Another amazing band that I met through Tantra is Traumaligno. I can't remember my first conversation with Boom Dizon (vocals and guitars), but I do remember him asking me to listen to their songs via Myspace. He asked for my opinion and I told him they were good. It was just a home recording, but the rawness of it added to Latigo's appeal. Coincidentally, they were having a gig at Bridgeway over at Brickroad in Sta. Lucia East Grandmall. I decided to go since it was near our place. We met up and I bought their EP, Baon. It came in a paperbag, those ones that are made of craft paper, like my early-morning pandesal. I asked him why they named it Baon and he said it meant a lot of things. It could mean [ba'on] = snack pack, or [baon'] = thrust.

Nalimutan ko nang mataranta Nawala kang muli Hindi ko tatanungin
Hindi nawawala ang hindi hinahanap Panong mapapagod ang dati nang pagal
Hindi malilimot ang di mo naintindihan
Humalik sa himpapawid Arukin ang di maabot Malayong babalik ka pa
Pumipiglas ang lubid Yayapos ang alipin Umaatras Ang oras Kapag ika'y nawawala
Nalimutan mo nang magsalita At tulad ng huli Purihin ang salarin
Hindi nabibigo ang di nangangahas Santong pinapako, kumalinga ng wagas Magsisi't tumalikod wala ka nang babalikan
Umaatras ang oras Kay bagal ng oras Kapag ika'y nawawalaNawala

They were among the last bands to play, so we got to watch a couple of bands before their set. It was a fun night, we had beers and we sang along with the band who covered Flavor of the Week by American HiFi and Teenage Wasteland by The Who.

After their set, we packed up our stuff and headed out. Before going home, we stopped by Tropical Hut for some grub. It's a long way back to San Pedro, Laguna where Boom and Pit live. I, on the other hand, hurried back home so I could listen to their cd. As soon as I got home, I loaded the cd into the player, turned on my laptop while browsing the cd inlay, went online, ran my bot, and finally enjoyed my Traumaligno experience.

Their songs are as indie as indie could get. It embodies this certain rawness that are usually characterized by those underground garage bands. Some songs displayed Boom's thoughts on politics and activism.

Majority of the songs are written in Filipino. I was actually impressed because of that. Not many local bands write songs in our mother tongue, much more use what we call malalim na Tagalog. The lyrics alone seemed like music as I read them. The arrangement was also good. It had emotion without sounding too emo, which seems to be the trend nowadays.

All in all, Baon was a journey. A story. A theatrical lyric. It had all the necessary elements. Love. Pain. Grief. Angst.

For more info about them you can check out their Soundclick, Multiply, Friendster, Facebook pages or you can sign up for their mailing list at Yahoo Groups.

*Trivia: Their Friendster account was hacked twice by some psycho stalker. So they got paranoid and signed up for more social networking sites.