Ways n Means ....

I have realised one truth about myself (rather ...my musical self).

I think I am exploring new music/artists only to end up finding flaws in them and get an excuse to get back to the world of A R Rahman

My collection of music might have swelled closed to around 85 GB or so ...but the most precious are the 3-4 GB worth of music thats stored away as copies and copies of copies - which by now you might have guessed ..is the music of the magician 'Rahman'.

His track for Taj Mahal - is yet another shining example of his brilliance. Stated to have been composed in a huff (apparently, Rahman was approached at the last hour), it goes to show how even a small effort from him is miles ahead of anyone else in the current music sphere.

Anyway .....onto some New music

Electric Ganesha
Heard 'Electric Ganesha' (prasanna) a few days back - its a pretty decent one especially the track 'Dark Sundae in Triplicane'

Young Modern
by Solverchair - must say ..they are back with a bang. a pretty good album ..though its not ur typical grungish Silverchair ...this time around. I would classify this album as Alternative ..modern rock ...
The track 'Straight Line' rocks.

Who we are
by Lifehouse .....okish album ...nuthing ground-breaking as their first self-titled album. These guys now sound the same with each passing album

Life in Cartoon Motion
by Mika ....coooooooooooool album ....Popish pop/rock :-) ....

Bono - Collected Solo works ( 6-CD).
ny Bono obviously ......now this one is a one to cherish ......it rocks ...specially the title song from the movie OST 'In the Name of the Father'

-A

The Ticket .....

The ticket to the magical world .......of Rahman

-A

Innocence

What else in this world could represent better - the innocence and beauty of life ... judge for yourself ......

p.s. - this by the way is my two-month old niece.

-A

The demise of Rock' ...Creed' revisited....Rahman and some Pics

Good new music is hard to find ....

And a Good new classy Rock album is an even rarer commodity these days ....An occasional Coldplay (yes yes ..I know that they are not exactly rock) or a LP/RHCP/U2 or newbies like Blacklab etc. display a faint glimmer oh radiance and hope but nah !!!

Its with this thought that when I was scrolling through my iPod list that I stopped to listen to Creed - one of the last few good grunge Rock acts that came through in the 90's - lead by vocalist Scott Stapp , an awesome guitarist Mark Tremonti, Bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Philips. Mind you - they released just 3 albums and a lot of covers but all their albums (from 'My Own Prison' to 'Human Clay' to 'Weathered' ) are sparkling examples of what you can classify as Pure Grunge rock .....everything from their vocals to the bass to the drums echoed the sentiments of any true rock buff ....

Well ...and then it happened as has with many a good groups in the past...the group officially split up in the summer of 2004 and another good ensemble was lost .....ah !!!! to the frustration of many a fans ....

You can read more about this group here: <Creed>

Rock is dying ...and to be honest ...I am better off hearing stuff from the good old days ..the 60's and the 70's and then Floydd ....the stuff that you hear today is so over the board and nonsensical that my head spins when I think about it :-

A R Rahman and Sivaji

And thank god for A R Rahman ....if it hadn't been for his freshness and the depth and variety that he exhibits ..I might have been in a comatose state by now (musically speaking .....)

btw ..heard Sivaji ....and its yet another perfect example of the Rahman effect ...you hear it once and u r bound to dismiss it ...u hear it again ..ah ...u hear some things that u like ...u hear it again ..it starts and u hear it again .....Wow !!!! The verdict changes dramatically and you find yourself drawn into hearing each and every song again and again .....

So much as been written about this man and his music on the net and on print media that anything I write here would seem just a repetion. I guess though that whatever and howmuch so ever is written or said, it still aint enough to capture the true escence of the man and his music ...

In Sivaji - The Boss ....Rahman is the boss of the music and he stamps his authority all over the album ....the man has such an amazing command over his orchestration, percussion and the rhythm - that it gels so perfectly in each n every song.

Pics

-A

A new cam ...

Now I have 3 of them ...

a N65 ...Nikon (SLR)
a DSC-V1 ...Sony (point n shoot)
a EOS D350 ..Canon (DSLR)

the DSLR, the latest one to be added is probably the one that I have always been waiting for ...this post shall henceforth have a lot of pics ......other than the usual musical blabber

I just love the world in BnW ...everyone ..everything seems so equal ...and everything is in harmony ....so expect a lot of equality and harmony .... :-).

p.s. - Obviously, I am no expert here...I shoot for the joy of it and so don't expect any magic or brilliance here ...

Musically, life has been quiet ....so nothing to add .....heard the new Korn album(MTV Unplugged) ...a good mellowed down one ...considering their usual loud self ....

