Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist. Week 19:
On | On | On
15 songs this week. YouTube has all 15 songs, while both Apple Music and Saavn are missing the last 3 songs – Varika Rasika from Panchavarna Thatha, Mazhayil Nanayum from Kaitholachathan (Manorama Music and Millennium Audio really need to work on their distribution online) and James Vasanthan, Madhan Karky’s Odahuttidhavarae.
A note on each song in the playlist.
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Anjaana (Indipop, Shor Police): Ananthaal minus Vijayprakash is Shor Police! Ananthaal had a fantastic debut album; Shor Police, with music co-composed by Clinton and Bianca promises to be equally good! The groove is tried and tested Clinton signature that flows oh-so-smoothly!
Dead To Me, Nuestro Planeta (Isolation, Kali Uchis): Colombian-American singer Kali Uchis’ debut album is a heady pop-soul-R&B melange. The bouncy and anthemic Dead To Me, and Nuestro Planeta, with a lovely whiff of reggaeton and Kali singing in Spanish, are my favorites.
Energia, Best Friend (Treehouse, Sofi Tukker): The duo had earlier featured in the March 11 playlist, and now their album is out! The infectious EDM jungle pop is all over the album, with Energia, a compelling Portuguese track with incredible bossa nova swing and drumbeats, and Best Friend, that’s already massively popular given it featured in an Apple iPhone X ad, featuring Alisa Ueno, The Knocks, and NERVO, with an entertaining chorus section and a cool outro by The Knocks.
Beautiful Love (Telugu, Naa Peru Surya): Vishal-Shekhar transplant their dependable ballad’ish sound to Telugu. In Armaan Malik and Chaitra Ambadipudi’s singing, the melody shines beautifully and I won’t be surprised if the tune isn’t reused for Hindi film!
Sakkath Tagaru (Kannada, Tagaru): Charan Raj’s Tagaru title song is already a superbly handled tune, but what Dheerendra Doss does on top of it, with a veena (Mahesh Prasad Veena) + heavy metal (guitar by Ajay George Joseph) + konnanol (Somashekar Jois) layer is astounding!
Wah re wah (Kannada, Dalapathi): The 2nd Charan Raj song this week came out in late 2017! The movie is releasing only now! The song’s rhythm is an easy standout with its punch, and Vijayprakash effortlessly glides through the vocals, along with Sindhuri.
Mugulunage (Kannada, Edakallu Guddada Mele): Composer Ashic Arun had a good outing in the 2016 film Coma, but hasn’t been seen after that. Edakallu Guddada Mele is decent enough. In Mugulunage, Shreya and Karthik help prop the song beyond its predictable tropes.
Jeevamshamayi (Malayalam, Theevandi): After last week’s Tha Thinnam, composer Kailas Menon is back, with an absolutely gorgeous Reetigowlai-raaga based Jeevamshamayi! Shreya Ghoshal and Harisankar KS are outstanding, as also Cochin Strings and Vishnu Vijay on flute.
Rasathi (Malayalam, Aravindante Athidhikal), That word is so strongly associated with Rahman’s Thiruda Thiruda number, but the other Rahman—Shaan—makes a valiant effort to frame another song starting with that word! With Vineet singing it, the effort works mighty well.
Aaha (Malayalam, Orayiram Kinakkal): I wasn’t impressed with the 1st song from the film (by Ranjit Melappat), but this one, composed by Sachin Warrier, is an easy winner! With its mild Electro Swing feel and the peekaboo Middle Eastern sound, this MG Seekumar-sung song is superbly catchy!
Varika Rasika (Malayalam, Panchavarna Thatha): The song, composed by Nadirsha, is a spunky carnatic-techno medley that works for 2 reasons – Jayaram’s almost unidentifiable look and outrageous moves, and Shankar Mahadevan’s stellar vocals!
Mazhayil Nanayum (Malayalam, Kaitholachathan): Jibu Sivanandan’s tune is an interesting idea that worked much better during the anupallavi than the charanam. The latter seemed weaker, but the former, with a possibly Reetigowlai’ish feel is very neat!
Odahuttidhavarae (Kannada, James Vasanthan): Lyricist Madhan Karky debuts as Kannada lyricist in this song that is a lovely bridge of languages (with Tamil subtitles) and the spirit of brotherhood between the troubled neighbors (Tamil Nadu and Karnataka). If James starts getting Kannada film offers after this song, I won’t be surprised at all.