Riff Cafe

Everything is a remix

2011-02-03T12:34:00.000+05:30

Everything is a Remix from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

Why hello there...Mr Bojangles

2010-09-28T17:12:00.004+05:30

A friend of mine sent me this video yesterday. Without doubt, one of the best performances I've seen in this lifetime. I can only imagine how it would've been live.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du22wApJqvs

Floating

2010-09-18T00:09:00.006+05:30

I just found myself dreamily saying to a friend, 'music floats my soul and takes me to new places' and it struck me that I have neglected writing on Riff Cafe for longer than I would like to admit.

The truth is that Riff Cafe conceptually is one of the most beautiful things I've taken part in but it happened at a point in my life when I took so many beautiful things for granted. I was studying in London. I lived in Bloomsbury, where one of my idols, Bertrand Russell did his ideating - I swear I thought I could see him walk around Tavistock Square. I worked at an independent literary press part time, where I had a boss who stepped right out of one of those British novels saying, 'Oh dah-ling, that is so quaint!'. Every alternate weekend I would go to Cambridge to see the boy I loved. I even got an editorial job at one of the world's biggest publishing houses when I graduated. In general, I was surrounded by art, poetry, music, theatre, literature and well, that blissful state of unawareness that I would become someone totally different very soon.

Very soon is here. I love anything I can quantify or categorise. Esoteric annoys me. I need to tick everything off a list or colour code it. I am at ease with Excel sheets. If I could fit you in a grid, I would. I trade in the stock market. Yes, I said it. I work for a firm that trades in the stock market. And while I wouldn't say it has made me dull in the least (but then again, I might not be the best judge of that), I know there is that whimsical student inside me wondering what the fuck happened. Every time she musters the courage to whisper something to me, I turn around with a ruthless look I've mastered recently and she retreats. Every day I hope she goes away.

She's the one who made the statement about floating and souls. She's the one who is listening to a surreal new sound aka Quantic & His Combo Bárbaro. Afrojazzlatinfunkpiano-eque. She's the one who made me write on Riff Cafe right now.

Hello, world. I guess I am still here.

W00t

2010-06-18T11:01:00.000+05:30

So there's this really talented musician who takes Youtube videos of famous musicians and...

What happened to rock 'n roll?

2009-09-14T18:44:00.002+05:30

http://current.com/items/90802048_rock-sucks-in-2009.htm

Nickelback

2009-09-07T20:44:00.000+05:30

They suck so much, they steal from themselves.

http://musicforants.com/assets/vs/How%20You%20Remind%20Me%20Of%20Someday.mp3

Bludgeon Riffola

2009-09-07T14:53:00.003+05:30

Please help! This is the stuff I've got so far:

Stairway!
Smoke on the Water
Sweet Child o’Mine
Wanted Dead or Alive
Layla
?
?
Beat it
?
?
Smells like Teen Spirit
Sweet Home Alabama
?
Enter Sandman
?
?
Back in Black
Purple Haze
Black Dog
?
Immigrant Song
Bulls on Parade
?
?
Johnny B Goode
?
Money for Nothing
?
Start me up
Sunshine of your Love
?
Hell’s bells
Foxy Lady
?
Aqualung
?
Carry on my Wayward Son
Cowbell Song
Cemetery Gates
Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love
Walk this Way
?
Life in the Fast Lane
Come as you are
?
?
?
?
?
?
Californication
Kashmir
?
Blackbird
Eye of the Tiger
All along the Watchtower
Brown Eyed Girl
?
Breaking the Law
?
?
?
When I come around
?
Black Hole Sun?
Oh Pretty Woman
Day Tripper
Panama
Born to be Wild
Hunters & Collectors – Holy Grail? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaKjDIPYSHM – worth a watch
Cat Scratch Fever
?
?
?
Just a Girl
Iron Man
?
?
?
?
Black or White
Sultans of Swing
?
Whole Lotta Love
?
?
Owner of a Lonely Heart
Magic Carpet Ride?
I Love Rock’n’Roll
Brown Sugar
La Bamba
?
You Really Got Me
?
House of the Rising Sun
Dust in the Wind
Rhiannon
Susie Q
Voodoo Chile
Eruption

And don't get me started on the 'I know that one!' stuff.

A Cappella 101

2009-08-11T16:20:00.002+05:30

Do (check out the brown dude, yo!):

Don't:

Why?????

The Original (one of my favouritest songs ever. With a video almost as kickass as the song itself):

Muse - Knights of Cydonia
by superfluens

The Darjeeling Limited - Revisited

2009-07-20T08:09:00.004+05:30

For one reason and one reason only - the brilliant soundtrack! A rather versatile track where can name-drop from The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, to Satyajit Ray and Ali Akbar Khan. Prepare to fine-tune that ear, and improve that music repertoire. I present to you my precious favourites.

This Time Tomorrow - The Kinks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONd4qSs5B5k&feature=related

Play with Fire - The Rolling Stones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5vn6OqnD_Q

Les Champs-Élysées - Joe Dassin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM-PVMl1qXk

The Householder - Performed by Jyotitindra Moitra and Ali Akbar Khan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uandw-hcFI

Arrival in Benaras from The Guru - Vilayat Khan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSqrbTczHhI&feature=PlayList&p=FDE543F8E976AA54&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=2

On a parting note, apologies for the sabbatical. One shall resume with much fervour.

Songwriting 101

2009-07-18T13:33:00.004+05:30

A note on the videos below. The George Michael/Mary J. Blige cover is the first version of this song I actually heard (yes yes I know shame shame). The choral version by the outstanding Perpetuum Jazzile was the second version I heard and it was only then that I realised this was a Stevie Wonder song. So the last version is the original by Stevie. Considering it was released in 1976, there's no video. I hope you can forgive.

As

As around the sun the earth knows she's revolving
And the rosebuds know to bloom in early may
Just as hate knows love's the cure
You can rest your mind assure
That I'll be loving you always

As now can't reveal the mystery of tomorrow
But in passing will grow older every day
Just as all that's born is new
You know what I say is true
That I'll be loving you always

(Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky)
Always
(Until the ocean covers every mountain high)
Always
(Until the dolphin flies and parrots live at sea)
Always
(Until we dream of life and life becomes a dream)

Did you know that true love asks for nothing
No no her acceptance is the way we pay
Did you know that life has given love a guarantee
To last through forever and another day

Just as time knew to move on since the beginning
And the seasons know exactly when to change
Just as kindness knows no shame
Know through all your joy and pain
That I'll be loving you always

As today I know I'm living
But tomorrow could make me the past
But that I mustn't fear
For I'll know deep in my mind
The love of me I've left behind
'Cause I'll be loving you always

(Until the day is night and night becomes the day)
Always
(Until the trees and seas just up and fly away)
Always
(Until the day that eight times eight times eight is four)
Always
(Until the day that is the day that are no more)
Did you know you're loved by somebody
(Until the day the earth starts turnin' right to left)
Always
(Until the earth just for the sun denies itself)
I'll be lovin you forever
(Until dear mother nature says her work is through)
Always
(Until the day that you are me and I am you)
Always
(Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky
Until the ocean severs every mountain high)
Always mm mm

We all know sometimes life hates and troubles
Can make you wish you were born in another time and space
But you can bet your lifetimes that and twice it's double
That God knew exactly where he wanted you to be placed
So make sure when you say you're in it, but not of it
You're not helpin' to make this earth
A place sometimes called hell
Change your words into truths
And then change that truth into love
And maybe our children's grandchildren
And their great grandchildren will tell
I'll be loving you until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky

Sridhar Ravichandran - Transcend

2009-07-03T12:14:00.003+05:30

Sridhar found this blog through our review of Warren’s Nights in Shining Karma. Sridhar is a 21 year old solo guitarist based in Singapore and has composed and recorded all the tracks on his debut album Transcend himself. He’s had some musicians guesting on a few tracks, but apart from that most of it has been played/sequenced/recorded by Sridhar.

The album itself is a throwback to the 80s, with a lot of melodic phrasing and some smooth legato playing, with the occasional burst of shred to liven up the proceedings. Sridhar is evidently a very talented guitarist and much of that talent is on display in this album. The standout track on the album for me would be Stepping Stones, a lovely mid-tempo melody that is beautifully composed and phrased with a background arrangement that does justice to the melody. I actually found myself humming the melody at the dinner table, and I think I’ll call that a good sign.

I also enjoyed the track ‘India’ a lot, once again an excellent melody with a lot of tasty bits and pieces thrown in all over the track. I could perhaps have done with more of some of those bits, particularly the backing riff towards the closing seconds of the track, and the melodies around 3:15-3:35. ‘India’ perhaps shows off more of Sridhar’s talents as a composer than ‘Stepping Stones’, but it’s not as complete and well-finished a product as ‘Stepping Stones.’

‘Trippin,’ the opening track, is another strong track, a hard-rocking number where Sridhar shows off all his chops including some tightly executed shred bits. Great playing and overall a very enjoyable track. The title track ‘Transcend’ is once again an excellent showcase of Sridhar’s mastery over the fretboard.

‘Blue Memories’ is a laidback number with a Gary Moore vibe, which works on the strength of a good melody, although the Piano backing sounds superfluous, as if it was tacked on after the song was composed and ready.

Degree Kaapi attempts a blues-y vibe but is let down by the over-production. Sridhar’s attempt throughout this album appears to have been to achieve a “lush” sound, with a lot of reverb, the kind of sound that works very well in some contexts but just doesn’t work with a song like Degree Kaapi, which could have done with a tight, spare treatment.

Overall, the album is a thoroughly enjoyable listen and I would recommend it for fans of solo guitar music including fans of Steve Morse, Joe Satriani and Gary Moore. The chief weakness on display is the sledgehammer approach to the production, which floods every track with a heavy dose of effects and layers, giving them a same-ness that works against their inherent strengths. A more nuanced and song-specific approach to the arrangement and production would have kicked this album up a few notches. Sridhar also needs to keep playing and composing to find his own voice. The most promising signs in this direction are ‘Stepping Stones’ and ‘India’ where there are clear signs of the evolution of a distinct and original voice, and I would personally love to see Sridhar taking off from what’s on display on these two tracks, in his forthcoming work, and I must say I am eager to listen to more of his work as it comes out.

You can head over to his website http://www.sridharsmusic.com/ to download a couple of samples and you can head over to CDBaby to buy the album on CD or as MP3s.

No Hay Banda

2009-04-14T12:29:00.003+05:30

The incredible Club Silencio scene from Mulholland Drive.

Super Ninja Stealth Attack Youtube Video Strike!

2008-12-02T15:02:00.000+05:30

In Which Thos. Wonders If This Is The Week Of The Bleedin' Obvious

2008-09-29T20:14:00.001+05:30

Among the music news stories of the last week, these three have managed to gain their fair share of notoriety (and front-page coverage):

* Lindsay Lohan acknowledging that she's been dating Samantha Ronson for "a long time".
* Clay Aiken coming out as a "gay dad" on the cover of People.
* Amy Winehouse saying that she's "a mess".

In other news, the sky is blue, rocks are hard, and Britney Spears is no longer a virgin.

Sheesh.

Well it goes like this: The Fourth, the Fifth

2008-09-19T13:38:00.002+05:30

Sometimes you just want to marry youtube.

And a few more versions, because you're such nice people. Sheryl Crow:

KD Lang:

John Cale (listen just for the lovely string quartet arrangement):

Allison Crowe:

Kate Voegele (no I don't know who she is either- but she's cute and she can sing):

Some arbit Norwegian fellows (including Kurt Nielsen- World Idol and Most Staggeringly Unexpected Voice in the Universe):

Arbit a cappella version:

Alter Bridge:

Pain of Salvation (apologies- this was the best version I could find):

The reason I have brought you all here today is that this is probably the only song in existence that can keep me in goosebumps from start to finish. And it's like it has an existence independent of whoever is singing it. Out of all the versions above, it's probably only Jeff Buckley who has really stamped his mark on the song. Even Leonard Cohen is only reciting his poem.

Also, not too many people actually want to play around with the arrangement of the song, do they? Most are just one guitar/one piano plus voice. I like to think that's respect.

It even forgives being smashed drunk when you sing it.

More proof? Here:

Fine, they can both sing. But they're nothing more than competent musicians. And you still had goosebumps throughout the song, right? Me too. Basically, they're channeling one of the greatest pieces of music ever written.

But you don't really care for music, do you?

And I am you and what I see is me.

2008-09-16T21:44:00.002+05:30

Richard William Wright

28.07.1943 - 15.09.2008

In Memorium

"And with these words I can see,

Clear through the clouds that covered me.

Just give it time, then speak my name.

Now we can hear ourselves again"

I was born too late. To a world that doesn't care.

2008-09-04T21:24:00.003+05:30

From Boingboing.

"When the police shut down the PA on Rage Against the Machine at an anti-RNC concert, the band took to the turf with a megaphone and performed a capella, delivering inspiring commentary between songs. This is must-see youtube -- some of the most heartening protest footage I've seen in years. Rage Against the Machine RNC - 09.02.08 (Performs Acapella in Crowd) (Thanks, Shahryarrakeen!)

Update: Xopl adds, "Rage Against the Machine had a scheduled legal concert in the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis tonight. Police and media where sitting and waiting outside during the whole concert in heavy numbers just waiting for something to happen when the show got out. The police got what they wanted. Police pepper spraying going on right now."

Hells yeah!

In Which Thos. Recaps "Last Choir Standing"

2008-09-01T03:28:00.004+05:30

Last Choir Standing has now finished. Here's a brief run-down of choirs that finished in the top four, which I thought were the strongest:

Fourth place: ACM Gospel Choir

This is the Academy of Contemporary Music's gospel choir - one of my favourites in the competition for their sheer bounciness as well as the tightness of their harmonies. Watch for the breakdown at 1:37. The video above is their semi-final performance of Jackie Wilson's "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher".

Third place: Revelation

Revelation is a gospel choir from East London. Their soloist squeaks a bit too much, but their harmonies are quite strong. This is their version of Take That's "Rule The World", but look up "Ain't No Stopping Us Now" if you can find it.

Second place: Ysgol Glanaethwy

The best in the competition, in my opinion, with ACM Gospel Choir a close second. I'm quite shocked that a bunch of Welsh high-schoolers are this versatile - in contrast to their version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" in my previous post (which should now be fixed for those of you who couldn't watch it before), the video above is their rendition of "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana. The blonde in the front row is particularly terrifying.

First place: Only Men Aloud!

A bit too theatrical for my taste, Only Men Aloud! are an all-singing, all-dancing Welsh men's chorus. This is their version of "Luck Be A Lady". Recommended for fans of musicals.

Four videos. Four different styles. What do you think?

The Gospel according to St. Bono of Vox

2008-08-28T13:24:00.002+05:30

Yay! Another lyrics post! We're all deep and shit!

Yennyway, I've always been fascinated by Bono's relationship with divinity. Or at least the parts of that relationship that he reveals in his songs. It ranges from the titles of the songs themselves (If God would Send His Angels or even God Part II) to lines in songs, to throwaway references.

Take for example the following:

I have spoke with the tongue of angels / I have held the hand of the devil

And then the next verse:

I believe in the Kingdom Come / When all the colours will bleed into one,

And later on in the same verse:

You broke the bonds and you loosed the chains / Carried the cross of my shame, of my shame

Then there are the throwaway references. See the thorn twist in your side. The spear in Jesus' side at the crucifixion. To me at least, that is the imagery he seems to want to evoke. If you'll forgive me (Hah! What choice do you have!) I'll illustrate a little further before getting to my point.

Take these lines (from various different songs):

Her skin is pale like God's only dove/ Screams like an angel for your love

One man betrayed with a kiss (an obvious reference to Jesus and Judas Iscariot)

Have you come here for forgiveness? / Have you come to raise the dead? / Have you come here to play Jesus / To the lepers in your head?

She moves in mysterious ways? Isn't it the Lord that moves in mysterious ways? At least that's what I was taught in Sunday school.

Jacob wrestled the angel / And the angel was overcome

I don't know what all the references mean. Is he simply evoking imagery he feels his audience will relate to? A lot of the lines above have become commonly used and commonly understood. Is it therefore just a natural function of his writing in English, and the fact that the language he uses is steeped in Christian imagery and metaphors?

Somehow I've always thought that the references are too repetitive to explain away so easily. The name-dropping is too consistent, you could say. Is Bono a religious man? A man of faith? I don't know. I just listen to his music, you know?

So then how does one explain Gloria? It's an entire hymn. In latin.

What really strikes me though is these couple of sets of lines, both from Pop. Contrast them to the lines from the earlier albums, above.

God is good/ But will he listen?

And perhaps most revealing of all:

Jesus never let me down / You know Jesus used to show me the score

But then you put Jesus in show business / Now it's hard to get in the door

So then I had a brainwave. The last two songs were from Pop. I couldn't remember any of the sort of stuff I've described above in their next album, All that You Can't Leave Behind. So then I looked up the lyrics of all the songs on that album and this was the only bit I could find.

And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth / After the flood all the colours came out

Very clear reference to Noah's Ark and the Flood and the dove with a branch in its mouth and all. But apart from that, nothing in the entire album. So has St. Bono lost his faith then? God knows, I'm sure.

Music and Lyrics

2008-08-20T12:50:00.005+05:30

When I listen to songs I also very carefully listen to the lyrics. Often the lyrics speak to me or speak for me and cant imagine appreciation of a song minus appreciation for lyrics or at least curiosity about the lyrics........but I know many many people who just don't, who are perfectly comfortable loving the song and yet not really knowing what it is saying.

I need my lyrics. I get confused without the lyrics to help me set the 'mood' of the song. I need to be told what the story is, what the mood is and what to feel. But then there are these songs where the lyrics are just meant to confound and they drive me crazy with their lack of instruction and absolute incoherence- but are also strangely compelling because of the same. Like -

The Connells - 74 -75 - What does it mean? So intriguing. So mysterious. I absolutely loved loved this obscure obtuse song refusing to part with its secret.

"I was the one who let you know; I was your sorry-ever-after. '74-'75; Giving me more and I'll defy; 'Cause you're really only after '74-'75."

It was all ruined after my incessant googling produced some explanation -One of the Connell brothers finished school in 1974/1975, maybe both of them. So they wrote this song about the reunion of the class of 1974/1975.

Hmm it still doesnt make much sense but some how makes the song a lot less 'grand' "Giving me more and ill defy, cos you are really only after 74/75" Its a little disappointing to find out that all of this was only some build up for some high school dumping angst.

Then there is -

Air Supply -Making Love Out of Nothing At All - It makes no sense none at all. I understand that the singer is a little wistful but happy, unhappy, totally in love, disillusioned by love? When I first saw the title i thought it was literally making love with nothing at all - or rather with just yourself...err...self love...err you know what i mean

"I know just how to whisper; And I know just how to cry; I know just where to find the answers; And I know just how to lie; I know just how to fake it,"

hmm or maybe it was making love when making love dint really do much for you, sub standard making love but then -

"Every time I see you all the rays of the sun; Are streaming through the waves in your hair;
And every star in the sky is taking aim; At your eyes like a spotlight; The beating of my heart is a drum, and it's lost; And it's looking for a rhythm like you."

