Monday, February 29, 2016

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.

Monday, February 22, 2016

Live is the Way to Go

On stressful days in the office trying to finish off work before the end of the day or on lazy afternoons when we need something to wake us up, music sharing happens. My first week of work, I remember that we listened to Parvaaz and Prateek Kuhad on repeat, but we've gone through many other genres since then.

Today Aditi is sharing a modern twist on bal-musette off the streets of Paris and one of my favourite voices from movie soundtracks! Enjoy. 


Nantes : Beirut

I have been hooked to this song for the past few weeks! If you ignore the french lyrics, it is a guy singing a love song to his beloved across the Nantes. The impromptu performance of the band outside a cafe (did you notice him using the garbage bin?) is beautiful. Can people in Bangalore come out and give lovely performances like this?!



Short People : Randy Newman

How can you put up a list and forget Randy Newman. Such an adorable quirky old man! He knows how to say funny things in a song with a straight innocent face. Listen up and don't take offense. He's just trying to tickle your funny bone and some twisted lyrics to good music.




Monday, February 15, 2016

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. 





Monday, February 8, 2016

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.