Music People

The hard drive with all my music stopped working, and with limited internet accessibility and connectivity in Senegal, my usual music listening would need to change. Thankfully my new roommate came to the rescue with her vast collection of Spotify playlists perfect for quiet evenings, spirited weekends, or afternoon wake-up-music at work.

We travelled from opposite directions to arrive in Senegal. This new friendship has come with many perks - kitchen experimenting, beach exploring, salty-lake floating, mice hunting, and everything else that comes with a few months in Senegal. 

---------------------------------------------------------

My name is Lauren; I am an adventure-loving civil engineer from the United States, and I’m excited to get the chance to write today’s music midweek post. Though I love music, I’ve never been one of those people who would consider themselves a “music person.” You know the kind I’m talking about – the ones who are constantly forming new playlists, discovering new artists and opening their friends’ eyes to captivating new bands – but I’ve always appreciated such people and sort of aspired to be one. I would consider Tanisha, my current roommate and new friend, here in Senegal to be such a person. We’re both in Senegal for several months working as design professionals, and I have loved learning the art of being a “music person” from Tanisha over the past few months. And now I get to practice that art by sharing with you today.

Prior to coming to Senegal, I worked as a mountain guide in British Columbia leading week-long back-packing trips for youth. I decided to road trip from my home in North Carolina across the US up to BC before my guiding commitment began and enlisted two dear friends and fellow guides to join. We pieced together a circuitous adventure visiting friends and national parks along the way. The first song I’m sharing with you today became a favorite on this trip. We had one rule during our trip: your car seat determined your role in transit, and you must be prepared to meet all role requirements. The driver needed to focus on driving and alerting the group when photo ops and buffalos arose, the person riding in the backseat was in charge of preparing and distributing all snacks and meals, and the person in the passenger seat was required to navigate and DJ. As we entered Grand Teton National Park, my friend appropriately chose “When We Ran” by the National Parks as our drive-up song. I love this song, because of the free spirit it captures and how the blend of voices seems to carry you away to the adventure land of which they are singing. 

As We Ran : The National Parks

The second song I’ve chosen to share with you was introduced to me by one of my guide partners who is definitely a music person. Joseph is a trio girl-band whose lyrics and harmonies always leave me feeling empowered and inspired. Their song “Blood and Tears” is a favorite of mine because these tenacious lyrics remind me that quality relationships of any kind take work. As I travel a lot, it makes it hard to stay connected with friends and family sometimes. Fighting for those relationships across varying time zones has pushed me to see what true grace, love and care mean. Sharing other’s burdens through prayer and intentional conversations has lead to depth and character development in the process. As I look back on some of my most cherished relationships, I see that moments of separation and hardship have lead to the deepest of friendships. 

Blood and Tears : Joseph

Jazz and More

It's been a while since we've had a guest sharing music on the blog. From family holidays to the mountains, dressing up, hot chocolate experiments, and teaming up with water guns against our brothers, our memories go a long way back. 

This week, Geetanjali is bringing two favourites from her playlist. 


------------------------------------

Hey everyone! This is Geetanjali, Tanisha’s flatmate, and friend since that awkward age when mud used to be a tasty delight.

My journey with music is a little difficult to describe. However, the closest I can get to articulating the value of music to me is in saying that it has served as a portal to many imaginary worlds – similar to the pools in the Land Between the Worlds introduced in C.S. Lewis’, ‘The Magician’s Nephew.’ My current interest usually depends on the kind of world I’m most keen on visiting at the moment. That being said, there are some places I like visiting very very often!

Take Five by the Dave Brubeck Band is best accompanied with a good cup of tea and is perfect to listen to on rainy days and windy nights :)

Take Five : The Dave Brubeck Quartet

This next song was originally done by The Doors. However, I prefer Nigel Kennedy and Jaz Coleman’s concerto version of it. Listening to The End conjures up imagery of a bittersweet trek through the Himalayas away from an oppressive Tibet. 

The End : Jaz Coleman & Nigel Kennedy

Musical Interlude : Mana's Custom Soundtrack

Mana is a Bangalore celebrity! In Bangalore circles however, it is very easy to feel like you know a person because they are mentioned in your common friends' stories. I had the sheer privilege of (finally) meeting Mana in real life. She lives up to the hype of being super awesome and so much more. In addition to being a member of The Choral Riff, she also is the creative genius behind Mana Custom Art. Mana (much like us) found it hard to describe what music means to her in one sentiment.

This week she shares two tracks with us. Take a listen and be blown away by her super-awesomeness.

