Location Courtesy: Blue Frog Club, Mumbai

Location Courtesy: Blue Frog Club, Mumbai

The 25^th of June will be marked as the day that the music fraternity lost one of its most revered stars, and the world lost one of its greatest performers. Michael Jackson, the singer, the dancer, the legend is no more.

Clocking record sales of approximately 750 million in a career that spanned five decades, Michael became one of the most famous people in the world, having diehard fans in almost every country. Apart from his Godlike singing, Michael rocked the stage with his slithering dance moves. His infamous Moonwalk, have earned him millions of impersonators till date, years since he was first seen performing it.

Away from his gigantically successful career, Michael’s personal life was scared by controversies and humiliation, which included an image shattering sexual abuse scandal. In the past decade or so Michael grew a bit of a recluse, shying away from the camera and tried to avoid the Paparazzi by all means. His eccentric behaviour made him the centre of mockery and would earn him the title ‘Wacko Jacko’.

Michael was scheduled to perform fifty concerts at the O2 arena in London starting on the 13^th of July, to an audience of over a million people. The concerts were aimed at raising funds to pay some of Michael’s accumulated debt running in millions of dollars. But time ran short for ‘The King of Pop’. He passed away on Thursday afternoon after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was only 50.

Delhi- based Midival Punditz are back with their latest offering ‘Hello Hello’. Released on Six Degrees Records, this is their third album co-produced with Karsh Kale who also comes in as vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. ‘Hello Hello’ is a beautifully distilled amalgamation of the Punditz’ varied influences, taking listeners to distinct worlds, intoxicating them with an aberrant fusion of styles. 

Pop melodies and Friday night dance beats, are infused with talk box vocals and inspired flute bits on the opening track ‘Electric Universe’, with lyrics calling out, “Turn on your mind/this is the night, turn on the lights/ to the universe”. The infectiously groovy ‘Tonic’ features haunting Sufi-style vocals and an improvised bilingual rap by actor/performance artist Ajay Naidu, one of the many pioneering artists the duo has collaborated with on this album. ‘Desolate’ is a very grungy, bass heavy track featuring impassioned vocals by Shahid, the song probes dark hues of abandonment and loneliness. The soulful and ambient ‘Naina Laagey’ is reminiscent of the Punditz’ earlier works, with vocals by Assamese singer/composer Papon.

 
The duo have experimented a lot more with techno and electronica on this album, songs like ‘The Lucky One’ and  ‘Atomizer’ have very minimal Indian sounds. The latter consisting of hard rock guitar riffs and thumping drums. ‘Four Sticks’, a Led Zeppelin cover in collaboration with Israeli electro-jazz band, J.Viewz is just plain brilliant. The two also bring back one of Mirza Ghalibs’s classics ‘Har Ek Baat’, giving it their signature treatment.

Every song in this album is unique in its own right, an inspired piece of work, this album has purity —  — it encompasses all the diverse genres that have influenced the Punditz’ journey as musicians and is sure to engage, entertain and illuminate its audiences. 

Cheers, so how you doing?

Fine – and You?

Great. So how is the new album shaping up?

The New Nile is turning out to be the most brutal and challenging Nile has ever attempted. We have been tracking drums so far and George is doing an unbelievable job.

So are you far enough to divulge the title of the new album?

The Title will be revealed when Gunter decides its time, and not until.

What different musical aspects do we expect in this album? Will you be incorporating anymore-different Egyptian musical instruments in this album?

Yes, and also some surprise new instruments from different cultures. I don’t want to spoil any of the surprises too soon just yet.

And when do we expect it to hit the stores?

November.

Okay, going a bit onto your past, Nile began in 1993 but in the late 80s you were in a band called Morriah together with Pete Hammoura and Chief Spires, could you tell me something about that? Was it your first real band? You even played a show with Morbid Angel once right?

No, Morriah wasn’t the first real band I was in, but it was the first that could be something I would refer to as having some worthwhile music that I was part of. Yes, we played a show with a very early Morbid Angel.

Is that how you came to produce the next album with Erik Rutan?

We have been friends with Erik for years, and his amazing recent work with Cannibal was really the deciding factor.

Why the shift to Nuclear Blast from Relapse? How did the deal come about?

