The Futurists: Five Acts that are way ahead of their time
(Published on Gibson.in in August 2011)
We’re entering a new phase, a time of creative revolution. It’s not just about simple easy-to-define genres like rock, metal or hip-hop anymore. These days labels like ‘orchestral pop’, ‘post-hardcore’ and ‘gypsy-jazz cabaret’ are par for the course in the bubbling cauldron that is the Indian music scene. No more are bands bound by audience tastes — fifteen years ago a band would have been yelled off stage for daring to play originals — or by-the-numbers demands from unimaginative record labels — “we need you to do one ballad, one rock anthem, one Hindi song and one cover of a hit Bollywood song”. These days, with the internet ensuring that every artist, no matter how leftfield, can find an audience for his/her music and with technology allowing bands to record their music for little more than the cost of a laptop and a microphone, there’s virtually nothing stopping artists from making music that is uniquely theirs. Now they can truly make sounds that no one has ever made before.
In this feature we look at five acts that are changing the rules, pioneering new sonic territory and making sounds and songs so strange, no ones heard anything like it before. This then, is the sound of the future:
- Shaa’ir & Func
Long before any of the bands on this list ever existed, there was Shaa’ir & Func. This is the band that kickstarted Indian music’s eclectic revolution, this is the band that pioneered Indian eclectica. In 2005, Pentagram’s restlessly creative guitarist/producer/gizmo king Randolph Correia (Func) came together with the recently-moved-to-Mumbai-from-New York singer Monica Dogra (Shaa’ir) to form what was then a side project called Shaa’ir & Func. In 2007, the band released their debut album New Day: The Love Album, an album based around Randolph’s blips-and-bleeps electro-funk production and Monica’s edgy, sensuous singing. Over the course of the last six years the band has released two more albums (2008’s Light Tribe and 2010’s Mantis) and gone from being a one-time side project to a full-time concern and one of the most recognizable faces of the new brand of Indian indie. Inhabiting the fine line between indie rock, funk, electronica and pretty much any other genre that catches their fancy, Shaa’ir & Func have changed the face of Indian music forever.
2. Sridhar/Thayil
Jeet Thayil, guitarist, poet, writer, librettist (that’s a lyricist for operas, in case you were wondering) and one-half of the creative hail storm that is Sridhar/Thayil, calls the music they make ‘twisted pop’. Even then, he’s proud of the fact that the band’s sound can’t really be summed up in two words. He’s also unabashedly confident that audiences are ready for a band as unconventional as Sridhar/Thayil. The duo’s other half is Suman Sridhar, a singer and stage actor steeped in the jazz greats and trained in Western classical music. An unlikely pairing, yes, but the resulting partnership is one of the most exciting and boundary-pushing acts in Indian music. Let’s see if we can paint you an aural picture of the band’s distinct style: they fuse smoky jazz and over-the-top opera vocals with a bluesy guitar-and-drum vibe interspersed with MIDI-controlled effects and spoken word runs floating in space.
In 2009 Rolling Stone India named them one of their ‘9 Artists to Watch’ while the band picked up the award for Emerging Act of The Year at the Jack Daniels Rock Awards.
In addition to their music, the duo has also collaborated on an opera called Opera Noir together. That’s right, an opera. They’ve just finished recording their debut album which should release in the second half of 2011.
3. Peter Cat Recording Co.
Fuzzy keyboards, bouncing accordions, wisps of classic Bollywood scores, circus and carnival motifs, waltz rhythms and whimsical vocals, Delhi’s Peter Cat Recording Company are in a space of their own. Their off-kilter songs are sublime studies in crafting swirling, textured pop. Founded in 2008 in San Francisco by vocalist and rhythm guitarist Suryakant Sawhney, Peter Cat Recording Company morphed into its current line-up when Sawhney returned to Delhi in 2010 and recruited three members from metal outfit Lycanthropia. The band released their debut album Sinema early this year and followed it up with a seven-city tour across the country in April. With influences as obscure as nineties indie rockers Neutral Milk Hotel and Fifties crooner Bobby Darin, it’s hard to pin PCRC down. And that’s a good thing. We need our bands to surprise us, to take us in new and inspiring directions and Peter Cat Recording Company are doing just that.
4. Adil & Vasundhara
Who knew that a bi-lingual jazz/gospel/blues outfit would one day be playing a weekly residency at one of Delhi’s most popular live venues? Previously known as Sunny Side Up and Higher Agency, the duo, composed of singer Vasundhara Vidalur and guitarist Adil Manuel have settled on the more to-the-point moniker Adil & Vasundhara. The band’s repertoire includes a mix of jazz standards and mellow acoustic soul tunes sung in both French and English. So far most of the music they’ve put out has focused primarily on sparse acoustic arrangements centered around Vidalur’s sultry smokey jazz vocals. What makes the band so special is that, in a scene where most audiences tend to gravitate toward hard rock and metal, Adil & Vasundhara are dedicated in their pursuit of their own signature sound, a sophisticated blend of evergreen jazz standards and earthy blues. They’ve already released a self-titled EP and are heading to Mumbai’s Yashraj Studios to record their debut album. They tell us the new album will be a departure from the sounds on the EP: darker, funkier and more grounded in the blues with elements of their jazz fusion and prog rock influences thrown into the mix.
5. The Ska Vengers
There’s New Delhi and then there’s ska. There’s no way the two would ever meet. Or so we thought. The closest the average music fan in India usually gets to reggae is the occasional spin of “I Shot the Sheriff” at the local club. The last time reggae and Indian shook hands, Apache Indian’s ‘bhangramuffin’ was born. And that was back in the Nineties. Not known for its devotion to dub, the Delhi music scene has suddenly thrown up a six-piece ska band! That’s right; Delhi now has its very own home-grown ska and reggae band! The Ska Vengers came together in late 2009 pooling together the members of Emperor Minge, the Reggae Rajahs and BASSFoundation. The band has taken its brand of uptempo dancehall vibes, dub basslines and ska horns to live venues across Delhi over the last two years. Over the last few months the band have added a two-piece horn section and performed with the legendary Apache Indian himself. The news is that the band is currently in the studio recording material.
