Tag Archives: Ramanan Chandramouli

Alexis live at The BFlat Bar, Bangalore

The folks at BFlat organized a fantastic evening with the extremely talented Alexis on 27^thSeptember. I will be honest, I wasnt the most excited. I love rock and RNB never particularly fascinated me except for a couple of tracks, but enter Alexis DSouza with her powerful voice and my misgivings were silenced.

Alexis selling point is their subtlety. Even their most powerful tracks ooze simplicity. Their biggest strengths are the leading ladys vocals and their hard hitting lyrics. For the most part, in my head I was screaming Oh My God! Her voice! My only complaint is that they had more covers than originals. They did however try to ensure that they added some of their own elements to a couple of covers. I must tell you about the bands camaraderie on stage. It honestly looked like they were just jamming on stage. No big deal.

The evening began with their original Back to the Start. A definitive bass line courtesy of Kaushik Kumar, a subtle solo and the band looking like they were drunk on music – if that doesnt set the tone for the rest of the gig, I dont know what does! No Matter Where You Are had beautiful guitar riffs, quite John Mayer-y if you will. Also, Srijayanth Sridhar (Keys and Synth) was caught singing along while losing himself completely to the music. Deepa Jacobs (Backing Vocals) and DSouzas voices meshed together so perfectly in this one. My favourite song of theirs has to be Hurt too Much, which was the perfect blend of minimal instruments and a very catchy melody line. Alexis also debuted a new single at the gig, You Wouldnt Like Me. Ramanan Chandramoulis (Lead Guitar) brilliant guitar solo, the girls powerful vocals (Im saying that a lot, arent I?) made this one, one of their best tracks yet. Forgive Me was another track in which DSouza, the lyricist shined. Unfortunately she went off key in a couple of places but Burn saw the vocalist take command. The vocals were the star of the show and the instruments added to them.

Their best cover was Talking Heads ‘Psycho Killer. They made it their song. Talking Heads fans, dont hate me for saying this but I loved their cover more than the original. Seriously, give their cover a listen. Kumars bass and Deepak Raghus drums stole the limelight! Jacob took the lead for their cover of Mayer Hawthorne‘s No Strings Attached and pulled off the single effortlessly. Their cover of Love will tear us apart by Joy Division is another track where their love for subtlety simply shines. Their cover was so uncluttered in comparison to the original. However in Corinne Bailey Rays ‘Closer and Justin Timberlakes ‘Pusher Lover Girl, the vocals slipped off pitch at a couple of places.

They wrapped the gig up with Make love to me, an original. They even got the audience to sing along and before we knew it, the gig came to its close. Alexis made sure that along with the audience, they had fun too. The fun included an impromptu performance of Happy Birthday for a member of the audience. The band looked a little cramped on stage but nonetheless they made it a great Saturday night for everyone who showed up.

Mary Pascaline

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WFW/DFD: First Day First show with TAAQ at The BFlat Bar, Bangalore

Thermal and a Quarter have never been ones to rest on their laurels. They were the first in India to release a concept album, they released an album on a custom user-license modeled on Creative Commons and then not-so-long-ago launched their most ambitious effort yet – a triple album. They then decided to raise the bar higher. TAAQ played the Edinburgh Fringe Festival – the world’s largest arts festival, in 2013. If playing 26 nights back-to-back wasn’t impressive enough, they also won the Spirit of The Fringe award.

“Maybe someday, we’ll find plan B in a hit movie” – This is it, TAAQ (2008)

It was indeed serendipitous when frontman Bruce Lee Mani sang these lines just before the screening of their ‘hit movie’ – TAAQ had filmed their experiences at The Fringe and subsequently the Edinburgh Mela Festival and made a movie that they chose to call ‘WFW/DFD’. They premiered it at BFlat last Saturday as friends and fans congregated to witness TAAQ’s latest experiment. TAAQ also held a unique gig to accompany the premiere of the 40-minute movie where they paid homage to some of the eclectic acts that have influenced them over the years.

