“Make It Alright” by young singer-songwriter Arham Fulfagar really caught our eyes and ears this August. The gentle, lilting guitar melody syncs well with Arham’s mellow voice, from the stark chorus into the jangly verses. We took a spin through the rest of his discography, and couldn’t wait to find out more about him. Read on for a short interview with the Guwahati musician about his influences, his musical awakening, and his upcoming EP!
Top Five Records: Hi Arham! Thanks for meeting with us. Tell us a little bit about yourself?
Arham Fulfagar: I am a singer-songwriter born and brought up in Guwahati, and I also have been working as a freelancer video editor during this lockdown. I have been writing this way for about a couple of years, and I also write poetry and make spoken-word videos besides making music. I love to travel and explore just as much as I love to explore new and underrated music from the corners of YouTube and Spotify.
I also love to show magic tricks to people and I’m also quite good at it! I love doing and learning new things. I’m not really a “talker” in a group, but I love to talk about things like the universe, life, popular conspiracy theories, and of course, music. I’m a believer of “everything happens for a reason” and that every little decision I’ve made has lead me here – and I’m proud of it!
I believe that sometimes things fall apart, but it’s only to make way for better things. I’ve come a long way when I look back and I have a long way to go, but I’m more excited than scared, as the universe works in its magical ways.
TFR: Quite multi-faceted! You mentioned you’re from Guwahati… How much does the North East shape your music and your art?
AF: The North East defines who I am and how I’ve grown over the years. But on the other hand, traveling and moving cities is what has given me experiences of a lifetime without which my art wouldn’t exist the way it does. There are obviously more than one influence that has lead me here. My music and my art has absolutely a lot to do with my life most of which I’ve spent here in Guwahati, Assam.
The North East is a beautiful place with lots of positive vibes and people who have an incredible love for things like music and art; and thus it has a major role in shaping me as a musician, too. At the same time, living away from my parents and family, on my own and blending in with people from different cities has also influenced my art and my style of music.
TFR: We loved your recent jangly, poppy new single “Make It Alright”. Talk to us about the story behind the song! What’s the idea behind it?
AF: “Make it Alright” is an experiment to make a sad song sort of groovy (or poppy). When I was writing it for the first time, I had a thousand things messing with my head, and I had recently started having some anxiety attacks. This was when I was in college back in Bangalore, and I was living with my friends. I remember sitting in my bed and just strumming these basic four chords until I had this image in my head of a boy sitting in the corner of my room, sobbing. That’s when these words came out of my mouth, “I know what you’re crying about, just hold my hand let me make it alright” – and that’s how the song started! Later, I just started sort of blabbering and throwing out random words and recorded them on my phone’s recorder.
TFR: Very interesting. Coming to your musical influences: We hear snippets of everything from Jason Mraz to Ed Sheeran in your vocal and instrumental style. Who are your big influences, musically or otherwise?
AF: There’s this one musician that I look up to the most and want to be able to write and perform like some day. His name is Damien Rice and he is a major influence to the way I write my songs and perform them. Besides that I am also inspired by lots of underrated musicians like Anson Seabra, Roo Panes, Ray LaMontagne, Gert Taberner, and more. I listen to a lot of artists including Ed Sheeran and Jason Mraz, and keep looking to get inspired. Besides these, there are artists that I see around me who also influence me as an artist, such as Raghav Meatle, Anuv Jain, Osho Jain, and my artist friends – most of whom I’ve met in this lockdown.
TFR: Another track we love is “Waiting For You / Intezaar”, especially in the seamless way you switch between English and Hindi. Do you have a preference in either language? Do you relate different emotions or feelings to the two languages?
AF: “Waiting for You / Intezaar” was a beautiful experience for me. It was the second single that I put out and the only single as of now to have crossed 10,000 and even 25,000 streams on Spotify. The lyrics are very honest and simple, and there’s no instruments in the song other than an acoustic guitar and very light keyboard.
Talking about language and what I prefer, I think it’s a lot easier for me to write in English but my listeners and even I love it when I write something in Hindi. I’m liking this mix that I have and I’m grateful to be able to use both the languages for my songs. Lately I’ve been trying to write more in Hindi as well. A song I wrote during the lockdown called “The Kabootar Song” is a Hindi song that has received the most love compared to all other songs, even though it hasn’t even been released.
I don’t always relate different emotions to the two languages, although I must say that lately I’ve been finding it easier to write happier songs in Hindi. But these are only phases and I’m pretty sure it’s all in my head.
TFR: It looks like you’ve been steadily releasing new songs all year, with “Red Wine” in February, “Waiting for You” in April, “Victim in Love” in June, and now this latest song in August. What are you leading up to? Is there an album in the works?
AF: I performed for the first time in October 2019 and it was the performance that changed my life. It was a DIY festival called The Yellow Festival and it took place in a place called Pulga in Himachal Pradesh. None of my songs were out and I performed my songs for the first time and it was so beautiful that I decided to start releasing music in 2020, which I did. I was living in Mumbai and I found an amazing studio and producer who helped me.
Thus, indeed I’ve been steadily releasing new songs this year and I am releasing my last single this year (in September) before I start working on my debut EP. The single is called “A Little More” and is one of the songs that I recorded back in November 2019 in Mumbai. I think it’s also one of the best tracks from that time!
The EP is going to be called Ham Chalein and it’ll be a Hindi EP with about five songs, and I’m super excited about it! I can’t wait to record them and get them produced and release them. I still have lots of original songs that I’m yet to record and put out. Moreover I’m writing new stuff almost regularly.
TFR: As a young, upcoming artist, how have you worked on building your fanbase at a time when the entire world is on lockdown?
AF: As you keep putting out newer stuff, you also build an audience for your past stuff, which is sort of what I’ve been doing. Moreover, I have been making friends by attending live events and shows. I have also been putting out poetry related content and even videos to reach more people. I have also joined some popular IG Lives such as that of Ehsaan Noorani, Armaan Malik and Remo D’Souza to reach more people with my talent. Staying connected with people who support you is also very important so it’s important to show my followers that I really am grateful for them, time to time.
TFR: If there’s one Indian musical artist you’d like to collaborate with, who would it be? And what about one non-Indian musical artist?
AF: I would love to collaborate with a lot of Indie musicians in the future and it’s really tough to pick one but if I had to, I’d go with Prateek Kuhad. As clichéd as it might sound, Prateek Kuhad is someone that has taken the independent music scene to another level, and a lot of us artist do look up to him. Moreover, his songwriting is so honest and simple and relatable.
If I’m to choose one non-Indian musical artists that I would like to collaborate with, it has to be Damien Rice. My admiration for Damien Rice is on another level, it’s almost like a crush. My friends have even started calling me “the long lost son of Damien Rice” because of how much I’m inspired by his style of writing and performing.
TFR: Haha, that’s funny. Thanks so much, Arham, for chatting with us! And best of luck for the release of your new track and the upcoming EP, too!
Listen to Arham wherever you get your music. And be sure to keep your eyes open for his new single this week!
The Lightyears Explode are an indie dance-pop / rock band from Mumbai, India. The band was formed in 2009 and quickly developed a following with an early win at the Channel[V] Launchpad in 2011. A short eponymous EP followed later that year, and later a full-length album – The Revenge of Kalicharan (2013). We at Top Five Records are great fans of this album, especially the unmistakeable Franz Ferdinand vibes on the dance-rock gem “I Am A Disco Dancer” and the debut-era Arctic Monkeys feels on “Diet Coke“.
After a long hiatus (save for the much poppier “Drunk Loser” in 2018), the Lightyears Explode are, thankfully, back. Their funk-drenched single “Satire” was released on September 4th, and has been on our daily playlists since. Our writer Madhoo took the opportunity to chat with the band about their origin story, influences, newfound appreciation for pop, and much more. Read on below!
Top Five Records: Tell me about the band! How did you guys start off? What’s your story?
Saurabh: We started around 2010 when we were still in college. At that point, we were more of a fast rock sort of band.
Jeremy: Yeah, like kind of punk, you know?
Saurabh: I’d say like more of an Arctic Monkeys-punk sound. And then we played a bunch of shows, released an album, The Revenge Of Kalicharan, and then we took a bit of a break for a while. I went to England for a while to study music production. When we came back, Jeremy joined us and here we are now!
Jeremy: 2015 was when we started up again, and now we’re working on new music.
TFR: Tell me about the name of your band. What’s behind the name?
Saurabh: First we were just called the Lightyears. I was a huge Toy Story fan. But it turns out that there was a band in England using that name already, and they sent us a message on MySpace.
Shalom: Haha, and it wasn’t a very polite message at that, it was very firm.
Saurabh: Yeah it was a British-polite. Like, it wasn’t an option, it was “Just change it!” If we’d known about them, we wouldn’t have tried to nick their name, you know? So we added in the ‘explode’ and it just sounded cool to us.
Jeremy: There was another option though. We considered being called The Mighty Scoundrels for a bit!
Saurabh: It’s good that we didn’t go with that. Actually, for just for a moment there, I was really into a genre of rock called psychobilly and I thought we should lean into that, and go with a gothic sort of name.
Shalom: Yeah, we even wore eyeliner for a day… but it was just for a shoot. (laughs)
Saurabh: Yeah, for a shoot, we tried to portray the whole look. You did the clown look, right?
Shalom: Yeah, I had the orange wig and makeup all over. The only good thing is that no one could tell it was me, unless I told them. It was a good disguise.
TFR: What would you guys say are your major influences? What were you guys listening to around the time you started the band?
Saurabh: Well, when we started the band, our influences were pretty different. I was really into Arctic Monkeys and Green Day mainly.
TFR: Yeah I definitely hear that in your early stuff!
Shalom: And Operation Ivy!
Saurabh: And the Fratellis, and the Beatles, obviously. Recently though, we’ve been really into HAIM, Jack Antonoff and his band the Bleachers, some Fleetwood Mac (especially Tango In The Night). And Jackson 5, stuff like that. I’d say we’ve really mellowed out recently.
TFR: We’re really obsessed with your first album, and we’ve always got a strong Franz Ferdinand vibe from it!
Shalom: Yeah definitely, we always did listen to a lot of Franz Ferdinand.
Saurabh: Yeah, we all grew up listening to a lot of this stuff – bands like the White Stripes, the Fratellis and all that. I guess you can really hear that.
TFR: So you mentioned that your music has become mellower over time. Any particular trigger?
Saurabh: So we were always playing, except for that brief hiatus. The new sound… it just sort of happened.
Jeremy: I’d say we kind of worked our way towards a more pop sound.
Shalom: Also, all of us really started listening to a lot more pop than we used to.
Saurabh: We started to re-establish music that we grew up listening to. For example, growing up, I personally really liked the Backstreet Boys.
Jeremy: Come on, everyone liked the Backstreet Boys!
Saurabh: But there was a point where we kind of had to stop and say “Uhh, no… we’re punk now.” But now, we’re just going back to it that stuff and we’re thinking, “Man, this is just awesome!” Amazing songwriting, well-produced, well-sung. And I see those songs in a different light now. Like Shania Twain, for example. (Proceeds to sing a snippet of “That Don’t Impress Me Much“)
TFR: With this pivot to a new sound, how has your process of songwriting changed? Compared to your process of making music for your last album, I mean.
Saurabh: [On the first album,] I’d write songs all over the place, sometimes in college, even. There was one song I wrote in class which was about me being in class and wanting it to just end already. That was really early on, though. So there was no process as such. This time, too, there wasn’t really a process in terms of songwriting. We worked until it sounded good to us and sent it off for mixing and the next steps.
Jeremy: This time, though, I’d say there’s a lot more production that’s done before we get into the jam room. It’s a bit more planned out- there’s an idea that we work out together. I wasn’t around for the first album, but I think it sounded a little like it was worked out together in the jam room.
