Nihar Radio Shows and Appearances

Long form Deity live jams (duo of Fanciulla/The Creatrix and Nihar/Nine)

Nihar Sounds and Collaborations

DJ Mixes by Nihar

Music for Frequencies of Tradition film screenings at The Roxie

Wednesday, May 18, 6:15 - 6:45 pm (preceding 6:45pm screenings)
 Location: Little Roxie Theatre, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Each monthly screening of Frequencies of Tradition is preceded by original music and a sound mix curated by Topazu (Infinite Beat – San Francisco), with the participation of Annie Chen (Teaphile, Zhuang B – Oakland), Nihar (Left Hand Path, TVOD – San Francisco), and Aaron J (Sure Thing – Boston). The sonic environment anticipates five films, in conjunction with the exhibition Frequencies of Tradition, on view at KADIST San Francisco (April 2 - July 16, 2022).

Nihar Bhatt is a South-Asian American experimentalist, musician and sound designer based in San Francisco, CA. His work contributes to the modern re-invention of the "industrial music" category within a non-eurocentric and consistently anti-capitalist framework. Utilizing a combination of generative, interactive and linear sequencing methods executed through a hybrid digital-analogue setup with modular hardware at its center, Nihar often mixes the sounds and rhythms of the 21st century global supply chain with textures that evoke the dissociative, isolating and depressive effects of neo-liberal culture. The music also lingers on the romance and ecstasy of intimate connection, the virtue of rejecting professionalization and work, as well as the possibility of collective confrontation with power, forming counterpoints to a fundamentally bleak vision of our times.

Nihar Bhatt music for Community Of Parting

AYLI Radio 23: Nihar & Farsight

A collection of tracks you might hear at the Haceteria dance club on 3rd Saturdays at the Deco Lounge in San Francisco.
Vinyl mix recorded live off of a Pioneer DJM-350 mixer
The Reese Project - I Believe (Reese Dub Mix) - 1992
The Untouchables - Dance to the Rhythm - 1991
The Daou - Surrender Yourself (Ballroom mix) - 1992
Eastside Poetics - Bang 'Em - 1992
Tricky Disco - Tricky Disco - 1990
Stakker - Humanoid - 1988
Legowelt - Escape - 2009
Inner City - Big Fun (Les Adams Remix) - 1988
Mr. Fingers - Closer - 1992
Nightcrawlers - Push That Feeling (Dub of Doom) - 1992
Front 242 - Headhunter V1.0 - 1988
New Order - Blue Monday (808 State mix) - 1988
KYZE - Stomp - 1989


Haceteria mix 4-29-11

Crossfade w/ Angela Ruins & Nihar | Live on HydeFM | 02/06/23

Strategies Against Texture

Nihar has been a beloved figure in the Bay Area Music Scene for over a decade. He was a founder & DJ at the now legendary Surface Tension events which helped to solidify cold wave & dark industrial techno as a defining sound in San Francisco club culture. Left Hand Path, the label he started with Chris Zaldua in 2015 have released some of the most interesting & diverse projects to come out of the city, from the likes of Cube, C.L.A.W.S., Nackt, Russell E.L. Butler & Forests. 
Squirrels On Film is delighted & honored to unleash this collection of angular cybergoth soundscapes that showcase Nihar's acuity as an artist. Five-dimensional geometric rhythms & nocturnal panoramas evoking brutalist structures & primeval geology present an alternative reality for industrial techno. This collection has been mastered by San Francisco industrial O.G. Mark Pistal & presented with original art by Squirrel On Film resident artist Bert Bergen.

Nihar- Machines EP clips

In the studio with some legendary squirrels

Squirrels on Radio w/ Nihar And C.L.A.W.S.

“Dispatches from the NYC underground: left field electronics, raw live cuts, unreleased gems and other oddities selected by the Lost Soul Enterprises crew and extended family, this week featuring LSE founder R Gamble in the first half. The second half was selected and mixed by San Francisco based experimentalist, musician and sound designer Nihar.

