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Music I like or awesome videos I’ve come across online

Traphik, Dumbfoundead & Jin – “Charlie Sheen” — I miss rap like this!

By Mithun Divakaran
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Mar 09, 2011
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Music/Videos

In an age when dipshits like Lil Wayne with his awful, awful use of autotune and egomaniacs like Kanye West are considered ‘hip hop,’ it’s refreshing to hear tracks like this:

I miss beats and slick rhymes like that! 🙁

Last year it was B.O.B, and even though he was the only major-label backed artist who offered anything I remotely considered ‘old school’ rap, B.O.B was welcome news to me.

Yesterday, while catching up on Jay Park’s tweets, I stumbled upon the “Charlie Sheen” track by Traphik, Dumbfoundead and Jin. I’ve heard of Dumbfoundead and Jin before, but not Traphik.

Dumbfounded Traphik MC Jin Jay Park asian hiphop — Left: Dumbfoundead, Top Right: Traphik, Bottom bald dude: Jin, Bottom dude with glasses: Jay Park

Dumbfoundead (Korean-American), because he’s done collaborations with Jay Park (I’m a Jay Park fan) and Jin (Chinese-American), I remember a few years ago was debuted as “Asia’s answer to Eminem”… but never heard from him since. Traphik, a.k.a TimothyDeLaGhetto, is a Thai-American rapper who is new to me.

So pretty much an all Asian affair! 🙂

If you have been living under a rock or could care less about American pop culture, you’re probably wondering why there’s a rap song titled “Charlie Sheen,” using his sound bites from his recent interviews. For those who don’t know, Charlie Sheen is an actor and star of the hit sitcom ‘Two and a Half Men’. But prior to doing television, Sheen was the star of the hilarious Hot Shots! films and other hits such as Wall Street and Platoon.

He’s also a train wreck.

A coke addict (and by ‘coke,’ I don’t mean the drink) and party bad boy, Charlie Sheen was recently fired from the hit show by CBS bosses for making spiteful comments about the show’s producers and because they were fed up of his crazy lifestyle affecting Two and a Half Men’s production. He also lost custody of his two young sons because he’s currently living with an ex-porn star and a former nanny who does nude modeling. “WINNING” lifestyle, according to him.

Charlie Sheen also did countless interviews with American media last week during which he made the phrases “Bi-winning” and “tiger blood” popular internet vernacular!

Which brings us back to the song. I don’t know if Traphik, Dumbfoundead & Jin will be sued by Charlie sheen for using his sound bites in the song without the actor’s permission, but we’ll see. It’s great rap record and will surely grow very popular.

Check out more from: Dumbfoundead (Official site), Traphik, Jin (Official site), and Jay Park (Official site)

Also read: The Complete Guide to the Charlie Sheen and ‘Two and a Half Men’ Saga

Breathe – The Floyd Sound, (Pink Floyd tribute concert) Live in Bangalore (India)

By Mithun Divakaran
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Mar 03, 2011
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Concerts, Music/Videos

Date: 26/01/2011

After the introductory gig by Led Zepplica held by Gigbox at UB City last month, next up was a tribute to another legendary band in the world of music — Pink Floyd.

The band doing the honours was British act Breathe – The Floyd Sound. Apparently, this wasn’t their first time in India. Looking at their past gigs, Breathe – The Floyd Sound has toured India every year since 2008 — mostly doing college festivals and clubs. Hey, you got to start somewhere right?

The concert venue was the same, the UB City Amphitheatre.

Breathe the Floyd Sound Bangalore concert crowds — There was quite a crowd (Photograph by Loiyumba)

Breathe Pink Floyd concert flying pig Bangalore — I love that they had this pig up in the sky (Check out the album cover of 'Animals' if you don't get the referance)

Breathe the Floyd Sound UB city amphitheatre crowds — Given the popularity of Pink Floyd in India, I wasn't surprised to see a lot more people turn up for this gig (Photograph by Loiyumba)

Gigbox concert Ducati bikes display — Ducati were one of the sponsors (Photograph by Loiyumba)

Dark Side of the Moon laptop wallpaper — The sound engineer was in the right frame of mind

Breathe Pink Floyd concert backdrop UB city — With the sun set, it was time to set the stage & check the lights

The show began with the opening act — rajeev’s Wolfpack.

