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Top Five Songs to Include on a Mixtape For Your Indie Beloved

14 Feb

Trying to think of a way to introduce a Valentine’s Day-themed list article while avoiding all the common tropes (pro-Valentines, anti-Valentines, pro-anti-Valentines, etc.) is becoming harder and harder; there’s very little middle ground to walk between flower-burning and chocolate-gorging.

To try and skip over the debate, this T5R article instead provides five non-conventional songs that you ought to use when making that time-tested classic gift: the mixed-tape.

More specifically, here are 5 songs that absolutely have to go into your next mixed-tape for your present and/or future beloved; this way, you won’t have to reuse “With or Without You” for the 900th time.
 
 

5. “Absolutely Cuckoo” by The Magnetic Fields

Magnetic-fields-in-concert

The Magnetic Fields’ three-volume concept album 69 Love Songs contains exactly that: 69 love songs. Despite the fact that the album is about love songs, and not love itself, “Absolutely Cuckoo” definitely works as an unconventional inclusion on any romantic mix tape. Stephen Merritt manages to condense all the neuroticism of an early relationship into barely a minute-and-a-half, by imploring her not to fall in love with him just yet (since he might be cuckoo). In the process he admits to falling in love all the same, and also builds up the most fantastically in-depth worst case scenario of what would happen if things went south. The song’s beauty lies in the fact that we’ve all done this. We’ve all caused our what-ifs to pile up until all we can do is wallow in neuroticism. “Absolutely Cuckoo” takes this tendency and turns it around to create a song that’s so warm, well-crafted and mildly humorous that it effectively reveals the emperor’s nudity, while also providing an absolutely endearing song with which to bring you and your steady closer together.


 

4. “Stealing the Moonlight” by Gold Motel

GoldMotel-01-big

Gold Motel’s upbeat jangle-pop infused “Stealing the Moonlight” from their debut album Summer House perfectly articulates the emotions of the early days of a recently- re-enamored social introvert’s relationship. Greta Morgan’s aloof, unencumbered vocals combine with a bouncy set of guitars, bass and drums (provided by Chicago colleagues Eric Hehr, Dan Duszynski, Matt Minx and Adam Coldhouse)  to capture the warmth and fuzziness of early love. The wide-eyed innocence that “Stealing the Moonlight” conveys is instantly relatable (in a way which reminds me of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles) and works well on any mix.


 

3. “Hotel Yorba” by The White Stripes

WS_2007photo_3

If you can ignore the mild creepiness of Jack and Meg White’s relationship at the time, as well as the slightly off-centre music video, The White Stripe’s “Hotel Yorba” works as a pretty great love song. Against the backdrop of foot-stomping upbeat country and garage rock, Jack White allows himself time to ruminate about an almost whimsical life in the backwoods with his missus. It’s an easy song to get carried away by: the infectious optimism about the future that the song radiates is bound to transmit itself into your inamorato/inamorata, and that can never be a bad thing. Plus, brownie points for being used in the extended pilot of Arrested Development.


 

2. “Ghosts” by Laura Marling

Laura_Marling_3

“Ghosts” takes a rather different approach to the aspects of a new relationship, by looking at that two-tonne tether to the past, i.e. exes. Laura Marling channels the 90s café singer-songwriter in her to produce an acoustic-driven ballad that absolutely has to be shared with your main squeeze. It’s nearly impossible to enter a new relationship without carrying the emotional baggage of the past (as practically 90% of all sitcoms can testify) , and Laura gets that. “Ghosts” conveys the inner turmoil of a man as he approaches his new lover, at once admitting both his haunting by his past and her role in helping with the exorcism. This is a relationship in all its reality – not in isolation, and not under any pretension, but still hopeful.


 

1. “Northern Sky” by Nick Drake

Nick_Drake_(1971)

“I never felt magic crazy as this

I never saw moons knew the meaning of the sea”

Everything about Nick Drake’s world in “Northern Sky” is magical, ethereal, and beautiful. Nick’s easy-going baritone melds with piano, guitar, keyboards and bells as he invites his lover into his world through the simple gesture of telling her exactly how he feels about her.

Nick Drake’s poetry, combined with the gorgeous musical backing, makes “Northern Sky” a timeless work of art. Including it in a mix is a no-brainer.


 
 

Happy Friday and/or Valentine’s Day, from the T5R Team!

– Karthik M. (with a little inspiration from Pune).

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Top Five Stunning Rock Covers to Shock and Awe

10 Feb

This is an extremely ambitious list. Not only does it try to select five out of all the good, the bad and ugly of rock covers that exist in the world, but it also tries to include a seemingly wide genre of musicians. As a result, you’ll find everything on this list: from an alternative metal band to a Spanish soprano singer, from an alt-rock super-group to a humble Indian indie band, and from a British metal icon to a classical pop pianist, all trying their level best to recreate some of the finest songs from rock music’s tumultuous past. Hope you enjoy it.

5. Tool covers Led Zeppelin’s “No Quarter”

Led Zeppelin

“No Quarter” is one of those vintage rock songs that reek of Led Zeppelin from the moment they get underway. Yes, it is bereft of any of Jimmy Page’s textbook guitar solos, and yes, it’s not the first song that comes to your mind when you think of Robert Plant either. Yet, it always comes off as a masterpiece that just couldn’t have been the work of any other band – until nearly three decades later, that is.

Tool, who lay stake to being one of the finest experimental metal bands of today, decided to cover this Led Zep classic in their 2000 album, Salival – and while doing so, they also decided to add a dash of their own progressive flavor to it.

The result is, needless to say, absolutely stunning – though, if you’re a first timer, it could take a bit of getting used to. The cover is over eleven minutes long, over four minutes longer than the original. The vocals, courtesy Maynard James Keenan, are often modulated, which may raise some conventional eyebrows.

But leaving that aside, the music is staggering. The song is dark; there’s an element of dread that runs under the thick layers of drums and heavy distortion guitar. And then there is the usual Tool innovation that rears its head now and then, be it with their rendition of the trippy riffs in the beginning or the bass and guitar arpeggios that replace the original piano.

In the end, the cover completely deviates from the original thanks to a brilliantly improvised climax full of powerful riffs, alternate lyrics, heavy bass and a thundering drum sequence that we only wish had continued for a little more.

With this cover, Tool have not only taken a page from Led Zep’s iconic yesteryears, but have also planted it amid the dreary annals of progressive metal in their own unique manner.

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4. Tori Amos covers Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Tori Amos

To begin, let us first agree upon some things that countless others have agreed upon before. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is the song of the early 90s, and Nevermind was probably the greatest thing to come out of Seattle since Jimi Hendrix. With these established, let us now look at Tori Amos’ cover of this cult classic.

