Music etc

Slacksuite

2010-10-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

I've started composing some music. The first song is kind of ready. Its called Curious and can be found at slacksuite. Thanks to my good friend Vikas for writing the drum track for the song.

Leaving Home - The Life and Music of Indian Ocean

2010-09-07T01:09:00.000-07:00

I finally got the movie. Don't ask how! The movie is everything that I expected it to be and much more. Indian Ocean is a band that has been through a long and arduous journey before they found mainstream credit. The movie takes us through the memory lane of the band right from their childhood, to the early 80s when the band was conceived through to the present day.
It's interesting to see the band members and their family members talk about their backgrounds and the process of discovering their sound. We also get to see ex-band members whose words leave no doubt in the viewer's mind that Sushmit Sen (guitars) and the late Asheem Chakravarty (vocals, percussion) always believed in their music, although the band was never taken seriously until much later in their career. It wasn't until they met Rahul Ram (vocals, bass) and Amit Kilam (drums, keyboards) that they became a formidable musical unit that was able to fuse traditional Indian folk music with improvisational tendencies of jam bands in a manner that has never been done before. The band draws its inspiration from sources as diverse as the tribes of Narmada valley, the folk music of Rajasthan, Kashmir, Bihar, Assam and interprets the music in a manner that is uniquely Indian Ocean.
The movie not only talks about the band but also indirectly brings to focus the things that are wrong with the music scene in the country. It is almost painful to see the band talk about them getting rejected by every record label that they approached, because a record executive felt their music was not a product that'd make millions through mass sales. Sushmit narrates an incident when he went to the UK in hope of finding takers for their music. There too he was rejected because they weren't an authentic "Indian" band - in the sense that they use guitars and bass instead of more traditional Indian instruments. That was when the band had decided to release the album on their own. It is also interesting to know that Desert Rain, the first album of the band, is also the first and probably the only live album release of an Indian band until now. Sadly the movie didn't do much to widen the audience of their music, but it has set a trend for things to follow. Hopefully more such movies see the light of day!

Brave New World

2010-05-17T03:51:00.000-07:00

Aldous Huxley has been on the to-read list for a long time but not until recently - I saw a copy of Brave New World and picked it up finally. I love 1984, but I like Brave New World better. Huxley approaches things in a very scientific manner, laying the basis for the story upon a set of basic axioms he believes will help create a completely mind controlled future. I also picked up this other book written by him called The Devils of Loudun. Its a non-fiction novel set in 17th century France amidst all the Catholic hysteria surrounding people who practice the "old" religion i.e., witchcraft. It's a brilliantly researched upon book. Huxley provides numerous references to books that have been written on related subjects, for anyone who cares about it. There are also a lot of Latin passages and quotes sprinkled all over the place - this is where I kind of do not completely get what he is talking about - but they do not take anything away from the superb description of the prevailing beliefs and situations. I right in the middle of the book, I'm reading it kind of slowly, but I'm sure will finish it in a few days.
There is also a movie based on the book, called The Devils. The director is interestingly Ken Russell, the director of Altered States, one of the weirdest and coolest sci-fi movies I've seen.

VALIS

2010-05-17T03:38:00.001-07:00

I recently finished reading VALIS, a highly acclaimed work of Philip K. Dick. I have been a huge fan of Philip K. Dick since I first saw Waking Life and later A Scanner Dartkly. Richard Linklater, the director of the two movies happens to be a big fan too and frequently uses ideas of Philip K. Dick. I had read a few of Dick's books in the past - A Scanner Darkly, Counter-Clock World, Our Friends from Frolix 8, Time Out of Joint. While I thoroughly enjoyed each one of those reads, it wasn't until I read VALIS that I had discovered the true genius in Dick's writings. Highly enjoyable!

Mirror

2010-05-17T03:21:00.000-07:00

Mirror is the fourth Andrei Tarkovsky movie I've seen. The first two being Stalker and Solaris, arguably two of the best sci-fi movies ever made. The third one is actually a short called The Steamroller and the Violin. Mirror wasn't a sci-fi movie, but what beauty! It's full of stunning imagery. Tarkovsky's movies helped me redefine my notion of the movie medium - that the image is more important than anything else. The story, the plotline, the background music are all secondary. If hollywood isn't your cup of tea, please do yourself a favor by watching Tarkovsky's movies.

David Cronenberg

2010-05-17T03:07:00.000-07:00

I saw A History of Violence in college. It wasn't such a special movie. After that I luckily chanced upon a few of his other movies on the TV and wow, is he crazy or what. He is known for developing this genre called body horror, most of his themes deal with horrors of bodily transformations and infections etc. You have to watch his movies to really understand what I'm saying. Definitely some of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen. Recommended :
The Fly
eXistenZ
Naked Lunch
Dead Ringers
Eastern Promises
Eastern Promises wasn't in the sci-fi genre but it was still pretty good.
Each one of these movies left me with a feeling of uneasiness which I haven't experienced too many times in life.

Remember this movie?

2010-04-12T07:07:00.000-07:00

.. called Leaving Home? Too bad, it played only one show in Hyderabad city at 11:00 AM on 3rd April. I didn't watch it too. It was playing in the Sunday morning slot in only one theater. I woke up in the morning yesterday with the intention of going to the movie and realized its not running in theaters anymore. How I cursed myself for not going on the opening day!
And.. that's the kind of fan following we have in India for the band Indian Ocean. I remember seeing the ticker on a news channel saying Leaving Home: The Life and Music of Indian Ocean was releasing nationwide on 2nd April. My joy new no bounds. Indian Ocean is one of the most understated bands of our time. I've been an ardent follower of the band ever since I first heard them in 2003, listening to all of their albums regularly even now. It always beat me why these guys were so obscure. Obscure is not exactly the word, thanks to Bandeh and Kandisa. But what is disheartening is that no one really gives shit. The movie Leaving Home has proved it. I'm hoping there will be a DVD release of this movie. You can read more about this movie at Director Jaideep Varma's blog.

Candiria - The Process of Self Development

2009-10-11T00:45:00.000-07:00

I can't believe this band has existed for 17 years. The band calls their style Urban Fusion. post-rock-mathprog-electro-pop-grind-rap-core-ambient-dnb-jazz-metal. you are free to insert as many genres in the - in the previous sentence. Thats a pretty accurate description of their genre. These guys switch from heavy as fuck groove metal to latin jazz and along the way throw in a hip-hop interlude or noodling space rock riffs. Now, this may not be everyone's idea of music, but if you like listening to crazy stuff and you don't care to label your music as this or that, you'll love Candiria. I have listened to all their previous albums and just downloaded their 2008 release "Kiss the lie". Get The Process of Self Development now!

Mastodon - Leviathan

2009-08-31T06:13:00.000-07:00

Beware! Collosal metal grooves will crush you. Brann dailor is a drumming monster gone berzerk. His heavy drum rolls swirl in and out of the tune, completely swallowing it at times. This kind of metal drumming very rarely comes by, if ever. This is one of the few modern metal bands that actually lend the term modern any meaning. The angry screams of Troy Sanders are so apt for the music. The vocals are quite varied on the album and get pretty innovative in tracks like Seabeast. The guitarist lays down the perfect riffage which sometimes gets amazingly bluesy for the high powered rhythms that Dailor plays. Oddly, it feels as though it is the drummer's heavy fill based drumming that's driving the album unlike the more conventional guitar based structure. Finally, the track Hearts Alive - the longest in the album, clocking 13 mins is one of my favourite tracks by Mastodon. It starts off as a sober piece and takes the listener through a sonic journey which only a band of this caliber can create - not to mention the amazing guitar solo towards the end of the track. This album features some of the best heavy metal chops displayed in the recent years. This one is not for kids or the light hearted. Be ready to get destroyed

Agalloch - The Mantle

2009-08-22T23:40:00.001-07:00

Agalloch is a band from the US. The Mantle can be described using any number of tags like folk, black, doom, stoner, psychedelic or even post-rock, as the wikipedia page suggests. This is a rare piece of work - a dark primeval sound created using atmospheric effects and amazing acoustic guitar melodies. The guitar work is quite minimalist and that makes the album sound beautifully space rock-ish, at the same time creating a desolate but strangely peaceful mood. If you are into any of the genres I mentioned above, get this.

Unquestionable Presence

2009-08-12T10:14:00.000-07:00

I've listened to Unquestionable Presence by Atheist a few times recently after a gap of about 2 years. And I rediscovered what a delight it is. This is aggressive, death-thrash-jazz-funk stuff with tons of jaw-dropping riffs that'll make you want to headbang and thrash around. The album opener Mother Man is sheer genius. The song immediately makes clear what to expect from the album. The drumming is mindnumbingly precise and lays down the perfect basis for the ensuing madness. The bass keeps switching between maniacal gallops and crazed funk slap. Kelly Shaefer screams like a demented prisoner trying to break his head. This is one heck of an album, one of metal's greatest.