Rajeev's Wolfpack rock band Bangalore — The lead singer is Rajeev... so I guess that makes the rest his Wolfpack

Rajeev's Wolfpack opening act Bangalore — They performed at the Led Zepplica gig as well. Doing mostly covers of U2 songs.

Rajeev's Wolfpack UB City Bangalore concert — They did play a few of their own compositions this time though

Rajeevs Wolfpack UB city Bangalore — Before ending their set with The Proclaimers' "I'm Gonna Be (500 miles)"

As it neared 8pm, Breathe – The Floyd Sound finally hit the stage.

Breathe the Floyd Sound Bangalore concert entering stage — And they kicked off with...

Then followed it up with:
“Time”

“Money”

I didn’t record every song in full and I don’t remember the exact sequence, but here are some of the songs myself & Loiyumba did record:

“Hey You”

“Brain Damage”

“Breathe”

After going through classics from ‘Dark Side of the Moon,’ they performed tracks from the Syd Barrett-era.

Syd Barrett Bangalore Pink Floyd tribute concert backdrop — The late Syd Barrett, former front man of Pink Floyd

Breathe the Floyd Sound Syd Barrett tribute — They even performed "Arnold Layne," Pink Floyd's very first single

“Sorrow” (the only song they played from Momentary Lapse of Reason)

Breathe the Floyd Sound Bangalore concert Dave Gee — On drums, Dave Gee

Breathe the Floyd Sound band members — Keyboards: Joel Anderson

“Shine On You Crazy Diamond”

Breathe the Floyd Sound Bangalore concert lead vocalist — Lead vocals & guitar: Chris Barnes

“One of These Days”

Breathe the Floyd Sound Bangalore concert bassist — Bassist Peter Worley

The one song every Bangalorean was waiting to sing along to…

Breathe the Floyd Sound Bangalore concert lead guitarist — On lead guitars, Andy Fenton. He did an impeccable job recreating Pink Floyd's guitar sounds!

Band introductions and ‘thank you’s… and “Wish You Were Here”

“Run Like Hell”

Breathe the Floyd Sound ended the night with one of the greatest rock songs ever…

Unfortunately, my camera battery signalled that it was about to die. Which is why I ended up recording the final performance of the night on my phone.

Breathe the Floyd Sound Bangalore concert end — With that, the Pink Floyd tribute concert came to an end

As was the case with the Led Zepplica gig last month, I’ll never get to see the real Pink Floyd play live. Apart from old age, the relationship between David Gilmour and Roger Waters is still a strained one. Heck, and I’m a guy who can just do with David Gilmour! (Sorry Roger Waters fans, he sounds terrible now — and I rate David Gilmour to be the better guitarist)

None the less, this was another great tribute concert from Gigbox. The crowd was better — except for the idiots who expected everyone to sit down for a rock concert — and there were no sound issues this time around. I wonder who they plan on bringing next.

Might I make a recommendation?

If you haven’t heard of Steel Panther, you should! They’re freakin’ AWESOME and bloody hilarious! Just read their bios! 🙂

If you haven’t figured out from the spandex and hair, Steel Panther plays tribute to 80’s rock. From Bon Jovi, Poison, Van Halen, Def Leppard (mine & the lead vocalist’s favourite band) to Journey, Whitesnake, Guns ‘n’ Roses, and… Backstreet Boys?

Not only so they do awesome covers, in 2009 they released their own album called Feel the Steel. This was their first single off the album:

Other good songs are “Community Property” and my favourite, “Party All Day“. I’d love to see them live in Bangalore performing 80’s greatest rock hits! But I’m not sure their humour will appeal to everybody (conservative women, parents who thought it was a smart idea to bring their kids to a rock concert, guys who don’t get sarcasm, etc.)

