Exclusive Stream: Bengaluru’s The Flying Turquoise Panthers Take It ‘EZ’

When rapper Dhanush H.P. and singer-songwriter STEVIE met for the first time to work as the vocalists for Bengaluru-based jazz-hop group The Flying Turquoise Panthers, there were six songs made in the span of a week. Keyboardist and producer Rohan Kamath says, “It’s dope how much energy the both of them bring in and the kinda energy they bring in as well is from complete different ends of the spectrum.”

After STEVIE leading on the band’s debut single “Gatorade” and DHP taking over on “Greazy,” you can see the heavy-hitter duo in action together with The Flying Turquoise Panthers’ latest song “EZ.” Marrying neo-soul guitar and rhythm work (from guitarist Bharat Kashyap) with steady, head-bopping old-school hip-hop production, the group also gets an assist from DJ Dwell aka Sandeep Jay, also from Bengaluru. Bassist Alan Santosh says about the DJ’s involvement, “I think the whole old school hip-hop vibe ‘EZ’ has, definitely called for us to have a DJ flexing on the tune. We lurked around the internet, looking for turntablists from all around the country, and kept our eyes open for someone who’d fit the bill.”

Kamath cites hip-hop artists like Ice Cube, Mobb Deep and Wu-Tang Clan as major influences for “EZ.” He adds, “We wanted to touch up on that G-funk sound which involved a lot of sampling from RnB/Funk records with ‘phat’ basslines. We kept those elements in mind while writing this track.” Up next, Kashyap hints that their forthcoming single leans in the “funky” space. The guitarist adds, “Our next single will also probably be the last single we put out for a while before dropping a beat-tape we’ve been working on for a while now.”

Stream “EZ” below. The song is out on all streaming platforms on June 17th.