Anoushey Ashraf:
 "Out of the local stuff, I really like Overload's new album. Besides that, I've been playing Guitar Hero and the songs are really good, it's a lot of Bon Jovi, The Killers, Bob Marley…"
Overload have definitely bought a new sound to the local pop scene with their progressive percussion. Their new album Pichal Pairee is another step in an experimental direction from the band that dares to be different.
Practically everyone's heard (and memorized) Bon Jovi's soft rock ballads. The band made it big back in the 80s and was a major influence on the younger generation with tracks like 'Living On a Prayer' and 'You Give Love A Bad Name'.
The Killers were part of the post-punk era; they've been around since 2002. They made it big with killer tracks like 'Mr Brightside' and 'When You Were Young'. Kate Moss is going out with The Killers' Jamie Hince.
Finally Bob Marley, who needs no introduction. He is the father of reggae. His music is soul food. 'Jammin', 'Wait in Vain', 'I Shot the Sherrif' and countless other tracks make sure he lives on.
Gumby:
 "Recently I've been listening to a lot of jazz music, Pat Metheny and John Scofield to name a couple."
Pat Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is one of the most successful and acclaimed jazz musicians that rose in the 1970s and '80s. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and beside that he is involved in solo work and other side projects. His music revolves around progressive-and contemporary jazz, post-bop, latin-jazz and jazz fusion. Likewise, John Scofield is also an old school jazz musician from the same era who has played with Pat Metheny. Scofield is also well versed in jazz fusion, funk, blues, soul, and other forms of modern American music. With his penchant for improvisation, there's little surprise that Gumby turns to these greats for inspiration.
Mahin Hussain:
 "Well a few of the top of my head, Gloria Gaynor 'I Will Survive' , Snow Patrol 'Chasing Cars', Creed 'My Sacrifice', and my all time favorite Gypsy Kings 'Volare'."
Gloria Gaynor is a pop singer and her anthem 'I Will Survive' has been motivating newly single women since the late 1970s. This single is by far her most popular song, though her other hit tracks like 'Never Can Say Goodbye', 'Let Me Know' and 'Let Me Go Baby.'
Snow Patrol are a relatively new alternative rock band and stole the show when they released their tracks 'Chasing Cars', 'Run', and 'You Are All That I Have'. Their music is mainstream with lyrics appealing mostly to the younger generation.
Creed was founded by Scott Stapp and are a Christian rock band. Their greatest album by far was Human Clay. Stapp comes from a staunch Christian background and his lyrics reflect the values and norms he was brought up with. The band had broken up a while back and Stapp went solo whereas the rest of the Creeds member formed a new band called Alterbridge. The good news for Creed fans is that now they've teamed up again.
The Gipsy Kings are a music group from Arles and Montpellier, France. Their music is a brilliant fusion of flamenco guitars with heavy Spanish influence. They were famous throughout Europe when in the early 80s they were released in the US and stayed on the charts for longer than any other Spanish band. The song 'Volare' is from their second album Mosaique. Their music has been described as a place where "Spanish flamenco and Romani rhapsody meet salsa funk".
Munib Nawaz:
 "I've been listening to a band called Insomnium, which is a little dark. I absolutely love Chris Cornell's new album even though its more of a Timbaland album. I'm also listening to some old school rock."
Insomnium is a dark metal/death metal band with very heavy music and most of their songs are about sorrow, death, loss and mourning. The band's lyrics tend to be influenced by (and occasionally taken from) classical poets like Holderlin and Edgar Allan Poe. Their melodies are highly melancholic, and their overall sound is much darker than other metal bands.
Chris Cornell was the vocalist for Soundgarden back in the 1990s, then went on to form his own band Audioslave. Now he's come out with his solo album Scream which is produced by Timbaland. The album sounds like a fusion of hip hop with grunge rock and didn't go down to well with Cornell's diehard old fans. But it is a new sound, very intuitive and is definitely worth a listen.
Shallum Xavier:
 "Recently I've been listening to Spyro Gyra, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt which is classical eastern music but it's something very new and Pat Metheny."
Spyro Gyra is an American jazz fusion band that was originally formed in the mid-1970s. With over 25 albums released and 10 million copies sold, they are among the most prolific as well as commercially successful groups of the jazz scene. Among their most successful hit singles are 'Shaker Song' and 'Morning Dance', which received significant play on US music radio stations, and still have an audience nearly 30 years later.
Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt is an Indian classical musician, yet he is different from the rest of them and plays an instrument he invented himself - the Mohan Veena, which is a guitar cum sitar and he plays it with a metal finger slide. Even though taste for classical music doesn't hold the same status it once did, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt has won a Grammy award for his album A Meeting By The River. He has also played at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, which is organised by the legendary Eric Clapton. Who says classical music is dead? There is still scope for its true innovators. |