Where did that come from? So its not about the singer complaining about bad love making (or no lovemaking). Anyway incessant googling found me a community of similar confused souls who made sense of the incoherence caused by much senti and love and senti and such like and apparently this is what it means :-
"We've had a breakup. I need something from you, a nod, a gesture -- anything. Do you really want to see me crawl? My love for you is based on all the beautiful things you are and do. You, on the other hand, are stuck with my worthless self i.e nothing at all. But you can make love out of nothing at all = me and my uselessness. Keep making love out of nothing at all, because I can't. If you leave me, I'll find nothing in other girls, so I'll never have love. I can't make love out of nothing at all."
Terribly disappointing!

Then there is my all time confounder -

The Wonders- You doing that thing you do
"You doin' that thing you do, breaking my heart into a million pieces like you always do; And you don't mean to be cruel; you never even knew about the heartache I've been going through; Well I try and try to forget you, girl, but it's just so hard to do"

Such sad lyrics and being sung so happily! Confused me for a long time till someone explained about the movie, and context and all that.

What are your all time confounders?

In Which Thos. Discovers A New Reality Show

2008-08-12T03:43:00.006+05:30

I've taken to watching Last Choir Standing on BBC One. It's like The X-Factor, but for choirs - each week a choir is voted off. There are some good choirs, and some not so good, and then there are the occasional exceptional performances, such as this one:

Bloody hell. Now THAT is a good choir.

Rock 'n' Roll Dreams Come Through

2008-05-30T16:56:00.004+05:30

Click through (I promise it's worth it.) No seriously. Click.

I so wish that was me. Or maybe I should so be wishing I could sing like this.

Fuck.

Just... fuck.

David Cook it is!!

2008-05-22T10:55:00.001+05:30

Sigh!

The Case in Favour of Oasis

2008-04-28T14:18:00.003+05:30

If there's a moral to the Oasis story, it's that you should never ever compare yourself to the Beatles. Coz, y'know, they're the best. And will be for all time. I mean, how can you be bigger than someone who's bigger than Jesus? That's just too much bigness for the universe to support, yeah? Go play your guitar somewhere else. Whippersnapper.

First there was Definitely Maybe, which was quite good. Then there was What's the Story (Morning Glory), which, in all honesty, was the bulls' testicles. Then there was Be Here Now, which was solidly good, and Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, which was also solidly good (and as a bonus, had a track called Fucking in the Bushes). Somewhere in the middle, they released a collection of B-sides called the Masterplan. Then there was a greatest-hits sort of thing called Familiar to Millions. Then I lost track.

Oh, digression time. My first introduction to the concept of the B-side was the Masterplan. Especially considering us third world citizens have no experience of the concept of a 'single'. It blew my mind that a band could create songs like those and never release them on an album. Seriously, if you have the time, listen to the Masterplan. Some of the songs are, well, dreck. But some of them are absolute masterpieces. And they were never released on an actual album. True story.

Anyway, digression over. I present below the evidence in support of Oasis. I'm presenting it in diminishing order of familiarity to millions. This judgment is subjective. If you've heard all these songs a million times, feel free to pelt your screen with rotten vegetables.

Digression again. All these songs are sung by Noel Gallagher. Most definitely written by him too. What does that mean? God only knows.

First, Don't Look Back in Anger. A personal favourite because if I sing really loud, I can do a creditable version of it.

Nice, no? But you've already heard it many times and love it. So next, we have Cast No Shadow. Also from What's the Story, the song was dedicated to the Verve's Richard Ashcroft. Who, presumably, was transparent. Of course if you listen to this version, it becomes clear that it's also a little autobiographical:

Autobiographical note: This post was conceived in an auto last night when Cast No Shadow suddenly got stuck in my head. Also note that this appears to be one of the many concerts that Liam couldn't be bothered to show up for.

Moving on, here's a less well-known B-side, which I first experienced on the Masterplan. It's called Talk Tonight and it's lovely. And youtube doesn't allow it to be embedded, so you'll have to click through. It's worth it. Promise.

Still not convinced? Here. Bonus points for nice video:

Bigger than the Beatles? Probably not. Bigger than Jesus? I think so.

"tulibu dibu douchooo"

2008-04-28T12:46:00.002+05:30

Words cannot describe how much I laughed.

Shine A Light

2008-04-01T22:01:00.003+05:30

(Across the Universe plays a nice tribute to Beatles music. And visually, some songs are just finger licking, Strawberry Fields Forever, for instance.) Anyway, I'm pretty thrilled that the movie I've been longing for is out. Shine A Light by Martin Scorcese. In Scorcese's last music-documentary, No Direction Home, where he visits Dylan -- some of the stuff were just brilliant. If you've grown up listening to Dylan you ought to watch it. And remember watching The Last Waltz?
The beauty of watching Marty's films is the music he has played over the years in his films.
And you know he's been on a Stone's trip since the very start. So Shine A Light it is -- for every Stones fan, and for those who wish to know how it all began.

Jai Guru Deva

2008-04-01T01:10:00.004+05:30

I've never been a Beatles fan except for the occasional, customary 'Let It Be' and other such. I mean I'm sure they were cute and everything, in the sixties. Right now, the most interesting person from the band is dead, so I don't really care about them much. Paul McCartney singing 'Dance Tonight' just doesn't cut it for me.'

Then, I saw 'Across the Universe.' Maybe I liked it because I'm not a Beatles fan and I could identify with the performers and the music so much more. I don't know how Beatles fans are going to take this. But, the music and performances were fabulous. Bono singing 'I am the Walrus' makes the whole movie worth it.
Watch it.

Early-Morning Thodi

2008-03-27T10:15:00.004+05:30

I'd heard a lot about T.N.Rajarathnam Pillai, the famous, eccentric Naadaswaram player of yesteryear. He was an alcoholic. He had four wives. When he was unwell, and the doctor recommended breastfeeding as a cure, many women came forward to ensure that his music doesn't die. He was largely self-taught. He changed the way the Naadaswaram was played. Some people believe that all later artistes have faltered trying to copy his style, and aren't able to keep the instrument alive.

But, like many people of his time, there are few records of his music. The other day, I came across one record in a little store in Hyderabad. And this morning, I listened to it.

Often, when you hear so much about a musician, or a song, or a rendition, when so many people tell you that you've missed something by being born forty years too late, when all accounts put him amongst the greatest instrumentalists of all time, when you listen to a record, he fails to live up to your expectations.

So, it was with this caveat in mind that I played the CD this morning. The first two songs were very good, but not special. Then, the Thodi came - it sprung upon my unsuspecting, newspaper-reading self and blew me off my feet! My grandmother, who is not too fond of the naadaswaram's cacophony limped into the room with her walker. Our dog, Choco, who is as lazy as dogs come, stood up and took notice - literally! The whole house had come to a standstill.

I realised that everything everyone ever told me about TN Rajarathinam Pillai's music was true. It was almost as if the instrument was an extension of himself. In those forty odd minutes of Thodi, each second was an impeccable example of what the Raaga is, and why it is considered one of Carnatic Music's greatest treasures. It was a sound and a feel that no other instrument could ever achieve. The rare combination of majesty and grace is the forte of only the naadaswaram (when played well, of course). When I listen to the Naadaswaram players at weddings and the occasional concert these days, I feel really guitly - it is because we've begun treating the naadaswaram as a second-rate instrument that a great tradition is slowly dying out.

Giggle.

2008-03-18T19:39:00.001+05:30

(thanks Raoull)

OF AN EXCELLENT VIDEO AND MORE

2008-03-13T22:39:00.002+05:30

We blog music. But sometimes we blog music videos that warm your heart and tug at your lachrymals with gentle coercion. I recommend Another Chance by Roger Sanchez.

Mr. Bouncer: You can't enter.
Missus with the big heart: Why not?
Mr. Bouncer: Your heart, it is too big.

And the lovely, scarlet heart beats itself down.

Messer for missus: Wow! That's a big heart!
Missus with the big heart: You should have seen it before. It's small now.
Messer for missus: That must have been scary.
Missus with the big heart: Yeah, that's my problem.

Brilliant! Brilliant! Subtle and soft. And the music isn't bad, no sir!

2008-03-11T23:42:00.003+05:30

Sometimes, you hear music so divine and out of this world that you want to hold on to it for as long as possible. You want to go over it in your head again and again, you want to remember each phrase, each note for as long as you can. The last thing you need in such times is to be thrown amongst the social gathering.

The worst thing about such a gathering is that you, lost in your world of that music seem a little removed (in my case, more removed than usual). And people keep asking you, "Hey, you look a little down. Are you ok?" Little do they realise that at that point in time, you're happier than all of them put together!

Verve Earth

2008-03-06T19:45:00.003+05:30

A non-music post, but just curious. Have any of the other contributors to Riff Cafe received emails from a site called Verve Earth? The email goes something like this:

Mistercrowley,

Your blog Riff Cafe caught our attention. I'm the CEO of a recently launched startup for bloggers. We are searching the internet for the world's best blogs by geography, and we found yours for India. I would like to invite you to our site which plots the content of the internet on an interactive map of the world. VerveEarth is an entirely new way to surf the net. It shows spatial and geographic connections that a blog search engine could never reveal. The site is www.VerveEarth.com. Once on board, you can easily claim your blog a place in the VerveEarth world. The site is free to use and a way to drive new traffic to your blog. If our vision resonates with you, please give us a mention or add our widget to your blog. Please see our FAQ for any questions, and I welcome your feedback.

Kind Regards,

Clayton

Maiden! Maiden! Maiden!

2008-02-23T13:00:00.002+05:30

In school, the only Iron Maiden song that I was familiar with was "Fear of the Dark", because there was some kind of rule that it had to played at every party that we had (yes, I went to a strange school). I was barely listening to any 'metal' those days and I was still able to appreciate the magic of Iron Maiden, even if through one of their less than standout tracks.

On joining college, one of the rites of passage is that you start listening to 'metal' and Iron Maiden is easily the most accessible of metal bands. So Maiden became my first and still greatest metal love. And somewhere along the way it became my dream to watch them live. When they played in Bangalore in 2007, pressing commitments meant I had to give it a miss.

Dude, this review is really a stinking pile of shit. But I shall plod on nevertheless. So essentially I make the trip to Mumbai for the concert, spending lots of hard-earned money. Make ambitions plans to reach the venue by 1.00 pm. End up reaching by about 3:10 pm.

First Opening Act: Nerverek from Chennai - I saw them open for Scorpions and they were much better. A band with some potential (i.e. a band with a good rhythm section). They need a new (real) lead guitarist. Booed off the stage.

Second Opening Act(argh): Lauren Harris (Steve Harris's daughter) - Incredibly bad. Terrible singing, godawful compositions...prancing around in skintight leather pants in an attempt to distract people from her obvious lack of talent. But absolute crap. Even worse than this review.

Third Opening Act (sigh): Parikrama - People said they've improved tremendously. They have. They still suck. The vocalist is now trying to sing every song as if it was an AC/DC song, which is sad because he has a nice voice. Uninspiring new originals. Gimmicky violinist who seems to be doing exactly the same thing in every song. How are these guys so popular? They did manage to work the crowd well, I guess ten years of playing must have taught them something.

Fourth open....oh wait....Iron Maiden - Fantastic. Super tight. All their big hits "rime of the ancient mariner" "the trooper" "fear of the dark" etc., etc., the only slight deviations from the best-of list were 'revelations' and 'heaven can wait.' Some first-show-of-the-tour jitters, namely Bruce Dickensons's voice going inaudible in the high parts. Some small technical glitches. Bruce accidentally screaming "scream for me long beach." The one complaint I would have is that they don't do anything innovative with their songs in these shows. Note perfect reproductions of the studio recordings. But i suppose it's too complex and layered a structure to really 'jam' around. The crowd was crazy, moshpits erupting all over the place. I've grown too old for all of this. So I retreated to a safe distance, and I actually watched the encore from near the exit.

Totally worth it, but I wouldn't do it again. That is going early for a show. I will go exactly at 7.30 pm to make sure I avoid the putrid openin acts...even at the cost of missing a couple of songs of the main act. I'll watch from a safe distance. So yes. It was an excellent concert by an excellent band, and I would have appreciated it a whole lot more if I had not had to watch 3 opening acts of varying degrees of talentlessness.

Thrillah!

2008-01-30T11:34:00.000+05:30

Apologies for the delay (not that you missed me or anything). I've been putting off the first update to the Amy Winehouse status post. Yennyway, meanwhile, inspiration has struck. There are tons of versions of the Thriller video (apologies for the link. Youtube doesn't permit embedding with the original, apparently). Some of them are quite good. So anyway, here goes:

Thriller on the Tube, complete with don't-embarrass-us-we're-British passengers ignoring what's going on:

Thriller wedding dance. There are tons of these.

Thriller in a Philippine prison (Filipino! Filipino! Um. Sorry.):

A capella Thriller with dancing (my personal favourite):

Marching band thriller:

And of course Telugu (Kannada?) movie Thriller:

Bridge of Sighs

2007-12-10T22:24:00.000+05:30

According to legend, eternal love awaits the two lovers who kiss underneath the bridge at sunset.

In the 1980s, an under-appreciated band called Marillion held out for long against the compulsions of commercially popular glam and 4-minute album-worthy pieces. They ultimately gave up, but not before releasing some very good albums that offer, as if on last view, the brlliance of their sound.

On their album Fugazi (1984), there is a song called Jigsaw. I cannot find a video clip, but here is a link to a home-made slideshow youtube clip.

It's a beautiful piece, with unpoetically elegant lyrics. I like the Italian imagery. The renaissance lovers becalmed beneath the Bridge of Sighs. The Russian Roulette in a waiting room at Trevi, coins to cover your eyes instead.

The irony of the bridge is that it bore condemned men to prison. On crossing the bridge, they would look out for one last view of the city of love, of the renaissance lovers kissing below, and sigh for the loss of beauty left behind. This is the brief goodbye before exile.

Drowning tequila sunsets, stowaways on midnight ships
Refugees of romance plead asylum from the real
Scrambling distress signals on random frequencies
Forever repatriated on guilt laden morning planes

Stand straight, look me in the eye and say goodbye
Stand straight, we've drifted past the point of reasons why
Yesterday starts tomorrow, tomorrow starts today
And the problem always seems to be we're picking up the pieces on the ricochet

Two Things

2007-11-27T13:16:00.000+05:30

First, I am in love with this song -

This is Hard Sun performed by Eddie Vedder from the OST of the movie Into The Wild. The movie is based on the book of the same by Jon Krakauer, published 1996, that quickly became a cult classic in America. Why the story of a frustrated young man, Christopher McCandless, who foolishly goes to Alaska and dies a few kilometres from a State highway after eating poisonous berries (!) is considered a classic is anybody's guess. Tells you a lot about the condition of urban America. To reinforce the bizareness of the whole thing, we discover that the place where McCandless died has now been hallowed and the bugger has become a prophet; alienated urban pilgrims from around the world perform rituals there. Others say McCandless was a "dumb jerk"!

Nevertheless, its a nice song. The entire album is good.

Secondly, listen to Savoy Grand. There're some samples here.

This one at least seems to be aimed at educating dumbass American kids

2007-11-27T12:36:00.000+05:30

Yes, the song has nothing to do with the video. But it's relatively well done. Almost like the song being a soundtrack for the video.

On a completely different note, it's a decent cover. But I prefer the Collective Soul one.

Disaster in your Past

2007-11-27T11:48:00.000+05:30

It is sometimes puzzling when white musicians get poignant about black African suffering, especially when they start eulogising 'the spirit of Africa' and black resilience. There is no doubt that the 'western' music industry commodifies 'black African' misery, right from the Beatles down to Bono to RATM. And record companies reap smug profits as long the politics on offer is palatable and saleable. Sometimes, the product of all this pity is musically irritating; remember We Are The World? At other times, it is quite interesting, albeit patronising.

Listen to the latest single by Mattafix (Marlon Roudette and Preetesh Hirji) called Living Darfur. Their website claims -

The first ever single to be recorded in a war zone by an international artist, Living Darfur showcases the sounds of the Darfur natives living in peril.

I like the idea of there being "disaster in your past".

Not an actual post, really

2007-11-21T10:46:00.000+05:30

Or a real post, actually. More of a status update.

I am currently listening to:

(i) Pain of Salvation (prog/metal)

(ii) Poets of the Fall (alt/rock I guess):

Who, incidentally, played in India about a month ago. At IIT Kanpur. Fucking Kanpur. I don't even know where that is.

(iii) The Hives (garage/punk):

(Incidentally, I think that clip truly captures the awesomeness of watching a band live. The sound is teh awesome, and you even have bits when the lead singer disappears behind the head of the irritatingly tall fucker standing in front of you)

Anyway, apart from general awesomeness and widely differing musical styles, it must be noted that all three bands are Scandinavian (Pain of Salvation and The Hives are Swedish, Poets of the Fall are Finnish). That's some rocking reindeer, yo.

Also, since I'm feeling bad about the arbitness of this post, some general nonsense:

In Which Thos. Lauds YouTubers' Music Video Direction

2007-11-15T00:00:00.000+05:30

So it looks like OneRepublic is about to steal the hearts of the generation who grew out of Linkin Park, with support from Timbaland, no less. Radio seems to love their current single, "Apologize", and radio support still makes a lot of difference to current popularity, despite the predictions of naysayers in the early years of MTV who were all for taking the Buggles' anthem "Video Killed the Radio Star" literally. If anything, several hits in the last few years have managed to pick up steam on airplay despite having rather poorly-directed videos or no video at all, which is rather sad if you realise how much a good video can accentuate a decent song.

Case in point: the YouTube video by aaronplatt.com for "Apologize", which uses an inferior version of the song and doesn't have the benefit of Ryan Tedder, yet still uses imagery fairly effectively:

In comparison, the official video looks positively anaemic:

This DIY approach to videos has begun to catch on with some of the more offbeat artistes: Björk, for example, conducted a contest for the video for "Innocence", and this seems to be part of a growing trend.

What I want to know is: is this a sign of greater engagement with the listener, or just sheer laziness?

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND

2007-10-30T13:35:00.000+05:30

I stumbled upon The Velvet Underground after affecting a mild infatuation towards Andy Warhol (and seriously, what's the story between him and The Dandy Warhols? Huh?). His Exploding Plastic Inevitable roadshow was bound to be a mammoth affair with Warhol's beautifully bohemian posters, avant-garde movies and a musical extravaganza provided by The Velvet Underground.

Their sound is sometimes classic rock-n-roll (Rock & Roll - Duh!), transforming suddenly into a typically grunge, unclean sound (Venus in Furs). Oh and sporadic gravitation towards soft and melodious (Stephanie Says) and on other ocassions faster and funner (Sweet Jane - albeit rockin and rollin along. Heeeeee.) A truly versatile band, one whose records didn't give hot cakes much competition initially, but influenced bands across genres (punk, gothic. Eeeeep!) later.

The point of this post? Please-o-pleeeeeeease check them out you music venerators!

Drummergeniusdrummergod

2007-10-30T11:55:00.000+05:30

October 27, 2007 will be a day, the memory of which I shall cherish forever.

Enter the Garden of 5 Senses - A large, confusing, yet rather well done-up, garden, out in the boondocks.

