Homegrown Handpicked: A Playlist Of Our Favourite Releases From April 2026

It’s been record-level hot across parts of India this April, with cities like Akola and Amravati crossing 45°C and large parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat sitting above 40°C for days. And when it's not scorching, the weather flips — sudden hailstorms hitting cities like Bengaluru and Pune, with roads covered in ice in the middle of peak summer. Even if you don't believe in the science, you'd agree that the weather seems mad right now. And if look at the turn we've taken in the last 100 years, turning our back on the planet it only seems fair. This is our reckoning served sometimes too hot, other times freezing, and we just have to suck it up and take it. It's already too late.

If you happen to have the privilege to not step out of the house unless you absolutely need to, here are our favourite music releases from April to help you pass the time indoors till the sun calms down:

Rajah Betta is an electronic producer and DJ working between India and the international club circuit, with a sound rooted in bass-heavy club music and underground dancefloor culture. His work draws from UK club styles, breakbeat, and left-field electronic textures, shaped through live sets and radio play. His EP 'Offcuts', out via Stereo Ferment, brings together two tracks — 'ChokL8' and 'Dirty Hairy' — both written in Brooklyn in early 2025 and tested repeatedly in his DJ sets. "After watching them go berserk to these tracks on multiple occasions, I knew the objective was met," shares the artist. "...(the tracks) represent the constants in my work: a permanent craving for nostalgia, the specific sounds I’ve gravitated toward since day one, and a habit of naming tracks impulsively."

Aksomaniac’s new single ‘Amsham’ brings together Bhumi, M.H.R, and Circle Tone in a new single that builds its world from the myth of Manmadhan and Njan Gandharvan. Manmadhan, aka Kamdeva, is the Hindu god of love and desire who was cursed by Lord Shiva to live in a formless state after he burnt him to ashes. Njan Gandharvan, on the other hand is a 1991 Malayalam romantic fantasy film by P. Padmarajan, about a young woman who falls in love with a celestial Gandharvan who appears to her from a wooden sculpture but remains invisible to everyone else. 'Amsham’s music video draws from these stories in a theatrical and flirtatious vignette that captures desire, romantic encounters, and in many ways, being seen through love.

Delhi-based Pluto Monkey, and London-based STREETON come together on 'Lucid / Ko Tumba,' a two-track project created through late-night file sharing between the two cities. The project draws from nu-jazz electronica, deep house, and afro-eastern rooted grooves, using dusty rhythms, fat-bodied melodies and spiky electronics. The two track opens with 'Lucid,' built on a mix of Korg Minilogue synthesis and soulful Rhodes textures, alongside precise drum programming. It brings together analog warmth and structured rhythm within a lush but jagged energy.

Maneating Orchid are a mathcore/prog metal band from Bangalore, and their upcoming third album 'Cold Logic' is a 34-minute record built on abrupt shifts, uneven song forms and caustic harmonic passages. The sound uses jagged, angular riffs, blast beats, syncopated low-end patterns and screamed vocals, with new drummer Vishnu Reddy adding to the overall intensity. The album brings together dissonant death metal, aggressive punk and math-leaning progressive elements in uneven proportions. The themes focus on cosmic dread, deep space isolation and psychological horror, where perception fractures, identity dissolves, the self mutates beyond recognition, and time, meaning and consciousness begin to fold.

Talwiinder’s new single 'Blues,' from the Bait-inspired album, is built on layered percussion with his vocals sitting tightly within that rhythm . The Punjabi track focuses on self-belief, staying committed to your path, and dealing with people who constantly question your choices. The single's narrative comes from that repeated push of being told it won’t lead anywhere and still continuing with it. It stays centred on doing the work, trusting your direction, and letting that speak over time.

Sage for The Ages, led by vocalist, writer and guitarist Kirtana Krishna, craft music where jazz improvisation meets neo-soul, psychedelic textures and ambient music, with a focus on introspective storytelling and socially attuned themes. Their second full-length album 'R-Evolution', premiered at the Remembering Veenapani Festival 2026 in Auroville, brings together improvisation, songwriting, and modern harmonic language. Across nine original compositions, the album addresses environmental crisis, political inertia, and personal responsibility,

Anchal Sethi is a 23-year-old singer-songwriter from Delhi who works across alternative pop-rock and ambient pop, and 'Remember December' marks her debut release, sung over lyrics written by KIMKID, the project of Kolkata-based composer and producer Arjun Mukherjee, whose work draws from blues, punk rock and grunge-influenced writing, and produced by DeepC. The track is built around the idea of a holiday spent alone, away from family and friends, with no place that feels like home during a festive season. It focuses on that absence of belonging — being surrounded by a time that is meant to feel communal, but experiencing it in isolation instead 

Gaurav Raj is a homegrown indie singer-songwriter from Ranchi working across indie folk/pop, pop-jazz and acoustic-led songwriting . His music sits in a melodic space, often built around guitar or ukulele with light percussion. The themes in his work tend to centre on relationships and personal moments — chance encounters, emotional connection, and the idea of two people coming together unexpectedly. On his latest singl, he captures the feeling of meeting someone after a long time and realising nothing between you really changed. 

Lost Stories and Jai Dhir revisit their 2023 EP with 'Marigold Soundsystem II (Acoustic)', reworking their take on Indian wedding music, moving away from the fuller electronic production of the first EP into a more stripped-back, intimate space. The project and focuses on quieter arrangements that sit closer to voice and melody. The songs centre on the smaller, often unnoticed moments around weddings — anticipation, connection, promises and celebration.

OutStation are a five-member boyband from India, with members coming from cities like Udupi, Prayagraj, Goa, Delhi and Hyderabad, formed through a bootcamp-style process and building a fanbase through live shows and early singles like 'Tum Se'. Their new track 'Aaj Kal' is a soft melodic pop number centred around present-day relationships and emotional distance — not being fully in sync with someone, thinking about what’s changed, and sitting in that space of uncertainty.

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