Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist. Week 54:
On Saavn | On YouTube
13 songs in the first playlist of 2019. Saavn has all but one song – Allah Avalente Pennakane, from Ennodu Para I Love You Ennu. Don’t miss it in the YouTube playlists – lovely song. YouTube is missing the 3 instrumental pieces from Varathan since they are inside a jukebox. Have added the jukebox as an embed, below.
A note on the songs in the playlist.
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Brand New Day (2019 Version) – Sting: Oh yes, that’s good old Stevie Wonder on the harmonica! Sting’s famous song is back with an extra punchy background. The original melody is intact and gets a neat upgrade!
Asli Hip Hop – Gully Boy (Spitfire) – Hindi: ‘Asli Hip Hop Se Milaaye Hindustan Ko’ goes Spitfire’s lyrics. In Ranveer’s raw, but endearing vocals, the short hip-hop track with sparse backgrounds, sounds captivating!
Dingu Dongu – Sarvan Thaala Mayam (A.R.Rahman): There is a Shivaranjani-raaga infused pathos in the melody of the song that is particularly affecting. On top of that, Bamba Bakya and Anthony Dasan’s superb singing, along with the delightful vocal chorus by the kids (that was first featured in the trailer) makes the song a wonderfully energetic listen.
She Is My Girl – Dev (Harris Jayaraj) – Tamil: The one song that I could salvage from the incredibly familiar and predictable (yet another) soundtrack from Harris. And ironically, it is that familiarity — that ‘Bike’il Pogalaama Oora Suthalaama Ada Love’il Idhu Common Thaammaa, in particular, remind you of a dozen other Harris songs — that helps relate to this song!
Dhan Dhan – F2 (Devi Sri Prasad) – Telugu: The 2nd song from F2 (after Entho Fun) that is worth a listen. Devi’s music is predictably comfortable, for sure, but within that limitation, he amps up the rhythm and keeps the song steadily interesting. In particular, the way he uses conversation-style phrase in the antara is neat, besides the gentle doffing-hat to Kalyanji Anandji’s Apni Toh Jaise Taise from Laawaaris.
Allah Avalente Pennakane – Ennodu Para I Love You Ennu (Arjun V Akshaya) – Malayalam: Composer Arjun V Akshaya makes a superb choice in Vineeth Sreenivasan for the vocals, and with that combo – Vineeth and the highly resonant melody that brings to mind everything from Anwar’s Kizhakku Pookkum and Oru Oorla Rendu Raja’s Sundari Penne (same raaga, perhaps!), the song’s slow build-up and simple background music makes it a superb listen.
Sound Of An Orchestra – Mika: Mika returns, albeit for the theme song of an Italian TV show, The Company of the Swan (La Compagnia del Cigno). The song has the texture you’d expect from Mika – the almost whimsical movement, his superb vocals and a profusion of instruments (as in, orchestra). It all exuberantly breaks out with the hook, in typical Mika style.
Medicine – Bring Me The Horizon: From the band’s upcoming 6th album, the song, with a rousing rock/pop hook, has a slid electronic core as well. Perfect radio-friendly stuff.
Favourite Thing – Fleur East: The superb drum beats (Ghana roots) and the pulsatingly big hook make this new song from Fleur a fantastic listen.
Move On – Mike Posner: The new single is from Mike’s upcoming album, A Real Good Kid. The song’s lovely guitar backdrop, the endearing melody, and the incredibly catchy ‘Move On’ hook make it a compelling listen.
Sit Back And Relax, Priya and Abin’s Love Theme & Red Is On – Varathan OST (Sushin Shyam) – Malayalam/Instrumental: I had anointed Sushin as the Malayalam composer of the year 2018 in my annual music round-up, for his stellar work in both Maradona and Varathan. The makers of Varathan have now released the film’s OST too, and it sounds fantastic. Many of the moody pieces make you want to watch the film, to see the context of the music’s use. The sprawling, shape-shifting Red Is On, in particular!