MUMBAI: Mixtape's live electronica night, FRWD, will complete one year this April (2017) with a special 12th edition titled, RWND, on Friday 14 April 2017 at antiSOCIAL in Khar. The idea of RWND transpired from a common feedback from the audience who repeatedly asked the Mixtape programming team to bring back artistes who have already featured at FRWD and to play extended sets.
The first RWND night will feature Vinayak Karthikayan, and Krishnamurthy Ramesh’s collaborative analogue only project titled, Vinayak^A meets NoLatency, who had played at FRWD005 back in September that also featured United Machines, and the first ever Paraphoniks 8.1 surround sound show.
Since its inception in May 2016, FRWD has featured a wide plethora of frontline electronic artistes like Bit of Both, FUNC, Sandunes, M.Mat, Donn Bhat + Passenger Revelator, Paraphoniks, OX7GEN, Bandish Projekt, _RHL, Fuzzy Logic, Vinayak^A meets NoLatency, Sax Machine (France), and Corvec (Reunion Island) to name a few.
This April 2017 edition will also feature New Delhi-based producer, DJ, designer, and Lowlit Record’s boss, Frame/Frame will be bringing his style of deep and melodic dance music to round off a lineup which promises to bring in the anniversary celebrations in tuneful and rhythmic style and ensure a sweaty dance floor.
Raw, powerful and spontaneous, ‘Vinayak^a meets NoLatency' is a completely live electronic performance (read no laptops!), that allows the listener to journey inward and engage in conversations through sound. Talking about it, Vinayak + Krishnamurthy from Vinayak^a meets NoLatency who has performed at FRWD005 earlier said, “Playing at FRWD has to be one of our highlights from last year featuring a dark room, loads of analogue synths and an incredible lineup to boot. Big up to Mixtape for putting together a truly forward thinking initiative!”
Formed in 2012 by Nikhil Kaul, Frame/Frame is a versatile music producer who has set his benchmark amongst Indian producers with his fluid dance floor grooves. It comes as no surprise that The Guardian in 2013 went on to assert, “Some of the sexiest night-time grooves this side of the fence are being produced up in New Delhi by Nikhil Kaul.”
“Not often do you walk into a venue in Mumbai with the only standing crowd, there to listen to a band, not over dinner or drinks, just to listen to the music. FRWD is all about that experience every kid dreams of before joining a band. Performing to a venue packed with music lovers, no posers, clueless bandwagon fans or worse, hecklers. It's a blessing such a night exists in this day and age,” said Bob Omulo from Bombay Bassment who played at FRWD002.
Similarly, Randolph Correia from FUNC stated, “One of the best nights I have played in recent times. It was my EP launch and I had a great band and venue supporting me of course, but would not been entirely possible without the production and efforts of the Mixtape team that day. Sure smooth. Super tight. They put on great nights 'for the music'. Thanks Mixtape for making the scene special.”
Talking about completing one year of Mixtape's monthly live electronica night FRWD, Sainath Bhagwat who plays a major role at Mixtape, stated, "Over the last one year, we have been able to work with artists, agencies, and labels across the board. At the same time, the entire team behind antiSOCIAL has believed in the niche that we are trying to force in electronic music. These two factors have helped FRWD, to grow as a brand, and impart a strong community experience for everyone involved. This experience in itself should be the conclusive and subconscious goal for any scene, and it's amazing to know that FRWD is playing a role towards achieving it."
While discussing the agenda behind this whole gig series, Sainath added, “At Mixtape, we have been pushing alternative and live electronic music for a very long time through artists we represent exclusively, or the kind of bookings we do. What we felt was missing is a club night dedicated to showcase the vast pool of talent already present in this country, and we created FRWD to fill this void.”