Shalom: We also did a lot of demos for the newer stuff. We demoed it at Saurabh’s place and really thought about how it’d sound on an album, and how we’d replicate that song when we play it live. We paid more attention to that aspect of it, and I think it helped us look at our songwriting with a slightly different perspective. We really had to think of how the end product of this song would sound, while we were writing it.
Saurabh: I mean, we also demoed our first album, but it’s definitely different this time.
Shalom: Yeah, there’s definitely more production this time, and we’ve been a lot more serious with the demos as well.
Saurabh: Well, I had to get my money’s worth out of production school. It was so expensive!
Teaser for “Satire” released in early September 2020
TFR: Can you tell me about the direction you guys are taking with the new album?
Saurabh: So we’ve been separately writing a lot during lockdown. It sounds really saccharine, kind of retro. I feel like the more I write and the more we perform live, we get more and more comfortable with pop. It’s really easy for all of us – at least for me, growing up, it was – to make fun of pop music. But once you start doing it, it’s really not easy! The people who do it are really good at what they do. The appreciation of pop songwriting that we gained while writing this album is something we’re working towards. We’re trying to get more comfortable with being there.
TFR: You’re onto something there! I think pop has always been dismissed as something exclusively for teenage girls, and isn’t taken seriously much. I think it’s quite interesting to see this sort of reclamation of the pop genre, in a way.
Saurabh: I don’t know if pop needed reclamation, but for us personally, it definitely did.
TFR: How’s the coordination been during this pandemic? Has it been tough to work around that?
Saurabh: We were talking about that just now, about how difficult but adventurous it’s been to get a photo for our release. We’ve had to do a lot of stuff like this.
Jeremy: There’s definitely a lot more planning involved. Less trial-and-error when it comes to organisation!
Saurabh: Our album was mixed in Australia though. Since their lockdown rules were a bit more toned down, they were able to work on it while we were in lockdown. The writing took place over two years, but we’ve been finishing up now.
TFR: In a usual album release cycle, you’d probably go on tour and do shows. How does this work out for you in a situation like this?
Saurabh: So we’re working on putting out some videos. We’re also working on doing some live-streamed gigs, especially from some smaller studios around the city.
Shalom: There are a bunch of musicians doing that, right now.
Saurabh: I think artists are getting better at adapting to this new medium and we just have to get the hang of it.
TFR: Sounds great! I’ve seen a lot more artists adapting to Instagram for this age, and it feels like a lot of live music has become more accessible. What are your thoughts on this?
Saurabh: I’ve definitely seen a lot more shows and artists that I wouldn’t have been able to. I’d obviously have liked to see them in a gig, but now i can check these artists out at a later date. It’s easy to knock it because it might not sound or look as good as a live show. But something is better than nothing at all, you know?
I myself have discovered at least three or four new artists in this lockdown, just through their live streams. Though it’s not a physical gig, you still get to hear their work and interact with them. They’re putting their content out there for new people to enjoy, so I personally like it.
Shalom: Yeah, like Saurabh said, if you end up stumbling upon a new artist through live streams, you kind of go on a whole journey of looking them up, following them, checking them out on Spotify. Another cool thing is that you end up looking at an artist’s older work in this process, stuff you probably would’ve missed out on otherwise.
Jeremy: That brings in the feeling of a gig, in a way.
Shalom: Obviously I love live music, but this is the best we can do right now, you know?
Jeremy: There’s also something really nice about being able to attend gigs from all over the world, right on your couch. (laughs)
TFR: Speaking of gigs, what’s the best gig you guys have done?
Jeremy: Ooh, that’s a hard one.
Saurabh: Every gig is slightly different. In our most recent one, we got to play a lot of our newer stuff so that was fun!
Jeremy: But I think the gig we did at The Habitat was possibly the most fun.
Saurabh: The Koniac Net album release one!
Album art by Harmeet Rahal
TFR: What’s the next month looking like for you guys, in terms of releases and content?
Saurabh: We’re releasing our new song “Satire” on Sept 4th. [Ed. Note: This interview was conducted just before the song release.] We’re also working on some videos right now!
Shalom: We’re trying to put out songs consistently. As things start to open up, we’re also working on some videos and new content.
Saurabh: That’s something we’ve actually really enjoyed this time: working with other people. We were very insular before. Now with the artwork, the videos, and everything, we’ve really enjoyed this collaborative aspect.
TFR: Anyone you want to shout out from your team?
Saurabh: Our whole team: Achyint for producing, Ganesh for mixing, Richard for mastering, Harmeet for doing the artwork, Deepthi and Saket for working on the video!
Rapid Fire Round
TFR: Dream collab?
Saurabh: Danger Mouse
Shalom: Jack Antonoff
TFR: What are you listening to right now?
Saurabh: The last solo Brandon Flowers album, the new Killers album, and the new Taylor Swift album.
Shalom: The new HAIM album, King Princess and the first Yuck album – that’s a really good one. [Ed. Note: It is, indeed.]
Jeremy: I listen to a lot of electronic- jungle drum, bass, footwork. So SqaurePusher, Aphex Twin, that sort of stuff. They were way ahead of their time. TFR: Desert island record?
Saurabh: In the Airplane Over the Sea [Neutral Milk Hotel]
Shalom: Any Beatles album – can’t go wrong with that!
Jeremy: Ultravisitor by SquarePusher
TFR: Describe your sound in three words!
Saurabh: Saccharine, dancey, poppy
Shalom: Poppy, jumpy, energetic
Jeremy: You guys pretty much covered it!
Listen to “Satire” by the Lightyears Explode wherever you get your music. And do give TheRevenge of Kalicharan a spin – you won’t regret it!
L-R: Rushil Mishra, Sachin Iyer, Pushkar Ravindra, Dennis Dey
Garage band Iyer’s Filter Coffee has been making waves in India for a couple of years now. Back in 2018, their first track “Soma” garnered buzz among Indian indie audiences, and the song later featured on their crisp five-song EP coldturkey (2019). In May 2020, the band released their first, full-length album Is This How You Do It.
With references ranging from The Strokes to fellow Indian indie rockers The F16s, Is This How You Do It has quite a few high-energy tracks and some poignant, more mellow ones, too. A particular stand-out is boisterous, Arctic Monkeys-esque first single “Noize”, which caught our eye back in May. We also liked the subtler back-to-back tracks “Deytime” (spelling a reference to bassist Dennis Dey) and “Nitetime”, the latter of which served solid Comedown Machine vibes.
We caught up with the boys from Iyer’s Filter Coffee for a chat about their musical journey, managing a music career alongside day jobs, what’s behind their peculiar band name, and lots more – read on below!
Top Five Records: Welcome, guys, and thanks for doing this! Let’s start at the beginning. How did the four of you meet? How did you end up deciding to make music together?
Iyer’s Filter Coffee: Rushil [Mishra, guitar / vocals], Sachin [Iyer, drums] and Pushkar [Ravindra, guitar / vocals] went to the same college [BITS Pilani] where they were part of the music club and played together quite a bit. After all three of them landed in Bangalore, we started to jam in early middle 2017 with vision to eventually be able to perform in the Bangalore pub circuit. Dennis [Dey, bass / vocals] and Pushkar happened to become flat-mates around the same time. Since Dennis was also a musician, he joined us in these jams and eventually Iyer’s Filter Coffee was born.
TFR: Interesting! And when did your interests in music begin? When did you start honing your musical skills?
Pushkar: I was forced, like a significant number of South Indian kids are, to learn South Indian classical music by my parents. This happened between the ages of six and 13. And then I discovered metal. My parents bought me an acoustic guitar right after my Class 10 exams. I learnt everything I know about the guitar via the Internet (though a background in music helped accelerate the process). Bought my first electric guitar a day before my AIEEE [All-India Engineering Entrance Examination]. It’s been going on since.
Sachin: I started playing the drums soon after my Class 10 exams – my childhood friends wanted to form a band, and they were short of a drummer, so I decided to fill in. I’m largely a self-taught drummer, so the Music Club at BITS was great not only for the opportunity to play live quite often, but also for the chance to learn from some really talented musicians.
Rushil: My father got me classes for the keyboard when I was around five. Since my family moved cities every two to three years, I couldn’t continue with it for long. I did briefly learn some tabla and classical singing (which I absolutely hated). I did keep playing some keyboard until I got to BITS Pilani in 2010. That’s where I started with most of the “technical” skills – playing the keyboard correctly, learning my scales, and working with synths. I also started playing some guitar there, and got a bit better after college because of how accessible it is (and because I thought it was a bit cooler to be honest; I was wrong). I started writing music with some friends in 2015 using GarageBand and a really basic setup. “Lazy Day” [which appears on Is This How You Do It] was one of the first tracks we wrote back then, and has been rewritten multiple times since then. This is the first group that I’ve sung with though, so I’m pretty new to singing right now.
Dennis: Lucky for me my dad is also a guitarist, so I grew up listening to Dire Straits, Scorpions, Eric Clapton and other amazing artists. Initially, I started with keyboard but switched to guitar around Class 10 (after realizing the aforementioned coolness factor). Initially a rhythm guitarist, as Dad was shredding most of the solos, I picked up lead and bass guitar in college (IIT Roorkee 2010). Bass guitar was something that stuck with me even after college and I bought a used bass guitar with my first salary. Also, I was a part of the church choir at Roorkee where I learnt how to harmonize, something that I’ve been using for backing vocals with the band.
Happiness is rarely found in a day job, and hence the music career. Money is rarely found in a music career, and hence the day job.
TFR: You have mentioned the Black Keys and the Strokes as your influences, and we certainly hear those references in the contrasting tight / laidback elements in your tunes. What are some other influences to your music – musicians or otherwise?
IFC: We have always had an ear out for alternative genres of music. The Strokes, Black Keys and the Arctic Monkeys most definitely inspired us to lay the foundations on our sound, which you can see on coldturkey [their 2019 EP]. Apart from that, I think we have a newfound love towards newer indie artists like Rex Orange County, Boy Pablo and the F16s, who have inspired us to find a new direction for our sound. However, all four of us have listened to our share of rock music from the 90s and the 2000s which has definitely contributed to how we play and how we write on an individual and a group level.
Also, the post-punk-revival sound was something we wanted to build around – bands like Muse, Libertines, Two Door Cinema Club and Franz Ferdinand. That fused with a bit of the new wave of indie music is what most of our sound written as a group sounds like. Of course, we all also have our own influences which we keep adding into the process as we finish the songs up.
TFR:How have you navigated the journey from Engineering to indie rock? How has your experience been, balancing your day jobs with a burgeoning music career?
IFC: It has been fun honestly. Happiness is rarely found in a day job, and hence the music career. Money is rarely found in a music career, and hence the day job. Like we mentioned in our TEDx talk, it’s been One for the kitchen, One for the soul for us!
Honestly though, writing and producing music would happen a lot faster if we did not have the day jobs, because there’s more time to channel the creativity, and an ample amount of time because the group isn’t forced to jam on weekends only.
TFR: What’s the story behind the name? Is [drummer] Sachin [Iyer] the inspiration?
IFC: We couldn’t think of a good name for the group at all. There were many below par suggestions. We tried out names like 1023 (when we still did not have gig), Geek Chutney, and many others that were thrown away minutes after inception.
All suggestions from Iyer, who probably was channeling his inner Alex Rose, seemed contain his name. These included “Iyer Learns to Rock” and “Iyer Learns to Groove” and “Iyer and the Boys”. Iyer’s Filter Coffee, one such suggestion, seemed to stick because it does not sound like a band’s name. It sounds like the name of a cafe (which is the backup idea if this music thing doesn’t work). So yeah, it just sorta stuck and we seemed to like it.
