Rolling Stone India

Pics: Swarathma, Album Launch Blue Frog Mumbai – 16 May 2012

Lalitha Suhasini — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:16:33 +0000

Vasu Dixit takes off

Swarathma drew a packed house at Blue Frog when they kicked off their launch tour in Mumbai. Bengaluru-based tabla player Rahul Pophali, who has jammed with Swarathma previously for live shows, joined the band on stage again for this gig.

The band opened their gig with “Aaj Ki Taaza Fikar” from their latest album Topiwalleh. Lead vocalist Vasu Dixit wore a pair of blingy shades that he may have stolen from a certain hipster gig regular who goes by the moniker Bling Uncle and broke into a frenzied jig for their new track “Naane Daari.” Vocalist Sidd Coutto from Tough on Tobacco joined the band for an impromptu rap collaboration on what sounded like a reggae version of the title track. Except for an awkward moment when guitarist Varun Murali attempted backing vocals on “Duur Kinara”, the gig was a huge hit, and by far, one of the best we’ve attended by the band.

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All photographs: Vishaal Rajvanshi/Blue Frog

Behind The Decks With Bay Beat Collective

Rolling Stone India — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:10:30 +0000

By Richa Kaul Padte

Entering a Mumbai nightclub during a Bay Beat Collective DJ set instantly transports me from the city’s predictable stiletto-sporting, Gucci handbag-wielding clubbing dynamics, to the grinding, sweaty vibe of the bass nights in Brighton and London that were the backdrop to my university days.

In everything from running shoes to chappals to jeans, the motley crowd at Bonobo – a rooftop bar in Bandra – is dressed to dance, and dancing they are. If metal fans are headbangers and psy-trance lovers are raising their hands up to the DJ or shiny-happy-Goan-skies, bass music has been made for the dance floor. The many beats of dubstep, drum and bass, and other bass-heavy genres means part of the magic is picking the beat you want to dance to. Bass music is rapidly picking up tempo as DJs across the country drop heavy beats and Mumbai’s Bay Beat Collective (BBC) has most definitely kickstarted a bass music movement in the country.

The energy of BBC’s club nights is a stark contrast with the collective’s unassuming attitude. Hailing from diverse backgrounds and pursuing varying career interests, Sohail Arora, one of BBC’s founding members was part of the metal band named Skincold during his engineering college years. Following this, he did two-year stint with the music programming team at Mumbai club The Blue Frog. More recently he founded Krunk, an alternative booking agency working with new, dynamic artists across the country including Mumbai electro rock act Shaa’ir+Func and Delhi electronica artist Dualist Inquiry. Kris Correya, the other half of Bay Beat Collective’s duo (Raffael Kably, the third founding member, is currently pursuing film production on a full-time basis, and is not playing with the collective at the moment), began his career as a freelance DJ following a diploma in mass communications. Correya DJ’ed for six years at Zenzi Bar, the popular Mumbai club that was also known for discovering and promoting new musical talent in the country before shutting down in 2011. Correya is currently setting up F Bar in Mumbai, which he describes as ‘a funky laidback lounge that transforms into a high energy bar.’

Arora traces the origins of BBC back to 2008, when he and Kably joined Correya at his weekly Zenzi Bar nights, and began playing to small crowds of not more than 15 people. By constantly spreading the word about their weekly nights, the trio formed BBC later in 2008, and were eventually drawing a crowd of 60 new bass enthusiasts every week. The momentum of bass music during this time was paralleled in two other major Indian cities. New Delhi’s BASSFoundation – a three-person bass-heavy sound system – and Bengaluru’s Vachan Chinnappa, worked alongside BBC to spread previously unheard music across the country.

