The only thing we wouldn't delete from 2020 is all the good local music we got
If the quarantine has taught me anything, itās this: the only way to avoid one black hole is to dive into another. Through nine-going-on-ten months (surprise, we arenāt letting go of our rep of having the world's longest lockdown ever just yet!), my black holes of avoidance have looked like to-do lists that seep into the next day every day and headlines that pull sighs from my system without fail. The black holes into which I dive to cope though have been a procrastinatorās dream. Theyāve looked like video games and homemade coffee and online shopping. Theyāve also sounded like really good music.
We all have our emotional support somethings and, if our Spotify Wrapped summaries have anything to say on the matter, music has always been one of the many coping mechanisms weāve gravitated towards. Itās an escape chute to jump into and a zap of adrenaline in the middle of a bad day. Itās a milestone moment to keyboard smash and cry over. Perhaps most relevant to this year, itās a crutch for the feelings we canāt quite process yetāand man, were there a lot of those to trudge through in 2020. If anybody makes it to 2021 without unsettled emotions still swirling in the pit of their stomach, theyāre among the lucky ones.Ā
Is it too late to jump on the year-end wrap-up bandwagon? I hope not, because the Filipino music scene deserves its three cheers (or 10) for all the coping fodder itās given us this year. Hereās to the songs, EPs and albums that made us feel and cry and dance, that would sound even better when we hear them blaring through speakers in dimly-lit, sweat-slick settings again.
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FALL INLOVE! (Reimagined) by ena mori
Single
1:45AM by No Rome, Bearface
Single
Waiting For The End To Start by The Itchyworms
Album
Pop Machine: Kailan by Space-Ta
Single
Daybreak by Leanne & Naara
Album
Setup and Punchline by Devices
Single
The Other Side by She's Only Sixteen
EP
The Sun In My WindowĀ by lui.
EP
Is This the Love That I Need by Flu
Single
Homework Machine by Zild
Album
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Welcome 2021 to the sound of these tracks. Here's a playlist to make it easy. (You're welcome.)
Art Alexandra Lara