Kalistani Major History

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VDR's Quickstop Experiments with Far Eastern Music
Vascanian Influences and Ananti Lyrics mix with Alternative/Indie Rock Styles
Vrassa City, Duchy of Vrassa
August 5, 5537


Quickstop, the Kalistani/Vascanian Trio bring experimental music to the Mainstream

VDR, a label usually known for its alt-folk and hip hop, has released a new record by a Vrassan band known as Quickstop. Incidentally, none of them are from Vrassa. Two of the three members emigrated from the distant nation of Vascania to Luthori where they grew up with the third member of the band, and then all three emigrated once more to Kalistan, where they have lived for the last three years.

"Kalistan is obviously the place to make music," said lead singer Ajay Bhattacharia. "Growing up in Luthori, I listened to almost exclusively Kalistani music. So when I and my brother decided to start our band, there was only one place to go. Its industry and music scene definitely offer the most freedom and creative space to make a living at music, and the culture of Kalistan is far more open to hearing what we are playing." Ajay Bhattacharia and his brother Mandar, along with drummer Greg Hinton all decided to cut ties with the Artanian nation and relocated to Vrassa City, where they began working in clubs, until they submitted a demo tape at VDR and were signed to the record label.

The new LP, called "Early Wakeup Committee" features ten songs of mostly alternative rock. But the music is influenced by two things: the Bhattacharia Brothers' Vascanian culture and psychedelic drugs, primarily LSD. "Well, we grew up in a pretty strict Vascanian home in Luthori," said Ajay. "Our parents thought we would be barristers and physicians. And Mandar and I only wanted to play music. It was a real disappointment to my mother, especially when I dropped out of school. When we told them we were moving to Kalistan, my mother cried for three days. They thought we would lose our culture. But you see, here our culture is a curiosity: We are the only ones doing anything like Ananti Language rock in Kalistan. We can bring that part of our heritage to Kalistanis, and kind of mix that with the culture we are now part of."

The music is also inflected by trip hop production techniques and beats that highlight the Vascanian influences. "In Kalistan, Vascania is exotic, you know: mystical. Many of the things we hear on a daily basis in our own community back home sound positively psychedelic here. The drone, the hand drum, and all, laid on a hip hop beat with a chant over it, to me that is a raga. To Kalistanis, that is an acid trip. Both get you to the same place, in my experience."

"At the end of the day," said Mandar, the band's bassist, "we took what we know and what we like, and mixed those things to make something new. We don't reduce anything: it's all addition, and people seem to like it here. Kalistani fans tend to be far more open minded than anywhere else, and they are open to trying new sounds. Plus it helps to be among the only Native Ananti speakers in a country which was named after our language. That's pretty wild. It's sort of like returning to our roots."

Despite being heavily influenced by Vascanian traditional music, most of the lyrics are in Vrassan. "We of course speak both languages equally well," said Ajay. "I was two when we moved to Luthori, so I don't actually remember much about Vascania, but Mandar was 6. In the home we spoke Ananti, and in the school we spoke Luthorian. No problem to switch between the two. Our parents were also very forward thinking, knowing that if we were to remain in Luthori, we would need to acquire the language, so there was no stigma to being bi-lingual, and therefore it was rather easy to move to Kalistan. Some strange idioms here I admit, but nothing we can't figure out." The Vrassan language used in the songs made them instantly accessible, and the selective use of Ananti made them exciting to Kalistani listeners, who rewarded the band with ticket sales, and now album sales.

Asked what the best thing about Kalistan is, Ajay responded "The music scene here is fun. A lot of the bands are really great, everyone is very welcoming and open, and the music is maybe a little bit formulaic at times, but like everything, things get a little stale and need refreshers and fundamentalist movements every once in a while to remind musicians that they are artists first. But after the music, its definitely the drugs and the people. Our creativity went through the roof after arriving in Kalistan, for obvious reasons. Literally everyone on our block is in a band. They are all doing the same drugs and all playing music together. It is a very fertile environment for ideas and exchange."

Quickstop's debut album Early Wakeup Committee is out now on VDR, and a new video for the title song is playing in heavy rotation on M7. You can watch it here.

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY1P0Kekjx0]