Monday 26 May 2014

Take Five: Goodness Gracious Me


Tonight the legenddary codeey show Goodness Gracious Me returns to our screens to celebrate BBC Two's 50th birthday. Along with great characters such as Smita Smitten and Mr Everything Comes From India, I always looked forward to the songs. Here are five that have stuck in my mind. 


Kiss My Chuddies 



From the Bhangra Muffins  Kiss My Chuddies was an original song from the very first television episode. It summed up everything about the Asian rude boy of the time. Shot outdoors it was visually funny and contains the unforgettable image of a teletubbie kissing Kulvinder Ghir.


Tuesday 20 May 2014

Circle of Sound Release Anti Hero

Circle of Sound, made up of sarod player Soumik Datta and drummer Bernhard Schimpelsberger, have released their second album. Anti Hero features special guests Nitin Sawhney and Anoushka Shankar.

The release is five tracks long. It's a mix of Indian music melded with contemporary vocals and electronics. In an interview with the Independent Soumik said "I don't think there's been another album out there like it. This is not chilled-out lounge music. It is an anti-chill-out album with edge."

Included with the tracks are lyrics and some impressive artwork done by Soumik himself. According to the Circle of Sound Facebook page "The artwork carries the idea of the album. It shows the anti hero in his world, in free fall. A world with nothing to hold onto. We wanted to move away from the conventional approach of doing artwork with instruments but to offer the listener a visual gate into our music."

Download Anti Hero from www.cosmusic.tv. It is free to download, but you will need to share on Facebook or Twitter.

Wednesday 14 May 2014

Talal Qureshi - Tough Love



Talal Qureshi, whose music was called the sound of the future by Bobby Friction, has unveiled the first track from his upcoming EP. Tough Love is from Sound Booth Time Machine and is up on Sound Cloud as a free download.

Tough Love is a funky track with broken vocals. It's groovy, catchy and doesn't try too hard. There's a laid back, retro feel to Tough Love but it still has a modern edge.

Talal says: "Download this, share the love, put it everywhere and if you're an artist or a rapper, feel free to use it on any non profit projects. Just remember to give me credit hope you enjoy it!"

Karsh Kale Remixes Aiyo Ji


Karsh Kale, who was invited to perform at the White House for President Barack Obama, has released a remix of Salim Sulaiman's Aiyo Ji on his Sound Cloud page. The original is from the film Satyagraha and features the vocals of Shradha Pandit.

There is something uplifting and old school Asian Underground about the track. The remix doesn't drown out the original track and Karsh knows when to let the vocals shine through. There was another remix on the Satyagraha soundtrack, but it was bad house track. I rarely like a remix as as much as the original, but this track is as good as or even better than the original version.

Salim Sulaiman and Karsh Kale are scheduled to perform together at this year's WOMAD festival. This track should go down well with the crowd.