NEWCOMER Aniche is about to release a strikingly original EP on Reptile Dysfunction: intricate, percussion-heavy dance music that sounds quite unlike anything else you’re likely to come across this year.
Aniche’s synaesthesia has allowed him since childhood to see sound as shapes, colours, and textures. This deeply intimate and emotional connection with music has helped over 20 years of writing and producing music, and 15 years of DJing. His sound is an articulation of Eastern heritage and British culture, representing as much his 90s rave/electronica influences as classical Hindi and psychedelic disco.
“Releases like this are exactly why we set up Reptile Dysfunction. Aniche is a graduate of my DJ and producer academy and a great example of an artist whose dedication to his art and pure persistence as well as patience will give him a great career. We’re proud to be able to release this very unique debut EP.” Doorly
Ahead of the release of Aniche’s Prologue EP, we caught up with him for a chat and to hear the exclusive mix he’s put together for The Night Bazaar.
Aniche – welcome to the Night Bazaar. How are you doing?
Honestly, I’m doing really well, yeah. Feeling really good about where I’m at, and got a real positive vibe goin’ on, thanks.
We can’t avoid the huge impact coronavirus is having on the scene, so just briefly before we get into the music: how is it affecting you, and do you think there are any positives at all we can take from what looks like being a massively devastating outbreak on the industry in general.
Well, on a surface level, like a lot of others, I’ve lost a lot of work. Gigs are gone, but my second job is teaching, so with the schools closed I’ve not really got much comin’ in at the moment. On a personal level, everyone seems to be goin’ a bit nuts, and being an empath’ means that this has a lot of disruptive potential for a person’s general groove… and while I’ve spent a lot of time generating and sustaining a solid internal vibe – which is bit like mindfulness, but through music consumption and production – the travel ban has impeded my recent recording sessions. The most prevalent positive I can think of, however, is that people will be stuck at home, finding new ways to innovate and evolve their art. So fingers-crossed, we’ll get some amazing and fresh new music at the end of it!
Do you think the industry will recover? And if so, what will have changed?
Ah, hell yeah, the industry will recover! There are enough people in all of Dance-music culture, both consumers & producers, to fix whatever goes wrong. The Underground is Mother Nature to that, and will always nurture the next generation accordingly. The spirituality inherent in what we do – be it on the dance-floor or behind the decks – will mean our beats pulsate forever.
As for change, I have a feeling the ‘punk-ist’ sense of rebellion that came of the 90s and early Rave-culture will come back: the people will have had enough of being divided, and will unite to make the world a better place for the long-term. More music, more events, more activism, more Love!
Ok, so onto more positive business. Tell us about your background and how long you’ve been making music?
Ha, where to begin! My ancestors were north-Indian, but I’m from Essex. I’ve been writing songs since I was about 5 or 6, writing music classically since about 10, but producing since 1999, when I was about 12. I’ve always been into collecting music, and being the youngest for four guys, I already had quite a large lexicon of music in my day-to-day. In those days, I never saw any DAWs or production software, so my first track was a mash-up I made in Sound Recorder! After that, I moved to Sound Forge, and would open up some silence, put down markers, create a skeleton in which to insert individual sounds, and make a track layer by layer – Nowadays, I pretty much synthesise everything. The Chemical Brothers are a big inspiration for me creatively, and that psychedelic side of life has always made sense… as well as wikid little drum-breaks, and custom-making insane noises!
Do you think your synaesthesia makes you more creative?
Being born with it had a pretty profound effect on my formative years, but it wasn’t ‘til my mid-teens that I realised it was an actual thing. It allows me to get to know all forms of sound very intricately, and often impacts my experience of… well… reality! Creatively, it means any ideas I get are encoded in my head twice: first aurally and then visually. From a DJ-ing perspective, everything is layered-up in my mind’s eye, so when I’m playing a typical 3-deck-set (which is my preferred standard) I can make sense of everything that’s goin’ on, all at once.
We’re loving the new EP. It’s pretty hard to categorise: was it your intention to make something that crossed a lot of different genres?
Aww, thanks! It wasn’t, no. I started off as a kid making music for the sake of music, then as I hit adolescence it was to express myself. After becoming a DJ, I churned out remixes specifically for my residencies, but seldom played anything original because I was too scared. This EP, this sound, it’s me coming full circle: making music for the sake of music, but which is also reflective of who I am and where I’ve been …on top of that, it just happens to make sense on the dance-floor, so “Yeay!”
How would you personally describe the music you make?
Well, when I went through the re-branding process in 2018, I had to find a definitive ‘sound’ to go with it. I was at Doorly’s place in Ibiza, in the garage with Danny Taylor, when I realised the only thing that would make most sense was for it to be entirely about me: an old skool British lad, with a traditional Eastern spirit. It was then that I coined “Asiatic Dance Music” – although, I also have a sub-style I call “Himalayan Soul”, but that’s another conversation!
Tell us about your relationship with Doorly and his label Reptile Dysfunction… it’s hard to imagine too many labels taking a chance on something that sounds so unique…
Y’know, I did a 24-hour takeover of the label’s Instagram account when my track “Third Eye” came out on the Miami Music Week sampler in March, and on it I referred to Doorly as the nicest guy in showbiz… that’s four-million percent the case! He’s pretty much set the label up to do exactly this kind of thing: to take risks on talent he believes in, and to put out music that doesn’t seem to fit anywhere else. He’s been hugely supportive of me since first hearing me play at one of his retreats in 2018, and pushed me to re-brand and think about where my place in today’s landscape is. I very much look to him as a mentor and soundboard, and his advice has had positive impacts on a lot of my music, but mostly my confidence.
What else can we expect from you this year?
This year? Phhwwwoooff! Good question, haha. I’ll be playing all over the place once the world gets back up and runnin’, and I’m gonna continue to relentlessly make tunes – can’t really help myself, to be honest! I would really love to get some remixes done for people, but other than that, I’m plannin’ to put out at least another EP, and generally work on preparing the planet for the forthcoming album… which is quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever made!
Thanks for your time!
No-no, thank YOU for yours!
