I've finally taken some time to setup our new youtube channel - which you can find here:

youtube.com/indianelectronica

if you dig the beats we play on our podcasts and radio stream then you'll probably want to check out our video channel - which you can also watch through the widget on our 'videos' page - which highlights our fave vidz on youtube by 'indian electronica' artists [+ some other cool stuff too].

Check it out and post some comments - let me know if there's any videos you've found that we should mark as out favorites and get on the channel!!

All you producers who haven't checked in with Sony in a while - it seems they've been focusing a little more in recent years on digital music production (re: buying Sonic Foundry - makers of Acid and Soundforge).

I haven't checked out their Loops but a sale's on that I thought to twig you all onto: 25% off for a limited time @ their online store...

England-based downtempo funksters Trick Baby are releasing their second album in a couple of weeks and you can already peep a pretty groovy video  for the album's single, 'Fighter' that VJ Mox worked on (he's done lots of stuff with Nunjatune artists like Coldcut and Amon Tobin).

I haven't watched this yet, but wanted to give everyone a heads-up that Kush Arora's been interviewed by Imaginasian.tv and the clip's online.

Kush is a pretty groovy dubstep producer based in San Fran whom I recently got some words from for an interview on the dubstep scene - which will be online next week and in the next issue of the IE newsletter.

Hey people...  Its that time again - we've got another session of our official party going on in Toronto in just a couple of weeks.  For all you canucks freezing your butts off,  you'll be happy to hear that we have a great small venue that's brand new and in my opinion, one of the best spots in the city.

Check out all the info in the Dishoom section of the site and if you're on Facebook, RSVP for the event and make sure to spread the love and tell your buddies about the gig.

Cheers.

q./

I'm almost done editing some video I shot in Mumbai at this year's Indian Electronica Festival - watch this space next week for info.

Also, look out for a new podcast from Yamboy this Friday plus some recordings from the Mumbai Festival as well as exclusive sets recorded at last year's Festival in Toronto (to be broadcast over the next few weeks).

q./ 

I just saw mention on Beatport that world-famous producer and dj Sasha is offering up parts for a new track to be remixed by anyone and everyone to be possibly included in a release from emFire.

The winner also gets themselves a copy of Ableton 7 to help their remix career go even further and gets an interview on Beatportal itself.

The only weird thing about this whole announcement is that you can only download 2 parts of the song for free.  That's right - the whole thing is somewhat of a scam as the 'full package' of parts for the song - 13 in total, will cost you $3.99?!  WTF?

Look out for Indian Electronica Records Remixed project soon guys and gals - we'll be offering up parts for equally cool remixes that won't set you back a dime.. more on that in February.

Wow!

If you receive our email newsletters then you already know that I announced our New Delhi festival as being cancelled this morning (india time :) ) .  Well, in the midst of uncertainty when our back-up venue fell through last minute yesterday I had a chat over the phone with the CBC's Wojtek Gwiazda about how in the past couple of weeks two venues have let us down by pulling out of agreements to have us host the festival installment there...

 For anyone in India that is keen to hear some of the amazing music we promote around the world, you can still catch our back-to-back 2 nights in Mumbai next weekend on the 28th and 29th (Fri/Sat) -  check out  http://www.indianelectronica.com/festival/mumbai

The interview made it into this week's Indo Canadian Report on the CBC - heard around the world and at 7:10am and 9:10am Delhi time.  You can listen to it online here:

http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/en/dossiers/44920.shtml

Hey folks - quick update on our gig this Friday @ a place called kuki in New Delhi... its not happening!  We're trying our hardest to come up with an alternate solution the nextnight - will let you know ASAP here what evolves so watch this space and the festival page - http://www.indianelectronica.com/festival/newdelhi 

If you're on Facebook, you'll be interested to know that we've got groups and events set up for IE and the upcoming Festival installments in Delhi and Mumbai... please click the links below and RSVP/join our groups so you can stay in the loop!

IE07 New Delhi, Friday December 21: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2546092183

IE07 Mumbai, Friday Dec 28 & Saturday Dec 29: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2443775881

Hey people, I just sent out another edition of the IE email newsletter.  Its got some preliminary info on the sessions of the Indian Electronica music festival being held this December in New Delhi and Mumbai... The information's also online in our festival section.

Peep the newsletter here:

http://indianelectronica.com/mailers/111907/ 

Sign up to the newsletter here:

http://www.indianelectronica.com/subscribe 

Later,

qasim./ 

I had the pleasure of having a chat recently with the CBC's Wojtek Gwiazda for their Indo-Canadian Report; a show heard Wednesdays to Fridays across India! The interview aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/ Radio Canada International yesterday afternoon and the audio clip can be streamed on demand from their website - we'll have it on IE in the next few days as well.

