IlayaRaja's New Albums 2013-15 - Mahendran film/Thaarai thappattai/Mythri

[sivasub]

My review after a couple of hearings:

1. Ishq-a-phillum: The lyrical ballad that Balki talked about. Full of lyrics - looks like a tribute to the film industry. It has a very hoarse singing by Suraj Jagan and follows one of IR's typical flows where he plays with most of the adjacent notes (experts, please confirm). Overall it gives a very different feel when you hear - sounded more like jazz to me. Definitely a good song.

2. What a star: This one is rendered by Caralisa Monteiro and the only song that has lyrics by Kausar Munir. The drum beat is something that we have heard many times. But there's a small alaap like sound that is so very good. Perhaps this is a song played in the background when Dhanush becomes a superstar in the movie.

3. Piddly: The one we have been hearing for many days now. Superb rendering by Amit and a good song overall.

4. Sannata - Song from the elder Hassan sister rendered nicely. Aasaiya kaathula thootu vittu in a techno form. IR really experimented on this song with the initial chorus and the subsequent guitar support. A very different attempt to be making a cult song in Tamil.

5. Thappad: Lyrics are something that i got very impressed with. A completely different song from whatever attempted by IR so far, rendered nicely by Suraj again. I personally like this a lot and feel it has all ingredients of a blockbuster. Perhaps this song comes in the background when the tension b/w Amit and Dhanush start.

6. Lifebuoy: Starts with lifebuoy ad and then meanders all over. Couldn't really relish this song... perhaps because this is very situational. Does it come when Dhanush is doing ads before becoming a star!!! A 3rd for Suraj Jagan; lucky guy.

The feeling that I was having after listening to this album is that while IR is moved on, all of us have remained where we were so many years back. Hats off to the maestro for having tried something that he may himself have never tried venturing. Oram po, oram po, Ilayaraja vandi varudhu....

[krish244]

Thanks for the youtube link Venkiram.

Songs in youtube link are in mono (bitrate sounds decent though...not sure what bitrate it is). Not sure why they upload songs in mono. I think they can upload samples in good bitrate in stereo instead of mono full song. That would do more justice to clarity and would help in appreciating (especially when the music is layered) the music better.

http://gaana.com/song/sannata

You can listen to the songs in stereo in gaana website. Not sure what is the bitrate though.

On first listening, the album sounds amazing. Lots of surprises. Quick review is that I liked Sha Sha (what a bass shift at 1:59...Godly), piddly, thappad, ishe e phillum and more probably. This man (IR) is unbelievable for the quality and innovativeness he gives in his music even at this age. A real inspiration!

Will write more on this album later...

thanks,

Krishnan

[JamesDap]

As I listen more and more to Shamitabh, it's actually like a commercial potboiler soundtrack of late 80s/early 90s Raja. Sure it SOUNDS nothing like music of that era but look at the distribution of the songs. There are two songs with a strong emotional pull, Piddly and Ishq. Ishq is the kind of track you could play while the title credits roll. Sha Sha Mi Mi the kind of dance track that used to play while the hero ambushed the villain at a discotheque. Sannatta and Thappad are also dance tracks. Say an album like Vetri Vizha was also full of dance tracks with one really memorable and beautifully sung duet (Poongatru Un Per Solla). I don't know what the scenes are actually like but beneath the contemporary sounds, this is essentially Raja playing to a tried and tested formula.

[RR]

Looks like Balki wanted catchy dance tracks from IR. Tunes catch on to our minds, and I am sure they will become commercial hits. IR has much less scope. Sonnata is a nice surprise. Maybe I am still biased towards his 80's stuff. what a flow from start to finish. Didn't see that in other songs. Sruti of course excels in pop-style rendition. Thats my first impression. More after more hearings.

[JamesDap]

Thought Ishq E Phillum had the maximum scope and was very much in the vintage IR vein, synth notwithstanding. Even the melody was developed very much in that pattern.

[mappi]

Its been a decade that I don't visit Discotheques. Meaning, Shamitab is not for me. But certainly a DJ's treat where after clumpsy remixed IR songs are played non-stop, here is an album to rise and drop the ambience in the most right way possible. The sounds are catchy, but still not my kind. This kind of album coming from IR is a surprise to me, an unusal album in whichever way you look at it.

Sannata

I am here to talk only about this song. Apart from the technical details, the motif of this song is what is going to make this song a craze. If you don't understand it, you are not going to give it the needed appreciations. And being in Hindi language, most of us are just listening to the music, the heart beat, but not seeing the organ, the heart that is beating.

