Born in Kashmir and operating between Goa and New Delhi, Zainab Wani aka Zequenx is in the midst of a transformation from the perspective of her listeners. The DJ and producer has added ambient live sets to her usual fare of four-to-the-floor dancefloor journeys. It's an addition to her musical being that is now reflected in her mixes – like the on…

Anyone regular to the upbeat lighthearted dancefloors in New Delhi over the past couple of years has likely witnessed a set by Aditya Mehta aka DJ Pants as the multidisciplinary artist/live sound engineer become a frequent fixture to the capital city's nightlife. Recently, Aditya branched out as a producer, coinciding with the London and Bristol-ba…

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 Windhors…

The first 3 minutes of Aashna Anand aka Nariki's Wild City mix itself are a good statement on simplicity. After a straightforward introduction of the rhythms and textures that one can expect, the music soon dials back pretty soon – like the stop before the first drop on a roller coaster ride that sets the energy for the rest of the journey. It's mo…

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 th…

Bangalore's Rishii Rohra aka Peach Blok might choose laidback moods for his productions but for his Wild City mix, the DJ-producer goes to the heart of dance music.Kicking off with some house cuts, the mix practically begins with the kind of tracks you'd imagine upon the words 'club music' as strong four-to-the-floor grooves are decorated with whir…

Trained under veteran DJ and producer Stalvart John and seasoned as the resident DJ of the Dynamite Disco Club parties, Bengaluru's Carissa D'Almeida can easily be expected to have a flair for the syncopated basslines and energetic vocal and instrumental runs that define disco, house and their adjacent genres. What elevates Carissa to one of Dynami…

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 …

Since stepping behind the console after years as a familiar face in the fashion, beauty photography and live music events space, Anushka Menon has been steadily rising as a selector. The success of her pumping selections-filled Boiler Room set is the latest achievement in that ascent. Off the back of it, the Goa-based multi-faceted artist recorded …

A member of the Feel My Bicep crew alongside the likes of Matt McBriar and Andy Ferguson (who'd go on to form the duo Bicep), Rory Hamilton aka Hammer isn't just someone who has a sense for discovering interesting electronica works. After decades of hosting parties in Glasgow and later London, as well as spinning records the world over, the Belfast…

For years, we kept clubbing the word "psychedelic" with Lahore's Talal Qureshi. Even as the Pakistan's electropop pioneer has transformed from a Coke Studio mainstay with esoteric productions on the side to someone who brings his worlds together and creates the collaborative woofer-friendly bangers, that characteristic zaniness remains. As evident …

Akshay Mathker aka Innerworld's Wild City mix doesn't just move subtly, it moves you with the most subtle forces. Starting with dark ambience, the mix is defined by its hypnotic atmospheric nature even when the languid textures clear to the thump of the techno's proprietary grooves. Like an experienced DJ, the Goa-based artist layers his selections…

Whenever Chennai-born Brooklyn-based DJ-producer Krithi reaches for rhythms and sounds from her native land and the like, they fit into the mould of dance music as if they've always been a natural part of it rather than (as it often is) a forced gimmick of limited yield. Her achievement seems to go further on her upcoming EP 'Coping Mechanism' as s…

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 wi…

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 mor…

Versatile but always uptempo, Farhan Rehman treads the joyous sound of house music on his Wild City mix. The DJ-producer from Mumbai is able to tread a wide scope of genres with his reputation as one of the city's most experienced selectors. But on his hour-long mix, he keeps to the constant thump of four-to-the-floor kick drums as rousing vocals a…

One wouldn't usually place Indian artist's resurgent 80s hit 'Aaj Shanibaar' right next to works by British hip-hop group The Streets – but that is exactly what happens on Mumbai DJ-producer Himay's Wild City mix. The connecting thread is a no-frill embrace of house music in all its shade. To present that, Himay kicks things off with his usual fare…

