Rockstar Music Review

If a movie is titled Rockstar and the music credits go to A R Rahman, one has extremely high expectations. A lot of people say that A R Rahman over the past year or so has not been scoring music that is expected of him. I would agree, however even stuff that is not his best, is way better than the trash the others come up with.

The trailers of Rockstar were out a few weeks back and we were teased with tiny bits and pieces of what promised to be awesome songs. As the weeks leading up to the music release passed by, 'promo versions' of the songs were released. Hopes of millions of Rahman fans surged. And now, at long last, the music has been officially released. The verdict is: FIVE STARS!

If you haven't bought the album yet, please do so. This one deserves your money, don't go to a Pakistani website and download the album, it's disrespecting the genius of Rahman. Anyways, now for the business end of the music review:

The following songs are outstanding in an overall great album:

1. Sadda Haq - In-freaking-credibly awesome! The song has parts that are surreal, it is that good. The lyrics by Irshad Kaamil are farily impressive, the guitar work by Orianthi is phenomenal and Mohit Chauhan is brilliant right through the song. Sure shot winner for Best Song and Best Singer.

2. Kun Fayakun - It's one of those songs, you thank God you were alive to hear. I don't know think any other music director would experiment as much as Rahman has in this song. It has several threads. There's a segment between the 20th second and the 35th second of the song which goes back to the qawallis of the old days, but then the track and the tempo changes completely to what we hear of the song in the promo. The next thread of the song is when the guitar enters the qawalli along with the return of the harmonium, it's pure brilliance. After which the song returns to the chorus thread of Kun Fayakun.

But thats not the end of the song, we get to hear a completely different thread in the song which ends with the most random guitar chord progression which one would never ever expect in a quawalli, but Rahman pulls it off. This thread then beautifully ties back to the main chorus. By the end of the nearly 8 min song, you wish there were more threads. It's more than one song, its several songs in one with the base of a qawalli.

3. Tum Ho - My favourite song of the album, with Mohit Chauhan defining the meaning of longing with the first twenty seconds of the song. A beautiful composition that's surely going to be on my iPod forever.

There are several other songs in the album, which are incredibly good. The final one minute of Kateya Karoon is exceptional. Parts of Sheher Mein are brilliant, I can go on and on about bits and pieces of the other songs which are pure gold, but I won't go into each song explaining which part is awesome. Just get the album and a pair of headphone that can do justice to the music and lose yourself in the most brilliant album of the year. It'll sweep the awards this year.

There was this amazing comment I read on Youtube - "All the dislikes on the songs of Rockstar are by the other music directors"

I can not help but agree, how much they must envy Rahman; sure they can spin-off hit tracks every once in a while, but they do not posses his ability to push the boundaries of music. Thank you God, for giving my generation, A R Rahman!

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - Music and Movie Review

I was looking forward to this movie for quite some time and finally saw it a few months ago. I didn't have time to write a review back then. While watching the movie one can't ignore the perfect soundtrack that it has.

The story is about two people, Nick and Norah. Nick is the sole straight member of a gay-band called The Jerk Offs and is recovering from a bad breakup. Norah is the girl who calls herself the musical soul-mate of Nick and is in a crappy relationship with a guy whose sole purpose is to use Norah's dad's studio to release his band's album.

The story moves along during a night when Nick and Norah finally meet at a gig and spend the night looking out for their favorite band, 'Where's Fluffy', who are supposed to perform later that night. A sequence of events bring them closer to each other. The movie is based on a book and in it's treatment reminds one of Juno. Michael Cera acts well in a role he can patent - the likable loser. Kat Dennings plays the awkward Norah to perfection and does really well throughout the movie.

All in all a really nice, breezy movie which has a few laughs sprinkled on top.

The soundtrack has many songs from indie bands amongst others. My favorite songs being - Xavia by The Submarines and Lover by Devendra Banhart. A different soundtrack which goes really well with the movie. If you haven't seen it, then do so, but when you have the time to watch a movie like this one... probably a lazy Sunday afternoon. Hear the songs from the soundtrack. Nice stuff!

Wake Up Sid - Music Review - Nice

I just heard all the songs from this movie. And they're all nice.

I don't think this album is a chart topper or a dance floor scorcher. But it's really nice. Not one song in the album is bad. Every song is nice. I'm overusing the word nice, but then that's what this album is - nice!

This is the kind of album which rules when you're either working late alone, or on a long drive at night. Seriously, just some nice soft tracks like Iktaara can make your mood.

I'm really looking forward to this movie!

Kaminey - Music Review

One of the best albums of 2009, right on top with Dev D and Delhi 6. It's so good to hear some good music again, the kind which isn't made to simply be used as an item song or a 'phooljhadi hit' like the title track of a movie which was trying so hard to do a repeat of Hare Ram that they used a Hindu shloka as part of the song!

Kaminey has some great songs by Vishal Bharadwaj.

The best tracks of the album are:

1. Dhan Te Nan - I especially like the remix version, which accentuates the beats. It's an absolute dance scorcher, which I am sure will be played in all discos and parties.

2. Fatak - Grows on you after repeated listening and then you just love it.

3. Go Charlie Go - Brilliant haunting theme sound!

4. Raat Ke Dhai Baje - The entire song is just ok, until the third minute, when it takes a different direction and sounds really good.

5. Pehli Baar Mohabbat - Insanely awesome melody, sung by Mohit Chouhan who does it only like he can.

6. Kaminey - The song is simply amazing!

So in my view, the best songs of this movie are Go Charlie Go, Kaminey, Pehli Baar Mohabbat and Dhan Te Nan. Go listen to this album. I hope the movie is just as good as the music. Kudos to you Vishal Baradwaj!

P.S. - Listening to these songs in my brand new headphones just raises the bar a notch higher :)

Dig Out Your Soul

"Wassup" is the usual question asked on Gtalk and other places - Along with the usual reply of "Nothing Much", this is what I'm upto - Listening to the album by Oasis called Dig Out Your Soul. It has some classic Oasis tracks, and the one's which I like in particular are -

Bag It Up - Listen to the last 1 minute of the song, awesome stuff.

The Shock Of The Lightning - Nice Song

I'm Outta Time - Simply my most favorite track of the album, great lyrics and a haunting feel to the whole song makes it a song worthy of remembrance.

1. Bag It Up
2. The Turning
3. Waiting for the Rapture
4. The Shock of the Lightning
5. I'm Outta Time
6. (Get Off Your) High Horse Lady
7. Falling Down
8. To Be Where There's Life
9. Ain't Got Nothin
10. The Nature of Reality
11. Soldier On

Four stars out of five for this one.

Dev D Music Review

This has been by far the most "Indian" album I've heard in a long time. Amit Trivedi, take a bow! There are a few new gen music directors in India who seem to have forgotten that this is still a country where people speak and listen to Hindi and not NRI-style Hindi [a la Vishal Dadlani and co with songs like "thumka lagai ke she'll rock your world, my desi girl!"].
Those songs are fine till they become all that is being played everyday, but then every once in a while one needs to hear something Indian, and apart from A R Rehman who can compose awesome music, there was no other option.
Enter, Dev D. The feel of the album is amazing. The lyrics are really good, some songs are crazy [Emosanal Attyachaar], some songs are hummable [Paayaliya] and some songs are great [Nayan Tarse].

One can only hope that Amit Trivedi gets more albums to compose and does as good a job, if not better.

4 stars out of 5 for Dev D's music. It makes for great repetitive hearing.

PS - One hopes that Anurag Kashyap can come up with a nice movie, the music is spot on!