My bass

2009-06-14T01:24:00.000-07:00

I bought these yesterday!

RATM becomes Melt-Banana

2009-02-14T07:59:00.000-08:00

The cassette player in my car stopped working a few weeks back. It plays songs at about 4 times their original speed. I've listened to Renegades of Funk (RATM), almost always while driving. So the tape player getting screwed didn't stop me from listening to it. I still play it everyday, side a and side b. The extra revolutions make RATM sound like a groovy Melt-Banana. You should try this at home. I listened to The Bedlam in Goliath by The Mars Volta just now, twice back to back. This is the first time I'm listening to these guys and wow they kicked my ass. Great prog music. Downloading Amputechture ...

2009-01-29T08:46:00.001-08:00

I have nothing to say. I bark. I have nothing to bark about. Rock and roll is dead. Hardcore rules. Its all about the hard and the core now. As a good man once said - beer, beer, beer, beer.

Hydrabad

2008-09-03T00:52:00.000-07:00

I’m taking the elevator a lot these days at work. It should come as no surprise as I am a lazy ass. I noticed that the doors-open button was looking brand new and unused and the doors-close button was looking so worn out that it is difficult to imagine that it’s a button. I mean wtf? This demonstrates how concerned Hyderabadis are about not wasting time. You can see the same behavior on the roads too. If you were to drive in Hyderabad, be very careful while you put on your indicator to change lanes, because people will ram you down if you aren’t too rash and random in your lane-changing act. In fact you are likely to get rammed down even if you drive in a straight line. To maximize your chances of survival, the trick is to drive in as random a path as possible. Beautiful city this is, truly a blessed place.

The pwnerers

2008-08-21T12:53:00.000-07:00

What good is it to blame the system. System here meaning the government, institutions etc. Any large group of people tends to behave like a machine - a complex machine - but a machine, whose behavior is predictable. That is exactly what pisses me off. I'm typing all this while listening to The Melvins. Non linear thought. Randomness. Psychotic grooves. Some of the words that come to mind. Now I'm thinking why the fuck I even began writing that shit about the System. Divine bassline, meditating drummer, corrosive guitar riff, fuzz jazz, a million ideas. The Melvins will smash your head. There was a kid who wrote a review of an album of The Melvins, praising them to the skies on an obscure kvlt website. A week later his head was smashed by The Melvins. I mean, literally. They landed up at his house one morning and simply smashed his head, and played stoner rock at his place. And they didn't stop at that. Later that evening they thew a party at the kid's place. Their main claim to fame came in 2007 when they became the first band to kill more than 2000 lazy ass teenagers who listened to The Melvins religiously. Its surprising how few people know about this wonderful band. Now they will be remembered at least for their famous killer parties. Curiosity might have killed the cat (no one seems to know exactly how, but they are pretty sure that it did), but The Melvins definitely did kill and they will kill. Didn't someone kill the government?

Desmond Morris

2008-08-02T05:29:00.000-07:00

The Human Zoo by Desmond Morris is a brilliant attempt to explain the evolution of man, in a sense. It is a very interesting commentary on how man fails to grasp that he is just one more species on the surface of the planet. Man surely has achieved a hell of a lot of more things that our animal counterparts haven't even got the ability to begin understanding. But the biggest drawback of our evolutionary process seems to be that our biological system has failed to evolve on equal terms with the immense evolution of the human brain. Biologically we aren't much different from the monkey - as a result, at some fundamental level, the big urban societies we have built for ourselves suffer from essentially the same problems that animals in captivity have to face. The book takes us through a brilliant analysis of the human zoo.

Gonzo

2008-08-02T05:07:00.000-07:00

I read The New Journalism by Tom Wolfe not so long ago. It had some of the most entertaining short stories in the first person narrative. They aren't exactly short stories, as one could call them essays or journals or articles or even, poems, sometimes. I need to get into more gonzo journalism.

The Dillinger Escape Plan

2008-08-02T04:26:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I've written anything here. Life in the last one year has for a large part been a vague blur. Owing to no broadband at home I haven't listened to any new music and the only listening I've been able to do is on my train ride to work. If there's one band that has really rocked my world in the recent times, it is The Dillinger Escape Plan. Fans of music in the extreme-hardcore realm will do well to check out the band's twisted debut EP Under the running board, which has a total running time of 7 minutes and 33 seconds. I will write about that album in another post. What I'm here to write about is the band's second EP Irony is a dead scene which features one of the greatest vocalist of our times - Mike Patton. Mike Patton is an enlightening musician. When did vocalists forget that language and lyrics were just convenient tools for making melodies? The true vocal melody should bend the mind by using not mere words, but by chanting and sceaming. Mike Patton's vocal style is a marked departure from the convention, emphasizing clearly what we expect to get out of music - madness and bliss. To see my point, go listen to the song When good dogs do bad things. The guitars and drums on the album are also equally genius - end result - a masterpiece of sound.

2008-01-21T12:19:00.000-08:00

destroy your throne. wander off into the street. the monkey is trying to kick the dust and smell the coffee. get some sleep. walk some more. gateway. can you see the light at the end of the rainbow? or what is it that one is supposed to see at the end of the rainbow? garbage. crave. bleak. grime. how many balls can the monkey juggle at a time, you think. but the monkey doesn't care for the circus. the monkey is mad. the circus got it all wrong. way, way wrong. fruit.

The Great Doom

2007-05-13T12:24:00.000-07:00

I like Kyuss a lot. I worship them. Their style of groovy rock and roll has been growing on me ever since I first listened to the mother of all stoner/rock/doom/desert albums “Welcome to the Sky Valley”. It is a collection of 10 mammoth tracks which are driven by a relentless rhythm section comprised of Brant Bjork on the skins and the mighty Scott Reeder on the bass. The guitarist Josh Homme is a god of desert-blues guitar playing, always walking the line of groove and craziness. John Garcia, the vocalist, achieves what I call one of the best vocal performances in the history of rock and roll. Listen to the tracks “Supa Scoopa & Mighty Scoop” and “Odyssey” and wander off into the burning desert. Naturally I began searching for all things doom. This led me to a dirty, muddy, druggy, bluesy land of music called The Great Doom, where I found other bands like Sleep, The Obsessed, Greenleaf, Earth, Eyehategod, Goatsnake, Unida, Acrimony, Electric Wizard, Melvins, Neurosis, Old Man Gloom, Wolf Eyes and many more. “Tumuli Shroomaroom” by Acrimony has to be one of the greatest stoner/desert albums released after Kyuss disbanded. Acrimony has a mystical, dreamlike, almost medieval nature to its sound. Listen to Sleep’s Dopesmoker. Its probably the greatest hymn written in praise of the herb. Its deeply meditative groove is destructive. That one song has the power to conjure up images of scorching earth and molten lava. The Melvins is an other three member mad clown carnival. It will take forever to listen to their entire discography and their music is noisy doom rock which is essential for anyone interested in madness. The ambient/noise/sludge/doom band Wolf Eyes introduced me to a few noise freak Japanese bands like The Boredoms and Acid Mothers Temple. I discovered post-punk or whatever the fuck people want to call it. Steve Albini’s genius projects like Big Black, Shellac, Rapeman are about raw, pissed off, garage recorded punk. Eyehategod are sludgy psychedelic maniacs who tell their wicked drug addled stories to make you want to kill yourself. This is Heavy, motherfuckers.

HFT

2007-04-22T07:36:00.000-07:00

This one is a recent discovery. HFT (High Fucking Time) is a three piece instrumental jam band from Delhi!. Their tunes are absolutely hypnotic and their songs can go on for 15 minutes if they have to. Lew Hilt on the bass is a madman. Arjun Sen (guitars) doesn’t play guitar in the conventional sense. His unique texture-weaving kind of playing is beautiful. The drummer, Adhiraj Mustafi is the third member of this line up, and trust me, he is the perfect compliment to the bass and guitars. Catch them live if you can and download their mp3s and videos off their webpage http://www.hftmusic.com/ .

Tripping on Lightning Bolt

2007-04-22T07:20:00.000-07:00

Noise. Noise at its loudest. That is how one can describe the music of the drum/bass duo of Lightning Bolt. All efforts to describe their sound in rational terms will eventually prove useless. I write this at a point where I’ve been listening to only LB for more than two weeks. Further listening means you are risking permanent damage to your ear drums. The crazy, incredibly precise drumming of Brian Chippendale leaves one gasping for air. The evil distorted bass of Brian Gibson is definitely going to get you and rip that head of yours. How does one get the idea of replacing one of the bass strings with a banjo string? Wreaking havoc with the sounds thereby produced. The vocals are sung into a telephone receiver. This is one evil evil band, meant for the hardest of the hard-core noise freaks.

