It never gets any easier when you let go of music. Raj Var ma recalls being as inclined towards beatboxing as a 13-year-old. He had unlimited time to compose his first piece of music. However, the band Pinback took him to distorted guitar melodies with hidden vocals. That early, the musician in him was already drafting something new under his belt, and in his head, excited for his first project to take off.
Though now we know him as Yung.Raj, Hyderabad’s independent beatboxer, the 28-yearold artiste still feels that Laced Loops, his debut EP in 2018 was a good first work of art to have made a name. But with over 100 songs on SoundCloud already, his latest drop, Onyx is here to continue his persistence in making music. Raj, a full-time music producer, breaks down his drop as a 135-BMP, moderately fast dance track that ‘tur ned out fun’ to develop.
The genres that he grew up with range from footwork and jungle to dubstep, trap, and hip-hop. His day begins with a breakfast buffet followed by just showing up at his studio to work even if there is no motivation at times. “I make music every day, especially during the daytime when it’s all the more fatiguing and tiring. I love to work on a track, prolong the creative process, take days to finish it, overwork on it and end up getting lost in that loop,” Raj tells us.
Onyx is consistent and stomping. The slow buildup at first buckles you in for the more fast-paced mid-section. Raj, who started beatboxing over a decade ago before enrolling into an a capella band back in Mumbai, is happy to be back home and render his music in involved prosody, disco style and lo-fi programming. It is instrumental yet, interpretive. Harbouring a discography that’s almost a synthesiser in progression, Raj lets us in on what all he seeks to communicate through his sonic domain.“Whatever has been happening in the world,” he says, adding that it angers him. “I channel my fury in my music. Even if Onyx is more lighthearted and bouncy, I am saying a lot without saying anything and simply letting my ideas flow freely,” he concludes.
Onyx is streaming on all platforms