Social Suicide

Music reviews don't matter. They are one person's/organization's perspective on an art form which is inherently subjective. Everybody listens to and experience music in different ways. However, music reviews have shaped and informed our discourse over the decades. Their existence has both put artists on the map and destroyed entire careers. Today, we live in a backlash culture. Any perspective seems to be met with scorn and anger by people who disagree with the reviewer's opinion. I feel like this is largely due to a misconception about the nature of music reviews, their place in our culture and what happens behind the scenes when it comes to writing a music review. Shanty (@shantanu_sampath) has written over a 100 reviews for A Humming Heart, a website which focuses on Indie Indian Music. In this episode, he shares his process when it comes to writing music reviews and the relevance of music reviews in a free-for-all and largely democratised digital space.

Radiohead are undoubtably one of the most seminal and groundbreaking musical acts of all time. However, this is not really a hot take at this point as the band's work spanning almost three decades speaks for itself. They are often labelled as depressing, mysterious, esoteric and even pretentious. The extent to which this holds true is up to the listener, but one thing is for sure: there has never been and will never be another Radiohead. The impact that Thom, Jonny, Colin, Ed and Philip have had on culture is undeniable. Radiohead fanatic Meghana (@meghana_potta) joins fellow cult member, Shanty to walk through the band's core discography consisting of 9 studio albums and talk about each in vivid detail and how each album stacks up. The albums covered are: Pablo Honey The Bends OK Computer Kid A Amnesiac Hail To The Thief In Rainbows The King of Limbs A Moon Shaped Pool

We've all been there. It hits you out of nowhere. You forget how you used to breathe without thinking about it. You feel walls made of nothingness closing in on you while you struggle to make sense of what you're feeling and why. Anxiety is encoded into our DNA as a means to detect and escape from danger using a fight or flight response. All of us feel and experience this from time to time. However, when it becomes a repeating pattern and you find the intensity of the emotions spiraling out of control - we have a problem. In this episode, psychotherapist Neha discusses common signs of anxiety, when does it become an issue requiring professional help and also some common misconceptions about this far too common phenomenon. We hope this episode helps anyone going through similar situations. You are not alone and seeking help is never a bad idea. As always, our DMs are open for any questions and help of any kind. Stay safe.

Metal is a widely mis-represented musical genre. To the uninitiated, the music is a cacophony of noise and growls and their listeners, a bunch of misanthropic nihilistic satanists. In reality, metal music is incredibly vast and spans a wide range of sounds, ethos, lyrical themes and even locations.  Rajamani Ayyer (IG: ____maniii_____) is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, growler and hard-core metal-head. He has also released two orchestral compositions on Spotify under the same name. He joined us in this episode to break-down (pun intended) some of the core attributes of metal and his personal experience being a fan all these years.  Like any new musical genre, it can be intimidating to sink your toes into. To make your introduction to the genre easy, we spoke about the following popular sub-genres of metal, what makes them special and a few artists/albums to make your introduction as easy as possible: 1) Death Metal 2) Heavy Metal 3) Progressive Metal 4) Nu-Metal 5) Thrash Metal Do check out Rajamani's compositions at: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5TxAEn7i9uqNAhv45kuHRw?si=B_8QwznuSAqsdA95MZW5AA

The end of a relationship (romantic, platonic or otherwise) leaves us perplexed at what went wrong and dreaming about what could have been. Fortunately, there are signs or behavioural patterns that you can look out for well in advance that can clue you in on things that are going astray or that things need fixing. These patterns are commonly referred to as "red flags" in relationships. With Valentine's Day approaching, there is no better time to talk about why relationships fail. Drawing from her personal and professional experience, Neha throws a set of common scenarios that may or may not be a red flag at an unsuspecting Shanty. These scenarios were analysed thoroughly and nuanced conclusions were drawn for each to determine if they are in fact red flags. Stick around for the end where she talks about strategies to identify and address these red flags!

