Placebo Laal - Meander

Poor Rich Boy's Zain Ahsan joins forces with Lahori beat-maker Imaad Munzar in the guise of 'Placebo Laal'. The results are nothing short of spectacular. The tune that they've created is called 'Meander', and I've been listening to it repeatedly since it came out. I'm not sure how to define it. It's a laid-back loungy/chillout tune that has been accentuated with the use of minimal percussion and Derek Trucks-y slide guitars. The tape looping and additional keys ensure a lush, well-crafted soundscape. Seen from a slightly different vantage point, I can also imagine a slightly melancholic Pelican sharing his tales of woe to passers-by on a hazy Saturday afternoon at a dock.

Naveed Ahsan and Hassan Iqbal - Djentlemen from Lahore

'Djent' is a relatively obscure sub-genre of metal, and is generally defined by low-tuned, poly-rythmic guitar chugging. Many have traced its origins to the Swedish extreme metal band 'Meshuggah', and over the past couple of years it has proliferated into the metal mainstream, spewing forth many bands that rely on similar song structures/techniques. Surprisingly enough for many, India has a brilliant 'Djent' scene that is slowly gaining recognition and is being embraced by a global audience.

Keshav Dhar's band 'Skyharbor' is an excellent case in point. What started off as a one-man project is now a functional band that has collaborated with the likes of Marty Friedman. Another heavy-weight is Vishaal.J.Singh, and his band called 'Amogh Symphony'. Vishaal has been making fusion-tinged technical/progressive metal since 2004, and his compositional acuity/guitar-wizardry comes through in a lot of his tunes. What these men are producing is nothing less than phenomenal, and coming from this part of the world makes it even more laudable.

It natural to wonder about Pakistan's state of affairs. Recently, I came across some guys in Lahore producing  music which has a similar 'Djent' ethos. These embryonic stirrings depict a growing interest in a genre which has probably never been explored in Pakistan.

Consider the following two tunes. The first one is called 'Riddle of the Sphinx', and has been composed by Naveed Ahsan. He calls it 'Oriental Djent', and once you hit the play button, you'll be able to see why. He has incorporated 'Oriental' percussion and strings with low-tuned chugging guitars in seemingly odd-time signatures.The second tune is called 'A Grand Cluster', and has been composed by Hassan Iqbal. While it is clear that Iqbal is trying to replicate a sound that was forged by the likes of Tosin Abasi, his playing might lack the requisite jazz-fusion undertone/discipline required to give it that extra edge in this tune. Maybe i'm being a bit too harsh. I've heard some of his other stuff, and I'm sure he has the ability to pull it off. However, I'd still give him credit for composing this tune. The genre in question isn't easy to pull off. I really hope to see the day when something like Animals as Leaders emerges out of Pakistan. Here's hoping that musicians like these actually make that happen.

Foreskin - THVG Anthem

Guest post by Daniyal Khan

"Thvg Anthem" is a track from the upcoming Thvg EP by the Lahore based crossover thrash metal trio Foreskin. The song starts at a moderate tempo riff and soon transitions to a faster thrash tempo. Vocalist Hassan Umer is spewing venom on this track: the sharp edges have not been filed off the lyrics or the vocal delivery. The song is clearly meant to be and manages to be an unrestrained punch in the face and stays unapologetically true to the thrash ethos. But if you think this is all form and no substance, think again. Sheraz Ahmed and Amar Ali are ripping on the guitars, from the solos and the "good time" riff at 1:46 to the breakdown outro. This song has it all: fast tempos, heavy riffs and a spoken word. Bottom line: this song is both a statement of intent and a sign of good things to come. Pakistani metal fans should be looking forward to the release of the band’s upcoming EP. I missed their live set at the Youth Performing Arts Festival at Peeru’s Café this past October; big mistake.

