Rhythmic Dissonance » Music

Best Music of 2009

Raj — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:56:38 +0000

Its almost the end of the year, the perfect time to make the year-end lists. So I thought I’ll start with a list of the best music that I heard for the first time in 2009. I have tried to include an audio or a video sample for all the music in the list to help you discover new music too.

Lets start with the first part of the list with new music released in 2009:

1) Dev.D – All Songs: It was almost overwhelming to have 18 amazing and diverse songs in one album. I loved all of them and still do but my favorites are Dhol Yaar Dhol (sampled here), Nayan Tarse and Ek Hulchul Si.

2) Delhi-6 – Many Songs: Again, this album released close on the heels of Dev.D and had mostly good songs with Dill 6, Arziyaan and Dil Gira Dafatan (featured below) being my favorites.

3) Oren Lavie – Her Morning Elegance: A friend suggested this video to me which was fast becoming a YouTube sensation and for good reason. I liked the video & I liked the song more.

4) Miles Fisher – This Must Be The Place: Another song I notice because of the video was becoming a rage. This cover of the Talking Heads song pays a tribute to the movie “American Psycho” through its video. I like the electronic feel of the song and the video is good too.

5) Wake Up Sid – Kya Karoon/Iktara: Two awesome songs – one more than the other – from a surprisingly good soundtrack. I like Kya Karoon slightly more though.

6) Owl City – Fireflies: Another song suggested by a friend. Although the band was totally new for me, their music is very similar to one of my favorites, The Postal Service. Owl City is also a fan of them so its understandable. Really good, surreal, electronic pop!

7) Sara Lov – Fountain: Discovered this gem of a song on Amie Street. Fine lyrics, a haunting voice and soothing music make this a great slow, mellow song.

Now, the second part of the list with music that released earlier but received the honour of being heard by me only this year:

8 Stars – 14 Forever: Stars released their EP, Sad Robots late last year but for some curious reason, I missed it. I did get around to it this year and especially liked this song. Its a light-hearted, fun, summery song.

9) Feist – I Feel it All / Mushaboom: Last.fm recommended Feist to me based on my music library and they were right. I like the dreamy quality of her songs. See it for yourself in the Mushaboom video.

10) Anoushka Shankar & Karsh Kale - Oceanic, Part 2 (Feat. Ravi Shankar): This song is a classic example of how music doesn’t always need words. Fantastic piece!

So here you have the best music I heard in 2009. What were some of your favorites this year?

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Back to School

Raj — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 05:15:30 +0000

How different and consuming the past two weeks have been could be gauged from the fact that I did not listen to my iPod even once, which by the way, is the longest I’ve been away from it because no matter how busy I might have been, I always found time for it.

It has been a happy journey so far. Meeting so many talented and diverse individuals and trying to remember their names has been the theme so far.Things will change from tomorrow though as the first term begins. I’m all set to soak in the college classroom experience once again.

I’m all settled in this new routine but I’ve made sure to incorporate some of my old daily habits for the sake of having some familiarity.

Although the school is technically in Hyderabad, this place is a world in its own and could have been . anywhere in the world. I’ve only been to the city thrice and am yet to explore all the touristy places. I guess it’ll happen in due time.

Wow! Lots of scattered thoughts. Just give me some time and I’ll put it all together. I’m off to breaking my iPod abstinence now!

2008: Year Ender

Raj — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 10:52:20 +0000

Ah, the last day of the year! Always a good day for introspection. Fortunately for me, I’ve been introspecting for the past 1-2 months and though I am mostly satisfied with how things have been so far, I feel the need to do more in life. So the plan is to continue learning new things.

This means I’ll continue learning German (I recently completed German A1 level exam! Yay!), take up guitar lessons again, learn to swim, continue learning to cook and much more. Also, I had kinda loosened up on the fitness regime but no slacking from tomorrow. The fitness freak is back! The only new (and important) resolution for the new year is to spend as much money as necessary as opposed to spending as much as I can which is what I have been doing till now!

Coming to the things I liked about the year, there were some movies that I really liked: Wall-E (of course!), Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Aamir and Dasvidaniya.

I didn’t find as much great music as I found last year but some of it was awesome. Few soundtracks (Wall-E, Juno) , some new (for me!) bands (Hellogoodbye, Goldspot) and some good Hindi movie songs (Aamir, Ada, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, all songs sung by Mohit Chauhan) worked for me.