If you were expecting a faithful rendition, one that begins with the instantly recognizable riff that grunge fans have head-banged to over the past few decades, you probably haven’t heard Tori Amos. Because in essence, Tori Amos is far – really really far – from the genre of music that Kurt Cobain pioneered. She’s a classical pianist, and she’s much older than what Kurt Cobain would have been had he been alive today. Her approach to the song is thus starkly different, and the only way you can appreciate this cover is with an open mind.

For starters, the cover is completely piano-based, and is therefore much, much slower and softer than the loud and angst-ridden original. Which means, if you’re looking for Cobain’s guitar solo, you won’t find it here. What you will find instead is a beautiful voice and some sublime, almost dreamy, piano. This is definitely not what Nirvana had in mind when they recorded this song, but the point is, it’s not meant to be what Nirvana produced either. The two versions have nothing in common except for the lyrics and the skeleton tune; trying to compare the two would be a bit like comparing pizza with cheesecake because both have cheese in them. Yes, it is the cheese that makes both of them so good, but it’s really mindless to try and choose one over the other, isn’t it?

My advice would be to listen to the cover and try to appreciate what Tori has attempted to do.

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3. A Perfect Circle covers John Lennon’s “Imagine”

John Lennon

The original “Imagine” is a very happy song that tries to propagate happy ideas – of unity, peace and humanism. Attempting to make a dark, almost depressing cover of such a happy song does seem like a cruel thing to do – a bit like punching a rabbit in the face, and then trying to feel good about it. But the progressive-alt rock super-group A Perfect Circle had done exactly that in their 2004 album eMOTIVe. And the worst (or best?) bit is this: it is rather good.

The dark undercurrents are noticeable the moment you hear all the minor notes in the otherwise familiar piano arpeggio. John Lennon played the majors, while here, they just don’t. If anyone ever dissed about cover artists, saying that they fail to step outside the original, and that they fail to find a fresh perspective to music, he or she has probably never heard A Perfect Circle. This cover hasn’t just added a unique perspective to Lennon’s classic: it has bordered on the visionary.

The vocals (it’s the same Maynard James Keenan from Tool) continue the same sense of foreboding that the piano began. The droning rhythms of the drums and the synths supplement the vocals to create an atmosphere that sounds and feels sinister, almost ominous.

As a cover therefore, this is top class stuff. It’s quite unlike any other cover that you’ve heard. However, it doesn’t feel complete.

What seems to be lacking is lead guitars, which would have provided the final cut necessary to take this cover to the very top of this list. Apart from that, this is a must-listen – and unfortunately for all the happy rabbit fans, a must-admire.

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2. Montserrat Caballé and Bruce Dickinson cover Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Montserrat Caballe and Freddy Mercury

If there’s one word for attempting to cover “Bohemian Rhapsody”, it’s ‘ambitious’, and if there’s something that such ambition can lead to it, it’s generally a disaster. But when you have a Spanish operatic soprano – who’s shared the stage with Freddie Mercury in her career – embarking on such an attempt with the undisputed champion of British heavy metal, it’s difficult to not give them a chance.

The cover is eerily faithful to the original and has all the iconic elements that make the song the classic that it is. The beginning chorus has vocals in different harmonies, followed by Montserrat’s soulful voice that sends a silent shudder down your spine. Iron Maiden fans will absolutely love how Bruce Dickinson’s soaring vocals sink in to take this role. His voice reaches every high note that makes the original so remarkable, and the execution is just so perfect that it would have brought a tear to the eye of old Freddie.

As Montserrat and Bruce alternate with the lyrics, a majestic orchestra gives them accompaniment. What this means is that you won’t find Brian May’s lead guitar when you will expect it; instead you’ll find a wave of symphonic strings, peppered with the occasional piano almost throughout the length of the song. However, you can rest assured that the melodies in the cover are almost as much a treat for your ears as Queen’s original was.

Go give it a listen, and be mesmerized.

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1. Thermal and a Quarter cover The Beatles’ “Hey Jude”

The Beatles

So far in this list we’ve discussed a wide range of covers: a darker cover of an already dark song (“No Quarter”), a seemingly antithetical cover of a loud, angry song (“Smells Like Teen Spirit”), a sad, dispiriting cover of a joyous song (“Imagine”) and an unerring cover of a particularly difficult song (“Bohemian Rhapsody”). To add to this diversity, we’ll now look at a fun cover of one of the most popular songs in rock history.

Thermal and a Quarter have been creating ripples in the Indian indie-music scene for quite a few years now. They are immensely talented and incredibly technical in their compositions, and their cover of the eye-wateringly popular Beatles classic “Hey Jude” comes as a breath of fresh air for all indie music lovers.

From the very first note, this cover stands out. It instantly catches your attention with its strange and syncopated style of play. What follows is absolute genius. The concept is terrific – a funk-blues cover of The Beatles – and the execution is spot on. Bruce Lee Mani’s vocals do complete justice to this bold attempt, as do the clever flute fillers, the pounding drums and the driving bass.

This is just masterclass stuff and thus tops this list. By far.

– @wrahool

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The Top Five Albums of 2013: Neeharika’s List

31 Dec

As I mentioned in my Top Five Songs of 2013 list last week, 2013 has been a decent year for music. There were some great debuts, even better follow-ups and a promise for the future. So, without further ado, here’s my take on the Top Five Albums of 2013.

– Neeharika

5. Shaking the Habitual, by The Knife

Shaking the Habitual

It’s often hard to imagine what ‘textural’ means in the context of music. How can a purely tactile sense be attributed to sound? The word is often thrown about as a vague catch-all for everything from ambient to post-rock, but there is music for which ‘textural’ is a perfect adjective. One such example is The Knife’s fervent fourth album, Shaking the Habitual, which puts you in the middle of a seethingly alive jungle.

On “A Tooth For an Eye”, Karin Dreijer Andersson’s wild, unintelligible chants soar and whoop like tribal cants through her brother Olof Dreijer ‘s electronic safari through a rain-forest. The strongest beat lies on “Full of Fire”, which could form the ominous soundtrack for a dream that wakes you up sweating and disturbed.  You could get lost in the labyrinth of “Raging Lung”, gasping for breath while your masked overlords laugh at your ghastly predicament. It’s like each song comes with its own dizzying music video.

