The Pakistani ‘underground’ music scene is not what it once was. From lazy, close-to-terrible covers of Radiohead, Nirvana and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, those serious about their inclination towards music have veered in their own directions, finding their own niche, and some have even built their own sounds. …

Bangalore has always been a breeding ground for nascent concepts and ideas. The city, blessed with its fair share of accomplished musicians and exciting new talent is widely recognised as one of India’s most exciting musical hubs. Embracing the out-of-the-ordinary has long been a feature of this city’s music-loving aficionados. A bevy of such concepts find wings to take flight in namma Bengaluru, and one such concept is ‘Consolidate’, a community where fringe electronica thrives. …

“My role as a musician is to sculpt harmonies out of sounds and vibrations which further the beauty of the cosmos. Music offers a subjective way of experiencing reality. From quarks, galaxies to the entire observable universe, everything is in motion. We have to develop an appreciation of the symphonic reality that we’re a part of. You know how sometimes we’re unable to ‘think straight’. I have come to realise that clarity of the mind forms only when you harmonise with your surroundings,” says Karachi-based Ramsha Shakeel, an experimental musician whose dabbles with macabre timbres and rhythmical depth has led to some incredible experiments within the drone and ambient world. Although the artiste’s musical journey is a synergistic collision of art, science and philosophy; it’s her metaphysical romance with the cosmos that perhaps best describes her tryst with music.

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It’s been nearly two months since I watched singer-songwriter Prateek Kuhad launch his debut LP, In Tokens and Charms to an intimate audience at the Little Theatre at the National Centre for Performing Arts, Mumbai. …