Dropbox Talent: iMC

8 December 2014

Our latest dropbox talent, Delhi-based trap artist Ishaan Chaudhry, is an interesting one. An assured, self-taught producer he has been slowly turning heads while overseas, without being celebrated back at home.

Playing under the moniker iMC, Chaudhry has been racking up gigs in New York, where he is currently based, has played regularly with collective MadStarBase when back in Delhi, and was invited by BBC Asia's Yasser Ranjha to put together a guest mix for his show (check it out here). His SoundCloud page showcases not only a variety of styles in his music, but a surprisingly large output. While his remixes are impressive, where iMC excels, and where we get a truer sense of his sound, is in his original and collaborative work.

An avid user of classic Hindi and Bollywood songs Chaudhry has the impressive ability of making Bollytrap music seem like a glaringly obvious evolution for Indian trap artists. That doesn’t mean he is afraid to mix his vocal samples up though - one track that is full of quirk and verve is the unusual 'Be Like Water', featuring an array of Bruce Lee grunts and groans.

Rather than let his samples dictate the flow of a track, iMC manages to stamp a very desi feeling before the vocals even reach your ears. His production has a mellow ease about it, giving you the sense you are taking an aural journey down a quintessential Haryanvi village’s only dirt road on a rickety, old red tractor.

Perhaps the best way to describe iMC is the one short sentence you find in his biog: ‘I make noises’. And they’re damn good noises too.

“I like to remember my roots when I produce. There’s something about Indian music that really moves me, maybe it’s the microtones, but it’s something, and I just hear its potential. I’m really into bass music/dance music so I guess I just wanted to hear the blend so I made it tougher. I enjoy music that is tough and relatively authentic.”

We’ve embedded two tracks – the solid, slightly more conventional production 'Oo.hoo' and 'Ramta Jogi', a song gaining serious traction on Soundcloud with almost 20000 plays - for your auditory enjoyment below. You’ll have to follow iMC on SoundCloud to hear everything he has to offer.

Words: Aditya Keswani
Images: Ishaan Chaudhary

Share

Join Our Mailing List