The August Playlist: Dead Man Tops 'em All

It's the eighth month of 2006 out of the way ! Another month with plenty of happenings in the musical world. The current trend of more music being produced in the Adult contemporary genre continued even in this month. Rap is slowly fading away with most of the songs not being able to refrain from duplicating an existing beat and more importantly to come up with some sensible lyrics. Come On...Some of the rap albums that come out just contain some gibbersih boasting. Nothing compared to the lights of Run DMC, B.I.G, Tupac and the likes.

So much for rap. Anyway moving on to releases of this month, Coolio's comeback album is out on the net although the album is yet to be released. For a comeback album it sounds pretty moderate. Nothing serious or worth to be proud of really. The single "Gangsta Walk" featuring Snoop Dogg promises to be some chart buster but other than that the album sounds plain. Ice Cube's new album is pretty much effective and listenable than Coolio. The song "Go to Church" is full of explicit but it's good aggressive, hardcore rapping. It has variety (quite strangely) and is quite impressive for a man like Ice Cube who is not 100% in to music.


Justin is back !!! And I tell ya' is back with a Bang. A real "more than ordinary" Bang. It has variety and lovely beats to make ya feel listening to it again. His variations in voice also adds an extra sizzle to the album. It's a must check-out as per my opinion. (Hell, it's my opinion that counts here anyway, afteral it's MY BLOG) Another noteworthy album that I managed to get hold of during this month is "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" by Arctic Monkeys. It's plain hot, good stuff. Pure alternative with atouch of country style & of course 70s rock and roll. It gives an amazingly soothing feeling with the somewhat weird meanings in the songs. Cool stuff for a sunday evening. This should be the second best release that I had my ears on. Afterall it's already hit triple platinum in USA. Damn me for being too late. But who's the first ??

Well, it goes literally to NO ONE !! Beacuse there's no vocalist for this album !!! And a damn good one at that. The Pirates of The Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest sountrack. Real hot & furious stuff. Loved every second of it. If you are in to alternative medleys kinda stuff then grab on it. It's HOT ! It's the HOTTEST !! Hans Zimmer - Three thumbs up ! Other noteworthy album releases include Jessica simpson and Beyonce.

In the local scene, one album was released in the form of Anil Balasuriya which didn't do any good for his "Indy Square ex-vocalist" nik. From the moment the "PLAY" button was pressed in the CD player, it sucked, slowly but surely. Almost all songs are alike with the main focus in most songs being trying to bring back memories of something or someone which is gone for good. Very limited music and the songs are very predictable. Bad show for a man who pioneered a good album 4-5 years earlier under the name Independent Square. Hats off for the effort but I am afraid it could have been better. Afterall 9 tracks are sold for 550/- so we at least expect something !! No hard feelings anyone !!

The noteworthy release in the local industry in the form of singles was "Slowdown" by Gajan, Ashanthi & Dinesh. The track has a bit of Jazz touch to it's totally different from the other shit which is being released by all the local bands who think rapping to a Punjab beat is the way to move on. Slowdown is nice and slow, and the tune is kind of Usher style. Grab your hands on it. It's worth a listen. Definitely !!!

Red Hot Top Ten for August, 2006

• Put You In Your Place by The Sunshine Underground
• Never Be Lonely by The Feeling
• Never Been by Gracia
• Tears Don't Fall by Bullet for my Valentine
• You And Me by United Nations
• Dreamer by Andru Donalds
• Slowdown by Ashanthi & the Crew
• Sexyback by Justin Timberlake
• Ring The Alarm by Beyonce
• Jack Sparrow off PoC: Dead Man's Chest Soundtrack
• Lips of An Angel by Hinder
• We Are Your Friends by Justice vs. Simian

PS - Eventhough the title is August 2006 music, it's just that I heard it during that month. The album/song would have been released earlier or is yet to be released.