It is within this context of a nascent movement that the notion of a collective gains particular importance. Says Arora, “As a solo artist, it may not have worked that well. The three of us needed to push it together, because the bass music scene wasn’t established yet. It needed to be a collective effort and it needed to be a national effort.” A collective not only helped BBC build a bass culture but also opened up possibilities for diversity and unpredictability in a DJ set. With Kably’s focus on dubstep, Arora’s love of drum and bass and glitch-hop and Correya’s exploring of more experimental forms of bass like drumstep, two-step and half-step, “there were times we would go to shows and we didn’t know what the other person was going to play. By now, we’ve expanded to literally every form of bass music.” Arora adds, “If you’re totally disconnected from the audience, it’s not going to work. For example, if we go to a place and realise it’s not a drum and bass sort of crowd, we’ll play some breakbeat or glitchhop, which are more accessible genres. If you want to be a good DJ, it’s very important to be a good listener and respect your audience.”

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Peter Travers — Fri, 18 May 2012 06:20:48 +0000

Cast: Dev Patel, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson

Directed by John Madden

The MTV Cribs peeps are probably not clamoring to see this tale of British retirees seeking a retirement haven in India. But screw them if they don’t give a damn about watching Brit acting royalty nailing every nuance in this comedy laced with genuine emotion. Adapted by Ol Parker from a novel by Deborah Moggach, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel begins by lining up its cast of quirky characters. There’s widowed, financially strapped Evelyn (Judi Dench), bigoted Muriel (Maggie Smith), retired judge Graham (Tom Wilkinson), randy bachelor Norman (Ronald Pickup), senior femme fatale Madge (Celia Imrie), and bickering marrieds Douglas (Bill Nighy) and Jean (Penelope Wilton). With a lesser cast, this would be a lineup of TV-movie clichés. But this is a cast that never makes a false move even when the script settles for formula.

Then there is India itself, which exerts a constant allure. The freshly refurbished Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in Jaipur is run by Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire), whose cockeyed optimism can’t disguise the hotel’s many failings and the hurt feelings of seniors whose harried families have outsourced them. Sonny has a sexy young girlfriend (Tena Desae), mostly because the movie thinks it needs one. It doesn’t.

As the hotel residents adjust (or don’t) to their exotic surroundings, the film gathers an appealingly buoyant spirit. John Madden, who directed Dench to an Oscar in Shakespeare in Love, shows a sure hand with all his actors. Dench is a resilient marvel. And watching Downton Abbey co-stars Smith and Wilton mix it up is a treat. Wilkinson finds humor and heartbreak in the gay judge. So it’s a shame that in the end Madden can’t keep the tear-jerking from drowning this delicate cinematic flower. The book knew how to hang tough. The movie, not so much.

Watch the trailer here:

Blek – Hexes + Drama & Other Reasons For Evacuation ★★★1/2

Deepti Unni — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:37:36 +0000

One of the more refreshing sounds to come out of Mumbai’s burgeoning rock scene in 2010, Blek are a three- piece pop-grunge dance-punk outfit featuring Rishi Bradoo on vocals, Jared Creado on bass and Split’s Varoon Aiyer on drums.

On their debut EP Hexes + Drama and Other Reasons For Evacuation, the band’s songs run the gamut from Nirvana-tinted grunge rock to slow-burning dance-punk. The blissed-out fuzz of “Hexes + Drama” explodes into what could have been a vintage Nirvana riff while Bradoo attacks the vocals early Bloc Party-style, howling, “Well, hell, I’m a bit confused.” The band’s grunge roots are most noticeably visible on “Hexes + Drama” which, tied around an infectious drum groove, simply cries out for an electronic wash and distorted bass to take its fuzzed- out frenzy higher. But they get it perfectly right on “Fog + Strobe,” a nugget of dance-floor gold, all chiming guitars, deep basslines and a shout-out chorus that has its antecedents in bands like Friendly Fires and The Faint with a faint echo of Britpop. “Minus the Makeup” and “Running Into Walls Occasionally Helps” play with the same formula as “Hexes + Drama” – buzzsaw guitars, grungy choruses and whimsical lyrics – with varied results, but hit all the sweet spots with the sunset-drive vibe of “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.”

While there are a few gawky moments on this otherwise fantastic debut, on the whole the band bears close watching and if songs like “Fog + Strobe” are any indication there’s a rich vein of potential just waiting to be tapped.

