You can listen to the soundtrack here (link courtesy @iPeeKay).

Bittoo Sab Ki Lega has a very catchy groove (the riff quite possibly a nod to the legendary Roadhouse Blues by the Doors) and would have made for a good listen with the confident rendition by Mika, Natalie De Lucio and Neeti Mohan (her movie debut?). *IF* not for the extremely cringe-worthily double entendre-ridden lyrics! The other title song though, Kabootar, again sung by Mika is a considerable improvement riding on an interesting percussion-led arrangement. Audi (Tenu Tak De) is standard techno+hip hop+Punjabi fare, made annoying by the nasality that composer Raghav Sachar brings into his singing – he is a good singer otherwise, no idea why he had to try this voice. Kaun Kenda is good for listening to Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal and Shahid Mallya go about their job. Arrangement and tune-wise it has nothing to offer, the composer resorting to the tried-and-tested romantic melody template in both the versions. Kick Lag Gayi is an engaging foot-tap-inducer backed by the bouncy arrangement. And in this thankfully Raghav uses his natural voice and pulls it off quite nicely. Where is is found wanting is Tulsi Kumar’s singing. The remix doesn’t sound very different, except that Master Saleem replaces Raghav on the vocals. Last track comes from guest composer Gajendra Verma (thanks to @dunkdaft for pointing this out), the melancholic Mann Jaage, a template that I am so tempted to call the Bhatt template, except this doesn’t have the rock elements. Shahid Mallya is fabulous on the vocals. This guy seriously should be getting more opportunities, he has impressed with every song he has sung yet.

Passable score from Raghav Sachar, devoid of much innovation. Whether the movie ends up deserving any better is another matter of course.

Music Aloud Rating: 5.5/10

Top Recos: Kabootar, Mann Jaage

You can listen to the soundtrack here.

The telltale background elements of Enthinee Mizhi Randum leave one in no doubt that this is Vidyasagar material – it is the quintessential melody that the man has done so many times in the past. And quite surprisingly works always. This time too the man induces enough breezy elements to have you hooked. And Karthik and Shreya Ghoshal compliment the arrangement beautifully with their singing. Sooryashalabham, with Yesudas’ vocals and the folk-tinged orchestration, is mildly reminiscent of the composer’s lesser known beauty from the movie Elavankodudesham called Neram Poi. There is a chance of the slow soft nature of the song inducing tedium, a good listen otherwise. And it is not often that one gets to hear a sarangi being used in Malayalam music. The pick of the soundtrack is Sun Sun Sundhari – the composer bringing out a top notch display of his flair with orchestration to lend that highlander feel to the simple folksy tune. The interludes are totally brilliant, the use of flute et al particularly standing out, and  Karthik and Madhu Balakrishnan do their part neatly.

The composer gets another veteran composer Vidhyadharan Master to render two short folk pieces – Karutha Munthiri and Kanju Poyenteyee – both of which work mainly due to Master’s earthy vocals. The sec ond song is in fact just that, the singer crooning to a tanpura background. Vidyasagar has always used kids’ chorus to good effect in the past, Chenthaamara is another one to add to the list. Since the list of singers is too long I am not naming them here.  From the lyrics I can already imagine a bunch of kids pushing the bus while ridiculing it, a theme which has appeared in Malayalam in the past too. And finally there is Thechippoo where the composer uses ex Idea Star Singer contestant Sannidhanandhan alongside some of his fav singers Tippu, Sujatha and Biju Narayan. The folk-dancey template is quite evocative of Vidyasagar’s own Sundariye Sundariye from Oru Maravathoor Kanavu. And in this case the repeat factor does the song in unlike in the previous cases, it didn’t work for me much.

After a fairly long time Vidyasagar gives Malayalam a soundtrack through Ordinary, that is to some extent reflective of his glorious past.  Hope this is a sign of better things to come.

Music Aloud Rating: 7/10

Top Picks: Sun Sun Sundhari, Enthinee Mizhi Randilum, Karutha Munthiri

There is no stopping Agnee right now, it would seem. After that recent brilliance for the Marathi movie Shala I was sitting in wait for their upcoming Hindi project Alaap and the song they have done for Avengers alongside Aditi Singh Sharma, when suddenly today I saw the tweet from Agnee’s Mohan talking of their new upload Manmaani. That, is the name of the theme song for Roadies Season 9 from the band, also featuring the frontman of the show Raghu Ram. That Raghu sings pretty decently was evident from that Indian Idol audition video that has been doing the rounds on the net. And here too he does a neat job of rendering his part, even as Mohan rules the vocals department. While the song is surprisingly light-hearted if one were to go by the melancholic sounds that have been accompanying the show’s promos this time, the lyrics by Abbas Tyrewala are quite along the theme of the season, particularly reflected in the “Chaahiye sab kuchh ya kuchh nahin” motif. The arrangement is trippy as always, with the characteristic guitarwork led by Koko. Of course not among the best on Agnee’s repertoire, but it has got quality. Roadies folk have put out a promo video as well, modelled on the lines of, yes you guessed it, Kolaveri.

