Week on Week: The VICE India Mixtape

Attempting to keep up with new releases is exhausting. And the never-ending quest to discover an act before they hit >1000 plays on Bandcamp is all but rewarding. Having given up full time music writing a little while ago, more often than not I find myself feeling a mix of FOMO and IDGAF about new, local music while compiling my Spotify playlists. With this feature, we (that is I) aim to put together a weekly mixtape with inputs from VICE India staffers—across all departments, without being judgemental assholes.

“This artist is addiction. Every beat is on point which is fucking AAG; he has out done himself yet again.”
—Pratiksha Chauhan, Senior Designer and fellow aficionado of FRNDS x FMLY ‘16

“Woozy and drenched in psychedelic dreaminess, this track from the sublime Currents album is perfect for an evening wind-down, after a long day of staring at spreadsheets and juggling formulas. What's fascinating is how different this tune (and the whole album) is from Kevin Parker's previous records. While the chugging guitars of his earlier works are still there, they're pushed into the background by an array of synths and samplers. The real genius is how—in spite of all the tech behind it—this song has a truly analogue soul, which is something Parker has always specialised in.”
—Ashish Gupta, Head of Distribution and Syndication and a curious cat of the good kind

“An unusual and unlikely morning pump up song. I usually imagine being the one on stage ripping up my vocal chords and shredding the riffs. It's also a great release for all the angst and frustration you've pent up inside you.”
—Aditya Varrier, Creative Writer and ‘use-your-physicality-man’

“Divenire reminds you of your insignificance and importance at the same time. All of this while drowning out the cacophony of a room full of so-bad-that-they-are-good punners. It started with an experiment to see if listening to Mozart can actually help a researcher talk visuals with seasoned video-makers. It worked. I wasn't fired. A friend recommended Einaudi, and I cannot stop. Have a listen, you might see yourself holding an Oscar or a Pulitzer, simultaneously realising that it doesn't matter at all. And if that leaves you overwhelmed, move on to the kind-a similar Nuvole Bianche. It's all you need for a good cry.”
—Nandita Gupta, Head of Research and often bowed down by the weight of inequality

“Really sorry about missing your email. My phone got stolen and it has been a mess this week, and so I nominate a nonsensical song that’s been making me happy today.”
—Rohita Madappa, Brand Relationship Manager and strainer of our relationship with sleep

“I've had an overdose of this song over the last month. A friend introduced it to my husband at that time of a party when everyone is well-stuffed, happy and just chilling. After that I've heard it play at my house every time someone comes over for a drink/dinner and it might be slowly growing on me too.”
—Deeksha Dogra, Senior Sales Manager and deliverer of excessive briefs, all the time

“I’ve made no secret of the fact that The National are my favourite band of all time, barring the usual classics, with a constant toppling off the podium by Radiohead (god bless Thom our saviour Yorke). A couple of years ago, the Dessner brothers undertook a mammoth project to compile a tribute to The Grateful Dead, another band I really like but constantly struggle to keep up with, because how does one even begin to? While it is no match to the original, The National covering a Dead staple had me more excited than I perhaps should’ve been about this whole thing. I recently watched an excellent docu series on the Dead, aptly titled A Long Strange Trip (highly recommended). Somewhere in its four-hour runtime, there’s a story from the recording engineer about getting on stage to fix the mic on the last show of their epic Europe ‘72 tour, leaving the recording van unmanned. As he begins to walk away, Jerry Garcia strums “Morning Dew”, a folk classic, and transfixes the engineer in his tracks, side of stage. That story, the emotion and the fact that the van was unmanned—and the version from the Lyceum Theatre in London made it to the live album—makes the entire docu worth a watch, and bow further at the shrine of Garcia.”
—Naman Saraiya, Producer and considering listening to the Dead for all of December

Check out our previous editions here.