As a side note, we have other joke names for ourselves in the same fashion. “Mishraji ka Paan Bhandaar” after Rushil Mishra, and “Robindro Sangeet” after Pushkar Ravindra. Dennis Dey might be a little disappointed that “Deytime” has now become a song!
TFR: Your EP coldturkey [Ed. Note: Our review here] released last year on Apple Music’s New Artist Spotlight program. How did you get that opportunity? And more broadly, what advice would you give to young and upcoming artists such as yourselves that want to break into the Indian indie scene?
IFC: Tejas Menon connected us with Apple Music, and after listening to the EP, they got back to us with their New Artist Spotlight program which enabled us to have a two-week exclusive release on Apple Music. Our distributor OKListen was quick to help and worked with the launch dates accordingly.
For new artists, we would like to say just put your music out there. Soundcloud and YouTube are great free platforms to do so in the beginning. Also, videos matter a lot too. Dennis has this habit of recording our live gigs, which in turn helped us get more gigs and eventually became parts of our music videos. So just shoot videos or ask (bribe) your friends to do that for you.
TFR: Congrats again on the new album! Can you walk us through your process writing and recording Is This How You Do It? How was your experience working with Vivek Thomas?
IFC: We were writing even while we were recording coldturkey. We had almost a third of this album back then itself. The lessons learnt from coldturkey allowed us to revisit these songs, and improve and polish them further before we hit the studio. Also, in that time, we learnt more music, listened to more music and consciously tried to expand on our writing as well, which is reflected in this album.
Working with Vivek [Thomas, producer] was an amazing experience. He is a delightful and cheerful personality that makes working with him feel natural and a lot of fun. He understood our sound from the very beginning, not only with the way he dug through our inspirations but also with how well he knows and understands the scene. His touch really added a whole new dimension and color to our work.
TFR: Our favorite track from your album is first single “Noize” – we’ve already talked up the Josh Homme-era Arctic Monkeys vibes here on Top Five Records. Can you fill us in on your inspiration for this song, both musically and lyrically?
IFC: “Noize” was a unique song in that it was the only song that was written from the drum riff up, which is never the first thing we put on paper while writing. Pushkar brought his Morello-inspired wah guitar on top which was complemented by Dennis’ very melodic bass line.
Lyrics wise, it is loosely based on a prose that Rushil wrote which was condensed into a lyric so as to put something on top of the instruments. We’ve been covering Arctic Monkeys for a while so we’re sure that someone who listens to “Noize” can hear elements of “Crying Lightning” or “Fake Tales of San Francisco” or maybe even hints of “Brianstorm”. The drums and the lyrics are very Monkeys, definitely.
TFR: Another favorite is the instrumental “Nitetime”, probably because it somewhat reminds us of that oft-forgotten Strokes gem, “Call It Fate, Call It Karma”. How did you end up putting such a stylistically different track on the album?
Rushil: Comedown Machine is such an underrated album! [Ed. Note: Agreed.] I really like the synths they use in the whole album – very vintage, analog, 80s, Stranger Things vibes – and this was similar to Julian Casablancas’ solo projects.
“Nitetime” has a bit of an interesting story though. Since we don’t play keys in jams, I had a rough idea what to play for the song – some piano through the song, with some airy sounds towards the end of the song. For the album, he wanted to do a short extension to the song with a similar sound palette. I ended up knitting a few short pieces I’d written over time in the studio, and arranged it in the studio.
I think the chord progressions in the two songs are somewhat similar, and the synths are similar to the Strokes’ / Julian’s work in some of their more ambient songs, too.
TFR: Naturally, you probably did not expect your album to release in the middle of a global pandemic. But now that it’s here – how are you getting the word out about Is This How You Do It in the COVID era?
IFC: We were ready with the album early March and were working towards setting up a country-wide tour. However, those plans took a backseat due to the pandemic. As a launch tour wasn’t an option in the near future, we decided to put the music out for the listeners.
More than us, our friends and fans helped us put the word out for the album. There were a lot of Instagram stories shared with the songs from the album. Also “NewNew” made it to the Spotify playlist Rock in India which also helped in getting new listeners. We are also releasing music videos for the songs slowly and are planning to do a livestream launch gig too.
TFR: With an EP and an album under your belt, what’s next on the radar for Iyer’s Filter Coffee?
IFC: Interestingly, we think the band would have gone into a temporary hiatus if not for COVID, because of personal situations of certain members that would have geographically separated the group. So, COVID was a blessing in disguise in that way, because we are still together and writing more.
We are trying to improve in the craft and bring in a lot more to the table than we did in the past. It would be best to get some writing done now before we eventually start gigging again. As of now, there is no clear picture of what is coming next. But stay tuned to your social media because you never know when we decide to drop a single!
RAPID-FIRE QUESTIONS
TFR:Who’s an Indian artist that you’d love to open for / collaborate with?
IFC: Open for: TAAQ. Collaborate: Peter Cat Recording Co, Skrat, the F16s.
TFR: What would be your Desert Island discs?
Pushkar:Led Zeppelin I by Led Zeppelin; Is This It by the Strokes
Sachin:By the Way by Red Hot Chili Peppers; Chapter V by Staind; Undertow by Tool
Rushil: Random Access Memories by Daft Punk; Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not by Arctic Monkeys; Mm.. Food by MF DOOM
Dennis:Avenged Sevenfold by Avenged Sevenfold; Being So Normal by Peach Pit; Absolution by Muse
TFR: What’s been your favorite gig so far?
IFC: It’s between Oasis [BITS Pilani’s cultural festival], Zomaland 2020 or the coldturkey launch gig at the Humming Tree.
TFR:What’s an album or song on heavy rotation right now?
Bangalore-based Tushar Mathur has made quite a splash in the short time since he’s gone solo. With two singles out already, “Mend” and “Groove Pool”, he’s earned a sizable following for his signature chill R&B sound and sharp production quality. He’s been featured on BBC, VH1 and countless media publications for his fresh and unique sound.
But as laid-back and breezy as his music may sound, Tushar Mathur’s work ethic is quite the opposite. In launching his music career, he’s learned to don many hats: songwriter, producer, video editor and social media manager, to name a few. Fittingly enough, his upcoming track “Stepping About”, talks about our generation’s struggle to strike a balance between hustle culture and self-care. The track features Shayan Roy, a Mumbai-based rapper and producer of Buzzfeed fame and releases on May 1st.
We sat down with Tushar Mathur last week for a detailed chat about his music, his influences and what it means to be a musician in the social media age.
Tell us about yourself!
Let’s start with the name. My name is Tushar Mathur and I’m originally from Coimbatore. I’m a chemical engineer. I finished my degree and didn’t want to pursue engineering at all. I moved to Bangalore around three years ago to do music full time.
I have a band that mainly plays blues-rock, and now I’m working on launching my solo career. The song I’m coming out with, “Stepping About”, is my third single; “Mend” and “Groove Pool” were my first two tracks and they released last year.
We really enjoyed your first two tracks! What made you interested in music? What would you say is the starting point for you?
The starting point for me, I’d say, is my family. I have a very musical family. My parents and grandparents sing Hindustani classical music. But the moment I really got interested in English music was when my brother went to Jaipur for his summer vacation and he came back with a CD. That CD had 12 tracks – mostly hits by Guns and Roses and Deep Purple. We’d sit down and listen to that CD on repeat, the entire day. That sparked an interest in me and I took it forward from there.
My dad also used to play a lot of John Denver and country music around the house. I grew up listening to a lot of guitar-centric music. My brother would also introduce me to a lot of metal and rock. My music has been centred around the guitar ever since.
So would you say these are your primary influences? Or has this evolved as you’ve evolved as an artist? What would you say your main influences are now?
Right now, I’m hugely inspired by Tom Misch. He’s a guitarist and producer from London. My music has been hugely inspired by him- the style that I have now is mainly because of how much Tom Misch I listen to. Another recent influence of mine has been FKJ. When I start touring and playing live, my idea is to incorporate a lot of loop work onstage. FKJ has sort of been a pioneer in that field.
Your first two tracks feel so effortless and breezy! How was the process of writing, producing and releasing these songs?
My first track“Groove Pool” is about an introvert at a party who wants to let loose. I’m not exactly why I wrote about it.. I’m not usually an introvert, but maybe I felt that way and just wanted to write about it. (Laughs)
My writing always starts off with simple guitar work. I usually start with a basic chord structure and build on top of that. The vocals, for me, usually come at the end. I tend to work on all the instruments and then sit down at the end of the day with the finished instrumentals, and write the lyrics and put in a nice vocal melody. That’s my process.
“Mend” was pretty similar. Groove Pool was released in July 2019 and Mend was out by November 2019. “Mend” was special because I worked quite hard on the music video for it. I had dancers, directors and photographers coming in so that took quite some time, but I’m happy with the result.
And how has the reception been for these tracks?
It’s been great! The songs have been on BBC Radio, both my videos were featured on VH1, and I’ve been featured on radio stations across the world. The response has been phenomenal, and people have been so supportive!
As a musician who’s transitioned between cities, how would you say the Bangalore scene compares to the Coimbatore scene?
The scene in Coimbatore is basically non-existent, which is why I moved to a city like Bangalore. Even before, we’d always travel to Bangalore for shows and competitions with my band. Bangalore has always been a great place for music; there are always people who play and appreciate different styles of music, especially when it comes to English music. Coimbatore’s scene is slowly developing as well, but the live music culture is yet to pick up. I’d say Bangalore is a hundred times better, in that aspect.
It must be an interesting experience to have to release music during this pandemic. Has it been a challenge to work on and promote your new track in these times?
I’ve actually been working on this third song for the last six months. It’s been a very long process. I’m usually very picky about my music, and with “Stepping About”, I was even more particular. It’s about our generation’s battle between hustle culture and self-care. Productivity has become a measure of self-worth, and it took me a while to gather my thoughts and pen them down, given how much this affects our generation.
The pandemic hasn’t really affected my release schedule- I’d say I’ve been going about my work as usual. Whenever I release music, I give myself an entire month to promote. I’ve been doing what I’ve done for every song. But I think during this pandemic, a lot of people are sitting at home and consuming more content than they usually would. I don’t think it’ll negatively affect the reception of the song per se; but my touring and live sets have definitely been impacted.
Even though it wasn’t written recently, the song’s subject matter seems more fitting than ever.
Somehow it’s become very relevant. Even in this situation, everyone’s constantly doing something, or learning something new. People of our generation constantly make themselves feel bad about not being productive enough, and that’s something I had felt six months ago when I came up with this song as a concept. It’s suddenly become way more relevant to the situation that’s going on right now.
Your track also features Shayan Roy, who’s popular for his viral Buzzfeed videos and his burgeoning rap career. How did this collab happen, and how was it working with Shayan?
I was looking for a rapper for my track. I got in touch with a lot of people but it wasn’t working out. Somehow I came across Shayan and I just sent him an email. That’s all I did. I attached my track and told him “Your part would be between these timestamps”, and asked if he’d be interested in laying something down for me. He actually got back to me instantly saying he loved the track and he would give it a shot.
It was that easy! A lot of people have asked me this: “How did you end up working with Shayan? How did this happen?” I’ve actually never met him- this has entirely been through email, Instagram and WhatAapp. And this all happened because of a single email. People don’t realize how important an email can be. That’s how I’ve got VH1, BBC and interviews like this.
You seem like quite the hustler!
(Laughs) Technically yes. It sounds a bit ironic that I’m writing a song about self-care. You’re right, I do hustle, and I do a lot of things. But there are times when I feel that I do need to chill out and take it easy. This song is to remind me to take a break. One of the lines actually is “At times I need to chill out” – that’s me telling myself I need to chill. So it’s very relatable to me and kind of a message to myself.
I’m always telling people to take it easy, but my friends tell me that I don’t follow my own advice and that I’m constantly doing something or the other. So I think that this song would be good for me as well, as a reminder that sometimes, I should take it easy.