Here's some info from their site:

Indo-Canadian Report for November 7, 2007 :
Indian Electronica website promotes music

Wojtek Gwiazda meets up with a Toronto DJ and web designer who promotes Indian Electronica music around the world. Qasim Virjee's website indianelectronica.com is not only a website, but a forum for musicians, a record company and the organizer of festivals in Toronto, New York, London and Mumbai.

Listen to the interview:

http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/en/dossiers/44920.shtml

A quick heads-up for everyone planning on meeting us in India this December: we're no longer doing New Year's Eve in Mumbai; instead - 2 nights the weekend before!  Its going to be amazing; with a really exciting line-up of artists.

More details will follow through this week and be posted in our Festival section.

So just to confirm; we're in New Delhi on Friday December 21st and Mumbai on the 28th and 29th!

Over the past few months I've had the opportunity to demo some cool options for Video Jockeying on a budget.  For newbies there are now a few of hardware-software solutions available that will set you back less than $400.  I'm going to use this post to start a thread on VJing over the next  week or so - here's my first recommended package:

1.  Motion Dive Tokyo: Performance Package

This software was created by a company called Digital Stage and has been a fave with VJs out in Japan for years.  Because of its underground status, the developers were able to test it out in real situations alongside cutting edge DJ performances so you know it'll be something you can use live.

Overally, the controller's nice and fits in front of a laptop comfortably so you can jam with it and your laptop keyboard easily.  The hardware isn't MIDI though - so you'll only be able to use it with this package, however you *can* plug in a MIDI controller through it for added effecting etc.

As for touch and feel, the controller's made by Edirol so I'm guessing it'll be sturdy as they are responsible for the much-faved Edirol LVS 400 pro video controller (which costs around $1,800)... from what I've seen of it, the Motion Dive controller looks sleek but offers little in the way of performance flexibility through a multitude of knob-slider combos... in some of the other controllers I'll review soon you'll see options that cater to more experimental performance styles.

A final note is that the package will offer DJs tactile familiarity; it mixes two channels of video with a crossfader and lets you choose various transition effects plus has channel transforms and beat tapping to synch video loops to your audio source.

This is a great package for VJ newbies who don't want to spend much cash but try out techniques and test out VJing as a hobby...

...in a great documentary called 'Generation 7/7' which is now in our video vault - check it out!

The doc's pretty interesting; BBC Radio 1 and Asian Network dj/presenter Bobby Friction jumps in a van and heads out to the town where 4 supposed terrorists grew up and in trying to answer questions about why they might've done what the media purports (i.e. organize bombings around London on 7 July 2005).  In the process of trying to get answers he realizes that perhaps the larger issue lies in how the media industry relates to both the communities it exposes through reporting as well as its audience.

On September 20th we held the first ever Indian Electronica Festival in New York and I'm so happy to say that it was a smashing success!

This was our third installment of the 2007 Festival series and I worked with our Advisory Committee to program the event uniquely compared to the previous summer sessions in Toronto and London – NYC was all about the Djs... well, we also had a couple of live acts but the plan entailed creating a comfortable social atmosphere where people could chill out, shake their rumps, chat or whatever else they felt like...

First off - thanks to everyone who performed at the London England installment of our Festival this year.... also, a warm thanks to everyone reading this who made it to the venue on August25th to check out all the great acts we had on stage - including the wonderful bespoke visuals mixed and projected by LadyPat and his compradres @microchunk. The gig proved quite different than when we did it @ the same space last year; this time round there were fewer performers and it was interesting to see what the crowd's reaction was to the more downtempo, innovative sets of Aesh and Eisha Karol - which featured live singing, visuals, tabla, sarod and more. Saturday night in London's East End is no doubt cause for booty shaking; and though they didn't number in the thousands, people were definately enjoying the eclectic uptempo cuts Sonny Ji (pictured here) and I were busting on the mainfloor... All round, an excellent time - thanks for hosting us again Bobby Friction!

Hot off the heels of our London gig its now off to the Big Apple - the Indian Electronica Festival touches base in New York City's Lower East Side next Thursday (September 20th) for a long night of musical mayhem that is going to totally rock your bindi. Details are over in our festival section but note that the event is free and will be followed by a CD release/listening party @ the Rubin Museum the next night - on Friday from 6PM - 10PM; which will be an excellent opportunity to personally meet the performers and also pick up a copy of our debut compilation release.

So, there are two great gigs lined up for next week - if you're on the East Coast of North America I highly recommend coming down to Manhattan and joining in the fun! Whether you can or can't make it, please help us spread the word: forward this email to your friends and colleagues ;)

Oh, and they're not too numerous but I've uploaded some photos I took @the Festival in London - check em out in the gallery.

http://www.thestar.com/article/250618

Info:
indianelectronica.com/festival/uk