PULI Audio Review

Dochey: This is the stand-out song in the album as it has this funky arrangement with the steady hip-hop beat(which is the same as “Gangasta Blues” from Slumdog Millionaire). Lady Kash & krissy don’t have much to do but the hook, which is pretty neat. Shreya Ghoshal breezes off as expected. What I didn’t get is the total character change from pallavi to charanam for Shreya’s vocals. The pallavi vocals are more sensual but in charanam, a lot more importance was given to melody by loosing the sensual flavor of the pallavi, which seemed totally out of character. The tune is perfectly fine, I wish the sensual flavor was carried across the whole song.

Amma Thalli: The first thing that strikes in this song is the female vocals, where the tempo is faster than the song’s tempo. This is a great experiment by AR and works wonderful for the song. I didn’t get the raga change from pallavi to charanam, but after repeated hearings and listening to the lyrics carefully, I realized what the intent was. This song actually explores the different shades of the girl pestering the guy. Hence the raga change. Compare the song mood/sequence to “Adavari Matalaku Ardhale Veeru le” song from Kushi.

Maralante: This is typical AR stuff and has a very good tune which represents melancholy, and standing up to the challenge from it. The “maa telugu thalli” chorus was good but could have been executed better. It’s a great feeling to hear “maa telugu thalli” wordings in AR’s vocals. All in all a pretty standard AR number.

Maham Maye: The hook is really catchy here and the pallavi is really good. Charanam has nothing to catch on to. Increasingly, AR songs are having this trend where in you just have to listen to what is going on at that point of the song without comparing it to any other part of the song, meaning you might not find much connection to pallavi and charanam but both are good in their own terms. This is a prime example of such a trend.

Power Star: I hate the hook “Power Star” here, it’s too clichéd, and there is nothing much to write about this song, it could have been so much better and explosive but just falls flat.It’s just a subpar attempt in making a break out song.

Nammakame: This is typical AR stuff and is very similar to “oo palan hare” from Lagaan. No experimentation or nothing new to hear in this one.

Overall it’s a below average album from AR, with some very good experiments without taking into account the bad pronunciation across all songs. I think the main culprit is the lyrics. There are a lot of places where the lyrics didn’t fit the tune and hence the butchering of the language by the singers. It’s very important for a lyricist to understand the tune, know what syllables would be right and at the same time convey the message that needs to be conveyed.

Some how I feel post 90ties, direct telugu albums of AR, are not good nor bad, they’re just plain weird. It would be great if someone successfully extracts the “telugudanam” in the tunes from AR, but unfortunately this is not the one, and I doubt if this album will get any future hearings from me after a while.

I AM TELUGU

BACKGROUND:
By now everyone should know how much i hate telugu music and movies. I’ve been very critical about them from my childhood, except that i express it openly now. For me Music and movies are not just for entertainment, i study them deeply, i want to contribute to them and i wanna make them better. In IT terms, me going to a movie is like going to a company to study their new exciting product, a new module of the software you’re working on, an upgraded version to the existing software, and you know you have to learn the software to have the edge in the industry.
Now, if its a mani ratnam, ram gopal varma, or any other prolific director’s movie, its like getting exclusive 2 hr access to google, IBM, Microsoft or any MNC to view their products. You are like a child in there trying to learn as much as you can. Naturally, when i see a product not worth my time, i go hard on it coz they had all available means to do the product but failed to produce high quality results.
I dont like to call it criticizing but i call it demanding a better quality product. If its from an amateur musician or film maker, then its a whole different case..you know they have a lot of limitations and hence however bad it is you encourage them to grow to perfection.

TEXT:
Off late i tried to reason with myself about criticism over anything telugu. The deepest, purest explanation i have to this is my unconditional love for my land and my people. I realised i’m the product of this great land, so when i’m looked upon as an outsider for my views, i take it as a good thing, coz this very land which gave you your sensibilities, gave me the gift of viewing it in an third person’s point of view, this very land blessed me with a thirst for quality products, this land gave me the power to view what people of this land can achieve, and this land gave me THE PRIDE to say that i don’t want to settle for anything less coz my people are better than this.

FINALE:
I love my land and i love my country, but that doesn’t mean i agree with whatever it gives out, i demand better sensibilities and tastes from my people coz our land deserves it.

Inhibitions of a Confused Mind

This article is the afterthoughts from the article written by RGV in his blog called “Work”. This article is also a follow-up of the article i’ve written in my blog called “State of Mind”.

