Questionable Motifs

Three Q's. 10 A's.

2007-09-26T13:25:00.001+05:30

Does it take over six months to make another post, you ask? (Okay, actually...No one bothered to ask that..Not even moi!)

Does that mean I have gone from March to September without paying heed to that one element that keeps my life sane?!

Do I deserve to get tagged "Most Likely to Live For Music" a few times over on Facebook, when I haven't bought a record in gawd-knows-how many-months?

Hmm..well..All Good questions!

So, to sum up the last few months, with respect to the music...

1. Grew sort of tired of the Italians long enough to take a tour of all the other genres, before finally settling down to lip-synch Banco's incomprehensible "750,000 Anni Fa... L'Amore" umpteen times over!

2. Put myself through hell in order to get my eyes on an RS link for downloading Porcupine Tree's latest album...Only to give it the cold shoulder and not listen to it more than once! (Don't think it was warranted either...Blame it on a sort of extended PMS)

3. Proclaimed how much I adore Geoff Tate over any other vocalist...Not that anyone needed any sort of reaffirmation from me over that oft-repeated opinion of mine!

4. Heard the news that the imbecilic IT dudes at work wanted to "harden" the laptops at work. Figured correctly they wanted to empty all the .mp3 files. Ran from pillar to post to transfer my 30 GB treasure to a new camouflaged territory.

5. Lost my last.fm application in the process of 'hardening'. Been sulking ever since. Now I need 'administrator' privileges apparently. My friggin' left a**. (Yes, sulking!Not to mention, angry.)

6. The latest albums of Iron and Wine and Devendra Banhart leaked onto my hidden folders, much before their scheduled release.

7. Cruised past Rhythm House on a visit to town. Swore to stop by before my next weekend binge at Leo's. Sadly, the binges have come and gone. But no CDs have come my way.

8. Checked out Neutral Milk Hotel. And Nick Harper - But I still like Harper Sr. much more.

9. Have come to adore the sounds of DeVotchka. If anyone knows any other band of the same/similar genre, puhleez. I am all ears.

10. Continue to feel unsatiated and very uninspired. I need another Illinoise again. Now that's not an invitation restricted to Sufjan alone.

So there! Another six months now?!

Aerosmith @ Bangalore

2007-06-08T10:35:00.000+05:30

After Iron Maiden, I was thoroughly satiated and had no real enthu for any concert so soon. But it was my Dharma, I had to go. So there I was at the parking lot of the Aerosmith concert venue gulping down a couple of beers before we entered the gates. We reached the place around 5:30, the time when they said they'll open the gates. (for maiden, we were a good 5 hours early).

There were three levels of security checks, but we managed to sneak in a couple of Antiquity miniatures and a few smoke sticks. The concert arena was bigger than Maiden's and with good reason, Aerosmith was bound to attract a larger crowd and maybe they learnt a few lessons from the claustrophobic enclosure at the Maiden concert. Whatever the reasons were, we were standing quite close to the stage and still had a lot of private space. And then began the wait...

There was no opening act, just a stupid promo by RC where they made a few folx play the air guitar and the audience judged by hooting. Stupid though it was, the winner walked away with a guitar autographed by Aerosmith. An hour down the line (7:30ish), the crowd began to get restless. We had run out of booze and cigarettes, and our legs hurt from standing for so long, still there was no sign of the band coming on stage. There were no opening acts to warm up the audience so we settled for singing ourselves and generally making mirth. The PA system was playing some random songs and the screen was displaying signs like 'Hi Bangalore' and 'Welcome to Aerosmith Concert' in fonts that made it look like a cheap ad for some toothpaste.

The band finally got on stage by 8:15 to the tune of 'Taste of India' which was followed by 'Love in an elevator'. Then came 'Cryin' and 'Love is hard on the knees' and they crowd began to warm up to them, but then they sang a couple of songs from the 'Honking on bobo' album and everything fizzled out. Steve was up to his usual tactics of thrusting his pelvis, hopping about the stage and making faces at the stage cameras. There seemed to be a new band member on stage, a fat el stupido with a still camera clicking away to glory. WTF was he doing up there??? Joe was doing the guitar god act posing on the ramp while a fan blew his hair and scarf about.

Steven then tried to get the crowd sing along some real obscure song, I still don't know what song it was but the gimmick failed miserably. We were getting real tired of it all and were planning to leave and hit a pub where we got some real music...and booze. But we hung on for some more time as they were playing 'Living on the edge' but soon we lost all our patience and started falling back. When we cleared the crowd we realized that there was not a big crowd at all! the Rs.1800 enclosure was hardly half-full. People were lazing at the back and watching the show on a big screen. A bigger surprise was the Rs.1200 enclosure. It was so far off that the stage was not visible at all, partly due to the giant screen they had put up for them behind the sound engineer's rig. What a sham! I wouldn't want to pay 1200 bux just to watch the show on a giant screen. DNA's got to think of some better way.

By the time we reached our car, the band was saying 'Thank You, Good Night!' to the crowd. The main set had lasted only an hour or so! We were sure that the encore would be 'Janie's got a gun' and 'Crazy' but we didn't want to stick around. I just wanted to close my eyes, I wanted to fall asleep and miss the whole thing.

Bottomline: I've been to college band concerts that were more exciting.

Lie Detector

2007-03-26T07:32:00.000+05:30

So did anybody attend the Shakira concert? Did you find out if her hips really don't lie?

Scream For Me Bangalore!

2007-03-20T07:32:00.000+05:30

Okay, I'm ready to believe it now. Iron Maiden performed in Bangalore!!! A month and a half ago my cousin had called me up all excited, "Dude, Maiden's coming to India!" and then he went delirious. After having waited for them to perform in India for over 20 years, I dismissed it as yet another rumor but soon the news was all over the place. Could it be true this time?

Anyways, there we were at the Palace Grounds, a good 5 hours before the gates were scheduled to open. Armed with sandwiches, Red Bulls, water minus booze we parked ourselves by the gate discussing the best way to swoon when they finally came on stage. There were people camping there much before we arrived. A bunch of Sri Lankan fans had come directly from the airport and spent the night at the venue. Pretty soon what was a group of a few hundred maidenheads swelled up to a sea of black, screaming and cheering everything and everybody...including the tempo that brought in bottles of water.

The gates opened at 3 and the frenzy began. Pushing and jostling, we were among the first to enter the venue. So mad was the charge that they couldn't dare frisk us (the later ones got checked). We made our way right up to the front but then decided to fall back a few meters to park ourselves in front of the sound engineering rig. This later proved to be an intelligent move. The sun beat down ruthlessly, but we were safe in the shade of the rig and there was no chance of being pushed from behind during the concert.

We waited there for about 2 and a half hours chatting up before the first of the opening acts finally came on stage.

First up were the Delhi based winner of the Campus Rock Idols - FTN and boy did they suck!!! They probably created some sort of a record for being the fastest to get booed on stage, 30 seconds or so I reckon. Don't think it was entirely their fault though, the crowd was impatient after being in the sun all day and were in no mood to listen to their guttural growls, its a Maiden concert for crying out loud! They even tried to pacify the crowd by doing some nu-metal covers but there were no takers. They somehow completed their time and got off the stage as fast as they could. But no matter what we say, those guys got the distinction of sharing the same stage as Maiden...so there...

Up next was Parikrama and they were loudly greeted by the crowd. They had come on a mission, to prove that they can do originals and that’s exactly what they did...an entire set of originals and each song was received by an appreciative crowd especially popular songs like Whiskey Blues, Rhythm & Blues, But It Rained and Open Skies. Imran, their impish violinist got the most cheers. When they were done, they crowd was really warmed up and ready for action.

But all the crowd enthu was soon to be shot down. Lauren Harris was next on stage with her band. For those who just went Lauren who??? She's the daughter of Steve "the god of bass" Harris. But when she started singing, everybody started seriously doubting this piece of fact. How can Steve's daughter be this bad!!! To put it mildly, she was PATHETIC. The band musicians were not half as bad though but this babe just can't sing. She got booed louder than FTN and I don't think there was a single person in the crowd that did not show her the finger, and she kept asking for more! "Come on Bangalore, let me see your hands." All the heat Parikrama had generated was totally watered down by her.

Once she was done, the maiden crew began their last-minute stage setup and the crowd went totally mute in anticipation. By this time there was not a single square inch of ground that was not filled up. It was getting pretty suffocating and standing in the sun for so long had begun to have its effect. Seconds before Maiden came on stage, a limp body of a fainted girl was suddenly passed on to me! We somehow managed to get her across the barricade, into the sound rig where the technicians gave her some water. This scene caused a panic attack in my wife and even she had to be hauled across which eventually worked well for both of us cause the crowd went berserk when Maiden burst in to the riffs of Different Worlds from their latest album. More songs from this album followed. Now, I'm really not into their later albums, which was just as well as it gave me time to absorb the shock, "MAIDEN WAS LIVE ON STAGE!". The crowd was going wild but they really crossed over when they started The Trooper. Bruce was all over the stage in his British army uniform waving the Union Jack. This was soon followed by 'Fear of the Dark', the song everybody had come to sing. The crowd was so loud that I'm not even sure if Bruce really sang it or just let the crowd do the singing. The stage backdrop changed with almost every song to show the different avatars of Eddie in line with the songs they were playing. They also played Wrathchild as a tribute to the departed vocalist of Moksha, which to me was a great gesture from a great band. Then they launched into Iron Maiden (the song) during which a huge robotic tank rose up on stage with Eddie emerging from it. The stage pyrotechnics were fantastic. It was hard to imagine these guys were around 50 years old! Bruce was a bundle of energy, he even climbed up a pillar supporting the speaker wall once to rousing cheers from the crowd. Dunno if they were expecting such an amazing response but whatever it was they must have been mighty pleased for Bruce promised that we wouldn't have to wait even 17 more months before they came back! He said they knew people have been waiting for 17 years for them to come to India (20ish in my own case) and that now that they have come, it is just the beginning and a lot of bands would follow suit, which I hope would be true.

Their main set lasted an hour or so with the crowd screaming for more and more they got. The encore began with 2 Minutes to Midnight and was followed by The Evil That Men Do during which Eddie, all 14 feet of him, walked on stage wearing a military uniform and carrying a gun! The final song was Hallowed Be Thy Name and the entire crowd lost its sense of reality. All I remember is jumping up and down and screaming myself hoarse.

The crowd lingered for some time hoping for a second encore but when the crew started wrapping up the stage gear, it was certain that the concert was over. We were in a daze, it still had not struck home completely. While back on the main street, my friend turned to me and wailed "Dude, we just saw Maiden live!!!", We had to sit on the pavement for a few minutes to let the feeling sink in. I was ready to retire...

Thank god for mobile phones! Check out 'The Trooper' from the concert here

Prog - Italian Style!

