Raaga
A new sound in town
By
Faizul Khan Tanim
The self titled
album of the band Raaga came out recently. Expected to storm the scene
with fresh tunes and loud imagination, the group managed to drizzle
the first attempt.
The band's biggest
hit besides possibly Kothay, is the fabulous Brishti. The very starting
sound of rain, tones of the guitar, the bass line, amazing vocals
and keys with the beautiful lyric and the riff itself made a fabulous
intro. And that's what people loved about it, the perfect single,
catchy and elegant and that chorus has to be one of the best things.
Great music on a fun-filled rainy day.
Kothay
has to be one of the most likable songs one hears on first listen;
it was a perfect demo to give the band some ground. And like the previous
single, it has a nice tune, decent lyric for a ballad, pretty charming
actually saying it's a nice love song and of course without the cheese.
The third song
Asha, although had a creative start was let down with very mediocre
composition. The tunes somehow did not gel with the vocal lines (although
the vocalist has a great reputation), the overall piece-of-music made
a flawed gesture.
Maximum musicians
thought, a more open vocals would do justice to Jorota. A rather darkish
song, it does seem to pale compared to the others, but it's still
a very good song when nostalgia affects.
Smrity was a well-targeted
song by most critics as the use of guest vocal became major anticipation.
And the vocal improvisation of aaaa became instantly alluring. It
became a symphony of melody, it's relaxing, and with lovely use of
effects and background scores, it did create something quite atmospheric.
The tracks, which
many might find generic aren't really bad; in fact they are un-interesting
at first, but grow on one except the obvious ones--Nil akash and Akhono.
Nil akash suffered a concussion of choking vocal line. Both these
songs had ordinary composition and could not appeal but perhaps the
male vocals made up for that in Nil akash, or just makes it better
saying the reason it turned okay is because the male-female vocal
harmony were nice to hear.
Alo
is a tighter song with showy theme. The radio intro vocal and the
rap were quite creatively mixed with the tunes. The output became
very interesting and catchy. The funky riff is only like few notes
repeated, but the very feeling is trendy. The use of harmonizing vocals
over scratchy DJ effects which takes attention gives the whole thing
a groovy beat. Although this correspondent understands very less of
rap/mc-ing, but felt that rap vocals should have more expression with
better rhyme.
The
last song Poth can be interpreted in different ways. It's easily the
worst song on the album, with the not-so-impressive composition. The
use of do-re-mi became cheesy and the song became un-interesting as
compared to other songs sung or harmonized by the same guest vocal.
Pros: Playful
album with amazing bass line throughout and excellent lyrics. The
use of multiple guest vocals should work as the enchantment. Crisp
production.
Cons: The first
two tracks outshined the rest. The last song should have been well
composed as it psychologically affects a listener to get back to track
number one once the last song is dull. Explanation about the songs
from the CD sleeve should have been in Bengali as the songs were sung
in Bangla. Non-usage of acoustic drums.
The Bottom Line:
"Raaga" is an essential album in this creatively changing
environment of our music scene. A must buy.
It's kind of corny how they celebrate
the Valentine's Day in this part of the world. They throw a hartal
to start with. Then they promise police-security and all sort of other
balderdash, just in case you'd like to be a scrape-goat. You fall
for the con, shower yourself in cologne and hair-gel, and hit the
streets with a rose in your hands. Only, by the time you reach your
beloved's place you can't give her the rose anymore because you don't
have hands to start with - thanks to the bomb-blast. If Mr. Valentine
knew this was coming, he'd have definitely changed his name into something
else.
Bombs
went off in TSC this 14th February as the exuberant youths were celebrating
the so-called day of love. Funny, the Romeos literally got to show
the Juliets the shape of their hearts. The same thing happened last
year, mind you. A hartal was called upon on 14th February,
bombs went off, and lovers bled. I guess, when you're under the spell
of dopamine, you'd rather lose an arm than stand your girl friend
up.
Neurotransmitter
dopamine, by the way, is one of the hormones that make you fall in
love. Scientists define love a little differently, though. According
to them there are three types of love- lust, adoration, and attachment-
though its quite debatable whether being just physically attracted
to a certain person can be called love at first place, hence making
the first category rather flimsy. The hormone for lust is testosterone,
if you're wondering. Although it's present in both sex, its called
the "male hormone". Got the picture?
Next
comes adoration. Dripped in norepinephrine and neurotransmitter dopamine,
this category of love definitely goes beyond the realms of mere physicality.
When under its influence, you can actually spend hours and hours,
moony-eyed, thinking about your beloved. Ever had butterflies in your
tummy?
Don't
tell your parents, but dopamine is the same hormone that is librated
by the intake of cocaine! Whoever said love's addictive definitely
did his homework.
A famous
philosopher once said that love's not about making your heart beat
faster or slower, its about making it beat at the right pace. (Wait....
Or, was it just I who said it!?) Scientists believe that when a couple
has a good understanding between themselves, can support each other
emotionally, and are very comfortable in the relationship, they develop
a very special bond which is almost invincible to time and age. Hence,
no matter how cynical the world is, we still end up having couples
who're madly in love with each other, the entire life. Thanks to vasopressin
and oxytocin....
