Belagedhu coffee is super fun; lyrics-wise and vocals too – by Ganesh, Sadhu Kokila, Arjun and Rangayana Raghu. Its twin, By-2 bedsheet is equally good with the female vocals spin. Arjun’s title song seems noisily bombastic, but he makes amends in Smilevasi, a wonderfully catchy track with pitch-perfect orchestration. Everybody rock cranks up the kuthu [...]

Pada pada Kannada‘s highlight is of course Puneeth Rajkumar’s vocals, since Jassie Gift makes only meek changes to his Lajjavathiye template. Oh jeevave and Shyloo, thankfully have Jassie changing tracks and offer immensely hummable melodies, particularly the title song (sung wonderfully by Ishan Dev), that is gorgeous while having a different tune from the Tamil [...]

Naxalite naanalla is approached and executed much like a massy Telugu track; foot-tapping and instantly likeable due to its simplicity. Ivan yaaro sounds interesting mainly because of Surmukhi’s vocals and the way Manikanth drags and leaves specific phrases on the vocals and music! Priya ninna starts off promisingly enough, much like Alai Paayuthey’s Yaaro, but [...]

Chandrana has obviously poor chorus vocals, but Hari sure knows how to appeal to the lowest common denominator; the song is catchy. Much like Naveen Madhav’s Inky pinky, with that childishly repetitive hook. Coffee (listed as ‘Coffeg’ in the CD!) has horrendous vocals by Ganesh and contrastingly lovely singing by Priyadarshini; only its conversational style [...]

Gandu makkalu cruises smoothly enough with its foot-tapping, but oft-repeated tune, except when it stumbles upon childish interludes. Dilkhush is a lovely melody; very catchy, with simple, lovely arrangements, while the mildly-Black Eyed Peas’ish Boom boom pa merely passes muster. Inthi ninna preethiya is sweet, but very stale as far as the melody goes, while [...]

Rajkumar’s 80s cult hit by Ilayaraja, Jeeva hoovagidhe, gets a mildly altered makeover, but the modern intrusions (that obnoxious I love you!) only add to the annoyance. Emil’s simple, Mano Murthy’ish melody in Pisugudale is undeniably appealing, while Sajnaare is a very breezy and pleasant number sounding almost like it’s composed by a Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy assistant [...]

Devi’s own vocals in the addictive Dil maange more and the mindlessly simple and catchy tune of Hey mister baalu are endearing. The composer does best in the breezy number with a captivating hook, Madhu maasa and more specifically in the exotic, slow melody, Kodu kodu varavanu, with enticing singing by Gopika Poornima. Muddu muddu [...]

With a childishly simple tune and silly lyrics it’s easy to dismiss Strawberry kenne, but composer Mano Murthy packs it with easy-on-the-ears arrangements while Rajesh and Supriya impress with their renditions. The Sonu-Jayanth-Mano combination works again in Maathinalli helalarenu, again with a mild, Latin melody – Shreya Ghoshal’s version too is very listenable, with different [...]