Sannata means Silence. That itself would have made you sit errect, a Music about Silence. 'Sannata' as a representative word is quite rarely used in the language, just like anyother language due to evolution and SMS kind of styling, such words get disappeared once and for, applicable to any language. Sannata was made popular by A K Hangal (who plays the role of an imman) in the movie Sholay where he says 'Itna sannata kyun hai bhai' - 'Why are you so silent'.

The song lyrics by Swanand Kirkire goes on to question the involvement of various craftsmen/women in Music, and terminates the Silence is the only pure music (something like that but not actually expressed in the same way). So IR, as I had already mentioned I am awed by this man's Directive qualities. The setup, the sound engineering, colors, structures ... etc., are all secondary. Its the idea that comes first. Listen to the song and note the 'shhhh' following the the song everywhere. Who else could have assosiated a 'Sshhhh' with silence in Music. Secondly the 1st stanza talks about Lyrists and the 2nd about Singers. Note the variations he brings in while addressing the role each one Plays inbetween the stanzas.

Each song is loaded in such a way, proving yet another time that IR is fabulous.

Shamitabh's Sannata - Sound of Silence.

[K]

Raja sir's Latest Kannada Release.

[JamesDap]

Its been a decade that I don't visit Discotheques. Meaning, Shamitab is not for me. But certainly a DJ's treat where after clumpsy remixed IR songs are played non-stop, here is an album to rise and drop the ambience in the most right way possible. The sounds are catchy, but still not my kind. This kind of album coming from IR is a surprise to me, an unusal album in whichever way you look at it.

Sannata

I am here to talk only about this song. Apart from the technical details, the motif of this song is what is going to make this song a craze. If you don't understand it, you are not going to give it the needed appreciations. And being in Hindi language, most of us are just listening to the music, the heart beat, but not seeing the organ, the heart that is beating.

Sannata means Silence. That itself would have made you sit errect, a Music about Silence. 'Sannata' as a representative word is quite rarely used in the language, just like anyother language due to evolution and SMS kind of styling, such words get disappeared once and for, applicable to any language. Sannata was made popular by A K Hangal (who plays the role of an imman) in the movie Sholay where he says 'Itna sannata kyun hai bhai' - 'Why are you so silent'.

The song lyrics by Swanand Kirkire goes on to question the involvement of various craftsmen/women in Music, and terminates the Silence is the only pure music (something like that but not actually expressed in the same way). So IR, as I had already mentioned I am awed by this man's Directive qualities. The setup, the sound engineering, colors, structures ... etc., are all secondary. Its the idea that comes first. Listen to the song and note the 'shhhh' following the the song everywhere. Who else could have assosiated a 'Sshhhh' with silence in Music. Secondly the 1st stanza talks about Lyrists and the 2nd about Singers. Note the variations he brings in while addressing the role each one Plays inbetween the stanzas.

Each song is loaded in such a way, proving yet another time that IR is fabulous.

Shamitabh's Sannata - Sound of Silence.

I would say that goes for the album as a whole too. The lyrics add a lot of zest and youthfulness and by themselves make the songs easier to get into. There's a lot of Hinglish...e.g Stereophonic Sannata, Dolby Digital Sannata. I think people may get the idea even without knowing much if any Hindi, kind of like how Kolaveri became a national rage in spite of being in Tamil.

[venkkiram]

Admin,

Please move all the posts related to 'Shamithabh' from recent pages to the thread I created specially for that movie.

Thanks.

[Kimrep]

Thanks for the youtube link Venkiram.

Songs in youtube link are in mono (bitrate sounds decent though...not sure what bitrate it is). Not sure why they upload songs in mono. I think they can upload samples in good bitrate in stereo instead of mono full song. That would do more justice to clarity and would help in appreciating (especially when the music is layered) the music better.

http://gaana.com/song/sannata

You can listen to the songs in stereo in gaana website. Not sure what is the bitrate though.

On first listening, the album sounds amazing. Lots of surprises. Quick review is that I liked Sha Sha (what a bass shift at 1:59...Godly), piddly, thappad, ishe e phillum and more probably. This man (IR) is unbelievable for the quality and innovativeness he gives in his music even at this age. A real inspiration!

Will write more on this album later...

thanks,

Krishnan

thanks for that link krishnan, the youtube version is horrible.