The Song Remains The Same 3/28/2013 5:25:00 AM

Any little song that you know

Everything that's small has to grow.
And it has to grow!
Na nanana wow!
- Led Zeppelin, The Song Remains The Same

As I sit in a deserted recording studio looking out at a cloudy horizon
listening to Yann Tiersen with only the occasional flicker of a light, the
hum of the air-conditioner and a few mosquitoes to accompany me, These
lines are what come to mind.

So when yesterday, I was asked to write an article about how much the
live sound of an artist/band should stay true to or apart from what they
record in the studio, I went on a massive time-travel trip straight from
the thirty-minute solos of Led Zeppelin in the late 60s, The giant
cinematic experiences of Pink Floyd in the 70s, followed by the rise and
fall of alternative rock not to mention the peak of interest in progressive
rock/metal in recent years. What has stayed common through all these
years is how everything that starts out as small continues to grow and
develop in ways that couldnt have been imagined before and therein lies
the truth in gold. There is a constant need for change and development
felt by artists and musicians alike.

Lots of artists come to mind when one thinks of good music and how
much more interesting it is when heard live. Perhaps one of the first
bands that come to mind in the present scenario is Skyharbor. Their last
gig at Blue Frog (Delhi) being the last memorable gig I went to see, their
sound has had quite a huge impact not just in India but has raised quite a
few eyebrows the world over. Starting out just as a bedroom project
started by Keshav Dhar only to get bigger and bigger, this band uniquely
blends Progressive Metal with ambient soundscapes that are a delight to
listen to. Whats even more surprising is the bands live sound is not a
radical departure from what they sound like on the album, and yet they
manage to attract crowds the world over with their killer performances.

Talking about how important it is to attract crowds and put on a show to
make it as a successful band in a world of cut-throat competition and
ever-declining record labels, It seems that a certain kind of DIY
subculture has emerged within the music scene that has more and more
artists huddling up to release their own music independently.
Surprisingly, even mainstream bands have started following suit. One
example of this is the latest album by Radiohead King of Limbs.
Spanning over a minimal twenty-five minutes, It is a towering example of
how artists can be successful even after not bowing down to mainstream
requirements. Radiohead has always been open to rejection of everything
mainstream, and some of their live shows going back to the Kid A era
were very experimental incorporating all kinds of bizarre instruments and
improvisations within their songs. Things have only gotten quirkier for
them since.

One Indian band that seems to be taking their Radiohead influences quite
seriously, though is The Circus. Out with their latest album Bats, they
seem to be making quite a lot of waves in the Delhi music circuit with
their live shows incorporating several prominent Delhi musicians and
providing an interesting new dynamic to their always-electrifying shows
which seem to be getting better and better. As good as their studio
recordings sound on their albums, their live experience is something
different altogether with quite a lot of eccentricities and a large face-
melting amount of effects that will leave you quite tripped out. Which
once again brings us to the point that its not always required to be true
to studio recordings as long as youre having fun playing live. Listening to
their cover of Nirvanas School brought me back to my early school days
when I used to listen to a lot of grunge. Teenage angst never really goes
out of style does it?

Hundred Octane is another band that has been playing music for a very
long time now. Formed in 1993, this is a band that takes the gist of their
influence from 90s grunge bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana and does
something not a lot of bands are able to do for even half as long a time -
stay true to their roots. As much as some people like to rub off grunge as
sloppy, noisy or too loud for their taste, This is a band that gives them a
good punch in the nuts. They are extremely tight and a joy to listen to.
With regular gigs in the city, this band never fails to be a crowd-puller
once again proving that one doesnt always need to be very out-of-the-
box to give a good show.

While rock and metal seems to be dominating the music scene in Delhi at
the moment, it looks like quite a lot has been happening in the
electronicascene as well. Artists like Hashback Hashish, Frame/Frame,
Dualist Inquiry, Fuzz Culture and Madboy/Mink are painting quite a
colorful landscape on the horizons of several party joints in the country.
Being a die-hard fan of Prodigy, Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers and
Glitch Mob, I always look for the next big fix. The good thing about these
electronica artists (Prodigy being the only one of the above Ive ever seen
live) is that they constantly keep re-inventing themselves with every
show. Things never stay the same. Listening to them live is like a giant
roller-coaster ride. You never know what might come next. And thats the
beauty of this kind of music. There are drastic changes in how a song
sounds on their CD and how it sounds live. It may not always sound that
welcome but whats the point of art if there isnt a risk? The thought is
indeed like a double-edged sword.

