Basheer & The Pied Pipers: Marching to their own beats
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KARACHI: Percussive, groovy, spacious, ethereal, melodic, cinematic, organic and even idiosyncratic. These are all words that could be used to describe the unassuming duo that is "Basheer & The Pied Pipers."
The brainchild of medical students Saad Munzar and Salman Younas khan, "Basheer & The Pied Pipers" started out much like many bands often do — a jam session.
"We were just jamming one day in college and Salman came along and joined us," said Munzar. " It was that magical moment where we just gelled together musically."
It was that initial moment of chemistry that led them to learning the process of actually writing music.
"We kind of started delving into how to make music, " said Munzar. "It started with just messing around with sounds and suddenly ideas would appear and take shape."
Those first experimentations culminated in their first EP "Paperclouds", which was released in June 2011.
Listening to their music it is not hard to imagine that their influences range across a broad spectrum.
"Absolutely everything!" is how Khan describes their influences. "Stuff from TV shows, video games. Bands like Radiohead, Massive Attack, Mew, Toe, Sigur Ros, Nujabes and Mos Def."
Usually, it's somewhat of a red flag when people say they listen to '"everything", but not in the case of The Pied Pipers.
Their new album "Basheer", released on July 16, is hard evidence of the fact that these guys mean what they say.
The album is delightfully unorthodox. Each song is a new sonic adventure for the restless duo. But, despite its boldness and weirdness, it is easy on the ear, with a melodiousness and a gentle palette that doesn’t demand huge leaps of faith.
"There's elements of everything, " said Munzar. " It could be called post-rock, to indie to even math rock, because we use unusual time signatures."
Munzar, who handles guitar and bass duties in the band, isn't your traditional axeman. What he relies on is quick and snappy phrases and interesting textures rather than the traditional fuzz laden crunchy guitar riffs of yore.
On the other hand there's Salman Younas Khan who's percussive sensibilities are constructed on nervous and skittery rhythms and deep and doomy grooves.
It's a marriage of instantly complimenting philosophies held together by their collective passion for creating a unique sonic architecture and diverse soundscapes.
It boils down to a simple notion Khan said, "We like it simple and pretty."