Dont worry, Bruce. Its just a movie, came a voice from the crowd when frontman Bruce Lee Mani, expressed his nervousness about the screening. Perhaps thats what most of us expected a clichéd documentary about the band. Thermal and a Quarter caught us off guard once again. From the moment images from the movie flickered on the screen, through the next 40 minutes, right until the band got on stage again and took a bow, most of us just sat there transfixed, too moved to even stand up and applaud. Not only are they pretty darn good at making music, they are pretty darn good at almost everything they do!

Quite evidently, TAAQ has poured their heart into the making of WFW/DFD and this is probably as intimate a fan can possibly get with his/her local heroes. In 40 minutes, TAAQ answered all questions about who they are, what they do, what it has taken to get where they are and what it takes to continue doing what they do. Without giving out the juicy details, let’s just say that the best thing about the movie is how it is not just about the band, but also about us and every known/obscure artist in the world who is on a constant quest to perfect his/her art.

WFW/DFD is the perfect reality check, not for a dreamer but for all the corporate smugs in secure jobs who are living under the false impression that theyre doing something worthwhile with their lives. A special mention to Rajeev Rajagopal for the brilliant script and of course Bruce Lee Mani for breathing life into every word of it. D.I.Y or Die.

While we reeled from the after-effects of the movie, TAAQ continued the proceedings with the killer setlist they had planned for the evening. Featuring guest Ramanan Chandramouli on guitar, they started off with a Blood, Sweat and Tears cover called ‘Nuclear Blues’ followed by a slightly obscure Sting song called ‘Love is Stronger Than Justice’. The choice of non-popular songs of famous artists was intentional. If anything, listening to these songs gave the audience, a blueprint of Thermal’s influences over the past two decades. Some of these tracks might even fit right into the TAAQ canon. What followed was an Indian indie (specifically Bangalorean) fans’ wet dream. TAAQ launched into their homage to Lounge Piranha‘s ‘The Gun Song’. While the song stayed true to the original, right down to the e-bow that was used for the wailing solo, one could see Bruce use his trademark spider-y chords to give the song the signature TAAQ style. Taaq also covered their contemporaries and alma-mater (IIRC) Zebediah Plush‘s ‘Journey to Gondolin’. Sidenote: If you haven’t already done so, do check out ZP’s ‘Afterlaughs’ – an Indian indie classic in our opinion!

They closed out the gig with a Gilbert O’ Sullivan ditty, John Scofield’s jazzy ‘Green Tea’ and Steely Dan’s ‘Jack of Speed’. They’d also managed to sneak in a few of their originals (‘Wishing for Magic’, ‘For The Cat’, ‘Hot Day’, ‘Mighty Strange’, ‘This is It’) into their extended set which was possible thanks to the new 1 am deadline (Hallelujah!) for pubs in Bangalore. What was fascinating was that the songs, especially the older ones still sounded fresh after so many years. Its the attention to their craft that really is the secret to TAAQ’s longevity and there is no doubt that they will continue to make great music and raise the bar even higher in the years to come.

Sohan Maheshwar

Jack of all tirades, total shirk-off. Follow Sohan on twitter! @soganmageshwar

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Thermal and A Quarter makes a movie!

WTS News

Bangalore’s favourite rockers Thermal and a Quarter are screening a film for the first time ever, and playing a special gig alongside. The band describes it as “A movie about artists, musicians and other mad people. It’s about us, them and you. It’s about triumph and tragedy and rebirth and resilience. It’s a story, it’s a song, it’s a statement.” The band claims that this gig will feature some “absolutely killer music” that fans have probably never heard.

Titled ‘WFW / DFD,’ the movie is about 40 minutes long, and it apparently took over six months to make. When asked to divulge more details about the movie, the band says “Broadly speaking WFW / DFD is about musicians, artists and performers, with some focus on TAAQ’s journey, thoughts and ideas. With a total running time of about 40 minutes, the film is entirely in Black & White, and features some new music written by us specifically for the film. There is some profanity used – so it’s also (PG) rated!” Understandably so, the band warns us in advance that this movie is not for kids!

