The problem with new bands releasing albums is that most of the songs sound very stagey and almost methodical. This is quite pronounced in Srishti’s Ondrai seruvom with the lead singer, Vijay Narain, almost sounding like a very, very angry Kamal Hasan, and Vande Mataram, by the band Oxygen, a mildly better track saved by the vocalists, Prithvi, Vijay Krishnan, Harish and Karthik. Thankfully Agam’s Lakshiya Paadhai changes tracks, with a beautiful tune and lyrics combo and fantastic singing by Harish Sivaramakrishnan. Sangarapondy by Madras Tunes seems straight out of a Grade-B Tamil film’s worst moment, barring the mighty interesting path it takes, a bit late, almost towards the end of the song! Sandhya’s vocals are scintillating in Zinx’s Comp @6, a superbly orchestrated track as well. The best track of this album however is V3’s Edhuvum Seivom – an extremely confident composition by Guruprasad, with assured arrangements that showcases the band’s range! Ooh La La La was an interesting show and roping a composer of Rahman’s caliber was an excellent way to identify musical talent. The fact that SaReGaMa kept its word by releasing this album to showcase some of the better bands in the show is really commendable.
Keywords: Srishti, Agam, V3, Madras Tunes, Zinx, Oxygen
