Mind Expansion: Delhi Based Sattyananda Releases New Album:
5 September 2014
Music producer and mastermind behind alternative electro label Audio Ashram, Nikhel Kumar Mahajan, has released a new LP called ‘Mind Expansion’ under his musical avatar Sattyananda.
The down tempo and ambient 9 track album features collaborations with a number of heavyweights in the Indian classical music scene such as Shubha Mudgal, Pt. Ajay Prasanna, Pt. Bholenath Mishra and Pt. Mukesh Sharma. Classical Indian instrumentation is certainly an interesting and surprising choice of sound for an album that chooses ‘extraterrestrial life’ as its overarching theme, but it works well, both compositionally and sonically.
Ambient cosmic synths and hazy sampled voices are blended with flute, classical Indian classical vocals and sarod, producing a spiritual album that avoids the clichés of fusion music and sounds distinctly modern.
Released along with the album was a strangely enjoyable video produced by Rahat Mahajan for the track ‘Extraterrestrial’ that features a moustached space cadet and a UFO in the body of a human who dances like his legs are made of grape jelly...
'Mind Expansion' is available here to stream and buy. You can follow Sattyananda on Facebook for more updates and watch the video for ‘Extraterrestrial’ below: