PDA

View Full Version : Album Club: 07.02.2012: Surinder Sandhu - Cycles and Stories (2004)



John
07-02-2012, 05:40
Surinder Sandhu - Cycles and Stories (2004)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BHVJzl5FL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/6YF3DDNTgRrnqnt9g3ULiE

Surinder is a Sarang player and composer and has been trained in Indian Classical music but his music has many influences from Western music. He has now recorded 4 albums of which this is the second album. The first album was a tour de force of music and styles with Cycles and Stories everything is more intimate and has sense of a band playing together. The production is of the highest quality and the musicianship is as tight as any jazz band I heard.
This is one of my favourite albums and I will usually listen to at least once a week. The music itself fits within World music genre. I really enjoy a lot of music from different parts of the world, this is certainly very different to any album that has been chosen before and hopefully it might open up a whole new musical experience.
There are hardly any reviews of this album on the net and reviewing is not my greatest skill but I give it a go.
The music combines Indian Karnic music with Jazz and rock elements. On the whole the music has a intimate feel to it. Surinder is a very talented composer and the album has a feel of well-groomed band playing and creating music they love. It is one of those albums that rewards you with repeated listens, there seems to be something new to discover on even after countless listens.
Re-Visted captures some of the energy of the first album; the music is tight but also a lot going on. Surinder Sarang is almost violin like and the whole concept of the band comes across quickly with some great bass playing and drumming, each like each part brings in something new. After a while some beautiful guitar music flows through the track.
Never Forget has some wonderful melodies, and the music is now starting to become more intimate. I love how the drums and tabla work together there are very few players that keep the timing required that a tabla player has but this works. Yet again Surinder wonderful melodies are always present. Every player adds to melody and structure of the music. I am now totally involved in the music, and usually in almost trance like state.
Paths Up and Paths Down The only vocal song, washes gentle over, the music is reflective and calm now.
Yesterday Living: The music is starting to take me on some exotic journey now I can almost sense the Himalayas Mountains in the distance. Suddenly Tablas and bass comes in and I am know traveling across a landscape. The music is still intimate but somehow manages to be evocative too.
Indian Time is another passionate piece of music, the timing and melodies are simply astounding, Drums and Tablas sometimes play unison lines and sometimes polyrhythms the bass underlines everything, I am not sure how they manage to make something so flexible in timing sound so tight.
Fates Game is a reflective short piece
Cycles and Stories: Another reflective piece with some great rhythms and melodies. The guitarist get to show off some great fusion chops that have almost rock feel to it. When the sax solo comes in I also get to hear some wonderful drumming underlining it all. This is a bunch of musicians really going for it but enjoying every note.
Thoughts of Together: is a very reflective piece of music with some nice guitar and Sarang playing.
Escape to Twilight is more energetic in its feel.
Re-Union Is another gentle reflective track
I saw the band play a few years back I remember being absolutely transfixed by the music
Afterwards I talked to the band they were all approachable and was just pleased to get such positive praise.
So if you like artist like Nitin Sawney give this a try, and even if this is very new to you have a listen

The Grand Wazoo
07-02-2012, 08:00
I'm looking forward to hearing this John.

griffo104
07-02-2012, 15:11
Looking forward to having a listen to this over the weekend, you certainly put a good case for it :)

Alex_UK
07-02-2012, 16:59
Well I have never heard of him... The Nitin Sawhney comparison got me interested, as I have all bar his most recent CD, and really like his work, but after the first listen, I'm struggling a bit with this John I'm afraid. I think it is the sarangi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarangi) sound - it just really goes through me, and coupled with some of the almost freeform musical structures, I'm just not getting it at the moment. That said, I am listening through headphones, so it might be different with a bit of "space" through speakers.

A commendably different (and surprising!) choice though John, so thanks for making it challenging! :)

Tim
07-02-2012, 17:10
I have heard of this fella, I think it was from you John on one of your Spotify playlists (which are excellent if I may say so - not a duff one out there!). I shall look forward to playing it as what I have heard so far I like.

Bazil
07-02-2012, 17:38
http://www.desismileys.com/smileys/desismileys_6657.gif (http://www.desismileys.com/) Hmmm this could be interesting, might need a bit of time.

John
07-02-2012, 19:14
I no doubt this one will challenge people
Alex I like it because of its jazz structures and freedom for most people it will not be as accessible as Nitin but the musicianship is first class
Nitin combines different elements that for most people will be more easy to get into for me I love the melodic invention the album provides and this is why I struggle with some of the more sparse choices

The Grand Wazoo
09-02-2012, 00:44
Hi John,
I've got this on at the moment. I guess it's the 4th or 5th time I've heard it now.
Well, I've voted and it came out pretty well really - I gave it an 8.

Your descriptions are very good mate!
If there's one thing that I don't like, it's the scat in one or two tracks. I hate scat, but as scat goes, it's pretty good scat!

Welder
09-02-2012, 01:11
OMG, i had to listen on Spotify using my gaming rig! :eek:
Spotify doesn't do Linux :(

I've really enjoyed listening to this. In fact, I'll probably buy it.
A very interesting choice John. I'm not sure how often it will get played given it doesn't quite satisfy my seeming insatiable taste for banging tunes, tasteless pop, or get down funk.

7/10

John
09-02-2012, 06:10
I no doubt this one will challenge people
Alex I like it because of its jazz structures and freedom for most people it will not be as accessible as Nitin but the musicianship is first class
Nitin combines different elements that for most people will be more easy to get into for me I love the melodic invention the album provides and this is why I struggle with some of the more sparse choices

Glad you like it Chis I can handle the scat in small doese but get where you coming from

John
09-02-2012, 06:12
OMG, i had to listen on Spotify using my gaming rig! :eek:
Spotify doesn't do Linux :(

I've really enjoyed listening to this. In fact, I'll probably buy it.
A very interesting choice John. I'm not sure how often it will get played given it doesn't quite satisfy my seeming insatiable taste for banging tunes, tasteless pop, or get down funk.

7/10

Hi John
Glad you liked it his latest album sounds like it be a lot more funky but I think some of the bass playing is quite funk influnced

aquapiranha
13-02-2012, 22:05
Spotify doesn't do Linux :(


Au contraire mon ami! :) If you install 'playonlinux' there is a version on it that worked for me in Mint no problem, give it a whirl.

Oh, btw I gave this a 5 as it really is not my bag despite the skill on display/ thanks for getting me to listen though.

Steve ;)

Welder
13-02-2012, 22:10
Au contraire mon ami! :) If you install 'playonlinux' there is a version on it that worked for me in Mint no problem, give it a whirl.

Oh, btw I gave this a 5 as it really is not my bag despite the skill on display/ thanks for getting me to listen though.

Steve ;)


Wasat in English mate? :lol:

Cheers Steve. I have been trying very hard not to install Play on Linux; mainly because that's exactly what I would end up doing. :doh:
Mind you the way things are going its going to be Wine or PoL.

aquapiranha
13-02-2012, 22:12
Well I only use it for Spotify. the one in the software repository is an old one but works fine. I would like to know if I can get COD2 to work with PoL..

Steve

Welder
13-02-2012, 22:27
If you can get a few games working don't tell me!

I've kinda dismissed the possibility given the problems I had with Wine on Ubuntu 10.04.
Its not so much the getting games to run, its all the mouse amd gfx tweaks that I've got sorted in Windows.
I mean ffs, my in game kills to deaths ratio and performance might take a hit!!
:lol:

aquapiranha
13-02-2012, 22:42
If you can get a few games working don't tell me!

I've kinda dismissed the possibility given the problems I had with Wine on Ubuntu 10.04.
Its not so much the getting games to run, its all the mouse amd gfx tweaks that I've got sorted in Windows.
I mean ffs, my in game kills to deaths ratio and performance might take a hit!!
:lol:

(sorry for thread derail!)

well, I used to take it all VERY seriously and have been a member of a couple of squads in the past but now it is all just for fun. No amount of messing with settings will compensate for my lack of skillz while fragging. :lol:

Welder
13-02-2012, 22:51
Yeah sry John....
I'll piss off in a mo.

I started really late Steve and got it bad very quickly. Shame we cant do a gaming vets bit somewhere.;)
I still belong to a clan, but haven't played much recently much to the annoyance of my clan mates. Strange the people that play. My flag man is in fact a women and she's in her thirties! Not just for kids. In fact I think the kids should be banned after 7pm and the adults should take over. :lol:

Tim
15-02-2012, 21:49
Well I have played this 3 times now and I really like it, probably going to buy it or at least something by Surinder as I would like some in my collection.

Thanks John, good choice and I'm giving it an 8 :)

The Grand Wazoo
15-02-2012, 21:53
Funnily enough, I played this again today and coming back to it after a while, it sounded great.



.........except for that bloomin' scat!

keiths
15-02-2012, 21:55
I've not been able to hear this anywhere near its best as I've had to resort to Spotify via my Windows box and headphone amp as my main Linux PC doesn't do Spotify these days after stripping it back to the essentials only.

Anyway, even so it's right up my street and have ordered the CD. 8 out of 10 from me.

Bazil
24-02-2012, 09:47
I've also given this an 8, its an excellent album I could easily leave it on all day.
So in that do I mean background music, well it would fit the bill but its so varied and complex I could dip in and out of it, maybe with a few more listenings I could sit and give the whole album my attention.