The Score Magazine - Feb 2012

ISSN 0974 – 9128

Vol 05 Issue 02 - Feb 20th - Mar 20th 2012

thescoremag

@highonscore

www.highonscore.com ` 50/-

India's Pan-Genre Music MagazinE

Love Me MUSICALLY

POW ENERGY MINTS’

Love Songs: The Why & How

Powerstar of the Month

SIDD CoUTTO The 7 Year Journey

MODI DIGITAL’S Band of the Month

RIHANNA

SPLIT All About

Anoushka Shankar

Awakening

Karnivool

IndiPop Memories #1: Anaida, Raageshwari, Jaspinder Narula & Hema Sardesai

the edit PAD Editor-in-Chief Nikila Srinivasan

W

hen you are a part of the indie-music industry or when you startout to make an enterprise you are met with scepticism. It isn’t about your goals, it isn’t even about your abilities; it is all about the status-quo and the resignation some people have towards them.

Executive Editor

“You can’t change much”, “we’ve seen people like you before!” etc. The quips go on and on.

Strategy and Planning

But then there are those, whom we title giants. We stand on their shoulder, emulate what they do and pray everything will work out. I knew a man like that; his name was Amit Saigal.

Sandhya Ramachandran Ajay Prabhakar

Business Development Pragash VM

Marketing Manager Sneha Ramesh

Operations, Mumbai Siddharth Mehta

Creative Director

George Vedamanickam

Event Support

Madhav Ravindranath CK Vignesh

Today, it has been almost 3 years since I first drew inspiration from him to start my own music magazine.

From then to now, it has been a wild ride - from sheer desperation to bliss and highs. To see our magazine progressing from merely 500 views a month to go over 500 views a day; to see clients, traditionally anxious about advertising in music, suddenly bubbling with enthusiasm; to witness first-hand a massive surge in the music industry and to be a part of it; these comprise only the tip of the iceberg.

We live in exciting times and we owe today to giants like Amit Saigal.

AJAY PRABHAKAR

Executive Advisor

Managing Director

Siddharth Vipin

Content Advisor Solomon Porres

Production Support

partners

Fayaz Mohammed

Content Support Shresht Poddar Mahima Mathur

Design Support Vaishali Menon

Photography

Parizad D Anushya Badrinath Praveen S R

http://www.motherteresafoundation.org.in The Score Magazine is proud to support the Mother Teresa Foundation and urge our readers to join us in giving back a fraction of what we have been given.

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DISCLAIMER: Reproduction in whole or part of any text, photography or illustrations without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs and illustrations. Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publication and accordingly no liability is assumed by the publisher thereof. Advertising copy and artworks are the sole responsibility of the advertisers.

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Registered Office: 38/23, Venkatesa Agraharam, Mylapore, Chennai 600 004.

i nside

THE HEART & THE SONG

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This Valentine’s, we give you love soaked 6 pages about the psyche behind love songs, the varieties, the responses, the perspectives & a whole lot MORE!

Sri Kumaran Stores Artiste of the Month

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24 MODI DIGITAL’s Band of the Month

Alternative rock act Split takes centerspread as Band Of The Month!

A musician, a dancer. In all an award winning performer.

Meet Revathy Kumar

INDI-POP SINGERS

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Hitmakers of a more recent yesteryear, you can’t have gone by the 90s without catching them!

WAKE-UP TO KARNIVOOL

RIHANNA TALK

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One of the most promising exports from Down Under in recent times, there’s a lot to Karnivool the band, their sound & their appeal.

CONCEPT ALBUMS

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Slaying the Top 40s seems to be second nature for Rihanna. So is it sixth time lucky with Talk That Talk

Inspiration by a single idea sometimes manifests in more than just a song. Say hello to concept albums – a musical exploration like no other!

EASTERN FLOWERS

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More gems from Germany! This time it’s Eastern Flowers – an unconventional collaborative effort with just three staple sounds.

SHRI ELECTRIFYING

Vh1’s Handpicked Anoushka Shankar!

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UK based Shri works his skill with the bass, flute & gadgetry creating a unique style & sound! What’s his story?

She talks about her latest musical effort, multicultural influences, music tags & more!

Swarnabhoomi Academy Of Music

IC

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NABHOO

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AR

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AC

5

Day Intensive Performance Camp in Music

W

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LIVE YOUR DREAMS

From March 23 to 27, 2012

WITH

Nicole Zuraitis

Prasanna Harvey Wirht

Sebastian Cruz

Panagiotis Andreou Manu Koch

Open to all Musicians Find us on

Apply online at www.sam.org.in

THE

Mihir SINHA

Curious Case of song

Sweet nothings and heart shaped confectionery apart, Love has been one of man’s most enduring instincts, allegedly bringing us closer to the cosmic truth.

And it sure does assure some major READ BETWEEN THE SHEETS chart success too.

Nevermind breakfast mechanics, love is a beast in your soul

L

ove, at the core of it, is something that can’t really be explained over a cup of tea. Its way too faceted and borderline frustrating; how much love is too much love? When is love good or bad? When does it even become love? This universal feeling is talked in terms of seclusion, the joy, the heartbreak running mates of every great love that has predated sliced bread.

with a fairly complex psychology. For most, when this urge got too overbearing and was left denied, it inspired works of art and/or death wishes.

It seems true now, but love songs – the longest running romantic tradition in history – still manage to cover more ground. This prolific coverage mostly tends to keep sex and love separate, but you are presented with a buffet of perspectives and undertones. While Johnny Cash sound-alikes strum a lonely guitar and demonize the soft touch of a female hand, there are also Bananaramas that can’t stop talking about love, love, love.

“Some people wanna fill the world up with silly love songs...” sang Paul McCartney on his 1976 classic, Silly Love Songs.

But it hardly seems to be as deliberate. It’s only too convenient; love being a theme proves to be good pop fodder. And this isn’t just a new fangled low brow invention for the masses, for even a certain Ludwig Van Beethoven composed Für Elise, a lovelorn piano ode to a mysterious ‘Elise’, that has become one of his most identifiable compositions ever.

FROM FLUTTERING PHOOL’S TO A PITBULL RA(M)P-AGE: A SOCIETAL EFFECT? The diversification of love song themes came with liberalization, and the slow death of Edwardian romances of the ‘50s, just like skiffle and gollywog haircuts. India was largely kept away from the counterculture revolution that followed, so our bashfulness was still untainted. Parents were adamant in bringing up their children to believe that love was intense worshipping sans touching. It meant Bollywood lyricists, even including super-critic Javed Akhtar, were forced into composing odious love ballads that clearly overdid the words ‘phool’ and ‘shabnam’.

THIS LOVE BUSINESS? BEST SERVED IN STRUM & KEYS IN THE ALPS But love song anthologies and compilations will live - long after the last cockroach has left the building.

Love still remains a supernatural invocation that can only be best expressed set against a guitar-strum or piano-jab.

Moneyed corporates are only too aware of this, hence cultivating an entire generation of lovesick loonies, who have been convinced that love means being able to chase each other on the slopes of the Swiss Alps. But then, we also co-exist with people like John Mayer and John Butler, past masters at telling lovely, lilting guitar-borne love stories.

Outside, in the first world, bigger dreams were already isolating dreamers. Can’t buy me love indeed, but the money that abounded did inspire an outcry with Punk Rock.

Those weren’t love songs exactly – you’d have to be pretty spaced out to feel the romance in The Ramones – but in a sociological sense, they were call-outs to a certain era when fans would walk in free to watch their bands cause they ‘loved’ them and that was enough.

But society outgrew even that. When couples had held hands and serenaded the moon in black and white, it was because it spoke to the social mores of the times when sex was no birthright. It was a sanctimonious ritual of courtship, with all promises signed and delivered before eventual consent and marriage.

How can two people lock eyes over a Pitbull song now and feel love, then? Truth be told, it is meant only for the basest instincts that come alive - when sprinkled with alcohol. It’s a hormonal highway where you zoom past the bases and get done about two red lights short of the crossroad where you think you might be falling in love.

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Cover Artwork: Ramya Pothukuchi

Illustration: Alicia Souza

Content Inputs: Sandhya Ramachandran, Mahima Mathur

SC RE SC RE WITH

We contacted bands & artistes in the Indian indie circuit and asked them to share their tales of backstage booty/groupie whoopie/ fangirl followings. Based on the replies, we uncovered: • Contrary to Hollywood beliefs, guys do not form bands to attract damsels. Which is why the only boy band that does Katy Perry covers is fictional (Glee: The Warblers).

• The nerdy library hawk gets more action than the average Indie musician. And it’s ten times lesser if you’re in a metal band.

We see this as a lost cause and shall hence let another publication deal with musician’s mating problems.

But you know what that means for you, oh humble audience gai.

You needn’t feel left out picking on leftovers, like a lonely vulture. For this Valentine’s Day, The Score, like the luminous beacon of hope that it is, shall help you score. Hence giving you the impression that we get booty all the time and that we don’t spend our weekends throwing Score copies at unsuspecting people on the streets and running away before they can give them back.

Also, note that these are only for the menfolk. Women don’t need to use pick-up lines. All women need is a nice pair… of legs.

At a Blues concert

At a METAL concert

Girl type: Has had her heart broken and is wallowing in much self-pity.

Girl type: Angry. Occasionally violent.

“I’ll give you a clue, I’m here to take away your blues” *Loaded winks*

At a HIp HOP concert Girl type: Scantily clad. Watch out for innocent eyes while picking subject.

“Yo puddy cat. You be lookin so phat.

Imma tap that. *grab crotch and wave fists* “(grunts) Daaaaaaayyyyyym” *strain eyes & crouch stance*

At a Rock concert Girl type: Fun. Likes stubble. On you, not her.

“The pick up on my monitors say WOOT WOOT!” *growl for added manliness* “My strings got pulled too hard.

And I’m not referring to my guitar’ *pokerface* “I’m a session musician for Bon Jovi” Enough.

If she bumps against you in the mosh pit: “Hey, not for free! A thousand bucks for the jewels *Insert evil grin or err drop your pants* “Wanna bang some head?” (this has to go right one way or another)

At a POP concert Girl type: Believes in love. Likes sugar.

“If this song was your story, I would write a book about it” *Waggle eyebrows a little* “I can’t help staring into your eyes for in them I see a part of me’ *urgent whisper* Flip hair at regular intervals.

Carries swoon potential.

At a classical concert Girl type: Over seventy.

You can’t score at a classical concert.

Even our brilliant pick-up lines won’t get you there.

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RAUNAQ SAHU

L ve Songs PER INTO E E D e lv e d s So let USTRY D N I C I N A THIS M -SUBTLY o s t o n T A TH R GAME. U O Y S L O R CONT

WE suggestPOP

you

THIS:

1

GIMME SOME SUGAR. OR CHEESE. The pop music industry has shown us that making camp, cheesy and downright juvenile songs is sometimes not a deterrent to achieving success in this business. These actually succeed in putting a big, idiotic grin on your face for no reason. Think boy bands of the late 90s who gave us hit after hit of sugary goodness (or sickness, whichever side of the wall you are on). Then you have the many queens of pop that added soul to the sap. (Because You Loved Me) Celine Dion, (Endless Love) Mariah Carey, (I Will Remember You) Sarah McLachlan, (I Will Always Love You )Whitney Houston, (Two Becomes One) Spice Girls, (Head Over Feet )Alanis Morissette, one can go on and on. And there was ‘My Heart Will Go On’ as well.

If YOU are a passionate enamorado who has fallen for a certain someone, a good way to get the message across is to write a love song in his/her honour and perform it in front of him/her and hope that your enterprise doesn’t go down in a wall of flames. HOWEVER, chances are that you are a not a very good songwriter/poet and you will make things even worse. But fear not for we have some ideas. Enumerated!

2 MAKE THAT HEART GO HIP HOP Rap and hip-hop have their own thang when it comes to love songs. LL Cool J is an interesting case study. His ‘I Need Love’ is considered to be among the greatest hip-hop love songs (?!) and if you look at some of the lines in Hush (‘Cuz i believe in romance/Kissin’ while ya slow dance’ and ‘Unconditional love, forever we are attached’), you would not expect this from him: ‘It’s the first time together and I’m feeling kinda horny/ Conventional methods of makin love kinda bore me/I wanna knock your block off, get my rocks off/ Blow your socks off make sure your G spots soft’ (from Doin’ It). A Tribe Called Quest have ‘Bonita Applebum’, Method Man has ‘I’ll Be There For You’, Whodini have ‘One Love’, but by and large, this whole hip-hop love song idea involves high risk & too much reliance on ho-nesty.

3 FUNK IT UP A NOTCH Going back in time, it seems that the R & B, funk and soul artistes were pastmasters at this art of making truly groovy love songs.

