Rainbow – Bluefire (London Eye)
Bluefire is primarily violinist Harikumar Sivan and percussionist Sanjay Maroo (who has already made a failed attempt at Indipop). It’s a good combo and the album is a pretty good piece of work too. Rainbow is my easy choice given it is based on Hamsadhwani, a raaga that anyone can seldom go wrong with (I don’t know how many raagas I’ll add under this criteria 🙂 ).
Time For A Change – Elephanz (Time For A Change)
A song that I stumbled across from this French duo recently. The song, in particular, reminds me of Jamiroquai’s sound. Very catchy!
Jogi – Fariha Pervez, feat. Muazzam Ali Khan (Coke Studio Pakistan, Season 6, Episode 1)
The only song that I liked in the first episode of Season 6 of Coke Studio Pakistan. Fariha’s vocals are a big plus, as is the brass band Rohail assembles for this track that remains the song’s punchy highlight. The bass line did remind me, completely at random, Eurodance artist from the 90s Herbie’s Big Funky Dealer!
MATANGI, Come Walk With Me, Exodus and Sexodus – Matangi (M.I.A.)
Maya Arulpragasam’s fourth album is just out. It is in her usual heady, inventive style and there is much to like, besides having much to term as noise. The title track is my personal favorite – heavily digitized to the point of sounding bizarre, but with a massively catchy almost-Tamil-kuthu outlook and absurd lyrics that recite a lot of country names! Also, don’t miss that sampling of Deva’s piece from ‘Manam virumbuthey’ (Nerukku Ner) in Boom Skit.
Dhat teri ki & Dil duffer – Gori Tere Pyaar Mein (Hindi, Vishal Shekhar)
I find a strange trend on Vishal Shekhar – the duo has become a punching bag of sorts amongst reviewers of music. I do concede that they are in an odd trap of making hollow, but catchy music that seems more like vaporware, but they do produce the occasional gem even in such films. I do miss the nuance of an Anjaana Anjaani or Bachna Aye Haseeno, but there is something to like even in Gori Tere Pyaar Mein. Dhat teri ki is that type of song and I’d rate that much higher than a crowd-pleasing Tooh that I tend to forget in minutes. Much of Dhat teri ki’s credit is also with Sanam Puri cool vocals, as is Nitesh Kadam’s fresh vocals in Dil duffer!
Listen to Dil duffer and other songs from the film here.
Adede tholiprema – Aadu Magaadra Bujji (Telugu, Sri)
Sri may have worked in very few Telugu soundtracks, but one Anaganaga Oka Roju is enough for me to showcase the man’s musical sensibilities. He was on a break all this while and has only made a comeback recently, with Sahasam being his re-entry of sorts. This soundtrack is the next and I’m glad he has more work in the pipeline. This soundtrack, however, is a mixed bag, but there are definitely signs of what we had heard from the man earlier. He’s yet to get his groove back fully, though.
Saamne hai savera – Bullett Raja (Hindi, Sajid Wajid)
I honestly have no hopes from Sajid Wajid at all, but they do throw a googly with this song! The tune is considerably more complicated than the average Sajid Wajid song and they get the backgrounds too very right. There’s something distinctly Pancham-like in the tune that seems to take on uncharted turns.
Vaan engum & Kadal naan thaan – Endrendrum Punnagai (Tamil, Harris Jayaraj)
There’s something that directors like Gautam Menon, Shankar (and the late Jeeva) bring to Harris Jayaraj’s music. For most other directors, the man’s music is incredibly prosaic and predictable, barring occasional gems like Irandaam Ulagam, Ennamo edo, Oru maalai among others. Vaan engum, in this soundtrack, is the kind of track that Jeeva would have extracted from Harris, while Kadal naan thaan is perhaps something Gautam would have briefed and recieved!
Khaleja hain & Kaise milun – Rajjo (Hindi, Uttam Singh)
I will always have a soft corner for Uttam Singh’s music, thanks to Dil To Pagal Hai. I can’t afford to be objective about DTPH’s music because the film and music happened during one of the best phases of my life – my PG college days. And having seen the film and enjoyed the music with a LOT of friends from that period, I’m completely besotted with the music and that silly film (in hindsight!). I’m glad someone brings Uttam back from hibernation and it is perhaps fitting that he isn’t doing what everybody else is doing now – he produces a dramatically different kind of music and despite the time warp, these 2 songs are very, very listenable because they are simply very tuneful… and beautifully sung!
Ninu choodani – Masala (Telugu, Thaman S)
Darbari Kaanada… possibly. ‘Nuff said… one of those raagas that a composer can seldom go wrong with!
