Initially started as a solo project by front-man Suryakant Sawhney, Peter Cat Recording Co. otherwise known as pcrc is a New Delhi based band that formed in 2010 and is currently made up of 4 members.

"The type of music we play is open to discussion (...) Our style ranges from gypsy jazz to ballroom waltz, midnight moonlight and car chase music (think Don). The sound is heavily inspired by 60s/70s Bollywood music, which was in turn inspired by American music of the 50s, such as big band music and soul. Lyrically, we choose to write about prostitutes, deception, android artists and about films coming to life."

The gypsy-like free spirits in pcrc express a laidback sound. An incredibly talented group of musicians headed by an extremely potent songwriter. A band that through this process has shown a real passion for discovering new music as well as a blatant disregard for putting themselves in any sort of box. We don't exactly know where this band is going to take us over the coming years. And that is exciting.

For a tracklist and further info, head over here:
http://www.thewildcity.com/EN/music.xhtml/article/1050-wild-city-013-peter-cat-recording-co

Wild City #013 - Peter Cat Recording Co.

Donn Bhat is a music composer, producer, songwriter and guitar player based out of Mumbai.

In the past he's written, produced and played for the bands 'Friday The13th' and 'Orange Street' both of which won the Great Indian Rock (GIR) competition in 2003 and 2005 respectively. Eventually, after an extensive tour of Europe with Orange Street, Donn produced his first solo album 'One Way Circle' in 2006 from his bedroom studio in New Delhi. The album received a great response from press and fans alike and has seen a quick appreciating reaction from reputed stalwarts within India's independent music scene.

More recently three of his album tracks got featured on the MTV series 'Bring On the Night', whilst he currently is in the recording stages of his second solo album titled 'Passenger Revelator', alongside regularly composing music for film and advertising in Mumbai. He performs live with his band Donn Bhat + Passenger Revelator.

On the one hand, Bhat's built a reputation as a solid producer, making accessible music that embraces melodrama with uplifting emotion, yet never tipping over the edge. This mix however, showcases a midnight raid on the middle ground, combining high drama with glossy production and beefy choruses. An adaptable shapeshifter – and that, with his orotund vocal sound, an instantly recognisable one.

The Wild City mix he's made just might be our favourite one ever. And since Bhat's currently on his most prolific form yet, we're excited about the timing. If you're lucky enough to be going to Ziro Festival this weekend, you'll be able to catch him perform there. Otherwise, you'll have to wait till he next performs in a city near you. We may just do something about that though.

"This is a completely original set. Two of these tunes just got done last week, the others have been produced over the last few years. Song writing appeals to me and that's what I wanted to showcase. The first track, 'Stars Align' was something Aashar and I came up with in less than ten minutes one afternoon a few months back in Delhi - it was one of those days. Ironically it has turned out to be one the longest tracks we've done in a while. All these tracks were made at home. Hope you enjoy." - Donn Bhat

For a tracklist and further info, head over here:
http://www.thewildcity.com/EN/music.xhtml/article/4598-wild-city-063-donn-bhat-passenger-revelator

Wild City #063 - Donn Bhat + Passenger Revelator

Today marks the beginning of L’Imperatrice’s 7 city tour around India. The 5 strong French electronica outfit kick start their Indian journey tonight in New Delhi followed by gigs in Bangalore, Trivandrum, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai and Ponichery.

We’ve been looking forward to this gig for a while now, it’s not often that you get to see a full live funk/disco set in India: “a frenetic and funky guitarist, an amazingly grooving bassist, a DJ and [a keys player playing alongside} with another musician.”

To get you in the mood we have a tasty little exclusive vinyl mix from keys player Charles. A funk infused, old-school disco playlist, bound to brighten up your day. It just did for me (again).

Do not miss these guys in a town near you.

