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.

For this week’s edition, we’ve got the team (and artists) at UnMute to recommend what’s on their playlists, and what’s making them move. UnMute is an artist management agency, co-founded by local techno hero Arjun Vagale and Dev Bhatia, manager of the erstwhile Jalebee Cartel, of which Vagale was an integral part. UnMute also hosts RESET, a dedicated festival that brings forward-thinking techno, stage design and overall gig experience to dedicated fans in cities that bigger promoters often glance over.

“Most of you might have already heard countless iterations of this immortal song… for me, the original tune is super dope and a perfectly executed example of the science behind a perfect melody/beat. While the golden era ('50s and '60s) of the Indian film music was based around a semi-classical folkish vibe, the duo composed this psychedelic/gypsy neo-folk infused soundtrack with western breaks. There are two versions of this track: one is happy and gives me a feeling of love, while the other is sad, mean, angry, and kaafi aggressive. In the late '70s, the duo worked on a disco album and as a result, there is a lot of disco in '80s films by various composers. I once heard a rumour that the original naagin tune played through a been was composed by the duo. I still don't get why they were considered the most underrated composers of their time, or maybe other composers of the time were very highly overrated.”
—Babloo Babylon, ऊनीस्वी सदी का सर्वश्रेष्ठ सितारा

“Every time I hear this track from Jeff Mills, I think to myself, “Damn, I was only two years old when this track was released.” Yet, I feel a strong connection to this track. It encompasses everything I like about techno—grittiness, dirt, repetitiveness and most importantly, simplicity. Jeff Mills is a legend and it amazes me how he makes all this distorted goodness sound so funky. Till date, I find this track revolutionary. Think about it… it was released in 1993.”
—Sidhant Naren, Producer/DJ @ Dotdat

“I've waited for new music by James Blake for a while now, and this track was probably the most surprising off the new album. A really refreshing combination of artists as well as sounds.”
—Tejas Nair, Multimedia Artist and Music Producer/DJ @ Spryk

“I have been a huge fan of Richard Devine for his sound design projects for Properllerheads, Native Instruments, and besides, his modular performances for a while now. It is always a full mind, body and soul experience with the music. "Astra", particularly, from his latest album Sort/Lave released in November 2018, is my favourite jam. Busy with rich, extra-terrestrial tonal percussions, sine, noise wave thuds and thunders, intricate drum details, and then at midway, a rather warm, huge melodic line that takes over the sonic journey ahead, and establishes a blissful cadence; an electronic orchestra extraordinaire. I can really go on about this one, and I feel this is what forward-thinking electronic music of 2019 sounds and feels like to me. A sonic sauna! Everyone who loves electronic music must try this once, and I strongly recommend this.”
—Sri Rama Murthy, Electronic Music Composer, Sound Designer, DJ @ Murthovic

“Moderat has been one of my top live electronic acts for a while. I first heard "Bad Kingdom" when Arjun Vagale dropped his own edit of the track at 7am at a festival afterparty in Goa; a 1000 people simply erupted. I can't explain that particular feeling; it still gives me goosebumps thinking about it. I must have heard their album II at least once a week since then!”
—Dev Bhatia, Director @ UnMute

“Here is a good old beat from one of my favourite producers, Diplo: "Sarah" from his debut and only full-length album Florida. I highly recommend checking it out because it feels great to dig deep into a veteran artist's catalogue and find a gem like this.”
—Ayush Arora, Head of Artist Management @ UnMute and DJ @ UP7T

“My love for Lawntuba was visibly evident in the year 2017, and right on cue about two years later, they’re back with a quiet release. Largely a duo effort in their initial years, that has now evolved into a permanent fixture of bandmates, this dream-pop, synth-wave, melancholic music emerges deep from the trenches of Mumbai’s Borivali suburbs, with a healthy dose of self-doubt and loathing. If this song is suggestive of their upcoming EP, sing me the fuck up solely for bringing guitars back. In the meanwhile, check out their excellent, immersive debut EP here.”
—Naman Saraiya, Producer, constantly disoriented with all this new music

Check out our previous editions here.