Apartel are a Filipino soul and R&B supergroup. They currently consist of vocalist Ely Buendia, guitarist Redge Concepcion, bassist Jun Lazo, drummer Pat Sarabia, percussionist Deej Rodriguez, and a changing lineup of touring members.
Formed in 2016 by Buendia and Gnash and DRT frontman Jay Ortega, the band released their debut album Inner Play in 2016, followed by Full Flood in 2018.
Buendia and Ortega formed Apartel in early 2016. Buendia had wanted to incorporate a big band sound to his live repertoire, adding a horn section to his recent solo concert to reinterpret Eraserheads songs with the big band sound. âÂÂI wanted to put a twist on the old songs,â he explained. âÂÂI finally was able to afford these musicians like the horn players. IâÂÂm pretty proud of the production because thereâÂÂs nothing like it in the mainstream. And IâÂÂm proud of the arrangements of the old songs.â Many of the band members had listened to soul music at their early age from artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and VST & Company.
The band released their debut album Inner Play through Buendia's record label Offshore Music in July. It featured the lead single âÂÂIs It Hip?âÂÂ, with a music video directed by Marie Jamora that premiered in September. The video was nominated for Best Music Video at the 2017 MYX Music Awards. The album was later released on vinyl in November.
In January 2017, the band announced that Ortega had left the group to focus on his solo career. The band released their second single âÂÂSala sa Initâ in April, with a giallo-inspired music video directed by drummer Pat Sarabia and Buendia's partner Audry Dionisio. They also directed the music video for the third single âÂÂGuijo St. (Makes You Wonder)âÂÂ, released in November.
An EP featuring remixes of songs from Inner Play by Tandem 91, Tarsius, BP Valenzuela, Lustbass, and Couchlab was released to streaming services in November 2017. It was previously released as the second disc of the album's deluxe CD version.
The band released the first single from their second album Full Flood, âÂÂPaterosâÂÂ, in June 2018.
Offshore Music released Full Flood in October 2018. Mastered by Bernie Grundman, it was later released on limited edition vinyl in June 2020. A music video for the album's second single "Sisid" was premiered the following month.
The band released a live performance video for âÂÂPre-Lovedâ featuring Zia Quizon in October 2020.