MUMBAI: As two of India’s prominent producers and founding members of Jalebee Cartel – India’s most successful live underground music act – Ash Roy and Ashwin Mani Sharma are no strangers to dance music fans in India. Since Cartel’s disbanding in 2012, Ash and Ashwin have set up Soupherb Records, India’s fastest growing underground independent music label to promote their brand of techno and house, and have now come together to produce music as Bit of Both.

Their new live electronica act merges percussive elements with house and techno and the album, ‘Prequels and Sequels’ features collaborations with producers like Grain, techno producer Kohra, singer Anushka Manchanda and guitarist Bhrigu Sahni.

Their debut album releases on 22 January, 2016 on Soupherb Records, and will be followed by a three-city tour in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore.

Bit of Both

Formed in 2014, the experimental electronica outfit Bit of Both emerged out of Ash and Ashvin’s wish to be able to produce and perform with live elements. “Ashvin and I are DJs and we play every weekend in different clubs / venues and festivals but the feeling of performing your tracks live is phenomenal. We wanted to relive. We did it with Jalebee Cartel… so Ashvin and I decided to start producing tracks which had live elements. It took us a while but now we are ready,” says Ash about the ideology behind Bit of Both.

“I always feel that the power of a song is the greatest when someone can hum along or sing along, the song stays with them much more. I wanted to make songs that people can hum and sing along to,” chips in Ashvin, who also performs under the alias, Calm Chor.

The Bit of Both sound is dancefloor friendly but not limited by it. Minimal grooves are paired with vocals to create atmospheric soundscapes that are gentle but not feeble.

Playing live also presents an opportunity to collaborate with other musicians, one that they relish. “We wanted to collaborate and create with a lot of our friends.” In fact, the duo have collaborated with others on as many as seven out of the nine tracks on the album.

In September 2015, they introduced Bit of Both with a video for their track ‘Time’ featuring singer Anushka Manchanda.

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Gig Details

To promote their new album and project, Bit of Both will be travelling to cities across India through January.

City: Mumbai

Date:22 January

Venue: blueFROG

City: Bangalore

Date:23 January

Venue: blueFROG

City: Pune

Date: 29 January

Venue: blueFROG