I will freely admit that I wasn’t a fan of The Knife prior to this album; their much-hyped Silent Shout came off as far too pretentious, like early Animal Collective gestated too far into the sinisterly inaccessible. However, after a few listens of Shaking the Habitual, I found myself getting enveloped in the ethereal gauze of “A Cherry on Top”, the busy techno of Networking” and the dark drama of “Wrap Your Arms Around Me”. While it’s still not the most accessible music – case in point, the 19-minute horror-movie diegetic “Old Dreams Waiting to be Realized” – there may hardly be an album in 2013 more imaginative and textural (there’s that word again) than Shaking the Habitual. Recommended, for those willing to stomach it.

Best tracks: “A Tooth For an Eye”, “Raging Lung”

4. Pure Heroine, by Lorde

Pure Heroine

Contrary to what twee stars may have you believe, being a 16-year-old famous pop star is not always easy or even fun. Even a normal teenager’s world seems to change all too rapidly; imminent rise to fame can only cause further confusion. Lorde’s Pure Heroine (full review here) is a meditation on this theme, a sort of commentary piece to the young New Zealander’s sudden rise to fame.

But sudden does not mean unexpected. In her mid-teens, Lorde possesses musical chops like none of her peers. She wields her whip-sharp pen – writing cleverly about teenage romance and suburban life and impending fame – with as much confidence as she sings, sly smirk in place. Add to that a magnetic personality – the hair! the winged mascara! – and you’ve got yourself a true pop star. The difference is that she really doesn’t want to be one. “We crave a different kind of buzz,” she explains on her hit “Royals”, before going on to claim her personal throne: “Let me be your ruler/ You can call me Queen Bee.” She fears fame, too, with the intensity of a small-town girl pushed into big-city spotlights: “How can I fuck with the fun again, when I’m known,” she wonders wistfully on “Tennis Court”. It’s quite a refreshing take on success.

Pure Heroine by Lorde – note the effect of the foisted ‘e’ in both cases – is perhaps the best debut of 2013, and one of the best albums overall. It will be interesting to see where true fame takes Lorde in her follow-up albums. She’s one to watch, for sure.

Best tracks: “Tennis Court”, “Royals”

3. Days Are Gone, by Haim

Days Are Gone

Every once in a while, a true revivalist comes along, making music that sounds like it should have been a famous hit already. On their debut Days Are Gone (full review here), Haim have managed pay perfect homage to a discography spanning synth-heavy hits from the late 70s all the way to glossy-lipped R&B from the 90s.

Haim comprises three attractive sisters – Danielle, Este and Alana Haim – whose first band was called Rockinhaim, composed of themselves and their parents. The girls make sunny, honest, genuine music that speaks of their pedigree as much as it does of their home in California’s carefree San Fernando Valley.

That Days Are Gone is a debut is a little hard to believe at times. Just listen to the sludgy-cool “My Song 5” or the shining hooks on “Honey & I”. This is music that already has a classic feel. In fact, Days Are Gone often feels like a best-of compilation of female-fronted music from pop’s golden eras, which is probably what the Haim girls intended to do.

Whether on the breezy post-breakup title song or on the irresistibly catchy “The Wire”, Danielle, Este and Alana have the confidence of old sessions regulars with nothing to prove, or world-famous musicians with several concert tours under their belts. With that sort of aura, it seems only natural that the Haim sisters are set to be superstars.

Best tracks: “The Wire”, “My Song 5”

2. AM, by Arctic Monkeys

AM

In late 2005, four young British lads released a kicker of an album about life as young British lads that immediately shot to unrivaled success. They hadn’t planned on fame: neighbors Alex Turner and Jaime Cook asked for guitars on Christmas only a few years prior so that they could play some songs together with their high school friend Matt Helders. Somehow, in an accident that involved the novelty of file-sharing, MySpace and a shamelessly salivating British music press, the boys became superstars: shy, ill-suited for fame and too wordy for their own good, but superstars nonetheless.

In 2009, Arctic Monkeys took a break from their witty chronicles of getting turned down by girls in clubs and headed to the California desert with Queens of the Stone Age front-man Josh Homme, who lent a heavy black aura to their music and lyrics. The band lost a legion of their earlier fans with the resulting album Humbug; even I, a devout fan-girl, was tempted to think that the Monkeys were losing their touch with this strange new direction. It didn’t help that the follow-up Suck It and See was lacklustre at best, with elliptical lyrics and a conspicuous lack of blistering indie rock that diverged sharply from their original image.

But now it all makes sense. Themes from their entire discography – the lusty darkness of Humbug and the way lyrics were carefully wrought on Favorite Worst Nightmare  – make an appearance on AM, which may just be their best album yet.

Every part of their act has gotten tighter. Alex has evolved as a vocalist, effecting a sly, jilted prowl on “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?” as easily as the whipped desperation on “Fireside”. His lyrics, too, have gotten even better. “It’s much less picturesque without her catching the light/ The horizon tries but it’s just not as kind on the eyes,” Mr. Turner sighs about the eponymous woman on “Arabella”, going on to croon, “And her lips are like the galaxy’s edge/ And her kiss the colour of a constellation falling into place.” Quite the poet he is.

But the band is not a one-man show. On AM, Arctic Monkeys have damn near perfected the art of drawing organically from influences to create a their own new sound. Jaime Cook’s ponderous riff on “Do I Wanna Know?” evokes a stripped-down QOTSA while “Arabella” could be slipped into a Black Sabbath mixtape. The best example, though, comes on “Mad Sounds”, a beautiful ballad that fittingly brings to mind the late Lou Reed, complete with “ooh la las” sprinkled over a sparkling-pop everyman love song.

The Arctic Monkeys’ fifth album is the latest stepping stone on their journey from clever cads with guitars to mature musicians. AM is at once the culmination of everything the band has done so far as well as an exciting direction for the future. One thing’s for certain: as good as this album is, their best is yet to come.

Best tracks: “Arabella”, “Why’d You Always Call Me When You’re High?”

1. Random Access Memories, by Daft Punk

Random Access Memories

Putting Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories (full review here) above an Arctic Monkeys masterpiece really made me think. On one hand, I’ve been a rabid Arctic Monkeys fangirl for the past decade; on the other, Random Access Memories is otherworldly genius. In the end, timeless genius won over everything else, and that is why Random Access Memories is, in my opinion, the best album of the year.

There’s very little to say that hasn’t been said already. We can talk about the featured artists – industry legends and indie superstars alike – and how their combined starpower with Daft Punk resulted in perfect collaborations. “Doin’ It Right” sounds exactly like how an Animal Collective-tinged Daft Punk song should sound, while “Instant Crush” featuring Julian Casablancas would fit in uncannily well on the Strokes’ Comedown Machine.

We can talk about the theme – futuristic humans-turned-robots finding their way back to humanity through love and the power of music – and how perfectly every song fits into the overall idea, like robot-manufactured puzzle pieces. The story stretches from the disco heydey on song-of-the-year “Get Lucky” to the magnum opus “Touch”, which is basically a fantastic, musical version of Pixar’s Wall-E.

