Tough On Tobacco - Happy Goat

Now when you name your album The Happy Goat, you’re either an animal lover of sorts or you have a nutty sense of humor. Sidd Coutto squarely falls in the latter. Tough on Tobacco is Sidd on vocals, Pozy and Gaurav on guitar, Johan on bass and Neil on the violin. ToT is a band that plays a happy (there’s that word again) mix of rock and pop and reggae. Having been a part of successful Bombay acts like Zero and Helga’s Funk Castle, Sidd is cementing his reputation as being a great musician and a fine songwriter.

The album begins with Voices in my Head, a song done entirely in acapella. And with this song ToT begins their album in a far gutsier vein than most other acts would do. The next track Already Told You is one of my personal favorites. Some great drumming and funky bass work on this track. The funny stuff continues with songs like Concert Piano (the forbidden coming together of piano and tech), Forest of Doom (about shrooms and bad trips) and Wait till the night’s out (of simians, instruments and trouser snakes… so a love song really). Loved the big band sound with the horns on Wait Till…

Consuella and Don’t Leave Me Behind are songs describing the rollercoaster of emotions while being in a relationship.

You can tell that reggae is Sidd’s favorite form of music given the genre’s influences (musical & vocal) across the length and breadth of the album. This can be heard in its best form on the most popular track of the album – Happy. This song earned itself and its writer nominations at the AVIMA Awards (Malaysia) and the Sutasi competition in Singapore.

The Taxi Song and Tough on Tobacco are the ‘preachy’ tracks on the album about the dangers of drunk driving and smoking respectively. But that does not take away from the fact that both are really well written songs. Small wonder then that BBC Radio’s been giving the Taxi Song some solid airplay recently.

The Happy Goat is a solid effort overall. Sidd Coutto might seem like the funny man of the Indian Indie scene but he is one of the finest songwriters I have seen/heard in recent years and that is dead serious. Full of enjoyable pop rock with fun lyrics and great hooks, this is an album that will lift you up with its upbeat tunes and humor. If you are a supporter of the local indie scene, this is an album you will be delighted to listen to if only to feel reassured that the future of Indian Indie is quite safe in the hands of acts like Tough on Tobacco.

And as if that weren’t enough, the music is available for free… yup F-R-E-E! OK stop salivating and download The Happy Goat here - http://download.toughontobacco.in/