-A

The Seeker .....the Suggestor ...the Recommender

I seek music ..I suggest music, rather I recommend it ...and I love music ....
So my search led me to 3 new groups ...which I now recommend ...

Rocco DeLuca and the Burden - I Trust you to Kill me
Rocco DeLuca and the Burden are a four-piece American alternative and non-conformist rock and roll band from California who formed in late 2005 (Source: Wiki)

My take - Alternative, Country Rock, an experimental band .....with great vocals,lyrics and wonderful orchestration ...

Blacklab - Heard on the Shield season 6 Promo
Got hooked onto their songs thanks to the new Shield season 6 promo that airs on the box these days - it goes by the name of 'This Night' .

Alternative, modern Grunge rock - these folks sound like a lot of other bands you might heard in the past ...but still are different in the sense that they don't go too loud or too nonsensical in their lyrics. The bass is predominant in their music and so is the metal .....gud one this and a grouo to watch out for ...

Blue October - Foiled
Heard them on the VH1 countdown over the weekend ..they were in the top 10 ...a track called ..'Into the Ocean' ...heard couple of other songs ..and ended up buying tickets for their concert at the Filmore on Apr 1st. Then also went and got their most recent album ...'Foiled' ...

Alternative ..yet again, Modern Rock...almost a Brit Rock feel to these folks ....
The thing about this group is that they sound too uncoventional ....almost Popish at times ...but yet they Rock ....use the violin a lot and percussion too .....


On a Sidenote
For a brief period of time, I had almost lost faith in new music and I had begun to think that Hip-hop and punk have taken over ......
With a rare Coldplay album once in 3 years or a RHCP once in 2 years - A R Rahman and the old classic stuff like Zepplin or CCR or Doors being the only respite for my ears ....but over the past few weeks, I have started believing that there is hope ....there is hope for Rock and there is hope for me .....

-A
p.s. - Rahman still towers way abve everyone else though :-)

Pray for me brother ....by A R Rahman

An Indian singing an English song typically sends a eerie feeling a.k.a a chill down my spine :-) and what I typically end up doing is changing the channel or hitting the forward button. Though occasionally an Indus Creed or a Parikrama did catch my attention, I have never quite come to accept it ....then there was the Great Indian Rock (an annual event in Delhi) that caught my attention but there again except for a band or two everything seemed so unnatural ....and unacceptable .... :-)

But then Rahman also is unnatural ...but ....he is acceptable ...and not just that ...he absolutely rocks and he absoutely kicks a## !!!!!
Bought 'Pray for me Brother' recently- and thats the reason for this post .... This is a single in English by Rahman - heard it ..absorbed it ...and got blown away by it ...the verdict is clear

Rahman ...whatever he does ...stands out and he simply stands tall ...and there is no doubt that it.....

A little about the song itself...Rahmans voice as always is magical and he blends it in so well with the flow of the song that you for a moment might not notice where the music begins and where his voice starts .....and it almost merges with the music ...such is the beauty of this man ...his voice..the music ..and the way he has mixed everything ...the rap by Blaze ..and the stanza towards the end .....ah ......thats Divine .....

Then ..there is the video of this song .....shot in b&w and in the vertical format (for cellphones they say) which is equally good....

I believe that the song is available in UK Itunes and is shortly going to be available in US too (will buy it again so that I can put it onto my iPod ..) ...

-A

Heard and Hearing ....

Blue Umbrella - Vishaal (2006)
A great album - 3 songs and the remaining are all teeny-weeny instrumentals. For those who might not know, Vishaal is a great Director too ....if Maqbool and Omkara are enough to form an opinion. Blue Umbrella, his latest offering is a children's movie and as he does for his other movies, he gives a great score here too.

Fatboy Slim - Greatest Hits (2006)
Great collection of their hits from the yester years .... luv the song ...'Brimfull of Asha' - song dedicated to Bollywood and more accurately Asha Bhosle)

Clash - The Singles
Nothing new. Hadn't heard them in a while ....so got this album recently and hearing them all over again.

Also hearing a lot of Salil Chaudhary .....

-A

Eureka Eureka.....

In the past 2 weeks or so, I have more or less arrived at some starting conclusions about - when actually I started getting interested in music or should I put it - that I first started to notice music.

No, its not A R Rahman with whom my earliest memories are associated to (though he certainly is the one who influenced me and turned me into an absolute music lover), nor RD Burman or SD Burman. As I think back and reflect on my past, I remember that I had heard, noticed and liked the songs from an old Dilip Kumar movie - 'Madhumati'. I also liked the songs from a Malayalam movie 'Chemeen' , the Hindi movies 'Anand', 'Chotti Si Baat', 'Rajnigandha', 'Half Ticket' ....and some other Malayalam movie songs.

