The Lab
The Lab India 2024: Three Months In
We're looking back at a fantastic third month of The Lab India, bringing you artists including London's Nicky Elisabeth, Berlin's DJ Fuckoff, and India's own Kampai
In November, Mixmag and The Smirnoff Project presented by Smirnoff Lemon Pop Non Alcoholic launched a new season of our legendary DJ streaming series in September, The Lab, with a string of events across different Indian cities. So far, we’ve thrown parties in Goa, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Pune & Hyderabad, featuring the best Indian and international talent, with a strong focus on inclusivity and diversity.
For the first time ever in The Lab India history, we travelled to nine different cities in the same month: Kolkata, Hyderabad, Goa, Pune, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Gurgaon, and debut shows in Jaipur and Indore. The third month of The Lab India saw a mix of both international and homegrown artists. Our international curation saw artists like Nicky Elisabeth, DJ Fuckoff, and Moscada perform in Kolkata, Goa and Jaipur respectively. Amsterdam and London-based Nicky Elisabeth’s set was filled with pop melodies and tracks featuring strong vocal hooks, while DJ Fuckoff set the dancefloor ablaze with an open-format performance that saw her play drum ‘n’ bass, house and UK garage to psytrance, pop edits and her own originals. Russian-born DJ Moscada swung the pendulum between hard-as-nails grooves and hypnotic sounds that threw the club into a state of utter chaos.
Our first homegrown act for November was Elsewhere In India, showcasing a drum ‘n’ bass-inspired, audiovisual electronic performance in Hyderabad. The duo’s set was followed by Labs in Pune, Gurgaon, Mumbai, and Indore featuring Unnayanna, Kollision, Suggahunny and Nake. A DJ, producer and experimentalist Unnayanna morphed the sounds of afrobeat and baile funk, while Kollision delivered her signature power-packed, fast-paced set. Suggahunny & Nake both catered to the pop fans with nostalgic hits from the ‘90s and ‘00s, breaks, and more contemporary anthems. At the end of November, Bengaluru’s very own Kampai threw a party in his hometown, cementing himself as one of the city’s finest exports, delivering a bass-heavy set featuring pop hits.
The 2024 season of Lab India is incomplete without some input from our artists. Some of them gave their thoughts on the ‘We Do We’ campaign by The Smirnoff Project presented by The Smirnoff Lemon Pop Non Alcoholic – a project championing the power of collective unity and advocating for a more inclusive society where individual differences are celebrated rather than marginalised. Stay tuned on The Smirnoff Project’s Instagram to hear what the artists had to say.
