[...not entirely happy with this post, but hopefully should make up for it soon. Non-spectacular re-entry, I'm afraid, but Cain is as nuts and as in love as ever - will that suffice, even if she's less coherent than she should rightly be?
Happy birthday, love. *hug*]August the twenty-third, ladies and gentlemen. Never say Cain doesn't honour her commitments
eventually.
I'd planned a crazy sprawling song-specific post for today, but then...it geeked out on me, or I geeked out on it, or something. Which I, um, should probably not be surprised about.
So I've decided to post that as a standard geeky forum post early next month
(read: yes, you will get a crazy sprawling song-specific post early next month. Guess which song it is now. ) and celebrate the Cat today instead by making a new, tiny, probably rather insane snippet post. I...am kind of tired right now and can't control my mind all that well, so it might...sprawl a little and go off on tangents and my phrasing might be a little below par? Fair warning.
Plus the dead-serious-in-depth-explanation part of my brain is currently obsessed almost solely with the other post, so you may find higher hormone levels here than strictly necessary. Not that that is an unfamiliar situation to any of us, right? Damn right. Lord in heaven it's good to be back.
Let's get cracking, shall we?
Launch sequence! Since it seems a little odd to do this without at least one song, have I told you guys how much I love
Mat Aazmaa Re? - Who am I kidding, of course I haven't; I love the hell out of Mat Aazmaa Re. It feels - I think I've said this before - like a sort of dark inexorable reboot of Dil Se Mat Khel, more twirly, more surging, just barely more orange, and something about it hits my rhythm-driven intellectual sweet spot sixteen. times. per. chorus. (baar-baar-baar-baar) and somehow more besides. Like DSMK before it, it may wear the cloak of an exhortation, but if only because it's semi-soliloquy there's really more empowerment about it than anything else. The score is delightfully constant, providing a left-right-left-left, right-left-right-right kind of rhythm
(please, please tell me you know what I mean?) that sort of...soaks into one's shoulders like sunlight - and then there's the man himself, deep and soulful and radiant as ever, scorching you with the fire of his aura while drawling betahaasha in your ear. From the opening lines to the drop at the end, the music backs him up effortlessly enough to land him bang in the middle of his comfort zone - and if anyone knows how to make the best of a comfort zone, it's KK and none other.
My attraction to it, though, is a little more primal than the track's subject matter would seem to imply. Score aside - damn good lyrics aside - delicious Urdu words aside, there's literal, tangible heat to this song. It's KK and that rhythm, short staccato rhymes couched in swirls and eddies and string instruments, a-a-b-c-c-b, the thump - thump - thump - thump that catches you just beneath the sternum, his gorgeous drawl and clipped end notes and contrivance to somehow be the beat itself - well, what I'm trying to say is it apparently appeals to me more on a subconscious level than on one I can tell you about without resorting to metaphor. Mat Aazmaa Re hits a rhythm-crazy pleasure centre in my brain I never really knew existed - strokes me with heated fingers somewhere I never even knew I could be stroked. Admittedly Jaavedaan Hai tries to do this too, but Jaavedaan...Jaavedaan is gentle where Mat Aazmaa Re cares not a whit for propriety. Jaavedaan's a little too wrapped up in itself to do more than make one vaguely aware of that spot - though it certainly pleases in other ways - but Mat Aazmaa Re is a heat-seeking, heat-radiating missile, and from the frank conviction in KK's tone, he is his own accelerant as well as his own fire.
Mat aazmaa re, phir se bulaa re, as far as I can see, can be taken either as test me no longer; take me back - or, since aazmaa could imply the feeling-your-way-forward kind of trial, throw caution to the wind and make me yours. Which is the fire and which the accelerant? Your call, reader; your call.
Speaking of Mat Aazmaa Re:
At the link is a video in which he somehow, somehow makes Mat Aazmaa Re, of all the music-driven songs there ever were, sound far more gorgeous without its backing audio than it rightfully should. It's as though the beat is there, even when it isn't. As though stripping the track of its backing audio is not removal but simply revelation. As though somehow there was always silk amid the denim.
Incidentally, I've no idea why people say silk is smooth, because it damn well isn't. No matter how soft silk pretends or believes it is, there's always a snag to it somewhere, always a rough, ruthless core. Mat Aazmaa Re is proof of that.
