Fresh Singles Review - 22 May, 2022

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.     Lighthouse

Stevie 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 track

There 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 Maangte

Cyli 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 Hua

Divya 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

I have heard Arjun Kannungo many times and have featured him once before. This is definitely his best yet in my opinion, as Arjun composes and sings this melody. Roland Fernandes straight away makes an impression with his guitars and bass in the background, and the vocals by Iulia Vantur in the lower scales are truly impressive. Arjun makes it an excellent track to listen with his subtle vibrato and Kavya-Kriti impress with the backing vocals and humming. Ajay Jayanthi just is phenomenal playing the solo on the Violin at the interludes and a decent set of notes can just sound way much better on the violin especially when someone plays it like this. The tempo of the song builds itself around the excellent Tabla by Mushtak Khan who also plays the Dholak and Duff. Kunaal Verma writes these touching words that we all can feel and relate to.

6.     Aarzu kaise khoju

When Aman Moroney approached me saying he has a song releasing in a few days, my excitement levels notched up multifold. Can you blame me? Just goto Spotify or any streaming application and listen to his work. The last time he and Prateeksha Srivastava got together, a song called “Jiya Kaanch Ka” was born, just have a listen and judge for yourself. Finally, on the release day, when I heard it, I got some instant gratification, and Aman never disappoints. This one is produced, mixed and mastered by Aman, with Aman and Renuka Indurkar being the composers. Prateeksha is stunning even as the lines just keep reaching for the higher scales. I can sense Raag Yaman Kalyan here, reminding me of a fantastic number in Tamil sung by Shankar Mahadevan called “Varaha Nadhi Kara”, composed by AR Rahman. I amnot entirely sure but I also could hear fragments of Raag Khamaj and Maand. Vaibhav Duratkur delightfully plays the Tabla, with Himanshu Kanekar on the flute solo. The stanza has some great production work with strings in the background and Ashish Manchanda is the EP. Listen to the outro with a mellifluous flute solo and the Tabla supporting the cause. Mohammad MUneem Nazir writes the lyrics, and the recording engineers are Jignesh Shetye, Vinayak Pawar, Nahush Badge and Aman Moroney with assistance by Krutarth Shete, Deepak Pinto, and Yoshobanta Badatya

7. Khuda na mere

The song is a tribute to a celebrated poet in Dr. Rahat Indori, and one particular Shayari that the man wrote. The composition is by The Tapi Project and this talented set of musicians bring the poem back to life. Swati Minaxi has this impactful vocal tone that is hard to ignore and there cannot be a better way to deliver a message that sing like this. The bass guitar by Yogendra Saniyawala and additionally by Biju Nambiar feels like the foundation on top of which this track is built. Yogesh also plays the acoustic guitar all along with Gaurav Kapadia on drums making the perfect accompaniment. Biju plays the keyboards and he gives the thrust needed, at times even taking dominance over Swati’s vocal. The mild drums by Gaurav just do enough to give a tantalizing tempo. Swati is excellent in modifying her tone emotionally charged up. The track is mixed by Vijay Benegal, mastered by Ashyar Balsara and recorded by Gaurav.

8. Oh my dear

We all love our Korean drama and thrillers, as they are some of the best productions in the world. But once we are done watching, we just discuss with our friends and probably remain in awe for days and months together. Nitika Rajkumar however was very different from all this and her reaction was an incessant flow of creativity, which led her to write and compose this beauty called ‘Oh My Dear’ after watching the K-drama ‘Crash Landing on You’. Being a romantic song it has the ideal guitar accompaniments by Mayank Saini, but it becomes engaging with every passing second and your heart melts thanks to the excellent writing and endearing vocals by Nitika. She has written, composed and performed, but that is not all that impresses in the song. Even a good tune requires its embellishments and that is where Ashwin Iyer pitches in with his arrangements, production, mixing and mastering giving us a wonderful finished product. Nitika’s singing is top draw and flawless and probably the best vocal performance in the week from across the nation. I was taken back in time, to that amazing song called ‘Unchained Melody’ by The Righteous Brothers, form the movie ‘Ghost’. Ashiyan Nujoom plays the electric guitar and while Leroy C Jerson records the vocals and guitar.

9.  Tomorrow

‘Darkest days and brightest nights’ is not just a catchy phrase but a song title that I loved and featured many months ago. Shrestha D was involved in the vocals for that number, here she retains the services of Bodhisattwa who was the composer and producer for the earlier track I mentioned. Shrestha is just gifted and that is evident in the way she handles the song vocally. Bodhi plays the acoustic guitars and keeps the focus on Shrestha by underplaying and rightly so. The bass guitars by Mainak Nag Chowdhury play along with Keys by Nabarun Bose and all make for one pleasing listening experience. I loved the line when she sings “It was me from the start” with a background layer of harmonies and strings adding juice to the song. Songs simple yet stunning like this remind us of the 1980s and 1990s when English pop music dominated and brightened our lives. Shrestha Das has composed, written the lyrics and performed giving it a very “If you leave me now” by the band ‘Chicago’. The song celearly rests on the shoulders of some excellent production and arrangements thanks to Bodhisattwa. Sayan Ghosh does the mixing and mastering.