We can talk about the music itself, ranging from lackadaisical bliss on “Lose Yourself to Dance” to instrumental fantasia on “Motherboard”. But in the end, it’s as Giorgio says on the epic “Giorgio by Moroder”: “Once you want to free your mind about a concept of harmony and music being correct, you can do whatever you want.” This, in essence, Daft Punk’s idea for Random Access Memories.

This is not music. It’s expression: timeless and impossibly perfect.

Best tracks: “Get Lucky”, “Lose Yourself to Dance”

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The Top Five Songs of 2013: Neeharika’s List

23 Dec

With about a week to go before the end of the year, 2013 is being hailed by critics across the board as a good year for music. We saw the emergence of new, promising artists like Haim and Lorde, and saw great followups by established acts such as Arctic Monkeys and Daft Punk. My Bloody Valentine made a reappearance twenty-two years (!) after their previous album, while Kanye West released a mad-hatter album whose hype rivals, if not exceeds, that which surrounded his blockbuster from 2010. Chance the Rapper and Earl Sweatshirt, too, released important rap albums. All in all, it was a good year for music. Here’s my take on the top five songs of the year. Hope you like it!

– Neeharika

5. “The Wire” by Haim

Haim

There are a handful of songs in the world where all the elements – the music, the lyrics, the style and the influences – sync perfectly and irrefutably together. These songs are very, very few and far between, and are invariably propelled to ‘instant classic’ status. It can be said, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that “The Wire” is one of these songs.

Haim, a trio of sisters from sunny California, has been making all the right kind of headlines since their debut Days are Gone released in September. Even though they have been compared to everyone from Fleetwood Mac to the Dixie Chicks, Haim has an unshakeable foundation which lets them use their influences as flavoring rather than as the main ingredient. However you look at it, Haim is one of the most attractive and truly talented bands out there today.

“The Wire”, a confessional about wisely letting go of a failing relationship, is an irresistibly catchy example of Haim’s allure. Existing in a universe where The Bangles open for Madonna (or maybe the other way around), “The Wire” is one of the best songs of the year and perhaps one that 2013 will be remembered for, well into the future.

View our full album review here.

4. “Right Action” by Franz Ferdinand

In early 2004, a Scottish indie rock band released an eponymous debut album, smartly titled after a European archduke who catalysed one of history’s largest events. Fittingly, the album provided a similarly intense shot-in-the-arm for the indie rock world, which had been languishing since The Strokes released their unbeatable debut three years prior.

Franz Ferdinand’s post-punk/steampunk hit “Take Me Out”, which was coupled with a video that showcased the band’s monstrously creative art-school sensibilities, remained the band’s song to beat. Now, almost a decade later, Franz Ferdinand has finally created a true successor to their best-known song – and man, it’s good.

“Right Action” is an almost-love song (“Sometimes I wish you were here, weather permitting”) that paraphrases Buddhist tenets (“Right thoughts, right words, right actions”) over a relentless dance-party riff. It wouldn’t be incorrect to say that the song’s a riot and a half. The video, like all Franz Ferdinand videos, is mindblowingly artsy, and the boys are as slick and well-dressed as ever. Alex Kapranos has said that the band’s raison d’etre is to make music that girls can dance to. Franz Ferdinand may be a decade old, but you can bet your skinny tie that they can still own any dance party.

3. “Bad Girls” by M.I.A.

London-via-Sri Lanka swag goddess MIA has always been known for her ridiculous amounts of devil-may-care confidence. But nowhere in her career has she been as swagtastic as in the video for “Bad Girls”. In front of an audience of traditionally-attired Arab men, MIA drag-races – on cars tilted 45 degrees to the vertical – while repeating her feminist, fuck-you mantra: “Live fast, die young, bad girls do it well.”

MIAThe implicit understanding that the video is taking place in Saudi Arabia – where woman drivers, let alone irreverent women atop cars, are forbidden – makes “Bad Girls” one of the rowdiest things that MIA has ever done. The song itself tilts, much like MIA’s cars, between exotic mysticism and gilded braggadocio, and in a way, it’s a metaphor for the artist herself. Whatever the angle, though, it’s just a ridiculously good song.

2. “Royals” by Lorde

Ironically aristocratic teenage sensation Lorde is, ironically, 2013’s It-girl. On “Royals”, her break-out, chart-topping lead single, Lorde sings about her inability to associate with the gaudy extravagance of popular musicians. “We don’t care, we aren’t caught up in your love affair,” she asserts, placing herself firmly in the zone of the non-celebrity.

Over a deep-drum, threadbare beat, Lorde eschews the trappings of fame for a more localized aristocracy: “Let me be your ruler, you can call me queen bee,” she says. Ironically, though, this very song catapulted her into immediate pop royalty, charting her over self-indulgent pop mainstays such as Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus. Not bad for a sixteen year old, wouldn’t you say?

View our full album review here.

1. “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk

“Get Lucky” was first released into the world through a 15-second advertisement on Saturday Night Live in early March. The rabid craze that followed that brief snippet foreshadowed the near future: a particularly enthusiastic fan even spun that 15-second sample into an extended 10-hour jam (!).  At that point, the world didn’t even know much about the song – apart from a warm, glittering riff that somehow automatically brought to mind a disco ball. By the time Daft Punk released the song in April though, everyone knew all the words. It was, in mid-spring, already the song of the summer.

“Get Lucky” is musical perfection enveloped in four minutes. It’s the reckless abandon on a disco dance floor. It’s the magic of meeting someone more promising than you’ve met in years. It’s the realization that love keeps the planet spinning, that music rebirths from itself like a phoenix. “Get Lucky” is a gift from a pair of robots to humankind, reminding us of a forgotten truth: that the past is golden and the future holds endless possibilities.

In 2013, musicians around the world made music that impacted some of us in certain ways. In 2013, Daft Punk made a song that could – and should – eventually be sent out of our world into endless space as a symbol of what humankind can achieve… with a little help from robots, of course.

View our full album review here.

So there you have it! Stay tuned for more Top Five lists coming up soon, including our Top Five Albums of 2013!

