Sunday, November 28, 2010

Songs for the Season -Winter 2010!!!

well....winter's back folks....like it does every annum....with all the blues and hues tht usually come only when winter does.....but the better part is, doesn't it mark the arrival of the romance in the air and the ambience......?......here are some romantic notes to revel in that mood -
  • "I'll melt with you" - Nouvelle Vague - found this on the Mr. & Mrs. Smith Soundtrack......a very beautiful note by a band that 'beautifies' covers of songs by other artists....the original one was by a certain English band.
  • "I've been waiting" - A.R.Rahman - ARR pays tribute to the Thames and d magical London winter......with this lovely ballad.......an amazing Jazz number....
  • "Pyro" - Kings of Leon - the guitar beat is itself enuf to take you floating elsewer......Nevadan Rock at its pinnacle.......
  • "Manhattan" - G3 - love...and how can one miss out Manhattan?....the guitar trio groove up a scintillating note that's melodious and yet, very true to the island's nature...quite hip!
  • "Engeyum Kaadhal" - Harris Jayaraj - a bit pop, a bit countrylike....yet essentially a Harris melody........particularly likeable is the nice opera-tic rendition of female vocals right after the first stanza.....

If you live in a city with a great skyline and an enjoyable waterfront, a cool winter evening with the lights galore and your loved one by the side at the waterfront, with one of these tunes to fill the ambience......is just like Perfect!

Stay Romantic.....!

Movie Buff!

Mr.Groove a.k.a the author is suddenly becoming a huge movie buff, and thinks he can blog about them too........expect some chitter chatter about all the cult stuff there is to talk of movies....the BGMs, the photography, the dialogue, the direction, the art.......et al......the author hopes he could tug a few strings at the reader's heart..........well then, Good Luck to him!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Nevadan Rock!!!

after the onslaught of Coldplay and Verve onto my music libraries......right abt the time I was looking for a slight change of path albeit without major departures from the alternative zone of rock music.....I found "Kings of Leon".......
in all their iterations......from the outrightly mad "Charmer"....to the buzzyness of the bass in "On Call"......to the flirty "Camaro"......to the starry eyed glittery in "Use Somebody"...........to reconciliations and memories in "Revelry"........to drowsiness and smoky hues in "I want you"......to feeling the chill in a "Cold Desert"........to the newbie and phenomenally flashy "The End".........they have an amazingly chilled out feel........any track puts you right in the middle of the white Nevadan Desert.......on the dried up lake at Bonneville......amidst distant blue mountains......amidst cool desert breezes......under the star studded skies.......and quite rightly, in a white Dodge Challenger......driving you into the Vanishing Point!.......Call KOL a completely different genre like I do in calling them "Nevadan Rock"......or plainly shove them into the "best of Alternative Rock" shelves........they deserve anything....or actually, both of those monikers......\m/.....Here's to you, KOL...!

Fiesta De La Rahman!!!


2010........in approximately 55 days....we'd bidding goodbye to this lovely year........so, I take this occassion to cherish the amazing year that it had been for Rahmaniacs around the world......(Does one actually need an occassion to cherish Rahman?).......this year marked, the longest line-up for Rahman's albums.....tht too characteristically being original...in that like a certain Mr.Tendulkar, this mestro Mr.Rahman seems to be getting only better with age....and is showing no signs of any fade in creativity or his magic........


  • It all began with one f the most Romantic albums tht he had dished out in a while,.....partly thanks to wonderful scripts by Gautam Menon....., ..."Vinaithaandi Varuvaaya" literally stole the shows for a long time to come....

  • Following this came a template that so favours cult film enthusiasts in India, the Madras Talkies-Maniratnam-ARR trio!...It brought with it an album for "Raavan" that includes amazingly heavy albeit culture shock numbers 'Beera', 'Behne De', 'Thok De Killi' et al that was as scintillating as the template itself!

  • Then came "Komaram Puli"...which, save for a few tracks, thrung all the funky notes that one can imagine.....the best being a very humdrum note by Shreya Goshal called "Dochey" based on the Slumdog OST instrumental track "Gangsta Blues", where in Shreya quite literally manages to steal your heart with her melancholic voice......

  • Further up, there was "Endiran", which was yet another template being put to good use in the form of a Shankar-Rajnikanth-ARR trio!..The Album had Rahman teaming up with some good hip hop stars like Kashn Krissy and Yogi B to take a nice departure from ARR's usual stuff to hit the bling street. Needless to say, the tracks do need amazingly good bass on the woofers to do them justice......

  • Like VTV, if it is Love that one is talking about, then ARR understands the theme better than anybody possibly could.....for a sublime romantic drama "Jootha Hi Sahi"......ARR took inspiration from a few of his erstwhile rhythms to dish out an album of mood setters.....Blues, Jazz et al..that definitely anybody's love buds.....

.....phew.......as if that impressive list weren't long enough....Rahman has 5 albums coming up this year......in a span of one and half month!....if Wiki sources are correct......2 of them happen to be OST works for Hollywood movies "127 Hours" and "The Desire"..whilst "Hara", "Ponnar Shankar" are Tamil Movie OSTS, while "Rock Star" is an upcoming Bollywood venture.....wouldn't be exageratting for a Rahmaniac to say, "Time had never been better"....!



Friday, January 29, 2010

High Fidelity

hmm....had recently seen this lovely film called "High fidelity"........starring John Cusack...despite the film's mighty sarcasm about love and stuff....what particularly catches one's eye is the protagonist's job....he sells music records for a living.....and trust me, he knows a thing or two about music......has his apartment filled to the brim with music records that he cud arrange chronologically, alphabetically or rather periodically along the time he bought them or along the time he had girlfriends or break ups.....he has a very cool store lined up with records, cassettes and cds and two very crazy employees.....and get this, for a change he produces albums featuring local punk artists.......now to catch it actually, go check out the film...but cudn't that be the coolest job in the world...???

Chilly Tracks....!

with the trees leafless and the wind freezing cold.....might as well be time to hit some melancholic tracks.....lets c what i can find in my library....
  • Decode - Paramore....a sweet haunting song with the usual punk notes from paramore...definitely suits the haunting theme of twilight of which its a part of the OST.
  • Trip on Love - Abra Moore - absolutely chilly yet romantic track from the Cruel Intentions OST....abra moore's haunting voice is the bit to catch.....
  • Sajna - P.J.Morton, A.R.Rahman - from the OST of the funny couples retreat, a very lowly, sad yet amazing track with awesome violin notes that take you right into spring...
  • Kite - U2 - not exactly melancholic yet an amazing track with some pretty melody and vocals from bono.....a very dry track for the sunny winter days.....watch out for bono's high notes...
  • Catching the Butterfly - Verve - a very groovy trance track by the brit band....would make for a nice background for a dark drama and the chilly winter days....
well...this was an absolutely stupid trial at picking up some melancholic tracks for the dark winters...while the place i stay shines brightly even in this cold winter (global warming, eh?)....and of course i stay out of such tracks these days....sort of on a path to rejuvenation.....hehe.....so keep the melody flowing.....asta la vista....