Hear Bengaluru Artist Megadrone’s Mind-Expanding Debut Album

Inspired by stoner/doom from the likes of Black Sabbath and Sleep, psychedelic rock a la Pink Floyd, drone acts like Sunn O))) and even “the cinematic bombast” of film soundtracks composed by John Carpenter and Ennio Morricone, Megadrone is Bengaluru-based guitarist-vocalist Ganesh Krishnaswamy’s solo project.

While he’s a regular contributor for heavy metal band Kryptos and stoner/doom band Bevar Sea, Megadrone became a lockdown-born outlet for creating music that Krishnaswamy always liked. “The ideas were sort of stored somewhere in the back of my head and with the lockdown, they came to the forefront. I like a lot of traditional doom and at the same time, I really like a lot of Seventies psychedelia and movie soundtracks are something I’ve gotten to [hear] over the eight or nine years,” the artist says.

Bengaluru-based artist Ganesh Krishnaswamy aka Megadrone. Photo: Vishal Dey

Demoed at home (originally 80 minutes in length), the debut album Transmissions from the Jovian Antennae released on August 17th, featuring a 53-minute sonic trip that meanders through several instrumental movements. Ask the artist how he crafted a single piece of music that’s meant to be heard in one go and Krishnaswamy says it involved more than just putting down a few riffs. “I had ideas about how to introduce the riffs and where to break them off […] I didn’t sit down and think about it as an hour-long piece. A lot of this came about because I was in that frame of mind, I wanted to capture a psychedelic experience,” he says. In turn, that open-ended experience is exactly what Megadrone aims for with the album. “It would allow a person to take an imaginary journey when they listen to it, wherever they wanted to go,” Krishnaswamy says.

Recorded at Stained Class Productions LLP in Bengaluru by engineer Mrinal Anand, Transmissions from the Jovian Antennae also includes additional guitar parts by Bevar Sea bandmate Srikanth Panaman and artwork by visual artist and illustrator Sonali Zohra. Considering it’s a project that’s homebrewed, there’s already a second Megadrone record in the works. Krishnaswamy says he’s finishing up basic writing but doesn’t yet promise whether it’ll be different or similar to the debut album. “I’m piecing it all together – synthesizer bits, all the swishes and swooshes.”

Megadrone work continues in tandem with Bevar Sea – who have written about seven songs so far and the frontman says he’s “knocked off the demo version of the lyrics” for four of those. He adds, “Something should be ready by  the end of the year and might release in 2021. We might release a few singles this year.”

Stream/buy ‘Transmissions from the Jovian Antennae’ below. Stream on Spotify and Apple Music.