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Lorde: Pure Heroine

17 Dec

Pure Heroine

“Don’t you think it’s boring how people talk?” begins the opening line of the debut by 16-year-old New Zealand wunderkind Lorde, a.k.a. Ella Yelich-O’Connor. An introspective teenager too frank and frugal for the feigned opulence of today’s youth, Lorde awes through all 37 minutes of Pure Heroine through poignant lyrics that often overshadow her beautiful voice. Throughout the album, almost-poetess Lorde uses many motifs – the cusp of fame often coinciding with the cusp of adulthood, pulsing veins and white teeth, and the overarching theme of aristocracy – but it never gets repetitive. In fact, the repeated themes only highlight the fact that the young singer wrote all the lyrics on the album, giving it an artistic integrity that most artists, let alone teen-aged female pop musicians, fail to achieve. In a world where Miley Cyrus’ twerking makes it to the front page of the Huffington Post, it’s a relief to know that true talent still exists.

Picture courtesy Billboard.com

Picture courtesy Billboard.com

Lorde may be best known for her sparse, chart-topping “Royals”, but album opener “Tennis Court”, the follow-up single, is menacingly good in its own way. In a voice that echoes Adele’s honesty, vulnerable-Lorde talks of impending fame at a young age (“How can I fuck with the fun again when I’m known?”) even as confident-Lorde sneers at her supposed contemporaries (“I’m doing this for the thrill of it, killin’ it”), setting the tone for the main thematic elements of Pure Heroine.

Her cynicism of modern pop culture resurfaces on “Royals”, an almost-gospel gem where she embraces her low-key lifestyle that, sadly, may soon disappear. “We count our dollars on the train to the party,” she says of herself and her suburban friends, before going on to explain, “We didn’t come from money.” Sure, she may never be pop royalty, but that isn’t the kind of royalty she wants anyway. “We don’t care/ We’re driving Cadillacs in our dreams,” says Lorde, in a showcase of the maturity that lets her separate reality from fantasy. In a way, she’s the anti-thesis of Lady Gaga, and that alone puts her on the throne in my book.

“Team”, her third single, is a brilliant critique of club-oriented pop music that cleverly meta-references the same by using a club-ready beat. “I’m kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air,” she confesses, conspicuously putting herself in the everyman ‘us’ as opposed to the larger-than-life ‘‘them’.

Of course, being a teenager, famous pop musicians aren’t the only group of people that Lorde fails to fall in with. “White Teeth Teens”, a cleverer cousin of Lana del Rey’s brand of youthful angst, talks about Lorde’s incongruity with the (seemingly) picture-perfect teens around her. “I tried to join but never did/ The way they are, the way they seem is something else, it’s in the blood,” she explains, pulling to attention her own “royal” blood.

“400 Lux” is essentially a carefully-crafted love song about teenage romance in suburbia. “Got a lot to not do/ Let me kill it with you,” asks Lorde, elegant in her lyrical prowess. The almost-spoken-word second verse, reminiscent of Natasha Khan, is a jumble of thoughts and emotions that reveal her worries all too clearly: much like on “Ribs”. There, a non-sequitur lyrical phrase (“The drink you spilled all over me/ ‘Lover’s Spit’ left on repeat”) paints a picture of a kid whose adult-like nonchalance belies her true nature.

In a lot of ways, Lorde is just a teenager – albeit gifted – from a sleepy town at the edge of nowhere, and her charm lies in the way her background consciously or subconsciously permeates through her music. It’s refreshing, to say the least. To me, it also brings to mind to a riotous album in 2006 that made stars out of four young Sheffield lads talking about chatting up girls in clubs and getting turned down. Whoever she does or – more importantly – doesn’t sound like , it’s clear that Lorde is indeed royalty in her own, unadulterated way.

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Bacardi Weekender 2013, Bengaluru: Day 2

29 Nov

When we last saw the Weekender venue late on Saturday night, the ground was a wet sludge of mud and grass. The rain had started getting irritating, clothes were splattered with filth and everyone was generally miffed that they had to miss some great artists.

The atmosphere in the bus to the venue on Sunday was rather subdued. People kept glancing up at the menacing grey clouds seemingly speeding along with us to the venue. A couple of people behind us were grumbling that this wasn’t a cheap festival; washed out stages won’t get you your money back, whether you saw artists or not. And we were quite inclined to agree with them.

Dance music greeted us upon entry into the venue, but it wasn’t as enticing as Dakta Dub yesterday so we moved on to the Bacardi Arena area. To our pleasant surprise, we found that the Red Bull Tour Bus stage was functional, and protected with a thick tarpaulin roof to boot. The show, it seemed, will go on.

The first artist up was a dreamy post-rock band from Bangalore called Until We Last. More than a little reminiscent of God Is An Astronaut, the band filled the stage and our heads with deep, complex and emotive music. After the rather harrowing experience on Saturday, it felt great to lounge on the grass on a Sunday afternoon, listening to atmospheric, thoughtful music. Perfect!

Until We Last

Until We Last

Now, it’s important to note here that the Bacardi Area and the Red Bull Tour Bus stages faced each other; to get from one to the other, you only had to cross a small stretch of ground. This turned out to be a stroke of logistical genius, we soon realized.

Ten seconds after the beautiful dream of Until We Last faded away, classic rock started pouring out of the speakers at the Bacardi Arena, where The Fender Benders had just begun their set. With true Indian legends like Amyt Dutta and Sanjay Divecha mesmerizing us with their Fender fretwork, it seemed impossible for the jazzy blues jam to get any better – until, of course, Mr. Warren Mendonsa himself stepped on stage. Jayanta Dasgupta’s Clapton-like swagger, Jai Row Kavi’s immaculate drumming, and Mendonsa’s mindblowing solos added to an atmosphere at the Arena that is impossible to put into words.

The Fender Benders: Amyt Dutta

The Fender Benders: Amyt Dutta

In one fell swoop, everyone present felt that the Weekender already paid its dues for a washed-out Saturday, and then some. The most magical moment of the set by far was when the whole ensemble performed the blues standard “Let the Good Times Roll” even as rain clouds rolled in. Whether it was a heaven-sent sign, a spirited directive or just a plain coincidence, it does not matter; that one minute became the Weekender’s Moment to Beat.

Warren Mendonsa

The Fender Benders: Warren Mendonsa

Needless to say, it is not an easy task to follow an act like the Fender Benders. And few bands can live up to the challenge quite like Skrat, a spunky grunge/garage rock band from Chennai. Sriram TT and his boys wowed the crowd from atop the Red Bull Tour Bus with their wild songs and unstoppable energy. Favorites like “Tin Can Man” crazed old fans and created new fans, while newer songs like “Samurai Badass” left everyone in awe of the young band’s raw talent. Props to Skrat for rousing up an enthusiastic and wholly unpretentious crew, too!

