5 James Morrison Music Videos That Can Tear You To F*cking Pieces!

From the first time I heard James Morrison's (no relations to the late, great The Doors front man Jim) raspy voice, I think I've fallen in-love. Too much? OK. You be the judge. Here are 5 of James Morrison's makabagbag damdaming songs.

Foster the People: Live in Manila!

One of the best breakthrough bands of 2011, FOSTER THE PEOPLE performs in Manila on October 6, 2012 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Los Angeles-based indie-pop trio was founded in 2009 by Mark Foster (lead vocal) and joined by Mark Pontius (drums) and Cubbie Fink (bass). Foster wrote and recorded “Pumped Up Kicks,” in March 2010 and posted it as free download on his website. The catchy song went viral and the band garnered enough attention to debut at the South By Southwest (SXSW) festival. Just a few months later, the band signed a multi-album deal with Columbia Records.

While hard at work on their debut album, the band was booked for a month-long residency at The Echo, a Los Angeles nightclub. The series of shows at the club helped grow the trio’s fanbase. The band also performed at the immensely popular Coachella music festival.

The launch of their first album Torches last May 2011 was a mainstream success. It debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 chart. “Pumped Up Kicks” eventually peaked at number three on the  Hot 100 chart and was the sixth best-selling digital song of the year.

The band received nominations at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards for Best New Artist and Best Rock Video for “Pumped Up Kicks.” This year alone, they scored two Grammy nominations for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Pumped Up Kicks” and Best Alternative Album for Torches. They also had five nominations in the 2012 Billboard Music Awards and received a Top Rock Song award for “Pumped Up Kicks.”

Filipino fans of the band can look forward to hearing songs from Torches including the other singles “Helena Beat,” “Call It What You Want,” “Don’t Stop,” and “Houdini.”

Catch Foster the People live on October 6, 2012 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Tickets may be purchased from Ticketnet outlets or the Ticketnet Website www.ticketnet.com.ph. For inquiries please call 911-5555.

FOSTER THE PEOPLE LIVE IN MANILA is brought to you by: Midas Promotions and Dayly Entertainment; CO-PRESENTED BY: Jack TV and ETC; OFFICIAL RESIDENCE:  EDSA Shangrila Hotel; MEDIA PARTNERS: ABS-CBN, MYX, RX 93.1, Mellow 94.7, Business World, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philstar.com, Inquirer.net, Pep.ph, ClicktheCity, Manila Concert Scene, Philippine Concerts, My Music Store, WheninManila.com and Juice.ph; Special Thanks to: Sony Music and Ivory Records, Odyssey and Astroplus.

An Afternoon Jam with Ira Cruz

Guitarist Ira Cruz is like the kuya that I never had but I guess unlike the usual kuyas with issues that you guys have, Ira and I never fail to always get a laugh out of something. Mali na nga at wala sa lugar na ata kung minsan e he he.

 

Excuse my brace faced phase

We go a long way back. I think I first met him when I was still working for Pulp Magazine. I've arranged numerous photo shoots with bands, and also gigs, that included a shoot with the original members of the band Kapatid.

Hay, memoriiiieeeessss! He has been one of the few people that I've become friends with in the industry. At one time I actually convinced him to do a fashion editorial, yes, I asked him to be one of my models! If that is not true friendship right there, I don't know what is! Hahaha! Too bad I don't have a picture here with me that I can post, tsk. With all biases aside though, Ira is one of my favorite local guitar players because of his versatility. Tugtog lang ng tugtog, that's the vibe that I get from him. Aside from his present band Hijo, he still sessions for other artists (he played guitar for Anne Curtis' concert recently). That's why it's a no brainer that I asked him to be part of this so-called "project" that I'm working on.

So OK, for those of you who are first time visitors of my blog HELLO! I'm working on this cover collab sessions where in I will be tapping my favorite local musicians and ask them if they can do two covers with me and we'll record it on video to be posted on my youtube account. What's the purpose of this you might ask? Nothing really. I just want it to be one of a few sources of my happiness, a happy thought generator if you will. One of these days it would be fun to look back at these videos and say that HA! I did that!(?)

Back to my afternoon with Mr. Cruz. I went to his house somewhere in Cubao and I brought him his favorite pancit which we dubbed Pancit Highblood.

 

This is the glorious Pancit Highblood that can only be found here in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. First of all, I love it because it has no onions! Second it is to die for because it has lechon kawali mixed in there somewhere. So before we recorded the covers, merienda muna! 

F na F sa unang subo

So after our cholesterol filled merienda, we practiced the songs and worked on our harmony for 311's "I'll Be Here Awhile." We made it a pitch higher so my voice won't disappear in the low parts of the song. 

 

 

At first he told me not to ask him to sing but I said that he has to because the harmony is the best part of that 311 tune plus the ten ten nen ten ten tenenen (that's my best rendition of the lead part at the beginning of the song). 

Enough of the text, here are the two covers that my friend Ira and I recorded, 311's acoustic version of "I'll Be Here Awhile" and Corinne Bailey Rae's "Like A Star." I hope you'll like them.