A weighty Grain
1 April 2014 10:41 PM GMT
While the musician was in Delhi for a performance at The Aquarium Lounge, we got a chance to talk to him. Read on...
Before we get into your solo projects, I must bring up Midivil Punditz. Describe to us the journey Indian electronica music has taken ever since you began making music?
Midival Punditz has been Tapan and my main project for the last 15 years and we have come a long way from being Dj’s in Delhi night clubs, to making our own music and releasing 3 studio albums till yet. We started making electronica when it was just starting out in the west. This actually gave us a pretty open palette to do anything we wished to in India. So, we kinda decided to do the most honest style that came to us. We did not realise at that time that it would be called Asian Electronica eventually.
You are coming out with an album called Grey to Silver, where you have collaborated with Karsh Kale. Is there an underlying theme behind this album? What inspired you to create it? Describe that moment to us.
The Grain project came about, out of my personal desire to write songs and vocal tracks. I have wanted to do song-writing for a long time now, and it was with Karsh that i started experimenting with it. I wrote the first couple of tracks with Karsh and then with Talia Bentson, and that was a realisation into the style i wanted for Grain. I think it was after I wrote It’s All Right with Karsh that the entire sound emerged for me.
What is the stuff that you grew up listening to? Tell us a little bit about your key musical influences?
Like any other kid born in the 70’s, I grew up listening to 80s music, and then Classic Rock. It was not until the 90’s that i started listening to the Electronica artists like Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Fat Boy Slim, Apollo 400, etc. My musical influences have been a mix of all these, from Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, to Michael Jackson and Prodigy.
Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter, in an interview said, ‘Today, electronic music is like an audio energy drink. Artists are overcompensating with this aggressive, energetic, hyper-stimulating music – it’s like someone shaking you. But it can’t move people on an emotional level.’ Do you agree?
I agree with Thomas’ introspection on the electronica production these days. It has become pretty aggressive and loud. However, there is also a lot of good emotional and well written electronica out there.
What suggestion/advice would you have for newbies in this field?
Make ‘honest’ music. Please speak the truth and that will make you successful and also make the audience feel your music.
Before we get into your solo projects, I must bring up Midivil Punditz. Describe to us the journey Indian electronica music has taken ever since you began making music?
Midival Punditz has been Tapan and my main project for the last 15 years and we have come a long way from being Dj’s in Delhi night clubs, to making our own music and releasing 3 studio albums till yet. We started making electronica when it was just starting out in the west. This actually gave us a pretty open palette to do anything we wished to in India. So, we kinda decided to do the most honest style that came to us. We did not realise at that time that it would be called Asian Electronica eventually.
You are coming out with an album called Grey to Silver, where you have collaborated with Karsh Kale. Is there an underlying theme behind this album? What inspired you to create it? Describe that moment to us.
The Grain project came about, out of my personal desire to write songs and vocal tracks. I have wanted to do song-writing for a long time now, and it was with Karsh that i started experimenting with it. I wrote the first couple of tracks with Karsh and then with Talia Bentson, and that was a realisation into the style i wanted for Grain. I think it was after I wrote It’s All Right with Karsh that the entire sound emerged for me.
What is the stuff that you grew up listening to? Tell us a little bit about your key musical influences?
Like any other kid born in the 70’s, I grew up listening to 80s music, and then Classic Rock. It was not until the 90’s that i started listening to the Electronica artists like Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Fat Boy Slim, Apollo 400, etc. My musical influences have been a mix of all these, from Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, to Michael Jackson and Prodigy.
Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter, in an interview said, ‘Today, electronic music is like an audio energy drink. Artists are overcompensating with this aggressive, energetic, hyper-stimulating music – it’s like someone shaking you. But it can’t move people on an emotional level.’ Do you agree?
I agree with Thomas’ introspection on the electronica production these days. It has become pretty aggressive and loud. However, there is also a lot of good emotional and well written electronica out there.
What suggestion/advice would you have for newbies in this field?
Make ‘honest’ music. Please speak the truth and that will make you successful and also make the audience feel your music.
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