The Foreversouth Collections thus far have tended to favour the more accessible side of the Karachi electronic artists that come under its roster. In many ways this is beneficial, creating a more cohesive collection and challenging the artists to create in a more constrained, ‘poppier’ environment. Under some circumstances, this can lead to stagnation - artists that…
Coke Studio is the sound of the nation. But it's time to change the record.
‘Plumas’ is an album that moves from esoteric electronic pop to ambient music, from lyrics like ‘fingers and toes respond when touched’ to echo-drenched indeterminable vocals, all smoothly transitioning in a cohesive and luscious release. The opening half, from ‘Window’ to ‘El Amohadon de Plumas’ is a journey of electronic jazz, where synth lines…
It’s likely that 2016 will be remembered as a collective slap in the face. We lost a number of cultural icons, Trump became president, the UK voted to exit the EU, Aleppo saw one of the worst humanitarian crisis of the decade, and that was all in the last half of the year. Released on the…
Flutes and electronic music don't tend to mix, but on 'Haad Rin', Abdul Aziz Kazi mashes them together anyway. The result is something that is surprisingly cohesive and dramatic. As the synthesisers weave below, the flute dances on the top of the track, always keeping things interesting.…
"We’re very proud of it. Not least because, for the past few years, life hasn’t been particularly easy for us, and our music reflects our state of mind. There were these moments when we presumed we had lost our sense of celebration, and would just be stuck in these gloomy, lamenting and inevitably…
On Patari Tabeer and the figure of the chai-wala I remember the alchemy involved in making a doodhpatti for my mother. She’s picky: too little time on the heat and it’s kacha. Too much? Sargaya. There’s a basic patience involved in a good chai that I never possessed, but there were a few times when…
With any pop artist, when you strip everything away, a singular question remains: ‘why should I care?’ All the great artists know this, and even when singing through the most banal platitudes, they find a way to make you care. About their story. About their life. ‘Mariam’, a previous release from Mooroo, set the…
In advance of their second studio album titled 'The Desert Road', Karachi band The D/A Method have released single 'The Desert Journey', a sprawling prog-rock track, with a lovely sitar embellishing throughout. The music video is a stunning single-take tracking shot, with a pinch of Scorsese's Goodfellas and Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights. Watch it…
Unlike previous Forever South Collections, the Hotcues series is manic, frenzied and relentless. While FXS Collections Vol.3 was a colourful experience, Hotcues occasionally moves into trap territory and, while it sounds massive and exciting, there’s a niggling worry that trap is already somewhat out of date, a rigid percussive genre that is running out of places to go. Like EDM, trap occasionally…
