How often has Bengaluru been home to some of the best psychedelic, mind-numbing (in a good way) music in the country? From the likes of Sulk Station to upcoming prog rockers Traces, there’s something for every kind of lover of trippy music – whether they like a little aggression in there or brooding. Prior to these, there was The Bicycle Days, who were masters at crafting a mix of everything from prog to psychedelic and alternative tunes. While they’re currently on an indefinite hiatus, frontman Karthik Basker and their rhythm guitarist Ramanan Chandramouli are now part of a new mind-expanding band called Blushing Satellite, along with jazz-influenced drummer Wesley Newton and young bassist Arjun Ramdas. They just came together earlier this year and have not only found a firm footing in terms of writing solid, mellow jams, but also begun to play outside Bengaluru. Basker’s signature textured vocals soothe like few others on their three-track self-titled EP. While they start out in a jazzy space with ‘Finders’, one that will make anyone lean back in their chair, they get a bit more foreboding on ‘Arul’, a massive nine-minute jam that plays with space and sparsity. Basker’s vocals sometimes mirror Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan in terms of melodies, while Chandramouli’s guitar-noodling vary from improv-quality to layered and looped and finally burst into all-out riffage on the nine-minute track. The open-endedness of the track makes this one of Blushing Satellite’s defining tracks – one that will remind listeners of The Bicycle Days, only much more experimental to ease into realms of jazz, trip-hop and R&B. There’s a more rock-fuelled turn with ‘You’, where Chandramouli, Ramdas and Newton lock into a grungy, groove sound which ebbs and flows, adding even more diversity to the EP.
With elements of jazz, rock, trip-hop and R&B, don’t look at the number of tracks and be fooled.
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