Mumbai Ethno Drum and Bass act Krazy Electrons Launch Debut Album

Krazy Electrons – (from left) Ajay Jayanthi, Chaitanya Bulusu, Anand Bhaskar. Photo: Abhishek Easwaran

What does quantum physics have to do with drum and bass? Producer Chaitanya Bulusu, who started his electronic music project Krazy Electrons playing psytrance and psychedelic in 2008, says it’s not that difficult to work quantum physics theories into lyrics. Says Chaitanya, “This is my favorite topic.” He cites one of his earliest tracks, “Coexistence Is Inevitable” as a song that talks about the dual nature of light ”“ as a wave or a particle. Says Chaitanya, “Scientists fought over it in the beginning, just like everyone fought over anything dualist in nature, but they later realized that coexistence is the answer.”

Chaitanya, whose first experience listening to western music included ambient artists such as Enigma, Deep Forest and Enya when all his friends were listening to rock, turned to look for more melody in Krazy Electrons’ music. In 2012, he changed around his existing lineup of two live vocalists and a guitarist to include Carnatic violinist Ajay Jayanthi. Says Jayanthi, who was introduced to electronica after joining the band, “I met him [Chaitanya] when the band was about to split. He was interested in fusing classical and electronic music.” The two began writing new material which now comprises their debut full-length album This and That. The duo then roped in vocalist Anand Bhaskar earlier this year, just before they wrapped up recording at Showbiz Studio in Mumbai with record engineer Mitesh Joshi in June. Bhaskar features on two songs on This and That, including the title track and “Black Rays.” Says Jayanthi, “Anand heard me play on a Krazy Electrons song [“Dry Lands”] on SoundCloud and when I joined his band, the Anand Bhaskar Collective, he had shown an interest in joining Krazy Electrons.”  The band has already begun writing and releasing new material with Bhaskar on vocals, including their latest non-album single “Radiosick.”

Fresh from their launch show at STFU Bar in Mumbai, where Krazy Electrons started off with a set staple, their energetic opener “Rage of Electrons,” in which Jayanthi adapts the Panthuvarali raag to pulsing drum and bass beats from Chaitanya. The trio went on to perform all tracks off This and That, with the exception of “Momentum,” which features vocalist Sylvia Francis, a friend of the band. Says Jayanthi, “We love to keep it as live as we can, because the energy of these songs is amazing.”

Listen to a sample of This and That by Krazy Electrons. Buy the album on OKListen.

Krazy Electrons perform at the Pepsi MTV Indies stage at the New Wave Musicfest on November 15th, 2014. Event details here.