Skrat

Skrat

The second Skrat ended their tight, killer set, it was time to run back across the lawns to the Bacardi Arena, where the Baiju Dharmajan Syndicate began their set. The ex-Motherjane guitarist, self-styled as a Carnatic Guitar Maestro, led the audience into a mystical light and sound extravaganza that seemed to end all too quickly. If there was a negative about the act, it was the presence of the Syndicate’s rather douchey singer who tended to overpower Baiju’s soaring, poignant guitar.

Baiju Dharmajan

Baiju Dharmajan Syndicate

Finally, at around 6 pm, we caught our breath at Maria’s Goan Kitchen, located right near the now-hallowed Bacardi Arena and the Tour Bus stages. And not a drop of rain so far! Papon & the East India Company, headed by the talented Papon, were already setting up at the Bacardi Arena, but I rushed to the Other Stage for a promising set by my new favorite singer-songwriter Nischay Parekh. The Calcutta lad shot to fame during the festival A Summer’s Day, helped along by his phenomenal love song, “I Love You Baby, I Love You Doll”. Nischay’s colorful stage presence and beautiful voice was the icing on the cake of the unforgettable three hours so far.

Nischay Parekh

Nischay Parekh

After Nischay’s short and sweet set, I headed back to the Bacardi Arena, where I found the crowd in a sort of frenzy. And for good reason – Papon was singing “Banao”, his famous ode to Ms. Mary Jane! He closed off his set with a spectacular Assamese folk song about the Baisakhi festival, managing to get everyone (and I mean everyone) on their feet. Papon really has it all: grace, humility, stage presence, and a killer voice. I felt almost honored to see such a great artist live!

Papon & the East India Company

Papon & the East India Company

After 5 busy – and completely dry – hours, the crowd seemed to be trying to get rid of the ‘dry’ness in a different sort of way. By the time Australian indie rockers Hey Geronimo took over the Red Bull Tour Bus, only a handful of people managed to stay on their feet. The rest were plopped on the grass, finishing the last drops in their Bacardi buckets, and stayed that way through most of Swarathma’s set too.

Swarathma

Swarathma

Hunger coupled with tiredness from hours of non-stop excitement kept me away for nearly all of Karsh Kale Collective + The NH7 All-Stars but I’d already got my money’s worth. And no, it didn’t rain a single drop on Sunday.

So there you have it. Day 2 certainly filled us with music-induced happiness, but also left us with a sort of wistfulness of what Saturday might’ve been, had the heavens not opened up. Overall, the Weekender was a great, if not grand, success, and I’m certainly going to be back next year.

A look back: Day 1 at the Bacardi Weekender 2013, Bengaluru

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Bacardi Weekender 2013, Bengaluru: Day 1

28 Nov

In any enjoyable event of considerable length, there are always a few moments that shine a bit brighter than others. It’s not always clear why these moments in particular make it into this mental photo album. Maybe it was the confluence of several senses hitting you simultaneously. Maybe your mind just chose the most colorful, the most shocking or the most fun parts. Or maybe it was the way that you were both suspended in a moment that seemed to go on forever even as it ended too quickly.

When I flip through my mental photo album of the Bacardi Weekender 2013, Bengaluru edition, I don’t see the rains that played spoilsport on Saturday. I don’t see people craning to catch a view of Lucky Ali or Manganiyar Seduction betwixt myriad umbrellas. I don’t even see the fuming mob when TessaracT got cancelled.

Okay, maybe I see the last one a bit. (They were pretty angry.)

Anyway, the rather convoluted point that I am trying to make here is that at this year’s Bengaluru edition of the Weekender, the show really did go on. A sizeable chunk of artists, cutting across all genres, were cancelled on Saturday, and people stood drenched to the bone for hours to watch the artists that were lucky enough to perform. But they didn’t seem to care. When we left on Sunday night, there was no doubt that we were indeed leaving the Happiest Music Festival, in spite of every hiccup.

Let’s start from the beginning. Day 1 started off with a bus ride (Red Bull included!) that foretold of the day to come, with rain sprinkling fitfully as we headed to the venue. Once we got in, we marveled at NH7’s kickass aesthetic sense for a few minutes before heading straight to the stages. Unfortunately, the rain followed us there.

NH7 Aesthetics

However, the spirit of the festival-goer is not daunted so easily. We headed to the Breezer Stage, where Dakta Dub was entertaining the fast-filling crowd with their reggae beats. An unfurled Jamaican flag graced the laptop table. Dreadlocked members of their entourage danced with abandonment. A light rain, buoyed by breeze (get it?), tempered the air, and the stage turned electric with magic. Oh, and then Dakta Dub started playing Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up”. First entry into the photo album!

Dakta Dub

However, the next couple of acts didn’t fare so well, in my opinion. I never have been a big fan of metal, especially mediocre metal, so Bevar Sea at the Bacardi Arena really wasn’t anything to write home about. Singer-songwriter Winit Tikoo was rather forgettable as well. However, his song “GDS” did have a few nice moments from the band – especially the wall-like fuzz of the guitars and the confident bass.

With the Other Stage and Red Bull Tour Bus closed on account of roof-less-ness, we wandered to the Eristoff Wolves Den, the only other open stage, where we found the excellent Big City Harmonics. This guy had it all – the visuals, the lights and oh my, the beats. Definitely a find! Here, too, I added to my photo album: the radial lasers hit the vertical sprinkle of rain to create millions of tiny stars in the daytime. However, I don’t possess nearly enough photography skillz to capture that in a real photo, so that moment shall remain in my mind only.

Passing cursorily by Inner Sanctum (as I said, I’m not a big metal fan), we headed back to the Dewarists Stage for Lucky Ali. A seasoned performer, the man wowed the crowd with his stardom and sheer stage presence, and proceeded to sing everyone into a frenzy.

Lucky Ali

By that time, the good folks at NH7 had made arrangements to temporarily open up the Other Stage, where they skipped past Sulk Station and the F16s (sadly) to Kate Miller-Heidke. Under the makeshift red umbrella that sprouted up like a mushroom in the rain, the Australian singer-songwriter belted out gifted pop while dressed as Alice in Wonderland. It was a great experience!

Kate Miller-Heidke

After a quick bite at Faaso’s, we headed to Eristoff again for Shaa’ir + Func, starring Randolph Correia, Monica Dogra, and Monica Dogra’s midriff. I’ve never been a big fan of the band – I’m guessing it has something to do with my gender and orientation – but I will allow the fact that Monica Dogra has matchless energy and stage presence. Visuals aside, however, their live performance failed to impress me for the same reason as their recorded ones: they don’t have memorable songs.