2007-03-07T11:52:00.000+05:30

The Soulforged’s earlier post possibly was the much needed push towards my introduction and current fascination towards Italian Progressive Music. Premiata Forneria Marconi, Le Orme, Metamorfosi, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, Museo Rosenbach, Locanda Delle Fate, Quella Vecchia Locanda – the names might be quite a mouthful, but heck they have made some of the most brilliant music I have heard! Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM), arguably the most popular of the lot, is touted as one of the most influential bands of the golden years of Progressive Rock (the 70’s but of course), alongside the likes of King Crimson, Gentle Giant, VDDG et al. If I have manage to tickle your curiosity enough, I would recommend that you start with one of PFM’s albums. While most of the bands sing in Italian, there are a few English language albums, which are essentially remakes of their successful Italian albums.

I must say I still haven’t dug deep into this genre, but out of the ones I have listened, I have listed down what I believe to be some of the phenomenal albums of this very important subsection in the history of Prog. If checking out ALL of them might be a stretch, at least sample a few. Yes, yes , I might be a tad biased towards the Italians (thanks to their food, their art, some of their films and of course Roberto Baggio), trust me when I say this – È eccellente!

1. Album : Storia Di Un Minuto
Band: Premiata Forneria Marconi
Year of Release: 1972

The beauty of this album much like most of the earlier albums of PFM, is its timelessness.The sheer brilliance of the instrumental set-ups, the melody structure and the harmonic arrangements DEFINES symphonic prog for me. It’s hard to escape the magic that is this album, whether it is the addictive riff for a backbone of E’Festa should probably go down or the chorus portion of the latter half of Impressioni Di Septembre.

Favorite Track(s) : Dove…Quando - Part 1 and Part 2.

2. Album : Collage
Band : Le Orme
Year of Release – 1971

This album would probably not figure in the list of the best Italian Prog albums, with their equally brilliant effort, Felona E Sorona usurping the place instead and I sometimes wonder why. Each track is a definite master-piece, IMO, with some very innovative song structures and authoritative instrumental passages. Le Orme might not be as melodic as PFM is, but I quite adore the theatrical style of their compositions which can totally overpower your senses.

And a special mention, Collage, the opening track ranks in my great opening tracks of great albums list!

Favorite Track(s): Collage, Era Inverno, Cemento Armato

3. Album: Darwin!
Band: Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso
Year of Release : 1972

I don’t know about you, but I find that Exclamation Mark at the end of the album name very thrilling!! A Concept album, based on the theory of evolution (presumably), this epic album starts with the landmark composition called L'Evoluzione. All of more than 16 minutes in length, this would definitely have to end up in the best opening tracks list. What distinguishes these guys is the distinctive and dramatic vocals of Francesco Di Giacomo and the multitude of variance that the tempos of their tracks offer. Also, their tracks can be as much classical as it is futuristic.

Favorite Track(s) : L’Evoluzione, Cento Mani, Cento Occhi

4. Album : Inferno
Band: Metamorfosi
Year of Release: 1972

Normally, these guys don’t feature in the first names that come up to any one’s mind when asked to talk about Italian Prog. But Inferno is a concept album par- excellence. Heavy on the emphasis of the synthesizers and keys for its sound, it reminds me much of a brain-storming session – It’s no-holds-barred, it’s engaging and it is very non-conforming.

Favorite Track(s): Caronte

5. Album: Forse le Lucciole Non Si Amano Più
Band : Locanda Delle Fate
Year of Release: 1978

A relatively late entrant to the 70’s Italian Prog force, Locanda Delle Fate might not be ranked alongside PFM and Le Orme kinds for shaping Italian symphonic prog. Because of that fact, they probably might not have the most original of sounds. But what is noticeable is their extensive use of instruments, often packed together and backed by some excellent percussion elements.

Favorite Track(s): Volte un Istante Di Quiete, Profumo Di Colla Bianca

6. Album: Per Un Amico
Band: Premiata Forneria Marconi
Year of Release: 1972

It’s only fitting that the biggest of ‘em all have two favorites – although it’s been pretty hard to narrow it down to just two! ‘Per Un Amico’, or its English version – Photos of Ghosts is a fantastic journey from start to finish. A fairly small album, it starts with the wonderfully surprising Appena Un Poco armed to the brim with some of the most characteristically PFM-ish sounds. Both Storia… and this album were released in the same year, and Per Un Amico just serves to accentuate the quality of the band’s music.

Favorite Track(s), Appena Un Poco, Il Banchetto

There are a few other albums that I also like, such as Moseo Rosenbach’s Zarathustra, Quella Vecchia Locanda's Il tempo Della Gioia, L'uovo Di Colombo’s self titled album, Le Orme’s Felona E Sorona and a few other PFM stuff – and who knows how many more as I start discovering more. But I think I have made my point already!

Until it’s time for the next post…well, what else but...Ciao!

P.S: I have no clue how to pronounce all these beautiful sounding words! :D

The Great Gig in Mumbai! A Review of the Roger Waters' Dark Side of the Moon Live Tour

2007-02-28T18:21:00.000+05:30

Bracing ourselves for the biggest concert that we are going to attend was no easy job. We had to think of ways and means for sleathily sneaking in the camera, the smokes and heck, if it were totally upto me, a bottle of vodka too! Then there were the hours of sulking about not having enough dough for the tickets that will take us a whisker away from the stage…

So it’s only fair to say when the time finally came, I for one could not keep all the excitement brimming up within myself! That would explain the profanity or two that was generously imparted to that lady at the guard who frisked me first and dug my bag deep enough to find the camera, which was tucked away between several strands of newspapers! (Oh c’mon, when was the last time any of these security dudes/dudettes actually rummaged through the contents of your bag thoroughly??)……

Histrionics notwithstanding, we did NOT manage to get an enviable place close to the barricade. The barricade which served as a cruel reminder of the gap of distinction that existed between the 3K Haves and the 1K too-shorts! So after hurling a few wantedly-loud abuses at those large monsters who hogged every perceptible space between me the barricade, I wandered about in search of a strategically better position...For a while, we rested our asses sometime behind the sounds console and then finally found the best possible view near the fag end of the barricade....It was not fair, to say the very least, that not for having shelled out a mere 1 K (that 1 K wasn't that mere when the tickets were bought :P), we were being punished a wee bit too harshly! Even though the space for the 3 K-ers was half filled, there was no attempt being made to move up the barriers and so, what divided 'Us' from 'them' was some vast empty space, otherwise unimaginable in Bombay!!!!

Then, Sweeeeet Justice! It was but fitting that the golden opportunity to break out of the man-made walls that had kept us chained came when Mr. Waters took centerstage and the opening riff of 'In the Flesh' broke out! With some help, my ass was hoisted across the barricade and soon we found ourselves running across the open field to assume our rightful positions closer to the stage! What an exhilirating feeling that was! And the rest, as they say is history....

The gig itself was the single most involving, enchanting and heady piece of entertainment I have ever experienced. The show started on such a high note (even more so for us, what with the Great Escape!!) with the 'In the Flesh', before rolling into one of the oft-hhe eard Floyd tracks ever, 'Mother'.....Ours was probably the loudest voices amongst other section of the crowd, probably to the point of being annoying for some (Probably because they realized they weren't as much Floyd fans we were :P)....One of my favorite pieces, 'Set the Controls...." came next and then, even before the first fret movement took place, I knew what was to follow would be my favorite portion of the entire gig. Waters took complete command of the abridged rendition of "Shine On....." and the hair on the back on my neck was upright, when the giant Sun which had taken over the backdrop slowly tranformed itself to a picture of Syd Barrett! I don't know about the others, but at that point of time, I felt like there was nothing between me and that divine face and the song itself was like a medium of connection between me and Him. (Yes, he deserves a capital H!!)

'Have a Cigar' and 'Wish you were here' tranformed the audience into a hungry bunch of hounds, gulping down some very delectable dishes...I guess I was at screamy best especially during "By the way, which one is Pink" and '...For a lead role in a cage'! What ensued was a host of songs I have not heard much, but surprisingly they probably were the defining moments of the gig itself - Southhampton Dock, The Fletcher Memorial Home and Perfect Sense..

'Leaving Beirut', a single released by Waters in 2004, saw his anti-war campaign come out very vehemently . Waters talked about how the song was based on the hospitality shown by an Arab Family, on one of his adventurous expedition in Lebanon in 1961. The backdrop had a comic tale set-up with the story being recited with the help of caricatures, bubble-conversations and the works...The audience understandly was such a high note due to some liberal dose of Bush-bashing ( The track even has a line - 'Oh George! Oh George!That Texas education must have fucked you up when you were very small')...Close on the heels of this outpour came 'Animals', which had the most anticipated accompaniment - Lo and Behold! The Flying Pig! Graphittied all over with messages like 'Impeach Bush' and 'Sarva Jhati Ek Hai (In Hindi script)', the pig itself was symbolic of what an experience the gig was turning out to be - Huge, High and Fabulously entertaining!

The best part was apparently still to come - when we had a small break between the two Acts. We of course, refused to budge from our places - about three rows from the Stage. Waters had pleased our thirsty souls by coming to our side of the stage now and then...We were close enough to feel the heat when the explosions occurred on stage as part of the act and there ain't no way we were getting out of there! At this point of time, my neck was already sore, but who the heck cared! The end-to-end DSOM setlist was to follow!

When Waters started with 'Speak to me', I was brimming with all that bottled excitement! (Man, this is DSOM L.I.V.E!!!)...'Breathe' , 'On the Run' and then one of most popular sing-along Floyd tracks, 'Time'...The reprise of Breathe and The Great Gig in the Sky were obviously next, with some mind-blowingly beautiful wails by one of the back-up singers. 'Money' with that signature chimes and the opening riff gave way to one of my two most favorite DSOM tracks, 'Us and them' . The other favorite song, 'Brain Damage' came after 'Any color you like' before the end came with 'Eclipse'.

Then , there was much cliched encore dramatics....Waters and Co left the stage before coming abck again to do - 'Another Brick ', 'Vera' and 'Comfortably Numb'. By this time, we were exactly that - comfortably numb. Only surprise, this was not because of any of the common mind-numbing accessories! Yep, Numb with Delight and excitement of having been to the biggest concert yet and having seen and heard Waters - In the Flesh!

After all, the entire college phase would have been rendered meaningless if I were to take out the memories of all that Floyd playbacks - be it before while ghotting for tests, as part of Music Nites, or as general plays at the Sounds booth, during Oasis or heck! mostly during sleeping! I remember having the entire discography right from Piper to Pulse lined up back to back on my winamp and this used to play back to back throughout the day, the night, the waking hours!

Thanks, Mr. Waters for the biggest gig yet! And of course, to an umpteen million more memories!

Soaring to New Depths

2007-02-23T12:31:00.000+05:30

Just when you thought that Indian commercial music industry has reached its nadir, they surprise you by plumbing even deeper.

A year or so, a song was doing raging rounds of the netfarers’ mailboxes. The song titled BC Sutta. The BC here stands for the ubiquitous gaali referring to incestuous relationship with one's sister :) It was composed by a band called ‘Zeest’, part of the underground music scene in Pakistan. It was, and still is a cult song. I'm sure most of you would have heard it at least once.

Cut to present. I was surfing through the channels last night and stumbled upon this promo for yet another Indipoop (no mistake here) album. This one was called 'Sutta Mix'. The song, Don't Smoke Sutta, was note for note a copy of the BC song with a shot of the dhik-chik steroid and accompanied by a ribald video featuring Meghna Naidu and other dancers dressed as Arabs for some reason (what's it got to do with sutta???).

