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Sanjoy Narayan

Last summer, while a debate over net neutrality was on in the US, in his very funny news satire show, Last Week Tonight, the comedian John Oliver used a typically risqué example to explain what a non-neutral Internet could do to small web-based entrepreneurs and startups.

Articles by Sanjoy Narayan

Long-playing records: 5 albums that got Sanjoy Narayan started

‘It’s been 50 years since I got hooked. From Wish You Were Here to Abbey Road, tracks from these albums still find their way onto my playlists,’ he says.

Jethro Tull’s Aqualung blended acoustic and hard rock exquisitely and with complexity.
Published on Dec 06, 2024 08:08 PM IST

For the love of Goat: Sanjoy Narayan writes on Sweden’s cosmic folk concept band

Little is known about the members; they wear masks and costumes at gigs. Rather than wonder about it all, here’s why you should simply enjoy their music.

At a festival in Barcelona in 2016. (Getty Images)
Updated on Nov 09, 2024 05:29 PM IST

The return of Guitar Zombie: Sanjoy Narayan writes on Sturgill Simpson

He is often pigeonholed as a country musician, but his influences extend so far beyond that genre. His body of work, meanwhile, also includes a zombie movie.

Simpson performs in Austin, Texas, in September. (Getty Images)
Updated on Oct 19, 2024 02:32 PM IST

Finding a deeper register: Sanjoy Narayan on rising British star Nadine Shah

The Pakistani-origin musician’s songs reflect her complex identity, and her ability to transform personal trauma into compelling art.

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Updated on Oct 05, 2024 01:44 PM IST

Folk, spoken word, jazz: Give the old mix a shuffle, says Sanjoy Narayan

Don’t just let the algorithms choose for you. Check out seven intriguing voices that deserve a spot in your headphones. In this week’s Download Central.

Cover art for the album Veena by American rapper Heems (birth name: Himanshu Kumar Suri).
Updated on Sep 21, 2024 01:29 PM IST

Rock’s prince of darkness: Sanjoy Narayan writes on Nick Cave

He had been using his music to find a way out of the fog after the death of his sons. His new album, Wild God, is joyful and uplifting.

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Updated on Sep 07, 2024 03:06 PM IST

Sanjoy Narayan on King Gizzard, a lizard wizard and the chameleons of rock

The band’s music can't be pinned down to a genre. Experiments extend beyond music too... they once released a batch of songs for anyone to produce as vinyl LPs.

The sextet comprises frontman Stu Mackenzie and Ambrose Kenny-Smith, Cook Craig, Joey Walker, Lucas Harwood and Michael Cavanagh, all now in their 30s.
Updated on Aug 24, 2024 04:18 PM IST

Headbangers’ ball: Sanjoy Narayan on the French band Gojira

The heavy-metal band that performed at the Olympics opening ceremony are rare both for their music and their defining stand on ecological issues.

At the opening ceremony. (Getty Images)
Updated on Aug 10, 2024 04:32 PM IST

What do new roots sound like?: Sanjoy Narayan on the rare sound of Ganavya

The 30-something singer melds Carnatic vocals with jazz. Her voice has been described as one that ‘could turn stoics into sobbing wrecks’.

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Updated on Jul 27, 2024 06:58 PM IST

NOFX’s final act of punk-rock rebellion: Download Central by Sanjoy Narayan

The legendary band formed in the ’80s stayed true to the mission in ways that Green Day and Blink-182 did not. Now, they’re on their final tour.

Fat Mike and the band perform in Vancouver in 2019. Fans will miss his banter, eclectic cross-dressing, and his willingness to live the punk ethos of challenging norms and being true to oneself. (Getty Images)
Updated on Jul 12, 2024 08:58 PM IST

The larger-than-life legacy of the Pixies: Download Central with Sanjoy Narayan

The ’80s band may not have had a lot of mainstream success, but they’ve influenced generations of rock legends. And they’re still going strong.

The band’s new original, You’re So Impatient, runs just over two minutes and is a tense song about love dynamics between two people, set against the grisly backdrop of a dead shopping mall full of zombies.
Updated on Jun 21, 2024 07:50 PM IST
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The rebel sounds of the Sahara: Sanjoy Narayan on desert blues

Tishoumaren is a genre marked by the struggles of an ethnic community’s attempts to assert its identity.

A scene from the music video for Imouhar (Tuareg for brother or comrade), a song from Mdou Moctar’s latest album Funeral for Justice, which has themes of political strife, rebellion and protest.
Updated on Jun 07, 2024 10:07 PM IST

Beneath Finland’s surface, a concrete maze to keep enemies out

Finland's extensive network of bomb shelters provides safety amid rising tensions with Russia, as a retired man checks on his wife's protection.

Inside one of the bunkers in Helsinki (Sanjoy Narayan)
Updated on Jun 03, 2024 05:38 AM IST
By, Helsinki

Slash and burn: The Guns N’ Roses guitarist's new album is a blues tribute

The star-studded compilation features Steven Tyler, Demi Lovato, Iggy Pop, and covers of legendary blues tracks. Plus, a bonus original by Slash.