Matchbox Twenty to Release ‘North’ in September

Rolling Stone — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:49:50 +0000

Matchbox Twenty (Photo: James Minchin)

Matchbox Twenty are set to release North, their fourth full-length studio album, on September 4th. The disc will be their first set of all-new material in a decade. The band – Rob Thomas, Paul Doucette, Brian Yale and Kyle Cook – wrote the album while sharing a house in Nashville and recorded it last summer with producer Matt Serletic at his Emblem Studios in Calabasas, California.

“The title refers to us finding our way,” Doucette tells Rolling Stone. “We went into this record with a lot of material. Many different songs that could have taken us in many different directions. It sort of overwhelmed us for a bit. But, at a certain point, we figured it out. We figured out where ‘North’ was.”

“She’s So Mean,” the LP’s first single, is scheduled for release next month. Other songs slated to appear on the record include “Overjoyed” and “Put Your Hands Up.”

Matchbox Twenty have been laying low in recent years. Their most recent record was the 2007 compilation Exile on Mainstream, which featured six new songs along with a selection of hits from their previous albums. Frontman Rob Thomas released two solo albums, 2005′s . . . Something to Be and 2009′s Cradlesong, in the time since the band released their last full record, More Than You Think You Are, in 2002.

Black Sabbath Vow to Continue Without Drummer Bill Ward

Andy Greene — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:41:01 +0000

Bill Ward, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi appear at a press conference at Whiskey A Go-Go in West Hollywood. (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Just two days ago, Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward announced that he would not participate in the group’s three upcoming reunion gigs with an incredibly detailed, 1,504-word letter. Today, the rest of the group responded with a mere 54 words. Their statement reads, in full:

We have decided not to make any detailed comment on Bill’s latest statement. There are two sides to every story. We have been working hard at rehearsals making excellent progress after Tony’s treatments and we have engaged a substitute drummer for the forthcoming shows. See you at Download.

–Black Sabbath, 5/17/12

It’s unclear who will perform in Ward’s place. In the past, Faith No More’s Mike Bordin has substituted when Ward was unavailable. Vinny Appice replaced Bill Ward in Black Sabbath in the 1980s and played with the group this decade under the moniker Heaven and Hell; however, in a recent interview with the Great Southern Brainfart, he said that nobody has contacted him about the gig. “If Black Sabbath is going to do a reunion, Bill should be there,” he said. “I guess the whole problem with this thing was money. It’s a shame to see that. I don’t know what the hell’s going to happen. If they end up doing it with another drummer, it’ll be the second best thing, since the fans still obviously want to hear those classic songs.”

Black Sabbath (at least 75 percent of them) will play their first gig since 2005 this Saturday at the O2 Academy Birmingham in their hometown of Birmingham, England. On June 10th, they’ll play the Download Festival in Derby, England and then do one more show on August 3rd at Lollapalooza in Chicago. The remaining dates of their summer tour were cancelled so that Tony Iommi can continue to receive treatment for lymphoma.

Report: Donna Summer Dead at 63

Rolling Stone — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:28:26 +0000

Disco legend Donna Summer died this morning in Florida at the age of 63, family sources have told the Associated Press. The singer had been battling cancer for some time.

“Early this morning, we lost Donna Summer Sudano, a woman of many gifts, the greatest being her faith,” reads a statement from the singer’s family. “While we grieve her passing, we are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy. Words truly can’t express how much we appreciate your prayers and love for our family at this sensitive time.”

Summer was a five-time Grammy winner best known for smash hits including “I Feel Love,” “Love to Love You Baby” and “She Works Hard for the Money.” Her collaborations with producer Giorgio Moroder in the the Seventies broke ground for dance music and have been hugely influential on electronic music in the decades since.

Born and raised in Boston, Summer grew up singing in church before joining a short-lived psychedelic rock band. After winning a role in a touring production of Hair, she moved to Germany, where she would meet Moroder. Their collaboration on the suggestive “Love to Love You Baby,” which Summer sang with Marilyn Monroe’s breathy singing style in mind, became a huge dancefloor hit after Casablanca Records’ Neil Bogart requested a long version of the song – 17 minutes.