In any case. The important things for you to note are – 1. Manmaani is an Agnee song. 2. It is available for free download. 3. Click here to get your free copy. And below is the promo video of the song.

You can listen to the soundtrack here.

Don’t let the cheesy title mislead you, Kaadhal Oru Butterfly is one refreshing listen, Harris Jayaraj putting to full use his flair with use of guitars in an addictive arrangement. Aalap Raju and Hemachandran handle the lead vocals quite nicely while Sunitha Sarathy makes her presence felt even with her humming. Sadly the composer relapses to his reusal habits in Azhage Azhage, with a template that goes as far back as his Laysa Laysa days! Mukesh and Sri Madhumita sound lovely, but that is just not enough to sustain interest in this one. Aalap Raju-Chinmayi-Sharmila’s  Akila Akila is more recent though, strongly reminiscent of Amali Thumali, except that the latter was better. Adada Oru is an improvement, though with borrowed elements from Oru Mugamo from Bheema (thanks to @gunmaster_g9 for pointing out this similarity). The sinister orchestration and Karthik’s heartfelt singing prop the song over all the déjà vu. The soundtrack ends with Venaam Machan, a kuthu song, a genre that always works for me. Naresh Iyer and Velmurugan do the honors rendering the quirky lyrics.

OK OK soundtrack from Harris Jayaraj for OKOK (Oru Kal Oru Kannaadi). I would have been much happier with more of the Kaadhal Oru Butterfly kind.

Music Aloud Rating – 6.5/10

Top Recos: Kaadhal Oru Butterfly, Venaam Machan, Adada Oru

You can listen to the soundtrack here.

The composers Sajid Wajid have pretty much no credit to take on Papa Toh Band Bajaaye as it essentially this tune embellished with some clarinet hooks et al, most prominent of which seems to have been borrowed from the title hook of this. Nevertheless the lyrics by Sameer and Neeraj Shridhar do hold your attention With Malaika onscreen and Mamta Sharma alongside Sukhwinder behind, one cannot but compare Anarkali Disco Chali with Munni Badnaam, though the common factors end with what I stated previously.And it is indeed entertaining, but not on the same level. One of Mamta’s better renditions post Munni in any case. And two remixes are a bit too much for this. Even the Punjabi+hip hop Right Now Now has a languid charm about it. Sunidhi’s role is minimal though, with Wajid and Suzanne leading the proceedings. The remix does away with that charm factor, and hence is avoidable. And finally there is a very retro-sounding Do U Know executed quite neatly with the composer duo throwing in a lot of folk elements (the stringed instrument sounded like a banjo. Nice touch that!) to good effect. The vocal part is carried off equally well by the reliable Shaan and Shreya Ghoshal. This one could have been spared of a remix, without the folk factor it sounds quite weak.

For the kind of movie that Housefull 2 is, the soundtrack surprisingly exceeds expectations!

Music Aloud Rating: 6/10

Top Recos: Do U Know, Right Now Now

Kabir. I guess it was in my 5^th standard that we had to study Kabir Ke Dohe and also a story about his life. Though it was good fun reciting Kaal Kare So Aaj Kare.. and Bada Hua To Kya Hua Jaise Ped Khajoor.. and the like, the poet and his works subsequently faded out of memory as time passed. Until Jhini happened that is, Indian Ocean doing a brilliant interpretation of Kabir’s lines. Not that I made much out of the lines, I was never much of a lyrics person, but such earthy lines tend to have a powerful impact with contemporary adaptations even if you cannot understand the meaning. Something that has been adequately proved by Indian Ocean, ARR, Agnee, Coke Studio et al. It was hence that I decided to buy No Stranger Here, another modern take on his poetry by Shubha Mudgal, Ursula Rucker and Business Class Refugees.