Do you find it challenging to be a musician at this time? Between the music, the promotions and the social media, it feels like you’re doing the work of a three or four-member team!
That’s true, but the thing is: I love doing this! The music part is amazing, of course, but I believe that if you’re a musician, you need to see that music is a business. I think a lot of newer musicians think they’re above everybody, and think “I’m not going to learn how to promote myself, who wants to do that?” or “I’m just going to send this song out to a couple of my friends and it’ll blow up on its own.”
But I feel that with the music industry nowadays, the actual music makes up 30-40% of your success- the remaining 70% is just marketing and promotion. You might write the best song in the world, but if nobody’s going to hear it then what’s the point?
You’re right, it definitely is a three-person job, but I enjoy it, and I find the producing, marketing and promotion aspect of it extremely interesting.
Do you produce all your own tracks? How did you get into that?
Yeah, I’ve produced all my own tracks. I’m such a fidgety person, the type that loves to mess around with controls and buttons for hours, and that’s how I got into producing. I have a friend called Sandeep who’d take my calls and kind of guide me through some of the questions I had, but apart from that there’s always YouTube and Google. You can literally learn anything on the internet! This was essentially a product of me having a lot of time on my hands and being able to sit down and figure out how to achieve different sounds.
There was another advantage of getting into producing. I was already a musician at that point. Earlier, when we’d jam, I’d know what I want from the sound. Now it’s become easier to achieve that sound on my own and manage the different aspects of the final product. It’s given me more control over my music, in a way.
So you’re a self-taught musician as well as a producer!
I actually did go to guitar classes for a year, but I didn’t like it back then. It was mainly Carnatic stuff, and all I wanted to do was play Zeppelin. So yeah, I’d say I’m self-taught.
I’ve also taught myself video editing- all the videos you see are edited by me. I also take up a couple of freelance projects on the side, to support myself financially.
Wow, so it’s more like you’re doing the work of a six-member team!
Yeah I do quite a lot, you’re right. But I really enjoy the whole process.
RAPID FIRE: Top Five Desert Island Album/Songs:
1. Beat Tape 1 by Tom Misch
2. Geography by Tom Misch
3. Dark Side of The Moon by Pink Floyd
4. Led Zepellin 1 by Led Zepellin
5. My own music!
What are you currently listening to?
I really make use of Spotify’s daily mix feature- lots of times I’m not really sure who the artists even are!
I’ve been very excited about FKJ’s new album, Tom Misch’s stuff and this artist called Raveena.
Describe your sound in two words.
Let’s make it three: Smooth. Like. Butter. (Laughs)
What’s been your favourite gig? And why?
My favourite gig is actually my very first one. I had a gig back in Coimbatore, in this Punjabi Association that we were a part of and my dad had pushed us to go play a show there. A lot of my friends and family were at the show, and they still fondly recall the gig to this day. That was the first-ever time I got up on stage to perform and it felt magical- it’s my most cherished performance that I’ve given.
Dream collab?
Tom Misch, if I could, but I wouldn’t be able to function if that happened. If not him, then I’d really like to collaborate with a Hindi rapper – maybe Divine (I love his style) or Raja Kumari.
Is there anyone you’d like to shout out for helping you along the way?
I’d like to shout out my friend Pavithra. She’s been with me the entire way, and she’s supported me throughout!
You can visit Tushar’s website here for more information. His music is available wherever you regularly stream music. Listen to “Stepping About” now!
Navya Sharma is a Bombay-based musician who’s all set to take the indie music scene by storm. His indie-folk style and his percussive guitar work give him a distinctive and unmistakeably fresh sound that has kept us hooked. Not to mention his lyrical prowess, a skill he’s honed over years of listening, writing and performing.
See for yourself, with his track “New Routine”, in which Navya’s penchant for rhythm is clear. His excellent lyrical work (“I was just guessing when you left me with this doubt / Holding the stars for you in case you let me out”) has a sort of wistful beauty to it that only adds to the replay value that this track has.
We caught up with Navya earlier this week for a quick conversation about his musical style, influences and upcoming plans!
Top Five Records: We’d love to get to know your story! To begin with, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Navya Sharma: I’m 25, I write songs and I’m currently based out of Bombay.
TFR: Let’s start with a picture of what makes you into the artist you are today: What got you into music, and when did you first start getting into it?
NS: This is a question I love answering. I have this very specific memory of being around ten years old and holding in my hands the vinyl record, Walk Don’t Run by The Ventures from 1964. My dad had this big collection of vinyls and I remember him putting The Ventures on one night when he got home from work. That was the first time I’d heard the tone of a beefy heavy-duty American Fender through some powerful tube amplifiers. Vinyls were these very physical objects too, almost as if you could touch the music. I remember picking up a toy cricket bat and riffing crazy pretend-guitar to the song as my mum looked on laughing. My dad had successfully introduced me to rock ‘n roll.
TFR: We at TFR hear a touch of retro and a bit of Bob Dylan in your tunes! What would you say are your biggest musical influences? Not just other musicians; what’s influenced you as a musician?
NS: That’s a very accurate guess, maybe I ought to work on making it a little less obvious.
I’ve always been keen on the expression aspect of a song; the story it tells. Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Damien Rice would probably be the Holy Trinity for me. John Prine, Mark Knopfler, Tom Waits, Mick Flannery would be some others. I learnt to believe that my contribution to music would strictly be songwriting as a medium for honest expression. How my songs resonate with people is none of my business.
I learnt to believe that my contribution to music would strictly be songwriting as a medium for honest expression.
TFR: We can’t stop listening to your debut single, “Freedom Town”! The upbeat tune and the slightly darker subject matter create an interesting juxtaposition that has us intrigued. Can you tell us more about this track? What’s the story behind it, and what was the songwriting process like for you?
NS: I’m still half-trying to figure out where that song came out of, which is probably why I’m so proud of my work on Freedom Town, haha! I think it’s mostly about feeling a certain disconnect. The three verses talk about three different characters: a young person fighting vanity and feeling like a fake, another guy fantasizing about shooting up a movie theater and Juliet, the cut away lover. All of these characters concur on that mutual feeling of disconnect: how mainstream music on the radio doesn’t make sense to them and how they fail to relate with their friends’ conversations. At the end of the day, they just find themselves restless thinking love can save them. Or something like that, heck if I know.
Oh and shout out to Rounak Chawla for playing the best solo I could have asked for on the track too.
TFR: What’s on the horizon for you? Any new music coming out? Perhaps a debut album soon? Or something else entirely?
NS: An EP soon! I’ve been writing so much we just have to pick the songs that sound minimally shitty and put the record out. We were just testing the waters with this release and now I can’t hardly wait to be honest.
Thanks, Navya! And now, let’s get a few quick answers out of you with our Rapid-Fire Round. Ready?
TFR: What are your Top Five Desert Island Records? (i.e., five albums that you would be fine listening to, without access to any other music, for the rest of your life?)
NS:Golden Heart by Mark Knopfler; Use Your Illusion I & II, Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan; O by Damien Rice
TFR: What about recent times? What albums or songs have been on repeat for you lately?
NS:Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent by Lewis Capaldi! Such refreshing honesty in Pop music
TFR: What’s been your favourite gig so far (and why)?
NS: Been a few. I’ve lately enjoyed solo intimate sets a little more than getting the boys and bringing a whole band behind me. (Which is awesome fun too, don’t get me wrong.) Getting a bunch of strangers to enjoy mostly fresh stuff on the first listen is a neat challenge and I love it.
TFR: Your dream collab? (Indian or International)
NS: Can we bring back Janis Joplin from the dead if we’re dreaming anyway?
TFR: Haha, nice one. And an Indian artist you’re really digging right now?
NS: Karshni Nair and Meera Desai.
You can find Navya’s music on Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube and pretty much wherever else you get your music.
Tejas has had quite a journey to get where he is now. He grew up in Dubai and moved to India after high school. Not quite fitting in with the academic environment of college, Tejas found his first calling as a Pune-based RJ, through which he got his first taste of the Indian indie music world. He then went on to release a debut EP, Small Victories, in 2014, and followed it up last year with an LP, Make It Happen – which was notable for an interesting set of reasons. First, it featured the same brand of lively, unpretentious music that put his EP on the map. Second, it came with a great design aesthetic – unique yet perfectly in sync with the music. Third, and most interestingly, it was crowdsourced online and received its funding in a matter of hours.
However, Tejas is more than just his music. He founded and manages Kadak Apple Records, an indie music label from Bombay whose roster features a number of rising stars. Another Tejas Menon venture – this one outside music altogether – is Geek Fruit HQ, a platform to discuss and enjoy all things nerdy.
Read on for our long-form interview with Tejas to find out more about his musical style, crowdfunding his first LP, how he came about founding his other ventures, and much more.
Hi Tejas, how are you?
I’m great, thanks. And thank you for doing this!
No problem! We’ve wanted to speak to you for a while now. So let’s jump right in and start from the beginning. What got you into music, when did you get into music, and what were you listening to when you were growing up?
Well, to start with, I was born in India, but we moved to Dubai when I was around 3 months old. I spent the first 18 years of my life there. I had some few Indian influences growing up – stuff from my parents, like cricket and Bollywood, and from going to an Indian school as well. But most of the time, my time was spent watching movies, reading comic books, consuming a weird amalgamation of Bollywood, Eastern influences, and Western influences.
As soon as I was old enough to discern an affinity to music,
I started discovering pop music – Michael Jackson’s Dangerous, and so on. I also happened to be a good Elvis
impersonator (even now, Elvis is like God to me). My friends were listening to
popular music like Bon Jovi and Linkin Park, and I started listening to a few
other artists on my own, like Madonna. I was a Backstreet Boys fan – still am,
unironically.
Yeah, it’s a very 90s kid thing to be.
Yeah, I was born in ’89 so I’m a through-and-through 90s kid. And then I was a singer in my high school band, drummed for a bit. The first instrument I ever learnt was actually the keys, after my mom bought me a keyboard. But not really a serious approach to music. I finally wrote my first proper song when I was around 18. I got a little more into songwriting after leaving high school and the pressures of the Indian education system behind – I was terrible at academics.
The other thing is, I had a tumultuous childhood – my parents
are separated and it was a tough time growing up. It was difficult for me to
focus on what I wanted to do in life. The kids in my school went on to study
amazing things abroad, but I really didn’t feel that that was for me.
Long story short, I ended up in Pune after high school, living
with my cousins. They sort of raised me a second time for the four or five
years that I stayed with them. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but they made
sure I got a degree at least. So, I went to Wadia College, got a degree in
Economics.
But in that time, I did something really important in my
life. I went for what seemed to be a casual internship at Radio One. I was
there for about three years; learnt a lot from the artists that came in,
polishing my communication skills, and so on. I’ve found a lot more stability
in a work environment than a schooling environment, to be honest. I loved
school as a kid because it was a respite from home, but school ultimately
wasn’t for me.
So there I was at 19, an RJ with my own show, and I really felt like the Mayor of Pune (laughs). All this time, I was writing music at home, sharing it with mostly my friends, but it was really for me and me alone. I didn’t see any point of performing live. But that was because I really didn’t know the options out there for indie artists like me.
I eventually found some artists online, musicians like Gowri Jayakumar, and I was amazed that people were putting up their independent music. I was like, “Why am I not doing that, too?” So I started putting up music online, and went for a few shows.
And then – I don’t know if this was just timing or
serendipity – the first NH7 Weekender happened and they chose Pune for the
venue. I just happened to be the RJ at the radio station promoting the
festival. The first thought when I went to check it out was, “Oh my God. I can totally
do this. I can have a band.” My second thought was, “This is an amazing
feeling, to perform in front of people who wanted to listen to music.” Taking
that cue, I started playing more shows around Pune. This was around 2010 or
2011 – I’m actually coming up on my 10th year of playing music now!