Its a
different story if your Dad caught you red-handed in the CNG and the
rod wasn't spared, but otherwise love's supposed to be good for your
health. Scientists believe that when you feel loved, cared for, and
appreciated your heart switches into a very rhythmic, coherent beating
pattern. These coherent heart-rhythms cause an inner-synchronization
in your body systems, which eventually enkindles your personality
and fights off disease. When you're stressed out, angry or tensed
your heart-rhythm gets incoherent.
Quoting
Rollin McCraty, the director of research at the Institute of Heartmath,
California, "If we feel love and compassion, that boosts our
immune system". In other words, the heart sends messages to the
brain and secretes hormones, which eventually liberate anti-bodies
and anti-aging chemicals. Hence, love doesn't only keep you healthy
or cheerful, but also helps you stay younger and smarter (if you don't
suddenly start reading the stupid Danielle Steel novels, that is).
So, does
that mean if you have a grim love life you'll age fast and die before
you cross your teens? Not necessarily. Scientists say that you can
feel love for your parents, your relatives, your friends, siblings
and even pet animals. In fact, being devoted to your religion can
also manipulate the hormones, thereby directing you towards a happy
life. Study shows that the elderly fare better if they're pious, or
at least have a pet.
So, if
buying her diamonds is just about the only way you can win your girl
friends love, just forget her and buy your dog a new collar. That
should keep you equally healthy. Or, so the scientists say.
Till
next week.
By
Tawsif
Sites
Unseen
By
Niloy
Ever
heard of the PS2 game SOCOM 2? Well, the next game in the series has
been announced, SOCOM 3, and Sony said that they are working on it.
"Three new, HEAVILY researched Areas of Operation: With every
release, the SOCOM development team spends a ton of time getting the
details absolutely perfect to re-create the mission environments for
the game. For SOCOM 3, SEALs and Terrorists will be battling it out
in Morocco, Poland, and >>Bangladesh<<." And Bangladesh??
US forces and Terrorists will be battling it out in Bangladesh? So
stupid! http://www.bdgamer.net/?itemid=16504
Anyway, Sites
Unseen has been moved to the Backpack. What do you think about this?
Missing the comics?
As usual, the
whole Sites Unseen with all the links is available in my blog, niloywrites.blogspot.com,
so that you don't have to type the links up.
The usual cool
links:
Post Secret
http://postsecret.blogspot.com/
If you've been
longing to scream your deepest, darkest secret from the rooftops --
while still making sure your family and the neighbours never find
out -- then it's your lucky day. Just write it down on a postcard
and send it off, guilt-free. Anonymous confessions ranging from light-hearted
to therapy-worthy have found a new public home, and it looks like
many of us have been waiting for the right moment to spill our guts
without signing our names. Remember when you threw eggs in the neighbour's
roof? Or couldn't resist a chocolate fix secretly? Maybe you've had
it up to here with irony. Whatever your sin is, here's a chance to
throw open wide the closet doors and share it with the world. But
don't worry no one will ever find out. Ever!
Maddox is writing
a book
http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=book
Partly fuelled
by his desire to give children the "wrong ideas about life,"
and partly fuelled by contempt for trees, Maddox has decided to write
a book. Hell, this book is going to be so awesome, you may want to
buy two just so you can wear one around your neck. For now, sign up
his mailing list about the book. "The genre is still up in the
air. The publisher wants to release it under "humor" but
I'm pushing to have it released in devotional literature or self help."
Gullible.info
http://www.gullible.info
Every minute, your brain processes about 17GB of visual input, 5GB
of audio input, 20MB of tactile (touch) input, 350kB of olfactory
(smell) input, and 100 kB of gustatory (taste) input. If you're left-handed,
you're three times more likely to be late than your right-handed friends.
And you're more likely to die in September than any other month.
Or so say the
folks at Gullible.info. Every day they uncover some of the most unusual,
inane, and startling facts that have slipped below the radar of the
mainstream media. Some of it may come in handy during your next fight-to-the-death
trivia competition. Do you know who was the first American president
to have his own website? Or the favorite color of most Americans?
Or the single food that accounts for more than 50 percent of all calories
consumed worldwide? I can't verify the answers, but according to Gullible.info:
Ronald Reagan, blue, rice.
The gravity ball
game
http://tinyurl.com/6pygj
This is a nice and exciting game where you use a gravity defying ball
to reach the target. And it has good music and is very addictive.
Rodeo: ride the
angry bull!
http://tinyurl.com/4r76n
A tough, funny game where you have to move your mouse with a little
crazy bull. It would have been very easy, but they decided to hide
the mouse pointer… Innovative bunny suicides
http://tinyurl.com/56ubh
Who knew what made these bunnies so sad…
The MAN project
http://tinyurl.com/64wh8
Move, twist, twirl, fly a strange man around you desktop.
Parade
http://tinyurl.com/5hfge
This will keep you busy for hours! Or not?
What if…http://www.flipflopflyin.com/whatif/
What if things had turned out differently? What if your shattering
talent had been recognized earlier -- or recognized at all? How would
you have dealt with the fame? Would you have used it to help cure
hepatitis, or cashed out like Jimi Hendrix? These are some of the
questions on Craig Robinson's mind. Craig is best known for his minipops,
tiny pixelated images of celebrities. In What If, this clever graphic
designer presents a massive decision tree populated with potential
Craig minipops. There's Craig the international soccer star, Craig
the renowned architect, and even Craig the happy guy living in Berlin.
Follow dozens of potential Craigs through stunning successes and catastrophic
misfortunes. Then maybe have a think about your own situation.