The music was different, the arrangements were great and they had those unpredictable moments here and there in them. That's what probably caught my ears. Most of all, they were original and had a fun feel to them whether it was a slow number or a pacy one.

For anybody who has closely followed the music of this great music composer, I am sure he/she must have guess that I am speaking about none other than 'Salil Chaudhary'. Here was a music director, who like Rahman was much ahead of his times and was different. He dared to be different - he played with a varied number of sounds, instruments, unconventional beginning and ending of songs and choruses and a whole other aspects of music. I haven't heard much of his work to speak more about him like I can about Rahman. But all I can say is that Salil da (as I think he was known to a lot of people) was a great music composer - surely one of the greatest India has had.

So here's to Salil Chaudhary and his music ...A Salute and a Cheers.

You can read more about him and his music at http://www.salilda.com/

-A

Happy Birthday to the one and only ....

Birthday wishes to the man who to me

Defines music
Defines humility
Defines divinity
Defines life
Defines magic
Defines joy
Defines every good virtue that probably exists

and defines probably a lot more than I can put in words here


Happy Birthday to A R Rahman on his 41st birthday on Jan 6th .....

-A

Divine .....is thy music ...

Some recent words from A R Rahman

"Music is my means of connecting with the divine. What cannot be put into words, can be expressed through music. When one listens to music, one closes one's eyes because music is an expression and celebration of the divine

There are countless names of God, which we cannot utter simultaneously, but through a soulful composition, we can experience the whole power of God's presence amidst us "

Only an absolute gem of a person can have such thoughts ...
and thats what A R Rahman is ...a gem, a divine being himself ....

And your music is what helps a lesser mortal like me connect to the divine ....
I thank u ....

p.s. - the complete article can be found here
Link to TOI Article

x-mas weekend ...

23rd Dec
4:00 a.m.
start on a looooooooong drive .....
Rahman all the way ...it is .....
2:00 p.m.
Arrive at san diego (10 hrs later) ...check-in to the hotel room ......sleep ....
6:30 p.m.
Search for a starbucks ...have coffee ....
search for a hang-out place ....lots of places to do that ...pick one .....get drunk ....
dinner ...desi ....coool place ....
float around in downtown ....

24th Dec
9:00 a.m.
breakfast@starbucks
10:30 a.m.
seaworld ....for the next 5 hrs
5:00 p.m.
san diego beaches .....wowwwwww
7:30 p.m.
hangout@TGIF + meet up pals
12:00
zzzzzzzzzzzz

25th Dec
Merry Christmas
9:00 a.m.
forced to wakeup
packing .........
11:00 a.m.
Checkout ...followed by dinner
12:30 p.m
beach@lajolla - wowwwwww
1:30 p.m
the journey back ....
again ...Rahman all the way ...

hmmmm ......wish I never had to return bac .....

-A

Cheers to A R Rahman ...

Now heres a a double bill ....
Rahman won awards for both the Best music as well as the Best background music for his score in Rang De Basanti ...at the GIFA Awards couple of days back.

And as if its the icing on the cake, 3 of his compostions(see below) have also found their way into the 56 songs short-listed for an Oscar in the original song category.

“Chan Chan” from “Water”
“Khalbali” from “Rang de Basanti”
“Luka Chuppi” from “Rang de Basanti”

Though the actual 5 or 6 nominations won't be announced until Jan 23 and not sure whether Rahman's songs will find their way into that too, can't help but feel thrilled about this ....

read more abt this at...
http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2006/06.12.08.html

-A

Can't think of a Title ......

Sometimes I wonder, whether or not Rahman's music has created a protective blanket for my ears or set standards so high, that any other music just sounds so bland, so unimportant and so repulsive at times. I used to consider myself a good music critic - now though when everything starts and ends with Rahman, I guess am no longer one. Obviously, I am not sad about that :-) for what he has created in the past 14 years - each and every bit, each and every song, each and every tune - is enough to make me happy for a lifetime.

I remember a episode from the monthly news diary - Newstrack (probably 12-13 years back) where some music directors had called Rahman a 1-film wonder, a speck so immaterial who would disappear into the darkness in no time. Boy !!!! I knew at that time that they were wrong and how. So so wrong were they .....

Salaam-e-Ishq
Heard ...Salaam-e-Ishq today- the latest offering from Shankar EL. Know what !!! in a world without Rahman's music - this album would have been fine, just fine. But not in a world where just about 2 weeks back 'Guru' had been released, not in a world where me and my girl were playing just Rahman all through the morning and not in a world where my car just plays Rahman (through my ipod).

