Out of Excuses

Tanisha's Pick:

I've run out of excuses not to post on the blog. I am not traveling, I got a new laptop, I have Amazon Prime music and I even made time this week to listen to lots of music. I love the rawness of acoustic music, and this one is done so well. The piano drives the melody and the guy singing has a great range. Enjoy.

For Myself : Etham

Sudhir's Pick:

So you know how much I love The Killers. I thought I had my favourites set until I remembered this classic, which I think might be their most underrated song. It's been on repeat for most of the day.

The Way It Was : The Killers

Paper Plane Pilot

Hey hey,

Very easy listening track to go with my laid-back weekend. I went to a documentary screening and an art exhibition today- a very art reflective kind of day. 
Hope your weekend was good. We must catch up soonly!
- Tanisha

Paper Plane Pilot : Sean Christopher 

Sudhir's Pick:

Rut : The Killers on Sound Exploder

Hey you!
Doing something different this week. Sharing an exciting podcast I have found which dissects new music along with the artists. There is an impressive list of artists on it including The Killers talking about their new song "Rut". Since I can't find the song anywhere online, this blog serves as a great substitute. This Killers song is exceptional and the story behind it hits you in the feels.

Anyways, here it is - Song Exploder. Will be very excited to hear what you think about it.

Killin' it!

Sudhir's choice:
So...You missed a great concert. A spectacular one, in fact. You would have really liked it. Cold War Kids did their thing, Tears for Fears still got it and Elbow was a surprisingly good concert band. The Killers rise up as my favourite live performance ever. I am pretty sure Brandon Flowers looked at me at some point when they did Mr. Brightside. For this week, and only because you have heard every single Killers song, I am sharing my favorite Elbow song. It was great live. You will like, I am sure. 

One Day Like This : Elbow

Hey,

Was nice chatting and catching up today. I have a feeling that you won't like my song choice this week. But anyway, here goes...
Despite my usual aversion to electronic music, I discovered this very cool/interesting genre recently- electro-swing. But I realised that ever since the incredible soundtrack of The Great Gatsby, I have liked this 1930s swing mashup with modern electro. 
In general, this genre is great for sunday motivation to clean the house! Haha.
If you don't like it, listen to it next time you're cleaning or washing dishes! :) 
Enjoy your week.
- Tanisha

Lost in the Rhythm : Jamie Berry ft. Octavia Rose

Crystal

Sudhir's Pick:
I realize I have been slacking a lot of late and I have no good way of making it up to you but I am going to try my very best through this post which mixes a good song and some epic trivia which I think you would appreciate.

While this song might not be your favourite genre, it is cool because the video is where The Killers got their name from. Please note the name on the drum kit in the video. The first song that The Killers wrote was Mr Brightside and they performed it for the first time at an open-mic night with their name "The Killers".

-S

Crystal : New Order

Hey Sudhir,
Yes, you have been slacking. Better win the next few weeks with more good music! (Until then, I shall hang on to the trophy :P) 
This one was a random YouTube find. What a solid voice (see what I did there!). But really, such raw emotion and intensity in his voice. Barely needed much musical accompaniment. 
Have a good week :) 

Solid Ground : Alex Vargas

Black Hole Sun

Hey,

I went on a Chris Cornell binge the other day, like I'm sure half the world did. What a voice! 
Here's an eerily good cover of one of his most well known songs from Soundgarden. 

How was your week at home?! It rained in Delhi today- that's a big deal after the sweltering temperatures the past week. 

:)

Black Hole Sun (Cover) : Nouela

An original Animals classic, this Lana Del Rey cover presents a new twist to it. I think you may like it a lot.
-Sudhir

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood : Lana Del Rey

Keeping Me Alive

I finally found a song after a long time that is truly me. Take a listen and you will know why. Beautiful guitar riffs, gruff vocals and soulful lyrics. You will love it, too, I think.

Have a great week!