“This mix is full of our influences, jazz, funk, disco. This is what we play, but in a very Frenchy way, and we try to make it personal. What you'll hear is rooted in mid 70s black disco to late 90s French house, with a slice of hip-hop. Our set is also a big travel across synth pop history, exploring original soundtracks from John Carpenter, François de Roubaix, Ennio Morricone or Daft Punk. A mashup made for dancing, full of images.” – Charles (L’Imperatrice)

For a tracklist and further info, head over here:
http://www.thewildcity.com/EN/music.xhtml/article/4700-wild-city-065-limperatrice



Wild City #065 - L'Imperatrice

Few in the country have embraced the canon built upon the quick energetic hits of the breakbeat as closely as Smokey, whose hold on the sub-culture has seen her connect the underground deep cuts with popular tastes on stages of increasing magnitude.

The Mumbai-based DJ brings a specific modern pop sentimentality-soaked colour of the genre to her Wild City mix. 

With soft-centred lyrical tunes, Smokey sets apart her selections from the majority of our Mixes before recontextualising it back for the dancefloor with her staple breakneck rhythms. Riding the high energy of the drum breaks, the mix keeps the intensity steady and carries the ebb and flow by shifting the limelight from vocals, to basslines to chopped up synths and often the minimal elements of drum 'n' bass – interjecting with a breather each time the risk of stagnancy appears on the horizon. 

For more information and tracklist: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/19554-wild-city-211-smokey

Wild City Mix

Wild City #211: Smokey

Aashish Gupta aka AAGUU, better known for his work as one-half of the duo TechNomads while erstwhile remixing Indian cinema undercuts, curates a love letter to the formative days of house and techno on his Wild City mix. 

Assembling deep cuts and familiar sounds from primarily the early 90s, the Bangalore artist taps into the nostalgia for the joyous glossy strands of the two adjacent genres – hovering closer to their Italo-disco roots. High synthetic string lines, plastic-y melodic percussion, sensual vocal samples and flute sounds created in the early days of MIDI instruments take one on a trip down memory (whether lived or imagined) lane, punctuating it just occasionally with the more sombre acid house cuts. Even while throwing in more modern numbers like Ewan McVicar's 'Amnocairn', the connection to the classic evergreen sounds remains with its snappy house piano. 

For more information and tracklisting: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/19850-wild-city-214-aaguu

Wild City #214: AAGUU

Whether collaborating with traditional Indian musicians or flipping Bollywood cuts, Shantanu Gursal aka kSaya's musical home is the frantic rhythm of the breakbeat – as he works as an Asian Underground revivalist over the past 2 years. It is no surprise then that the Mumbai act's Wild City mix comes replete with a near-constant underpinning of the iconic beat and its variations.

The selections remain far from the heavy onslaught of breakbeats' pacier sub-genres, instead embracing the pristine atmosphere of styles like slow garage and the more modern anthemic dance music takes by the likes of Bicep. The ethereal atmosphere remains the true defining feature of the mix as it opens up rhythmically with selections like Terry Da Libra's 'U' and 'Early Hours' by Fløa & Furcloud before plunging back into the grooves that kicked things off – this time emerging out of the focus on reverberating pads to lead with the emotionally direct vocals on a mix of 'My Stripes' by Marsh.

For more information: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/20024-wild-city-220-ksaya

Wild City #220: kSaya

Our latest Wild City mix comes from Durban's quintessential Gqom icon DJ Lag who uses it to commemorate his first tour across India in February as part of Ultra SoulFlyp.

Born in Clermont, Lwazi Asanda Gwala aka DJ Lag is regarded as one of the earliest artists to popularise the thumping visceral sound of Gqom, a genre born out of South African variations of house music, across the peninsula and then to the world. With early works uniquely released over WhatsApp to get youth across the nation to dance to them, Lag counts collaborations with the likes of Beyonce among his career highlights besides being a genre pioneer and a flagbearer of the sounds coming out of South Africa. 

His Wild City carries the same qualities that define him as a producer: hard-hitting with an impeccable sense of building tension before a gratifying release all through an intricate control of the low-end. With tracks ranging from his own collaborations and his contemporaries, the mix highlights an emergent version of gqom which subtly shares influences with genres like amapiano.

