Selected Sound Advice

I’m an absolute music addict. Music wakes me from sleep in the morning by way of a radio alarm clock. My household knows by instinct to turn on the stereo to my favorite station the moment I sit down for breakfast. On the way to the gym, I blast my car’s speakers to jump-start my day – I was once caught by a jeepload of passengers unabashedly gyrating to Kylie with dance steps worthy of first prize at an Eat Bulaga dancing contest. While working out, I ask the trainers to switch the TV channel to MTV and turn up the volume – yes, I’m one of those annoying obnoxious ones who’ll switch your Mexican telenovela just when you’re about to find out how Rodrigo was resurrected into Rodriga in a new episode. At work on my computer, iTunes is on random play – my staff pretends not to be irritated when Callas starts belting her arias. Come dinnertime, Ella, Billie, or Nina are my constant dates. Deep house and ambient are preferred for drinks and dancing. Finally, in bed, Chopin is sweet lullaby. I pretty much enjoy all sorts of music, however, I favor those that effortlessly intoxicate with style and substance. Anais Nin once said that music melts all the separate parts of our bodies into one. Here are 12 personal picks that may help you melt your body parts with a sense of style:

Artist: Air

Album: "Moon Safari"

Genre: Electronica

Drink: A few shots of absinthe.

Setting: An opium den, if you can find one.

Accessories: An ivory opium bed and pipes, watch Catherine Deneuve in "Indochine."

Trivia: The second track starts with the lyrics "Sexy Boy Sexy Boy/Ou sont tes heros aux corps d’athletes…" It’s the perfect song when you feel like strutting a la John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.

Artist: Art of Noise

Album: "The Ambient Collection"

Genre: Ambient

Drink: A piña colada.

Setting: A rich uncle’s yacht.

Accessories: Sexy swimwear and big shades.

Trivia: The whole album is pure ecstasy escapism, spaces for day dreaming, fantasizing or hallucinating.

Artist: Brian Eno

Album: "Ambient 1, Music For Airports"

Genre: Ambient

Drink: A glass of fume blanc.

Setting: Tokyo International Airport in the 1970s.

Accessories: Designer travel wear and luggage.

Noteworthy: Brian Eno was eons ahead of his time, the minimalist album (in content and composition) has only four tracks, aptly named 1/1, 2/1, 1/2 and 2/2.

Artist: Chet Baker

Album: "The Best of Chet Baker Sings"

Genre: Jazz

Drink: Jack Daniel’s.

Setting: A loft in New York

Accessories: A hand stitched suit from Saville Row and a gold pocket watch.

Noteworthy: To an unfamiliar ear, Chet Baker’s voice resonates with sexual ambivalence. Watch him honored in The Talented Mr. Ripley.

Artist: Dimitri From Paris

Album: "Sacre Bleu"

Genre: Lounge

Drink: An enormous glass of a full bodied Bordeaux.

Setting: A retro bachelor’s pad in Paris.

Accessories: Lounge chairs and short cocktail dresses.

Noteworthy: Listen to track 10, close your eyes and you’ll feel as if you’re being transported to a Chanel couture fashion show in the 1960s. Track 11, Une Femme Tres Chic mixes vocal excerpts by Audrey Hepburn and Patricia Neal from the cult movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Artist: Enzo Enzo

Album: "Deux"

Genre: French Jazz

Drink: Une Noisette

Setting: Café Laduree on Champs Elysée.

Accessories: A French toy poodle and anything Sonia Rykiel.

Noteworthy: The first track, Juste Quelqu’un De Bien is "Gay Paree" at its best. Artist: Henry Mancini

Album: "Breakfast at Tiffany’s," the soundtrack

Genre: ’60s lounge

Drink: A very dry gin martini with three olives.

Setting: A flat in downtown Manhattan.

Accessories: Anything Audrey Hepburn.

Trivia: Audrey Hepburn threatened to drop her famous role in Breakfast when the movie producers thought Henry Mancini’s score was inappropriate for the movie.

Artist: Maria Callas

Album: "La Divina"

Genre: Opera

Drink: A glass of champagne, of course!

Setting: A renaissance home in the Italian Riviera.

Accessories: Long silk gloves and suicidal tendencies.

Trivia: Callas’ weight loss –she carefully shed over a third of her poundage between 1953 and 1954 – became a matter of international concern. The argument of whether the voice of the large Callas was preferable to that of a thin Callas began to rage and continues today, as fresh biographies come out arguing one side or the other.

Artist: Malcolm Mclaren

Album: "Paris"

Genre: Contemporary jazz

Drink: A Kir royal.

Setting: Montmartre, Paris.

Accessory: A beret and a matching scarf.

Trivia: Catherine Deneuve does vocals on Paris Paris, Track 7, and Sonia Rykiel guests on Who The Hell is Sonia Rykiel?, Track 15.

Artist: Massive Attack

Album: "Protection"

Genre: Trip hop

Drink: Scotch on the rocks

Setting: A bohemian pad in Malate.

Accessories: Kaleidoscopic projections on the wall.

Trivia: This hugely successful album spun off "No Protection," a purely ambient version of this album. Completely surreal!

Artist: Morcheeba

Album: "The Big Calm"

Genre: Trip hop

Drink: A cosmopolitan.

Setting: India.

Accessories: Buddhas and bindhis.

Trivia: Skye, Morcheeba’s vocalist, sung most of the songs while in a state of extreme depression. Misery does inspire beauty.

Artist: Thievery Corporation

Album: "Sounds From the Thievery Hi-Fi"

Genre: Downtempo

Drink: Vodka on the rocks.

Setting: A flat located 30 floors and above.

Accessories: A vintage record player and a fur rug to lounge on.

Trivia: Thievery Corporation dedicated this album to the memory of Antonio Carlos Jobim.

E-mail your comments to djmontano@pacific.net.ph.