Rock Mudson

3mo

On Lapgan, the producer

Several years ago, my friend and I fixated on an idea: to do for the rich traditions of classical Indian music what hip-hop has long done for jazz, surfacing through samples the undersung earworms and singular timbres that largely go unheard by contemporary listeners. Then we discovered Lapgan, who in his ornate beat tapes inspired by ancestral modalities and laced with echoes from across the subcontinent, we recognized a better realized vision of what we thought did not yet exist. On his 2019 and 2021 albums Badmaash and Duniya Kya Hai, the producer born Gaurav Nagpal (his stage name is his last name backwards) cooked up an aromatic feast of found sounds that ranged from the sandy tip of Kerala to the hill stations of Punjab. Some tracks rearranged fluttering Bengali flutes into the frenetic bounce of a Just Blaze banger; other songs transformed Tamil film music in the most inspired way since M.I.A.’s Kala.

Lapgan on this album

“It’s so full circle to have one of your musical idols, someone you look up to, f*ck with and validate what you’re doing,” Lapgan tells me over Zoom from his home studio earlier this month. The vote of confidence inspired a new period of bountiful creativity for the producer, and now artists from across his record collection are starting to show up on his beats, a cast of names he can’t publicly share yet but includes several staples of the contemporary rap underground. More important than those star-studded collaborations have been the connections Lapgan’s music has allowed him with other creatives in the South Asian hip-hop beat space. “Only recently have I been making friends from music,” Lapgan says. “To be able to talk to people about music I like and share ideas and production tips, that’s a community that I feel like I never had and that I’m really grateful for and value.”

https://www.passionweiss.com/2023/08/22/lapgan-interview-veena-sounds-history/

Rock Mudson

3mo

On Lapgan, the producer

Several years ago, my friend and I fixated on an idea: to do for the rich traditions of classical Indian music what hip-hop has long done for jazz, surfacing through samples the undersung earworms and singular timbres that largely go unheard by contemporary listeners. Then we discovered Lapgan, who in his ornate beat tapes inspired by ancestral modalities and laced with echoes from across the subcontinent, we recognized a better realized vision of what we thought did not yet exist. On his 2019 and 2021 albums Badmaash and Duniya Kya Hai, the producer born Gaurav Nagpal (his stage name is his last name backwards) cooked up an aromatic feast of found sounds that ranged from the sandy tip of Kerala to the hill stations of Punjab. Some tracks rearranged fluttering Bengali flutes into the frenetic bounce of a Just Blaze banger; other songs transformed Tamil film music in the most inspired way since M.I.A.’s Kala.

Lapgan on this album

“It’s so full circle to have one of your musical idols, someone you look up to, f*ck with and validate what you’re doing,” Lapgan tells me over Zoom from his home studio earlier this month. The vote of confidence inspired a new period of bountiful creativity for the producer, and now artists from across his record collection are starting to show up on his beats, a cast of names he can’t publicly share yet but includes several staples of the contemporary rap underground. More important than those star-studded collaborations have been the connections Lapgan’s music has allowed him with other creatives in the South Asian hip-hop beat space. “Only recently have I been making friends from music,” Lapgan says. “To be able to talk to people about music I like and share ideas and production tips, that’s a community that I feel like I never had and that I’m really grateful for and value.”

https://www.passionweiss.com/2023/08/22/lapgan-interview-veena-sounds-history/

Cole2

3mo

I’m tapping into his album from last year and

NDL DOOM

3mo

IN

Cole2

3mo

I’m tapping into his album from last year and

TUNDRA IV

3mo

· edited

Remember when Bino spit this as a freestyle on BET lol

Fever

3mo

holy F*** sri lanka is insane

this the first time I ran back a rap song repeatedly on first listen in years

heems is SO SO SO back

Rock Mudson

3mo

It's gonna be special

Fever

3mo

last fm says im on listen 8

this song is insane

every f***ing bar

I dont even like YOD

Rock Mudson

3mo

YOD is great

Fever

3mo

got specific songs for me to check out? I followed him in those weird conspiracy early days heavy but I only think I have like a couple songs I ever liked enough to save. I just thought it was interesting how he followed the spark master tape promotion technique

he snapped on this tho