For more information and tracklisting: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/20155-wild-city-223-dj-lag

Wild City #223: DJ Lag

Vedant Chandra aka Alboe recently released his new album 'Love Languages', which he marks for us with our latest Wild City mix. 

Made of 7 original numbers, the mix highlights the underlying theme behind the New Delhi electronica producer's music, which he has introduced over the years and expounded upon with this new album. Pristine sonics borrowed from genres like future bass, melodic house and italo-disco are used uniquely with an Indian sense of melody before giving those duties to vocals spanning across languages. The result creates a dense melange of influences concurrent with his moniker which is an abbreviation of: "A Little Bit Of Everything".

"My personal taste in music is more melodic and story-like and I try to imbibe the same in the music I compose," says Vedant about the inspiration behind his music. "I have taken a lot of inspiration from artists like Jungle, Daft Punk and even A. R. Rahman in the manner with which they approach compositions. To me, their songs seem like one cohesive unit where they are unafraid to experiment with various sounds to complete their desired vision. I try to embody the same."

For more information and tracklisting: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/20238-wild-city-225-alboe

Wild City #225: Alboe

Our Wild City Mix section is not just a reservoir of some sonic journeys from formidable selectors coming out of India and beyond but often also a place to familiarise oneself with some rising forces. Our latest edition comes in the latter category as it brings to the fore one of the country's meteorically rising acts: Kandy Kuri. 

With not much more than a year to her name, Kandy Kuri has found herself supporting the likes of Yung Singh and Lady Shaka alongside featuring on lineups of Bass Camp and Magnetic Fields Festival off the back of authenticity-focused selections across styles that she weaves together with a gentle gradualness – as brandished on her Wild City mix. The mix puts focus on textures evoked by the percussion within shades of breaks, garage and house while touching upon techno. Even as vocals come to the limelight with 'Fundamentals' by Worldcolour, they only serve to augment the atmosphere as a textural element, playing to the purpose of creating a whirring hypnotic mood.

For more information and tracklisting: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/20455-wild-city-229-kandy-kuri

Wild City #229: Kandy Kuri

With the Magnetic Fields Festival taking over Alsisar this weekend for its 9th edition, New Delhi producer, DJ and Qilla Records co-founder Madhav Shorey aka Kohra and Thailand's globe-trotting polymath Sunju Hargun are revisiting their B2B set from last year. 

Performed at the Resident Advisor afterparty, a highlight for the dancefloor-dedicated with its music going from the late hours of the night to the earliest moments of the morning, the accumulated energy of the night and its transformation into the morning audible in the set. Acid's mind-bending textures give way to increasingly guttural techno, pulling heavily from its minimal repertoire. As the night sky begins to lighten, the emotions are guided by the wash of the pads for a more refreshing conclusion.

For more: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/20488-wild-city-230-kohra-b2b-sunju-hargun

Wild City #230: Kohra B2B Sunju Hargun

Rohan Hastak started making music the traditional way – on a guitar, as part of a live band called ‘Kuru’ while he was based in Canada. But his musical identity now as Big City Harmonics is anything but traditional - inspired by pioneers of contemporary electronica such as Four Tet and Nightmares on Wax, the musician released his beat driven debut EP, called Foreword to hugely positive reviews last year.

A bit like his own music which tends to rest in the zone that lies between uptempo dance and bedroom listening, Rohan Hastak’s mix is difficult to define, but unsurprisingly high on quality.

He begins his assembly on an unusual note, layering Allen Ginsberg’s reflective poem - ‘The Sunflower Sutra’ over the atmospheric plinks of Air’s ‘Alone In Kyoto’. Hastak’s little patchwork tapestry of sound includes some familiar top-notch electronica acts ranging from Boards of Canada and Little Dragon to Nosaj Thing, Brian Eno and homegrown talent, Dualist Inquiry. His interpretation of Flying Lotus’s ‘Camel’ layered over his own track – ‘The Thickness’ is particularly impressive.