The cover art for Orgy of the Damned.
Updated on May 24, 2024 02:14 PM IST

The opening notes of a new wave: Sanjoy Narayan writes on British jazz

Trace a story of royal courts, Caribbean immigrants, and a joyous new sound exemplified by the young Ezra Collective. In this week’s Download Central.

Like alchemists of sound, the Ezra Collective blends traditional jazz with contemporary sounds, including hip hop, soul, funk, and Nigerian Afrobeat. (Via Instagram)
Updated on May 10, 2024 06:45 PM IST

Can one brand Finnish them off? Sanjoy Narayan on Valco’s cult headphones

The flagship noise-cancelling model, the VMK20, is almost half the price of anything comparable. The company has a unique approach to marketing too.

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Updated on Jul 29, 2022 03:23 PM IST

The Band beyond description: How Dylan’s ensemble chorus found its voice

They dug deep into the roots of rock music and blended that with country, folk, R&B and soul, to create a sound that was exclusively theirs.

Album art for The Basement Tapes, released in 1975. The group of musicians that backed Dylan on this album later formed The Band.
Updated on May 21, 2021 09:37 PM IST

A dip in the Arctic: Sanjoy Narayan on his love for ice-swimming

Nothing can prepare you for the shock of stripping down and descending into an ice-hole in the dead of Finland’s winter. But after the shock comes a euphoria. There’s a reason ice-swimmers are addicted, and some won’t even warm up in a sauna afterwards.

The author, photographed by a drone while descending into an ice-hole in Helsinki. (Photo: Sami Kero)
Published on Mar 19, 2021 05:15 PM IST

The Allman Brothers Band: A final closure

The Allman Brothers Band ended in 2014; but Gregg Allman’s death gives that a sad finality

The Allman Brothers Band’s diverse fan club came together to mourn Gregg Allman’s (above) recent death(Getty images)
Updated on Jun 11, 2017 12:05 AM IST
Hindustan Times | By

Indulging in micro-doses of Metal in May

In Finland, the world’s capital of extreme metal, let’s take a plunge into the genre

Metal veterans Rotten Sound play ‘grindcore’ metal, a genre characterised by micro-songs delivered with a high intensity(rottensound.com)
Updated on May 28, 2017 01:26 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By

The Insomniac’s Playlist

On a sleepless night, a podcast that spreads its magic and fills your head

Songs by The Claypool Lennon Delirium, a collaboration between Les Claypool (left) and Sean Lennon, are a real treat on Endless Boundaries Jam Radio, a Philadelphia-based podcast(Getty Images)
Updated on Jun 02, 2017 05:37 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By

The Bard of the Barroom

Craig Finn’s music is all in the lyrics and those always tell gritty, compelling stories

Craig Finn is an exponent of Sprechgesang or speech song(Getty Images)
Published on Apr 29, 2017 09:51 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By

The one-man jam band

Keller Williams is a musician who’s greater than the sum of many parts

Live phrased looping is the hallmark of Keller Williams’s music(Getty Images)
Published on Apr 15, 2017 09:10 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By

Many years later... Ten years after

Why the British blues rock band Ten Years After and guitarist Alvin Lee need a rediscovery

Alvin Lee, front man and lead guitar player of British blues-rock band Ten Years After, was known for his superfast style of playing(Getty Images)
Published on Apr 01, 2017 09:36 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By

Still got the blues

Two bluesmen, one young and the other old, but both with blistering guitars

Bryan Lee has magic in his guitar and a voice that belies his age(Getty Images)
Published on Mar 18, 2017 09:03 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By

Benign bluesmen of Delhi

They won the Mahindra Blues Band Hunt this year but BLU deserves much bigger plaudits

BLU, barely two years old, are as much a Delhi band as they are Darjeeling’s(Saumya Khandelwal)
Published on Mar 02, 2017 03:24 PM IST
BySanjoy Narayan

Unknown knight of indie music

Mark Eitzel could be one of today’s best musicians you have never heard of

Sometimes you randomly discover a musician and realise that not everyone gets the acclaim that they deserve; Mark Eitzel is one of them
Published on Feb 11, 2017 08:51 PM IST

Two Old Gems

Rediscovering Leon Russell; and looking back at John Mayall

John Mayall has led numerous bands and counts as being someone who has provided a launching pad for many musicians(Shutterstock)
Updated on Jan 28, 2017 08:22 PM IST
Hindustan Times | By

A Phish feast for the new year

Going to a gig by this hard-touring band is like being on a magical flight

At the Phish run, every person stood up and danced – each on a journey of their own, moving to whatever the music meant to them individually(Getty Images)
Published on Jan 14, 2017 07:34 PM IST

Did you miss these two albums in 2016?

Paul Simon and Wilco released low-key gems last year. Check them out

Paul Simon can be called the pioneer of “indie-folk” if that means songs with literate lyrics and innovative musical compositions(Getty Images)
Published on Dec 31, 2016 06:56 PM IST
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