So here is the handpicked list of some of best songs out this month, in no particular order. Have you picked out your favorites yet? These tracks are all set to enter your playlist and hearing them now would be the best thing to do - Check out now!
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Amour
Adithya RK has been having a splendid time singing for many indie and even film projects ever since he shined in Super Singer reality show. It is the nature of his voice, and even his stage presence that are landing him opportunities, but what I am impressed with is that he is delivering the goods just fine. This song is smooth and is all about the vocals and the synth programming that keeps playing. It is a composition by Pranav Aditya and Sanjay Prasadh and the former handles all the arrangements, synth programming and production, while Sanjay writes the lyrics along with Gopi Murugan. There is a fine interlude on the Violin played by Rakshith and it probably is a glimpse of Raag Abheri. The guitars both electric and bass by Kaustubh Nene are what add style and sizzle. Rahul Rajendran and Arvind Ashok are the recording engineers while Kaustubh has done the mixing and mastering for the song.
En Kadhal
This is Santhosh Narayanan in the midst of pure magic, and we know that when a song is from a movie remade from the Original Andhadhun, the hero will have to be the Piano. Aditya Ravindran who has impressed us with his work in “Mahaan” is that hero for this song playing those Keys with incredible ease and elegance. You can never assume Sid Sriram is waning as a force as he once again proves why he is favored by most musicians at least from the south. The humming by Sid, is closely followed by Aditya’s Keys and Naveen Napier’s bass guitars. After a more stylish and Hip-hop oriented album in ‘Mahaan’ Santhosh returns to another genre and the song in itself feels like a symphony with rising and falling emotions and both the Strings and Keys deliver a see-saw ride to the listener. Joseph Vijay plays the electric guitars and FAME'S Skopje Studio Orchestra (Macedonia) is the force behind the Orchestra. The strings are beautiful in arrangements and execution and Karthik Manickavasagam handles all arrangements with Oleg Kondratenko the Conductor, Alen Hadzi Stefanov as the sound recordist along with Teodora Arsovska. Joshua Rodrigues is the Orchestra co-ordinator. The song carries a different structure from those we are used to Indian movie songs having a pallavi, anupallavi and charanam. There is a layer of Harmonies as well which can be heard if you pay attention and Aditya himself arranges and performs it eloquently. The lines “kal ana idhayama” are where Santhosh deviates with superior skill from the song's predicted path and Vivek writes these touching words. Santhosh, composes, arranges, programs and records the song with Pranav Muniraj as the recording engineer and Rupendar Venkatesh brilliantly mixing and mastering the song. Meenakshi Santhosh is the musicians co-ordinator. An unsung hero in this song will definitely be Naveen Napier because his bass guitar notes and their execution are simply stunning but only to the attentive ear.
Ennikko er pudichane
It is that man again, and this is why he is one of the best in the country today, Santhosh Narayanan as he juggles genres with unbelievable ease. This is a folk melody that carries the weight of percussion from the rural setting and the song is best delivered with a voice like Santhosh himself. The Nadaswaram right at the beginning with the percussion drags you in with some very thoughtful lyrics by Arivarasu Kalainesan, and M Manikandan. The bass guitars here are just way more than functional and they operate like a mainstream instrument. The line “kannangaru agayam” and what follows is the best of the song with such incredible notes written here assisted by synth programming in the background. The Harmonica right at the end of the stanza is a great way to connect the charanam and the second interlude and it reminds me of “Kolame” from Penguin. Santhosh excels again in creating a completely different styled charanam the second time around.
Ennul inikkum inbame
Amrit Ramnath has been quite busy of late and after producing and composing songs featuring the legendary Bombay Jayashri, he has been creating one hit after another for his upcoming EP ‘Jago’. After “Naam Iruvar” which was featured on this website last month we have one more song but with a completely different style. Amrit and Amira Gill progress from success to success in a project which began taking shape more than a year ago. This is a qawwali styled song, almost a rarity in Tamil and to me this shows Amrit’s diverse skill and talent to explore different genres, because very often an indie musician can get caught in a genre trap and will find it very hard to get out of. Amrit has sung, composed and produced this song with additional vocals by Rohith Jayaraman, Sreerag and Amira. We remember Rohith from last year’s album with his mother called “Manam” which had a couple of numbers featured on Behindwoods. Some of Chennai’s best known talents once again showcase their skill in this song with Saurabh Joshi on percussion and we know how important that can be in a song styled like this. Sayee Rakshith plays the Violin and Abhinandan David plays the guitar. Saurabh has also mixed and mastered the song. The Tabla and Harmonium are so delightful to hear and I keep thinking to myself if this is sort of in the Raag Khamaj vicinity. There is a recognizable similarity to Shankar Ehsan Loy’s “Kajra re”. Compared to “Naam Iruvar”, the song demands so much vocally from Amrit and he is more than upto it especially with the vibrato and vocal range he explores and executes. Sayee kills it with his solo violin interludes and when the charanam brings the harmonies together I am reminded of “Zindagi maut na” from 'Sarfarosh’
Idhu Enna
Dharan Kumar creates a tranquil piece much in the style of Govind Vasantha and I was stunned by how brilliant and sharp Sanjana Kalmanje sounds in the opening lines reminding me of Chinmayi’s texture. The song is from the album “Takku Mukku Tikku Thalam” and we have Sathyaprakash on the male lead vocals. The Anupallavi ends it reminds me of the great hit song of yesteryears “Kannale pesi pesi kollathe”. The Keys, strings and flute form the trio of instruments guiding the interlude and what follows is a continuation of the somber melody trenched in pathos. Lalith Anand is the lyricist for this one. The second interlude is joyful on the flute with a full strings section in the background. There could be a mild Raag Kaapi influence in this.
