The Jass B’stards Entrance with Trippy ‘It’s Alive’ Video

When a song is described as “a little like an Italian Giallo horror movie soundtrack,” the source is unsurprisingly The Jass B’stards. The New Delhi trio comprising Stefan Kaye on keys, Tony Guinard on bass and Nikhil Vasudevan on drums are by now one of India’s most eccentric, experimental bands.

The song that Kaye is describing is their latest,“It’s Alive,” one of about the 12 pieces that will form their next full-length record. In the works for about five years, the eight-minute video which goes with “It’s Alive” takes a similar approach like their 2021 release “Err..,” with Kaye splicing together footage from films now in the public domain.

That includes the 1911 film L’Inferno, director James Whale’s Frankenstein (1932) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and others, edited in a manner that’s hypnotic, intriguing and points us toward the idea of man wishing to play god. It also includes a very real, present-day reference to “xenobots,” which have been described as self-replicating living robots. Kaye, who has been a visual jockey right from the time he began developing his DJ set, explains the visual narrative. “Basically, it is a musing on mankind’s arrogant and misguided  belief that it can defy nature and expect things to turn out fine.”

Sonically, “It’s Alive” wanders about ominously in the distinct way that only The Jass B’stards can claim to be influenced by jazz as well as psychedelic rock. They’re joined by Mathias Durand on guitar, trombone artist Steven McEntee and Latin phrases are chanted by Vocal Rasta Choir, conducted by Antoine Redon. Kaye recalls that the song – recorded between 2017 and 2022 with Suryakant Sawhney aka Lifafa (also from psych act Peter Cat Recording Co.) – grew out of a bass groove and “clever-for-the-sake-of-it drum pattern” by Vasudevan.

While there’s been about a year between their two singles, The Jass B’stards have been at it during the pandemic. They undertook a short tour in Goa in March last year, joined by guitarist Mark Aranha. “That was tremendous fun, I have always enjoyed playing in Goa; the crowd are generally more receptive to our nonsense,” Kaye says. They also used their downtime to collaborate with poet-rocker Jeet Thayil on an instrumental piece called “Maelström,” he adds, “It’s one of several songs for the new album that clocks in at around 10 minutes. We are looking forward to playing more often in Goa now since I have decamped here for the foreseeable future.”

The pandemic also allowed Kaye to study film editing and pick up a few other skills. He names them: balloon twisting, Irish tin whistle and setting up Stuff Kultur, a vegan fermented food delivery service. That aside, The Jass B’stards album is definitely on the anvil. Kaye says they have enough to put out a double comprising “progtastic recorded material.” He dreams of a gatefold vinyl but also envisions slapping on a streaming/download link via a QR code on jars of mustard, whose working title is “Art is Anal, Jass M’stard.”

Until that’s figured out, there are more singles to be released. That includes “Prelude No. 2 or 3” featuring singer-songwriter and writer Bawari Basanti aka Mahima Dayal Mathur. It’s described as an 18-minute piece with a Western classical section, theremin, a cappella choral parts from Durand and hurdy-gurdy by a school friend from London who reconnected with Kaye after 40 years. Kaye adds, “There are a couple of dance-y punk songs, a sonnet from Shakespeare put to music and sung by my partner Ritika Singh, and other pieces that I cannot describe very easily at the moment.” 

Watch the video for “It’s Alive” below. Stream on more platforms here.