Very few things in the world are as elegant when Nasha Experience release music. The six-piece supergroup has been the undisputed flagbearers of Bass music in the Asian Underground realm for more than 2 decades.
Taking the contemporary musical schematics of Drum & Bass, Breaks and Dubstep and fusing them with eastern elements, Ges- e and Sobur came together to form Nasha Records in 2003. Soon after, they released the mammoth âEastern Drum And Breaksâ V/A compilation featuring Ges-e, Osmani Soundz, Bandish Projekt, Aref Durvesh, and many more.
The âEastern Drum and Breaksâ compilation eventually brought Osmani Soundz and Ges-e together to form Nasha Experience in 2003. Nuphlo, Sukh Knight, Squarewave and Shandy come in during the years that followed to make it a full-throttle supergroup in 2009. Since then, Nasha Experience have revolutionized the Asian Underground scene and they have gone on to release seminal material on their Nasha Records imprint that revolves around Drum & Bass and breaks in all of their 14 releases so far with tracks like â808â, âBhooliâ, âQawali Dubâ and tons of individual marvels on the label.
Nasha Recordsâ last excursions came in 2020 when they released the âKufiqâ EP featuring Ges-e, Shandy, Sukh Knight and Nuphlo, on 4 mind-bending tunes that exemplified the trademark aesthetics of Nasha Experience. After a few releases on their off-shoot Hundred Colours Music imprint, Nasha Experience has returned to the label for a sweltering 3-tracker called the â40 Acresâ EP.
The EP opens with title track from Osmani Soundz, who brings his penchant for dusky sounds with a confluence of a deep bassline and water-tight drums, layered over spellbinding eastern elements. Next up is âHeenaâ which is a progressive Drum & Bass roller power packed with intense bass growls. To draw curtains on a seriously well-rounded EP, the entirety of Nasha Experience comes together for a hypnotic 172 BPM stunner encapsulating the ethos this supergroup stands for.
Image Credits: Sach Dhanjal
We had the supergroup with us for a quick chat about their latest EP and their plans for 2022.
When did the idea of an EP with all the Nasha Experience members come about?
The Nasha Experience: We were working towards Nasha V4 and had too many tracks for the album. These 3 tracks worked really well together so we decided to release them as an EP leading up to the release of the album.
You have been the flagbearers of Drum & Bass in the Asian Underground scene. Looking back, what are your thoughts on how the scene or the community has grown as a whole?
The Nasha Experience: the scene was very healthy in the mid to late nineties, we have been pretty consistent in releasing material and pushing the sound forward naturally evolving. There is a new wave of DJ’s artists currently coming through, but havent heard much in terms of Eastern influences in the production side yet .. not enough contributors to make the scene grow again. Hopefully that may change in 2022.
Can we expect Nasha Experience to delve into other Asian Underground genres like UK Garage or Breakbeat?
The Nasha Experience: We already make breakbeat, we generally tend to make whatever we are feeling. We dont follow trends as long the sound has a deep spiritual sound we will explore it.. all our music projects have a deep spiritual undercurrent running through.
A little sneak peek into what 2022 is going to look like for Nasha Experience?
The Nasha Experience: Nasha V4 is planned for an early 2022 release with many more EP’s to follow
Grab the ’40 Acres’ EP by Nasha Experience – HERE
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