PREMISE:
Society, Education, Responsibilities, Status, Security, Future and Money. These are the words that poison my soul to death. I realized i’m an artist when i’m 27. That’s one of the saddest things that has happened to me. By artist, i mean free spirited, living by the rules of nature and nature alone, desire to make a living by doing things that i want to do, and lastly, dreaming is in my “to do list”.

STORY:
From my childhood, i used to question my average skills in studies. This is hugely because i was born in a third world country with a billion people struggling to survive. The only way out of the gutter was to get ur education. If your poor in studies you’d be a loser, if your’re average you gone end up as middle class and if you excel you’d become rich. This was and is the general norm in the indian society. In this jungle, with animals of all kinds competing for survival, i was the reserved, sensitive, emotional and average soul going around not knowing what the heck was going on. I was put into institutions which preached this philosophy and punished for being average. I’m not saying education ruined me, that is what bought me here so i don’t question it. I just wanted to do more than just education.
Art was not even an afterthought those days. Today, when i have the chance to pursue my dreams, society comes up with those words i mentioned, binding my soul from doing what i came to this world to do. Recently, i went out for dinner with some of my friends. So, one of my friend asked me “What are your dreams?”, so i told him this,
“Everyday, from the moment i wake up till i go back to sleep, i want to do what i want to do, be it making movies or music”. For this he asked me something like “are your wife and kids anywhere in the picture”. He was implying that, you have to takecare of ur kids first and then u can do whatever you want.
This made me reminded of my dad saying the same exact thing when i was in my high school.

FLASHBACK:
I sucked bad at math and the night before the math exam, i gave up and told him i don’t want this, i don’t want to study, i don’t see the purpose and i cant learn anything without knowing where i can apply it, for that he said coolly “Will you do ITTC or some course?”, so i asked curiously, what’s that course abt and he said “they will teach you minimum skills to do certain things, and then you can put up your own cycle repair shop”. It was like a freaking slap on my face, and so, after my emotional outburst he told me “try to do your education, get a job, and after you settle down, u can pursue whatever you like”.

Now, i did what was asked, but, there is society telling me of my new responsibilities. I should really thank god for giving me a wife that understands me as a person and as an artist. A wife ready to take up responsibilities to facilitate my struggle to reach higher. OK! so what’s the catch.


CLIMAX:
Dreaming is easy, having the courage to pursue them is tough. Though my wife is ready for the plunge i’m not. You know why? Coz , i’ve been programmed by society not to give up responsibilites.
As i said in the STORY, society has bound my soul with the terms from PREMISE, to make CLIMAX my reality putting these inhibitions in my confused mind.

Hope i can gather enough courage to make the final plunge.

END:

MANJHA!!!

• So, all of you must have seen my relentless marketing for “Slumdog Millionaire” , by having it as my orkut title from November 2008 till Feb 2009 until the day it got an oscar. Something in this movie struck a chord and before watching it i knew it would be a sensation, there was this shear energy around this movie, starting from the toronto film festival. So, the other day i rented out the blu-ray version to check out director comments, behind the scenes and also a short-film included in the blue-ray version called “MANJHA”.
• I first read abt manjha at passionforcinema.com. This is a marathi movie made by Rahi Anil Barve. The film was running around in the indian film festivals but it got noticed by danny boyle through anurag kashyup(director of DEV D, No Smoking). We must really thank danny boyle to showcase indian talent at a world stage coz this movie is THE BOMB.
• A hard-hitting in the face drama abt child molestation. Its uncompromising to say the least and the mood doesn’t alter for a second. This is the kind of cinema indians should embrace.These kind of topics are conveniently put aside in the indian society as if it doesn’t exists, as if we are all at a higher level from the world, have a better culture from the rest of the world, and all these are not for india. Well, because of this ignorance and pride of our culture coupled with poverty and illiteracy that india is such a vulnerable place for children.
• We are scared to talk about these issues and so we pretend they don’t exists. People must be educated about these sensitive issues especially in a country like india and efforts have to be done to reduce poverty and illiteracy.
• You can start educating yourself by watching this movie. Unfortunately this movie is available only on the Blu-ray disc of slumdog millionaire.

Thanks to danny boyle for discovering india and help us rediscover it.