Inneram indha neram
I will admit that I am a huge fan of Vijai Bulganin because the moment I see his name as the composer, my expectation level shoots up and once I play the song, I never get disappointed. There are very few musicians who can achieve this. Adithya RK is here again and singing a dreamy number that many vocalists would have loved to be a part of. It is not just that, but Vijai draws in a celebrity line up of instrumentalists like Rithu Vysakh for the one-man string quartet, Mambalam Sivakumar for the Nadaswaram, Shalu Varun on bass guitars and Abin Sagar on acoustic, electric guitars and the Ukulele. The texture of Adithya’s vocals once again make you feel like a rat running towards the Pied Piper. The Dilruba played by Dilruba Saroja is a beautiful touch right then and it makes me think if there is some Raag Bihag influence in the song. Shalu on bass and Abin on guitars get cracking straight away. The song has an elaborate anu pallavi section which itself is a rarity these days. The best line which just oozes quality is “kannu mozhichum”, kudos to Tamil Mani for capturing the emotions perfectly through his words. The chorus team sings the swaras in the interlude and it comprises of Feji, Hema, Charumathi and Vandana. Rithu’s strings quartet is playing with such finesse in the background especially when the charanam is on, and Sathish Sebastian handles all the keyboard programming. With Robin Sebastian working as the vocal engineer, Anand Gurrana does the recording and Roshan Sebastian handles the mixing and mastering. KK Senthil Prasath works along with Anand in recording. You will love the humming, along with that change in percussion that comes a couple of times in the track and especially in the end with the Nadaswaram and Ching sounds
Jolly o gymkhana
It is an Anirudh special for Vijay and it involves director Nelson, so you know the song probably made all the necessary headlines even before the audio release. The song according to me is much better and worth a listen compared to last month’s “Arabic Kuthu”. This one straightaway reminds me of a song that Vijay again sang called “Ennoda Laila”. The style and rhythms and horn section instruments are similar. Anirudh has composed, arranged and programmed this with Amalraj playing a massive role in all the live instruments. He has played the Spanish guitar, electric guitars, Slide Guitar, Violin, Violas, and all the vocal guitar body rhythm. The splendid trumpets are by the Chennai Mariachi Trumpets. In fact, some of the segments of the song remind me of “Ellorum Mavatta” by Ilaiyaraja. The song feels like dancing to a wonderful tune on the beaches of Sri Lanka. As Keba Jeremiah plays the acoustic guitar, Sajith Sathya plays the bass guitars which add a few more flavors to Amalraj’s instrumentals. Anirudh also does the backup vocals, keyboard, rhythm and synth programming and for a track like this mixing becomes a tough job to do which is why Vinay Sridhar & Srinivas M need an applause. The award winning Sai Shravanam handles the Stem mixing & mastering. The wonderful Budapest Scoring Orchestra brings the elaborate sounds with Balasubramanian G as the Orchestra Coordinator and Abhishek V as the C0-Orchestrator. This is a thoroughly enjoyable track that will make you dance and Vijay proves that he can sing when given an opportunity carrying that cool attitude in his delivery.