Summer went on to major success during the disco era, scoring Number One pop singles with “Hot Stuff,” “Bad Girls” and an unlikely version of Jimmy Webb’s “MacArthur Park.” In 2004 Summer was elected to the Dance Music Hall of Fame, and in 2009 she performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in honor of President Obama.

Asked upon the release of her 2008 album Crayons whether she felt vindicated by her longevity, Summer replied, “I don’t think they made fun of my music as much as they made fun of some of the music that maybe came as a result of that whole genre. But I do think in the course of time it is nice to reestablish something and to say, ‘Okay, this stood the test of time. . . ‘ I have nothing to prove to anyone. I just get out there and do my best, and those who love it, great. And those who don’t, they’ll move on to something else.”

Additional reporting by Steve Baltin

Paban Das Baul: Blue Frog, Delhi – May 16, 2012

rsiwebadmin — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:41:36 +0000

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All photos: Anurag Banerjee

Indus Creed Shoots New Video For ‘Fireflies’

Rolling Stone — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:42:32 +0000

The clock had been turned around at Studio Number 8 at Famous Studios in Mahalaxmi, Mumbai. The vibe was 1920s with a backdrop that included a massive portrait of what looked like a Packard and a grey fedora for props. Rock band Indus Creed was readying to shoot the video for the track “Fireflies” from their latest album Evolve.

Lead vocalist Uday Benegal guided bandmates Jai Row Kavi, Rushad Mistry, Zubin Balaporia and Mahesh Tinaikar on facing the camera and lip syncing. On Benegal’s cue, Mistry displayed his air guitar skills. Row Kavi had a cheat sheet in his back pocket to refer to for his lip sync shots. Between shots Row Kavi made funny faces at the camera, providing ample comic relief. Indus Creed’s band manager Naveen Deshpande posed as a sound producer and may also just make it to the video.

The rotating camera movement shoot in black & white for “Fireflies” recalled the music video for ‘Superbowl, a track by Alms for Shanti, the fusion project that Benegal and former Indus Creed bandmate Jayesh Gandhi had kicked off in 1999. In the video for ‘Superbowl’, percussionist Taufiq Qureshi, Gandhi, Benegal and Naresh Kamath (Kailasa) beat-boxed (or ‘bol-rapped’ as they referred to it then) into the microphone as the camera moved on a rotating track around the group.

The video will release in June.

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Photos: Vinit Bhatt

On the Sets: Indus Creed Shoot Video for ‘Fireflies’

Sharin Bhatti — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:32:15 +0000

Indus Creed on the sets of the music video shoot of "Fireflies." Photo: Vinit Bhatt

Rock veterans and the cover band of Rolling Stone India’s March issue, Indus Creed are currently shooting for a music video of their first single from their new album Evolve, called “Fireflies.” Being shot over two days at Mumbai’s Famous Studios and a construction site at Altamount Road, and Mulshi Dam, the music video is being shot by ad-maker-turned-filmmaker Sabal Shekhawat. ROLLING STONE INDIA was on the sets of the recent shoot at Famous Studios in Mahalaxmi. Lead singer Uday Benegal explained how the song was inspired by a movie script. “My friend, Sabal came to me with a movie script, incidentally also called Fireflies two years ago. I read the draft and was moved by it to write a song called ‘Fireflies.’ It’s about loving and longing and how life throws at you a chance for reparation and restoration when things don’t go according to plan,” said Benegal.

Shekhawat has already finished shooting the film by the same name, which features Shaa’ir + Func vocalist and songwriter Monica Dogra and is now shooting the music video for the Indus Creed song. Benegal calls it all, “a confluence of circumstances. I don’t know yet if the song will be in the movie.” But our guess is that the song might just make it to the film’s promotional trailer at least considering the Director of Photography on the video shoot also worked on Fireflies.

Indus Creed is hoping to release the video “Fireflies,” in June. The band also plans to kick off an album promotional tour next month.

Here’s a video of Benegal taking us through the concept of the song.