Aditi Iyer may have just turned 17 but she already has a slew of releases (including a 4-track EP and several videos of popular renditions) on streaming platforms. A prolific young singer, Aditi has worked on enhancing the range and dexterity of her voice from a very young age. The trained opera singer’s tryst with music began before she was two years of age and by three she was already a jukebox of nursery rhymes.
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Kiara Chettri’s tryst with music started early in her life or one can say early enough, as she released her first single You’ll See at the tender age of 15, back in 2019. All of 17, she’s got 6 singles to her name already, streaming across leading platforms and as of November 2020 a full length album to boot. And she hasn’t even completed her schooling as yet!
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18-year-old Maitreya aka Max Kate started his musical journey when he was four when he began playing the piano. Since then, his excursion into this field has been an acclivitous as he proceeded to learn electronic music production and DJ-ing from the Lost Stories Academy in Mumbai. His endearment for music made him relinquish school after 10th grade and plunge into his music career. Sonically, his music is mainly acoustic guitars, and breezy mellifluous tones on the keys which resonate jubilant vibes, transcending the listener to their happy place. After gradual accretion in his career, Max Kate acceded to being a full-time producer and songwriter who collaborates with singers. October 2020 saw the release of his debut single.
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It may not be a conventional norm to be truly genre-agnostic but for 20 year old Singer-Songwriter & Rapper Rishaad, with 3 singles under his belt, music has always existed in the experiential, exploratory realm. Overdose of digital way of life in the pandemic, led this young debutant to his fortuitous affair with music and he’s just getting started.
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Medddler is the alter ego of Mumbai based Producer, Guitarist and Composer Angad Bhatia (23). Inspired by the idea of physically bending and meddling sound waves to compose, Medddler’s music is filled with carefully crafted patterns and passages that explore different avenues of his mind. Angad’s other projects include Mumbai based bands Festacorn (Progressive Metal) and CandyFloss (Electro-Synthpop). After releasing numerous EPs and singles with his bands, Medddler’s hunger for exploring different sides of his songwriting took over, creating the moniker – Medddler. His approach to creating textural guitar drones and tasteful drum grooves layered behind the conscious loop based songwriting allow Medddler to explore different facets of the aural sphere, making it distinct from all his other works.
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Vishruti is an indie-folk singer-songwriter from Bangalore, India, currently based in Spain. She writes most of her music on piano and her ukuleles L’uke and D’uke. She is an avid listener of music, owing to her background in audio engineering, music curation, artist development and events. Influenced by artists like Kings of Convenience, The Innocence Mission and The Staves, she blends elements of folk arrangements with modern production to create an authentic yet palatable sound that stands out all on its own. vishruti often incorporates natural sounds from her surroundings into her compositions, transporting the listener into the moment of ideation. Her vocals are entirely unique, imperfect, and textured, and colored with a raspy tone that has come to define her craft.
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Hailing from Lakhimpur, a town near Lucknow, Abhijeet has turned his passion for music into one of the most inspiring success stories in the Indian music industry. He’s recognised as a hitmaker with four Bollywood songs to date, two of which have made it to the top-ten list on JioSaavn. He counts global artists such as Arijit Singh, Sonu Nigam, Charlie Puth, Justin Bieber, amongst his inspirations and aims to create unique melodies that resonate with his fans by combining Indian and Western sounds. Abhijeet’s music career has blossomed with several achievements in his kitty from independent singles to Bollywood blockbusters like “Chashni” in Bharat, “Aap Se Milkar” in Andhadhun and more.
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Rohan is a singer-songwriter and a guitar player based out of Delhi who enjoys playing folk, pop, band and acoustic sets. It might sound like a cliché but he knew music was his calling since the time he heard his father’s first vinyl. Since the age of 10, Rohan has chronically been drawn to music and the guitar. Having taught himself to play the guitar, he followed the figurative footsteps of his role-model, John Mayer.
