04 SaturDay, 19 November 2022

New Delhi HOW TO LOUNGE

Look beyond
Big Streaming
‘The Playlist’ is a semi-fictionalised account of how Spotify was founded.
MOVE OVER FABINDIA
Iwas scouring the internet for a skyblue,
soft linen sari and nearly
everything I liked was priced at
₹4,000 or above. A colleague came to
the rescue, adding me to a WhatsApp
group, Jamrul Studio, that sells
clothes, accessories and homeware at
(largely) pocket-friendly prices. They
have excellent soft cotton dohars for
about ₹900, kaftans for ₹1,400 and
linen saris for ₹2,600. I have bought
these both for personal use and gifting.
They source from all parts of
India: chikankari kurtas from Lucknow,
gadwal saris from Telangana,
Kota doria salwar sets from Rajasthan.
The other day, a rose pink sari with
chikankari and raj bandhej caught my
eye. While I coudn’t afford to pay
₹43,600 for it, I googled raj bandhej
and got lost in a rabbit hole of information.
Yes, there are pitfalls too. For
details, contact 9987073114.
—Jahnabee Borah
MURDER SHE WROTE
Regency romances have always been my
favourite light reading genre but this is
the first time I have found myself
sinking into that familiar world of balls,
debutantes, duels-at-dawn with a different,
sharper edge—a series of murder mysteries
set in England during the Regency period,
featuring the dashing detective Sebastian St
Cyr aka Viscount Devlin. Author C.S. Harris
shows up the more sordid side of the period,
with the excesses of the rich thrown in sharp
relief against grinding poverty and social
inequity. The mysteries are a departure from
the “cosy” mysteries of the golden age of
crime fiction but compelling nonetheless.
—Shrabonti Bagchi
POETIC PETER DRURY
Premier League viewers in India
must be missing listening to
football commentator Peter
Drury. The 55-year-old moved on
from his duties at the Premier
League’s world feed to NBC Sports
earlier this season. While you are sure
to hear more of his commentary from
the forthcoming Fifa World Cup in
Qatar, a 2019 episode from The Tifo
Podcast takes you behind the scenes
on what it takes to be one of the most
acclaimed commentators in football.
In this episode, hosted by football
writer Seb Stafford-Bloor, Drury talks
about how his broadcasting career
took shape, why he is not on any social
media platform, the joy of watching
Lionel Messi play—and describing it—
the best piece of commentary he has
heard and why the former Brazil, AC
Milan and Real Madrid midfielder
Kaka is his favourite player. The
53-minute episode is an intimate
insight into the life of one of the recognised
voices in football—a must, in
fact, for all listeners.
—Nitin Sreedhar
A MEAD THAT IS LIGHT AS AIR
Mead has always fascinated me.
The“fermented honey drink” has
found its way into poems and stories
of medieval Celtic and English knights and
warriors. Now the Indian alco-beverage
market is seeing players who are interpreting
it in a contemporary avatar. The latest is No
Label Original Mead from Delhi-based Bored
Beverages. Made by fermenting a blend of
multi-floral and litchi honey, with a few
orange peels thrown in, it’s light as air and
doesn’t have a bitter aftertaste. Nor is it
overtly sweet. The name seeks a society sans
tags of gender, sexuality, race, religion and
appearances. “We are different, but we don’t
need markers to tell us so….Thus, No Label!”
—Avantika Bhuyan
LOUNGE LOVES
Things to watch, read, hear, do—and other curated experiences from the team
F I R S T
B E AT
S A N J O Y N A R A Y A N
‘Artist Stripe’
Football Cufflinks
Football cufflinks featuring
a polished silver finish and
‘Artist Stripe’ detail for an added pop of
colour from British design house Paul
Smith. Available on Paulsmith.com; €130
HAND OF GOD
Adidas 4DFWD 2 Running Shoes
The shoe has a unique 4DFWD 2 midsole that compresses forward,
reducing braking forces and transforming the impact energy into
forward motion. Available on Adidas.co.in; ₹19,999
THE STEPOVER
x Disney Mickey Mouse Soccer Ball
Score points with your little football star
with this ball in colour-blocked design from
Capelli New York’s collaboration with
Disney. Available on Nordstrom.com; ₹1,719
HOOF THE BALL
Soccer Anatomy Coaster Set
A set of four-inch sandstone coasters
backed with cork from US gifting brand
Dishique by Megan Steffen that are
sure to be conversation starters.
Available on Dishiqueboutique.com;
$45 (around ₹3,600)
GOT CARDED
Compiled by Shrabonti Bagchi.
Straight Satin
Football Longsleeve
From Amsterdam-based
sports luxury brand
Balr, a distressed
football print T-shirt in
jet black. Available on
Balr.com; €110
(around₹9,300)
BALLER LIFE
Logo-print Jersey Hoodie
Football fashion is
incomplete without the
jersey. Sport Valentino’s white
hoodie in a cosy oversized fit
with a black botanical and
typeface log. Available on
Matchesfashion.com;
₹1,08,820
MAN OF THE MATCH
Source Football fashion for World Cup days
Waffle Recycled
Beaded
Messenger Bag
A honeycomb
design bag
evocative of
classic football
design from
Nigerian brand Lu
by Lu. Available
on Mrporter.com;
£207.76 (around
₹20,150)
BAG A
BRACE
Idon’t know whether it began after a controversy broke out over the comedian
Joe Rogan’s podcast on Spotify early this year, or after I watched The
Playlist, a mini series on Netflix, but for the past several months now I have
been wondering how much I am losing out by being dependent on Big
Streaming for much of the music I listen to. It’s paradoxical, really, because in
theory the major streaming platforms can give you almost anything you want
to listen to. I will try to explain what I mean but first, a bit about Rogan and
The
Playlist.
