King – Raja Hindustani
★★★★
Bollywood nostalgia is bigger than ever, with singers who broke through decades ago now pulling several thousands in tour attendance. It might sound like a calculated move for King, then, to bring in the likes of Kumar Sanu, Rekha Bhardwaj, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan and Shaan to add their inimitable voices on Raja Hindustani, but once you begin hearing the eight-track album, it’s apparent that the pop/hip-hop star wanted to just deliver love songs like the ones he found comfort in growing up. “Kamaal Hai” with Aditya Dev and “Aahista Aahista” eases listeners in and out of the album with that effortless hip-hop and pop blend that King has honed, but we’re soon hearing an all-out wedding song on “Jo Ishq Hua.” The sweet spot in Raja Hindustani is when you hear the most familiar of Bollywood-like arrangements but they flip every quickly into groovy modern pop elements, like the nocturnal R&B cadence of “Maza Pyaar Karne Mein” with Sanu, the dramatically orchestral “Haal e Dil” with Ghoshal taking on a trap beat to close or the richly layered “Yeh Safar” with Shaan. Of course, having someone like Chauhan on “Yeh Dil Mujhko Tu Dede” would mean a song that balances playful Indian percussive elements alongside exuberant brass sections that does justice to her range. “Woh Pehla Akshar” with Bhardwaj bounces along with a delightful groove, as King croons his heart out. On Raja Hindustani, King makes a turn away from rap, rather showing a side he’s always had, excelling in his Loverboy era.
Kavita Seth, Kanishk Seth – Dil Safar EP
★★★★
We’ve heard Kavita Seth and Kanishk Seth famously invigorate traditionally meditative songs like “Rangi Saari” with their electronic-fusion spin, but their new joint EP Dil Safar takes a different approach to ghazals and nazms. Kavita Seth’s compositional prowess, deep knowledge of these forms, coupled with Kanishk Seth’s expanding sonic palette, make Dil Safar a calming listen on the moods of love. Kunwar Ranjeet Singh Chauhan’s poetry on “Uss Dilnashi” creates an atmosphere of intimacy, much like a mushaira, while “Hai Toh Hai” adapts the poetry of Dipti Misra with stirring confidence, the sarangi injected poignantly into guitars and ambient elements. The guitar, string section and gentle percussion drive “Kab Thehrega,” a composition based on Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry that Kavita Seth has had for nearly 30 years. The nazm “Dard” takes Jagdish Pratap’s words about a universal kind of pain and unpacks it slowly and dramatically. The mother-son duo is powerfully on the same page on Dil Safar, showing how they always have honest-to-heart interpretations of some of India’s most revered poetry.
Naam Sujal – Mamafication
★★★★
How can anyone really sum up the multifarious world of madcap rapper Naam Sujal, especially when he rolls out reference-packed bars across 15 tracks on his debut tape Mamafication? Previously released singles like “Ankurit Moong,” “Cut That Bitch Off” and “Killa Klassic” see the MTV Hustle finalist at his most incisive and tongue-in-cheek best. There’s borderline blasphemy (“The Waddup” with Ghildiyal and Issh) and he teams up with Prathamesh for an indefatigable bar-fest on “NMC Ka Dagga.” Elsewhere, “It’s About Time” runs over an eerie beat with Dhanji and Siyaahi matching Sujal’s freak. Pho adds a cinematic edge with producer Adil on “Talab?” while Hustle alumni Gravity and ace producer 30KEY! join on “Bhaago,” one of the more deeply reflective tracks on Mamafication that prove Sujal isn’t just messing around. The rapper has plenty of life experience (some even in Marathi, like on “Plot No. 120”) that sum up Indian middle-class values and struggles like few other artists in the country. While sometimes wide-ranging because of its mixtape narrative, Mamafication is proof that Indian hip-hop is not running out of stories, lynchpins and definitive voices any time soon.
Malvika – Online / Irl EP
★★★½
By Los Angeles-born, Indian-origin artist Malvika’s own admission, she grew up online, never too far from social media and YouTube videos. As someone who capitalized on that knowledge as a fashion blogger, Malvika also indulges her pop artist side on her debut EP Online / Irl. A collection of singles that were released since 2025, there’s driving synth-pop on “Love Is A Game” that twists and turns like it’s drawing you to the dancefloor. She offers a few thoughts on filters, trends and self-image on “High Note,” but her strongest cuts are “Spiraling” and “Iconic,” which even contain a nod to her Bharatnatyam training and Indian roots with a bit of thavil on the former and a joyous harmonium on the latter. Malvika addresses burnout on “Spiraling” and draws from fashion runways on “Iconic,” a buoyant banger. Online / Irl EP proves that creators can extend into music without it coming across as a vanity project, as long as they can be true to themselves.