Kangal Oya
Sanah Moidutty is an uber hit on Youtube and Instagram thanks to her savvy covers of famous numbers. She always brings about a few elements that add color and elements to an original piece that we wish even the original had. Anyway she is not just about covers, as she has been busy singing for A-list music directors in Kollywood. This original one is a multi-lingual release and it is produced, composed, arranged and sung by Sanah herself. Sanah also has managed to get in some pan-India talent like Tapas Roy on Strokes and Tejas Vinchurkar on the Flute. Her singing is fabulous and it beats me thinking why doesn’t she get opportunities to sing in movies in Mollywood and Kollywood atleast. The last I remember was that dreamy number she sang for Simon King called “Kannale Kannale”. The song seems to have traces of Raag Hindolam and much credit to the great output also needs to be given to Prasanna Suresh for the Music production and sound design. The strokes can be heard in the interlude and the stanza is a drop in tempo and if only for a bit and then Sanah soars into the higher scales. The favorite line for me “ri ri sa sa uthu paar” and Super Subu has penned the lyrics. Rupendar Venkatesh has mixed and mastered while Maharshi Jani is the recording engineer.
Kannattii
It has been a while since we heard a solid Siddhu Kumar score, and it was for “Sivappu Manjal Patchai” back in 2019 if I am not wrong. This song is one that really keeps playing on your mind and is one for your playlists. Anand Aravindakshan takes the lead vocalist role and he is quite versatile in his delivery, with the ability to convey a wide range of emotions through his singing. A simple set of notes can be glorified by a singer thanks to some tweaks and vibrato which Anad’s does from the get go in this song. The moment Keba Jeremiah’s acoustic guitar strokes take the lead, Anand displays a wide range from soft & tender to high octane within seconds. Listen to the way he sings the title line with great oomph. The bass guitars and Harmonies shouldn’t go unmentioned. Lalit plays a teasing little solo on the flute in the interlude, and the stanza plays in the same breezy fashion. The programming team is pretty big including AK Priyan, JC Joe, Prasanna Suresh and Vamsi Krishnan with additional programming by Bharath Dhanasekar and Lakshmikanth M. Rangapriya plays the violin and violas, and the track is mixed and mastered by Abin Pushpakaran with Avinash as the recording engineer. Vignesh Ramakrishna writes the lyrics with rhyming words that sound cute and interesting
Kattikoda
Ghibran makes a solid song here and for a movie that I am eagerly looking forward to. The premise of the movie itself is creating great interest and Ghibran is a great choice to tell or aid in storytelling through music. He scores, arranges the song with supervision from Dr. V Sritharan and assistance from Gold Devaraj. The strings right at the beginning are sure to hunt you down and keep you hooked on thanks to that man again Rithu Vysakh. The song has an immediate likability about it and it does remind me of “Meendum Meendum Vaa '' by Maestro Ilaiyaraja in ‘Vikram’. Shweta Mohan sounds gorgeous like drops of honey and she gives exactly what a love song needs, tease and fervor. Hary Nair, VM Bharath and Praveen have done a commendable job on the arrangements and the interlude is a testament to the prowess of Rithu and the team including Neil Joshua on guitars. Shweta starts off the charanam right where she is uniquely comfortable, the higher scales and here I am reminded of the song “Nejukuule Innarunnu” and very weirdly in the closing stages of the charanam the lines go “ Uppu muuta enna thooki oora sutthi kata venum” which is what happens in the that entire song’s video featuring Karthik and Soundarya. Chandru is the lyricist, the track is mixed and mastered by Abin Paul.
Maiyitta Mayile
He has been around and in the last couple of years I have begun to like his scores. Ashwin Vinayagamoorthy not only composes Tamil indie music, but also produces projects in English like I vividly remember one by Chennai based duo Coconut Milk Project’s “Imposter”. Kausthub Ravi is the vocalist and just as much as he impresses, the saxophone solo is truly magical from Basanth Muralikrishnan. Siennor another busy Tamil Indie musician gets deeply involved in this project, writing, playing the acoustic guitar along with Kausthub and playing the Keyboards. The song feels like listening to some throbbing Jazz music at a club in Memphis. The Cajon by Siva Prakasam is spot on and creates a texture of Latin Jazz, with Bumon Kashyap sizzling on bass guitars. The interlude on the Sax solo is free-flowing and I get a feeling this guy Basanth is capable of much more and cannot wait to hear his future projects. The backing vocals we hear belong to Sanjey Bhaskaran and the track is mixed by Sivanesh Natarajan while it is mastered by Ashwin himself. Riyasdeen Riyan is the recording engineer. Kausthub sounds casual yet striking the perfect chords vocally.