Sharaf Qaiser Band - Kerb

Here's something I stumbled upon recently. The song is called 'Kerb', and it has been performed/produced by the 'Sharaf Qaiser Band'. Whereas the name of the group might suggest that they make academic and pedantic jazz/fusion, what comes out of yours speakers is somewhat contrary to that notion. If Pakistan were ever to produce its own Audioslave or Soundgarden, this would be it. Is Karachi pushing certain individuals to make music like this by providing the requisite socio-political catalysts?  The parallel with late 80s and early 90s Seattle grunge scene becomes more meaningful, all of a sudden. The tune itself uses all of the canonical Audioslave motifs: sludgy guitars, ample fuzz, noise, distortion/feedback, grungy vocals (albeit in Urdu), dampened 4/4 drums, Tom Morello-esque guitar manipulation. Every now and then, a Zakk Wylde whiff also inundates your eardrums. The song's pretty buffed up, and you'll probably want to hit the replay button. For future references, whenever you listen to the vocalist screaming out 'meray paas yahan kuch bhee naheen', don't forget to imagine a bunch of haggard/grim looking guys driving down a dilapidated road in Korangi on a beat up 95' Mazda. It greatly enhances the listening experience.

Imran Sumbal - Lonesome End

Developments in the peripheries. Here's a tune called 'Lonesome End', and it's by Imran Sumbal, who's from Lahore. The tune starts off with Carpathian keys that might have you believe that you're somewhere in Guitar-Pro's midi-tinged world. However, the guitars quickly come in and assert their dominant role a la Faraz Anwar in his Dusk years. The second part of the tune features a solo over an Opeth-y chord progression. Whereas one can roughly see where Sumbal is coming from musically, he manages to bring in something unique into the composition, thereby making it his own.

Poor Rich Boy - Zardarazir

I probably wouldn't know where to start. Writing about Poor Rich Boy's music is no easy task, and I find myself doing so with utmost discretion. I cannot make any positive statements, lest I fall into the depths of pigeon-holing. I wouldn't want to deconstruct the lyrics and try to relate them to a certain event, feeling or emotion. 'Zardarazir' might, or might not have political connotations attached, but I'd prefer to present it as a divorced entity. If the earlier, Shehzad Noor-centric Poor Rich Boy was more manic, this Umer Khan inspired facade is triumphant in its use of minimal vocal harmony. The production is earthy, and leaves plenty of room for the acoustic instruments to find their respective places. This is poetry, and it is presented in mixed media.

Sound of Madness - Blue

Yet another band from Karachi, ladies and gentlemen. The name of the tune is 'Blue', and they released it in March earlier this year. This is what they have to say about themselves: 'Sound of madness is passion and it's a journey that will take you into a space where there's no moon and sun, but only melodies filled with madness'. A little too complacent, you say? Perhaps not entirely so. 'Blue' is a nice mix of melody and vocal harmony. Moreover, it manages to exude the kind of melancholy-ridden aura that one finds in Anathema's tunes. The pensive air is accentuated with the help of keys, weeping guitar-bends and background ambience. They've also come up with a video for the tune, which has been uploaded on Youtube. The cover art depicts a female gravitating towards a blue balloon in a somewhat surreal semi-urban landscape.

Mole - Ducktape

Mole's music might come across as inscrutable, or somewhat alien for the uninitiated. However, once you peer into the vast auditory multiverse that they've managed to forge, things eventually fall into place. Not only that, you realize the audacity required to traverse uncharted sonic terrains. Consider this tune. If you're put off by the quacking bass-wobble at the beginning, give it a chance. It eventually morphs into a synth-fed, siren-wielding beast at around the 1.10 mark. 8-bit chiptune goodness ensues.

Project JT - Circles

Project JT is a band that's still in it's embryonic stages, and this is the only tune they've released so far. In case you're wondering, the 'JT' stands for 'Johar Town' (The band members used to study together in Lahore Grammar School, Johar Town branch). The tune is slick in terms of production, and comes across as the apotheosis of the commercial hard-rock aesthetic as exemplified by a number of Western bands in the early-mid 00s. Moreover, it seems to have the kind of intuitive balance that renders it suitable for a wide audience or repetitive radio-airplay. The melodies bank on the listener's expectations by providing agreeable motifs. It's almost like poetic justice being divorced from its literary context, and being applied to music. The vocalist for the band, Haris Usmani has cited Alter Bridge as a strong influence, and that manages to come through in the tune.

