Shantanu Pundit / Run It's the Kid

It's actually been a pretty busy week... also, lying in bed and keeping warm has taken priority to productivity. Oh well.

Today, we'll listen to Shantanu.

He doesn't have much in the amount of music uploaded so you really gotta look to find him, but he's pretty well known around certain circles. I got to see and meet him at NH7 this year and his was a pretty enjoyable set.

Here's an article about him - http://issuu.com/score/docs/v06i02/39?e=0
I haven't read it... but feel free to yourself...

He has a band too... it's called Run It's The Kid... they might come out with an EP.. who knows...

And here's a song -


And here's a video (my introduction to him) -



And here's another (Because I'm a giving guy...) -



P.S. He's cut his hair now... I liked him better with the long hair... I say this like it matters...

P.P.S. Another Video -

Slowing Down, but not really... PCRC

Good Evening too one and all!

Alright, a quick one today. Peter Cat Recording Co. You'll like them.

Again, one of those bands that really stick out. I can't help but compare the style to a Door's-esque-ness. But rest assure, they are their own brand.

The easiest way to listen to their music -

The whole album is amazing. It troubles me though that these guys have been around for a while but no new music in some time. What's up PCRC?

You can buy on bandcamp or from their website here - http://www.petercatrecordingco.com/
Rs. 399 for a physical cd + downloads if you're in India... and I'm not... so well that sucks...

Although I really like this video that they made of them on the road.. it's kind of strange but worth the hour of my life I spent watching it -




Peace brethren!

The F16's

Alright so I missed a day. I apologize for you my 3 readers.

Today I have a special band for you. I give you The F16's.

These guys are a lot of fun. I actually got to meet this band and chill with them. Real fun bunch of guys. Also, they really know how to jam it out.

I like that the music sounds different. It's fresh and you can tell an F16's song instantly. That aint bad for a band trying to make it in a super saturated market.

They just came out with an album called Kaleidoscope. You can buy it on OkListen -


Give it a listen here -


These guys are making quite sizeable waves on the internets and blogs. I'd watch out for them to be doing big things in the near future.

A quick shout out to Meera for letting us crash at her place in B'lore last month! And to Juhi for introducing me to the F16's :).

That's all for now! See y'all tomorrow!

DJ NYK

We're going to take a bit of a detour today.

Today, I want to introduce you to DJ NYK. He makes Bollywood sound good. Nuff Said.

Here's his latest Album -

And if you want some good work music, check out his podcast - http://electronyk.podomatic.com/
(Number 7 is my favourite).

So here's to embracing the bollywood as well... this is good fucking music people...

Sky Rabbit

Dayum I'm still thinking about that Lightyears band... they're effing tight.

Anyway, a new day, a new band. Today, let's have a listen to Sky Rabbit.

I got to see these guys twice this year, and both times they were assssssuuuuuuuum. So just listen and be happy.



Here's a link to listen to this song on repeat - http://www.yourepeat.com/watch?v=eCMu7BrygM8
Because why not...

More - https://soundcloud.com/skyrabbit

They just came out with a new album. It's called Where.
Don't be cheap and buy it on OKListen- . Seriously... it's like 60 Rupees. If you don't have 60 Rupees to blow, I'll buy it for you... fuck it.

Day 3 - Must be a miracle - The Lightyears Explode

On a roll! Let's keep this going.

Today, I have more than a song for you. I have a band!

I present to you - The Lightyears Explode




More -

Even more -



FREE shit here - http://thelightyearsexplode.bandcamp.com/album/the-revenge-of-kalicharan-2

Made it to day 2!! - Skrat

Today's song is brought to you by Skrat



For a 3 man band, they really pack a punch... They're from Chennai...

fucking Chennai bands...

Here's more - http://www.reverbnation.com/skrat
Buy their album here on OKListen

Back to the drawing board - Keep it Simple - Blackstratblues

I'm going to give this another go.

I figure the easiest way to get myself to update everyday is to just put up a link a day.

So let's go... Today's song is presented to you by Blackstratblues



Check out more on the internets... it's not that hard people...

Buy their shit here - On OKListen

Week 3 - Skyharbor

Yes I know it's not the third week... but it's the third band so shhh!!

Today I want to talk about a band called Skyharbor. Explaining them is kind of difficult, so here is their Facebook bio:

"Starting out as a simple bedroom studio project, guitarist Keshav Dhar has seen SKYHARBOR quickly evolve into one of India’s hottest metal prospects, with huge admiration coming in from some of the biggest names in metal worldwide.

An astonishing amount of buzz also surrounded the band's first ever performance at the Bacardi NH7 Festival in Pune, India earlier this month, where they played to ove r 1,000 people and were one of the weekend’s highlights.

