Posts Tagged ‘Melina Duterte’

JAY SOM – ” Anak Ko “

Posted: June 9, 2019 in MUSIC
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This week Jay Som (aka Melina Duterte) announced a new album, Anak Ko, and shared its first single, “Superbike,” via a video for the track. She has also announced some tour dates.

For “Superbike,” Duterte’s aim was to merge Cocteau Twins and Alanis Morissette for a song that in a press release she says lets “loose over swirling shoegaze. I came up with the vocal melody while chopping onions during a rare snowstorm in Joshua Tree, definitely one of my favorite memories from making the album.”

Anak Ko is the follow-up to 2017’s acclaimed Everybody Works, also on Polyvinyl Records . Duterte was based in the Bay Area, but relocated to Los Angeles prior to recording the new album. She recorded Anak Ko at home as the sole producer, engineer, and mixer. A press points out that “in some songs, you can hear the washer/dryer near her bedroom.” Although it wasn’t a completely solitary affair, the album also features plenty of guests, including Vagabon’s Laetitia Tamko, Chastity Belt’s Annie Truscott, Justus Proffit, and Boy Scouts’ Taylor Vick, as well as her touring bandmates Zachary Elasser, Oliver Pinnell, and Dylan Allard.

The album’s title is pronounced “Ah-nuh Koh,” which means “my child” in Filipino. It was inspired by a text message from Duterte’s mother, who often addresses her as “anak ko.” “It’s an endearing thing to say, it feels comfortable,” Duterte says in a press release.

In the press release Duterte says the album is about the importance of patience and kindness and that those concepts have helped her growth as an artist. “In order to change, you’ve got to make so many mistakes,” she says. “What’s helped me is forcing myself to be even more peaceful and kind with myself and others. You can get so caught up in attention, and the monetary value of being a musician, that you can forget to be humble. You can learn more from humility than the flashy stuff. I want kindness in my life. Kindness is the most important thing for this job, and empathy.”.

Back in February Jay Som shared a brand new song, “Simple,” that was released as part of the Adult Swim Singles series. That song is not featured on the new album. Last year Jay Som teamed up with Justus Proffit for a collaborative EP, Nothing’s Changed.

“Superbike” is taken from Jay Som’s new album, Anak Ko, out August 23rd, 2019. via Polyvinyl. 

JAY SOM – ” Turn The Other Cheek “

Posted: December 17, 2018 in MUSIC
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Jay Som’s “Turn The Other Cheek” technically came out in May of 2017, as part of the Our First 100 Days compilation, a collection of 100 songs from 100 artists that were released following President Trump’s first 100 days in office. All profits raised from the project would go to benefit causes that, even then, were threatened by Trump’s policies: the climate, women’s rights, immigration and fairness.

“Turn The Other Cheek” is now widely available for streaming, and it offers a jarring chance to reflect on how much worse things have gotten since those first 100 days. It’s hard to believe that there was once a time when the depravity of the administration could still surprise us, before the knowledge of child detention camps and apocalyptic climate policies and overwhelmingly illegal campaign activities were commonplace.

But listening to Melina Duterte’s tender, slinky little ballad, it feels like it’s broadcast from a different world. In some ways it is—the song comes to us from a time when a small part of the population believed that Biblical ascription of neighborly love could act as a ward against the administration’s cruelty; that they could, indeed, be killed with kindness. The song now feels like a different sort of broadcast, one that warns of the eroding effects of Trump’s unending cruelty. “If you think I’m not scared, think again / I’m just a wreck, I can’t fight, I won’t try,” Jay Som sings. That’s a scarier thought now more than ever.

Jay Som’s single, “Turn The Other Cheek,” originally part of the Our First 100 Days comp

JAY SOM – ” Hot Bread “

Posted: February 7, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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With Valentine’s Day coming up and whether you’re single or coupled the day can bring on complicated mixture of memories, regrets and desires. The latest from Oakland-based dream-pop artist Jay Som depicts a specific kind of romantic encounter in a bright, meandering tune.

“Hot Bread” is featured on Love Me Not, one of two playlists (the other is called Love Me) that Amazon Music has compiled in honor of Valentine’s Day. As the titles suggest, each playlist offers a different take on love. But Jay Som’s track isn’t a gushing ode to romance or a lamentation on lost love; instead, “Hot Bread” deals with tricky, blurry feelings that fall somewhere in between.

Jay Som, aka Melina Duterte, says the song is about having a one night stand with a former lover. In the first two lines, she sings, “Will you dance with me, Jen? You won’t have to see me leave again.”