The band was neither a party to this remix nor were they asked before this tripe was cooked. Knowing the highly evolved copyright laws of the land, the original songsters can only wring their hands in frustration and compose a few more MC/BC songs. Hopefully this time the subject of the songs would be these pathetic plagiarists.

Its a crying shame! Lifting popular international tunes or rehashing hits of yore was bad enough, but now this!. What will it be next? a remix of my school prayer?

Download the ORIGINAL Sutta song here

Check out what the band has to say about this.

Zeest Official Site

Say, whoever came up with the word "Hiatus" anyway??

2007-01-30T13:18:00.000+05:30

Y'know, I have done this before...

Blogging after a hiatus which is long enough that they should probably coin an altogether new term to describe it...But then, this time I had stretched it a tad too long considering I had to rely on my I.E's memory to remember my login id here! While I wasn't that thrilled to have every bit of my existence on the Internet googlicized, it helps I guess...At least now, all I need to remember is my name separated by a self-inflicted dot!

So...what has kept me away? Well, lets not get there! (Unless you volunteer to count the bottles on my window sill...)...

What have I been upto, at least as far as mujik is concerned?

#1 - Gotten myself all there is to have of Sufjan Stevens' (again...we are strictly taking only mujik here...sadly so! )

- That includes rarities, outtakes, B-sides, a live album and of course the studio stuff! And the rest, as they say, is history! ( atleast on my last.fm page it is.... http://www.last.fm/user/kritikal02 - Check out the Overall top artist! Yee Haw!)

- I even got Illinoise through CD WOW!!

#2 - Discovered a new muse - complete with the hippie looks, the weird name, an awesome voice and the works! Devendra Banhart's Cripple Crow, released in India thanks to FreeSpirit Entertainment, is one of my best CD buys in a while. I now have all of his other albums - It's folk with an eccentric twist, labelled "New Weird America" and all...And trust me, the only thing that works against the movement is the lame name!

#3 - Marillion!!! While 'Scripts for a Jester's Tear' would definitely figure in the most influential prog album list, I am ashamed to admit I haven't dug deep into more of their stuff. So I added Fugazi and Misplaced Childhood (with Bonus CD edition)....I must say, one of the most underrated of the better-known prog bands!

#4 Tag and Rename! (Thanks Mr. Orange Blossom Special :D) - I highly recommend this software for anyone who has a compulsive obsession with structured tagging of your music files.

#5 Rediscovered the joys of a live acoustic set and the brilliance of it in all its glory. Live albums are definitely not my forte, but if I ever need something to question as to why I haven't got myself more of the live albums - I could start with Derroll Adams' Live album. First of all, what an artist! And next, what an act! The most personal, the most involved, the most heartwarming and probably the most anyone can do with a banjo!

#6 A host of brilliant prog acts - The Italians! Mamma Mia! Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) needs no mention...But Le Orme, Metamorfosi and Banco Del Mutuo - they have been quite a find!

#7 Neo-prog attacked back in a major way! The Flower Kings' Retropolis (an album which I had been dying to hear for a long while), Chroma Key's Dead Air for Radio, The Pineapple Thief's new album - Little man..

#8 The grand ol' daddies of Prog - Kansas, Focus and of course, Renaissance!! Annie Haslam is my nomination for prog's leading lady :)

#9 Okay, I have to sheepishly admit that I had been taken by The Killers' When You were Young too. Before you jump at me... notice the "had" part of the previous sentence. The rest of their album failed to create any impression...

#10 That Mysterious charm of tapes! On my trip back home, I dusted up 'em cassettes (which were growing new beings on 'em!)...My first trip of nostalgia - Postcards from Heaven by the Lighthouse Family. Now these guys don't exactly belong to the tapes era, because going by the tape sleeve, this album was out in 1997 and I presume, CDs were out in some part of the world, even though they were yet to take over a quaint l'il town down south. But the experience of the fastforward/rewing options were really refreshing...

So there ..... I haven't exactly been having a totally wasted time! Or so I console myself saying...

Until the next post/hiatus....One last "Whoo-hoo" for Sufjan!

My Queensryche Moments

2006-10-11T15:56:00.000+05:30

I can't explain this. Call it mind-numbing obsession, call it the habitual mid-week mid-afternoon boredom..Heck, call it Hopolapa Mupundopo, for all I care!

Some of my Favorite/Memorable/Enchanting/Obsessive Queensryche Moments (In no particular order) are:

1. The "Sweet Dreams, You Bastard" bit of ' I remember now' - Aaaahh, the double layer of sugarcoating on "sweet dreams" transpiring into the really spiteful "bastard" bit - Imagine the twist in the tale before it even began fully! Oh yeah, I do like the second "helllllo" and "perhaps you need another shot" bits too

2. Intro to 'Anarchy-X' : And the official musical journey to the one of greatest rock/metal/prog album begins..

3. The orchestral set-up of 'Suite Sister Mary', which begins after Dr.X's order to kill Mary with the drums gently teasing you before Tate begins " I feel the rain coming down.."

4. Jet city woman - the entire song! Seriously, do you know any girl who wouldn't want this track dedicated to her? (Unless it is sung by Weird Al)

5. "The Warning" scream at the beginning of this track!

6. "Go ahead without me.
I'll find my own way
Some people fly...and some of us worry
I'd risk it all to have wings."

Enough Said!

7. The piano accompaniment on "Someone Else(Not Me)"..Makes the song structure and delivery even more divine!

8. The chorus of "The Lady Wore Black" - Damn! What notes is he hitting?!

9. The riffs, that mini guitar solos, awesome drumming and of course the opening scream of "Queen of the Reich"

10. The vocals on "Tell you right now they've got nothing to lose They're building empire!!" and "Tear it all down, we'll put it up again. Another Empire"?! out of "Empire" - Who is doing that? Is that Tate?!

11. The Heavy Metal Umlaut over Y! (A little wannabe-ish maybe, but it sorta completes the picture!)

12. At the end of CD-1 of Operation: Live Crime, after Suite Sister Mary ends - Tate says to the crowd amongst wild cheers " Thank you very much!" Pause. More Cheers. "For those of who are not familiar with Queensryche and our music and probably wondering what the heck is going on" Pause. More Cheers. "This is called Operation Mindcrime".
(I find it endearing and yes, honest! Also - when in doubt, remembered am one Ryche obsessed soul!!)

Special Mention: Take Hold of the Flame
Reasons (In chronological order of appearance during the course of the song)
#1 The way Tate ends with "Cooold" of the opening line - "Too late to save a dream that's growing coold"

#2 The oh-oh bit after "distant signs of unforetold" - the end of second line of the opening verse

#3 THE SCREAM!!!! (after the opening verse)

#4 The chorus with the backings and everything

#5 The note changes on "on the edge" and "stay...make it stay" of the verse following the chorus

(Okay, you got me there! But if you have heard this track, you might, just might, be able to understand why this ryche obsession is so strong. This was the first track of this that I heard. What an impact, huh?!)

Okay, I do have a list of moments about their tracks that make me cringe too. But lets just count them as neglible!

Go on...VERB me!

2006-09-26T15:29:00.000+05:30

I find this very amusing...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1816709,00.html

Robert Wyatt's response?

"I'm very honoured at the idea of becoming a verb."

Guess it's all normal in 'Cuckoo'Land!!

Postcard from the LOO

2006-09-22T00:06:00.000+05:30

I am on a major music acquisition spree these days, with about 50 new albums in my bag and some more on their way. This is probably the only good part of traveling away from your home and wife ;) The stuff I got is mostly the standard prog staples - Fates Warning, Shadow Gallery, Porcupine Tree, Gentle Giant etc. But while hunting for my music over the last couple of months, I was introduced to a bunch of bands new and old hitherto unknown to me and man, do they rock! Here are some of the bands that caught my fancy, check them out if you can -

(in the order my memory allows)

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - A very unique band whose music is hard to classify. Their music is like an unholy brew of Avant Jazz influences, Bjork-like female vocals, VDGG style atmospheric settings and Celtic Frost like brutality. They apparently use home made instruments and wield them to good effect. Picked up their second studio album - Of Natural History (they are only two albums old).

Izz - Their music is categorized as symphonic prog but you can feel the flavor of jazz, neo-prog and even some metal. Their fourth album, My River Flows, release last year is of particular interest and is considered their best yet. Check out the song 'Late Night Salvation' from this album, a 12-minute long composition reminiscent of prog epics by the likes of Marillion, Spock's Beard and The Flower Kings.

Wastefall - A prog metal band from Greece, it has been creating waves since it was formed 3 years ago. Their style is pretty similar to Pain of Salvation but it is not apparent right away. Their music is quite complex and powerful. Check out their second album Soulrain 21.

Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) - This symphonic prog band from Italy has been around since the beginning of time! Their first album was released in 1969, the year progressive music was born with the release of 'Court of the Crimson King'. Am I the only one who heard about them so late? They are a bunch of highly proficient musicians like the MVO. I have heard only their '74 live album Cook which had some awesome violin-guitar duets and awesome drumming. Check out whatever you can from this great band and let me know as well, I'm lusting for some more.

Power of Omens - This Texas based prog metal band should be in the Guinness Book of Records as the most underrated band of the new millennium. Have you heard of them? They have been around for the last 10 years but have released only 2 albums. Their music is essentially riff based but can build up to very technical and intricate frenzy. Check out their 1998 release, Eyes of the Oracle, its simply brilliant.

Riverside - This prog metal band from Poland was formed in 2005 and garnered loads of critical acclaim since then. Their music is quite reminiscent of PoS but they do have a unique melodic feel which I guess would be their signature style. They have released 2 studio albums so far, check out their second album, Second Life Syndrome.

Circus Maximus - This is a prog metal band from Norway. Norway metal band? Yup...and no, they do not sound like a pig being disemboweled. Instead, they are surprisingly melodic almost neo proggy. They have only one album to their credit so far, The 1st Chapter. Check out the song Glory of the Empire.

More as and when I remember or discover. If you try out any of these bands, let me know what you think.

Office of Strategic Influence - Free (2006) - A Review

2006-09-20T19:48:00.000+05:30

Progressive music has always been a constant fodder for establishment of musical supergroups. Whether it was the likes of Emerson, Lake and Palmer,and Mahavishnu Orchestra in the yesteryears or Transatlantic, Explorer’s Club, Liquid Tension Experiment (LTE), it is all but natural that the underlying theme of the genre of music – i.e. experimentation and innovation cemented by musical wizardry and virtuosity, would be the most influential factor for these musicians to collaborate and create new music. So when Office of Strategic Influence (O.S.I) was formed in 2003 boasting of a line-up with Jim Matheos (Fate’s Warning), Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) Kevin Moore (Chroma Key and ex-Dream Theater) and Sean Malone (Gordian Knot), it turned heads because of the initial and the final names associated with the line-up., with Steven Wilson ( Porcupine Tree) and David Gildenlow (Pain of Salvation) coming close to being part of this incredible line-up. OSI's second album saw the bass being traded hands from Sean Malone to Joey Vera (Fate's Warning).

