26 January 2010
Bobby Burningman Videos 1-3
Check out the three videos we shot of the trip to Burningman 2010. The trip across the states, Burningman by day & Burningman by night!
20 January 2010
Sub Swara in South India.
Sub Swara are without any doubt unique in the world of left-field Desi Electronica. With a manic attention to detail and militancy in their work ethic, both Dhruva Ganesan & Dave Sharma make sure their music lives in a space of its own. With both of them being accomplished multi-percussionists as well as great users of software it means we get Desi Dub-stepped audio made by musicians, as opposed to producers. Yay!
They are now beavering away on the follow up to ‘Coup d’Yah’, their debut album. This entails trips between bedrooms & studios in New York, as well as trips out to Chennai in the Motherland. Initial ‘sketches’ of ideas in beat form are taken to musicians (who also work with AR Rahman) for them to play over, which Sub Swara then cut up and reproduce. The reason Sub Swara’s percussion & bass heavy sound is so unique is they go down the production route like scientists instead of just throwing in some tabla to make it ‘Desi’. I remember once Dave Sharma telling me about the 20+ rhythm tracks they had layered in the studio whilst creating their biggest track yet, ‘Koli Stance’. I also love the way Dhruva blogs about the different drums he’s been recording in Chennai,
“…sick instruments that aren’t often heard, like bass dholak (wow, ridiculous sub on that one), and folk drums like nagara and ghat singhari (clay pot with a leather skin on top for that super modulating wuump wuump kinda vibe).”
I think it’s safe to say that we all need a bit more ‘ghat singhari’ givin us some ‘wuump wuump’ in our lives! This is their latest video Blog, which sees Dhruva in the process of getting some great ‘wuump wuump’.
19 January 2010
Jaya Loves DJ’s.
Don’t just think that this Blog is about Muslim Punks, Desi Dub-Step and the politics of race…We also have room for a fully fledged fittie freaking us the f*ck out inna full-on pop stylee. Yes! Jaya is the latest Desi missile launched at the UK charts with all the bravado as well as the looks, that may just take her all the way.
When I interviewed her on my show as a Friction Introducing artist she told me about how her father was a Hindu priest, and that growing up in Wembley ensured that she got the full multi-culti musical deal in terms of influences. She’s young enough to almost be my daughter so I shall refrain from telling you what I was thinking about when I watched her video for the first time, but feel free to unleash ‘your’ inner angst in the comments section below.
I’m playing the Bharet Goel & Middleman Desi remix of her debut ’DJ, Do It Again’ on the Asian Network at the moment, and The single is out on the 22nd February. Check out her website (with great pictures) here.
17 January 2010
Muslim Punk Movie.
I’ve been playing music on my show, from a band called ‘The Komina’s’ for about three years now & have always found them hilariously funny as well as musically obsessive. I’ve followed them through their genesis as a Desi Punk band in Boston USA, with tracks like “Shariah Law in the USA” & “Suicide Bomb The Gap”, to 2 years ago when some of the members moved to Pakistan for a while and formed ‘The Dead Bhuttos’ as well as ‘Noble Drew’. They are now back in the US…and back in the studio.
When I first played them on the BBC Asian Network the response was three parts predictable, and one part depressing. On one side you had brain dead haters who heard the song titles and assumed the band were ‘Islamist’ in nature, even though the band quite literally exist to give heart attacks & nightmares to the Mullahs. On the other side you had brain dead young Brit-Islamists who thought the band were Pro-Islam & Anti-Western and saw them through the prism of Jihadi Hip Hop and the Koran. I just loved them as they were Desi’s with guitars, and were satirical…something which many Desi’s have a real hard time understanding. I also was kind of living out my failed rock-star dreams through them as I was in a band called ‘The Ferocious Ludoo’s’ in Hounslow, London, fifteen years ago, and we had exactly the same attitude towards subversion, comedy and our musical heritage as The Komina’s do.
The reason I bring this all up now is becuase paralell to me playing them as a new strand of Desi music, the worlds media have been laying seige to ALL of the so called ‘Islamic Punk’ bands in the US and have been reporting on them as the ‘Taqwacore’ movement. Named after Michael Muhammad Knight’s novel ‘The Taqwacores’, many of the bands including The Komina’s have been influenced by his book about Muslim Punks in the US, and over time its become a fanzine/novel/bible for many of the kids who align themselves to the movement. You just know the US news media would have lapped up bands who write songs about letting off suicide bombs in the local GAP store, and as its America you know there’s no way something like this could have stayed underground for long before the money men got their hands on it…& turned it into a commercial proposition! Well that’s whats happened, check the above trailer for ‘Taqwacore – The Birth Of Punk Islam’ The Movie!
I’m not sure about the movie and will have to see it before passing judgement, but it has The Komina’s on the soundtrack which is a very good thing, and Michael Muhammad Knight is an absolute frikkin nutter who regularly pisses off community elders, religious conservatives, islamists and the American political elite which in my book makes him more friend than foe! (His last novel was called ‘Osama Van Halen’ which any young unnamed band need to snap up as their moniker right now.)
14 January 2010
Indotronic Bass Heavy Love Songs.
Himalayan in its deepness, and as melancholy as the sunsets in Jaipur – This remix of Badi Dheere Jali from upcoming Bollywood movie ‘Ishqiya’ is musical morphine. This track makes me think of tragic star-crossed lovers meditating at the point of death, while their lives flash in front of them. It’s an extremely heavy track that showcases why Indian music, in its electronic areas, is the future.
The Bandish Projekt are without doubt perfect for this new decade, making songs of ethereal beauty whilst keeping their bass end as low as a robotic dictatorship. Mayur Narvekar, the brain behind the beats grew up in Gujarat but now resides in Mumbai and is one of my favorite Indotronic Warriors (Other warriors to be covered in later posts..)
Their album ‘Correkt’ is out now to buy, and in my opinion its a seminal work in the history of electronic music in India. Whilst you’re ordering the MP3′s, enjoy the as yet unreleased ‘Badi Dheere Jali (Bandish Projekt Mix)’
13 January 2010
New M.I.A. – There’s a Space for Ol Dat I See (Feat. Rusko)
The latest installments in Sister Arulpragasam’s career happened in quick succession yesterday with her declaring the new album would have “no gimmicks“, .
according to Sean Michaels at The Guardian, and then a tweet from her with this video & track attached. She’s been working with Rusko in the states on the follow up to Kala as well as with Switch & Diplo, and ‘There’s a Space for Ol Dat I see’ is the first look we’ve had at the new material.
Its a very ambient piece compared to the full throttle insanity of the first two albums, albeit with her trademark delivery, and if its a peek into her state of mind in this new decade then all I can say is motherhood has calmed her the f*ck down..x