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CHORDS AND NOTES
Time Traveler Rahul Sharma
(Sa Re Ga Ma, Rs. 295)
Some credit must be attributed to Rahul for not calling it `fusion', although it is a merging of sorts. Smooth rhythmic vibrations of Electronica mellow out listeners and engage them with some contemporary santoor melodies. There are a few doses of nostalgic New Orleans in `1960-Travelling to New Orleans', once and still a capital for beautiful music, a fitting tribute.
From experience, this album is capable of converting you into a santoor fan even if you don't start out as one. This album explores the various dimensions of music made obvious by the tracks `The Temptress', which is an obvious stab at Club or just incorporates what is almost a hip-hop element, and `Manzille', which all through the album remains a signature melody. On an interesting note, in an ongoing `remix' fad, it was nice to see a second draft of `Manzille' wasn't called one, another credit. The song also features the only vocal performance by Rahul.
Arctic Monkeys: Whatever
People Say I Am, That's What
I'm Not
EMI Music, CD, Rs. 350
"Anticipation has a habit to set you up/ For disappointment," sings Arctic Monkey's Alex Turner. As you go through the rest of the album, you release that you should have picked up on that premonition, delivered to you on a silver platter. After all, look up the Arctic Monkeys, and you'll hear news of how their album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, made history by becoming the fastest selling debut album on the U.K. charts. And yet, like so much of Britpop nowadays, you really have to ask what all the fuss is about.
It's not like they're the worst punk band you can find on the charts nowadays. On the contrary, they're easily one of the better acts out there. They've got a great sound, as stripped down and gritty as you'd like after years of listening to wishy-washy bands like Coldplay. And piggybacked on that is a nice set of vocals and fairly quirky lyrics. Switch on this album and you'll invariably find yourself air-drumming to it.
However, that's pretty much where it ends. Whatever People Say... is catchy, but wholly unremarkable. Going halfway through the album, you realise that it lacks imagination. After a while, all the songs tend to meld together in your head. The powerhouse beginning that "The view from the afternoon", "I bet you look good on the dance floor" and "Fake tales of San Francisco" gives way to an album that settles into a nice, familiar groove and bleeds it dry. And the quirky, observational humour that you found attractive in the first few songs starts to feel artificial, lacking as it does the ability to make any observations of philosophical weight. At the end of it all, what you have is a decent punk, pub rock album.
Aise Na Dekho Mujhe
T Series
It's a case of survival through singing, anyhow. Kumar Sanu, who created a world record by recording the maximum number of songs in a day a few years ago, seems to have no film offers these days. Hence, the man with a voice that once reminded us of Kishore Kumar, has come out with this album. It has some 10 songs, and most qualify as being forgettable.
Yet the title song is hummable. It creates a tempo with serene notes, but as we reach the song "Na main", our hopes of some euphonic numbers dash to the ground.
The song "Dheere Se" makes use of tabla and sitar quite judiciously. It instils in us some hope that Sanu can still sing. "Chala Do" begins with some foot-tapping notes but ends up with disappointment.
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