Artiste: Nepsydaz
Album: Made in Nepal
Rating: ***
Nepsydaz, the hip-hop trio add patriotic sentiment to their image with the album titled Made in Nepal. It has punchy rap numbers, a more freestyle theme based lyrics with interesting concepts and few but well done riff-oriented music arrangements. The rap added version of Chhundaina differs greatly in its music style from 1974 AD's original. Maya has an oriental feel with less variation in the song's melody while My Life—a metal rap–with guitar riff has an aggressive sound. Vram, with good music and lyrics, lacks depth in the chorus vocals. Though the tabala and tanpura do not develop with the music, they add a pleasant touch to the song Untouchable. Poverty has a wonderful piano beginning and improvisation. Rap harmony in the song F*** sounds great and KTM has a lot of spirit. It's an album worthy of the accolades it is sure to receive from hip-hop fans.
Artiste: Reeza Upreti
Album: Trace
Rating : **1/2
Trace has music arranged in varied genres but the vocal style is the same in all the songs. Jhajhalko liyera, a remix version, has beautiful guitar solos, good progression and is well sung. Timro oath is arranged like a fusion rock number but the vocals sound off when it tries to hit high notes. Timi gayou has a touch of Irish music but the scale changes are commonplace. Sapana ko bato has a gypsy feel with regular progression of minor-major-major-major chords. Na yata jaun in duple (2/4) beat is like any movie soundtrack. Sample sounds and a variety of instruments used randomly is heard in Chhadeko chha. Chhatibhitra is wonderfully sung. Angaloma has a classic jazz swing with technical progression fused with tabala and sitar. Reeza's vocals has tremendous potential for improvementand can do really well if she concentrated on a more original style.
Lochan Rijal is a student of Masters in Ethnomusicology at Kathmandu University and has two albums to his credit.