A lot seems to have gone into the making of this movie, speaking about it the band says “It feels like our first-ever gig – the first time we played our own songs to an audience! After many years of doing that, premiering a new song is now no problem at all – we know we can pull it off and how. But a film – well, that’s entirely fresh ground for us… something we never thought we would make. We accumulated a lot of footage during our hectic tours last year, so there was some idea of putting all of it together, but we didn’t really anticipate it would take this form, eventually. We tossed around some script ideas for a while and sometime in December last year it started taking real shape. We’ve since been writing, editing, cutting, agonizing… and here we are now, about to release our first film! Lots of butterflies in the belly, for sure!”

It’s quite amazing how TAAQ keeps reinventing itself and surprising fans. When asked what’s in store for us this time, the band remains elusive “Come watch. Listen. The film is no ‘action-thriller-romance-drama’ thing, so don’t come expecting edge-of-the-seat stuff, but we believe it’ll grab you.”

The setlist sounds quite interesting and it’s not going to be a regular TAAQ gig by the looks of it. In line with some of the ideas discussed in the film, they’re playing a bunch of obscure songs by famous bands, some obscure songs by obscure bands, and even a couple of tracks from defunct Bangalore bands such as Lounge Piranha and Zebediah Plush. The gig will also feature Ramanan Chandramouli on guitar.There are a couple of tunes from the TAAQ catalogue that pre-date their first album and thermalandaquarter.com, which was released in 2000! “It’s unbelievable how much we used to shred back then. Compositions designed to win competitions, perhaps we took part in a lot of those. It’s been real fun putting this set together, and nice to have Ramanan filling in on guitar,” they say excitedly. When asked if there’s more exciting stuff lined up for 2014, they say “Well, there’s definitely a new album in the works. This will be the first one with Leslie on bass, and we’re quite excited about the direction it’s taking.”

Tickets for this show are available here and also at the venue. Gates open at 8 pm and seating first come, first served! In TAAQ’s words “You simply cannot miss this one – there’s never been one like it!”

WTS News

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Leslie Charles Trio at The Rooftop Grill Bar, Bangalore

Braving the onslaught that is Bangalore traffic on a Friday evening and the dustbowl that is Kasavanahalli, I arrived at the lovely stone building that housed the Rooftop Grill Bar. Thinking that I had minutes before the event started (the time mentioned on the poster was 8:00 p.m.), I rushed in to see that, much to my relief, the time had been changed to 8:30 p.m. Although the location was not very well known and this was the first time that the Leslie Charles Trio was playing together, I was itching to hear them live. The venue had a great view, two very friendly owners and the perfect atmosphere for a great evening of smooth jazz and bebop.Â At first, the venue seemed to be sparsely populated but slowly people started pouring in, forming an intimate and cozy atmosphere.

The buzz and anxiety intensified as the clock struck nine and the soundcheck still hadn’t ended. I must mention here that this may turn out to be more of a log of the evening and not a review as one must be at the same caliber as these three vastly talented musicians to even attempt a review. Although this was their first gig together, the members of the band are individually, stars in the burgeoning jazz scene of Bangalore. On the bass guitar was Leslie Charles, teacher at the The Nathaniel School of Music and ex-bassist for Allegro Fudge. Ramanan Chandramouli, currently an instructor at the TAAQademy and member of Mad Orange Fireworks and Blind Image, was on lead guitars. To complete this trifecta, Deepak Raghu took his place as the drummer who is famously associated with Bevar Sea and many other acts. There was no doubt that the evening was going to be magical.

After imbibing some liquid courage and having undergone a quick wardrobe change, (for a very dapper Ramanan!) the band opened the set with Billy Cobham’s ‘Stratus’. They set the right groovy mood with the thumping bass of this slower, more minimalistic version. Many in the crowd were familiar to the band members and, though not raucous, indulged in gentle heckling and ribbing especially of Ramanan who was asked to “play better” after they finished their second song ‘Oasis’. Next they tackled the great Thelonious Monk’s jazz standard ‘Blue Monk’. Again, they went for a more restrained interpretation without straying from the original groove and chutzpah. Each song was done justice with the brilliant acoustics of the venue without anyone having to cup their ears to hear well or having their eardrums blown out.

