Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist. Week 35:
On | On | On
35 songs this week. Apple Music comes on top this week, with 33 songs, even though it doesn’t have my most favorite song from the week – Maati Baani’s Tum Jo Mile! (available on Saavn and YouTube). The only other song it doesn’t have is the Kannada song from Ayogya (available on Saavn and YouTube, again). YouTube does well too, with 32 songs!
A note on the songs in the playlist.
—
Milegi Milegi (Stree, Hindi): Fun song, but with the oh-so-familiar voice of Mika. But, Sachin-Jigar do have a winner here for the song’s sheer energy!
Swag Saha Nahi Jaye (Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi, Hindi): Heady tune, with a jaunty rhythm, albeit a bit too obvious/templatized. Shadab Faridi’s enthusiastic lead vocals help.
Maula (Farhan Saeed, Rishi Rich): Former Jal vocalist’s collaboration with Rishi Rich doesn’t produce anything ground-breaking, but it is in-line with the kind of music Jal is known for. That’s not bad at all.
Kaathalae Kaathalae (96, Tamil): Govind Menon seems to be having a much better luck with the name ‘Govind Vasantha’, in Tamil. With the former, his debut Oru Pakka Kadhai did not progress beyond one single, but the new name got his debut (Asuravadham) out! And now this song! The teaser song has been expanded into an absolutely scintillating, ethereal melody that is tantalizingly short to make us want more! The atmospheric sounds and Chinmayi’s superb singing lifts to song significantly.
Onnavitta Yaarum Yenakilla, Varum Aana Varaathu & Machakkanni (Seemaraja, Tamil): Imman’s return to big, flashy masala soundtracks after quite some time. Some of it is way over-the-top and garish, like the title song and Paraak, but the Imman-style melody with busy rhythms and quasi-classical interludes is more than evident in Onnavitta. Machakkanni too is high on melody, with its heady faux-qawali sound (with a subtle nod to Ilayaraja, with ‘Moochula vesha oosi pottu pora nee Isaigyaani paattu’!). Varum is an enormously enjoyable masala song! Imman rocks the bombastic sound with a lot of nuances like the ‘Ramaaa’ callout, the use of a famous funny dialog to build the song around… and layers it all with a superbly catchy orchestration.
Mughaiyazhi (Boomerang, Tamil): Radhan’s return to Tamil, after the super successful Arjun Reddy is short and patchy. Mughaiyazhi is a nice enough song, though the Hindi interlude seems straight out of early 2000s. Even the overall sound is akin to Dharan’s (Sivi).
Thee Yazhini (Vanjagar Ulagam, Tamil): Second song from Sam C.S’s upcoming soundtrack. The choice of Yuvan Shankar Raja is odd, given he is not a particularly good singer, though Sam has evened out his voice to a large extent. Yuvan even sounds like A R Rahman in the opening portions!! The tune is lovely, with a fantastic Latino flourish.
High On Love, Dope Track, Hold Me Now, Never Let Me Go, Let’s be Friends?, Secret Window & Hello (Pyaar Prema Kaadhal, Tamil): Full soundtrack review: http://bit.ly/2Ovmtng
Bombay Pothava Raja (Paper Boy, Telugu): I did expect a lot from composer Bheems Ceciroleo, but he hasn’t picked up steam… yet. This song pitches his music strongly (though generously inspired by the popular ‘Riva riva rivala matha’ song) – racy, colloquial and good fun.
O Cheli (Neevevaro, Telugu): Achu pitches in with song No.2 from the film (that Ghibran scored for, in Tamil – Adhe Kangal) and it’s very competent. The way he adds layers in the orchestration, towards the anupallavi and the choice of Kaala Bhairava as singer for the mellow tune, in particular.
Vachindamma & Yenti Yenti (Geetha Govindam, Telugu): Full soundtrack review: http://bit.ly/2OvCxVS
Luklukle Swapna (Truckbhar Swapna, Marathi): A nice, pleasant melody that soars along with Sonu Nigam’s always likeable voice. Composer Shreyashh keeps the sound consistently enjoyable.
Jaadugari (Savita Damodar Paranjpe, Marathi): Nilesh Moharir’s tune is deep and haunting, using what sounded to me like Pantuvarali raaga. Swapnil Bandodkar’s singing is very good.
Piriti Baindheche Holdi & Mehendi Song (Maati, Bengali): Rageshri Das’s spritely singing and Debajyoti Mishra’s foot-tapping folk sound lifts the former, while the latter is a lovely melange of 7 singers, together producing an affecting and highly harmonic folk song.
Alo Chhaya & Momer Shohor (Crisscross, Bengali): Alo Chhaya is composed by Shubham Shirule For JAM8, this is an affecting tune with an equally haunting arrangement (music produced by Shubham Shirule & Sunny M.R.). Armaan Malik is very, very good with the vocals! Momer Shohor, composed by Keeran For JAM8 has a Pritam’ish rock sound (from Life In A Metro) and is very listenable too, particularly thanks to Tushar Joshi’s engaging vocals.
Yenee Karmakalaa (Ayogya, Kannada): It’s hard to believe the song is by Arjun Janya, given how much it sounds like a D.Imman song! Sunil Gujagonda keeps the song engaging with his lead vocals, even as Arjun steps in with his hook and incredibly rhythmic sound.
Arere Avala Naguva, Dadda Song, Nooraaru Bannagalu, He Sharade & Balloon Song (Sarkari Hi. Pra. Shaale, Kasaragodu, Kannada): Full soundtrack review: http://bit.ly/2vHTBQ7
Tum Jo Mile (Maati Baani, Indipop): From Maati Baani’s upcoming album Ru Ba Ru. A gentle, immensely likeable tune that demonstrates how talented the duo is, in composing and singing. They should really compose and sing more!
Kalariyadavum (Kayamkulam Kochunni, Malayalam): Sacharine-sweet melody, with the usual Gopi Sundar’ish flourish. A really lovely pallavi that gets accentuated with Vijay Yesudas and Shreya Ghoshal’s voices.
Calling Your Name (Shor Police, Indipop): The 2nd original song from Shor Police, consisting of Clinton Cerejo and Bianca Gomes. A very seamless English-Hindi mix with a throbbing electronic sound.
