Velo Sound Station- a Bilal Maqsood directed digital music series, dropped their first episode on Friday. It is a digital music platform launched by British American Tobacco (BAT) to endorse the ‘pop’ music culture of Pakistan.
In a post, Maqsood announced that they will be dropping a few numbers each week, and it is only a digital media series, where the episodes will be available on all online music streaming sites. He also added that this is a project he’d been working on for the past 11 months.
From the launch posters to trailers, teasers and countdown posts, everything looked slick, and definitely had the audience charged. Amassing 37.6k subscribers on their official YouTube channel in such a short time, we could see the fans were waiting for the episodes to drop ASAP.
With no release of Coke Studio this year, this definitely had us pumped. All of us were craving for a reprieve from the pandemic and these looming anxieties. And unsurprisingly this episode was pleasurable in some ways, but there were definitely some downsides to it. Let’s have a look.
1. Sorry, The Pop Didn’t Start At This!
Who doesn’t like Atif Aslam? I mean when nothing works for you, you call in Atif Aslam to save the show for you. But, unfortunately, that did not actually work out for Velo Sound Station. This song was so incomprehensible. The mix plate of Urdu and Punjabi was so off-putting. They say you need to listen to a song again and again to let it grow over you, but the first few seconds into Kadi Te Hans, and you were completely zoned out. What was even happening here? No pop for us, quite literally.
On a side note: Atif Aslam looked bedazzling in that blue suit.
2. Yes This Got Us Grooving
This Alamgir song remake by Umair Jaswal was not so bad we must say. He made us groove to the tunes. A good upbeat song and Jaswal’s energy is unmatchable. Yes, classics have their own place in the history of music, and remakes definitely cannot do justice to them. However, this song is quite catchy and is a major workout inspo.
Also Read: Atif Aslam Releases Kadi Te Hans and Twitterati Can’t Stop Drooling
3. The Dizzying Videography
There’s something amiss in Strings’ cinematography. From Coke Studio to Velo Sound Station, it misses the right spot every time. The camera seemed unsteady and frames changed so frequently that registering a scene became a hassle. It got difficult to concentrate on the songs while watching the video. They can definitely do better.
4. Natasha Noorani And Her Pink Suit Stole The Show
I remember being hooked to Natasha Noorani’s cover of Iqbal Bano’s Daagh e Dil. There is something so soulful and mesmerizing in her voice, you keep coming back to her songs. There were a lot of expectations from this rising star and she came up to our expectations. Baby Baby, and original struck the right chords with me. Not to forget that absolutely jaw dropping pink suit and those loose curls were a complete package.
5. Let’s Give It To The Extras
Tbh, people dancing in the back added so much energy and impact to the overall feel of the show. Yes they’ve received criticism but we totally loved them. One thing that Velo Sound Station should work on is their lighting. Everything looks so undiscernible. Please throw more light on them. Love how crazily cute the episode got because of them. Props to them!
Kudos to Strings on coming up with new ventures like these for Pakistani music industry but we would love some more original tracks than remakes, please.
Did you enjoy the first episode? Let us know in the comments down below.