-S

Keeping Me Alive : Corey Harper

Great song choice, you. Very deep lyrics.
I don't feel too bad that we missed posting last week. I was so excited about Oscar season this year. Even though we couldn't watch the show live, was still a pretty exciting set of winners.

Thought I'd be back to my usual music listening, but I really had nothing to share until a few minutes ago. YouTube helped with a good suggestion. This guy seems to be popular, but I've never heard of him. Pretty fun style of music. Have listened to a few of them, and each of the tracks seem to be quite unique. Hope you like :)

Sure Love : Jarryd James

Nights and Days

So this may not be the most exciting song. Definitely out of character for a choice I would send you but the lyrics make it pretty interesting. I would recommend having them open when you listen to it.
Hope your week has been good.
- Sudhir

:)

By Night : Puzzle Muteson

Hey you,
Interesting song choice for sure- read the lyrics while I listened.
I had a couple songs stocked up the last two weeks, and today I just couldn't remember what they were. Oh well, luckily I found an interesting track (even though the lyrics are a little depressing) today while listening to a soundtrack of a movie I watched last night. It's never too hard to find good music.
Added bonus is that the track has a fun stop motion music video to accompany it.
My week was pretty good despite dying from the pollution in the city! Arrgh- enjoy the clean air in London.
- Tanisha

Day to Day : Eulogies

Lonely Societies

This Monday (I know it's actually Tuesday!) my music maestro of a friend, Syed has shared two of his favourites. For years and years he has filled up my inbox with his musical finds spanning genres and decades from the well known to the unknown. As always, looking forward to more covers that are better than the original and more strange instrument discoveries! 

Says Syed, 'Music cannot be contained. Just like life, it must be nurtured and shared with those special people' 

I agree.


Angel : Judas Priest

A hall of fame heavy metal band, Judas Priest wrote this gem of a song in their album, Angel of Retribution which is far from their style. A soulful song with a dash of Judas Priest is just perfect for a mellow getaway from the regular.

Society : Eddie Veddar

The lyrics of this song puts your entire existence in question. The constant fight from within yourself of worldly things and what you believe in. The struggle is captured so eloquently in this song and Eddie Veddar's voice takes you to a deep and thoughtful place. 

'We have a greed, with which we have agreed'

Piece Perfect

Super excited to have our friend  write for us this week. Please give a warm round of applause for Priyanka Malagi. She is a lawyer-turned- YouTuber . Check out her awesome page here - ‘Piece Perfect’. 

Fun Facts: Priyanka loves mangoes, quoting Shakespeare, and climbing trees.

Hey Guys! Music makes my heart beat. Period. Not harder, or faster or any dramatic thing like that; just plain rhythmic beating. It may be a foot-thumping R&B track, a soulful serenade or a head-banging rockathon. Music makes my mood. And in the music world, the cup of astounding music overfloweth.

I have two such numbers to share with you today.

Wisher : Terminal

This track is from their album How the Lonely Keep, the first and only from the band, way back in 2004. The band later split up which is a shame, but the tracks on this album instill a music awakening.

Mirrors : The New Frontiers

If you want something more mellow to kick-start your Monday, indie rock band The New Frontiers may be the way to go. This track from the band is soft, hits just the right notes and takes your day from zero to 10 in 10 seconds.

Have a fantastic Monday guys!

Full Moon Nights

This week, our good friend Joe has transported us a few decades into the past with two classics. Out at sea presently, his music choices reflect the brilliance of his surroundings and fond memories of home. Thanks a lot for sharing these great tracks.
Looking forward to seeing you when you're back.  
:)

Dear Tanisha and Sudhir,
Sending this to you from 15 S 060 E in the Indian Ocean. These are my 2 choices whilst I think of home and miss you guys. 
I'm sure hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do. 
Much love,
Joe Perez

The 1st time I listened to this song was when I got my LP player and set it up. All I had were 3 records and one of them was the album American Beauty. I remember placing the stylus onto the record and immediately the speakers rang out the soulful intro to  "Box of Rain" by The Grateful Dead. There was no turning back from then on. I must have listened to the entire album end to end at least 20 times.