Shankar EL are getting too repetitive. They are a good group - better than the Himesh's and the Pritam's of the world. In fact, they would rank behind ARR and Vishaal Bharadwaj in my list.
But this album just about sounds where they left off in KANK or any of their previous albums.

My recco - not worth a buy but ok for a ' hear'.

Oldboy
Saw this great South Korean movie ....Oldboy. Not for the weak-hearted and definitely a tough story to digest (note that this movie was copied in bollywood too as 'Zinda' which was ok but the story was attuned to suit the Indian conservation indian audience).

The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Reading this book - a Pulitzer prize winning attempt, I think. Its a really gud read about two boys (cousins to each other) who want to make it big in this world and are inspired by Houdini and comic strips. A full review once I finish reading it.

-A

Weekend

Two days, saw Casino Royale (the new bond is pretty decent), drove around, hogged like anything, slept like a log, surfed the net, watched some tennis, forgot everything about the place called gym.. didn't go for jogging, didn't play anything ....i look bac and this is what i see :-( ..aaaaaaarghhhh !!!!!

the one gud thing that i did though, heard guru over and over and over .....all the while
the verdict is clear ...rahman rocks ...yet again :-)

-A

Guru ...

The promos were great, the song bits were great and now the album, its as good as it can get.

Just 4 hrs since I laid my hands on this album and I guess I have been hearing it in a loop ever since ....

'Tere Bina' takes you to a world where you have rarely been - specially Rahman's voice ....and the vocal interludes and the lyrics. The orchestration so simple and yet so wonderful - each instrument has its own stellar role to play. Just reinforces my belief, that I am blessed to born in the age of probably the greatest ever musician.

'Aye Hairathe' - Its a long time since I heard Hariharan's voice blending so much into a song and making it heavenly. Yet again, just simple orchestration but the rythm, lyrics and again the genious of Rahman sparkles in this song.

'Barso Re' - Probably the fastest number in the album and its a joy. Rahman brings back the flute in this album - and there cudn't be a happier person to hear it than me :-). A typical Rahmanic fast peppy number this with great rythm beats - yet again the vocal interludes are amazing.

'Jaage Hain' - Want some inspration - want a song to lift ur spirits when you are down ? Want some wonderful orchestration ? Want a great song ? This is the one for u .....Rahman's voice yet again ...breaks into the song at around 3:00 mins into the song ....(before which is just music)

'Mayya' - An arabi or a turkish mix song ....this song is currently rising up by charts (will update this space later). Its a wonderful number nevertheless.

'Ek Lo Ek Muft' - Bappi Lahiri has sung this situational song pretty well. Rahman's music is experimental but is awesome. The instruments used in this song again puzzle me. I am hearing sounds which I can't even associate to any instrument I have heard before.

'Jaage Hain' - This song also is in the process of rising up on my charts (will update this space later).

Somehow I feel that the previous associations of Rahman and Mani Ratnam have been probably in a different league (better ?), but its still early days to comment (hardly 4 hrs since I laid my hands on this album). And I may very well eat my words soon. Its growing like the beanstalk in Mr. jack's story , the music ...the thrill ...

Rahman ...yet another album ...yet another winner ....and at the end of the day, the winner is yet again Music and music crazy fans like me.

The wait now for the movie ....

-A

Baba O'Riley

Don't cry
Don't raise your eye
It's only teenage wasteland ......

and thats couple of lines from the song Baba O'Riley .....one of the songs that contributed to the growth of my musical appetite and ultimately turning me into an absolute rock fannnnnn.

The band - "The Who" and I saw them live this past Wednesday. The Who rocked the HP Pavillion at San Jose. Die hard rock folks won't need an introduction to this band who has been to an extent responsible for shaping the face of a genre of music. The list of their hits is just innumerable and they played just about all of their key hits at the concert.

i thank my luck that I was able to witness this event .......unfortunately though, no pics from the event since cameras and recorders were not allowed.

-A

A genre called 'Rahmanic'

Theres Classic, theres Psychedelic, theres Alternative, theres Carnatic, theres Hindustani and countless more .....

And then theres Rahmanic ....I guess its more than fair enough to say that its a Genre in itself ...how many times have you ended up saying that this sounds like Rahman or that its that Rahman flavor .....countless number of time I guess ....

So heres to 'Rahmanic' ...definitely a Genre now and definitely the best sound for my ears.
I write this on the day I feel that I now am in the possesion of almost each and every track that the man has ever composed (thanks to a friend, who himself is a great A R Rahman fan)

-A

A flying India visit, music and more ...

