Naren's indie round-up/ Oct 2023, Ep 1

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR 

The Newcomers/ Coming Home

Produced by Mahaveer Jain & Warner Music

Rating: ****

To mark Gandhi Jayanti, four youngsters calling themselves The Newcomers have put out this video song 'Coming Home'. Based on the Mahatma's belief in the 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' or 'The World Is One Family' philosophy, the English song talks of coming together and being united.

With support from Mahaveer Jain, the four youngsters are 18-year-old video director Divyansh Jain, composers Rohansh Pandit and Abeer Pandit, and singer Neel Khosla, who is joined on vocals by Siddharth Basrur. Neel also writes lyrics along with the prolific Rahul B. Seth.

The video culls clips from various historical events, including footage of Mahatma Gandhi. The lines, "Coming home to where we belong, coming home to the love in our hearts, coming home to a place we are standing together, because we all are one" sum up the message.

The Revisit Project feat. Amithav Gautam/ Sco

Label: Self-released 

Rating: ****

There's an overdose of young talent on this video, in which Delhi jazz-funk band The Revisit Project is joined by teen Chennai guitarist Amithav Gautam. Titled 'Sco', it is a dedication to the great jazz guitarist John Scofield.

The track, shot in live performance, features superlative playing by saxophonist Abhay Sharma, besides the brilliant guitarwork by Amithav. The other members chip in equally. Bassist Karan Wadhwa's opening lines set the mood and drummer Aditya Bhagavatula keeps the groove. Keyboardist Rythem Bansel and guitarist Pranay Verma complete the line-up.

Incidentally, Scofield had done the opening set at some of Indo-fusion band Shakti's shows in the US in August. He'll be happy to hear this tribute from India.

Lokesh Bakshi/ Supermassive Spaceflight

Promoted by: Rock Vision Productions

Rating: *** 1/2

More guitar virtuosity and another tribute comes from Lokesh Bakshi, who's released the nine-track album The Space Metal Times. The video of the tune 'Supermassive Spaceflight' shows him displaying his skills.

While he has played bass in the studio recording, Yadhunandan Nagaraj is on drums. The tune was created in recognition of the achievements and plans of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISR0).

The entire album is constructed using the theme of a space journey. Thus, we have tracks named 'Space Race', 'The Sky Wizard', 'Black Hole Explorers' and 'The Rocket Maker'. All played with the energy of pure metal.

Nikhil Kapoor/ Sky High

Label: T-Series 

Rating: **

Some songs try to make you dance only by pumping up the volume and adding a zillion beats, with the same predictable video shot in a club setting. Nikhil Kapoor's 'Sky High' is one of them. Its aim is to take you 'high high high' though the effect is more 'haay haay haay'.

The lyrics, by Nikhil himself, have words like, "Haan bhai kaun hai, har body mein aag lagaaye". Then, 'thandi' rhymes with 'brandy' and 'aunty' with 'senti'.

The video offers nothing new as Nikhil is joined by Pushpanjali Pandey, Pankaj Beniwal and others in a group dance. The drums look good in the video, but jar on the ear.

Big Smyle feat. MC Deep/ Deewana Karti Hai

Label: Sarvinarck Music

Rating: ***

Dehra Dun-bred rapper Shubham Joshi aka Byg Smyle teams up with Chattisgarh artiste Pradeep Singh aka MC Deep on 'Deewana Karti Hi'.

The song is interestingly structured with continuous vocals without an instrumental interlude, keeping a very thin gap between the two singers. It's only through their voice textures that one demarcates their parts.

It seems monotonous and rambling on first listen, but the trick is to use the lyrics video and try and join in. The line 'Kyon ladkon ko deewana karti hai' give a hint of what the song is about. It makes sense after a few listens if one knows the words, with chances of lingering on as an earworm.