On the same Freakquency

Straight from the horse’s mouth, the open-air Indie music festival Freakquency has already sold 500 passes and it only proves that Tricity loves independent music. With a line-up that includes Peter Cat Recording Co, Reggae Rajahs, SickFlip and Laxmi Bomb, Freakquency brings a sort of sound to the city folks, which they go looking for in cities like Delhi and Mumbai. 

“We wanted to have an open-air concert in the city with bands that not many people, except music enthusiasts, have heard of. I feel it goes on to speak volumes about how the city youth is craving for a newer sound,” says Sahil Bajaj of Gaah, who collaborated with The Back Room (TBR), Sector 34, to have the concert going at the gardens next to TBR. 

“The idea is to give to people different genres. For instance, Peter Cat Recording Company is jazz and waltz while Lakshmi Bomb, Regge Rajas, and Sick Flip are influenced by dub and electronic music,” shares Angad, owner at TBR. “Call it experimentation, but through this festival we are planning to do a festival that has a Sundown Festival vibe, just on a smaller scale and we are planning to create an audience for indie music and the response has been quite good so far.”

It’s a bomb

Laxmi Bomb 

From the land of salt-pans and straight into the city, comes a local sound that provides the perfect foil as the city background. ‘Laxmi Bomb’, a newly formed electro-pop outfit from ‘Bombay’ has reflective themes of ancient times and represented through a young woman’s imagery. Their debut EP meanders through the ‘happy-hustle-bustle’ and the ‘eerie calm’ in equal capacity, with classic Hindi cinema motifs and pop-disco beats thrown in with candid measure. They have been featured in various pockets that include ‘The Scene at Blue Frog’, MTV India Anniversary Special, the ‘House of Vans edition at Sitara Studio & D’Bell’ along with festivals like ‘Ragasthan’ and the ‘Sony Music Conference’ in Kerala 2014. 

The flip side

SickFlip

‘SickFlip’ is an electronica solo project brought to life by Sarvesh Shrivastava - a music composer, producer and performer from Mumbai, India. Musically, SickFlip has an indefinable mix of calm, serene, melodic vibes and atmospheres to contrasting bass-heavy, chest-rattling festival smashers. The stark contrast as a mix of these sounds gives the ‘Flip’ side its resonance.

Just in a span of a few years from its emergence, SickFlip belted out worldwide digital releases on record labels like High Chai Records (US), Rub A Duck recordings (Netherlands) , Plain Dope records (UK) & Sony Music (India).

The past year also saw him amalgamate travel and music into an elaborate conceptual audio-visual showcase called ‘The Ladakh Project’ which was immensely supported worldwide. Most recently having performed at India’s most essential electronic music festivals like Sunburn Festival, Enchanted Valley Carnival, Vasundhara Festival & NH7 Weekender, he is ready to unleash a lot more collaborative musical projects in the future.

The king-size fun

Reggae Rajahs

Reggae Rajahs are a crew of DJs and MCs who focus on promoting dub, roots reggae and dancehall music. Formed in 2009, the group has dedicated itself to spreading the sounds of the Caribbean across India. Reggae Rajahs have opened for Snoop Dogg and Major Lazer and have also shared the stage with a number of established international artists. They have toured across Europe, South America and South East Asia in recent years. They host an international reggae festival every year called Goa Reggae Sunsplash.

—Amarjot Kaur