India’s Praveen Achary returns to his own imprint Juicebox Music with a powerful single titled – Fiasco, in collaboration with Aman Anand. As one of the pioneers of the ‘Progressive’ sound in his country, the Bangalore-based artist’s body of work spans over a decade, highlighted by his music on Mitch Alexander’s ‘microCastle’, Cid Inc’s ‘Replug’, an official remix for Above and Beyond on their ‘We Are All We Need’ album release for India and a vinyl-release on Slow Crime’s ‘Spaghetti Monster’.
You can read the interview below, and make sure to check out “Fiasco” as well.
WWD: Hey Praveen, thanks for joining us! How are you?
Hello! I’m doing well, thank you. It’s been a tough start to the year after going through COVID & it’s after-effects. The recovery process is still going on, but I’m taking care of my health as much as I consciously can. I recently started producing music again after taking a complete break in 2020, so there are quite a few fun moments when I’m re-discovering some techniques & processes that I used to use.
WWD: You’ve been known to be one of the main driving forces behind the recent growth of ‘Progressive House’ in India. How did the interest towards this sound all begin, where do you see it going and did you envision reaching an influential position when you started your career in music?
Thank you, that’s far too kind. Reaching the deeper style of ‘progressive house’ sound was a natural evolution from digging deeper since my first interest in ‘4×4 dance music’ – uplifting & progressive trance. During the early discovery days, there were a lot of ‘wow’ moments in so many different sub-genres that it eventually trickled into a style that I truly embrace & enjoy nowadays. The melodic aspect of any style of music piques my interest and then combining it with the body-effect of certain grooves in club systems is where I usually get inspired by. Obviously my sound (and the progressive house sound in general) is constantly evolving to some degree, thanks to the fusion of different styles & genres by so many creators. It’s like a mad scientist’s lab out there, haha! Honestly, I never thought of reaching any position as such when I started, and even now. I’m just doing what I love and I’m thankful for all the opportunities that have come by. In the early days of entering the scene, I’ll admit that I’m guilty of having played certain styles that I felt that the audience wanted to hear, as opposed to the style I produced & loved, which really messed with me for a while until I had a hearty conversation with Guy J and he advised me to just stick to what I want to say & love, no matter the difficulty. He was absolutely right. Eternally grateful for that moment and I carry that same advice forward to anyone who asks, in music or in life.
WWD: Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic started, it’s been a crazy & unpredictable time so far for everyone. How has it affected the local music industry and how did you adapt during this timeframe?
It’s been so tough to see so many people confused, scared & have their lives completely halted due to this pandemic. The lockdowns have messed up not just the individual sectors but the overall economy of countries. India’s clubbing industry was & still is largely connected with the food & beverage industry, so when restaurants, pubs & clubs shut down, it affected everyone around it from DJs, promoters, agencies, sponsors to bartenders, chefs, bouncers & venue staff. So many of them rely on these jobs to even make month-to-month ends meet. It was really disheartening to experience that first-hand. The creative people tried adapting by doing live streams or using this time to produce more music, which is fantastic. Personally, I decided to just step away from music completely for more than 8 months to re-calibrate myself. It really helped in finding value in everything around me as well as focusing on a balance to get myself motivated enough to want to make music away from the ‘club-sound’ inspiration that comes from touring.
WWD: With shows & festivals slowly opening back up, what excites you the most when returning to touring?
I’m always looking forward to seeing how the audience reacts to those special moments during the set that makes everything worth it, whether it’s a new track, a unique sound, a memorable melody or even a transition that elevates the entire flow of the set. I’ve also always loved hanging with fans, new or old, many of them eventually become good friends of mine over time.
WWD: We’ve seen some amazing releases come through on your imprint – ‘Juicebox Music’ ever since its inception in 2013. Talk us through the vision for the label.
I’m really happy with how the label’s shaped up! Launching it with the intent of pushing the sound I play to my audience and more, whether it’s introducing local artists to international audiences or international artists to the local audience. There were so many things I wished labels that I had signed to in the past gave more effort into, especially since a lot of it can be done by oneself these days. So, the focus of Juicebox Music has always been to promote & create content around the artists & music as much as possible, more than what they can do alone. It’s been extremely rewarding to see fellow label peers that started with us, succeed in their own paths. A close friend & colleague of mine, Greg Tomaz, joined the label as a manager + A&R a few years ago and together, we’ve been continuing this ethos without any compromise.
WWD: Congratulations on the 50th release on Juicebox Music! You’ve celebrated it through a collaborative single with Singapore-based Aman Anand titled “Fiasco”. What a wild one! Run us through the process of how this track came about.
Thank you so much! Well, it was pretty simple in essence but coincidental in many others. Aman Anand sent across the first draft right before the COVID lockdowns started. With everything that was going on, I was immediately drawn to the organized chaos idea of the track and asked if we could collaborate on it. He sent over all the stems and I started reworking the groove, re-arranging & adding a few vital elements that added to the character & vibe. It was months later that we both realized that the title ‘Fiasco’ described what we both were feeling during the time of producing the track. Individually, we both went through a series of plans & life events that crumbled before us, but we always picked ourselves back up, slowly but surely, to continue with our vision.
WWD: Will there be a follow-up to “Fiasco” and are there other collaborations in the pipeline?
Since we really enjoyed the process of working together for the first time, Aman & I have been quite excited about exploring some more tracks together. We’re just looking for the right project to execute our strengths together again. As for the other collaborations, there’s a few that have been initiated but I’ve just been a bit busy with some other solo projects that need my priority before jumping on these. Hopefully they’ll be back on track sooner than later.
WWD: When working on new music, whether it’s remixes or originals, is there a pre-determined direction or style that you already have in mind? What are your go-to building blocks?
When it’s a remix, it all depends on the parts and how I feel I can portray the core of the original’s idea into my version. I tend to go in a completely different direction from the original, rather than a ‘rework’ of sorts. Maybe that’s why most of my work barely resembles each other as I don’t like repeating things like a template. The same feeling of ‘trying to do something a bit different’ goes for originals too. In both scenarios, I always see myself working on the bassline & groove with the fundamental melodic element first. It always gets built up from there.
WWD: If we take a peek into your studio, what gear can we find?
It’s pretty simple with an iMac running Ableton 10, connected to a Native Instrument Komplete Audio 6 audio interface (I need to upgrade that) paired with a set of Dynaudio LYD8 monitors. I also carry my Beyerdynamics DT880 Pro while I’m traveling and it’s served me quite well. I used to have a Novation MIDI keyboard, but I’ve rarely used it and just ended up donating it to a friend. I’ve never owned any hardware equipment, but I’m keen to get a nice little multitasking rig added in the near future, a synth & FX unit or something like that.
WWD: Thank you for chatting with us, Praveen! What are some plans you have for the rest of 2021 that you’d like to share?
It’s been my pleasure! The rest of 2021 is mostly focusing on the label and wrapping up a pair of pending remixes that’s due out this year and completing some originals + collaborations for 2022. Hopefully, if things open up safely, I’ll be looking forward to touring regularly again as well.
Aman Anand & Praveen Achary – Fiasco
Stream – https://juiceboxmusic.fanlink.to/jbm050
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Soundcloud – https://soundcloud.com/praveenachary
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