Artists: Pink Noise (Kolkata), Level 9 and Advaita (Delhi), Imaad Shah (Mumbai).....and Steve Smith and Vital Information.

Wonder of wonders....a gig which began almost bang on time (kudos to the organisers)....and as a result I missed out on Imaad and Level 9 (a pox on Delhi-Gurgaon traffic) and landed at the venue just as Advaita were warming up with their curious blend of jazz, prog and hindustani classical....great stuff to kick off a nippy winter evening with (absence of alcohol sorely felt).

Pink Noise (Skinny Alley's latest avatar) came on next with a brilliant jazz-funk improv set whipped up with their usual elan....but with a large share of the spotlight settling on the drummer, Jivraj, who, very frankly, deserved every bit of the cheers he got from the crowd and the other artists...this lad kicked some serious butt.

By this time the crowd seemed sated and happy.....you could hear comments like "Yup, these boys can give any firang band a run for it's money"....but, obviously, many of these people haven't seen Steve Smith and Vital Information in action...yet

Steve is, well, large and completely tonsured...with one of the goofiest grins I've ever seen. It becomes goofier as their set progresses, and one wonders "Where the f*** does he get all that energy from?" This is a man who loves to play drums! And he plays them, well, WELL...in fact, godlike even.

It's very surreal to watch someone for close to an hour, who looks like he's at complete peace with the world at large (smiling Buddha, only much thinner)...but with his hands a vague blur against the night sky. I kid you not..there is video footage of this....which may or may not be up on the Net (as of now it's not....so I suppose the crowd did feel enchanted enough with Steve to grant him his request of not wanting to see himself on YouTube when he woke up the next morning)....so I will just leave you with footage (which doesn't do the man sufficient justice...but) from a VH1 drummer's do (Steve, if you're reading this, go sue VH1...I'm all for it).

Before you move on to the video....a loud 'HUZZAH' for Prospect and the gang (Adhiraj, Smriti, Vijay, Nakul...and Vivek) who made sure this gig ran like a clock...and who dragged me over to meet Steve and Vital Info over biryani n beer...you guys rock!

2½

2007-10-29T15:25:00.000+05:30

If I didn’t respect Fellini as much as I do, I might have made a movie called 2½. No, it wouldn’t concern a harried movie director – it would be about my 2½ sruti, eight holed, bamboo flute – my mistress for the last two years, one who misbehaves when treated badly!

This flute has remained faithful through all my phases – from the time when getting a sound out of it was an achievement, to those days when hours of repetitive scales ensued to today when ragas and kritis attempt to emanate. It has been there through my extended Hamsanaadam phase, my brief love affairs with Nalinakanti, Harikambhoji and Kapi, and my sorry attempts at Mukhari and Saveri – helping me along, giving me ideas, and showing me quirky phrases. It does, although, act up. There are days when the lower octaves are unattainable, and other days when higher octaves sound too shrill and screaming. There are days when the music is punctuated by occasional, inexplicable screeches and unwanted, deep baritones.

I know that in some years, this 2½ will be replaced by a better, uncracked, heavier one providing a richer tone and better handling, but for the rest of my life, this 2½ will remain my most treasured one – because it is not only the first flute I ever bought, it is also that flute with which I terrorized the hostel for two years, and the flute with which I first played on stage.

I normally wouldn't do this

2007-10-19T10:43:00.000+05:30

Link (thanks, Mayur).

He won!

2007-10-18T11:42:00.000+05:30

This never gets old for me.

Of bands and clubs.....

2007-10-11T18:30:00.000+05:30

This has been (shamelessly) lifted from here ..... but is a great read all the same... and no offence intended (or deemed to be intended) to any former / present performers who may be reading this post :) all in a lighter vein, s'il vous plait..... sincere apologies if the formatting is knocked about, but I'm upto here trying to reformat it....it just won't go away....

Top 39 Annoying Things That Bands Do:

1. Bands that feel compelled to bang on their drums and guitars in an annoying display of lack of talent before the doors open. Usually this occurs when we are trying to talk to someone on the phone or give instructions to employees. There is a place for this type of behavior, its called your basement.

2. Out of town bands that show up and say "We decided to bring another band with us, don't worry, they just need gas money and pizza."

3. Out of town bands that watch you order their pizzas with "the works" and after they arrive tell you "Oh, we're all vegetarians, can we get buy-outs instead?"

4. Local bands with managers.

5. Local bands that have a girlfriend as their manager (Can you say annoying pain in the ass?). This usually marks the beginning of the end for most bands at the Creepy.

6. Bands that bring their own "personal" sound-tech. After seeing him try to operate the soundboard for 5 minutes the house soundman concludes that this guy has absolutely no clue how to operate a PA. Accordingly, the band sounds like total shit.

7. Bands that have more roadies than band members.

8. Bands that spell their names with a strange spelling twist e.g., junkeez, katz etc. After meeting the band, however, we are left with the impression that they didn't intentionally try and spell their name with a twist but rather they probably just don't know how to spell.

9. The out of town band that was lucky to get the gig, brought absolutely nobody, bitched all night long about their time slot, when told they had 1 song left in their set play 4 more anyway who when being paid out $50 in gas money asks "Is this the best you can do?"

10. Bands that arrive and state that they talked to someone at the club and were told they get to play 3rd at 10:30 and can play for an hour. When asked the name of the person they talked to they suddenly forget their name but are sure they talked to "someone".

11. Bands who all arrive at the same time but no one is willing to play first. Subsequently the show doesn't start until 11:30 and everyone has 10 minute sets.

12. Top 3 signs that the band will bring no one to the show - 1) 2 Weeks before the show they say "We're gonna pack your place!" - 2) 1 Week before the show they ask - "What's your capacity?" - 3) Upon arriving at the gig they ask "So how many people do YOU usually get on a Wednesday night?"

13. Bands who draw is so bad that even their guests don't show up.

14. Bands who have no guests because they have no friends.

15. Bands who bring absolutely no one to their first gig and then call back incessantly to ask for another show and can't understand why they haven't gotten asked back. That's fine, we don't have to eat this month and we really dig watching you guys rock out to our empty club. Bands who fit this category don't need to bother calling back because the booking guy will always be away when you call.

16. Bands who after drawing no one at the end of the night apologize by saying, "geez, after you booked us we booked ourselves to play at the Hi-Pointe last night and we told all our friends to go to that show, that's probably why no one came tonight. BTW, when do you think we can play here again?" (Note: see above for our response).

17. Bands who pester you to book their bands "side-project". Side-project is another name for self-indulgent crap so embarrassingly bad they can't dignify it with a name and gives them a cover why none of their friends will come see them "perform". (Would you go see your friend masturbate if they asked you to come watch?). Note to bands: think of your side-project as a project never to get booked again.

18. Bands who show up wearing "All Access" laminates around their neck. (Note to these bands: We honor these laminates for the bathroom and parking lot areas only.) I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up but you don't see me walking around wearing a spacesuit at the club. We're convinced these people are recovering air guitar addicts from the 80's.

19. Bands who right before their set ask to play without a PA so it won't be deducted from their pay. (This has actually happened before). Sure, we'll just ask the sound guy to go home for a 1/2 hour.

20. Bands that want to play in front or the side of the stage.

21. Bands that suck and then ask if you'll swap them out a shirt. You know, our shirts actually cost us money and I really doubt anyone at the club wants to wear your shirt. How about if we swap stickers and call it even?

22. Band members that ask 10 times throughout the night for a water or soda (usually in a nasally whining voice). Typically this occurs when your in the middle of doing something important like counting down the drawer or dealing with actual paying customers. They usually like to precede their requests with a "Do you think its possible I could get a...." etc. etc. We feel like responding "Do you think it's possible you could shut the fuck up and go away?".

23. Parents of bands... this could be a whole top 39 list on its own... Parents who either a) insist on standing next to the owner all night and talking his ear off about how great their 14 year old kids band is (who BTW sound like they had never picked up an instrument in their lives before they started "playing" that night) b) insist on standing next to the the soundperson all night and making stupid suggestions on how to improve the sound of their kids band to the soundperson all throughout their set c) going to the bar while they wait for their kids band to play, consuming way too much, and then going to stand next to the owner and talk his ear off about how he used to jam in a band that was huge 25 years ago but now their kids band is going is going to hit mega-stardom any day now and makeup for his missed.... oh right, this is only supposed to be a paragraph.

24. Bands that leave gear behind. This happens at least several times each week and then we get the deluge of frantic phone calls in the following days about have you seen this or that piece of equipment and on the phone act like we should know where their stuff is. Its amazing how something that is so important to them the next day gets so carelessly left behind the night before. We're the Creepy Crawl, not Bob's Nightclub and Repository of Leftover Band Shit. Keep track of your shit and take it with you when you leave!

25. Bands that send us emails that say: "We're XXX from XXX. We wanted to play your club on XXX date. How about if you book us a show, put a bunch of good drawing locals on that bring a lot of beer drinkers and then you guys can make a lot of money and we can put on a great show in front of a big crowd and get paid. That way we all win!" Here's an idea, why don't we book a show with a bunch of good drawing locals that bring beer drinkers, we make a lot of money from the show and you can keep your sorry asses the fuck in XXX? (Really, we're not making this stuff up, we actually get these emails).

26. Bands who when you tell them they have 1 more song left because they're running late into their set decide to play a 45 minute opus full of self-absorbed guitar solos which in the course of playing covers in its entirety side 2 of Pink Floyds' Dark Side of The Moon.

27. Bands that pester you constantly to open for a particular touring band because they swear they worship their musical footprints and are the heaven endorsed guiding light of their musical lives. On the day of the show and after you told them sorry but the show was already filled up they don't even bother to come to the show. However, someone at the show reports hearing they decided to catch the Story of The Year show at the Pageant that night.

28. Bands that can't play longer than a 15 minute set.

29. Bands that can't draw two people but keep telling you that they can play as long a set as you like. "We can play an hour, an hour and a half, two hours if you want." That's kind of a like a doctor rushing to the scene of a car accident and asking the victims "If you need me to help prolong your bleeding I can do that."

30. Bands that bitch and beg to play a longer 45-50 minute set. They do this knowing everyone else only gets a 1/2 hour slot. We finally relent and rework the whole show to accommodate them and they still wind up playing the same rush-through-it-because-we're-dipfucks 23 minute set they play every other night they play. Apparently they live in a different time dimension than everyone else on the planet. They thank you profusely at the end of the set for letting them "headline" for their fans but we make sure they buy us and everyone around us shots at full price.

31. Bands that give big lectures on stage about how important it is to support "the scene" but at the end of their set want to get paid ASAP and don't want to wait until the other bands get done.

32. Bands that give long-winded lectures about respect... how we need to respect each other, the world we all live in, ourselves, God, our fellow man, other "artists", Picasso, Left-handed midgets, respect this, respect that etc etc... What are these guys in the Mafia? The next morning you discover the parking spot they were parked in the night before is completely covered with empty water bottles, soda cans and Taco Bell.

33. Bands that are booked for a show but email every 12 hours to tell you they have changed their name and to please update your advertising. Call yourself Bobby & the Blowjobs for all we care, pick a name and STICK WITH IT!

34. Pathetic reasons why bands cancel. Bands that cancel 10 DAYS ahead of time because they have to go to a funeral! We feel so sad for these bands. Geez, I didn't know your grandpa was being stored on ice for 10 FUCKING DAYS! Who is he, Walt Disney??? If your going to friggin lie, try and come up with something half-way believable please.

35. Shows where the 4 local bands collectively can't outdraw the one out of town band you threw on the bill for gas money but through their own initiative and hustle actually manage to outdraw the 4 local bands (this BS actually happens!) We feel sorry and embarrassed for the out of town band who usually when getting paid out their gas money ask us quietly "whats up with the locals, who don't they have anybody come see them?" and we tell them as loudly as we can "BECAUSE THEY ARE PATHETIC & RETARDED LOSERS". Invariably (and we do mean invariably) their has to be the one local band who shoves the out of town band on the way to the door guy, lives 20 minutes away and brought a negative number of people, (they sucked so bad they ran off our happy hour crowd early) ask how much did they make and we tell them zero "BECAUSE THE BAND FROM 1/2 A CONTINENT AWAY OUTDREW YOUR PATHETIC AND RETARDED ASS". Actually we don't say that because we're so pathetically nice, we usually say " you guys rocked, let us know when you want to play again!".

36 - 38: Bands that don't correctly understand the definition of these terms -

Load-In Time

CORRECT UNDERSTANDING: If a band has a load-in time of say 6:30 from that time they may attempt to enter the premises and inquire about loading in of their gear. If they by chance happen to arrive early they can occupy themselves with other activities to fill in the time, such as: visit the library, worship at a local church or synagogue or beating up the homeless guy living in the dumpster.

INCORRECT UNDERSTANDING: If a band has a load-in time of say 6:30 they arrive at 1:45 in the afternoon and knock incessantly on the back door. Usually they knock while the owner is in the basement knee-deep in standing shit working with a plumber to fix a leaking drain pipe. After trudging all the way upstairs to find 5 snot nosed kids asking if they can load-in now (and hang out all day!) they are politely told to fuck off and come back at 6:30.

Promoter

CORRECT UNDERSTANDING: This is a person who actively works to promote a show. They promote by distributing flyers, plugging the show wherever they can and try to get as many people as possible to come to the show. If they have an out of town band booked on the show they take financial responsibility to ensure they get paid and are taken care of in whatever way they need. They also take charge in organizing the show and making sure all the bands know when they are scheduled to play and how the money works for getting paid.

INCORRECT UNDERSTANDING: This is a person who after asking repeatedly to put on a show does the following 1) fails to promote show in any way 2) fails to communicate any show details like lineup or order of the bands to the club (or the bands themselves) 3) makes themselves very scarce at the show , assuming they show up (they sometimes make a pathetic phone call just before doors to say they've just contracted a rare disease called pussyitis and to please take care of the out of town band). If they do show up and when questioned about things like band order, who's taking care of the bands etc. only respond with a blank stare.

Gas Money

CORRECT UNDERSTANDING: Gas Money is a term used to designate an amount of money to get a touring band to their next show. It sometimes includes a little more than that so they buy themselves some fast-food on their way or if they are lucky enough to cover a room at a Motel 6. Generally gas money would be considered anything from $30 to $75 and depends on how well the show goes.

INCORRECT UNDERSTANDING: $200 is not gas money. $200 is we're partying all night on the East Side and getting privates at Roxy's for everyone in the band.

Touring Band

CORRECT UNDERSTANDING: This is a band that is engaged on a "tour". They come to the Creepy Crawl while on their tour and often come from far away places such as the far corners of the country, Canada, Europe or Asia. They are on the road for extended periods of time, sometimes for several months at a time, in a van or bus and experience many new places along their journey. These bands are always entitled to at least gas money or more.

INCORRECT UNDERSTANDING: Driving up from Festus does not make you a touring band.

A "Following"

CORRECT UNDERSTANDING: A "following" is a collection of fans that attend the

performances of a particular band. This is what bands try to develop to get ahead in the business and grow over time and is a measure of their general popularity. The larger a bands following generally means they will be booked more often and on better nights at the Creepy Crawl

INCORRECT UNDERSTANDING: A "following" does not mean all the people that attended The Queens of The Stone Age show you opened for to cover the last minute cancellation of a contractual local opener counts as your bands following (perhaps the rush to the bar by the entire club and club staff when you started playing was an indicator). And, yes, this means the Jager girls at the club that night probably didn't come to see you and probably won't be following you to your next show.

39. Bands that read this list and then send us emails like this one -

"dont take this the wrong way i am just a guitar player but ur annoying list was some what funny, but it makes u guys seem like a bunch of pricks u would not have ur joint with out the annoying bands. i frequent ur place when my friends play but if u dont treat the bands that deserve respect with respect they will not play shows and tell others and so on and so forth just a little concernced."

I'm Running Away...

2007-10-10T16:11:00.000+05:30

I watched Ghost Whisperer last night. (Yes, yes, I catch it every Tuesday night) There was this song that they were playing for the promos. And, which played out fully at the end of the episode. You know how you listen to a song that you know you'll never be able to get out of your head for 48 hours at least. The last time that happened to me was for Timbaland's 'Way I'm Are.' Bad grammar and everything, it still had a good tune.

Well, I woke up this morning and googled, and googled some more and got the name of the song and the band-- 'I'm Running Away' by Midnight Hour. Why do people write such beautiful break-up songs? They're not supposed to be this haunting. They're supposed to tell the other person to go to hell and make you feel strong. 'I will survive' kinds. Keith Urban's 'Think of me' was also pretty good that way.

There are some songs for all us sucker romantics (and there's more of us, I've checked) when you just know that if someone sang this to me, I'd fall in love with this person. As long as he sang it the exact same way. Of course, these kind of things always just work out better in your head. but this is one of those songs, for sure.

Who's afraid of Amy Winehouse?

2007-10-08T13:08:00.000+05:30

[First a note. If you've been following the various twists and turns of the Amy Winehouse saga, there's probably nothing new here for you. Read it anyway. It's not like you have anything better to do. Also, apologies in advance for the rampant linking to tabloids. And the BBC.]

Once upon a time, there was a young jewish girl from London who wanted to sing like Aretha Franklin. She released an album in 2003 which was well-received, but nobody really listened to. Well. They might have. I didn't. You didn't either. So anyway.

Then, in 2006, she released the spectacular, incredible and otherwise very very nice Back to Black. It wonderfully showcased her lovely voice (how many singers do you know who can sing the lines "What kind of fuckery is this" and sound both credible and-dare I say it- dead sexy?) as well as her songwriting skills (I'm a sucker for all that dark, moody, bleak shit).

The first single, Rehab, also did brilliantly. Dailymotionousness is below (youtube seems to have disabled embedding for some reason):

Amy Winehouse - Rehab
Uploaded by Wonderful-Life

Ok, this is where you should start taking notes. Write down the word "rehab" and the line "They try to make me go to rehab but I won't go, go, go".

The story goes that her management, concerned about her issues with drinking, recommended that she try rehab. She asked her father whether she needed it. He said no, but to try it anyway. So she went in for fifteen minutes and then left. And then wrote a kickass song about it.

Now, you should take a break from this post and go read this excellent Rolling Stone cover story on Winehouse, including your first introduction to her new husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. While you're at it, write that also down. Blake Fielder-Civil.

This is where things start to get interesting. Firstly, with the phenomenal success that Back in Black is enjoying, and the accompanying money, the drug use starts to go overboard. In this she is ably abetted by the aforesiad Mr. Fielder-Civil who, it starts to become obvious, is the bastard love child of Kevin Federline and Cruella De Vil.

So the drugs carried on for a bit, resulting in many column inches being written and much fun being had by all, including a brilliant bit where her in-laws appealed to the public to stop buying her music so that she would have less money to blow up on drugs. Her mommy told the press that she worries about the drugs. Because mommies do that, I guess. Then her mom-in-law declared that she was proud of Amy for admitting that she was addicted to cocaine and heroin.

In the middle of all of this, there was a bizarre incident where she and her husband checked themselves into rehab, checked out within a day and then flew off to London in a helicopter for a brain scan. Or something. I can't seem to locate a credible link, so you'll just have to trust me on this.