Lost Soul Enterprises with R Gamble and Nihar [25.09.2023]

Live vinyl set recorded live off of Pioneer DJM-350 mixer at the Warm Leatherette dance party - 7.9.2011. Apologies for some distortion.Light Asylum - Splitter - Chrome - Led er Est - Pink Section - Executive Slacks - Phillipe Laurent - Sixth June - Martial Canterel - Central Unit - Danton's Voice - Night Moves


Warm Leatherette 7.9.2011 (Live DJ Set)

"Spiral" from the forthcoming Sutures cassette release by Ascetic House. 
Sutures is Alex Bennett and Nihar Bhatt

Sutures - Spiral (Ascetic House 2015)

"Stitch" from the forthcoming Sutures cassette release by Ascetic House. 
Sutures is Alex Bennett and Nihar Bhatt

Sutures - Stitch (Ascetic House 2015)

Queen Retinue

Preview of new live project "Nine" from Nihar Bhatt

Nine - Live Set Preview

Nine - A Kind of Language

Through the Canopy

Broadcast 33 starts with a short feature of the superb LP release by Marie Davidson Adieux au Dancefloor. Out on Cititrax, Adieux au Dancefloor is her most seminal work, exploring her POV of dance music and culture through her beautifully sculpted productions. 

Afterwards is an in-depth discussion about the past and present of Industrial music with Nine (Nihar Bhatt). As one fourth of the Surface Tension collective and through his own productions, Bhatt has been heavily involved in the local scene for several years and as an insightful perspective on how industrial music has impacted techno music today. He finishes the show with a lush mix of current artists who use the industrial ethos in their own music. Enjoy. 


Topazu Played: 

Marie Davidson / I Dedicate My Life / Adieux au Dancefloor 

Ulwhednar / Midvinter 1-6 / Midvinter 

William Basinski / dlp 3 / The Disintegration Loops II 


Nine played: 

Moor Mother / Valley of Dry Bones / Fetish Bones 

JT Whitfield / Hunting and Ingrown / JT Whitfield 

S/N / Floating Point / Unreleased 

Forests / Slept / Unreleased 

Russell E.L. Butler / Privilage / The First Step 

Ciarra Black / Dupont Street / Unreleased 

Rhyw / Skull to the Chest / Rhyw 

L/F/D/M / Lego Train Crashes / Crocodiles In The Ceiling EP 

Vittorio Di Mango / Jump / Wrong Definition 

Shifted / Chapter 69 / Sickness By Means of Clairvoyance 

Ontal / Simulacron / Simulacron 

Israel Vines / WWKD / WWKD [TEETH-1] 

Offworldcolonies / Domaren / Domarringen 

Smell The Flesh / Blood Relic / Smell The Flesh 

Osheyack / Fraud / Fake/Fiction/Fraud 

Rizzla / Twitch Queen / Iron Cages 

The Creatrix / Regolith / Unreleased 

Egyptrixx / Conduit [Repo] / Transfer of Energy [Feelings of Power] 

Kareem / Meyrink / Huren - le 17 janvier Los Angeles, USA 

Nine / Interplanetary / Unreleased 

Brethren/ Lychomlic Mydru / Luka Et Al 

Emptyset / Completely Gone / Emptyset

Infinite Beat

Nine - Interview and DJ set for Infinite Beat Podcast on Radio Valencia

Live hardware recording from the Elbo Room in San Francisco, April 2016

Nine - Roses (Live at the Elbo Room SF)

Nine - Unwound

Nine - Waarp

Nine - Live Set August 2014 - practice for Trance Mutations (Thank you M1cah)

Nine - Second Phase

Live vinyl set recorded at the Warm Leatherette dance party on January 20th, 2012 at Sub/Mission in SF.
 
:codes - Artificial Control - Mueran Humanos - Modern Art - Sepp Maier's Gloves - Erste Weibliche Fleischergesellin Nach 1945 - 1000 Ohm - Days of Sorrow - Cinema 90

Warm Leatherette 1.20.2012 (Live DJ Set)

Live Vinyl Mix recorded June 2012 in San Francisco.