Duterte’s pleading voice and pensive guitar give the tune a light, vintage feel with a tinge of sadness. About halfway through, whistling and trumpets interrupt the song with a cheery melody, jolting you out of the melancholy chorus. Duterte says that she enjoys making songs with themes or light guidelines and that this track was “insanely fun” to write and record.

“My new microphone arrived just in time to track the song,” she says. “The warm and dry ’70s tone inspired me to make a chill but optimistic arrangement with simple lyrics … I also named the song after one of my favorite things in the world.”

“Hot Bread” concludes with Duterte repeating the line, “You’re always gonna be here,” though it’s not clear whether this means her former lover will forever be the one who got away or if their relationship has been saved. Regardless of the outcome, her ex’s “powerful love” has sunken in once again, leaving the artist feeling as scattered as the piano notes at the end of her song.

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JAY SOM – ” O.K., Meet Me Underwater “

Posted: January 27, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Indie-pop powerhouse Melina Duterte, aka Jay Som, shared more new music this week via Pirouette, a 7-inch featuring outtakes from the “Everybody Works” sessions. She also released the b-side, a lovely jam titled “O.K., Meet Me Underwater.” It opens with a cascading Duterte guitar line that soon drops away, supplanted by her hushed vocals, steady bass and show-stealing percussion. The song transforms in unpredictable and exciting ways, rippling and changing like liquid. “If you’re feeling okay, meet me underwater,” Duterte urges, an invitation to immersion.

The A-side, “Pirouette,” an upbeat rock number with a great breakdown that rides on dreamy guitar arpeggios, has already been available . With the single’s official release Friday, the B-side, “O.K., Meet Me Underwater,” is now out too. The track features a similarly beautiful, but more characteristically laid-back groove, and works as a great compliment to “Pirouette.”

Listen to “O.K., Meet Me Underwater”

JAY SOM – ” Pirouette “

Posted: January 11, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Two never-before-released songs recorded during the same sessions as Jay Som’s breakout debut “Everybody Works”, which landed on Best of 2017 lists from nearly everyone this year including Pitchfork, NPR, Stereogum, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, and a slew of others.

Musically, these tracks would have been equally at home on that record, as they highlight how Melina Duterte has “perfected that tricky balance between polished ambition and lo-fi charm.”

“Both of these tracks were made during the spring of 2016 – the first demo stages for Everybody Works. They were fun to write and record but felt out of place on the track​ ​list during the finalization of the album. These tracks remain close to my heart and I’m really grateful they’re finally out in the world.” – Melina Duterte

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JAY SOM – ” Tiny Desk Concert “

Posted: November 29, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Jay Som is the project of 23-year-old Melina Duterte, who has been creating music for the past 10 years or so on a multitude of instruments, from guitar to trumpet. Though she played every instrument on her newest record Everybody Works, her touring band here at the Tiny Desk gave a rougher edge to some of the more premeditated sounds on her wonderful album. Multiple-instrumentalist Melina Duterte (aka Jay Som) rode her production and recording acumen on debut LP, Turn Into, to a deal with indie major label Polyvinyl for Everybody Works.

Of the three songs they chose to bring to the Tiny Desk, one was a personal favorite from Everybody Works: “The Bus Song,” which is a perfect swirl of stream-of-consciousness: In what can only be described as bedroom maximalism, Duterte dug her lyrics into the granular, banalities of existence and aimed her production at expansive soundscapes. On “The Bus Song”, Duterte sings, “I can be whoever I want to be,” and that’s exactly who she is on Everybody Works.

It’s lyrics on this, alongside the comfy, no-frills directness of Duterte’s delivery, which make Jay Som feel so welcoming and refreshing. “Everybody Works” is available now:

Setlist;
“The Bus Song”
“Baybee”
“I Think You’re Alright”

Musicians
Melina Duterte (vocals, guitar); Oliver Pinnell (guitar); Zachary Elsasser (drums); Dylan Allard (bass)

JAY SOM – ” The Bus Song “

Posted: October 26, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Jay Som aka Melina Duterte takes time to figure it out. And with Everybody Works, she’s figured out that bedroom-pop doesn’t have to sound like it was recorded in a bedroom. Jay Som constructs songs with a painterly eye, augmenting her homespun indie with splashes of horns and piano and accordion. Over the course of the LP, billed as her official debut following last year’s Bandcamp release Turn Into, she moves from candy-coated fuzz-pop and slinky funk to subtle synth-pop and experimental soundscapes. “The Bus Song” is taken from Jay Som’s debut full-length, Everybody Works, out now!