Otis Redding (That’s How Strong My Love Is), Marvin Gaye (My Girl), Stevie Wonder (Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours), Solomon Burke (Don’t Give Up On Me) The Supremes (You Can’t Hurry Love), Etta James (At Last), Smokey Robinson (You Really Got a Hold on Me) and The Temptations (Ain’t Too Proud To Beg) among others were the ones to whom this came really easily.

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BUT LIKE EVERY SELF HELP SCAM SCHEME, WE MUST MUDDLE YOUR MIND… There are so many brilliant love songs that couldn’t be referenced here, across a whole lot of genres. The whole concept of the ‘love song’ can be utterly pointless – you might hold the Docomo theme song close to your heart if it was playing when you first saw ‘The One’. It is a very personal thing and also something that no one can quite understand. And doesn’t the greatest love song of them all, The Velvet Underground’s ‘Some Kinda Love’ end by tossing the ball back at the listener?

‘I don’t know just what it’s all about/But put on your red pajamas and find out.’

Go on, then.

A Practical GUIDE (with gratuitous song references that you ought to look up. You Google-ing or YouTube-ing these is where

the practical part comes to play.)

4 CLASSIC ROCK CAN PLAY CUPID Speaking of Smokey Robinson and The Temptations, there were a couple of British bands who came along and did their own versions of ‘You Really Got a Hold on Me’ and ‘Ain’t Too Proud To Beg’ – The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. The Beatles went on to put some brilliant love songs– think ‘Something’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘PS I Love You’, etc.

The Stones wrote several sleazy, risqué songs, but here and there one finds the occasional ‘proper’ love song (You Got The Silver, Angie, Wild Horses) in their discography. Led Zeppelin’s ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ and ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’ are classics as well. And we shall stop talking about love songs from 60s and 70s rock scene now.

There is just not enough space.

There are words of love, when used sparingly, wrap around you like a sinfully delicious, overpriced mink coat. And then there are words which grab you by the throat and try to choke you a little. Here’s a list of words love songs should consider banning: Dil (And all synonyms and matters of the heart): There a lot of dil’s involved in the Hindi film industry & ‘nenju’s down South. Even though the organs involved in the particular situation are nowhere near the heart.

Dhadkan (Heartbeat): Doctors around the world are shaking their heads gravely to this blasphemously flippant approach towards heartbeats.

Naina (Eyes):

5 PLAY SAFE AND STICK TO ACOUSTIC The tried and tested method of creating love songs seems to be the one that advocates the use of three essential components – acoustic guitar/piano accompaniment, an earnest voice and fervidly heartfelt, pretty lyrics. Jason Mraz’s ‘I’m Yours’, Jack Johnson’s ‘Better Together’, John Mayer’s ‘Love Song for No One’, Iron and Wine’s ‘Such Great Heights’, PJ Harvey’s ‘You Said Something’, Coldplay’s ‘Sparks’, etc are examples.

By the amount of naina’s they use in songs, it seems like all Bollywood heroes need are a woman’s eyes to climax. Which is just disappointing.

Pyaar (Lurve): Just because it’s a love song, doesn’t mean you have to harp about it for it for the whole song. We know it’s a love song, we know it’s love. We know love is all consuming. Stop saying love.

(E)SPECIALLY SOUTH: The cringeworthy factor in Tamil love songs is the innuendo-loaded lyrics & the rather creative usage of the English language - all for the sake of staying in rhyme scheme. A legit Tamil love song HAS to have one or all of the following: Pattampoochi (Butterfly):

6 SINGLE SENTENCES ARE SEXY. ESPECIALLY ON LOOP. Dance Music is more about creating a soundscape that works with the (invariably moany) female vocals that drift in and out while the bass and the synths go about their jobs (Rapture by iiO, Sirens of the Sea by Oceanlab, Southern Sun

by Paul Oakenfold, etc). if it really gets down to this, don’t hesitate. Mind control is VERY real.

What else can explain that creep gyrating to (Akon & Guetta’s) Sexy Bitch with such confident abandon?

Where there is lowe, there are butterflies. And cuckoos. But mostly butterflies.

Hormongal (Le Hormones): Blurting of the subconscious call ALL through the courting ritual while exploding out of bright & tight costumes – the baap of all buzz kills, you’d think! Geez, contain thyself bro.

Food references: Love is expressed in terms of halwa sweetness, idli softness, mango ripeness. YOU say no to the girl who claims to taste like chettinadu chicken.

Wanton shout-outs to ‘idipu’ or hips: No harping about big eyes but only of the heroine’s peek-aboo hips; barely covered in surikified sarees or unilayered chiffon.

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Love me,

Gender Speak on venting via Love Songs: BOTH SIDES! Ladies first…

A

Our brain is divided into a logical right side and an emotional left side. However, recent made up studies show that the fine line, which separates the two sides for women, has been letting some of the panicky hormonal brain matter seep into the cold analytical martini shaking right side. Which explains our need to verbalize, scream about things, throw vases theatrically.

ground to love songs written by women. It’s usually songs of pure, unadulterated hatred, or diabetes inducing lovesickness. Men on the other hand, seem to glorify the love lost, strum peacefully, sing nostalgically about her body/eyes/hair. Precisely why there are songs of tender love called Michelle, Anne, Julie, but no songs called Dick, Harry, Peter. Probably because the women singing about Dick, Harry and Peter were more interested in singing about just what they would do to Dick, Harry and Peter’s certain tender anatomical parts (rumoured to be indirectly proportional to the size of their egos) if they ever cross paths with them again.

When it comes to love, women handle song writing, like they handle vases - dramatically, sometimes violently. There is no middle

Let’s pour some wine on the ground for men at whom these classic Male Bashing songs were so brutally directed:

dam and Eve ate an apple. Things got ugly, accusations were thrown about, Adam choked a little on the apple and they broke up. Years later, Adam wrote a song called Eve, about the deep pools of joy that were her eyes. While Eve in turn, sang about how she would like to drown Adam in a pool.

I HATE YOU… You’re so Vain - Carly Simon

So What - PinK

Carly Simon leaves no stone unturned in ripping the vain man apart verse by verse. Bloody battles have been fought for the place of Carly’s mystery man’s inspiration. Warren Beatty, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, David Frost and many othe Davids have wrangled for the title. Who is it really about? Carly just flashes her toothy smile and belts - You’re so vain, I’ll bet you think this song is about you, don’t you?

Always the verbal castrator, in So What, Pink sings about the husband who’s left her. The song has her starting fights, breaking guitars and doing everything we’ve fondly come to associate Pink with.

Rolling in the deep- Adele

Picture to Burn – Taylor swift Picture To Burn has all integral components for a hater song – mordacious words (burn, gay, redneck, revenge), calling pickup trucks stupid *all male readers sigh in sadness*, Taylor in leather *all male readers sigh in happiness *.

Hell hath no fury like an Adele scorned! A classic example of the bitter way women songwriters handle love and heartbreak with.

We can tentatively agree that women and men listen to songs differently. Women pay more importance to lyrics first, and then the accompanying music. It may sound clichéd, but it does stem from our constant need to talk. Words convey the most of the song’s message to them.

But, it’s not all just bitter jazz when women write songs. There are love songs so deep, so amorous, confessing love so extreme that the men to whom these were dedicated have been rumoured to have many pressure related breakdowns.

For these gems ladies and gents, let’s get a little drunk on the aforementioned spilled wine. Men named Paulo should take off their shirts, for proper homage reasons (just saying).

I LOVE YOU… The Power of Love– Jennifer Rush Lesser known than its more commercial Celine Dion counterpart, T he Power of love leaves no doubt about the fact that Jennifer is a lady, and all his.

Come Away with me– Norah Jones Men, if Norah Jones, in that husky come hither voice, asks you to come away with her, you do just that.

Listening to her croon about going to a pretty somewhere, with her serenading you with a prettier song, is sweet stuff.

(You make me feel like) A Natural Woman– Aretha Franklin Aretha Franklin likes her songs heavy duty, just like her men. A natural woman talks about love like only Aretha can.

Love is an emotion not handled flippantly by women. Of the heaving bosoms and wantonness, and of the vehemence and rage, songs by female artists surpass the sane boundaries and create music just the way music should be - a teeny bit crazy.

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Illustrations: Alicia Souza

Musically A

dam and Eve ate an apple. This was, of course, an apple Adam had gotten from West Virginia and ridden with, hobo-style on a freight train to Eden to give to Eve. But things, like the apple, perished and turned all wrinkly. And so Adam had to ride out to the sunset on a Harley nursing a broken heart.

That postscript is in question today, concerning how men deal with love, relationships, and the inevitable heartbreak (due to failure to

Mahima Mathur & Nilankur communicate and an insufferable video game addiction). And the music that we listen to is often representative of the creatures that we are - dirty, grimy, often extremely stupid, but capable of moments of stellar extraordinariness. And since there are too many love songs to be believable, we shall pick 4 completely at random and pretend they are definitive. And, on a subsequent whim, we will place them in relationship-order.

Episode 2: The MAIN EVENT

Episode 1: The Courting

Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin Whole Lotta Love is the love song Casanova would listen to while on a pre game prep.

Playing about a quarter of it is guaranteed to make any woman swoon, and any man shrivel up in inadequacy. It is like Samuel L. Jackson striking down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger of love songs.

Fell In Love With a Girl The White Stripes Gotta love T he White Stripes, Jack White is one of the most talented musicians in the music industry today. And Meg White is so generously endowed that even the most boring sets turn into something of a spectacle.

In a frantic, guitar-ravaged 110 seconds, as Meg beats the everloving hell out of a pair of drums, Jack details a torrid, doomed love affair. The lyrics fly by so quickly you have to strain to make out the details: He’s fallen hard for a woman who’s with somebody. Rarely has a love song so perfectly captured the frantic, anxious rush of being in love with someone you know is absolutely, positively bad for you. And the joy of being so desperately in love that the entire universe pales in insignificance.

Remember that time in school when you were so hopelessly in lust with {enter name here} that you’d be tormented to your slithery soul every time she walked by? This song is that feeling, on speed.

Episode 3: The HEARTBREAK

I would talk about the insane guitar riffs and about Robert Plant moaning to the drum solo and about the fact that they drive a car through the middle of the song without damaging it, but you wouldn’t understand until you actually listen to it, and have been resuscitated after.

(Added Mention)

Your Body is a Wonderland John Mayer Look, I hate John Mayer’s artistically rumpled hair as much as the next guy, but anybody who writes a song title comparing a body with Lewis Carroll’s pedophilic dreams and manages to pull it off without getting a universal restraining order by the femalekind, has some talent. This is the song the 14-year-old me was singing while constantly obsessing over the fairer sex; the kind of song that would get a teen to say “make love” instead of the universal word of much grunting, for several weeks.

Don’t Think Twice - Bob Dylan Let us get the record straight before we proceed irrevocably down the path of heroworship: Bob Dylan can’t sing. Sure, the man is the greatest poet of our era, but his voice still sounds like a diarrheic cat scratching the door of the bathroom in agony.

Having said that, boy, does he rip her one in this song. As Dylan’s sandpaper smooth voice clinically dissects his lady’s fall from grace, the inner Dante in you can’t help but applaud his contempt. He takes his rejection, crafts it into this hydrogen bomb of utter dismissal and non-consequence, and drops it on his Beatrice, budokan-ishtyle.

“I aint sayin’ you treated me unkind, you coulda’ done better but I don’t mind, you just wasted my precious time…” Every line, every word in this song, is calculated to do maximum damage while not giving one single hoot. And that, son, is how you break-up.

Episode 4: Because All Good Things Start At Episode 4 Starman - David Bowie I don’t have to explain David Bowie’s importance to you. But if you’re reading this and think of Bowie as only the dude from Labyrinth or Let’s Dance, you’re missing out on an awful lot. Download Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust, Heroes, and Scary Monsters. Four completely different, incredibly awesome, and achingly beautiful albums. But I picked Starman because nobody seems to see the song for what it is: a love song. Not your typical boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy strums ukulele and whines about it. Starman is about the kind of intergalactic glam-rock love that encompasses not only both sexes, but also all alien lifeforms and several dairy animal species. “T here is a starman, waiting in the sky: he’d like to come and meet us, but he thinks he’ll blow our minds.”

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Shresht Poddar

INDI-POP! GO THE SINGERS Hitmakers of a more recent yesteryear, you can’t have gone by the 90s without catching them! We stir four artists out of their sabbatical with a few queries!

Think Anaida, think ‘Oova Oova’, even think ‘Oonchi Neechi Hai Dagariya’. She shot to fame very early with her first single ‘Hotline’. Another feather to her cap was when she rendered the Hindi version of Walt Disney’s ‘Hakuna Matata’ with Baba Sehgal.

She was last heard in her 2006 album, Nayaa.

You may fondly remember

Hema Sardesai because of her song

‘Aware Bhanware’ or even her albums ‘Sajnaa’, ‘Hindustani Gudiya’, the more recent ‘Jhoom’ and the award winning ‘Piya Se Milke Aaye Nain’.

