Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 97: On JioSaavn | On YouTube
A short playlist, this week – just 9 songs! JioSaavn playlist has 7 and is missing Santiago from Kalidas and Njan Thedum Thaaram from Driving Licence. YouTube has 8 songs and is missing only Santiago from Kalidas only because it is inside a jukebox.
Hello Saare – Thambi (Govind Vasantha) – Tamil: For a film that had the ‘audio launch’ on November 29th (the same day when Govind’s band, Thaikkudam Bridge launched their second album, Namah! I intend to write more about Namah once I get more information on the credits since there are so many collaborators involved), it is dismaying to see only one song being released the next day… instead of the full soundtrack. Songs are merely promotional ‘assets’ and they do not matter to the film any more than marketing, and this is apt proof. This is not good or bad, but just the evolution of the use of music in Indian films. The song itself is very catchy, and a superb comeback by Suresh Peters. Govind’s tune is adequately disco’ish and funky to help Peters shine!
Saayavana Kaatil – Ethirvinaiyaatru (Vedanth Bharadwaj) – Tamil: I had posed a query on Twitter and Facebook last week about woman-man combination composing duos in India, and a lot of names came to the fore. Neha S. Nair & Yakzaan Gary Pereira (Malayalam), Sachet (Tandon) – Parampara (Thakur) in Hindi, Madboy/Mink, Parasuram Radha, Bindumalini (Narayanswamy) and Vedanth (Bharadwaj) in Tamil among others. And here’s Vedanth doing solo! It’s a lovely song, however, like a new-age version of a Simon & Garfunkel song!
Neethan Venumadi – Dhanusu Raasi Neyargalae (Ghibran) – Tamil: I have already featured 2 songs from the film: I Want A Girl and Murada Murada. The 3rd song that worked for me is the neat EDM’ish Neethan Venumadi, sung by Sarath Santhosh and Rajan Chelliah. The hook is quite addictive.
Santiago – Kalidas (Vishal Chandrasekhar) – Tamil: Kalidas’ first single, Mazhai, sung by Sudha Raghunathan released in August 2018! I had even added it as one of the top 30 Tamil songs of 2018. Now, finally, here’s the full soundtrack. But while Vishal does have some interesting ideas, like the 2 Bharathiyar poems tuned into songs sung by Abhay Jodhpurkar, they don’t work as cohesively as intended, I thought. However, Santiago, by Andera holds a lot more chutzpah, with its expansive and ambitious electro-swing sound delivered so very well.
Vethiki Vethiki – Bhagyanagara Veedullo Gammathu (Saketh Komanduri) – Telugu: This song is, quite frankly, a shocker! It sounds so much like an Ilayaraja song that I had a hard time reconciling that it is not by Raja! There are shades of Raja’s iconic Vamsy song, Ekkada Ekkada from ladies Tailor, but the tune is different. But even the tune/melody is so much like a classic Raja song. The real shocker is the completely tasteless and tacky video playing in the background, for this lovely melody! I look forward to what more Saketh produces.
Chandamama – Madhanam (Ron Ethan Yohann) – Telugu: The first single from the film came out in August (Yegire Yegire)! I wasn’t that impressed with the 2nd song, Choosa, but Ron comes back strongly in Chandamama. It has a soulful melody, delivered very well by Karthik, and a lovely lilt to boot!
Njan Thedum Thaaram – Driving Licence (Neha S. Nair and Yakzaan Gary Pereira) – Malayalam: An utterly zany song by the duo that has been consistently producing some great music in limited quantities. Anthony Daasan seems like the perfect fit to pull off the song’s whimsical quality, even as the music video is equally bizarre in terms of the star it uses and the situations it puts him in!
Then There Were Two – Mark Ronson and Anderson .Paak: Mark Ronson is curating the soundtrack of the upcoming animated film Spies In Disguise, that stars Will Smith, Tom Holland and others. This song, that sees Ronson joining Anderson .Paak, is befitting the big screen film’s sounds… soul, with a flamboyant horns section! Fantastic listen!
Don’t Let It Break Your Heart – Louis Tomlinson: The former One Direction star’s 4th single from his upcoming solo album. The sound is stadium-style and large. The melody and chorus are wonderful, the hook is addictive too.