Our 4-album deal with Relapse was complete, and we were ready to move on to better things.

And whats the biggest difference between the two?

There is an Ocean of difference between them. We are completely happy with Nuclear Blast, and are thrilled to be working together with them.

How do you feel about your last album ” Ithyphallic”? Are you happy with the response?

We loved Ithyphallic, it was, in terms of musicianship and songwriting, a new level of achievement for us. Not every one out there in musicland necessarily agreed with what we were doing – so for us Ithyphallic is kind of like “The Amazing Nile album that only the Total Elite Understood”

How does it stand out from ”Annihilation of the Wicked” and from the next album?

I think the new songs are more focused on songcraft and Epic Brutality than anything yet so far in the Nile catalogue. We incorporated a lot of the hard lessons we have learned over the years making Nile records, and have worked unbelievably hard on these songs.

Airborne Toxic Event is a Los Angeles Indie rock band deriving its bizarre name from ‘White noise’, a Don Delilo novel. Their self-titled debut album has won them quite a following in the Indie and Alternative circles round the world.  The band line-up includes singer and guitarist Mikel Jollett, guitarist/ keyboardist Steven Chen, bassist Noah Harmon, drummer Daren Taylor, and keyboardist/ violist Anna Bulbrook.

The album kicks off impressively with ‘Wishing well’, the tempo remains up through the song as the colorful lyrics drags you through a haze of scenes and emotions and, by the end of it, has you screaming for more. The vague sense of euphoria that it leaves you with, adds to its peculiarity since this is a song about suicide!

The album goes onto take a dip into the inevitable waters of puppy love, longing, heart break and despair with songs like ‘Does this mean we’re moving on”, Something new” and “Gasoline”. It is a veritable mélange here with punkish tunes, dance rock and slow shoe gazing numbers.  The catchy refrain of “Does it mean you’re moving on” will have you singing along and probably catapult it to cult anthem-ic status (if it hasn’t already). “This is nowhere” sounds a bit redundant at first yet the evocative, storytelling lyrics and a catchy tune that slowly grows on you, carries it through.

The high point of the album comes in the form of the epic “Sometime around midnight”, a dark tale of lost love woven around the events of a night. It starts with the melancholic strains of the violin, taken over by the mellow acoustic guitar, picks up tempo with the almost-poetically described unfolding of events (sample this: “And the band plays some song, About forgetting yourself for a while, And the piano’s a melancholy sound check, To her smile”) and climaxes with almost screaming vocals and the pervasive heartbreak. (“You just have to see her; And you know that she’ll break you in two…”) The song was named the top Alternative Song of 2008 by iTunes and has remained their signature tune.

“Something new” is perhaps the song that states the essence of the album most emphatically. “And these songs I sing; With these hopes that I cling to; Desperately wondering; Are we finally getting to something new?” A soothing song made delectable by again, the lyrics! “Missy” seems ‘the story with melody’ that is the style of ATE but digresses to a desperate confession in the last lines (“I should’ve become a better man; I should be more deserving than; The beggar, thief and courtesan I’ve been…”) and it alternates between an almost folksy tunes to pumped-up guitar strumming.

The youth would definitely identify with the references to “wasted hours, wasted time” and the underlying theme of desperation and seeking something you don’t quite know.  Front man Jollet is a published writer and the depressing events in his life led him to turn to cathartic songwriting, which brings us this masterpiece.

This band has no acts, no pretensions and they show how pop culture can turn into Art.

That perhaps is the beauty of Indie rock and the advantage of having a potential bestselling novelist (who has gone through harrowing times) as your front man.

Feature Photo Credit: Aaron Vanimere

Location Courtesy: St. Francis Institute of Technology, Mumbai

The blitzkrieg that was 2005’s “Hellfire” was something of a wake-up call for the suffocated black metal scene, welding together lightning fast tempos and almost Mayhem-ic sense of atmosphere to truly spellbinding effect. Anything with Frost behind the drums seems to reflect the extent of the Norwegian’s raw pace and vast experience in the field, but what stands out on the new 1349 album is the influence of the sludgier side of co-mixer Tom Gabriel Fischer. Cutting to the point this album- Revelations of the Black Flame is not the 1349 that you may be accustomed to. Lurching uncomfortably between sub death-metal and ambient styles this makes for an excrutiating listening non-experience.

