Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 178: On Spotify | On YouTube
10 songs this week! All the songs are available on both Spotify and YouTube. And no, Beast’s new single, Jolly O Gymkhana was way too generic for my taste.
Phir Se Zara – Attack (Shashwat Sachdev) – Hindi: Shashwat’s music reminded me of early Harris Jayaraj’s music. The almost-ominous backgrounds retain an ambient, ethereal feel and a solo, punchy voice (Jubin Nautiyal) leading a hugely impactful melody. Jubin’s singing is terrific for this particular tune and it gets better as the song progresses.
Kattikoda – Taanakkaran (Ghibran) – Tamil: It’s great to see Ghbiran get his mojo back occasionally after being so enormously promising in the earlier part of his career. This song has superb singing by Shweta Mohan but the real highlight is the gorgeous tune. The tune took me instantly to Ilayaraja’s Andha Oru Nimidam Charukesi-classic, ‘Siriya Paravai Siragai Virithu’, particularly that tantalizing line, ‘Udhadu uruga… amudham paruga (varugavae varugavae)’ that forms the base for ‘Otha vaartha… motha vaazhkka’!
Pottu Vaiththaan – Maha (Tamil/Indipop): I believe the raaga used is Hamsanadham, most probably. It is most definitely a raaga that I already love and I was able to trace a few known songs from this tune – Thendral vandhu ennai thodum (Hamsanadham), Swasame swasame (Hamirkalyani), and Nilavum malarum malarattume (Saaranga), among others. Surprising to hear this beautiful number, that too sung by singers like Harini and Tippu, being released by an unknown label with zero fanfare!
Adavi Gusagusalu – Bheemla Nayak (Thaman S) – Telugu: Bheemla Nayak is already a very, very good album. Now that the full album is out, the other song that I really liked was Adavi Gusagusalu. The steady background sound that is wonderfully ambient, the fantastic singing by Manisha Eerabathini and Sri Krishna, the chorus that kicks in the two-and-a-half-minute mark that alludes to Thyagaraja’s Entharo Mahanubhavulu… this is a lovely song!
Bullet La – Sammathame (Shekar Chandra) – Telugu: Much like some of Thaman’s or Gopi Sundar’s trademark sounds, Shekar Chandra too has his trademark sound that I wrote about in Atithi Devo Bhava’s Ninnu Chudagane. That familiar percussion-sound makes its appearance here too – it remains catchy for now.
Jada – Chor Bazaar (Suresh Bobbili) – Telugu: Suresh continues to impress, albeit occasionally. Here, he has singer Ram Miriyala handle a wonderfully warm, almost-Amit Trivedi’ish melody brilliantly. The tune’s is soft but has a folksy bounce that makes it thoroughly enjoyable.
Poya Kaalam – Lalitham Sundaram (Bijibal) – Malayalam: There are singers like Sid Sriram and Sanjith Hegde who have a voice that you cannot ignore at all. And then there are singers like Vineeth Sreenivasan who have a voice so warm and relatable. Bijibal dips into that warmth in Vineeth’s voice beautifully in this song, and layers it with an excellent vocal chorus and backgrounds that are straight out of the 60s MGR-style music!
Isolated (Part 1) – Arnab Bashistha, ft. Papon and Kaysee (Indipop): Despite being composed by Arnab Bashistha, the melody has the hallmark of a Papon composition, and this may be a feeling evoked by his singing style too. The overall ghazal’ish singing and composition style gets an added charm with Kaysee’s English phrases, Ustad Murad Ali Khan’s Sarangi and Subhankar Hazarika’s Sitar.
Thagyan – Coke Studio, Season 14 (Zain Zohaib x Quratulain Balouch): Thagyan is the quintessential Coke Studio Pakistan sound! An incredibly catchy qawwali that gets a phenomenal modern musical backdrop featuring swanky synths and horns section. And when Quratulain Balouch enters in style (quite literally, in the video), the song gets infinitely more interesting!
Sleepyhead – Parekh & Singh (Indipop): The classic Parekh & Singh sound is intact, as always! It’s instantly likeable, lulling you into the trippy music, with vocals to add to the mood!
