Return of the Lazy-i

all right
i admit it
i am a bit lazy. but can't help it, sitting down to write another edition of my blog is sometimes not as enjoyable as i thought at first(i got six incomplete drafts waiting to be completed for the last three months) but as i have nothing else to do now, why not write another chronicle of my life ?
come to think of it much has happened in the last few days giving me numerous things to write about in this post-

reservations(get rid of these artificially drawn lines in society, abolish them completely !),

"da vince code" ban(hope the movie lives up to the hype it created),

celebrities standing up to fight for numerous causes only to get steamrolled before they begin(what the hell happened to this discussion ?),

return of two of my favourite bands-

rhcp-dani california rocks ! what a tribute to rock 'n' roll !
euphoria-mehfuz hoon !

and yah last but certainly not the least the soccer world cup in germany !
(there is an indian tour of west indies somewhere in between but i am more of a soccer maniac)

But as a celebration of my return to my blogging form i will start on a happier note(don't worry i plan to get my dirty hands on the reservation issue as soon as possible)

I think i will start with mehfuz -over the years as i grew up i have heard a lot of music( bollywood mainly) but was never actually been impressed by it. i mean i was never crazy about music, i was never a bathroom singer and didn't even try whistling or humming a song. The juggernaut of today happens to be an absolute contrast of that picture( of course i still can't whistle too well but i make do with whatever whistling i can do). then about a decade back i heard a new kind of sound, a sound that has captivated me ever since. out of nowhere a band called euphoria was suddenly born and it came out with a song called "dhoom pichak". awesome lyrics, great rhythm,awesome beats, very indian yet very modern. they followed it up with a song called sha na na which again rose to #1 on the music charts and the rest as they say is history. hence led to the birth of more than a hundred rock bands that came out with songs in hindi- indian ocean, aryans, silk route, etc. many of them came up with hit albums and only a few of the original bands are still existent but euphoria still continues to be at the helm of the indian rock scene.

their fourth album is titled mehfuz(apparently after a meghna gulzar movie which never got released). but does it live up to the hype that euphoria has created over the years and the expectations from their fourth album ?
well it depends on what u expect from euphoria. over the years i've seen many bands that have stuck to the same signature style of music and r in a steady state conditions, their number of fans over the years have remained the same.
then i've heard bands which evolve with every album, every album seems to b a different story altogether and the list of their fans keeps growing the bands in this category are probably the greatest of 'em all-U2, Led Zep, Deep Purple, Oasis, etc. On a more sub continent scene-Strings( Dhanni and Duur are like chalk and cheese) and Junoon(the last album was more pop than sufi-rock, but yah i preffer their rock style)

Mehfuz does just that for euphoria- it is what can be called the coming of age album for euphoria- much deeper lyrics than ever, more soothing melodies, more intricate work on the instruments and last but not the least a much more soothing and hard rocking palash sen voice.
The album seems to score in all departments- but i suggest u approach the album as a music lover and not as a euphoria fan, cause this is everything but vintage euphoria( the closest to the euphorian style is probably soneya- yah the one on air currently), the song mehfuz has got a great rustic feel to it and is undoubtedly the star striker of the album- great work by benny using the flute and rikki's guitar riffs keep u at the edge of ur seat not to mention palash sen's voice and gulzar's awesome lyrics. the center midfield is undoubtedly a song called bewafa which has some awesome work with a mouth organ , long after the song has finished the mouth organ coninues to linger about in ur mind. soneya is a high energy track with awesome percussions throughout the song but by this time most of u must have heard the song so i will keep this one short. apart from these there is a very jazz inspired track with some great bass work called kee farak painda, a "down in the dumps" song called savera with a very rock feel to it and another one called roshni which seems to be a sistern concern. also there's a song called bhoola sab with excellent guitar bridges and a mind blowing keyboard intro. this one's a must buy and definately one not to be missed !

that's all for now. hope to post another message by the end of this week( what r the chances of that happening ?)

yours truly
juggernaut