With Amapiano, Gqom, house, techno, hip-hop, sprinkles of R&B and ending on some drum 'n' bass, DJ MoCity and Nash demonstrate what many DJs claim to feature but few achieve: bending genres to the point the definitions of styles cease to matter. Remixes of Ice Spice and Jorja Smith are sandwiched between works by popular dance music names like Brea…

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…

A mainstay of the dance music in India, Pramod Sippy aka Sindhi Curry is one of the most seasoned commanders of the dancefloor in the country. For our latest mix, the DJ marks signing up with the agency Maushi by running through the several stylistic excursions he has tried over the years to engage with a musical atmosphere he hasn't explicitly off…

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 vari…

Lush Lata's Wild City mix moves from thumping kicks-backed Sarod meanderings of 'Maharaj Trio and Nickodemus' to the booming hip-hop beat of 'Go Again' by A-STAR to cuts by Overomono, SBTRKT, Romare, Breaka and Fred Again alongside works by homegrown talents like Oceantied, Potter and Stain, while also slipping in Udit Narayan, Kavita Krishnamurthy…

With selections from James Blake, Jamie xx, Four Tet, Thom Yorke, some lesser-known cuts by the likes of Loma and sir Was, and his original works, Curtain Blue leverages how his Wild City mix will likely be enjoyed. The mix weaves its journey around emotions instead of energy for a narrative seeped in sombreness and sensuality. A particular definin…

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 …

At the outset, Mohit Tyagi aka Mocid is firmly rooted in the conventions of hard-hitting techno. That even includes the genre's association with retrofuturism and obsession with the extraterrestrial, as he attaches the moniker's artistic vision to that of a "space traveller exploring the Universe, searching for intelligent beings and establishing t…

What connects experimental composer John Cage, Michael Jackson, the pop-punk group Paramore, blues legend Buddy Guy and an electronic producer like Floating Points?They all figure into the plethora of influences and listening palette of Parekh & Singh, which they highlight with our latest Wild City mix. The Kolkata duo of Nischay Parekh and Jivraj …

In a recent interview with Mixmag Asia about her debut EP 'Young Hate' and its just-released lead single 'Stonefruit', Sijya laid down the following as her artistic agenda: "It’s a bit rebellious I’d say. I think it fights the notion that there are certain ‘correct’ paths to reaching a certain level of knowledge or making."Carrying out that rebelli…

Ever since Bangalore's Eashwar Subramanian started supplementing his white-collar professional life by putting out music nearly 5 years ago, he has done so relentlessly. A regular fixture in the country's ambient music landscape, Eashwar's work sets itself apart from the rest in the genre by creating placating dissipative soundscapes primarily thro…

For almost a year now, M.A.P // A.M.P has explored the intersection of activism and music in South Asia with a variety of platforms, from performance and pirate radio to documentary films and podcasts. One of the biggest efforts from the Goethe-Institut-led multi-pronged project has been its crowdsourced library which presents a repository of socio…

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 joyou…

Earlier this year, the Twitter electronic music world chortled around a "Two Guy Theory", which is centred around the observation: "From Bicep to Overmono to Two Shell, the trend of two fellas coming up with elaborate excuses to hang out a lot has been picking up recently. Guys can't just be mates anymore, there has to be a catchy and fresh take on…

Few sets invite one into a trance as quickly as Deep Brown's Wild City mix, which instantly whirrs you in with the arpeggios of Nathan Melja's 'Back And Forth'. A long-standing DJ originally from Kolkata, Ankur Kedia aka Deep Brown gradually lets the arpeggios dissipate into textures focused on percussive numbers and bass melodies tailored for the …

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 Wil…

In the progressive, tech and deep house-dominated nightlife of Sri Lanka, Sunara Jay stands out by instead choosing to explore around the genres of glitch-hop, hip-hop, funk and nu-jazz. Consequently, the DJ and visual artist has been counted upon to represent the island's alternative underground culture with shows in Norway, UK, Germany, Pakistan …

