The Music Box.
Entries about the music I like.
Sankarabharanam
I wish I understood carnatic music better than I do, which is not well at all. As with so much art, film serves as a great gateway. Sankarabharanam is a classic of Telugu cinema, and really of Indian cinema. It’s story, centered on a carnatic music maestro and his relationships with his daughter and disciples, required an immaculately composed soundtrack carried by a tremendously skilled vocalist. It found this in composer KV Mahadevan and vocalist SP Balasubrahmanyam, my gateway to this music. As someone who grew up with SP’s voice in Roja, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Maine Pyaar Kiya, et al, I was affected by his passing. I have since been listening to a lot of his music, including his unbelievable work on this album; in my view, a must-hear.
Peter Cat Recording Company — Bismillah
Anybody who talks about Indian indie talks about Peter Cat Recording Company. It’s the Indian independent music version of you like beatles? So it isn’t really a hot take to say, you like PCRC? But here goes: Bismillah is a great album.
Lifafa — Jaago
Some time in 2014, my friend and I were partaking in that quintessentially Bombay concept of a sharing table at that quintessentially Bombay institution, Janta, when we were joined by the lead singer of what was then, and is now, my favourite Indian band, someone we assumed was a girlfriend, and someone we assumed was a girl friend. Bombay doesn't allow known faces private conversations.
Prabh Deep — K I N G
I’ve been unable to indulge in hip-hop much anymore. A weird thing that has begun happening with me and hip-hop is something that happens whenever you hang out with your alco-weird friend. You’re always on the look out for a fight picked with a stranger, or inappropriate views about women or something else from a litany of embarrassments. Anyway, I don’t feel that way about Prabh Deep’s K I N G. In fact it’s one of my favourite records from 2019. It’s also my most listened to album from that year.
John Coltrane — My Favorite Things
I’ve found comfort (once again, a bit, not too much) in one of my favourite jazz albums: My Favorite Things by John Coltrane and his quartet, consisting of McCoy Tyner on piano (in my view the standout performer on the album minus, of course, John Coltrane), Steve Davis on double bass, and the great Elvin Jones on drums. Released in 1960, this album is among the best starting points for listening to jazz, especially in the form it has taken since the 60s. Listen to it and wish me luck.
Vashti Bunyan — Just Another Diamond Day
Around the time of its release, huff-and-puff chest-thumping big boys supposedly dismissed Vashti Bunyan’s 1970 acoustic-guitar-and-little-else folk album as childish in its wide-eyed pastorality. See while most seventies folk music from the UK did deal with themes of nature, Just Another Diamond Day did so without grand metaphor or metaphysical sulking, setting it apart from what was perhaps considered more serious music. Of course, since the album is near peerless in its beauty, its influence has since grown and grown.
Otis Redding — Otis Blue
You might see my recommending Otis Redding's 1965 classic Otis Blue as an act of unconscionable lethargy. You might well ask: what's your next recommendation going to be, the Beatles? Rahman? But my purpose has never been to talk solely about some obscure post neo strangecore nutters. I mean, I will often talk about obscure post neo strangecore nutters, but not always. With these Chits, I only intend on sharing a paragraph on the Good Music I’m enjoying. And what I've been enjoying this week is this heartfelt Soul staple all week. It’s absolutely accurate to say that in this case, the genre label Soul is perfectly apt. Listening to this album is listening to a supremely talented person bare his soul on tape. Hard to believe he was only 24 when this album was released and only 26 when he passed. If there’s only one Soul album you can listen to, maybe this one?
Lounge Piranha — Going Nowhere
I was just about still a teenager when I heard this band play live in Bangalore with friends. Three of us chipped in for their CD; fifty rupees each. For a while, this was our soundtrack. For a bunch of snotty elitists to commit to anything like that really is something; proof enough to me that these were great songs.