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KULAY'S
"Vibestation" is US-bound
 The deal isn't
set in stone yet, but from all indications, flip-funk ensemble KULAY
is all set to sign with Columbia Records for the US release of their album
"Vibestation" - which is going to be an altered version from
the award-winning album released in the Philippines. In the recently concluded
1998 Katha Awards, the
"Vibestation" album won nine trophies, the most for any
album nominated.
According to a converstaion we had with Paris Murray, label manager for Vibestation
Entertainment, the Philippine release was more of a concept pop album that had a pastiche
of different styles, while the US release will have a more club-oriented feel. So roughly
half of the songs in the US release will be all new songs or remixed versions of the
Philippine tracks and will undergo remastering in the US.
Our reports have it that over this weekend the Kulay crew was working overtime to finish
the new tracks and the new video for "Burn" because of some deadlines imposed by
Wally Chamsay, head of Sony Music Philippines. Chamsay is the person responsible for
setting up the European release of the Kulay dance singles through the Sony companies
there and set up the deal with Columbia records, which as we all know is just another cog
in the international Sony setup today.
 What we found interesting thing about the project is that unlike
other attempts to infiltrate an international audience, the bulk of the
creative work on the project was done in the Philippines, in a home project
studio in Sucat, Paranaque they call the "BoomRoom" which also
serves as their
homebase/HQ.
We've seen the place - it looks like a
standard residential house from the outside, but inside it's a beehive of activity with
two audio production & recording studios and a computer graphics room where
Vibestation's graphics whiz Dave "DFX" Yu cranks out the music videos. Far from
sounding homey, the recordings do win audio engineering awards ("Delicious" got
an award from Katha for best engineered recording). So sometimes we wonder about all these
grandiose efforts (with matching press releases) to record fly Pinoys to record in US
recording studios for that "international sound" when we see the Kulay crew do
everything out of Sucat.
As it turns out, even the remixes for the US album are made in the Philippines. Brian Cua
of Hit Productions did the remix of "Crazy" that was selected for the U.S.
release, while the much ballyhooed Norman Cook/Fatboy Slim remixes done in the UK were
nixed for the album by Columbia. There were a total of three UK remixers contracted for
mixes though, so it may be possible that the two others will still get in.
So it won't be too long before listeners in the USA will be asked, "Do you Got Da
Vibe?" with Kulay in the house.
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