Hitman: Songs you must listen to this week

‘Paatta Podunga Ji’

Oru Naal Koothu (Tamil)

Music : Justin Prabhakaran

As if Justin Prabhakaran's Ilaiyaraaja invocation isn’t enough—when violins play in the first interlude of ‘Enakkaaga Porandhaaye’ from his debut Pannayaarum Padminiyum, one can picture Rajinikanth in white and white walking amidst greenery in his usual style, like in ‘Malaayala Karayoram’, from Raajadhi Raja—he composes almost a homage of sorts in ‘Paattas Podunga Ji’. With its chorus-like vocals, mix of strings and rhythm, the song is a lovely throwback to 1990s Raja. Justin layers it further with nadaswaram, funny dialogues from radio and lyrics (by Veera), a fantastic second interlude and an amazingly harmonious tune that Karthik leads in his inimitable style.

‘Padded Cell’

Album: 7

Artist: Seal

Much has been made out of the fact that this is Henry Samuel a.k.a Seal’s ninth album despite it being titled 7. It is also the British singer's first full-length album since splitting from ex-wife Heidi Klum. There are signs of that split in the album too…like the song, ‘Half A Heart’ which starts with ‘You took a piece of me when you left...’). The album itself is a throwback to the times when Seal was in heavy rotation across TV and radio—the 1990s—more so because he is working with his debut producer Trevor Horn again. Songs like ‘Padded Cell’, with its gently throbbing Europop synth mix raises above the album’s familiarity and ennui.

‘Meghaalu Lekunna’

Kumari 21F (Telugu)

Music: Devi Sri Prasad

‘Meghaalu Lekunna’ sounds at best like the Telugu version of a song by the Hindi pop band Euphoria. The tune is similarly lush and folkish. Devi does some interesting things in the interludes—the use of violins and solo-violin in the first and second interludes, to be specific. Yasin Nizar sings it well, and one should thank Devi Sri Prasad for not singing it himself.

‘Keep On Dancing’

Artist: Ellie Goulding

Album: Delirium

English singer and songwriter Ellie Goulding’s third studio album, Delirium, is decidedly more pop compared to her earlier albums. And she works with today’s heavyweight pop producers like Max Martin. It’s an easy-on-the-ears album with the whistle-laden hooks in a song like ‘Keep On Dancing’ smoothly ensuring repeated plays.

‘Ottathoval’

Rajamma@Yahoo (Malayalam)

Music: Bijibal

No, the film is not about Rajamma (Michael Rajamma) joining the Internet giant Yahoo.com. Yahoo is just the nickname for Rajamma’s brother, Vishnu Yohannan. That @ cleared, Bijibal does what one usually expects from an Ilaiyaraaja or a Vidyasagar—treat a raaga with reverence. In ‘Ottathoval’, it is raaga Panthuvarali that gets a clean, deeply melodious treatment in Ganesh Sundaram and Roopa Revathi’s vocals.