Last heard in ‘Badal Pe Paon Hai’ from ‘Chak De India’

Raageshwari,

Jaspinder Narula

rose to stardom crooning ‘Tu ru tu ru, pa ra pi para para’ with Remo Fernandes on ‘Pyar To Hona Hi Tha’ & since then, Jaspinder Narula released albums like ‘Sawariya’,’Kuch Kuch Dil Mein’,’Kangna’. She has also done a lot of playback singing for Bollywood.

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the diva herself, had a huge hand in taking the indi-pop genre to great heights with her albums ‘Duniya’,’Pyaar Ka Rang’,’Sach Ka Saath’,’Y2K – Saal Do Hazaar’,’Sagari Rayn’. Besides being a pop artiste, she’s an actor, model, television anchor, an ex-VJ and a yoga expert.

What have they been upto?

ANAIDA: Very much here! I have been busy with my art shows as I have decided to share my paintings and carvings of the last 17 years with the public. I’ve also been consulting for assorted entertainment companies. I went through a personally tragic time as I lost my mom after a long medical struggle. I was in no mood for makeup, glitz and glamour and being on stage. But now I’m back, recharged, fresh and ready to take on the next phase!

HEMA: It’s been a beautiful ride – wondrous but very rocky. Every industry has its negativity and positivity; so does our music industry. Today, there are way too many compromises on values and virtues to garner work. But that said, there are still a lot of decent people and I’m working with many of them soon.

JASPINDER: Well, I’ve always believed in the time of a person. After ‘Pyar Toh Hona Hi Tha’, lots of things happened in my personal life. I was regularly shuttling between Canada and India. People in the industry just made assumptions that I had to give more time to my family. They thought I’d moved away but I hadn’t. I was doing a lot of shows and was busy with my Ph. D in music, which I obtained in 2008 from Delhi University. Granted, I did miss out on some fantastic opportunities lekin jab hona hai, tab hota hai (when it’s meant to happen, it happens). I had opportunities to rise and shine and when I grabbed those, I sang! At the end of the day, destiny is all that matters – of course, hard work does matter too. But I’m a firm believer in destiny.

RAAGESHWARI: I feel like Alex Fletcher of ‘Music & Lyrics’ now. I believe in taking it slowly. Non-film music has been overshadowed by film music and has never been promoted a lot in India. 90s was a great time for pop music – primarily since piracy wasn’t rampant and thus never given a step-motherly treatment. Today, it is much more convenient to download songs. Yes, I maintained a low profile – by which I mean, I chose to spread the release of my albums - say an album in 2 years cause I believe in doing full justice to whatever I do.

HEMA: No one really strikes my mind; most of them sound the same today. Back in the 90s too, I was asked the same question but I had specific names back then. The identity those singers gave to music or even to themselves is not seen in anyone as such today. I used to love singing with Alka Yagnik-ji, Kavita Krishnamurthy-ji etc.

JASPINDER: I feel that the style of indipop is over – it’s not popular with the audience right now. What we hear is aimed more at movies with heavy western influences.

Why do you think there is a lack of good artists today? It has become very commercialized and depends more on music companies whom they choose to market. Also, they want to stick to their comfort zone. Earlier, all artists were respected. People took risks with the different sounding ones and even made money. Today, no one is ready to take such risks.

The Come-Back Plan!

RAAGESHWARI: I hear Kailash Kher, Rabbi, Kavita Seth and Euphoria and I love that kind of music. Music moguls are welcoming music with depth today, which wasn’t the case earlier. My forthcoming Sufi album has a lot of poetry by poets like Rufi and Rabia Basri.

Today, I don’t get a blank look when I cite these names unlike the 90s. Some songs today are too western but that’s great too. My only grievance is that music today is being clubbed into one genre. There is a dearth of say, true children’s music. For e.g. my 9 year old niece will probably choose an item song as her favorite because such songs are catchy and provide shock value. They’re introduced to romance and seduction too soon.

Indipop in the 21st century

ANAIDA: In India, music has become a mish mash. Film music has gone pop and pop has become confused. But it’s settling down. Film music dominates because the reach and weight of publicity they can afford is way more than any other genre. It has gotten very westernized in India right now but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The whole world is fusing and art usually leads the way; there is nothing bad in taking on the best of different worlds and constantly making new sounds. One thing is for sure; the Indian flavour, just like it is with Indian food, is a strong one. It may take on different spices from different countries but it will never totally lose its own charm or identity!

ANAIDA: I’m half way through an English Lounge/House album.

HEMA: I’ve been busy with my social work which you can see on my website. I’ve been contributing to ‘The Art of Living’ with my beloved Guruji, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Seva Satsangs. The last 4 years have been very, very fruitful. But, yes, I will definitely ‘come back’.

JASPINDER: I have a lot of projects in the pipeline. Unfortunately, I can’t name them since they’re still in the development stage. But I assure you, they will be one-of-a-kind and have more emphasis on singing. Whatever I do, I will try to revamp my old style of music and present it in a new way – and it will be good music!

RAAGESHWARI: I’ve a few albums ready for release including a kids’, a youth and a Sufi album, but they’re just lying about because the time doesn’t seem right. In fact, I’ve had a chat with Asha-ji and Lucky Ali and it’s pretty much the same with them. We need to look at music in a fresh way and promote non-film music and artists big time.

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CHENNAI • PUDUCHERRY • BENGALURU http://www.srikumaranstores.in

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a rtiste of the month

Revathy Kumar Deemed by Bharat Kalachar as the Yuva Kala Bharathi this season, we celebrate Revathy Kumar, who at the young age of 23 showcases exemplary skill in Carnatic vocals, Bharatnatyam & Nattuvangam. A disciple of Shobana with 14 solid years of artistic focus, she is on her way to becoming a figure to reckon with in the classical circuit. An interview & more on www.highonscore.com!

#61, Usman Road, T.Nagar, Chennai 600 017. PHONE: 044-24342744 Plot #190, Villupuram Main ROAD, JAWAHAR NAGAR, PUDUCHERRY - 605005. PHONE: 0413 - 2201616, 2202626 #517/41, 3rd Floor, 7th Main, 46th CROSS, 5th Block, JAYANAGAR, BENGALURU - 560041. PHONE: 080 - 26631300 The

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February 2012

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SANDHYA RAMACHANDRAN

What’s Rihanna saying ?

SPANNING 7 YEARS Music of the Sun (2005) The Barbadian girl is close to her roots & with an innocent booty pop & high school friendly tunes, shines bright & sunny.

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Looking at her album titles is a very simple way to chart her relationship with the biz.

A Girl Like Me (2006) The taste of fame has resulted in big changes & we find our little princess getting reflective.

Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) But to survive, you can’t be cooped up in introspection. You need to fight fire with fire.

When the going gets dirty…

Rated R (2009) More explicit demeanour & scandalous behaviour.

Talk That Talk: Album RevieW If you have ever listened to/watched a Rihanna song and thought to yourself ‘how the ****’ did that get so popular’, here’s the how & why. Gen Now is where it matters more how layering meshes with your voice; the commercial sound that lasts short (if you would call 6 years short) but when it does, boy does it rake in a good deal. Blessed with studio friendly pipes, Rihanna works magic behind the mic.

Talk That Talk has all the hallmarks of a pop record – the repetitive hooks, the excess production, the catchy refrains, the inconsequential lyrics. Like most things popular, hers is a sound that takes some getting used to. The songs on this album, most of them, will grow onto you. On first listen though, these are the 4 starrers: On the track Talk That Talk, Jay Z & Riri, strike gold the second time.

It’s not as melodic as Umbrella but is spunkier, more tongue-in-cheek & within 3 & half minutes makes sure you have a really good time!

And you get a different kind of good feeling on We All Want Love, a lovely indie ballad that is honest without sounding dramatically sad (Unfaithful unintentionally became synonymous with hopeless love across boundaries).

Moving on to three starrers, Roc Me Out sounds like a follow up to Rude Boy, which is not necessarily a bad thing cuz hell that be one killer track.

But at times the excess similarity, make it hard to extend full credit.

Most of this album’s very in-your-face. Suck My Cockiness (Lick My Persuasion), a 1 minute confusing tease Birthday Cake that’s all about licking icing off, the track Red Lipstick (dubstep experimentation #win, rap-moan #fail) make you wonder - can lust be THIS inspiring?

Apparently. This is the 3rd album where, over 12 tracks, Rihanna tells us just how much and how exactly she likes it.

Technology backstabs her though with tracks like Fool In Love & Drunk On Love where she is exploring range but the Autotune makes it hard to believe her actual vocal abilities at pitching that high. And we know better than to go to a live concert and clarify our doubts.

Which brings us to We Found Love feat. Calvin Harris. The song is basking in Billboard glory & is the answer to that question earlier.

Simple vocally, but great replay potential with infectious beats & Harris’ mixing (a definite X factor), Rihanna rings in 2012 with a club anthem.

The video adds to it all with its cinematic tones and 7-minute storyline.

Talk That Talk is just keeping with the times. Do you like the commercial sound of today that you hear in the most happening clubs and in all countdowns? Because these are the goods that are being brought in, once again, by Rihanna.

RIRI VS. THE QUEEN BEE She’s often pitted against the other huge Hip Hop primadona, Beyoncé Knowles (don’t ask me how these things work. Britney & Christina itself was beyond me. The latter actually sings; where’s the comparison?)

I shall leave the awkwardness of Jay Z’s predicament for another day, but as far as Rihanna vs. Beyoncé goes, it’s the bad girl quotient that breaks the tie. Riri’s an exhibitionist – if her Facebook albums, ‘leaking’ of raunchy mobile pics,

crotch grabbing antics in every one of her recent videos count as something. And the music mirrors her - reckless, on the edge, wild.

Her track record makes her a favourite collaborating option. Coldplay, Nicki Minaj, Jay Z, Slash – in this short span, Rihanna has garnered credibility as a pop force to reckon with. Numbers do speak for themselves. And in Rihanna’s case, it’s mostly always one digit.

The sound of her voice – that nasal, aggressive, blow – is symbolic of the radio fodder of the 21st century. Undoubtedly, one of THE most successful female artists in recent times, does she really possess a Midas Touch?

Either her or Jay Z, the man whose touch (metaphorical, we’d like to believe) sparked the career of Rihanna Robyn Fenty.

She tore into the scene with ‘Pon De Replay’ ages ago but that holds no relevance anymore when drawing out Rihanna for the beginner. It is more Rihanna - the jilted lover who got punched by Chris Brown/ that voice who was responsible for Umbrella ela ela ela ela getting stuck in your head so bad or just a recognition of those Amazonian thighs (seriously woman, Y U NO ever wear pants?!).

Loud (2010) Attention is good. She’s a bad girl and she’s loud & proud about it.

Talk That Talk (2011) But this 6 year identity slideshow in the public eye all brings us to just one question...

Does she deliver the goods?

Even I’m surprised at my ability to dramatize these milestones into Broadway musical material. But to answer the question posed, we need to back up a bit.

The biggest wow factor with Rihanna is her ability to bring out an album almost every year. Sure, she doesn’t do the songwriting or the producing but its still no mean feat. And every one of them has at least single success if not album sales.

Becoming an iconic popular culture symbol has little do with what you actually bring to the picture but more of what you do when you are in the spotlight & how long you can keep that light on you.

She does it with paparazzi , a favourable pact with top 40 charts & that wily persona. Rihanna sells. Period.

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On the record Extensive progress is evident with every release they’ve put out. They started off with their self-titled EP - which the band members simply deny of existing, and for good reason! The tracks could have easily passed off as Nu-metal B-sides, if it wasn’t for the horrendous recording quality.

Lesser of their nu-metal was exhibited in their next EP, Persona, while still maintaining a heavy modern rock sound. Songs like ‘Featherweight’ and ‘Some More Of T he Same’ are filled with some of the most clichéd prog-rock moments, but not without some flashes of genius which would be conspicuous in their upcoming albums.

It was in 2005 that they released Themata, their first full-length album. Though not a breakthrough, it sure packed a wallop. Almost entirely a guitar driven album, Drew Goddard pushed his songwriting chops to a whole new level. Not only did he play both the guitars on the album, but the drums and the bass as well. Ian’s lyrics began to draw metaphorical parallels with deeper concepts like fear, self-realization, change etc.

The release of Sound Awake (2009) justified the four long years it took to make the album, and more! It came off as one of the most revelatory modern prog rock albums in line with greats such as Porcupine Tree’s Fear of the Blank Planet and Tool’s 10,000 Days. Written collectively in a ‘jamming’ atmosphere this time, each song, while exploring a unique spectrum of ideas and creativity, is bound to the others by a unified musical consciousness. Sound Awake is chiefly viewed as a Drum and Bass dominant album, guitars filling up the voids with countless melodies and colour as in ‘Deadman’, ‘New Day’ and ‘All I know’. Karnivool have a knack of integrating some really complex song passages seamlessly with the melodies, without any jagged edges.

