Hello people,
I have been trying to review Bengali Rock Albums and Bands in my other blog - psychocancer.blogspot.com but I think it would be much better if I could put them all at one place and maybe even include a link to their songs on youtube or somewhere else. More like indianrockmp3.com
So this is where I start. The first few blogs will of course be from earlier since I am shifting their bases but new posts will soon be coming up. And please dont feel shy to send me a link for a new band or a new album in Bengali Rock Genre. I will listen to them and then review it.
Thanks a lot guys
Parag Mahanti.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cactus - Tuchho
I just heard all the song's of Cactus' new album, Tuchho. I am sure those who are in Calcutta would have heard it a long time back and well due to internet I should also hear it around the same time. But somehow eventhough a close friend of mine had told me about it a few weeks back I did not get the time to actually download the songs on to my computer, and hearing from the internet meant a lot of unnecessary hassle, especially just to listen to the songs once. As an afterthought I think downloading the songs was a good idea because after listening to the album about three - four times I have actually started liking the songs a lot. This is a characteristic of few good albums and eventhough there is absolutely no comparison and I would be committing a blasphemy by naming both of these albums in the same page as Tuchho but then I felt the same thing about The Wall and A Brand New Day, when I first heard them. It took me about 4-5 repetitions of the album back to back (for both of them, obviously at different times) to actually realise that I love the albums... so much so that they both remain as one of the all time best albums in my database. However Tuchho I think has already reached its plateau. I wont like it more than this but I do like it quite a bit
Anyways, coming back to the point..I was intrigued by the completely different musical philosophy cactus followed in this album. It was way too different from what they had been creating from their beginning way back in the 90s. They still have two vocalists, but wait for it...
the other vocalist is no more a pop artist desperately trying to be a rocker. The other "one" , apart from siddhartha (Sidhu) is Sayak Bandopadhyay, ex Lakkhichara , and student of Pt. Ajoy Chakraborti , and therefore with a tremendous Hindusthani Classical Expertise. I did not sense that it was Sayak whose voice stood out in the songs like Masiha as the Classical vocal but I could distinctly realise that there was a change. A big one. This reminded me of a Calcutta Times artice that I read last summer when I was preparing for my trip to US that Cactus had completely disbanded but were coming up with a new group with Sidhu still being there. As it so happens, Cactus has come back with a completely new line up and for those who loved Holud Pakhi, I would only say, wait for it , because this new line up is extremely good.
First of all, their new guitarist, Allan (and I really dont know which other band he is from, although he does remind me of the Magdalene guitarist) is fantastic. I think one of the main reasons why the sound of Cactus has changed from a pop-ish, mushy semi-rock to a much more distinct and clear, straightforward rock genre is because of the inclusion of this new guitarist. He has touches that in contemporary Bengali music can only be seen in Fossils and some of the other Hard Metal Bangladeshi Bands but if I have to pose like a professional critic and actually comment and compare his skills with the axe I would say this guy is going to make Cactus much sharper and way ahead of other bands...Partha (Fossils) should really watch out.
But I guess there are two other things that needs to be mentioned before I go back to Sayak's contribution once again and that is obviously the Bass for one and the keyboards for the other. Baji is still on the drums and doing a great job at it. He always did. For those who have heard Cactus for quite some time would know that although they have never made the drums a quintessential part of their music (earlier) without it Holud Pakhi would not have the side stick sound, Buddho Hesechhey would not have the rythm and Sudhu Tumi Elena would not have the filler riffs.
But by having a new bassist not only has their set become tighter but also more prominent. With their new, harder, more guitar oriented songs a prominent bass is really important and I think this guy does justice to that order.
Buti, their keyboardist, was if I am not wrong a part of Insomnia, a Calcutta based Rock Band, primarly performing in English, and although I dont know whats their scene now, I do know that at some point of time two years back they were regulars at Someplace Else. I know Insomnia because of their guitarist , Bodhi, I think from South Point. He was what you call the Hendrix maniac, in the school rock circuit when we were at high school. I did not know him personally but did hear him a few times . But we are not talking about him.We are talking about Buti who played keyboards for Insomnia then and now for Cactus, and does a great job at it. The keyboards sometimes along with a small tinge of bluesy guitar riffs reminds me , in some songs of Animals from Floyd and one or two tunes from Doors. But that does not harm anything. These are influences and in no way covers or plagiarisms.
That brings me to Sidhu and Sayak.