Shaa’ir + Func

Soon, we left Ms. Dogra gyrating on stage to rush to the Dewarists Stage for the evening’s pièce de résistance (for non-metal fans), Manganiyar Seduction with Roysten Abel. The magic box of lights was already set up, piquing interest with its obvious theatricality. However, the uninitiated were simply left unprepared for the performance to follow. The way your heart flies as a Manganiyar singer lilts notes with his whirling hands; the thumping of your heart along with the big drums; the ecstasy when the rows and columns of the box light up all at once at the end… The moments are too many and too intense to recollect all at once. Needless to say, everyone in the audience was thoroughly seduced by the end.

Manganiyar Seduction

And thus ended Day 1 of the Weekender. The rain was the villain of the day, but thankfully there were quite a few heroes. We left the venue hoping for less rain and more magic on Sunday… and we weren’t disappointed.

Read on: Day 2 at the Bacardi Weekender 2013, Bengaluru

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The Best EDM Songs: A Guest List by Anish Sood

23 Sep

DJ Anish Sood

Greetings to the EDM enthusiasts among Top Five’s readers! Recently, new writer Ayeesha Khanna went to a gig by Anish Sood. After a little chat, India’s very own EDM poster boy agreed to let her in on a sacred list in the world of EDM: his top five EDM songs. Anish Sood has been in the industry for five years now, and is bigger than ever before. His ear for music and experience in production are showcased in the terrific list he complied for us.

1. “Crave You (Original Mix)” by Flight Facilities feat. Giselle

Also known as Hugo & Jimmy, Australian indie electro duo Flight Facilities began mixing songs by others artists in 2009. The duo consists of Hugo Stuart Gruzman and James “Jimmy” Nathan Lyell. Their first original track, “Crave You”, with vocals by Giselle Rosselli, was reelased in 2010. While the lyrics define a girl’s perspective on the ever-elusive chase, the music gradually increases the pulse of the song. The end result is an intoxicated mind on oscillating shoulders – or what Anish Sood refers to as ‘a serious tune’. With the sax accompaniment towards the end, it’s a one of a kind electronic production.

2. “Fifteen (Oxford Club Mix)” by Goldroom

In this classic version of the song, Goldroom wastes no time in making the listener want to shimmy. Right from the first second, the strong beats and slick tune boast of bold music production. And then the vocals kick in, Australian singer Chela and her divine voice catalysing the rush that comes with Fifteen. Dance Music has never seen sweeter days.

3. “You & Me (Original Mix)” by Disclosure feat. Eliza Doolittle

Eliza Doolittle’s brilliant vocals feature in this song by Disclosure, a British electronic garage-house duo. It released as a digital download in the United Kingdom very recently. Deep meaningful lyrics only add substance to the song, while the beats put you in fly-away mode, enhanced by the young couple in the video, shown back-packing across Europe. The music and Eliza’s voice unite in a mesmerizing union to produce classic house at its refreshing best.

4. “Reverse Skydiving (Shadow Child Remix)” by Hot Natured feat. Anabel Englund

Legendary vibes. That’s the first thing that comes to mind when you listen to Reverse Skydiving. Englund’sdreamy voice penetrates through your brain and sends it soaring as she says ‘You don’t have to jump to fly with me’. Soon you’re jumping anyway; earthy resounding beats replace her voice and you really can’t help yourself. Electronic music in your bones, this one.

5. “Jack (Original Mix)” by Breach

“I want your body, everybody wants your body, so let’s jack.” On repeat. For three booty-shaking minutes. A nasty mix of wild visuals with a swag-defining house tune, the song is full of opportunities to really get raunchy on the dancefloor. Mindless dance music. So let’s jack.

So there you have it. That was Anish Sood with his brilliant list of EDM songs. Let us know how it works out for you!

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Words by Ayeesha Khanna

An engineer by fluke, an artist by choice and a writer by default, Ayeesha finds herself in her happy place exploring new music and jabbering about how each song makes her feel. It’s not half bad. She’s like a mad scientist by day and hippie by night. Why, what colour is your raindrop?

Girish and the Chronicles at HRC, Hyderabad (5/9/2013)

18 Sep

“Love, peace… and rock n’ roll” reads the tag line on their Facebook page. After attending their recent gig at Hard Rock Cafe in Hyderabad, the writer is as unsure of the first two as he is certain of the third.

All photos from Girish and the Chronicles' Facebook page

All photos taken from Girish and the Chronicles’ Facebook page

Girish and the Chronicles (GnTC) are absolutely no-nonsense when it comes to making “good” rock music. They are among a fast disappearing group of musicians in India today: musicians who don’t scream profanities in the name of death metal, show fingers to all and sundry, or puke sloppy emo stuff for people whose intellectual bandwidth rarely betters that of the bovine.

In other words, they are pretty much perfect for lovers of true, classic hard rock.

But first, here’s some introduction. GnTC, hailing from Gangtok, Sikkim, are a four-member group fronted by the ebullient Girish Pradhan, son of Nepali singer Bimla Pradhan. Legend has it that, up there in the mountains, good ol’ rock n’ roll runs in the veins, with kids picking up guitars before pencils, and it certainly seems to be the case here. GnTC’s talent isn’t the type to be acquired over the years. It’s innate. Intuitive. Heartfelt.

The first thing I noticed about GnTC was Girish’s powerful vocal range. I had heard some of his cover songs before on YouTube, and yes, I was pretty darn impressed, but this was unlike anything I had heard in my life. It was staggering. His voice reached peaks and troughs that could have rivaled the very best in the world, and there we were, being given a taste of such talent in good old Hyderabad.

They did some OCs in the beginning – songs ranging from hard rock (“The Revolving Barrel”) to softer and more melodic stuff (“A New Beginning”) and then moved on to what they really do best – covers. As the handful of people who had gathered that evening watched on in awe and wonder, GnTC took almost every big name in the history of rock music by the scruff of its neck, and gave the crowd their own version of the classics in the most incredible way possible.

First up was AC/DC. “Highway to Hell” was sent flying over the boundary amid an ecstatic crowd., followed closely by “TNT”. One couldn’t help but admire the sheer power unleashed in Girish’s vocals. Any classic rock fan will vouch that Brian Johnson’s vocals are probably one of the most difficult to mimic in a live event – but here was Girish, pulling it off perfectly.

Next up was a well-executed cover of Pink Floyd‘s evergreen “Another Brick in the Wall”, followed by a dedication to all the happy couples in the crowd that prefaced Bon Jovi‘s “Always”. It was scarcely believable that the same person could shriek like Brian Johnson and Bon Scott and could do as much justice to a starkly-opposite song a half hour later!

Soon, GnTC went even back further back in time, treating us to a couple of behemoths from one of those genre-defining albums in the timeline of rock: Led Zeppelin IV. Their stunning execution of “Black Dog” and “Rock and Roll” was sublime enough to move even the staunchest Led Zep lovers to tears. And the fact that Suraz Karki – the chap on lead guitars – looked a lot like Jimmy Page only helped things.