Then of course this happened. Basically, some paparazzo who was following the loving couple around waiting for just such a opportunity, managed to get pictures of them after they'd had what appeared to be fight of biblical proportions. Click on the link above for even more mental pictures. They seemed to have sorted out whatever had caused the fight however, and seemed to go back to being stoned out of their minds, but happily stoned out of their minds together.

Then (or is it before? I'm not sure. Who cares anyway) she OD-d. Which, in itself would not have caused that much comment (pretty much expected, right?) except that it turned out that while she was OD-ing Fielder-Civil, after taking her to a hospital, abandoned her there and went off to take some more drugs. Charming, what?

Stunned and shocked by this behaviour, Amy's friends began trying to get her to leave him and even ignored him at her birthday party! That ought to have showed him, eh?

Far from being impressed, Winehouse proceeded to pull a Britney, professing her inability to live without Fielder-Civil. Then she cancelled tour dates because she wanted to be by his side when he appeared in court in connection with a 2006 assault case.

Those are things as they stand now.

The strange thing is, I can't help wondering (or hoping-I don't know which) whether this is all some insanely well-scripted publicity stunt. That we're not watching an incredible talent publicly self-destruct.

I mean, dude, Mick Jagger is worried.

Harmonics

2007-10-04T13:59:00.000+05:30

Having never been "formally" schooled in music theory, the term "harmonics" was a fair mystery to me, especially when former bandmates would mutter about putting 'em in into song intros and suchlike....till I saw Kirk Hammett's tutorial for "Sanatarium", after which I got hooked onto harmonics. I'm not much of a guitarist, but if I were to ever pick it up seriously, it would be for harmonics (and, of course, all manner of heavy riff-age ;-) )..

Still...coming back to what I really wanted to post here....a video of a track called "Air Tap" by this Canadian guitarist/composer named Erik Mongrain....it will blow your mind....watch it!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AbndgwfG22k

(just in case the video doesn't open up below...YouTube doesn't seem to like me very much)

Sigh...

2007-09-29T13:28:00.000+05:30

So. Um. I'm in love.

It may surprise you to know that this does not happen often. Well, not very often. The last time I can remember it happening is Sandi Thom. So anyway. Her name is Marie (pronounced Ma-ree-EH) Digby. She's half-Japanese, half Irish-American, which would explain the curious name. And she's gorgeous.

That picture actually doesn't do her justice. Check out the first few frames of this video:

All together now: SIGHHHHH!!

So anyway, apart from being stunningly gorgeously beautiful, she also sings a bit. That video is her most well known (internet-known, not normal-known) track, being a cover of that spectacularly irritating Rihanna song. But of course you realised that immediately, being the smartie that you are.

One more (apparently an Incubus cover-go figure):

Love Hurts By Marie Digby - More free videos are here

She says the youtubeism was because her first record label refused to promote her in any way, so she started doing covers and putting them up for people to watch. And of course they all couldn't stop sighing. She's now got a record deal with Hollywood Records for an album to be released in 2008, accompanied by much sighing.

Here's her youtube channel. Some very nice stuff and also the aforesaid um-ber-ella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh.

She's apparently on myspace, but I avoid that place like the plague, so go find her yourself. She also writes her own music, which is quite, quite nice and as sigh-inspiring as the other stuff. Be evil like me, get on Limewire and download her songs Miss Invisible and Stupid for You.

And once more for the road: SIGHHHHH!!!

King Cole and his princess

2007-09-25T16:37:00.000+05:30

So Natalie Cole (how perfectly original) delivers a 'digitally remastered' duet with legendary father Nat King Cole - 'Unforgettable' which instantly reminded me of Sinatra's 'Strangers in the night'. Slower than enough to not make it to my favourites, but the saxophonics redeem most beautifully.

The song is part of the album 'Unforgettable....with Love' that hosts a collection of Nat King Cole's most famous songs, re-arranged by Natalie Cole using the master tapes from the original recording sessions. Won her a few Grammys it did.

Damnit. The Grammy jury fellas know my dad can't sing. Hmph.

Also discovered Sean Lennon. But more on him eventually.

I'm not sure if this can accurately be described as music

2007-09-14T18:00:00.000+05:30

But what the hey. It's entertaining.

The Hardest Part

2007-09-14T09:11:00.000+05:30

Every single time I watch this video, I cannot for the life of me understand why the hosts and the audience are dressed in clothes from the eighties. Why? Why would you ruin a perfectly bizarre video in such disturbing way, Coldplay?

PS: You look hot, Chris Martin.

Quite possibly the greatest song ever written

2007-08-22T11:43:00.000+05:30

Words fail me. As does my bladder.

Rainmaker

2007-08-12T00:09:00.000+05:30

Pardon my exuberance. Sitting in office alone through late night after night with the mind numbing monotony of producing 1000 footnotes provokes desperation. Tonight, I just heard an old favourite and, overcome with nostalgia, I will now subject you all to a small piece of childhood memory.

This is Rishi Valley in Rayalseema Andhra, where the winter mornings are crisp enough to bite and the monsoons crack like an ice cube in your mouth. In the 9th standard I was going on thirteen years in 1994. I lived in a small hostel called Nilgiri with 19 other boys my age. My 'houseparent' was also my much dreaded math teacher - Jayant Tengshe, known to all and sundry as 'JT'. JT was the bane of my existence. He failed me with irreverent regularity at every math test I took - even if it was something as simple as the 10 multiplication table. He gleefully found a copy of a Debonair that I had left on the terrace, conveniently missing the stacks of hardcore US porn floating around the other hostel rooms. He then confiscated my magazine - my tenuous link to outside world of depravity and corruption that I had so carefully treasured and shared with my friends - and then, with my Debonair tucked under his mattress, began a roaring romance with my buxom English teacher (who my roommate was feverishly crushing on). He authoritatively declared that my other roommate, who was besotted with my then girlfriend - with whom I have shared my longest relationship till date - could throw a discuss farther than me. He even poked fun at my cracking voice in an assembly with the whole school present, something you don't do to pubescent 12/13 year old boys with girls around.

But, JT had one redeeming ability. He was creative when he woke the house up at 5.45 a.m. for PT on winter mornings. He would play music. He loved Rainmaker, by Traffic.

Of course, back then I had no clue who Traffic were or why they sang songs with sole purpose of waking me up when it was 10 degrees outside. I instantly hated Rainmaker, as I hated the Hindustani stuff he would also tend to play sometimes. Years later, in my high school musical awakening, I listened to Traffic - loving them - as I learned that the Hindustani fool was actually Ustad Allah Rakha. No two musicians have held such a sweetly nostalgic place in my memory since. My mother, who liked Steve Winwood a lot and who was responsible for that other great musical love - reggae, took to Traffic with surprising and, ultimately, unfortunate gusto - she whacked the CD that a friend's dad had amusedly lent me. It was an embarrassing trade off to begin with - I had to subject myself to a particularly probing interrogation of my dramatic teenage love life to borrow it. That was the low spark of high heeled boys.

No other song captures that RV memory so fully - of groaning awake to Steve Winwood filling your senses. Outside, around the cold morning mist, it would rain.

Watcher of the Skies

2007-08-10T00:51:00.000+05:30

More than a decade ago, I stumbled upon Genesis by mistake. I was fresh off the boat, still trying to make sense of the puzzling world of social acceptability that was urbane Bangalore in 1996. I had a friend who lived in a quiet part of Thippasandra. After years of the birds and the bees in the boon docks boarding school we were both stuck in (and kicked out of), together we began an eclectic musical journey. Although in the throes of high school, Bangalore was and always remains a forgiving place. Into this exciting hum, I was lulled. One day, digging around my friend's dad's LPs, I discovered (amidst much 70s porn) Genesis' Foxtrot. Lured by its peculiar sleeve art, I blew the dust off the record player and listened.

Watcher of the skies watcher of all
His is a world alone no world is his own,...
Judge not this race by empty remains
Do you judge God by his creatures when they are dead?

In many ways, the fuel of my (usually intoxicated) experiments with progressive rock was provided by the inimitable nerfherder, whom I now discover to be an articulate writer. Over the years, through our staccato silences and bursts of conversation, I was lured into the fantastical world of prog. Nerfherder has one the best ears for music that I have yet encountered, many subtle decibels more sophisticated than mine. So in many unsaid unemotive ways, this post is also a much belated thanks. I revisited Foxtrot a few days ago, thanks to a chance encounter. As usual, the sheer melodic brilliance of Tony Banks headlines the album. Watcher of the Skies, the real subject this post begins with an evocative organ piece (I think its a Hammond Organ, not sure) that, for some reason, recalls the baroqueness of Dieterich Buxtehudex or the geometrical cyclism of Cesar Franks' Troix Pieces. But, like I said earlier, I only really love prog when I'm a bit high. And now, stuck in office near 1 in the morning and down a bottle of wine amidst the vagaries of reservations law, Banks' organ solo intro sounds suspiciously similar to Mendelssohn's Six Sonatas. But Mendelssohn was a romantic, perhaps this is why I really like prog? Accompanied by Phil Collins on the drums (I receive a lot of flak for liking Collins even after he turned pop commercial) and Steve Hackett's bass, Peter Gabriel triumphantly breaks the organ crescendo. Ironic; since, it feels this song is rather critical of something. Here I present my grand conspiracy theory (excuse the wine) - this is a song about the despair of God at the utter and bitter failure of the human race. Genesis leads us down an alternatively brilliant and hopeful path of musical despair and victory. Hackett and Collins emerge from the shadows of Gabriel to present their perfectly renditioned examples of classical prog multi rhythm. I like Dream Theater a lot. But stadium acts are sometimes no match for the uniquely personal experience of 70s prog, and Genesis is the best of this genre. Gabriel, insistent as always, urges attention -

Sadly now your thoughts turn to the stars...
This is your fate alone, this fate is your own.

Depressing, if not for the haunt of Banks' persistence. Watcher of the Skies is tied down by Collins' timed percussion, bound together by Banks, prodded by Hackett and Rutherford and uplifted by Gabriel. Incidentally, Collins' interspersed cadence to end the second movement is obtuse - there is no other track this would fit so naturally into.

Foxtrot was released in 1972. It is sadly now forgotten. But, delightfully, after eleven years, it is still beautiful.

Happy Birthday Himesh!

2007-07-23T20:19:00.000+05:30

Before

After

Today is Himesh Reshammiya's birthday. He confirms in an interview to BigFM that his birthday is not on May 11, and that he has no idea how people got that idea. He also tells them ho he gets hundreds of bouquets and phone calls on May 11. Some research showed why people picked May 11 ahead of the 363 other wrong dates that they could have picked. On May 11, 2002 the Man With Two Hats monument in Ottawa was unveiled. Now Himesh wears one cap and not two hats, but Himesh's fans aren't known to be the most discerning lot.

Himesh has been the most talked about, loved, hated, criticised "musician" in India for the last two years - he's no longer just a musician, but a cultural phenomenon comparable to The Beatles and curd rice. He's acted in a movie, sorry, The Moviee - one of the costliest moviees ever made, and one of the year's biggest successes, moviee-wise. He's been recognised in a burqa at a mosque - not surprising, considering not many people wear a burqa and a black trench coat and have a nasal voice. His songs have connected with all sorts - even the supernatural. An animation movie has been made based on him - only the second Indian celebrity after our very own Rajni.

What makes his so popular? His nasal voice? He once said that his voice is not "nasal", but merely "high-pitched". Hmmm. I know other high-pitched people (even contributors on this blog!) whose voices aren't nasal in the least. He then said other great singers like Mukesh and R.D.Burman had nasal voices in the higher notes. This comment made people want to slap him. Clearly, Himesh needs to try singing more than those four nasal "high" notes.

His fashion statement? The caps, the trenchcoat, the stubble that was copied by Abhishek Bachchan and millions of other fans. Once, at a concert in Nagpur, even before he got on stage, some lookalikes creates a ruckus by signing autographs and getting on to stage! Maybe, he needs to try something different with his look. Prashant Chadha says, "Himesh is raw, and hence unpredictable". He perhaps needs to do something unpredictable.

But then, why fix it when it ain't broke?

If people like his soulful Urdu lyrics (notice the use of words like surroor, sarfarosh, kashish, sayyonee etc) with heavy beats and pained, constipated singing, he should give them more of that. What he needs to do, however, is ensure that he doesn't burn out. Maybe, make less movies, compose less music so that people don't get bored of him.

Rock on, Himesh. Have a great year!

Artist Spotlight: Ben Jelen

2007-07-13T23:54:00.000+05:30

One of the interesting things about music in uni is its viral nature. When I joined uni, my experience of "law school music" was whatever Mark, Zubin and (sometimes) John played in the quad whenever they felt like it, which meant that I very quickly learned the words to the likes of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'", Soul Asylum's "Runaway Train" and Def Leppard's "Two Steps Behind" - songs I'd never heard before at the time. As they graduated, quad singalongs became less and less common in the absence of decent guitarists to sing along with - and the most singing along I got to do was when I started playing the piano on campus with various members of what was then a still nascent a cappella group. This, of course, meant that whoever sang along with me got pretty heavy doses of whatever I felt capable of playing at the time. This was most evident in intra-collegiate performances. Whereas I chose to sing The Cranberries' "Linger" as a duet for our inter-class university selections because I knew Mark could play the guitar chords, my juniors (influenced by large amounts of music taken from my computer) started choosing songs such as this one:

Ben Jelen's "Come On" is an interesting example of viral music in law school mainly because it's actually quite an unknown song - it slipped entirely under the radar at US radio, and I discovered quite by chance on a TRL playlist in 2004, downloaded the song because I thought the name was interesting, and then proceeded to fall madly in love with the album, which is still one of my favourite piano-pop albums. At the time, Jelen (pronounced Yellen, as I - and the one other person on campus who discovered his music off the Internet - kept reminding people) was signed to Madonna's Maverick Records label, and seemed perfect for the Dawson's Creek demographic, having his music featured in everything from Smallville to One Tree Hill, while also being used to promote the movie Finding Neverland (although I didn't know this at the time). Despite the promotion, Jelen's debut album flopped and he was dropped by his label. After releasing an independent EP that I never got to hear and a couple of covers that nobody seems to be able to locate, however, he's now back, signed to Linda Perry's Custard Records (best known, unfortunately, for James Blunt), and with a very different sound:

I'm not sure if I like it completely just yet, but it'll probably grow on me. "Come On" will still always have sentimental value for me, though.

I hear law school music is going back to being guitar-based, anyway. I wonder what the first years sing along to these days.

Ben Jelen's official website
Ben Jelen's official MySpace page
Ben Jelen's Wikipedia entry

In Which Thos. Finds It Impossible To Leave A YouTube Video As A Blogger Comment

2007-06-30T14:36:00.000+05:30

In response to nerfherder's video post of a few days ago, I bring you one of my favourite live performances for the easily impressed:

Readymade background singers at the push of a button!

(And best of all, the bass never complains how boring his part is!)

2007-06-29T16:05:00.001+05:30

I have been fairly doing the usual while covering and reviewing Delhi's music shows as often as little can be. It coincided with my work when I started journalism 3 years ago, and although intially I felt that I would work my way to become a music critic; I felt if I had to get on with it, I would be able to afford only a beer can in my life. The music too seemed to be going no where.
And then things went on to change tremendously.
Strangely even though I found many other things to get my hands dirty in, my reviewing didn't come to a halt; though it wasn't all that progressive either.
And now, as I said, things are changing, I know for sure the Rolling Stone magazine are going to be launching their Indian edition soon, and the person who they are considering as an editor is a close friend. You would know who he is if you read city supplements and are fond of a particular music column.
Like every other moronic Delhiite, I knew of only one band which was Parikrama, when I stepped in to the city. In those days they were playing a few gigs, and hearing them play the usual Floyd, Doors and AC/DC -- it seemed clear that if nothing else, these guys knew how to make it fun. It was then that I got hold of their first (and actually only hit) But It Rained, which was impressive, but I still won't go to town talking about it knowing that it was written some 13 years ago.
I wasn't too fond of fusion, but I was open to see a marriage between western and Indian music. Mrigaya (which performed in St Stephens College then, and now you rarely hear of them) sounded only too brilliant, their song Bhag Behag blew my mind out, but I retained it hoping to hear them live and not from a CD.
In another year, I was introduced to this bluesy-grunge band, Menwhopause, who at that time were finding a name doing the usual drill. When I heard then practice in their studio, I couldn't be more overwhelmed. Judging the music scene from what I had grasped from IIT Rock Fest and a few GIR shows, this music seemed intense and inducing.
While I wrote about Menwhopause, there were the usual snobs who keep surfacing and then disappearing. Orange Street (who apparently toured UK), I hated them from the very start. I didn't understand the whole funk-jugalbandi crap they put on, selling souls to sold souls. The vocalist did sound like Another Prick in the Wall.
Rock Street Journal (where I once wrote a book review and wasn't paid for) were organising the main set of shows. Pub Rock Fests grew on very well, and who didn't mind gulping beer and listening to a rock and roll show. And as the pub rock gigs grew famous, I discovered a red brick pub which was soon to be the famous Turquoise Cottage. A mecca for rock n' roll addicts that like to slip their mind with lager.
Bands came and bands left, I couldn't' go for many, and many I didn't care. Punk was cool (for bands like Messiah or Superfuzz Big Muff) but kids were really up to metal and death and dark and asshole, so it would piss me off for giving me bad dreams. I heard Them Clones as well, and I liked their sound, but where was a band I could find cool?
Maybe not, and I didn't go searching either.
I heard Soulmate at Haze and it was interesting, I trusted that only a good ear could have brought them down from the hills they came from. Later I realised that she was a younger sister to one of the finest person in the music scene.
Someone else took the name, and got Lou Majaw as well, a tired, quirky, but a good showman who is called Dylan of the Northeast. And by now I was done with listening to a bit of all -- and blues and rock 'n' roll was what people were listening to.
But before that, I got to hear bands like Half Step Down, Level 9, Soap, Crimson -- again, they were putting up a great effort but things were going wrong. Soap has a brilliant guitarist but on a different league than the band, Crimson were not focusing on one genre, and Half Step Down would find and lose its vocals more than I changed my drinks in one evening.
One good show I heard in a long time was Thermal and a Quarter, they played Shine On You Crazy Diamonds, and it was breathtaking.
Soulmate, which plays in Haze (the supposed blues club of the city), was brilliant to begin with -- better even after returning from the Memphis Blues show, but if they don't cut a record, it may just get too boring.
Prospect, started by the drummer of one of my favourite bands, HFT, organises more shows now. It's a lot focused, and has a vision that I could sense. I have been to many shows of there's and an impressive work goes on by their first hired, and it was she who got Thermal in the city to play.
And as I hum from Pistols to Dylan to Stones to Cohen to Oasis to Diamond to Stripes to Ramones to blues and to heck loads -- I hope just the music goes on.

I can do it too

2007-06-25T14:24:00.000+05:30

In keeping with the general youtube-ification of Riffcafe (and, indeed, the world), I present for your viewing (and listening) pleasure, the following Youtube clips. With no justification other than that they're cool.

Imogen Heap doing something truly startling.

Bobby McFerrin also doing something truly startling (with audience participation, no less)

One of the songs I'm currently in love with. Originally written by Lindsey Buckingham when he was in Fleetwood Mac. This is a solo acoustic performance.