“We are most honest on stage, and our audience reacts to that. That’s a relationship you can’t really fake”, said bassist Jon Stockman, an absolute beast during performances, who is one half of the ‘four-armed single-minded thing,’ drummer Steve Judd.

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Sound

AWAKE TO KARNIVOOL For those into progressive rock (the generic ‘rock’ in this time & age), you can’t have missed this band. For those who turned into Vool-igans post MoodI, this is your Karnivool kickoff.

Siddharth Raghunandan

MUSICAL LEANING This Australian prog-rock group does not perpetually use complex time signatures or shred solos. Their music is a result of honest, stripped down songwriting.

The band in studio and on stage is a single, solid, mammoth of a unit. They have created “a sense of space, something you can walk inside of and look at from different angles” as guitarist Drew Goddard puts it. Their collective influences include bands like Radiohead, Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, Meshuggah etc.

LYRICAL MUSING Karnivool’s lyrical themes share some commonalities with Maynard James Keenan (of Tool), but tend to be a lot more inquisitive than cynical. Vocalist Ian Kenny, writing out of his own necessity, encourages you to get thinking - not only to push the envelope, but also to open it - all this in a mind-bending atmosphere of sounds forged and smelted by the rest of the band. For decades, progressive rock bands have been leaping over conventional structures and styles. Karnivool is an ideal specimen of the genre’s evolution into the 21st century, where modern technology is used optimally without taking away the overall feel of their songs, almost like they are as comfortable with their Macbooks/synths as their guitars.

KARNIVOOL ONSTAGE: WHERE THERE’S (A) WILL, THERE IS A WAY From Deep Purple to Textures, international acts were always victims of the lacklustre sound at Indian venues, but Karnivool upped the ante by seamlessly integrating the sounds of crushing Drop B riffage, ambient soundscapes, soaring melodies and vocal harmonies. Sound technician Luke Willott is singlehandedly responsible for making Karnivool’s live set sound almost exactly like their album versions, the production of which is some of the most critically acclaimed in the musical fraternity.

Ian is the quintessential frontman basking in prominence. His constantly changing hairstyle sometimes makes him seem indistinguishable from an Angry Bird. Most of the time, he seems trapped in a trance, merely having a conversation with himself in the songs, nailing the lines all the way through (with much assistance from thousands of Indian fans).

Their next album is still in its writing phase and will hopefully see daylight around 2013; guitarist Mark Hosking comments “We’re just getting an idea about what it’s turning out to be like. There’s still a lot of groundwork to be done. When we are not playing music, we are listening to more music.”

An excerpt from their gargantuan two-part number, Change - ‘Sound is the factor which holds it together’ pretty much sums up the overall theme of the band and its music. The song made an epic ending to the night with fireworks blazing across the clouds and a tinge of Kenny’s voice reverberating in our minds.

“

Sound is the factor which holds it together The

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MAHIMA MATHUR

Sidd Coutto

Conquering several aspects of music, from singing to playing multiple instruments, to mixing and producing, Sidd Coutto might just move on to a Broadway musical next. With his new solo album already making waves, read as he takes a leap from the frying pan, into the fire, sunny side up. (In case you didn’t get it, that’s what his solo venture is called)

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What kind of a Bollywood villain would you be?

I’d be Mogambo, mainly because he was jovial a lot of the time

Number one on the bucket list

Food that deserves to be on a stick Goan sausage

What is alternate universe Sidd Coutto doing?

This is alternate universe Sidd Coutto already. In my head I’m on a beach somewhere with beautiful people and a recording facility and as many instruments as can be acquired.

Boiled or Sunny side up?

Cheese, tomato, green olive omelette. Trust me on this.

Discovered accidentally by this definitely hard-ofhearing waiter on vacation at a beach who misheard onion.

Writing and recording songs. I sound so boring.

Ok, there, being less boring tops my bucket list. I should be able to cross that off in 5-4-3 -2-1-madeyoulook.

Catch phrase if you were a comic character “But, dude, I’m a drummer”

A pick up line for the women reading THE Score

DOG, CAT OR FISH? Fish, prawn, crab, teesrya in butter garlic Malwani/Goan/ east indian style.

Pick up pick up pick up pick up pick up pick up pick up pick up pick up Oh sorry, that’s more than 1 line.

The perfect love song Nothing’s gonna change my love… for yeah right, nothing my a**.

Things in your refrigerator at this moment

Tell us an appropriately embarrassing story.

Dead bodies Probably chickens.

I was a fat kid. Now I’m turning into a fat adult.

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Premier Digital Mastering Studios, Mumbai’s premier music Mix & Mastering facility.

Inaugurated & blessed by AR Rahman.

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Band of the Month

MODI DIGITAL, Distributors of RME, SPL, Neumann, Reference Laboratories, Tube-Tech, Rosendahl, HHB, Da-Cappo, Merging-Pyramix, Violet Design and dealers of Genelec, Sonodyne & Gefen.

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MIHIR SINHA

SPLIT“ wide open

In 2006, there was nothing. Everybody wanted you to do Metallica covers.

In a way, Shekhar, Mel, Aviv, Garreth and Varoon are just sitting in a crowd, but it’s their ideas and music that brings them together in a dreamscape all of their own. We present to you, our Band of the Month - Split!

S

plit is a long story in the making. Their sense of professionalism is belated, but that’s not what makes them a band anyway. Over the past few years, the higher profiles of their performances might’ve finally brought home their brilliant avant-garde rock to an ever-increasing number of connoisseurs, but they choose to look past that, content to believe that you don’t really know them.

Hi, We’re Split!

It’s a little overwhelming. Even before I can start, the handshakes bring across a worldly wisdom in their demeanor. They’re men who’re still boys at the core, but aren’t hostage to it. Mel has his leather jacket, Aviv’s got his dreadlocks, Garreth flaunts his curly locks; but at the end of the day, there is a lot more to them than this.

They’ve been officially making music since 2002 and like most talented indie rockers, they too never really saw scope for future stardom. “When I joined in 2006, there was nothing, man”, recounts Aviv. “There weren’t any clubs to perform at.

Everybody wanted you to play Metallica covers”.

Prospects then might’ve been wafer thin, but talking about those early days brings them alive. More than a profession, music is part of a shared history for the band; something that defines families. There’s a joy in putting numbers to the years they’ve known each other. It’s like looking back at the milestones they’ve left behind, only to be remembered occasionally to make sure they are on course.

It All Began Young The band was founded by Shekhar, Split’s reticent and soft-spoken bassist. It started off as a college band, which had a completely different line-up and got their jollies off

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playing Hindi covers. It was all for fun, before Mel joined the project on guitars at the fag end of the last millennium.

That set the tone for the arrival of Garreth and Aviv, who both shared college band memories with Shekhar and Mel. Their long mutual association might also explain the chilledout chemistry in this circle. Varoon Aiyer is the proverbial baby of the group, still only 21 and the band’s newest recruit.

He was brought in on the drums, right before the first season of the Harley Rock Riders Tour last year.

Arriving Somewhere The Harley Rock Riders Tour, in 2010 and 2011, was a breakthrough. It was Split’s first multi-city roadshow; not to mention the high profile backers they had in the form of Harley Davidson India. It was also one of Split’s first accomplishments after embracing their current management firm, Sidestand.

They all have good things to say about the Tour and Sidestand.

Garreth figures that “it really helped us get our sound together.

When you play with the same people across a variety of venues, you tend to know what exactly works for you”.

And Sidestand - their facilitator and Man Friday – has been an added boon, with Aviv quick to reiterate the absolute need for professional management. “Artists aren’t the best businessmen”, he states, matter-of-factly. “You do need someone who can push the band, take care of logistics, and leave you to focus on the music”, he elaborates further.

P to Pig to Perfume Sidestand got on board at the beginning of 2010, which could be marked on the timeline as the moment when Split finally turned the professional corner. Their debut EP, P For Pig, had just been released; the first step toward Split officially laying claim to Zero’s Indian Hard Rock legacy.

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MELROY D’MELLO

SHEKHAR MOHITE

VAROON AIYER

AVIV

GARRETH

Essential

Good

Something you need

Necessary

Necessary

Fat And Rich

No comments

Never seen her show (Lie! Lie!)

Good

*looks suspicious*

Three albums on a deserted island (which has iPod docks, of course)

• Counting Perfume (Split)

• Renegades of Funk (RATM)

• Anti Christ Superstar (Marilyn Manson)

• Ten (Pearl Jam)

• Favourite Worst Nightmare (Arctic Monkeys)

• Bloodywood (Pentagram)

• Versus (Pearl Jam)

Hindi Music

What I’ll get into next

Sell out

Music In Hindi

Necessary

Okay

Slut Walks

No comments

… (blanks out)

If it works for them, cool.

*loses cue*

Awesome, thumbs up!

“Halla Bol”

“Halla Bol”

‘Hunger Strike’

I was thinking about a Pink Floyd song.. but naah!

Too fascist for a theme song

Theme Song for Anna Hazare

• RAT M (RATM)

• Lateralus (Tool)

• Dark Side Of The Moon (Pink Floyd)

Any three Nick Drake albums

• Days To Come (Bonobo) • Real Illusions Reflections (Steve Vai)

SPLIT SAYS IT LIKE IT IS!

Out Of Delay Cometh Good Why, then, were the EP and debut album so long in coming?

“It might’ve happened earlier, but the final cuts weren’t up to the mark”, Garreth tells me, before Aviv steps in to explain their creative process, which isn’t time bound. While the song is in the churn in the jam room, that’s when details like guitar interplay between Mel and Aviv, and Garreth’s veritably Chris Cornell-esque high pitched snarls are worked in – a continuum that ends only when they like what they hear.

In Zorran Mendonsa, Split found exactly the man to produce their first studio effort. In fact, his availability influenced the

band’s recording routine for this album. But going by the satisfied glaze on their faces, it seems to have worked out pretty well.

Split are veterans – of their music, and our own cultural diffidence to their kind of grunge-core alternative rock. As we talk more, I learn of the many jobs and lives these men have lived, all in the lieu of keeping one dream alive. Admittedly, it used to only be a hobby, but you can’t keep a good thing down for long.

Now the priority for the band is to retain the artistic licenses on the music that’s got them this far. Even as Aviv shows us his tinted mahogany Gibson Les Paul, a sponsored gift, that he cradles now – but brutalizes on stage – they still avow allegiance to playing the only music they know how to.

Riding the Bike Home.

It’s all an observation and a detail at the end of the day for these boys, who became men; revering Pearl Jam, Stratocasters, Slash, and Soundgarden. And in this process of playing the music they love, they found a reason to stick around and believe.

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February 2012

Photography: Anushya Badrinath

Most of the songs that made up that EP and the follow-up 2012 debut album (Counting Perfume) like “Pig Society” and “Holy Ghost Machine Gun” were composed during the preceding eight years of acclaimed independent gigging.

During that time, they became permanent fixtures at shows like Independence Rock and The Great Indian Rock Festival in both Mumbai and Delhi, refurbishing a familiar alt-rock sound with their own take on variant themes like sex, traffic, corporates and sacrilege.

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Brindaa Lakshmi

“

If you don’t have something to say then don’t talk

With ANOUSHKA SHANKAR’S TRAVELLER

Traveling through time and space, the passionate tunes of Flamenco find their way back to their Indian roots in Anoushka Shankar’s latest album, Traveller (2011).

Pic by Romel Dutta

MAPPING MS SHANKAR

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With an early start at the age of nine with her father Ravi Shankar as her guru, Anoushka gave her first performance at the age of thirteen, only to sign her solo record at sixteen. Though essentially an Indian classical musician, Anoushka’s style has always been experimental. She has worked along with various international artists including Sting, Lenny Kravitz and Thievery Corporation. Two Grammy nominations, one film (Dance Like a Man) and six albums later, Anoushka Shankar is still on her quest to discover new dimensions to the notes that she plays on her sitar. Traveller is such attempt at stretching her musical limits.

THE TRAVELER’S TRAIL Interestingly, Anoushka’s inspiration for Traveller has been her first child and she relates the album to his birth. Recording for this album began when she was 4 months pregnant and the album was completed a few weeks after her son, Zubin was born. “This album is special in the sense that I will never be pregnant again for the first time; that will always be special. And the music I make will also never be the same again – the musicians I worked with, the mood, my emotional state, and the way we performed.”

It goes beyond that; all the way to the movement of the Rajasthani gypsies with their music from India to Spain centuries ago. This album also reflects the life of Anoushka as a traveler growing up in three different continents. Her interest in Flamenco music that began early in life has now fructified into intriguing and beautiful compositions. “The same way as Indian music is associated with spirituality, but it can be more than that. It can be angry, happy, romantic, light, sad and a lot of things. Similarly, Flamenco is associated with gypsies and passion & is very passionate but it can also be many other things. Both these styles of music are vast and deep and that’s why I was attracted to both and wanted to do this collaboration in the first place.” Her album is truly an invitation to join her in an exploration of that meeting point of Indian and Flamenco music. And in this conquest, no two tracks are like each other.