OSI’s eponymous debut album is one of my favorite prog albums this side of the millennium (yeah, I am into playlists a lot :P) and a follow-up act is a tall task considering how large and greedy these hungry ears have become! Dwelling on OSI’s sound, which was as unexpected (inspite of Kevin Moore) and as distinctive as it can get – with its rich electronic overtone as a result of some heavy duty dabbling on the programming and the synthesizers. One can only go onto presume Moore was in charge of this office, but the crisper sounding guitars and the seemingly structured composition methodology also give the sound its unique flavor. Moore also wears the hat of the vocalist and intentionally or unintentionally, this is never at the focal point. What possibly works both for and against their music is the absence of Portnoy’s vehement drumming. In their first album, there were moments where he has try his hand at more experimentation backing the song structure and moments where his skin slamming has been greatly overshadowed by the synthesizers and his presence has been substantiated with the fleeting peeking of the cymbals. It may be the last thing to expect of a project in which Portnoy has been involved with, but in a way, this actually distinguishes OSI’s music from his other initiatives.

“Free” probably has its place in the top prog releases of 2006, and right from the aggressive opening track “Sure you will”, it seemed to bring out Matheos’ increased involvement on the album. With its memorable chorus and some remarkable concoction of experimentation on the keys with the sharp riffs and drumming, it is also an excellent example of how complex compositions can be made easy listening. We also have to welcome back Portnoy and his characteristic contribution to the album – “Free” follows suit and this comes out more as a quintessential prog track until near the end where Moore peers in gently with the keys. This track has something in common with the second track of the first album – it shares the name of the album ..(hell, maybe it is their thing!)….”Go” has a more subdued background and it seems like more of a Moore product, although I must admit, his voice probably does not do much justice to the melody. The following tracks dip in and out between the heavy and the melodic, infused perfectly with the help of the synthesizers and the programming elements. A special mention of the only thing that comes closed to spaced out stuff – “Home was Good”. My pick out of the album would be “Simple Life” just for its unique melody. They have made a brief attempt at overdubbing the vocals in parts and this track, unlike the others, has a small and pleasant guitar solo of sorts.

Depending on the way you look it, the downside of this album and the collaboration, in my opinion, is that the experimentation works with the borderlines of the sound that they had created for themselves. Crisp riffs, deft drumming, inventive stuff on the synthesizer and programming techniques and the works. Almost every track has the same formula and so from the fifth track or so onwards, you are either left gaping for more (if you dig this formula) or you wanna hit the shuffle button. I probably have a different reason for wanting to opt out the back to back playback of the album - Kevin Moore’s vocals. His limitations in this role are very barren. I looked for a guest appearance a la Steven Wilson’s one on “Shutdown” my (surprise, surprise!!) favorite track out of their earlier album.

If you have spun their debut album, you would see how they have carefully built on the platform with more of a collaborative effort. You should definitely give this also a listen –I can probably expect either-or opinion. You might like it or you will end up thirsting for something else out of these guys – in any case, we would all love to have another album by them, I guess!

Track Listing

Disc 1

1. "Sure You Will" – 3:46
2. "Free" – 3:20
3. "Go" – 4:16
4. "All Gone Now" – 5:13
5. "Home Was Good" – 5:03
6. "Bigger Wave" – 4:30
7. "Kicking" – 3:52
8. "Better" – 4:06
9. "Simple Life" – 4:00
10."Once" – 6:34
11."Our Town" – 3:20

Disc 2

1. "OSIdea 9" – 3:33
2. "Set It On Fire" – 3:42
3. "Communicant" – 3:47
4. "When You're Ready” – 3:09
5. "Remain Calm" – 4:08
6. "Old War" – 1:06

No Direction Home

2006-09-19T15:20:00.000+05:30

"You can't be wise and in love at the same time" - In what can only be construed as a poignantly sincere apology and poetically disguised factoid, this was what from Bob Dylan had to say about the events that transpired between him and Joan Baez in 1964/65. Dylan and Baez shared many a stage during their early twenties, performing at the various folk festivals around America. Dylan, who gained his repute and fame as a poet during this collaborative stint with the then-more-established Baez, did not return the favor in the later gigs. Many years on, Dylan has this retort to offer on the topic.

This features as part of "No direction Home" - a documentary on the early days of Dylan, directed by Martin Scorsese. It's a two disc set spanning nearly 204 minutes comprising of some rare footage of perfomances from the archives of time and interviews with all those associated with Dylan's Freewheelin' Days including Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk and Joan Baez herself among others.

To say it gives a deep insight into the man behind the golden words would be far from true. And it does not have anything to do with Scorsese's potrayal of the man. For what is worth it, it is after all a documentary - just a mere recreation and retelling of the days that shaped Dylan's early life... It left me ungratified in a way any attempt to unravel a poet's mind does. And it reinforced the awe that his poetry evokes with regards to its sheer eloquence, its brazen honesty and its nonchalant political and social innuendos.

The elusive nature of the man behind the music is probably what makes his persona enchanting and puzzling, all at the same time. You can literally count with your fingers the number of instances where anything close to any sort of emotion comes through from him - one of such is when he becomes accustomed to the jeers that he receives for adding rock-n-roll elements to his music and going electric, backed by members who would later on go on to become "The Band"....This move was rubbished by a lot of his "pure music" oriented fans, but that did not deter him from not-rationalizing to what was expected. In fact the years following his motorcycle accident, he did not go on tour for about eight years, opting instead to produce more music. Another rare outlet of his not-so-removed self was when he declared this, as part of his interview for the documentary :

"I'd just about had it, though, I'd had it with the whole scene. And, uh, whether I knew it or didn't know it, I was, uh, lookin' to quit for a while....Uh, well, ya know, people like *you*, people like, uh, ya know, just, ya know, like bein' pressed and hammered and, uh, bein' expected to answer questions. It's enough to make anybody sick, really"

One way or other - you end up wanting to know more about the man..

The Last Kiss - Original Soundtrack

2006-09-19T11:34:00.000+05:30

Best Sequel to a fantastic soundtrack would probably never become a category in itself at any so-called music award show... Which possibly explains why I can only think of two contenders for this category as of now. In any case, I was looking forward more to the music of Last Kiss more than the movie itself and this became an unquenchable thirst when I saw the trailer of the movie which was accompanied by Snow Patrol's Chocolate in the background.

I did manage to dig deep to find the OST and it hasn't exactly disappointed. The initial impression is that almost all tracks and the mood set by them seem more mature, for a lack of a want of a better word....This probably is a necessity considering the subject matter of the movie deals with an impending "the big 3-0" crisis, from the looks of it. Toned-down but not solemn, interesting but not over-the-top, the selection of artistes who are part of this follow-up is very similar... (In fact lots of artistes who were part of the Garden State OST find themselves getting the nod again)....

Of course, I had to admit, my impression of this album was already colored before I gave the album the first spin...Any man who chooses to host Imogen Heap twice in two consecutive compiled soundtrack would make very little mistakes otherwise, I guess!

A full blown review would not be justifiable at this juncture on my part....The most important ingredient for the full experience to sink in is still at large...The movie itself..Think about it, if I bother to analyze the tracks without having watched the movie, the soundtrack might as well be some compilation album!

Tracklisting

1. Chocolate - Snow Patrol
2. Star Mile - Joshua Radin
3. Pain Killer - Turin Brakes
4. Warning Sign - Coldplay
5. Ride - Cary Brothers
6. El Salvador - Athlete
7. Hide And Seek - Imogen Heap
8. Reason Why - Rachael Yamagata
9. Hold You In My Arms - Ray LaMontagne
10. Prophecy - Remy Zero
11. Paper Bag - Fiona Apple
12. Today's The Day - Aimee Mann
13. Arms of a Woman - Amos Lee
14. Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk (Reprise) - Rufus Wainwright
15. Paperweight - Joshua Radin and Schuyler Fisk

I have hosted the Snow Patrol in the tracklist. Give it a listen and go get yourself the album!

Back to Being Progged!

2006-09-02T12:43:00.000+05:30

What with the rediscovery of the eponymous 2003 debut album of Office of Strategic Influence (O.S.I) and getting my hands on their new album “Free”, unearthing the 60’s psychedelic prog unit Arcadium’s only studio album “Breathe Awhile”, not to mention the prog albums in the mammoth list that I added to my kitty some time back, I would have probably not counted on some self-produced samples, singles and an acoustic compilation by a non-mainstream multi instrumentalist hogging some heavy duty music player space in the last couple of weeks. But if you give his stuff a spin, it is not that difficult to fathom why this has been the case. Steve Unruh’s music is the self professed “progressive folk, rock etc“. He offers an explanation “Since progressive rock itself is a combination of rock, classical & jazz, progressive folk/rock is a pretty inclusive style. I added the 'etc' because I dabble in a few other styles as well. (Classical, jazz... 'etc.')”.

He has quite a few solo albums starting with Believe(1997), The Beginning of a new day (1998), Two little Awakenings (2001), Out of the ashes (2004), Song to the Sky (2005) and a couple of instrumental albums, Invisible Symphony (2002) and Instrumental Retrospective (2004) . I would like to get my hands on some of ‘em, which I probably will soon, but right now I had to settle for his classical guitar EP and his sampler compilation that he has hosted on his website. The latter consists of , not surprisingly, a track from each of his albums..

1. Scenes from the Mirror (17:11) [From the album 'Two Little Awakenings']
2. 1 a.m. on a Tuesday (10:47) [From the album 'Song to the Sky']
3. The Water's Edge (2:59) [From the album 'Invisible Symphony']
4. The Rising Sun / Images of Dreams (4:46) [From the album 'Believe?']
5. Returning (10:36) [From the album 'The Beginning of a New Day']
6. Breaking Free (14:09) [From the album 'Out of the Ashes']

My favorite track out of this list is this incredible instrumental voyage called “The Water’s Edge” With its mélange of clear melodies and crisp acoustic sound, it is an absolutely divine experience created by a thoroughly inspired musician. Whereas the next track in this compilation “The Rising Sun/Images of Dreams” showcases a much more neo-prog side of this man’s multi dimensional music while still exploring some folksy tunes. He also offers his classical guitar EP for free download. In fact each track brings out a different edge in its composition style, all infinitely beautiful and never falling into the pit of blatant experimentation.

You end up being more in awe when you realize this is the result of a one man band, not only in terms of composing music displaying a multitude of styles and playing the very many instruments himself, but also in recording and engineering the albums himself. The production quality does not suffer in the process and we have with us a solo effort that will serve as a much needed stimulation for aspiring musicians to…well…just do their thing!

Do drop by his website NOW… http://www.steveunruh.com .Please!

'Beam'ing Up! - A review of In the Reins by Iron & Wine/Calexico -

2006-08-19T13:31:00.000+05:30

At the expense of sounding like a stuck-up record, I have to reiterate - one of the most wonderful music of late (in the midst of that deluge of new music that has left me gasping) comes courtesy one Sam Beam - an American singer/songwriter who goes under the stage name of Iron & Wine. One look at his discography reveals more EPs than full length albums and I don't see how that's bad as long as there is enough good music being produced one way or the other. His 2005 collaboration with the 'alternative country' band Calexico entitled "In the Reins" can only be described as a beautifully strung concoction of moody, haunting and graceful tracks written and sung by Mr. Beam with Joey Burns and John Convertino of Calexico serving as the back-up band.