I’ve also been incessantly listening to Black Pus, a solo side project of Brian Chippendale, who also writes comic books when he’s not jamming. The first two Black Pus albums are available for free download at http://www.fauxfetus.net/faux/bands/blackpus/ . I find it absolutely impossible to try and describe the sound in Black Pus. Go ahead and find it for yourself!

Best of 2006 : Music

2007-03-01T11:01:00.000-08:00

I haven't listened to too much music released in 2006 owing to my extreme indulgence in a few newly discovered bands. Although I discovered both bands old and new, I thought it'd be nice to prepare a list containing just my favourite 2006 releases. Last year also turned out to be radical in terms of the genres I started listening to. Metal suddenly took a back seat and in came post-rock, post-metal, jam rock, noise rock, math rock, sludge, doom, drone, jazz etc., which according to me is a good thing. I also got into techno for a brief period, which is also good! So, lets get on with the list.

1) The Ladies - They Mean Us

2) The Snake Trap - At Home In A Hostile World

3) Battles - EP C/B EP

4) Tool - 10,000 Days

5) Mastodon - Blood Mountain

6) Isis - In The Absence Of Truth

7) Don Caballero - Wold Class Listening Problem

Other releases that I enjoyed include The Advantage - The Elf-Titled, You.May.Die.In.The.Deesrt - Bears In The Yukon, Wolf Eyes - Human Animal, The Devin Townsend Band - Synchestra, The Melvins - A Senile Animal. I do not have any patience to review these albums right now. Go get these albums and write your own reviews!

World Class Listening Problem

2007-01-16T16:46:00.000-08:00

I got hold of their latest release. Damon Che proves once again that he is one of the most prolific drummers in the scene today. The spirit of the band hasn't changed at all inspite of Damon being the only member from the previous line-up. They've only gotten more jazzier and the songs are much lesser in length compared to Don Caballero 2, their most acclaimed album. Highly recommended for math rock enthusiasts.

Recent Finds

2007-01-14T12:02:00.000-08:00

I've become a fan of Cake. I've heard just one album of theirs (Comfort Eagle) and it left me on the lookout for more Cake. If you like funky music with witty lyrics, you will like the album. I somehow gathered up the courage to listen to Converge's 2004 album titled You Fail Me and needless to say, it pummelled me. They are one of the most hard-hitting bands I've ever heard. It doesn't make sense to talk about the talents of a band like Converge. The listener is forced to concentrate on the sound and when their sound finally sinks in, you'll see what a journey it is to listen to a Converge album from start to end. Jacob Bannon's painful screeches will never leave my mind. When I first heard Petitioning the Empty Sky, I was deeply disturbed thinking that some band can actually bring out certain destructive emotions in you. You Fail Me runs on similar lines with a brilliant slow paced song placed appropriately on the album. The last song on the album, Hanging Moon, has to be one of the most abrupt endings one could write for a record. Respect for Converge!

Vicious Circle

2007-01-02T00:56:00.000-08:00

How often does one go to a rock show in India and listen to original music? I'd like to see Indian bands play more original compositions. There are two sides to the issue actually. Firstly, we need an open minded audience that is willing to give a new band a chance. The second issue is that the music has to be good in order that the crowd likes it. For example, if you take Zero, a band that has managed to create a very unique sound, it is no surprise that they have sold more albums than most other bands in the scene. In fact in their concerts it’s fairly common to see the audience requesting for their original compositions and actually sing along with the band. On the other hand, we have a whole spectrum of the average run of the mill bands which sound no different from a dozen other acts. Being able to replicate popular rock anthems is good musicianship, whereas creating your own rock anthem for the masses is true musicanship. When will we see all original set lists at gigs? I don't see it happening in the near future. I’ll explain why. Bands that do create good original music unfortunately don’t get the recognition they deserve for lack of backing by record labels, which are very skeptical about signing a home-grown rock band irrespective of how good the band is. This skepticism arises out of a multitude of factors including piracy. There are well known cases of brilliant bands which sold an insultingly small number of albums, for lack of a loyal fan base. The situation is worsened when even the so called diehard fans are satisfied with downloadable mp3s. Why we never borrowed the concept of independent music labels from other music cultures is a little baffling. Although the situation is slowly improving with a few independent studios coming up, there is a long way to go before we see an Indian rock band sell more than a couple of thousand albums. Owing to all these reasons, even groups that have real potential are forced to disband sooner or later. If you heard a good album by an Indian band, would you buy it? Do you like any Indian band? If so, do you own their CD? Or are you happy listening to the pirated mp3s on your computer? Thermal and a Quarter is a talented funk rock band from Bangalore who released their second album for free on the internet. The album is aptly titled Plan B. I sincerely hope the plan works out for them. I have also heard some promising EPs from heavier acts like IIIrd Sovereign and I’m sure there are more emerging bands out there. Only time will tell us if the rock scene in our country is going to get any better.

- I had written this a long time ago and happened to find it by chance on my computer. There are a few Indian bands that I actually enjoy listening to. For example, Zebediah Plush's Afterlaughs is pretty good and I love some of the stuff on it. Demonic Resurrection's "A Darkness Descends" is a very good metal album. Hoping for more good music from our very own desi bands. And ofcourse, the best contemporary Indian rock band according to me is Zero. Older bands like Indus Creed, Rock Machine and Colourblind are quality acts too.

Livewire

2007-01-02T00:12:00.000-08:00

I missed Bruteforce, the first band to play in the livewire competition. I saw them live atleast a couple of times earlier and loved some of their covers but never enjoyed their original compositions all that much. Hypnosis was amazing. It was really nice to see good, solid rock and roll (meaning Hendrix) in the livewire finals. The band's originals were very good too. If my memory serves me right, one of them was called Walk Away and it rocked. This was the number one band of the night for me which my made my visit to the open air theater worth it. Next up were Skincold, a nu-metal act, who were playing in livewire finals for the second time. I think they were called off stage before their time was up, as is generally the case with most rock shows around here. The band played two originals and was tight but not brilliant. The vocalist could have been better.

The pro bands were to play next. Demonic Resurrection played three of their most popular songs in the order Darkness Descends, Frozen Portrait and Apocalyptic Dawn. The drummer was all over the fucking place. JP no longer plays drums for the band if you did not know. Sahil blabbered something about this guy, Vikram, who flew all the way from some place to play with them that night. Sahil's vocals were extremely bad in my opinion. Although I really love the band, I thought this was one of their no-so-good gigs I attended until now. Themclones came next and played a few pointless originals and some bad covers including the sacred RATM tracks Freedom and Killing in the name of. The singer can't sing for nuts and on top of that he tried acting really "pro" by throwing water on the crowd and using profanities on stage. The no-balls swashbuckling heroes of Indian rock, Parikrama were up next. They were accompanied by a violinist and a percussionist this time. They belted out some regurgitated bullshit to please the crowd which was so eager to listen to their fucked up Led Zeppelin, Floyd, Coldplay and AC DC covers. I wish they fucking stopped playing music for the sake of music. I left the auditorium after their second song, but fell prey to their aural crap while I was trying to eat something at a nearby canteen. Overall, a very average Livewire yet again from the Mood Indigo team.

Don Caballero

2006-12-12T03:30:00.000-08:00

is one of my new favourites. Their second album "Don Caballero 2" is essential for anyone who calls themselves a math rock/metal fan. They are an extremely unique instrumental band with a brilliant drummer in the form of Damon Che. I wouldn't suggest their first album "For Respect" to a newbie, simply because the songs are much less ass kicking compared to "2".

I will remember Shakti

2006-12-12T03:24:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate to see Remember Shakti live in Bombay a couple of days back. Needless to say, the show was exceptional. The line up consisted of John Mclaughlin (guitars), Zakir Hussain (Tabla,Drums), Mandolin Shrinivas, V. Selvaganesh (kanjira, ghatam, mridangam) and Shankar Mahadevan (vocals). Its an unforgettable experience.

Children Playing

2006-12-03T03:58:00.000-08:00

.. is the name of my new band. We are me on bass, Sajid on guitars, Lionel on Drums/Tabla and Atul on vocals/harmonica. We play jazz/funk rock and have almost finished composing three songs. You can catch us playing in the Livewire competition this month.