The long awaited debut album from SKYHARBOR promises to be a landmark release for the Indian independent music scene, in no small part thanks to the incredible number of international guest appearances it will see, including the likes of Marty Friedman (ex Megadeth), Daniel Tompkins (ex TesseracT), Vishal J. Singh (Amogh Symphony) and Sunneith Revankar (Bhayanak Maut).

SKYHARBOR released their debut album 'Blinding White Noise : Illusion & Chaos' on April 23rd, 2012 worldwide via Basick Records."

I can't really explain how they work, but I do know that their music is freking mind blowing! Here is their most popular track, called Celestial.

I like how it separates from the really noisy sounds that Indian metal bands go with. The riffs are clean and the interludes are engaging. One could say it's just because of the massive amounts of post processing, but either way, on face value, it sounds pretty awesome. 

Sometimes I like the fact that you can't really tell the difference between this and any North American sound. It's a touchy subject for some because one could argue that there is no genuineness in the Indianness of it, but it still sounds really good man!!! 

Anyway, you can hear some of their other stuff if you youtube them, or go to their Facebook page for links to explore. 

That's all for today. Until next week then (hopefully). 

Week 2 - The Captains of Hook

Just when you thought I was giving up again, here I am! Technically it's been a little more than a week, but things like time are minor logistics in the long run anyway.

The band I want to talk about today has quite an interesting story attached with them. In 2007, I got to see a band called Junkyard Groove in Dubai at the Dubai Desert Rock Festival. I instantly fell in love with their music, and have been following them since. I even tried (sadly unsuccessfully) to get them to come to Toronto for a few gigs. So Junkyard Groove was my ultimate Indian Rock experience... Until they broke up...

And I was pretty crushed because I was hoping for amazing things to come from the group. And then one day I came upon The Captains of Hook. The Captains are essentially three fourth of JYG, including Sid, Craig and Hudstin and excluding the original vocalist. I was skeptical of them at first because Ameeth, the vocalist of JYG was a really big part of the band's persona and character. But then I started listening to their music. And yet again, I fell in love with their music.

The music is fun, narrative, very catchy and most of all it's light. No heavy lyrics and desperate attempts to be insightful. It's simple, clean, tight and honest. It's feel good music at it's core and it's the kind of music that you can play at any time of the day for a quick pick me up, which I really like.

I presume that they are working on their first EP. Here are a few songs that they have already released. You can catch all of their songs over HERE.




I've been in a few bands and I know that band politics are always a factor. The best bands in the world have broken up over the silliest things. I think that a big part of breakups is that you cannot stop making music. You move on to the next band, and on to the next project and you make it work because you do what you do for the music and everything else is second to that.

That's why I admire The Captains even more. You can instantly tell that the music comes first for them and in such a volatile industry for musicians in India, I think that their commitment to what they love is quite cool. The Captains will never be the same as JYG, and the "new" JYG will never be the same as it was in the past, but that's just why living music is so poetic.

So this week, check out The Captains of Hook and let me know what you think!

Week 1 - Dualist Inquiry

I found this guy on Tehelka's mini-series called The Music Project. His name is Sahej Bakshi and he is based out of  Delhi. The song that he plays on the Tehelka show was just really really really funky! He uses a pre-programmed pad and a bunch of other shiney looking computer things to get a really happy and heavy techno sound. Here give it a listen yourself:

Now you might say, what's so "Indian" about this? Well firstly the guy is Indian =D. But more importantly, I think that his music reflects a very real and relevant part of urban cities such as Delhi or Mumbai. Even the dude looks like he's a Delhi product and he has been through the "mall-iffication" of the city, and I don't mean that in a negative way. I just mean that he's seen it.... whatever don't hate!

Anyway, he has a website which you can get to over -> Here, and he has a bunch of music on Soundcloud.com which you can get to over -> Here :D. I think he would be really fun to see live, even if he's just playing a set in a club or at a lounge.

So Dualist Inquiry definitely makes my Big Board for the time being. Check him out and let me know what you think.

Comeback Post

Hello all of the three readers of this blog. To be fair, it has been dead for a while. But what's not been dead is the Indian music scene. I have found a resurgence of Indian rock music in my music library and what a better time to restart the blogsterbation.

Originally, this space was to be used so that I would be forced to explore the world of Indian influenced/produced music. When I first started out, I didn't really know where to look for the good music, and I would often just randomly search youtube and the web. It turns out that a lot of Indians are quite lazy, and the average life span of a band in India is about as long as a summer monsoon.