Come to think of it, Iron & Wine and Calexico have, in terms of genre spread and artistic capabilities, all the ingredients, if combined in right proportions and in the right manner, to deliver a sound, which is eclectic and entertaining. And they have done just that in "In the Reins". It is an intelligently thought-of and executed arrangement combining Iron & Wine's traditional melodies, poignantly sublime feel and lyrical beauties with Calexico's novel instrumental sounds and diverse orchestral support. The result is a heady mix of these 7 tracks :

1."He Lays in the Reins" – (3:43)
2."Prison on Route 41" – (4:10)
3."A History of Lovers" – (3:09)
4."Red Dust" – (3:31)
5."16, Maybe Less" – (4:49)
6."Burn That Broken Bed" – (5:06)
7."Dead Man's Will" – (3:13)

A multitude of sounds greet you in the different tracks while still preserving the essential feel of the emotionally aching mood, woven out by Iron & Wine's breathy vocals and divine harmonies. Whether it is the bluesy trumpets beginning, backing and ending (with an instrumental rampage) in "Burn that Broken Road" or the horns and the lively drum beats propelling and inspiring the vibrant sounds of "A history of lovers" (incidentally two of my favorite tracks in the EP), there are ample occasions where you can clearly see that sometimes 1 plus 1 equals 3. Complimenting styles and approaches is what makes or break a collaborative effort and both the outfits seem to have taken the strength of the other band to explore and create music that they would have been unsuccessful to do on their own. There might be a wee bit of an monotone created by the rather subdued aura of the tracks "Red Dust" and "16,maybe less" being put back to back, but they sort of grow on you and remind you that this is one of the reasons why you actually adore Iron and Wine. "Dead Man's Will" dishes out a very different and soothing vocal arrangement, which stays with you even after the record has stopped playing.

All in all, while this album has done all it can do to appease my appetite for Sam Beam's wonderful music, it has also simultaneaouly inculcated a thirst for digesting more of this man's work. As for Calexico, this album was my introduction to their world of desert/southern rock. From whatever I have heard, I would love to see how they sound minus Mr. Beam.

If you feel convinced that you should give Iron & Wine a listen, you can do here . A track called Jesus - The Mexican Boy, which is not out of "In the Reins", but is a fantastic way to discover Iron & Wine. Do drop a line to let me know what you thought of it.

To the Tune of ...."Make Some Room...(in my CD shelf)"

2006-08-11T17:47:00.000+05:30

It's been a good past few days for me, if the album acquisitions listed below is anything to go by.

A review or two can be in store soon...But that's when I get myself hooked onto these trips...Currently I am still riding on the high of pocketing these awesome albums :)

1. Iron and Wine/Calexico - In the Reins (If you notice a pattern, Mr. Sam Beam a.k.a Iron & Wine is topping any list I have been making of late and that's no coincidence! This is his 2005 E.P along with the American band Calexico with an eclectic Southern sound )

2. The Ramones - Greatest Hits (Yeah, yeah, I know...A compilation and all..But hell, this was just the refresher I needed considering I haven't given them a listen in a loooong time)

3. Thom Yorke - The Eraser(The debut solo album of the Radiohead frontman, released recently)

4. Phoenix - It's never been like that ( Imagine my surprise finding these guys on the shelves of Planet-M..Their third and most recent studio album..)

5. Caravan - In the land of grey and pink (Well, what can I say...One of ze best prog albums EVER! I am just ecstactic that this is gracing the racks at my home now :)

(The rest of the stuff are thanks to Narendra...Thanks a heap dude! I owe you and I owe you big!)

6. Pineapple Thief - Variations on a Dream

7. Shadow Gallery
- Carved in Stone
- Legacy
- Room V
- Tyranny

8. Pain of Salvation
- Entropia
- One Hour by the Concrete Lake
- Remedy Lane
- The Perfect Element I

9 Symphony X
- The Damnation Game
- The Divine Wings of Tragedy
- The Odyssey
- Twilight in Olympus
- V - the new mythology suite
- Miscellaneous stuff

10. Fate's Warning - Misc ( I luuuurrvvvveee this band!)

11. Gentle Giant
- Acquiring the Taste
- Octopus

12. King Crimson (Hell yeah!)
- Islands
- Larks Tongues in Aspic
- Starless and Bible Black
- In the Wake of Poseidon
- Three of a Perfect Pair
- Lizard

13. Procol Harum
- Greatest Hits

14. The Moody Blues
- In search of the lost chord
- Long Distance Voyager Album
- Seventh Sojourn Album

15. Prog Stuff - Miscellaneous Singles/Tracks by Spock's Beard, the Flower Kings, Van der Graaf Generator, Pendagron etc)

16. Uriah Heep - Best of

17. Tanita Tikaram - Ancient Heart

18. The best jazz album of the world Parts 1 & 2 (Cheeky Name of a compilation..But some very enjoyable stuff)

I wonder when I will be able to give these...But then again, I do have three full days of the sun (hope, hope, hope ), the sea and the sands awaiting me at Goa!! Ray Alder, Jim Matheos and Co served with prawns and Kings Beer...Sounds like a delicacy to me !!

First Picks

2006-08-03T19:48:00.000+05:30

A gut-wrenchingly long period without access to the Internet at work.....An absolute lack of will for setting up a network at home....a few great reads including the “The Dwarfs” by Harold Pinter, the first called "Utterly Monkey" by Nick Laird and the an old favorite,English, August....Heaven-knows-how-many packs of smokes....And yeah, lest I forget, W.O.R.K.....

I am never at loss when it comes to excuses for a hiatus....But it wasn't
all that bad as I make it sound it to be...I guess I need to shake up
things now and then, in my own initimably half assed way.....Sure, that old
rigmarole called life ain't gonna change drastically by any of these
moves...But at least I can claim I tried!

Anyway, today I was at it again! Creating a new playlist of some totally unrelated tracks bound together in my head due to some weird reason....One day, I will write about some of these playlists - The set list if someone were to conjure up
(sighhh...) a gig dedicated to me, Tracks that are remnants of
childhood/early adolescence memories, Songs that make me wanna
scream/squeal/yelp or just plain sing loudly along, Best opening tracks of
albums...Bleh!

Today's creation is entitled - First picks. It essentially is comprised of
that one song you queue up first out of an album to listen. For e.g - If I
am thinking I am in the mood to spin "Night Ride Home" by Joni Mitchell - I
probably think of ‘Everything for Nothing/The Windfall’ as the first song
option......If I were to "In the Court of the Crimson King" (What an
album!!), I would hop, skip and jump...or more appropriately just skip to
"I talk to the wind"....Or if it is "White Light/White Heat" (the album)
time, then...err...it is what it is.... "White Light/White Heat" (the
song)…

So along similar lines, here is the track list out of albums which have
been on the replay mode for the past few weeks:

"Such great heights" by Iron & Wine - part of the Original Sound Track
to Garden State - the motion picture.

Honestly, this was my first real exposure to this incredible band. I
have heard them before, of course, but as part of some online radio
casts...But never had steady access to their stuff...Actually, still
don't...Nevertheless, an amazing track almost inspiring an immediate
romanticism of subtle happiness...so much better and different from all
the hours of blatant indifference and the ever-evasive over-the-board
ecstatic joy...It has the most calming of acoustic intros so much so that
if you are still reeling from the vocal rampage that Geoff Tate unleashes
in "Take Hold of the Flame", you would settle down to this serene mood, at
the drop of the hat!! This mood continues throughout the track....Great
songwriting too - The chorus goes like this - "They will see us waving from
Such Great Heights...Come down now...They'll say.....But everything looks
perfect from faraway...Come down now...But we'll stay"

Oh yeah, somehow I can never add this track to the "Sing along"
List....Sometimes, you just want to let it be that way, I guess!

"Psychobabble" by Frou Frou - out of "Details"

Well, what can I say about Lady Heap?! The entire album is a piece of
contemporary art...And Trust me, the song title is nothing to go by! If it
is, this is one babble I wouldn't mind listening over and over again...She
weaves absolute magic with her voice and Guy Sigsworth creates a brilliant
soundscape with the song's orchestral support structure...

"Rider on the Wheel" by Nick Drake - out of "Made to Love Magic"

It is hard to miss this track on this album, notwithstanding the fact that
it is the first track of the album...Not taking away anything from the rest
of the tracks, there is something about the way that Nick Drake starts out
"Now you know my name...But I don't feel the same...But I ain't gonna
blame..the rider on the wheel" which is quite bewitching...Maybe it is just
me, or maybe you can't be without liking this man's music....

"New York State of Mind" by Billy Joel – The Essential Billy Joel Collection (originally of Turnstiles, his 1976 album)

Don't get me started on how I got around to listening to Mr. Joel out of
nowhere...But yeah, for all the known reasons, this is quite a
favorite...Somehow takes you on to that long cab ride over the Hudson River
at midnight....No, I haven't been there, done that...So it is all the more
bizarre as to how that mood comes about...In any case, the thought of Billy
Joel's music somehow takes me first to this track for me.

"Volcano - 97 demo" by Damien Rice - B sides
As I had stated in my review of the album, somehow this song is an
all-encompassing indication of the potential that Damien Rice possesses. I
haven't still able to ascertain whether I would have had the same thought
had I listened to this demo, without having listened to the version that is
part of "O". But yeah, its appeal lies in the way it is
sorta...well….naked....both in its uncut quality (or the lack of it) and
the rawness and honest emotion in Rice's voice.

Like I said, these are the tracks figure in the list of recent first picks
out of albums, mostly because I have been listening to most of these albums
of late. There is some new music that I am still getting used and I guess I
just need to keep revisiting and revising this playlist now and then...

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

2006-07-12T14:31:00.000+05:30

Syd Barrett died on Friday at the age of 60. May his soul finally find peace.

Tanita Tikaram - An Introduction

2006-06-27T10:21:00.000+05:30

This is a rehash of an old post in my blog but since I keep raving about Tanita so much, I thought I'd spread the light around...do check her music out and let me know...

Tanita who? Tikaram??? Sure, I don’t expect you to instantly recognize this name like Britney Spears or JLo. But behind this exotic name is an equally exotic persona that stands for deep lyrics, haunting melodies and a heavenly voice.

Tanita was born to a Fiji-Indian father and a Malaysian mother. Her father was in the British army posted in Germany. Music was an integral part of her family and she grew up on a staple diet of Soul and Country music of the ‘70s. When she was twelve, her family moved to England. Not able to adjust to the change in her surroundings, Tanita took solace in music. By time she turned sixteen, she was writing her own songs.

