We give our verdict on recent releases from jazz act The Shonai Collective, singer-songwriter Aanchal Bordoloi, ambient producer Salil Pant, singer-songwriter Vinay Prasad and hip-hop act Bad Trip Symphony
Hyderabad act R.A.I.D. take a sharp turn away from their raw hardcore style (inspired by the likes of Hatebreed) into face-melting modern metal and djent riffs on Dominion. Right from the opening track “Ignite,” the band sets the tone with growled vocals, massive breakdowns and more that make them seem closer now to recent American metallic hardcore breakout acts like Knocked Loose. “Mania” is a rollercoaster ride in riffs and melodies, “D.I.N.A.S.” addresses mental health with chunky guitar work. “Supremacy” bursts out the door with riffs that are likely R.A.I.D. at their heaviest. Throughout Dominion, the band keeps their message of hope and positivity, except it’s now an even more intense journey.
Chennai-based singer-songwriter Aanchal Bordoloi has always mined deeply personal experiences and woven them into something heartfelt. Sometimes it’s a lesson to herself but also bearing that relatability. So it goes with Letters to Bombay, born out of a failed attempt to make a pen-pal in Mumbai. Traversing jazz and blues, the three-track EP starts off rather bright with “Energy” but then Bordoloi feels markedly mournful. “I’ve been feeling way too much, it’s numbing,” she says over a threadbare acoustic guitar on “Ruse” and gets more acerbic on “Ruins” on being taken advantage of. Bordoloi hits the high notes just right, which makes Letters to Bombay as intimate as ever.
In a true show of global boundaries being blurred, New Delhi-based, West Bengal-origin pianist-composer Shonai teams up with artists from Japan and Kerala to release his collective’s album Epiphany via Belgian label Off. The Shonai Collective paint with intricacy across eight tracks, nodding to bebop, minimalism and modern jazz. “Absence” and “Hope” immediately catch any jazz listener’s attention, “One fo the Lil One” starts like a lullaby but gets playful. Drummer Shantanu Sudarshan shines on “No Dose,” while the tempo gets nostalgic on “Hymn of Dreams.” Shonai, who is also part of Kolkata jazz experimentalists The Bodhisattwa Trio, shows a different side on Epiphany, emoting brilliantly on the bebop-informed “The Reverend Man” and experimenting a bit on “Syogyo-mujo.” The best way to end a wide-ranging album called Epiphany, of course, would be to speak through the philosophy of Swami Vivekananda, sampled low and distorted on “Freedom Jazz Trance.”
Three-song EPs seem to be the antidote (or middle ground, depending on how you see it) to the single releases in indie music. Chandigarh-origin pop-rock band Naalayak’s Jollypop is a compact offering that could want people wanting more, which is perhaps the point. Frontman Sahil Samuel goes the production-heavy route on this one unlike his rock approach on previous releases, with assists from producer Ronit Vinta on two songs – “Tenu Ki Pata” is lo-fi pop but just over 90 seconds and feels incomplete, or maybe just made for the Reels format. “Door,” at about two minutes, seems straight out of sunny American radio pop territory. Naalayak round it off with “Unknown,” a return to rock roots, although not as punchy as one would like. Still, the heartfelt lyrics and sticky bassline make it a memorable tune.
Released in February, composer and producer Salil Pant’s Take Me to Sleep is a night-time sojourn when we all need to drift away. The ambient album is presented without any gimmicks, perhaps a pure passion project for Pant who also works as a music composer for film and T.V. shows, games and more. There’s a deep classical influence that enriches “Flute Me to Sleep” and Pant doles out a bit of friendly advice over heavy-footed piano on “Relax!! It Will All Be Fine.” The eight-minute closing track “Take Me Back Again” is his most luxuriant work, however, because it feels like familiar cosmic ambient with gentle percussive touches that can soothe every mind.
After years of being a go-to producer for artists like Raveena Mehta, Ysoblue aka Santosh Kori turns composer with his collab-heavy debut album Shown In Blue. The producer adds his breezy and dexterous in turns electronic twist on can’t-fail renditions of traditional songs like “Chaap Tilak” with Prateeksha Srivastava and there’s hip-hop/pop on “Glow” with singer Yunan. Kanika Patawari adds sublime vocals to elevate “Jaage” and it’s a similar case with Yash Narvekar on “Nai Khena.” Srivastava returns on the electronic-fusion “Emotion” and Larzish adds a modern hip-hop touch on “Love It.” It sounds diverse at times, but Shown In Blue is also a mixed bag because it pulls in so many different directions, where you’d hope a producer would have a singular sonic aesthetic.
Jaipur hip-hop duo Bad Trip Symphony continue their prolific streak on their fourth album Soul Searching. It’s rare to come across artists in desi hip-hop who believe in albums and EPs as confidently as Rbbt and BadLuck. There’s plenty of styles covered across 11 tracks, with varying success – “Chen” references Kendrick Lamar and Cole, “Bekarar” has a few English bars, while “Der Raat” has their signature melodramatic, horror rap. MC Kode and Vasudev join “Zehar” as a cathartic confessional tune. There’s seismic drill on “Love U” but songs like “Titli” overstay. Thankfully songs like “Yakeen” and “Untitled” are as real as they get, focusing on bars with hair-raising effects.
After more than a decade constructing the most cosmic yet punishing songs with metal experimentalists Maneating Orchid, it turns out that guitarist Vinay Prasad – like many metalheads – has a singer-songwriter side to him. Intricate guitar phrases and subtle layering populate his debut EP From a Corner, which gets unsettling (“Fall of Reason,” “Both”), confessional (the gradually built “Home Alone” that draws from jazz) and finally, something almost intentionally indescribable and unpredictable (at least within the singer-songwriter spectrum) on “Fragile Body.” For fans of artists like Iron & Wine and Sufjan Stevens, there’s a sunniness to From a Corner that Prasad likely wants you to find.
There’s never been a better time for metal bands to write about the deeply divisive politics and schools of thought that exist around the world, specifically in India and Chennai death metallers Moral Putrefaction do just that on their pulverizing self-titled debut album. Across seven tracks, the band scales up and down terrifying heights and depths, gnashing about the state of the country (“Divided”), allegorizing its leaders (“Serpent’s Gaze”) and pretty much pointing out problems without dressing them up, like “Colonial Genocide,” “Scum of the Earth” and “Beneath Saffron Skies.” Twisting and turning in a way that borrows from old-school and modern death metal, there’s something for every metalhead on Moral Putrefaction.
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