The band moved on to the legendary Miles Davis track ‘Footprints’ so effortlessly showing us exactly why we should watch out for them. Shrugging off the continued comments from the crowd about their attire, especially a certain sporting hat, the boys next played ‘Led Boots’. The slow melodic overture dominated by the lead guitar, bass dominated interlude and the solo drum section got the crowd going with many of them crowding around the stage and dancing to music. Just when we anticipated that the song would end in a glorious frenzy of the drums the guitars kicked in continuing this wonderful rendition of the song.

After a slight adjustment to the gear, the band went on to another Miles Davis classic ‘All Blues’. The funky intro urged many out of their seats and many people stood near the band appreciatively bobbing their heads and smiling at intricate rhythms flying off the guitars effortlessly.

The second half of the gig commenced with ‘Blackout’ followed by the seminal jazz piece ‘Autumn Leaves’. It is a testament to their talent that they could provide such an unforgettable version on this piece with just three instruments. To emphasize that the evening was mainly a Miles Davis tribute, the trio followed with ‘So What’ and ‘Blue in Green’. The slow beat, alternating tempo, hypnotizing riff and slow fade out on the former song resulted in one audience member lustily yelling out “Oh Yeah!”

Keyboard maestro Bharath Kumar joined them next on the track ‘Recorda- me’ by Joe Henderson who let loose with some frenzied and fantastic playing. The now energized crowd applauding madly at the jubilant band was rewarded handsomely with the next track ‘Chicken’ made famous by Jaco Pastorius. This upbeat and cheerful number lent an appropriately vibrant flavor to the now smoke filled and hazy bar. With ‘My Favourite Things’, they moved on to a sadder, mellower strain as they got ready to bid adieu to the crowd. Bharath took a break from this track and Ramanan’s slow coaxing of the guitar was the highlight of this song. Little did anyone realize that it was close to midnight! With the genial banter, lively interaction with the band members and smooth-as-whiskey jazz; no one wanted the evening to end.

Due to some persistent and effective persuasion from a fellow listener, the band decided to indulge us with a live jam session with Bharath Kumar returning on keyboards. A great guitar and keyboard duet ensued and the evening ended on a perfect note!

Leslie was stoicism personified throughout the gig while leaving us all awestruck at his talent. Deepak regaled up all with some great drum licks and coupled with their confidence and fantastic rapport with the crowd gifted us with a near perfect gig. Close to midnight, the fantastic gig ended only to be marred by someone asking the guitarist to play a Hindi song for them. Thankfully, and with admirable firmness, he refused. Although the gig started late and lasted well past closing time, I was just happy having the chance to be at the first gig by the Leslie Charles Trio. They invoked the demi-gods of jazz- such as Miles Davis, Jaco Pastorius, John Coltrane and the wonderful chemistry shared by the members left an indelible impression of a talented band that has so much to offer in the future.

Anusmita Datta

Anusmita Datta is an ardent day-dreamer, music lover, die-hard foodie and occasional writer. Her obsession with pandas is sometimes disturbing and she can be often found lusting after momos!

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The Explosive TAAQ Sizzles The BFlat Bar, Bangalore

Thermal and a Quarter is arguably one of Indias most successful and talented bands. Success of course doesnt come without hard work and boy does this band work hard! Bruce and the gang who recently got back from their Singapore/US tour are recording their new album called Three Wheels Nine Lives and are playing explosive gigs such as the one in BFlat on 16 June 2012. I must say that I was one of the privileged few to have experienced such a mind blowing performance. I ran into Ramanan Chandramouli, LA Music Academy graduate and a faculty at Taaqademy, who acknowledged that this was the best Thermal gig he had witnessed in recent times. The sound at BFlat was marvellous as always and beautifully complimented the bands technical versatility.

