MUMBAI: Producer and DJ Jai Vaswani, better known by his stage name Nanok, released his new album on stream on 21 March and on free download on 24 March. Interestingly named ‘Death By Shoelaces’, the album has seven tracks of which 5 are collaborations.
‘Death By Shoelaces’ is largely in the disco/funk/house space with occasional heavy Indian elements. The music on the album is largely dependent on the producer’s mood, “which is primarily very positive,” stated Nanok, adding, “Hence, among the people I have collaborated are two singer-songwriters, Reisa Nongrum and Sahil Dhandhia, both of whom are extremely talented musicians in their own rights, as well as close friends of mine. I have also worked with Dualist Inquiry, who has done the guitars for the track Pillow Talk.”
Nanok, like most contemporary indie artistes who understand their audiences, has given his music out for free download. “There is so much great music out there that is for free. I would not expect people to pay for mine,” he said. The aim is to spread my music to as many people as I can and the best way to do that is to give it away for free. I benefit from this too. My gigs just keep getting better and better as more and more people are familiar with my music.”
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Having been a DJ for over 10 years, Nanok has experimented with a variety of genres but has reinvented his sound to a new set with an incredibly dance floor-friendly sound. Speak about this transition, he said, “I have come a long way since I released my first album ‘Bitter’ in 2011. There is great attention to detail on ‘Death By Shoelaces’ and, I think, unlike ‘Bitter’, the music on this album is not restricted by spaces – it can be listened to as easily in a car as at a nightclub.
When asked about the instruments used for this album, he exclaimed, “That is a really difficult question to answer! Piano, guitars, drums, sax, trombones, a flute, a lot of synthesizers… I’m pretty sure I have not covered everything!”
The artiste confirmed that he will be releasing videos and added that the first one will be out sometime in April. Speaking about what he is up to currently, he said, “When I am not gigging, I am producing, always experimenting with new sounds and new genres. The plan is to keep at both and spread my music. I am also very keen on working with films.”