Hella

2006-11-21T23:47:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to write about Hella for a while now. I discovered the band a couple of months back and I have run through whatever albums of theirs I could get hold of. They are primarily a two member jam-band with Spencer Seim on the guitars and Zach Hill on the drums, who are both infact multi-instrumentalists. I do not know how to start describing the band. Words like "avant-garde" and "genius" are not sufficient to describe these gentlemen, who have been wreaking havoc in my life! They started experimenting with vocals and samples in their later albums and got even weirder! I wish I had the technical knowledge to exactly describe the guitarist's techniques and sounds. The drummer is a god of kick drum and cymbals. Their most recent double release "Churches Gone Wild/Chirping Wild" has a lot of Nintendo influenced music, so all you gamers will love it. The music is still very melodic in its own way. Melody gets redefined when one talks about bands like these. Ghost Dance, Post-Ivy League Depression, Biblical Violence and Famnail are some of the most disturbing songs I've ever heard. Their creativity scares me!

Inspired by Hella, I started searching for other similar bands and found quite a few actually. These guys are themselves playing in numerous side-projects, with other equally mad musicians. I'm dropping a few names to give you an idea.. Mike Patton, Les Claypool, Chino Moreno etc. The Advantage is a band in which Spencer Seim plays the drums. All their songs are covers of classic 8-bit Nintendo music! (remember Contra, Batman etc..?) They play these songs to deadly perfection. I've listened to their 2006 release Elf-Titled and am trying to get hold of their earlier album in which they covered Mario tunes! An other bands you have to check out is The Ladies, an other two member project in which Zach Hill plays drums. Their album "They Mean Us" has extremely mellow and spaced out rock songs - perfect for a laidback, stoned evening.

The Snake Trap

2006-11-15T22:01:00.000-08:00

is a really cool instrumental rock band. The name describes their long convoluting, extremely pumping songs perfectly! I can't help but smile at their whacky and maybe silly song titles like "Redheaded Manual Festival", "Four Sores And Seven Beers Ago" (parts I, II and III) and "Untitled". Though I'd rather not label them as this genre or that, I'd suggest this band to people who are into post-rock/stoner-rock, especially bands like Pelican and Isis and to anyone who likes long pointless jams. You'd do good to check them out. I can't find even one decent review of their 2006 album "At Home in a Hostile World". They don't even seem to have a homepage! How lazy can a band get? So listen to these guys and spread the word. Their songs also have a loaded bass sound which can crush you to pulp, so go fucking get hold of the bloody album.

2006-11-08T12:13:00.000-08:00

Jim Morrison's biography by Stephen Davis. Richard Linklater's "Waking Life". A Perfect Circle and Rush.

A Scanner Darkly

2006-10-29T18:40:00.000-08:00

A wonderful movie and an even better book! You have to try to get hold of this one.

This and that

2006-10-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

I've been tripping on Converge for a long time now. "The Saddest Day" from Petitioning the empty Sky is in my opinion, the best album opener ever written! Take my word, I am saying this keeping in mind Angel of Death. I know a few people who might kill me if they heard me say that. Anyway, this album is just unbelievably awesome. These are the albums that show you that the underground is still alive. Fuck! Sheer energy.

That apart, A Perfect Circle is one my new favs. The lyrics, the music its all brilliant. I've been listening to them for about 3 years and now I truly understood the band (or so I think!)

Also listening to a lot of The Melvins, Lightning Bolt, Hella (fuck, these guys deserve more fame), Wolf Eyes and other stuff I can't think of right now.

I'm in the middle of "From Beirut to Jersualem" by Tom Friedman. Its a damn good one. I didn't know shit about the jews, palestine, christians etc etc and their issues. I also recently finished reading "The motorcycle Diaries" (by Che Guevara). I'm recommending the movie to all of you!

Moozak

2006-09-19T23:43:00.000-07:00

I'm just copy pasting this piece I posted to revive a really really dead music news group in my campus. I'm sure no one would read it there. So, I don't want to take any chances. There could be a repetition of things I already posted here/elsewhere on the web. Whatever, just read the fucking thing..

Latest listenings!!!

I have rediscovered a lot of bands in the recent past. (read
Radiohead, King Crimson, Cream, Meshuggah etc etc)

Radiohead has been constantly growing on me. I'm waiting for their new
album (don't know when its going to be out). The BBC sessions concert
video is definitely one of the most gripping live perfomances I've seen.

King Crimson! This band never fails to surprise me. They are too damn
brilliant I must say. Been tripping on the entire Thrak album for a
very long time now. Their earlier albums like "..Poseidon" and
"Starless.." are timeless classics, but Thrak takes their madness to
new heights. I'm eager to find out if their later album(s) are as
good. Can't seem to get hold of them.

Cream... umm, the London Albert Hall videos completely blew me away.
Jack Bruce (bassie), the drummer (?) (and of course Clapton) manage to
create magic even when they are like 60 years old (or maybe older!?).
The jam on sunshine of your love is really amazing, its almost anthemic.

Meshuggah.. I've listened to their entire discography (almost) in the
last one month or so. They are just too Godly!

Tool.. A new album after a 5 year hiatus!!! I'd expected their latest
release (10,000 Days) to be in the same vein as Lateralus, but no!!!
They sound totally new this time and of course those crazy riffs, odd
time sigs, incredible breakdowns are still there. This is the
"spaciest" Tool release till date. Listen to Wings for Marie and
10,000 Days to see what I mean.

Mastodon.. Their latest album Blood Mountain is as breathtaking as
Lifesblood, Leviathan and Remission. (whoa! 4 super albums in a row)
Listen to Bladecatcher on BM, and tell me if it doesn't freak you out.
Its definitely the most bizarre Masotodon composition to date and also
one of my favs.

Today is the Day.. I don't know how to describe this band. They
started out as a stoner rock/metal act I think. I remember listening
to their 1994 release Supernova and going "wow! what are these guys
trying to do?!" As it turns out, they just got weirder and better with
every passing year. I've been listening to their 1999 release "In the
eyes of God" for a very long time now and I just love it. It has
elements of grind/hardcore/thrash/whatnot in it and ... Brann Dailor
of Mastodon has played drums on this one.. so... :D

Primus.. Welcome to the land of Funk! This is the most
outrageous/wittiest/(throw in a few more adjectives) band I've
listened to in a while. Their live shows are explosive and their music
videos are damn funny. I've known of Les Claypool and Primus for a
very long time, but I've never listened to any of their stuff sparing
their really popular songs like Antipop and Tommy the Cat. I've really
started tripping on their music in the summer. Since then I ran
through most of Primus' albums and have tried to listen to the
numerous projects of Les. Its unbelievable how many bands Claypool has
played in. Just run through his bio and you'll be surprised to see how
many incredible musicians LC has played with. Okay, I have to stop
writing about this band now :P

Isis.. Their latest album "In the absence of Truth" is again extremely
good. But I miss the growls (the usual indecipherable vocal style of
Aaron Turner) that are so brilliant. Its mostly clean singing if I
remember correctly, but nevertheless a damn good album..

I'm currently listening to assorted techno/ambient/trip-hop/post rock
stuff also.. will post a review of these bands laterrrr.

PS: can't wait until next time.. GYBE! is awesome :)

Of books and other things..

2006-09-19T23:29:00.000-07:00

Finished reading "1984" a couple of weeks earlier. Its awesome! I'm trying to get hold of (i mean borrow) Animal Farm but with no success until now. "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri is an other book I read recently. Its a collection of really well written short stories. I'm halfway through "The Age of Kali" by William Darlymple. Will probably write about it here once I finish it.

PS: I'm going through an OST listening phase. I'm listening to OSTs of Koyaanisqatsi, Fargo, Requiem for a Dream and a few others. I've watched Koyaanisqatsi multiple times recently. Its a remarkable movie actually. Highly recommended for anyone who is.

Randomness

2006-09-09T04:06:00.000-07:00

This is some of the stuff I've been tripping on lately..

Primus, Mastodon, Today is the Day, The Prodigy, Meshuggah (listen to I while stoned! it's gonna make one hell of a trip). Mastodon's new album is brilliant. Its a worthy successor to the Leviathan and Remission, I must say. For those of you who are wondering how the band progressed from the previous albums, listen to Bladecatcher from the new album. Its just insane.

My Favourite Soundtracks

2006-06-30T11:47:00.000-07:00

I'm just too bored, hence these pointless posts! Some of these soundtracks are not completely "original" as they are compilations. Anyway, here's the list.

Garden State (VA) - This is my favourite OST of em all. The movie is just amazing. To add to the genius of Zach Braff, we are given an extremely melodic and mellow OST which just makes it all too perrrfect! This has been there in my playlist for about 3 - 4 months now. These songs make me very happy!

American Beauty (Thomas Newman) - This is brilliant musicianship. The perfect kind of music for the dark movie. Tabla owns btw. Again an OST that I keep listening to very regularly, whenever I want peace.