“

This record is a reflection of my life. There are pieces that are full of joy, there are pieces full of fear, anger, love – just emotions

NEW DIRECTIONS, ONE DESTINATION To perfect the tunes of both styles of music, Anoushka has collaborated with the Spanish producer Javier Limon and some of the best artists from both styles - Sandra Carrasco, Ramón Porrina, Pepe Habichuela, Pedro Ricardo Miño, Padma Shankar, Shalini Patnaik, and Kenji Ota. Speaking of experimentation and the possible motifs that lead to it, Anoushka believes that experimentation for the sake of experimentation can be pointless. “If you don’t have something to say then don’t talk, you know. Collaboration can yield new ideas; the result can be greater than the sum of its parts. When I collaborate with an artist from a different style, then I’m pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I have to learn and grow and do something challenging and that is good for me as an artist.”

WORLD? HOLD ON… Globalization may be the order of the day, but Anoushka refuses to brand or package experimental music as World Music. “Names are being given for marketing and things like that so that people buy the music. Ultimately it is all just music. This kind of packaging only happens in India. In other parts of the world, say for Western classical, there is an exclusive following. It doesn’t have a mainstream following because it is still classical music. But there are opera houses that are supportive of these shows. There is support for the western classical music abroad. That has sort of died out in India. It needs to be revived,” she explains.

Anoushka may be clear about the way she defines (or not) her music. But the fact remains that music lovers world over associate her work with a more classical tag to it, invariably making her music more elitist “All classical music in the world was created for certain classes over time and were meant to be elitist. But in today’s world, it is no longer the case. Anyone can go to a classical concert and listen to it. Having more knowledge about the music helps you enjoy it better, but it is not necessary to have an understanding to enjoy,” she concludes.

A journey well begun, the ride continues to be smooth with Traveller taking the stage in several cities in India through January 2012. If you haven’t witnessed her stopovers live, do log onto www.highonscore.com for an idea! Or check out the album, a review of which lies in the pages ahead!

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a:

e Here’s an id

CONCEPT ALBUMS!

There’s a lot more to songs than music & lyrics. Think full blown-out theme over 12 songs.

E

ver since the release of Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads in 1940, concept albums have captivated the minds of listeners all over the world. Singing about the dust storms that ravaged America in the 1930s, Guthrie re-introduced audiences to the possibilities of incorporating themes and story-lines into their albums, something that had died out with the wandering minstrels in the 19th century.

Concept Album |ˈkɑnˌsɛpt ˈælbəm| An album whose recordings are unified by a common theme; one that incorporates predetermined musical and/or lyrical ideas into songs that contribute to a single overall story or message.

In today’s age of internet supremacy, a song is just a Google search away. Bon Jovi once spoke against digital downloads, saying that new fans would no longer need to buy ‘Slippery When Wet’ to listen to its most popular song, ‘Living On A Prayer’ since it’s available on iTunes for 99 cents. That pretty much spells an unnecessary demise of the other great, yet not-so-famous songs on the album.

IRON MAIDEN

Concept albums are perhaps a musician’s only tool towards fighting this, by ensuring that listeners listen to entire albums in the order it was intended, driven at least by curiosity to get to the end of the story.

THE INDIAN BANDS’ MUSE? Hysteria, Reckless DNA & lots more!

Says Riju Dasgupta, bass-player and composer of Mumbai metal band Albatross, “I’ve always thought of music as a language to convey your story and not the end in itself. A concept album definitely comes more naturally than force-fitting themes to the music.” Albatross are among the first few Indian bands that have been bitten by the concept album bug. Their first EP ‘Dinner Is You’ was about a cannibalistic laughing disease and the upcoming EP, slated for release in March ‘12 is about a town devastated by blood-sucking ‘kissing’ flies. This, at a time when musical success is associated almost solely by multi-platinum album sales and songs about cheating lovers among other things.

It’s heartening to watch bands redefine musical ambition by working on vastly philosophical subjects that cause listeners to delve into the story and attempt to grasp the underlying agenda. Says Srikrishna, drummer of Chennai thrashers Blind Image: “We

wanted to focus on a subject that has a deep philosophical meaning to it. That’s why we chose the Large Hadron Collider. More Than Human (the band’s sophomore release) is about man’s thirst to discover himself and the acts of creation and destruction that occur in the process.”

Apart from Blind Image and Albatross, South Indian experimental duo Rat King released two albums - each made as a soundtrack to a fictional horror movie. Delhi based hardcore band Artillerie released Eradefiled and Amogh Symphony’s Quantum Hack Code is about a futuristic world where cyber-viruses derived from human DNA battle for control of a dying earth. There’s more! Pune based Dark Helm are scheduled to release a concept album with an American record label and both Undying Inc. (New Delhi) and Bhayanak Maut (Mumbai) have released albums with heavily themed songs.

THE KINKS

DID YOU CATCH THESE CONCEPTS? »» The Who - Quadrophenia (1973) – engaging story

»» 30 Seconds to Mars - 30 Seconds to Mars (2002) –

»» Opeth - My Arms Your Hearse (1998) – based on a

»» My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade (2006) –

»» Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory (1999) – story of a man who discovers his past life

»» Jay-Z - American Gangster (2007) – based on the

of Jimmy Cooper & his 4 personalities

character who dies, becomes a ghost & watches his lover in the afterlife.

as Victoria Page involving love, murder, and infidelity.

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THE BEATLES

space as a metaphor for human experience.

story of a character’s death, afterlife account & reflection Frank Lucas film of the same name.

»» Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns (2010) – human fears

WOODY GUTHRIE

MADHAV RAVINDRANATH

INSPIRATION FOR 80 MINUTES: Love to literature

On the international front, after Woody Guthrie and Nat King Cole’s releases, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles) and Pet Sounds (The Beach Boys) were the most notable concept albums.

Released in 1967, both releases continued in the vein of commonly themed songs, the latter bringing a never-before seen or heard depth to love and loneliness. The Kinks and Frank Zappa released concept albums in the sixties, the decade culminating with The Who’s Tommy, an album that spawned an entire sub-genre - namely the rock opera. Pink Floyd released The Wall by which time the concept of a concept album had reached new heights of ambition. Bands and composers increasingly turned to literature and myth for intellectual stimulation.

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE

The Eighties saw the emergence of MTV and chart-busting singles, which caused the trend to fade away from mainstream media but Iron Maiden and Queensryche carried the flag high by releasing Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son and Operation: Mindcrime respectively - both of which have been widely regarded as among the best heavy metal concept albums released to date.

Speaking of heavy metal, the last decade has seen a spurt of metal bands release concept albums. Apart from the occasional rock album (My Chemical Romance and Green Day come to mind), it would seem like metal bands are the only ones which still give importance to themes and ideas of such magnitude. King Diamond’s entire discography (save two albums) is themed on horror stories, as is Iced Earth’s Framing Armageddon. God Forbid’s debut can’t be ignored neither can Savatage’s Dead Winter Dead. The list is endless.

THEY BOGGLE THE MIND MUSICALLY PINK FLOYD - DARK SIDE OF THE MOON The 8th studio album by seminal Brits, Pink Floyd deals with factors that, well, drive people insane. Quite obviously inspired by Syd Barret’s deteriorating mental state, the entire album was written on tour in 1972 and focuses on the rockstar demands expected of the band while on tour. The massive sound exhibited Pink Floyd’s artistic intention and ingenuity to the max, with nifty home-made instruments looped and layered over heavy synthesizers, lending a unique textural richness to the sound. It stayed on the Billboard charts for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988, longer than any other album in music history.

QUEENSRYCHE - OPERATION: MINDCRIME

ALBATROSS

My obsession with Queensryche borders on fanboy-ism but not without good reason.

Operation: Mindcrime, the third full length album by this American progressive metal band is perhaps the most definitive heavy metal rock opera ever, so much that Dream T heater called it, “the album that was absolutely essential for the creation of the genre.” It tells a story of Nikki, a young man who wakes up from a coma and remembers his past as a drug-addled youth, disillusioned by society. He is manipulated by the mysterious Doctor X into working as an assassin & then eventually falls in love and questions his motives. The sheer musicianship on the album is outstanding; Geoff Tate’s vocals are heart-wrenching and the twin-lead combination of Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton compliment each other perfectly.

KAMELOT - EPICA / THE DARK HALO Based on Goethe’s Faustian fable of battling forces - good and evil - within the plot’s characters, this two part rock opera is Kamelot’s finest hour. The musical arrangement, be it for a power ballad or symphonic metal song is symbolic to the point of perfection - thundering drums and power chords signifying violence and conflict, acoustic legato pieces emanating empathy and the use of exotic medieval sounds to create an other-worldly aura.

DARK HELM

ALSO, American heavy metal band Mastodon has released 4 concept albums which make up a quadrilogy, each album representing its own natural element; Remission (Fire), Leviathan (Water), Blood Mountain (Earth) and Crack T he Skye (Air).

Nightwish’s most recent effort Imaginaerum, which is about a composer on his deathbed reminiscing about his youth, is being developed into a movie of the same name and is slated for a 2012 release.

GREEN DAY

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Shresht PODDAR

Although an engineering graduate with a management degree, we’re glad Sona Mohapatra followed her musical calling!

You may recognize this golden voice from Odisha on hits like Bedardi Raja from Delhi Belly & Bahara from I Hate Luv Storys.

Besides the filmy front, she fuels her own music - SONA, her solo album & her remixed version of INXS’ Afterglow were credible works that made us sit up & take notice of this gorgeous talent.

I’m not a cookie cutter artiste or person; I’m petrified of being generic. I’m also hugely fascinated by history, art, stories and it’s from these perspectives that I present even my music!

I’ve always connected to independent minded artists from Girija Devi, Shobha Gurtu, Abida Parveen, Pt. Channulal Mishra, Ustad Rashid Khan to Tori Amos, Baba Maal, Nina Simone & Paul Simon.

People who inspire me? Poets & songwriters of the Bhakti Movement & writers of Sufiana Kalam, Ram Sampath, Munna Dhiman, a lyricist I frequently collaborate with.

I see Sufi Rock as a label & I’m not too fond of labels. I like to think of myself as a Desi artist with Sufi Rock as one of the aspects of my music. As a genre, Sufi rock is just a contemporary update of an ancient tradition of Indian music, so I don’t see why it shouldn’t be around for a longer time. It all comes down to the quality of the songs.

Nothing in my CD collection actually embarrasses me to be honest. It is all a question of which phase in life you are in. But, maybe Julio Iglesias...

Enrique? Never !!! ;) Fot this New Year Eve’s concert, I wore this gorgeous dramatic outfit created by designer Gavin Miguel. It had 35 metres of chiffon and a trail.

While it drew a collective breath from the audience when I got on stage, within minutes I tripped and fell hard! Discovered a fractured foot two days later. That made for a memorable onstage moment!

&

Quirks Queries with 32

Sona Mohapatra

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I’d love to revisit Istanbul! It’s the perfect blend of old & new, east and west; the people are so warm and CRAZY about music! Be it a café, restaurant, pub or just the streets – they all become ‘live venues’ for performances by musicians. And the audience knows each and every song and sings along. A normal weekend there is a bigger celebration than our New Year’s Eve! Future projects: My next album, Songs to the Beloved, some interesting film projects including the soon-to-be released Talaash, a lot of International and Indian advertising work (with OMGROWN music, our music production house), the latest one being the “Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai” campaign for Airtel. I’m working towards some content creation for my YT channel TheSonaMohapatra!

The Thing That Sona Wouldn’t Tell! (- she doesn’t like ‘the mush and gush’): She is married to composer, Ram Sampath (most famous for his Delhi Belly score). They first met professionally but it soon blossomed to love! And together they’ve launched the production house that has spawned hits like the viral Tata Docomo jingle!

TaRa Thomas

in the house The Internet says he’s called Avicii, Tim Berg and even Ashwin. Although he is oblivious to the last nickname, the world certainly isn’t going to be oblivious to this Swedish EDM DJ/Producer anytime soon!

Apart from our disappointment that one of the hottest DJs in the world right now doesn’t have an Indian nickname – it is still very exciting to hear from the current toast of the EDM scene!

Once Upon a time in Stockholm

Behind The Turntables

An 18 year old Avicii began his career with a remix of the track from the Commodore 64 video game ‘Lazy Jones’. He tells us “A friend told me about a software with which you could create music without playing any instruments, so I downloaded the demo to try and do a remix of an old video game track. I have been producing almost every day since then.”

Avicii credits Ash Pournouri with a lot more than just management, citing him as one of the reasons he took house seriously in the first place. “I was producing music first, before I had even heard house. I was just playing around doing loads of different genres and I wasn’t that familiar with the DJ scene in general. When I met Ash he got me into DJing almost overnight.

