Best Indian Tracks of the week - 24th October 2021

This is the week's best music from across the nation. Music from every state written in every language, composed as a part of Movies and by Indie artists is listened to and after analyzing  more than 300 tracks released in the week ending 24th  October 2021, I have rated and reviewed the 15 absolute best tracks in the country. This is truly India's ONLY multilingual music review and music curation page. Week after week, without any breaks you will get the review and links to the best work from musicians all over the country. 

Find the full playlist of 15 tracks on SPOTIFY

1. Adiye

I listened to the song and I was simply blown away, I knew from the start that this track will make it right to the top. Dhibu Ninan Thomas I believe deserves way more opportunities, or maybe he is being very picky in his projects, either way He really scores, when he scores. For those of you who want to hear some of his other splendid tracks, listen to “Othaiyadi pathayileâ€? from the album ‘Kanaa’ and “Pesatha Mozhiyeâ€? from ‘Kombuvacha Singamda’. This track is a further move away from repetition, and if the first was a folk and second a semi-classical melody, this one is modern day alt-pop in its roots. It is a testament to Dhibu’s skill as a composer but the track I feel belongs to Kapil Kapilan and this is one of the best vocal performances of 2021 and I am saying it after listening to around 8000 songs released in India in this year so far.  He simply is near perfect in his delivery in what is a very tough song to negotiate. There are other amazing stalwarts at work here as well with Keba Jeremiah on guitars and Naveen Napier on the bass guitars, and their contribution kicks off straight form the start. Sruthiraj is excellent on percussions with various sounds adding to the rhythm. The humming is well arranged and we have Avinash Satish and Hariharan as the recording engineers. The interlude has some splendid rhythm and beats accompanied by Rithu Vyshak’s brilliance on the Violin, Viola and Cello. Kalyani Nair has done all the strings arrangements. Dhibu cleverly uses vocal sounds both for harmonies and rhythm all through the track with mixing by Balu Thankachan and mastering by Shadab Rayeen. Kapil manages to captivate you with every note he sings in the verse and you should just surrender to it. The lyrics are penned by GKB. The end aalap is a masterclass by Kapil

2. Duniya Jise Kahte Hain

Papon and Pratibha Singh Baghel are at it again with a new refurbished version of a Jagjit Singh Ghazal, and just like the earlier track this too is solid with some fabulous additions, layers of instruments and overall arrangements. Papon produces it with all the mixing and mastering by Pankaj Borah, Pranjal Borah assists and also records the track. Gautam Sharma is at his innovative best and you can feel that with these percussions and helped by Kamlesh Sagathia on the Tabla. Manash Choudhury is fabulous on the bass guitars and the zing can be heard in the lower layers. Ishan Das also plays the acoustic guitars and co-produces the track which is a breezy version of Raag Yaman. Papon and Pratibha make a solid pair and they are a listener’s delight. Manas Kumar’s solo on the violin can be heart in the first interlude before also intervening in some places in the verse. ID Rao on the saxophone is stylish in the second interlude and that is a brilliant innovation to bringing in the sax for this classical Ghazal.  The track is quite long at more than 6 minutes, but who cares when it sounds marvelous. The Sarod played by Sarang Kulkarni can be mildly heard during many instances in the background.

3. Modutha Nannane

All competition can move aside, and just give way to Sanjith Hegde. He is probably one of the 5 best singers in the country today and there is no way you cannot notice his ingenuity and skill. He sings with immaculate ease and emotes every note like he is actually on screen singing these words. This is track is another Kannada melody that will haunt you from the movie ‘Love you Rachchu’. The composer has legacy and heredity all over in his genes as this son of a genius saxophonist called Kadri Gopalnath. Kadri Manikanth has produced, composed and played the sax and aerophone in the track. It takes just a few seconds to impress with Abinandan David on guitars and Sanjith’s humming and a saxophone solo. R Puneeth Arya has written the wonderful lyrics with mixing and mastering by K Dhanasekhar, and recoding by DJ Lethal. Sanjith dominates and his vocals reverberate in the higher scales and thanks to Manikanth’s well composed verse we have a wonderful melody.