Sandi Thom doing Punk Rocker accompanied by... ah, just watch it

In Which Thos. Told Y'All She Was Gonna Bump Like This.

2007-06-23T22:53:00.000+05:30

My favourite album of 2007 so far is easily Maroon 5's It Won't Be Soon Before Long, so much so that it's the first album in a very long time that I've gone out and bought while before the second single was even released - and clearly I'm not the only one, as the album's commercial success seems to indicate.

Despite upcoming releases from a variety of artistes, however, the one with the most potential to overtake Maroon 5 in my book seems to be Kelly Rowland's upcoming Ms. Kelly, due to be released in the UK on Monday. Since Destiny's Child broke up, I've been following the members' solo careers in the hope that one of them will inspire the levels of fandom that I used to have for Destiny's Child - but, while Beyoncé has been good with singles, her albums tend to get exhausting; Michelle Williams went from R&B to gospel to Broadway; and LeToya's debut spent too much time playing up her status as the "H-Town Chick" and not enough time churning out the hits. After delaying its initial release and then scrapping the first draft, My Story, altogether, Kelly's sophomore album seems edgier and, well, more fun than her good but somewhat tepid debut, something that's borne out by the distinctly hip-hop sound of first single "Like This":

The flip side, though, is that she seems to have lost some of her articulateness in the process ("Told y'all I was gonna bump like this" is not exactly Keats-level poetry) - but then, that seems to have been the point in the first place, which leads me to the question:

Are meaningful, thought-provoking lyrics incompatible with get-up-and-dance beats? Does one tend to drag the other down?

Do you Remember Shakti?

2007-05-27T16:20:00.000+05:30

"World Music" is one of the most curious labels for a category of music that encompasses so many different styles that you can hardly club them together. It is, in the end analysis, everything that fits in nowhere else - when the music doesn't sound like pop, rock, metal, R & B, jazz, trance, hip hop, or it uses some tablas, or sitars, or has African lyrics, it is "World Music". And one of the earliest major "World Music" bands, Shakti, captured my imagination for a better part of two years. When you take four musical dynamites - Zakir Hussain, John McLaughlin, L. Shankar (brother of the more famous L. Subramanian) and 'Vikku' Vinayakaram - and give them the freedom to do what they want, the result is bound to be something so different from the conventional that you need a new label to define it.

When you listen to their music, you realise that the one thing all the four have in common, and the one language they all speak, is the language of rhythm. A Bengali friend of mine, while commenting on Tamilians in general once said, "You Tams are so obsessed with maths. Even your music is all maths!" While Indian classical musicians are known to execute some of the most complicated rhythmic calculations, outside of jazz to some extent, this complexity is unmatched anywhere else. (correct me if I'm wrong!) John Mclaughlin settles down so well into this world of multiplication, addition and subtraction and brings to it beauty of harmony laying chords underneath Shankar's brilliant solos. Each of their albums, except their last one, features a long time under the sun for Hussain and Vikku - traditional, long solos followed by a typical symmetric ending leading back to the melody - this was a part of the album I always looked forward to, because the energy was simply electric.

But, you realised that towards the end, they were dying a natural death. Their music began to get repetitive, and their gimmicks old. But before they went too far with the experiment, they called it quits. About twenty years later, Zakir nad Mclaughlin came back, with two equally talented young faces - U. Srinivas on the mandolin and Vikku's son Selvaganesh on the kanjira. With the electric mandolin providing a freshness to the sound, and with guests artists such as Shankar Mahadevan, Hariprasad Chaurasia and even Shashank in a recent concert, Shakti, now known as Remember Shakti continue to capture the imagination of the more adventurous of the music lovers. Remember Shakti, although lacks two things that made the original Shakti the role models for generations dabbling in 'fusion' - L. Shankar's powerful violin and the clean, acoustic sound of Mclaughlin's special acoustic 'Shakti' guitar. What was so special? Mclaughlin himself explains in this video.

Systematic Chaos

2007-05-25T18:27:00.000+05:30

Aaaaannd it's out...not out for sale (in India) so far....but definitely up for grabs on the Internet. Systematic Chaos, the new DT record has a few surprises in store, musically, and otherwise. For starters, the album cover art actually gives a sense of what's inside.....ordered confusion.

I'm not sure what these jokers had in mind when they put all the ants on the cover art plates, but just try listening to the record, from beginning to end, after a heavy lunch on a hot summer day when your office air conditioning is on the blink; you'll feel them arthropods, yes siree (or maybe I ought to quit drinking lassi with my lunch).

Like all other DT records, this one features 7-9 minute songs (except the last track, which is a whopping 16 minutes). Musically, Systematic Chaos (roughly) continues the Train of Thought / Octavarium chain. Starts off with In the Presence of Enemies Pt. 1, which, together with Pt. 2 (the last track on the record) is the second longest song recorded by DT, and will be played in continuity on stage. In the Presence...Pt. 1 begins with a 5-odd minute overture, with some phenomenal guitar/synth harmonizing by Petrucci and Ruddess, and LaBrie stepping in thereafter. Forsaken follows, with a curious hybrid of 80's glam metal riffing and vocals and some very simple piano/synth bits in the background.

With Constant Motion the record goes into DT's all-familiar prog metal mode that we know and love...though with a difference. LaBrie makes a marked departure from his usual throaty-wannabe Valkyrie-type singing on Constant Motion and switches to a very choppy, nu-metal / extreme metal type style (he doesn't do it really well, but since it sounds half-decent, you have to give him marks for giving it a shot). Petrucci's riffing follows the same choppy progression, along with some loud backing vocals from the rest of the band. Extremely catchy song this one!!

Dark Eternal Night is the next surprise. More nu-metal-ish progressions and distorted vocals from LaBrie and Portnoy. And just when you were wondering if you hadn't picked up a Lamb of God record by mistake, Portnoy and Ruddess suddenly jump in with a jazzy, vaudeville interlude, after which we return to ye olde thrash. You should, by now, figure out WHY this record was named so.

The band, at this point, pretty much wraps up with the experimental bits and reverts to its usual magic, which continues all the way up to the end. Repentance continues Portnoy's chain of songs that he's written on his experiences with the Alcoholics Anonymous program [The Glass Prison from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence; This Dying Soul from Train of Thought; The Root of All Evil from Octavarium]; though unlike the previous ones, Repentance is a ballad all the way. A bit of trivia about this song - it figures sound clips of apologies given by rock greats like Satch, Vai, Corey Taylor (Slipknot..ok, maybe he's not a 'great') and Dave Ellefson (ex- Megadeth).

Prophets of War would definitely rate as my favourite track on the record, even though (surprise, surprise) it has no Petrucci solos....not one! What it does have is a busy synth piece accompanying the first couple of verses (brings back memories of On the Run from Dark Side of the Moon), a very catchy riff...and 50 DT fans from the New York area, who were invited to chant "time for change...fight the fear....find the truth.." on this track. All in all, a very, very trippy song.

If there was ever a DT song where Portnoy's stickwork takes a backseat (in the production mix only, damen und herren), then it would be The Ministry of Lost Souls. At 14:57, this is the second longest track on the record, and kicks off with a longish ballad piece, with Petrucci taking centrestage, churning out some of the stuff he put on his solo album, Suspended Animation. The middle 5-6 minutes are in thrash mode, with some more shred work, with the ballad returning for the end bits. Oh, and just because the drums are a mite muted on this one, doesn't mean they're not there. Take your ears off the guitar solos, and you'll surely hear those Tama double kickdrums (slobber!!) pounding away in the background.

As for the grand finale, In the Presence of Enemies Pt. 2, I'll just shut up, call the song pure genius, and sit back and wonder why I even bothered listening to the crap Megadeth just released.

DT fan or not, Systematic Chaos is a must buy / steal / download / rip!!

Menwhopause

2007-05-21T14:22:00.000+05:30

Slightly sceptical about a year ago, I was taken to a club in Delhi to listen to two bands who, I was promised, were very good. They were playing on the terrace of this building overlooking the Garden of Five Senses, it was almost winter and there was breeze. As it happened, the bands were good. I rolled up late and so didn't get to hear too much of Advaita, they were just wrapping up their their set. The guitarist dude from Junoon was fooling around trying to look rockstar-cool wearing wraparound glares at 11 pm. Then Menwhopause, curiously named, began.

Alternatively bluesy rock and soft psychadelic, their music was beautiful. Some fusion pieces made me draw parallels with Thermal and a Quarter's tablas. But Menwhopause is different. Largely unheard, which is a pity, they released their debut album some time ago. Download it from the index finger.

Nights in Shining Karma

2007-05-17T19:38:00.000+05:30

Brilliant! That sums up Warren Mendonsa's solo album 'Nights in Shining Karma' in one word. Before I explain further I must clarify a few things. I am not looking at this album as an "Indian Rock" album, and keeping in mind the GDP of the country etc., I am looking at it as a standalone music product. Secondly, I have not been a huge fan of Warren in the past. While I used to like his tone and feel, I thought he didn't have the flashy technique that used to be a pre-requisite for me loving a guitar-player. Nerfherder claims his technique is 'too bluesy' for my tastes. Maybe.

Now that my mind has opened up, and undoubtedly Warren's chops have got even better, I am in a position to be blown away by this latest effort, and that's what's happened. This is an excellent excellent album. The standout track is Anuva's Sky, the song that he's written for his ...erm.....'significant other.' Beautiful melody, brilliant phrasing, lovely harmonics. My other favourites are Blues for Gary, where I'm assuming the Gary refers to Gary Moore (but of course....it could be Gary Lineker, or Gary Lawyer) , and A Weekend With You (And Nothing Else To Do). The Cat and The Fiddle is an up-tempo number reminiscent of some of Paul Gilbert's whacko stuff. All other tracks are at the very least excellent!

Warren has a guitar tone to die for, and his feel is incredible. Both of these are on ample display throughout the album. The arrangement, recording and production are also top-notch. You can't really tell that the drums are sequenced except in the double-bass bits. Keyboards, backing guitars, everything's top notch.

Oh and I am leaving the best bit for last. The album is available for download FOR FREE from http://www.blackstratblues.com . You can make donations via PayPal. What are you waiting for? Go and download all of Nights in Shining Karma !!!

Shred - The Flip Side

2007-05-13T12:58:00.000+05:30

A few days back I posted about shredding and how it is beautiful. Now I present to you the flip side. An example of how mindless shredding can be dog shit. This kind of tuneless, senseless wankery is what got shredding its bad name. Someone in the (YouTube) comments described this as the worst song of all time. It is definitely a contender. Watch it and cringe. It features, in addition to the tuneless shredding, some terrible lyrics and a mindless video.

Mayibuye! (Part I)

2007-05-10T14:21:00.000+05:30

In the struggle against apartheid, the call "Mayibuye!" took on rallying proportions. Mayibuye means, literally, "let it return" or "may it come back". It is a call for restoration and retrieval, the reclaiming of culture, power and, most importantly, music. In apartheid South Africa, many black meetings and rallies would begin and end with the speaker calling "Mayibuye!" and the crowd would respond "Afrika! Afrika! Afrika!" Let it return, the Africa we have lost, let it return.

This post (in instalments) is about South African music against apartheid. In no other popular struggle has music played such an important and central role as in the black movement against apartheid. Meetings began with song, political rallies prominently featured street music and the men and women on death row went to their hangings with song. There were songs of defiance, of hope, of peace and unity, songs of loss, death and destruction, of love, of prisons and bullets. Many were joyous and, listening to them now, it is sometimes hard to associate the catchy foot-tapping music to the brutality of the apartheid regime. Other songs are sad, dirges for the dead. Some are threatening, with anger barely concealed. And there are songs of resolve, hymns of strength and prayer.

It is fitting to start with Vusi Mahlasela, one of the most well known voices of this musical revolution. Prolific in the 1980s and still singing, Mahlasela sang the popular “When You Come Back”. Addressed to ‘Africa’ (in the same way as Vande Mataram speaks to the ‘motherland’, but in a gender neutral way) Mahlasela sings –

Mayibuye! Afrika
Sing loud, Afrika, sing to the people
We’ll be ringing the bells when you come back
We’ll be beating drums when you come back
Our lost African music will return to the music of the people
The people’s music, the people’s culture
Afrika sing! Afrika sing!
Sing sing Afrika!
Let us lose the memories of our sorrow
Sing Afrika, sing!

With a guitar and traditional African percussion, it sounds like a folk song. Listen to a short clip of this piece, along with other compositions and bits of an interview. See a a nice video clip here (the fourth link – Joe’s Pub). Mahlasela’s ‘Mayibuye!’ is a song of hope, of the coming of freedom and South Africa’s imprisoned black leaders. But, in the 1960’s, after the Sharpeville Massacre the mood was one of despondency and despair in the face of the brutality of apartheid. Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964. The anguish and fear of this period is told in the short harmony “Senzeni Na?” (“What Have We Done?”). Listen to it here, with Quicktime. The constantly repeating cycle of the words “What have we done? Our only sin is being black” linked thousands of people in mourning. This song, too, was sung by Mahlasela. Mass executions of black prisoners was how the apartheid regime was clearing space in the jails for more black prisoners. Many singers and musicians were arrested, many were hanged. One such was Vuyisile Mini.

In the early 1960’s, Mini sang the immensely popular “Naants’ Indod’ Emnyama” (“Here is the Black Man”). The song is also called “Beware Verwoerd!”. A song of anger, 'it was the first of many catchy tunes that concealed their threatening messages through the use of cheerful melodies and vernacular languages that were mostly incomprehensible to white people.' Perhaps in a fit of heightened pique, the apartheid regime arrested, tortured and sentenced him to death in 1964. Ben Turok, a current member of South Africa’s Parliament, described Vuyisile’s last night in jail before he was hanged -

The last evening was devastatingly sad as the heroic occupants of the death cells communicated to the prison in gentle melancholy song that their end was near... It was late at night when the singing ceased, and the prison fell into uneasy silence. I was already awake when the singing began again in the early morning. Once again the excruciatingly beautiful music floated through the barred windows, echoing round the brick exercise yard, losing itself in the vast prison yards. And then, unexpectedly, the voice of Vuyisile Mini came roaring down the hushed passages. Evidently standing on a stool, with his face reaching up to a barred vent in his cell, his unmistakable bass voice was enunciating his final message in Xhosa to the world he was leaving. In a voice charged with emotion but stubbornly defiant he spoke of the struggle waged by the African National Congress and of his absolute conviction of the victory to come. Soon after, I heard the door of their cell being opened. Murmuring voices reached my straining ears, and then the three martyrs broke into a final poignant melody which seemed to fill the whole prison with sound and then gradually faded away into the distant depths of the condemned section.

Miriam Makeba – variously singer, songwriter, political activist, Advisor to the President of Guinea, permanent representative to the UN General Assembly – sang a cover of Naants’ Indod’ Emnyama, listen to a clip of her version.

You are in thee kyoo. Pleess vait.

2007-05-10T11:29:00.000+05:30

I am loving this song.

This is a band called Avial and the song is called Nada Nada.

What does the song mean?
I quote a stubby lil Wikipedia article:
Aviyal (IPA: [aʋijal]) is a dish that has a unique place in a typical Kerala Cuisine. It is a thick mixture of a lot vegetables, curd and coconut.It is seasoned with coconut oil and curry leaves. It is supposed to have been invented by Bheema (one of the Pandava brothers) during his agnaathavaasa. According to the legend, Ballav (Bheem's name during this time) when he assumed his duties as the cook in the kitchen of Virata, did not know how to cook. One of the first things he did was to cut a lot different types of vegetables, boiled them together and put some grated coconut and voila... what do we have? aviyal!

What does the song mean?
I have no friggin clue. Nada Nada might mean "Keep Walking." I would have sent the song to my mum for a translation, but in the off-chance that the song talks about homosexuality between monkeys, I'll wait for someone else to enlighten me.

The Reluctant Genius

2007-05-08T17:30:00.000+05:30

This was originally posted on my personal blog. However, all further music posts will be posted here only!

Four years ago, I found myself drifting away from Carnatic music - Law School's reinforcement of popular music perpetrated through the mp3 sharing culture, and the need to not feel left out when people were discussing the latest Audioslave album, or some obscure Beatles' song had an indelible impact on my musical tastes. Although I still listen to Audioslave and The Beatles, one little incident brought Carnatic music right back into the top spot. While looking through Periamma's vast music collection, I came across this cassette that had T.R.Mahalingam printed on it (with a typewriter, presumably) - one of those recorded cassettes, neatly labelled in her years in the US. Having heard a lot about Mali, from my grandmother, but never having ever heard him play, I decided to listen to that cassette, even though there was this Jimi Hendrix CD waiting to be explored.

Wafting through the speakers of the little Phillips cassette player was the most quaint and extraordinary Sankarabharanam I had ever experienced. Each phrase was distinctly Sankarabharanam, but was still nothing like I had ever heard anywhere. His shrill flute produced a sound that was stamped with his unmatched genius, without seemingly stretching the boundaries of the raga. The alapanas were punctuated by long pauses, almost as if he was giving you time to digest what you just heard. And just when I thought I might never hear anything that beautiful, he started Kapi. Weaving the entire alapana around one or two notes and recurring phrases, he played a Kapi, the likes of which I have never heard again in my life, except in two other recordings, each of them approaching the raga from a different perspective. When he meandered in the mandhra sthayi in another recording of Kalyani, I felt the whole world dissolving into a mass of irrelevance. Nothing seemed worthwhile anymore.

Suddenly, I was obsessed. Like an alcoholic who couldn't go a day without alcohol, I needed Mali's music to keep me sane. Unfortunately, the more I learned about his life, the more disappointed I became. Being a reluctant performer, which according to a biography was a result of the exploitation of his talent by his family in the early years, he recorded very little. When he was older, he took to the bottle, made fewer and fewer public appearances, claimed that he suffered from this recurring 'headache' that caused his mind to go blank, and didn't turn up on days when his concerts were scheduled.

Today, Mali's music exists to my generation in a few studio recordings, one live concert recording that I have come across. But to those who have listened to his concerts, I can see their eyes moisten when they talk of his version of Begada, or Hamsanaadam, or those little folk tunes that he used to play towards the end of his concerts. For many 'rasikas', as we are referred to, he will remain the greatest instrumentalist ever - Miles Davis,
Hendrix, Coltrane, Zakir Hussain can all make way for this little known King.

Artist Spotlight: James Morrison

2007-05-05T23:10:00.000+05:30

I mentioned the AOL Breakers poll in an earlier post, and one of the winners (in the incongruously-named "Mr. Sensitive" category), is one of my current favourite singers, James Morrison. His debut album, Undiscovered, was one of my favourite albums of last year, and have gathered him references to all sorts of legendary soul singers from both sides of the Atlantic. One of my favourite songs at the moment is his current UK single, "Undiscovered":

As a result of the attempted second British Invasion that has been led of late by the likes of KT Tunstall, Natasha Bedingfield and James Blunt, he's also benefited by having his album released in the USA - and while its success has been rather more modest there, it has followed the annoying new practice of reshooting videos for singles that have already been released overseas. That said, you can't have too much of a good thing, and hence I have no real cause for complaint if I get to watch a new video for his sunny debut single, "You Give Me Something", which was shortlisted for Best British Single at the BRIT Awards this year and helped win him an award for Best British Male:

I'm tempted to rant on about the lack of exposure he's getting in the US, but I shall restrain myself for once. Just enjoy the songs for what they are - and, if you liked them, the album definitely deserves to be on your must-buy list this year.

