Aavrutti Drop ‘Stage’ Video, Talk Debut Album ‘Naya Zamana’

It’s probably been about half a year since most artists, including hip-hop crew Aavrutti, have performed owing to the coronavirus pandemic. In their latest music video for “Stage,” they re-enact perhaps all the things that come with the gig experience for an artist — the backstage hangs, the greenroom chatter and the anticipation in the air.

Rapper Saifan, one-fourth of the multi-lingual group, says, “Right now live gigs have become far away for us and we don’t see them happening too soon. But once live gigs start I’m going to be really excited to get on stage once again. It’ll be fun. I’m looking forward to when things go back to normal, everywhere and in our city.”

The first single off their upcoming debut album Naya Zamana, Aavrutti’s Sammohit, Saifan, Frenzzy and Sledge are currently signed to Mumbai hip-hop artist DIVINE‘s Gully Gang Entertainmentand Mass Appeal India. Sammohit says that they first met Gully Gang co-founder and artist manager Chaitanya Kataria before the company was launched and were keen on joining. The rapper adds, “Gully Gang was my personal dream and I always wanted to work with DIVINE bhai. Gully Gang was one of the best things to ever happen to us and we’re getting to learn music, business side of things as well and a lot more […] And now working with two major companies [Gully Gang and Mass Appeal India] at this time is a huge thing for us and we’re trying to put out our best music with proper setting and planning in the right way.”

Watch the video for “Stage” below. 

With four artists in the room, plus producers (XPlicit aka Ritwik Vyas has crafted the beats on “Stage”), the process for Aavrutti usually involves playing a beat and starting on individual verses. Frenzzy says, “We don’t really think about a sequence or what we need to do as such, it’s usually just the one who finishes writing first, records his vocals.” In the case of “Stage,” Sammohit had the hook, followed by Saifan’s verse and recording took place at a songwriting camp in Lonavala with the Gully Gang crew, including DIVINE. Frenzzy adds, “We decided to do that and Sledge and I tried to switch about four bars (four lines) each between us. We’d never done it before, but it sounded really good so we decided to keep it.”

The 11-track album will be previewed with a second single soon and Sledge says the album will likely be released in its entirety after that. There will be more solo releases as well from the rappers but Aavrutti also remains a priority in terms of new music for 2021. “As soon as the pandemic stops now or in 2021, we want to hit the road and start touring and performing for our fans at gigs. We would also like to kickstart our album launch show and tour on ground in 2021,” Sledge adds.

Naya Zamana album tracklist:

1. “Naya Zamana”
2. “Stage”
3. “Error 404”
4. “Kaidi 420”
5. “Yaara”
6. “Jab Se Dekha”
7. “Money”
8. “Ranibaugh”
9. “Banger”
10. “Dime”
11. “Hatya”