4. Tareefu Maadalu

Nakul Abhyankar, is not just composer, as he is primarily a singer. I had to drive this point, because of his recent success in music scoring and I definitely feel that Nakul is cut out for the job. Here he is the lead vocalist along with Shwetha Devanahalli for the movie “Mugilpete�. The Keys play a major role in the pallavi section of the song and I get a sense of Kaapi Raaga here and apparently there is some influence of Keeravani and Madhuvanti raagas as well. Shiva Surya plays the Veena, and Janardhan on the violin, make the interlude quite special and even during the flamboyantly composed stanza, they make their subtle appearances. Sridhar V Sambhram is the brains behind this score as he composes, programs and arranges for the track. The strings are excellently arranged during the verse and the track is mixed and mastered by Sajayan with Vihaan Aarya handling the singers’ co-ordination. The lyrics are written by Bharath S Naavunda & Sridhar.

5. Porcelain

Shivash Chagti is a Delhi based singer-songwriter who has won many accolades right form his early days in the field, and that can be understood when you hear him perform in this exemplary fusion track bring together some of the most renowned artists in the indie space. Shivash plays the guitars as he vocally touches your heart and Madhur Chaudhary is the bassist. It seems like we are listening to a wonderful, lullaby of sorts and that is when Saptak Chatterjee bursts onto the scene with his famed Hindustani styled vocals. Saptak also has mixed and mastered the track with Dan Thomas on the drums but the seamless way in which these two styles are stitched into a single track is where Shivash scores. The track fills your heart with joy and great promise looking at the talent around but it does break your heart when it ends like Porcelain. Wish the track never ended. Saptak’s vocals enter a shift in notes which I certainly couldn’t predict and with a guitar solo, and humming and scat-singing by Shivash we land on the opening lines again.

6. Surkh

I have already had The Lost Symbols, featured and reviewed here on the blog with their earlier track Riha. The band is comprised of Aman Raj on lead vocals, Gunjan Soral on lead guitars, Arun Singh Naruka on drums and Rahul Sharma on bass guitars. The track starts off with just Aman’s vocals and lead guitars and you know somewhere soon the track is going to shift gears into something more solid and rock-like. There it is with the electric guitars screeching, and drums banging you are uplifted into something truly worth your time. The acoustic guitars have a solo moment of brilliance and then the track hits cruise control. The line� Iss kaynaat mein� is so catchy and you keep humming it even as the electric guitars dominate the scene. There is a tete-a-tete between the bass guitars, electric guitars and drums which is quite enjoyable. This pure rock track better be on your playlist.

7. Dil Kya Kahe

Here it is, one more track under the label of Merchant Records and you know that it is going to involve elements of either creativity or superior output or both. Muheet Bharti is a playback singer who has been very active in the Telugu music industry, but of late has been an important cog in the wheel of Salim-Sulaiman’s musical journeys.  This one is written, composed and sung by Muneet and it shows he is ready to take the center stage and make others notice. The track had a R&B feeling to it and Muheet’s vocals render that style quite effectively. One can hear the Piano and bass guitars acting like the spine for the track with a wonderful trumpet solo in the interlude. The verse is held together by Muheets singing which is almost like walking on thin ice, but he holds steady ground and delivers with excellent finesse. The notes are not something you can predict as the trajectory of the track in the verse especially is skillfully composed by Muheet. Aftab Khan has done the mixing and mastering.

8. Ankhein Mili

It is quite rare these days that in a mainstream Bollywood movie, we get a very enjoyable tune that is original and not like another million songs already existing. Chirantan Bhatt is the composer for this Vidyut Jammwal action flick called Sanak, and this is the best song in the album. Raj Barman is a well-known singer in Bangla music and he has a very similar voice quality and tonality to that of Arijit Singh. Shon Pinto is like the star of the song for his splendid guitars which keep playing on your mind. Manoj Yadav is another expert whose lyrics perfectly fit the mood of this chirpy dance number. The rhythm and the trumpets are a great addition and Vinayak Manohar deserves credit for the arrangements and programming. Vinod Verma handles the mixing and mastering. The song generates an environment of Latin Jazz as well and Raj’s singing is free-spirited as he traverses along improvising on vibrato.