If you're up for watching one more video, here's James with Rod Stewart singing "The First Cut Is The Deepest" by Cat Stevens, one of James's favourite singers:

James Morrison's official site
James Morrison's MySpace
James Morrison's Wikipedia entry

-Thos.

Shock and roll

2007-05-04T12:16:00.000+05:30

have a story for you
had dinner with a close friend and his newly acquired girlfriend of recent couple of weeks ago
the topic moved onto her brother
who is in a band
she said it was tragic
just as i was going to say i used to be in a band as well
she goes off into a long shpiel
on how she once saw this REALLY
REALLY
REALLY
tragic band
at strawberry fields
it had a chinky guy
and a puny guy in a kurta
and they were terrible
her brother fell off his perch laughing at this band
and they were the law school band
and they said they weren't competing
so get off the stage already
they were so bad
by this time of course, my friend's laughing his ass off
and i have this shocked look on my face
and she suddenly gets it
and says
"no no no - it wasn;t your band - there was this dorky guy in a kurta"
sidd - "still me"

Shred

2007-05-03T23:37:00.001+05:30

Shredding is the much maligned dark-art of letting the fretting hand fly over the fingerboard at such a speed that onlookers' jaws do that ally mcbeal routine. Of course it's synonymous with th eighties and terrible hair and spandex pants and face-paint, but unlike the last three items shredding is a wonderful thing. Need proof? Watch this video where Vinnie Moore, one of my favourite shredders gives an old Ibanez a goose-pimple inducing workout. Even if you're not a shred-fan or a guitar-music fan, I urge you to watch this video, and I dare you to tell me you were not blown away!

Three cheers for MySpace

2007-04-30T12:07:00.000+05:30

I recently discovered MySpace and all the free music that I could listen to from upcoming bands/artistes and people I would normally never . Now while I don't know if all of them are upcoming, it just might be my ignorance, here are my Top 3 myspace artistes:

Saving Jane
http://www.myspace.com/savingjane

Terra Naomi
myspace.com/terranaomi

Dashboard Confessional
http://www.myspace.com/dashboardconfessional

I would encourage you all to listen to them and try out the other bands on the list. Some of them are super, some of them are not, but they're all worth a listen.

A hip hip hurray to myspace!

In Which Thos. Discovers An Interesting New Artiste

2007-04-24T22:24:00.000+05:30

Every once in a while it's nice to have a YouTube person add you and send you a video. In this case, I was linked to Dutch jazz singer Wouter Hamel's video for his first single "Breezy":

Not bad. Kudos to the street team.

I don't know, dawg. It was just OK for me.

2007-04-19T11:31:00.000+05:30

Where have all the great albums gone?

It all started with a drunken conversation. Incidentally, have you ever noticed that pretty much anything actually worth saying only gets said in the presence of alcohol? Anyway. The question was asked. Where have all the great albums gone.

Now I'm talking great, mind you, not merely good. And not brilliant, either. That's a whole different thing. The last two U2 albums have been (ok, arguably) brilliant. But not great, no? Last two Maiden albums? Brilliant, but not great. You see what I'm trying to drive at here?

In the last couple of years, I've only heard one album that I could honestly describe as being great. And that is of course the wondrousness that is Stadium Arcadium. Is it just me or does it disturb other people that we're forced to rely on guys who (not so many years ago) used to prance around in their undies, as the source of our musical greatness?

Oh and Wolfmother too. But more on that a little later.

Why is this happening? Are we out of great musicians? Not since I last checked. Have the greats stopped making new music? Let us see. Tom Petty? New album last year. Nice but not great. Pearl Jam? New album last year. Nice but not great. Sting? New album last year. Brilliant but not great. Dylan? New album last year. Couldn't be bothered listening.

Are we running out of new music then? Let us see. Arcade Fire? Almost great. Scissor Sisters? Almost great. Razorlight? Decent, not even close to great.

Which then brings us back to Wolfmother. The only new band (alright, the Aussies discovered them in 2005, but still, new to us) with an album that could honestly be described as constituting musical greatness. What do they play? Classic rock.

Do I have a point? Not really, I'm just angsting.

Also an observation. The last time we had a steady supply of truly great albums was when? The early 90s and fucking grunge.

Which then brings me back to my original question. Where have all the great albums gone?

And isn't everyone happy that someone has managed to make those ugly buggers put some clothes on?

riffs and shit

2007-04-19T00:45:00.000+05:30

Riffs are for plebeians. The true aesthetes listen to jazz, where riffs are anathema. Cue obsessive jazz fanatic leaping out of nearby bush to beat me to death with a tenor-sax for my mischievous anti-jazz disinformation campaign. I don't listen to jazz, but from what I've heard of it (in posh restaurants, posh movies, and at the homes of posh acquaintances) it's never sounded very riff-y to me, but then it could be my untrained ear up to its tricks. Ooh, I just checked up wikipedia on riffs, and it tells me that jazz does have riffs, and then suddenly I remember Take 5. Even I've heard Take 5, haven't you? You haven't? You uncultured lout. You don't listen to jazz? Jeez, you don't deserve to be on the interweb, and definitely not on such a fabulously erudite music-blog such as ours. Get out; scram; shooo.

Now that we've pared our audience down to a small but knowledgeable and deeply passionate bunch of music aficianados, let me get on with this post. Ha ha, I love blogs. I don't really have to get on with a post. There's no copy editor who's going to go through all this and remove the chaff. No circulation figures to be bolstered by mandatory articles on Kylie Minogue's bum and how she considers it the chief reason for her winning a grammy (she didn't win one? she should! have you seen that bum?). A post doesn't even have to have a point, like this one clearly doesn't!

Let me turn my back on all the levity in the previous paragraph and get back to riffs. Riffs are bloody important. Have you heard Smoke on the Water? It has no tune, it has minimal musical wizardry, the song structure isn't much to write home about, but it has that riff, that ominous, gently galloping powerchord riff that even my mother could recognise, sitting in the next room. That riff makes Smoke on the Water brilliant. Riffs can also be coruscating phrases of melody (and that's the way I prefer them) like the legato lead-guitar riff in Layla, which I love to death, and the guitar riff from virtually every single Iron Maiden song, a notable example being Afraid To Shoot Strangers, which features not one, but three addictive riffs.

I've always believed that the word riff is short for refrain, although none of the dictionaries or dubious internet sources that I have consulted bear me out on that. They mean the same thing though, in a musical context, and what better way to condense refrain than 'riff.' A single phrase that is repeated several times in the course of a song is a refrain, a riff. Which brings me to the topic of riff employment.

Once a musician comes up with a killer riff, he usually takes one of two paths, (a) he repeats it so many times that it starts to get irritating or (b) he repeats it so few times that you're frustrated you can't get more of it; like giving you 15 ml of a single malt and saying 'that's it, run along now.' (Ya, I don't drink, but i used the alcohol allusion to reach out to the 'public at large'). One of the rare instances where a brilliant riff is used just right is Sweet Child of Mine. I know it's overplayed and it's fucking G'n'R, but you can take your snobbery and piss in it. It's a brilliant song, and the brilliant riff (written by Izzy Stradlin and not Slash) serves as the intro and enough of a verse backing, and then forms the base for the two solos. Mmmmm, just right, not too crunchy, not too soft, just right!

A riff is usually the hook in a song. The 'hook' is the bit that gets you hooked on a song. The 'catchy' bit that serious musicians pretend to abhor but secretly yearn for. The hook needn't be a riff, but it usually is, at least for me. One of the few examples of more-or-less riff-less music that grabbed me by the balls on first listen has to be Simon & Garfunkel, but that's rare and in trying to be Simon & Garfunkel, you could just end up being Bob Dylan and whining on endlessly about some grave issues of global import. That's not good. In fact, that sucks.

So the moral of the story is, you either gotta have riffs, or you gotta be Simon & Garfunkel, and under no circumstances should you be Bob Dylan. Peace and Love!

Not a riff

Artist Spotlight: Jamelia

2007-04-16T18:36:00.000+05:30

Jamelia Niela Davis is a British R&B singer probably best known for the hit single "Superstar", which was everywhere in 2003. If you don't remember it, it's this song:

It was the international breakthrough Jamelia fans had been waiting for, especially since nobody knew who Jamelia was outside Europe until this song hit. The parent album, Thank You, went platinum in the UK and introduced her to an international audience, with the follow-up singles, "Thank You" and "See It In A Boy's Eyes", performing appreciably well from Ireland to New Zealand, although none of her material was released in the US. In fact, the success of "Superstar" is illustrated by the fact a lot of people are under the impression that it was the lead single from the album; in fact, the lead single, "Bout", hit the top forty in the UK and the top twenty in France and Germany, but nobody seems to remember it.

So what does one do to capitalise on a breakthrough like this? Well, Jamelia chose to make one of the most brilliant albums of 2006, Walk With Me. Unfortunately, as I've mentioned earlier, the album had a hard time on the UK charts, and an even rougher time in Ireland, where it peaked at #67 after the lukewarm showing of the first single, "Something About You". I got hold of this album on someone else's recommendation and discovered the problem: atrocious single choices. My two favourite tracks on the album, "Do Me Right" - which features heavy sitar instrumentation, a wicked beat and legendary rapper Afrika Bambaataa - and "Window Shopping" - which features a looped sample of Molly Sugden's voice in the Britcom Are You Being Served? - were never released as singles, and the followups to "Something About You" fared even more poorly in the charts, despite their creativity. As a result, the album only managed to limp to gold status in the UK last month on the strength of a major price cut and, although Jamelia was nominated for a BRIT award in February, she failed to win.

That's not to say that the two subsequent singles were bad - far from it. They were just really bad strategic choices, showcasing innovative sampling rather than real substance. That said, fan forums seem to be all over the second single, "Beware of the Dog", which samples Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus", despite its subpar video:

The final stroke for the album, unfortunately, might be the abysmal performance of the third single, "No More", which samples the Stranglers' "Golden Brown" to great effect:

While I really like the song, I seriously doubt that it was the most sensible of choices to attempt to revive flagging sales.

All told, however, I still insist that Walk With Me is easily one of the best albums of 2006, and definitely one of the most commercially underrated (see, for example, Boppop's best of 2006 list). The only hope for it now is for someone to have the brains to release "Do Me Right" - the best unreleased track of '06, IMHO - as a single, but given how UK record execs tend to react to failed singles, it seems unlikely. I'm also inclined to blame the artwork - it's about a good excuse as any to gauge the fickle UK market, and it doesn't help that she looks terrible in the official photoshoots for the album and singles.

Oh well. I hope the Australian release of the singles this year doesn't meet the same fate as the UK one. It hasn't looked good so far, though - the album isn't even in the top fifty at present.

Jamelia's entry at Wikipedia.org
Jamelia's page on allmusic.com
The official Jamelia website

- Thos.

In Which Thos. Wants It To Snow, Or, Why I Hate Jamie Foxx

2007-04-04T13:07:00.001+05:30

Lyrics about sex are trickier than people seem to realise. They're hardly uncommon, but managing to write a song about sex without making it sound like a tawdry roadside book of 'erotic literature' is something that seems to be more difficult than I thought it would be, especially for R&B and hip-hop songwriters.

There's schoolboy-level stupidity - "Am I sexual?" asks Nick Carter in the Backstreet Boys' "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" - and then there's just plain old obscenity. I thought R. Kelly was the master of sleazy bump-and-grind songs, and then I discovered this:

The lyrics to Jamie Foxx's "Storm (Forecass)"

While I appreciate the fact that he hasn't descended into vocabulary that would merit censorship (see: the Ying Yang Twins' "Wait (The Whisper Song)", which is as straightforward as it gets), the weather analogy he uses is just the most disgusting manner he could possibly have described it. I actually find myself preferring the straight-up crudity of something like Khia's "My Neck, My Back" to this sleaze-drenched rag of a song.

Want to know why people tell you sex is dirty, children? Now you know.

In Which Thos. Wonders About Democracy In Music Honours

2007-03-15T21:14:00.000+05:30

This new interactive era could arguably be said to be going a bit too far, but it makes sense.

On the one hand, there's AOL's Breakers 2007 poll, in which site visitors are introduced to artistes in four different categories that are not well-established in the USA (ranging from Brit exports Amy Winehouse and James Morrison to current #1 artiste Mims and American unknowns such as Landon Pigg and Secondhand Serenade) and asked to pick their favourites.

On the other hand, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is holding a poll for future inductees.

Is there a line somewhere that shouldn't be crossed, or is it a good thing to let everyone from the aging hippie to the tween pop junkie vote for every possible thing in the world, right up to who should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

(If it matters to anyone, the artist currently doing the worst in the latter poll is R. Kelly, with only 14% of the voters at the time of writing in favour of inducting him. While this isn't surprising, given the controversy surrounding him, what is surprising is that the next lowest votes are going to Björk, with 15%, the White Stripes, with 16%, Oasis, with 23%, Justin Timberlake, Destiny's Child and Beck, with 27% each, and Radiohead, with 29%, while Metallica, in contrast, is leading with 78%, followed by Pearl Jam with 73% and Madonna with 72%. 57% were unhappy with this year's inductees - the Ronettes, Van Halen, Patti Smith, R.E.M. and Grandmaster Flash.)

Imagine*

2007-03-11T19:52:00.000+05:30

This is the era of imagined communities**. We, on Riff Cafe are an imagined community. Our common love for music transcends the importance of physical proximity and knowing which one of us hates Singapore noodles or is in favour of tightening immigration laws. We also belong to what is called the 'ipod generation'. And why not, I say? Afterall, watching so many films which have perfect background scores for every situation - boy meets girl in bohemian cafe, dramatic war action sequences, fields of gladioli fleeting past as Bollywood actor and actress swirl around in love, etc. - makes us want to set tunes to our everyday stories. That's right people, keep your thumbs on your ipod dial and press play!

I have a travel playlist for all the time that I spend on the tube and on buses in London. The pulse of London is strong and individualistic and different cities will give you a different vibe (Singapore is antiseptic, Delhi is rough and tough, Bangalore is introspective). In London, these are my favourite travel songs:

1. John Mellencamp's live version of Like a Rolling Stone makes me feel independent and artistic. With a spring in my step I say bring on the world and I will paint it!
2. Money for Nothing by Dire Straits suddenly makes a whole lot of sense in the city of it's birth. Sex, alcohol, violence, London style.
3. My singing along with Esther Philips on What a Difference a Day has often attracted stares, especially due to slightly orgasmic gasps and the lines 'It's heaven when youuuuuuu/ Find romance on your menuuuuuu/ What a difference a day makes/ And that difference is youuuuuu!' (Best heard on a sunny sunny day.)
4. Actually, all of Dire Straits' Communique album is London transport friendly. Gets you in a slightly speculative frame of mind. 'He takes the road as it comes'. So do I.
5. A frequently played number, No Flagman Ahead [Instrumental] by Tab Two brings out the chic urban jetsetting type in me (nevermind that its only to Knightbridge that I'm going!).
6. Coldplay does exactly what Dire Straits does - remind you that their songs were created in London. When Chris Martin sings 'I was scared, I was scared/ Tired and underprepared' from In My Place, it seems as though he feels my vulnerability.
7. Steely Dan's nonchalant Do It Again makes me feel like I'm in a movie scene that documents a period in my life when the pieces of my puzzle come together. I smile serenly at my fellow passengers and hop off the train, back into my life.

So, people. Tell me your songs, the ones that makes you feel invincible, the ones that make you weep, and those that make you feel so hungry that you would really go the distance this time.

---------
* Not in the way John Lennon asks. Imagine what you want.
** Yes, yes, this a term that Benedict Anderson came up with. Here you go, Bendy! Take the credit. Its all yours! (Jeez! academic essay writing conventions follow me to blogs too.)

In Which Thos. Rambles On About His Favourite Songs Of 2006

2007-03-04T21:39:00.000+05:30

It's been a while since Riff Café was last updated, so I'm going to weigh in with a long and pointless exercise, for the fun of it:

The 2006 Young Thos. Music Awards
(to mark the end of the awards season - oh, and I'm thrilled that Amy Winehouse won a BRIT Award, by the way.)

If America can have the Grammys and the UK can have the BRITs, why can't Riff Café have an annual awards thing? Because none of us would ever agree, for one. Nonetheless, here are my personal favourites of 2006:

DEBUT SINGLE OF THE YEAR
"Crazy", Gnarls Barkley
"London Bridge", Fergie
"Do It To It", Cherish
"Lipstick", Alesha
"For You I Will (Confidence)", Teddy Geiger

Gnarls Barkley's St. Elsewhere ranks right up there with Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds as one of the most overrated albums of the year as far as I'm concerned, but there's something about "Crazy" that merits all the hype: unfortunately, nothing else they've done lives up to it. Nonetheless, it's still the best debut single I've heard all year.

ADULT CONTEMPORARY SINGLE OF THE YEAR
"Follow Me Home", Sugababes
"Fly Like A Bird", Mariah Carey
"The Weakness In Me", Keisha White
"We Belong Together", Gavin DeGraw
"What Hurts The Most", Jo O'Meara

Last year, I handed this to Daniel Powter's "Bad Day", and I refuse to make it eligible for a second year running (plus, heavy airplay has made most people sick of the song). Even Keisha White's cover of Joan Armatrading's "The Weakness In Me" can't fend off the Sugababes' "Follow Me Home", which was a terrible single choice strategically but just happens to be a great song.

ALTERNATIVE SINGLE OF THE YEAR
"Get Him Back", Fiona Apple
"I Write Sins Not Tragedies", Panic! At The Disco
"Words Just Get In The Way", Richard Ashcroft
"Fidelity", Regina Spektor
"The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage", Panic! At The Disco

The absence of an M.I.A. release in 2006 leaves this one wide open for Fiona Apple, whose vastly underrated Extraordinary Machine was one of my favourite albums of 2005. There are better tracks on the album than "Get Him Back", but it easily fends off the competition for this year.

DANCE/ELECTRONIC SINGLE OF THE YEAR
"S.O.S.", Rihanna
"That's The Way My Heart Goes", Marie Serneholt
"Goodnight And Go", Imogen Heap
"Headlock", Imogen Heap
"Faster Kill Pussycat", Oakenfold featuring Brittany Murphy

Imogen Heap's Grammy nominations this year might bring her a little bit more to people's attention, although it seems unlikely. I happen to like "Goodnight And Go" and "Headlock" much more than the cult favourite "Hide And Seek", which was for some strange reason featured in The O.C.'s second season finale (or so Wikipedia tells me). Nonetheless, I have a soft spot for Rihanna's "S.O.S.", if for no other reason than the sample of "Tainted Love". It's horribly addictive.