So you’re a veteran of the Indian indie music scene, then. (laughs) Who do you play with when you’re on stage or recording the album?
Well, I’ve gone through a number of lineups. Some of my greatest friends have come from music. Warren from Blackstratblues used to play with us; in fact he produced the first album. Aalok from Something Relevant used to play with me back in the day, too. The core lineup of the band right now is [bassist] Adil Karwa and [drummer] Jehangir Jehangir (JJ). Adil plays with a number of bands here including The Colour Compound and the Koniac Net (who just put out an amazing album, by the way), and JJ is also a studio owner now – he owns Island City Studios, which is right now the place to record in Bombay. In fact, the album that we’re working on right now is the three of us working together. I’ve written the songs but we’re basically co-producing it.
And you recorded together as well for this album?
Yeah, all three of us played and produced it together. They’re like my brothers, basically.
Nice. Yeah, we actually interviewed David from the Koniac Net a while ago, so we’re glad to see that they’re finally getting the support and appreciation they deserve.
Man, that’s so true. Nail on head, really. I’ve been a Koniac fan for a while. It’s like the old-school 90s alternative stuff that I really love. And David is an awesome guy, really puts hard work into the Koniac Net. He’s like a true hustler of yore, you know? (laughs)
Yeah, we’ve been fans for a while too, so we’re really glad to see that they finally broke through with the latest record [They Finally Heard Us].
It’s arguably one of my favorite albums of this year so far, you know? And they’re just a guitar-heavy alternative band, but this one is a deeply immersive and emotional album. Something intimate about it.
Yeah. So we know this is somewhat of a cliched question to ask, but as the songwriter of the act, what comes first for you, the music or the words?
So I listened to this Song Explorer podcast with Wilco a while ago, and the front man was like, “I just sing, and words just come out of my mouth. I trust my own instincts and my body enough, that whatever is coming out of me is what’s relevant to what I want to sing out.” Since then, I kind of work along this philosophy. The essence of the themes come out very naturally. The song I did this most for was “Falling Out” from my last record [2018’s Make It Happen]. The melody and the words came out at the same time while I was playing the guitar. Usually the guitar parts come together first.
I used to try and be clever about writing lyrics. I wanted
to make funny and interesting rhymes, metaphors here and there, and I thought
this was songwriting is: to be cheeky and clever. As I got older, I found it a
little disingenuous to simply try to make a rhyme or to make something fit.
From my first album [2014’s Small Victories
EP] to the second, there’s a big shift in the lyrics, if you notice. It’s a lot
more abstract, a little less narrative, a lot more organic and real. I prefer
this a lot more to what I used to write like. I try to keep it as fluid and as
true as I can.
What was going through your head when you put together the songs on Make It Happen?
Well, my first record was as indie as it gets – arranged in three days, recorded in three days, mixed in four days, and then it was out. There was no room for experimentation, but that was how Warren and I intended for it to be. For Make It Happen, I really wanted a great, sprawling record with big sounds and big ideas. I wanted to be indulgent and create something that I was really proud of.
Two threads across the album are my vocals and the theme (centered
on my late 20s). I took every song individually rather than as an entire album
together. People may complain that some songs stick out or don’t fit in, but I
felt that this was a representation of my entire life. Nobody is just one thing,
and I hate being slotted into “Oh, this is a pop record, oh, this is that sort
of vibe”, so I liked the idea that it’s really dynamic. I wanted people to feel
positive, but also feel the depth and range of things I had to offer.
Everything was so important to me, from the design to the track listing, and
I’m really proud of what we put out.
But that being said, I’m proud of my first album, too.
That’s who I was then. Maybe it’s not true right now, but that’s exactly what I
wanted at that point. It’s a snapshot of who I was then.
We’re glad you brought up the design on your album. We really loved the color palette and the visuals on Make It Happen with the little Adventure Time type of cartoons, and so on. How did you come up with the aesthetic? Did you design it yourself?
Tejas: Well, I am a very poor designer, so it wasn’t me (laughs). After my first album, I felt that the design didn’t say that much about me visually. So I went and spoke to Neysa Mendes (@goodslice), who’s been really instrumental in a bunch of albums from the indie scene. She said, “Tejas, you have to close your eyes, and think about what you want people to visualize when they say your name.” After that, I spent a good amount of time thinking about the visuals and imagery that I wanted to project.
I then took the aid of Studio Kohl, and an amazing designer and conceptual artist called Mira Malhotra. I told Mira and the team that I wanted it to be representative of who I am – I love animation, cartoons, bright colors. I literally still watch cartoons and I’m turning 30 this year (laughs). And I love Adventure Time, as you pointed out, with its mythology and bizarreness. I wanted to create this universe of my own, with every track having its own single art, and all those pieces put together form the back art of the album.
We wanted to talk to you about another interesting aspect of the album, which is that you crowdfunded it online, and you raised the money you needed in a matter of hours! Talk us through how that happened, and why you chose that route.
Yeah, it was amazing. I had no idea it was going to happen in literally six hours! My friends put in good amounts, but there were so many folks I didn’t expect. I got Rs. 50,000 from a high school that I hadn’t spoken to in literally ten years. It was an incredible and humbling experience, to be honest.
As for the why. Sometimes, I feel that the independent music
scene in India is a rich person’s sport, you know? You need a benefactor’s help,
whether it’s your folks or your own savings, and so on. I’m on my own, with
some help from friends, so it’s an expensive affair. This helped a lot.
Also, the theme of Make
It Happen is basically about taking the right decisions to improve your
life. I have been a product of everybody’s goodwill – so thematically,
contextually, it made sense to fund the album this way. It got everyone
involved, and excited to hear more from me. Turned out great!
The other aspect of this was, I knew I had to work on the
marketing and promotion of the album anyway. The music industry right now is
set up in such a way that there’s not much money coming in from sales or from
streaming. Really, the money is coming from performances – everything you do as
a musician is only to promote your gig. Even your album! Think about it that
way, and you realize you have to spend a lot of marketing money. I’m from an
advertising background, so I get this. It’s not enough to be a talented
musician anymore. So this was a unique way to promote the album, too.
Yeah, for sure. Switching gears a bit, we wanted to ask you about your record label, Kadak Apple Records. We ourselves are named after a record label, so this is a particularly interesting aspect for us!
Well, I was releasing my album independently, and I wanted it come from someplace legitimate. In any creative industry, people take you more seriously when you’re coming from a legitimate source. I started Kadak Apple with my good friend and part-time manager, Krish Makhija. We wanted songwriters to be taken more seriously. There’s nothing wrong with playing three-hour brunches, but we felt songwriters in this town had more to offer.
Sometimes [before starting the label], I would get calls saying, “Hey, we want you to play at so-and-so but we can’t afford to pay you that much” – but I felt I deserved it. After I set up the label, I’d ask them, “Why don’t you get in touch with my record label”, and they’d send an email – and I’d respond to the email myself (laughs) but I’d get the gig or the deal this time.
You were just playing the game, basically.
100%. It’s a perception thing; it’s advertising. Right now, Kadak Apple has about nine songwriters on the roster, and I legitimately think that these are some of the best songwriters in the country. But beyond talent, they are mostly there because they are my friends, you know?
Kadak Apple is more of a collective than a label, really. I
facilitate opportunities, coordinate artist availabilities with gig requests,
coordinate media requests, provide industry contacts – whatever I can offer
from my knowledge. I don’t believe in a trade-secret kind of environment. The
Indian indie music industry is so small that it’s in my interest right now for
everyone to have a No. 1 record. I want to give people a choice of different
genres and artists to hear. We need more people to be part of the scene. Eventually,
we’ll get to a more commercialized industry. So that was the intention behind
Kadak Apple.
As for the name – Krish believes in the whole kadak
philosophy. He’s a cinematographer, so he believes the kadak kind of shots.
Kadak chai, and so on. And Apple because of Apple Records and the Beatles.
Cool, that’s a fun back story! So switching gears one more time to yet another thing you’re part of – Geek Fruit. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Geek Fruit is something I started after I quit my job in 2015. I was working crazy hours in advertising, with three hours of travel every day and so on. After I quit, I had a lot of free time. I tried to focus on what could keep me occupied in the time that I didn’t want to do music. And I say that because I don’t really consider myself to be a musician’s musician. I think I’m good at it, and that the craft of songwriting has come to me, but I don’t feel very “artist-y” about the way I approach music. Sometimes, when I hang out with musicians, I still feel that imposter syndrome really hard.
But when it comes to movies, and watching them and talking
about them – that’s something I’ve been involved with far longer than I have
been with music. I’ve had opinions about movies forever, I love Marvel Comics,
DC, Star Wars, so on. And I really feel that the nerds won, you know? When I
was a kid and trying to talk about kyber crystals in a Jedi’s lightsaber, no
one cared. But now, everyone cares! The biggest TV show, the biggest movies –
they’re all from nerd culture now.
I wanted to start something where we can review stuff, do
podcasts, make content – this is something I genuinely love. I can say I love
it even more than I love music, in some ways. The ability to create is amazing,
but the ability to consume, and discuss, is fantastic. So I created Geek Fruit
with two friends from Kadak Apple – Jishnu Guha and Dinkar Dwivedi. We’ve been
doing podcasts for three years now, with 250+ episodes out – two episodes per
week, every week. I’m happy to say we have a humble but dedicated following
that come for our events and parties now.
Last year, for Halloween, we had a party called Super
Scary Awesome. We did a Disney tribute at the end with our entire band and
lots of Kadak Apple people. Everyone dressed up as weird characters. It was one
of my proudest moments because it was just so unique.
This has been amazing; thank you, Tejas. We wanted to wrap up with a few Rapid Fire questions, if you’re up for it?
Sure, go for it!
Since you mentioned Marvel, and that’s so big in pop culture right now – who’s your favorite Marvel character (from the comics or the movies) and what’s your favorite movie from the MCU?
I was a big Spiderman fan as a kid; Peter Parker and I go way back. So that’s my favorite. I also love some of the fringe characters: Iron Fist, Daredevil, Moon Girl, so on. Out of all the movies, it’s hard for me to not say [Avengers:] Endgame because they stuck the landing to a very difficult project. I also love [Captain America:] Civil War and [Captain America:] TheWinter Soldier.
The other big pop culture phenomenon right now is Game of Thrones – what did you think of the finale?
I have complicated thoughts on it. I’m not going around petitioning that they should remake the show (laughs), but it’s hard to not point out the glaring issues. So yeah, I was disappointed.
People our age are a lot more clued because of things like
Reddit. They know why they like or dislike something. This entire season was a
disappointment and there were huge pacing issues. There was also the overall
question of why they shortened it to six episodes, too. The moment the Night
King died, I kind of checked out. You shouldn’t be able to kill him in a
physical combat. Why is Jon alive? What was the point of Bran’s whole story? We
haven’t gotten the answers to all of these questions.
And if you had to pick a TV show where you loved it from start to finish, what would it be?
I don’t think there is a perfect show, but I think Adventure Time comes pretty close. Apart from that, I love Gilmore Girls, House, Breaking Bad (obviously). 30 Rock is up there, too.
What’s your favorite gig so far?
We played one gig recently in Humming Tree that was really great. We took some risk by taking 100% of the gate, so we had to make the sales on whoever’s actually showed up. We wanted to try out the format. About 120 people or so showed up, and we sold a lot of merch, had posters made, and so on. It was great.
I also really enjoy going to places that don’t get a lot of
live music. I went on a tour last year to the North East with Mali, and those
were some of the best gigs I’ve done. Playing to different audiences that we’ve
never played to before, and having our songs sung back at us – it was amazing.
Who’s one Indian artist that you’d love to collaborate with at some point?