He showed me what to do and how to do it, and the way I looked at music changed completely”

The Fame Mix It didn’t take long for Avicii’s skills to get noticed. A company called ‘All Night Management’ headed by Ash Pournouri signed him and made sure he got his due after his hit single ‘Bromance’ by signing to top record publishing houses. What followed were collaborations with the who’s who of EDM - Sebastian Ingrosso, John Dahlback and Tiesto to name a few. His collaboration with David Guetta, “Sunshine” was nominated for a Grammy under the category of Best Dance Recording, and his tracks Penguin and Levels are probably playing in a club somewhere as I write this! We couldn’t help asking how his Swedish Roots helped him produce, to which he replies confidently “Swedish House Mafia (One) and Eric Prydz (We Don’t Need No Education) have always inspired me.

They are the reason I started producing music.”

Giving More Than A Beat Avicii and Ash were shocked at the poverty and hunger in the most unexpected of places – America. Avicii embarked in January on a 27 day “House for Hunger” tour across the country, and plans to donate $1 Million to Feeding America – the largest hunger relief organization in the United States.

The E in EDM Avicii believes that creating good electronic music is not about your equipment. “It depends on creativity, beats, vocals, timing and how in sync the tune is with the entire collaboration. Good equipment just helps the finished product amplify in terms of how it is heard.” Although he has dabbled with piano and guitar playing, he has never trained in either. Maybe making electronic music today doesn’t require it anymore? Avicii doesn’t say.

The Next Step Especially after listening to Skrillex’s insane dubstep mix of ‘Levels’ by Avicii, curiosity sets in. Avicii plus this genre, that’s creating a surge of remixes and gaining attention worldwide what is the equation? Well, if you were hoping for the excitement around it to die down, Avicii has bad news for you “Dubstep is a different kind of music. All I can say is that it is here to stay.”

Coming Soon To A Floor Near You So who does the man behind Avicii, Ash have up his sleeve next?

The name is ‘Cazzette’ and an explosion onto the charts can be expected in 2012.

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SIDDHARTH MEHTA

EASTERN FLOWERS From The West

A jazz trio from Germany, Eastern Flowers’ music is anything but conventional. While it does integrate the usual elements of piano, bass and drums, there is something very different going on in terms of the sound and the songwriting.

I

t begins with Jarry, the chief composer, sowing the seeds through his composition, by using the piano, prepared piano and the harmonium at the core. Christian Ramond’s expertise on the contrabass acts as the supporting trellis, adding the much-needed earthy element. Ramesh Shotham, the renowned percussionist (who also plays with BuJazzO), nurtures the tender piano driven polyphony with his reservoir of Konakol and Carnatic percussion from South India – ghatams and snares, tambourines and tumbaks, ghungroos, bells, high-hats and more. Together, the trio propagates music that truly flourishes in open minds, uprooting all previous notions of doubt and disbelief.

WHERE IT ALL STEMS FROM

HEADING TO HOMEGROUNDS

One would think the name Eastern Flowers symbolizes the fruition of the trio’s music having its foundation in the West, but blooming in the East… BUT Jarry assures us over-imaginative individuals that his idea behind the name was actually much simpler and spontaneous – “I had to come up with something quick. I used to play in this German band – Blumenbein – since ‘blumen’ is German for ‘flowers’, I decided that Eastern Flowers would be appropriate.” But the romantics amongst us need not despair – the ‘Eastern’ component constitutes not only the trio’s sound, but also their heritage and cultural leanings.

Ramesh Shotham, originally from Chennai and now residing in Cologne, Germany, has studied at the Karnataka College of Percussion, which is affiliated with notable jazz legends like Charlie Mariano, Iain Bellamy and others. Christian Ramond’s father is of Indo-Guyanese ancestry, whereas Jarry Singla’s father was originally a student from Punjab, who ended up settling in Germany.

Before his concert in Mumbai at the NCPA’s Experimental Theater, Ramesh shared with us his uncertainty about the viewers’ reception, considering how the contemporary Indian audience has a propensity for all things loud. Speaking about his experiences of recent recitals in Delhi, he explained that he was surprised to witness how even classical music was played loud. Jarry and Christian agreed, and in soft-spoken voices, added their own concerns over how people ought to appreciate the softer side of music as well.

Additionally, Jarry himself has spent a lot of time living in numerous cosmopolitan locations worldwide such as New York and Mexico City, immersing himself deeply within different forms of music. He has worked and played with the Ukrainian singer Mariana Sadovska and the Iraqi composer Saad Thamir. The concept of Eastern Flowers came about when Jarry and Christian, who had been playing together for a while in Cologne, were suggested to pursue an avenue that led back to their Indian roots. They both knew about Ramesh Shotham, and decided to work together on this project a little over two years ago. “A lot of such collaborations come and go,” Ramesh mentions, “but Eastern Flowers is here to stay.”

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Nonetheless, their music, despite its unconventional nature, was certainly well received, here in India. They played numerous songs from their eponymous CD as well as certain other customized arrangements of South Indian temple songs, the latter being the most familiar with the Indian audience, and thereby drawing the loudest applause. Some notable numbers include the quintessentially jazzy sounding ‘Mineralle,’ the harmonium driven ‘Bloomintroe’ and the Ukrainian / Polish influenced ‘Za Hory.’ In all their songs, the variation in percussive elements stands out, but most emphatically in ‘Le Marriage d’Orphelins,’ where the harmony of the cymbals and ghungroos creates an aura of rainclouds parting.

Ultimately, Eastern Flowers’ music is yet another example of integrating individuals and ideas, cultures and concepts from different parts of the world, and disseminating it en masse through creative expression. We certainly hope that they thrive off their audiences’ support and continue to bloom perennially.

Photography: Goetz Schleser

SANDHYA RAMACHANDRAN

Ins pir in Nov sincg Indi a 16 th e , 2 011

Visit www.GoUntucked.com for t-shirts with this Kolaveri insignia

YouTube. Remember that happy place (currently being usurped by 9gag) where time didn’t matter, fear didn’t exist & your boss’s nearing footsteps were drowned by your loud guffaws, finger pointing & head shaking to the darndest things? Well, a couple of months ago, a Tamil film brought out the teaser to its release in the form of a live recdg video clip of one of the songs. And they put these precious bytes up on YouTube. I’m not going to use fancy metaphors to define the impact. For a while, it seemed like everybody in the world could only say: WTK? Uncomfortable silences worldwide were broken with these three magic words. The creativity it stimulated could not have been triggered by nationwide talent hunts or financial incentives (sorry, we have no faith in the workings of THOSE). Of them all, here are some noteworthy tributes:

The Good

The BAD

The UGLY

There was an R&B version with Jay Seanesque moans & urgency that got several hits.

Well produced and a kind of refining to the coarse truths mentioned in the original, this is for all those that can’t handle pheelings in the form it was meant to be. Two girls from Lokhandwala had some viral success with their ‘response to Kolaveri’ - all you doublecrossing, chauvinistic, two timing varmints, this song goes out to you. Here too, minimum production costs were involved with just the two women at the wheel and three guys in the backseat. Sitting in another car were a bunch of Punjabi gentlemen who gave an underground Desi (think Bhangra tones & nasal twist) take that wasn’t so bad.

For some reason, a software boys version hit the web where uncles & uncle-like guys got funky. The references here are mostly lost out on the listener. A heavy metal instrumental version came out within 2 days of the original, which wasn’t so bad.

And then a female with a hip hopper dude decided to sing in said metchul version. The zooming in & out of the video to pounding drums is plain annoying and WHY is the electric guitar solo-ing on a sitar? It gets worse with an ‘Exam veri’ version that has a protagonist who looks like he is undergoing a middle age crisis. Seriously, just for videos like this, Canon/Sony/Nikon should increase equipment rentals.

Beyond the spectrum of good to bad, we have a special place for utterly bizarre. So there’s an Egyptian guy going ‘why zis colour very colour very green’ some 20 times and then the screen splits 3 ways and has the bloke dressed as a woman in one, skin coloured tights & a moustache(my eyes, my eyes) in the other and the third as himself & in all three he is wiggling insanely fast to Kolaveri’s beat.

It gets weirder with a Chipmunk sounding version that has animated-to-look-human babies in diapers and roller skates booty popping & more around Evian bottles. This was supposed to be an ad for Evian 2 years ago, altered for WT K. Again. WHY?

Special Mention All the way from Junglistan comes a video with a message, FINALLY. Here we have adults dressed in animal costumes giving us a lesson on ‘koyla mining’ (coal mining) while taking moments to get their groove on in between. Very touching insights into how using axe-u brings tear-u to trees. If T HIS doesn’t stop deforestation, nothing will.

We urge you to check out these gems online! We have them all consolidated on www.highonscore.com! Be sure to type in Kolaveri & watch these in the order meant to be – good, bad & ugly!

Special Thanks to Mahima Mathur for YT scouring.

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Madhumita Prabhakar

d re u t a fe F M G L f o n The 20th editio artists. Here they a unique blend ofughts about the share their tho le experiences festival, memoradb much more! during tour an

respect and as a mark of s ro i et m an t and late Vij all Indi dian violinis held across In is l ed va m ti ai es cl F sic an ac a Global Mu bramaniam, shminarayan ru of Dr. L Su ak L gu e d h n of T an , er ar th - the fa a cross sectio Year after ye minarayana calists from sh vo d ak L an r. s D st li enta tribute to nal instrum m. ther exceptio ge to g Subramania n gi ho spent . in s) ong other composer w pride for br d am d , an el al h er eg n as ay h Se pl F , GM artists,and y Coast ger, oud Since 1992, L uropean Jazz enmark, Ivor Tunisian sin E a (D l , ef ra ds n ss ve ou ou se Y gr h afer g wit cultural back ances by Dh collaboratin l prowess. uded perform h he started cl ic to his musica h in y w re r on oi te im rt af st , pe lf te re se aniam, the ds ’s im ar an h st ye by This ayana Subram Prophecy, g music ar in al N n it ar ig r.

D D le , , s m m ar ia albu an lists. his early ye lf. His latest Bindu Subram instrumenta he for himse am and Jazz vocal artists at y h th G , or m carved a nic ew ga ot n n rida ormances by veral other M also saw perf aniam and se am br Su The festival bi Am ng violinist popular you

Kavita Krishnamurthy Subramaniam Popular Indian Singer Kavita Krishnamurthy got her first break into World Music in the year 1999 when she sang the ever famous “Gypsy Trial” with flamenco guitarist Jorge Struntz, for a Global Fusion album being composed by Dr. L Subramaniam, for Warner.

“I have personally been a part of the LGMF for 11 years now. This year we are celebrating the centenary of two contemporaries and friends, Palghat TS Mani Iyer and Professor V.Lakshminarayana. Their contribution to the Indian music has been undeniable.

World music itself has travelled a long way over the decades. It has given us a chance to move beyond traditional leanings and experience a whole new echelon in music.”

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MIYA MASAOKA Koto

is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument made of Kiri wood, also known as the Empress Tree’s wood. Before constructing the instrument, the wood is usually seasoned for up to a year, on the roof of houses. It has 13 strings, which are strung over 13 movable bridges along the width of the instrument.

It is played with three finger picks i.e. the thumb, index and middle finger.

The modern Koto, which originated from the Gakuso, was a popular instrument among the wealthy; In Japan, it is considered a romantic one.

David Bowie used a Koto in the instrumental piece “Moss Garden” on his album, Heroes.

Former Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones plays the Koto in the song Take It Or Leave It, on the album Aftermath.

Japanese American Koto Player Miya Masaoka has observed the sound and movement of insects, the physiological response of plants, the human brain and body. Within these varied contexts of sound and nature, she has developed a unique style, which manifests in a contemporary expression of Japanese gagaku music. Her thoughts on world music: It has almost come a full circle, in the sense that with digital sampling, and new technologies, a lot of music from different cultures can be used in somewhat simplistic ways. Another interesting observation is how different cultures and individuals within that culture choose to incorporate music in different ways.

Kora. A 21 -stringed instrument,

SOLO CISSOKHO Senegalese Kora player One of the foremost exponents of his instrument and musical heritage, he is one of the recipients of the BBC World Music Awards for his outstanding collaborations with world famous artists like Ellika Frisell and Kirsten Bråten.

“I belong to a family which carries a lineage of passionate, world renowned Kora instrumentalists like Kausu Kouyate and Seckou Keita. I started learning to play from the age of seven. According to our tradition, before learning the instrument, we have to learn how to build the Kora. We believe this will help us gain a deeper understanding and better knowledge of music.”

Photography: Swati Chatrapathy

it is built from a long melon, also called a Calabash and covered in cow hide to make a resonator.

