Suneeta Rao - Waqt

Rating: 5/10

For: Everyone as such but especially women and people who religiously follow indi-pop.

Strengths: Solid vocals by Suneeta, rocking title track, a social message.

Weaknesses: Slightly outdated genre/sound dominates the album. Other songs don't keep up with the rocking title track.

Best Songs: Waqt, Lage More Nain
Avoidable Songs: Aaj Mohe, Ye Zameen

The lady who gave us 'Pari Hun Main' and 'Ab ke Baras' is back and after quite a long gap actually! To start off, the album was better than I expected and the title song surprised me, but it all dies down by the time you reach the end. Nevertheless, Suneeta does very good on the vocals and some songs are enjoyable. And a decent attempt at sending a social message across with a song called 'Sun Zara'. So let's go to the songs..

Easily, the best song of the album is 'Waqt'. It simply rocks and Im sure most people will like it - I hope they make a video of this. It's got a very heavy and divine sound with a constant bass guitar rhythm backing it. The beats are crisp, the intermittent distortion guitar seems in place and the vocals are just fine!

The next song 'Ishq Da' is pretty run-of-the-mill except its got a nice hookline ('Ishq da maar mere..') which she renders pretty well in several variations throughout the song but the rest as I said, is pretty ordinary. It's totally a 'Mehboob Mere' (Fiza) kinda song and she infact sounds a lot like Sunidhi Chauhan at the beginning :) - so if this suits you, please go ahead and listen to this.

'Lage More Nain' is sweet, right from the start. It is very raag-based and is a very soothing and innocent song which deserves some praise - especially for the vocals and the use of baansuri and a very different bright piano sound.

'Sun Zara' is the most talked about song which already has a video released on TV I guess - it's on youtube at least. The idea behind it is noble and it's got support from an NGO called 'UNFPA' too as a protest against female foeticide, but this message could have been delivered with a more powerful and catchy composition. The video is good enough to catch your attention but as a song, you won't really listen to it on repeat - pretty outdated dhol beats, ordinary melody and really everything is just ok.

'Indian Girl' is another tribute to Indian women and this one is actually better than the earlier song. It doesn't really come off as a strong anthem for the woman but works well as a modest tribute to her. This again has a very classical sound mixed with good use of distortion guitar and a table/drums combination. It at times reminds you of a very famous Parikrama song - 'But it rained' and is another one worth giving a shot.

Out of the last three, 'Aaj Mohe' and 'Ye Zameen' are something I won't recommend and they sound like just bonus tracks waiting to be skipped. The sound is the same - dhol mix level beats and just regular tunes. The awkward pitch bends in the background in Ye Zameen are actually very annoying!

'Ye Dooriyan' is something which might stick and you can listen to a lot and like the ones that do sound good in the album, this song is also raag-based and I don't think it's just me but this formula (classical based composition mixed with catchy beats and fillers) actually works these days! Only that this song is pretty long and gets a bit monotonous.

Overall, for an album which took 9 months to make (as per Suneeta Rao), it is very ordinary, but the title song rocks and 2-3 other songs are not too bad either and since she's released an album after quite a while and I respect her as a singer and a performer, I don't regret buying this album!

Indian Ocean - Live in Delhi DVD

For: Indian Ocean fans!! Rock fans.

Indian Ocean is born to play live! They had released an original live album back in 1997 (Desert Rain) when they weren’t very well known and now 11 years later, they’ve released a DVD of a concert in Delhi they did in Nov 2006. It’s rare for Indian bands, but releasing concert DVDs is a popular idea in the west, and I am glad they did this.

The DVD is around 2 hours long with 10 songs. I had seen them live in 2005 at MoodI (IIT Bombay) and watching this DVD was like reliving that experience! They’re always in almost the same attire with bassist/vocalist Rahul Ram in his usual Al Qaeda uniform and there’s something special about a guy dressed like a Mullah with a foot long beard singing ‘Are ruk ja re bandeh’ with all that passion!

This concert starts of pretty vanilla compared to the one I saw which started with Bandeh and that one just took off from the very first song. This one starts with Kya Maloom (also called Teevra Aandhi, from the album Kandisa) and the DVD got stuck halfway through this song, and you don’t expect that with original stuff! The performance however, is very crisp and I wish my DVD was as good as the show! They follow this one with Melancholic Ecstasy from Desert Rain which is a lesser known song you can easily skip in the DVD if you are too eager for the songs to come!