Big City Harmonic's unhurries, yet complex mix is an absolute treat for lovers of contemporary sound, best appreciated with headphones on. Comes highly recommended.

For a tracklist and further info, head over here:
http://www.thewildcity.com/EN/music.xhtml/article/6861-wild-city-085-big-city-harmonics

Wild City #085 - Big City Harmonics

Delhi's Tech Panda and Kenzani are one of the frontrunners of the wave of electronica that has turned its focus towards India's rich folk sounds, recontextualising them for the urban dancefloor.

The latest iterations from the pair come through collaborations with Punjabi popstar Talwiinder and Akulu Records-released Punjabi-folk-meets-French-sermon track 'Kamli'. The duo celebrate their run of releases with a Wild City mix.

The sonic journey reflects Tech Panda x Kenzani's extensive experience as one of India's in-demand DJs, laying itself out like a live performance that starts and ends with grandiosity. In between, the selections feature mostly originals, works from collaborators and even a peppering of Harry Styles – a testament to how the full tapestry of folk sounds the pair utilises is tied together with the immersive rhythms and soundscapes of deep house and melodic techno alongside the sensibility of pop.

More info: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/20732-wild-city-236-tech-panda-x-kenzani

Wild City #236: Tech Panda X Kenzani

Bangalore's Ishan Gaur aka I7HVN says he wants to play his Wild City mix "in an intimate, dark room". That is rather an apt aim for the abstract works he stitches together on the nearly hour-long mix as a soft pulse underpins a parade of elements that seem to appear out of nowhere, devoid of predictability for most parts. It's a mix that carries the qualities found in the whole of I7HVN's artistic voice – with his latest release, the 6-track EP 'Innate Needs', featuring similar unpredictability though with more hard-hitting grooves underscoring them. 

Not quite ambient, though it practices a similar restraint, as it rewards giving attention to its surprising minute details, the mix comes off as a seamless extended composition even as it moves from deep-cut artists from foreign shores to Indian contemporaries of I7HVN like Yidam, Innerworld and Mythopoet alongside the producer's own work.

For more information and tracklisting: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/20827-wild-city-239-i7hvn

Wild City #239: I7HVN

Warehouse Mix, the collective of DJs and other creatives, is one of the very few new faces in India's dance music space that is keeping the word "community" meaningful, building it with a sincere DIY ethos and love for house music. They've received some help from one of the genre's pillaring veterans in the country, Hamza Rahimtula and his Windhorse Records who has also paired with them to create the recurring event AQI. 

To give a taste of the event, Warehouse Mix's Tartaruga and Hamza have share their vinyl mix from their last AQI event exclusively via Wild City.

With an old-school mixing style, the selections play out in extended sections, getting enhanced and layered by two masters of the fundamentals of DJing. Usually a fun ride with the constant oomph of house's four-to-the-floor beats, selections like Louie Vega's 'Come Away' featuring Kerri Chandler takes an immersed listener to psychedelic places of respite. 

More information: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/20888-wild-city-241-tartaruga-b2b-hamza-rahimtula

Wild City #241: Hamza Rahimtula B2B Tartaruga

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

As a tag team digging through their combined vinyl collection, Unnayanaa and Hamza Rahimtula have been bringing the house down. Anyone who has danced captivated to one of their back-to-back sets this year, in any of the go-to local haunts that the pair is making its way through, knows that that metophorical statement isn't a hollow praise.

After connecting at AQI (the multi-day event hosted by Hamza's Windhorse Records and Warehouse Mix), the two of India's most long-standing and deepest purveyors of house music tapped into a synergy that should have been obvious.

As such, their formidable 3-hour Wild City mix, which captures the pair's recent visit to Bangalore's Indiranagar Social, is a full mapping of house music's DNA. Genre staples like Ron Trent, Kerri Chandler and Louie Vega connect easily with the disco lineage of Dinosaur L and Sister Power while the African and Latin-rooted rhythms of the likes Africanism and Jafrosax provides a percussive throughline to the genre's legacy and influences across continents.

