narenmusic

By Narendra Kusnur Album: Night Prayer Artiste: Gundecha Brothers Genre: Hindustani classical dhrupad Label: Felmay Rating: **** The death of vocalist Ramakant Gundecha on the evening of Friday, November 8, has come as a huge shock to Hindustani classical followers. The tragedy happened too suddenly at the Habibganj railway station, Bhopal, as the maestro had a heart attack while travelling with his brother Umakant to Pune for a concert, before heading to Mumbai for the day-long 8 Prahar festival. The Gundecha Brothers have been at the forefront of the dhrupad vocal style since the late 1980s, following the Dagar Vani tradition created by the renowned Dagar Brothers. The oldest form of Hindustani vocal music, this gayaki  preceded the popular khayal format, and has also influenced certain styles of instrumental music. Besides the Gundecha Brothers, Uday Bahawalkar of Pune has earned recognition for carrying the Dagar Vani vocal style forward. Apart from being proli...

By Narendra Kusnur Album: Cry Artiste: Cigarettes After Sex Genre: Ambient pop, shoegaze Label: Partisan Records Rating: ** 1/2 American dream-pop band Cigarettes After Sex had a sold-out show in Mumbai earlier this year. Obviously, the effeminate-voiced frontman Greg Gonzalez and his team acquired a large following after their self-titled 2017 debut, thanks largely to its laid-back, ambient sound and songs that talked of heartbreak. Songs from the debut album are available on YouTube. The group's second album Cry  moves pretty much in the same direction, though sadly, a lot of monotony and repetitiveness creep in here. It takes a while to get a hang of the tunes, which all sound like cousins of each other. Clubbed under the ‘shoegaze’ sub-genre of alternative music, the songs have atmospheric effects and distorted guitars, with clear influences of new age, smooth jazz and alternative rock band Mazzy Star. Gonzalez’ voice is soulful on some tracks and bland on the ...