Indietronica Nights With Axo & Zomb

                        Modulating People with Music

Time and again a redefining wave of music washes through culture, articulating the mindset of a new generation. Its onset of it is often characterized by sounds that consumers of previous forms don’t care to sit for. Once relegated from the norm, a fresh culture is gradually spun around its core with all the confusion and unpredictability of a newborn style. As this breathing space to create new vocabularies finds its form and following, it gradually turns into something exclusive, maybe an entire genre. The new sound of this day is undoubtedly electronic in its nature. The possibilities of 0s and 1s turning into audible material seem to have captured the entire world’s imagination. In effect, the software synthesizer and sequencer have given to music what the Internet gave to knowledge; digital audio workstations have done for music what Photoshop did for design and condoms for sex- playing the part of the great leveler, placing the gift of creation into the hands of anyone even remotely interested. There’s no need to read notations, hear perfect pitch or have a childhood spent mastering an instrument. All you need is a computer. And love.

Someone alien might ask, so what is it then about standing in a crowded room ringing with clamoring beats, whirrs and warps, crinkling crumples, clangs, shuffles and dismembering sweeps? Is it about meeting people as crazy as the music? You certainly can’t keep a conversation going unless you have something worth screaming at the top of the lungs directly into the other person’s ear.

People essentially find their way into a club for the same old reason - to enter into a social trance distinct from their home and work. The skilled DJ reads trends in the seeming chaos and subtly guides the pack through a seamless, mental trip in which they want to mingle and dance. “Sometimes you can’t tell when the previous track ended and the next one began. It’s just a lot of sounds building up in synchrony,” says Zomb.  Axo adds that the trick is to grab people’s attention and then constantly introduce fresh ideas to hold them captive.

Zomb and Axo get together on Mondays to mix Indietronica and Deep House at Pebble, Bangalore. The biggest challenge, of course, lies in getting people to come in on a Monday night. “The best way is to promise free alcohol and naked women,” claims Zomb, thwarted, and it sounds about right. Other DJs and musicians tend to turn up to check out new sounds but they seem to save their friends for their own gigs. On the bright side, Mondays provide space for experimentation precisely because it’s outside of the usual pattern.

“Electronic Dance Music is mixed up with a culture that’s all about partying to escape from an office reality,” Axo explains. “People want to consume music at a very fast pace just like junk food, not taking time for a tryout. They get comfortable with tracks they hear on radio or see on the T.V., they download it for their phones and cars and they expect the same tacks at the clubs too.” As a result, a Saturday night at any respectable venue features a repetitive mainstream experience varying only to accommodate a fresh chart of sing-alongs. The DJ is not only a musician, but also a purveyor for other musicians. He creates the heightened moment for a track and feeds it to people so they can’t refuse it. Axo describes it as a ‘journey through the global sound.’ However, the mainstream agenda tends to throw limitations by guiding people with a pre-response to the music they hear. It follows that DJs must cater to that demand.

“Bangalore really is open to new sounds though Rock, Metal and their offshoots go down better than music based on beats. The problem is that there aren’t a lot of places where new music can be consumed,” claims Axo. “Fresh material needs to be out there for long enough for people to absorb and digest it.” Zomb points out that things may in fact be changing with the increase in the number of festivals that provide imminent acts with the same stages as the more established ones. The question that could be individually answered is that if all the best artists are available at home then why attend events for the sake of music?