The voices at NH7

"Post-apocalyptic Woodstock" was the phrase that came to my mind as I was travelling towards Embassy International Riding School, the venue for the recently concluded Bacardi NH7 Weekender music festival. Away from the traffic snarls and start-up buzz of Bengaluru, the place looks like a cradle of civilisation - and the artists performing, too, whipped up sounds that were literally other-worldly.

My most favourite act during those two days was experimental electronic musician Steven Ellison, better known as Flying Lotus. His heady cocktail of a playlist had ambient sounds, manic strobing and dicing. He also had a constant stream of beautifully bizarre visuals playing at the forefront, which lent the whole gig a hallucinogenic feel. He ended his 60-minute-long party with an out-and-out masterpiece of his called Never Catch Me, featuring American hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar. This one fabulous track is enough to hail Ellison as the putative dauphin of Kanye West.

This year the line-up has been far more interesting and diverse than in the last few years. There were quite a few marquee names: A R Rahman, Scottish prog rock band Mogwai, English D J Mark Ronson and a bevy of other small-time but gorgeous-sounding bands.

Another big name that wrapped an aural duvet around the audience was SBTRKT, a musical project led by Aaron Jerome, a producer from London who always appears with a mask on stage. He's the closest the music industry can come to Banksy; his music is as subversive as Banksy's art. Jerome's deceptive stompers, which have DIY written all over them, are absolute perfection. The whole venue erupted over his remix of Drake's virulently catchy single Hotline Bling.

Hidden Orchestra performing at NH7 Bangalore

I was also quite charmed by the airy yet trembly voice of Marine Pellegrini, the lead singer of the French quartet Erotic Market. The soulful edge to their hip-hop music is unforgettably brilliant and evokes instant comparisons to MIA, Best Coast. Do check out "I want to be some booty" to know what I mean.

Every year, NH7 gets a nice mix of bands from the United Kingdom; this year's was no exception. Hidden Orchestra, a musical collective from Edinburgh that dabbles in everything from jazz to fuzzy guitars, was enthralling. Equally good was Thumpers, a London-based indie rock duo that churned out some rock arena-worthy ballads. I have been hearing one of their tracks called Unkinder for quite some time - to see them performing it live was nothing less than a religious experience.

One of the biggest crowd-pleasers turned out to be the intoxicating music by Rodrigo y Gabriela, a Mexican acoustic guitar duo. Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero's spellbinding guitar play was to be seen to be believed. Of course, the crowd swooned over Mark Ronson, the Amy Winehouse producer, who is also an amazing musician. His latest album, full of collaborations with the who's who of the music world, has been nominated for 2016's Grammy awards. My personal favourite is the dance floor-detonating track that he did with Bruno Mars called Uptown Funk.

Crowd enjoying the music at NH7 Bangalore

The best part about NH7 is its diversity. While I was flitting between the five stages, I caught a Boston-based DJ duo called Soul Clap. Their sounds are a perfect amalgam of 80s' disco music and current crop of computer-generated sounds.

It's a tragedy that more of such music festivals don't happen in India, despite the country's staggering numbers and the fact that even the most minor patronage stacks up to a big deal. Mostly, it's either electronic dance music or dance music festivals that get international acts to perform here. Though it's true that many Indians go bananas over Swedish House Mafia, the likes of Vampire Weekend and Arctic Monkeys also have a very strong following out here. NH7's consistent success and spreading popularity makes it the Glastonbury or Coachella of India.

The only way Vijay Nair, the organiser, could outperform himself next year is by getting Tame Impala to the Indian shores.
jagannath.jamma@bsmail.in