The band’s 1996 debut We Are Not Listening (stream here) was a product of its times, efficient alternative rock that lacked the courage to aspire to greatness. 2002’s Up (stream here) was a bold foray into leftfield, but it was still raw and experimental, held back by the crude production. Their third album It’s Ok, It’s All Good (stream here) should have been the one that saw them live up to their massive potential, but despite a few catchy tunes, it was unimaginative, boring and – the biggest sin of all – safe (as we pointed out in our review of the album), That was 2008 though, and the Pentagram of 2011 is a completely different beast.

While It’s Ok, It’s All Good saw the band trying to take its sound into the mainstream, on Bloodywood, Pentagram happily embraces its indie roots. The title is an allusion to the growing confidence and assertiveness of Indian indie, as artists and musicians all over the country emerge from the shadow of India’s film industry and stake claim to their place under the sun. Or to put it in their words, “Bloodywood means the exact conceptual counterpoint, or even antidote, to the overwhelming mainstream.” Every aspect of the album reflects and highlights this newfound sense of comfort, from the title and artwork to the music itself.

Musically, Bloodywood touches on the same reference points (guitar rock mixed with bass-heavy electronica) as the earlier albums, but what has changed is the way it all comes together. While their earlier stuff could often degenerate into a game of ‘spot the influence’, Bloodywood is greater than the sum of its parts. The foundation of this new sound is a crunchy, meaty guitar tone with a distinct ’90s vibe. Tracks such as ‘No 2 Ways’ and the instant classic ‘Love Drug Climbdown’ are essentially hard-hitting ’90s rock songs, enhanced by Randolph Correia’s carefully chosen electronica samples. The band is also open to exploring new territory, such as the cathartic ‘This Could Get Ugly’, a downtempo fusion of trip-hop vocals and sub-bass electronica complemented by a simple, spaced out guitar lick. The sounds of Bombay seep through on tracks like ‘Tomorrow’s Decided’, ‘Mental Zero’ and ‘In My Head’ where the band borrows melodies and rhythms from Bombay street music and filters them through its own aesthetic vision, creating vibrant rock music that is both local and global in its reach. It is this particular quality that makes their music truly accessible. It’s also why Pentagram is the only band that can get an audience full of elitist indie hipsters and Bandra street kids to dance together, temporarily erasing all boundaries of class and culture, as only the best music can. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you missed out on a helluva gig – it was one of our favourite gigs of 2009)

The band’s newfound confidence and self-awareness extends to the lyrics as well. Vishal Dadlani eschews the strident advocacy of earlier albums and looks inwards for inspiration. A lot of the songs deal with intensely personal themes. ‘Human Failings’ is about accepting and understanding your faults, featuring one of the most memorable lines  in Indian indie – “Experience is just a bunch of, bunch of, bunch of mistakes.” A personal favourite is ‘Technology (I Get You)’ which features a simple, almost hypnotizing sample looped over and over, with Dadlani softly crooning the words, “I see the darkness, I see the light, I know your troubles, I think I get you.” On the arena sized rocker ‘Mental Zero’, Vishal rails against the dumbing down of popular culture, but at the same time recognizes the futility of it all with the lines, “I can take you through the process but I can’t make you think.” ‘Paper Toys’ is an ode to both the Bombay monsoon and the powers of regeneration and healing that it can symbolize – “Feels like everything is going to be be washed clean.”

The highlight of the album is ‘Nocturne’, an easy contender for the song of the year. Propelled by a classic stoner rock riff that will have you on your feet within five seconds, the song is Dadlani’s elegy to his insomnia and the melancholic charm of the Bombay night. It’s the sort of song that will make the most condescending hipster pull down his mask of irony, hold up a lighter and sing along.

Of course, even an album like Bloodywood will stumble occasionally. The production is uneven, with tracks like ‘Identify’ and ‘Let Go’ sounding too unpolished and raw. But minor foibles aside, Bloodywood is Pentagram’s crowning achievement. Going forward, the only real problem I can see is how the band will top this on the next album. It’s just that fucking good.

Indiecision: A-

January 2011

Peter Cat Recording Co.
Debut album Sinema was released January 01; our review.

Shades of Retribution
Xongram was released on January 05.

OCTOBER
Defeat the Question was released on January 15.

Faridkot
Debut album 1 was released on January 20.

Pitch Black Symphony
Awakening was released on January 23.

Fire Exit
Debut EP OkBye! was released on January 24; our review.

menwhopause
Second full-length studio album Easy was released on January 25; our review.

Wrenz United
By the Moonlight was released on January 25.

Blood Meridian
Elements of Brutality was released on January 27.

February 2011

Final Surrender
St Sinner was released on February 23.

Middle Finger Theory
Debut EP Middle Finger Theory was released this month.