Cactus has always been a very much vocal based band. Some of you would question me what is a vocal based band. All bands are vocal based. Not really. Yes its true you need good vocals to make the songs a part of memory but what I mean by vocal based band is the difference between say Queen and Floyd. Freddie Mercury was almost all of Queen. Yes they had some good music but it was essentially just him. Whereas Floyd, who remembers who sang which song? The only song Floyd ever got a Grammy for is one without lyrics! (Not that I give Grammies too much importance, but I guess I could spend another para or two to drive the point home as to what I mean by vocal based band but then trying to think about any otherBlogger: I Dont Know - Create Post Bengali Band that was not vocal based brings me only and only to Mohiner Ghoraguli and Crosswindz. Yes in no way am I being disrespectful towards Gautam Chattopadhay or Tuki or Neil or Chandrani. I am just saying that they made their music their ESP and not necessarily their voices.
If Allan is the spark plug to the Internal Combustion Engine of Cactus, or should I say, the New Cactus, then Sayak is definitely more gasoline with high octane content. And Cactus, especially Sidhu and the rest are not a low performance engine. They have been there and survived the savagery of everything, starting from the critiques of "intellectual" who wrote off Bengali Rock Music as a western cultural (mlechho sanskriti) influence and thus wanted to stay away from it - to the entry of thousands and thousands of 4 memebered youth projects who call themselves rock bands and at the end of the day would consider Bryan Adams and Enrique to be good examples of rock music.
Sayaks bold vocals strikes out in most of the songs and Sidhu and himself have shared the mike really well. They have given each other the opportunity to come out and show the rest why Cactus has been their so long. I was never a big fan of Cactus, primarily because even though they had been there for so long they were not doing much about it but I guess they were waiting and now they have found their sun. True to their name they have survived for over 15 years and even though they have only produced 3 albums in that 15 years compared to say the 30000 that other small bands have manufactured in their 15month infancy.. but Tuchho has done justice to the calibre this band promises to prove and also does justice to the dream Cactus (as a band, with or without its band members) started... that of creating contemporary music for the Bengali youth.
I believe they will do well if they hold on. Just in case I did not mention it clearly I do like their album, probably also because they over use echo...and I myself being an echo freak, especially with Floyd in my veins..it definitely appeals a lot more.
Anyways. I will end here. This post was written inside my lab, and I guess I should do something about the testtubes with my sample in them or else some of them would start singing Tuchho Ami... !!!!
PS: For those who want to listen to the songs there is a blogspot website which has all the songs in a downloadable format. Simply search as Cactus Tuchho Blogspot and you will reach your destination. Till next time , Take care.
12th April 2009
Go to the Bengali Rock Search Index
I have been trying to review Bengali Rock Albums and Bands in my other blog - psychocancer.blogspot.com but I think it would be much better if I could put them all at one place and maybe even include a link to their songs on youtube or somewhere else. More like indianrockmp3.com
So this is where I start. The first few blogs will of course be from earlier since I am shifting their bases but new posts will soon be coming up. And please dont feel shy to send me a link for a new band or a new album in Bengali Rock Genre. I will listen to them and then review it.
Thanks a lot guys
Parag Mahanti.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cactus - Tuchho
I just heard all the song's of Cactus' new album, Tuchho. I am sure those who are in Calcutta would have heard it a long time back and well due to internet I should also hear it around the same time. But somehow eventhough a close friend of mine had told me about it a few weeks back I did not get the time to actually download the songs on to my computer, and hearing from the internet meant a lot of unnecessary hassle, especially just to listen to the songs once. As an afterthought I think downloading the songs was a good idea because after listening to the album about three - four times I have actually started liking the songs a lot. This is a characteristic of few good albums and eventhough there is absolutely no comparison and I would be committing a blasphemy by naming both of these albums in the same page as Tuchho but then I felt the same thing about The Wall and A Brand New Day, when I first heard them. It took me about 4-5 repetitions of the album back to back (for both of them, obviously at different times) to actually realise that I love the albums... so much so that they both remain as one of the all time best albums in my database. However Tuchho I think has already reached its plateau. I wont like it more than this but I do like it quite a bit
Anyways, coming back to the point..I was intrigued by the completely different musical philosophy cactus followed in this album. It was way too different from what they had been creating from their beginning way back in the 90s. They still have two vocalists, but wait for it...
the other vocalist is no more a pop artist desperately trying to be a rocker. The other "one" , apart from siddhartha (Sidhu) is Sayak Bandopadhyay, ex Lakkhichara , and student of Pt. Ajoy Chakraborti , and therefore with a tremendous Hindusthani Classical Expertise. I did not sense that it was Sayak whose voice stood out in the songs like Masiha as the Classical vocal but I could distinctly realise that there was a change. A big one. This reminded me of a Calcutta Times artice that I read last summer when I was preparing for my trip to US that Cactus had completely disbanded but were coming up with a new group with Sidhu still being there. As it so happens, Cactus has come back with a completely new line up and for those who loved Holud Pakhi, I would only say, wait for it , because this new line up is extremely good.
