Not too long ago,mental borders were drawn among Indian independent music listeners,and scenes were clearly divided according to what genre of music you supported. Seldom did anyone ever cross these lines of control a metal head would hardly ever be seen at an Electronic Dance Music (EDM) gig. Over the last five years,these boundaries have begun to blur and the crossovers in crowd have started affecting artistes as well. The most significant of these changes has been in how artistes are giving EDM a chance. Over the last year,there have been a slew of projects that play EDM,and these arent DJs,but seasoned musicians who are performing the genre live on stage. Rohit PMan Pereira earned his chops as bassist with the metal band Pin Drop Violence about a decade ago,but now has founded ViceVersa with Manas Ullas,a bass-heavy dance music act. Both Pereira and Ullas dont know how to DJ,but wanted to dabble in electronic music. Pereira says,I wanted to start a project like ViceVersa for a long time,but could not find a collaborator. Manas made me hear a few of his tracks and I loved them. The aim was to play electronic music,but keep it as live as we possibly can,because that is where we come from. For Delhi-based artiste Nikhil Kaul,it was the frustration of being a part of short-lived bands that did not make it out of their jam rooms,that led to the formation of his downtempo bass heavy project,Frame He didnt have to rely on a band anymore and hed been listening to electronic music for years. It seemed like an easy choice to make. Though my tracks are clearly electronic music,they also have a very definite rock sensibility, says Kaul. One of the factors aiding these new bands is easy access to technology. When ViceVersa makes its music,parts of it are recorded separately,in the band members respective homes. Although they frequently meet in each others cities Pereira resides in Mumbai and Ullas in Bangalore a lot of their jamming happens over emails they send with samples to one another. Bands playing electronic music is not a new phenomenon. Vishal Dadlanis band Pentagram has been doing so for years,and theres Shaair + Func too apart from a bunch of bands that experimented with analogue sounds in their music over the last decade. But in terms of numbers,there hasnt been a time like now. From Nischay Parekh who uses analogues sparingly to create dreamy landscapes on his experimental pop music to Sanaya Ardeshir aka Sandunes who uses keyboards for her two-step and garage influenced sounds,new projects keep creeping out of the woodwork. The trend was visible also at the recent edition of Punes NH7 Weekender. Among the surprises at the fest was the debut gig of Sahej Bakshis solo EDM project Dualist Inquiry he had a full-band set-up with collaborators joining him on stage. One of the most anticipated experiments at the Weekender this year was Krunk All Stars. Krunk,the bass heavy music artiste booking agency,got three of its best acts Sohail Arora aka EZ Riser,Aditya Ashok aka Ox7gen and Ardeshir aka Sandunes to form a live EDM band. The trio are musicians as well as DJs but have never played their own music live. Ardeshir says,We had to add instrumental parts to a song that didnt have too many. This process of taking our songs apart and putting them together again has been amazing. Ashok was so happy with the experiment that he now wants to create a new drum n bass live project of his own. He says,The interactions with your band members on stage makes live music more interesting than DJing.
