Avima 2010 (The BIG M May 2010)

“We’re not the Grammys, and not even close to the glamour of the MTV Asia Awards, but Avima (Asia Voice Independent Music Awards) is perhaps one of the biggest supported music awards in the world,” says Siva Chandran, founder of Avima and managing editor of Voize.my, Malaysia's leading lifestyle and entertainment portals.

Plainly stated, no awards in the history of Asia have attracted as much hype and public interest in such a short span of time as Asia’s first independent music awards. Established in 2009, these awards exemplified the true indie spirit by doing away with major sponsorships and rather focusing on shining a spotlight on the largely ignored Asian music scene. When asked about the name, Siva explains that Avima has a cool unintended meaning. “When broken up, Avi is "my father" in Hebrew, and Ma means mother, so the awards hope to be the mother and the father of Indie awards this side of the Pacific.” In its bid to give a voice to Asia's very large Indie community and its varied styles of music, Avima along with its standard categories of Best Rock Act, Best Hip-hop song, etc, also offers up awards like moody melancholic masterpiece, feel good song and mind blowing video of the year, being a few of its amusingly tagged categories.

Now in only its second year of inception, Avima 2010 promises to be the single most anticipated music event of the year with participation from over 20 countries including India, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan, to name a few. A truly global affair, music lovers from across the world are given the ability to simply log in to the online voting site, take a listen to the nominated tracks from each category and vote for their favorite acts with a single click. Although not necessarily a democratic event with public voting only accounting for 30% of the scores, founder and chief judge Siva Chandran assures that the remaining 70% will be based on the unbiased decisions of judges from Europe, Australia and the US.

Though Malaysia might have secured the highest hip hop nominations, India similar to last year rules the roost in terms of rock nominations. Leading the pact with three nominations are winners of last year’s ‘Best Rock Act’ and the odds on favorites to clinch the same title two years in a row, Motherjane. Without a question, the most prolific band toiling away in the scene today, gifted vocalist Suraj Mani is also up for ‘Best Vocalist’ while the whole band is the only Indian act selected for the ‘Most Mind blowing Video’ category for their understated yet extremely powerful imagery of the song ‘Broken’. When asked about how it felt to be nominated yet again for the highest award of the show, the band replied, “It is awesome that AVIMA is recognizing so many talented artists in India. Major Indie music awards bring international attention to indie artists & that’s great for music. We were honored as AVIMA Best Rock Band in 09 and 3 new nominations in 2010 means our music is reaching people globally.”

On par with Motherjane is another man who’s paid his dues and has been duly rewarded with success is Sanjeev Thomas of Sanjeev T & The Rainbow Bridge who commented on his ‘Best Vocalist’ nomination, “I’m glad I’m recognized outside India for the music I make and for the efforts I give into the music it’s great to be recognized, apart from myself many indie bands from India have been nominated and this is a proud moment, a moment of growth, hope and more music coming from a younger generation who would be more happier in the future to take music seriously and make it a part of their living. With developments and organizations like AVIMA, Indie music has an avenue to be displayed and an avenue to understand expressions of artists, expression which strives for a difference in our existence here. I wish all the luck for everyone nominated and will always join the fight for recognition for our indie artists here. Support is important and from support comes support systems to take this forward.” The Rainbow Bridge also holds nominations for ‘Best Electro-Dance Song’, ‘Best Rock Group’ and ‘Best Rock Song’, a category which also includes the likes of fellow Chennai residents, the funk rock quartet Junkyard groove with their song ‘Imagine’ and Mumbai metal giants Demonic Resurrection with ‘A Tragedy Befallen’.

Finding themselves in the presence of these heavyweights are relative newcomers, Summerpint Junkie with their song ‘Forbidden Fruit-Flower’, featuring a rich blend of psychedelic rhythm and melody and a fair amount of progressive influences thrown in for good measure. A strong song by any standards, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Mumbai lads pull off a major upset, wining the category over some of the more experienced veterans. With vocals straight out of the alternative era, the song ‘Hallucination’, finds them with their second nomination in ‘Moody Melancholic Masterpiece’. “It feels awesome to be nominated; it sort of sprung up on us. There is no substitute to the high in knowing that our music is spreading and being appreciated. Summerpint Junkie puts in a lot of emotions in every song, so knowing that someone finds some connection in our music keeps us going, further in till our music, words and message becomes a part of their reflection. AVIMA is definitely giving us a brilliant opportunity to do just that and we just to hope to realize all the faith that our fans have in us and keep spreading our music”, commented the band’s guitarist on its double nomination

“It is an honor to be elevated on a platform such as this and win or not, more ears are oriented towards the music which is what is important,” mentioned Karthik Basker, another nominee for ‘Best Rock Vocalist’ heading the widely acclaimed Bicycle Days, a band up for the ‘Best Rock Group’. A group with an opulent literary background and wide ranging influences, their songs prove nearly as epic as Albert Hofmann’s infamous 1943 tryst with that faithful drug, the one which inspired the band name. Giving stiff competition to Summerpint Junkie in the category of ‘Moody Melancholic Masterpiece’ is the stellar ‘Circles’, an unwavering tour de force with deftly played drums and serene vocals amid chiming guitars.