So I have changed the intention of The Indian Reverb completely. I want this space to reflect the best of what Indian musicians have to offer, and I will be exploring not only the classic Indian bands of the 80's and 90's, but I will also take a look at bands that have come out with really good albums recently, and are being proactive in the local music scene.

Since I am based out of Toronto, expect to see posts about Indian musicians performing out of the Sub-Continent, and probably within North America.

So without further ado, I give you the reborn Indian Reverb, and hopefully this time around, I will be able to engage you at a much higher level and we will be able to explore the rock, pop, folk and any other genre of music that India has to offer.

Cheers,

Udai.

A Fresh Angle

Well, I've been added as co-author for a while now but never really posted ever.

My first post is just a pre-cursor to the kind of music I love. A balanced blend of Trance, House, Sufi, and Soft Rock. It may sound a bit confusing at first but I hope you guys give the music I link you with a fair chance.






Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is undoubtedly one of the greatest vocalists that the Indian Sub Continent has produced. He is a Sufi and Qawwali singer often called the Elvis of the East. His amazing vocals mixed with London based Gaudi's beats are a recipe for success. I would recommend this song to one and all, irrespective of your mother tongue.

Another beautiful Sufi song is by a female vocalist, Rekha Bharadwaj. She sings about the passion with which a woman loves.





Well, I hope you guys enjoy at least one, if not both of the songs I've posted. Looking forward to doing this more regularly!

Blues is My Soulmate

Throw together insane vocals and an ability to play the guitar like Santana (or in Udai's opinion, Led Zeppelin) and you have Shillong based blues band, Soulmate.

The lead singer, Tipriti, has the power of an entire Roman army in her voice and is absolutely epic at what she does. The guitarist and hubby of said singer, Rudy Wallang (A family of musicians, what could be cooler?) plays the guitar like a God and has the most soothing voice. As for the music... it just flows from the two of them. Naturally. Effortlessly.

When Live, there is so much energy being flung across the area, that even a half dead hippo would want to jump around and groove. Their chemistry is very very good. Its like they were born to be up there on stage, together.

The sound is inspired by the roots and groove sounds of the Blues, Blues-rock, Soul, Rock ‘n Roll, Funk and R&B.
I just spent ten minutes typing and backspacing words to describe it but I really cant. You can hear a few tracks at their Myspace page(hyperlinking really isn't that hard *cheeky grin* ) and decide for yourself.
Personally, I'd recommend "Blues is my Soulmate", but I'd urge you to hear them all.

A band worth more than just a litsen, give it up for "Soulmate"

*applause and cheering. hooting maybe*

Digital Suicide

Alright! Yes so I know I have committed the cardinal sin of blogging. I hate to disappear for such a long time, but in all honesty, I needed it. I don't know what it is about Indian rockers that I was just not feeling. But a few revisits to Avial and Mother Jane has coaxed me to get this space going again.

So lets get down to business. Digital Suicide. These guys are bringing the ROCK back! Yes, they are very contemporary, commercial, Killers-Audioslaveish. However! They are good at it! I mean really really effin good.


This trio bring originality in the form of guitar tones and vocal feel. Drumming is tight, and grungy at the same time. A balance that is very tough to find. The arrangements are unique but still appealing in the sense of mainstream music. And overall, I like them. I haven't nearly heard enough to love them yet though, but I am definitely going to download their demo album. And why the hell not? Its FREE! :D

HERE is their website where you can listen and download to a bunch of their songs. My personal favourite is No.4, called Amnesia.

Overall verdict - Worth a listen.

p.s More reviews and info to come soon. This time I promise!

Where I find my music

When trying to make a playlist of the Indian rock sorts, one needs dedication and well.. painstaking patience... but eventually the warmth and awesomeness of listening to some good music makes it all better.

Places that are essential to the Indian rock follower are as goes...

www.myspace.com - This is where you will find 75% of your music... at any point in time, there are about 4-5 myspace tabs open on my browser... at the moment, the essentials are Sidd Coutto, Junkyard Groove, Thermal and a Quarter, Rainbow Bridge, Zero and a few randoms from here and there...

www.youtube.com - This is my next stop... if you like acoustic music, you will find a lot of songs just posted for fun by the bands that are worth listening. Obviously, youtube is where you will find music videos for your songs, band profiles, and also snippets of talent shows (for those of us who dont get MTV, [V] India), that might hint at some good bands.....

last.fm - This is a FANTASTIC site for some random music surfing and quick playlists... It sometimes gives you the opportunity to download some free mp3s... so thats always a bonus... It also mixes up bands, so you will find yourself discovering a bunch of good bands just by searching for one... HERE is a link to spark your surfing....

