National Indielations: Compilations From The Indie Realm

Having started off our rock ‘n roll scene in the 80s, there is now an amateur/upcoming band of every conceivable genre category from India. With such a diverse array of talent, large quantities of music are being released every day, with audiences hearing only what they want to hear, or better yet, what reaches them. Compilations make a listener’s job way easier by providing a cool mix of conceptually similar sounds right to your lap.

The importance of independent compilations in the national indie music market is heavily underrated. With much of today’s Indian independent music not available online for download or even as CDs for purchase, audiences do not get to hear much of the music being released. Many bands also either have bad quality recordings or only have singles and thus haven’t officially released tracks as part of an album. Even if an album is sold, it is likely to reach a very narrow and limited section of people. Moreover, a lot of the music one may like would be spread out over a bunch of bands and not just one. As a result, collecting individual songs, or even albums, by a whole host of artists would be a tough task.

The concept of the compilation CD was brought out pretty nicely post-1960’s rock n roll, when hundreds of bands entered the scene, released a single, and then faded into obscurity.  In fact, since the popular American jazz period, there have been groups who have managed to stick around only to get one or two smash hit songs and then disband. This trait might have prompted the thought of a collection, made by an independent audience, grouping such tracks together. As this trend has trickled down through the 1990s, thousands of compilations emerged; best of hard rock, best of reggae, best of jazz etc. However, the scene in India being slightly different, many bands do not have the online reach to promote their music, and free compilations like Stupiditties are a stepping stone to spreading indie music awareness in the local circuit.

Stupiditties, a compilation in its seventh edition run by ennui.BOMB, a Mumbai-based indie music promoter. Directed by Rishu Singh, each edition has consistently been put up for free download. Read an earlier piece on Stupiditties Lucky 7 here. Containing a large amalgamation of upcoming metal, rock, and pop acts from across the country, this innovative concept has been a regular platform for audiences to listen to a myriad range of musicians. Starting with We Are The Scene Vol.1, this repeated exuding of local music has been crucial to the promotion and awareness of indie music. Also organising regular gigs to showcase local talent, ennui.BOMB has done a lot to promote the suspended music scene, especially since all that music  is free. Having managed bands like Tripwire, Blek and Sky Rabbit, the portal for downloads contains a tremendously vast array of local stuff. Either a new avatar or a similar concept is much needed in the scene.

OKlisten, a platform started by Vijay Basrur, is an online portal for the purchase of indie music. Scores of national artists have albums or even singles for sale on the site at rates more affordable than purchasing a hard copy. With two volumes of this compilation out, albeit for sale, the albums see a good mix of bands and genres across the country. Artists ranging from Indian Ocean and The Raghu Dixit Project, to Skrat and Spud in the Box, to Adil and Vasundhara and Tarun Balani Collective, the artists have been chosen deliberately to represent all the niches in our indie diaspora. Check out an earlier piece on Oklisten here.

Subterra, an effort by Dualist Inquiry and his record label, to compile a bunch of groovy electronica, is the latest in this trend. Handpicked by Sahej Bakshi and Dualism Records, these tracks and the album give a fair idea of the kinds of electronic mixes going on in the scene. Although this maybe a slightly more elitist compilation, it nonetheless portrays a comprehensive slice of the types of electronica doing the rounds. Artists that have been featured on Subterra include Your Chin, Sandunes, Big City Harmonics and Nanok.

Other sources such as 8-tracks or Mixtapes help put out such music too, but the scope is very limited without a sizeable online platform to effectively spread awareness of the bands. Thus, with a large social media following, such companies have helped put out upcoming and obscure music from across the country.

Free music is a concept not easily internalised by many musicians too, mainly due to the abuse of it by online audiences. However, independent parties are a better bet for getting the best of the local indie circuit to public ears.