With field recordings of birds and frogs stitched between transient meanderings of synths and soundscapes from her own work and that of her contemporaries from the experimental music space of India like Hemant SK, Bengal Chemicals and REVANT, Surbhi Mittal aka Pale Blue Dotter's Wild City mix is like no other. But then again the New Delhi sound artist isn't interested in being an artist like any other, often questioning the default notions around listening and creation and consequently finding space for her work in art galleries, theatrical productions and the sombre corners of music festivals as well. 

Yet the mix isn't a snippet-to-snippet glimpse of leftfield music but could work as an album with a clear cohesion and intention – showcasing the magic of raw moments of inspiration that propel creation and juxtaposing them with profound reflections on self, the world and the relation between the two.

For more information and tracklisting: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/21031-wild-city-245-pale-blue-dotter

Wild City #245: Pale Blue Dotter

When T.L. Mazumdar aka EveryNowHere started the podcast series Tapasya Loading in 2020, one of his key goals was to pool together the worldview of artists that he had found inspiring without the confines of styles, geography or experience levels. As the multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and educator celebrates and zooming past 100 episodes with a Wild City Mix, naturally his selection follows the same ethos. 

The mix is ripe with artists who have appeared as guests on the podcast, connecting topics from music education and the diaspora artist experience to mental health and the creative process for a holistic view of what it's like to be a creative practitioner. Consequently, the selection can go from sparse electro-R&B ('BLUE' by LO) to Punjabi yearnful laments over tabla rhythms ('Tera Jugg' by Kiran Ahluwalia) in less than 10 minutes. While every once in a while there are works showcasing virtuosity within a defined genre ('7 Cows Jumping Over The Moon' by Kai Eckhardt Band), the mix mostly seems to be tied together with the quality of pushing beyond any stylistic boxes and seamlessly jumping between them.

More information & tracklisting: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/21058-wild-city-246-everynowhere

Wild City #246 - EveryNowHere

Roan Sable's Wild City mix is the kind that makes listeners reach for Shazam time and time again. Peppered with deep cuts that the Pune-rooted DJ elevates to the efficiency of classics, the mix traverses through house music, reaching for the genre's upbeat vocal hooks and syncopated basslines. The journey, which Roan played out in Hyderabad for Sunday Playground,  is led by elaborate blends and surprise drops in equal measures to keep things from becoming stagnant. In the process, we pass through highlight moments like Leon's 'Beautiful Girl' coming together with Locklead's 'Morning Krew', elevating the underrated tracks beyond their merit as standalone records, giving a glimpse of his mark as an experienced selector.

For more information: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/21095-wild-city-247-roan-sable

Wild City #247 - Roan Sable

New Delhi DJ Sheral doesn't wait for a build-up on our latest Wild City mix, entering above 140 BPM from the get-go and keeping it relentless for the first quarter of the mix. When eventually we arrive at the special sustained blend of the vocal hook from Vin Sol's 'Wts' against the percussion breaks of Burland's 'Untitled 140', the first quarter emerges as a high-octane warm-up leading up to a dynamic ride of glitchy, quirky textures that follows, passing an upbeat and low end-heavy array of styles that majorly feature only deep cuts (though dubstep lynchpin Kode9 makes an appearance for the high point of the mix). 

For more information & tracklisting: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/21137-wild-city-248-sheral

Wild City #248 - Sheral

In its first quarter itself, Paloma's Wild City mix connects the low-end rattling bass of Joy Orbison's 'Flight.fm' to the tribal house of Nick Léon's 'Xtasis' before proceeding to the melodic runs of Charanjit Singh. This itself clues you in on the quick genre-hopping that the DJ, surfer, model and TV host does on the mix, which reels dancers in with the popular, more accessible numbers before going on to deeper cuts of acid house, melodic techno and adjacent styles. 

Taken from her performance on New Year's at Sri Lanka's Closenberg Hotel, the regular spot for Tropical Wax, the party-throwing and lifestyle collective co-founded by Paloma, the mix progressively echoes the shifting of night into the morning, turning the mood gradually to the introspective as the psychedelic textures of Floating Points' 'Fast Forward' usher in the final quarter of the mix.

For more information: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/21160-wild-city-249-paloma

Wild City #249: Paloma

All around the world in dance music, the South Asian diaspora is carving a space for the culture they have carried from their roots to their adopted new homes. One of the leading forces among them: Stick No Bills. The Dubai-rooted collective started as a party spearheaded by Jeftin James aka DJ Jeff and GT, and immediately became a home for people who wanted to celebrate their desi sound and aesthetics proudly. 

"Growing up in Dubai, there were South Asian parties, and there were “cool” nights — but rarely anything that did both well," the collective tells us as they made their way to Mumbai for BUDX NBA House to perform as well as discuss the push for South Asian representation on global stages. "If you wanted to hear your sound, you had to compromise on production or setting. If you wanted the aesthetics and energy of a good party, you had to leave parts of yourself at the door."

Consequently, the collective tapped into that hunger in themselves and people like them to create parties that didn't make them choose between experience and identity, accruing a community that included film and fashion into the fold just as seamlessly as the musicians of Stick No Bills combine global hip-hop and even pop sounds from their nostalgia of South Asian culture. The edits, flips and sets by Stick No Bills merge amapiano with Tamil samples, Jersey club beats with Punjabi vocals and classic film melodies with pumping grooves. 

"Dubai is a paradox. It’s hyper-global but locally fragmented. You can hear 20 languages in a mall, but still feel like your culture doesn’t have a platform. That in-between-ness shaped everything about us — because we are the in-between," the collective explains us. "We don’t mix genres for novelty — we do it because that’s how we grew up hearing the world."

The collectives' Wild City mix reflects this as the visceral bass of Skrillex, Fred Again and Flowdan's 'Rumble' combines with the 1999 Bollywood number 'Ramta Jogi' or 2014's 'Patakha Gudi' soon flows out of the flutes running over Future's 'Mask Off'. The mix taps into pop moments as fleeting samples to create its own moments of recognition, choosing energy over cleanliness as it keeps the subs rumbling through hip-hop, dubstep and breaks. 

For more information & tracklisting: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/21193-wild-city-250-stick-no-bills

Wild City #250 - Stick No Bills

The influence of Bombay sometimes comes through gently included but obviously present samples likely from film soundtracks, and other times through the subtle rhythmic inclusion of the bustling city streets into the percussive assembly. It creates a Bombay-meets-Brooklyn sound that Rajah Betta dubs as "Bombay Club". 

The Bombay-born and NYC-honed DJ, producer and radio host Sagar aka Rajah Betta is currently offering this fusion of geographic influences with an upcoming EP and an India tour that has made its way to Goa, Mumbai and Pune so far. Marking this movement with a Wild City mix, Rajah Betta's selections highlight his tendency to move through his influences. 

Distorted guitars of alt-rock slip into gritty basslines of club music before the focus shifts to more percussive numbers like Laksa's 'Tech Steppas' featured next to a standout deep cut '145bpm Percussive Brain Cleanse' by Joeti. By the time we reach Batu's 'Inner Space', the mix has fully and discreetly shifted for a dark, high-tempo second half – making its final stop in the gradually transforming but quick journey through contrasting styles.

More information & tracklisting: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/21230-wild-city-251-rajah-betta

Wild City #251: Rajah Betta

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