Indie100 International: Album Out Now!
In November 2015 at the IndiEarth XChange in Chennai, EarthSync collaborated with The Queensland University of Technology to organize Indie100 – a program that shortlisted 10 emerging independent musicians to be recorded, mixed and mastered by Lachlan ‘Magoo’ Goold and Yanto Browning, two of Australia’s top producers. Now – the final compilation is ready for its worldwide debut.
“The focus of Indie100 is on bringing the community together and capturing a living history of the local scene each year” says QUT music lecturer Kristina Kelman, founder of the project, “Indie100 International – Chennai is being promoted through the Independent Music Project Facebook page which currently received tens of thousands of views. The album will be released at indie100.bandcamp.com and distributed through MGM distribution”.
The compilation features a diverse array of original music recorded on location at XChange, and showcases sounds emerging from Chennai’s next generation of performing artists. “Having the recording process in the middle of this incredible event was an important feature of the project, allowing for valuable networking and exposure to industry practice and knowledge” adds Kristina, “the project also allows for international exposure through our professional networks – we hope to build a platform for emerging artists participating in Indie100 to showcase at future XChanges, and to create exchange opportunities for young Indian artists here at the BIGSOUND festival in Brisbane”.
“One of the biggest problems that musicians like us face is networking to get the desired audience” agrees Bonny Abraham of experimental act Aver, “Recording our song with top Australian producers who flew down to Chennai to record underground bands like us is a dream come true. Thank you to the IndiEarth XChange for making it happen”. “I loved the fact that in this initiative, honest Indian music was given preference over the hundreds of Indian artists who sound exactly like their American counterparts” adds musician Siddharth Tewari, who is also featured on the compilation.
It wasn’t just the artists who were floored by the experience – producers Lachlan and Yanto were equally moved by their interactions during this cross cultural collaboration. “I was really impressed by the rhythmic accuracy of many of the young Indian musicians” says Yanto, “Perhaps this is due to the influence of Indian Classical Music training, but the strong sense of rhythm also had very positive influences on the bands doing Western styles. Many of the artists we worked with incorporated traditional Indian rhythms very effectively into what were effectively Western song structures, which to me gave them added interest and complexity”.
“It is an album of world music and Indian fusion” says Diveakssh Schae from team Indie100, “tracks like Beon Surrao’s “Stellar” showcase Classical Indian verse buildups juxtaposed against a futuristic tablatronic break, while bands like Anokha marry French sounds with Indian inspiration, presenting a very unique and refreshing sound”.
The album releases today – listen to it at https://indie100.bandcamp.com/album/indie-100-international-chennai
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Leave a Reply