One of the many spectacular things about No Stranger Here is its employment of the strings. The rich fabric of violins laid out by orchestrator Eyal Mazig adds quite brilliantly to the majestic sound of the songs in more cases than one. For instance there is song no. 1 Seraphim Tones where Mazig’s team gives a very period feel to the proceedings while Mudgal soulfully renders Sai Bina Dard Kareje (in raag Desh?) in conjunction with a very ethereal-sounding recitation by Rucker. Mazig plays a prominent role in Shubha Mudgal’s solo act as well, Drunk In Love, lending that heady ambient feel to the devout song. Composed by Mudgal (Tilang raag I felt), the lead tune faintly reminded me of Vaishnav Jan To in places. Steadfast features a lovely superimposition of Mudgal’s alaaps and Rucker’s poetry amidst the resonant “om” chants by the chorus and an oriental-flavored orchestra. It is in When I Was that Patrick Sebag and Yotam Agam decide to go for a change of genre, choosing a jazz template to support Mudgal singing Kabir’s Jab Main Tha Tab Hari Nahi. Have always loved jazz-classical fusion, loved this too.

The best of the soundtrack happens next – A Stranger Here, a malkauns-based beauty that allures as much for Shubha Mudgal’s brilliant rendition as it does for the orchestral opulence. Ursula Rucker has some fab lines here too set to the same theme of loneliness, which she sings in a very haunting manner.  But to me the earlier-mentioned factors sidelined everything else. The song incidentally is also the cornerstone of the album’s concept. A shorter alternate version of the same song titled Outsider comes up at the end of the album whose only difference apart from the length is an Indian element introduced into the otherwise brass-ish percussion. Mazig, Sebag and Agam take centre-stage in the mystic-sounding instrumental Searching For You and execute it quite nicely, with touches of Oriental in places. It is only Rucker’s solo, Something Is Still Missing, which I found not upto the mark – a tedium setting in at some point. Shubha Mudgal’s final track Above All Else is the longest of all. And despite the singer’s efforts once again complemented quite nicely by the orchestra, the slow pace coupled with the length of the track works against it.

The note on No Stranger Here’s CD reads – “With individual sensitivity, respect and deep artistic understanding of their own and different cultures, Shubha Mudgal, Ursula Rucker and Business Class Refugees come together in distinct diversity to unite with the timeless, spiritual voice of humanity.” And unite they do, bringing together their diverse styles in a seamless fashion, and giving us one hell of a tribute to the legendary poet in the process. A slightly larger spread of styles, like more songs on the lines of the jazz fusion track, would have been perfect, but that is not to take any credit off this outstanding body of work. You can/must listen to and buy the album here.

Asian Underground artist Karsh Kale and blues/rock outfit Blackstrat Blues’ Warren Mendonsa have come out with a cover of Leonard Cohen‘s legendary song Hallelujah. The cover basically involves Kale and Mendonsa using the lines from Cohen’s song and superimposing them over Mendonsa’s track from the album The New Album called Ode To A Sunny Day with some additional lyrics from Kale and has Kale on vocals. Though not really a replacement for Cohen’s sonorous voice, Karsh Kale does a neat job of rendering the song. But most importantly, brilliant reimagination this - it is like there couldn’t have been a better choice of words for the lovely instrumental from Blackstrat Blues. Anyways, enough said. The song is currently available for FREE DOWNLOAD! You can sample the song below, and download it here. I already got my copy, advise you to download asap.

You can listen to the soundtrack here (link courtesy, @iPeeKay)

It comes as an interesting coincidence that I happened to listen to Viju Shah’s Tumma Tumma Ele after a long time today, thanks to a conversation with @meemeera on twitter. Pritam’s Pungi bears a strong flavor of that song – the funny exuberant arrangement led by the characteristic percussion, the wacky lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya, and Mika in his trademark style supported on vocals by the lyricist, composer and Nakash – even while it is original in its own way.  Being Sriram Raghavan this could very well be some sort of tribute(wiki tells me that Aar Ya Paar was based on a James Hadley Chase novel. Interesting) . The remix is an unimaginative fast forward work of the original. If I’ll Do The Talking Tonight makes some sort of impression on you it is only due to Boney M’s epic original from which it legally borrows, and the vocal efforts of Neeraj Sridhar, Aditi Singh Sharma and Shefali Alvarez. Both of which are majorly sabotaged due to the overuse of the processing. And as if that wasn’t enough more techno sounds get added in the remix! The instrumental theme, with that quintessential whodunit hook, is of purely functional nature, and unnecessarily long I felt.