9. Vaddanam

The movie has amazing music from the composer Vishal Chandrasekhar, and I did feature one in my list last week. This wedding track is composed by the star S. Thaman and involves a plethora of celebrity singers like Geetha Madhuri, ML Gayathri, Aditi Bhavaraju, Sruthi Ranjani & Sri Krishna. There additional vocals by Satya Yamini, Manisha Eerabathini, Ravali Paritala, Sahiti Chaganti, Srinidhi Tirumala, Abhikya. The ethnic strings and Mandolin stand out in the track and they are played by Subhani with the dependable Sandiliya Pisapati playing the unmistakable electric violin and Jobin on the electric guitars. The female harmonies are outstanding and just this week there has been another similar song by AR Rahman called “Allipoola Vennela�. The violin solo in the interlude is classic Sandiliya and it goes well with the Snyth programming and percussions. Thaman has arranged and programmed the track with additional programming by Osho V. The track reminds me of AR Rahman’s “Uppu Karuvadu� from the album “Muthalvan�. Raghuram is the lyricist and Shadab rayeen has mixed and mastered the track with assistance from Pukhraj and Milan.

10. Akela

This track came as a complete surprise, as I have never heard of Charan before this track, I find myself lucky to be able to discover such new and fantastic music. The video features actors, comedians and reality TV show contestants and aims to spread the message of how bad loneliness can be. The track is produced by Utkarsh Dhotekar and he has also done the wonderful Piano arrangements. Charan, the Mumbai based musician has written, sung and composed the tune with Ashwin Kulkarni mixing and mastering the track. The Keys are imposing and with the heavy beats we get the depth of the message. Ajay Jayanthi, the violinist plays the solo in the mild interlude and he also has done the string and violin arrangements. Charan’s vocals are delivered with immaculate emotional sensibility. The gravity of the message is also conveyed through the pathos of the violins and strings.

11. Act Like

This is the wonderful world of modern music with electronic sounds, aided by loads of synth programming and like some great man once said, change or perish. There is great music in every genre and style and this is the sole purpose of my work and I am indeed glad I found, and reviewed this track by Yohan Marshall a.k.a. Yoda Drunk. The song reflects on recovering from a heartbreak as Yohan writes, composes and sings it with Harsh Vardhan Gadhvi on guitars. Nirmit Shah has hit a purple patch and after producing last week’s number 1 song in India called “State of the art� by Ananya, here he is again producing, mixing this funky number. Cherish the wonderful innovative sounds that the team brings to light and you will love the synth laden line “Come what may, I wont�.

12. Badarwa

Gautam Kale is incredibly consistent, and he experiments in bringing the classical Indian music together with many excellent additions like modern western instruments and arrangements. He composes, writes and sings this original which is probably influenced by Raag Desh. Shubham Kannungo has produced this number and played the bass and acoustic guitars as well. Tejas Vinchurkar flays it like a pro on the flute and Keshav Tamhankar supports on the Piano. Akshay Jadhav is on the Tabla, and the track is mixed and mastered by Prasad Maha. The interlude has some multiple layers of different flutes and it feels magical and mystical. The use of the Tabla and drums simultaneously works quite well in the later-half of the song.

13. Kitne Majbhoor ho gaye

14. Asar Tera

I am a fan of Shubham Semwal, there I said it. It is not the first time I’m featuring and reviewing his work and he just continues to make great strides in this world of indie music, when it is way too easy to falter and become irrelevant in no time. I also like his small coterie of amazing musicians like Roop Ghuman and Arjit Singh who have worked on writing this song with Arijit also playing the keys. Miko Bono plays the acoustic guitars and Rafael Freitas makes his presence felt on bass guitars. Shubham composes, produces, sings and mixes this number while Sam Moses has mastered it. The guitars and the singing are like the spotlights and you just cannot take your focus away from them. The bass guitar solo is groovy in the interlude, and you get an even better treat when Shubham slowly enters the zone of falsettos. This is foot-tapping good, feels like a master-class on guitar strumming!

15. Ujagori

The tradition of melodious Assamese numbers making it to the best in the country continues! The combination of beautiful sounding words and an underlying focus on mellifluous notes makes these tracks from Assam simply superb. Bhaskar Opswel is the performer and he is singing with an incredible voice which is destined to captivate. The lyrics are penned by Manika Devi and Mandeep Kumar composes, produces, mixes and masters this splendid number. All the artwork and video editing is by Sagarika B Riku. That bit with the programmed flute sound is something that always sounds fabulous and it has been well placed here. The number is complete with an equally melodious stanza and some harmonies in the background.