Delivered with a puristic sense of craft using only vinyl selections coming together over a rotary mixing, Hamza and Unnayanaa still bring a showmanship to the mix which times its exchange of rhythmic breaks and singalong beltings, almost using the records to communicate with the audience in a very literal manner. Then almost like an epilogue or a tantalizing post-credit section, the upbeat sets gradually shifts via grittier beats into a leftfield comedown in its final 15 minutes.

For tracklisting and more information: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/21287-wild-city-252-unnayanaa-b2b-hamza-rahimtula

Wild City #252: Unnayanaa x Hamza Rahimtula

New Delhi's UKato distills his usual fare of breakbeats (which has got him to some of the genre's coveted labels like RAM Records) into the laidback groove of dubstep and the underlying pulse shared with techno before finding his way back using the deep low-end as the connecting thread. Starting from Mala, remixes of Aphex Twin and Pearson Sound edits, the mix goes deep into deep cuts in the second half besides throwing in originals, shaking your core with a dark depth while the beats work to keep things fun and lively.

More information & tracklisting:

Wild City #253: UKato

One of the steadily rising electro and house selectors of the country, New Delhi's Jaidev Kaushik aka Jay Drive found himself entrusted to warm the dancefloor up for the prominent modern-day techno act Helena Hauff at her New Delhi show – the mix from which he shares exclusively via Wild City.

With a nod to Hauf's prowess as a vinyl DJ and balancing dark textures with a sustained fun factor, Jay took to the Technics turntables with a strict adherence to the style of the artist he was warming up the floor for. Classic synthesised drum sounds lead the charge alongside equally tightened basslines to prioritise viscerality as the connecting thread, while any melodies or zany noises remain as peripheral details, keeping it light on the senses until elements of acid and tech begin to assert themselves more around the halfway mark with Joolmad's 'Cactus Lover'. Even with a consistent palette, the mix follows a tangible arc: one that builds the atmosphere in the first half and starts throwing colours within the established palette to leave us at a rolling peak.

More info & tracklisting: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/21404-wild-city-254-jay-drive

Wild City #254: Jay Drive

With the Wild City Mix, Femme Music's Sanoli Chowdhury organises the women-only selections to start with the electrifying energy of veterans like Heart and St. Vincent before mellowing the journey. Unreleased tracks from Indian musicians Ro Maiti and Tiana Tara, from Femme Music's upcoming debut release and compilation 'Nyima Vol. 1', lean more towards intimate and heartfelt alongside the acoustic plucks of New Zealand duo Tāl. Going through more introspection through another unreleased work from the compilation, 'Come Sit By My Bed' by Goa-based Tabitha Kagoo, the mix uses the heightened drama of 'Strange Game' by Australia's Jess Ribeiro to dial the energy back up and finish with the oomph of Sade and the romp of Bikini Kill. 

More info and tracklist: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/21433-wild-city-255-femme-music

Wild City #255: Femme Music

After closing for the likes of Joy Orbison on nights like The Warehouse Project and going B2B with Baalti in 2025, Yash Mundhra aka EBITDA has made a place for himself in heavyweight lineups gracing Indian dancefloors. Providing a snapshot of his sound at this milestone, the Kolkata-rooted DJ offers a Wild City Mix that doesn't conform to a single groove pattern but draws upon a relentless leftfield selection.

The low-end intense mix keeps getting darker till it ends in the moody spaces of 'Deception' by Mars89 and '311' by SIRCH before emerging gradually to more joyous grounds. It moves through different rhythms and shades to cover that distance and back, but remains ultimately a heavy, hard-hitting journey. 

More info & tracklisting: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/21478-wild-city-256-ebitda

Wild City #256 - EBITDA

Our latest Wild City mix from the dancefloors of ParaDisco, the party series founded by Mumbai's Nida Merchant, who was already one of the country's busiest DJs before she turned her focus to building the event series and other efforts like New Delhi Community Radio from the ground up.