These guys have balls… they went to Tokyo and performed a song called “Asian Hooker“!

Led Zepplica concert, Live in Bangalore (UB City)

By Mithun Divakaran
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Feb 19, 2011
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Concerts, Music/Videos

Date: 23/01/2011

Organized by Gigbox, a relatively new player in the concert scene, the Led Zepplica concert was held at the UB City amphitheatre last month. I figured I’ll never see Led Zeppelin live in concert so what the heck, might as well see a tribute band. Got to love the name: Led Zeppelin + replica = Led Zepplica!

Clever 🙂

There were two opening acts before Led Zepplica hit the stage. First up, a young Bangalore-based band called Fahrenheit.

Fahrenheit opening act Led Zepplica UB city Bangalore — Fahrenheit take the stage

Fahrenheit Bangalore band Led Zepplica UB city — They mostly played their own original compositions...

Fahrenheit band Led Zepplica UB city Bangalore concert — ... & they were quite good

Rajeev Wolfpack vocalist Led Zepplica Bangalore concert — Next up was this frustrated dude and his band

Rajeev Wolfpack Led Zepplica Bangalore concert — The band was called rajeev's Wolfpack -- and they mostly played U2 covers

The lead vocalist did forget some of the words, but they get props from me for playing U2’s older hits such as “I Will Follow” & “‘Bullet the Blue Sky” before moving to more recent fare like “Vertigo“. I was happy to hear those songs but to keep the masses awake, they had to play the pub-staple “With or Without You“.

As it neared 8:30pm, Led Zepplica took to the stage.

Led Zepplica live in Bangalore concert UB city — They kicked things off with "Rock 'n' Roll"

Here’s a video of some of the first few songs Led Zepplica performed:

“Rock ‘n’ Roll,” “Immigrant Song,” “Black Dog” & “Going to California”

Led Zepplica Joe Retta live Bangalore concert — Lead vocalist Joe Retta playing Robert Plant

Led Zepplica guitarist Lenny Mann Bangalore concert — On lead guitars, Lenny Mann, playing the role of legendary Jimmy Page

Led Zepplica bassist Johnny Bruhns Bangalore concert — Bassist Johnny Bruhns, playing Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones

Led Zepplica drummer Daryl Johnson Bangalore concert — And finally, playing the role of the late great John Bonham, Daryl Johnson on drums

Here are some more videos:

“Dazed & Confused”

John Bonham’s greatest moment — “Moby Dick”

“Stairway to Heaven”

Their encore performance included:

“Kashimir”

“Whole Lotta Love”

Led Zepplica band members Bangalore concert — ... and with that, the show came to an end

Though the gig was 2 hours long, Led Zepplica still didn’t play classics like “Since I’ve Been Loving You” or my favourite, “Trampled Under Foot”. But I figured it’s not possible to cram every Led Zep classic in a standard 2 hour show. Their catalogue of great rock requires at least half a day!

Led Zeppelin are the greatest hard rock band of all time. A band who were way ahead of their time — and legends in the world of rock. They broke up soon after John Bonham died and though Robert Plant & Jimmy Page did make music as a duo and even released an Unplugged album, the band never toured as Led Zeppelin for 19 years until 2007. That year, all three living members, along with John Bonham’s son Jason Bonham, got together for their reunion gig at London’s O2 Arena to pay tribute to Atlantic Records’ founder Ahmet Ertegun.

Since that show, there were persistent rumours of Led Zeppelin doing a world tour but rumours about Robert Plant’s unwillingness to do so, shot down the chances of that happening. So for me, seeing a decent tribute band was the next best thing.

The tickets were Rs. 500 for the ‘General’ seating but we got them for Rs. 300 via Taggle.com. Come Feb 26th, Gigbox is holding another tribute concert. This time for another legendary British rock band: Breathe – the Floyd Sound.

And I’m going for that too! 🙂