Rick Ross - Deeper Than Rap

Yo! Yo! Yooo! Wasss’up Y’all . OK! i’m here to write abt Hip-Hop and how it has unknowingly taken a lot of my listening time. Why i like Hip-Hop? Everything abt it is freaking cool man, from the bling, the whips, the rhymes and of course the beats. Recently i was listening to Rick Ross’s new outing “Deeper Than Rap”.Here's my take on it.
Listening to a couple of songs in the album you’ll immediately understand the signature thing of RR. The songs are filled with all these fairy, rich, dreamy synths/keys/melodies making the music sound rich. Literally you are feeling rich and wealthy listening to it. Pump up that music in your car and you feel like ur in a Maybach, living the rich life. Well, That’s a very good way of selling records, and the immense publicity from the beef with 50 cent helped the album too.
For me, the break out song is “Magnificent” feat John Legend , though “Mafia Music” is running around the stations more. I dont like “Mafia Music” coz the tune of the song is very similar to “Runaway Love” by ludacris feat Mary.J.Blige .I like Magnificent coz of its punchy beats and all the bells & whistles going around it as in any other RR song from this album. Though I dint dig John Legends Hook, which apparently he tuned it by himself, the arrangement of the song saves it.The next song for me is “Maybach Music” feat T-Pain, kanye West and Lil Wayne. The hook here is amazing, i luuuv the tune and the vocals of this. This is again accompanied by the signature touches but, would have loved if the beats were more punchy, they seemed soft for my taste.
You’ve got a parade of artists collaborating for this album as is the general norm of Hip-Hop artists these days. It’s a good thing though coz you’ve got variety in the album with a lot of inputs coming in from different talents. Overall a very good album, chk it out!

P.S.: 50 cents has left Interscope and signed a deal worth 100 million with Live nation.

SARVAM MUSIC REVIEW

I must admit that tamil music is my biggest inspiration.It is just in a different league from other music(including bollywood).They have such great "NOW" tunes, and they tend to give glimses of the future of Indian music.I believe this is mainly because of the language.Tamil is so right for music, the sounds of the language complement so well with musical instruments.It just is a cool language.Anyways, So lets get on with the review...shall we
I never liked yuvan shankar raja's music.It was too maas for me.But sarvam changed it.Yuvan's style is that he uses a lot of percusion, drums, heavy stuff , meaning hisarrangements are always heavy, and it worked quite well in this movie.I've always disliked his heavy usage of apple loops, but this time i got over it.
1. Siragugal: This song is definitely the break out song of the album.Its got all the thingsneeded for a great duet.A great tune with again trademark heavy arrangments.Vocals are okand for me its a different take on duets yuvan style.
2. Kaatrukulli: Sung by yuvan himself, this is a great slow number.I love the arrangment here,especially the sound with which the song starts off with and which stays for almost its entirity.My analysis of the origin of this sound is from the sound of a drop falling in water.By adding effectsi believe we can acheive this sound, but its just a guess.The tune of this just progresses ahead for more than usual and sounds good too.Love the guitar inbetween.
3. Adada va: Sung by his dad - Illayaraja, this song is a great experiment.The hip hop beat is just sick, and the flute is WICKKEEED.The structure of the song doesn't follow any norms and is just wild.Tune for english vocals is just ok, could have been better.But overall an awesome number.
All other songs follow the general norm of tamil music, i.e hip, cool and different for outsiders.
I urge everyone to check out tamil music, pick up any AR's albums or u can pick this one too.

Glimpses of the future of music:

I miss u da from Sakkarakatti - A.R.Rahman.
Adada va from Sarvan - Yuvan shankar raja.

Organised Chaos

Organised chaos is the word to be used to define Amit Trivedi’s Dev D soundtrack. Yes! i’m still an ardent fan of AR and he’s still the god of music. But, sometimes i feel like rahman’s music is too perfect, without any small missteps, no little off notes..its just damn perfect.He’s like the guy who always gets a 100/100 and always is on top, going abt his business of coming first in class, but then there’s this cool kid who always is on the playground, chilling with his buds, talking abt girls, porn and his experiences but mysteriously manages to get good grades. This is Amit Trivedi, the new 29 year old kid on the block whose second OST Dev D (first being Aamir) is just.....Organised Chaos.
A masterful piece of work, brilliantly woven with layers and layers of emotions as demanded by the script. Arrangement is sooo unique, clever, hip, funky and what not..and the vocal tunes bending all the laws of composing but still having melody and flow.This is experimentation at its best and this is the first time i feel Best Music Director of the year award should go to this guy, just to encourage experimental music and give a huge pat on his back.I strongly recommend this album to all music lovers coz these kind of albums dont come often, and when you stubble over such music u just pick it up, add it to ur playlist and hit the repeat button.

TAKE A BOW Amit Trivedi.
Applause plzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Taubha tera jalwa
Taubha tera pyaaaaaaar
Tera Emosanal Attyaachaaaar
Bol Bol Why did u ditch me
Jindagi bhi le le yaar kill me
Whooooooooooore!!!!!!!”
- From Emosonal Attyachar Brass Band Version