Music Sans Borders

Gods Robots is the only Asian band to have its EP released by BitTorrent under its artist spotlight programme.

Shridevi Keshavan,popularly known by her stage name Taamara,has been living San Francisco time for about a year now. This 26-year-old student with a diploma in Carnatic music at Mumbai University has her days packed with classes,exams and private tuitions. But as one half of the band Gods Robots,making music with DJ,producer and multi-instrumentalist Janaka Selekta her San Francisco-based bandmate means working across continents. This demands that she stay up and work on their tracks at a time convenient for both Selekta and her.

After forming their band in 2009,this duo attracted good responses for blending in stylised classical Indian nuances with high-energy western dance music influences. What has got them really excited is their first EP,Stormy Weather. This was

released on November 15 by BitTorrent (BT) as part of its artiste spotlight programme. This helps promote the band and distribute their music to a base of 160 million users as well as build their social

media graph.

We were selected by the head of the content and streaming division of BT. We did not even know about being the only Asian band to have been selected until recently, says Taamara. She found brainstorming through Skype for their compositions a very exciting experience. However,she now feels that working together in person will help them to finalise their tracks faster. For one,there would be no heavy audio files bouncing back everyday. So yes,writing and composing for the EP was no cakewalk,but the release makes all the battles worth it. It has four songs,which are mainly pop with elements of electronica and reggae thrown in. It also features sarod virtuoso Alam Khan,the legendary Ali Akbar Khans son,in the song Falling, she points out. They have also shot a music video for the song Stay. This features in their other EP,titled Shine,which is awaiting release.

Selekta,who has been working in the music industry for almost 15 years now,has done remixes for the Asian Dub Foundation and Karsh Kale among others. According to the 39-year-old,the song moves from being an idea to a chorus with instrumentation.

Interestingly,the video for Stay was shot in Los Angeles and Mumbai,with the editing being done in Italy. The artwork for the EP cover was done by Delhi-based artist Archan Nair. This makes it a global collaboration. And hopefully,if all goes as per plan,we will be touring next January which is when the EP releases globally and even performing at the Jaipur Literature Festival, reveals Taamara. Selekta adds that their music is without boundaries and transcends genres.

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