The sound of a Kora is similar to that of a harp, though in some traditions, it emulates the sound of Flamenco, a form of music native to Spain. It is played only with the thumb and index finger of both hands, while the other fingers are used to hold the instrument. A traditional Kora player is called a ‘Jali’; it is played widely, but mostly by males of West African clans.

More than 200 scores have already been written for Kora solo or Kora and Western instruments.

Notable composers include Brother Dominique Catta, Jacques Burtin, Carole Ouellet, Brother Grégoire Philippe.

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FINE ART FOCUS:

MARGHAZI SEASON With so much popularity for the Chennai Music Season aka Madras Music Festive or Margazhi Mahotsav (more of a recent coinage), one must wonder why the words “Kutcheri”, “Sabha” and “Rasika” have still not made it into any popular dictionary.

Ashok Subramaniam he mega season really starts by mid November these days and sometimes, even earlier due to very limited number of concert halls and extends to mid/late January of the new year. This year’s season reached the 1500 mark in terms of number of concerts, spread across many venues. The centre of music remained the Music Academy in Alwarpet doing its season as per its tradition (the only tradition still intact) from 19th to 31st of December. Sabhas like Krishna Gana Sabha, Partha Sarathy Sabha, Mylapore Fine Arts, Naradha Gana Sabha continued to flourish with their share of concerts and lecture demonstations.

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Photography: Hariharan Sankaran, Amrutha Ananth

Prime Awardee The ever prestigious and coveted “Sangeetha Kalanidhi” award from Music Academy was given to a well deserved candidate, a notable NRI mridangam vidwan, from Canada, Prof.

Trichy Shankaran. Apart from presiding over many of the lec-dem sessions held in the mini-hall in the academy, the designee of the award would sit through many concerts, sing (if vocalist) or play for a few major artists and showcase their skill in lec-dems that most definitely recount their gurus, learning years and and their toiling over the years to reach the pinnacle. Shri Shankaran also did talk about his guru, Palani Subramaniaya Pillai and his style in ample measure, with beautifully demonstrated audio clips during one of the morning lec-dem sessions.

The Music Academy: Prime or Pathetic Institution?

Allegedly the most prestigious of music venues, it unfortunately seems to be the most disorganized. Despite the fact that well-known business elites of the city are running it with the support of rich patrons, they are lacking in quite a few aspects. Parking arrangement is abysmally inadequate, the room for lecdems are ill-provided for and there are no published guidelines as to what merits the membership and what happens to dormant memberships.

We sincere appeal that they do something drastically different in the forth-coming years.

There is a sore lack of transparency in the ticket distribution scheme too. When the open season tickets are announced and people queue for the same from the previous mid-night, it is a huge disappointment when, after 50 odd tickets being sold, doors are closed for 200+ odd people waiting. Not meaning to be an Academy trashing article, but there are many things this institution and other Sabhas have to consider if they have to manage this Carnatic Circus effectively. Else, the serious audience base will be increasingly disgruntled and seek other avenues of entertainment.

Concert slots: Popularity or Seniority?

Over the years, the concert slot allocation has taken a healthy turn. Seniors like Neyveli Santhanagopalan and O.S.Thiagarajan were moved to morning free sessions, which is good. With the number of new faces showing up each year, almost all institutions have to play this balancing game, paving way for young and upcoming artists to move to evening slots. Sometimes, it is inevitable that young artists are promoted just based on popularity too. The question that begs to be answered though is - would the founding fathers be smiling if they had even an iota of idea that this would be the evolution?

Racy or Racing Artists?

What is the real success measure of established and evolving artists? Is it the number of concerts they can boast during the season, or the quality they deliver to the rasikas? The fact is, it was indeed a mix of both. The youngest sensation, Abhishek Raghuram, proved to be the latest roller-coaster who packed in a lot of substance and not just show. But truly concerned rasikas would also caution him to go a bit slow as he has to serve the concert field for long years (only because we love you!). The audience-engaging Ranjani-Gayathri duo, Aruna Sairam, O.S.Arun, Vishaka Hari etc. were the usual crowd pullers. Sanjay Subramaniam, Sudha Raghunathan, Gayathri Venkatragavan, Gayathri Girish and many others delivered their usual performances in many venues; no surprises or disappointments there.

Lec-dems without Q&A? There are many places where so called lec-dems happen. The senior artists tend to take this opportunity to talk about the topics that are not exactly centered around the core. They thus make it a watch-only opportunity for the rasikas by opening up questions to “expert-committee” members, who either go in pat-in-the-back mode or recount their own personal experiences. There is no scientific rigor of any sort in these sessions. But they are fun to watch. Notable speakers at lec-dems these days include Prof.

S.Janaki Raman (at this ripe age, he speaks with such clarity and authority!) and Sangeetha Kalanidhi Smt. Vedavalli.

Technicalities For a completely delightful aural experience of the highest degree, The Music Academy continues to be the best choice. The worst in this regard is the Naradha Gana Sabha. For an auditorium of that size, barely any efforts seem to have been taken with regard to audio design.Nevertheless, kudos to the efforts of organizers and volunteers in making this the most premium music event - an annual mega music series of the world! As there is no official start date of the season, there is no official end of the same. With Chennai, the music season never comes to a complete stop. ‘It is always pause and proceed!’

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SIDDHARTH MEHTA

‘Shri’ maybe a convenient abbreviation for some of the most common prefixes in traditional South Indian nomenclature, but this musical mastermind is fully deserving of all the veneration commanded by his eponym. Born as Shrikanth Sriram, he doesn’t hold back his amusement in explaining how difficult it has become for people to trace him on the Internet, given that his name is very commonly, albeit mistakenly, alluded to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (who, also, despite his own name, has no direct musical connection).

An Instrumental Odyssey: Route To The Flute Shri started learning the tabla at the tender age of 4, after which, while going through a youthful rebellious phase, he taught himself the bass guitar. He mentions laughingly how, since he didn’t have the kind of money to buy himself a fancy bass guitar, he handcrafted one – which, till this day, continues to be his brother in arms at many an event. “I went through a 100 instrument phase briefly,” he relates, “it was a lot of different things – trombones, violins, saxophones…” but nothing seemed to satiate his need for melodic expression until his tryst with the flute.

“For two whole years, I tried to play many different things with the flute – but I couldn’t play it to save my life,” Shri explains.

When his dad suggested that he ought to take lessons from a guru, the cockiness of his adolescence didn’t acquiesce, and he spurned the advice. Later on, however, during a long trek in the Himalayas, he took his flute with him to see if the “mountain air, the rivers and the tall fir trees” would invoke in him the inspiration that Mumbai’s insipid environment failed to do.

“I know this sounds filmy,” he admits, “but believe me – this is exactly how it happened. One day, I just closed my eyes and began to play… and when I opened my eyes, there were people around me, clapping and applauding.” And thus like magic, Shri metamorphosed into a flautist, practically overnight.

Influences, The Oddities: Dhrupad to Eric Saade!

Shri professes the profoundness of one particular quote from The Little Book of Zen – “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” Having reached the zenith of his learning curve, he started opening up to numerous voices all around him, which, directly or indirectly, began to influence his creative process. “Anyone and everyone can be my guru – taxi-drivers, bhaajiwaalas and other musicians.”

Speaking of influences, Shri’s own tastes are very eclectic, and highly dependent on his own mood. At times, he prefers indulging in dhrupad music – “It is straight from the mud, the earth… but there’s a finesse that’s so raw and unadulterated’.

His current playlist shuffles between Iron Maiden, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Beethoven, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Tool, Primus and, surprisingly, even Eric Saade.

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He shares an amusing anecdote about how a friend of his once asked him to recommend some music – and he listed albums by ten different artists. When, upon being questioned by the clerk, the friend affirmed that it was indeed all for himself, the clerk was flabbergasted – “You MUST be crazy.”

A Mosaic of Indian Notes, Keeping In Tact His Mores “I would like to make an Indian album,” he states, explaining that he would like to work with other local artists. “Its not so much a spectacle but a mosaic” that he wishes to create, asserting that he would like to connect with musicians personally, before embarking on such a project. Having worked with such personalities as Talwin Singh, Nitin Sawhney and DJ Badmarsh in the there is no doubt that he is a people’s person. Shri emphasizes that he needs to gauge the other person on all levels before entertaining any ideas about collaborations. “Even if Sting were to suddenly walk in and say – Hi, lets do something together – I would still say, lets chat first…” says Shri, resonating his core principles.

He is convinced of another simple fact. Regardless of genre, there are only two kinds of music – good and bad. Bad music, according to Shri, results only when “the person himself is unconvinced of what he is playing.”

According to Shri, music was, is, and always will be instinctive and intuitive. Taking his own example from his Himalayan epiphany – “at that time, my mind was in a different place. My fingers simply knew what to do.”

Photographer: Parizad D

“

Even if Sting were to suddenly walk in and say – Hi, lets do something together – I would still say, lets chat first…

SHRI101 A Live Fusion Of Sorts:

A portmanteau of words as well as ideas, his latest project (ShriLektric) centers upon the traditional divinity of Indian classical percussion and flutes, entrenched within layers of drums and bass. You may have seen such examples of fusion before – Old meets New, East meets West – but nothing quite like this.

Songwriting here is a live, organic process, as opposed to relying on sophisticated sound-banks and studioenhanced effects.

Aim of this musical venture (in Shri’s own words): To be able to make music in any format, with the available tools and instruments on stage, in front of a live audience. “It’s very open ended”, he adds, “One need not learn the songs beforehand.” As a result, Shri has become extremely versatile; skillfully juggling the roles of producer, composer, musician, sound engineer and stage performer, simultaneously.

‘Folktronica’ Live!

Tabla, flute and bass comprise the holy trinity of multi-instrumentalist Shri’s musical repertoire. Throw in MIDI, mixers and loopers - and lo and behold the one-man-army.

After watching Shri at Blue Frog Mumbai with Lindsay D’Mello on drums, Vivek Rajagopalan on percussion and the lovely Nandini Srikar on vocals, I was fully convinced of this concept of blending acoustic and electric music through electronic mediums as I witnessed each time a tapestry of melody, which changed into something new each time Shri shook things up – musically speaking, that is.

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INDIE

Reviews

Each of our writers check out the latest indie albums to hit shelves & get their critique on!

«««««

Papon: The Story So Far GENRE: Folk Pop

REVIEWED BY: Siddharth Mehta

F

our years in the making, this album was finally released in mid January, showcasing Papon’s prowess as a consummate singer-songwriter and a performer. It would be unfair and overly simplistic to label his music as ‘fusion’; while there are some notable characteristics of traditional tunes meeting modern melodies, there are certain aspects that are completely unique to Papon himself. His soothing yet jaunty vocals and the accompanying music, especially on songs like “Main Chalta Hi Rahaa” and “Chhoti Chhoti Baatein” have the power to charm even the most steadfast of realists into a few moments of guilt-free escapism. At the same time, Papon and The East India Company’s take on such Bihu tunes as “Boitha Maro Re” and “Baavle Jharne” evoke a very charming Assamese aura, one that would be hard to recreate

without his voice. A generally engaging album, its weakest moments are probably in its poppy acoustic numbers, like “Keep Rolling” and the more lounge-oriented “Aankhee.” A very good album to listen to at any time of the day, but the warmth in Papon’s voice can be felt more on a particularly cold, rainy day, when trapped indoors.

TOP PICKS: Boitha Maro Re, Din Guzrein, Chhoti Chhoti Baatein

«««««

Dark Helm: Persepolis GENRE: Progressive Deathcore

REVIEWED BY: Madhav Ravindranath

F

or a band that’s been around for just a few years, Dark Helm have done quite well for themselves. The Pune based sextet, signed on to American label Itchy Metal Entertainment recently & Persepolis is their debut venture, which seems to unintentionally (or intentionally?) echo the story of the Prince of Persia. I’m always wary of Indian bands trying to compose music about distant cultures that have no foreseeable connection to ours. And Persepolis is no different.

With concepts such as bending time in Persia and songs called ‘Jaffer,’ it’s only too easy to draw parallels to the popular video game/movie.

Armed with Arabic tinged melodic breakdowns and symphonic elements, the band pulls off a fairly commendable effort despite bringing nothing exceptionally new to the table.

The band lists their influences as Lamb of God, Textures and Dimmu Borgir (among others) and the end product does sound like a veritable stew of these bands. The album does have its

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moments though; the infusion of synth laden middle-Eastern overtones are unique to the band’s sound, but sandwiched between generic grooves, they lose their presence and end up as fillers to the band’s staple sound.

However, all is not lost. A mention must be made to the musicianship and the instrumentalists. The guitar riffing and drumming is spot on, and there are some interesting ideas.

I’d have appreciated better production but perhaps The album does deliver some goods, there’s no doubt about that. It could use a little re-work and refining but not bad for a debut effort.

TOP PICKS: ‘Jaffer’, ‘Borrowed Time’

«««««

Anoushka Shankar: Traveller GENRE: World

REVIEWED BY: Brindaa Lakshmi

F

irst off, Traveller is NOT a typical Indian classical album.

