Charanjit Singh

Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to A Disco Beat

scum stats: there's two different covers for OG pressings, otherwise, who knows?

Oh man I have loved this record. One of those that once I was made aware of it and heard it I felt like it was always a part of me, that it's just too good, too unique, too far ahead of its time.

In short, Singh was a musician who played on a lot of Bollywood soundtracks in India and got his hands on one of the two Roland synthesizers and a drum machine and put together a clutch of songs that all adhere to the fairly rigid formulation of traditional ragas.

The great part is...because of the unique sound profile of the synths, the songs all end up sounding like Chicago house tracks that wouldn't exist for another 5-7 years.

Personally, I like to use the pitch function on my turntable and play these as slooooooow as possible, giving it a little less freneticism and a lot more groove.

These are the hidden chestnuts that I dream of. They only pop up rarely, few and far between, so it leaves me feeling proud loving them. Man I feel like I'm gonna wear down the goddamn grooves of this thing. Highest recommendation.