Sound Effect

His tryst with music began while at Doon School in Dehradun. Bakshi was the lead guitarist of a rock band,hated electronica and worshipped bands such as Rage Against The Machine and Green Day. “I went to Los Angeles,to Thornton Music School,to study how to play the guitar. All my friends used to go for EDM parties but I was quite a bookworm then. My friends once dragged me for Monster Massive,an annual electronica festival,and I saw a DJ behind the console and a sea of people looking at him and going nuts,” he says. “I was craving to learn this and that day onwards,I attended my classes and make my own electronica music. That was my idea of a perfect Sunday,” he adds.

The music Bakshi plays has its own personality. There’s a sense of mystery,freedom and insouciance that is hard to miss. It’s impossible to box his music in a single genre — from the mellow track Orbital to the trippy Qualia,there’s a mix of easy house,glitch hop at 100 bpm,future-electro and electro-rock. Each of his acts feature new material,giving the audience something different to savour each time. “Genres are inconsequential. I let myself get influenced. Otherwise,it’ll be boring,right?” asks Bakshi.

If there’s any routine that he follows,it’s in the hours that he spends at his studio in his Sardarjung house in south Delhi,listening to tempo,house or glitch-hop numbers or creating these sounds on his laptop with the help of his sequencer,or strumming the guitar. Behind the console,Bakshi is quite a maverick. But what sets him apart are the guitar riffs set so smoothly in electronica that EDM gets a whole new edge. “I am not a DJ,I am a live electronica artiste. I am not going on iTunes and mixing music of other artistes. I leave space in my music for guitar sounds and it certainly makes me stand out,” he says.

While in LA,Bakshi had little idea about the small leaps that indie music was taking in India,so when he returned two years later,in 2009,he was in for a shock. “I watched Jalebee Cartel perform in Delhi and I couldn’t believe that a high-end restaurant was letting artistes play minimal tempo and electronica. In LA,it was mostly underground. I also attended Sunburn Festival in Goa that year and I knew that India was the best place for EDM artistes. I finished my course and packed my bags,” says Bakshi.

The memories of his nervous first gig are still fresh in his mind. After networking with music aficionados at various south Delhi hotspots,he finally bagged a slot at the Holi Cow Festival in Mehrauli in 2010. “I was a little stumped to see about a thousand people there. I almost didn’t get a chance to play because of time restrictions. When I did get on stage,there were just 70 people left but I saw them loving the music,” he says. Since then,Dualist Inquiry has played hundreds of gigs across India and even got a slot at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton last year,where he played at the festival’s largest venue,the Brighton Dome,opening for American electronica star,DJ Shadow.

Bakshi’s greatest moments till now,though,is opening for his idol Fat Boy Slim. “When I was in college,I watched him perform once and I was blown away. The showmanship,the music and the visuals — he was brilliant at everything. This year,when I got a call from the organisers of his India tour asking if I would like to open for him,I just said ‘gladly’. I went berserk with joy,” says Bakshi.

It’s difficult for him to imagine life beyond music. “I have no work life. Music is both my personal and professional life and I love it,” he says. Despite the lull that summer sees in the indie music scene,Bakshi already has a packed schedule. His first album is set to release by summer-end and there’s a Europe tour on its heels. “I am ambitious and impatient. I am at a good place right now in my career but I am not content. I never want to sit back,” he says.