Revolution Evolution

Soundcheck

It makes you wonder as to where a generation is going, musically, when the sounds of distortion become a norm, i.e. when a studio producer tells me that a certain element of a song will sound good if I add a "hiss", or some "background noise", or "distorted radio static", or some "guitar feedback, or "slickety-slip CD skipping/scratching sounds". Damn, when did all this become musical? Wasn't this, till recently, the kind of stuff that used to make us dispose of our music players/instruments. Strange things be happening now.

Prime supporters of my morning commute:

Athiradee & Sahara (OST - Sivaji)

Aight, I have to admit that I am obsessing over these two Tamil tracks. Rahman has spun pure magic with "Athiradee". Once you get rid of the mental Rajnikant visual, (or keep it around. heck. whatever makes you happy), this song is catchy to the core. Sung by Rahman himself, and a goodbye girl, aptly named Sayonara. The other track, Sahara, is a love ballad, residing in a realm that Rahman has proven his command over. It has an amazing chord progression, especially in the return from verse to chorus.

I Sogni (Jidka) by Saba

Heard this at a lounge in New York, loved the sound, and hunted down the DJ, afterwards, to ask him what it was. Saba is a Mogadishu-born, half-Somalian, half-Italian singer. The album's title "Jidka" means line, and its supposed to define the line between her Somalian and Italian roots, especially I Sogni. Brilliant track - a little reminiscent of Khaled's Ya Rayi, but has an adamant and persistent identity of its own.

Standing testament that fusion rocks! The limitlessness of global musical collaboration never ceases to baffle me.

Sample it in the world section of ITunes. This track blew me away, particularly because of its composition and percussion. Not brutally blown away by the singer, she kinda sounds like the high-pitched third leg of TLC, who comes in during verse 3 of Waterfalls, when you're left gasping for the chorus to return, 'cuz her voice is pin-piercing your eardrums. Well .. Saba isn't that bad, but takes a little while to get used to.

Feel (Thievery Corporation Remix) - Bombay Dub Orchestra

Ah, the Gods of Groove, and the music providers of many of my home-lounge-parties - Thievery Corporation - return for this delectable remix of a "khayaal"-format Bombay Dub Orchestra track. Phenomenal stuff! Funk, touches of Electronica and Hindustani classical come together to create a beautiful sound. You can literally fantasize a music video to this, in your head. Don't miss the delicate piano riffs.

Discuss-a-mundo:

Aaoge Jab Tum (OST - Jab We Met)

Ok now. You know that kind of song which is on the brink of perfection, and you feel that if people would have worked on it .. just a little more ... if could've been ridiculous! Well, this track is one of those.

Overall, the song has a really noble "return to roots" concept and feel. Has the feel of an old times Gulzar/R D Burman number. They have Ustad Rashid Khan, starting off brilliantly. A touching piano and strings initiation, with him doing an alaap. It has the making of a legendary track, at this point. Starts in a minor key, goes major. The flute interlude is sweet, almost Rahman/Illayaraja-ish. Goes into an uncomplicated, romantic ballad, with a really, nice composition. Amazing chorus.

Again, it takes a little while to get used to. Because you have Khan singing a geet, when you are more used to him doing ghazals and classical pieces (btw, he's the guy who sang the "Tore Bina Mohe Chain" piece from Kisna). Kinda like when Kailash Kher sang in a lower key for "Ya Rabba" (OST - Salaam-E-Ishq).

Now the verse is where this song destroys itself. Its badly placed, Rashid Khan goes guttural and off-key, and worst of all, it ends abruptly, sinking back into the chorus without establishing itself in any way. An extremely half-baked and disappointing verse. The keen listener will lose interest and zone out at this point. The rest of the song doesn't even have the ability to gain momentum back to the hopes that the opening had established.

This is most unfortunate; Music, as an art form, essentially cannot be appreciated with a "rewind/fast-forward to the good parts" approach. Music is based on the format of "flow". Many songs have a sinusoidal flow, while other pieces peak at the end with a crescendo. Therefore, composers have to keep in mind that the verse is KEY to, at the very least, keeping the listener's attention through the song. Sometimes the composer gets so enrapt by an awesome hook or a killer chorus, that you half-ass your way through the verse and interludes to wrap up the song. And unfortunately, you kill it, in the process.

In other news, when did words like "ridiculous", "sick" and "ill" become positive? When did being "the sh**" turn out not to be an insult, but rather an elevation of status? And since when does everyone want to be a "pimp"? Spare me, I didn't wake up and start questioning vocabulary, this morning. I'm just shocked that all of this slipped into our world like an oil slick, and I find it difficult to identify the point in time when this crusade began.

Oops, I said crusade. Will they nuke my pad?