Cabaret Voltaire - Keep On (Sweet Exorcist Mix) - Parlophone 1990
 Redshape - Black Dust - Present 2007 
3 Big Men - The Time is Now for Action - Capitol 1989 
Second Phase - Mind to Mind - R&S 1991 
Channel X - Double Defused - Beat Box international 1991 
Technoid - Technoid - NeoSubCulture 1989 
Gesloten Cirkel - Yamagic - Moustache Techno 2011 
DJ Hell ‎– My Definition Of House Music - R&S 1992 
André Galluzzi - Freya - Ostgut Ton 2010 
Bill Youngman - Trilogy - Killekill 2011 
Datura - Yerba Del Diablo (Achico) -Trance Records 1992 
Bjork - Hyperballad (The Stomp Mix) - One Little Indian 1995 
Rhythm Invention - Chronoclasm (Nick Simpson's Portable Mix) - Warp 1992 
Autechre - Crystel - Warp 1992 
Tropic of Cancer - Be Brave (Richard H Kirk REMIX) - Downwards 2011 
Casual Violence - Briefly Sexual - Aftertaste Recordings 2009 
Planetary Assault Systems - Diesel Drudge - Peacefrog 1994 
Source - Eclipse - R&S 1993 
P.I.M.P. ‎– The Light - Touche 1994 
Emmanuel Top ‎– Fusion - Triangle 1995

The Sprawl Mix

Nihar (@niharb)has been DJing and producing original music as part of the bay area electronic music scene for more than a decade. He’s been a resident of a number of legendary San Francisco DJ crews including Surface Tension, Warm Leatherette and Haçeteria. He recently founded T.V.O.D., an event series that he curates alongside Jason Polastri and the Creatrix. He’s also an affiliate of the East Bay’s renowned Club Chai collective. 

Nihar is known for high intensity DJ sets that draw from an eclectic blend of global rhythmic influences and elements. As a producer, he infuses his studio work and live performances with this same sensibility. Nihar’s first full length album, Chrysalis, was released in July 2018 on Jacktone Records. His next release is coming on NYC’s Primitive Languages label later in 2019. 

Nihar is also the co-label head (with Chris Zaldua) of Left Hand Path, which has been featured in The Wire, Resident Advisor, Fact Magazine and in other publications for it’s incredible track record of releases. Left Hand Path has a string of records coming in 2019, some of which are featured in this mix.

Tracklist:

R.A.N.  - Sabah - (Karlrecords)
ASC - Sidereal - (ASC)
Ciarra Black - By Design - (Allergy Season)
Mor Elian - Dysmorphia - (Hypercolour)
Simo Cell - Stop The Killing - (Livity Sound)
E L O N (Elon Katz) - The Wig (Forthcoming Left Hand Path)
Ose – drown out the noise with your silence - (Forthcoming Ghunghru)
Hontos - Floor Surgery - (Bank)
Grag Z - Demonstration - (Bizaar Bazaar)
Sem - Bonus II - (Electron Industries)
Sawf - Kofta - (Vanila)
Ontal - Mudflow - (Pielectronics)
EON - Kufunga - (Forthcoming New York Tracks)
MA - Fū - (Semantica)
Deity Presents "The Psychist" (The Creatrix + Nihar) - Queso Macha (Demon Mix) - (Unreleased)
Bhakta - Prayer - (Sammasati Music)
Yantra - 360 Electric Breakout Mix - (Music Man Records)
Fumiya Tanaka - for set # 1b - (Torema Records)
a maze - bury me with a radio - (a maze)
Thee Source - None Shall Pass -Xanopticon Remix - (Katabatik)
Auton - Without Hindrance - (Forthcoming Left Hand Path)
Orphx - Pain Is A Teacher - (Sonic Groove)
Bonaventure - Mentor - (Planet Mu)
Balasa - Teri Duniya - (Drum Mix) – (Basala)
DJ Speedsick - Soviet Clone – (Bank)
Liquid Asset - in laboratory - (Unreleased)
Nihar - Voices - (Forthcoming Primitive Languages)
Oscar Mulero - Unveiling of Reality – (Polegroup)
James Ruskin - Work (BP Mix) – (Blueprint)
Jeff Mills - Late Night (Mills Remix) – (Tresor)
Masaki Uchida - Logos (Rico Casazza remix) – (Loose Lips)