After school, Tanita took up a day job to finance her demo tape which found its way to Paul Charles, a noted promoter who is also a well known novelist now. Paul saw Tanita perform at a local night in London and immediately signed her up. In the summer of 1988, she released her first single 'Good Tradition' which climbed to the top ten. This was followed by a full length album Ancient Heart. The album, dipped in Jazz influences, had a long list of noted musicians contributing to it, most notably Rod Argent (of Argent) and Peter Van Hooke (of Mike + the Mechanics) who also produced this album. The album was an instant success selling over 4 million copies around the world and launching her into instant fame. Tanita was only eighteen then. Ancient Heart, also considered her best effort, gave the world 'Twist in My Sobriety', a classic that singularly catapulted her into greatness. This deep haunting song still remains a firm favorite among her fans.

Her next two albums, The Sweet Keeper and Everybody's Angel, firmly established Tanita as a singer/songwriter par excellence. She began her career as a producer with her 1992 release Eleven Kinds of Loneliness. She was soon a much sought after collaborator, working on several high profile projects including one for BBC. Her busy schedule restricted her live performance but she kept releasing albums at regular intervals. Each exploring new depths of human emotion and intellect. Sentimental, released early this year, is her sixth studio album after a long break of 7 years. Her last album was Cappuccino Songs release in 1998.

Over the years Tanita Tikaram has consolidated her reputation as a performer with immense talent and capability with a devout and loyal fan following. Her music is not for the casual ear, it requires dedicated listening and an inclination towards intelligent Jazz oriented music. If you are looking for music to soothe you and stimulate you at the same time, you may want to pick up an album from this incredible artiste. Start with Ancient Heart and work up to other albums chronologically, that is the only way to absorb her music as it grew and matured over the years.

Discography

Ancient Heart (1988)
The Sweet Keeper (1990)
Everybody's Angel (1991)
Eleven Kinds Of Loneliness (1992)
Lovers In The City (1995)
Songs From An Invisible Woman (1995)
The Best of Tanita Tikaram (1996)
The Cappuccino Songs (1998)
Sentimental (2005)

Get the complete discography here
Tanita Tikaram's official website

Damien Rice - B-sides - A Review

2006-06-08T13:30:00.000+05:30

When do you think an artiste should release a B-sides album?

Going by the usual norms and of course, wiki, it is mostly when
A) An artiste wants to release an alternative version to the popular tracks of their A-side album – Remember the Michael Kamen & San Francisco Symphony backed version of ‘Nothing Else Matters’ and other tracks of theirs in their S & M album
B) He/she/they can’t fit in a few tracks because …well… they just don’t fit!! Stylistically, conceptually, thematically …Whatever be the reason, they just don’t go with the other tracks in the album
C) The tracks are just plain not good enough to be part of a full length album. Sure, at some point of time, when you garner some amount of fame and fan following – you can release these tracks as part of a rarities collection and get away with it.

Now to my second question, is there a right time to bring out a B-side album? In the sense.. at what point of time in the career of an artiste should he/she/they bring out an album?

I do believe that a whole lot of time should be spent in putting together a B-side album. If strategically placed, positioned and produced, it can work wonders for an artiste. Having said that, this aspect is nowhere as relevant as the quality of tracks which is going to constitute to the B-side album. Case in point – Gloria Gaynor ‘s breakaway disco hit – ‘I will survive’ – was originally a B-side to the supposedly ‘radio-friendly’ A-side song called Substitute. We all know what became of that!

So going by this logic, is it justified that one of the most promising singer/song-writers and one of the most haunting voices to reckon with in the recent times , releases a B-side before he brings out a much anticipated sequel to his sensational debut album? Or is it just a ploy to keep his legion of astounded critics and rapidly growing fan base at check so that he can buy time to follow-up the tall order that he has set? Or much much worse….is he just a one hit wonder?

Yes, folks, I am talking about Damien Rice. His debut album “O” has brought even me, who is a couple of decades behind in her folk singing music, to her feet. It brought with it a lot of hope regarding the music of the current era. His songwriting style was intensely personal and hence emotional and his voice incredibly raw, impeccably honest and extraordinarily powerful. A popmatters review says this about Rice’s first album –

“O was a triumph of the songwriter's craft, and anyone who found themselves lost in the tumult of a failing relationship last year, locked indoors with O on repeat for an endless successions of days, will likely side with me on this. O took an eternal and over-burdened theme -- love gone sour -- and made of it something fresh, something at once pared-down, simple, and yet emotionally complex. With this work, Rice added a page to the catalogue of romantic despair, creating a new, present-day Blue.”

A present day Blue? Now, normally I would have cringed at a comparison like that. But I am totally smitten by this man's music….and how! If you haven’t checked out “O”, please do so. It is my most humble and ardent plea! Please!

Now – coming to his second album – B-sides. Well, the good part first – I do believe there are traces of the emotional upheaval that he inspires due to his expressive voice. The opening track “ The Professor and La Fille Danse” has flashes of his angst-infused brilliance and but overall, it still lacks a grasping force, which I have come to expect out of any of Rice’s works. His song-writing luster suffers a setback a great bit here and gets worse through the course of the album. This song is devoid of Lisa Hannigan’s backings, but does have some random scatting and French verses which I tried to decipher with my rusted high school French, but in vain. The original demo of "Lonelily", which ensues, does not any real energy, unlike the next track, the live and unplugged version of “Woman Like a Man”. But for me, trying to express the rage and resentment theme through coarse language did not work for me. It is almost as if he wanted to keep the anger factor making up for a really crappy track. "Moody Monday" is off-beat in a reflective sort of way and might be worth a few rounds of listen. What then follows are four alternative versions of his A-side tracks – A live version of “Delicate”, an instrumental rendition of “Volcano” trailed by an original demo of the song, before ending with a remix of “Cannonball”. All of these are not distinctly different from their excellent “O” versions – and on an average, not worth album space. Out of this, the 97 demo of ‘Volcano' probably qualifies as my favorite piece of their otherwise very ordinary and quite avoidable album. Now, whether this version appeals to me because of the familiarity aspect (considering I have played it umpteen times as part of “O”) or whether it , any which ways, has that magnetically alluring pull – I do not know. But the delicately emotional overture of the song and the unabatedly evident flair of the songwriter is very stark in this track. And somehow this feeling is the biggest takeaway from the album, as far as I am concerned. It somehow leaves me with something to hold onto – something that reassures me that such not so easily found brilliance cannot die a quick death – something that makes me hopeful for his next release.

Half of the album dedicated to not-so-mentionable b-sides and the other half to even less mentionable different versions of original tracks - It is no rocket science that this is not a recipe of a sure shot record success. I would have rather waited for a half a dozen years before his next album – than having to be exposed to the commonplace compositions of a potentially great musician.

On a not so arbid note....

2006-06-07T18:42:00.000+05:30

This is one review you just have to read.

http://blogs.epicindia.com/leapinthedark/2006/06/
cd_review_double_dynamite_sam.html

NP : Place to be - by Nick Drake from the album Pink Moon

On a totally arbid note...

2006-06-07T14:17:00.000+05:30

Caught up with the video premiere of " I will follow you into the dark" out of Death Cab for Cutie's album 'Plans'. This one's directed by Jamie Thraves, the same dude who directed Coldplay's 'The Scientist'. Nice one this....

I gotta say - IMO, Death Cab has given one of the catchiest line in a long long time - y'know, the sorts that immediately put a smile on your face that somebody can get away with something like that.. It goes something like "You are so cute when you are slurring your speech..." (Okay okay..so go ahead and judge me! Boo!)

Damn, if I had a nickel for everytime somebody can use a line like that and not get a reaction like the one on your face right now! :P

NP : Take me back - The Vines from the album "Vision Valley"

Gig Review - Taxiride @ Velocity

2006-06-03T16:28:00.000+05:30

With Mr. Monsoon tucking himself blissfully in the clouds, I was thankful for an equally blissful evening minus the soggy shoes and the disheveled hair on the first evening of June. After gorging ourselves with the divine Noorani butter chicken (have to admit the divinity was to a certain extent caused by my wallet being spared of a strip-tease session :D), me and the-artist-formerly-known-as-the-vocalist-of-Sledgehammer headed our way through the red carpet. Now agreed, we are not your average red carpet material, but hey – this ain’t no average red carpet. For one, it made its way through the ground floor of a dilapidated building in the middle of Tardeo and during the course of the few yards that it was spread over, it presented us with a glimpse through translucent doors to the ghastly world of the living zombies. No, no – we didn’t sign on any ride through some simulated Horror House thingie- That probably measures nowhere near as scary as the sight of the graveyard shift team making up the back office call center for some shoe company in Wisconsin. Yanyway, the point to be noted is the weird setting of the once-happening club in Bombay. Two storeys up – we are there, almost on time – 10.30 to be precise.

The place was pretty packed there when we got there – almost armed to the brim with a predictable blend of people considering the music/band at hand – 1. The omnipresent Poseurs – who can be caricatured on a average as Limp Bizkit Tee clad high-schoolers, trying desperately to sport Newsted-ish goatees, as if to announce vehemently that they have indeed crossed puberty 2. The disc-hopping “I-bet-Taxiride-is-a-once-were-boyband” dhinchik crowd playing peek-a-boo(b) in halter tops, bought with that allowance that Daddy gave them 3. The rollicking expats hoping to do a l’il Melbourne in Mumbai (uuuggghhh..that name!) – they possibly would have been the only category of people hitting the bar (Safe bet – don’tcha think? The first set of people are probably broke enough to count the chillars for the train ticket back home, And the second lot wouldn’t want the extra 10 calories that their Breezer would contribute to their 24 size waist..) and of course...4. The “remind-me-once-again-as-to-why-we-are-here” folks – which I would like to think comprised of only the two of us!! (Thank God for that gift called blatant categorization, eh?..)

Now, moving to the actual gig – we nudged past the aforementioned ( :D) set of people to get a coupla spots near the stage. I soon found myself in the best seat in the house – on the stage! Yeah – there was a small projection to the main part of the stage to the right – they had luckily placed the monitor a little ahead, giving me just enough and more room to rest my ass. The DJ, right now, was spinning the usual suspects for filler tracks at a rock gig – generous sprinklings of RHCP, Nirvana and the likes. You get the picture.

The speakers then blared an announcement, that I had been dying to hear – that Taxiride would be up first (And that I didn’t have to endure a full set list of Pentagram first…).

And then they got on stage – the lads from down under. They opened the set list with “O yeah” – which has consumed enough air share (on VH1) and hence ear share of the audience. We were hooked on from the word go – the attitude of everyone on stage was extremely casual – that in no way means, that they were slack. They were relaxed and at ease. We sorta joined in on the fun cooing along the chorus and for most parts the actual verses of the track too. What struck me immediately was the fact that the stark contrast in my perception of their music when seeing them alive as against hearing their record. I had totally thrashed their album (you can read it here ), but I gotta say – they have to be given at least some credit. True it isn’t some earth shattering stuff and what’s more true – I will probably not be a regular at spinning their record – But that’s only because their music is not the kinds which are right up my alley. These guys were very tight – they worked within their scope of the musical territory and they were actually good. What sounds as simple and commercialized pop-rock turned out to be a quite complicated conjugation of some solid bass grooves, some intense drumming and some brilliant stuff on the guitars both by the lead guitarist (Tim, I guess his name is..) and Jason Singh – not to mention the quintessential harmonies forming the backbone.

