Amabilis Insania

Blue Canoe Records – Look What The Cats Drug In

Suman Sinha — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 14:20:23 +0000

Or, The Modern Jazz Stylings of Blue Canoe Records Volume 1 – Look What The Cats Drug In, as the full name of this album goes, is a compilation of some contemporary jazz tracks by an independent record label from Atlanta, USA. This album has been licensed under Creative Commons thankfully, which is a great thing because it has helped us discover some absolute preciousness! For example the Saltman Knowles Quintet! The kernel of this quintet comprises of bassist Mark Saltman and pianist William Knowles and they are “known for serving up melodically alluring while rhythmically infectious music with a sincere and emotional collection of songs”. What About April, which is featured on this compilation is a fine example. This

All Mankind – Break The Spell

Suman Sinha — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 15:49:20 +0000

All Mankind is an Australian band from Sydney who are currently based in the UK and is made up of Rich Beeston (vocals/piano), Dave Beeston (drums/backing vocals), Gavin Perkins (bass) and Dorny (guitar). Their single Break The Spell is a lively pop anthem with an urgent, driven rhythm and some delicate melodies, which should get most people hooked at first listen. Think U2 in the 80s, think the album War, think New Year’s Day – you get the picture. Love the number? Go support the band – buy their debut album. All Mankind – Break The Spell Website Facebook Twitter MySpace Buy

Mynta – Meetings in India

Suman Sinha — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:33:16 +0000

Mynta, Swedish for mint, are veterans in the world of Music. Having started out in 1979 as primarily a blues, jazz, latin band they slowly turned to fusion and jazz rock in the 80-s. And then in 1987 on a tour of India they met Fazal Qureshi, the son of the illustrious Alla Rakha and the brother of Zakir Hussain. This meeting completely changed their Music into ‘A fusion of Nordic ice and Indian spice’. To quote from their website, Mynta’s music is “a lovely mix of Indian classical, African and Latin-American rhythms, Arabic sounds and Scandinavian Folk Tradition”. Quite eclectic! Their last album Meetings in India was released in 2009 and presented below are some of the tracks off

Best of 2011

Suman Sinha — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:56:53 +0000

Another year is over. And it is time to compile the best of the Music that was featured on AI over the last twelve months. My output last year was low due to myriad personal reasons. But starting this year that might change for the better – I am going to be joined by a co-writer soon for AI! But more about him later, in another post. So, as I was saying, due to my lower output I had a smaller pool to choose from this year. But I hope I could do justice and this compilation will appeal to some of us. All of us won’t be happy of course. To quote from last year, “Music tastes are as

Amit & AI

Suman Sinha — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:02:36 +0000

Normally, on AI, I only post Music. We’ve never had a post that has not talked about a song, or an album, or a band. But this will be an exception. Sort of. It will talk about a man, and me. Although, I admit, I didn’t know him personally. Of course, the man had something to do with Music – that’s why it’s on AI. He was a musician, part of a band. But that was not his claim to fame. His connection to Music, the reason that made him famous, kind of, was his love of Music. Sort of like me. Though I am not famous or anything. But he was. With a handful. A handful of people who

The Great Indian Rock V

Suman Sinha — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:37:10 +0000

We have earlier featured the first 4 volumes of The Great Indian Rock – the annual compilation of the best of the underground Rock scene in India. And now we would like to present Vol. 5 of the series. This volume included the usual suspects – Orange Street and Parikrama – trusted veterans of the scene and also second-timers Envision and Ashtoreth. The rest of the bands were on their maiden appearance. This also marked the advent of Zero on the scene. They would of course go on to be arguably, one of the most popular bands in subsequent years and their guitarist Warren Mendonsa, whose Music has been posted here before, would become something of a legend in Rock

Freeky Cleen & Dickey F – Double Feature

Suman Sinha — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 08:19:31 +0000

“What else should I be, All apologies…” For suddenly doing the disappearing act on AI. Fact is, a momentous event took place in the interim – the birth of my son! And I can see all of you who have gone through above-mentioned trauma nodding your heads quietly in sympathy! Nah, who am I kidding! It was and has been and will be I’m sure, amazing. But there have been myriad adjustments here and there and am still settling down into this new phase of life. Which explains the long absence. To mark the comeback, I have hand-picked a very special sound. It’s a very Bluesy kind of Rock or Rock-tinged Blues and it comes from a collaboration from the

the Buddies – Self Titled LP

Suman Sinha — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 09:57:23 +0000

‘the Buddies’ are an amalgam of two bands, Welcome to Ashley from Chicago and Pale Blue Dot out of Nashville. On AI we have covered Welcome to Ashley before and so when this opportunity came I was definitely very eager. I wasn’t disappointed! The band is made up of Coley Kennedy (Voice), Kim Collins (Drums, Vocals, Accordion), Justin Colins (Guitar, Vocals, Piano) Scott Collins (Guitar, Vocals) and Jeremy “Mouse” Barrett (Bass Guitar) and they describe their sound thus, a searing combination of garage-folk, post punk, and Celtic rock – “boozy, shambling, sweetly grungy hoist-alongs.” The LP grows on you after a few listens. Though there are a few ‘filler’ tracks, the ones that are good really stand out. Musically they

Diablo Swing Orchestra – The Butcher’s Ballroom

Suman Sinha — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 08:42:09 +0000

If you think you’ve heard it all, you’re about to realise that you are (sadly) mistaken! Unless of course you have heard the Diablo Swing Orchestra! Then you would know what I am talking about. Before I describe their music, bear with me while I copy-paste the long history behind the band – 500 years of it, to be precise! The Diablo Swing Orchestra dates back to 1501 in Sweden, where history tells the tale of an orchestra that played like no other. With music so seductive and divine that the ensemble overwhelmed audiences all over the country, and people from all social classes took them to their hearts. Their performances rapidly earned a reputation of being feral and vigorous

Agni – Wind Dance with Fire

Suman Sinha — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:02:56 +0000

Agni was one of the bands of the first wave of Indian Rock, back in the mid-90s, when they released their debut album Wind Dance with Fire in 1995. The album was well-received despite the somewhat poorly-produced videos, a testament to the inherent musical quality of their compositions. Their video for Darkening Light, a brilliant Classic Rock track, received a fair amount of airplay on MTV Asia and the band looked set to go places. But as with most bands of that first wave prior to the phenomenon called Internet, their popularity did not translate to commercial viability because of relatively poor album sales and absence of other avenues of revenue generation, such as concerts and merchandise, and after another