The Bunker Podcast 187

The Bunker Podcast 187: Nihar

Honey Soundsystem Potcast

HNYPOT 346: Nihar & Russell E.L. Butler's Intersection Mix

Two club focused tracks from the archives of the San Francisco based artist, writer, and community organizer. Nihar has been instrumental in carving out space for parties that tow the line of function and experimentation on the west coast of the United States as co-founder of the SURFACE TENSION party series. Along with Chris Zaldua, Nihar also runs the Left Hand Path label, highlighting electronic anomalies and documenting challenging work in his locale. Nihar has performed worldwide in Shanghai, Osaka, and Mexico City and has been programmed into the Recombinant and Mutek festivals.

On this single sided 12", "Rumble" centers Tabla rhythms amidst syncopated and undulating drum and synth work for an uptempo club affect. "Vermillion Garden" slows things down with a more throbbing groove that uses vocal synthesis to oscillate in and out of sweaty-wall atmospherics. The record is accompanied by a text titled "Against Having a Music Industry; For a Renegade Future", an essay at once taking inventory, and leaving room for hope, amidst the perplexing times for electronic music that this record presents itself inside of.
credits
releases September 25, 2020

Written and recorded by Nihar
Mastered by Jack Callahan
Distributed by Fantastique

NIHAR - A1. Rumble

*Originally aired October 31, 2020
**may have some variation in audio quality

For an INFINITE BEAT All Hallows’ Special, Nihar Kirtidev Bhatt  returns to the airwaves. He is a social activist, techno scholar, founding member of Left Hand Path, TVOD collective member, is a brilliant musician and a wonderful friend. We speak candidly about his latest release on Psychic Liberation, the pamphlet he wrote “Up Against the Music Industry; For a Renegade Future” and touch on how to survive in the current state of affairs. Afterwards is an exclusive mix of sonic mutations from the artist himself. Read "Up Against the Music Industry; For a Renegade Future" here: http://tiny.cc/a825tz

Enjoy.

Nihar played:

Nihar / Insect Thoughts / Unreleased 2020

Isham Kouidri / Now He's Gone Part 2 / Psychic Liberation 2020

Drew McDowall / Agalma 1 (Folding) / Dais 2020

May Roosevelt / Chasm (tsamiko) / Self-released 2020

Nadja / Sky Burial / Southern 2010

Senyawa / Tanggalkan Di Dunia (Undo The World) / Sublime Frequencies 2018

Hong Kong Express / I Am Here, In Love...... / Dream Catalogue 2020

Pain Teens / Desu Evol Yaw / Trance Syndicate 1990

NO-ON - Dervish in Distress - Zella Archives 2020

Actress / Angels Pharmacy (feat. Zsela) / Ninja Tune 2020

David Bowie / She Shook Me Cold / Mercury 1970

Zahgurim / New Flesh / Atonal 1985

Nihar / A Cure / Unreleased 2020

Filmmaker / Going & Going / Pildoras Tapes 2019

Yves Tumor / Kerosene! / Warp 2020

Lycia / Bare / Projekt 1996

Kate Bush / Mother Stands for Comfort / EMI 1985

Front 242 / Crushed / Epic 1993

Wanda Group / How to Learn to Concentrate / NNA Tapes 2013

Streetwalker / The Price is Free (Caveman LSD Remix) / Zero Grow 2020

Selim X / Ravens / Vaguetracks 2020

Kat Duma / System / Hollowcline Trance 2020

Sade / By Your Side (Cottenbelly Fola Mix Edit) / MCA 2002

@niharb @sutrofm

INFINITE BEAT / BROADCAST 78 / NIHAR

Mix by @niharb -- aired on 2/20/21 on twitch.tv/softrendezvous

Nihar - Soft Rendezvous 1 Year Anniversary

@niharb
Visions: A Benefit Compilation for Artsakh is a compilation album with music from a wide range of electronic and dance music artists from the West Coast, East Coast, and beyond.

