The Musicmandir Podcast - Discover Indian Independent Artists

Singer-Songwriter Abhibyanjana is set to release her first EP titled 'Breezing Through' on 13th Jan, 2023.  The three-track indie-pop EP, written and performed by Abhibyanjana, consists of songs peeking into an individual's vulnerabilities, aspirations and desires. Packed with three tracks, Breezing Through, Honestly, and River, the EP galvanises earnest songwriting with indie-pop tunes. One could read it as glancing through a few pages from an open journal.   The EP is produced by Tapanjyoti Phukan and mixed and mastered by Rahul Rabha. Cover Art Shot by Aakriti Thatal, Edit by Abhibyanjana.   Over the past two years, she has released two singles, "Winter Love" featuring Peeyush Nepal and "Shampoo Bottle". In 2018, she released her first single, "Groovy Girl", at 19. She soon appeared as a playback singer in the indie film "Pahuna: The Little Visitors" (Dir. Pakhi Tyrewala) by Purple Pebble Productions.

Musicmandir talks to Mumbai based DJ & producer Mr Shantanu who creates music under the monikers ‘Smg‘ and ‘kSaya‘ (Pronounced Saya). It has been a long time and after the success of his previous tracks "Walk" and "One Dance", Shantanu is finally ready for his new release "Blinded by Your Love" which comes out on Friday 30th of July 2021.  . Teaming up German singer and songwriter, Kaja Riedle and long-time collaborator Yash Gosavi, this tune comes after a long hiatus from the producer after months of graft stretching back to October 2020.   ‘Blinded by Your Love’ comes from a personal experience which in hindsight turned out to be an incident that changed my perspectives and inhibitions for the good. After my encounter with impulsiveness and bad decisions, I realized that it’s not consuming just me but it is consuming or has consumed people and relationships of all forms.

Musicmandir is thrilled to talk to Mumbai based electro act FuzzCulture about his latest EP Strange Cities released in January 2021. Fuzzculture explains how in Strange Cities he has worked completely independently and having complete creative control over every aspect of the music making process. Fuzzculture is also experimenting with his sound and moving into newer directions of disco, pop, progressive landscapes and lyrical exploration. He’s also working on loads of new music in the pipeline coming out soon. We talked about Arsh’s stripped down nature of song creation where most of his songs are written on an acoustic guitar, keys or just chords and later layering them one by one.   

We also spoke about his course in New York where he experienced and learned from composers about orchestra composition. The music video for Nicotine was a fun story of how it was put together all amidst the pandemic by Arsh and his friends/team. 

Arsh shared his insights into music streaming & ownership and how he perceives music distribution will happen in the future where companies will include artists in their growth and marketing.

visit us at - https://www.musicmandir.com/

Riddhi Vyas is a singer-songwriter from Mumbai hugely inspired by Trip-hop and R&B music. She recently released her song titled 'R.E.M',  the second single by Haunted & Holy. The song draws a thin line between reality and a dream and which one to choose depends upon you. R.E.M. is about not wanting to wake from your dreams and escaping into another world--away from the chaos and nightmarish reality. To others, I may be lost, but to me, it's a sweet refuge where I have found all my answers. .

GURU, a Dharmic - Hop artist / producer from Chennai has collaborated with upcoming rapper REGIS to release 'Kaamam' a concept EP which an intense background and inspiration behind it which is best explained by the artists themselves. Hope you enjoy this episode!

Eeshan & Kaushik are a Mumbai-based duo comprising ace musicians and producers Eeshan Tripathi and Kaushik Ramachandran. In addition to lending his musical and production skills to a number of acclaimed acts, keyboardist Eeshan tours extensively and records frequently with Hindi rock/Bollywood performer Aditya Narayan. Kaushik is the vocalist of renowned Hindi prog rock band Paradigm Shift, co-owner of Benchmark Studios (Thane) and a regular go-to producer. The duo is constantly expanding their sonic repertoire spanning from pop-rock, drum n' bass fusion to softer ballad-esque styles.   Their debut song 'Khoye Pal' was shot entirely right before the pandemic struck.The song is built around the theme of a spiritual journey and the video brings out the physical manifestation of that journey through a trek across the visually stunning Himalayan landscape of the Spiti Valley. The journey takes the protagonist through picturesque roads, rough mountain terrain, flowing water and myriad cinematic landscapes which Himachal is known for and most sought after to visit and experience in our country.