Making music is an art, and not an easy one either. Yet if every musician
works just as hard on their music, why do some garner sudden instant
legendary fame while others get eclipsed by their own shadows playing
for years and years before getting their big break? What exactly is the X
factor as some people call it? Technicality? Melody? Virtuosity? I asked a
few people and got an interesting set of answers. What do people look for
in a live performance?
Honestly, its sad when people ask me how they can make their songs
more technical. Music is about feelings, not technicality says a young
Mukund Pandey, drummer for Ambient/Experimental Metal band Purple in
Green.
Shrey Kathuria, owner/operator of a blog Black Suicide however differs
in opinion. I believe black metal is a genre of music that requires a
tremendous amount of power and energy, something that requires the
music to be technical, raw and bone-crushing.

Whatever audience, festival-goers and indie-music buffs alike might be
looking to stumble upon - Brutal heaviness or feel, It seems that things
are not always so black-and-white for all of us. Some people are on a
different trip altogether and like to make up genres as they go along,
bending and twisting different art-forms to meet each other mid-way to
their own liking. One such brilliant effort that I got to witness first-hand
the past year was the Kuru Circus & Orchestra. To those not in the know,
It is primarily a collection of artists who use ink and paint to illustrate art
inspired by the graphic novel Kuru Chronicles conceptualized by Ari
Jayaprakash at the same time collaborating with several musicians who
perform and play music that seems to somehow be loosely connected to
the art. What is completely unique about the entire experience is the fact
that the artists start from scratch and how the music and the art slowly
builds up to complement each other and enthrall the audience at the
same time. This is art in its purest form and another instance of how less
the presence or absence of a set pattern matters in terms of playing in
front of a live audience.

One of the musicians collaborating with The Kuru Circus and Orchestra is
Rohan Kulshreshtha who also plays in a band called Peter Cat Recording
Co.
Citing themselves as Cabaret/Gypsy Golf/Bathroom Waltz, the sound of
this band is, to put it in one word : bizarre. Being one of the many
thousands of people that flocked to the NH7 Weekender last year, I was
naturally curious to check the band out while they played their live set.
Incorporating all kinds of interesting samples, combined with a very
grandiose style of singing not to mention an old-world sounding kitschy
combination of waltzy keyboards and guitars make them poles apart and
frankly quiet far-off from anything mainstream. Its almost like you have
entered an old little circus in a 50s Bollywood movie. Their live sound,
though a little different stays as close to the sound on their album as
possible with a little bit of variation, something that is welcome and
appreciated.

A few other artists I explored at last years NH7 Weekender frankly blew
me away and it was surprising to see so many good bands playing with
such good stage setups and the organization seemed fantastic. It was
almost like the little Woodstock of India. Immediately images and videos
of Jimi Hendrix jamming out and enjoying with Pandit Ravi Shankar and
the likes came to my head and I hope things get bigger for the Indian
music scene and things like that become possible sooner, rather than
later. Religion might be the opium of the masses, but for some of us,
music is religion.
Two bands that seemed to have a religious following at the Delhi
Weekenderwere Scribe and Undying Inc.While Scribe has always been a
fun band, with the occasional prank and hurling of abuses being frequent
and all in good jolliness, Undying Inc usually keeps it straight up and
brutal. Both bands have been associated with the sound of Indian Metal
for quite a few years and have built quite a reputation as great live acts.
Scribe does quite a lot of unexpected things on stage to keep the crowd
on edge and excited whereas Undying Inc.s stage presence has always
been quite a hot topic of conversation all over the scene.
Metal has always been a crowd-puller and with the advent of even more
events like Bangalore Open Air, more and more die-hard metal fans have
come to light declaring their undying allegiance to the metal scene. With
BOAs association with Wacken, things are only going to get bigger. If
music is religion for some of us, festivals like Weekender and Wacken are
pretty much the modern equivalent of spiritual congregations.

Spiritually talking, Pink Floyd has always been a legendary band with god-
like status, their music influencing generations upon generations of
musicians. Things wouldnt have been the same without their music.
Some of the most experimental music in the 60s and 70s was made at
the behest of their fame with albums like Meddle, A Saucerful of Secrets
and The Dark Side of The Moon. Their have been countless tributes and
covers of their songs for decades and decades. Delhi band Think Floyd is
one such band. Formed as a Pink Floyd tribute band, this band goes the
full mile covering almost all their songs being as true to the original Pink
Floyd songs as possible with their live setups incorporating all kinds of
ambient keyboards and guitars, also adding the occasional touch of
originality here and there, something that has made them a lot of fans.
Some Pink Floyd songs having very psychedelic and experimental sounds,
this is no walk in the park.

To sum it all up, The scene has it all, ranging from bands like The Last
Puff that are built upon the sole need of experimentation and pushing the
boundaries of what is considered music to bands like Hundred Octane that
like to stick to a certain genre and still manage to pull crowds. Does it
matter if the the song remains the same or whether it changes over time?
Doesnt really matter as long as the scene is still here. Make hay while
the sun shines, we say.


3/28/2013 5:25:00 AM

3/28/2013 5:25:00 AM