The new direction yields interesting moments, but the end result is uneven. There seems to be a conscious effort to move away from what made 1349 one of the best bands in second wave of Norwegian black metal. Black metal acts known for a certain sound can change direction. The best example of this is Satyricon. On “Now, Diabolical,” frontman Satyr introduced a new style detractors claimed was perilously close to arena rock. Perhaps the biggest issue of Revelations is that 1349 doesn’t sound like the same band. The band plays bracing black metal in the classic Norwegian template and does it better than most contemporaries. Does this mean they can’t experiment and change their style? Of course not. But it’s hard to find 1349 here outside of a few tracks like. “Maggot Fetus, Teeth of Thorns,” which is uncompromising and fast as hell.

To put it plainly, Revelations of the Black Flame is a terrible album. Only half of it is music, and only half of that is good. It didn’t take long for me to wish for the 1349 of old. It may have been bland but it wasn’t….it wasn’t this. Much of the album is marred by pointless, meandering tracks such as “Misanthropy” – a track that begins with a piano riff before descending into a blur of incoherent guitar chords and random piano plinking – and “Horns”, which is 3 minutes of wind noises and little else. Even when the band threatens to play an actual song the listener is often left sitting through minutes of throwaway “ambience” to get there “Invocation” fills three of its first six minutes with pointless yelping and wind noises and “Serpentine Sibilance” plods around aimlessly for three minutes before wasting its final sixty seconds on a nonsequitur, punk-infused mess. That being said, neither track is particularly enticing, they’re just welcome alternatives to what follows: an unnecessary Pink Floyd cover (Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun), three and a half more minutes of disposable “ambiance” (this time in the form of crackles and droning guitars) and “At the Gate…”, 7 minutes of buzzing, whispering and the occasional bout of half-assed Root plagiarism. “Maggot Fetus…Teeth Like Thorns” and “Uncreation” are the album’s undisputed highlights, the former carrying a heavy retro-thrash influence and the latter a sprawling, mid-paced 7 minute track that surprisingly employs little to no synthesized throwaways.

Clearly the first 10 minutes might make you seriously considering the option of downing somehard liquor before proceeding on with the album. With Tom Fischer, 1349 totally let go of their massive blitzkrieg on which they have build their stance upon. Focusing more on ambiance has clearly led off to to a different a rather unwanted direction. After this all you can hope is to keep your finger gods and pray to your demon that they don’t come out with another parody like this in their next album.

Nagaland based NGO, Rattle and Hum along with Rolling Stone Magazine India are organising a FREE concert to celebrate World Music Day!

The line-up includes:

PT. VISHWA MOHAN BHATT
CULTURAL VIBRANTS
HIPNOTRIBE
SOULMATE
THE TETSEOS
EXIMIOUS
ASIN

21st June, 2009,
St. Andrews Auditorium,
7 pm onwards!!!!

And for those metalheads who prefer to stay mellow, Karkelo is the sixth studio album by the Finnish folk metal band Korpiklaani is out on 26th June on Nuclear Blast records. The title is the Finnish interpretation of the word “party”, or otherwise meaning loosely “having fun” or to “frolic”.

PS: A humble request from me to those reading this is that please don’t start downloading these tracks through torrents before their release dates. Kindly wait for them to get officially released before you start downloading them.

Also coming are Norwegian veteran black metaller 1349’s 5th studio release ”Revelations of the Black Flame” on Candlelight Records. The album has been co-mixed by Tom Gabriel Fischer (HellHammer). The latest album ‘Revelations Of the Black Flame’ shows a new musical direction for 1349, as Archaon says,” We have incorporated more ambient and slower sounds…”

PS: A humble request from me to those reading this is that please don’t start downloading these tracks through torrents before their release dates. Kindly wait for them to get officially released before you start downloading them.

Metal fans raise up your horns for a string of releases are lined up to give your drawling heads a bit more of banging.

It all starts with KillSwitch Engage’s second self-titled album - KillSwitch Engage, which is expected to release on 30th June via Road Runner Records. With this album it marks the first time the band has worked with an outside producer, Brendan O’Brien (known for his work with AC/DC, The Offspring, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Incubus, Mastodon, and Stone Temple Pilots).