We are excited to introduce Sri also known as Srijit Bhowmick as our first guest on The Musicmandir Podcast Season 2 this week. Sri has 2 releases titled 'Sau Baar' & 'Love date' released in 2020. He considers himself more of a singer-songwriter and a fun performer of his music, but he clearly does a whole lot more, in the background, than just songwriting as an indie artist - from production, tours to pretty much everything else. In 2019 he successfully launched his crowdfunded release titled ‘The Only Find’ EP followed by a mammoth 15-city pan-India solo tour and an Apple Music exclusive single - all by himself.  

Srijit Bhowmick aka Sri wrapped up 2019 with a studio release - a song in Hindi called ‘Gulaam’. An exclusive Apple Music launch in Nov, with an "Editor's Note" and in multiple playlists, 'Gulaam' was subsequently out everywhere raking up more than 50k plays on Apple Music alone. His latest is a lockdown special called 'Love Date' was released in Aug '20. In a short span of time, this ’94-born indie artist from Bombay has created a niche presence of his music across India. With 2 stellar EPs & 3 singles in just 3 years, Sri’s growth and that of his music has been covered by the likes of ScoopWhoop, TheWire,in, Rolling Stone India, The Score Magazine, amongst many others.

Connect with Sri on Linktree - https://linktr.ee/srimusicindia

This bonus episode & our season finale was all about Anime culture, the music in anime movies and so much more. We started out with an Introduction to Anime and how Anime comes from or is similar to Manga Comics moving over to Adult Anime or HENTAI. We then transitioned to rock band RADWIMPS and their influence in anme music. We spoke about Paprika and it's similarities to Inception the movie. It gets super interesting talking about amazing Japanese composers such as Joe Hisaishi, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Nujabes and production houses such as Studio Ghibli & Miyazaki. We then moved on towards shows such as Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop movies such as Akira, Korean classic Oldboy. 

Some big surprises when we learned that there was a Mogli animation series which was created by a Japanese studio as well as Ramayana - The Legend of Prince Rama which was created by a Japanese studio and released on Indian television. We ended the episode with a fantastic trivia question regarding which famous actor portrayed the voiceover of Rama in the Indian Ramayana and a major surprise by Shravani which brings an end to a amazing first season of The Musicmandir Podcast.

On the episode we talked about John Frusciante, guitarist for The Red Hot Chili Peppers and his musical works ranging from solo albums, producing chops, electronic projects and his return to The Red Hot Chili Peppers after 12 years. This was a deep-dive into the influences of John Frusciante and how he has impacted our journey into music making and looking at music as a creative process. Hope you enjoy it!

We are super excited to introduce GURU as our first guest on The Musicmandir Podcast this week. GURU recently released his EP called 'Moksham', crafted with surreal sonic textures and hypnotic visuals, the 4 track EP turns a new leaf in the Indian Hip-Hop scene, merging Indian classical with Hip-Hop.  . The EP is OUT NOW on major streaming platforms and the music video of 'Somras' is out now on Youtube as well. We hope you take a listen and let us know how you feel.

On this episode we talked Retrowave & Shoegaze inspired band called 'Skytrip' who's latest release called Internet Monster is supported by a kickass animated music video. Next up is Sarthak Mudgal, an AR Rahman scholarship holder at Berklee College of music, and the first ever Indian and the only person to play classical tabla on guitar. Moving on to singer-songwriter Shachi Pathak and her new EP called 'Mann Tarang' which is a must listen for anyone interested in Hindi chill vibes which is super rare today!. Continuing on the good vibes, we talked about a duo called 'Gouri and Aksha' who had released their debut track called Look Inside. Ambika Nayak also known as Kayan.a is a singer part of many bands across Mumbai but her latest release called 'Please' is definitely something to check out if you have not. Singer-songwriter Riddhi Vyas released a hauntingly beautiful track called 'Endless Loop' supported by a music video shot completely during the lockdown. Lastly, Abhilasha Sinha releases her latest track called 'Honey Bee' again with dream pop influences.