Set on an experimental mode, Anoushka has collaborated with Spanish producer, Javier Limon to create an intriguing album that carries the western flavours of Flamenco music and hooks them up with their ancient roots in Indian music.

Anoushka begins the album with the track ‘Inside Me’. Giving you a taste of her experimental streaks with fine Indo-Spanish mix, this track sets you on a journey. True to her voyage, no two tracks in this album are like the other. The tracks ‘Buleria Con Ricardo’ and ‘Si No Puedo Verlo’ take on the Spanish rhythm. Going on a more Indian mode, ‘Dancing In Madness’ comes with an interesting Mrudangam twist reminding you of that age-old song – ‘Adu Pambe’ (literally asking the snakes to dance). And with a mother’s touch, ‘Lola’s Lullaby’ was named after a close friend’s daughter who was very ill.

Coming much later in the album, the title track, ‘Traveller’ may be disappointing, making you wonder if the best is already over. But wait till you hear ‘Bhairavi’. Set on a scale that is most commonly used in Flamenco music - the Bhairavi raga’s scale - this one is truly meant to trigger the ancient Flamenco-Indian connections.

This album courageously strives to bridge the gap between centuries, cultures and flavours, waking that adventurous spirit in you, with a constant reminder that this journey is a never-ending one.

TOP PICKS: Inside Me, Si No Puedo Verlo, Bhairavi

«««««

Kuhoo Gupta: The Vocal Vigour GENRE: Folk Pop

REVIEWED BY: Sandhya Ramachandran

T

he sweet high-pitched tone of Kuhoo Gupta reminds one of the era when a singer’s market appeal was based on range and sounding classically trained but not classical.

‘Akhiyan Mein’, with its minimal percussive elements (ghungru and kanjira) is the beginning of an album where a lot of tracks end up sounding too similar – in terms of song structure & vocal style. It has shades of potential, like with ‘Do Baatein’, but that wears off when you realize that the minor notes & swooping is characteristic of most of the tunes in the album. ‘Man Jaane’ sees new age elements with the processed rap bits in between. The unplugged version works better; makes for light listening. The more folksy numbers, ‘Ikka Dukka’ & ‘Punyat Thandi’, are the frontrunners (the latter doing a much greater job). Here is where one can see a possible musical direction to Gupta’s music and also, the ‘vigour’ that the album name mentions. The aptly titled Roshni, is

certainly the flickering light at the end of the tunnel. With an uncharacteristic low-pitched start, she just about manages to steer clear of predictable pattern. ‘Supari’, the last track, has her going more flamboyant but she resorts to her comfortable swoops again.

Semi-classical is a tricky genre – you don’t want to bog people down with too much intricacy, but it can’t be too simplistic.

Striking that balance will take time and if not a very innovative attempt, this album is surely a sincere one. If Kuhoo Gupta is put in the right (tight) production hands, there could be gold.

TOP PICKS: Do Baatein, Punyat Thandi, Roshni

«««««

Pangea: Snails Are When I Was Young GENRE: Progressive Rock

E

REVIEWED BY: Siddharth Mehta

ssentially a side project started by Akshay Rajpurohit (Scribe) and later joined by Shadaab Kadri and Kuber Sharma, Pangea’s debut album was released in late 2011. At first, it seems like just another run-of-the-mill progressive metal/djent mashup, with its typical traits – textured guitar harmonies with odd time signatures, palm-muted riffs and jazz-influenced solos. One may even mistake this album to be a B-side by Animals for Leaders, especially considering the juxtaposition of electronic sounds and the song titles.

But it is only upon closer listening that the subtler aspects of the music come to view, such as the ambient interviewing of synth, strings and clean guitars in “The Rabbit Will Untie Your Laces.” In contrast, although “Every Photo Doesn’t Have a Ghost” and “Allergy Spreads Through Kissing” begin with a Misha Mansoor (of Bulb and Periphery) -esque intro, the

subdued lead guitar becomes more noticeable after, as one gets to appreciate the differences in the tones of the rhythm and lead. Generally speaking, the album is not particularly original in concept, but instrumentalists and purveyors of all things progressive will be able to appreciate the more intricate and technical aspects of guitars, the synchronization of drums and bass, the simple but slick production and a somewhat psychedelic feel.

TOP PICKS: The Rabbit Will Untie Your Laces, Mind If I Borrow Your Life?

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«««««

Sky Rabbit: Sky Rabbit GENRE: Rock

REVIEWED BY: Tara Thomas

Rabbit (formerly known as Medusa) have been for nearly a decade. This eponymous release S kyaround

comes after their first EP titled “Survival of the Fittest”.

In their previous avatar as Medusa, the Mumbai band was selected to be part of ‘Soundpad’ organized by the British Council where they recorded two tracks with legendary producer John Leckie. The band has also toured the UK, covering the cities Brighton, Cardiff, Oxford, Liverpool and London. (So that explains their sound, then!)

My first impression of the band came from the names of their songs. Mostly single words - tracks like ‘Oil’ and ‘March’– that sounded heavy, reminiscent of a concept album. The first few songs seem to be the weakest on the album. The lyrics seem shallow and repetitive, and the vocalist seems to be struggling to sound like something he is not. However, once you get to ‘Sweet Smile Driving’, ‘Swimmer’ and ‘I Become I’ – everything picks up. The intros and outros of almost every song in the album is

well composed. The use of an instrument that sounds like a harmonium on ‘Try’ was an interesting addition.

Sky Rabbit has effectively managed to fuse a very Indie and Electro sound and create a laid back groove. The album is well produced – sparing the vocals in my opinion. Although they sound a lot like Blur, Kasabian and sometimes even Coldplay – their immaculate blend of the electronic sound with this genre of music sets them apart from a plethora of Indian bands and gives them a considerable edge. A good album to listen to on a long, Sunday afternoon drive.

TOP PICKS: ‘Swimmer’, ‘I Become I’, ‘Hilltop’

«««««

La Pongal GENRE: Folk

REVIEWED BY: Sandhya Ramachandran

he intro is a Panchayat-esque announcement about T what lies ahead in the voice of Anthony, who in the course of 6 tracks, bowls you over. The first track, Kiliyamma is like initiation. You sit up and digest how it is actually possible to fuse something as traditional as Tamil folk with electric guitars (even a solo!) & acoustic accompaniment so beautifully.

What makes this album a winning effort is the attention to detail. Like with ‘Koopitadhu’, the swagger that the singers effortlessly exhude mesh with the groove, falling very well on the ears. Midway, the song really picks up & what you hear is a three-minute celebration, with vocal free styling on the surface. Again, the acknowledgment that village music has expressions on the sleeve and in joyous times, breaking into dance is how they do it! ‘Naanthan Veeran’ starts simple, with a set pattern & cheery singing, and after a good 4 minutes comes a break where this rustic optimism & hope is translated into more modern standards (read: great guitaring). ‘Orukodam’ is stylish (props to the bass!) with a reggae tinge, midway has a flange effect thrown in, breaks into interactive vocal play & overall, is quite rock

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& roll! The poignant ‘Paaradi’ through the vocals evokes the depths of emotion, even for someone who wouldn’t understand the lyrics. No breaks, no solos but laced with more traditional tones & instruments. The album ends on a high, celebrating the Tamil harvest festival & their namesake – Pongal. ‘Pongal Parai’ is a percussive extravaganza! If Tamilians listen to this during Pongal when not home, tears of nostalgia are bound to creep up.

This is good crossover. Not some commercial fest, but a well-done affair that takes the best of the village and produces it for the city dweller’s senses. You may not get to hear such a focused effort from La Pongal in future. Not because they aren’t capable. Because these guys are going to be big & may never turn back!

TOP PICKS: Koopitadhu, Paaradi

PATROL To prove to you that we are going places, we actually go to places. And find your favourite Indie Bands, and cover ‘em like they’ve never been covered before! Upcoming talent - citywide picks!

CRYPTED GENRE:

FLORA TR IBAL : PSYCHEDELIA

W

SIVE DE ATH MET AL

hAT? 4 guys who mak that the sa e you real d scene in ize a city like indeed gi ve rise to Chennai can in sane leve BRUTALIT ls of aggres EH EXXX sion.

T REME!

GENRE

WhAT? They are aliens who don’t quite understand the meaning of the word ‘intergalactic.’ Earth Shock, I am sure.

Why

Why? Because their music is far out. And

Tabla beats are in vogue right now. Listen to the band’s Earthworms, and Nine Planets (even though there are only eight anymore). l influence. Or in the wHEN ? Mostly when you’re deep under chemicabig thing after Enya, giving Elevator, these guys seem all poised to be the next new meaning to uncomfortabe fidgeting in silence.

MUMBAI

? Bec metals ban ause they do that fa ncy font th ds are ob sessive ab It’s an am at all out, big routine in ram (respect the ar quite well. live gigs – twork, bro the coordi routines to ). And for nation of their inte shame. which pu ractive Fle ts choreo shEater graphed B wHEN ? W olly wood h en yo u are the dungeon. diab Be sure to get one of olical emperor Pal pa those styl ish pink ea tine torturing his enemies rmuffs fo in a r yourself though.

MOB MARLEY INC .

GENR E: REGGAE

CHENNAI

live banned

WhAT? Mob Marley is your stan

dard eight piece ensemble exploring the roots of ye olde Tuff Gon g.

They will make bad pun s and they will stand by it.

OME GENRE: AWES

at Kats theme,

e Sw WhAT? Pick thNa kka Mukka.

Why? Because they are compos

ed of some pretty awesome musicians from the best indie bands in the country. And becaus e the only accurate way to describe their music is ‘mellow’. Because the ir bio says that their incredi ble repertoire ranges from Bob Marley to Dam whoa, bro.) ian

Marley (Like,

wHEN ? When you’re on an aer

ular Caribbean types.

PROGRES

o-plane to Jamaica sur rounded by muscular Play on full-volume for and musicinstant approval.

DELHI

mash it up with pped have finally sto eer When your ears shockwave of sh e th m fro ing to bleed in Ringa Ringa w ro th s, es en d is awesom at I just describe th t as be e Th the mix. ng. so ed nn Ba e a typical Liv ove. Imagine.

Why? Read ab self. Repeat. ur yo e tat Resusci the time.

HEN ? Any time. All

w

BANGALORE

l ak e r oom mu s h post-rock psychedelic/ GENRE:

lic quartet from

Kerala.

hede WhAT? A psyc g up like em to be springin

Really, they se at I did there?). ese days (See wh mushrooms th heard, because one song that I rupting Why? From thirreita int ting vocals er o it doesn’t have ation. Really, wh nt me tru ins h -is their Daft Punk in Silsila? ha a sil Sil to p to tri g on the actually wants n you’re OD-in ed above? Whe iting for the ion nt wa e me u’r rio yo na en from the sce prepared. Or wh en u. rd yo wa l of wHEN ? Aparetlun ste ath ho de ch that the se that’ll be the excess oil in th ant trampling ca ph ele le ab vit ine elephant of the

Don't le you ou t the random checkin t! These ban ness freak g out. A d udio s are worth on www .highonvisual eviden ce score.c om

trivandrum Compiled by Nilankur Dutta

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MOOD-I Livewire

IIT Bombay’s semi pro band competition, Livewire, saw the best of the young indie circuit battle it out for the top prize!

Saarang 2012

Down south, IIT Madras had mammoth pro show line up with Devi Sri Prasad, Vildjartha (ably supported by indie acts Blind Image, Inner Sanctum, Scribe) and Vishal-Shekar.

Anoushka Shankar

Anoushka Shankar stopped at UB City as part of her Traveller Tour.

STRINGS

Paki band Strings were a pleasant surprise when they showed up at IIPM Bangalore.

Chennai Global Music Festival

CGMF 2012, spread over 3 days, had an assortment of acts like Junkyard Groove, Blaaze ,The Joint Family.

Ziskakan, Vikku Vinayakram, Susheela Raman & more!

SUMMERSTORM

Edition 2012 was headlined by Opeth, with Nothnegal & Suidakra and supported by Theorized and Eccentric Pendulum from homeground

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Photography: Anushya B, Swathi Chatrapathy, Romel Dutta, Praveen S R, Navneeth B, George Vedamanickam

The January Gist of Gigs!

Score’s pick of shows you shoud not have missed!

Check out more photos and videos at www.highonscore.com

SCORE-TASTIC

A Tribute to AR Rahman feat. Staccato

The month started with a Rahman tribute, got heavy & loud with a metal bashing and simmered down with blues rock.

Captains of Hook + Blues Conscience

Crypted + Before The Holocaust + Iterate

GETTING GIGGY WITH IT

Soulmate

Papon

Modern Mafia

Alexandra Stan

Goldspot

Adam &The Fish Eyed Poets

Punk Ass Orifus + Tough On Tobacco

Galeej Gurus

Zedde The

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