Demonic Resurrection – Apocalyptic Dawn EP
★★★½
Mumbai extreme metallers Demonic Resurrection – led by multi-instrumentalist Demonstealer aka Sahil Makhija for 25 years now – keep sharpening the blades when it comes to symphonic, grandiose death metal. Their new EP title is a nod to one of their best known songs, “Apocalyptic Dawn,” that first appeared on their 2006 album A Darkness Descends. To that end, the unsparingly intense and melodically-rich “The Great Famine” lands a flood of riffs and double-bass beats at six minutes, while “Of Blindness And Divinity” comes in at six-and-a-half minutes and blends chaos with haunting keys by U.K.’s Anabelle Iratni. DR is now completed by guitarist Aditya Swaminathan, drummer Nikhil Rajkumar and bassist Swarnava Sengupta and this lineup takes on “Apocalyptic Dawn XXV,” which even features Iratni adding vocals along with keys (original keyboardist Mephisto still has some parts on this one) – it’s a testament to how one of the band’s most epic, journeying tracks can be updated with new production and playing, something that some legacy-guarding bands are perhaps afraid to do. Not DR, of course, because their brand of self-described “demonic metal” remains as true to form as ever.
Pacifist – Five EP
★★★★
Mumbai’s post-hardcore unit Pacifist have played everywhere from Magnetic Fields in Rajasthan to Lollapalooza India in Mumbai over the years. It goes to show the amount of hell they’re raising in a subculture that is just now seeing more traction in India. On Five, their latest EP, there’s a familiarly established sound that’s shouty, urgent and visceral, except now it’s incorporating more clean vocals and melodies that nod towards emo. “Running Out” teems with singalong, mosh-ready energy as they proclaim: “No allies when you seek a revolution.” The slower, stomping “Ad Nauseam” delves into despair and is suited for slam-dancing, although it has twists and turns that few Indian bands have ventured into in heavy music. There’s a polished, melodic energy to “Skunk Leather” complete with wiry guitars to make it the most positive outlook Pacifist have across Five. After that, it’s a straight dive into self-destructive tendencies – the dissonance-laced “Built to Destroy” is a rager that’ll get all the fists up, and through despondent guitars and lyrics on “Purge, Atone,” Pacifist spiral, taking the listener with them. If the present state of the world had a soundtrack, songs off Five would find a place in there, for their hopelessness but also theoccasional glimmer of hope underneath it all.
Karshni – Buck Wild
★★★★
On singer-songwriter Karshni’s debut album Buck Wild, openheartedness is comforting, conscious and even darkly comic. As a pitch-shifted voice urges her to “participate in your life” on the opening track “Gaping Hole,” Karshni journeys in and out of a few states of mind – from resolve and agency to horniness to visceral distrust, among others across eight songs. There’s an eeriness in the experimentation that breaks free from the usual indie singer-songwriter palette. Even in the familiar lo-fi drum and guitar combo of “Girl,” Karshni adds a few bluesy vocal flourishes and tanpura drone to make it all suddenly cinematic. “Dinner” features chaotic electronic elements as she yearns for a face (to lick). Somewhat deceptively titled, “Interlude” is a five-minute, scene-shifting, barebones look into Karshni’s mind amid what sounds like a text breakup. She just wants to know, “What the fuck is even too much/ When it’s love?” The artist gets some able assists by Disco Puppet on “Malapropism” and Three Oscillators on “72 Hours,” some of the most trippiest tracks on Buck Wild, as much as they are a much-needed takedown of the men she’s encountered. There’s an end-goal to the madness, though. As she wryly rhymes on “Glimmerence” produced by Circle Tone: “I do it for the plot, my guy.”
Vatan Singh Rajan – Excerpts from Sleep Paralysis
★★★
After this November 2025 EP Alone delved into the depths of experimentation, New Delhi-raised, New York-based multi-instrumentalist Vatan Singh Rajan proves he’s not so much about jazz as he is about new expressions and experiments in Western classical music on his latest three-track project, Excerpts from Sleep Paralysis. If Alone was born out of the pandemic, it’s safe to say that the dark soundscapes of Excerpts from Sleep Paralysis are inspired by terrors. “String Quartet No. 1: Excerpts from Sleep Paralysis” is meant to make your hair stand on end, while the 18-minute track “The Archimedes Principle” is steeped in the microtonal music approach, which adds to the unsettling theme. Through high-pitched wine glasses and string arrangements, Rajan proves just how out-there some chamber music can be. He returns to one of his original instruments, the drum kit, to play on bowed cymbals on “For Martyred Musicians,” one that goes from using silence to swelling up in a way that’s terrifying but also terrific. It’s not for everyone, but sure could be a soundtrack to an unsettling night.
