The contrast in Rishab Joshi and Prayag Mehta’s family backgrounds belie their common Gujarati roots and love for electronic music. Like many promising artistes, they first impressed audiences in house parties and clubs. But their ultimate breakthrough happened when their music was recognised by none other than EDM moguls Tiesto and Armin Van Burren. “They played few of our singles on their radio shows — Tiesto’s Club Life and A State Of Trance (ASOT), respectively. This was immediately followed by our first major gig in Butter Pub, Goa, which was heavily promoted across radio and TV for weeks (in 2009),” says Prayag. Not looking back ever since, the Mumbai-based duo has gone on to perform in around 15 cities and festivals like Summerfestival (Belgium), Marenostrum (Spain), Mysteryland (Netherlands) and more. They’re now set to perform in Tomorrowland (Belgium) this July.
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Two’s company
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While Prayag is the first in his family to pursue music, Rishab is more in tune with sounds and melodies as he was brought up in a musical environment. This polarity between their upbringing has not deterred them to go beyond the usual while experimenting in covers of chartbusters like Alan Walker’s Alone and Faded, by introducing violin and flute elements in these house music songs.
However, Prayag insists that originals are their USPs, much of which will be played at their Tomorrowland gig. “We will be premiering some new music at the event. Apart from new singles and remixes, we are also going to premiere a lot of music by upcoming Indian artistes,” he says. Expressing his preference for singles and EPs, he adds that they will release collaborations too, namely Single (August) and Paradise (September), to be distributed by Dutch music label, Spinnin Records.
Chasing inspiration
Inspired by the likes of American DJ KSHMR and German film composer Hans Zimmer, they are also fans of AR Rahman, whose mastery of fusing Western sounds with Indian music has influenced them too. “Although our music has evolved over the years, a few intrinsic elements such as using ethnic Indian sounds have still remained consistent in our music,” he adds. With a major upgrade of their studio in Wadala in progress, the duo is also preparing for gigs in Ibiza and China and to headline the New Horizons Festival in Germany this August.
Details: loststories.in