I think Meba Ofilia is amazing. Young, new, R&B / soul kind of singer-songwriter. Chayan [Adhikari] from Advaita. Aditya Ashok from Ox7gen would be next on my list, too.
All images courtesy the artist. Check out Tejas’ website here for more information about him and where to listen to his music.
In our honest opinion, twenty-something Dhruv Visvanath is already one of the most iconic musicians in India today. With his unique percussive guitar style, clear design aesthetic, and an irrepressibly nomadic take on life, it’s pretty easy to pick a Dhruv Visvanath song out of a musical lineup.
In 2015, Visvanath released a well-received debut album, Orion; but like all great musicians, he didn’t let the success define his career. In 2016, he embarked upon a massive 17-city tour across India – no doubt driven by his keen (and well-documented) sense of wanderlust. The tour resulted in 2018’s The Lost Cause – a brilliant album with lilting melodies, beautiful imagery and Visvanath’s masterful guitar skills.
Top Five Records caught up with Dhruv for a detailed chat about his influences, love of travel, musical style, and much more. Read on below:
Let’s start with a picture of what makes you into the artist you are today: What got you into music, and when did you first start getting into it?
I’ve been playing and learning since I was seven, and it’s been a long and arduous journey at times; but I’m ever so grateful for music. I started off with the piano, and from there my thirst for musical knowledge just grew further and further, up to a point where I just picked up a guitar and started learning through trial and error. To this day, I still feel like that’s the right way for me! Trial and error above everything else!
We at TFR see glimpses of Sufjan Stevens, the Decembrists, and hints of Mumford & Sons in your tunes. What would you say are the biggest musical influences in your music? Apart from other musicians, what else has influenced you as an artist?
First off, thank you! You guys make me blush! I have always looked to using stories from my life as my biggest source of inspiration for writing songs. My family, my dearest friends, my heartaches and moments of happiness have allowed me to express my thoughts and feelings through music; I just try to do my part by being honest and true to myself.
Musical inspirations are an entirely different story. Would you believe me if I told you I was listening to Dr. Dre a few nights ago? All jokes aside, I do listen to and absorb what I can from as many different artists, because you can learn many things just by listening to different songs. Currently I’m hooked on to Daniel Caesar, Parcels and Jungle, but I’ve always loved bands like Alter Bridge, Foals and Snarky Puppy. I really like the way they arrange their songs, and how they build their music and it’s such a useful lesson when making music!
Your music stands out among Indian singer-songwriters for your unique style of percussive acoustic guitar. How did you get interested in this style of playing? How did you train yourself in it, from a technical standpoint?
I do feel like I am unique for sure, but I’m thrilled to see more and more people just stepping in to their comfort zone when it comes to making music! It’s a pleasure to explore and I want to take the time to learn from everyone doing things differently. I like to think of myself as a songwriter more than just a guitarist but I absolutely love playing. A lot of my songs feel like they start from the guitar, and grow into bigger stories with more layers, and to be honest, I only want to write good songs, and my technique has helped me do that.
I’m a self-taught guitarist, and have maintained that throughout my musical journey. It allows me to continue making mistakes and learning in new ways! Honestly though, I used to play the electric guitar and I could feel myself stagnating, and there was a point where worries arose and I started falling out of love with the guitar. It wasn’t until I found a few videos on YouTube with guys smacking the bodies of their acoustics – and epiphany struck! I would literally sit and learn these percussively flavoured songs and would spend hours imitating these amazing guitarists, from Andy Mckee, to Don Ross, to Antoine Dufour. These folks were genuinely great teachers and it really allowed me to find my own style along the way.
Music video for “Jungle”, from The Lost Cause (2018)
Let’s talk about the songwriting process. The rhythm and melodies in your songs are so intricate, and yet your words always seem to lock right into place. What comes first for you, the music or the lyrics?
I love a sense of rhythm in everything. Having words that complement the rhythm just make the song that much more enjoyable, both to write and to listen to. Oftentimes, the music does come first, but it depends. Most of my ideas stem from an idea that’s ten seconds long. My sense of rhythm comes from how I play, and I use my strengths to work my on weaknesses when it comes to writing layers or working on my voice.
It really helps to write in a manner which brings out the best in you, rather than trying to force a song out. You want to feel like playing and listening to music that makes you want to be a better person, and a more expressive person. It’s a strange way of looking at it, but writing a new song gives me so much happiness, and it feels like constipation if I don’t write!
One of our favorite aspects about Dhruv as a musician (apart from the music itself, of course) is your keen sense of design, from the common font across your output, to the connected color palette, to the incredibly unique choice of, for example, using mops to tell a story. What inspires your design aesthetic?
The mops weren’t my idea! That goes to the director of my video for “Wild,” Tanvi Gandhi. But I have to say I have always looked at myself as someone who’s had to build himself from the ground up. I like to create as much of an identity as I possibly can, but that’s important for anyone who wants to be an artist. I pick vivid colours because I see vivid colours emanating from my music, and I want to show a sense of wonder and wistfulness. I feel like a person who plays the acoustic guitar to it’s absolute limits, so for me, bright colours and extreme contrasts seem like a fitting portrayal of who I am musically.
In any song, the most important thing is the story, and I’m a very story-driven person. The use of abstraction comes naturally to me and I love it when the songs bring things to life. A sense of abstraction is key, and it’s not often that someone feels like a mop until they see a mop act and live just like you!
Let’s talk about that music video for “Wild”, because it really is unlike anything else out there in Indian indie music today. How did you come up with the concept for that music video? How did you plan out the production work that went into actually putting it together? And how long did it take you to film it?
Again, I can take credit for the song! The video, however, was an entirely different task. My director, Tanvi Gandhi, bombarded me with ideas for six months until we hit on this one kooky idea of expressing human angst through mops – and the vision stuck. Production started in January 2018 and the rest of the creative team behind the video spent a month going on reconnaissance trips and making prototypes of the mops. It wasn’t until the first week of April 2018 where I got a finished product. I’m very glad we took the time to make the video, and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. It’s travelled to places I haven’t even been and I’m so glad it’s been played at many festivals. (Ed. Note: Dhruv is too humble to mention it, but “Wild” was shown at the prestigious SXSW festival this year.) It was a product of love and for it to be loved and appreciated in the way that it has is very special to me.
Tell us a little bit about your recent album, The Lost Cause, and how you put together all the pieces there. We know you went on an eponymous India-wide tour before the album actually came out – to what extent, and how, did that tour influence the music on the album?
Well, if I’m honest, I recorded most of the music before actually going on tour! The whole purpose of the tour was to go through India and explore the various stories that my family had experienced throughout the country. It definitely did affect the finished product, however, and I’m grateful to have gone on that journey. It really allowed me to attach stories to my songs, and some of the songs I’d written prior to going on the tour didn’t make much sense until I’d experienced these stories. The album felt effortless to work on. I’d sit and work with just writing songs in my bedroom and then recording them late at night. I took the project on as a chance to improve my ability to record my music, and I’m glad I did it.
The backbone of your album, The Lost Cause, centers around exploration – from new cities to aspects of you as a person and as a musician. Has this streak of discovery always been part of who you are?
I’ve been a traveler all my life. I’ve grown up in different places, and it’s always been an absolute blessing to go out an explore. The song itself was more about a need to identify your dreams, and to follow them wholeheartedly. Placing the right amount of faith in yourself will push you further than anything else will. I wrote this song for all the times I’ve been told that what I do is just that, a lost cause. I thought to make it an epic of sorts, as large as I possibly could, so it’d feel like something you’d shout at the top of a mountain!
What’s next on the radar for you – New music? New tours? Something else entirely?
Well, I’m in the middle of recording some newer songs, but also I’ve taken the last year or so to write the best music I can, and just create. I’ve been fortunate to work on a few film scores as well and it’s something I’m extremely keen on continuing. Finally, this last year has taught me what it means to be a good producer as well, and I want to take this chance to really improve and work with more people and make more songs with more people if I can!
Thank you, Dhruv, that was excellent! Before we wrap up, we’d like to ask you some quick-fire questions. Ready?
What are your top three Desert Island Discs? (i.e., three albums that you would be fine listening to, without access to any other music, for the rest of your life?)
One Day Remains by Alter Bridge; Phil Collins’ Greatest Hits; Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace by Foo Fighters.
What’s been your favorite gig so far?
So far, it has to be a gig I did at NIFT Delhi in October last year. I had my best friends with me on stage, and playing a fun, exciting night to a nice big amphitheater.
Who’s one Indian artist that you’d love to work with?
Warren Mendonsa, Dhruv Ghanekar, Parekh & Singh… the list is very, very long.
Given your love of exploration, we assume you’ve travelled a lot around the world. What’s one city that you find yourself wishing you could visit again?
Two cities, Montreal and Hong Kong. I grew up in Hong Kong and that place will always be special to me; and Montreal because it’s just one of the most musically charged and creative places I’ve ever been to.
What albums or songs are on constant rotation right now?
I love listening to any song made by SG Lewis, an amazing producer. As for albums, I’ve been listening to Let it Die by Feist, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? by Billie Eilish and Assume Form by James Blake.
You can visit Dhruv’s website for information on where to listen to his music. All images courtesy the artist.
Those who have been paying close attention to Mumbai’s indie scene cannot deny the welcome shift in the quality of production in recent years. The scene has been graced by a wave of savvy producer-slash-engineers who have really helped propel the quality of music and cultivate a songwriting mindset among younger artists. Rishi Bradoo, former frontman of Mumbai electro-punk trio Blek and Chief Tinkerer at Theatre 74 studios, is one such torchbearer, with his stamp on some of the city’s finest recent releases including Awkward Bong’s In the Brightest Corners and a string of tracks by Ramya Pothuri. There’s no denying Rishi’s prowess as a studio engineer but that’s just one of the many spices that comprise his secret sauce. We recently caught up with Rishi at his studio in Mumbai to discuss his journey in the music scene and the methods to his magic.
So let’s get this out of the way… How did you get into music?
Right. So I got into music in school. I’d started playing the guitar for some reason and it stuck. That was the time when Superfuzz and the like had just started putting out music. Plus, it generally seemed fun to put chords together. It felt like LEGO. The minute I learned to put these chords together, I quit my guitar classes.
As a teenager, I was particularly frustrated with the way Indian musicians looked at music, which was with this cover-band mindset. Bands around me didn’t seem to care about putting out something truly original and that sort of irked me. That’s how I got to writing my own music. But it wasn’t until college did I get exposed to working with professional musicians. Xavier’s [St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai] surprisingly turned out to be fertile ground for budding musicians at the time. A lot of guys I met at college are working professionally in music right now. My college scene was basically defined by tons of college fests and a failed band.
What failed band?
Let’s not talk about it.But yeah the first gig I ever played with a “legit” band was at this shitty excuse for a venue called Jazz by the Bay. We were teenagers at the time, and didn’t realize [what we were getting into]. Our first set had 10 “originals” and something like one or two covers. None of the other kid bands were doing that and it seemed pretty radical at the time. After our run of 5 shows at JBTB, we were bitch-slapped into ground reality though. It wasn’t until later that I met Jared and Varoon, our drummer and we would go on to form Blek. For a year we made the rounds of the college circuit and were starting to gain some momentum. We’d get our next gig at the last gig we played. We’d play a gig, talk to somebody after the gig and hustle another gig and eventually it led us to this place called B69.
It was an underground venue and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t legal. Sweat would literally evaporate, condense on the ceilings and then pour out onto the musicians playing on stage. So yeah, it was a pretty gnarly venue but a lot of young bands got to cut their teeth over there… you know… because you could afford to be bad.
We met the Lightyears over there and we would end up sharing a lot of bills together.
2012 was one of the most influential years for me. That was when I was convinced that this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. In early 2012, we cut our record, Hexes + Drama & other reasons for evacuation and things blew up. We started getting booked all over the place. Within a year we had toured the entire country, in our third year of college. We were even invited to play in the UK at the Great Escape Festival.
