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Punk pop band The BoomTown Rats’ vocalist Bob Geldof

Weekend Collection 10

Yes, we’ve reached the 10^th edition of the Weekend Collection, or as we like to call it ‘Stops-you-in-your-tracks’ music. Time to celebrate, is it? Okay then, why don’t you drop everything you’re doing and tune in to the sounds, desi indie and international bhindi, that have pickled out consciousness over the last week, especially after the Sounds of Freedom concert. Such fun, such wow, much weekend collection madness!

When Pandas Attack – “Take It All With You”

The recent explosion of solo indie electronica artists delving into experimental and deep house varieties is such a breath of fresh air over the stagnant stench of elementary dance music. When Pandas Attack’s (Ankur Chauhan) blend of glitch-hop with experimental tunes is proof that electronica comes in more packages than ‘raise your hands and jump’. This track imprints in the minds of the alternative seekers that well-mastered electronica, of any variety, is well-mastered after all.

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The BoomTown Rats – “I Don’t Like Mondays”

While you’re sitting in your house on a Sunday, crabbing about the thought of going to work or college the next day, Bob Geldof’s The BoomTown Rats will tell you their reasons for disliking Mondays, just like most of you. The BoomTown Rats, an Irish band that ruled international chart space from 1975 to 1986, were a punk pop act that earned their musical insignias at a time when the punk revolution was erupting in the US with bands like The Stooges and MC5.

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Winit Tikoo – “Paagal”

Kashmiri songwriter Winit Tikoo has no answer why he moved to Bombay at the age of 11 but all he knows is that he did. Today, through his Urdu poetry, baritone voice and blues-grunge inspired alt-rock he explores his roots of Kashmir – the turbulence and the magnificence that is the state. However with “Paagal”, a song that was officially released on Coke Studio, Tikoo expresses the agony and ecstasy of rain in his life, a rather seminal connect with nature that often gets missed in the rigmarole of the mundane.

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Nanok – “Pillow Talk”  

Who is this Nanok guy and why is his slightly over one-and-a-half minute long pillow banter so infectious? Fanciful and mushroom-y is his world where introspective deep house meets upbeat nu disco guitar strumming. “Pillow Talk”, part of Mumbai-based electro producer Nanok’s latest album Death by Shoelaces, is shorthand magic, that acts as an appetizer to the rest of the album, and features the copybook stud Dualist Inquiry on guitars (check out the other good lookers of the indie world here).

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Arabian Knightz – “Ya Allah”

Egyptian hip-hoppers Arabian Knightz’s single “Ya Allah” (meaning: come, let’s go) is the opening track of their controversial album Uknighted States of Arabia (USA) which went through six years of censoring and suppression during the revolution that overthrew Hosni Mubarak until the internet floated their album. Standing vehemently for the spirit of indie music, once the album broke to audiences, it stirred up a storm not only among listeners but even among labels who wanted to reconsider launching them and making money off them. But it was too late for that. Arabian Knightz were flying way above the reach of record labels.

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Saurav Moni – “Darodi Aage Janle”

Rowing his boat sturdily, in control, is Bengal’s bhaitaili folk musician Saurav Moni. “Darodi Aage Janle”, like most of his other songs has an interesting trivia to it – that they are not composed by the band; that the band’s main motive is to archive and keep alive the traditional folk music of the boatmen that were created eons ago and are losing relevance in the fast-paced river of life today; whose purpose in life is to meet the sea. In the exact manner, Saurav Moni’s music, with its dotara and fundamental guitar riffs, highlights the unstoppable and immutable nature of life.

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Soulmate – “Blues is my Soulmate”

When you hear “Blues is my Soulmate” live you’d know what the band means. It really is their soul mate, peppered through with bittersweet memories, painstaking efforts, and the politics of the country that boils frustration in the background. In any case, this single’s guitar solo and heart-wrenching vocals are so honest that it’s no wonder Soulmate is regarded one of the country’s finest blues offerings. And, let’s not forget they are exceptionally stylish musicians (read here). (Listen to “Blues is my Soulmate” here).

The Koniac Net – “Another Point of View”

It was a tough pick, this one. Mumbai-based alt-rock band The Koniac Net released their EP Abiogenesis last month with 5 songs in the offering each with its own distinctive musical structure (read our interview here). Textbook definition of alt-rock is something the band happily embraces. “Another Point of View” is a softie when compared to the other tracks in the EP, but it’s more reflective than the others especially with vocalist David Abraham’s crystal clear vocals guiding the multi-perspective lyrics that present another point of view to an already existing happy tranquillity; a sort of existentiality if you may.

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Keep tuning in to catch the next edition of the Weekend Collection. For more impromptu music, download the new Nokia MixRadio App here.

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