Homegrown Handpicked: A Playlist Of Our Favourite Tracks From February 2026

For the last week, I have been listening to Audioslave on repeat. I didn’t think of myself as someone who would be into this kind of music anymore. Yes, I loved LINKIN PARK as a teenager — the nu-metal era, the distorted guitar riffs, the heavy power chords, were the sound of teenage angst but clearly I had moved on. I had settled into funky electronics, pop, alt-indie, even some Bollywood every now and then. And then something happened in my romantic life that changed brain chemistry. I was filled with this anxious yearning and that angst again, and suddenly Audioslave felt like a puzzle piece that fit perfectly into that hole.

So for the last week, I’ve been deep in it — Deftones, Paramore, Chelsea Wolfe, Muse — and it feels like I’ve stumbled into a new world by accident. An accidental vacation. And I love it here. I’m comforted by it. There’s something magical about how the music you need finds you exactly when you need it. Witnessing it IRL has snapped me out of that casual, background listening I do while cleaning or driving or working out, and pulled me into something more intense — a deeper understanding of my own life through music, and how closely those two things are tied together. I’m grateful for it, even if it’s arriving during a time that isn’t completely pleasant. I love that sometimes my difficult questions about “why is this happening to me?" don’t get answered in a psychology book, but a song that somehow makes everything feel simpler.

Aditya Malve aka DJazz is a producer and DJ based in India who moves across house, disco, DnB, hip-hop and jazz in his sets. In his new four-track EP '7AM In Bangkok', he leans into atmospheric electronica, house, acid-house and techno inspired by his travels through Thailand and Vietnam. The EP opens with 'Jazz Goes Bangkok,' built around vocals from Angkanang Kunchai’s 1975 track 'Lsan Lam Plearn,' where slow, airy vocals sit over funky synths. 'Miss Saigon' stretches out into a longer house and techno cut, bringing in the Vietnamese monochord alongside an acid bassline, 808 drums and delayed synths. The 'Jazz Goes Bangkok (Four on the Floor Mix)' flips the original into a more direct house format with old school drum loops and lush pads. But my personal fave, is 'Poosanisa’s Story.' Split into three parts, it starts with a synthwave-style groove, shifts into a steady house section, moving on to a sharp 303 bassline in the final stretch. The track was conceived during DJazz's psychedelic trip and is an attempt  to recreate the vivid sonic experience.

South Asian superproducers Lapgan and Baalti just released ‘Ipa Ma,’ the second single from their upcoming collaborative album 'Threads'. Lapgan, known for flipping dusty desi samples into hip-hop grooves, and Baalti, a duo recognised for layered, club-focused production, built the track during a psychedelic writing session in the California desert in early 2024. The new single slingshots you into the center of the Lapgan and Baalti sonic universe, infusing Carnatic devotional singing with a club-ready bounce. The first track made for the album, the song melds both artists’ sampling sensibilities together into place, with Lapgan deep cut crate digging providing the fuel for Baalti’s propulsive bass overdrive.

Curtain Blue is the moniker of New Delhi–based singer-producer Abhishek Bhatia, known for pairing haunting vocals with electronica, live brass and Indian textures into a cinematic, experimental sound. His latest single 'Wirebound' leans into alternative indie pop, built around an orchestra of live instrumentation like ukulele, guitar, sarangi and dholak — bringing lavish kawwali-like percussions into a ballad about the feeling of being emotionally tied down, and the urge to break free. It’s the first single from his upcoming debut album 'Kesar'. The production is handled by Curtain Blue himself, with a full band: Chie Nishikori on trombone, Belen Ojeda Rojas on clarinet, Fabio Carlucci on trumpet, Ritwik De on guitars, Ashan Ali on sarangi, Vineet Singh on dholak and Anshul Lall on drums, along with Sheet Suri, Abhinaina Bhatia and Isaar Rattanpal as part of the extended crew.

Sapien Error is a progressive\alternative metal band from Bangalore known for their modern and groovy sound. Their latest fully instrumental track ‘Clockwork’ might reminds our staff writer and in-house metalhead Rubin of the early work of bands like Polyphia or Intervals. It’s the latest addition to their somewhat kawaii inspired instrumentals like NioN and Nion II. While the band’s guitar chops are impeccable, their melodic songwriting translates to brilliantly crafted vocal lines in songs like 'Heavy Fire' and 'Anomaly' as well.

RANJ, originally from Chennai, trained in Carnatic music and opera, has the range to move from Carnatic fusion to contemporary pop seamlessly. Her music holds on to her cultural roots while speaking to a wider audience which is true for her latest single as well. On 'WHO YOU ARE,' produced by longtime collaborator CLIFR, she delivers a direct statement of identity, pulling from her own experience growing up as a Tamil woman in spaces that try to police and shrink women like her. CLIFR, a Mumbai-based producer and multi-instrumentalist associated with Azadi Records, brings his chopped, sample-driven style to the track, mixing hip hop instincts with strong Tamil elements and a disco-like undercurrent.

Mary Ann Alexander’s 'Better Than This' is a bright, feel-good pop single carried by her naturally soulful voice. The instrumental backdrop is refined and spacious, with laid-back rhythms and warm harmonies that have come to become her signature sound. Lyrically, it captures that soft, giddy phase of being in love and being loved right — missing someone when they’re away, counting down the days till you see them, or, kissing through the phone when you saying goodnight.

'Gondhal' by LaLa & Nesh runs on a trap-heavy hip-hop beat built around rolling hi-hats, and thick 808. The title itself means disorder, and the lyrics revolve around that idea — life in the city, street codes, loyalty, ego, money and the noise that comes with ambition. There’s a steady mix of Marathi and English Across the verses, LaLa paints a picture of urban survival and the rough edges of growing up around tight-knit street culture. There’s a constant back-and-forth between bravado and real-talk about knowing the streets and knowing yourself, with the repeated use of gondhal in the hook pushing the idea that life in the city doesn’t come easy.

7Bantai’Z are a multilingual hip-hop crew from Dharavi made up of six rappers and a beatboxer, known for rapping across five-plus languages and coming up as one of the youngest crews in the scene back in 2014. ‘Ramba’ is their first release in two years, out independently through Azadi Records, and it kicks off their comeback album. Produced by longtime collaborator DRJ Sohail, the track moves in sharp flashes, with verses that swing between humour, menace, love, liquor, swagger and responsibility, with Kaam Bhaari’s verse on morality, threaded together with Bombay slang and Marathi one-liners.

Shourya Malhotra is a singer-songwriter and guitarist whose outsider path — from heavy metal vocals to media law to indie folk — shapes his tender, personal music with sandpaper-like vocals and nostalgic guitar melodies drawn from artists like Nick Drake, Elliott Smith and Laura Marling. On Everybody Knows, Everybody Understands, 'Parts of Two' sits on the softer end of the record with a slow, melancholic chord progression on guitar that leans into ballad and soft rock territory, centering on the idea of two people being incomplete on their own and finding their whole in each other.

Nanku, the pop artist behind viral tracks like 'Crazy' and 'Kamikaze,' drops his fifth album 'Pyar N’ Stuff' via Warner Music India after a run of high-energy shows across cities. The album brings together pop, R&B and rap, and feels like a confident step forward while still holding on to his playful side. The project moves between club-ready tracks like 'Itti Fiyah and more melodic cuts, with features from Dhanji, Raja, Vasu Raina, Karun and DRV, and the entire album is recorded, programmed, mixed and mastered by Nanku himself. 'Pyar+Tum' is a straightforward energetic pop track about the empowering jolt of loving someone.

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