- Sudhir

I was introduced to this song recently by a friend, and I was hooked immediately. All of Honne's music was a revelation, and I'm still digging the groovy but easy listening vibe.
I really like the treatment of the vocals on most of the songs in this album. Very feel-based.

Good Together : Honne

This song has been around for a while, but was a bit of a late discovery for me. Nothing mind-blowing musically, but just some catchy, pop fun. I generally like Ed Sheeran's music, and this song has kind of been on loop on my iTunes. It probably will be until I get sick of it.

Shape of You : Ed Sheeran

Musical Interlude: March

This month, our talented friend Deepak is sharing two of his favourites for the blog.

Deepak has loved music from as long as he can remember. While in college, he was part of an instrumental fusion band called Srishti. He's had the pleasure of playing with many musicians in Bangalore. He's even composed the tracks for a few online TV commercials.


Bridging the Gap - NaS (feat. Olu Dara)

'This song is so cool!' This was the first thing that popped into my head when I heard this during Creed. I'm sure many would have heard this one before, but it's so hard to find a fusion of hard core blues and hip hop. The lyrics are super neat if you're into hip hop, but I couldn't get enough of the mixing. 

Down the Road - C2C

I'm a sucker for mixing/scratching and the blues. This is such a feel good song and can pump any day of yours. I love the intricacy of the scratching; kind of on the verge of goosebumps when the drops kick in.

Musical Interlude: February

I'm Mario, a filmmaker, actor and musician among other things. Coming from a family that loves music, I grew up listening to everything from the Beatles and WHAM to Illayaraja and SP Balasubramanyam. I'll be ever grateful for this, which has moulded my artistic sensibilities and made me appreciate art and music from around the globe.

Lingus : Snarky Puppy

This is a band I discovered just a couple of years ago. It's tough to categorize their music with influences varying from Jazz, to Funk to R&B and what impressed me the most is the level of composition and just how each one playing is a master at his or her chosen instrument. Absolute delight to watch. Don't miss the solo by Cory Henry! And yes, listen to the whole damn album. Its a treat, I guarantee it. 

Horse with No Name : America

This is a throwback to when not every second song was about your boo/bae walking out on you. When bands wrote songs about desert scenes and journeys. The simple melodies and no-nonsense songwriting in this song paints a perfect picture when you listen to the lyrics which is quite apt when you find out the song was inspired by a Dali painting in the band's studio. 

Musical Interlude: January Edition

For the first Musical Interlude of this year, Anant Sharma shares his choices.

Anant Sharma is a musician, an entrepreneur, an actor and a writer. His musical journey began with Jekyll & Hyde - a garage rock band that performed across the country and even garnered a 3.5 star review from Rolling Stone magazine for their debut EP - Loud and Clear. From then on, Anant has continued to create music for both passion as well as professional projects including short films, commercials, etc. In 2015, Anant launched his solo electronic project - Man On The Moon, and now releases regular content under that artist name, while working as a professional music director and producer.

Find him on SoundCloud, Facebook and Instagram.

Tongues : Joywaves
I first encountered Joywave during a particularly long drought of new artists to listen to. I was immediately drawn in by the amazing music video for this song and their fresh hyper sound. The first and only album - How Do You Feel Now? - blurs the boundaries between many different genres, and presents an eclectic, high energy collection of songs that can be enjoyed in many different moods. From straight up hard rock to new indie electronica, it;s got it all. Really waiting to see where they go from here for their second album.

The Wilhelm Scream : James Blake
Wait! Before you listen to this, put on a pair of good earphones, or you might just miss the point of this song completely. As an artist, it sometimes becomes very hard to judge whether a song can work outside of your head at all. I can only imagine what went through James Blake's mind while writing and creating this track. The song has an amazing ability to keep you hooked just by the production quality it flexes. It's kind of the song that makes you wonder about where songwriting ends and production begins. The entire album - a self titled debut - is a tad taxing to listen to, but the more you concentrate on listening to it, the more it will reward you. I honestly think anyone making electronic music should hear this album at least once in their lifetime. 

Musical Interlude: November Edition

Meg Burrows is a singer/songwriter from Suffolk, England who writes songs from her parent's kitchen. I've knows Meg for over 16 years and over the years I've seen her become an extremely talented writer, poet and musician. Memories go back to playing piano duets during lunchtimes in a music room at school when we were 12 years old. Since those days, she's become a local singing sensation writing her own lyrics and composing her own music performing at events from cafes, to weddings, to music festivals. 