Adiye enna raagam, Yethukkaaga yenna, Kooda mela & Oru nodi – Rummy (Tamil, D.Imman)
Despite Pandiyanadu’s tepid music, I strongly believe Imman is on a roll! This is a 4-song soundtrack and 2 of which are absolutely brilliant in a Raja-like way! Yes, I go directly to assorted Ilayaraja songs as soon as I hear Adiye enna raagam and Yethukkaaga enna. Kooda mela and Oru nodi are more in line with Imman’s current melodies – highly competent!
Sapna mera – Sooper Se Ooper (Hindi, Sonu Nigam & Bickram Ghosh)
That Sonu Nigam chose to debut as a composer in Hindi films is in itself a surprise… it comes way too late after his real composing debut in 2005, for the pop album Chanda Ki Doli. The additional surprise is that he chose to not do it alone, but add percussionist Bickram Ghosh and become a duo (the duo is composing for another film – Jal, directed by Girish Malik). The result is awkward – largely, except for this one track that perhaps has more of Sonu’s musical sensibilities than Bickram’s! Nevertheless, given how proficient both these individuals are, I do look forward to their other composing efforts.
Title song & Heer – Singh Saab The Great (Hindi, Sonu Nigam and Anand Raaj Anand)
And, after Sooper Se Ooper’s duo-style composing duties, here is Sonu composing on his own, all alone. He fares much better in this film and his title song is a lovely, evocative piece of Punjabi nativity. That he chose to sing it as well, in all its high-pitched glory is particularly admirable. Heer, by Anand Raaj Anand is the only saving grace from the composer’s material in this soundtrack and even here, it is Sonu who makes it tick!
Kaathirundhai anbe – Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham (Tamil, Prem)
I have no idea who Prem is, but while his debut album did not impress me in its entirety, I loved this one song. It is extremely addictive and sung fabulously well.
Arare arare – Huchudugru (Kannada, Joshua Sridhar)
Haricharan gets a gorgeous song in Arare arare and he does extremely well! Joshua continues to perform well in Kannada while not getting any work in the other industries down South. At least he will have a bank of good tunes for other languages when and if his time changes.
Listen to Arare arare here.
Ennadi Ennadi – Jannal Oram (Tamil, Vidyasagar)
I’m a big fan of the Karu Palaniappan-Vidyasagar combo… the fact that they have stuck to each other despite so many failures, choices etc. is a testament that they see value in each others’ work! Jannal Oram doesn’t disappoint either with occasional highlights. Ennadi ennadi is my favorite, a crowd-pleasing melody that Vidyasagar reserves for Malayalam, based most probably on Jog raagam, if I’m not mistaken.
Dhoop & Nagada sang – Ram-Leela (Hindi, Sanjay Leela Bhansali)
For the nth time – Ram-Leela is Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 3rd attempt in composing, not second. He had tried his hand at composing with one song in Saawariya – ‘Thode Badmaash’. From that one, and through Guzaarish, nothing much has changed in the way he creates music, except adding seemingly crowd-pleasing masala numbers like Tatad tatad and Dishkaun, both of which are baffling, to say the least. Like Guzaarish, he perhaps likes making a LOT of songs and diluting the impact of the few good tunes that come in the overall package. Occasionally, in songs like Nagada sang and Dhoop, he makes his presence felt, while squandering the attention away in overwrought tracks like Lahu mooh lag gaya.
Yaeley maruthu – Pandiyanadu (Tamil, D.Imman)
In my view, Pandiyanadu is that soundtrack in recent times that Imman takes his new-found skills/confidence for granted and delivers the umpteenth remake of the kind of songs he first cooked in Maina – Othakada othakada machaan! Instead, it is Yele yele maruthu where he gets his sound different and right – Sooraj Santhosh’s reasonably rustic diction is an interesting contrast to the Latin sound of the song – makes for fantastic listen!
Manickyachirakulla – Idukki Gold (Malayalam, Bijibal)
I haven’t heard good things about the movie, but this song – the tune and picturisation – is lovely. Brilliantly nostalgic and a beautiful tune by Bijibal!
Yaarukkum & Unna paartha – All In All Azhaguraja (Tamil, Thaman S)
I haven’t seen the film yet, but have seen snatches of the songs here. Unna paartha seems like a direct attempt at eulogizing the 80s with Karthi looking like the young Prabhu. The music by Thaman is a clever reimagination of Ilayaraja of the late 80s, and with obvious cues like the rocking rhythm from Thendrale Ennai Thodu’s Kavidhai paadu kuyile and another Telugu song that I can’t quite place right now, ‘Hello guru prema’ from Nirnayam (thanks to @MrWingfoot on Twitter for the reminder!). Yaarukkum, perhaps without that 80s style in picturisation, imaginatively uses another Raja song (En Jeevan Paaduthu’s Kattivachukko endhan anbu manasa). These are interesting nuances from Thaman who has recently been stuck in a rut.
Considering I have written a lot about Coke Studio at MTV Season 3, I’m not adding the tracks here in this list. For more, check out my top 10 from the latest season.