Yet again, its been more than a month since my last post .....
A Chicago visit, an India visit and now back to SFO - thats what happened in the past one month.

The India visit was a really ...really.... short one - 15 days of which more than 2 days were spent flying to n fro from India. As for the days in India itself, the split goes like this
Bangalore - 4 days,
Delhi - 2 days,
Kerala - 1 day
Chennai - the remainder of my days with my folks

So I was flying and going around in taxis even in my flying visit to India - whew !!!! Now I need a vacation after a vacation ..I feel ...

I certainly need to write a lot about India which I will for sure in the coming days. The so called economic growth and industrialization and all that crap ....but not in this post. (having read the last line, u must surely know what the tone of my writing would be ...)

Music
The Music scene has been really dull recently. Blame it partly on Rahman who has so few releases and blame it partly on the other music artistes who are as bland as ever.

While in India, I did manage to hear some new classical stuff which I did end up buying. Nothing great but music for the music starved ears. Picked up a couple of Malayalam and Hindi stuff too - again nothing great to write about at length here .... (except the old Hindi movie album 'Dhoop' - which probably has some of the best Ghazals and compositions I hv ever heard)

Movies
Got the DVD of RDB (Rang De Basanti) for dirt cheap ...there was a special offer while I was in India .....really a steal at Rs. 199.
Got the DVD of Alaipayuthe too - thats for my gal - its her favorite movie ....

Saw two new Hindi movies which deserve a mention here ...

Khosla ka Ghosla
An amazing movie with no real stars except Boman Irani and Anupam Kher - have to rate this as one of the best comic movies I have seen in the recent past. A must see.

Dor
A poignant and touching tale of 2 women (its inspired from a Mallu movie - which I heard was inspired by a book - Inspirations galore ....) . The star of the movie was undoubtedly Iqbal a.k.a Shreyas Talpade - boy !!!!! this guy is a startling revelation - an amazing mimic and an original actor nevertheless (which the movie 'Iqbal' brought out brilliantly).

Day to Day Life
gas prices are back to normal, SFO weather has been amazing this week, its Diwali today/tomorrow, its Friday today, got my car washed yesterday, reading a Jefferey Archer after a loooooong time (cat o nine tales) , listenin to music all the time, watching Chunking Express and working .....

-A

Its really been a while ...

Since my last post, it exactly been a month now. Lying low is me but life goes on ....Memphis ..Chicago..and now back to SFO, thats what I have been doing the past month ...

And as for the world ....People figthing each other, blasts here and there, hatred, traffic ....the same old stories ..nothing in this world ever changes ....

I seem to have the lost the knack of writing .....for words are failing me right now ....want to write about a lot of stuff but nuthing ...blank ..absolutely blank am I !!!!!

So back to Music and Books ...music first ...

Music:
a) Stellar Road - Heard this rock band at the Navy Pier at Chiacgo. No new band has ever managed to impress me this much the first time I hear them. A rock solid 2 hour hearing is what I gave them and was floored for sure ...they put up such an awesome show of guitaring and vocals that we stood there stunned. Got a CD of theirs ('Better than Yesterday') - great buy it..plays in my car day and night (and Rahman of course :-))

b) Bob Dylan (Modern Times) - The lyrics are gud ..the music is really gud ...Bob Dylan is great but dude ....I can't seem to understand what u r saying ....might be my judgement ....but neverthless, the vocals are not clear .....

c) Audioslave (Revelations) - Definitely a gud buy ....considering that their last album was a dud and was definitely worth nuthin at all .....

d) Don (Hindi) - Simply ignore maadi ....except for one song (Aaj ki Raat ...by Alisha Chinoy)

Its amazing how even though there are a gazillion musicians across the world and a zillion styles and form of music of which I might probably be hearing around a billion different ones (probably boasting about my music mania) but finally what soothes me and what makes me happy about discovering the joy of music is Rahman ....A R Rahman ....there was, there is and there never will be anyone like him ....this as I wait for the music of 'Provoked' and 'Guru' - the next Rahman albums looming large on 'my musical horizon')

Books:
a) Glass Palace - by Amitav Ghosh - a good fictional fast paced novel set in the pre-independence era about an indian boy in burma and his subsequent travails and his life and lives of people connected to him in some way or the other ...

b) Two Lives - by Vikram Seth- good one...a biographical account of his Uncle and Aunt.

c) Tipping Point - by Malcolm Gladwell - an ok book about social epidemics and behavior

Over and Out ...

-A