Keeray Makoray - Gods of the Sun

'Keeray Makoray' is from Lahore, and from what I understand, is an offshoot of the metal band 'Takatak'. 'Gods of the Sun' was the first tune that introduced me to their music. The tune is as old-school heavy metal as it gets, and features harmonized riffs that pay homage to canonical bands such as Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Dio. These precarious distorted guitar tones of the 70s British 'Heavy Metal' bands were soon usurped by ones that were tighter, highly processed and amplified, and lead to the birth of a plethora of newer genres in metal. However, I digress.

Given the sound that comes out of the speakers when one hits the play button, the band does seem rather anachronistic. The solos are nicely executed around the hallmark blues/pentatonic scales, and the vocalist seems to be extremely comfortable in flirting with the higher pitches. (Imagine Robert Plant and Ozzy Osbourne's Pakistani love-child, to make things easier). The lyrics urge the listener to be wary of chess-playing, sadistic tyrants. This sentiment is echoed in the tune where one of Hitler's speeches has been sampled. How do I know if it's Hitler or not? I don't.

Alien Panda Jury & EMPROR LEPHANT - Atmo

The indie/electronica wave rising from Karachi is probably one of the best things that has happened to this harrowed country in aeons. Alien Panda Jury is the moniker of Daniel Panjwaneey, a name somewhat familiar to those who've been following musical developments in the aforementioned region. The identity of EMPROR LEPHANT, on the other hand, remains a mystery to most.

'Atmo' is a heady concoction that features many elements that adhere to an 'aesthetic of failure' as defined by the American composer and writer Kim Cascone. It explores sonic domains that are in many ways esoteric, and somewhat alien in these parts. Bits, bleeps, clicks and delayed snare attacks give the tune a basic Glitch/IDM framework. The oozy bassline acts as a cohesive agent.

Noah's Heark - 'First Flapping Wings'

Ziyad Habib manipulates sounds in a very subtle, fluid manner in this set titled 'First Flapping Wings'. It comprises of two tunes, and both seem to flow seamlessly in slightly different directions. 'Spider Eyes' is a sound-sampling bonanza, and toys around with an arpeggiated key melody. Background ambience plays a key role. 'First Flapping Wings' is what you might experience if you decide to take a bubble-bath on a lazy August afternoon while you listen to Eastern classical melodies and contemplate on the amount of foreign substance in your system. Reminiscent of Gold Panda and Flying Lotus, this is worth listening to.

Uncle Bunkle Jingle Shop - They Talk So Loud

Ingmar Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly was released in 1961, and remains to this day a bold document depicting a young woman's descent into schizophrenia. The film ends with a conversation between the woman's father and her brother Minus, and a part of it goes something like this:

Minus:      I’m scared Papa. When I sat holding Karen in the old wreck, reality burst open.  Do you understand what I mean?

Father:    Yes, I understand

Minus:    Reality burst open and I tumbled out. It’s like a dream. Anything can happen

Papa, anything.

Father:   I know

Minus:    I can’t live in this new world Papa

The notion of 'reality bursting open' isn't a new one, and has been captured in an interesting manner by Karachi's 'Uncle Bunkle Jingle Shop' in this tune. A Thom Yorke-esue angst ridden plea in an increasingly dissociative, alienating milieu. That's exactly what I hear whenever I listen to this tune. Maybe, i'm just over-analyzing things. The guitars emphasize one motif repeatedly, until it becomes hypnotic. The crescendo at the 3.14 mark is achieved with the help of the aforementioned haunting vocals coupled with a sample depicting young, oblivious children frolicking about in an undefined space. Reality might burst open at any given point, and catch them unawares.

The Joomi Experience - Belvadere Street'

The EP 'Elyria' was undoubtedly the band's most memorable presentation. 'The Joomi Experience' is the brainchild of Muhammad Ali Suhail and Syed Zain Ul Abedin, and they purport to experiment with sound, and it's visual presentation. While we haven't seen any significant development on the visual front minus the album artworks, the band has followed up in the sonic realm by releasing two more albums since.
A part of me wants to write more about the EP, but i'll refrain (for now).

