The Playlist Special: Anish Sood

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan shares space with Limp Bizkit and Eminem on the playlist of the Goa-based techno DJ/producer.

“Sultans of Swing” Dire Straits, 1978 

My uncle who’s a jazz and rock guitarist introduced me to Dire Straits when I was probably ten or eleven. Mark Knopfler’s riffs had me mesmerized and it was also one of the first few cassette tapes I ever bought..

 

“Smoke on the Water” Deep Purple, 1972 

Deep Purple was the first ever concert I attended when I was twelve. “Smoke on the Water” is one of their biggest hits and one of my favorite songs by them.

 

“Hotel California” Eagles, 1976 

This is one of my dad’s favorite songs to sing and play on the guitar and we literally grew up listening to him sing this.

 

“Gurus of Peace” Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, A.R. Rahman, 1997 

A distant relative of mine produced the entire Vande Materam album and gave me a CD to listen to. This track really stood out with its incredibly catchy chord progressions and effortless genre switching. This was also one of last ever songs Ustad Nusrat recorded and that makes it all the more special.

 

“Rollin” Limp Bizkit, 2000 

This is when I was a bit older and a close friend of mine introduced me to alt-metal in school. Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park were the rage back then and this also got me hooked onto hip-hop and rap.

 

“Without Me” Eminem, 2002 

I went through a rap phase and this was the first song I successfully managed to learn word-by word.

 

“Gothenburg Sound 2002” trance[]control, 2006 

trance[]control are a Swedish duo and probably the first ever dance music I discovered in 2006. Their stuff is mostly in the progressive/ euro trance space and was pretty revolutionary for me back then.

 

“As The Rush Comes” (Gabriel & Dresden Sweeping Strings Mix) Motorcycle, 2004 

This was my definitive entry point into dance music and personally I think this still is one of the greatest dance tracks ever written. Haunting synths and vocals with surreal emotion.