The pandemic may have halted the live performance scene in the country, but it did not stop musicians from making fresh music. Many new artistes have popped up in the circuit, and Indulge rounds up a few indie artistes to keep an eye out for this year:
1. Fat Freddy
Fat Freddy is an indie psycore artist from Kochi. His music has been featured on ‘Undead XMAS’ a playlist featuring underground Psycore artists from around the world. The playlist itself has been compiled by Black Philip and released under Anomalistic Records. The featured track Magik Guardian is about powerful esoteric magical wisdom safeguarded from human beings by its guardian. The track uses samples of Indian wind instruments and operatic vocals giving it a ritualistic atmosphere, it is a fusion of experimental darkpsy and psycore grasping the listener's attention surprising them with unexpected halts, drops, and tempo raise.
2. Siddarth Praveen
Siddarth is a guitarist based out of Bengaluru and has worked as a sessions player and music teacher. His music is inspired by film composers such as Julian Scherle and Hans Zimmer. His music is a cinematic experience that takes you through a story. His latest single Wrath is a story about his anxiety and the conflict of the human mind.
3. Kill the King
Kill the King is a band based in Pune/Siliguri, India. It is the brainchild of Pune based guitarists Aditya Swaminathan (Ex Anarchy, Ex Halahkuh) and Rishin Dharap (Ephemeral, Muzak) that was born out of their mutual love for thrash metal.
The first single titled In the Name of Culture speaks about the atrocities and hypocrisy associated with the pseudo-interpretations of culture, and is part of an album that will be released in late 2021. The theme of the album is heavily focused on the idea of questioning authority, standing up for what’s fair, and is against injustice.
4. Rascals of the First Order (ROFO)
Rascals of the first order aka ROFO started as an engineering college band and is now playing for a cause. They are a hard rock/ grunge band re-defining the rock and roll experience. They have worked alongside Voice of Hope for Free Food Saturday, an event geared towards feeding children from economically weaker sections of the society, and have successfully fulfilled their goal.
5. SYNKIN
SYNKIN is a Bengaluru-based band you can find busking at church street every weekend. They never fail to entertain with their unique take on popular songs. They play around with genres like pop, reggae, and hip-pop making fusions that excite you on every turn. English, Kannada, Hindi, or Tamil they do it all and mix it all up.