PS: A humble request from me to those reading this is that please don’t start downloading these tracks through torrents before their release dates. Kindly wait for them to get officially released before you start downloading them. Though Killswitch Engage should be available on the stores, for you to buy; don’t support ” illegal piracy”

Workshop featuring PRASANNA, MIKE POPE, DAVID GILMORE & RODNEY HOLMES!
===>August 17th- 22nd, Chennai, India.

Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music is proud to present the first ever fully residential international music performance workshop in India directed by world renowned guitarist and composer Prasanna. The workshop will have an all-star faculty of David Gilmore and Prasanna for guitar, Mike Pope for bass and Rodney Holmes for drums. The workshop titled ‘Unlock your  potential’ is for guitarists, bassists and drummers/percussionists and will be held from Aug 17 to 22, 2009 at the beautiful 77 acre nature reserve of Tapovan (www.margtapovan.com), a signature project of Marg Ltd, one of India’s leading infrastructure companies.

The workshop will contain lectures, one-one private lessons, coaching student bands, listening sessions, interactive sessions, jam sessions, band performances, recitals and much more. The residential nature of the workshop gives students a unique level of access to these four world renowned masters in and outside the classroom as all the students and faculty will be living in the villas in Tapovan through the entire duration of the course. Students will also have the unique opportunity to interact with fellow musicians from all over India and abroad and interact, play and perform with them. At the end of the workshop, a public concert is being plannedin Chennai city which will feature the faculty and students.

This is a truly wonderful event for musicians to come together for a week in an incredibly beautiful natural surrounding, make music and unlock their potential!

Registration

1. Please fill out the application form online at

www.zoomerang.com

2. Notify us by e-mail at workshop@guitarprasanna.com as soon as you submit it online. Do not e-mail the application form to us.

3. Send us 2 or 3 samples of your playing in any of the following ways

• CD – either a commercially released CD or a CD-R. Please indicate your name, city and country
where you are from, instrument, name of the piece, nature of the recording if it’s a home demo or a
studio demo or from a professionally released album etc.

• Cassette tape. Please indicate your name, instrument, name of the piece, nature of the recording if
it’s a home demo or a studio demo or from a professionally released album etc.

• Mp3s uploaded into a web server. Please do not e-mail us mp3s or any large music files.

• Provide us any online link(s) where we can listen to your music or see you perform. These could be your web site, MySpace page, You tube etc. We strongly encourage you to provide us online links for your music if you have any to make it easier for us to access your music.

• Demo materials can be mailed to:
Manish Pania,
Marg Ltd,
392/393, Rajiv Gandhi Salai (Old Mahabalipuram Road),
Kotivakkam, Chennai - 600 041, India.

Registration deadlines

July 4, 2009

All application forms and demo CDs/ cassettes due. Applicants will be notified about their selection as early as possible and at the latest within 2 weeks of receiving their application materials.

Payment deadlines

Aug 1, 2009

All selected applicants will pay the workshop fee in full by Aug 1, 2009.

Space is limited so we strongly encourage you to apply as early as you can. International students should apply early enough so they can make visa and travel arrangements after they are informed of their selection. The earlier you apply, the earlier we can get back to you.

Fees

The cost for the fully residential workshop is an all-inclusive package fee of Rs. 28,000 per person (approx. US$600). We will notify you about the various modes of payment once you are selected.

This covers your tuition, shared accommodation in one of the villas in Tapovan from Aug 17 until 22, 3 meals a day (both vegetarian and non-vegetarian) for duration of stay, return transportation to the venue from airport or train station.

Location Courtesy: Hard Rock Cafe, Mumbai

Independence Rock, or I-Rock as most of us call it, has entered it’s 24th year. If you wish to be a part of this compeition, send your entries here:

independence.rock.fest@gmail.com

OR

Independence Rock XXIV

c/o SAHIL MAKHIJA

34B, SEA PALACE,

JUHU TARA ROAD,

MUMBAI 400049
PH – 9820643313

The Independence Rock XXIV Schedule :-

- Call for Band participation entries : 10th June 2009 .

- Last date for entries : 5th July 2009 .

- Selection for 8 regional Quarter Finalists & announcement of results: 10th July 2009.

