The conversation spans a sneak-peek into his previous song ‘Courtyards’, whether formal education in music is “advantageous”, and his musical journey so far. "Courtyards" is a beautiful and soulful acoustic ballad by Indian singer-songwriter Shourya Malhotra, featuring vocalist Rini Rajput. Varun Rajput, who is the…
At the beginning of this year, Darshan Doshi Trio released an expansive, live jazz-funk saga that spanned 7 tracks over the course of 34 minutes and featured two guest vocalists. The pure five instrumentals allow DDT’s detailed compositions and soundscaping to take the lead role…
When we first heard singer-songwriter Pragya Sodhani’s latest single, that’s exactly what the first comment said about the song. We then delved deeper into her YouTube channel and found some hidden gems. One being a sick mashup of the greatest Bollywood hits of the 90s.
In August ’21, Charlotte NC-Based rapper Big Greg dropped his much anticipated album #G4. The multi award-winning rapper’s lyrical powerhouse of a record has something in it for everyone including younger fans of newer subgenres, while keeping the essence of old-school hip hop alive. Think…
I’ve been listening to Aditi Iyer for a few weeks now, trying to put my finger on how the opera-trained singer’s 2021 EP Dollhouse had evoked a strong sense of nostalgia in me. Other than the beautifully layered compositions, there was something about her lyrical…
"Listen to this," my partner texted me, "It's right up your alley!" The link she sent took me right to Lavanya Ayren's Spotify page. The song that was meant to be "Right up my alley" was a single called You Need To Go, the second…
Before his newfound success as a chart-topping artist, Vineet AKA Vineet Singh Hukmani was the co-founder, MD and CEO of 94.3 Radio One, India’s only international-format radio station. When I first heard his August release WTF or Where’s The Fun (And not what you’re thinking),…
The live digital concert series further establishes Gaana as India’s biggest Indie Music Hub India’s largest music streaming app, Gaana is set to unveil the ‘Gaana Indie Fest’, a series of hour-long daily live online music concerts between 11th and 14th August 2021 in order…
“It’s an honour to have collaborated with artists like David Joseph, drummer of the Benny Dayal-fronted band Funktuation, and Hanish Taneja, who has mixed and mastered tracks for famous independent artists like Divine and Naezy!” Aditya Anand tells us in his opening call. Anand, who…
Earlier this year we had spoken to Big Greg and his collaboration with LaTruth on their single OH NO. Big Greg is out with a new single, but before we review it, we thought we'd have a fireside chat with the Indie hip-hop artist from…
We're back after a much needed break and we couldn't have asked for a better reboot than a "sit-down" with the omnicompetent Rohan Solomon, erstwhile frontman of the New Delhi alt-rock band Cyanide. (Well, him at his place and us at ours!) For the uninitiated,…
Back in 2007, a few years before the term ‘clickbait’ came into daily use, I’d been baited by one particular blog piece in The Guardian called ‘Why metal fans are brainier’ by one Ian Winwood, who counts Kerrang!, NME, Mojo, Q and Revolver among publications…
What did Sheryl Crow, Andrea Bocelli, Leonard Cohen, Susan Boyle and Scatman John have in common? Unlike their contemporaries, they all got their big breaks late in life. In fact, the late Scatman John (John Paul Larkin) had been a prolific jazz pianist for decades…
“In 2019, somewhere in UP, someone spread a false message that a certain man was stealing/kidnapping children,” Shahzan Mujeeb tells me right at the beginning of our grim conversation. “Within 24 hours, 20 people were lynched. Can you imagine? Innocent human beings murdered because of…
At a time when real instruments are simulated on digital audio workstations with plugins, I've often wondered what electronic music would sound like if played on real instruments. Somewhere in the early 2010s, I chanced upon The Showhawk Duo, doing acoustic guitar covers of chartbusting…
Every so often, we're treated to music that seriously messes with our heads. We'd count Dogma by Pink Amphibians as one of them. With a track as calm as a breezy evening and Morcheeba by the sea married to lyrics that can only be described…
As a lifelong student of film, my first response when I hit play on Ankur Sabharwal’s Better Man was - ’It cannot be!’. I had to watch the video a few times over to spot the intricacies. As someone who has experimented with film stock for…
It’s been a while since we, at Flipsyde, have had that ‘instrumental experience’ in musical performance and Khushi Lovekar’s two remarkable singles, Nepenthe and Hiraeth, have hit the right spots in more ways than one. Today we sit down with the recent graduate from LASALLE…
What do you say to a man who has produced 68 feature films, launched the careers of 206 debutants in his very first film, managed the careers of nine out of eleven national cricket players, incepted Asia’s largest and the world’s fourth largest music festival…
Open Mic with Palak Bheda is a well-known regular open mic event, where Fresh Talents get a chance to network and showcase their talent on an emerging and non-judgmental platform at this event.