When I asked her to contribute to the blog, she sent me a list of more than 15 songs saying they were all exceptional music and impossible to choose from them. After much effort, she managed to choose 3 and said it was impossible to narrow it down any further as music is so abundantly amazing!

Thanks for contributing such beautiful music. You can contribute some more in the future. Hope we meet sometime soon to sit and talk about music all day.

-Tanisha 

Please check out her page on Soundcloud, Facebook and YouTube for some of her music.

Breathe/Winter : Matt Corby

It's very fitting for this time of the year. His vocals are hauntingly beautiful. Love listening to him on road trips. His song 'Brother' is cracking.

Ghost of You : Seth Lakeman

I saw this man again the other night and found his music on the album, Kitty Jay (brilliant song!). He's so so good live; so much energy, skill and passion. Ghost of You is just beautiful.

Letters : Marty O'Reilly and the Old School Orchestra

Live music doesn't get much better!

Musical Interlude: September Edition

This months musical interlude has been contributed by Saahas Patil. Saahas has been singing professionally for a band called Allegro Fudge for the last 4 years. They released one album, 'Maximum City' in 2012, and have a bunch of songs written for the next. He is also writing and playing his own music, and hopes to have an album out next year. Saahas also work as a social worker with an NGO called U&I. Check out his Facebook page- www.facebook.com/saahas 

A Face to Call Home : John Mayer

This song is from John Mayer's fifth album 'Born and Raised'. He wrote this album right after his very public fall from grace with the playboy interview. What that resulted in, is such a great album. I love it when an album reflects the artists life, and this is such an accurate description of his at the time - wounded, chastised, hopeful and very introspective. As with any John Mayer song, he manages to go a lot deeper than most with his lyrics and he does exactly that with this song about love and companionship. The riff and backing vocals during the bridge is just something else. 

The Spirit Carries On : Dream Theatre

The album that this song is from, " Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory" really is a complete masterpiece. It is about past life regression, where a man re-visits his past life and finds out he was murdered. It is a concept album, and all the songs follow a story and gracefully intertwine with each other, to result in this final song, which to me has stood out as one of the band's best. The lyrics are deep, every note in the song is brimming with so much emotion. Perfect ending to an epic album.

Musical Interlude: July Edition

Wesley Newton never ceases to amaze me. Since our school days, his passion, talent and faith have defined his actions and these virtues continue to guide him. Coupled with loads of hard work, they have made Wesley well-known in the Bangalore music circuit as a musician (most recently of Blushing Satellite), and now entrepreneur and educator as the Director of the NAD School of Music. I have known Wes for close to twenty years now and I am overjoyed that he agreed to share his gift with us this week. You don't want to miss this.

Tower of Power : Diggin' on James Brown

This was the first song I heard that changed me from being a predominantly rock drummer to being a soul/r&b/funk drummer. "Tower Of Power" has been my favourite funk band for at least 5 years now, and is one of my biggest influences musically. This song of theirs was written as a tribute to the godfather of soul, James Brown, and has an infectiously happy vibe that is sure to get your body grooving. 





Joshua Redman : Jazz Crimes

This brilliant song by jazz tenor saxophonist, Joshua Redman, has my favourite drummer, Brian Blade, playing on it. He changed my life. No kidding! Watching him play made me realize as to what kind of drummer I really want to be like, 'cause I had never seen a drummer play in such union with the kit before, and that is exactly how I want to be. He is so responsive to the music, and his feel, flow, control, time and musicality are god-like. Okay, coming back to the song now - Jazz Crimes has a brilliant mix of funk and swing, and the syncopation on it is extremely catchy! It has a great melody, and some really well constructed improvisation too, so all in all, it makes for a must listen.

Musical Interlude: May Edition II

Another familiar face of the musical theatre scene in the city is Nisha Idicula. She jumps into any tune from symphonic metal to acapella. Acoustic tracks have a special soft spot. She has sung and collaborated with musical acts in Bombay and Bangalore and apart from music she sells news for a living. Listen to the two tracks she is sharing with you this week.

Snarky Puppy - What About Me? (We Like It Here) 

As a happy person, I love music that gets me moving. Instrumental music is usually associated with go to sleep kind of tracks which have the piano in the background to add that calming effect. Then came along Snarky Puppy.

Snarky Puppy is a Brooklyn, New York-based instrumental fusion band. The album ‘We Like it Here’ was recorded and filmed live with a studio audience over four nights in the Netherlands and is out of this world. The band is led by Michael League, a Grammy Award-winning bassist, guitarist, composer, arranger, producer, label owner, and bandleader based out of Brooklyn, New York.