Myband - This is a cool site if you are feeling adventurous and want to manually delve into bands that are trying to make it. However, I have found that one needs to get through much junk before you can find anything good.

Gimmesound - This is an awesome site that does something pretty amazing. It gives bands the opportunity to get their music out and get paid for every time someone downloads their music. Oh and did I mention the downloads are free? *:O!!!!!*
With some effort, you will probably be able to find some good bands and add their songs to your music album. HERE is a god starting point.

Lastly, anything that happens in the industry will guaranteed to be covered by these two sites... so keep them in your favourites/blogroll.
Indian Rocket
Indian Rock Mp3

Gowri

This is the post in which I apologize to my three readers for not updating... I'm sorry...

Anyway, I've got a bunch of exciting updates lined up, so I should be consistent with post for the next few weeks...



This post is about a girl named Gowri. Well she is probably a woman... but whatever... She has a band that consists of her and her guitar. She has won a bunch of awards and all of that...
and she makes good music :D
(and she also likes Led Zeppelin... so I'm kinda biast)
With cool chilled out acoustic sounds, and simple vocals with amiable lyrics, Gowri is an awesome listen when lolling about, or even if you want a break from your rock playlist.

She probably has an album out but as all Indian bands, you would probably have to go to a certain music store in Mumbai to aquire it.

Her Myspace (yes that is a hyperlink... I am awesome) page has four cool songs. I like all of em :)

I also found this video (oh no he di'n) of her on the Tube. The song is called Tea
(i cant post it here because she has disabled the embed feature... strange... i still like her but =) )

Something Relevant

I found them!!! Wow these guys are a tough band to get a hold of. But I think i have enough to show them off...

Something Relevant are a Jazz-Funk-Rock-Pop-Jam band out of Mumbai. I got to see them jam in my brief Mumbai trip and it was just plain fun... and the music.... well... I just feel kinda privileged to have been there...

There are a many things in this world that are ineffable, but when a bunch of people come together, with one common focus, beit kicking a ball in between two metal posts, or running a country, or creating a work of art... that to me, tops it all.

Sitting with them in that room, i saw seven kids, and seven instruments, but i heard only one sound. The sound itself was merely a tool to amplify that ineffable feeling that could not have been explained otherwise...

And Something Relevant made it fun. I've been waiting for them to put their stuff online, and there isn't much... but this is what i could find....

Their Myspace page has one single on it called Aha...

you can also catch a buncho of their vids at their Facebook page.

And i was also able to find a bunch of videos of them on youtube. Here are a few I like...

I think this song is called Tomorrow...


BBQ Mosquito

Tough on Tobacco (Helga's Fun Castle)

alright.... so July was eventful to say the least and I now have a plethora of Mumbai bands that need to be reviewed..

The first of which is a band that I got to see live - Tough on Tobacco is a brilliant, brilliant band. Their lead vocalist, Sidd Coutto, seems to be the face of the band in many respects and for good reason. The band as a whole is tight and very professional. With a very chilled out sound, ToT are a great listen when just lolling about. I still haven't found a specific genre for their music... but there's no need for there to be one...

Anyway, here is some of their music... check out Voices in my head and Concert Piano (personal favs)

http://www.myspace.com/siddcoutto

Also, it's worth mentioning that this band is quite famous for a song that they made when they were called Helga's Fun Castle... The song's name is Smoke Some Ganja so you can guess why it is so popular :)

Here is a link to that track....

http://www.last.fm/music/Helga%27s+Fun+Castle/_/Smoke+Some+Ganja


Next update a lot sooner... promise...

Mizraab

Sufi rock has always had that magnetic and attractive sound to it. It finds the perfect balance between the rock sound and “rootsy” vocals and lyrics. The beauty of it is that nobody can really complain about the music. The sound is good. The vocals are pleasing and it does have that feel-good sound to it.

This brings me to my next band. Mizraab are tagged as a “Heavy Metal” band out of Pakistan. Some of their songs do indeed have some heavy riffs and double bass kicks but the sound just seems, for the lack of a better word, aspirant. What it sounds like is a bunch of clichéd heavy metal ingredients put together and even though the music is tight and has its moments, there is that special something that is missing.

This takes nothing away from some of their pretty awesome songs, when they take the freedom to have some fun with the songs. My favorites are Ujalon Main, Who Aur Main, Insaan and Kitni Saadiyan.

Check them out on their myspace page HERE. There’s a weird add that keeps making an irritating sound on the site, so I suggest clicking on the pop-out option for the player.

Take a look at these as well… I think these videos are stellar!!
Ujalon Main - Mizraab


Kitni Saadian - Mizraab