Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist. Week 15:
On Apple Music | On Saavn | On YouTube
18 songs in total, this week. Apple Music playlist is missing the 2 Kannada songs from Trunk that are available on Saavn and YouTube playlists. Naadottukku, from Kuttanpillayude Sivarathri is not on YouTube, but available on Apple Music and Saavn playlists. Kannum Kannum from Vikadarakumaran is not available on Saavn, but is present on both Apple Music and YouTube playlists!
A note on each song in the playlist.
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Heer (Ved Sharma, Indipop): Ved Sharma, from Dabra is the 3rd find of Mohit Suri and EMI Music’s VYRL Originals. Pleasant R&B melody and well sung too, though I don’t understand this Punjabi obsession even from a singer from Madhya Pradesh!
Baby I’m A Queen (Sofi Tukker): A new single from New York-based electronic duo Sofi Tukker’s (Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern) upcoming album, Treehouse, this dance-worthy, guitar-laden electronic song is easy on the ears and quite catchy.
No Excuses (Meghan Trainor): Like a true Meghan Trainor song, this one’s catchy and funky too, in equal dose, with a definite hint at the retro. The eye-popping colorful video is a great addition as well.
Edhuvaraiyo (Kolamaavu Kokila, Tamil): That punchy Anirudh package yet again! He truly seems to be on a roll. Sean Roldan’s grungy voice goes wonderfully with the moody tune and the dialogs by Gautham Menon added as interlude is intriguingly cool!
Pondattee (Golisoda 2, Tamil): Nice lilting and winsome melody that is simple and with a foot-tapping hook. A bit Sean Roldan’ish, I thought. Achu does a great job handling the engaging tune.
Karuppi (Pariyerum Perumal, Tamil): A searing hip-hop melody from Santhosh Narayanan that he sings with his usual, intense fervor, along with Dr. S.C. Chandilya. The tune and the rap are packaged, along with the ending, as a hauntingly modern oppaari of sorts!
Rangamma Mangamma (Rangasthalam, Telugu): This Rangasthalam is turning out to be a fantastic soundtrack by Devi Sri Prasad! In the 3rd single, Devi hands M. M. Manasi a cracker of a catchy song and she handles it brilliantly! The lilt is infectious!
Kala Kala Kalamandir (Inttelligent, Telugu): This is good old Thaman-style kuthu masala! The rhythm is incredibly catchy and Thaman’s inclusion of veena all over the song works wonders! Nakash Aziz and Geetha Madhuri lift the song significantly with their rendition.
Pedda Puli (Chal Mohan Ranga, Telugu): Thaman strikes again! The folksy tune (with a repetitive structure) and rhythm combo works easily and the chorus adds good impact too, with a super frenzied ending! Rahul Sipligunj’s enthusiastic singing is great.
Kannum Kannum (Vikadakumaran, Malayalam): Trust Rahul Raj to produce such incredibly lovely melodies! Sounds like Sindhu Bhairavi raaga to me (shades of Satya’s Valayosai!) and the icing on the cake of Vineeth Srinivasan and Akhila Anand’s vocals!
Vanolam (Kala Viplavam Pranayam, Malayalam): With a spritely rhythm that segues seamlessly into folk sounds, the energetic tune is a great listen! Athul Anand scores well on the music front, as do Sithara Krishnakumar and Niranj Suresh in singing it.
Romanchana (Trunk, Kannada): Trunk has music by debutant trio, Kartik Raman (of Indian Raga fame), Pradeep Pady and Ganesh Govindaswamy. Romanchana, sung by Kartik, is a super smooth ballad – effortlessly likeable!
Yaakeetara (Trunk, Kannada): Vidya Panicker’s vocal range and style reminded me of Ranina Iyer’s, but not to take anything away from Vidya, she’s fantastic in the slow and sedate melody of Yaakeetara. The composing trio keep the backgrounds minimal to let the melody work wonders.
Naadottukku (Kuttanpillayude Sivarathri): Singer Sayanora Philip, making her composing debut, gets Naadottukku superbly right, with a lovely pallavi repeating thrice, peppered with ambient music; sung wonderfully by Job Kurian, with good chorus/spoken support by Prarthana.
Mere Anarchy, The Middle is Gone, This Wild Darkness & A Dark Cloud is Coming (Everything Was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt – Moby): Moby’s latest album is perhaps the closest to his breakthrough (my favorite), Play. The sound is incredibly lush and the female guest vocalists (Julie Mintz, Raquel Rodriguez, Brie O’Bannon, Mindy Jones and Apollo Jane) do a darn good job all through. Mere Anarchy has all the Moby regulars – compelling synth leads, thoroughly engaging drum patterns and deep bass lines. Lounge piano, guitars and a repetitively haunting synth play along brilliantly in The Middle is Gone, while in This Wild Darkness, a delightful choir makes an impeccable mark. A Dark Cloud Is Coming has an incredibly cool synth signature laid on top of a sweepingly entrancing rhythm!