Still speaking of Mat Aazmaa Re: How adorable is it possible to be. XD
He's a little more matter-of-fact in this one, I think - maybe the novelty had worn off a little by the time he did the one above, or maybe the setting was a little more intimate, more conversational that time around than this microphone-filled cavern, but it's pretty delicious for all that. It also, unlike the other one, contains the 'betahaasha' segment, which is awesome - and can I just say that his shirt is absolutely smashing? Because it totally is.
(Also, 'ittefaaq se!' Oh, baby. XD)
Not speaking of Mat Aazmaa Re anymore: item two on my list is
a bunch of random images from my KK folder. (Yes, I have one - don't we all?
Just be grateful mine isn't organized as insanely as my vehicle folder is.)...I had this phenomenal number of screenshots and things I was going to upload, but the internet is acting up right now, so...you've probably seen almost all these pictures before, just not in the same place, yeah? Consider this a photo anthology.
In addition to how insanely adorable this picture is, have I ever told you how much I love his fondness for colours? Fire-engine red, unapologetic purple, turquoise blue. =D I just love a man who can carry off unconventional colours, okay.
(...um, I love women who can do that too? Colours are a thing of mine, even when I'm not seeing them as a response to aural stimuli.) Also this picture is insanely adorable. Look at his eyes! Look at his hair! Look at his little smile! 'Wait a second, there's a camera pointing in this direction, isn't there?' Adorable.
I don't even know where this is from or what he was singing/saying, but how cute can you even get. XD
I believe my first reaction to this photograph was 'How is he so gorgeous HOW?'
...I believe that because that's pretty much still my reaction to this photograph.
Coat! And adorable scruffy hair! X)
Denim. And scruffy hair.
Why do I not know where any of these are from whoops Okay, so even though his back is turned, this is one of my favourite photographs of him ever, if only because it's just so quintessentially him. Guys, you can almost literally see his aura. Plus his hair is a little less styled than in most pictures, and it's catching the light in a way I've...seen before, frankly. ...'Seen before' as in he's got Leo hair. Very, very Leo hair.
Also he's holding the mike in his left hand, which is kinda cute.
I have a bit of an ambidexterity kink? *shuffles feet*IS THAT A TIE? YES, THAT IS A TIE. =D
(This was either Australia or NZ, I believe.) Apart from the general gorgeousness of this photo, I adore the little thing he has for wearing something or other on each wrist.
Same shirt and lighting as the first one, so evidently the same concert - and can I just say that I love the hell out of the rest of his outfit as well? I can't even put my finger on a concrete reason why, just that I do. (...Also, scruffy hair.
)
This is Chadhta Suraj. Pretty damn gorgeous, yes? Yes.
This is XIMB Bhubaneshwar, and though his back is turned again, it's a very powerful photograph, wouldn't you say?
Wheels '11 Jamshedpur. DOES ANYONE ELSE REMEMBER THIS PICTURE, BECAUSE I DO. =D
PURPLE MUFFLER. ADORABLE GRIN. PURPLE MUFFLER. Need I say more?
And I'm just going to link you to my , because you've definitely all seen it before but I can't resist putting it here in some form or the other.
And...the final, slightly odd section:
I don't know how much sense this will make to most of you, but I've had a page in one of my random notebooks for a while suggestively titled Things I'd Do With KK Given Half The Chance. It actually consists not of what the title seems to imply, but of music-and-lyrics-related things, concepts I think only he could ever carry off, and - well, I realize it's pretty whimsical on my part to put them here - but hey, what's a birthday without a little whimsy?
So.
Things I'd do with KK given half the chance.
• Write English lyrics for him. This one's pretty much a no-brainer, of course, but perhaps my desire to do it wouldn't be quite so strong if the few non-Cineraria English tracks he's had (and, in fact, English tracks in the Industry in general) were subject to anything remotely resembling the grammatical standards that the Hindi tracks are. I would really, really love it if he had a good English track for once that he didn't have to write himself - preferentially not about love, but it doesn't really matter - and, well, a couple of maniacal metaphors wouldn't hurt, would they?
