Indian Ocean, India’s iconic band, releases their new album, 16/330 Khajoor Road. The album is named after Indian Ocean’s beautifully dilapidated jamming pad in Central Delhi where the band has rehearsed and composed since 1997, producing path-breaking albums Kandisa, Jhini and Black Friday. The new album is an acknowledgement of the almost spiritual energy of the house that has inspired the band’s musical genius. The album is special because it features all the constituent band members (Amit Kilam, Rahul Ram and Susmit Sen) including their former percussionist and vocalist, Asheem Chakravarty, who passed away in Dec 2009. Asheem was deeply involved in composing, performing and recording the songs of 16/330 Khajoor Road.
In keeping with their ground-breaking tradition, Indian Ocean will be giving away all seven songs of the album free of cost in the form of mp3 downloads from their website www.indianoceanmusic.com, one song a month over the next seven months. Fans will need to log on to the website, register and get an e-mailed code that shall let them download song.
This past year has been eventful for Indian Ocean has they have had to add two musicians (Himanshu Joshi and Tuhin Chakravarty) to their line-up to make up for Asheem. They also have had 2 feature films made about them: Leaving Home, which was released across all major cities and Beware Dogs. Indian Ocean has also composed songs for a film called Peepli Live (releasing in August 2010)– produced by Bollywood icon Aamir Khan. The film has been selected by the Sundance Film Festival.
Indian Ocean launches their highly anticipated 8th US tour at the end of August 2010, playing around the country, which includes a show at BB King Blues Club in NYC. They are also playing in Canada, China, Indonesia, Europe and Singapore.