For the past ten to fifteen years the Asian/Indian electronica music dominated by producers in UK and USA. In that time India, Pakistan and Bangladesh music and musicians have had a profound influence on the London Electronica scene. As this wave of new underground music emerges from India and takes the limelight, it’s easy to forget what the neighbouring countries have to in store for us. It’s fascinating to see the surfacing of unique sounds resonating from the heart of Bangladesh, Dhaka.
A producer by the name Faisal M Khan [The ‘B’ Regiment] based in Dhaka kick started an informal network for the growing electronica scene aptly titled ‘Dhaka Electronica Scene’.
Faisal told us ‘Dhaka’s urban youth producers has been isolated despite of being the neighbour of Asian media giant India we’re unable to express through music.’ Yet, through determination they have managed to pull together quite a few producers to form this ‘DES’ alliance, providing a platform for the music scene in Bangladesh to be heard.
“Bangladeshi electronic scene in contrast to that of India and the rest of the world did not get any opportunity to develop due to lack of outlets and conservative nature of the country itself.” - Faisal
This is certainly a classic case of ‘If you’re not being heard, do something about it’ and that is what they did. OUT NOW is Dhaka Electronica Scene (DES)’s compilation album of electronica artists from Bangladesh. ‘EXPLORATIONS’ includes 12 tracks of 9 independent electronic music artists.
‘EXPLORATIONS’ is an album that presents us with a good introduction of the talent that exists in Bangladesh. One thing I have noticed it isn’t highly eastern orientated and this is a good thing. The last thing you want to hear is a set of people emulating what happened about ten years ago. The tracks on this album are an experimentation of sounds at a mid tempo and ideas waiting to be nurtured.
There are some very strong tracks on the record like ‘Drifting with the Power of Music’ by Lintwahn & The B-Regiment beginning with a voiceover which seems too dominating as the accompaniment of a simple tabla and drum beat soon joined with guitar strings would have sufficed. Alchemy Project’s ‘Silence in the dark’, juxtaposed airy melody with dark dubstep undertones is a delight. Moving to what could be my favourite track, Knoxband’s ‘Insane (Omega)’ filled with lo-fi distortions that hum in the background creating a nice canvas for the guitar riffs to sit on.
‘Aequus’ by Solarein is a power track. A very Massive Attack / Nitin Sawhney vibe I’m getting from this piece. Soaring vocals, soaring electric guitars and to the brim with energy and ambient tones, great work!
3.5/5
Will be available in iTunes, Rhapsody and others.
Pre-order now from iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dhaka-electronica-scene-explorations/id543898850
RELEASE DATE: 1st August, 2012
COMPILED: FAISAL KHAN
MASTERED: VRU PATEL
ARTWORK: KAY JENSEN & VRU PATEL
LABEL: NOW FREEDOM MUSIC, USA
ARTISTS/COUNTRY
ALCHEMY PROJECT (BANGLADESH)
BIG MACHETE (BANGLADESH)
LINTWAHN (AUSTRALIA)
ZAYED HASSAN (BANGLADESH)
KNOXBAND (USA/INDIA)
SOLAREIN (USA/INDIA)
DREAM3R (BANGLADESH)
FAHAD ZAMAN (BANGLADESH)
THE B REGIMENT (BANGLADESH)