The Beatles represent the zenith of timeless cultural impact and influence. The legacy that the Fab Four from Liverpool left behind in just 8 short years is nothing short of miraculous. Over the five decades since their breakup, they have attained a legendary status that few even from Biblical times could match. This hype and reverence for this group tends to either leave newer audiences either overwhelmed or skeptical. In this episode, Beatles super-fans Sid and Sneha traverse through the entirety of their lengthy catalogue and go into the details of what exactly made them so great. They presented their well researched and passionate opinions and analyses of their core studio albums while talking about the highlights in each as well as ranking the albums in a tier list fashion. Albums Covered: Please Please Me With The Beatles Hard Day's Night Beatles for sale Help! Rubber Soul Revolver Sgt. Peppers' Lonely Hearts Club Band Magical Mystery Tour The Beatles (White Album) Yellow Submarine Abbey Road Let it be

The dating world can be unforgiving. To the uninitiated, it can seem like a moshpit of deceit, cut-throat competition and half-assed references to The Office. This often leads many users of said apps to make questionable decisions regarding their profiles. Neha is a frequenter of dating apps and has spent enough time swiping left to be able to spot a phony profile instantly. She has seen enough to come up with 20 of the most common types of dating profiles that any heterosexual woman is bound to encounter.  Please note that all views presented in the episode are exclusively her subjective opinions and do not necessarily reflect the perspectives of others using these apps. The opinons are also presented from the POV of a heterosexual woman.

We kicked the new year off with a refreshingly uplifting set of perspectives from writer, entrepreneur and positive vibe generator, Rushaki Ghosh (@stray_daug). Over the past few years, Rushaki has been very active in the music scene by taking up multiple roles from music reviewer to event coordinator to actual musician. She also recently co-founded the culture and trend mapping platform, The Culture Wire (@culture.wire). Also also, she has new music coming out both as a vocalist for Coffee for Giraffes (@coffeeforgiraffesband) and as a solo artist. She joined us on a chilly Saturday afternoon to re-center our worldview, which had been quite distorted after the dumpster fire that was the year 2020. Her life, like many of us in our 20s, has been marked with uncertainty and self-doubt with a helping of chaos. With every one of our attempts to dissect the enigma of just how she's been able to remain so positive and optimistic, she remained firmly grounded in her singular perspective - Fuck it; Just do it. It was a very inspiring conversation and goes to show that even when the world comes crashing down around you, the only one with any real ability to fix things is you. We capped the conversation off with her perspectives on the music industry and her exciting plans for 2021.

No diet is perfect. Virtue signaling and claiming the moral high ground based on diet is an obnoxious attitude and only leads to polarisation, negativity and misinformation being circulated. In reality, there are multiple routes to a healthy diet and the choice of a diet is a personal one and is based on cultural, economic and social factors among many others. Regardless of our choice of diet, the onus is on us to make sure we are meeting our daily nutritional requirements, recognize the potential pitfalls of our diets and be nice to people. Plant based diets have been rising in popularity in recent years due to certain environmental consequences, the ethics of how food is sourced and also a variety of health benefits. Devika Suresh (IG: @devs_suresh) transitioned to a completely plant based lifestyle earlier this year. She has also been quite active in the plant based meat space - an industry that is expected to skyrocket in value in the coming years. We shared our personal experiences with vegan diet and its impact on the way we perceive food, effects on health and also on our respective social lives. We went on to dispel common misconceptions about the pros and cons of adopting a plant based diet. Useful Sources: 1) Plant-Based Diets: A Physician's Guide: (National Center for Biotechnology Information) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4991921/ 2) Humans don't require animal products: https://www.vrg.org/nutrition/2009_ADA_position_paper.pdf 3) Documentaries: Dominion (2018) @dominionmovement The Game Changers (2018) @gamechangersmovie 4) Popular podcasts and YouTube Channels on plant based diets: Bearded vegans: @thebeardedvegans Reluctant Vegan Son: @reluctantveganson Ordinary Vegan: @ordinaryvegan Mike the Vegan: @micthevegan 5)Instagram pages to follow: @vegancommunity @veganindiamovement @vegan @voicelessindia @veganclassroom Fitness on a plant based diet: @fritz_horstmann Recipes: @veganbowls @indian.vegan.recipes @chez.jorge Please feel free to reach out to us on IG: @the.social.suicide for any clarifications, information or general discussions.

