Homegrown Handpicked: A Playlist Of Our Favourite Tracks From August 2025

Everyone’s making jokes about what Taylor Swift will even sing about now that she’s engaged — if heartbreak and failed relationships were her muse, is this the end of an era? But honestly, most of us have already been guilty of romanticising toxic love in music anyway. The Weeknd built an empire on cheating anthems and situationships, that we (especially I) still scream along to because the music is simply irresistible. But against the dumpster fire that is the current dating scene, maybe a straightforward, girly pop Taylor Swift song about finding 'the one' wouldn't be the worst thing.

Henry David Thoreau said, “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” But he was also an individualist who never married, so I’ll let him keep his truth — and I’ll take love for myself, or at least a little secondhand optimism of another 'Love Story'. But if that is not to your taste, here are some songs that are more Homegrown:

The new album 'Earthkeeper' channels Pinkshift’s heaviest and most expansive sound yet, fusing post-hardcore urgency with shoegaze density and nu-metal weight to craft an album that feels at once bruising and cathartic. Within that palette, 'Love It Here' stands out as a furious rejection of systemic violence and media manipulation, railing against state power and complacency while affirming the strength of collective resistance. The track reframes anger as a generative force — where denunciations of war and police brutality open into a vision of solidarity.

Midnight Agenda’s latest album ‘Nafrat’ is a four-track manifesto that ignites India’s goth and hardcore punk rock underground. Written entirely in Hindi, it takes aim at the complacency of the DIY music and art landscape. Across its fury and grit, the artist builds a new vocabulary for rebellion rooted in both local realities and global subculture. Among its standout moments is 'Khabar', the most infectious of the set, which laces a jagged punk rock framework with gothic undertones. Its biting lyrics strip the mask off media narratives, exposing propaganda and hidden agendas, even as the music keeps a deceptively light edge.

Dreamhour and Dokodoko’s new single and music video pushes their sound into harsher, unrestrained territory, trading synth-pop gloss for abrasive textures that hit as hard as the imagery they conjure. 'Human Ideal' and its feverish, VFX-driven video rail against environmental collapse, corruption, and a world undone by misaligned priorities, crystallized in the biting refrain: “How could someone in their right mind fuck this up?” Shot on a shoestring budget but rendered with a surreal, trippy vision, it marks Dreamhour’s pivot into a genre-fluid v2.0 — an experimental phase that trades nostalgia for decay and disorder.

Arshaq Malik’s 'Tamils On The Roof' opens his debut LP, 'The Phone Isn’t Ringing', with hip-hop grit and some rather unexpected textures — its choppy samples and bossa nova groove offset by Karan Viegas’ fluid jazz piano lines. Arshaq turns inward here, tracing the damage of his own coping mechanisms with a mix of candour and bite, while the track’s restless rhythm mirrors that unease. The video, set against the English countryside using a chess game as a metaphor, underscores the tension of his debut LP — a record rooted in limbo, self-interrogation, and the grind of waiting for recognition.

Vinay’s latest single rides a slow, relentless hip-hop beat that's undeniably catchy, while his verses slip between Hindi and English. The track pivots between themes of authenticity and self-definition — calling out artists who posture without substance while grounding his own voice in the realities of his skin and lived experience. It’s a cut that blends confidence with critique, staking its claim not through flash but a rather steady insistence and lyrical mastery.

'Baarish Mein Phir' by singer-songwriter Saahel makes another poignant addition to his growing repertoire of emotionally charged music. Written, composed, and produced by him, the track weaves smooth electronic R&B textures with the soulfulness of Indian classical melodies. Anchored in the monsoon, the track reflects on the ache of long-distance love — where it feels as though the rains themselves travel between two cities, carrying unspoken words between lovers. Saahel describes it as a song for those separated by circumstance, where even the weather becomes powerful bridge. Melancholic yet comforting, ‘Baarish Mein Phir’ distills the bittersweet beauty of a connection sustained through absence.

Kolkata-born, UK-based DJ/producer Pablo pays homage to his roots with his latest release, ‘Tabla Dub’. A 140BPM UK Garage cut infused with the textures of tabla and shehnai, the track bridges club sensibilities with the sonic spirit of Bengal. Its accompanying visuals revive the lost era of Kalighat painting, echoing the folk traditions that shaped Pablo’s early years in a home adorned with Jamini Roy’s work. With ‘Tabla Dub’, he continues his effort to translate the cultural and artistic heritage of his hometown into contemporary forms, reintroducing overlooked histories through the language of electronic music.

'Ishq Hai (This Is Love)’, originally composed by Anurag Saikia for 'Mismatched' Season 3 in 2024, returns in a global reimagining with trance pioneer Armin van Buuren and UK R&B star Craig David. The Hindi ballad, which has crossed 300M+ streams worldwide, finds new life with Armin’s euphoric trance production and Craig’s English verse, transforming it into a cross-continental anthem. Released via Armada Music and Believe, the track marks Armin’s first-ever India collaboration and Craig’s first project in the country, underscoring how a tender Sufi-inspired melody from India has grown into a truly international phenomenon.

Zoya’s 'Free' is part of her forthcoming album, 'The Human Era Is Over (The I/O)', her most daring and concept-driven project to date. The album is a reckoning with what it means to be human in a digital age, and 'Free' emerges as one of its breaths of resilience — a song that celebrates release, healing, and choosing life amid chaos through its themes and music video. Sitting alongside darker, satirical, and inquisitive tracks, it anchors the record in hope, reminding listeners of Zoya’s capacity to turn vulnerability into empowerment while building a bold new visual and sonic world around her work.

Singer-songwriter Kamakshi Khanna’s new single 'Sabar' is a reflection on resilience, uncertainty, and the uneasy beauty of ambition. Written during a year spent in transit — shifting homes, living out of suitcases, and touring, the track captures the disorientation of an artist’s life while sholding on to joy as an anchor. For someone drawn to structure, Khanna turns the instability of her path into a reminder of why she creates at all. The Hawwa Samplewala–directed music video, featuring swimmer Santana Roach, parallels this with a story of discipline, doubt, and endurance, mirroring the push-and-pull of chasing a dream. Moving beyond her confessional style, Khanna uses 'Sabar' to widen her lens, crafting a song that speaks not only to her own uncertainties but also to the restless pursuit that defines art itself.

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