Gig Preview: Boiler Room x Budweiser Discover What’s Brewing In… Bengaluru

Zora Jones of Barcelona-based audio-visual collective Fractal Fantasy. Photo: Courtesy of the artist

Boiler Room will return to India this April 7th for a show in Bengaluru. The event will mark the invite-only gig series’ second show in India; the first took place in Mumbai last December.

This year’s ”˜Boiler Room x Budweiser Discover What’s Brewing In… Bengaluru’ like its predecessor, will feature a roster of both international and local artists. The lineup for April 7th boasts a b2b set by Barcelona-based audiovisual producers Zora Jones & Sinjin Hawke and a collaboration between acclaimed American footwork producer Jlin and Bengaluru native Avril Stormy Unger, the performance artist behind The Storm Factory.

Also slated to perform are two of the fastest-rising names in Indian electronic music today: atmospheric producer Kumail, who is based in Mumbai, and beat music makers Aerate Sound, who are Bangalore-based.

Boiler Room aims forgo the nightclub culture that pervades dance music, and instead provides a platform for underground artists to bring their music to online audiences around the world. The concept was created in 2010 by London-based Blaise Bellville, and has seen major success in cities around the world since its inception. Though entry to the warehouse shows is always invite-only, the gig series is streamed online and has become the most widely watched of its kind around the world, with over 12 million unique viewers each month.

Friday’s installment in Bengaluru looks to expand Boiler Room’s emphasis on sound, which has allowed artists to play sets that they wouldn’t normally be able to in a standard nightclub setting, to include a more visual element. Two acts on the lineup will feature both audio and visual production–Zora Jones & Sinjin Hawke as well as Aerate Sound–and Jlin’s always-danceable set will feature choreography by Unger.

Since Boiler Room and Budweiser teamed up for ”˜Discover What’s Brewing’ in July 2016, the global event series has made stops in Philadelphia, Santiago, Miami and Los Angeles. Each show intends to highlight local subcultures while showcasing big-name talent, such as the show in Philadelphia, where hip-hop icon DJ Jazzy Jeff performed. Last year’s show in Mumbai featured British producer Actress alongside Indian producers Sandunes, _RHL and Oceantied.

Watch _RHL perform at Boiler Room’s Mumbai debut in December 2016: