Music: The Morning After

Artists: CorduroyMoby Noor

DIY. Do It Yourself. Not a common occurrence in the Pakistani rockpop music scene. A scene usually packed with men and women beating their chests about the absence of the required number of record labels in the country. A scene in which most acts are caught cat walking in front of cynical multinationals and assorted corporate paraphernalia to wet their solely commercial interests. So where does a purely DIY effort like Corduroy’s “The Morning After” fit in here?
To begin with try spinning it on your CD player. If not for anything then at least to register your approval of such independent initiatives and to register your protest against formulaic crap being pressed and promoted as pop and rock by crass cola and tea endorsers and the many mediocre media outlets they are being hailed on.
Even though one can praise the ideological aspect of the DIY philosophy and practice, does this also mean that all such ventures are worth a serious listen? Because way back in the late-‘80s when as a ruffled college kid I realized that not all DIY material coming out from New York, California and London underground scenes was as good or exciting as, say, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Sonic Youth, Television or Black Flag. I used to get my sister to post me heap loads of underground stuff but very rarely did I manage to discover an untapped Floyd, or a brand new Sabbath, or anything that could challenge the edge offered by the likes of Sonic Youth, Suzanne Vega, DRI or Public Enemy.
But in a time and place where the underground scene (anywhere in the world) is quite clueless to even know and grasp what the term really or once stood for, and when mainstream music is more about posing for videos and commercials than recapturing the might and muscle of the likes of all the Zeppelins, Floyds, Dylans, Jacksons and Nirvanas … or for that matter (and in our case), the early Junoon and VS … an album such as this should cheer cynics such as me?
Well it should. But not the way I thought it would. Because even though I did find the compositional sides and musicmanship apt and interesting in the review I did for Corduroy’s EP on this site a few months ago, however, when I decided to listen to them on a full length album, it was (as if as a firmer second opinion), clear that Corduroy’s main strength lies not so much on the band’s Pearl-Jam-meets-Van-Halen chords and cuts, but in their lyrics!
I’ve always had problems with local bands singing in English, because almost all of them (even Junoon, if not especially Junoon!), sound nothing more than pompous, or worse, comical. And even though such was not the case with Corduroy, I still wanted to see them using their talents more in the Urdu rock territory. But since this time around I had a full lyric sheet in front of me I understood exactly why Corduroy has insisted on using English as their language of choice in this respect.
They lyrics are some of the best I’ve seen this side of Roger Waters, David Bowie, Eddie Veddar and Thom York. This may seem to be a bombastic and overstated observation on my part, but coming from a man who does not suffer fools gladly and is not prone to dish out such exhibitions of flamboyant praise, I think you should visit www.corduroyonline.com to get the picture. In fact I was so taken in by the quality of song writing I suddenly realized how unimportant the music sounded. It is my belief that such lyrics require music that is a lot more dynamic, adventurous and expressive. In other word, more vividly reflective of the weighty nature of the lyrics. But mind you, by weighty I do not mean that they aspire the grandeur landscapes emoted by lyrics of acts such as Rush, ELP, Yes, Celtic Frost or Animals-era-Floyd. They reminded me a lot as being a criss-cross between Bowie’s quirky eccentricity, REM’s enigmatic word play and Pearl Jam ‘s (or vintage, early ‘90s grunge rock’s) irreverent, satirical pessimism.
All of them are by lead singer Mobasshir Noor (aka Moby). And it is this exceptional talent of his that has saved him from being taken to task by yours truly for failing not to become YET ANOTHER Eddie Veddar imitation. And ironically it is the band’s sole Urdu song on the album (the rather flat “Aas”), that proves that Moby does have the ability to sound a lot different.
However, my question remains, exactly where does a Pakistani rock act singing in English sees itself? With music that is only interesting in bits and pieces and vocals that remind one of the many Pearl Jam wannabes already out there, it is suffice to say that Corduroy will most probably wont venture beyond the territory already treaded and exhausted by the now defunct (English singing) local rock acts such as Coven, Mind Riot and The Trip. But I must say, the breath and vision and kind of word play and imagery used by Moby in his lyrics does suggest a musician who is not in it just to live out a short rock boy fantasy. But I insist that Corduroy will have to work harder on their music, because even though there is nothing sloppy about the musicmanship, it just doesn’t manage to sound something more than just a grittier version of Noori’s lightweight college rock. And as mentioned earlier, all these terrific lyrics will require a lot more twists and turns and more adventurous dynamics as music. And I am convinced that by the time the next Corduroy album arrives (and I hope it does), the band would have advanced in leaps and bounds. All the seeds are there. All there.