What was that like?
Playing the Great Escape festival changed a lot of things for us. It was pretty eye-opening. The difference between what standards need to be and where they were in the scene at the time really came to the forefront. I realized that why people make music in the independent music scene in India and why people made music there were two completely different things. This thought had been on my nerves much earlier and was only reinforced when I got there. Interacting with musicians from around the globe was a far cry from the experiences I had in India. It was quite bittersweet actually. It felt like we were lagging behind in many ways but it also opened my eyes to what was possible. We had all this talent lying around that could definitely shine through more clearly if we had a certain change in mindset and environment.
What got you into audio? Was it a general sense of disillusionment with the production quality at the time?
It wasn’t about production quality. Production quality was inevitably going to get better and was actually quite amazing even at the time, just not in indie music. All the young bands here over the last seven or eight years haven’t really had any good role models to look up to. I don’t consider Shaiir+ Func and Pentagram to be good role models at all!
The general attitude of bands here is:
I have these chords and I kind of made them go together. I also have some lyrics written over some vocal melody and it sounded fine in the jam room so I guess I have a song.
Just because you jammed it out in a jam-room and it sounded “tight” doesn’t make it a complete song. You really need to sit down and focus on the nuances of songwriting and that only comes with focused effort. What a lot of debut artists need to understand is you’re making music, not releasing YouTube content. The way most indie artists in India treat music is as if they’re releasing content.
You know I’ve noticed, whenever an artist enters the studio with the desire to have fun and make something they care about, the record always sounds good. Whether they’re good musicians or not, the record sounds good. There’s a kind of carelessness or honest expression that’s captured. Whenever an artist comes to the studio with this careerist mindset of wanting to release a record because they have to release a record that year, 7 out of 10 times, the record doesn’t sound as great. You can always hear it in the music, when there’s a sense of insincerity in the studio.
People put too much emphasis on mixing, engineering and the like but the actual emphasis should be on the writing.
So coming back to the question… when you’re not in the record cutting business, you don’t realize the kind of effort that goes in. It all seems like knobs and buttons. There’s a lot of microscopic detail that you’re paying attention to and macroscopic details you’re trying to balance out and that takes years is what I’ve realized over time. You kind of pick it up along the way.
For me, at that time, I felt like I could figure the writing part out. But I wanted to cut my own records. I wanted to have decisive control over it, not having to be reliant on the one person in Bombay I trust with my work.
What was Audio School in Alchemea like? Did you get to work with some big ticket producers?
In London, I studied under the guy who mixed Klaxons and Nick Cave. I also got to spend about a week with Tchad Blake who’s a personal hero of mine. He’s the guy who mixed Arctic Monkeys’ AM. He also worked on the Black Keys’ records. But yeah, that’s about it. I don’t think it really matters as much as you’d think. The thing about learning is, it’s more about who you are as a student and not so much about who is teaching. You can go to the best schools with the best teachers and learn jackshit, which I think is the case with most Indian schools to start with. We’re not curious enough. It kind of struck me. As students in India, we’re very badly raised. We’re raised to be scared of failure. We’re raised to answer questions in the way that is prescribed. That’s such a bad environment to build any sort of creative thought. I’ve been very disillusioned with this “college chaapa” mindset. “Oh, he went to Berklee, he must be good”. That doesn’t fly with me. I need to know what his record sounds like to see if he’s really good.
Was it always the plan to come back home from the UK and set up a studio?
No, actually. Part of me wanted to go learn production so that I could cut my own records, but it was also because I wanted to get the fuck away from Bombay. It had gotten really depressing. Like I said, I was very disillusioned with Bombay and the music scene in general. I was so done with the way musicians were functioning here, the way festival organizers were functioning here and the way artist managers were functioning here. It was a huge fucking mess. I felt that if I had the opportunity to go to the UK and not come back, why would I? But then looking back at India , I couldn’t just ignore the opportunities that were present back home. Had I stayed in the UK, I would have had to start at the very bottom of the ladder. Find a studio I could work in, become an assistant engineer, then maybe get promoted, convince artists to entrust me with their work, and so on. I wasn’t sure if I was happy with having such limited opportunities in the UK. The opportunity in India was to set up your own studio, cut your teeth the hard way by jumping into the deep end, not having someone mentor you and to diversify. I can literally do anything I want with this space.
What were the first few artists you recorded when you came back?
In the Brightest Corners by Awkward Bong was the first record I cut after coming back. I was lucky to have that be my first record, you know, as a rookie. The thing about audio school is you spend one year there, and then come into the real world, and the learning curve only steepens. I was really lucky to have such a project because it was hardcore production. I could dictate a lot. I could dictate the chord movements, I could dictate the rhythm section. I could really say: hey, do this, delete that, cut that verse in half. Like really hands-on production.
For me when a person writes a song, it isn’t the sound of the kick drum or the beat. It’s the chords, the lyrics, the melody and the general rhythmic vibe. Now what makes a SONG for me, in big block letters, which is released to the world and makes people feel things, is a combination of really good songwriting and sensible production that complements the songwriting. With the Awkward Bong record, Ronit had enough trust in me to run riot. Sonically, it’s an amateur record, being my first record out of audio school and everything, but the songs were really great and we worked very hard on fleshing them out.
So one of your songs with BLEK, “Fog + Strobe” got a slight makeover and was rechristened as” Byomkesh in Love”, featured in the movie Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! Were you happy with the way that turned out and the experience in general?
Working with Dibakar was pretty great. He always said: if you don’t want to do something, don’t do it. Initially he wanted me to add on this Hindi thumri to the song and I was extremely hesitant. But after I got to listen to it and know the meaning of what was being sung, I was completely on board. I felt like it fit. He wanted a version of the song for the film that went with the visuals of a particular scene, which I found to be a very challenging project. When this person rolled over the table in the action scene, Dibakar wanted a drum roll or toms to replace your traditional sound effects.
So, we were sitting down with him, looking at the scene and producing accordingly, while keeping in mind that it should sound great even as a standalone song. Once he had his shot for the film, he let me have full control over the version of the song that went out on Apple Music and the like. The version that’s out on YouTube or whatever is the version that we wanted and were happy with. Now that’s a good way to work!
What’s BLEK up to now and more importantly, what’s Rishi the musician upto now?
I’d prefer not to divulge premature details. You’ll know when it’s done I guess.*goes on to divulge juicy secrets off the record*
This started out as chat about your musical journey but you were able to turn it into a lesson in life. It was great talking to you man.
Right so to wrap things up, we have a bunch of rapid fire questions we do with all our guests.
Favourite Indian artist right now?
None. I’m serious. I have much higher standards and expectations of Indian artists and we WILL get there!
Pick one of the two you can’t live without: delay or reverb.
I can’t live without delay. I can make delay sound like reverb but not the other way around.
Drink of choice.
It’s usually vodka but now I’m switching to Stranger & Sons gin.
One gig that’s left a permanent mark on you.
This sounds narcissistic but it’s the gig we played with the Lightyears at one of the earlier Ctrl + Alt + Del festivals, at B69.
Three Desert Island discs for when you’re stranded on an island.
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino by the Arctic Monkeys and let me tell you why. TBH&C is a beautiful record. It has all these tiny, beautiful things that are so “fuck you”.
Sea Change by Beck, without a doubt. He is a rare, beautiful artist. A hero of mine.
A Moon Shaped Pool by Radiohead. It’s actually quite hard to pick a Radiohead record.
If you’ve been paying attention to the music coming out of Kolkata for the past few years, you’d have heard of Suyasha Sengupta. She was the lead singer for the Ganesh Talkies – a rare frontwoman / guitarist – and went on to form her own electronic solo act called Plastic Parvati.
Last month, the reputed Toto Awards chose Plastic Parvati as the winner of their Music award for 2019, from among a formidable list of upcoming musicians. Recently, we caught up with Suyasha for a long-ranging interview covering the prestigious award, new music, artistic influences, and so much more. Read on below:
Top Five Records: Hi Suyasha!
Suyasha Sengupta: Hey!
TFR: Thank you so much for doing this! Just to give you a little bit of an introduction – we are Top Five Records, an independent review website that’s been online for about six years now. You may not remember, but we actually featured one of your songs a long time ago.
SS: Oh, yeah, was it before the album or something?
TFR: Yeah, it was literally like in 2013.
SS: Oh yeah, had to be one of the first ones.
TFR: Yeah, we’re really big fans of you and Ganesh Talkies, so we’re really glad that we could take the time to speak. So let’s get started, from the beginning. When did you start to get interested in music?
SS: Well, I come from a very Bengali household, so there was always some kind of music on when I was growing up. The stereotype is, you know, that Bengalis always have Rabindra sangeet on somewhere in the background, and that was quite true. There was a lot of folk music, traditional Bengali music, and there was also a lot of Elvis, the Beatles, Nat King Cole and all of that. Even before I started playing music, I would say that since I grew up with music, it helped the process.
I think I was about 10 or 12
years old when I realized I wanted to start singing and writing music. I
started taking guitar lessons when I was about 14. And then of course, I
discovered Nirvana and Alice in Chains and Stone Temple Pilots – the whole
grunge scene. I think I always knew that I would pursue something in the arts,
but music was always my release, my go-to. It was a very natural process.
TFR: Right. And so, do your parents like the fact that you’re a musician?
SS:(Laughs) Well, I’ve been doing this for a while, so they’ve kind of abandoned the hope of me pursuing something else. It wasn’t very smooth in the beginning, but since I’m an only child, I played that to my advantage. For Indian parents, to let their children go into a creative field, it’s a little bit scary, because the future is always uncertain, and it’s an unstable profession. It doesn’t have the comfort of a steady 9-to-5. My parents were obviously apprehensive.
I started singing professionally
at 18; this was when I was still in school, playing a gig on the weekends,
going back to school the next day – for pocket money. They figured out that I
would pursue something in the arts, but they encouraged me to at least get a
bachelor’s degree. After graduation, they were like, “If you can manage both,
then go ahead”. I actually ended up quitting my Master’s program after a
semester and moving back to Kolkata, and that’s when I had a more serious
conversation with them. Initially, they weren’t happy but I think they’ve
gotten around to it.
TFR: Yeah, especially if you’ve always had music in your home, they would be semi-okay with the idea anyway.
SS: Yeah, and they were happy that I was doing my own thing and taking care of myself. And unlike the sex drugs and rock ‘n’ roll stereotype, she hasn’t turned up in a ditch somewhere yet (laughs).
TFR: Haha, right. So at what point did the whole Ganesh Talkies thing start, and when did you decide that you wanted to start the Plastic Parvati project on your own?
SS: Going back to the band when I was 18, we were primarily a covers band, and we used to play at this place in Kolkata called Someplace Else. The bass player, Roheet, and I eventually wanted to play our own music, from our own set of influences. One of the things we bonded over was ‘90s Bollywood. Not the music necessarily, but like a certain Govinda movie or some dance step. That’s how Ganesh Talkies started, and then the guitarist and drummer joined in. We came from different sets of influences, but the common love for – I wouldn’t say trashy – but the over-the-top Bollywood helped us.
TFR: Yeah, that ostentatious element.
SS: Exactly. Unreal, gaudy. So that’s how we started Ganesh Talkies. We focused on making our own music rather than covers. When I was in the band, I started experimented with production. I was the primary songwriter for the band, and sometimes I’d have a keyboard or drum idea in my head, but I couldn’t always explain it to them. So I was like, okay, if I could map it out on a software, then maybe they can understand.
At the same time, I also realized
that some of the stuff that I was writing was a little bit too intimate for the
band. It was just my stuff and my moods. So Plastic Parvati started off as a
passion project – and a learning project. I would use it to learn how to
produce and how to write music personally.
