With techno having a firm grip on party-goers, it’s no wonder that many artistes are dabbling in the genre. One such artiste is Arjun Vagale who brings nothing but energy to his music. The type of techno he makes has rapid beats, which sound hard-hitting with a thick bassline. But Arjun is more than a musician. He is also a producer, label owner, radio show host, and all-round music entrepreneur. Earlier, he was a part of Jalebee Cartel and had shared the stage with The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy and Modeselekto. A chat with the artiste who was recently in town for The Warehouse, in association with The Telegraph, at JW Marriott Kolkata

How was The Warehouse hosted by Nikhil Chinapa and Offline CCU?

Fantastic vibe and all-round great show. It’s nice to see The Warehouse format gigs hit the city. I had a super time.

What is your impression of the techno scene in Calcutta?

I’ve been playing in Calcutta for 20 years, so it’s always good to be back. The city always had a strong music-loving crowd.

Your song Drift was on the Spatial Audio mix by Jeff Mills for Apple. How did you react when you found out?

What can I say... a legend like Jeff Mills playing my music is probably one of the highlights of my year.

Your EP Function 88 came out recently which was described by Rekids Special Projects as “no-nonsense and hard-hitting techno”. How would you describe the five-track EP?

It’s a straight-up, in-your-face techno EP. All the tracks were made with the dance floor in mind. I’ve been road testing all the tracks for a while and they work well.

There are a lot of recurring melodies and sci-fi sounds in the EP. Is that something you like playing around with?

Yes, I’ve actually been playing around with this for a few years. It’s very prominent in my AXIS Records as well.

Would you say you stepped out of your comfort zone while producing the EP?

All my music is in some way a progression or experiment. These tracks were mostly live jams I recorded that eventually became the EP.

You were also a part of the Techno Against War line-up with Beatport and Suara. Could you please get into more details about it?

We’ve all seen the horrific atrocities happening in Ukraine, so this was an effort by a bunch of artists spread across the globe, to come together and generate money for UNICEF to help with people displaced by war. The best you can do is buy the music. So far we have collected about €4000.