“I’d say we fall under no genre” Chennai Street Band frontman, Srihari Jagannathan asserts when I pose the question that I, myself, am always apprehensive about asking an artist. I heave a sigh of relief when he utters these words. Having listened to their latest…
“... Mukt karo bhay, aapona-maajhe shakti dharo nijere karo jay” On odd days, at precisely 8:25 am, the school assembly hall was filled with these very words sung at the tops of our voices. Our music instructor, a tall and skinny Bengali gentleman, spectacles nearly…
“Which is the best collaboration you’ve come across?” An acquaintance casually asked me a few weeks ago. What could I say? Great artists have collaborated with one another since, well, the beginning of time. In music, one of the oldest examples would be Hexaméron from…
Experience Rahul Dalal perform solo with his backing tracks and Guitar for the first time since the lockdown. Join us for this exciting live show, featuring Hindi Bollywood songs ranging from 50s melodies to the recent hit mashups with Rahul Dalal and his virtual band…
Just five minutes into my conversation with actor-singer-songwriter Alexx ONell, and I know this is going to be a masterclass of sorts... one with a bizarre title. Something along the lines of ‘Why I’m Ecstatic My Album Never Released, and Why It Never Will’. Yes,…
As I listened to Mumbai-based Alt-rock band Last Minute India's latest single Kaagaz Ki Naav, the first thing that popped into my head was Anurag Basu's critically acclaimed film Life In A Metro. In a nutshell, it's music made for montage sequences. Music that takes…
Before 2010, no organised Indian Rap and Hip Hop movement existed other than sporadic attempts between the 80s and 90s by the likes of Baba Sehgal, Stylebhai, Apache Indian, etc. In fact, kids from that era will remember Patel Rap by Bali Brahmbhatt with fondness.
Two harpists from the United Kingdom play the lushest of tunes. A guitarist from Argentina shreds like nothing you’ve ever heard. A singer-songwriter from India with the most angelic voice sings gospel pieces that melt your soul. What they have in common is they’ve spent…
Ezra Pound defined poetry as a composition of words set to music, thus building on Aristotle’s early definition of poetry as the form of mimesis that utilises rhythm, language, and harmony. Harmony, he said, distinguished poetry from other language-based forms. With his latest single, composer…
When I tell Anoushka Maskey she sounds like Doris Day meets Bossa nova, she stops me right in my tracks. “Was that you in the comments who said that?” She probes. “There’s someone who said exactly that!” I assure her it wasn’t me. In fact, I…
When you hit play on Prateek Gandhi’s new single Tum Aao Na, you will want to close your eyes and imagine yourself on the balcony of a Marine Drive apartment, in all it’s Bauhaus glory, looking out at the ocean on a warm summers eve.
A month ago, I had an interesting chat with Earl The Kid, a DJ and producer from London. Interesting because he, like I, held the opinion that great EDM artists always have this major Heavy Metal background, more so than any other genre of music.