Dedicated to the joyous nature of disco and house, the parties are not the run-of-the-mill affair of handpicked artists at regular venues, but see extra care in stylistic cohesion across not just curation but the look and feel of the events. Inviting collaboration (their Halloween party saw Delhi's Monkey Bar get decked up with the help of Nabi, for instance) and giving a chance to beginner DJs through open calls, ParaDisco promotes a sense of community, and the growing community has responded so far across cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and even London.

As it gears up for a Goa edition on December 27, our latest Wild City mix shares the sounds from ParaDisco's latest iteration in Mumbai as Nida leads the way into a b2b2b between her and Mumbai's own Choksi and Sohail Arora aka Rafiki.

The first hour is littered with familiar tunes recontextualised through edits and sampling to offer Bollywood soundtracks from films like 'Disco Dancer', songs by Etta James and George Michael, Four Tet's famed remix of Taylor Swift's 'Love Story' to reel the listener in. Once hooked, the mix undergoes a palpable shift an hour in as the acid basslines of Kink's 'Disco Spectrum' turn the mood a bit more intense and modern as the tag team of three keeps the mix oscillating between sombre, percussive and the occasional popular callback. The mix comes fully live, as record pull-ups give a sense of the height the party reached at ParaDisco's last outing.

For more info: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/21496-wild-city-257-nida-x-choksi-x-rafiki-paradisco

Wild City #257: Nida x Choksi x Rafiki

Kavya Trehan is a restless multi-talented creative.

She has dabbled as a singer-songwriter, a model, one-half of indie pop duo Mosko and dipped her toes in TV commercials, movies and theatre.

Doing a mix for Wild City seemed inevitable and considering it was her first ever time making a mix, she’s managed to expertly put together a bevvy of beautiful tracks.

A downtempo and relaxing selection of tunes from ‘I shall not complain’ by English band Stateless to Khalid’s ‘Location’ it’s an excellent compilation. The mix never picks up speed, maintaining it’s slow, steady rhythmic base - something to listen to on a gloomy afternoon or a dismal evening (we see that as a good thing). A sure fire companion for those mysterious times. 

For a tracklist and further info, head over here:
http://www.thewildcity.com/EN/music.xhtml/article/12025-wild-city-132-kavya-trehan

Wild City #132 - Kavya Trehan

South Korean DJ Didi Han is one of Asia’s fastest rising stars.

One of the forces behind Pute Deluxe; arguably Seoul’s best party and one of the region’s most exciting selectors seamlessly blending hip-hop, trap, R&B and house.

If you’ve kept up with us over the last week you would have noticed that Didi Han is playing a (not so secret) secret warehouse party thrown by Auster WIP on 9 September. Ahead of this, she’s dropped an exclusive mix for Wild City.

Playing a rare blend of unheard remixes and classics, it’s a stomper, that starts off with Snoop Dogg (‘Tha Shiznit’) and ends with a remix of ‘Superstition’ by Stevie Wonder stopping over at tracks like ‘Pump Up The Jam (Remix)’ by Full Crate and Tall Black Guys’ ‘Come With Me and Fly’, along the way.

A lively mix, it’s a good indicator of the energy Didi Han will bring to the Auster WIP party on Saturday.

For a tracklist and further information, head here:
http://www.thewildcity.com/EN/music.xhtml/article/12601-wild-city-140-didi-han

Wild City #140 - Didi Han

26-year-old Arman Menzies played the guitar as part of the metal band Goddess Gagged before diving into electronic music production. He currently produces music for the dance floor as Zokhuma with selections that range from raw electronic acid breaks to African inspired beats. 

For our 150th in the series, Zokhuma offers us an hour of dance music that opens with one of Octo Octo’s darker, heavier texture-laden tracks before succumbing to one of Panthera Krause’s uplifting clutters titled, Stonith. Two of Zokhuma’s unreleased tracks also make a feature in the mix; alongside others from artists such as Drexciya, Gaunt and Botine before finishing off into a serenading dub by Axel Boman.

