1.    Jao Piya They come back with one more massive stunner, as Maati Baani has now mastered the production of some of the best Indian classical fusion today. Continuing with the great singles that they have released in 2022, here we have Nirali Kartik and Kartik Shah (duo of Matti Baani) featuring two splendid Indian instrumentalists in Ambi Subramaniam and Abhay Nayampally have a fantastic duel on the Violin and Carnatic guitar respectively (a modified version of the guitar that sounds like the Mandolin his Guru U Srinivas played).  Kartik produces this breathtaking rollercoaster of a song while both NIirali and Kartik compose it. Nirali lends her voice and Kartik also plays the acoustic guitars. The song straight away begins with Abhay on the Carnatic guitars and immediately followed by the Tap dance. The rest of the cast on instruments are a global list of musicians, with some from Ukraine, was it all symbolic in a way to spread peace and send a message? Apparently the music was created and recorded mushc before the war, and coincidentally the day the song released, was also when the Russian attack on Ukraine began. The musicians are Anastasiia Avramenko, Sergey Ostapenko on Tap dance, German Dmitriev, Olga Ulyashenko on Violin, Alanys Arauz, Sanja Smileska on Viola, Isidora Novakovic on the Cello. Tao Issaro plays the Cajon and the bassist is Shalini Mohan. The solo on the Violin is brisk and solid and there are influences of Raag Sarang strewn around, but vaguely I also heard some traces of Carnatic Raag Kaapi. The interlude on the Carnatic guitar and Konnakol is interesting like a Jugalbandhi and Ambi and Abhay then set the tone for a violin – guitar tete-a-tete. The anatara showcases Nirali’s prowess as a singer and Anubha Bhat joins in as the music supervisor. Don’t forget to pay attention to the percussions on Cajon and the Tapdance and the cool underlying tones on the bass guitar. Francisco Nicholson has mixed and mastered the track, and editing and grading is by Kartik.  2.     Nachchesinde I have been listening to some of the singles by RR Dhruvan and whether his indie projects or movie albums. This is one spectacular number that enthralls the listener, accompanies by some very effective instruments, and a top-notch vocal exhibition by Sid Sriram. I particularly loved the acoustic guitars by Joel Sastry, who also plays the electric guitars. The beats and percussion have that very recognizable tone like the song “Venmathiye” by Harris Jayaraj. The song is composed, arranged by Dhruvan and programmed by Bharth Madhusdhan.  The stanza has a very fine melody and as it progresses, I sensed some similarities with SPB’s “Ayiram NIlave Vaa” especially towards the end. Kasarla Shyam is the lyricist and the song is mixed and mastered by Shadab Rayeen. The Sarangi is played by Manonmani in the second interlude reminding us of the interlude from the AR Rahman number “Snegithane” in the movie ‘Alaipayuthe’.  3.     LighthouseStevie is a musician who I have already featured before for a track called ‘Free’ where it was a band called ‘Nobody’ and Steve played a part in the band. Stevie goes solo here with vocals, but hands over the sound design and production to Rhenius Hudson. The splendid solo on Violin you hear right from the start is by Fenny Daniel, and he accompanies right through. It is not something we hear often, but the guitars and Violin go well together and add a little bit of Piano in the background. It might seem like a regular pop song, but credit to the creative production that sets it apart from all the crowd. Isaac Philip does the mixing and mastering and other video credits include Karthik Alagar Sivakumar as DOP, Pooja Venkat on Colour and Editing, Ritchie Michael Gomez on Titling and Graphics. 4.     Guilty minds title trackThere was so much hype around this Web series called ‘Guilty minds’ on Amazon Prime Video, that I was engrossed in reading all the reviews and so on, but little did I Know that its music would be such a breath of fresh air. Nobody ever wrote about the music, but U guess that is where I come in and project and propagate the image of the musical side of things. Anyway I was walking one fine morning to work, and it is habitual for me to wear my headphones and listen to a huge list of new releases. I had zero expectations when the album opened, because I have tuned my ears and heart to expect nothing great from the Hindi movie and web series, space. However as the first title track played I was blown away and my day got a new lease of life. I had to immediately search for the composer’s name, and I hadn’t heard of him before. Sagar Desai is the brains behind this tune and he has already won awards for the OTT movies “Kadkah” and “Ram Prasad Ki Tehrvi”. The Cello by Leo Velho will just grab you and hold your attention without a second of distraction. Swanand Kirkire sings it with a Kishore Kumar styled rendition and that gives it a very retro feeling. Shellee writes the lyricsand Ishan Naik mixes and masters the track.Hakk MaangteCyli Khare sings and composes this Marathi song that hits you like an iron rod on an anvil. The guitars are intriguing and with the Tabla, the tone is one of a woman in pain and probably demanding justice and her rights from a corrupt system. The Flute solo plays notes that add to the pathos. Jayant Digambar Somalkar pens the lyrics with Rajat Parasanna stunningly playing the flute. Amey Thakurdesai plays the Tabla and Ishan Naik mixes and masters the track. Dil Choor Choor HuaDivya Kumar sings many singles, but this is one is different and sounds nothing like he usually peforms. The song is once again composed by Sagar Desai and has a Rock ballad tonality and it is the guitars by Siddharth Chopra and Cello by Leo Velho that hold you hostage. Leo simply sizzles in the interlude along with the drums, and to electrify matters more we have a electric guitar solo by Siddharth that makes this song, something Shankar Ehsan Loy would have gladly included as a part of the album “Rock on”.5.     Tera Tha Tera Hoon