COUNTRY SINGLE OF THE YEAR
"What Hurts The Most", Rascal Flatts
"Another Day", Sarah Mather
"Before He Cheats", Carrie Underwood
"Not Ready To Make Nice", Dixie Chicks
"Leave The Pieces", The Wreckers

Mark Wills' "What Hurts The Most" was covered twice in 2006 - by the now infamous Jo O'Meara in the UK, and by Rascal Flatts Stateside - and the latter version succeeds LeAnn Rimes' "Nothin' 'Bout Love Makes Sense" as my favourite country single of the year. Both Sarah Mather and the Wreckers are nominated here for their debut singles, incidentally - and, for the curious, The Wreckers is Michelle Branch's new band.

HIP-HOP/RAP SINGLE OF THE YEAR
"Promiscuous", Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland
"Crazy", Gnarls Barkley
"London Bridge", Fergie
"Come To Me", Diddy featuring Nicole Scherzinger
"Buttons", The Pussycat Dolls featuring Snoop Dogg

I wasn't sure whether or not to categorise "Promiscuous" as a hip-hop/rap song or as a pop song, actually, but here goes nothing. I would never have guessed that the same woman who came up with songs like "Powerless" and "I'm Like A Bird" would one day be signed to Timbaland's label and singing tunes like this, but surprisingly it works.

POP SINGLE OF THE YEAR
"Unwritten", Natasha Bedingfield
"Easy", Sugababes
"Rock Steady", All Saints
"Say It Right", Nelly Furtado
"Everybody's Gone To War", Nerina Pallot

Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten" finally hit US shores in 2006, and well and truly brought Natasha out of the shadow of her brother Daniel's fading music career. This is possibly the most competitive of the categories, given how broad the range of "pop" is, but I think this one ought to go to her, despite All Saints' impressive comeback and Nerina Pallot's brilliant breakthrough in 2006.

ROCK SINGLE OF THE YEAR
"Supermassive Black Hole", Muse
"Is It Any Wonder?", Keane
"It's Not Over", Daughtry
"Anna-Molly", Incubus
"Lights And Sounds", Yellowcard

Since Riff Café readers seem to be rock fans more than anything else, I expect some serious disagreement on this one. I happen to think that "Supermassive Black Hole" is an excellent follow-up to the masterpiece that was "Butterflies And Hurricanes", but I'm perfectly aware that it's quite a polarising song. Nonetheless, the fact that it's their only top five song to date ought to count for something.

R&B SINGLE OF THE YEAR
"Be Without You", Mary J. Blige
"Ring The Alarm", Beyoncé
"The Heart Of The Matter", India.Arie
"Gotsta Go", Kelly Rowland featuring Da Brat
"Torn", LeToya

India.Arie's cover of Don Henley's "The Heart Of The Matter" is one of the most beautiful songs I've heard all year, rivalling only the title track from Five For Fighting's Two Lights. The three active members of Destiny's Child appear with three separate nominations here, and, with the male R&B artists failing to make the grade (seriously, besides John Legend and Robin Thicke, where is everyone?), the nominations are completely female-dominated. This is an easy one for Mary J. Blige, though - "Be Without You" holds the record for the most weeks at #1 on the US R&B chart and has now won two Grammys, and is easily her best single since "No More Drama". In fact, I'd say it's my favourite song of the year.

More Bass on the Drum Monitor (The rambling saga of a mediocre band)

2007-01-15T17:55:00.000+05:30

Warning: Random

The Strawberry Fields crew had an award, we called it the NL Mitra Award (after our then Director). That was to be 'awarded' to the first band to speak those immortal words through the microphone...."er...Mike/Sidney/Dinakar.....could we have some more bass on the drum monitor please."

In those days we were not cool, and didn't play in bands, and didn't know that, as a matter of fact, rock bands always need more bass on the drum monitor. Heck you need more bass on every monitor, more important than anything, the bass is the fucking foundation, the bass gives you the rhythm, as well as the melodic (chordic?) base (ahem). I needed more bass on the monitors because the lead guitarist (apart from being a genuine maestro of the guitar) believed in the philosophy that rhythm guitarists were to be seen and not heard, and rhythm guitarists definitely did not deserve to hear anything but the virtuoso sound of the lead guitar.

And when we had the sound exactly as he wanted, we'd all merrily fuck up, because we couldn't hear anything except him playing. Yes we even managed to fuck up 'Breaking the Law.' I want to hear the bass and drums dammit, I can do without hearing the lead guitar and the vocals.

And once, when the sound guys (god bless you Shanthala Musicals) 'messed up' and we could hear everything on the monitors, the band ripped the place apart (okay, exaggeration there, the band concluded its set without any major faux pas). JD and I even pulled off our short twin-lead rather nicely. So the moral of the story is that we all need more bass on the drum monitor.

If we'd spent as much time on practising, as we spent on arguing about the name of the band, and various other even pettier issues, we might have been a decent band. But we didn't and so we weren't. We were called Grade Point. Ya, sucky name.

After immense amounts of cajoling, and applying liberal doses of maska on a certain Prof called Smiley, we got a storage room emptied of most of its contents (we still had to share it with a Godrej cupboard and some old CPUs and monitors), and converted it into a jam room. LLM classes were conducted above the storage room, and therefore we could not make noise while classes were going on, which, on account of our collective carelessness, we once did and got shouted at for.

I will not talk of the relative merits of the various members because, except for JD on lead guitars, we all pretty much sucked at what we did. Which did not stop us from doing covers of incredibly complex songs like 'Breaking the Law.' (if i hear that riff one more time, I will kill someone). But in our more inspired moments, we've jammed on bits of Iron Maiden's 'Revelations' and Ugly Kid Joe's 'Everything About You.' We covered CCR's 'Proud Mary' in which we sometimes even managed (gasp!) the harmony vocals. We helped Nair reach his feminine side by doing a cover of Tracy Chapman's 'Give Me One Reason.' Somewhere along the way, mostly thanks to JD, we even had a few original compositions, one of which was actually rather good.

We played a show at St.Johns where I opted out because I hadn't had time to jam with the band at all. That day I got to handle the console for the band, because Dinakar had to go to the loo. I felt incredibly powerful, and I moved the sliders and knobs around, even when it wasn't necessary. And the band loved the sound I gave them. Okay fine, the sound that Dinakar gave them, and I did nothing to spoil.

I think I mentioned the twin-lead before, hmmm, ya JD and I played a twin-lead interlude before the bridge on our OC 'light of my life' (yup, we were very original and groundbreaking when it came to naming songs). It was nice, I could step away from my mic, and JD would step away from his, and by the time we walked towards each other, the twin-lead would be over. But it felt good to be playing lead, instead of crummy rhythm. Second fiddle. Thoo.

I could bore you more right away, but maybe I'll save it for another instalment, or, if I am feeling especially benevolent, I'll lock it up and throw away the key.

Mai bhi mosh karega...

2007-01-14T12:00:00.000+05:30

So the other day, a bunch of us were sitting over a couple of kaapis and speaking about our very first metal gig/fest experiences. I-Rock 2006 happened to be the first for my younger sister. So, she was high on enthu and the very fact that she weighs a ton, she could enter the moshpit. (No offence to the other heavyweights here.)
Now, my sister is pretty much the typical rickshawala music follower, what with the dhikchikdhikchik beats and all. Slowly, she started listening to the likes to Nirvana - an introduction to rock music basically, thanks to her college mates. Then followed old school rock and God save her soul, death metal.
As a journo student, she took it upon herself to cover I-Rock 2006 as a part of one of her projects. She asked me, "Akka, will you be going for I-Rock this year? Mereko jaane ka hai. Mai mosh karega wahaan." And then she headbanged. I just gave her this one look that said everything I wanted to. "Tereko mosh karneka hai? Satkeli hai?". Ordinarily, the moshpits in Mumbai are rather violent. I have heard the ones in Delhi are worse but then, never seen it to believe it. The older sister maternal instinct in me jagaoed and ofcourse, I was not very comfortable with the thought of her hitting the moshpit with a bunch of high on weed, alcohol and life teenaged boys, who think it's cool to beat the crap out of people.
Anyway, back to the conversation, I didn't go for I-Rock last year and according to her friends, she saw this one chap wearing a Kurt Cobain tshirt walk past her and she apparently shouted out loud 'KURT COBAIN KAUN HAI?' Ofcourse, I shamelessly laughed at her face at her ignorance. Next, DR plays it's OC, Frozen Portrait (I will have you know, that I am NOT very fond of DR, DR being Demonic Resurrection, for the uninitiated.) So, my sister goes,"Yaar, nice song man." And she starts to sway from side to side, like we would when we hear Michael Jackson's Heal the World.
Again, I laughed at her. She was hurt I suppose, since she put up this sad puppy face.
Now, my thoughts circle around the fact that, are the people who really claim to listen to good rock/metal, listen to hit for the fact that it is good music, or are the just plain poseurs? In Mumbai, for instance, people think it's cool to listen to these genres just because everyone around them listens to it. Adds to the cool factor, you see. I was at this pub in one of Mumbai's suburbs (Toto's), and it isn't what it used to be a couple of years ago. Toto's was strictly the "adda" for those who listen to grunge,alternative...contemporary rock music basically and the crowd was musically educated. Now, when I went there last week, I had to endure the likes of "Kajra re" and what not. Not that I don't appreciate filmy music because I do, but then Toto's was synonymous with 'Get away from the dhikchikdhikchik'.
I think, mai bhi ek baar mosh karega, to get a feel of the mindset of these childran's.

Epiphany

2007-01-13T15:24:00.000+05:30

Show Me How to Live by Audioslave. Nice song? Nice song.

I humbly submit that that is exactly what it is NOT. Listen to it. It isn’t a song at all. It’s just a brilliant four-and-a-half minute Tom Morello riff with some vocal decoration by Chris Cornell. Seriously. The singing is completely irrelevant to the song. It’s only this morning that I realized this. All this time I’ve been listening to the song and all I’ve really been listening to is the riff. Think about it. Do you know the words of any bit of the song except for the chorus? See? And now listen to just that riff. Brilliance, no?

This is how I imagine it went down. Tom Morello calls Chris Cornell in and says I’ve got this brilliant song for our new album. Then he plays it. Then he says, This is how it’s going to be. You can sing a bit if you want.

This is not to take away from that bit of vocal coolness that Cornell does at the end of the song. You know, the one that you always wonder whether you can do yourself, but never try because you don't want your illusions of singing talent to be shattered?

Of course this rates Chris Cornell as the 18th greatest riff creator of all time, only three spots below Tom Morello. So there’s also the possibility that it’s a killer Chris Cornell riff with some Chris Cornell vocal decoration. Right.

And don’t talk about the bridge, because I’m not listening.

In Which Thos. Praises Snow Patrol's Grammar

2007-01-10T14:49:00.000+05:30

Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol now has my eternal respect for being able to use the present subjunctive correctly in a song:

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

I'm deducting points, however, for actually naming a song Set The Fire To The Third Bar.

Balance

2006-12-27T14:24:00.000+05:30

I have hit upon a plan. To offset all the dead dogs, broken engagements, car accidents, torn ligaments, repair bills and general all-round depression going around, I am going to make a list of happy songs (well, songs that cheer me up anyway) and then sit and listen to each and every one. Here goes (furiously scrolls through Winamp playlist):

Edguy-Matrix
Stevie Wonder-Superstition
Boston-More Than a Feeling
Bob Seger-Night Moves
Beach Boys-God Only Knows
Steely Dan-Kid Charlemagne
RHCP-AEROPLANE!!!
Arlo Guthrie-Alice's Restaurant
Tenacious D-Tribute
Pointer Sisters-I'm So Excited
ZZ Top-Tush

That should hold me for a while. Contributions actively solicited.

The Common Trip

2006-12-25T15:19:00.000+05:30

Consider:

1. The Rolling Stones - She's A Rainbow
2. Simon and Garfunkle - 59th Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy)
3. Cream - Wrapping Paper

Now, ignoring the artistic histories of these songs and the liberties their composers have (rightly) taken, I wish to bring to your attention the gentle madness of these three numbers. Think about them. Roll them around in your head, if you must. The uplifted, sort of prance-y vibe that these melodies have, betrays, dare I say, a common 'trip'?

Sample these lines from She's A Rainbow:

'Have you seen her dressed in blue?
Seen the sky in front of you?'

and/ or

'Have you seen her all in gold?
Like a queen in days of old.'

But my favourite is the precursor to the main line:

'She comes in colours everywhere,
She combs her hair.'

Hmmm... She does, does she? Shocker. Please note the dramatic difference in style (the ditzy piano towards the end especially) from say, Get Off My Cloud and Under My Thumb. Something tells me it's the same condition that afflicted Simon and Garfunkle when they wrote Feeling Groovy.

Feeling Groovy is a marked departure from their usual haunting, mellow fashion of song. In fact, I have a special affection for it and for the ‘elevating’ company it has often given me (in the Manuscript Section of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, no less):

'I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep.
Let the morning time drop all its petals on me.
Life, I love you,
All is groooooooovy.'

This is when you skip down the street with a ridiculously blissful grin, singing along. 'Slow down, you move too fast' is message enough, don't you agree? Though 'Hello lamp-post, Whatcha knowin'?' is even better. Don’t laugh, I’m sure you’ve asked similar questions to inanimate objects in the past.

Completing this trio is Cream's Wrapping Paper, though it has a slightly gloomy touch to it. The role of the wrapping paper, however, in the story of the song is actually not more than a trigger. The slowly moving wrapping paper should take you to somebody, in a picture, on a wall, in a house, in an old time... (association games can be fun so feel free to carry on with this…) If you haven't already, listen carefully to these floating lyrics by Jack Bruce and Pete Brown:

'Wrapping paper in the gutter
Moving slowly as the wind on the sea,
(Faces calling, waves moving)
In your picture on a wall of a house of old times.
(Can you hear me) Can you hear me
(Can you hear me) Wandering sadly?'

'Faces calling, waves moving'? In this state, I think so!

Let me clarify the common denominator here with a good exception to the afore-established light skipping rule. Leonard Cohen also has a madness about his music but it is a madness that is consistent, serious and well, it's Leonard Cohen! The three artistes in question here, in contrast, abandon their signature direction for these songs. That factor aside, Cohen’s songs beg for attention. How can you ignore the pleading 'I need you I need you I need you... now' of The Guests? Or not get sucked into the spiralling (and unsafe) abyss that is Leonard Cohen's music? (But that's for another post.)

For now, I present to you the Common Trip. It asks for nothing more than a peaceful smile of recognition and maybe, if you’re up to it, a jaunt down the street with a spring in your step.

In Which Thos. Praises A Slice Of Pop Ingenuity

2006-12-18T10:03:00.000+05:30

Dear Jamelia:

Anyone who can work a sample of Mrs. Slocombe from Are You Being Served? saying "Mr. Grainger, are you free?" into a pop song and actually make it work deserves permanent music cred.

But to title the song "Window Shopper" and put it on an album immediately following a banger of a track that relies mostly on sitar instrumentation is a mark of sheer genius.

Added to the fact that your current single samples Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus", how your album is not selling madly is beyond me.

Sincerely,

Young Thos.

In Which Thos. Relives The Thrill Of Live Performances

2006-12-10T15:10:00.000+05:30

I've been listening to Mariah Carey's MTV Unplugged album again after seeing her version of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There" on VH1 yesterday. It was the concert that first started my love affair with her music, and that song in particular carries so many memories with it now that I can't listen to it without a million competing thoughts rushing into my head. No matter what kind of music you perform, there's nothing quite like a good live performance to really show off your chops and connect with your audience in a way that you don't get to enjoy in a studio.

The thing about live performances is that you have to aim to be amazing every single time. It's the difference between doing a play and shooting a movie - in one form, you can do a million retakes and achieve levels of perfection that might seem unrealistic in the other, but it still can't give you the satisfaction of playing to an audience. You can't stop midway and tell your guitarist he's an idiot or inform the pianist that he's supposed to be playing an E flat at that point, thank you very much. The result is that the best live performers are those who know they've worked to make sure they're at their peak every single time they get on that stage, and who are performing with other musicians who've done the same. The moment that ceases to be true, things start to go just a bit haywire and it becomes a matter of how far the weakest link can pull the ensemble down. With Mariah's Unplugged performance, everything is perfectly in step - the drummer, the pianist, the background singers, her voice - and the result is magical.

The last performance I saw that inspired that kind of reaction in me was Junkyard Groove last month. Junkyard Groove has gone from being very good to being absolutely brilliant - and that can be attributed to their stagecraft as much as it can be attributed to their music. Look at the way Ameeth plays a crowd. Stagecraft, while an art, is hardly quantum mechanics, which is why I'm so surprised at the overwhelming number of singers on the college circuit who completely lack it. There is no dearth of talent; it's just the extra something, the ability to really hold an audience's attention; the soul, dammit. Perhaps they're uncomfortable with their accompanists. Or they don't truly believe in their talent. But whatever it is, it's really irritating to watch some girl sing a Christina Aguilera song note-for-note in the softest and meekest of voices with her hands behind her back: technical skill doesn't work live unless you have the extra something.

Conversely, people will forgive vocal imperfections if you absolutely burn up the stage: I discovered this first-hand when I performed a stripped-down piano version of Alanis Morissette's You Oughta Know, after which I insisted to my friends that I had slipped off a couple of notes because I'd gotten carried away in the emotion of the song. My friends responded that I sounded like I had homicidal intentions and that the song had come across as a great performance, not just a technical song, and I ended up winning. (This is not, of course, to say that a victory in a dinky intra-collegiate competition is comparable to the level of Junkyard Groove or Mariah Carey, but I use it to illustrate the point that getting completely lost in a song is a good thing.) I'm not sure how this works for groups of vocalists, though: not being perfectly in sync is a flaw, no matter how you play it down, but it does help if you're a group that has a sense of humour and works the crowd instead of standing like some sort of Singing Grove of Petrified Trees. In my experience of a cappella groups, for example, I've found that you have to have both technical skill and stagecraft; it's how close you come to perfection in both that makes you memorable (and wins you competitions as well).

Oddly, the music that is popular these days seems to be moving further and further away from the sort that can reasonably be reproduced in somebody's house in five minutes with the right instruments: crunk, for example, is so much about synthesised beats and instruments that never existed in real life that live performances often consist of a recorded backing track being played at full volume while the singer uses his or her limited vocal abilities to go "Uh, uh, UHHH!" between verses while trying very hard to be heard over the din (see: Ciara, Chris Brown, Cassie, P!nk in her R&B days). This is quite a departure from the more organic styles of soul, pop, rock, alternative... heck, practically every style that involved someone actually having outstanding musical talent of some sort. Knock American Idol and Rockstar: Supernova all you want, but at least they produce performers who can wow a crowd instead of some hourglass-figured, breathy-voiced dancer who needs an entourage to carry her tune for her.

*sigh* Studio wizardry is all very well, children, but nothing compares to the thrill of watching your favourite musicians in concert. It's only then that you understand how brilliant they really are.

You're Gonna Fly Away

2006-12-08T17:22:00.000+05:30

One of the greatest pleasures of air travel in this country is the rock channel (Channel 10) on Kingfisher Airlines flights. This is despite the crappy free headphones they give you to use. You know, I actually wouldn’t mind them increasing their ticket prices by a couple of hundred bucks if it meant them giving out better headphones. I’ve actually seriously considered taking my own headphones along for the ride, because the music is seriously yummy.