Nenjorama
An extremely talented musician is Nivas K Prasanna and he always gives you something to chew with his song releases. This website has carried at least one song from every album release written by me since 2019. I my opinion he has this nonchalant disposition to score with the inspiration of Ilaiyaraja, and this song straightaway reminds me of songs like “En Iniya Pon Nilave” , “Manjam Vantha Thendralukku” and “Roja poo aadavanthathu”. Pradeep Kumar is the singer and he needs neither an introduction nor a set of words to prove his contribution to a song. NIvas has composed, arranged and produced the song and we have some solid guitar sounds here and apparently Keba Jeremiah is playing something called Booster Guitars and the funk in the background is brought about by Manikandan on bass guitars. The rhythm of the song is upbeat and well programmed and Pradeep takes us back to the 1990s with that voice. One of my favorite young Indian vocalists is Malvi Sundaresan and I urge musicians to use her talent in their future projects. Anyway coming back to this song she can be heard in the pallavi after the first charanam ends and the heart just starts flying hearing her sing. The harmonies which are arranged by Alex Samuel Jenito have Niranjana Ramanan, Maalavika S and Vrusha Balu in the mix. Just listen to the line “thodamale nee theeya mootura” and that is precisely what her voice does to any music enthusiast. Mohan Raja writes these fabulous lines. Hevin does all the additional sound design, with mixing and mastering by KS Maniratnam.
Parai
Sean has been composing quite relentlessly in the indie space and some of his work is really worth writing and talking about while some have been a miss. But this one called “Parai” is a sure-shot winner as it has all elements working just fine. Roja Adithya has done a terrific job in delivering the vocals as she was expected to carry a strong texture, which is executed well, and there are times she sounds like Dhee. The song also belongs to a genre that Sean doesn’t explore much and it falls in the electronic pop/dance category, but what is amusing is that the song still has a very refined and hummable melody too. Sean writes, composes, and performs as the male lead vocalist and here too he surpasses some of his recent work. The nature of the song requires some solid work on the production and programming departments both handled by Sean himself. I just fell in love with the rhythm programming that comes along, especially when Roja sings “ mannula manithanum marala”. Vijay Ganesan plays the guitars and Manoj Krishna, a young musical talent that I closely follow and have featured, has assisted Sean musically. The project is conceived and directed by Kumaran with K Loga also partnering with Sean on lyrics. The track is mixed and mastered by Sai Shravanam.
Pidivathakari
The song has a lot of resemblance to Raag Shanmukhapriya reminded here and there of “Marainthirunthe Parkum” from ‘Thillana Moganambal’. The song is composed by Shane Extreme and has some excellent Keys and strings programmed as well which comes together well in the background. The tempo, and feeling that the song creates also is very similar to “Netru Munn Iravil” humming in “Snehidhane” by AR Rahman. It is not a bad thing at all when your music sounds similar to this genius’ work. Shane and Vishahk perform while it is the latter and Visvasan working on lyrics.
Rock n Roll Rasathi
Is it “Rum bum bum” from ‘Michael Madana Kama Rajan’ or “Vishwanathan velai vendum” from ‘Kadhalikka Neramilla’. Its neither but Imman makes it into something similar yet different. First and foremost is that he gets the right people for the job. Not many vocalists can get this genre bang-on and that is why Benny Dayal is the right fit. I was mighty impressed with Joewin Shamalina who I am hearing for the first time and apparently she has been working with Imman for a while now. The delivery, the style and vocal stability of Joewin are all there for us to hear and we wish to hear so much more from her in the future. That humming “ting da ting” is the highlight. The percussion, rhythm and keyboard programming are all top notch. I can hear a solid accompaniment from electric and bass guitars right through. It is in the charanam that I feel maybe some influence of Raag Naatai. Yugabharathi is the lyricist.
Sathikari
We have one more number from Shane Extreme and this one is a much better score as well. The vocalist is Kszeven with composition and arrangements by Shane and Luburn Rajput. One of the main highlights of the track is the constant Violin and it is played by Sriram. The lyrics are penned by Kszeven and Seeran. The song is a slow, sentimental song belonging to the Pathos genre and the violin does a lion’s share of bringing that emotion on board. The harmonies, Keys and Violin combine well in maintaining the overall color of the track. Kszeven’s vocals have to be praised for being in sync with the rest of the elements. The track is mixed and mastered by Lucburn Singh Rajput
Sellama
We are blessed to finally have one number at least with the magical voice of KS Harishankar. There is not a genre he cannot nail, and when he sings there is so much to cherish. PS Jayhari composes a tune like this, it is an added bonus along with the vocals, with Anju Joseph making the opening impact. Jayhari composes, programs, arranges and even writes the lyrics for this one under the supervision of Vinayak Sasikumar and Charu Hariharan. Sandeep Mohan’s guitars both acoustic and electric, provide the right support adding elements of romance and style to the tune. The way Harishankar sings “En uthadin thaagam, unai thedum” is precisely why he is one of the best in the country. Varun Kumar’s flute solo in the interlude is just stunning and suggests that maybe there is some Raag Reetigowla influence here. Abjaksh has done some praise-worthy programming along with Jayhari. The track is recorded by Sai Prakash with mixing and mastering once again by Abin Paul. This is one song that is sure to be played on loop in your playlist.