Popspoken
It is no secret that Filipinos love to get behind the mic. The mainstream Filipino music scene is home to hundreds of talented musicians – and thousands more can be found in the country’s underground music scenes.
Many of the best musicians in the country live and work in the humid, sprawling seaside metropolis of Metro Manila. From soul and R&B, to shoegaze, hip hop, and jazz, here are five of the best underground Filipino musicians you have probably never heard of but are worth listening to.
Sleep Kitchen
Composed of veteran musicians from Manila, Sleep Kitchen’s sound combines neo-folk, soul, rock, and R&B. The four-piece band started out by doing covers of Jeff Buckley, Lianne La Havas, Portishead, and Tori Amos songs during jam nights at the bar where vocalist Tao Aves used to wait tables and bartend. At the time, Aves had already written several songs that were already 10 to 15 years old. And when drummer Zerro De Leon suggested coming up with full-band a