vijaygt's Full Review: Visual Audio by State Of Bengal
If you hate Bhangra, or punjabi pop, music, as much as I do, then you'd probably write off an album with the short description I've given in the Pros and Cons section immediately.
Thing is, this is tastefully done stuff. Sam Zaman is a Pakistani expatriate who is as talented as Talvin Singh. The difference between the two lies in their crafts. Talvin is a hit-and-miss artist because he experiments......his music isn't just innovative Electronica, "Asian Underground" stuff. It's as experimental as any Electronica, though in a different way than Aphex Twin, Autechre, and even Radiohead (whoops, I forgot, they're "rock").
Enough about Talvin, though, this review is on Sam Zaman, or State Of Bengal, and his debut Visual Audio.
Flight IC408 was featured on Talvin Singh's debut album, the renowned Anokha compilation of the very earliest and best Asian Underground. This was one of the tracks on that album that used samples as only embellishments upon what was already a fine song.
Elephant Ride, is aptly titled. Going all over the place, this is the most fervent sounding song on the entire album, and it isn't even fast-paced. Think of Tool, or even U2 - those are bands that don't need to show off how fast they are playing, but are able to call upon the emotions that fast music inspires. Same here.
Burn Your Toes (vocal version), is a superb song, and that's saying something coming from me. I *despise* most Bhangra pop, but this song has something that just works.....the bhangra sample sounds fresh, especially with those light-medium beats rounding off the tune.
Chittachong Chill, the fourth song on this outstanding album, is by far my favorite song. It is literally a jazz song with South Asian percussion. The jazz is actually fairly interesting fusiony stuff that isn't exceedingly complex as far as saxophone driven stuff goes, but it sounds nice. Combined with the ethnic percussion and breakbeats, though, it turns out to be a truly amazing song. At first I wasn't sure if this was all that great - I've only been playing sax for three years, and while I am doing well, it still made me uneasy that I was able to nail that sax part down so quickly. However, this is a well-crafted song that sounds better and better with each listen.
Track 5, Taki Naki, is the most amazing song on this strong album. This is a symphonic electronic piece that has a few Indian instruments being sampled......Western classical meets Indian classical for a time.....but the addition of the HEAVY beats makes everything just very interesting. The horn section that jumps in every so often as the song winds down makes the song layered nearly beyond comprehension. However, the thing that makes this song just unbelievable is the Hindi skat. That's right - SKAT. Not doo-wop, but Taki Naki....and it works.......'nuff said.
Red Earth is a super cool-down tune after the mind-blowing Taki Naki, with a nice light, surf guitar keeping everything together.
Hunters is similar to Red Earth, but is less groove-oriented, and more about the building up of the song with samples and additional "layers."
Ek bullet is a fine song, but there's nothing here out of the ordinary. After hearing seven songs that were all layered, layered, and layered again, this song doesn't do enough to progress the album - it doesn't surprise me with unexpected symphonic lines or strange samples...except for the title sample (is that even a term?). "Ek Bullet...."
On the other hand, it is a fine song by itself, and has a nice groove. Neat sound effects, too.
The final three songs, Rama Communication, Hectic City, and Music is, actually polish off the album very nicely. Rama has an trance/ambient vibe to it, though it isn't exactly Asian Ambient.....now THAT sounds interesting.....music that is trance inducing as such tabla combined with trance/ambient sounds. Kiss those sleeping pills goodbye.
Hectic City is the only track I found potentially annoying/weak, but it's not bad electronica....just not that great.
The final track, Music Is, is an under-stated piece that is as subtle as the album. It's the most meaningful, IMO, and explains State Of Bengal's approach to Asian Underground.
Visual Audio is layered to point of causing visual signals in brain, or is supposed to be able to.....but if you don't listen carefully, you'll miss this detail. You'll miss a lot of details, in fact, with this subtle yet enjoyable Asian Underground.....
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