'Belvadere Street' is the third track on 'Elyria', and is in many ways emblematic of the earlier TJE sound. The bass is slick, and the guitars notes oscillate between delayed chords until the Tool-esque grungy riff enters the picture. Only that it's not Tool-esque in so far that it keeps changing it's tangent every now and then with the help of mini-wah-wah-ed guitar runs.

Orangenoise - The Morning After

Coming from the local shoegaze stalwarts 'Orangenoise', this infectious tune was released about a year ago. Slightly different from their more recent tunes, it features a plethora of heavily panned sonic matter floating around a juicy bassline that melts out of the speakers. That's the only word I can use to describe. It's fluid. Viscous. The reverberating-space invader percussions help to stretch out the tune along its bass-centric structure.

Basheer & The Pied Pipers - Mallet

A lot has probably already been said about this duo. I'll skip directly to the tune in question. 'Mallet', from 'Basheer' is a coalescing of sorts. A coming together of chopped samples that seem to stretch on forever, subtle delayed guitar phrases, reverberating mallets, and perhaps most importantly, a bassline that demands to be heard. Almost a plea by the 2.50 timemark, the tune explodes at around 3.18.

Abeer Sheikh and the Wonderband - Stray

Abeer Sheikh and his wonderband. Bringing indie/electronic music to a greater consciousness since its inception. A nuclear center around which various collaborative artists revolve, Abeer Sheikh manages to impress in this offering. 'Stray' features delectably labyrinthine lyrics, periodically interspersed with a haunting vocal harmony. The constant flat thudding of the snare somehow manages not to appear superfluous, and gels in the tune nicely till its culmination in an acoustic riff showdown. One can even hear the ukulele being strummed to give the rhythm section a nice foundation.

Exhibit A - an excerpt from the lyrics: 

He seems vicious, delirious, self destructively serious 

He's vindictive, no common sense, no shame nor pride just negligence 

Good guy Abeer Sheikh. He's met ones like you before, just so that you know.

Death Spell Inc. - Seven

Death Spell Inc. Hometown: Lahore. Relatively unheard of, these boys released this song about a year ago now. I don't think they've come up with anything else after this. The tune itself is no-funny-business-bad-assery, and is primarily riff based. If you like metal in any of its denominations, you'll probably find this easy to digest. There's a transition to a more mellow soundscape halfway in between, after which the tune gains momentum again. The eventual resolution takes place within a standard dual-harmonized riff setup.

Red Blood Cat - Excerpt from the understood sessions

Here's a little gem that probably didn't get the kind of circulation that it deserved. To hear these sounds coming from Islamabad was awe-inspiring, to say the least. I have no idea why these guys didn't make more music. They should've.

'Excerpt from the understood session' takes you back to the Canterbury scene in the 1970s, amidst the likes of Soft Machine, Gong, and even Camel, to a certain degree. Complete with an odd-time signature, a morphing bassline, laid-back smoshy guitars and a general plethora of psychedelic debris, the tune is delight to listen to.

Malang Party - Dil Jalay

Yes. They call themselves 'Malang Party'. Their facebook page further informs the reader that apart from being a 'Musical Band', they are also the following:  a) A Political Party; b) a 'Mind-Circus'; and c) an all purpose 'Malangi Commune'. I don't think I'd like to use the word 'Malang' ever again. I even remember someone referring to them as a 'Baluchi-Blues-Funk-Rock-Reggae' outfit. Baluchi. Never really got my head round that part.

I still remember seeing these guys play live in an obscure gig in Islamabad about two years ago. Shahzad Hameed was on bass. A rastafari-esque Zeeshan Mansoor on the guitars. A gaunt looking drummer. A guy with sunglasses and greasy hair providing forced vocals over the fluid, rhythmic guitar melodies. The crowd might've had mixed views about their performance, but I kind of liked it. These guys were exploring interesting sonic domains.

The song in question, 'Dil Jalay' was also performed at the said gig. As far as I know, the band has a slightly different line-up these days. Mansoor has taken over the vocal responsibilities, and they've gotten a new bassist. 'Dil Jalay' was recorded and released about 8 months ago, featuring a more dominant, fluid bass line and easy-on-the-ears bluesy riffs.