Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 114: On JioSaavn | On YouTube
14 songs this week. JioSaavn is missing the last 3, from Kodaline’s new album. YouTube has all the songs.
Zaeden – Dooriyan (Indipop/Hindi): ‘Dooriyan’ assumes a new meaning in a world taken to social distancing, far removed from the word’s conventional usage around distance or tiff between loved ones. Zaeden’s saccharine-sweet singing and the generally tipsy melody add to the song’s charm.
Yeh Saari Baat – Rochak Kohli (Indipop/Hindi): An pleasantly sweet song that took me back to Clapton (the guitars!) and Leslie Lewis (Haseena!). The video is shot much like Oru Chance Kudu (see below), with the narrative keeping the participants in their respective homes, connected by a video call.
Morniye – Amit Trivedi (Indipop/Punjabi): It looks like Amit has moved on from Songs of Faith, to Songs of Dance. The result is very good, though. This is an instantly catchy, ebullient song that is a guaranteed foot-shaker. It also has the usual Amit-style nuance in the orchestration, particularly that superb horns-style layer. The singing is top-notch too, by Devenderpal Singh and Sharvi Yadav.
Oru Chance Kudu – Karthik & Gaana Guna (Indipop/Tamil): Ondraga Originals was going great guns in early 2018. Koova was in January 2018, Ulaviravu was in February 2018 and Bodhai Kodhai was in June 2018. Then, singer Karthik’s name was involved in #MeToo allegations in October 2018, and perhaps owing to that, the flow completely stopped. The quality of music on offer was very good, if you do not go into the allegations. Oru Chance Kudu is a really interesting effort too, with a fantastic contrast between Karthik’s and Gaana Guna’s parts (wonderfully enacted by Shantanu and Kalaiyarasan). Karky’s lines too shine with wonderful wit – I burst out laughing at, “Friend konjam perfecttu, otta jettya kooda ishtri panni maatikuvaanpola” 
And unlike the song above, where I had mentioned about animated music videos, for this music video, they pick a leaf out of Gautham Menon’s ‘Karthik Dial Seytha Yenn’ and shoot each actor in their own place, all connected only by phone calls. Very clever and works perfectly for this song’s theme!
Adiye Kutty Dhevadhe – Edwin Louis (Indipop/Tamil): There’s an increasing number of pop singles that come with animated music videos, most probably because shooting for such songs has been affected by the lockdown/pandemic. This is one such song. Edwin’s tune seemed like Leon James’ style and is passably nice. But Edwin does aim higher in the interludes with some interesting semi-classical approach.
Swami Natha – Bombhaat (Josh B) – Telugu: I recall seeing some songs from this film early this year and not being that impressed with them, but this one seems much, much better. Composer Josh has a faux-classical sound that goes well with the corny lyrics (that invoke ‘surgical strike’ in the 3rd line!) and the intentionally exaggerated singing, particularly by Harini Ivaturi (not to be confused with Tamil singer Harini Tippu) who does sing very well though, along with Karthik. The melody took me to Ilayaraja’s all-time classic Panivizhum Malarvanam (Ninaivellaam Nithya) so I wonder if the raaga employed here has some Naattai or Chalanaattai base. Really good effort by both Somasekhar Jois on konnakol and Shylu Ravindran on the guitars.
Dhak Dhak Dhak – Uppena (Devi Sri Prasad) – Telugu: A very K.Balachandar style song in terms of conception and imagination! Devi uses the ‘dhak dhak dhak’ motif so beautifully inside his melody that it stops sounding like a gimmick after the first few usages and integrates itself so organically. Eventually, he replaces that with natural sounds from the scenes – like an auto horn, a dog’s bark and even a cow’s moo (there’s a lot more)! Balaji’s violin joins seamlessly with Sarath Santhosh and Hari Priya’s singing. Outstanding work by Devi who so often devolves into utterly predictable and repetitive masala music.
Nee Roopam Edurugaa – Johaar (Priyadarshan Balasubramanian) – Telugu: Priyadarshan’s melody s soulful, with a tinge of pathos as if portending something gloomy in the distant future. Gowtham Bharadwaj’s singing lifts the song significantly, with Amala Chebolu joining in from the 2nd interlude onwards in a fantastic entry.
Wedlock down – Sangeetha Rajeev (Indipop/Kannada): A fun song, composed by Sangeetha Rajeev (very glad to see another woman composer – we could do with a LOT more, in Kannada). The mock-rivalry tone goes well with the singing where Vasu Dixit pitches in beautifully along with Sangeetha. The nadaswaram-style interludes too make for a good layer.
Ganesha Pancharatnam – Ghibran (Ghibran’s Spiritual Series) – Sanskrit: It’s fantastic to see Ghibran going the Amit Trivedi way, moving away from film music and going into quasi-religious music (though Amit has moved on from songs of faith, into songs of dance). The effort that has gone into orchestrating Ganesha Pancharatnam is astounding, with a rich, intricate sound with a lot of fine detailing. Sarat Santhosh’s crystal-clear Sanskrit diction and singing is the highlight, of course, even as everything comes together brilliantly. I really look forward to the other pieces in this series, like Muththaitharu – Thiruppugazh, Harivarasanam, Om Namah Shivaya, Bhrammam Okate and Kalabhairavashtakam.
Tejas – Lead: The first single from Tejas’ upcoming 2nd album, Outlast. This is as international as Indian pop song can get. It is produced really well, with an expansive horns layer accentuating the sound so well. Very enjoyable!
Wherever You Are, Sometimes & Saving Grace – Kodaline: The Irish band’s sound in the new album is almost Coldplay and I recall them being called Coldplay-lite It’s familiar, comforting and likeable, though. The anthemic riffs and the overall upbeat sound helps in these gloomy times.