Black Friday (Indian Ocean) - Indian Ocean is the best band to have come out of India, atleast for me. Dark brooding compositions written for one of the most daring movies made in India - this is essential. For me, this is probably the best film score for an Indian movie.

Fight Club (The Dust Brothers) - The Dust Brothers totally know their shit! Their techno music is awesomely funky. Another regular.

Top Gun (VA) - Just a bunch of kick ass songs! Been a long time since I've last heard this one, but a damn good one nonetheless.

Easy Rider (VA) - A collection of rock songs from the 60s most of which are about joints, rolling joints, drug pushing etc.!

Mission Impossible 2 (VA) - Although the songs are not too brilliant or anything, I like this a lot just for the fact it this was the first complete OST I had heard. Bands like Limp Biskut and Metallika are there on this OST but don't judge me! I will kill you.

I'm sure there are other equally good OSTs but I'm not too much of an OST guy. Oh oh, I almost forgot. There are also other good ones like Almost Famous and Forrest Gump, but I don't listen to them that often.

kickass movies

2006-06-28T06:26:00.000-07:00

1) Easy Rider
2) Baraka
3) The Motorcycle Diaries
4) Garden State
5) SLC Punk!
6) Harold and Kumar go to White Castle
7) Blow
8) Human Traffic
9) Lost in Translation
10) Almost Famous
11) Trainspotting
12) Go

You could also try watching some Seinfeld!

I don't know why I feel so tongue tied

2006-06-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

Radiohead's Hail to the Thief has become one of my all time favourites. Its up there in my top 5 of all time. The lyrical brilliance combined with Yorke's voice is just too much to take. If you are already a Radiohead fan, you know what I'm talking about. Otherwise, listen to any of their albums with the lyrics sheet in front of you. My favourites are Kid A, Hail To the Thief and Amnesiac.

Velgome to News

2006-06-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a little break from metal. The last two weeks, I have experimented a hell lot with music. I've been listening to bands like Mahavishnu Orchestra, Mogwai, Trilok Gurtu, Alex Skolnick Trio, Weather Report etc., to mention a few. I have even tried a few indie post rock acts like GYBE and Sigur Ros and a whole lot of Om and Sleep, which happen to be the best fuckin stoner acts of all time (these are not the Kyuss type). I seriously recommend getting stoned and listening to Sleep's aptly titled song-album Dopesmoker, which is 60 fucking minutes long. The repeated chugging drone of the guitars will send you spiraling into the desert! The whole of last week I was listening to a lot of hardcore jazz which is too weird even for a metalhead head. The closest I can get to metal these days is bands like Agalloch and Isis.

In other news, Easy Rider is easily one of the most brilliant movies ever made. I watch a lot of movies, I'm telling you. This movie has taken me by surprise. Its way way ahead of its times in a lot of ways and I simply love it.

In other news, Serial Pwnage is a retard-blog that me and The GAP have started. Visit the blog or die.

yaaay!

2006-06-12T12:59:00.000-07:00

I share my birthday with the International Polar Bear Day!!!

You are tteh Suck

2006-04-26T15:55:00.000-07:00

the greatest suck list:

Boy bands
Girl bands
Gay bands
All bands that sing only about love
Vayu
and Pentagram
Elton John
Trying to quit smoking
Vodka
Not having cigarettes at 3 in the morning
Alarm clocks
Shahrukh Khan
Crappy Indian sentimental movies
Cat haters
People who love Slipknot
That guy in Slipknot who plays the tribal drums and when he's not playing drums, he's standing on them.
Ignorant fucks who just can't stop talking about the topic they least have an idea of
Guys who think "Enter Sandman"/"Nothing else matters" are the best Metallica songs.
Running out of beer
Not having beer
Spilling beer
Power metal heads who can't tolerate growls.
Animes
People who watch animes
Gothic Rock
Goths
People
Liars
Backstabbers
Misers
All singers who sing with their noses
People who can't appreciate the brilliance of Southpark
Stupid terrorists who keep blowing themselves up
Black metal purists
Hip Hop music
Hip Hop artists
People that can't stand insects
Paneer
People without a sense of humour
CDROM drives that get stuck.
The phrase "Whats up?"

Will add more later..

Metchull

2006-01-17T14:54:00.000-08:00

Got a job.
Formed a metal band.
Sitcoms have become my life.
Been drinking like there's no tomorrow.

2006-01-03T09:59:00.000-08:00

My conjecture is that there are a prime number of cats in this world.

New Millenium Cyanide Christ!!!

2005-12-19T08:35:00.000-08:00

a screenshot from my audioscrobbler account.

Number of the Beast

2005-12-03T06:13:00.000-08:00

I walked into a nearby temple. It wasn't until after people started staring at me that I realized I was wearing an Iron Maiden tee showing Eddie in all his glory :)

they put a man on the moon...

2005-11-27T20:59:00.000-08:00

More movies. A four day break in between my exams and I watch 3 movies! Watched The Weather Man (Nicholas Cage), Man on the Moon (Jim Carrey) and DWMyCar (Kutcher). Man on the Moon is a really cool movie about Andy Kaufman, a crazy comedian from the US. Its too difficult to put into words what comedy meant to this man. Its best to watch the movie. Interestingly, R.E.M's song "Man on the Moon" is about Andy Kaufman (Remember the lines "Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah"???). I've been listening to the song for so long, but I didn't know that. Here's a link for more info about Kaufman.

2005-11-25T07:48:00.000-08:00

Have been trying out some assorted Jazz/Blues music recently. My first contact with jazz. Have been listening to Coltrane, B. B. King, Charles Mingus and stuff like that. I'm not even sure if this kind of music is jazz or blues. Its really weird right now and will take some time to get used. Anyway, I will be back with my assorted rant and shit. Me off for now.

2005-11-22T11:09:00.000-08:00

Caught up with a movie in the middle of my exams. Raging Bull is one of the best movies I watched in the recent past. Robert De Niro in yet an another powerful role. Its a must see movie.

Cat Food

2005-11-21T09:51:00.000-08:00

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted-One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

The lyrics look familiar don't they. These were the words that were ringing in my head on Sunday when I realized that there's no way in hell that I'm gonna make it to the IIMs. But its ok I guess. My mom tells me everything is for my own good. Anyway, as Slim says, I'm losing myself in the music at the moment. Playing "Ghost Reveries" by Opeth.

Satan Stole My Lunch Money

2005-11-16T04:04:00.000-08:00

I worked my ass off for 3 days. I barely slept for a few hours. My btech project submission was due today and two days back I had no idea what the hell I was going to write in my report. But aren't projects always like that? Then after reading golu's post about RHCP and Pearl Jam, I heard One Hot Minute for the (N + 1)th time. Went nuts obviously. Heard it for one whole night while I was writing that report. Flea and Navarro created one of the best funk records of all time. Probably the best. Not to take away the credit from the vox and the drummer, but these two were definitely the highlights of the album. The bass lines are just insane. and I love it! Then started listening to Wargasm. The album aptly titled "Why play around?" is solid heavy metal (lol! solid heavy metal?). I've had the album on the "to-listen" list for atleast a few months now. These guys wrote some very neat stuff. This is borderline power/thrash metal. So if you are into that kinda music be sure to check em out cos the guitarist is damn good and nothing like a fix of good ol thrash every once in a while.

Sarah

2005-11-12T00:38:00.000-08:00

Yeah, now I see it, she does look like a foot.

2005-11-11T23:42:00.000-08:00

White guy to Slave : Okay, you're free to go. But we are cool, right?

Shit

2005-11-07T05:57:00.000-08:00

Couldn't think of a better title for the post. A week long of holidays are over. Back to assorted shit. On the night of diwali, we had a great time drowning some people in the lake. Unfortunately, all of them survived. Shit.

Fire!

2005-10-27T01:05:00.000-07:00

A fire started in our building while we were giving a test :) No one's hurt.

Update

2005-10-07T23:21:00.000-07:00

I'm still recovering from the mindfuck that the movie Shahenshah was. Had to watch it as part of a course that I'm doing. Its definitely the most pathetic movie that I've seen (atleast in recent times). Anyway, I'm hoping I can put it out of my mind asap. Can movies get any worse?

Last weekend we went to I-Rock, which happened finally! Helga's Fun Castle, Vayu and Zero (atleast the songs with Pt. Ravi Chari) rocked like crazy! We were too stoned to remember Bhayank Maut's setlist. From what I remember, Joint Family were ok while Sledge were not so good with their Pantera and Sepultura covers. I had big expectations from Sledge. It was all worth it though. I'm just praying this won't be the last I-Rock.

I'm always watching some TV-Series or the other (ofcourse on the computer!). These days its Dilbert. Its fun and laid back. Highly recommended to everyone who has nothing to do in life.