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Ashwin Vinayagamoorthy is an Indian film composer and award-winning music producer predominantly working in the Tamil Film Industry. He graduated from Full Sail University, FL with a Bachelor of Science degree in Recording Arts. As composer, he has worked on feature films such as Yaadhumaagi Nindraai, Vidhi Madhi (Ultaa) and Jigiri Dosthu. He has scored for 20+ regional and international short films bagging numerous awards and nominations at coveted film festivals. Apart from his film stuff, Ashwin also writes and produces songs for bands and artists around the globe. He owns and produces out of Shimmr Studios, Chennai.
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Ruhaan79 is an alternative multilingual hip-hop artist currently based out of Jaipur, India. Ruhaan Makes conscious and self-reflective music with a touch of everyday life. In rappers stage name, Ruhaan (soul) represents our superego that is free from all human identities, boundaries and ’79’ represents individuality and patterns of the universe. Ruhaan79 released his debut album ‘Kaidi No. 79’ in September 2020. The rapper is also one of the founder members of the indie band ‘Atrangi Funkaar‘.
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Dhruv Kapoor is an indie-folk singer-songwriter based out of New Delhi who fuses warm ballad-like vocals, delicate acoustic melodies and minimal pop production to produce sounds that fit perfectly into the pop-folk genre. Dhruv started writing his music in 2017 is known for his lyrical prowess and relatable songwriting that has touched the hearts of thousands worldwide, allowing them the ability to feel love or heartbreak, even if they’ve never experienced it before.
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Imcha Imchen is a multilingual singer songwriter and music producer from Nagaland. He explored and developed his passion for music from a very young age, experimenting with covers and originals till he released his debut music video “Moving On” at the tender age of 18. After the success of his first few singles (Spare my Heart as No. 16 in Apple’s Top 200 songs for 2020), he took on an unprecedented journey with Walking Temptation Remix version (in collaboration with US based Hip Hop rapper, Theolodge) being No. 29 on I-Tunes.
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Anirudh Varma is a 26 year old contemporary pianist, composer, producer & performance studies scholar, based out of New Delhi, India. He is a Grade 8 Pianist, from the Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music. He is the curator & creative director of Delhi based contemporary Indian classical ensemble: The Anirudh Varma Collective. The ensemble curated by Anirudh has been the subject of academic research and writing for students and researchers across the globe. He released his debut piano EP, Melancholic Rhapsody in February 2016, and went on to release his full length debut album, ‘Perspectives’, featuring over 65 musicians from across India.
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Nithish Shetty, known as “the brown kid” is a rapper, writer and composer who hails from Bangalore. Brought up in Abu Dhabi, UAE, he started writing in 2019 and was heavily influenced by classic old school hip-hop artists and soon transitioned to various genres like RnB, Synthwave and Alternative Hip Hop. The brown kid has heavy influences in his music from his Gulf upbringing, not in terms of the Arabic culture, but in terms of his exposure to artists, experiences and the way he has had multiple genre phases. The brown kid now draws inspiration from numerous people and looks forward to launching a bigger project after his current release, 11:11.
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Andi Star aka Anandita, is an Indie Pop singer, songwriter and composer currently based in Mumbai, India. Trained in Hindustani Classical Music since the age of 9, she has grown up being influenced by genres ranging from Bollywood, Indian indie, Latin, Reggae and Hindustani Classical to Alternative, Pop, Punk, Rock and Acoustic. Star garnered a fanbase online after posting her music on YouTube, including more than 5000 people from Brazil, UAE, India, the US, and the UK. Her YouTube channel has more than 700,000 views and many of Star’s videos on Instagram went viral, one of
them with over 800,000 views. Star has been performing in multiple stages in India since the age of 10.
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Writing songs from an early age of 7 and making his own melodies soon after, Poly has been involved in the scene for a while, from the school rock band to performing at shows at local cafes, to being part of other bands in Delhi and Bangalore. Poly started producing and engineering music in 2018, moving on to release numerous singles on major platforms. Poly’s debut EP Dream Caching was a Halloween 2020 release and has amassed over 30,000 streams on Spotify alone, helping Poly touch his first 60K streams in his first year of releasing music. Receiving critical acclaim from publications across the world among the likes of Rolling Stone, Poly continues on his journey of making wholesome sound that changes lives.
