Baran | PARVAAZ | Music Review

Album : Baran

by PARVAAZ

Listen Here | Buy Here

I was initially reluctant to buy the album, mainly because I was told that the songs were mostly written in Urdu and Kashmiri, two languages I had no clue whatsoever. Luckily enough, the songs somehow appeared at gaana.com and when I started listening, again reluctantly, the album surprisingly managed to hook me from the very first song. After three songs, I went straight to OKListen! and bought it. 99 bucks. Worth it? Totally. And how.

We are greeted with the sound of a siren with the opening song Beparwah, as if something is on fire. The song is truly on fire, Khalid Ahamed's searing vocals  and Sachin Banandur's brilliant drums gives a colossal high energy start. But Ab Ki Yeh Subah diverts from the initial set mood completely, taking a more tender route, led by the lazy guitar strumming on a breezy tune. It gains momentum midway, though maintaining the grace. Lyrics here are amazing, I have to say. Couldn't understand the lyrics of Gul Gushan much but the sound is inherently mysterious, spiritual and the song progresses like an enchanting prayer on the back drop of refreshing natural sounds. Kashmiri folk influences are evident in Roz Roz and the song works wonders in pushing the listener into an abyss of nostalgia. I myself found stuck in high school memories by the time the song ended. Enchantingly magical, the song is! The 13 minute title song is better heard lying down, your eyes closed. It changes sound several times, from a bluesy base to a  somewhat Bon Iver-ish mood. Not quite a fan of this one and couldn't quite understand the various voice overs. Ghaib is a younger brother to Ab Ki Yeh Subah, similar settings prevail. Guitr strums, a free flowing tune and broody vocals. Generic sounds could be heard in Fitnah, though the haunting vocals does the trick. Ziyankar on the other hand intrigues with slow-jazz sounds mixed with full blown guitars.

Baran, meaning rain in Urdu, is without doubt, an impressive effort. Like a fresh drizzle of rain, the songs hinges you one by one. The four piece band based on Bangalore are incredibly talented and have to be watched out for.

AVOIDABLE<POOR<BELOW AVG<AVERAGE<GOOD< VERYGOOD <EXCELLENT!<OUTSTANDING!

Gaana 3.0 Unvieled - Review

Gaana.com has revealed its new look, revamping itself by a large margin. Well, I got an early access to it couple of days ago, thanks to the my music blogging privileges and I loved it, every bit!

So what's new?

Looks : It looks great. It resembles the iTunes store somewhat, but its just me probably. Anyway, the new metro interface is pretty cool, user friendly. Its compact, and space conscious unlike the older version where everything was stuffed into one place which made it hard to distinguish between albums sometimes. And its brighter!

Music : Collection wise, there isn't much changes I guess. Gaana boasts of 2 Million songs. I don't know, it is practically not possible to know how much bigger the library of Gaana is compared to the competitors. But I'm satisfied with it.

Interface : Interface has changed a lot. The uber cool looks are eye pleasing. Same goes with the fluid movements of the tabs when they are pointed upon. The drop-downs works great. The home page shows the new releases as well as the features playlists. Scrolling down, we get the Radios, top songs, and top artists. Search has improved a lot, I'd say. Its way easier and faster than the old one and more organized.

Player : High quality and and high clarity. I think Gaana has so far the best music player among Indian streaming sites. 128 kbps streaming they claim and I think the quality is up to that. Shuffle, repeat, volume controls all good. Playlist is easily accesible and detailed. Only problem, which was there in the old version and remain unsolved is that even a slight glitch in net connection may result in the player being stopped. Its irritating, they need to work on that.

Apps : The SingAlong feature is still there, which I personally love, though it'd have been great if a recording feature was there too. Playlists from Zoom and Radio Mirchi continue to be present. Radios and pre-programmed playlists are good, but not much use to me.

Gaana Mobile has also some great changes, but I'm yet to try it out.

So give a try to the new super cool Gaana.com!

http://gaana.com/