10.  Pedh tum darzi

Joell Mukherjii has been a regular on my page, and he is a fantastic musician, and he has given us some brilliant refurbished versions of famous Ghazals, and the moment I saw his name I knew there was something that would please my heart after listening. We have here Joell and Chinmayi Tripathi composing a soft melody with only Chinmayi’s sweet vocals and her Ukulele giving the song direction, and purpose.  The original poem is written by Sushil Shukla and when the opening lines are heard, I was reminded of “oh Maharaja” by the one and only Ilaiyaraja, a short song he composed for a movie called “My dear Marthanda”. The harmonies and bass guitars work well and I don’t know if it is just me , but Chinmayi sounds a lot like a the legendary Asha Bhonsle to my ears.

11.  Dil ne 

It must be early Christmas for Kasyap, as the singer and composer has 2 songs in the same week here ranked and reviewed. We have one more coming up in the end of the list. For now, I must say I am impressed with Kasyap as he sings, writes, composes and produces the track along with playing guitars. The dependable producer Vaibhav Pani who has been featured numerous times also produces and plays the guitars on this track. The initial part after Kasyap sings “baby I’m falling for you”, where I hear the lovely guitar notes reminds me of opening guitar notes of “Wake me up when September ends” by Green Day. The voice of Kasyap is like a breeze that leaves me smiling and wanting more. The song represents some of the goodness Bollywood witness in the 2000s when Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Vishal-Sheykhar and Salim-Sulaiman all battled for glory and gave music lovers some amazing music. Pratigya Kumari hums away in the backup vocals and even other vocal arrangements on harmonies make things quite pleasant and entertaining. Hanish Tanesj mixes and Damien Lewis masters the track.

12.  Kya Pata

The Covid-19 created a whirlwind of disaster, death and destruction, but many ideas, emanated during this period too. Especially artistically many creative thoughts took flight and Rahul Gurung as a musician is one of them. He wrote and composed this song when he was stuck in Goa during the lockdowns. What I love is, despite the words being “Kya Pata” the song’s tone is never one of desperation or disdain. Its cheerful, positive and hopeful, and that comes through in the tempo and Rahul’s singing. This Dehradun based singer-songwriter is releasing his debut and he might just go on to achieve wonders musically, kya pata. Rahul produces this upbeat number but he works with Akshat Balodi to pen the lyrics. The programming and arrangements are quite interesting, bringing in the keys to add to the joy. Saurav Dimri plays the drums and Siddhant Panwar is on guitars.  I loved the unpredictable shift in notes in a any song, and here when Rahul sings “cheeze waise honge, jaisa hamne socha tha”, the later half takes a sudden twist. The harmonies are beautifully arranged and act as a brief interlude, but Rahul’s mild foray into Falsetto when he finishes a line or word is very enjoyable to hear. Aditya Dcruz mixes and masters while the art work is handled by Arushi Jain and Mukul Gusain. Towards the end we can hear a lot of influence of A Capella singing, and infact that is what Rahul calls himself on Instagram Mr.Acapella . The Piano at the outro is a nice way to end things

13.  Intezaar

Aakash Trivedi and Aman Trivedi are a duo who write, produce, compose and perform music with divided responsibilities. Aman is the singer, composer and producer while Aakash is the man behind the lovely words. We can hear the charming guitars and the backing vocals of a lady and the voice belongs to Vanshika Mehta.  Aman has this very vulnerable sounding voice which is good to hear in a love song like this, and the percussion really caught my attention. The way the antara ends is one to really cherish as he sings “aayegi kabhi na dooriyan”.  Im eager to listen to the other tracks in the upcoming EP called “ Gulposh”.

14.  Xaboti Lou Tumak

Assamese songs have an inherent charm because they always try and retain some melodic elements in a tune, and this is just my observation that a majority of them are somehow set in or influence by Raag Hamsadhwani. Dipayon has composed, and performed this one and used traces of the Raag and modified it, but the production is by Harshraj Pathak who also has mixed and mastered it. The singing and guitars steal the show and it is one pleasant twilight time song which has a continued melody running into the stanza. The acoustic guitar and strokes offer great solace and they are played by Hirak Jyoti Sharma including the Strokes. Arun Kataki is the lyricist.

15. Dil ki gali

 Vishal and Sheykhar thankfully give us something to cheer about, despite a lot of the Bollywood composers disappointing in recent albums. The singing is phenomenal, as Katyayani sings at such a low scale and manages to impress with precision and poise. Nothing less is expected of Sheykhar as he seems to be hitting a purple patch with his indie projects where he has performed with extensive diversity. The guitars, both acoustic and bass spice things up and we have some interesting and effective sounds arranged well. The showstopper is Katyayani, hands down. Jaideep Sahni writes the lyrics, Abhishek Khandelwal does the mixing with assistance from Dileep Nair. The recording engineers include Shantanu Hudlikar, Vijay Dayal, Abhishek Khandelwal, Chinmay Mestry and Manasi Tare with Gethin John on mastering duties and Abhijit Nalani on production.

16. Peace of mind

Lost Stories is a duo comprising of Prayag Mehta and Rishab Joshi who are both Indian DJ/producers . Back in September I loved their work called “ Mehndi Te Tavi”, and this is just further confirmation of their skill to delight us. Kasyap and Yashraj come together to write the lyrics and provide vocals as well. It is a simple number with heavy EDM influences, but it does the job of keeping you engaged.