Naren's indie round-up/ July 2024, Ep 1


BY NARENDRA KUSNUR 

The Yellow Diary/ Kahe Kahe

Label: first.wav

Rating; ****

The Yellow Diary has a trademark sound, thanks mainly to the boyish voice of Rajan Batra. Their latest song 'Kahe Kahe' has the additional advantage of a really cute video, directed by Mitali Solanki and featuring a Catholic wedding couple played by Sejal Kurmi and Abhishek Khan.

The lyrics, written by Batra, go, "Kahe kahe kahe yeh jahaan mera naam kahe, par koi jaane na mera dil tere dil se kya kahe". Accompanying the singer are Harshvardhan Gadhvi on guitars, Himanshu Parikh on keys, Stuart D'Costa on bass and Sahil Shah on drums.

The song has a catchy hook and bubbles with freshness. It's a song couples can sway to.

Shor feat. Shalmali Kholgade/ Dil Mile

Label: Self-released 

Rating: ***

Producer-singer Shor teams up with singer Shalmali Kholgade on 'Dil Mile'. The song has a nice electro-pop sound and a smooth flow.

Shalmali's vocals are expressive on lines like, "Naseeb mein likha kya hai jo sab tanha yahaan, toh khone do khone do, mila hai to khone do". However the male vocals don't match up and just fill up the song.

The instrumental passages and catchy rhythms lend a certain flow. Maybe the song could have been a bit longer too.

Folk Masti/ Aur Tum Kya Chahte

Label: Self-released 

Rating: *** 1/2

Mumbai band Folk Masti, fronted by Vipul Panchal, explores Goan music terrain in its new song 'Aur Tum Kya Chahte'. The video, featuring flamenco dancer Crazy Cat, has a celebratory seaside Goan vibe.

The Hindi lyrics are interspersed with the Konkani line "Ani tuka kide zai" as the song blends Goan folk with Latino and flamenco sounds. Brass and melodica are used smartly.

Folk Masti consists of Panchal, keyboardist Sachin Guldagde and Roshan Aade on percussion and tabla. Their music has vibrancy, and the new song is further proof of that.

Kamakshi Khanna/ Heartbreak 2020

Label: Self-released 

Rating: *** 1/2

Singer-songwriter Kamakshi Khanna recently released her new four-song EP Heartbreak 2020. The title track has also been released as a lyrical music video.

The song talks of loneliness during the Pandemic and the desire to find a partner. Words like, "I don't wanna grow alone, build a home alone" and "Don't wanna feel the weight of this world alone, baby I don't" sum up the song's mood.

The song has been produced by Pranay Parti and Anhad Khanna, with Abhay Sharma's saxophone providing a neat layer. The instrumental parts blend smoothly into the vocals.

Agni Webbed/ Hey You

Label: Self-released 

Rating: ****

Agni Webbed is the digital rock project initiated four years ago by Bharath Swamy, founder-member and vocalist of 1980s/ 1990s rock band Agni. Their latest single is another in their series of concert-friendly numbers.

The song, credited to many songwriters, begins with a melodic keyboard run and picks up tempo after a few minutes. The words include the lines, "When the morning comes I should be fully done with these voices in my head, let me see the other side of the devil in me, to this glass of spirit it's all begun".

Though there are parts reminiscent of Pink Floyd and Uriah Heep, the song has a charm of its own. And that sizzling lead guitar solo is a treat.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gig review/ Deep Purple in Bengaluru

Image
BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Deep Purple at Bandland  Genre : Rock Details : Bandland rock festival, Embassy International Riding School, Bengaluru, December 17 Organisers : BookMyShow Live  Rating : **** 1/2 We all came out to Bandland, on a Bengaluru riding ground, to shoot videos on a mobile, yeah, capture the classic rock sound. Ian Gillan and the Purples, were at the best place around, space-truckin' on a black night, we danced on dusty ground.. singing, Smoke On The Water, drones in the sky, Smoke On The Water... taan taan taan, taan taan tadaan, taan taan tadaan, taan taan... Three days after British rockers Deep Purple enchanted the crowd at the Bandland rock festival in Bengaluru, the gooseflesh lingers like the whiff of cologne. For many, they have been college heroes, cocktail companions, the kings of melodic power, the epitome of hard rock. Older-generation fans or youngsters, they knew many of these songs by heart. Every word, every instrumental passage, every back-up vocal lin
Read more

Gig review/ Sting @ Lollapalooza

Image
BY NARENDRA KUSNUR   Sting @   Lollapalooza   Genre : Rock/ pop-rock Details : Mahalakshmi Race Course, Mumbai, January 28 Rating : **** You'll forget the sun in its jealous sky, as we walk on fields of gold... The sun had set a long ago, and the walk had been tiring and endless. But everything changed around 8.20 pm when Gordon Sumner aka Sting marched on to the Budweiser stage with a message in a bottle. For the next 85 minutes, every little thing the Englishman in Mumbai did was magic. The green carpet in front of the stage had been converted into fields of gold. The hardcore Sting fans should get those puns, and there were plenty of them who watched his concluding act at the two-day Lollapalooza music festival at the Mahalakshmi Race Course, Mumbai, on Sunday. Some had attended his shows abroad, some were seeing him for the first time, and others had been present at Mumbai's Rang Bhavan in 1980, when he played with his band The Police, or at the Amnesty International festiv
Read more

Gig review/ L. Shankar

Image
BY NARENDRA KUSNUR Artiste : L Shankar & Group Concert : Aditya Birla Group Masters of Music  Genre : Fusion/ Carnatic  Details : June 16, Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, Mumbai  Rating : ***** The sudden excitement was palpable when violinist L. Shankar announced that he and his group would play many Shakti tunes at Sunday's concert in Mumbai. He had already opened the evening with a dazzling rendition of Carnatic composer Muthuswamy Dikshitar's 'Vathapi Ganapathim', and if one thought he would focus on classical fare, that was not to be. Five of the remaining six pieces belonged to the repertoire of the original Shakti line-up, comprising him, guitarist John McLaughlin, tabla genius Zakir Hussain and ghatam maestro Vikku Vinayakram. Together, they had pioneered the Indo-jazz fusion sound in the 1970s, before going different paths over a decade later. Playing those old Shakti classics had a major issue though, at least for fans. They had originally been written for two mel
Read more