Artist: Various
Album: Disenfranchised In India
Label: CT Records, Tian An Men Records
Mastered at: Various
Release Date: 31st March, 2013
If you didn’t notice, I was on hiatus for a while – mainly spending time trying to find answer to existentialist questions such as the goings-on of modern life and my place in it. Unfortunately, it seems, sitting, mulling over it and having endless conversations with that voice in your head that refuses to go away doesn’t give one any moments of epiphany. Funny then that I return to review an album whose title basically summarizes my state of mind when I decided to bury my head in the ground. And funnier still, that I resort to having a conversation with the very voice to get through this.
Hmmm… So what is this you’re trying to review? It’s a compilation of punk rock songs by bands from all over the country. And I’m not exaggerating – there’s everyone from Chandigarh to Bangalore, from Darjeeling to Mumbai – making sure that the length and breadth of the country is covered in one giant swoop. How many songs are on it? That’s easy. Fourteen. Or is it? Do I count Blakhole’s 47 second act of violence (Human Cattle) as a song? I don’t know… Ummmm…
Fine, let’s get to the point then. Is it any good? Well, the answer to that depends I guess. Depends on what? Depends on what you consider is punk rock. See, I read a few reviews of the album before digging into write my own (aka research) and according to them, some songs on this album are punk rock and some are not. According to the Tripwire, CT Records and Tian An Men Records all the songs on this album are punk rock – they wouldn’t be a part of the compilation otherwise would they? Admittedly, I don’t really follow this scene in India (or abroad for that matter), so I would be considered a little under-qualified to take sides.
But there is something I noticed in all the songs, a single factor that can be used to describe any of the songs on this album: they are raw – a bunch of people spouting out what they want to say as fast as they can (either because their head is just overflowing with these words or they’re fearful that if they aren’t quick enough people won’t listen anymore) over music that the rest of the band is managing to hold together… just. And there isn’t a single negative connotation in that last statement. It’s the raw that adds power, the apparent effort with which they’re trying to express themselves that adds earnestness and that unmistakable swagger that holds your attention.
But that won’t stop the others I’m afraid – there will be comments like an amazing band X or a brilliant band Y wasn’t featured, that some of songs are more metal, some are more trip hop or some other genre hop, and pretty much everything else you’d expect to hear about a less-than-perfect compilation. Forget all that. Just push play. And suddenly you’ll hear an Indian classical singer passionately spit through an electo-punk track in Bengali, an old hat repeatedly ask some bloke called Johnny what news and a band called Bull Engine sound like Nirvana (is that really a bad thing?).So is it any good? I don’t know, you tell me. All I ask is you shut up and listen.