Wake Up

2005-09-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

The last few days, I was too bored to update my blog. But something happened which woke me up from my slumber. Independence Rock, which was to celebrate its 20th year was cancelled yesterday. To put it in simple terms, I-Rock didn't happen because the police commisioner of Mumbai doesn't like rock music. The police now dictates what music we should play at the Gateway. A sad state of affairs it is indeed. And hats off to all the people who worked hard until the last moment. I hope they manage to organize it sometime soon. For a detailed story visit gigpad.

This post is dedicated to the spirit of rock and roll. Meanwhile, all of you reading this, please forward the above link to as many people as you can. Rock fans in India have always had to go through hell to have a simple rock show. And what happened on the 3rd of September is a shame. A disgrace to the spirit of freedom, which now seems to be only an illusion.

Bargain!

2005-08-16T23:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.chron.com/content/archive/ysearch.mpl?operation=getdoc&database=2005%3B2004%3B&databases=2005%3B2004%3B2004%3B2004%3B&docid=89740&docids=50449%3B89740%3B68616%3B39404%3B&query=bargain+laptop+NOT+3:RSEC&pos=&numhits=25&start=&type=&user=houston&sview=1&hview=2&dview=1
good stuff :D

2005-08-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

Mosh Mania, a near broken neck, unfinished assignments, my computer getting screwed again, and still reading "Zen and.."! Mosh Mania was the wildest gig I've been to. PDV made my day. Here's to PDV...

2005-08-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

Wing treats, quizzes, bunking morning lectures, binges.. life back to normal! I have been reading "Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance" for a very long time now. I'm only half way through. Hope to finish it off by the weekend (I know I'm sloow). I'm bored.. later!

The End of the Beginning of Contradicition

2005-08-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

This is the craziest stuff I've heard till date. Fredrik Thordendal with his "Sol Niger Within Version 3.33" has done the impossible. I said tht "Crimson" by Edge of Sanity was impossible, but this is way way way..(ad infinitum) more out of the world than Crimson. Fuck! 50 minutes of mind assaulting brilliance. I was drained and smashed at the end of the disc. I'm in a daze. I can't think straight. I don't remember the melodies(if I may call them melodies), I don't remember anything. I only remember sitting in my room going "fuck!".. "fuck!" and then some more "fuck!". Experimental metal at its fucking best! The drummer is amazing and on vocals is Tomas Haake!! There also seem to be some weird instruments playing here and there.. and yeah, I almost forgot, the band's called "Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects".

2005-08-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

Slept my ass off most of the morning. Woke up at lunch time only to have lunch and watch more Stand Up comedy to which I've been hooked to for a couple of days. More Rain. I put on my rain gear and reach the lecture hall. Its the "Environmental Studies" class (which was introduced after the govt. of India made it compulsory). One and a half hours of crap. Then one more lecture. I come back to my room to find my roof leaking! I rearranged my stuff and kept a bucket under the leakage area. More browsing and downloading new music. Ordered Pizza. Sleepy Time!!

2005-07-31T01:19:00.000-07:00

The rains haven't stopped. I'm still tripping on Meshuggah..Life seems to be moving at a really slow pace. I'm still reading The Tristan Betrayal. I've heard a beautiful album called "Crimson" by Edge of Sanity. It has got only one song 40 mins long. Highly recommended for all of you in search of innovative metal. Its an amazing mix of prog and death and there is not one dull moment. I think the band has achieved the impossible in this album. Am downloaded more Edge of Sanity! Me going to sleep..stay metal..stay insane..

2005-07-28T04:43:00.000-07:00

Reading "The Tristan Betrayal" currently. Been listening to Dark Angel, Meshuggah (got hold of Destroy-Erase-Improve!) and Death. Got hold of Opeth's new album (Ghost Reveries) and Green Carnation's "Light of Day, Day of Darkness" which I've been searching for more than a year. And the rains are killing. The worst rains I've seen my entire life. The highest India has witnessed in the last 100 years! When I was at Hyderabad, monsoon used to be a lot of fun. But here in Bombay, monsoon sucks. Been sleeping a lot the last 3 to 4 days. Sometimes more that 12 hours a day. Hoping the rain Gods sleep for a while..

2005-07-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

Digging Pain of Salvation currently. Watched Fight Club for the second time. Watched Snatch. Brilliant movie. Transition from Bangalore's Purple Haze, Styx etc. to Laxmi Palace near campus. Finished that goddamned John Grisham book. Half way through Lajja by Taslima Nasrin.

2005-07-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

Im listening to good ol radio pop these days. My computer is screwed. My only complaint is that there is no channel which plays english music all day long (im not even asking for rock!). Bollywood music comes at sometime or the other. I stick to 92.5 on which I get to hear Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Skid Row, Mark Knopfler etc. occasionally. Anyway, played my rusty guitar after a very long time. My fingers are screwed up real bad. Im almost done with the John Grisham novel that I started reading on my train to Bombay. I hate Grisham's novels but couldn't help it when I was traveling. That was the only book I had. Had a listening session with Vikas yesterday. We sometimes like to just sit down and watch our favourite metal videos for a couple of hours. That way we also get introduced to some new bands. Whole lot of shit we saw .. Napalm Death, Slayer, Sepultura, Pantera, Strapping Young Lad and our new fav. "Death". Its good to not have your computer for a few days! It eats away too much of your life.

2005-07-11T07:13:00.000-07:00

Lot of stuff happening currently! Met an old pal after almost 3 years. Bought some really cool tees. I found this one with the pic of Jim Morrison lying down on the stage on the front and has the lyrics of "people are strange" on the back. Immediately bought it. Then got a RHCP tee and a Pantera tee. Bought a Rolex watch for 150 Rs! :D

2005-07-08T10:17:00.000-07:00

Totally tripping on "Beyond the Pale" by Pain of Salvation currently. Downloaded the song after I read a lot about the band. The song has some real powerful vocals. Btw, (in case you chose to skip the above link!) the above link is an mp3. Another highly recommended song is "The Night and the Silent Water" by Opeth. It shows you Opeth in all their glory. Crunchy riffs, clean vocals, a mind-blowing acoustic passage of about 3 mins, growls.. everything! The song clocks slightly less than 11 mins.

My internship has almost come to the end. I'll miss my new friends, the cheap pubs, the great weather, forum mall and all the new music I downloaded on my office computer :). I have got used to going to Forum atleast twice everyday just for the heck of it and for an occasional softy! Time flew by really fast. I'll back in my room in 5 days!

Efilnikufesin (NFL)

2005-07-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

It was a long weekend for me. Didn't go to work on monday. Its such a sweet feeling when you stay home on a monday morning. But the effects show the following day, closer deadlines and longer weekdays, sometimes continuing even into the night! It all started friday night. Vikas was coming from Bombay and he asked me to pick him up from the station. So I went there at 10:30 PM, the scheduled arrival of his train. Came to know the train was going to be a hour late. Then spent a painful one hour on the cold platform. And rain making life worse.
Anyway, it was a weekend well spent. Caught up with a couple of movies. "War of the Worlds" I thought was a pretty OK movie. But it's definitely not the usual Speilberg stuff. The effects were there and the movie has a very captivating first 20 mins as well. But the concept was rather straight forward and the story even predictable in some parts. Tom Cruise was brilliant though. Would rate it 7-ish. The second movie was a telugu movie to which we went 20 mins late. Not that it matters in a telugu movie! Anyway, this movie "Oka Voorilo" which translates as "In a Village" was slightly different from the stuff we usually get to watch in the sense that the hero and the heroine don't live happily ever after. In fact, the "hero" dies in here. So it was a nice change. Spent 40 freaking bucks in PVR for a ****** up burger. Its definitely the worst burger I had my entire life and I can't believe I ate it.

Anyway, bought some books for real cheap. I thought I needed to read some books and stay away from my computer for a while. Yesterday, from the book stores me, nikhil and vikas went straight to pecos. We were totally tripping on Floyd, Clapton and the likes. Nikhil actually dozed off for a while. I forgot my books in Nikhil's bag and I won't be able to read them until this weekend. Nikhil being the workaholic that he is, he won't be able to give them to me during the week. Also, I'm hooked to the song "Bastard" by Ocean Machine, Devin Townsend's side project. He plays the most beautiful music with Ocean Machine.. the surreal soundscapes, the melodies and his mind blowing vocals leave you in dreamland. Efilnikufesin is an other song I'm hooked to these days. Its by Anthrax and it means NiseFukinLife.

To add to the perfect weekend, I woke up at 3:30 in the morning to drop vikas off. I must have yawned like atleast a thousand times today. Me go and sleep and you ..

