Homegrown’s Fresh Picks From Music That Released Last Week: Faraway Friends, Seedhe Maut & More

Homegrown loves bringing to you emerging artists and those who have established a niche in alternate genres hidden from the mainstream. Keeping things super fresh, we will be curating a weekly list of numbers we could not get enough of through the week and that we know will earworm themselves to your heart as well.

Scroll down for your weekly dose of latest releases.

Arnav Deshmukh & Rajneesh Shyam ‘Kosh’

Emerging talents in the indie music scene, Arnav Deshmukh and Rajneesh Shyam, released their single Kosh. The single has a Ritviz-like feel to it with the lyrics sets to a rather chill and groovy electronic production. For some reason, the track immediately took me back to Lucky Ali’s ‘O Sanam’ chorus with perhaps the lyrics set to a similar tone. All in all, the track makes for an interesting listen and a rather great start for the duo’s music career.

You can listen to the track here.

Faraway Friends ‘Ganga Hotel’

David, Keno, and Ditty met at a hotel in Varanasi by the Ganges and that led to not only a friendship but also the start of the music collective Faraway Friends. The third single from their album ‘Ganga Hotel’ talks about how they came into being and how, “No matter where we are from, we all have a lot to learn, from sharing and understanding each other’s perspectives”(as shared by the collective on their social media handle). With a playful energy and an anthem-like feel to it, the track embodies the exuberant experience of their meeting, the chorus vocals in fact were recorded in the room of the very Ganga Hotel that they met.

Karshni Nair ‘Daddy Hates Second Place’

Singer-songwriter Karshni Nair has an achingly beautiful voice that is a perfect fit for the honesty in her lyricism that are raw and vulnerable. “‘What if this is as good as it gets?’ This is a line from one of my favourite films, As Good As It Gets. [1997] It’s exactly what this song is about – living with yourself,” said Karshni of the single on her Instagram while releasing the song. The song begins with the lyrics: “Second in line, Second to the rest/Trophy is yours/While I’m second best/Head over heels/I thought so much. I lost my breath,” revealing the anxieties and fears that grip one. The single makes for a cathartic listen and is hauntingly beautiful.

Manas Jha ‘Nukkad Closed’

Singer-songwriter Manas Jha, who is known for drawing music from his personal experiences, is back with his first release for 2021 with a collaboration with award-winning producer Keshav Dhar for his first track, Nukkad Closed, paying tribute to late Garima Kothari, the owner of the Nukkad Restaurant, New Jersey. Nukkad was Jha’s favourite go-to lunch spot where he’d meet Garima a few times. The single is an ode to Garima who was allegedly murdered by her husband last year. Through a graphic novel style-animation that depicts the struggle between a white dove and a fleet of crows, he wishes to explore the subject of domestic violence. The red and black ominous video goes well with the progressive rock sort of vibe of the single.

Roshan George Thomas ‘Somebody’s Fool’

We’ve all been a fool in love at one point in our lives. Roshan George Thomas’s latest single Somebody’s Fool is exactly about those feelings. “Somebody’s fool is a lover’s lament, of an adoration gone stale with time and its trials. It is about when an unrequited affection, turns to scorned malicious resentment that makes the entire world around you seem darker,” said Thomas on their Youtube Channel. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, we can see the pop and groovy single being a playlist essential for a quite a few of us.

Listen to the single here.

Seedhe Maut x Foreign Beggars x Sez On The Beat ‘No Enema’

Known for their lyrical dexterity and giving a new life to New Delhi’s hip-hop scene with their bilingual rap style, iconic hip-hop duo Seedhe Maut (featuring Encore ABJ and MC Calm) is off to a great start in 2021 with their collaboration with British hip-hop pioneers. Foreign Beggars (featuring Orifice Vulgatron and Metropolis) and music producer, Sez On The Beat. The single is a product of an intense 10-day period wherein the artists performed at a packed secret underground show at Above The Habitat, Khar, Mumbai. The track is a testament to the creative genius of the artists involved and their shared love for bass-centric hip-hop music. With Metropolis’s sad demise last year, the track is especially special as it features him at his creative best with the slick lyricism that he was well-known for.

Shreyas Iyengar ‘Quarrel Times’

Multi-instrumentalist Jazz artist Shreyas Iyengar releases the third track from his upcoming debut album ‘Tough Times,’ a modern jazz eight-track album. The album is based on his observations during the coronavirus pandemic that revealed the dichotomy in human experience where the poor suffered and the rich continued to profit. Quarrel Times, the third track on the album features a collaboration with instrumentalist Jayant Sankrityayana on upright bass and electric guitar.

Topshe ‘All I Want’

Singer-songwriter Topshe’s music has an element of fun to it even as it explores themes of love, friendship and loneliness that can be a bit heavy at times. His songwriting and storytelling make it relatable. Couple that with an upbeat and folksy tune and you have a song you’ll find yourself humming quite often. His songwriting is reminiscent of British singer-songwriter Passenger in the way it explores the given themes. He is definitely an artist we are looking forward to in 2021.

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