As I was sitting at the bar counter waiting for the gig to start, I saw Bruce Lee Mani get up on stage armed with his guitar and ready to belt out a tune all by himself. The floor was jam packed with TAAQ fans eagerly waiting for the show to begin. Bruce dedicated the first song Terrible Trouble to his wife who was among the audience. The song was about his father-in-law, who belongs to a very different cultural and religious background from Bruce. The lyrics were funny and showcased Bruces tasteful song writing skills. The amazing Prakash K.N and the dexterous Rajeev Rajagopal joined Bruce and the mighty Thermal and a Quarter took stage. They played a mix of old and new tunes such as For the Cat, De-Arranged, Mighty Strange, Aerodynamic and Billboard Bride. The band had performed For the Cat (a tribute to Cat Stevens) and Billboard Bride’ last November when they had played at this venue and one gets a feeling that each time these songs sound even better. The number of people in The BFlat Bar seemed to be exponentially increasing and every single one of them found themselves grooving to the irresistible Bangalore Rock sound of TAAQ.

Next up was If Them Blues, a song which was preceded by an amazing guitar and bass jam. Then, Thermal belted out their rendition of the classicRoxanne. The breaks in this song were particularly noteworthy showcasing the fascinating tightness the band is famous for. Chainese Item was up next and the band started the song very differently as compared to the studio version. The breathtaking stacatto solo was backed by immensely powerful drumming. After this song, Bruce wished all the people who were celebrating their birthdays before launching into the next tune, Birthday. The rhythm section during the guitar solo section of this song was particularly interesting as Prakash played chords on his 6-string bass guitar remarkably complementing Bruce. It was interesting to note that the audience consisted of people from varying age groups ranging from college kids who were standing right in front of the stage to 50 year olds who were comfortably seated in sofas.

By the time the band started Jupiter Cafe, the crowd was in full swing getting steadily high on Thermal. TAAQ plays Jupiter Cafe differently each time they play it and I strongly feel that this was by far the best performance of the song by the band. The trio started the song with an elaborate jam session with Prakash playing a lot of harmonics on his bass while Rajeev displayed some very clever use of cymbals. The crowd sang the entire song, including the solo section, along with Bruce. Next up was Meter Mele One and a Half, a song whose opening lines were three wheels and nine lives. This song with a dangerously catchy chorus is about auto rickshaws in Bangalore. The versatile use of the cowbell by Rajeev impressed the audience and Bruces stegatto solo in this song was par excellence.

Thermals music cuts across boundaries and reaches across to a vast audience creating a cross cultural connection. The band has received tremendous success during their US tour making them one of Indias very few acts to have won accolades overseas. The band proceeded to finish the set with Wont stop, In the Middle and Dangerous Mind. I must say there were a couple of awkward pauses in the last song which gave one a feeling that somebody had messed up something but the trio quickly covered up their mistakes.

When it was finally time for the band to call it a day, the crowd did not let Thermal leave the stage. After a few minutes of loud persuasion, the band finally gave in and played Chameleon, the last song of the night. The gig was an exhilarating experience which will linger in my head for a long time. Long live Bangalore Rock!

Anand Kumar

Anand Kumar plays bass guitar with a few Bangalore bands on and off. He is a coordinator with Songbound - a music outreach initiative that uses singing to reach out to Indias most impoverished children via collaborative projects with schools, choirs and professional musicians worldwide. His other interests include discovering new music on YouTube and computer programming.

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Nation Station at Alila, Bangalore

I think I should have more faith in the jazz scene in Bangalore, because every time I go to a jazz gig feeling skeptical, I end up having my mind blown away. Relativity maybe, is the culprit. If you have low expectations from a gig and it turns out to be twice as amazing, your mind can’t help but be blown away. Nation Station is about three months old (maybe the primary reason for my skepticism) and was “born out of a need to reinterpret and reinvent the sound of jazz in the country today”, as their Facebook page reads.

I would have been less skeptical had I known the band members before the gig, because their line-up has some of the best musicians in Bangalore. On lead guitars was Ramanan Chandramouli, guitar instructor at TAAQademy. Wilbur Colaco was on clarinet and saxophone, who along with Ramanan shared the role of Miles Davis in this tribute gig. Wilson Kenneth was on bass guitar, who we know from Caesar’s Palace, MoonArra, Slow Down Clown and more. Bharath Kumar, also keyboardist of the Rex Rozario Quintet, played keyboards/piano. Deepak Raghu from Bevar Sea took on drum duties. Altogether, one power packed band, an evening full of time to chill (on the 5^th floor of a five star hotel), and a bunch of hopeful ears.

