If the artists who performed at the press meet held at Bonobo to announce Baajaa Gaajaa are to be taken as representative of our independent music scene, then the future of Indian indie is listener-friendly pop-rock.

Perhaps the absence of metal, alternative or even (thankfully) classic rock bands could be put down to the fact that this was supposed to be an intimate, primarily acoustic gig, the main lure of which was the return of the supposedly defunct Zero.

But before we got to see what the boys called their 89th avatar (or some such), we got to see performances by a trio of singer-songwriters, starting with the city’s most well-known girl-with-a-guitar Alisha Batth.

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Now if you’ve never seen her before, Batth has the kind of rich, heartfelt voice that is bound to make you sit up and listen. But if you have seen her before, you quickly realise that each of her gigs has more of the same. The highlight of her set was her first original composition, which expectedly was very influenced by Melissa Etheridge and Ani DiFranco, artists who have taken permanent residence in her list of covers. But she’s young yet and will hopefully grow with each show.

The two acts that followed Batth were also weighed down by their heavy inspirations. Ankur Tiwari, who crooned suitably lovelorn lyrics to the accompaniment of acoustic guitar, has a sound that can loosely be described as a Silk Route, Rabbi and Jason Mraz mash-up. The result is palatable but predictable. Former Indi-pop/current Bollywood playback singer Anushka Manchanda had more variety on offer.

Manchanda warned that her tunes were written from the perspective of a woman and could serve as lessons to guys. Predictably, ex-boyfriends were Manchanda’s main subject matter, and while her musical missives (three English tracks, one Hindi) were catchy, they were too reminescent of numerous other female pop vocalists. Manchanda could perhaps take a page out of Beyonce’s book, whose occassionally trite lyrics are more than compensated for by innovative rhythm patterns and zany vocal gymnastics. Right now, Manchanda’s more of a Leona Lewis (an evocative but unimaginative singer).

Then came what was clearly the high point of the gig – drummer Sidd Coutto (taking on vocal duties for both Zero and his new side-project, the humour-rock Tough on Tobacco), bassist Bobby Talwar and guitarist Gaurav joined guitarist Pozy Dhar, who was accompanying the earlier artists, on stage. Coutto battled a falling mic stand through ‘Hate in Em’ and ‘Not My Kind Of Girl’, songs that still haven’t lost their charm through the passage of time or lead singers. He then came to the front of the stage for a quick spot of ‘PSP’, fulfilling a void left in the sprinkling of fans present, who were denied the moment at I-Rock.

Jai Row Kavi took over from him on the drums for Tough on Tobbaco’s two song set that also featured basist Johan Pais and talented violinist Neil. The band’s epynomous opening tune drew smirks from the audience, some of whom realised that the band’s stand on nicotine may not be as straight-forward as it seems. The reggae-tinged ‘Happy’, on the other hand, recalled fond memories of both Helga’s Fun Castle and the Crash Test Dummies (‘Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm’ anyone?)

Then came the penultimate act of the night, Bombay Black/Kailasa members bassist Naresh Kamath and guitarist Paresh Kamath, who informed the MC (RJ Rohini, one of the few RJs out there who seems to know her Indi-rock) that they were performing as Hipnotribe. Hipnotribe are a fusion rock band with an ambitious sound that only occassionally works (they have among them a Ray Manzerak-influenced keyboardist, a multi-instrumentalist who plays violin and flute and takes care of the Indian classical side of things, their lyrics are sort of rapped). Songs like ‘Holiday’ and ‘Dark And Delicious’ were pleasant but unmemorable – and at some points reminded us of one-hit wonders Crazy Town (“Come, come my lady/You’re my butterfly/Sugar/Lady” ring a bell?). When you have a group with so much collective talent, you expect the whole to be greater than the sum of the parts – and at this point of time Hipnotribe are falling slightly short.

Three songs down, the band called on Gino Banks and Sheldon D’Siva to jam with them but it was really an excuse for Swedish-Indian Jonas Desai (a self-described pop-rock, singer-songwriter) to give us a preview of his Blue Frog concert on Wednesday.

Indiecision: B