2005-07-03T00:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday me, nikhil, reddy and hari aka "gabbar" met at styx. Awesome music these guys play. Got to hear to a whole lot of stuff ranging from Pantera, Slayer, Metallica, Maiden, Sepultura, Cradle of Filth to Floyd, Van Halen and Santana. And Gabbar told us a lot of horror stories on LSD and coke which scared the shit out of us. In the end we were all pretty smashed but came to our senses when we saw the bill! As I write this I still have a major pain in the neck from all the headbanging.

2005-06-29T10:12:00.000-07:00

Have I Run Too Far To Get Home.. A line from Alice In Chains' "Would". Been doing a lot of music soul searching lately. Not that I'm new to metal, but I've really begun to enjoy the really brutal, aggressive kind of music. I've been listening to Opeth, Death, Meshuggah, Strapping Young Lad obsessively. I have been listening to decently heavy music for a good two years atleast and I myself haven't understood what exactly draws me to the music. Sometimes its the lyrics, sometimes the music, sometimes the technicalities involved and sometimes its pure aggression and anger. Whatever the reasons, I think I'm gonna stay heavy for a while now. Enough of rock for me. There's too much to explore in Metal! Been listening to Anthrax's "Among the living" (a thrash gem) and Opeth's "Morningrise". Morningrise is a masterpiece. I get lost in the music sometimes. They can be as soft and melodic as Floyd and be heavy and brutal as fuck on the same song! Its indescribable. You haven't heard "music" if ya haven't hrd them.

For those interested, here's a very good interview of Peter Lindgren of Opeth.
http://www.metal-observer.com/articles.php?lid=1&sid=4&id=4627

Empty Words

2005-06-28T09:37:00.000-07:00

I spent most of yesterday and today reading articles on Infinity Mag and listening to the mind blowing "Symbolic" by Death. Infinity Mag is doing its bit to promote original music in India. And coming to Death, Symbolic is my first Death album (I know its such a fucking shame). I first heard the album some 5 days back. I have heard it like 25 times start to end until now. I must admit that I'm not so much into the Death Metal genre except for a few bands like Children of Bodom, Opeth and Carcass. No unnecessary atmospheric passages, no keyboards, no bullshiting, just plain in your face metal. Metal at its best I should say. Chuck Schuldiner on vocals/guitar kills. Gene fuckin Hoglan on the drums is a machine, everytime I listen to a Strapping Young Lad album, this guy makes me go crazy. His drumming on this one is perfect. The bass on the album stands out. The guitars are genius. Just got hold of "Individual Thought Patterns". Can't wait to listen to that one.
My new musical discoveries apart, I have been doing absolutely nothing of late. I'm enjoying the nothingness for the moment though! Just sit all day drink coffee, listen to metal !!

Of counters and queues

2005-06-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

Having spent the whole saturday evening at the railway reservation counter, we thought of heading off to the forum and having a decent dinner. But Luv said he needed some shampoo and stuff. So he took me to the "Big Bazaar", and we spent the next half an hour deciding which is the most value for money hair gel. Then the next half an hour in the queue at the billing counter. Terribly tired by then, we dropped our plans of having a "decent" dinner (in fear of having to stand in a queue!) and came back to office and ate.

Sky Valley

2005-06-21T23:26:00.000-07:00

I came to office at 10:00 AM. Haven't started any work until now. I've been listening to the most brilliant music. The band's called Kyuss and the album, "Welcome to Sky Valley". Blues meets Grunge meets Metal meets Psychedelic rock. Some call it stoner rock, some call it desert rock. Whatever the label, they kick major ass. The bassist is like a 90's Geezer Butler, he's damn good. The vocalist is pretty good. The guitarist fucks your mind with his crunching riffs. But the best part of their music is the laid back don't give a fuck attitude. The album is actually 3 very long songs broken into 10 shorter ones.
Listen to "Asteroid", its one of the most powerful instrumentals I've ever heard.

You've got to find what you love

2005-06-20T22:28:00.000-07:00

This was forwarded to me by one of my classmates. Makes a beautiful reading.
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505

(Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005)

2005-06-20T09:07:00.000-07:00

A weekend filled with hours and hours of pool and beer! Been listening to Tool's first EP (self-titled) which was released way back in 1991. Their music is angry, angry as hell. Dark, haunting, cynical lyrics (and explicit to the core). The screams in Jerk-off give me the creeps. And the lyrics are extremely kick ass..

Someone told me once
that there's a right and wrong,
and that punishment
would come to those
who dare to cross the line.

But it must not be true
for jerk-offs like you.
Maybe it takes longer to catch a total asshole.
but I'm tired of waiting.
Maybe it's just bullshit and I should play GOD,
and shoot you myself.
Because I'm tired of waiting.

Consequences dictate
our course of action
and it doesn't matter what's right.
It's only wrong if you get caught.
If consequences dictate
my course of action
I should play GOD
and shoot you myself.
I'm very tired of waiting.

I should
kick you,
beat you,
f**k you,
and then shoot you in your f**king head.

The drumming as always is superb. And, MJK sounds like he's about to explode. Must listen for all ya Tool fans. There are rumours that MJK found Jesus and is leaving the band. I hope not!

2005-06-18T02:14:00.000-07:00

Everyday I wake up to the sound of heavy rain. It takes a while before I come to my senses and realize that its the sound of a printing press. Yeah, there's a printing press in the gound floor of my building (about which I had no idea when I took the place). Oddly enough, there are atleast ten printers shops in the street I live. To add to this, I have mallu room mates who wake up early in the morning and switch on some damned mallu music channel and some football freaks who also wake up in the morning to watch football matches. So with me sleeping at around 1:00 AM (which I can't help either because I need to watch TV too!), I end up getting very few hours of proper "undisturbed" sleep. But thankfully on days like these (weekends I mean), I can come to my office and sleep off undisturbed.

Btw, I had been to an other Zebediah Plush gig yesterday. They played at Forum, which is a few mins walk from my office. Another really neat gig, beautiful songs. Bought their album this time!

The tree of life

2005-06-15T09:34:00.000-07:00

When me and Luv were talking yesterday, we came up with this really interesting idea. Its called the tree of life. Suppose every decision point in you life is represented by a node. And the two possible outcomes lead to four other nodes(assuming each decision in life has only two possible outcomes). Keep doing this until the tree is n nodes deep. Now take a look at all the leaf nodes. Imagine the variety of situations you could end up in by choosing to go the other way.

Random words...

2005-06-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

When the Music's over, The End, Shine on you crazy Diamond, Sign of the Cross, Black Rose Immortal, Russia on Ice. Do you see a pattern? All these songs are extremely long, with Black Rose Immortal (by Opeth) clocking a staggering 20 mins. The thing with these bands is that the longer their songs, the better they sound. Now that I'm starving for music, I'm recollecting all those times when I heard the album Wish you were here from start to end and you will all agree it never gets boring. Sometimes I wonder what the hell Roger Waters and Co. had in mind while composing something as insanely magnificient as Run Like Hell.

Opeth is an other band which transcends all definitions and genres. To put it in the simplest terms, they play psychedelic-progressive-death-metal and to say that their music is pure bliss is an understatement. All you metal-haters who hate the genre because of the "noise" must listen to this band and if you still have the same opinion of metal, fuck you.

Unfortunately here in Bangalore, even though I have some music on my computer, I don't have decent speakers. Waiting to get back to Mumbai.. to my speakers...

Who's the Wiener?

2005-06-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

Me! I opened a bottle of mountain dew a couple of mins back. The crown says I get Rs 2/- cash back!!! Hurray! The first time I actually didn't see a "try again" on one of these things.

bed time stories

2005-06-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

I came across this site on CRIMINALENGLISH - LIVE
Each image in here tells you a story.

House Hunt

2005-06-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

Another perfectly fine day wasted in search of a house. But at the end of the day we got what we were searching for. We even moved into the new place today. Tomorrow I'll wake in a new place. That's goin to suck. Change is one thing I find very difficult to adjust to. But change is goin to hunt you down and kick your ass.

2005-06-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

Searching for a good place to live is the most difficult thing to do. After 7 hours of walking on the streets of Bangalore, we found a decent place but we are going to continue our quest tomorrow also (frikking monday morning :(). All things come at a price I guess.. As Vikas says, the sleepGod is calling me..!

In the house of flies

2005-06-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

Six of us went to this pub yesterday. The usual bunch of us plus patki (who had come to bangalore just yesterday) and nikhil (who came to the pub to show me all the cool gadgets that his company had given him). I was there because I had nothing better to do. I had never imagined that I would be gulping down beer so fast. Each pitcher was emptied in under 30 secs. In no time, 5 of us were 6 pitchers down! Vibhu was a glass of water down. My head still aches from all the headbanging. The music was pretty lame by the way except for a few moments of brilliance like when the DJ played Run Like Hell or L.A Woman. But what the hell, you can always headbang when you are 6 beers down. Thankfully, beer doesn't give you a bad hangover. Otherwise I wouldn't be at work today. Anyway, today (a friday night!), i have no where to go :( I'm in my office on a friday night, writing some god damn code. God help me.

