Queer Indian-Scottish producer, DJ and club promoter Rahul.mp3 has been making waves lately in the Glasgow music scene, with his unique remixes of artists like Charli xcx, Chappell Roan, FKA twigs, Sampha and more. Today, he releases Mumbai Heat, an EP featuring four brand new tracks inspired by artists like Jai Paul, M.I.A. and Anitta. Pulling together the Bhangra and Bollywood sounds of his South Asian heritage, but drawing on a wide array of genres from hip-hop and jungle to Brazilian funk, Rahul.mp3 has created a sound entirely his own.
With Mumbai Heat now freshly released, we catch up with Rahul.mp3 to find out more.
Can you start by telling us a bit about yourself? When did you get into music making?
My name is Rahul.mp3, I’m a Scottish-Indian Producer/DJ based in Glasgow. I make my own music and run my club night, Scandal.gla. I started off making disco music under a fake alias inspired by Daft Punk and Kaytranada. I realised I wanted to go a different route with my love of hip-hop, especially femme artists. I’d spend hours on YouTube watching Nicki Minaj videos and started making beats. Once I had started my club night, I knew I wanted to produce genres like hip-hop, Baile funk, dance and Bhangra.
You say you only really found your sound when you started getting involved in Glasgow’s hip-hop scene. How do you think that helped?
In terms of my sound there are a lot of factors, [including] going to other club nights where I could see femme and queer DJs playing music I wanted to hear in the club. My first gig was Mojxmma at Bonjour and I distinctly remember hearing Star Eye and Iso Yso playing hip-hop edits that literally inspired my sound today. I had never heard Brazilian funk or Jersey club in Scottish clubs; I had always loved those genres from being tapped in online, but seeing the reaction and energy of these genres in real life helped me decide my sound.
I love that your music is so heavily inspired by your Indian culture. On your latest EP you use that as the throughline to connect the four different tracks that also fuse together elements of jungle, Brazilian funk and more. What’s the process like for you to bring all of these different sounds together?
A lot of sampling. It’s such a skill to learn how to manipulate a sample and create a whole new experience. When I produce I can already hear what the song sounds like before I’ve made it and I’ll be playing a loop of it in my head until I can figure it out. I also know there are very few who mesh South Asian sounds into Brazilian funk so I was quite excited to make it.
Can you tell us a bit more about what inspired the song titles – Kola, Look and See, Bangles, and Ha – for these largely instrumental tracks?
The titles are links to memories I have of being in India and also watching Bollywood movies. Look and See being taken directly from the Hindi sample I used, “dehko” meaning “see”.
As well as being a producer, you also run the Glasgow club night Scandal.gla. Can you tell us more about the night, how long has it been running for, how’s it been going, and why did you feel it was needed in the Glasgow club scene?
Scandal.gla started off as a graded unit project in college last year. I was kinda messing around with multiple concepts for the first gig which probably confused venue bookers at the time. After the first gig at Bonjour was a success I really wanted to hone in on hip-hop and genres that fell under the same umbrella. I was going clubbing a lot with my friends and scoping out who I wanted to hire, and I came across so many talented queer and femme DJs.
The energy is something I’ve never felt before because of how authentic it is, people want to bring their own culture and bring something new that we don’t see in a lot of commercial gigs and that’s how I started out, I wanted to bring my Indian culture to the club and I carved a path for myself to do so.
Scandal.gla was a number of my peers’ first opportunity to DJ and I fell in love with the tradition of bringing on a new DJ to debut, with my two new team members Priya and Bellarosa both having their DJ debuts at Scandal.gla. I think it’s become a stepping stone and also acts as a community of people who want to see you succeed.
Now that the EP is out, what does the rest of this year and next look like for Rahul.mp3? And what’s next for Scandal.gla?
Once this project is out I’ve got an exciting schedule ahead, I’ll be returning to shitepop for a special Halloween edition on 25 Oct, making my solo debut at The Berkeley Suite for Gunk on 7 Nov and some exciting Brat parties in the near future!
As for Scandal.gla, we’re having our last party of the year at Stereo on 16 Nov with the legendary Bianca Oblivion alongside an exciting selection of local talent!
Mumbai Heat is self-released, and out now via Bandcamp
Rahul.mp3 plays shitepop, Stereo, Glasgow, 25 Oct; Gunk, The Berkeley Suite, Glasgow, 7 Nov; Scandal.gla returns to Stereo, Glasgow, 16 Nov
For more on Rahul.mp3, find him on Instagram, Bandcamp and SoundCloud
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