For more information and a tracklist go here: http://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/7980-wild-city-150-zokhuma

Wild City #150 - Zokhuma

The past few days in New Delhi have been decidedly dreary – cold and wet, with a lingering blanket of rain. It's also the ideal weather to park yourself by the window and sit back and reflect, and Sugam Khetan aka 4lienetic's mix for Wild City is perfectly suited to that.

Dark and ambient, with spatters of ethereal sounds of nature and rain, the mix pulls you deep into a contemplative trance right from the get-go. That's to be expected, as the hour-long set comprises almost solely of 4lienetic's original music, exceptions being a couple of remixes and edits.

The Mumbai-based producer, who creates music under the monikers 4lienetic and 2 A.M Talk, has been prolific with his releases, which range across the spectrum of ambient, future garage and chill out music. Influenced by artists like Brian Eno, Nils Frahm, Burial and Olafur Arnalds, his tracks are particularly emotive and lay heavy emphasis on ambience and piano.

The mix starts off with deep, melancholic tracks, laden with liquid atmospheres and compelling textures. However, the solemnity intermittently parts to reveal flecks of light, offering glimmers of hope in an otherwise dreary ambience. This is music meant for quiet reflection and patience, to be consumed with heavy doses of contemplation. And it's a rewarding experience – especially as the ambient music gradually melts into drone and future garage, which comes as a welcome, wholly satisfying change.

Head here for tracklist and further info:
http://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/11369-wild-city-164-4lienetic

Wild City #164 - 4lienetic

Anyone who has caught the enigmatic Babloo Babylon live has beared witness to the anonymous producer and DJ’s knack for interspersing film dialogues between climatic oomph of Bollywood edits in his DJ sets to bring the spirit of 70s and 80s’ noirs to the dancefloor. Behind the decks, Babloo is a storyteller with a unique voice, which compensates for his hidden identity.

Recognising and utilising the difference in context between mixing for a live event and curating a mix for an online platform like ours, Babloo changes his approach on his Wild City mix to get more candid and just share a playlist of film classics he loves.

The penchant for scrupulous structuring doesn’t entirely escape him though. Borrowing segments of varying length from the works of the likes of Usha Uthup, Asha Bhosle, Ilayaraja, RD Burman and Bappi Lahiri, Babloo’s mix is a demonstration of the colourfulness of Indian film music and an exercise in revamping the flow of its titles. For instance, the spoken word intro of Bappi Lahiri, Vijay Benedict and Alisha Chinoy’s ‘Zindagi Meri Dance’ (the only modern exception in the track list) breaks out into a raucous drum solo instead of a steady disco rhythm like in its original form. Building familiarity in the listener’s mind by curating known-numbers and then subverting all expectations by introducing a surprising element is what makes Babloo Babylon’s Wild City mix an exciting way of rediscovering classics.

For more information and tracklist: http://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/17478-wild-city-192-babloo-babylon

Wild City #192: Babloo Babylon

Not a lot of mixes can leave a lump in your throat – less so, within a minute of them. Enter Derain’s mix for Wild City, which picks at fresh wounds of our collective consciousness with the opening echoes of Aamir Aziz’s poem ‘Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega’. The quintessential verses gained their importance through the poignancy with which they encapsulate all the emotions and tragedies surrounding protests against the discriminatory Citizen Amendment Act and the unjust retaliation they received which shook the nation at the start of the year. Derain adds just enough spacious harmony to augment that poignancy and remind us with great impact that justice is still missing and the perpetrators of injustice are yet to answer for their actions. 

How then would you follow an opening like this with music? Fortunately, Derain’s own music carries just enough ambient chaos to respectfully carry Aziz’s anguish forward, disintegrating the verses into their abstract emotions and mood which he then connects all the way to New Zealand teen Takunda Muzondiwa’s speech ‘Dear Racism’. 