If bedrooms are a new sort of laboratory for music, “The Bus Song” transcends those four walls. It is the perfect marriage of isolation and ambition, both in form and function. “I just want you to lead me/I just want you to need me,” sings Melina Duterte as the music crashes, plinks, and soars around her. It’s like being overpowered by a down-filled pillow. In a year of memorable hooks, “The Bus Song”’s is unforgettable.

JAY SOM – ” Everybody Works “

Posted: June 17, 2017 in MUSIC
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Who could criticize Melina Duterte for opting out of enrolling in a jazz conservatory, making a quick study of music production, and instead focusing on her own songwriting.  She may not have a fancy diploma framed on her wall, but she’s got two acclaimed records already under the moniker of Jay Som. 

Duterte is D.I.Y. incarnate, a one-woman band who writes her own songs and plays all the instruments on her Jay Som recordings. With one foot in the bedroom (“Remain”), the other in the garage (“Take It”), and a borrowed limb planted in more experimental terrain (“One More Time, Please”), The album “Everybody Works” showcases a young, multifaceted songwriter who can shift between gritty and vulnerable aesthetics without so much as raising her voice. And when all those elements coalesce, we’re left with a breakup tune like “The Bus Song”, as insightful as it is impossible not to hum between stops

“Lipstick Stains” drifts in and out of focus with washes of acoustic guitar and horns providing ballast to Melina Duterte’s scene-setting sentiment, the word “stains” contrasting with “smile.” Then the album kicks off with what remains my most listened to song of the year so far. I can’t properly articulate just how much the softly-sung “Take your time” does to me; how “Feel like a firefighter when I take off your shoes” and “My sister knows / She says that ghosts are real” evokes nostalgia in me for memories that I didn’t think I held on to. But I can articulate the other stuff, how the instruments come alive to Duterte threatening to cut through the knots, or the effectiveness of the stop-starts throughout.

“But I Like The Bus” remains one of the best musical moments of the year, or how “Why don’t we take the bus? / You say you don’t like the smell” recalls Ricky Roma’s fantastic speech in David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, or the sentiment that Duterte enjoys public transit because “I can be whoever I want to be.” Unpretentious and thoroughly enjoyable indie pop/rock; expertly crafted. Nothing on the album comes close to it, even though there are moments: the vulnerable way she sings the vulnerable lyric, “There’s nothing up my sleeves”, on “Remain”; the guitar solo of 1990s love letter, “1 Billion Dogs,” before eventually settling in the bounce of the main hook.

JAY SOM – ” Live from WXPN “

Posted: April 17, 2017 in MUSIC
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Melina Duterte, the main brain behind Jay Som. The Oakland-based artist has been making music on her own for a few years, recently releasing her full-length debut on Polyvinyl, “Everybody Works”. Though all the parts on the album are played by Melina herself, she tours with a full band that features Oliver Pannell on guitar, Dylan Allard on bass and Zachary Elsasser on drums. Taking a short break before a show with The Courtneys, Jay Som dropped by to showcase how the meticulous studio tracks blossom in a live setting.

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Jay Som’s songs end to sneak up on you. Check out the slow-building intro on session opener “Baybee.” On the album, a light keyboard line floats through the R&B-inflected track, but it’s re-imagined as a slick guitar line from Pannell. The intertwining guitar work toward the song’s end betrays the band’s collective love for exploratory groups like Stereolab and Television. Next up is a fan favorite, “The Bus Song.” Again, the interplay between the band members raises the already dynamic track to new highs (and a few dramatic lows). It also marks what might be the very first fake-out ending on an IRHP session track. Closing the session is the meditative “One More Time, Please.” The song doesn’t feature very many lyrics, but it’s a sparse and arresting track nonetheless.

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JAY SOM – ” 1 Billion Dogs “

Posted: April 1, 2017 in MUSIC
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Oakland Songwriter Melina Duterte’s shoegazing rock project. Gusted by a whirlwind of success and critical praise, Melina Duterte’s latest shoegaze-soaked pop project has become part of peak Bandcamp material. Everybody Works is a nimble, comprehensive collection of her influences, ranging from funk-cut synth tunes like “One More Time, Please” and “Baybee,” to indie rock numbers “The Bus Song” and “Everybody Works.” In utmost DIY fashion, Duterte’s work as Jay Som is composed, arranged and produced completely by herself. The Polyvinyl Records release is Jay Som’s proper debut—an intimate, exciting introduction to a blossoming songwriter, producer, and musician

Why to get excited about ‘1 Billion Dogs’ showcases Duterte’s knack for pairing relatable and introspective lyrics with droning, driving guitar lines.

“1 Billion Dogs” is taken from Jay Som’s new album, Everbody Works, out March 10, 2017.

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