- From 8 Regional selected bands at city pubs, 4 regional Semi Finalists selected .

- From 4 regional Semi Finalists selected, 1 regional finalist selected for National Final at Mumbai.

- Finals in Mumbai for Independence Rock XXIV National Winners.

- Winners Victory Lap .

•   Rules & Regulations for Contest Participation:-

The selected bands at any stage of the contest will have to make themselves available for the contest schedule.

•    Format of demo can be CD or Tape .

•    Judging format & criteria for demos will be 2 original composition & 1 cover OR 3 original compositions. Rock music will be preferred.

•    The selected outstation bands will be paid a stipend for their travel/food/stay at every qualifying stage. The stipend will be announced to the qualifying bands.

•    The qualifying bands will be required to blog , upload , viral as per further communication .

•    Prizes for the winning band would range from Rs. 50000 to Rs. 100000.

•    Qualifying bands would be required for press, photo ops, appearances for sponsors.

•   All qualifying bands will assign their audio & video mechanical & exploitation rights only of their Independence Rock performance to E18.

Chennai rockers, Junkyard Groove will finally give out their album, 11:11 as a FREE download on the 13th of June!

Official downloads here: www.junkyardgroove.net

And if you still want to get yourself a physical copy, order it on their online store!

As part of promotions for Reverrse Polarity’s mini-tour, Channel [V] is hosting a competition for friends and fans. All you need to do is answer this question:
Q. Which of these songs did Reverrse Polarity sing at the Concert for Change?

a. Johnny Corny

b. Johnny Horny

c. Johnny Money

d. Johnny Pony
The winner gets to travel with the band and shoot their video diaries!
Send in your answers to:  channelv.in@gmail.com

Last date for receiving entries is June 15th. Hurry!!

Reverrse Polarity will be playing 3 cities this month:
June 17th, Bangalore- Live @ Firangi Paani
June 19th, Hyderabad- Live @ Firangi Paani
June 23rd, Mumbai- Live @ Firangi Paani

A good fourty years ago two incredible musicians from opposite sides of the pond called the Atlantic, met in a studio to record the groundbreaking Miles Davis album “In a Silent Way”. Amongst other things including their love for Jazz and their ability to play it, the boys shared a mutual admiration for each other’s talents. As time passed the young guns soon became some of the most sort after and influential artists of theirs or any era, but during this period the two never had the opportunity to team up long enough to work on something substantial enough. This changed in the summer of 2008, when the two masters Chick Corea and John McLaughlin got together to form a five piece group dubbed the Five Peace Band, to play on stages all over Europe and North America. ‘Five Peace Band Live’ is a live album, capturing the band in the midst of its long tour schedule.

Considering the sheer number of tracks that the two musicians have played over their careers, short-listing a few to appear on album would definitely by a tremendous task. The album lists a couple of Chick Corea and McLaughlin tracks with each musician picking recent tracks. McLaughlin picks up “Raju” straight from its “Floating Point” origin and leaves it at the mercy of Kenny Garrett on the saxophone who makes it sound all so dreamy. “New blues, old bruises” another McLaughlin number which appeared on the album “Floating Point” maintains its original regal elegance. “The disguise” and “Hymn to Andromeda” bare the familiar resemblance of a Corea track, and serve as little fuss for the band.

The point where the album really becomes worth the deal is in with the band’s renditions of classic numbers. “Dr. Jackle” a Jackie McLean favourite is given a touch of classic jazz with Chick Corea on the acoustic piano and a spank of modern jazz with McLaughlin’s electric wizardry. “Senor C.S.” has its moments of a Spanish flavoured calming breeze, but it soon evolves into an upbeat track courtesy of Christian McBride’s fiery bass lines. McLaughlin in particular seems in perfect control on the track and it’s hard to catch him better on tape otherwise. A sense of nostalgia rings in when the Davis cover “In a silent way” fades in, and the album suddenly shifts gear. The slow but definite advancement of the track, growing stronger by each beat sucks the listener in at every stroke.

“Five Peace Band Live” more than anything marks the achievement and contributions of two of the most innovative musicians of all time. Two who broke through the barriers of music and merged different genres into one beautiful sound.

Location Courtesy: Blue Frog Club, Mumbai

Location Courtesy: Blue Frog Club, Mumbai