Nice write up Wiredbeats.... Puthiya Manitha, Kilimanjaro and Chitti Dance Showcase are my picks from the album.
Puthiya Manitha is Machine meets Emotion. The synth sounds fused with the minor scale melody and a plaintive chorus works beautifully for me. Incidentally, this song reminds me very much of Kraftwerk, specifically Autobahn and The Robots (may be this is ARR sir's nod to Kraftwerk ??). In that aspect, the sounds are very much retro sounds. But this song has that human aspect, that emotion that I could not find in Autobahn or The Robots. SPBs entry is perfectly set up. I would have loved this song to be longer with more turns explored. I love the kick and the snare (the snare seems to have some sound of clap mixed into it ??). Kilimanjaro is fun. The aaha aaha phrase seems to remind me of some late 80s early 90s telugu songs by Raj Koti and the like. I wonder how this song sounds under Palakkad Sriram's voice. I like that the composition is primarily vocal and tribal rhythm driven...other sounds are just there support but barely there. Probably, this kind of sparse arrangement works in favor of Puthiya Manitha and Kilimanjaro for me. Chitti Dance Showcase is a delight. Being a fan of DnB, Break Beat, Big Beat kinda music, I love the heavy sounds, the dnb drumming fused with jathis, the seeming randomness of the snare. I like how the guitar is mixed in this song (compare this to the guitar sound in Thok De Killi...there it sounds muted and buried). It has some sort of chorus on it which seems to be give it nice place in the mix. I totally disliked that string section in the middle. It most definitely must be a requirement of the script, so cant really complain, but without that part and some more dnb/electronica exploration in this song would have been a great song for me. Boom Boom Robo Da could be my next favorite. The song is nicely mixed and sounds are nicely programmed/arranged. But the song seems to miss some kind of hook or something memorable that would make it stick in your head. Incidentally, some phrasings in this song remind me of Thigu Thigu song from Aah Aaha. I might enjoy this song more as time goes by. I liked Kadal Anukkal when Karthik uploaded the recorded version from Suryan FM. But since then it has kind of gone down some notches. Its nice and breezy, but Sahana melody quality is quite different. Irumbile is disappointing. Disappointing cos it could have been a lot better. The female vocals are gorgeous...Vocal timbre, singing, the overall sound of their vocals are all absolutely fantastic. But the arrangements seem pretty ordinary though. The kick and snare are nicely mixed. To me the best part of the song is when the lady singer goes solo singing Watch Me Robo Shake It at around 2:20. I would have loved something like Suddenly by BT. Incidentally the synth arp in this song is kinda like the synth arp in Suddenly (it just seems to remind me of that, no implications or insinuations). I know PA Deepak likes BT very much, so something along those lines for the next "techno/electronica" song would be great :-). Also, I would like ARR attempt songs like Trip Like I Do (The Crystal Method) etc. I tend to like that kind of electronica more than trance etc. Just a wish. - Sam --- In [email protected], wiredbeats <wiredbe...@...> wrote: > > Hello all, > > I have not written a review of any album so far in this group in the last 8 > odd > years of being around. I think its been that long...what with so many good > reviewers around such as Chord etc, we are well balanced. > > I just thought this time i would attempt to sort of share some notes on > enthiran. > > Enthiran did not require any brilliance in actual composition, the whole > sound > track needed lot of energy and some out of the world programming and mixing > expertise. The concept of the sound track of enthiran suits all gizmos and > toys > that today almost all good composers have or can gain access to. It is the > balance of what to use, how much to use to strike a trade-off between noise > and > music. This trade-off is seen in its absolute best in the first track of the > CD. > > I am great fan of electronica - house, techno, beach house,down tempo and > lounge music produced by lables such as Ministry of sound, Hed Kandi and few > select DJ/programmers such as Armin Van Burren, Ferry Corsten, ATB, Moby to > name > a few. What these guys ensure is that the overall feel of the song, the > production values are so damn rich that you feel that extra cash that you > spend > on your expensive CD system is well spent. They many not always produce > melody, > but the rhythm, the bass, the ambient pads, synths used are chosen and placed > with such perfection that a rather simple 4x4 beat track sounds awesome. > Rahman > has a team that achieves and exceeds the standards set by such international > artists. However, in the context of film songs such brilliance are > often interrupted by the demands of the song,situation and directors brief. > And > i think striking a balance is very tough given so many strings pulling. If > you > remove the strings, Rahman's music becomes more free flowing and thats why > Vande > Mataram and his latest god level tracks in Nokia Connections album are talked > about. > > Now, if you listen to puthiya manitha, the first track in enthiran disc - > the > samples used, the structuring of the song, the reverb and the overall usage > of > the stereo soundscape has come out so well that it is an absolute > satisfaction. > The dept of the kick (beat), the open and closed HiHats, the rising and > falling > synths are right there where the best of the music producers operate. I mean > when i heard it for the first time and after the Khatija's lines are over i > felt ..It would be great if he introduces a layer of soft kicks with > prominent > highs and sort of make the track flow into the mainline. And it happened and > happened so well. This is strikingly brilliant. It feels rich. > > Same is the case with Khilimanjaro track. The taiko drums sink deep and uses > all > the stereo landscape such an instrument needs. Taiko drums have a very loud > character to it. Once you introduce it in a song, you must be careful not to > under utilise it because energy levels in the song will drop so badly that > you > would start to loose interest. Over usage would be very irritating. > Khilimanjaro > is a fairly simple track and has a of space to breath. This makes it very > catchy > and to top it, the production values are awesome. > > The problem comes in the other track - Irumbile oru idhayam. This is a very > sad > and average track. It seems to be put in a hurry. Very ordinary. When i heard > it > first i felt the track is going to take off in an another level when Kash n > krisshy start their lines, those vocals sounded so classy, so global and so > trance. But then the song remained the same with some loose lyrics. Not done, > this is the weakest track. > > Infact, Trance has never been Rahman's forte. That track - Kellamal Kayile > from > Azhagiya Tamil Magan was very sad too. It had a template beat and fell flat > in > the first 60 second. Infact, i don't like Fanaa from Yuva either. Its very > jarring. Going by the standard set in Puthiya manitha, irumbile oru idhyam > should have sounded something like 9PM by ATB or check out Ferry corsten's > latest release called Twice in a Blue moon. I am comparing for a > reason....Rahman need not produce flat tracks like this. > > Chitti Dance showcase is playing with toys and super interesting and fun to > listen to.Perhaps even better fun to watch the video. But thats it. > > Rest of the tracks are ok. Good, for a change Yogi B has been used instead of > Blaaze. He is good, but Yogi B gives a good break from Blaaze. > > However, what is satisfing with Enthiran is it 'sounds good' and achives its > purpose. There is no great melody, just the overall feel of the disc is very > positive and one does not go through dips and rises. > > More than Rahman, i congratulate K.J. Singh and Deepak P.A for setting a > standard of production values. We have come a long way from the trash > sounding > BLUE to some awesome sounding VTV, Puli and Enthiran. Skipping Raavan(an)...i > don't know whats wrong what that album...i have forgotten it! > > And belive me guys when i say this...Enthiran NEEDS and CD. You loose the > maximum when you convert in MP3. The loss is noticably maximum in this CD > especially...buy, beg,borrow or steal the disc. But get it.. > > Don't mind me. I am frank. I still feel Rahman's best is Dil Se Re from Dil > Se. > He is yet to repeat that vision. > > regards > > wb > > > Remixes I Originals I Opinions at http://www.wiredbeats.com >