On the episode, we talk about the dream of inviting musician guests to the podcast, how one must plan to tackle the idea of making money from a career of being an independent musician. Managing expectations and mental pressures while handling social media as an independent artists and how much promotion is effective promotion. Can you imagine all music from across the world without the influence of drugs? Coming to recommendations, we talk about Cryosis an Electronic / Alternative Pop band from Mumbai, India. Tansen, Hailing from India is a bedroom producer who started writing music he wanted to hear and creating sounds that help to create and describe emotional realms. We moved to the super release by Randolph Correia a.k.a Func, guitarist and producer of Pentagram and Shaa'ir + Func, two of India's most influential bands called 'Girls On Canvas'. We then got side-tracked by the incredible John Frusciante and his release called 'The Almighty Instrumental Mixes'. The podcast ends with another recommendation that is Sanjeev T, the guitarist for Sid Sriram & AR Rahman and his fresh lofi trip hop release called 'Future' incorporating some tasty guitar licks with Neo jazz and chill influences. Hope you enjoy it.

On this episode we talk about how Rapper KRSNA accused the The Indian Premier League (IPL) of plagiarising his track. The issue is far broader than reported in local news and media and begs more information and clarity on the legal aspects music business in India especially for Independent artists. We then discussed the tragedy that was 'Beyonce Sharma Jayegi' which is now renamed and relaunched. A shoutout of singer-songwriter Mali for her latest release. Major throwback and nostalgia talking about heavy-weights Thermal And A Quarter from Bangalore and Blakc from Mumbai, and leading towards Delhi rockers Superfuzz who are in line to release a brand new album very soon. We talked about Rosemary, a three piece psychedelic band from Mumbai who have made available their old album on all streaming platforms. Hip-Hop artist Panther just released a new EP in Hindi which is great, do check it out. We end the episode with a recommendation to check out Bangalore based band called Kelvikkuri which a multi genre inspired group having influences in jazz, rock, blues, Carnatic, funk, how does one not check that out? 

Welcome!

This episode we take a deep dive into a bunch of fantastic artists such as the new song 'Quin' by Kavya Trehan, one of the most consistent and hardworking singer-songwriter over the years Dhruv Visvanath, the new long overdue due pop-rock release by The Lightyears Explode, Electronic producer Malfunktion and his amazing artwork, Dreamy hindi rocker Dream Note, Anuv Jain and the amazing Ron Cha.  

On this episode we talk about singer songwriters Anoushka Maskey, Raghav Meattle, Shashwat Bulusu & Maalavika Manoj who have released new music. We shed light on Rappers Dule and Sumeet Samos who have set on their own paths of rapping about every-day struggles in their respective lives and keeping away from commercial Bollywood cliches. Some other mentions are Ali Noor's new track and some Electro Indian releases by Shantanu. Don't miss out!

On this episode we discuss musicians criticising Spotify CEO Daniel Ek's latest comments, Electronic producer/dj 'Mojojojo'. We hit upon Junun, a 2015 documentary film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It documents the making of the album Junun in Mehrangarh Fort in Rajasthan, India, by the Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur, English composer and Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, Indian ensemble the Rajasthan Express, and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. We then talked about Abdullah Siddiqui, a Lahore-based 18-year-old singer-songwriter and electronic pop music producer, We stayed on musicians from across the border and had to mention Teeen,  a trio band from Karachi, Pakistan. Natasha Noorani who is a singer-songwriter, producer who fronts two exciting projects one being herself and another called 'Biryani Brothers'! You can't miss this episode.