The Los Angeles based band , B . R . E . E . D performed along with the elite list of leading musicians from all over the world at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival last month . One of the most iconic events on the world music calendar , the festival spanning across two weekends in April in Indio , California , had them playing on the Do Lab stage . The duo consists of Ritesh D ’ Souza , one of Asia ’ s most influential and original underground electronic DJ-producers & bass music pioneer of India , and Tara Mae , a classically trained pianist and vocalist . After having launched their first album ‘ Binate ’ in 2014 , the album sat at the No . 1 spot on the top Addictech album releases and was No . 3 on the top 5 Glitch Hop album releases on Beatport in January 2014 . Score sat down with the duo to talk Coachella , their creative process and plans .
You ' re performing in Coachella this year ! Congrats ! How does it feel to be a part of this prestigious festival ? What are you looking forward to aside from performing this year ?
Thank you very much . We ’ re super excited ! We weren ’ t expecting it to happen . There are so many festivals that happen and Coachella is obviously one of the best . Like anything , we ’ re just really excited at the opportunity to be in front of an audience that can relate to our music . We ’ re appreciative and marketing music is not an easy thing . This is an opportunity to showcase our stuff . Other than Coachella , we are excited to just develop our live set . We have so many tracks that we ’ re looking forward to release . We ’ re looking into different labels right now all over the world . We have a bunch of tours planned for 2015 and we ’ re looking forward to just getting the music out . We have a lot to do but we ’ re crazy excited .
Tell us a bit about yourself . How did you come together and become BREED .
So , I do live keys and I do vocals on most of our tracks . For the live set eventually we want to do live vocals . For now I do live keys . Ritesh spins but he ’ s also going to be doing finger drumming and being a scratch artist . We want him to implement his scratching too . So right now , the live sets have been live keys and synths on our regular sets . Again we want to bring in live vocals and lot of scratching . I also have plans to work with a really good MC and poet I know . With regards to getting together , we developed breed together . Ever since we met we always developed music together and worked alongside each other . Not even just music , but we do everything , including marketing and developing our brand . We ’ ve been working on all of that for years .
And what about your name ?
I think It was 2007 2008 , we were playing with names but none of them stuck . I don ’ t know how breed came but the name just stuck .
Who all were your inspirations growing up ? Who do you find yourself listening to a lot these days ?
When we began B . R . E . E . D ., there were lot of artists that inspired us however they ’ re totally different from artists who we ’ re inspired by now . We ’ re inspired by a lot of FKA Twigs and Flying Lotus . Very progressive and forward music that pushes all genres .
You guys are on of few that are revolutionizing EDM forms in India and across the world . Where do you draw your inspiration from ?
Well , EDM is a broad term and we don ’ t really fit under typical EDM right now . I know what you mean though . But that I guess is our inspiration because we don ’ t want to stick to one genre and we ’ re just extremely inspired by artists that are doing different stuff that doesn ’ t fit into one thing . And then obviously we also come up with our own stuff that doesn ’ t following any one thing .
Where have been your favorite / memorable venues for performing till date and why ?
That ’ s a tough question because there have been a lot of great places where we ’ ve had the opportunity to perform . But I would say Burning Man , which was in 2007 . It was totally different at that time from how it is now . Burning Man has been around for years and at that time it was totally new for us . And that really stands out for us
You ' ve also collaborated with many prominent artists . Who do you wish to collaborate with in the future ?
Another tough question ( laughs ) because you know there are a lot of people . But one name is definitely FKA Twigs . Both of them are just incredibly different and very very artistic . We love abstract and artistic people . They ’ re different but they ’ re both so amazing . A lot of collaborations with Classical Indian artists have been amazing as well . We did a track with Manoj George the violinist and that was really great . The blend that we did on the track was really different . This year we ’ ll have more collaboration , but from past ones definitely the classical musicians have added a different exotic feel .
You guys are set to perform your latest EP ' The Inside ' along with some other new material for Coachella . Any projects in the pipeline you can share with your fans ?
Developing our live set , like we said we have a couple tours with our live set and one of them is in India . We ’ re excited to release and we ’ re developing those tracks !
You guys have amazing style as well . Please tell us where you draw your style inspiration from ? What are your go-to outfits ?
We ’ re into different unique clothing . We both love fashion . Just unique , creative , and artistic clothes . We both love accessories and funky jewelry !
Anything you wish to say to your fans ?
Just keep going with what you ’ re trying to do and believe in what your doing and don ’ t believe you have to follow anything . Also we wish to give a big shout out to all our India fans who ’ ve been ridiculously supportive and been with us throughout !
The Score Magazine www . thescoremagazine . com
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