Week on Week: The VICE India Mixtape

Attempting to keep up with new releases is exhausting. And the never-ending quest to discover an act before they hit >1000 plays on Bandcamp is all but rewarding. Having given up full time music writing a little while ago, more often than not I find myself feeling a mix of FOMO and IDGAF about new, local music while compiling my Spotify playlists. With this feature, we (that is I) aim to put together a weekly mixtape with inputs from VICE India staffers—across all departments, without being judgemental assholes.

“If there was a jam session between bands that are one-hit wonders, Dexys Midnight Runners and the Emerald Express will perhaps start the rager with their Celtic fiddle. I found this song in one of those online lists of UK's 100 greatest songs, and then Shazam’d it when I heard it in a movie, and this song has been a constant on my shower playlist. I have trouble waking up, because mornings suck. This gets me up, hasn't annoyed me yet, and sometimes helps me pretend I'm in a 1980s time-warp—so all in all, it works for me. Give them and their long name a chance.
P.S. The video has a bunch of people in dungarees. Who doesn't love dungarees?”
—Esha Paul, Producer and content-maker-in-denial, always saying ‘ya!’

“The song has been on sicko repeat mode ever since it dropped. The track is a monster on a rollercoaster all the way through with Drake's ad libs, tempo changes, bass drops, all making it one of the best videos of 2018. Tons of graphic filters and effects imaginable on this one. Travis Scott’s deep voice add layers of chill on a fire track. Somebody stop me from hearing it one more time!”
—Puneet Pandya, Manager, Syndication and Alliances and hard-to-find

“The song is catchy, a cute romantic number and it’s loved by all.”
—Farhan Qureshi, Line Producer and plans-shoots-based-on-food-options-around

“You’ll hear it, you’ll love it and then you’ll hear it again. This song is right out of an ’80s cult classic that was never made. You’ll be humming it in your head before it ends.”
—Siddhant Gandhi, Head of Design and too-cool-for-school

“Why I picked this song? Umm… a song truly has the power to become synonymous to a loved one and it sort of defines all the emotions you have shared and the time spent together. It brings back memories and makes the nostalgia real. And after a mad day when you want to disconnect with the commotion around, listening to this song really is therapeutic for me.”
—Priya Dhar, Senior Sales Manager and we-aren’t-in-the-same-office-so-that’s-that

“Found out about Duckwrth early this year and I’ve been obsessed with everything that this guy does. This song along with the video is a proper audio-visual delight <3”
—Ankit Malik, Consultant at E&Y and secretly-wants-to-DJ-your-lame-party

“I’ve had a tough time, first, figuring out whether I like Jungle’s first or second album more, and second, figuring out which song was my favourite off the new one. I’ve found answers to both. As far as the records go, I’m down with For Ever, the sophomore and the new one from the London duo. As for my favourite song, it’s not "Cherry" but a close second, and has a dope video, like every other Jungle music video ever. As a tune, "Cherry" explores the subject of not changing for a loved one, yet accepting them, and I’ve got to say, the band could be chatting shit, and yet, the melody makes it hard to not move to it. For Ever explores a newer, not so varying, but definitely distinct side to the duo that makes it a wholesome album-listening experience overall. Talking of my favourite song, it’s gotta be "Cosurmyne",’ followed by this recco and "Beat 54 (All Good Now)" up next, all in quick succession. So good. What’s the best part about this recco? I am H Y P E D for their gig in India, in February. H Y P E D.”
—Naman Saraiya, Producer and bummed-about-missing-Magnetic-Fields-2018

Check out our previous editions here.