Television took a backseat this year for me. I think my TV watching time was less than halved. Lost remained at the top of its game. Family Guy and 30 Rock continued to entertain. I discovered The IT Crowd and Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia and ensured that I watched each and every episode available.

Like I wrote in my birthday post, it was a mixed bag as far as my life is concerned, but the sum total of everything that happened is definitely positive. Also, I travelled much more this year than previous years and my first journey was on 1st January. Maybe its true what they say. What you do on the first day the year….

I look forward to 2009 and I hope it will bring the best of everything with it.

Wish you a very Happy New Year!

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Fresh From The Randomizer

Raj — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:23:58 +0000

There used to be a time when no matter what I read or heard never moved me much. Not anymore! I seem to be in a place where most of the things I read affect me. I take in much more now. Even the music I listen to makes more impact now than ever before. I am unsure if this is good or bad but I think I should be more careful about what I read or listen to. I should filter out all the things that are unworthy of my time. Something that caught my attention in particular was this post which lists what really “determines whether someone has crossed from boyhood into manhood”.

During a visit to my hometown last week, I was just looking around and noticed how everything in and around my home, the places nearby and almost everything has a story. Its somehow connected to my life there which I will always remember. In fact, the place has changed a lot. Even my house isn’t the same. It has changed over the years. But I remember everything exactly the way it was when I was a kid. And that’s how it will forever remain etched in my memory.

I just added a new sidebar widget that shows my latest tweet posted on twitter. Its on sidebar 2 which means it will only be displayed on the home page (just below the latest sidenote). This was something I wanted to do last year when I moved to wordpress but for some reason unknown even to me, I just didn’t do it! But its on now so you can read my rants real time (and even follow me if you like the way I do it).

Remember the flying plastic bag scene from “American Beauty”? (No? Well, watch it here.) Some people loved it, some hated it. But the background music used in the scene is just mesmerizing and there’s no doubt about that. The music piece is “Any Other Name” by Thomas Newman and you can listen to the whole piece here.

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What I Love About Me

Raj — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:08:08 +0000

Yesterday was Valentine’s day and its a day dedicated to people we love. But do we ever stop and think about loving ourselves. Its no secret that I love myself and I don’t mind being called a narcissist once in a while. In fact, I believe that self-love is important. A famous quote goes “Love yourself, for if you don’t, how can you expect anybody else to love you?”. Why depend on others for love? Just love yourself! Also, listen to the song “Love You” by The Free Design. Its a nice, upbeat song and is sure to bring a smile to your face.

Now, like I’ve done many times in the past, I list few interesting/weird/boring facts about me:

I often run late in the morning and have to run half the way to the stop to catch the office shuttle. As a result, while walking back home in the evening, I sometimes feel that walking is too slow and boring and so I run at least for some distance even in the evenings.
I like well-illuminated plants and trees at night.
Almost every time I try to help a stranger in a “random act of kindness”, I never get any thanks or even a smile from the stranger help. Even though I help them!

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Best Music I Discovered in 2007

Raj — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 07:58:01 +0000

I am aware that all of these artists have been around for years. Its just that I happened to discover them this year.

1. Stars: They are a Canadian indie pop-rock band.
Found them through: the song “Calendar Girl” on last.fm.
I like: the fact that they are one of the few rock bands with many great duets thanks to the two lead singers, Amy Milan and Torquil Campbell. Love their music and wordplay as well as experiments with electronica.
Favorite work: Almost half the songs on the albums ‘Hearts’, ‘Set Yourself on Fire’ and their latest release, ‘In Our Bedroom after the War’. My favorite tracks are “The Night Starts Here”, “The Big Fight” and “Look Up”.
File next to: Rilo Kiley, Broken Social Science.

2. The Postal Service: They are an electronic rock band.
Found them through: the song “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” on last.fm.
I like: their sound. Its all about the sound! The lyrics, though mostly good, come second.
Favorite work: I love all the songs on their only album, ‘Give Up’ but “Clark Gable” and “Brand New Colony” are the ones I like the most.
File next to: The Shins, Frou Frou, Death Cab for Cutie.

3. Camera Obscura: They are a Glaswegian indie band.
Found them through: the song “Houseboat” on last.fm.
I like: their unique timeless, country sound and Tracyanne Campbell’s voice.
Favorite Songs: There are just too many! “Tears for Affairs”, “The Last Song”, “I Don’t Do Crowds”, “Happy New Year”, “Let’s Get Out Of This Country” and “Country Mile” top the list though.
File next to: Belle & Sebastian.

