Recovery

I thought he was going down with Encore & had lost it with Relapse.

But boy he's back with a bang with this one! The rapping & rhymes on Not Afraid; Love The Way You Lie & No Love are outstanding! Can't stop listening.

Now playing ....

'Letty' from Brian Tyler's Fast And Furious 2009 score ..... in an endless loop. Goes well with the times I think.

Now Playing

• Just Close Your Eyes - Waterproof Blonde
• This Fire Burns - Killswitch Engage
• Voices - Rev Theory
• Some Bodies Gonna Get It - 3-6 Mafia

..... or in other words, the entrance themes for

• Christian
• CM Punk
• Randy Orton and
• Mark Henry

Habiba

Rediscovered Bappi Lahiri's 'Habiba'. This was the 1st ever Indian/Asian Electronica/House track that made it to the Billboard charts back in the late 80s. I had managed to wrangle a recording from Bunty back in the early 90s, I think, & it was one of the most played tapes in my precious collection back then.

It's memories came back to me somehow last Saturday while Arnie was packing for his US trip ..... & I immediately scoured the web - & found it. What joy hearing a long forgotten track brings ..... almost the same as chancing upon its elusive mp3 from cyberspace (long live coolgoose).

As for the track - my earlier recording was not too good - the mp3 is a crystal clear digital rendition with the full bass efffect - that still has the potential to blow the listener's socks off. It's been playing in a loop on the Walkman all this week. Now to get that car with the boombastic woofers to blast around in!

Now Playing

Singh Is Kinng OST

Singh Is Kinng - 2 words - Snoop Dogg. It's the 1st time ever that a mainstream Hip Hop star as huge as Snoop has sung on a Hindi movie track. Akshay Kumar joins in on the rapping too!

Jee Karda - Labh Janjua, on song, as usual, on a Pritam directed album

Bas Ek Kinng - It's got an ultra cool bassline while the Punjus Mika & Hard Kaur rock this one

All in all, Singh Is Kinng falls short of the hype surrounding it's release, but Hip Hop tolerators won't be disappointed.

Bachna Ae Haseeno OST

Khuda Jaane - A typical KK song that's massively hummable

Lucky Boy - Sunidhi's vocals; Hard Kaur's rapping & Raja Hasan's interludes. Lovely combo!

Aahista Aahista - Lucky Ali & Shreya Ghoshal on a romantic duet with backing Spanish guitar set to a bass heavy rhythm - the Vishal-Shekhar touch, no doubt

Bachna Ae Haseeno - Kishore Da is back! Well not really, but the remix of the original has turned out great. Vishal raps on the intro, while Kishore Kumar's son Sumit delivers the lines. Cool!

Bachna Ae Haseeno is in typical Vishal-Shekhar fashion, a well turned out album with pleasant rhythms & catchy tunes. Good going guys.

Rock On OST

Socha Hai - lovely lyrics

Pichle Saat Dinon Mein - the play on the word roya is super

Rock On - the riffs, the riffs .... they're perfect ringtone material!

Ye Tumhari Meri Baatein - Dominique is just outstanding here. 2 of the best songs in this album are by the girls

Phir Dekhiye - lovely, soulful number from Caralisa. I remember her from the My Dil Goes Hmmm remix from Salaam Namaste. Once you've heard her on this one, you'll realize how misplaced she was on that track.

What can I say about this one? Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy have produced a great album completely in sync with the Rock them of the movie. The lyrics of every song stand out. And why shouldn't they? It's Javed Akhtar handling that department after all.

Now Playing

Kabhi Kabhi
Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na - Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na O.S.T.
The 2 stand out tracks in an average A.R. Rehman job.

Chalte Chalte Phir - Jal
The sound is somewhat juvenile, but it works. Boond itself is a pretty good album, with tracks like Sajni standing out.

Nkalakatha - Mendoza
The language is probably Afrikans, but the bassline is very very catchy. FYI, this is the track they used in the Bajaj Avenger 'Feel like God' commercial.

Poets of the Fall's latest 'Revolution Roulette' and 50 Cent's 'Before I Self Destruct' do not have what I was looking for. Maybe I'm growing out of Hip Hop.

Rozen-e-Deewar

Copied this on a lark from Arnie's laptop. It's superb!

Now Playing

Boond. Haven't heard all the tracks yet, but Jal's latest shows promise, I'll be checking it out in the coming week. 'Sajni' is just awesome.

Race O.S.T. Atif's 'Pehli Nazar' takes time but grows on you like nothing else. Pritam continues his tradition of lifting, this time from a South Korean band, but the end result, as usual, is superb.

Aman Hayer's Groundshaker 2. The 1st Groundshaker was a landmark & Aman does an admirable job of following it up here. His only single on the compilation featuring Apache & Hard Kaur is very hummable.

Happenings

Pakistan managed to draw the Bangalore test, albeit India got very close to achieving a result. The lefties had a ball, with Dada, ....

.... Yuvi ....

.... & Pathan ....

.... all getting past 100.

Saurav in fact managed a double in the 1st innings & a 91 in the second. I couldn't catch the Saurav-Yuvi partnership 'cause of office on Saturday, but everybody who did was praising it to high heaven.

The two took India from 61 for 4 to an awesome 350 plus on the 1st day itself. That, by the way, is the most number of runs scored in a single Test day in India, ever. Good show guys.

Shoaib Akhtar ....

.... was a shadow of himself. Are his glory days a thing of the past? We'll see. India have won a home series against the Pakistanis after 27 years. It would have been better had it been against a stronger Pakistan. Even then, Kumble has made an excellent beginning as Test captain.

