INDIE
REVIEWS
SHREYA BOSE
Downmarket (Chabuk):
When Chabuk released
Shahenshah last year,
comparisons with Rage
Against the Machine were
abundant and unsurprising.
Frontman Microphon3
raps with a careful mix of
aggression and amusement
that makes for an excellent
accompaniment to every
listener’s repressed rage.
Kaun Hip-Hop is a biting indictment of unreasonable
consumerism, a thematic continuation of early and what is
ubiquitously taken as original hip-hop. As is their ken, the
band showers you with laughably true statements about
everyday degeneracies (“Tera bina brand ke kachcha ni”).
Microphon3’s raps with the sensibilities of an armoured war
horse, careful in his verbal demolition of whatever it is that
has earned the band’s wrath. The devastation of his lyricism
is framed by rage-rock doled out by guitarist Michael Lee,
drummer Devanshu Sampat and bassist Roop Thomas.
Pyaar ekes out a common tale of horror. Boy meets girl, boy
marries girl, boy abuses girl. But don’t you worry, because
Chabuk wouldn’t leave you without a happy ending.
And by happy, I mean that she kills him.
To call their eloquent spittake on an abuse-murder
Pyaar shows a dangerous, irresistible cheekiness that
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The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
makes it clear that Chabuk have every intention of living
up to their name. If one will excuse the pun, they do
manage to whip you into shape, and get you to take the
various human atrocities a little more seriously (or, at
least, think about it for more than a passing breath).
Downmarket is a charming (and vicious) listing
of commonplace hypocrisy that usually passes for
social interaction (“ Baingan sunke lagte thumke/
Aubergine, let’s break it down”). It doesn’t matter if
you’ve been pulling any of these silly two-faced stunts
for social validation, you’ll still giggle at the ridiculous
catalogue of superficial middle-class aspiration.
While we’ve reviewed Shahenshah before, but couldn’t
pass up the chance to emphasize it's excellence in spewing
mockery at the incompetence of clearly untalented
rappers with very little to offer. The riffs move from
rock to metal with the band’s characteristic aplomb.
Downmarket is all about the grooves. Every song
is an earworm for wordplay and soundscape
alike. Their sound bites and entices, and makes
you want to grab tickets to their next live and/or
punch your obnoxious neighbour (Don’t do it).
Chabuk has arrived as a decided fixture of rap-rock in the
country. They have raged their way into becoming the voice
for bitter cynics who like their melodies taut and their anger
poetic. Either way, their remarkability is not up for question.