All photos taken from Girish and the Chronicles' Facebook page

All photos taken from Girish and the Chronicles’ Facebook page

Now, “Rock and Roll” is a considered by many rock aficionados to be a “complete” song, because it lacks absolutely nothing on any front – be it drums, guitars, bass or vocals. The mere attempt to cover it is bold, but it was no surprise that GnTC nailed it, hook, line and sinker.

After an exceptional cover of the Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues”, Girish announced that they would now experiment a bit off their conventional classic rock act, and the band shifted effortlessly into Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. What blew our minds wasn’t their skilled execution of these classics; it wasn’t their flawless faithfulness to the originals. No, what blew our minds was the consummate ease with which they seemed to shift from AC/DC to Pink Floyd, from Bon Jovi to Skid Row, or from Led Zeppelin to Nirvana.

It had been over ninety minutes of GnTC belting out song after song, classic after classic, and the evening was nearing its tragic end. Girish then put his guitar aside and told a now-frenzied crowd that GnTC would give them two options for the closing song. And as a tribute to the greatest hard rock band of all time – Guns n Roses – it would either be “Welcome to the Jungle” or “Sweet Child O’ Mine”. With this announcement, the crowd went berserk; and with no clear winner by popular vote, GnTC decided to do both.

All photos taken from Girish and the Chronicles' Facebook page

All photos taken from Girish and the Chronicles’ Facebook page

In 2009, VH1 bestowed the honor of “greatest hard rock song of all time” to “Welcome to the Jungle”, and there’s a clear reason why. The song embodies the soul of hard rock, and GnR’s 80s-era swagger itself. It was a truly fitting addition to GnTC’s hard rock night. Girish’s vocals reached new heights of brilliance in the song, as he brought in Axl’s throaty screams in a manner that would have made old Axl ring his lawyers. For the final song of the evening, they embarked on “Sweet Child o’ Mine”, arguably the world’s most loved power-ballad; and Hard Rock Cafe has never lived up to its name as it did during that song. Girish’s vocals reached meteoric heights for one last time that evening, and Suraz did complete justice to the solo that, even after a million listens, never fails to amaze the listener.

Girish cemented a lasting mark in the minds of every person who was present there that evening. This gig wasn’t just a tribute to the names and the bands that had shaped a genre we all love. It was proof that in an age of musical blasphemy – when Justin Beiber and Lady Gaga manage to garner more Twitter followers than all the bands of the yesteryears put together – there is still hope that somewhere out there, someone, with a guitar, still plays good ol’ rock music.

– Subhayan Mukerjee (@wrahool)

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AlterEgoz at Hard Rock Cafe, Hyderabad (29/8/2013)

4 Sep

alteregoz

AlterEgoz call themselves a “purely classic rock band”.

They started off in 2001 in Hyderabad – citing an all-encompassing list of influences ranging from the Beatles, through to the Police via Rush – and in their decade long career, they’ve played hither and thither around the country; at times sharing the stage with biggies like Parikrama and Mrigya.

Not surprisingly, they’ve done quite a few gigs at the Hard Rock Cafe in Hyderabad, and August 29th was probably just another one in their list. For the writer however, it was his first taste of the famous HRC, and when he left the place after the gig was over, he was – to put it bluntly – far from satisfied.

The gig was dubbed “a tribute to Pink Floyd”, and there was nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with the band’s performance, or their execution of the songs. They had the energy, the talent and the required eye candy to keep every classic rock lover hooked till the end – but the main reason we remained till the end, as I realised later was that – everyone was waiting to hear and sing along to – some songs that actually come to your mind when you hear the name Pink Floyd.

Thus, what was missing was a proper setlist. I can only wonder how insane the evening would have been, had the band put their talent to cover songs like “Wish you were here”, “Coming back to life”, “High Hopes”, “Time”, “Money”, “A Great Gig in the Sky”, “Brain Damage”, “Shine on you Crazy Diamond” and an infinite other songs which actually made Pink Floyd the milestone in rock music that they were.

Instead, what we were treated to, was Pink Floyd’s most exhausting and … must I say… dull double album in their entire discography – the Wall.

AlterEgoz live at HRC, Hyderabad

AlterEgoz live at HRC, Hyderabad

They started out the evening with their cover of the opening track from The Wall (Disc 1) – In the Flesh – and what struck me at first, was their style of play. It was brilliant: the guitars, the vocals, the drums – oozing with technical proficiency. I’ve heard Dream Theater cover In the Flesh in one of their albums. so my expectations were set high. But AlterEgoz reached that bar, and maybe even bettered it. After all, DT’s Pink Floyd covers lack the inherent “soul” – mostly because they really cannot do justice to the vocals. This was, however, spot on.

After this initial peak however, it was downhill all the way. Yes, The Wall is a brilliant album; In fact, it is one of the most critically acclaimed progressive albums of all time – but it isn’t something you do at an evening gig. Pink Floyd did do several Wall concerts in their career, but those were concerts which involved elaborate theatrics, animations and pyro effects – which is how a true progressive music concert is generally supposed to be. The moment you take the “grandeur” and associated magnificence out of a “prog” music concert, a concept album doesn’t fit the bill at all. With this limitation, and given that the crowd in a cafe at 10 PM aren’t really in a mood to understand the subtleties of such an album, they should have used their talent better to choose more relevant songs. Instead what continued was the rest of the Wall – the Thin Ice, Another Brick in the Wall, The Happiest Days of our Lives, Mother and so on. Technically and execution wise, there was nothing wrong. But it still resulted in the crowd getting more and more jittery for songs that everybody could sing to. Another Brick in the Wall Part 2 was one such rare instance that got the entire cafe singing along, and later, Hey You and Comfortably Numb (from The Wall Disc 2) elicited a lot of cheering. (Comfortably Numb, in fact was done so exquisitely well that it’d probably have made David Gilmour shed a tear of joy, in the extreme case that he had heard this.)

To be honest, it was a good gig. If you are one of those, who worship Pink Floyd and bow down in front of an effigy of Roger Waters before going to bed, you’d have loved it. They even had an old guy who played the harmonica, and a young girl who played the oboe to get as close to Floyd as possible.

But then, when I hear “Pink Floyd”, I’m looking for certain songs. Unfortunately enough, none of those were heard that evening.

– Subhayan Mukerjee

Subhayan is the quintessential Bengali who likes maach-bhaat and porashona. He has a big thing for cars, and an acquired and somewhat esoteric taste in many things – including, but not limited to music.

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