Yennai Arindhal - Music Review !

Yean Ennai, sounds cool despite being a typical harris beaten to death hiphop song, is sung by Sunitha Sarathy and Kharesma Ravichandran. Mazhai Vara*** yet another usual harris romantic number reminding his earlier songs but sounds very refreshing with Karthik's vocals. Unnakenna Venum** sung by Benny Dayal and Mahathi reminds his song from Chellame is a desperate attempt to discover a lullaby and does whatever he could achieve to his potential producing a decent soothing track. Yennai Arinthaal***, has funky beats creating an interesting trance appeal,  is sung well by Devan and group. Adharu Adharu  sung by Vijay Prakash and Gaana Baala is a "hero mass opening song" attempt by Harris and despite the genre not being his forte, he pulls it off decently. Maaya Bazaar*** is packaged interestingly with multiple genres sung by Aalap Raju, Priya Subramanian, Velmurugan and Krishna Iyer each rendering a genre is a super listen. Idayathai Yedho Ondru is a reprise of Unnakenna Venum is sung by Chinmayi is a good listen.

Verdict: Harris Jeyaraj joins with Goutham Vasudev Menon after a while and produces a solid and stylish album in his usual limits is sure to work well.

Vai Raja Vai - Music Review

Vandha Kadha is a title song kind written and sung by the most popular Gaana Bala. This gaana is very refreshing but heavily Raja inspired  - Charanam of Thotathula Pathi kati from Velaikaran to be specfic. Once again proves despite of the genere you compose, its ultimately the tune and the depth that matters finally. Pachai Vanna*** is Yuvan Shankar Raja at his best. Even though not a fan of his voice, he sounds decent with lot of voice autotuning. Superb romantic tune with uber cool orchestration is the pick of the Album. Pookamazh is a techno dance number sung by Tanvi Shah is a instant hit and will be very popular dance floor number. Naam Vaazhthidum*** is a cracker of a song sung by Hiphop Thamizha and Yuvan. When Yuvan gets going only few can match him in techno sounds. Extremely catchy. Move your body yet another dance floor number sung by the Maestro Ilayaraja himself sounds different in this unusual genre but templatized tune make it jarring at times.

Verdict - Yuvan gives a very peppy album to Aishwarya Dhanush who gave a highly successful album(3 - The movie) with Anirudh in her previous outing. Despite decent music in his recent albums like Anjaan, Govindudu Andarivaadele, Thirudan Police, movie's failure pegged Yuvan back this year but he comes up with a highly listenable youthful album.

Mukunda - Music Review

Chesededo is a very typical Mickey foot tapping number sung by Rahul Nambiar and Revanth could have been more innovative. Daredumdadum* sung by Mickey J Meyer and Sai Shivani sounds very pleasing. Apparently Mickey's voice is heavily auto-tuned says a lot of his singing skills. Would have been lot better if it was given to a professional singer nevertheless it doesn't sound bad. Sai Shivani sounds a lot better here. Flute interludes are very catchy. Haricharan gets to sing yet another best song of the album Chaala Bagundi*** and excels as always. Mickey's strong forte is melody with unique, Rahman inspired orchestration and he should focus more on that to enthrall audiences.This number is just an example of that. Superb song. Gopikkamma** is a simple yet attaractive folk song sung brilliantly by the legendary Chithra. Very refreshing to listen to pure Telugu lyrics without any English or half baked Hindi/Urdu words. Arare Chandrakala, sung energetically by Karthik and Sai Shivani, is a typical Telugu folk westernized in usual Mickey style is a good listen. Nandalala** sung by, Mickey's one of the regular singer(Rajashekara from Leader), Swetha Pandit, is very pleasing backed by very innovative flute interludes. Mukunda Theme is as effective as the songs.

Verdict - Mickey delivers one of his best albums and gives a perfect musical treat. Telugu folk tunes orchestrated in Mickey way, western foot tapping numbers, lovely choice of singers and above all beautiful pure Telugu lyrics by Sirivennela Sitarama Sastry makes "Mukunda" a superb album. Highly recommended !

Chakkiligintha - Music Review

Avoid Girls sung by Siddarth, Aditya and Anudeep is a usual boys gang song with nothing to boast about. Baby My Lover sung by Mickey Myer, despite highly synthesized vocals, sounds good with catchy strings and beats. Chakkiligintha***, the best song of the album, sung by Haricharan and Sai Shivani is a fantastic melody and a typical Mickey number. It is almost becoming a common practice to invite Haricharan to render the best song of album and he as always rocked it. However the same cant be said about the female singer. Idivarakey** is yet another lilting melody sung by beautifully by Karthik who ironically used hold Haricharan's position a few years/months back after his excellent run over a decade. Mayo Mayo sung by Aditya and Ramya Behara is a fun duet sounds peppy but templatized. O Kshanama sung by Ramya Behara started promisingly but fell flat with repetitive and  rhymic tune and uninteresting orchestration.

Verdict - Have liked Mickey Myers always for his melody sense despite strong ARR influence. Chakiligintha is a good listen but falls short of an awesome album despite two lovely melodies.