Based out of Delhi, Antariksh Records has quietly but strongly left footprints in the global landscape of underground dance music over the years – releasing left-of-centre techno, break, acid house and electro tracks that have found their way onto dancefloors around the world while championing homegrown talents like Marbman, Fr4ctal, Planet Meta an…

Mumbai-based Udai Sharma aka Maddeof manages to pick up the genre of lo-fi house and dust its mess off to contextualize it perfectly for the COVID-19 lockdowns, using the time when the dancefloors were shut to redefine his sound and utilising the style to offer some of the most effective releases of the period which offered familiar rhythms but wit…

Electronic act KillZen construct their Wild City mix with only original and unreleased work to introduce their body of work in a free-flowing journey. The duo of Abhishek Chaturvedi and Anannya Gupta musically embody a musical duality in their work, even naming themselves after it. They signify the intense, raging, compulsive and club-friendly part…

Starting as a radio show and a continual chain of song edits by DJ-producer Stalvart John, Dynamite Disco Club has since evolved into event curators championing artists which, as their name suggests, specialise in a motley of disco styles with heavy inclusion of house. The growing collective has an unfailing ability to create a musical oasis at fes…

Whether at a late-night slot at a club in South Delhi or a sunny pool-side party, Vijayant Singh as GIRLS NIGHT OUT always cues his selections with a natural sense of the occasion and the energy of his audience, always rendering sweating it out on the dance floor an effortless and compulsive experience. While the ongoing pandemic has kept the local…

boxout.fm-regular Jaskaran Rana aka Sleepy Insomniac is known to take to the internet radio every month for his show ‘Lucid Dreams’, inviting the listeners into a psychedelic trip through guises of dance music. The New Delhi-based selector attempts the same on his Wild City mix, kicking things off with the abstract textures of Australian and Canadi…

As we try to differentiate our mix curation with the inclusion of our first mix from a label instead of it being representative of a single individual, none felt as unique in that sub-category as Amarrass Records. Started by Ankur Malhotra and Ashutosh Sharma in 2009, the label, management, booking and vinyl pressing agency stood apart from most of…

Aalhad Joshi aka Marbman makes a case for taking dance music to the energy of its early roots when the genre wasn’t replete with as much explicit seriousness, but he does so with modern selections on his Wild City mix. Holding onto a penchant of fun-filled vocal refrains – as he does on his productions, the most recent of which ‘Class’ released on …

Among the many styles of DJs, some selectors rely on the quality of their selections to create the mood while others make the case of how mixing equates with performances by “traditional” instrumentalists – where entire sets come together cohesively akin to a single song, constructed with a zoomed-out vision by meticulously combining isolated, some…

As we reached the milestone of hosting our 200th mix, few artists felt as befitting as Discostan. The outfit started as a personal endeavour of Hyderabad-born and Los Angeles-based Arshia Haq, who was inspired by her own decentralised idea of a “homeland” as a modern-day immigrant in a globalised world, to carve a unique space on the dancefloor for…

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 musicali…

Over his 5 years in Bath, primarily as a student, Saumya Masrani, who chose his last name as his moniker, involved himself in his immediate British electronic music scene, becoming the resident DJ for local promoters Origin Sounds. Subsequently, the Mumbai-born UK-based talent found the opportunity to open for the likes of Scuba, Or:la and DJ Sting…

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 he…

There’s a lot of emotive ground and dynamic range one can cover behind the four-on-the-floor beat of techno. From the more spatial inward journeys of minimal techno born out of YMCAs and church halls of Detroit, to its more hedonistic raw takes morphed within the gigantic confines of warehouses and derelict industrial buildings in Europe – these ar…

There is no shortage of producers flipping Bollywood-samples, though a good few of them treat the practice as a gimmick or novelty. Anthony Daniel aka November Rose on the other hand does it out of pure and sincere love for the fun and unique flavour in classic Bollywood soundtracks. It is that fun-factor which the Atlanta-based DJ and producer cap…

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…