• Work with Hindi and English as equivalent subjects: use both in a track while giving neither language preference. Meld them seamlessly. Get lyrical with both. Yaadon Ke Album is the closest to this that's happened yet; it's not enough.
• ...Iraada. A song revolving around the word. Ideally this should be entirely Hindi/Urdu and the word shouldn't be a proper noun (except as the song title). Have no idea how I'd ever manage this because can't write in Hindi/Urdu worth a damn.
•
(this is what my notes say; I'm just replicating them ) Though I find it very hard to believe that no one has actually done that yet? WHY HAS NOBODY DONE THAT YET.
• This one's a little hard to explain. A duet in which he starts out at his usual pitch and his (female) partner accompanies him at a lower register (actually singing simultaneously at least some of the time) and then they switch, with him singing at a lower pitch and her at a higher one. There could be more than one switch, of course - ideally two, and they end at the same pitch.
Ideally the female half of this would be Alisha, Gayatri Iyer/Ganjawala (whatever she writes now, whoops) or Dominique. I'd also cheer Yashita, whom I shall defend to the end of my days.
This...would not be harmed by the lyrics being about love, but could also work pretty well with a Rain-Bhai-Kaari-esque philosophical piece. In fact Rain Bhai Kaari probably came to mind because it has the kind of fluidity a track like this would require? If that makes sense.
• Get him and Sunidhi to switch roles for a night. By which I mean either a concert or, since I know the learning-lyrics-related issues with that, a recording of some sort in which he sings her songs, she sings his and they also sing a few of their duets (with or without roles switched - it doesn't really make much difference). I'd probably shriek with delight if he were to sing Ishq Kabhi Kario Na and/or Mehboob Mere, and he's very likely the only man on the planet who could carry off a 'Lucky Girl' version of Lucky Boy (...hell yeah, I went there...) and also Aisa Jaadoo? I may be driving myself slightly up the wall with this.
As for the other side of the equation, Sunidhi would do a damn good job with Kya Mujhe and Sajda, maybe I Am In Love, and perhaps - perhaps - Door Se Paas. ...I hope you realize Door Se Paas is a huge, huge deal to me and I wouldn't yield it lightly.
(My notebook also has the additional sentence: Incidentally, the only reason I'm not thinking very much about the damn good job KK would do of Aa Zara is because it is currently broad daylight. I feel you, self.
)
• A decent car song. Don't care whether English or Hindi/Urdu - just a car song which isn't a fluke (like Lamhaa) or a catastrophe (like the F1 track a couple of years ago). The feeling of velocity/power/traction/adrenaline can be achieved without using actual car noises, thank you very much - and also in correct grammar, thank you very much. Just look at the Top Gear title track for proof of the former. (It has no lyrics, so no grammar.)
• The Windmills Of Your Mind. Almost everybody's sung it already - what would another be? It could, among other things, be right. My favourite versions are the ones by All Angels and Elaine Paige, but no one's got the song exactly right quite yet. And if KK were to do it...he'd do it amidst electric guitars, with aplomb, and it would be beautiful.
• A Bond-movie title track. I'm not even kidding. Possibly I'd fuse this with bullet point two above (seamless meld of languages). (What this boils down to is that I have the occasional desperate desire to rhyme.)
• I want to work with him and colours in some way. Visually or aurally, I have no clue - I'm no composer nor cinematographer, just a synaesthete, but I'll try to explain my point: Bas Ek Pal, for instance, is red to me, so the idea of him singing it dressed in red is enticing - as is the idea of him singing it dressed in blue, its opposite. I want to take that concept and his ability to carry off random gorgeous colours and do something with it, but unfortunately I've no real idea what.
• ...KYRH live because, according to my notes, 'bahut ho gayaa goddamnit'.
I had more stuff to post somewhere, but I doubt any of it is really all that appropriate for a birthday - so, m'darling, good night and good morning; I love you; we all love you; you're loved, now and always. Apologies for the randomness and incoherence, and happy birthday. *hug*
I'll leave you all with one of my first reactions to Maahiya Re / Abhi Abhi: 'You're a grade-A stimulant, dearest, and as such should either be illegal or prescribed.'
Happy birthday, you.
[incendiary, adj.: capable of catching fire spontaneously, causing fires, or burning readily; n., a bomb that is designed to start fires]