TFR: For sure. Earlier on, you were mentioning that Nirvana and grunge is a very big influence for you. Does that carry on to Plastic Parvati?
SS: Nirvana for sure, that’s going to have an influence on everything I do. I think grunge in general has had a huge impact too. Apart from Nirvana, I was discovering a lot of female artists – musicians, directors, poets. I stumbled upon Hole, Garbage and Bikini Kill. These women have left a deep influence on me – because of their music, I don’t feel inhibited to say how I feel with Plastic Parvati. I’ve always been attracted to the fringes, the left-of-center artists.
TFR: That actually reminds me of this VH1 show called Left-of-Center.
SS: Exactly! I remember watching Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson videos, and I thought it was so cool. I’m a sucker for commercial pop too, but I really related to that. And that was the only good thing on TV around that time, and I feel privileged because they actually used to play music on TV back then. Now it’s just reality shows.
TFR: Yeah, now it’s just trash.
SS: Yeah. I don’t even own a TV anymore.
TFR: Same here. Going back to your album [Songs About Lovers, 2017], what was going on through your mind when you were putting that together?
SS: So with the album, we – by we, I mean me and my mentor Miti Adhikari [noted Kolkata-based producer] – we were putting together these snippets when the Ganesh Talkies was having an off-season period. I played him a bunch of unfinished scratches, about 20 of them, because I had all of these clips but I didn’t know what to do with it. There were some that we rejected outright and some that we picked out to work on more. That’s when the idea for the album came about. Miti is someone that I feel extremely comfortable with, so it was a very collaborative process. While I was songwriting, he gave me all of these ideas in terms of instrumentation or production. We’d worked together on Ganesh Talkies but that was as a producer; this was a more intimate process. I’d share the ideas and record the vocals at his place.
I didn’t initially plan on releasing it – it was originally for my mental health, that I could finish the project, because I was trying to tell these stories through my songs. The theme in my head was essentially a chronicle of my experiences as a woman in India, and an exploration of my sexuality.
TFR: Right. We’ve heard great things about Miti from Nischay Parekh as well, about how he was instrumental in developing his sound, too.
SS: Yeah, he’s really one of the key figures in the music that comes out of Kolkata. It’s a small city, and we’re all friends with each other.
TFR: Yeah. So I wanted to ask you about your experiences as a female Indian musician. What kind of changes would you like to see as a performer, for indie musicians to really get the recognition they deserve?
SS: It’s still a tiny bubble. For Indian musicians to get the recognition they deserve, we have to break out of the bubble. We all play gigs in the major metros or the tier-2 cities, but it’s not enough. How many people actually hear anything indie? Firstly, we need a scene which is not just, like, 10 people from Bombay; more inclusive of other people, other voices. And we need more female, trans, LGBTQ voices – moving away from the straight, upper-caste Hindu, male thing. We just need more involvement.
In fact, I was recently looking
at some of the American festivals – there’s always one or two women headliners,
but we don’t have that here. Like, last year, there was this festival on
Women’s Day, that had an all-women lineup, but it was organized by men! The
point is not to have an all-women line-up. The point is to normalize the role
of women or other communities amongst what exists now.
TFR: Exactly. They essentially didn’t do much except filter by gender.
SS: Yeah, like there’s a “genre” called “girl-band”. For other bands, there’s genres like rock, hip-hop, whatever, but for these girls, there’s a genre called “girl-band”. That doesn’t make sense! The conditioning needs to change, basically.
And another aspect is that I’m
basically in the black-hole of the country [musically]; we in Kolkata don’t
always get the push we deserve. But I love Kolkata, it’s very comfortable.
TFR: Yeah, this is what we hear from the Chennai bands, too: “No one really cares what we do in Chennai, so we just have a lot of fun by ourselves”.
SS: Exactly. If you look at the music that’s coming out of these two cities, it’s extremely different and diverse. We have to work harder, and we don’t get the kind of recognition in other cities, so we have to focus on our craft more. We have no infrastructure, just us musicians. We have to travel to Bombay or Bangalore just to play a gig.
TFR: Speaking of gigs – what’s on the radar for Plastic Parvati?
SS: The next gig I’m playing is Control Alt Delete. It’s actually my first as Plastic Parvati in Bombay. I’ve consciously stayed away from club gigs because I’ve done that extensively with Ganesh Talkies. I also want to put out some music by the end of the year, because there’s been a change in my musicality. I want to see how that works, in the context of an EP.
TFR: Nice! So do you have anything down already?
SS: I’m still writing, so it’ll take some time. I don’t like giving myself a deadline, because I feel pressured, but I have some scratches down.
TFR: Cool! So the last thing we wanted to ask you is about the Toto Award, which you won recently for Music. That’s a great achievement, congratulations! What does the award mean to you?
SS: Honestly I didn’t expect it at all! Although I’ve been playing music for a while, Plastic Parvati has just been a year of me seriously trying to do something. In terms of independent arts in India, this has been one of the groups that has been supporting artists for a long time. And the previous winners are all artists I deeply admire – it’s great to be one of them now! Toto has always been great at selecting the non-mainstream, slightly underdog artists – there’s some pressure on me now to live up to their support. It’s also encouraging to know that there’s an organization like that that appreciates artists like me. I’m hoping that it’s a message to younger girls, too: there’s people out there who do support you.
TFR: Well, that’s all the longer questions we had. We just want to do a quickfire round now, cool?
SS: Sure, yeah!
TFR: Who would be your favorite Indian artist, apart from yourself and Ganesh Talkies?
SS: Fuck. This is hard. I can’t pick one! I’ll go with Parekh & Singh, and Peter Cat (and LIFAFA and Begum).
TFR: Awesome! I guess our tastes match exactly, because the last two interviews we had were with Parekh & Singh and LIFAFA.
SS: Nice! Yeah, I feel like they’re very representative of Indian indie. They’re not trying to do like weird raga type things with Western instruments, but they are writing their amazing songs, and their sound is incredible.
TFR: It’s very desi.
SS:Desi, but perfectly balanced. Oh, I actually really like Disco Puppet as well. But that’s a personal bias! And… can I name one more? I’ll say Pulpy Shilpy [Gowri Jayakumar’s solo project]. Spoken-word, hip-hop, R&B. And she’s doing everything by herself, so I’m a deep admirer of that aspect.
TFR: Right, ties in with who you are as well. So moving on, which musician, dead or alive, would you most love to work with?
SS: Definitely Sandunes. I love everything that she does, her music, who she is as a person. Her music is very calm, thoughtful. I’m the opposite, like a hurricane – would be very interesting to see what a collaboration would be like.
TFR: Third question. What’s your drink of choice?
SS: Royal Stag, with water.
TFR: Nice. Classic. What’s one track or album on constant rotation lately?
SS: An LP that I found recently – Yellow Magic Orchestra. It’s these three Japanese dudes who made weird stuff in the ‘70s. All analog stuff.
TFR: Very left-of-center, as we were talking about. Final question – what’s been your favorite gig so far as Plastic Parvati?
SS: This is also a little difficult, all gigs are so different. I did this one REProduce session in Varanasi. We were on the roof of a hostel overlooking the Ganges, full-moon night. The crowd was an interesting mix of foreigner tourists and some locals, who were listening to non-Bollywood Indian music for probably the first time in their lives. It was super interesting, and the lineup was great, too. Fun gig.
TFR: Absolutely. So, that’s all from our side. Thank you so much for speaking with us! We’ll keep an eye out for the new EP, and it was a blast speaking with you!
SS: You, too. This was so fun.
You can listen to Plastic Parvati on SoundCloud,Spotify, and iTunes. And keep an eye out for her new music!
Sound the alarms: everyone’s favorite dream pop duo is back!
Parekh & Singh, comprising of Nischay Parekh and Jivraj Singh, is a Kolkata-based indie / dream-pop duo. In 2016, they released a well-received debut album, Ocean, followed by a couple of wildly-popular, high-aesthetic music videos. Recently, the band has released two songs ahead of their second album Science City.
As eagle-eyed readers no doubt know, we spoke with Nischay Parekh back in 2013 when his solo career was just getting started. Even all those years ago, Nischay blew us away with his beautiful melodies and intricate pop sensibilities (see: “I Love You Baby, I Love You Doll”). Since that time, he has teamed up with Kolkata-based drummer Jivraj Singh to form Parekh & Singh, an indie pop mainstay in Kolkata and beyond.
The first two singles from Science City are a wonderful sign of the music yet to come. “Summer Skin” is a stripped-back mix of delicate chords, Singh’s understated percussion, and Parekh’s classic vocals. “Hello”, crisp as a spring morning, is a take on a meet-cute-gone-wrong, where two would-be lovers never quite strike up the courage to say, well, hello.
Top Five Records recently caught up with the duo for a short
interview. Read on below:
Top Five Records: How did the two of you meet? When did you start working together?
Parekh & Singh: We bumped into each other at a birthday party, and started working together in earnest in 2012.
TFR: Tell us a little bit about your musical process. How do you lay down the foundation of a track? At what point do you start penciling in the lyrics?
P&S: Most songs begin with the lyrics, and a foundation of melody & harmony. Rhythmic content in the form of percussion and electronics is usually added next, and then a back-and-forth process of exploration and editing begins until the arrangement and instrumentation are locked and the song feels finished.
TFR: Last time we spoke to you, Nischay, you mentioned that your musical influences range from Rod Stewart to Nat King Cole. We’re curious to know more about Jivraj’s influences. When did you first get into music? What did you grow up listening to?
P&S: (Jivraj) My primary influences are my parents (who were both musicians) and the music they were listening to – pop music in all its forms along with jazz and fusion from the 1940s to the 70s. I’ve been into music from the time I was a toddler, but I began the pursuit of music-making at the age of 18.
Image credits: Parizad D
TFR: You describe your new album, Science City, as a shift to the cosmos; we read it as a dream pop band’s take on science fiction, almost. What’s the inspiration – musical and otherwise – behind this rather specific theme?
P&S: We are avid fans of science: fiction and fact! The cosmos inspires us to study it with the scientific approach, while simultaneously inspiring us to react to it with our emotions and study ourselves. To us, music seems to function in a very similar way: an outward story-telling symbiotically coexisting with an inward story-search.
TFR: Your music videos are usually packed with specific details and distinctive imagery, whether it’s the rural greenery on “Ghost” and “I Love You Baby, I Love You Doll”, or the precise primary-color palette on “Summer Skin”. Tell us more about your creative process behind the music videos?
P&S: A lot of visualization and discussion goes into building a context for each album. We have a comprehensive and detailed set of guiding documents in place long before we even begin to think of a music video. Once there is a rigorous foundation in place we can have a bit of fun without getting too lost!
TFR: In our opinion, your videos and fashion sense have an unmistakable Wes Anderson vibe to them. What are your non-musical influences in shaping the band’s image?
P&S: We enjoy the feeling of “balance”. This concept and sensation is important in countless realms – health, art, relationships, science. The organization of colour, material and form – which results in the band’s image – is closely linked to our deeper desire to create and maintain balance in our lives.
TFR: Your new album releases on April 26th. What’s on the radar in terms of an album tour or other appearances?
P&S: We’re keen to play live, on TV and on the radio in as many countries as possible in support of the new album. It’s all work in progress at this stage but we will share information about our plans as soon as possible.
TFR: What’s on constant repetition at Parekh & Singh nowadays? (Aside from your own tracks, of course!)
P&S: 21 Savage, Angelo De Augustine, Ariana Grande, Chance the Rapper, Kacey Musgraves and Miles Davis.
TFR: And lastly, the most important question: where do you get your amazing suits from?
P&S: Barkat Ali & Brothers, Chowringhee Place, Kolkata.
You can listen to Parekh & Singh on most streaming services. Science City is out on April 26th, 2019. Keep an eye out!
Top Five Records 