They were probably quite pleased at the kind of sing alongs that the track “O yeah” received. They launched into some tracks of theirs – most of it I hadn’t heard before, considering I just own Axiomatic. The tracks out of Axiomatic that they did play and which I did manage to recognize were – everything + nothing, (possibly the pick out of the CD for me)stone etc. Jason did utter some niceties on him coming back home or half home or whatever, on India and Bombay ete etc. Bleh! It was quite lost on us actually – possibly because either I was exchanging notes with the boyfriend character about their tracks or I was little distracted by the antics of the aunties standing next to me or I was much more distracted by that dude of a bassy that they have. (I was sitting right under his nose – I think I manage to extract a couple of smiles from him…Okay, okay – I did say “I think”!!!).

They also happened to catch themselves on the mounted TVs thanks to the marketing whiz kids at VH1 and Jason acted quite surprised by it. If only he knew that their two singles out of Axiomatic have, in all likelihood, been aired much more in the past few months than all the music videos of the all the other Australian rock bands put together…(Actually, maybe we should leave INXS out.. I do remember the repeated show casts of one of their singles when the band was making fools of themselves on that vocalist casting show..). He, half-rhetorically, questioned whether we have seen their new single – "What can I say?" Boy! Have we?! Anyway, what ensued was another round of karaoking with the stars – which seemed to get the band quite enthused. They did a coupla tracks after that and before we know it, the intros of the band are going around and they are walking off stage!!! I joined in on the naatak of the “one more” chants – except that it turned out to be a collective half whimper. The guys returned though – visibly embarrassed for having to go along with this ridiculously mundane tactic. This time, I felt I owed them a proper encore/track request – so I did belch out one of the tracks that I do remember out of their album. But they would mostly mistaken that for another “woohoo” from my end. I did a lot of that during the evening – consolidating my position as first-liner!!

As for the story of my crush on Jason Singh, that predictably came to a screeching halt. My first impression of him when he walked out on stage was that he looked like an un-bloated version of that dude Sanjeev Kumar (out of the Kumars at No.42). Your next door Punjabi Munda kinds – with the gelled hair combed back and with not a hair out of place, adorning one of those V-neckers showing the cleavage of his clean shaved chest. So I shifted gaze and base to the bassy – one of those rugged rugby playing types with curly locks and all. Didn’t quite get his name though and the internet also seems to be dry regarding the band and their background. In any case – Jason was actually very good as a vocalist and did put up fantastic show. (I did manage to draw his attention for a fleeting moment during the course of a track and got a very cute smile as an acknowledgement). The drummer, who I did not pay much attention to, was pretty amazing and that’s the least that can be said of the lead guitarist. T

he one thing that appealed to me the most about the band was the fact they seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves. There was no rockstar attitude bullshit, no barefaced attempts at telling us to go pick up their albums, no over-the-top “I love this country” stuff . They were constantly talking to each other and having fun during the entire gig. And this was very infectious on us too!

The evening took on an bipolar turn when the Dadlani dude came out with the rest of his Pentagram Puppets. Dressed in a doctor coat proclaiming “Youth for equality” and the clenched fist symbol, his stage act was filled with a anti-reservation message manifesto that turned out to be quite hilarious. Wouldn’t you also wanna laugh when a being reminiscent of a full grown gorilla appeals to young monkey zombies by uttering some profanities about the political parties? They did pass out a subscription form for supporting this cause, which took the comic quotient up by a notch. We decided it ain’t worth to stick around and then end up paying a fortune in cab fare. So we left and caught the 12.42 back home.

All in all...quite a memorable evening!

MP3 Audio - New and Improved?

2006-05-29T16:17:00.000+05:30

Okay...so here is apparently the next giant leap in digital music. Compaxx claims to have developed an MP3 compression technique that preserves the audio quality, in fact enhances it! According to Compaxx -

"Compaxx post-processing utilizes sophisticated forensic audio techniques to restore and embed vital harmonic and spatial data actually resident within extant CD recordings, but currently indecipherable on even the best of today’s high-end stereo equipment."

Hmmm...interesting! But what they say they do to restore the audio quality sounds like steroids to me.

To prove their point, they have provided audio samples of CD quality MP3 (lossless rips I presume) and the corresponding Compaxx MP3 clips spanning accross various genre. I checked out their stuff using a few of their samples. The file size of both the version are almost the same. The Compaxx versions were generally a little louder at the same volume level (though they do mention that the volumes have been normalized). This could also be the reason they seemed to be a little more revealing. The spatial imaging seemed clearer in them. The bass seemed more well defined though some of the low freqs tended to sustain longer. There was some background noise in a couple of the tracks (most evident in The Nutcracker) but maybe that is the indecipherable data they are talking about ;)

Compaxx recommends the use of A 3-piece-or-better multimedia speaker set to listen to the samples. I used my Sony MDR-W014 Lightweight Sports Stereo Headphones. The tracks were played using Winamp 5.2 with flat tone settings.

The Compaxx versions do seem to be much clearer and richer in their quality though I am still a little concerned about maintaining the naturality of the recording. Their restoration and enhancement process may introduce some unnatural elements, its digital logic after all. Performance enhancing steriods! But this was not very evident in the sample tracks I checked out, only the CCR track seemed pumped up. In a nutshell, from what I experienced, it definitely seems to be an advancement on the digitally compressed audio. So finally we may get the hard core audiophiles and analog lovers in the same fold as the download-and-burn gang.

The tracks I compared with:

King Crimson - Cat's in the cradle (I didn't know that they have also covered this. Didn't sound like them either)

Floyd - Another brick 2

CCR - Fortunate Son

Vivaldi - Four Seasons, Autumn allegro

Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker

Check them out here

The Clown Princes of Rock 'n' Roll

2006-05-24T13:51:00.000+05:30

Now, I haven't given my punting skills a fair try of late, but am willing to bet that you would have a few tapes tucked away in the attic, amassing its thirteenth layer of dust, cobwebs and for all you know, producing diminutive organisms of some new kind. These tapes probably holds the key to a significant part of your childhood, which is etched far down in the regresses of your memory. Most of my formative years were spent trying to sneak some access to a contraption of a deck, proclaimed to be the sole property of my big burly older brother. Hands have been slapped away and many a kickboxing matches have been fought for this cause, which apart from having the selfish motto of inculculating a "don't-take-your-kid-sister-for-granted" message in my brother, also had an altruistic factor of kneading some good music taste to the family, otherwise overwhelmingly obsessed with shoddy southern musicals. Those few times, when such good intentions have triumphed (mostly due to the easy effort of conjuring up wicked stories about my uncaring sibling , while welling up a few crocodile tears in front of my parents) have been spent in rewinding tracks which, while giving you well-rounded introductions to some amazing bands, also let you be what you are - a wide-eyed kid enchanted with the sound of rock n' roll.

A couple of such F.U.N tracks are - "Boris the Spider" - from the The Who's second studio album - A Quick One (This was also the first track penned by John Entwistle for the band) , "The Gnome" from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn by the incomparable Syd Barrett-led Pink Floyd (In fact, there are other tracks such as Bike, The Scarecrow etc which can be added to this list!).
And to a certain extent, there was also a fun element to the strange " I am the Walrus" from the Magical Mystery Tour album of the Beatles . Now..I did not come across, "Charlie Brown" by Carl Gardner and the Coasters till a year or two back, but I don't need the entire ensemble of pigtails and the bicycles mounted with flower baskets (for the record, both these did NOT form part of my childhood!!) etc to enjoy a track like this :) And I am guessing, you don't need those things too! (Unless you happen to be 12 and you are a girl - then maybe you should consider it. I am sure you already have - what with all the peer pressure and all;))

Yeeenyway, here is a link to sample this track. The site automatically plays this track and you also have an option of downloading the sample. If you haven't heard these "clown princes of rock 'n' roll"….then...

You ain't gonna rock and roll no more
Yakety yak (don't talk back)...
yakety yak

NP : Tim Dooley by The Kingston Trio (1958)

Feel that jumpin beat....git up on your feet...

2006-05-17T12:57:00.000+05:30

Listen everybody let me tell you bout the rock n roll
Feel that rhythm and its really gonna thrill your soul

NP : ELO - Rock 'n' Roll is King

It's not too often that you go through the mid afternoon on a mid week on such a happy note. This track never fails to do that to my mood.I swear, when I hear 'em sing "She says feel that jumpin beat, and git up on your feet", it's as if they are reading my mind and singin' what am thinkin'...

As if..*sigh*...

She rolled over beethoven and she gave tchaikovsky back
She loves that drivin beat, she goes dancin on down the street
She said rock n roll is king

Next Change : Big Star - When My Baby's Beside Me
Next next change : Blue Öyster Cult - This Ain't The Summer Of Love

How Krithika Kalyan got a crush, got a CD and got a headache..

2006-05-15T18:38:00.000+05:30

Voggggay so...All apologies and more to that oh-so-cliched take on what has become the most infamous title of sorts. But at least, let me find some solace in the fact that I didn't let the title act as a spoiler to what is going to follow. (I mean seriously...How come half the literate world finds a book with a title summing up the entire plot in three phrases enticing enough to go and pick it up and compare note to note to more pulpy trash of similar kinds?!)

Anyway, I counted on the curiosity factor not being much of..err..a factor..Unless, you are one of the three people who visit this blog (thanks largely due to about two dozens promised and unfulfilled favors from my end..), you have no idea of how those dissociate lines have been strung together to form an excuse for a post!

So yeah...the prequel to this epic tale can be found here...Sunday saw me cut short my normalcy routine of two hours at the Barista near home with two expressos and a strong cappuchino over the Sunday times + my latest Crossword acquisition with Ethan Daniel Davidson's This machine kills fascists spinnin' alongside.... I dropped a few sweats on my way to the Planet-M store..After talking american folk of The Band kinds with one of the dudes minding the shelves there, I shrugged the thought of picking up a Strawbs' album away and went ahead with the original idea of picking up the latest album of Taxiride called Axiomatic (all the while, giving a very apologetic smile, which probably came out sheepish. to Mr. Folk - Don't think that was good enough judging from incredulous look he gave me when I went onto bill the Taxiride CD)..

I wallowed deeper in that horrible monster that has overtaken my senses (otherwise known as my crush on Jason Singh), breathed heavily when I tore open the CD cover ( dont even get me started on 'em wretched plastic sheets!!) all the while appealing quite loudly for a half page solo shot of Jason as the centrespread of the CD inlay..All I got was a few pages of some very sadly concocted colors spewing out a few lines outta each song. I recoiled in disgust when I realized these were actually the lyrics to the chorus bit of each song. And no....Just to clarify, I haven't even BEGIN to read the verses.....It is appalling enough that a band glorifies the least significant part of a song and wastes about a dozen pages on it..Again as a clarification - if there is one thing that is etched very clearly on my head is that a chorus is the last thing you want the audience to judge your song by...Most of the music I listen to can be categorized as prog or singer/songwriters...As for the former, well - the chorus bit has almost zilch importance, given the experimentative nature of the genre...And the folk singers - there are much more beautiful parts of their music than the chorus bit...