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Akash Chopra is a Jaipur-based singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist who has released 3 singles in 2020 namely Peace, They (From My Room) and Clumsy apart from an album in the works. Besides being a prominent musician in the independent scene of Jaipur, he is also a music educator. His love for music has resulted in him starting a ukulele school – The Ukulele Wing along with Aritisticke, a Jaipur-based house concert series. He has performed at renowned venues such as Spoken Fest, Zomaland Jaipur and Delhi, The Salt Food Festival, Sofar Goa, and almost every venue in Jaipur and many house gigs.
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Pina Colada Blues is an upcoming composer-pop/electronic music producer from Kerala whose name is a representation of the cocktail like genres used in his music. The music mainly consists of genres such as dream/electro-pop / trap / hip-hop/ rnb / carnatic and eastern infused western styles.As an artist his goal is to make music that blurs the boundaries of languages and genres.
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I7HVN [ish-an] is a multimedia project that focuses on musical and visual narrative. Hailing from Bangalore, India, he’s also an educator. The journey started in the year 2013 & in the year 2021 took a turn of turning the whole project into a storytelling experience. While being heavily influenced by the fantasy fiction genre, I7HVN aims to weave a fantastical world of landscapes which can only be seen & imagined when listening to his music. Visually, the identity follows the same pattern & tries to infuse elements from history & mythology from all around the world. Using unnatural resampling & sound design methods has come to mark his sound. The lush & dreamy soundscapes are often heard in most of his productions. His music has been released on various imprints such as Steyoyoke, Neurom, Awen & more
Ishan also founded the ‘Safar’ collective in the year 2021. A collective of multi-genre music producers who aspire to push the boundaries of composition and production in general. These are usually collaborative projects that concentrate on the interaction of psychology and psychoacoustics with contemporary music.
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Siddhant Mishra is an Indian Indie-pop singer-songwriter and music producer, known for his heartfelt and conversational songwriting and intimate vocals. His songwriting generally stems from honest feelings and emotions he feels in life, painting a deep, yet simple picture for his listeners to relate to. He finds inspiration in artists like Coldplay, John Mayer, Pink Floyd, Finneas, Lauv and Prateek Kuhaad. Siddhant’s single “Roothey Hue” has been featured in Spotify’s “Dinner & Chill” playlist.
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Arushi Jain is a San Francisco based modular synthesist and Indian classical vocalist. Arushi’s compositions are inspired by Hindustani classical music (the traditional music of North India). She grew up in Delhi, training vocally at the Prayag Hindustani Music School and at the Ravi Shankar Institute in Delhi (via the Mozart Choir of India). Arushi’s compositions are inspired by Terry Riley, Ravi Shankar, Sheila Chandra, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Kara Lis Coverdale. Her debut album With & Without was released on GHUNGHRU in 2019 to much praise. Her track “Is it love?” was featured by FACT as one of the best tracks of 2019, and her work has been featured on Boiler Room, MixMag, Magnetic Magazine, Bandcamp, XLR8R, VOGUE, Red Bull Music and more.
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Yung.Raj cut his teeth as a beatboxer, producer and DJ from Hyderabad, India and is now recognized as one of the most formidable talents coming out of the country through his ethic and his wide spectrum of sonic explorations. Performing at almost all the biggest festivals in the country in 2019, Yung.Raj has made over 100+ releases ranging from lo-fi, hip hop beats, house music to fast paced club-friendly sounds like footwork, jungle and drum and bass.
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Chirag Todi is a songwriter, composer, and guitarist based in Ahmedabad. He has been featured on the cover of Rolling Stone India Magazine and the cover of Spotify Radar India Playlist. His compositions blend genres with elements ranging from jazz to progressive rock. He loves experimenting with vocal melodies over intricate harmonic and rhythmic variations while keeping the composition easy (pleasing) for the ear. He released his debut single ‘Desire’ during the lock-down of 2020 through online collaboration with indie artists across India which got featured on Apple Advertisements, got aired on Vh1 India, and won the best single of 2020 by Rolling Stone India.
