It’s the time for cats

I say it is indeed the time for cats. Just think while we are basking bemused about watching scary jungle cats turn cute and hearing them sing the music of Elton John in The Lion King and while we are waiting for how the Jellicle gang of Taylor Swift and company will turn out in the movie Cats, here is one Pinoy pride that might interest music lovers.

The group calls itself Pusakalye. You know, as in pusa from the kalye or cat from the street, the feline counterpart of  asong kalye. This stray cat is most probably the feral kind that cannot be housed and refuses to be bossed. Tagalog Translate describes them as notorious and they might just be, given all that they have to learn and have to do in order to survive on the streets.

I do not think the members of the band Pusakalye are notorious in any way. But they did earn their name from the fact that the group made music while hanging out on a street corner in Guadalupe Viejo in Makati. They were then an acoustic band because ukuleles and guitars were all they could afford. And with no funds to rent a studio, that kalye was the only place where they could work together. It was also conveniently near a burger store and relatively undisturbed, save for the occasional stray cats around.

But fortunes change and that happened to Pusakalye. The band now has access to a real recording studio and its own instruments. No longer acoustic, it has become a pop-rock alternative band. You read that right, contrary to the belief that pusang kalye music must be loud and screechy metal rock, Pusakalye makes hugot love songs that listeners just love to wallow in. That is what it did in the studio-recorded EP Kwento Ng Pag-ibig which includes the melancholy love ballad Kulimlim.

Pusakalye is made up of Ian Mante on lead guitar; Oli Tayo, vocals; Angelo Cawili, rhythm guitar; Almond Mendoza, keyboards; Lester Binoya, bass; and Ace Perez, drums and percussion. The band is now signed to Viva Records and has recently released a new single, the hopeful Ang Ating Alaala. The song is now available online.

More from the bands: This Band, the top band of the moment, stays on a hot streak. Its Kahit Ayaw Mo Na has already 61 million streams on Spotify and 211 million views on YouTube. The next hit Di Na Babalik has been streamed 16 million times on Spotify alone. And streams, views and downloads are still counting for those as well as for Hindi Na Nga, Bitaw Na, Tampisaw and the new single Nang Iwan. Watch this one as it makes that stunning climb to the top.

This Band is made up of lead singer with the soulful tones Andrea Manzano; Raymat Gubat on guitars; Miccael Galva, bass; Melvin Carson, keyboards; John Macaraas, drums; and Euwie Loria, guitar, who is also the genius behind the group’s hit songs. As for how they got the name This Band, it was really quite simple. Aside from the name, a band is mostly referred to as this band. So, to solve the problem of having to switch from a name to this band, the members of this band from Las Piñas decided to call themselves collectively as This Band.

From the alternative band Hulyo which I believe is so named because it was formed in the month of Hulyo or July, comes Wake Up, a pop rocker that might give the group a big seller soon. Hulyo is made up of Simon Panaguitan on vocals and guitar; David Datu, guitar; Kadjo Sarabia, drums; and Michael Abalon, bass.

Even popular teleseryes have come on board the train bandwagon by using original compositions. GMA 7’s My Sassy Girl has Mali Na Ako by the group Abraham Lane for its theme song. No, I do not know who Abraham Lane is but it makes the band seem interesting. And over there at the GMA Heart of Asia, the cutsey-named Purpleshoes sings Taguan for Wolf-Blood. As for the name, I say the members probably love shoes and like the color purple.