cosmic

COSMIC LOVE DEBUT LP "BAD SIGNS"  malapit na malabas!! in the meantime,  check this ultra dope (downtempo / Triphop / dub) version  of the classic track  from 2004! done by  the former Bassist, "the original  seed and groove"  the COSMIC LOVE ARMADA  -  KC "Kasanova" Caballero     SALAMAT and love u bra! 

As the infamous rude boys of OPM, Cosmic Love has been urging people to get up and go crazy since 2004. Formed at the end of 2003 by guitarist Bong Luib, singer Anton Saldana and bassist KC Caballero, the band ushered in the funky-folky-feelgood vibe that defined their earlier sounds, with songs such as ‘Love Yourself’, ‘Free Your Soul’ and ‘Tabla’. This initial lineup also included CJ Olaguera (Queso) on drums and Carive Rodriquez on percussions. Since then, Cosmic Love has undergone several lineup overhauls that at one point also included Lourd Sevilla on drums, Paolo Asuncion and pooj Cua on guitars, Lian Cruz on backing vocals, Miko Acu on turntables and Jean Govinda and Erwin Ilagan on percussions.

With performances that can be invariably described as fun, electrifying, and yes—crazy, Cosmic Love earned themselves a loyal following that tailed them to gigs all over the city to such holes-in-the-wall as 6 Underground, Halo, Mayric’s, Absinth, Rock Radio, Club Sound Experience, Capone’s, and Saguijo Cafe. Not limiting themselves to the metro, the band also enjoyed sharing their music outside of Manila, performing wild, breathtaking live sets in Puerto Galera, Punta Fuego, Zambales, Vigan and La Union. One of the most memorable gigs outside Metro Manila was the first surfing festival of its kind held in La Union, where the band received a plaque of appreciation. To this day, Cosmic Love is still a favorite of the music-loving surfing community of the Philippines, and has enjoyed their support and friendship.

By the summer of 2005 Cosmic Love had already released their limited-edition EP, launched in the renowned Saguijo Café to a standing-room crowd. This eponymously titled EP’s packaging was no more than a re- writable CD inside a ziploc bag, and yet it sold out. It featured three songs that included their early single ‘Fireflies’. That same year they were also part of SMBs Oktoberfest 2005 roster, and also collaborated with hip hop’s Turbulence Production’s artist Nimbus 9ine for the beach-friendly jam ‘Island Lovin’’ , a summer anthem which subsequently received airplay on some radio stations. They also collaborated with MC Psylent for the jazz-infused track ‘Peace’.

With a 12-track demo to their portfolio—displaying their ability to switch and flow from one genre to another and yet still maintain their integrity and credibility as musicians---the buzz around the band kept growing, attracting fans that ranged from corporate suits to hipsters to rockabilly heads to beach bumming surfers. It has been said that Cosmic Love will “get you out of your seat and make you rock out just as hard as they do (often just as a reflex to their sonic assault of funky baselines, and kinky guitar riffs.)" Among crowd favorites were the ode-to-the-wild-child-in-all-of-us-hymn ‘PNP’ (Pawis na Pawis) and the lovely, groovy meta-ballad ‘Beautiful Kind’.

In 2006, together with their friends Sinosikat and Pinoystories, Cosmic Love pioneered the Pinoy Soul Movement, a monthly event that gathered and showcased the best soul, rock, funk and other hybrid-genre acts at the time. A year later, when the movement grew to include other bands, they were able to release a compilation album under Warner Music. In 2008 they released their second EP, entitled ‘Funkalawakan’, a four-track offering, with two of the tracks featuring larger-than-life funk icon Karl Roy and Pinoy Stories' Camoi Miraflor. 'Funkalawakan' sold out in no time at all, to a packed house and the crowd went home funkified to the max and happy. 

Not long after this, the band decided to go for a lineup rethink, and ultimately, a newer, muscular, crunchier sound. With Bong and Anton the only two members left from the original lineup, Cosmic Love was resurrected once more via a new roster that now featured Tuts Calinawan (Queso) on bass, Anjo Elemos (Kapatid) on guitars fortifying the funk, and Paolo Rosal (Queso) on drums, adding the musical equivalent of firepower, brawn and sexiness to their already hyper-electric performances. With this ‘maming’ lineup at the helm, fresh tracks are now being laid down for recording: ‘Hard Without’, ‘Not What She Said’, ‘State of Emergency’ and ‘Soul Elevator’.

As anyone who has heard or seen them knows, these boys don’t just give you a show, they give you an experience. It is a rare thing nowadays to watch a live show such as Cosmic Love’s, one that doesn’t put on airs or pretensions to coolness. Their fans have been able to trace the arc of their career by witnessing a refreshing honesty to their personas and performances. Part of the rawness that cemented their reputations was Anton getting electrocuted in one instance by a wayward microphone in mid-song, shaking it off to cuss out the organizers, and continuing the song. In another gig, drummer Lourd had ingested too much of whatever and promptly slept for eight whole counts before Bong kicked the snares and woke him up. He resumed playing, of course. In one memorable gig, some members of the band happily (if drunkenly) took the revelry to another level by punching each other out. Not that they're on bad terms for long, anyhow. Any fan and friend of the band knows this is just another gig, another day. In Bong's own words, 'Pumutok lang po.' Having always considered themselves a jam band, according to ‘mic commander’ Anton, they often just jam together on some beach, or someone’s house, or in the middle of some unplanned cookout. Whatever the dysfunctional trials and tribulations it is that they’ve laid the soundtrack of our lives against, you know none of it is faked. In this age of cultivated images and posers, Cosmic Love truly lives up to- and pays the price for---its hard-living credo: "24/7 Rockerz" indeed. 

It’s been a long road for Cosmic Love, a band that named itself as such when Bong and Anton were raptly watching Anthony Keidis explain that it was cosmic love that brought RHCP together, and for sure, it is a road worth travelling. Their first full-length album, entitled---with the dripping reflexive irony that is characteristic of them and their sound-- ‘Bad Signs’, is due for release on March 2013, and you better be ready.


cosmic

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