Are you in a musical rut all over again? Do you ever gaze at the night sky and yearn for a reprise from booming bass and rattling hi hats? Music aficionado Teju has got you covered! We spoke about our favourite music genres that do not get their fair share of our respect in the mainstream discourse. These are also musical genres/movements that were not only incredibly influential in shaping the sound of subsequent generations but also happen to have engendered our favourite albums. We also talked about the key characteristics of the genres and their background along with a few albums or artists to ease your introduction to their sound as some of these genres can be off-putting to the uninitiated.

Nikhil Varghese (IG: nikhil_vee37) is a skilled debator, orator and professional nice guy. We straddled the blurred lines between existential nihilism and mental well-being. Existential nihilism, absurdism and essentialism are a few of the vast number of schools of thought that shape the way each of us perceive the nature of our existence. We went over the nature of a purpose of life and how it influences our mental health, in some cases even exacerbating our existing state of mind. We also took on the idea of self care and how it translates to our lives.

Rivu (IG: @rivuperson) is a musician, producer and educator who's been making waves in the indie music scene with his conceptual blend of forward thinking progressive rock with the more accessible elements of pop music. Together, we geeked out about the massive variety of music and even stage plays like Macbeth which have informed his eclectic taste in music and eventually, the music he's been creating. He elaborated on his unique perspectives on what it's like to exist in an increasingly saturated and competitive music scene with a sound that is almost guaranteed to not appeal to everyone. He also gave us a behind the scenes look at the various avenues in which he sustains himself as a musician.

Pim Bose (IG: @franticqueirdo) is a certified make-up artist and content creator on YouTube. She shared her experiences of being a content creator and the pressure of churning out high quality content twice a week. We spoke about how the content creation game offers virtually no reward in the short term and how platforms that host content are rarely creator-friendly. She also shared her experiences in the beauty industry and offered us some make-up tips and anti-ageing advice in the process!

Poet, writer and habitual overthinker, Atharv Dwivedi took us on a tour of his labyrinthine psyche. We talked about the nuances of the role that overthinking, pain, luck and even anxiety play in his creative process and existence in general. We took a stab at the reductive nature of the general worldview which pegs hard-work and determination as the path to salvation while discounting the numerous other extraneous factors that come into play. Atharv managed to tie in his personal experiences with college placements, his creative process and rejection of social media with how they shaped his very unique outlook on life and the ridiculously bumpy ride to salvation.

Kanye Omari West needs no introduction. However, much of the discourse surrounding him tends to focus on his public antics and polarised perception in the eyes of the media and consumers of music alike, which overshadows the fact that the man is a one-of-a-kind manic creative genius. His impact on music is undeniable and with every one of his releases, we feel the ground beneath our feet shift ever so slightly.  We were joined by fellow music nerd and frequenter at the Church of Ye, Meghana Potta, to talk about why we are so obsessed with his music and how Kanye's discography has impacted our lives. We went over his nine core studio albums and two collaborative albums with Jay Z and Kid Cudi in chronological order and talked about how each one stacks up in the wider context of his catalogue.

Joshua (IG: @theengineeryouneed) is an engineer, a talented stage actor and a gripping orator. After a short discussion on the abortion issue, we had an open conversation about our polarised presence online, unreliability of information and the increasing difficulty of maintaining a stable headspace during these tough times. He also talked about how his belief in a higher power and habit of regular prayer has given him the strength to power through any obstacles in his path. Please remember that the views and opinions expressed by the individuals in this podcast are solely their own and we request our listeners to treat them as such. We strongly urge our listeners to remain respectful in the interest of free and open discourse of ideas.

Avid runner and passionate reader, Amartya Gupta (IG: @amartya_gupta) spoke to us about the nuances of what it takes to navigate the economy. We talked about the intricacies of starting an enterprise by your bootstraps, the pitfalls of subscribing completely to one political ideology, the similarity between approaches to parenting and the Government and more. Artwork by @slightly_blended_lines

Idealist and space enthusiast Sid Menon (IG: @reachsidm) talks about the impact John Lennon's message, his thoughts on religion and politics and his vision of bringing back the optimism of the 60s through a modern lens. We remember one of the most influential and timeless figures in recent memory, John Lennon a day after what would have been his 80th birthday. Artwork by Aparna Warrier (IG: @theartwarrier)

An honest conversation about mental health with Neha Banik, a clinical psychologist from Bangalore, India.