The Hipster Marketplace Gig

Bhane, fashion clothing store in Delhi, announces itself to the world by throwing a kickass party, and showing their taste in good music. And that is how a store is launched for future reference.

Q: What do hipsters do when they open a clothing store?

A: They make a song-and-dance about it.

Bhane, fashion store for the hip hipsters wrote it down (in style) across the Delhi nightscape how the hipster life is as much of a culture of its own in Bharat, as is hip-hop. (When you see Amitabh Bachchan rapping to Honey Singh lyrics, you know desi cultural appropriation has happened and gone the mainstream way as much as is possible here in India.

So if you’re a Serious Indie Music Junkie of the desi variety (and not the riff-raff stuck to post rock 2003) and are clued in to what has been happening, we will have you know that bhane.live a recent three-day musical festival in Meherchand Market, Delhi organised by bhane at their new outlet had all the participants in the burgeoning indie electronica scene that everyone has been so gung-ho about off late.

But let’s save that for later and tell you instead what happens when a great house party meets a greater line-up. The usually quiet (unlike other jolly markets of downtown Delhi, it seems Meherchand market has a lot of genteel people whispering to each other about the lovely organic/boutique things they just bought while enjoying a cuppa tea at one of ‘em throwback-vintage-colonial-bistros) boulevard of Meherchand is pumped up with good electronic music, and it is not sunset yet. The music guided us to the big WIP store, a three floor art deco house with designer neatly folded in racks made out of industrial pipes. The second floor is converted into a pleasant den, with the DJ Console on one side (while it is not a live set, the songs being played out of humble laptops, the artists all marked their presence by personally playing their own songs and it was all very exciting).

Chet Faker Faker.

The terrace, all decorated in carnival flag streamers and fairy lights (perfect for those in love with instagrammed bokeh lights photographs) was perfect that summer night for a party, mist fans doing their bit in keeping conversations away from the horrible weather topic. (If you were still talking about the weather, we pity you.)

The first day was graced by When Pandas Attack, Zokhuma aka Arman Menzies and AlgoRythm, Paloma Monnapaa and Varun Patra’s electronica project. Saturday saw Your Chin, Sky Rabbit frontman Raxit Tewari’s solo outfit, Nanok (remember him killing it with his debut EP Death by Shoelaces?), Curtain Blue and Frame/Frame. Third day had Wild City’s Moniker and Reggae Rajah’s DJ Mocity.

The event saw a lot of good dance face-offs to the thumping music and a surreal level of grooving, while Sahej Bakshi aka Dualist Inquiry, while attending the gig, did a lot of, well, stretching is the best way to put it. (If you’re still unsure how to move to post-dance electronica, you needed to attend this gig.) And then, a strange slow realization dawned on us, about how one of the co-owners Gaurav, is Chet Faker’s doppelganger (picture above). (Or eh, we could be still stuck in our story from last week.) The icing on the cake? There were lollipops to be had for those who could find their mysterious source.

While the concerts wound up at 10:30 sharp, it is to bhane’s credit that it displayed how clothing stores need not be graced by Bollywood/IPL celebrities for people to sit up and take notice. Or maybe they hope all their potential local customers will have good taste in music. Amen to that.