One listen to this album and this song and I can promise you that your jaw will drop with the insane amount of talent you hear and that you will be as hooked as I am. 

MisterWives- Reflections

Pop music is usually associated with the Taylor Swift’s of the world but MisterVives has a fresh take on Indie-Pop that makes you want to be happy. Their sound is infectious and catchy, the kind that sticks in your head in the good way. 

Musical Interlude: May Edition I

This month, we are treating you to two guest contributors. The first is Shyju Varkey- the guy known to take over Bangalore's stages with his incomparable acting and singing talent. I'm sure you'll love his selections.

There are a million and a half bands. Then, there’s Rush.

Like most things transcendental, it’s a tough act to comprehend but once you do, there’s no getting out.

There’re two aspects of music that most of us get attracted to – the evocativeness of the music per se, and the lyrical quality.  The former works at a subliminal level;the latter boils down to the quality of storytelling. I've chosen two pieces that reflect one of each.

Of these, the first was what drew me inexorably to Rush and the second, when I got incurably addicted to the magic of Messrs Neil Peart, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. The year was 1992. Twenty three years later, I still go weak-kneed when I hear these tracks. It could also be the onset of arthritis, but I chose to think otherwise.

Red Sector A

Back in the days of analog, I used to play a tape before hitting the sack. I didn’t like counting sheep. Instead, I’d conjure up images of the songs that were playing, trying to make a video in my head.  I’d usually drift into la-la land by the end of the first song. There was this one time, however, when just as I felt myself drifting off into slumber, I woke up in cold sweat.

In my soporific state, I had distinct images running through my head. Try it yourself. Click on ‘play’, close your eyes and make your own images to this song. Then watch the video. I promise you a tingle running down your spine.

Anagram

Really, has there been a cleverer song than this? 20 years on, I still discover a nuance every time I hear it. It’s a lyrical masterpiece. The video here has been put together by some random person in a way that made sense to him. You’ll find the lyrics relevant in different ways for you.

And, to amuse yourself, try to locate the anagrams in each line.

For those who aren't familiar with cryptic clues, here’s an example:

In the first line, ‘There’s a snake coming out of darkness’ – the letters in red make up s-n-a-k-e. Sorry for the spoon-feeding. I just thought it was important enough that no one misses it. Now, go forth and figure out the rest of the song! 

P.S. Check out their 'No One at the Bridge' and 'Trees' too, for evocativeness and lyrical genius.

Musical Interlude: April Edition

This month, our featured post has been contributed by the one and only Alexandria Syiem. The former lead vocalist of Bangalore-based punk rock band, Clown with a Frown, she also frequents the stage as a solo-act in Shillong. You should check out her covers on Soundcloud- here. 

She's sharing two of her favourite less known indie-rock songs.

Way Out : Yeah Yeah Yeahs

An indie rock band that was formed in the early 2000s and have released four albums till date. They have been described as "an art-rock trio who made an edgy post-punk, dancefloor-friendly racket". This song makes me want to close my eyes and drift into the depths of imagination. It's a good indie rock song for the road.

Let's See It : We Are Scientists

This band, also from NY, was formed around the same time as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They have a similar style to Indian indie rock band, The F16s. This track should be added to the playlist for the road as well. :)

Musical Interlude: March Edition

Happy Monday!
This weeks post is the first of a series of guest contributors to the blog. Our first contributor is the awesome Manek D'Silva. Apart from being an artist and graphic designer, he is musician who writes and plays the guitar for the band Slain. Hope you enjoy his selections for this week. 

Poom : Les Voiles

Poom seems to have more in common with Daft Punk than just being from Paris: an infectious dance groove running from start to finish, a thick layer of nursery-rhymey unison voices, 'Les Voiles' somehow manages to be both smooth and rude in equal measure. The words being sung in French, rather than English, makes them simultaneously more comforting, and more haunting. I don't get most of the lyrics, but the line 'ce soir on va danser' means 'we're going dancing this evening', and that's all the French you really need. 

Celeste : Ezra Vines

Don't let the minimal start fool you, from clapping to nylon strings, to angelic choruses, to deep warm piano tones, Ezra Vine's 'Celeste' pours increasingly lush beautiful sounds into your happily welcoming soul. It's the sort of musical honesty that reminds you of Florence + the Machine. The video reflects the music's finest qualities: very simple, very organic, very pretty, and very stuck in your head for the rest of your life. 

We will be featuring guest contributors every month. 
Please write to us at mondaymephobics@gmail.com if you have great music to share.