In other nominations, Junkyard Groove’s low key, playful ‘Folk You’ and Zedde’s anthemic tribute to his city ‘Mumbai’ competes for ‘Feel Good Song of the Year’ while Prayag’s ‘Bas Karo’ finds itself as the only Hindi song in any of the categories.

Whatever be the result, the passion and determination of each band nominated undoubtedly boils down to the core of the awards itself, as optimistically stated by co founder M.Tevan, “We’re glad that the Asian indie scene is moving in the right direction. The indie scene is huge in Britain, Europe and in the United States, and some of the biggest brands in the world today are lining up to be affiliated with these exciting and bold new artistes. We’re confident with platforms like Avima; Asian indie acts will receive better global recognition.”

Sam Roberts Band (The BIG M May 2010)

Triple Juno award recipient and prolific singer/songwriter Montreal native Sam Roberts is often described as the definitive voice in a collection of American and Canadian bands centered on 70’s classic rock nostalgia. But in reality, this former hockey player has so much more going for him. Through three albums of passionate and infectious folk-rock and power-pop tunes, many of them built around a percussively strummed acoustic guitar, Roberts has breathed new life into a very dry, dull Canadian music scene (Sum 41, Nickelback). By means of odd references to Canada in many of his songs (even singing in French for a few verses of ’No Sleep’) he maintains a staunch national identity but that certainly doesn’t limit his appeal to a strictly Canadian audience.

With tune crafting skills which have the ability to stand up well next to early Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney material, Sam Roberts’ first full length LP ‘We Were Born in a Flame’ presents a lush and enjoyable listening experience. Along with compelling and inquiring lyrics, Sam Roberts is also an interesting musician who decides to play all the instruments except for percussion on this album. A risky move no doubt, he manages to pull it off with conviction with the record ending up sounding grander and richer than it ought to be.

The album is rich in instantly memorable hooks which will find you tapping your feet within the first 30 seconds of ‘Hard Road’ - the opening track. Along with the uber-catchy clap along ‘Brother Down’ and the gorgeous and seductive orchestral pop of Beatle-esque ‘Taj Mahal’ which makes the most of Roberts’ talents as a violinist, Hard Road is a stand-out track and contains some gripping and intelligent lyrics, something of a rarity in today's formulaic music world. Robert’s writes with eloquence about the universal human effort of finding the easy life and avoiding the bumps of the real world. When he opines, "There's no road that ain't a hard road to travel on", he is able to chronicle the troubles of life in this fallen world without offering therapeutic platitudes like "believe in yourself" or something similar. On this record, Roberts chooses to narrate the problems of humanity and creation rather than offer solutions and in doing so manages to escape falling into a moralistic outlook blatantly prevalent in popular media and music. ‘Paranoia’ finishes off this pervasive album, starting out as an acoustic piece before ending as an upbeat, driving instrumental. Overall, an impeccable combination of guitar, percussion, and piano makes this CD worth multiple listens.

Released in 2006, Roberts’ second release ‘Chemical City’, with its share of rockers, ballads, and artistic experimentations is a very well rounded album. Backed by a group that would continue onto the next album, Dave Nugent (guitar), Eric Fares (keyboards), James Hall (bass) and Josh Trager (drums) helped craft this album with its folky-1960's rebellious feel whilst throwing all notions of a sophomore slump out the window. Starting off with the psychedelic rocker ‘The Gate’, the albums mood soon shifts towards an alternative mode for tracks ‘Mind Flood’ and ‘Mystified Heavy’. ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ with its sing along melody is an instant classic, while ‘The Bootleg Saint’ and ‘The Resistance’ call to mind mid era Rolling Stones. Chemical City also sports two folkier tunes, the lovely acoustic ‘Uprising Down Under’ along with the emotive keyboards, and the vocals-only heartbreak song ‘A Stone Would Cry Out’. A much more rough-around-the-edges album, Roberts’ balances the strong melodies and anthemic choruses with some affecting subtle pieces. There is a strong sense of cohesion among these extremely well crafted songs with lyrics that see him wise beyond his years.

The latest offering from the Sam Roberts band ‘Love at the End of the World’ sees them at their most potent while delivering on the same bluesy hard rock formula, supplied with abundant pop hooks and mixed in with a little psychadelia when needed as seen in beguiling ‘Lions of the Kalahari’. ‘Up Sister’, ‘End of the Empire’ and the forlorn ‘Waking the Dead’ stand out among other eclectic tracks of the album ending with a piece featuring off the wall lyrics set to a piano driven tune in the captivating closer ‘Detroit '67’.

In retrospect, Sam Roberts represents the perfect example of the modern singer/songwriter. With songs that range from bouncy, fun loving to a mellower sound, combining rock & roll fundamentals with folk influences, he is able to extract old influences and creatively rework them to create a unique original sound and deliver them with a vibrancy and honesty rarely seen in today’s rock n’ roll.