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I love the 90's!

I will miss the buzz of the Olympics when it's all done. It might not have felt like winter in Vancouver - especially with the dreadful rain that we're having today, but I do think the Winter Olympics was quite a success. I will particularly miss the free concerts and all those cute orange bikes I that the Dutch keep riding around with across the city. So in honor of the 2010 Winter Olympics, I'm having an Olympic themed post. This week, we have five songs that more or less (some really less) represent some of my favorite countries that participated in this year's Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

Our Guest blogger for this week is Boowy, a dear old friend from Manila, who shares to us his top five faves from the Filipino Indie music scene... - Cris

I am not VJ Lucky, VJ Sib, VJ Wu-Man, VJ Mike Casem nor VJ Danny McGill...I am not advocating any of those music channels in Skycable. (Sayang wala nang MCM - its this french music channel)

I am not in a band nor work in the local music industry...I only play 1 instrument, and my wife is an expert with it..

I am a music geek. I love music. I need music to do my art, clean the house, to go from point A to point B. to be inspired, to inspire someone, to enjoy a bucket of Red Horse Beer and to tolerate this F*cKing Goverment!

Here's my list..Enjoy!!

Another day, another list, and before you know it, it's already February.  The obligatory chocolate giving holiday is just a couple of days away and everyone is seeing hearts. For our Friday's list, what better way to welcome Valentine's than to showcase some songs by people who've taken the term 'let's make beautiful music together' - literally and figuratively. Here now, is my list of songs from indie music duos who share a partnership that's more than musical -

1. Viva Voce - Mixtape=Love

Mixtapes have always been the best alternative to writing your own love letter - you get to tell the object of your affection how you feel, minus the embarassment of them knowing that you can only rhyme 'my lovely dear' with 'lager and beer'.  Portland based Viva Voce  (husband and wife team Kevin and Anita Robinson) sure seem to know that mixtapes unequivocally equals love, with this little track that just screams to be included in any love themed mixtape .

2. The Weepies - World Spins Madly On

As a duo, there's nothing weepy about The Weepies. Deb Talan and Steve Tannen are a match made in music heaven. Both started their own careers separately, and eventually became drawn to each other because of their same love for music - that or maybe the mutual acknowledgement that they found each other hot. They do create the most heartfelt songs which might make you shed a tear or two.

When I started this site, one of my goals was to define what ‘indie music’ is. After listening to many a song from the pool of what popular culture defines as ‘indie’, I’ve come to realize that though you can’t really sum up ‘indie music’ in terms of musical style, you can however, spot the ‘indie-ness’ of a certain song / band by some telltale signs. For this week, we've got a list of indie trademarks culled from hundreds of hours of music surfing and an odd number of family and friends commenting on what the heck I’ve been listening to -

1.  There’s a dog barking in the background or the 'Lo-fi' sound
Not to say that all artists not doing Lo-fi recordings are not indie – but to some extent, most indie bands have their own lo-fi recordings out there, since most started from humble, no professional recording equipment beginnings. Come to think of it, some even love the DIY authenticity of it so much that it became one of their trademarks (i.e. The Mountain Goats, Guided by Voices).

Why it’s not bound for mainstream success:
People love the flawless, polished sound. In the era of high tech and dolby digital, most people would want clear and crisp sounds to accompany their HDTV viewing. Also, with all people growing up in this new era, background sounds can be annoying – like that one time, when I was watching TV with my husband – we’ve retrogressed to using rabbit ears for the moment (actually a customized version, lovingly built by my hubby for the purpose of getting the free HDTV channels). To those of you experienced in catching channels from an antenna, you'd regularly experience snow and white noise (I know, this would be lost to some of you young folk). My husband was quite surprised as to why it wasn’t bothering me at all. I proudly replied, ‘I’m used to the crackling sound that vinyl makes’ – but in truth, I grew up with a black and white TV and we never got cable until I was in university.

Fave lo-fi song:
I’ve posted it twice on the blog before, and it’s my all-time favourite song: Strange Things Will Happen by The Radio Dept., a band that does their own recording at home. However, to offer some variety in my Friday list, here’s another favorite lo-fi gem from wonder siblings CocoRosie. The song is their version of Damien Jurado's Ohio. CocoRosie’s first EP was recorded in comfort of their own Parisian bathroom.

CocoRosie - Ohio