Moving on, India has caught up with the U.S. on a grim social phenomenon. We've had our first school shooting fatality.

Moving on again, official pics of the new K.I.T.T. are out & this ....

.... is my current wallpaper.

It's been a tiring week. I just hope I won't have to work this Saturday.

Meanwhile, Strings' Sar Kiye Ye Pahaar (the 1992 original) plays on the T.sonic ...... dariyaaon ki gehraaiyon mein, tujhe dhoonda hai .... wah, wah!

Now Playing

1973 - from All The Lost Souls by James Blunt
Sittu, I take back everything I said about this guy.

I'll Believe You When
All Your Reasons
I Can't Let You Go - from Exile On Mainstream by Matchbox 20
Rob & his gang are back.

Jimmy - from Kala by M.I.A.
They're remixing Mithun Da's hits in England now!

The Way I Are - from Timbaland Presents Shock Value by Timbaland ft. Keri Hilson & D.O.E.
Every once in a while Timbaland will come up with a very listenable pop hit. It was 'Say It Right' with Nelly Furatdo in 2006 & this year it's this track.

Tum Se Hi - from Jab We Met O.S.T. by Mohit Chauhan
Jab We Met is a loaded album from Pritam featuring lots of musical styles. Even so, this song stands out .... perhaps it's Mohit's vocals, or perhaps it's the lyrics. Maybe both.

Extreme Ways - from The Bourne Ultimatum O.S.T. by Moby
Just loved the movies & this song .... on all 3.

bheega aasmaan

Bheega aasmaan, shehdaai dil mera
Sooni raahon pe, kya dhunde bhala
Dhuaan hi dhuaan, baahon ke darmiyan
Sooni raahon pe, kya dhunde bhala

One of the tracks from Dhol, which I can't stop listening to. Pritam provides the composition, Shaan is on song & Vijay Yesudas (son of the legendary Yesudas) comes in as a pleasant surprise towards the end of the song.

Leaves you wondering why Pritam doesn't compose songs like this more often. Nice lyrics too. By the way, anybody out there knows the meaning of shehdaai? Nope, Google doesn't help.

Now playing

- Chak De India from Chak De India O.S.T.
.... one rocking patriotic number (no wonder it releases just before Independence Day)

- Ke Bin Tere
- Aggar
- Paas Aaye Kyon
- Nachle Remix from Aggar O.S.T.
.... Mithoon on song, once again. This is one talented music director.

- Tadap
- Akele Tanha from Darling O.S.T.
.... Himesh & Pritam collaborating on an album for the 1st time. Good timepass.

Now playing

Jhoom
Bol Na Halke Halke - Jhoom Barabar Jhoom OST

Say It Right - Nelly Furtado (her best yet)

Save Tonight - Eagle Eye Cherry (mid-90s once more)

Welcome To Detroit - Trick Trick ft Eminem
You Don't Know - 50 Cent, Eminem, Cashis, LLoyd Banks (Eminem's back! .... & he's still got it)

So much for your promises
They died the day you let me go
Caught up in a web of lies
But it was just too late to know

I thought it was you
Who would stand by my side

And now you've given me, given me
Nothing but shattered dreams, shattered dreams
Feel like I could run away, run away
From this empty heart

Lyrics from 'Shattered Dreams' by Johnny Hates Jazz

Heard this at Guzzlers the day before. Bought back some memories.

Also heard this ....

Dhadkanen .... khamosh hain
kuch kehti nahi

Ye aakhri alvida na ho

Chaahatein .... aankhon se
behti nahi

Ye aakhri alvida na ho

Is dard ko dil mein
dil mein rehne do

Jo khauff hai .... aankhon se
aankhon se kehne do

Dukh ki .... nadi
chup chaap behne do

Jo kehna hai .... tum
dheere se keh do

Ye aakhri alvida na ho

Lyrics from 'Ye aakhri alvida na ho' by Strings (Shootout At Lokhandwala OST)

Poignant as usual, from Strings.

Got music

Downloaded the tracks of the this new movie called 'The Train' on Thursday. The name sounds silly, but Mithoon's name on the composer's credits promised something good & it turned out exactly so. Almost all the tracks are good & I've been listening to them continuously ever since.

K.K. & Kshitij Tarey form a soulful combo on Beete Lamhe. In Teri Tamanna, K.K. again combines with Zubeen to belt out a superb fast-paced, high-pitched number set to a rocking baseline.

Besides, Mithoon himself makes his playback debut on Woh Ajnabee & the pensive Mausam. His voice sounds uncannily similar to Atif's.

There have been some nicely composed OSTs so far this year (case in point being Metro). It's good to see the new direction Hindi film music is taking.

Now playing

Long time since I made a 'Now playing' post. Probably, 'cause of the dearth of good music. Anyway, here goes .....

What goes around ..... comes around - Justin Timberlake

I never liked Justin's brand of music .... even when he switched over to R & B. But this has got to be one of the best R & B tracks ever. And the lyrics add to the impact.

In Dino
Alvida

Soothing tracks from the film Life In a ..... Metro. Music by Pritam, but very unlike his usual produce. I hope they're originals, though. KK's voice on Alvida sounds so soothing after the recent overdose of Himesh.

In The Air Tonight Remix - Tupac feat. Phil Colins

Tupac's spin on Phil Colins' classic. Super! Discovered it through LimeWire.

I Ran - A Flock of Seagulls
Running Down A Dream - Tom Petty

Both from the GTA San Andreas soundtrack ..... awesome guitar riffs. Again thanks to LimeWire.