Nadaka & Keshava – In Candescence
★★★
Among the several innovators in instruments, Quebec-born, Auroville-based artist Nadaka’s Geet-Taar is put to use along with the tabla and percussive flair of Vienna-based Keshava on In Candescence. A result of their long years of performing together, there’s the 24-string Geet-Taar by Nadaka adds as much as expression as possible in the Indian and Western classical zone, alongside nimble rhythmic acrobatics by Keshava. “In Candescence” is meditative and “Ananda Lucia” feels more virtuoso, almost bringing in European music influences, and “Raga Blue” has an exciting amount of Carnatic guitar phrasing and vocals by Gopika, also an Auroville-bred singer and Keshava’s mother. The result is easily one of the most evocative tracks on the 32-minute album, one that no doubt adds to the generous amounts of spirituality-informed fusion coming from India.
The Three Seas – Antaḥkaraṇa
★★★½
Bengali-Australian act The Three Seas have drawn from Baul poetry, Nepali folk songs, jazz, dub, rock and electronica across three albums, the latest being Antaḥkaraṇa. After 15 years together, it’s safe to say that they’ve gone well beyond thinking of this as a one-time fusion, sharing a deeper understanding as musicians and humans. Aided by the likes of U.K.-Indian artist Sarathy Korwar, guitarist-producer Dave Rodriguez and saxophonist Matt Keegan on the production front, there’s an earthen sparseness on songs like “Murano” and “Bhalobasha Makorshar Jal” that immediately catches your attention. Raju Das Baul leads some of the songs and so does seasoned Bengali artist Gaurab Chatterjee aka Gaboo, who gets to reimagine Mohiner Ghoraguli’s “Prithibi” (written by his father, Gautam Chattopadhyay) with a bit more emotional intensity. Songs like “Khyentse” and “Lasha” are rooted in safe folk-fusion songwriting, but The Three Seas are most adventurous on songs like “Chhau” with its sax-heavy, trippy and angular cadence and bellowing vocals, and the tension-building “Rongmohole.” Antaḥkaraṇa is one of the best examples of Indo jazz-fusion done right this year.
Dolorblind – No Signal EP
★★★½
It’s been just over two years since visual artist and producer Dolorblind aka Rohan Sinha presented his Magnetic Fields Festival 2023 performance No Signal and the EP that the name promised is now out. The New Delhi/Bengaluru producer and visual artist has spent time crafting something that resists easy categorization, weaving together pop, hip-hop, IDM, and ambient music into six tracks that feel deeply personal and strikingly cinematic. Being a visual artist gives Dolorblind a distinct edge: he makes music you can see. These tracks are confidently ephemeral, striding across genres without ever feeling overwhelming. It’s like watching the sky shift across a full day, from dawn to sunny to overcast, through clouds, twilight, and a starry night, all within a single listen. The EP opens with “UVB-76,” a collaboration with Indonesian artist Hara, where digital satellite signals meet indigenous Javanese chants. Rounak Maiti adds a shimmering kind of pop on “NRG,” while “Ombré” channels early 2000s hip-hop warmth. “OD” is the standout — urgent, almost suffocating, with abrasive drums and dystopian synths pulling from old Indian cinema. “Silo” erupts in organized chaos before “Omni 2” closes things out in emotional turbulence. No Signal announces an artist who knows exactly how to channel hopelessness into something worth hearing.
Mushroom Lake – Figments EP
★★★
It’s been over a decade since Thrissur-origin post-rock band Mushroom Lake released their debut album Live at Regional Theatre in 2014 and in 2022, they put out a single called “Hope.” The instrumental rock scape has changed a lot from when they first started out, and Mushroom Lake have surely grown but also stayed rooted to their psych-rock-informed songwriting. “Illusionist” introduces a bit of Indian classical vocal melodies in the background by bassist and synth artist Vijay Gopal for a refreshing effect, while Raju K.P. and Jitin David sharply trade hypnotic guitar riffs on “Monsoon Blues,” where things go wonderfully wonky. Still, there are times when the build-ups and urgency are a little too familiar, like on “The Day After” or “12steps Later.” These songs no doubt have a cathartic, emotional edge, but considering how common that kind of songwriting has now become in post-rock, here’s hoping Mushroom Lake still have a lot more exploring to do.
Shourya Malhotra – Everybody Knows, Everybody Understands.
★★★
If there’s anyone who understands how to make tender, heartache music that’s always comforting, it’s New Delhi singer-songwriter Shourya Malhotra. On his new album Everybody Knows, Everybody Understands, there’s a melancholy indie-folk approach that can draw in fans of Nick Drake, Iron & Wine and others. Songs like “Paws” are dedicated to his dogs, while songs like “Still Breathing” and “Parts of Two” are dreamy. It’s his incorporation of the sarod on “Home” that really breaks new territory, creating an enchanting doorway that few indie artists have managed. Malhotra navigates loss and love (“For Lost Memories”) and throws his arms wide open for a warm hug on “Courtyards,” which is dedicated to the home he took for granted. Aided by artists like Varun Rajput (from rock band Antariksh), Elijah Peter and singer-songwriter Roradoll aka Charita Arora, Malhotra brings his wisdom to a swirling end with “Thank You!” — a twinkling note to tie things together.