Naren's indie round-up/ March 2025, Ep 4



BY NARENDRA KUSNUR

Hanumankind/ Run It Up

Label: SLDM Enterprises/ Universal

Rating: *****

After the super-success of 'Big Dawgs', Kerala rapper Hanumankind, producer Kalmi and video director Bijoy Shetty get together on 'Run It Up'. Once again, we have a first-rate video,  this time showing various martial arts, Kathakali dancers and energetic drummers.

The song has its own charm too, with Hanumankind singing, "Now we go from angry young man to happy and glad, to find a solution for us" and "So run it up, the sun is up". The athletic singer appears in various crowd shots, filmed marvelously.

The song has boundless energy that keeps you glued. And those percussion bouts propel you into another zone. One must admit here that it's the video that lifts the song considerably, leading to the optimum star rating.

Diyatom Deb/ Repeat

Label: Self-released 

Rating: ****

Shillong-bred Delhi-based singer Diyatom Deb has been associated with the groups SkyEyes and Big Bang Blues. He's released the songs 'Forced Wanderer' and 'Girl Who Loved The Night' earlier and now comes our with 'Repeat'.

The song has very intense feelings as Diyatom sings, "I guess pain is the only friend I want" and "I repeat all my faults to live another day, got attached to a bottle, not a friend". The simple, unintrusive instrumentation acts as a perfect backdrop.

Diyatom has a really expressive and emotional voice, whether he's singing heartfelt ballads or the blues. 'Repeat' is, well, a repeat of his brilliance.

Vaani Bhasin/ pages of regret

Label: Self-released 

Rating: *** 1/2

Another song that works well lyrically is Vaani Bhasin's 'pages of regret'. The Delhi-based singer-songwriter has released songs in both English and Hindi, and there's a certain maturity in her expression.

This song has a free-flowing verse style, with lines like, "Losing you wasnt easy, I laid my bed, it ain't cozy; hoping I'll see you again, guess 'always' sometimes has an end". Basically, it's a song about loving someone in silence, and it's something that many will identify with.

The video shows Vaani with a guitar, checking her diary or writing on a sheet. The lyrics are shown alongside, and one gets a better idea of the song's meaning.

Abhishek Hazarika/ Brightendash (album)

Label: Self-released 

Rating: *** 1/2

Noida-based singer, guitarist and songwriter Abhishek Hazarika has released his debut album Brightendash, a collection of 10 songs he has put out over the past two years. The style has strong doses of 1990s grunge and alternative rock, with some effective songwriting covering a variety of subjects.

A highlight is the quality of guitaring, and the steady rhythm that goes with the grungy sound.. The album begins with 'Bring Out Your Dreams'  where he sings "Don't be sad when it's bad, keep smiling and moving on, try, try, try, try" against a steady keyboard backdrop.

If that opening has a positive vibe, the moods go up and down thereafter. 'Someway To Go' is about premature death in unfortunate circumstances - the lines "Never knew fate can be so cruel, a loss too sudden, so painful" are followed some intricate guitar soloing.

Then, there's the grungy 'Don't Know What We've Become', which talks of addictions and self-destruction, and 'Screwed In Sanity', which is about student suicides in India. There are songs on the music scene - like 'Blues Fan', 'Last Bastion Of Rock' and 'Adventures In A Music Festival'  On 'One Agitation', he sings about  materialistic desire.

While Abhishek has sung and played lead and rhythm guitars, Paras Khanna has played bass and drums. Nagaland guitarist ALN Lemtor has guested on a few tracks. A special mention of the cover artwork, which shows a stairway with various moods and emotions inscribed. It goes with the album’s multiple themes.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Coldplay reviewed by a coach potato

Image
BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Like an obedient teenager, I did what he said. He asked me to clap, and I clapped. He told me to wave at a stranger in another corner, and I did that. The problem arose when he said, "Phones in the pocket, hands in the sky". I mean, how on earth could I watch the Coldplay live telecast with my phone in my pocket? I was sitting in a bus, travelling from Mumbai to Hubballi when the band's frontman Chris Martin was giving all these orders in distant Ahmedabad on January 26. He had 134,000 people for company at the final gig of his India tour. I had only 14 fellow travellers who were least bothered about why I was suddenly jumping up, screaming 'oh-oh-oh' and flashing my watch imagining it was a razzle-dazzle 'star-in-the-sky' wristband. I was in total Chris Martin mood, saying a British-flavoured 'dhanyavaad' to anyone in sight, and changing my tee twice in the journey. Even my bus was painted 'yellow' and the low AC temper...
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

Naren's indie round-up/ June 2024, Ep 4

Image
BY NARENDRA KUSNUR The Anirudh Varma Collective feat. Divyam Sodhi & Kavya Singh/ Mausam Label: Self-released  Rating: ***** Delhi-based The Anirudh Varma Collective has been doing some exceptional work, blending classical melodies with contemporary sounds in a rather subtle manner. The new song 'Mausam', from their forthcoming album, is another such gem. It's a song about longing, sung fabulously by Divyam Sodhi and Kavya Singh, who also complement each other very well. The lyrics by Likhari uses lines like, "Mausam badalta jaaye, balma na aaye". A highlight is Anirudh's arrangement, which makes good use of sarod, guitar and ghatam. All musicians get their space and the fusion is seamless. Captured live in the studio in Saubhagya Saxena's video, with a guest appearance by model Vrinda Chadha.  Utsavi Jha/ Kaise Kaise Label: first.wav Rating: *** 1/2 Singer Utsavi Jha has been releasing songs for the past four years. After 'Piya' in April, she ...
Read more