4. Nitin Sawhney: He is an English musician who is considered to be one of the pioneers of Asian underground music in the UK.
Found him through: the video for “Koyal” on music channels though I knew about him even before that.
I like: his eclectic, soothing music, trippy music.
Favorite Work: Almost all of ‘Philtre‘ and the songs “Nadia”, “Breathing Light” and “Spark”.
File next to: Talvin Singh.

5. Talvin Singh: They are a Canadian indie pop-rock band.
Found him: because of the Nitin Sawhney connection though I had seen the video for his song “OK” years ago.
I like: his ambient, fusion music. Its almost magical.
Favorite Songs: “The One”, “Its Not Over”, “Butterfly” and “Abalonia”.
File next to: Nitin Sawhney, State of Bengal.

6. Agnee: They are an Indian rock band.
Found them through: their video for “Sadho Re” on music channels.
I like: their unique (for Indian bands) sound and strong vocals.
Favorite Songs: “Shaam Tanha” and “Kuch Ankahee”.
File next to: Strings, Junoon, Pentagram.

7. Interpol: They are an indie post-punk rock band.
Found them through: shared music on the office network.
I like: their hazy sound. It sends me into a vortex. (Okay, that made no sense!)
Favorite Songs: “Obstacle 1″, “Evil” and “PDA”.
File next to: The Arcade Fire, The Shins.

8. Jack Johnson: He is a Hawaiian singer/songwriter/musician/surfer.
Found him through: a friend.
I like: his relaxed style of music with clear guitary sound which is rare to find in most of today’s overproduced music.
Favorite work: The songs “Better Together”, “No Other way”, “Banana Pancakes” and “Sexy Plexi”.
File next to: John Mayer, Dave Matthews, Jason Mraz.

Feel free to share any new music that you might have discovered recently!

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Home Sick

Raj — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 07:56:00 +0000

Last Wednesday, after being confined to my home on the bandh day, I swore to myself that I would not stay at home the whole day ever. And I spent the whole of Thursday and Friday very much at home because I was down with viral fever. Oh, the irony of life! But those two days and two long nights were horrible. I constantly ran a fever of 103.5 degrees and hence couldn’t sleep. To make things worse, this was the first time I fell ill since I started living alone and so I had no medicines other than few homeopathic ones from my dad.

On Wednesday night, when the illness started, I employed my mp3 player to help me sleep and it worked for sometime. I was starting to feel really sad about the whole situation cos I was sick and all alone but Frou Frou helped me get over it by singing “There’s beauty in the breakdown” in my ear. And so at 3:15 am, I called up my landlady and asked for medicines.

I am much better now. The motivation for getting better, of course, is that I’m going to Lucknow tomorrow for Diwali. And its been a year since I went home. I last went on last Diwali. The difference this time would be that my parents now have broadband at home so I will keep posting and keep reading other blogs. In fact, I may be able to post more than I do now.

And even though I don’t write too many posts these days, its good to know once in a while that my blog can keep people occupied for hour(s) and even make them come back as is evident in screenshot 1, screenshot 2 and screenshot 3. (The third visit was longer than the screenshot). I think that’s enough reason to feel good about. What do you think?

Update: In a major offence, I forgot to tell you all about my new pictures from my trip to Nagarahole in which I saw crocodiles, elephants, dears, birds, a fox and a will boar. The pictures can be found on flickr, as always.

Update 2 This is a small clip from one of the funniest episodes of Family Guy. Take a look. It’s just too funny!! Watch it, please!

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Digital Dreams

Raj — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 09:12:00 +0000

I wanted a change in my life and given the limited control I actually have on things, I decided to make my life a little more fun by buying a brand new TV, a new DVD player and to top it all, I got digital cable. Basically, few things I wanted for a long time now. The result is that I can now watch Family Guy whenever I want to and I don’t have to worry about bad cable reception.
I strongly believe that it should be illegal to talk on the cellphone while in the toilet. Seriously, do these people who talk on the phone while on the toilet tell the caller about where they are? And how do they explain the flush sound to the caller? And believe me, the other people in the bathroom don’t need to hear someone in the toilet stalls talking on the phone either. And unless there’s a law against it, people will continue doing it. So it must be made illegal. Now!
I was a little surprised to see John Mayer’s new album, Continuum, in the new releases section at Planet M last Sunday. I didn’t expect it to be released in India so soon. Needless to say, I bought it. I can completely relate to the opening song, “Waiting on the World to Change”. Take a look at the lyrics. I think most of us would agree with the viewpoint of the song. Its a nice song. And the rest of the album is good too.
I’ve seen quite a few movies recently but I think I will save my short reviews for the next post. The post frequency has been dropping rather drastically as it is.
Oh, and this post has been written using Windows Live Writer. Its a great tool. A must for all bloggers.

