Grime Riot Disco Returns to Mumbai After Hiatus

Back in 2010 when Grime Riot Disco announced its first party at a certain Club Madness in Khar West [via cool posters on public walls in Bandra/Facebook closed group, subsequent RSVPs and all], it came as a blessing for the dance-deprived lovers of the dance-y variants of electronic music. Soon, the no-frills, cheap-alcohol, non-stag discriminatory underground party became a routine affair, resurrecting defunct or past-their-prime venues in suburban Mumbai before moving out of the city to Delhi, Bengaluru and Pune.

A Grime Riot Disco party in H20, Bandra, circa 2012

The past one year might not have seen many GRD parties in general and in Mumbai specifically; the last edition took place in Pune in December 2015. That’s what makes the upcoming gathering, to be held tomorrow, April 2^nd, special. The 35th edition of GRD will take place at Khar’s newest performance space, AntiSocial, which recently opened its roomy basement to host events. GRD organiser Kunal Lodhia says the place fits well with the party’s ethos and vibe. “I was waiting for a new venue to pop up and AntiSocial, with its bare walls and cheap booze, is kind of perfect.” If all goes well at this first gig, Lodhia doesn’t mind making the venue a permanent haunt for GRD.

Abhimanyu Meer aka Norcotiq. Photo: Courtesy of the artist

The lineup for tomorrow’s party features Mumbai-based DJ-producers Nanok [Jai Vaswani] and Norcotiq [Abhimanyu Meer].  Says Meer, “We are neighbors actually, so yeah, we’ll be bringing Churchgate power to Bandra!”

This is the second time that Nanok and Norcotiq will be sharing the stage; they last played together at the Secret Garden Weekend in Pune last June. “I am really looking forward to playing at this edition of GRD. It’s the kind of party where you play to the floor. There is no other gig in town like this one. My set will be mostly funky ”“ that’s usually me,” says Meer, who has played GRD several times in the past as his other project, part of disco duo 2Sensitive.

Vaswani, on his part, is planning to go old-school at the gig. “I will be playing a lot of hip hop from the late Nineties and early 2000s, you know, Snoop Dogg kind of stuff; music that I grew up listening to,” he says. Ask him if he will also sneak in his recently released downtempo single “Lay You Down” and he says, “Because it’s a slow song, I might just close the set with it.”

Jai Vaswani (Nanok). Photo: Courtesy of the artist

With this gig, GRD is also coming full circle in terms of going back to offering the kind of party music that it used to in its initial years. Says Lodhia, “We had a phase where we got into a lot more house and techno, but only because we were getting a lot of good artists to program. But I wanted to get back to disco, funk and reggae.” GRD old-timers can rejoice.

For more details on Grime Riot Disco, click here.