Pip of the Fourth Mother
Debut album Lun was released this month.

March 2011

Exhumation
Third full-length studio album Consider This was released on March 07.

Pentagram
Fourth full-length studio album Bloodywood was released on March 23.

The Lightyears Explode
Debut EP The Lightyears Explode was released on March 27; our review.

April 2011

Dischordian
Released their debut album, The Feni Farm Riot, on April 04; our review, they also won best cover art of 2011.

Cyanide
Sugarcoated was released on April 17.

Arcane Deception
Debut EP Arcane Deception was released on April 20.

Karsh Kale
Seventh full-length studio album Cinema was released on April 26.

May 2011

Verses
Threshold was released on May 05.

Swara Sutra
Indulgence was released May 06.

Adam & The Fish Eyed Poets
Second full-length album Dead Loops was released on May 08 and is available for free download; our review.

Kryptos
The Coils of Apoliyon was released on May 09.

Rosemary
Debut six-track EP A Legacy of Ruined Days was released on  May 13 and is available for free download.

Elvish Mirage
Reflections in Flickering Hope was released on May 20.

June 2011

Dark Carnage
Abominate.Annihilate was released on June 16.

Noiseware
Debut EP Wake Up and Soar was released on June 19.

July 2011

Eccentric Pendulum
Winding The Optics was released on July 03.

Sandrembee
Miscalculation and the Cosmic Catastrophe was released on July 07.

Sifar
Debut EP Sifar was released on July 14.

August 2011

Prosody
Paper Plane was released on August 09.

The Shakey Rays
Tunes From The Big Belly was released on August 17; our review.

The Scavenger Project
Empty Highway was released on August 17.

September 2011

Forsaken
Hemispheres was released on September 24.

Indian Ocean
Sixth full-length studio album 16/330 Khajoor Road was released (physical) on September 26.

Harsha Iyer
Debut Album Curious Toys was released on September 28.

October 2011
Sidd Coutto
Debut Solo Album Sunny Side Up was released on October 6

Cheisrah
OMG! She’s Here was released on October 18.

Abhishek Dasgupta
EP 1 was released on October 18.

Sifar
Debut album 1 was released on October 23.

November 2011

Pangea
Snails Are When I Was Young was released on November 06.

Chandresh Kudwa
Conqueror was released on November 07.

Goddess Gagged
Debut Album Resurfaces was released on November 19; our review.

December 2011

Alobo Naga and The Band
Debut EP Painted Dreams was released on December 16.

Acrimony
False Vacuum was released on December 21.

Dark Helm
Persepolis was released on December 27.

We crosschecked our original 2011 guide, and found the releases that did not drop in 2011.
Theorized: Debut full-length studio album
Avial: Second full-length studio album
Workshop: Second full-length studio album
Reptilian Death: First full-length studio album
Purple Blood: Debut EP
Demonstealer (Solo project): Did not release
Bhayanak Maut: Fourth full-length studio album
Ankur & The Ghalat Family: Second full-length album
Tough on Tobacco: Double album, second full-length effort
Alien Chutney: Live album
Airport: Debut full-length album, to be released track-by-track
Emperor Minge: Debut full-length album
The Circus: Second full-length album
Khiladi – Hi! EP: Debut EP
Indus Creed: First full-length album with new lineup, fourth album overall
Infernal Wrath: Second full-length album
Indigo Children: Debut full-length album
Kaav: Debut full-length album
Swarathma: Second full-length album
Native Tongue: Debut full-length album
Gaurav Jagwani – Silence And A Child: Debut full length album
Ameeth Thomas: Debut solo EP
Agam: Debut eight track EP
Arsh Sharma: Debut solo album
Sulk Station: Debut album
Da-Saz: Second full-length studio album
Zero: Live album, recorded at the Blue Frog, Mumbai
Something Relevant: Sophomore studio album
The Riot Peddlers: Debut EP
Bombay Bassment: Debut EP
Sanjeev T: Debut solo album
The Yellow Pages – The First Edition: Debut full-length album
Lycanthropia: Debut full-length album
Solder: Debut full-length album
Nikhil D’Souza: Debut EP
Tempo Tantrick: Debut full-length studio album
Split – Four Rums and a Fresh Lime Soda (working title): Debut full-length studio album
Sky Rabbit: Second studio album
The Ska Vengers: Debut EP
Advaita: Second full-length album

Pentagram give us a special version of Up classic ‘Drive’ that they’ve been performing live recently.

Randolph Correia (guitarist) told us a little bit about this unreleased track

The Pentagram track ‘Drive’ was something that I had started working on for our live set, because we had been doing ‘Drive’ for like ages and I wanted to work on another version, so I worked out a dubsteppy version. And I presented it to the band and they loved and we’ve been playing it live, and people love it, so we just kept it. We’ve never put that out before and you guys have the first release.

(Why ‘Drive’?) It was something about the tempo, it was a 140bpm, and most dubstep tracks are 140bpm, and it just fit in. I didn’t want to do a house or techno remix.

Download ‘Drive Dubsteppy Demo 1′ here.

Amidst all of that, local graphic designer Sukrit Nagaraj, also an aspiring photographer, clicked some photos at the festival. However, whilst editing his photos he realized he wanted to do something different, considering everyone was uploading photos anyway. The idea, in its core, was to bring together “graphic designing with photography to create some posters to grab the attention of the audience”. The result is a series of art posters of several performers at the festival, that Nagraj has made available for free download. Nagraj has received fairly good response to this project, as evidenced by his Facebook page, and plans to take this up on a larger scale.

As Nagraj puts it, “There aren’t many places I know of, where you get good posters of Indian bands and definitely not for free. Like I said, with the posters, I just wanted to grab everyone’s attention towards my photography and designing skills.” He’s put together posters for several bands including Bhayanak Maut, Scribe, Blackstratblues, Goddess Gagged, Blakc, Pentagram, The Circus, Soulmate, The Raghu Dixit Project and Shaa’ir + Func.

Check out the entire set of posters here. Also, check out our pick of the lot below.

P-Man of Shaa'ir + Func

Check out all our coverage of the Bacardi NH7 Weekender here.

Blackstratblues
One track in and Warren Mendonsa announces this set’s going to be completely different from the others. Though he played a good amount of unreleased music, the biggest change was the inclusion of Mumbai singer-songwriter Nikhil D’Souza on vocals. And while anyone with a good grasp over the obvious would agree that Mendonsa and his fellow instrumentalists hit the mark with great precision, D’Souza unfortunately, was quite a buzzkill. Now we’re entirely unsure as to whether he wasn’t at his best on stage, but what was otherwise a highlight set never ended up being as enjoyable.

Blackstratblues

The Circus
The young New Delhi alt-rockers played a bunch of new material as the harsh afternoon sun beat down on the Bacardi Black Rock Arena. The band interspersed a series of new songs like ‘Bats’ and ‘Gardens’ with material from their debut album From Space. The bands was on form for set staples like ‘Japanese Rebellion’ and ‘My Humps’, but the new material was lost in a blaze of angular guitaring, distorted bass and the piercing sun.

The Circus

Blakc
Mumbai alt-grunge act Blakc played the sundown set at the Rock Arena as it packed up with black t-shirt-sporting, foam finger-rocking fans. The band played material from their debut album Choking In A Dream, encouraged by a strong contingent of Pune fans. While the band delivered a tight set, their fairly lacklustre take on ’90s post-grunge leaves much to be desired.

Blakc

menwhopause
As has been the case for most of menwhopause’s 2011 touring calendar, the band performed as a quartet sans vocalist Sarabjit Chaddha, with bassist Randeep Singh filling in behind the mic. The band played an incredibly energetic set comprising mostly of material from their second studio album Easy. They also played material from a promised third album, titled Haze, in a set that provided one of the big highlights of the day. Right at the end of the set the band played an almost metal version of encore regular ‘Kaatil Sardar’ prompting several singalongs and ROTFLs. Mega.

menwhopause

Tough On Tobacco
Post the resonating high that menwhopause left the Bacardi Black Rock Arena with, the big challenge that Tough On Tobacco faced was keeping the energy levels of the audience up. Luckily, frontman Sidd Coutto was up to the task. ToT played a tight set of material from their debut album The Happy Goat along with tracks from their upcoming second studio album Big Big Joke. Set highlights included a particularly upbeat rendition of ‘Love Love Love’, set closer ‘Smoke Some Ganja’ and a shoutout to Scribe’s ‘I Love You Pav Bhaji’ stall.

Tough On Tobacco

Pentagram
The Mumbai electro-rock giants closed the Bacardi Black Rock Arena with a set that saw a singalong to frontman Vishal Dadlani’s pronunciation of the word “Magarpatta” (he compared it to how people in the capital pronounce the word “generator”). Penta opened with the bass-heavy Eristoff Invasion Festival version of ‘Drive’ and then went on to play a majority of material from their new album Bloodywood including ‘In My Head’, ‘Lovedrug Climbdown’ and ‘Mental Zero’. Dadlani had to literally run to The Dewarists Stage immediately after Pentagram wrapped up to join Imogen Heap on their The Dewarists collab ‘Minds Without Fear’.

Pentagram

Check out the lineup of day three at the Bacardi Black Rock Arena here.

For live updates from the festival grounds, follow the official live blog. Certain sets are also being live streamed on our Facebook page.

Photos by Shiv Ahuja, Prateek Biswas, Maanas Singh, and Naman Saraiya