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Musicbox
Evolution: Shake Your Body
When Evolution first stepped into the industry with the release of their debut video of Shake Your Body, not surprisingly they could achieve little else besides being branded as wannabe rap, R&B musicians who seemed inclined to litter their songs with “body-shaking” and “world-shaking” mantras in desi-stylized English at every possible turn imaginable.
With the release of their debut album, one expected more of the same crap repeated all over again, and as predicted, the wait was actually better than the product itself. Buckled down by unoriginal lyrics, loud vocals, prosaic music and jaded production and promotion values, we have Evolution’s debut album in a nutshell.
The album kicks off with Shake Your Body which is apparently an attempt by the band to conjure an energetic youth anthem. The lyrics of the song could have passed for the slogan of a bland ad campaign, “masti mein saraa zaman hai/jhoomay yeh sara jahan hai”. The guitar riff might sound catchy had it not been overdone. Still the end result is pretty disappointing courtesy of an artificial chorus, featuring neither depth nor emotion. One notable song is Maujoon Mein, which is probably the most well-composed single on an otherwise second-rate album because of its strong lyrics and catchy beat and feel (“Maujoon mein doob kar tu ne dil ko tora nahin hai/aankhon mein jo bassa tha sapna torra nahin hai”). The video of the song is an unprecedented one in the Pakistani music industry featuring the storyline of an covert operative breaking into a top-secret facility using the stop-motion animation technique or claymation as it is called.
All the other tracks in the album don’t deserve a mention at all (like Chadh Key, Baat Karni, Duur Duur or the track Gulabi that featured clips from Animatrix in its video) as they share the same flaws as sometimes Kashan (the Mizmaar guitarist who did the guitars on Shake Your Body) gets over-elaborate with his axe and sometimes the hoarse vocals don’t gel with the moods of the songs.
All in all, Shake Your Body gives one little reason to shake one’s booty on the dance floor.—Taimur Saleem
RentThe movie Rent, which is an adaptation of the Broadway musical hit by the same name, is a story of some friends living in East Village of New York who are struggling with their dreams and harsh realities of drugs and homosexual relationships.
The biggest strength of the movie is its music without which it wouldn’t have come into existence. As the movie deals with the bohemian and somewhat addicted (with love and drugs) artists, the music is also an intense emotional experience dealing with the sorrows and gloom of the late ’80s Aids-riddled era and brighter aspects of life like love at the same time. The whole soundtrack, which is a pack of two discs, may not be everyone’s cup of tea. However, there are a few tracks that have universal appeal.
Seasons of Love is the most catchy and emotionally drenched number of the soundtrack and can easily be the best love song of the year. The tune grows on you instantly as it picks up pace after a slow beginning. This track is also the crux of the movie and has been used aggressively in the movie’s marketing campaign.
Sung in chorus and individually both, Seasons of Love tells us how to measure a year in our lives: “Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes, Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear. Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes, how do you measure, measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee, in inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
Another winner is Out Tonight, which scores mainly because of its heavy beats. It has been shot on Mimi, the main female lead of the movie who is shown planning a night out. Light My Candle is a slow and romantic track where Mimi and Roger who are in love with each other sing in a small isolated room while lighting a candle ...It’s nothing they turned off my heat. And I’m just a little weak on my feet. Would you light my candle? What are you staring at?
It is highly recommended that you watch Rent first and then listen to soundtrack in order to get into the actual mood of the music.—Azeem Haider
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