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Originally from Banswara – Rajasthan, Prateek Gandh is a Singer, Composer, Music Director & Producer, as well as Mixing – Mastering Engineer. He is creating unique music with his expansive knowledge and creativity. He has done Star Sports World Cup Anthem as a Singer,Composer in 2019 called “Tum Khelo Dum Se”. Later he was a Music Director for Star Sports, Hot Star’s IPL in the year of 2019-20. He also released his beautiful Rajasthani Album which is a big hit, called “Jogan Piya”. He is an exclusive Artist of Facebook Sound Collection from India where he has more than 45 songs available.
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Pranati Khanna aka Peekay has built her name performing for close to a decade all around India. She was vocalist for the popular indie-rock band and is currently one of the pioneers of Jazz and Pop music appreciation in Hyderabad. During the 2020 lockdown, Peekay released her debut single as a solo artist with Grammy-nominated producer- Jonathan Anand Wesley and followed that with another single produced by her fellow band-mate and renowned Hyderabadi producer – Jonathan Edward. In 2021, Peekay put out a super fun dance track with Jonathan Wesley called Much Better , the video for which was a Red Bull O.L collaboration in Hyderabad and grew vastly popular because of its message of positivity.
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Three Oscillators is a solo project by music producer Brij Dalvi. The sounds of Three Oscillators falls under the realm of glitch, sci-fi influences and the future. Seamlessly shifting through genres within these attributes, Three Oscillators is a diverse mix of otherworldly samples and dreamy sounds. His DJ sets range from underground dance floor numbers to heavy bass and fast-paced beats. Three Oscillators is also a part of jwala, an artist collective based out of Mumbai and Delhi. The act has since shared the stage with international acts like Parra For Cuva, Kode9, DJ Paypal, DJ Spinn, Daisuke Tanabe and Yosi Horikawa among others, and has played on platforms like Sofar Sounds, Magnetic Fields Festival and Control ALT Delete Festival. His music has been covered on websites like Resident Advisor, COLORS X STUDIOS and Rolling Stone India among others.
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Surrey-based Asad Khan (aka Khanvict) is an escape artist. His love for lush strings, cinematic swells, and a West Coast bass music punch instantly transport the listener – conjuring visions of desert expanses and dense jungle paradises. This year has been a big year for Khanvict, hitting his first million streams on Spotify. His recent release, the politically charged ’Closer’, has racked up 2.3M plays on YouTube and garnered global press from Rolling Stone to Times of India to The Hindu.
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It would take Vineet Nair, AKA Poetik Justis only 14 years of his natural life to realize his true calling – Hip-Hop Music. Stepping into the scene at a time where there were a negligible number of Hip-Hop artists, his artistic journey started 6 years later, being just 20 years old and perfecting the art of rap. At age 23, he dropped his debut studio album – “Greatness” (2015). This album would go down as essential listening for Hip-Hop enthusiasts and casual listeners across the country. It earned him a spot on MTV India’s show “Music Diaries” along with award nominations, but what he truly achieved was the love of his listeners. He got their hearts to tune in to his music.
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The guitar fret-board is his playground and his words an outlet for his observations, experiences and imagination. Delhi based singer-songwriter and producer Shubham Chawla aka Shubumm has been making a name for himself with every new release. Shubumm writes about his feelings, experiences, imaginations and observations. He likes to talk about the common sentiments which most people can relate to through his music.
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Born in a gulf country, Vernon Noronha shares strong ancestral roots with the land of siesta – Goa, which also reflects in his music. Quaint beaches, nappy afternoons, evening teas and calm sunsets bind Noronha’s writing style and his signature – EasySurf and PostSiesta sound. Vernon was selected in the top 24 for the Nexa music project under AR Rehman and Clinton Cerejo. Vernon’s been releasing his music since 2016 and the song ‘Come Back Jack’ from his debut album ‘ Closer to Home ‘ garnered a lot of praise. Both the album and the song found its way to being featured on the Rolling Stone India’s top 10 – EPs and music videos.
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