First of all, their new guitarist, Allan (and I really dont know which other band he is from, although he does remind me of the Magdalene guitarist) is fantastic. I think one of the main reasons why the sound of Cactus has changed from a pop-ish, mushy semi-rock to a much more distinct and clear, straightforward rock genre is because of the inclusion of this new guitarist. He has touches that in contemporary Bengali music can only be seen in Fossils and some of the other Hard Metal Bangladeshi Bands but if I have to pose like a professional critic and actually comment and compare his skills with the axe I would say this guy is going to make Cactus much sharper and way ahead of other bands...Partha (Fossils) should really watch out.
But I guess there are two other things that needs to be mentioned before I go back to Sayak's contribution once again and that is obviously the Bass for one and the keyboards for the other. Baji is still on the drums and doing a great job at it. He always did. For those who have heard Cactus for quite some time would know that although they have never made the drums a quintessential part of their music (earlier) without it Holud Pakhi would not have the side stick sound, Buddho Hesechhey would not have the rythm and Sudhu Tumi Elena would not have the filler riffs.
But by having a new bassist not only has their set become tighter but also more prominent. With their new, harder, more guitar oriented songs a prominent bass is really important and I think this guy does justice to that order.
Buti, their keyboardist, was if I am not wrong a part of Insomnia, a Calcutta based Rock Band, primarly performing in English, and although I dont know whats their scene now, I do know that at some point of time two years back they were regulars at Someplace Else. I know Insomnia because of their guitarist , Bodhi, I think from South Point. He was what you call the Hendrix maniac, in the school rock circuit when we were at high school. I did not know him personally but did hear him a few times . But we are not talking about him.We are talking about Buti who played keyboards for Insomnia then and now for Cactus, and does a great job at it. The keyboards sometimes along with a small tinge of bluesy guitar riffs reminds me , in some songs of Animals from Floyd and one or two tunes from Doors. But that does not harm anything. These are influences and in no way covers or plagiarisms.
That brings me to Sidhu and Sayak.
Cactus has always been a very much vocal based band. Some of you would question me what is a vocal based band. All bands are vocal based. Not really. Yes its true you need good vocals to make the songs a part of memory but what I mean by vocal based band is the difference between say Queen and Floyd. Freddie Mercury was almost all of Queen. Yes they had some good music but it was essentially just him. Whereas Floyd, who remembers who sang which song? The only song Floyd ever got a Grammy for is one without lyrics! (Not that I give Grammies too much importance, but I guess I could spend another para or two to drive the point home as to what I mean by vocal based band but then trying to think about any otherBlogger: I Dont Know - Create Post Bengali Band that was not vocal based brings me only and only to Mohiner Ghoraguli and Crosswindz. Yes in no way am I being disrespectful towards Gautam Chattopadhay or Tuki or Neil or Chandrani. I am just saying that they made their music their ESP and not necessarily their voices.
If Allan is the spark plug to the Internal Combustion Engine of Cactus, or should I say, the New Cactus, then Sayak is definitely more gasoline with high octane content. And Cactus, especially Sidhu and the rest are not a low performance engine. They have been there and survived the savagery of everything, starting from the critiques of "intellectual" who wrote off Bengali Rock Music as a western cultural (mlechho sanskriti) influence and thus wanted to stay away from it - to the entry of thousands and thousands of 4 memebered youth projects who call themselves rock bands and at the end of the day would consider Bryan Adams and Enrique to be good examples of rock music.
Sayaks bold vocals strikes out in most of the songs and Sidhu and himself have shared the mike really well. They have given each other the opportunity to come out and show the rest why Cactus has been their so long. I was never a big fan of Cactus, primarily because even though they had been there for so long they were not doing much about it but I guess they were waiting and now they have found their sun. True to their name they have survived for over 15 years and even though they have only produced 3 albums in that 15 years compared to say the 30000 that other small bands have manufactured in their 15month infancy.. but Tuchho has done justice to the calibre this band promises to prove and also does justice to the dream Cactus (as a band, with or without its band members) started... that of creating contemporary music for the Bengali youth.
I believe they will do well if they hold on. Just in case I did not mention it clearly I do like their album, probably also because they over use echo...and I myself being an echo freak, especially with Floyd in my veins..it definitely appeals a lot more.
Anyways. I will end here. This post was written inside my lab, and I guess I should do something about the testtubes with my sample in them or else some of them would start singing Tuchho Ami... !!!!
PS: For those who want to listen to the songs there is a blogspot website which has all the songs in a downloadable format. Simply search as Cactus Tuchho Blogspot and you will reach your destination. Till next time , Take care.
12th April 2009
Go to the Bengali Rock Search Index
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