ask is How can you tell Tegan from Sara?

TransmissionFNation: Greetings from the Dwindling Vacay, Fangirling and More (Descent, Part 2).

December 26, 2013

On Christmas Eve the folks and I had to attend the annual family reunion where the Holiday spirit and cheer took form through food. Of all the usual array of questions, one stood out and greeted me, Hows Tegan and Sara? I was more surprised than delighted, I said, What?

Then they start talking about the way my posts had been on Facebook lately, about the Quins. In my own defense I thought of saying What? Really? until I realized what I was wearing: A Tegan and Sara Band Shirt.

It had been a month of dealing with Post-Concert Sickness, I cant say Depression for it means I have been loathing the fact Tegan and Sara did visit Manila and would put all my posts to shame, for I was reveling in remembering the gig and the day before it where I met the girls and gave them a postcard via Tegan (which I do not know where it could be now at all). Wherein Sara saying Hi! How are you to me has become a running gag my father would use at every opportunity he gets.

Despite my frequent recollections of that fateful 24th and 25th, there are also other things that concern me, all pertaining to unfinished readings and room-related chores that beckon me to deal with my application for a spot on Hoarders, where instead of random dead or decaying stuff, I have a mini-library. For now I am reading Sylvia Plaths the Bell Jar, an unassigned reading but, upon the first chapter alone deserves to read entirely. I am no Esther Greenwood but her concerns have, to an extent become my own.

But in another part of my self or this room, there are no dancing ladies on the wall, the way a Perkins short story would go (we dont even have yellow wallpaper to begin with), there is a part of me that is still fangirling.

The gig, from my part in the crowd has become a sea of hands and cameras, something I tried to stay away from since the Smashing Pumpkins came to the Philippines.