The next song is Jhini (From the album Jhini), and you have no reason to forward this DVD for the next 25 minutes because this song is followed by Bandeh – the song everyone came to listen to, and Hille Le – the most upbeat song they’ve ever made!

Bandeh is slightly different from the original as there’s just one guitarist (Sushmit) playing and the distortion is absent, but there is absolutely no lack of energy and you will be head banging all the way through this song! Infact you can hear the audience also singing along in this one while Hille Le is the most enjoyable one of ssthem all and Asheem (vocals/percussion) really owns the stadium when he begins this song!

The next two songs (Bol Weevil from Desert Rain and Bhor from Jhini) are again less heard and it shows with the audience settling down and calmly enjoying these two elaborate compositions. You can actually skip Bhor if its gets too long for you (it’s around 15 minutes!)

You can’t miss the last three songs though – Maa Rewa, Kandisa and Kaun. Maa Rewa plays over 15 minutes but every minute is simply superb! The Jugalbandi itself is over 10 minutes and pure skill! Kandisa, for those who still haven’t heard, is this beautiful rendition of an ancient hymn in Aramaic and Kaun is another very nice song from the same album with a very Middle-Eastern sound.

So overall, in spite of the possibility of your DVD being as corrupted as the one I bought, for an Indian Ocean fan, this is a must have and must keep.

Also, I would appreciate if you can share any Indian Ocean concert experience in the comments section.

Rishi

Rating: 5/10

For: Listening to while traveling/driving, general non-film pop-hungry crowd.

Strengths: A little variety, good instruments / arrangement, guitars.

Weaknesses: Lack of good/catchy melodies, ordinary lyrics, just-average vocals.

Best Songs: Saamne, Zameen, Samjho Na
Avoidable songs: Get Lucky, Jaa Khula Hai.

Recently, quite a few artists have been given breaks by Universal and Rishi is another example. Unfortunately, so far none of those guys (for e.g. Raeth) turned it into something really big and I won’t easily put my money on Rishi either.

Hard work has definitely gone into the album, but not in the right areas. Various styles and arrangements have been tried out, with the songs mostly centered on the guitar and full marks for the sound, variety and skill with the instruments, but the album lacks good lyrics, catchy melodies and strong vocal performance - the very three characteristics of a blockbuster!

Now to the songs..

'Saamne' is the peppiest song and suitably the title track. Also, experimentation is at its least in this one with very simple beats, melody and limited use of words! The sound is very synthetic and this one has hardly any guitars in it. Grooving to this song is quite easily and you start humming it once you listen to it a couple of times. This is the only song with a remix in the album, and since the original itself is power-packed, and the vocals have been ambushed in the remix, I think you should just stick to the original!

'Zameen' starts off very Lucky Ali-ish and carries the feel good feeling all the way. The sound is rich with acoustic guitar chords dominating the instruments. This is one of those songs you like the first time but lose interest later, mainly because there is a lot of beating-around-the-bush with the structure of the song and the hook lines take too much time to come back.

'Samjho Na' is a surprise. Great work on the vocals by Mathangi Rajshekhar (Rishi doesn't sing this one). The groove though, is very similar to a recent remix on 'Babuji Dheere Chalna'. This song is pretty ethereal and is really good to use while traveling.

‘Tumsa’ and ‘Yarana’ sort of branch out of the title track (Saamne) with a little more guitar packed into them and are pretty monotonous with just average tunes and lyrics. ‘Tumsa’ actually sounds like the sequel to ‘Lady’ by ‘Modjo’ with a very similar bass line, but somehow doesn’t score well.

The vocals are disappointing in ‘Get Lucky’ – just not the kind of song suited for his voice and the song gets too complicated after a minute, to the extent of being called silly. With hardly any direction, this is the least recommended song of the album.

‘Jaa Khula Hai’ is another one like ‘Zameen’ and has slightly better lyrics but it’s all too monotonous by the time you get to this.

The last track is an interesting instrumental trance number called ‘Gumm’. This one’s very different from all the other songs and will score with you if you fancy trance music.

Overall this album has just-good-enough songs but nothing memorable. If you have cash to spare, get this one for the top 2-3 songs.