Indie Reviews From the heavy rush of doom to the quiet journey jazz takes you along; from the subtle rebellion of Rock to everything alternative…this month’s Indie Reviews are a potpourri of the best and the latest in a variety of genres and their amalgamations. Check it out, there’s a little something for every one of you! «««««
Gumbal: A for GENRE: Alternative/ Electronic The current indie music scene in India is flooded with random numerous electronic acts. The reason may vary; first of all creating samples can be a much simpler task than it is while collaborating with a bunch of musicians, and secondly it might just be a sudden boom like any other trend. Whatever it is, the electronic up rise has been creating quite an impact in the indie scene. Gumbal comes with a fresh set of miniature tracks with ‘A For’, an EP that lasts for only 12 minutes! The EP starts with a short dreamy intro called ‘A For’ and proceeds with ‘Albino’, which I felt was the continuation of the same song. If you are a listener and if the word electronic scares you, then let me tell you that as the duration defines, the album is filled with simpler samples, very groovy bass lines, simple guitar lines and very dreamy vocals. I personally
detected influences from the house of Radiohead, Massive Attack… Progressive Rock, Dream Pop and what not! So I decided not to define it as very genre-specific. It is a decent effort to blend many genres together. The result is not bad! Go give it a listen, rather support the local artist and buy it.
TOP PICKS: Albino, Applause Available at: http://gumbal.bandcamp.com/album/a-for
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Vijay Iyer: Mutations GENRE: Instrumental Jazz I will stay away from discussing Vijay Iyer with those who already know about him, but for those who don’t, I’ll try doing justice to your first introduction to him. He is one of the most celebrated Jazz pianists in the world today. He was nominated for a Grammy for his collaboration with Marcus Gilmore (Drums) and Stephan Crump (Bass), which is known as the Vijay Iyer Trio. Talking about his collaborations, achievements and musical prowess will take a long time; so let me take you straight to the review. Mutation is his seventeenth studio album, which is going to be released in USA on March 04, 2014. As the name suggests, the album speaks about evolution, rather progression, through music. If you go through the titles of the songs you can get a feel of what I am talking about. It starts with a track titled ‘Air’ and ends with a track called ‘When You Are Gone’. From my understanding, the album speaks our progression through life, from the first air we breathe, to getting chained by all the hurdles we face, to becoming strong enough to
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bear them, to feeling relaxed as we see the brightness at the end of the tunnel and finally finding a release. This is the kind of album where the music can be interpreted in various different ways, so I leave it up to you to decide which interpretation you want to derive. The album has more integrity than I can put in words. I am personally looking forward to deciphering more of its meanings. Absolute genius! Don’t miss this.
TOP PICKS: Chain, Kernel (Actually everything) Releasing on March 4th