Song: Jana Gana Mana
Album: Jana Gana Mana
Artist: DK Pattamal and Nithyasree

No one comes close to capturing the spirit of the nation like Rahman does. I could spend hours listening to several versions of the same jana gana mana again and again and still not tire of it. If anything, with even rendition I can feel the adrenaline gushing through my veins with greater intensity, and want to fight and take flight to India at once! :) I get very teary-eyed when I listen to the national anthem, as I would imagine millions of people do, but wonder if it is the distance that's making me long for home even more! DK Pattamal and Nityashree's version of the National Anthem is especially priceless. Hearing them stress every word in the anthem, as I'd imagine my grandparents or parents would, makes me feel such intense feelings of emotion and a strange sense of closeness, it is hard to express in words. Then again, to have a south Indian sing a bengali song with such pride says more than I can express in words! We are some country!

Song: Venus in Furs
Album: The Velvet Underground & Nico
Artist: The Velvet Underground

I am having a tough time picking one song from The Velvet Underground & Nico album. Even independently, they each deserve their own spaces. They are easily one of my most favorite avant garde artists and hold a special place in my heart. I feel most at home with this album, which is not a great thing to say, given that they talk about drugs, sadism and sexual deviancy. But, at the end of the day, it has just the right amount of alternative atmosphere, with a bit of a dark overtone, some great melody with interesting folk bits, while still being quintessentially rock and roll. I hate to use the word tender to describe it, but it may just be endearingly perverse. :) The songs all bring to the surface the sinister nature of humans, and take you on a menacing mind trip so to speak. There are some songs that feel quite abstract or hazy, and some with a steady rising and falling rhythm that feels like junk hitting your brain. Venus in Furs is their more sublime compositions in the album, and doesn’t really feature Nico, but some aspects of it remind me of her, like a bit of the folkish tune, and the experimental feel that I have found quite appealing in her non-gothic albums. It also has a very interesting use of the electric viola.

Song: Another Way to Die
Album: Quantum of Solace (Soundtrack)
Artist: Alicia Keys and Jack White

The world can diss the song all they want but to me this is the grittiest song ever! It’s got the right amount of sizzle and smoldering intensity and even offers a certain contemplation that we haven’t seen in the other James Bond title tracks. I’m a huge fan of all James Bond soundtracks, and each one has the invigorating jolt that can go up against the other in terms of energy and distinctiveness. But Another Way to Die serves as an homage to all the classic theme songs, even while moving away from the conventional heavy orchestrated style to a more contemporary sound – with Keys on the piano and White on the guitar and drums and blending a bit of suspense with grunge. It manages to sound badass and aggressive while maintaining the sultry quality that you expect from Keys and White. The lyrics are unusually elevating and reveal the distinctive characteristics of the new Bond that so totally appeals to me. :D I think this is the coolest song EVER! I can listen to it again and again. And my play count on itunes is indication of how often I listen to it (at least twice everyday!). On a side note: I like that the James Bond theme didn’t show up often in the movie, and that it alludes to it every once in a while in an impressionistic manner, while baring the darker and contemplative Bond a little more. It breaks all the conventions of Bond as we know him and that’s reflected throughout the movie and in the soundtrack as well.

Songs: Opus 17, Opus 23, Opus 36
Album: Marie Antoinette (Soundtrack)
Artist: Dustin O'Halloran

Marie Antoinette is a really fun album with two very distinctive moods. Unlike most period films, this one has a whole post-punk new wave thing going with rock, pop and electronica mixed into it --- to complement the vibrant character of Marie Antoinette, who is portrayed as a rebelious teenage queen who is misunderstood by her people due to her outlandish lifestyle. The music style is almost radical, given that they are not quite the type of songs you would expect in an 18th century film about the Monarch, but they seem to complement the momentum of the narrative, and are almost moody - ominous, energerzing and troubling. There are some very poignant classical minuets, soulful elements of baroque, some sweeping ballads, sorrowful operaisque songs and imperfect harpsichord renditions that complement the reflective side of the film. It is one of the more complete soundtracks I have heard. Dustin O'Halloran's piano pieces (Opus 17, Opus 23, Opus 36) are really affecting and touch your feelings in an almost sorrowful way and seem to convey a certain deep troubling melancholic emotion that cannot be put in words.

Song: Mediterranean Sundance
Album: Friday Night in Sanfrancisco
Artist: John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucia and Al Di Meola

This is going to be hard to articulate. This cd feels like going on an amusement park ride, with the highs almost making your heart explode by arousing excited anticipation and then swinging back and forth from minor to major chord variations at dizzying speed. It is overwhelming and exhilarating. With the three greatest guitarists coming together fusing flamenco with jazz and bosanova you can't expect any less. I can't recommend the album enough. Mediterranean Sundance (performed by Paco and Al) is one of the more sublime compositions in the album. It is so very textural, that you can almost get lost in the pitter pattering of the guitar, or melt away into the melody of the song. Both guitarists have a tendency to sneak up on each other almost unexpectedly. The speed and virtuosity is honestly hard to keep up with, but they play it with such ease and so delicately that it's a delight to listen to.

Song: Waltz # 1
Albums: XO, Either/Or
Artist: Elliot Smith

I am so haunted by Elliott Smith’s Waltz # 1. The sweeping melody of the song, the profound poetic sadness of the words, the soft echoing harmony of his wispy voice, the expressive quality of the ivories, are so strikingly gorgeous. The song oozes with emotions. It soars with feelings and I do too. :-) Every other song in the XO album is just as lush and reflective. His Either/Or album is still full of laments, but not as downbeat even though none of his songs are ever really depressing, they are certainly less aching but just as sincerely emotional. With Elliott Smith’s songs more than any one else’s, the emotion is almost personal, like they come from within. I can’t recommend any one song in XO over the other, not even Waltz # 1, but I gravitate to it when I begin to listen to his songs.