The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, which has an estimated 12.8 million subscribers,
got into controversy when Rogan showcased and seemingly
endorsed anti-vaxxers during the covid-19 pandemic; during some other episodes,
he allegedly used racial slurs too. Many musicians, notably Neil Young,
decided to pull their music from the streaming platform but Spotify did not
cancel Rogan. Personally, I find the podcast by Rogan, a former UFC commentator,
extremely low-brow, bordering on the inane—that probably also
explains why it has such a huge following.
The Playlist, on the other hand, is a Swedish Netflix series that is a semi-
fictionalised
account of how Spotify was founded, the controversies over its attitude
towards paying artists. Its finale, set in 2024 and 2026, highlights the
potential dangers of near-monopolistic music distribution that can leave millions
of musicians poorly paid, unheard or undiscovered.
For me, the Rogan controversy and The Playlist were triggers leading to a
reassessment of the most common way I listen to music. I subscribe to three
music streaming platforms—Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited—
and I find my listening habits have changed, not necessarily for the better,
with each.
Streaming services are like fire hoses when it comes to finding music. You
turn on that faucet and there is a deluge. That might not be a bad thing. Or is
it? Is it a problem of plenty? Like many people who have grown up listening to
music on physical formats—vinyls, cassettes, CDs—and moved on to streaming
because of its convenience, I have found that Big Streaming platforms
have their cons.
First, the algorithms they use. All of them throw up playlists that are ostensibly
based on your musical tastes (read: the frequency of what you have been
listening to). Often, what they suggest is ridiculously mismatched. The other
day, a 1990s Mix, purportedly “made for” me, kicked off with Yo La Tengo’s
excellent, downtempo, fuzzy and
warmth-radiating Moby Octopad.
But the second track on the playlist
was the Pixies’ Allison, a tribute
to American jazz and blues pianist
Mose Allison, delivered in the Pixies’
trademark punk rock-meetssurf
rock style, a vibe that is significantly
different from Yo La
Tengo’s. And then, for the third
track, the non-human tastemaker
(otherwise known as Spotify’s
algorithm) chose to serve me Silver
Jews’ Random Rules, full of the
band’s frontman (the late) David
Berman’s melancholy sadness.
Make no mistake, all three
bands are on the list of my favourites.
I love the self-effacing shoegazing
of YLT; I adore the loud-quiet-
loud shrieks and growls of the
Pixies; and I sometimes like to wallow
in the pool of sadness the Silver
Jews never fail to offer. But
would I like to listen to one song
from each of them back to back?
Hell, no!
The other problem with Big Streaming is that it can make you feel afflicted
by a severe case of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In theory,
you can listen to an album in full on a streaming site but how often do you
do that? The ease of switching from song to song can urge you to switch not
only albums and artists but genres too. That can be annoying.
So what’s the solution? One definite trend is the resurgence of physical formats.
In 2021, according to the Recording Industry Association of America
(Riaa), CD sales in the US, the largest market for music, increased for the first
time in two decades; vinyl sales have been on the rise for at least 15 years.
The biggest advantage of streaming over physical formats is that you can
get any music anywhere if you have an app, a phone and headphones. But
there are solutions emerging that can enable you to access your own music on
CDs or LPs in digital formats anywhere, at any time. If you convert your physical
collection to digital formats, Navidrome is a piece of software that allows
you to listen to your own digital music in the same way as Spotify or Apple
Music. Instead of Big Streaming, you can have personalised streaming and
even share your music with others. As for portability, Navidrome is compatible
with mobile phones and can be used in the same way as Big Streaming
apps.
Of course, there are other alternatives to Big Streaming. One of them is
YouTube, the platform of choice for Gen Z listeners. YouTube has two
advantages. First, there are videos, including full-length live concerts of your
favourite bands. Second, the algorithm doesn’t try as hard as Big Streaming
sites—so the element of surprise and the potential for new discoveries is high.
As a jamband enthusiast, I listened to (and watched) two recent gigs: by Phil
Lesh & Friends at Westchester, New York’s Capitol Theatre, and another by
the American band Goose at the Radio City Music Hall. Both were a) excellent
and b) not available on Big Streaming. Unplug yourself from a non-human
tastemaker and try other things. It can be like a breath of fresh air.
First Beat is a column on what’s new and groovy in the world of music.
@sanjoynarayan
1. ‘Moby Octopad’ by Yo La Tengo
from ‘I Can Hear The Heart Beating
As One’
2. ‘Allison’ by Pixies from ‘Bossanova’
3. ‘Random Rules’ by Silver Jews
from ‘American Water’
4. ‘All I Need’ by Goose from
‘2022.03.12 Philadelphia, PA’
5. ‘Night Of A Thousand Stars’ by
Phil Lesh & Friends from ‘There
And Back’
Five tracks to bookend
your week
THE LOUNGE
LIST
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