It is a good time to be in Bengaluru this Friday. Three must-watch artists perform in the city on September 4.
Whether it is a new band that has risen from existing city favourites, or an EP launch gig by one of Mumbai’s best upcoming electronic music producers or Chennai party-starters on the verge of releasing new material.
Coming up on Friday are more reasons to explain why the city’s live music circuit continues to grow – and it’s not so much cut-throat as it is about friendly competition among these venues who programme artists with the aim to bring in patrons, fans as well as those open-minded enough to explore new music.
Blushing Satellite
What: The Bangalore rock band came together just earlier this year in May this year and have been putting together a seven-song set list for their debut gig. Comprising members from psychedelic rock band — The Bicycle Days (vocalist Karthik Basker and guitarist Ramanan Chandramouli), drummer Wesley Newton and bassist Arjun Ramdas, Blushing Satellite have uploaded a few soothing, jazzy/psychedelic song clips from their rehearsals online. Basker says, “We are done recording our self titled EP, which we plan on releasing soon. We are also going to be doing a gig at Humming Tree opening for (Kolkata band) Pinknoise on the September 25. which will be great. We are in the process of making a video for the track “Arul”. It’s a claymation video which we plan to wrap up this month. You will be hearing a lot from us for sure!”
Where: B-Flat Bar, 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar
When: 9 p.m. onwards
Ox7gen
What: Mumbai-based producer and drummer Aditya Ashok has been steadily becoming a known name in the electronic music circuit for his always-different take on drum and bass music. With Ashok, who produces music under the moniker Ox7gen, he started out playing DJ sets, stepped up his game to having a live band interpret his music and now he is switching things up again for his new EP launch Recess, roping in live guitarist Bradley Tellis. Ashok says Recess has a lot more electronic sounds than his previous releases, which often drew from live drums. The drummer adds, “The Recess set would still technically be another avatar of OX7GEN Live, but even as a drummer, I’m playing progressive metal with Skyharbor, acoustic pop with The Colour Compound, electro funk with Shaair + Func. I just listen to a lot of different music and would never want to limit myself in terms of what kind of experiences I can create for an audience with respect to what I take away from all of these styles.” Although he’s going on to play a DJ set in Chennai, Ashok says his Bengaluru set won’t skip older material. “There are a bunch of other songs we’ll be playing on the tour, singles, remixes, basically everything from my catalogue that I thought would work for this set.”
Where: The Humming Tree, 12th Main, Indiranagar
When: 10 pm onwards
The F16s
What: Taking a break from putting final touches on their debut full-length album, rumoured to be titled Triggerpunkte, and performing at the recently-opened Blue Frog are Chennai electro-rockers The F16s. With a couple of EPs under their belt, they recently released a video for the song ‘Ausenberg’, but since it has been a live staple for nearly two years now, front man Josh Fernandez is more looking forward to playing newer material and pumping up the crowd. One of the best new emerging bands, The F16s, are known for their signature energetic sets that’s dancey, moody and heavy in different doses. Fernandez says, “We’ll be debuting a couple of songs for the gig. I’m excited to see how it’ll turn out live.” Watch out for songs such as ‘Lunar Zep’, ‘Blackboard’, ‘Jacuzzi’ and possibly an old favourite from their 2013 EP, ‘Avalanche’.
Where: Blue Frog, Church Street
When: 9 p.m. onwards