Box of Rain : Grateful Dead

Tonight's a full moon, and out at sea I wait for nights like this to and just soak it all in. Made me start humming frank Sinatra's Fly Me to the Moon which then made me think about home and especially Miss. Susan Pereira who is also very fond of this song and we dance to it often.

Fly me to the Moon : Frank Sinatra 

Instead of the Oscars...

Yo Sudhir!

Happy Oscars! ppft. :/ 

Remember the time we loved the Oscars? The time of the year I'd watch ALL the movies nominated, then we'd make lists of our picks and we'd talk about nothing else. Haha, what a fail this year! I barely managed to watch all the trailers for the nominations and today I listened to all the song and score nominations and couldn't find anything I liked. I then went on to listen to nominations and wins from previous years and almost decided to share Harry Connick Jr.'s With a Wink and a Smile from Sleepless in Seattle in 1994. But there is nothing new or uncommon about that song. So, I give up. 

So I moved to Grammy winners. Alabama Shakes won 4 Grammys this year! So much talent they have- Brittney Howard with her incredible vocals. The blues rock sort or reminds me of The Black Keys. I picked an older song of theirs for this week - this was on the soundtrack of Silver Linings Playbook (hey look, some Oscar reference) :P

Sudhir's Pick

Hey hey! So our Oscar things didn't work out as well as we would have hoped. Oscar time for me is usually like Christmas for me however, this year was just super rough all around glad I still get to watch it with you.

So in lieu of an Oscar song, I am sending you a song that reminds me of one of my favourite bands I have seen live. AG Silver did a killer set at Concordia in 2010 and has remained a favourite. Enjoy! I know I do. And so did a lot of Cobbers.

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. 

Celebration Time

Monday Mephobics celebrates 1 year of awesomeness! :)

Hello hello! 
One year already! Quite an achievement I think for this blog to have survived for so long. So many fab songs and from you and some from our friends. For this special post, here are two songs for you.

The first- this is very very new band from Germany called Kytes. This is their second track and it's pretty awesome. They'll be touring in the US this year, so hopefully they will get their well-deserved fame then.



The second is by reggae artist Mishka. His voice melts like butter! The title of the song is a little misleading because the lyrics are pretty depressing. "Are you happy with your plastic smile? ..." 

Deep stuff, Tanisha. Happy Blogiversary! 
I actually can't believe that we were this disciplined and committed! High five us!

Since we are going international this week, I am sending you a song by South African band A-King. Very alt rockish and a super interesting lead singer's voice. Can we continue this for another year? I Believe...



And in honour of our blogiversary, I am sharing what in my opinion is the most beautiful melody of all time. Literally, only Ingrid Michaelson could make this work. She is such a genius! Besides, the lyrics are hauntingly beautiful. I am sure you will enjoy it.

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: 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.

Monday Night Songs

It's already Tuesday here. Apologies if you were waiting for your Monday dose of music. Here are our song picks for your late night listening. 

Sudhir's Pick
Yes, this may be a little dark but still a great song and is incredibly catchy. Listening to it transports you to the wild west engaging in a song of revenge. The goal of this blog is to encourage new music and this song for me, does just that. Inspires me to look into a whole new genre. Take a listen.

When the fires, when the fires have surrounded you
and the whole wide world coming after you
I've got blood, I've got blood, blood on my name

Tanisha's Pick
Oh, it's Monday already. I was listening to some new music the past week, but I guess nothing was worth sharing. This one is a song I heard a couple months ago. James Bay, his hat and his guitar altogether make some good music. 

The Telegraph talks about his voice -
"Bay's whispery countertenor is soulfully reminiscent of his Critics' Choice predecessor, Sam Smith, but with the earthy edge of Marcus Mumford or Tom Odell, with whom he shares a whispery falsetto."