Ankit Chugh, the producer and the co-founder of New Delhi-based label and management TAABIIR, donned the moniker Derain to put an end to his ever-profound explorations as Cubewano, Talk In Math and Karv. Throughout his journey as an artist, Chugh has never lost the ability to cue the listener for introspection into darker corners of our beings. 

With his Wild City mix, Derain makes us sit with our recent memories of paralysing pain and empathy, while offering catharsis to bear it with by recontextualizing numbers by the likes of Nicholas Jaar, Kareem Lotfy, New Delhi-based artist FILM and lesser-known gems like Imka, and makes them fit the solemn mood of the mix.

For tracklist and more information: http://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/17679-wild-city-194-derain

Wild City #194: Derain

Punjab and Manipur-origin North Londoner Nayana IZ’s (pronounced “eyes”, after her first name which means in eyes in Hindi) trajectory as a solo artist has been nothing short of meteoric. Releasing her debut single ‘how we do’ just at the turn of the year, the rapper, model and multi-instrumentalist dropped a steady drip of singles running up to her EP ‘Smoke & Fly’ and has already found her verses resounded within campaigns for Adidas and soundtrack for FIFA 2021. The driving force behind it all has been the one fresh unique spice that she adds to her deep-seated love for hip-hop. 

Take for instance, the off-kilter psychedelic breakdown that punctuates the spitfire verses of ‘how we do’ or her Wild City mix which traces a wide variety of modern hip-hop before diverging into its offshoot dance styles and then bringing it back. 

Brushing by Nigerian artist Odunsi’s track ‘Body Count’, Nayana explores the sonics of the likes of Freddie Gibbs and Lupe Fiasco before bringing the mix to her current base, throwing works like a morphed grime track by Blay Vision and the pumping hip-hop of Biig Piig, Nayana’s collective-mate at Nine 8. The second half of the mix ventures out into hints of breakbeat, indie guitar works of Vassers’ ‘Valerians’ and the dancefloor rhythms of Wilfred Giroux’s ‘Stronger’ before concluding it all with her track ‘Woz’. The complete journey offers a great attempt of offering a comprehensive view of hip-hop as it stands right now without relying too much on the obvious player but rather the envelope-pushing non-radicals. Without ever leaving the draw of the genre, Nayana keeps things interesting by gradually evolving the sonics before cleansing the palette with something totally unexpected.

For tracklist and more information: http://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/17986-wild-city-197-nayana-iz

Wild City #197: Nayana IZ

Few individuals can be ascribed the descriptor “musical polymath” as justifiably as Natasha Noorani. A singer-songwriter, playback singer, producer, voiceover artist and ethnomusicologist, the Lahore-born artist felt perfect for our 199th mix when we found ourselves enjoying her collaborative NTS Mix with Discostaan where she displayed her musicality as ‘Peshkash’, her project through which she is highlighting and archiving sound art and oral narratives of 20th century Pakistan. 

However, it is the country’s indie scene which Natasha is synonymous with – fully ingrained in its legacy as the co-founder of Lahore Music Meet, the annual event which not only saves space for Pakistan’s alternative music but has a reputation for bringing to limelight some of its budding members. Natasha carries the same approach to her Wild City mix, highlighting the canon of the country’s predominantly-independent music. 

Latching herself to that theme, she gives regard to the style of her selections only in the aspect of making sure it’s varied. Electro-pop, folk-pop, traditional, singer-songwriter, hip-hop and techno – there’s a striking amount of genres packed into the mix, tied together as a cohesive unit by the thread of Natasha’s singular taste as a seasoned curator. True to its purpose, the mix serves to introduce us to a fresh crop of Pakistan’s talent as it’s likely to do for most of its listeners. 

For more information and tracklist with information to give context to each selection, head here: https://www.thewildcity.com/mixes/18097-wild-city-199-natasha-noorani

Wild City #199: Natasha Noorani

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