Wanderland 2015: Music fans pitch camp

It might become an annual summer tradition: thousands of music enthusiasts paying a visit to the Globe Circuit Grounds in Makati to take part in Wanderland, Karpos Multimedia’s music and arts festival. This year, the organizers wanted to adopt the theme of a camp where—it is hoped—people would be at ease with each other. The camp goes up on April 25.

Of course, what people will be expecting in Wanderland would be the music. The headlining acts for this year are rapper Kid Cudi and the band Hale, aiming to make a comeback this year after time away from the limelight. Kid Cudi, the stage name for rapper and actor Scott Mescudi, recently released the surprise record "Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon", which debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart, and just dropped the song “love.” earlier this month. Filipino headliner Hale has just recently begun performing again, releasing a new single, “See You.”

New acts

We managed to get in touch with some of the other acts. It has almost become a tradition that a singer-songwriter act from overseas takes part in Wanderland. This year, Lewis Watson will be visiting Manila for the first time, and we asked him what his musical influences were. He described growing up in a “musical cauldron” with his parents and sister into different genres of music, and himself being a fan of bands such as Limp Bizkit. The record that changed his life and got him into songwriting was Sometimes by City and Colour—an acoustic act by an erstwhile post-hardcore musician. He released his first full-length record "The Morning" last June.



The other acts from overseas include Youngbloodhawke and Augustana. We asked Youngbloodhawke about their video for "We Come Running," in which, they said, no cages were used when they swam with 14-foot tiger sharks in the Bahamas. "It was insane!" they said. " It was hands down the most incredible, scariest experience of our lives, [and] to be that close to such beautiful, dangerous creatures was a chilling, transformative and unforgettable moment.”



As for Augustana, they are aiming for a new start with the indie label Washington Square Records. Of the ubiquity of their music in films and on TV, this is what they had to say: “[We] saw just how powerful and meaningful a song could be if given the tools and resources to do so. Television and radio are incredibly massive platforms for songs to live and get life.”



Not all of the homegrown acts at Wanderland are as lucky to get such widespread exposure on the media (with, of course, the exception of Hale). Many of the featured electronic music performers have gained a reputation through online platforms such as Soundcloud, most notably CRWN and Similarobjects.

The winners of this year’s Wanderband competition, Strange Creatures (who placed first) and Austin, have mostly gained attention thanks to live performances and periodic airplay on shows such as Jam 88.3’s Fresh Filter. Kate Torralba has managed to gain a reputation both here and overseas with her European tours to promote her "Long Overdue" record. Fresh off the launch of her "The Neon Hour" album is BP Valenzuela, Party Bear Records’ newest act who has gained a reputation for being (musically) wise beyond her years. (Sarah Marco, lead singer of fellow Party Bear act Taken by Cars, performed with a super-band last year.)

I am personally hoping, of course, that this year will see an improved festival especially in terms of the sound system, which was a bugbear I noted in my review of last year’s edition. In any case, the best thing to do this time around is to keep an open mind, enjoy the various activities that are planned for the day, and of course move along to the music. — BM, GMA News

Wanderland tickets are priced at P5,500 each. Visit SM Tickets outlets or check out availability of purchase online for more convenient access.

Ren Aguila wrote about Wanderland 2014 for GMA News Online.