You may remember Rhapsody Out Loud (ROL) from India’s Got Talent a few years ago. If not, here’s a refresher. It’s rare that one sees a glorious mix of talents, instruments, languages and influences. In that sense, ROL’s music spans several genres. 17 to be…
Saaranya's latest single I Purple You is all kinds of sweet. The 19-year-old singer-songwriter from Mumbai calls it an acoustic love song to make you feel loved. That it is, for sure. The song is just two things - simple fingerpicking and a silvery voice to…
Ehsaas’ music reminds me of the first time I heard a tune that would haunt me for the rest of my life. That would influence my taste in music forever. We’ve all had one of those songs. I had three. Twenty-eight years ago, a senior played…
I’m a video editor – What Do I Need In A Laptop? 1. CPU The most crucial factor involved in editing is the CPU. Many people believe that it is the GPU, but it is the CPU that decides how easily you can complete editing…
I can sense the enthusiasm in Madhav Krishna’s voice when we talk about his maiden collaboration Ennodu Vaa with composer Prateek Gandhi. Interestingly, this is also the first time he is singing in his mother tongue, Tamil. Krishna, who has a bevy of hits to…
Open Mic with Palak Bheda is a well-known regular open mic event, where Fresh Talents get a chance to network and showcase their talent on an emerging and non-judgmental platform at this event. This is an open mic event for the entire music community to…
A little over two decades ago, I first saw Neuman Pinto perform on stage at the St. Andrews College Auditorium. Many students from Andrews hail from choir-singing backgrounds and it's only natural that they end up forming or joining acappella groups. Though acappella was uncommon…
If you’re part of the indie music scene in India, as a musician or a listener of music, there’s a slim chance you’d have missed the name David Britto. Over the last five-odd years, Britto, the music journalist, has helped us discover new acts, many…
Watch the singer perform “We Will Rock You” and “Don’t Stop Me Now” along with her own songs to a crowd of frontline workers in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium Miley Cyrus performed for Hoosier Healthcare Heroes between the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four games,…
Meet Toshi Yimchunger, a recording artist and songwriter from Dimapur, Nagaland, whose latest single Work It Out is making us crave the golden age of R&B, i.e. the 90s, again. Remember the days when the soulful offerings of Boys II Men, Babyface, Montell Jordan, Craig…
Singer-Songwriter Vasuda Sharma will perform an all original set - a blend of Indian classical and Western contemporary Pop numbers with live-looping and improv. The gig is set to happen at the newly-opened Local Star Bar and Cafe in Versova at limited capacity with free…
If you were a rocker in Mumbai at any point between the late 80s and early 2000s, there’s little chance you would have missed the effervescent Ravi Iyer. In the glory days of rock-and-roll in India, the axeman stood apart from his contemporaries. So adept…
After 4 SUPERHIT Seasons of Delhi/NCR's Biggest And Most Elite Holi Celebration, Holiwood Music Festival Is BACK with a bang! Get your tickets today by clicking the button below.
Portland-based singer Alex Whiler's debut EP Look Me In The Eye had sort of become a soundtrack to our lives during the past few weeks, and especially when we travelled out of the city for the first time since March 2020. We had Whiler's Spotify…
Maithili Shome began her journey in music at the tender age of 3, with her very first impromptu performance in Pune backed by an orchestra. In 2007, at 6, she had her first appearance on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs and the rest,…
Chandigarh-based musician Shubham Semwal’s debut EP Elephant in the Room is a force to be reckoned with, especially his title track Pull Me In (feat. Julie Ngurang), an uplifting ballad (If there ever was one!) that stands tall in the otherwise passable ‘Indipop in English’…
“Do you remember where you were on 16th December 2012? What about the 17th? Or the 18th?” I ask Mumbai-based Metal outfit Zygnema’s guitarist Sidharth Kadadi. “I could never forget,” He replies, “You?” I could never forget either. It was the first time in the…
When we chanced upon Barcelona-based Chilean Alex Schoihet’s venture, Re:Drums, we knew this was something that absolutely needed to reach international clientele. The innovation, beauty and finesse in the hand-crafted items made by reusing old drums is by far one of the coolest home decor…