Haider - Hindi Music Review - Vishal Baradwaj

Aao Na** is brilliant opening track sung by Vishal Dadlani who is seen crooning lot of songs these days has rendered it brilliantly. He pulls of a "Bryan Adams" style of singing confidently with rock guitars and drumming adding the flavor. Inspiring and Motivational number. Bismil*** is deep and penetrative. Very vibrantly sung by Sukhvinder Singh, neatly maintaining the sufi style intact and expressing many shades of emotions ranging from joy, free sprited, peace, anguish, sorrow etc., clearly fulfilling Vishal's vision. Brilliant track. Aur Ek Bismil**, another version of Bismil,  is presented in Middle East/Arabic style that is totally contrasting to the original version. It is a composers delight even though I liked the first version better. Khul Kabhi***, a cool, soft melody soulfully rendered by Arjith Singh, is beautifully tuned and orchestrated with live strings and Jazz drumming offers a very beautiful listening experience. Legendary Mehdi Hassan's Gulon Mein Rang Bhare*** gets another color in the voice of Arjith Singh who gets another song and renders it well. I heard this song from Mehdi Hassan's Ghazals but not sure who composed it, Check it out :( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C03gLRHn6s ). Soul stirrer and a brilliant song. Vishal himself renders Jhelum** effectively and don't know what else he could do well. One more penetrative song this time basing Hindustani classical with very slow and deep interludes leaving tremendous impact on listening. So Jao is a short reprise of Aao Na in the unplugged version with acoustic guitars. Suresh Wadekar is so pleasing in Do Jahaan* along with the actress Shraddha Kapoor creating a lullaby effect even though the latter struggles to sing. Aaj Ke Naam* is a neat ghazal sung by, the talented wife of Vishal Baradwaj, Rekha Baradwaj beautifully. 

Verdict: Vishal Baradwaj the composer (also the film maker) stands right at the top of his music making abilities. Haider is a soulful, satisfying, musically rich and complete album of 2014 in Hindi film music. MUST LISTEN !

* indicates the rating on a particular song and not all songs get them.

Ennakkul Oruvan - Tamil Music Review : Santosh Narayanan

Endi Ipaddi** is extremely addictive, sung by Gaana Baala, who I think is a singing revelation in recent times in terms of expressing people's music with his raw, rustic, "untrained" talent. Very catchy and innovative. Manicka Vinayakam excels in Kutti Poochi**, a simple yet catchy folk tune orchestrated in very jazzy way with interesting fusion of superb guitars Nadaswaram - Highly innovative indeed. Poo Avizhum Pozhudil*** is just one example what Santosh is capable of. Mind blowing song. Brilliantly arranged/orchestrated with fantastic guitars, whistling, sharp soft beats to a superb tune is best of the album to me and confidently sung by Pradeep Kumar. Prabalamagavey** is a retro pop sung well by Actor Sidharth creates a trance effect, once again very different sounds, is a very interesting listen. Santosh creates an unplugged effect in Yaar** with beautiful piano backings, sung beautifully by Dhibu Ninan Thomas, also boasts very interesting, unconventional tune and orchestration yet remain soulful. 

Verdict - Santosh Narayanan, one of my most favorite composers in recent years in Indian Film Music Industry, delivers a cracker of an album. Ennakul Oruvan, a remake of Kannada film Lucia that also had Santosh's music for background score, is a brilliant album that is very rich musically. MUST LISTEN !

* indicates the rating on a particular song and not all songs get them.

Kaththi - Tamil Music Review : Anirudh Ravichandar, A R Murugadoss

Aathi*** is second time collaboration of Anirudh and Vishal Dadlani (Of Bollywood's Vishal-Shekar) where the latter once again proves why he is an awesome singer as well. Quirky interesting rap bits with good melody backed up by "NextGen sounds" makes this a super listen. Hiphop Thamizha and Anirudh join hands to sing Pakkam Vanthu*, a peppy number that is dominated by Hiphop Thamizha's rap singing, which makes it interesting to listen, jammed with soft beats backed by lot of electronic sounds and Nadaswaram, creating a Bhajan effect, that shuffles between folk and western, with Anirudh singing the melody portions, is definitely a slow burner. Vijay's singing in his movies continues in fun filled SelfiPulla with Sunidhi Chauhan for a typical dance folk number. Anirudh intelligently keeps the tune simple and catchy to accommodate Vijay while Karky spices up with his innovative trendy lyrics. Paalam, sung by Shankar Mahadevan and Swetha Mohan, is a fusion of sorts between carnatic, parade and folk is interesting. Kaththi Theme (The Sword of Destiny) is short but effective. Bad Eyes* (Villain Theme) makes an interesting theme music in the combination of Jathi, Flute and Veena but heavily Ilayaraja inspired. Nee Yaaro*** is a sincere Ilayaraja attempt in evoking human emotions is indeed sincere, to an extent to what Anirudh could do, aided by the golden voice of K J Yesudoss.

Verdict: Anirudh firmly establishes himself to be the latest whizkid in the block and continues to be interesting despite sounding monotonous off late. Kaththi cant be seen as his best work (which, to me, is still "3") however it is definitely interesting and make a very good, fun filled and trendy album over all in the lines of Maan Karaate and VIP.

* indicate the rating on a song.