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The Blue Dot

Raj — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 10:55:00 +0000

Few hundred thousand minutes ago, Sayesha wrote a post about her life’s formula and in my comment, I gave a small list of the rules I follow in my life. I still live by those rules. So I thought it would be a good idea to post those on my blog. So here are the rules:

Do what you feel is right.
If people are bad to you, be worse to them.
If people are nice, be nice to them.
If people are too nice, be rude to them until they r nice or rude to you.
Once you realize you did something stupid, try apologizing. If it doesn’t work, forget about it.
Create a new rule when needed.

And I like the way I live my life, so the rules must be working for me.

Moving on, have I ever mentioned how much I love Pandora? It’s simply fantastic. In case you haven’t tried it yet, do so now. It creates a radio station based on your favorite artists and the sound quality is excellent. Lately, I’ve had a chance to listen to lots of new music and my current favorite is “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley. Even its video is superb. I’ve recently discovered Frou Frou too. I love their electronic sound. The tracks “Flicks” and “Breathe in” by them are truly addictive. It’s sad that they disbanded. Speaking of music, I woke up today with the song “SOS” by Rihanna stuck in my head. I have no idea why but it was. I tried hard to get it out of my head but failed. As a result, random people on the streets I passed by got a sample of the song cos I kept humming it and every time I hummed the line “Someone help me, Its not healthy”, I thought to myself that this isn’t healthy either.

I was talking to a close college friend on ym yesterday when I told her that it’s very easy for me to hate someone. And it’s true. I’m a man of strong feelings. The smallest of faults in others can make me dislike or even hate them. Then she asked me why it is so and I thought for a little while and said that that’s just who I am. But after thinking a little more, I’ve decided that it’s because finding faults and shortcomings (in mostly others n sometimes myself too) is the very basis of my existence. And that’s what I’m best at (besides my work, of course). And it’s not like that people don’t deserve my hatred. I mean some guy who’s a friend of my colleague used my system last weekend and left a blue pen mark on my monitor. Now, I don’t know the guy but I know that he a freak. I mean who uses a pen to point to a TFT monitor. Now all I can notice on my monitor is the blue dot. And there’s nothing I can do about it. I can’t ask for a new monitor cos this one has a small blue dot on it, can I?

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Public Demand

Raj — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 12:36:00 +0000

There have been few requests for posts about TV and I wanted to write something about music for quite some time so I’ll put it all together.

But not before some ranting. Recently, few colleagues when asked for their opinion on me said that I seemed to be little arrogant at first but once they got to know me, I turned out to be a pretty easygoing person. Now, this is something I refuse to accept. As far as I know myself, I am arrogant and an easygoing person as well. So the correct thing to say would be that I am just a little arrogant but an easygoing person. ~~What do you all think?~~

Update: When I asked “What do you all think?”, I did not ask for your opinion about me, okay. I meant to ask, Can’t a person be both arrogant and easygoing? After being loyal readers of my blog, you really think I care about what people think of me? Well, I do but never show it so answer the correct question, please!

Moving on, Idol fever is on with both Indian Idol and American Idol being aired at the same time. Indian Idol is already in the Gala round where all the contestants seem to be well trained in crying and begging for votes. American Idol has just started so auditions are what we’ve got to see so far. Somehow AI auditions are more fun to watch. They have more weird characters than II does. The freaks in India want to act more than they want to sing, I think.

The songs I’m listening to these days are “Heard ‘Em Say” by Kanye West feat. Adam Levine, “Check On It” by Beyonce Knowles, “Khwaahishon Se” by Shreya Ghosal and Kunal Ganjawala from Holiday and a better quality version of “Naina Neer Bahaye” by Sadhna Sargam from Water. It truly is a great song.

I change the channel ASAP whenever the song “Aapka Suroor” by Himesh Reshammiya is on. Why must he always howl like a dog? And his other song, “Jhalak Dikhla Jaa” from Aksar, in all probability, is the most nasal song to be released ever. And both of these songs are hits, apparently. What’s wrong with everyone?

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