What’s so great about Channel 10 anyway, you ask? Well, for one, how many airlines introduce you to new, awesome music? I heard my first Al Stewart and my first Steve Winwood on a Kingfisher Airlines flight (Yeah yeah. Laugh. Elitist bastards). In fact, I was so inspired by them that I went out and listened to two whole more Al Stewart songs. What to do. I’m just cool that way.

The music (and everything else on their inflight entertainment system) is on a loop, so if you’re on a long flight it might possibly get tedious. Of course if it does, you can always just switch to that making of the Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar thingie on one of the video channels. Or the Great Indian Laughter Challenge, if the sight of Sidhu braying uncontrollably for an hour is your poison of choice. After much empirical research, I have discovered that the optimal flight distance to listen to Channel 10 on is the Bangalore-Bombay sector (an hour and fifteen minutes, or so). The first song will just have started repeating when you land.

As a slight aside, I’ve been trying to figure out the frequency with which the playlist changes. As far as I can figure, it’s more often than monthly and less often than weekly. But anyway.

Even when the music’s not mindblowingly original or new, it’s solidly, unobjectionably good. Case in point was last week’s selection. For one reason or the other, I flew many Kingfisher flights over the last couple of weeks. The playlist went something like this:

Duran Duran- Come Undone
Saigon Kick- I Love You (Ok, it’s pure cheese. But it’s such cheesy perfection)
Madonna- Rain (one of her least objectionable songs, you have to admit)
Cyndi Lauper- I Drove All Night (You thought this was a Celine Dion song, didn't you. Apparently it’s also been done by Roy Orbison. I can’t be bothered Googling to figure out whose original it was)
Cruisin’- Not Gwyneth Paltrow and whoever. I’m tempted to say it was Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole but Google refuses to bear me out on this.
The Doors- Riders on the Storm
I can’t remember any more

See? Totally unobjectionable and extremely listenable-to. I was all set to take down the track list to share with you peoples (how sad is that?) but they’d changed it on the last flight I took so I slept instead. But from what I can remember, that one was also quite good.

So anyway, boys and girls, if you have a choice between carriers, always go with Kingfisher. And seriously consider carrying your own headphones.

A Thousand Dreams Pass Like This

2006-12-04T11:59:00.000+05:30

Coming to Delhi can be a bewildering experience for many. In 1988, John Landis directed Eddie Murphy in a funny movie called Coming to America - two African royal dudes turn up in Queens, New York and proceed to make asses of themselves because they don't know whats going on. Delhi can have much same effect on a non-Hindi speaking Bangalorean. But, there are interesting things about this place also - nothing can beat the Delhi qawwali in winter.

The qawwali is a South Asian Sufi music style consisting of highly stylised verse sung by a party of 5-10, usually in praise of God, or the Prophet Muhammad, or Imam Ali, or booze. Originating in Persia as the Sama music of Jalaluddin Rumi, the qawwali was re-structured by Amir Khusrau in the middle years of Delhi Sultanate (1300s) and sung chiefly in Urdu. Khusrau was the student of the famour Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya. Later, Punjabi qawwalis also found popularity - mostly through Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

There is an interesting story that goes like this: After the powerful rule of the Khilji dynasty, the Delhi sultanate fell into the hands of Ferozeshah Tughlak. In the grand tradition of Delhi's rulers, the new ruler promptly decided to build a new city in honour of himself. And so he chose a dusty barren rocky plateau formation in the south that he called Tughlakabad (its walls still stand). Now, the great saint Nizamuddin (who now has a dirty railway station to his credit) of the Chisti order - that traces its lineage to the town of Chist in Herat and before that to Damascus - wanted to build a small pulpit for himself to sing on. But Ferozeshah Tughlak, wary of the saints popularity and reverence, denied him permission to build anything. In anger, Nizamuddin cursed Tughlak's new city, condemning it to be inhabited only by Gujjars and jackals. In fiercer anger, Ferozeshah Tughlak rode back from battle in Bengal, "breathing fire upon the saint". But, at a reception outside Delhi, where his son Mohammad had gone to receive him, the army's battle elephants mysteriously stampeded causing a pillar to fall on Ferozeshah and crush him. The new king, Mohammad bin Tughlak, granted Nizamuddin his wishes. And, even today, qawwalis are sung every Thursday night on Nizamuddin's pulpit.

Delhi's qawwali artists, I am told, are not they used to be. But they're still bloody amazing. The average Thursday qawwali is about twenty minutes long, slow at first but building up to a deafening crescendo with pretty much every Shia in South Delhi clapping and crying and singing and wailing around you. The good qawwali artist is said to invoke a hypnotic state in his listeners. Now I wasn't hypnotised, but I was stoned pretty good. And for a short while, I even considered converting to Islam. Ok, thats not really true, but its pretty awesome anyway. The only bother are the inevitable 5-10 firangi backpackers, dirty unwashed buggers with shorts and dreadlocks in what is obviously a holy dargah. Most local residents dont appreciate them either and I can see why. At the end of a beautiful qawwali, in the last five minutes when the tablas are booming and the singers crying, two silly firangis will noisily walk over your head (with rubber chappals) to take pictures and exclaim excitedly in guttural German.

Ok, now I have to get back to work. But, to start with, listen to a short qawwali from the movie Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi called 'Mann Ye Bavra'. If you can understand Hindustani, its quite beautiful - http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/iJ3mxMKnVd.As1NMvHdW/

The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing

2006-12-01T12:09:00.000+05:30

While in college and bouncing around my computer with nothing to do, I would suddenly rediscover Deep Purple or Michael Jackson songs that I hadn't heard in ages and then go back to the their respective folders in the imaginatively named 'Songs' folder, and hear all that shite again. Not unlike the experience Nerfherder mentioned.

Two months ago, I picked up one of those 200 buck CDs that say "Best Bargain" or "Bargain Buy" or some other subliminal message that says "I'm Cheap, You Definitely Are Cheap. Buy Me". It was the 1996 G3 album, and it looked a little sad sitting in the racks along with Enrique and Take That. [I used liked Take That]. While I was listening to the album in my car, I suddenly craved to hear 'Summer Song' the way I remembered it.

Hence, the new CD in my car, with assorted Satch burnt from the recesses of my computer. While driving to work today, and encountering several life-threatening moments on the way in, I tried think up new names for his songs. Its like trying to come for a new name for the colour blue. You can do it, but it just doesn't fit. With 'Rubina's Blue Sky', its like trying to come up with a new colour for the word 'blue'.

In any event, its hard to top 'The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing'.

Tell Her This

2006-12-01T11:19:00.000+05:30

This has to be most famous Del Amitri song. Everyone's heard it. I think it was in the soundtrack of some teen movie. So yeah, if you're into teen movies, you would have heard this song.
I only started listening to Del Amitri around this time last year, and I think they have to be the most underrated band ever. Not that I care about Billboard numbers or anything. But in their many years of existence, they haven't had a single number one record. Heck, they never made it into the top ten.
And as a testament to their popularity, they didn't have a community on Orkut. No, I'm not a dedicated Orkutteer or anything, but Orkut has a community for everything! I created the Del Amitri community some three months ago and it has all of six members. Four of whom are my friends.
I think their music and song writing is brilliant. I think their lead singer has one of the best vocals, and I think they deserved more recognition than they ever got. So, here's my small testament to one of Britain's best pop bands.
Del Amitri songs that should have made #1 in any list.
Roll to Me
Tell Her This
Stone Cold Sober
Be My Downfall
Spit in the Rain

I know all about the honour of God, Mary Jane

2006-11-29T13:56:00.000+05:30

I do this every so often. Go back to my roots. Well, not root roots. Those are probably Def Leppard, G’n’R and Aerosmith. Dream Theater came into my life a little too late to be described as a true root, but something did happen. Unless, of course, I’m a banyan tree. In which case it all makes sense. And I can fit Maiden in somewhere. Yep. Definitely a banyan tree.

Anyway, the thing I have been doing is listening to Dream Theater again. It happens every so often. One song or the other sticks in my head (as they do). And so I have to listen to it. And since all the Dream Theater is grouped together in my Winamp playlist, it never stops with just one song.

As a slight aside, I used to have a colleague who was also a Dream Theater fan (as in, he’s no long a colleague. He’s still a Dream Theater fan). He used to do these Dream Theater retrospective things too. Of course with him, they took like three or four days each time. I don’t go into quite so much depth with my revisitings, but it’s a good way to pass a couple of hours (especially work hours).

Why is this deserving of its own post, you ask? Well, because I have a feeling that any Dream Theater fan worth his/her/its salt does this every so often. Not much of a reason, you say? Tough.

Digression over. My revisitings, I have noticed, tend to be very structured. They usually take one of the following forms:

Lifting Shadows off a Dream- The song that has become, for one reason or another, the theme song of my life. Which is strange, because I can’t for the life of me figure out what the song is about. ‘She’ listens openly, apparently. And she lifts shadows off dreams. Whatever that entails. Good for her, I say. From Lifting Shadows the progression is usually freeform, but the most usual second song is Peruvian Skies. Again, what is this song about? Who is Vanessa? Dream Theater. Come for the music, stay for the mystery. Then surrender to the secret. Ahahaha.

Solitary Shell- The challenger for theme song of my life. Came in very late (as did DT itself) and is therefore encountering difficulty budging the firmly entrenched LSOAD. Incidentally, LSOAD usurped Stairway and Stairway usurped November Rain. Yes, I go for the epic, instrumental shiat- particularly where theme songs are concerned- it goes with my epic, instrumental life. Anyway, I try to pretend that I don’t occasionally find bits of this song mirroring me (“As a boy he was considered somewhat odd/Kept to himself most of the time/He would daydream in and out of his own world/But in every other way he was fine”). After Solitary Shell and the obligatory musing about whether it should be replacing LSOAD yet, I have to progress to Misunderstood (because it’s the greatest) and then maybe the rest of Six Degrees.

Change of Seasons- When I feel like rehearing a 23-minute song I know by heart. Of course, once I’m done with the track itself I have to listen to the superb covers on the same album. It’s probably childish, but I still get a kick out of being able to identify every song in the Big Medley (more on that later, maybe?). And of course Love Lies Bleeding is just classic.

Scenes for a Memory- I don’t have to explain this, do I. Needless to say, it’s a pointless exercise unless I have the time to listen to the entire album.

Liquid Tension- Again freeform, but it usually starts with State of Grace and then I end up listening to the whole of LT-I. And then some of the other instrumental stuff. Definitely Ytse Jam. Not Erotomania. Overrated.

So now you know. You go listen to Dream Theater also. You know you won’t regret it.

Or listen to Edguy. You won’t regret that either.

Oh and whee! We all posted! Happy to us!

The hills are alive...

2006-11-29T13:08:00.000+05:30

I started to rummage through my father's collection of antique records two days ago. Not antique per se, but for someone like me, records from 20 years ago are antique. I spotted the likes of Neil Diamond, The Carpenters, Abba, blah blah (even a copy of the ever-smiling-on-record cover, S.Govindarajan) and then, what do I see? A copy of the Sound of Music.

*flashback*

Do-re-mi...The first three notes that happen to be, do-re-mi!

I was probably 4,when I first heard the Sound of Music's OST(that was 16 years ago or so, and ofcourse, the very first song all of us picked up from the movie is Do-a-deer.)Never really understood what the movie was about.The only reason I watched the movie was because of Maria and her powerful,emotional voice(which is the reason why I requested my mother to teach me to sing,without knowing that there is a striking difference between learning Western classical music and Carnatic music,one is highly melodious,glass breaking and the other,like a donkey breying,except that it isn't as nasal as that...Okay...random comparisons...Miscoozie) and also because of the very,very,very handsome Captain Von Trapp(I am sure the women agree with me here.The men can agree too,if they like.) Never really liked the Baroness.She was the bad guy ,who made Maria run away from the children and break the Captain's heart.Ofcourse,like most bad guy's,she had to bid adieu too. YAI!

*present*

Music has always been a part of my life. And spotting the record,which is full of scratches now, made me download the whole movie,just to catch up on something I missed watching. I am closet-soppy movie lover. Well, not anymore. And it brought back fond memories and dreams which I have had.
Having learnt the art of perfecting and tuning my vocal chords for over a decade now, I would love to recreate the magic of SOM.I have often pictured myself running on mountain tops and climbing trees and behaving abstract like Maria while serenading nature with my foghorn-like vocals. I'd love to have my own Von Trapp family singers. Except that I'd keep the Nazi's out. But, to quote Phoebe Buffay, "It wouldn't be fun without the Nazi's". I mean, who wouldn't want to dish out "High on the hills was a lonely goatherd, lai oodlai oodlai-eee-ooo!" or an "Edelweiss,every morning you greet me!"? Brilliant songs in their own right. This movie is extremely "kvlt!" You did have many other musicals as predecessors, the likes of 'My Fair Lady'. But none of those had that big an impact on me like this one. I suppose it's because my mother would keep humming some or the other song. It's sort of etched in my brain. I'd sing Do-Re-Mi every year at the festival in school(ofcourse, my teacher, at the end of the day, forbade me from singing anymore Maria songs, yes, she'd call the Sound of Music as "THAT MARIA WALI MUSIC JISKE GAANE TUM GAATI REHTI HO". EGADS!!!!)
I mean, given a choice between SOM and the OST of End of Days, which one would you listen to,huh? Okay, the bottomline is I just love this movie, it's music, Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.
I must end this haphazardly,for I have another class to attend.

The hills are alive.........with the sound of music..... the songs they have sung....for a 1000 years~~~~

In Which Thos. Complains About Fickle Music Fans.

2006-11-29T13:07:00.000+05:30

The thing about music as a profession is that it is ridiculously difficult to guarantee what will sell. You can advertise dishwashing liquid to the high heavens and, as long as your ad campaign is solid and your product is actually good, you can reasonably anticipate how much you will be able to sell and what your opportunities for growth are in the future.

Music, on the other hand, provides no such guarantees. There are critically acclaimed albums that have sold next to nothing and albums that have been completely destroyed by every single critic who has ever listened to them that have sold millions (Hilary Duff, anyone?).

You'd think that at least one guarantee of a reasonable opening sales week would be a successful single. Of course there are artists whose albums clearly outstrip their singles in terms of success - Josh Groban's living is not made off radio play - but you'd think that having a highly successful first single out and a series of positive reviews would make for a great opening sales week. Having a hitherto successful career and a really successful preceding album ought to help. And this is quite often true in the US market, where everyone seems to madly rush to buy their favourite artist's new album on the week of release (or they pre-order it on Amazon.com), and the problem is not attaining a high chart position but rather sustaining that level of sales by continuing to release singles to radio that provide an incentive for people to buy the album. In general, high single sales often do not prevent albums from being sold (and often it's the album's success that is blamed for the single missing #1 on iTunes) - for example, Beyonce's "Ring The Alarm" hit #1 on the Singles Sales chart in the US, but the parent album, B'Day, continues to sell well in stores.

The UK market, on the other hand, is highly unpredictable. Case in point: the recent poor showings of the new albums by Jamelia and All Saints, both released on Parlophone Records. Here are two artists with great reputations whose first singles from their respective current albums have reached #9 and #3 respectively, and the albums in question have tanked. This unpredictability is of particular concern given the size of the market: labels such as Telstar have gone bankrupt despite a string of successes due to a few bad business decisions (*coughVictoriaBeckhamcough*) and artists get dropped from labels' rosters for daring to release a single that missed the top 20. Jamelia's new album Walk With Me, despite the success of its lead single, "Something About You", has spent a grand total of three weeks in the top 100 and five weeks in the top 200, with the magnificent peak of: #20. All Saints' new album, Studio 1, which has received predominantly positive reviews and should have been the comeback story of the year, given the six years since their last album, hit #40 in its first week and is down to #74 in its second, despite the roaring success of the lead single, "Rock Steady", which is currently in its third week in the top ten.

Often new artists are required to release several singles in the UK market before the album is released, but you would think that established artists with an existing fanbase would be exempt from this - and the US market generally works on the first single-album-second single chronology, even with new artists. It's an alarming trend, to say the least, as it's difficult to blame piracy and a general dip in album sales for something like this - after all, it's not like there is a shortage of successful albums, and Robbie Williams seems to be able to sell cowdung as long as his name is on it. Critical acclaim seems to be of absolutely zero consequence to sales, and now there really doesn't seem to be any way to predict how well an album will do, which can't be a good thing for record labels that are making investments in these artists.

If nothing else, this reiterates the question: how the hell is one expected to make a living off music?

Welcome to Riff Cafe - We Blog Music

2006-11-29T11:34:00.000+05:30

This is a music Blog. As things stand I can't think of why it's special, or how exactly it plans to change the world as we know it, but it'll have music-related writing on it, that much I can promise. In time I am hoping to get more contributors on board, so that it won't be as irregular as my other blog. To start this blog off, I'm copy-pasting a post from my other blog.

Love,
Smith

Bangla Rocks

The first Bangla rock I heard was in law school, when my room-mate started going out with a girl from Kolkata (yes girl from Kolkata, I've stopped referring to you as a mad Bong woman). Like the copybook romantic, he started learning Bengali, listening to Bengali rock, and referring to fish as a bhejjytable. We listened to tapes of bands like Ark and Taj Mahal, who sang 'missionary-position' (thanks kareem) 80s rock in Bengali. If you didn't listen too carefully, you could be forgiven for thinking they were singing in English. Of course, as time went by, the girl from Kolkata introduced him to Eric Clapton and Bruce Springsteen and the Doors and John Lee Hooker and so on, and somehow or the other no more Bangla rock played in our room.

Even in the brief period for which I was a 'boy from Calcutta,' I didn't manage to listen to any more Bangla rock.

Until last week that is. Week before last I'd picked up an assorted Bangla Rock CD from Cal since it cost 38 Rupees, and I had never seen a CD that cost 38 Rupees before, I wondered how bad the music would be to justify the lack of self-belief evidenced by the price, and just had to find out.

I didn't play it for a few days because a 38-buck CD doesn't really cry out to be played. And then the Robot visited, and on a lark I popped the CD into my system. And it proceeded to blow my mind.

If you like 80s rock, in all its powerchord-driven, melodic-harmonic, guitar-wankeried over-the-top glory, chances are you'd be happy with this record. The tunes are catchy, if a little derivative; the vocals and guitars are excellent, and the song structures are classic 80s rock (Van Halen, Mr. Big, Europe style). The production is average, and some of the guitar tones sound a little digital. The mixing, especially when there are multiple vocal and guitar tracks, gets a little sticky, but on the whole everything is clear enough to hear. There are some comic interludes, especially when they try to bring in some English, like this backing vocal that goes "ah wanna steal your bardy, ah wanna keel your daddy"...yup...

I can't tell you any more details about the record, because all of the information on it is (in true Bengali fashion) written only in Bangla. But from a close examination of the script, we could make out that the bands Cactus and School, are represented on the record. If you want to get your hands on it the exact same way that I did, then head over to the "City Centre" mall in Salt Lake, walk into the Planet M and look for a slim, black card-paper cased CD that costs 38 Rupees. (the store attendants might help, if they're not too busy playing on the X-Box 360 demo piece that's been set up in the store).

I'll be in Cal in a couple of weeks and I plan to stock up more on Bangla rock. I'll also try and find out more details about the records and where else they may be available. If you are interested in the info please feel free to mail in at revengeofsmith@gmail.com.