Life in a Cube

2005-05-31T06:37:00.000-07:00

Its raining and I'm stuck in my office. I'm high on coffee. And my yahoo radio is playing crappy nu-metal inspite of a million skips. Yay, Hendrix is back on radio. Im off.. I'll get more coffee..

2005-05-30T01:16:00.000-07:00

Twas an eventful weekend. I had to pay heavy sums for having cancelled a trip to Ooty because of numerous reasons. Actually no, it wasn't an eventful weekend. That was the only thing I did last weekend. I saw Office space 2 more times. Heavy rains here in bangalore. No gigs nothing..

this cocaine makes me feel like i'm on this song

2005-05-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

bored, sleepy tired. audioslave's latest album "out of exile" on. cornell sounds so much like in soundgarden on some tracks, and some are typical audioslave tracks. will give the album a few more listens. haven't seen too any ratm-ish riffs on this album. whatever the final review, cornell proves one more time that he is up there with the best vocalists in the history of rock and roll.

been listening to SOAD's "mesmerize". they sound so new and fresh. if you like melody and metal its the right album for you. revenga, B.Y.O.B, violent pornography, question!, sad statue own all your asses.

2005-05-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

It was a lame weekend. Fell ill, because of which I couldn't go to office on Monday. You might say its a reason to celebrate, not when you have daily deadlines which are rarely met. But I got a chance to catch up with a lot of good movies. Office space is one movie you cannot afford to miss. Its the best movie I've watched in a very long time. Its about this depressed guy, Peter who totally hates his work. He feels that every day of his life is worse than the previous day, which naturally makes "today" the worst day of his life. Plus there's this really kick ass hip-hop music in the background. Two other good movies I managed to watch were "Finding Neverland" and "Lost in Translation". Lost in Translation is very special in the sense that nothing much happens in the movie but you end up falling in love with it. Watch it a second time (yes I did! with all my free time) and you'll want to marry it. Finding Neverland is a kick ass Johnny Depp movie. I also spent 2 hours watching this totally crappy Steve Martin movie called "Cheaper by the dozen". It's the lousiest Steve Martin movie I've seen. Every actor has his crappy movies I guess.

There hasn't been a music update on my blog in a long time. Well, I heard SOAD's latest album "Mesmerize". I think I like it. The guitarist has sung almost thoughout the album! Their harmonized vocals sound damn good but too much of it reduced the effect. Will post a complete review later.

I saw GOD

2005-05-18T22:44:00.000-07:00

May 17th. 5pm. Sumit called me up at the office and asked me to come down to The Forum, so we could go to the Joe Satriani gig (scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm). We didnt have tickets. I didn't buy the ticket because none of my friends was going to the show. But hell, I thought this was a now or never thing and since sumit said he'd lend me a 1000 bucks, I said ok. We took an auto and we had no clue where palace grounds was. This auto guy fucking ripped us totally, we paid 100 bucks and finally reached the venue at 6:30. Luckily for us, there were tickets available at 6:30!!! What happened next was pure magic. After a while, me and sumit jumped over the barricades separating the 1000 Rs and 2000 Rs ticket stands. (the security sucked donkey balls). And lo! we were like 10 metres away from the GOD. Never ever in my life did I see someone playing the guitar that way. Mind numbing speed, magical tones, beautiful tunes. Easily the best concert I've been to. (and needless to say, the best guitarist I've seen live). Jeff Campitelli on the drums was brilliant and the man on the bass (i don't remember his name) was totally in control and was playing really groovy bass lines. Moroccon Sunset was the best song for me.

Even now, when I close me eyes I see his fingers moving at lightning speed on the fret board. I saw GOD

2005-05-16T22:32:00.000-07:00

Finished reading "The Alchemist" (Paulo Coelho) and "A twist in the tale", a short story collection by Jeffrey Archer. I'm in the middle of "The Godfather". Just had a late breakfast in office. Must get down to do something. Didn't get enough sleep yesterday night. Later...

Friday night...

2005-05-14T01:42:00.000-07:00

I saw Zebediah Plush live at Barista, St Marks Road. The are a unique band both in terms of the music they play and the line-up. First up, they have a girl on the bass. And she was damn good. The drummer sang on most of their songs and his voice was amazing. I almost forgot, the show was Unplugged. They covered Message in a bottle and Hush (Deep Purple!) very well. They played around 10 originals which were all refreshing to hear (to mention a few, Elastic man and Roots were very good). Coming to the kind of music they play, it borders on rock and roll-psychedelia-prog! A very energetic band, and keyboards add a whole new dimension to their music. I hope I get to attend more gigs while I'm in Bangalore.

2005-05-13T01:20:00.000-07:00

I got my first Dog Tag :(

It rains here..!

2005-05-13T00:14:00.000-07:00

Yeah, in Bangalore it rains in the summers. Its atleast 10 degrees cooler
than Hyderabad. And IIM campus, where I'm staying right now is beautiful. The only problem is that I don't have a music system. I have loads of CDs though (that's dumb ain't it?). I'm thinking of buying a discman this weekend. But I don't know if its possible because I've got cheated by the auto drivers like a million times and I'm near bankrupt. Now, I've got a hang of the routes.

Zebediah Plush is playing live (unplugged) in Barista today. I'm going! The only music I heard all week was in Pecos on Monday! Coming to my work, the company and my manager are awesome. I haven't done any real work as yet. Hoping to do some decent work the coming week. The food is good too.

ANd I wont be able to go to the Joe Sat concert on the 17th cos I'm fucking broke. Life Sucks.

Pull out the glass.. Pull out the glass!

2005-05-06T12:27:00.000-07:00

The weirdest thing happened the other day. We went to watch Hitch. I liked it. We were on our way back discussing Will Smith and his acting and stuff. Suddenly there was a big blast. Just a second earlier, a car had over taken us. So, my first impression was may be the car in front had a flat tire. Then it began to dawn on me and my uncle. It wasn't the car in front of us. It was ours, and it wasn't a simple flat tire. Our front glass exploded into tiny pieces and the whole window came crashing down. I was wearing glasses, so I wasn't in great danger. But my uncle was damn lucky to have escaped without any injuries to the face. We came out of the car. We were four of us. We kept staring at the glass (non existent) trying to figure out any sane reason why such a thing would happen. The next thing we knew, we were all laughing out loud. That was at around 12:30 in the morning. We cleaned up the whole thing (on the tank bund road!), at the end of it, all of us had nasty cuts on our hands and fingers. Its ok I guess, its a once in a life time kinda thing. Weird, but fun.

Absolutely Curtains

2005-05-06T11:53:00.000-07:00

Bad times. I'm leaving home tomorrow. I don't know when I'll be back again. All I've been doing is watch TV, eat, eat more and sleep. Life was good for a moment. Back to shit. Got to find a place to live in Bangalore. I hope to eat good food the next couple of months. I have absolutely no idea of what I'm going to be working on at the company. Thats one more thing...Hey, I just remembered, this is my first post from home!

One more thing, VH1 (the music channel) rocks! I've seen a documentary kinda thing on Greenday and RHCP. The RHCP one rocked.. It mainly focussed on their album "Blood Sugar Sex Magik". Good stuff. RHCP kicks some mjor ass..!

Reckoning Day

2005-04-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

I'm going home in the evening. I might not update my blog as frequently for nearly 3 months. I'm off to Bangalore for my internship. Lets see how it goes. Haven't heard any music in nearly two days after my computer kinda crashed! Life has been like hell. I'm gonna have to buy a discman or something. There's no way I can manage for so long without music. By the time I come back from my internship, some of my seniors will have left for their jobs. It is gonna be weird without them around. I can't imagine going on a wing treat without those guys. Once in a while life feels so fucked up, but you have to move on I guess. Here's to the last day in Mumbai..(in a long time to come that is..). I'll be back in Bombay for good.. a new academic year and hopefully all will be well.

Reaching the End?

2005-04-28T23:05:00.000-07:00

Nah. Far from the end. My exams are over, but not my project submissions. I'm totally broke, I'm counting on money I'll get after cancelling a ticket. On top of that, my computer is screwed and they disconnected my phone because I didn't pay my bill. The bright side is that I can access all the data on my computer, it could have been worse (my worst nightmare.. hard disk crash!). I'm hungry. Listening to this kick ass jazz-funk band called Trip.