The album is produced by a community of artists with the intention to raise funds for the recent displacement and violence towards 100,000+ Armenians from the Republic of Artsakh (also known as Nagorno-Karabakh) - a de facto self-governed autonomous region with an Armenian population indigenous to Artsakh. The displaced families and those who have no other option but to return to their war-torn towns are in need of housing, medical, psychiatric support, food, and basic essentials.

*This is an indigenous struggle, and as ethnic-supremacist ideologies are on the rise across the world, we wanted to have a project that stands in solidarity with indigenous people’s right to self-determination and existence, and help from here in a small way.

On September 27, 2020, a large-scale military offensive was unprovokedly launched against the Republic of Artsakh and Armenia by the authoritarian regime of Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey. Armenian civilians, settlements, and civilian infrastructures including schools and churches were continuously bombarded for 45 days with drones, aerial attacks, internationally outlawed cluster bombs and white phosphorus munitions. Several thousands of lives were lost, hundreds still in captivity, and over a hundred thousand Armenians displaced after 70% of Artsakh’s territories were taken away. Currently, ancient Armenian historical, religious, and cultural sites in Artsakh are being destroyed, contributing to the years of cultural genocide by Azerbaijan’s petro-oligarchic regime. This is an indigenous struggle, and as ethnic-supremacist ideologies are on the rise across the world, we stand in solidarity with indigenous people’s right to self-determination and existence.

100% of sales will be donated to the following organizations who are currently giving on-the-ground support for displaced families or those who have lost family members and their homes:

All For Armenia:
allforarmenia.org
“Since the start of the 2020 Artsakh War, we provide food/nutrition, warm clothing, and hygiene products for the refugee families of Artsakh. As of November 10, 2020, most of these families are refugees indefinitely. Our mission has evolved into a long-term, sustainable form of aid for these families that goes beyond basic needs. We are currently developing a sponsorship program, and working on providing educational resources, art and music workshops, and more.”

Gurgen Melikyan Multichildren Family Foundation of Kashatagh:
www.gurgenmelikyan.com
“Gurgen Melikyan Multichildren Family Foundation of Kashatagh was founded in 1996. Our purpose is to assist multichildren families to re-populate Artsakh.”


*Easy-to-read, categorized list of information and resources regarding this issue:

Artsakh Resources:
sites.google.com/view/artsakhresources/home?authuser=2

Artsakh Research Drive:
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1l9a2z9Tacqo_pprzzCv_iX17aQvLNbsY

Statement by National Lawyers Guild:
nlginternational.org/2020/10/nlg-ic-statement-on-the-attacks-on-armenia-and-artsakh-nagorno-karabakh/

A Call for Lasting Peace - Statement by Cornel West, Noam Chomsky and more: lareviewofbooks.org/short-takes/lasting-peace-nagorno-karabakh/

Dr. Cornel West: Words In Solidarity:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCZY0ykYxm4

Zoravik Activist Collective: “Media Manipulation and the War in Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh”:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_ir_d0BA7g


Action Items and Petitions:

ANCA - March to Justice:
marchtojustice.org/action-alerts

Armenian Assembly of America - Action Center:
action.aaainc.org

Help the Armenian Community
helparmenians.carrd.co  
credits


Organized & Curated by:
Sebastian Ortega
Lara Sarkissian

Mastering:
rose cherami

Album Artwork (Hunot Canyon Zontikner, Shushi) by:
Maral Matig
IG: www.instagram.com/maral.gazellig/

Nihar

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