Pritam finally seems to have got over his three-version fever. Only to take it one step ahead, giving us FOUR versions of Raabta! And for a change all four versions pretty much worked for me. I liked Night In The Motel best though, the piano and Aditi Singh Sharma’s vocals forming quite an addictive combo (a lot of places have credited Hamsika as singer for this song, Aditi herself confirmed that she sang this). Good to hear her handle a soft melody as comfortably as she does rock numbers. Arijit Singh’s singing didn’t quite work for me in the original version, but he sounds quite awesome along with Shreya Ghoshal in Kehte Hai Khuda Ne and with Hamsika Iyer in Siyaah Raatein. Joi Barua does a short cameo at the end of each version. The composer leaves the best for last, the mujrah with a modern twist called Dil Mera Muft Ka. A song that is bound to draw flak from fans of the regular mujrah, but immensely catchy otherwise. Right from the opening rubab that seems so like a nod to a similar opening in the legendary qawwali Pardah Hai Pardah, Pritam is right on top of the arrangement, choosing a raag very conducive to techno/rock-flavoring, sindhubhairavi. Hat-tip to the harmonium player, he is brilliant. Nandini Srikar is in excellent touch rendering guest lyricist Neelesh Mishra’s interesting lines, very nicely supported by Muazzam Beg and the chorus formed by Shadab Faridi, Altamush Faridi, Shabab Sabri and Rizwan. Surprisingly the remix sung by Malini Avasthi sounds more conventional, barring the occasional techno elements thrown in. Nevertheless the arrangement is less imaginative in this case and gets tedious, despite the classy singing.

Agent Vinod. One of the most awaited soundtracks of the year, and Pritam does not disappoint. Highly enjoyable track from the composer!

Music Aloud Rating – 7.5/10

Top Recos: Dil Mera Mufta Ka, Raabta (Night In The Motel), Pungi

His rendition of Pritam’s Jiyein Kyun in Dum Maaro Dum was arguably one of the best musical debuts in Bollywood last year. Those who have followed Papon before that would know this debut would come as but a small step for a man whose past collabs include such names as Indian Ocean and Midival Punditz. As with most such cases though, few know of that past and the man was destined to be known by this work, being Bollywood. After being known to the public eye thus, the man seemed to be all over the place in 2011, mainly courtesy Coke Studio @ MTV and Dewarists. And towards the fag end of the year Papon launched his debut Hindi album, The Story So Far, which received rave reviews all around. Do listen to it here if you haven’t yet, it is really a treat! And while listening to that, you can read this interview where Papon speaks of his eventful past and more. Enjoy!

Oh and before we start, a big thank you to Leilah of Little Big Noise for helping out with this interview.

So how did it begin? Given your parents, training must have happened at home itself?

Yes. Being born born into musical family, that was a given. Mother was training music even while she was carrying me, so one could say my training sort of began even before I was born! I learnt the classical side from mother, and folk from dad who is a legend in the genre.

Tell us about East India Company. Did that come about as a result of the folk albums you had released before 2007?

That was one of the reasons, yes. Dad, as part of his music tours, would pick up folk influences from everywhere he went – Rajasthan, Nepal etc. And this sort of had a great bearing on me too. I wanted to do something along these lines, something that would go beyond the traditional folk without losing the essence of folk, all the while doing something I could relate to. EIC came out a way to realise this.

The Story So Far. Going by the number of songs, the spread of genres et al, would it be right to call it your dream project? How much of a prep was involved?

Not sure if it can be called a dream project, it was my first work out of Assamese basically. It was not a project to start with, it is like its title, my journey so far. As written by me as a note in the cd, it is a compilation of the sounds I have come across so far. And therefore there was no prep as such for this. It sort of came one song at a time due to varying influences, when I was up on the mountains, in some gig, and so on. A couple of songs have even been performed in the past. And when I saw that there was a considerable number of tunes from such experiences, I decided to bring it out as an album.

How was the experience of working with Rabbi on Dewarists? How did you find the show?

Now that is what I would call a “dream project”. Go to a beautiful place, stay there and make my own music out in the open, is something I always wanted to do. I am a hardcore nature person, and I was thinking of doing this anyway.  But for someone else to organize this for you and put you in a lovely place for five days and ask you to create music was really a dream come true. Rabbi also comes from the pop-rock background, found the place spiritual, found the energy in the surroundings. And we pretty much agreed on the same concept, and the music just flowed. Really good project. Kudos to Dewarists!

You featured on Coke Studio as well. How was that like? How would you compare that with Dewarists?

Both are very different. Coke Studio was a fixed set of musicians, fixed place to come and collaborate, experiment on folk music et al. Dewarists on the other hand was totally open. There was no concept, nothing - everything was left to you. But while Coke studio was confined, you got to meet a lot of brilliant musicians you could jam with. So both were interesting in their own ways, both encouraging Indie music and most importantly pushing them to mainstream television, letting them know there is something beyond Bollywood as well.