The gig started with the opening band Lateralus. They played a small set consisting of few originals and a cover of Creed’s ‘My Own Prison’. They sounded very post-grunge and Creed/Alter Bridge-like. The vocalist had a powerful voice but could have done with more emotion and variation. The band’s music was a mix of some cool grungy attitude, very easily improvable vocals, some clichéd and confused choruses and good tones. And now, we come back to relativity. The band may have made Nation Station’s first song seem out of the world. But, for a band that was playing their very first gig that night, with a couple of their members playing their first or second gig ever, I’d say with some more practice they could probably pull off something great.

Nation Station then took to the stage. They had a tough job on their hands, attempting to fill the gigantic shoes of Miles Davis. The fact that they were attempting a Miles Davis tribute gig itself gave them a bonus gold star in my book. I have to admit, all the sheet music on stands on the stage made them look like a pro jazz band even before they started playing. And I’m talking about sheet music not only on papers but also on iPads! Technology, I tell you.

The first song ‘All Blues’, a Miles standard, slapped everyone out of their chill-zone and seemed to say, “Bow down to us, little people!” Ramanan started out with a brilliant note to note solo that moved into his own improvisation over the piece. WIlbur played the clarinet for the song and the first half of the gig, but his volume was too low to hear his notes clearly. Unfortunately, he sounded like “that fast jazz stuff” for most of the gig because of the levels. Ramanan’s guitar playing did stand out throughout the performance, but that first solo especially was what made me throw my guitar out the window later that night.

Next up was quite a slowed down version of ‘Tutu’, followed by a slow and haunting ‘Flamenco Sketches’ that had some soft and really beautiful piano parts. After the three Miles Davis covers, the band slipped into Herbie Hancock’s ‘Chameleon’. Their rendition had much of the original groove and zing. This was another song where we knew there was a great clarinet going on but it couldn’t be heard too well because of the levels and the tone. Bharath played a very Hancock inspired (what I like to call) “space-jazz” solo followed by a very intense and impressive drum solo from Deepak that, I’m positive, spoke words and sang to us.

The band returned to Miles Davis with ‘Footprints’ that saw the clarinet leading for the first half, until Kenneth shocked everyone with a bass solo that had every cell in his body oozing out emotion, and a tone that did very well to convey those emotions to the audience. Wilbur took a break for the next song, a Robben Ford-style blues jam. The drumming in this one was interesting especially with the use of polyrhythms. And another astonishing thing in this song was that they did a live fade out, perfectly!

The band then played Sonny Rollins’ ‘Doxy’, followed by my personal favourite Miles number ‘So What’. It had a slightly different groove than the original, but was relatively flat and colourless by the high standards they had set until then. Billy Cobham’s ‘Red Baron’ saw them back in full power. The groove in this song was particularly interesting with the resolving bars in the theme creating a lot of tension with triplets/dotted notes. The groove was accompanied by a glorious organ solo from Bharath, again touching the realm of space-jazz.

They ended the gig with ‘Freddie Freeloader’, also one of my personal favourites and the third song that night from the legendary Miles Davis album, Kind of Blue. Ramanan and Wilbur (on saxophone now) ended the gig on a high note with a lot of Miles’ flair being present in that last song. The jam on the finale lasted for quite some time, but I didn’t mind as I was absorbing every note to replay in my head on the long ride back home. Miles Davis is one of the greatest jazz musicians that we have ever seen, and to get the audience as satisfied with the tribute to him as we were requires a lot of praise. Needless to say, I absolutely enjoyed the gig, and look forward to more from this supergroup.

Abhishek Prakash

Abhishek Prakash is a Bangalore based guitarist and is a third of local act Groove Chutney. He loves jazz, street food, Woody Allen movies and often pretends to be a writer.

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