Music Review: Kailasa Rangeele (2012)

The trio of Kailash Kher-Naresh Kamath-Paresh Kamath enters the chill-out zone with their latest album Kailasa Rangeele. The fourth album from Kailasa, Kailasa Rangeele doesn’t mesmerize like the previous three albums, but is still good to listen to, and way superior to the other Indipop-rock music out there. Kailasa Rangeele doesn’t disappoint because anyone will understand that it’s impossible for an artist to take the listener to crazy musical heights and fathomless emotional depths and keep repeating it with every album. Though that would be amazing, Kailasa are incorporating new sounds without moving away from what they’ve always been doing. Kailasa Rangeele is, like every other Kailasa album, nothing but Shiva worship. Every song (except a peppy ditty) is written for the mythological deity Shiva from a female lover’s perspective. In place of the feverishness that singed every note of Kailasa Chaandan Mein is the quiet calm of a lover who knows nothing but how to love the one she lives and breathes for, and knows that there is nothing else she wants to know, feel or understand. With not one dull moment from Kailasa, Kailasa Rangeele is another worthy album from the band that can do no wrong in my eyes.

Music Review: Kailasa Chaandan Mein | Book Review: Rudra – The Idea Of Shiva

Music Review: Dasvidaniya

Modern Bollywood music has scared me with the direction it has taken in recent times, what with high-profile teams delivering mediocre musical scores. I generally approach new Hindi film music warily, but never losing hope of finding something that totally floors me.

Dasvidaniya – the word means ‘goodbye’ in Russian. The audio CD has five tracks on it, three songs, a remix and an instrumental version of one of the songs.

The first song Muskura starts with Sonu Nigam gently crooning, accompanied by the accordion, an instrument I haven’t heard since the glorious days of Raj Kapoor-Shankar-Jaikishan! This song has such an old-school feel to it, it is impossible to not like it! An accordion solo comes in before Sonu’s melodious voice takes over again. It’s definitely been awhile since Bollywood music has had such nice lyrics.

One thing I need to make very clear – I was not a fan of Kailash Kher’s vocals before I heard this…but they go so well with the music of Alvida (that’s Hindi for ‘goodbye’)! There is a short guitar solo in the song, and the chorus is very soothing. What I really like here is Kher knows exactly when to end the song, instead of letting it drag just because he knows he has come up with something nice.

Mumma! Yes, that’s the name of the third song and what can I say about a song that is titled Mumma and has the best Hindi lyrics written in a very, very long time. An acoustic guitar fornicates with laidback percussion, and the lyrics, I cannot get over them! This evening I will run home to my mother and give her the biggest hug of my life. This guy whose voice I don’t care much about is making me miss my mom and cry with a song I have heard only twice in my life. Do I need to say anything else?

Alvida Remix is very peppy, and it is short – something every other music director can learn from Kailash Kher. No Tu saala or any such nonsense here! I wish they’d included a lyrics booklet, for even though it is easy to understand the words, it’d be wonderful to read them while listening to the music.

Muskura‘s instrumental version comes on, this time with the accordion and clean electric guitar notes mingling playfully. This is a sheer delight.

Kailash Kher, Naresh and Paresh – pay heed to what I say and next time don’t tease us by giving us only five tracks, when you could easily throw eight or 10 and we’d lap it up. And I demand to know why the background score has not been included on this baby.

Such soothing music, such great lyrics… these ears haven’t heard such greatness in a very long time. Bollywood music lovers, it’s time to say Dasvidaniya (Alvida will also do) to lesser mortals who attempt to impress us with pretentious crap in the name of music. Can we have another one please, Mr Kher?

RATING: 4/5

[Previously published on Buzz18]

Music Review: Kailasa Chaandan Mein

Having been a LaVeyan Satanist for over a decade, it is not possible to talk to me about issues like god and religion without getting rebuked when I’m not in the best of moods. And even when I’m feeling cheerful and like I couldn’t give a hoot, the god-fearing faithful still manage to bag laughter from me into their faces.

In July 2008, I was in Pushkar for 10 days, and though the spiritual vibe of the holy city didn’t convert me into a believer, it did move me to a great extent. Later, in the same year, I had the pleasure of listening to the music of Dasvidaniya and the privilege of reviewing it. I was so blown away by the emotion of the sounds created by Kailash, Naresh and Paresh that I hailed the composers as the best team to grace the Hindi music industry in a very long time. I couldn’t stop raving about the music of Dasvidaniya and perhaps never will. I also couldn’t stop wondering how Kailash Kher and the Kamath brothers were ever possibly going to manage to top Dasvidaniya and their previous non-filmi efforts.

I have now stopped wondering.

Kailash Kher, Naresh Kamath and Paresh Kamath have made me stop wondering.

As I listen to their first international release Kailasa Chaandan Mein, I sit here helpless, captivated by the magic these men have created yet again.

There is a bevy of wonderful instruments blended into the stunningly crafted songs. These unique instruments, instead of making their individual importance felt, become one with every other sound, gracefully paving the way for one gigantic feeling, a heavy atmosphere impossible to move your attention away from.

Every track, ranging from light, fun and mischievious to brooding, questioning is directed at the lover for whom the singer waits, at times seeming hopeless and bordering on despair, yet with tremendous patience only complete and selfless love can arm one with.

Kher, packed with sincerity, inflates Kailasa Chaandan Mein with unflagging devotion. The Kamath brothers, in turn, cement the structure, deftly crafting the huge sounds, layering them adeptly with wisely chosen instruments, picking the best of notes.

The great Kailash Kher immerses himself in the sea of devotion, submerging you with the tide of his sound. You don’t protest, and you submit to the magic the trio conjures. Kailash Kher and the brothers Kamath elevate you to the heights of spiritual ecstasy, as they have before, only this time the force is more powerful than ever before, the meaning seeming far greater (I could be wrong here, so correct me) this time around. The emotions I’m feeling experiencing Kailasa Chaandan Mein is similar to the invisible force I felt in Pushkar in July 2008, exactly a year before.

VERDICT

Give it up, world, for the mammoth talents and sheer genius of Kailash, Naresh and Paresh. To leave someone who doesn’t believe in god spiritually moved and trembling this way is saying the ineffable. Kailasa Chaandan Mein gets my vote for album of the year, and we’re just barely halfway through 2009. Take a bow, gentlemen.

RATING: 5/5 (without hesitation, and without a doubt)