All right, bhangra has assumed epidemic proportions, next only to yellow fever. But is it a corollary of the phenomenon that every getting-there singer worth his bathroom tiles does a me-too Daler Mehendi? Probably not. The Balle Balle Boys take the road that many wannabes wore their shoes on, and their debut album Laddoo Kha is rendered largely insipid. On the bright side, their tracks would do the dance floors a favour, but the duo closes the doors to variety somewhere down the line.

Now to give the Boys a fair trial. My name is Manjeet lends a stand-up-and-shake a leg flavour to the album, and the track works mainly because of the earnestness of the duo to infuse it with zest and life. There is also a prank-up-your-sleeve feel to the song, and this disarming warmth is what works.

Laddoo kha, the title track, does no wonders to your sweet tooth. You cannot carry the earnestness too far, for it has to be substituted with substance. A cacophonic initiation is not what you would fancy, but that is what you are in for. It is difficult to merrily saunter through this track, unless your hearing is equipped with shock absorbers.

Then we have the summer-friendly Pee le lassi, which the Boys seem to have written with a sense of loyalty to their bearings. You are almost willing to forgive the banal outpourings for a sense of friendliness that pervades the track, and the song soon grows on you. Thank God, for the same cannot be said of the other music(n)ulls that are to follow.

Bolo balle balle arises, perhaps, from the need to pay homage to the bhangra genre, and hence the borrowing of the balle word from the lexicon. It begins on a promising note, but wears thin somewhere in between. The duo, somehow fail to pick up the pieces of the track and do somewhat of a patch-up job.

We have to hand it to the Boys for infusing their lyrics with a sense of joie de vivre, despite their inane quality. Songs like Pehn le chashma and Sharaabi have an endearing, ear-tweaking simplicity about them, and you almost want to forgive their lack of musical quality.

Laddoo Kha is honest more than it is good. But you cannot rely on honesty to fuel an album's ride up the charts, in a market choc-a-bloc with bhangra albums. Of course, jig-friendly folks would give the album a twice over, perhaps. But it will never find favour with those weaned on Daler Mehendi and Gurdas Mann. Those are the higher echelons of balle-balle land.