New Music: Sufi Electronica, Playful Pop and Alt Rock

“Jhinjhoti” by Kanishk Seth

Adapting a ghazal composed by Urdu poet Jaun Elia, Mumbai composer, producer and singer Kanishk Seth presents a studio version of his current live setup. Featuring flautist Adwait Kashikar matching Seth’s melancholic intonations, there’s also sitarist Salman Khan and dancefloor-friendly beats that’s infused with hypnotic synth work. A composition in raag Jhinjhoti, Seth expresses his puzzlement with love and finally getting around to understand it.

“Turf” by Seven & Seven

On his latest single, New Delhi producer Seven & Seven turns to ephemeral passages, deep beats, glitched-out synth and dominating basslines. Released via American label Mad Zoo on their new compilation This is Mad Too, Seven & Seven puts together a tunneling sort of sound that offers a glimpse into futuristic electronic music. The 17-track This is Mad Too also features producers such as Mat Zo, Kiwi/American duo Acrillics and more.

Forte, Vol. 7 by Qilla Records

New Delhi electronic label Qilla Records has been releasing a compilation called Forte and is up to its seventh edition now. Releasing almost annually, Qilla has previously curated music from electronic artists such as BLOT! and 8-Bit Culprit, among others. Forte, Vol. 7, however features Pakistan’s Asfandyar Khan with the dreamy and guitar-informed track “In Dust,” while producer Yidam turns up blips and bloops on the otherworldly “Solar Winds,” and Kolkata’s Hybrid Protokol stay true to their layered, well-built synth patches for the surreal “Nada.” One of the newer projects on the block, DJ-producer Siddhant Jain aka ELM, crafts dark, drum and bass-informed music with “Kazuya.”

“Mors Animi” by Home Brewed Universe

On his latest stand-alone single, Hyderabad’s prolific instrumental rock composer and guitarist Arka Sengupta aka Home Brewed Universe evokes a sense of the cinematic. With “Mors Animi,” the artist weaves in heavy string sections as well as incendiary guitar work. Created as “an ode to the demise of human intellect in the world that we live in,” the seven-minute track digs deep into riffs and the heavier side of programmed drums to recall shape-shifting post-rock.

“3PM” by Nomads on the Run

Formed in 2017 by producer Rohit Kumar and vocalist Irene Mathew, British-Indian collaboration Nomads on the Run have a quirky, college relationship story for the music video of their latest single “3PM.” Outside of the video however, the song is a buoyant electro-pop offering that even includes Malayalam lyrics from Mathew, all centered around the idea of never going back to a past partner.

“Na Jaane Main Na Jaane Tu” by Gaurav

Released last year as a single, Pune singer-songwriter Gaurav Tophakhane now has a heartwarming video to go with his saccharine love song “Na Jaane Main Na Jaane Tu.” In the music video shot entirely on a phone camera and from the first person perspective,  the folksy song details how a girl is wooed in the course of a road trip, including a marriage proposal by the beach.