Weekly Music Tip, April 18 2010: Charanjit Singh

The record that has everybody talking – proto-techno time-warp from 1982… from India?!?!

If the story behind the record is indeed true, then this must surely be the crate digging discovery of the decade. The record predates the first acid house tracks by half a decade, challenging the standard Western-centric history of electronic music.

Still, like many others, I’m half-convinced that this is an elaborate Richard D James or Ceephax gag. To my ears, the silly AFX-like melodies are cheesy to the point of sounding like an intentionally tongue-in-cheek imitation of so-called “Eastern” music styles. Or maybe such skepticism is just a form of defensiveness, revealing an unwillingness to accept that some of our favorite artists might not have been so “pioneering” after all.

Well, regardless of its origins, the music is quite infectious. Recommended!