All of a sudden a spurt of shows focusing on the Indie scene. How do you think this will affect the scene? Have you been seeing any changes?

Like I said, it is good to see shows promoting Indie scene on mainstream television. We just hope that this has a ripple effect and it spreads far and far soon.  As for seeing changes, I think we will need to give it some time, probably over a year to see something substantial.

Your debut album came in 2004. But your Bollywood debut happened in 2011. Did you give Bollywood a skip for eight years in favor of your Indie ventures? And finally when it happened in Dum Maaro Dum, how did it come about?

There was no such plan actually. I was of course sure not to opt for anything I couldn’t connect to. But mainly I was based in Delhi, and Bollywood was never in Delhi, so offers didn’t really come my way. I was a lot among the mountains, kept travelling a lot, rediscovering myself, trying to figure out where I stand. Being born in a musical family, it is always taken for granted that you will do music. So I had to take time to do something fresh and reinvent myself. I did experiment with Indian Ocean, Midival Punditz et al, whatever came my way. So there was nothing like giving Bollywood a skip. It was just about getting offers, the kind I could connect with.

As for Jiyein Kyun, once while I was doing a show with Midival Punditz, Rohan Sippy came to me and said he is doing this film, and that I must sing on it. I said why not. Composer Pritam also knew me having heard my Assamese music, he liked me, and was only too glad to try me out. I wasn’t sure however that the song was in my space. Pritam was a great encouragement, and somehow while recording it started growing on me and later I really liked it. A long shelf life song it seemed like. Of course I never thought it would become such a big hit.

Composing or singing? What would you prefer?

Both! :) I don’t believe in OR, I believe in AND!

Who would you consider your inspiration in music? Your parents of course, but apart from them?

Dad and mom obviously, coz they gave me the taste early in life. Once you get that exposure early on, you can gain your direction more easily, find your way around and learn. Really thankful to them for that. The list outside of them would take up two A4 sheets! Influences have come from all across the globe, that is why I can do folk, ghazal, classical, rock, blues.. Good music and good sound always excited me and I kept digging into anything I found interesting. From Mehdi Hassan to Pink Floyd to NFAK to Zappa to U2 to Farida Khanum to Louis Armstrong… different styles, different things, they are all so good in it.. Lot of influences..

A bit about your ongoing/future projects?

I am not at liberty to talk about all, but there are some nice films I am working on right now. I consider myself lucky to have bagged projects with music directors of entirely different styles, and thereby songs of much variety. Another project in the immediate future is for the band I have formed with Scottish artist Rachel Sermanni and Bickram Ghosh – Troikala. We have had concerts We are working on an album, and I am producing it. They want me to be ready with the album before our April concert in London. But doubt it would be ready by then, as I am travelling a lot, and then there are locational constraints, having to get Rachel to send her recordings from Scotland and so on. Will start working on the album in March first week though, lets see when that happens.

Off the record though he did tell me what those film projects are, and trust me they are totally worth looking forward to! All the best to Papon on all his projects, he is one deserving chap.

 

You can listen to the soundtrack here (link courtesy @iPeeKay as usual).

Composer Jeet Ganguly’s three tunes for Blood Money are apparently reusals from his previous Bengali works. I haven’t heard the Bengali, but the Hindi versions worked fairly well for me. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan  rules Chaahat with his spectacular singing, supported to the tee by some very imaginative flute phrases. Roxen frontman Mustafa Zahid returns to Bollywood after some time to sing Jeet’s Gunaah which does remind of some past Mustafa song (probably from Awarapan) probably due to the singer’s style. Engaging nevertheless. The slower, mellower Unplugged version has less of that past evocation with the composer using Rana Mazumder in place of Zahid. And lovely choice of instruments here. The Robert Miles-ish Jo Tere Sang starts off interestingly but then takes a dip towards the antaras. Does work in parts though, Mustafa Zahid’s being a major plus. A third song featuring Zahid comes from composer no. 2 Pranay, a song that follows the standard Bhatt formula of rock+melancholy with expected results, but with increasing tedium. The remix is a fast forward of the original devoid of much imagination and thereby avoidable. Final song Aarzoo would have been much better had composers Siddharth and Sangeet Haldipur gone easy on the voice-processing. As it happens, Clinton Cerejo’s efforts are pretty much wasted.

Not the best of soundtracks from the Bhatt stable, but could help getting Jeet Ganguly some long-overdue attention.

Music Aloud Rating – 6.5/10

Top Recos – Chaahat, Gunaah