Now..I would have ideally liked to say that there is more to their songs than what met the eye in the inlay...Sadly and quite predictably, such good things do not happen to me...I couldn't get myself through a length of the CD to at least attempt at rethinking my initial impression ..Not even half a micron inch of the entire CD gave me that chance...My thoughts, in actuality, fluctuated between whether to bawl in pain, when Jason hit the lower notes on the mellow moments of the tracks or whether to snore heavily through my flared up nostrils, when he stuck to maintaining the norm of 80% of the song being supported by backing vocals...And not to mention, the utter pointlessness of listing out eleven tracks and giving them one imbeclic name after the other - everything anyway sounded as part of one continous snooze fest accentuated on a single note...

So I have reclined to the fact that I would need to put the TV on mute everytime I watch their oft-repeated tracks of the band...So what if he isn't good on the ears - I will just let Jason Singh be the sight to the sore eyes!

Taxiride on June 1st.....

2006-05-13T12:59:00.000+05:30

So what's so great about a bunch of dudes with bad hairdos from downunder claiming to make not-so-alternative-and-but-definitely-not-pop music coming to India? That they occupy just under a dozen hours of TV space every day on VH1? (But then again, so does fifdy cent) That they have apparently have gone platinum in Australia with their second album, Garage Mahal? (but then again, probably so will Kevin Federline..) That they had once snared the Best New Artist tag at the Aria awards? (but then again...........well, actually...errrr... I don't have any argument against that...but still *yawwwnnn*)...

Forget all this and the fact that I quite liked (and sang along a bit) the two singles that I have heard of the band - "oh yeah" and "What can I say"? And also that I will probably pick up their third album, "Axiomatic" (mostly because Planet-M is throwing it away at 199 bucks :D)! Heck, the vocalist Jason Singh is hot!! Now there is probably a VERY strong likelihood that this opinion will change after I get to see him live at what will be a bad gig....But let me hang onto that not-so-common musician crush of mine for just a wee bit longer...Till June 1st at least!

And just in case I haven't made myself clear, JASON SINGH IS HOOOOOTTTTTT!!

All that Yahooin'....

2006-05-11T12:14:00.000+05:30

My Launchcast station has been uncharacteristically nice and friendly to me this morning, judging from the number of times I have used the skip track option. I probably have one of the weirdest amalgamation of artistes and genre performances, but today it seems to have magically turned into a DJ who has some sorta telepathic connection with that demanding audience called my head. The list reads something like this:

Elliott Smith – Angeles - Just when I was thinking whether it was a good eye to put the plugs on at 10.30 in the morning on the official mid week blues day, the familiar sound of Mr. Smith comes emanating.

Damien Rice – Amie - Off to a good start and folksy is the mood of the day, I figure...If that's the sort of the mood, a track out "O" is best gift I can hope for..

Spock's Beard - Long Time Suffering - You would think this would be upsetting the folk-thirsty head, but wait a second, this is the Morse men we are talking about. Out go the acoustic riffs and in comes....well...the so close to heart beardsy stuff...Arguably mr favorite track out of the album 'Snow'....In other words, well worthy of the "can't get enough of" tag :D

Dream Theater - New Millennium - At the core of any prog rock fan's heart is some space created for the earlier albums of the Dream Theater kinds...Sure this space has been crushed to bare minimum, thanks majorly to disaster of follow up albums, but that l'il space in micron metres still announces its presence from time to time...

Queensrÿche - 9:28 A.M. - Now, I would have ideally wanted some another track out of 'Promised Land', but hell, I am thinking - you can't really say no to Queensryche on any given day and time...

Slowdive - Machine Gun - Okay so, I would have normally expected a Black Light Syndrome track to come crashing in and forcing me to make a desperate grab for my mouse to go track skippin' again (I like these guys on prog friendly days, but somehow they are spun a little too frequently on Launch)...Anyway, they surprise me by appeasing my "queensryche is a tough act to follow" thought and appealing to my introspective senses...Slowdive - a band I haven't heard too much of, but have heard just enough to have given a four star rating :D

Blackfield - Summer - After anything out of the shoegazing genre, it will be a disaster to switch to distortion mood...So am thinking a wee bit of distinct eclectic stuff will do me good...And then it is "summer" time...

Porcupine Tree - The Sound Of Muzak - Now that the earlier track has got me thinking about how I haven't heard enough of Steven Wilson, they give me the perfect prescription...

Hear the sound of music
Drifting in the aisles
Elevator prozac
Stretching on for miles

My day's done, I am thinking...But hey there's more...

Enchant - East Of Eden
Thievery Corporation – Interlude
Belle & Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap
My Bloody Valentine - Soon

Now Playing : Faded from the Winter out of the album "The Creek who drank the Cradle" by Iron & Wine

GIR X

2006-05-04T12:35:00.000+05:30

"Aren't you a little old for this?" asked my friend as I picked up the RSJ issue with the GIR 10 CD. I thought for a while and replied, "No!” It’s hard to come up with a clever comeback every time you're asked this question.

I picked up the issue coz I wanted to check out the GIR bands. This year's CD featured 12 bands mainly from Delhi and Mumbai with a bunch from all over the place. What struck me immediately was the maturity of the compositions and the quality of arrangements and production. If you compare it with the quality of the first GIR record, the improvement was very evident.

The CD opens with The Superfuzz from Delhi with a laid back funkish groove that set the mood for the other songs that followed. The style varies from there to nu metal to death and what have you. The mix of styles showcases the wide variety of talent in our country just waiting to be unleashed. Thanks to ventures like GIR, the reach of these bands have extended well beyond college shows. The song that really caught my attention was Delhi based Acrid Semblance's Genesis. A power-packed, aggressive metal track that has a very melodious foundation and is arranged maturely without falling into the lets-shred-away-to-glory trap which young bands are prone to. Kolkata's Cassini's Division is probably the most mature track of the lot with a very relaxed groovy track titled Only For A While. The CD also contains a track by Demonic Resurrection from Mumbai. One of the most talked about band in recent times with their brand of 'Demonic' metal. Their composition has the best production quality with layers of melody set upon a brutal death metal riffing and atmospheric keyboards. The vox sometimes lose the centerstage though. The song, Apocalyptic Dawn also features guest appearances by stalwarts like Warren of Zero and Pervez of Shiva. DR has come a long way since the out-and-out halla of their first album. The CD ends with Magdalene from Aizwal. Their composition was the weakest of the dozen. Now, don't get me wrong here, they do display great prowess over their instruments but their songwriting and arrangement need to be tightened a bit to match up to the others in the CD.

In a nutshell, if you've ever wondered what’s up with the Indian rock scene, just check out this compilation and see for yourself that its alive and kicking really hard.

Alpha Beta Gaga

2006-04-29T15:25:00.000+05:30

Seriously, what's with French electronica-infused bands and utterly unimaginative and recklessly mundane band names? 'Air', for one...And of course 'Phoenix'! Not to mention Orange - another Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel effort, apart from Air. Maybe they should look for inspiration across the Rhine to the opposite banks which apparently is not only churning out super models and super sleek cars, but is also home to one of the bands with the most uber-cool names that I have come across in a long while - Tangerine Dream! Brings back memories of one of 'em psychedelic intoxication-induced hazes, don't it?;)

Before I start sounding like a neo Nazi, let me clarify. My exposure to the supposedly early pioneers of the Krautrock movement is restricted to few not-so-generous samples of the band's works, whereas I have had considerable amount of earshare lended to the 'Air' (waves). The first time I had heard these guys was ironically while watching the hugely entertaining video of their best known track "Playground Love", which has been featured in the sound track of Sofia Coppola's "The Virgin Suicides" (Fantastic soundtrack,although the movie was a bit of letdown, on its own rights and especially when compared to Lost in Translation). Anyway, I can probably count the number of good bands that I have chanced upon through their videos. I heard them again, this time loud and clear enough, in the soundtrack to Lost in Translation (Another brilliant OST). While the track itself called "Alone in Kyoto" would probably be not of my picks out of the soundtrack, it definitely adds a very heavy lustre to the album's mesmerizing ways, so much so that I had underlined and bolded the mental note that I had made of this band, which eventually led me to being the proud new owner of their 2004 production "Talkie Walkie".

The album begins with the idllyic sounds of Venus with its addictively naseous instrumental groove coupled with the rhythmic clapping (yes!) before soothing into the most highly-encored track, "Cherry Blossom Girl",with its heavenly flute additives and one Jessica Banks supplying the additional vocals. "Run" follows suit - Replete with hypnotically redundant vocal renditions, this song lingers in my thought long after I hear it everytime. This best characterises Air for me. The sound is so incredibly original - I probably am pleasantly taken aback by the lack of a percussion element in an musical ensemble! This track combined with the next one called "Universal Traveller" are definitely my favourites out of the album. This song has a very experimental melody pattern as its backbone, which when combined with the romantic backings and some weirdly enchanting sounds on the synthesizer, is well worth the replay button.

An instrumental is next in line - one called "Mike Mills", full of diverse sounds. "Surfing on the rocket" could possibly on some sci-fi movie, if they have the stomach of such a sound! "Another Day" is too spaced out for me, unfortunately..It seemed too much like a filler song. "Alpha Beta Gaga", another instrumental package, brings back the sublimity of the mood back...although a little fleetingly. The substitute for the chorus bit in this track tempts you to whistle along. "Biological" with its sleepy overtons has a very confusing song structure has additional vocals by Lisa Papineau,who seemingly could not shake off her very thick French accent!! As you can clearly see, The second half of the album doesn't sit down pretty well with me. And then Alone in Kyoto comes on and it is enough to pull me right back into the haunting grooves.

It is funny how a song can sound so familiarly enchanting and yet so breathtakingly fresh when you remove it from the package that you most associate with it and enjoy it as a stand alone entity. Everytime I spin the the Lost in translation soundtrack , I automatically expect to be taken back to the images of the movie. But the neon lights of urban Japan was the last thing to expect in my head when I am listening to a French duo. The song whisks me away to these images that I love in one fast and furious motion, while I am still nestled cozily with a sound that I am beginning to love.

I was warned that this album is definitely not the best, but it still is a solid collection with some brilliant moments and an all pervading sound. But lucky me, in a couple of days, I should be able to allot some shelve space to their critically acclaimed work "Moon Safari"...

Play it Again, Sam!

2006-04-29T10:21:00.000+05:30

Somewhere between my futile endeavors (or not!) to stay fit, many-many snooze fests of a meeting leading to many many more sutta breaks during the day, my new found routine of sharing a pitcher rarher than having some cranberry drink and of course a pile of freshly accumulated CDs and other forms of music, I have embarked on yet another attempt to put my non-work life into a predictable routine of discovering any music that does not fall into the realm of my otherwise very predictable genre preference and also to go out all plastics blazing to buy some of these music and then trying to tell the world about it.....

Since it is such a good cause, I would rather that the more the number of ears and fingers working in tandem to bring forth the wonderful world of a musician's creations to us, the better it will be. So all ye good men and women, who want to share their perspective on any music that they chanced upon or dug deep to find or remember loving, hating or any other -ing, do drop me a line and you can be on the contributor's list to this blog. As simple as that!

May the music be with you!