After their recent inaugural release, we sat down with the head honcho of Orbs Cure Labs to find out their goals, musical direction and what’s in store for the future.

Can you tell us a little about your label? Where are you from / how did the launch come about?

Orbs Cure Labs is a creative house for independent urban arts and culture based in Goa, India. We curate multi sensory experiences, with a focus on audio/visual subcultures in India and the world. OCL began as a support system for innovative, underground artists who push the boundaries of technological experimentation, expression, and are the voices behind progressive narratives in our eco-system. We became active during the pandemic when members of our arts community took a hit due to a lack of resources. We came together to create, collaborate, and enable platforms to help our community sustain and continue their crucial works as culture-makers. Our music imprint OCL Records is a direct result of that, where we created a digital platform for upcoming artists to document and showcase their works.

Are you driven by your local music scene or something more international?

We are highly inspired by collectives across the world that have facilitated change and created opportunities in their own realms. However, our aim is to establish ourselves as the pivotal port of call for urban art subcultures in South Asia in the coming years. As a unit, we work on bringing together local artists (musicians, DJs, producers, dancers, visual artists, painters etc) on the same stage as better known creators, to set an equal playing ground for all, foster collaborations, and enable equal visibility.
Our main goal is to build a local creative industry that is diverse, inclusive, progressive, and provides an efficient playground for the exchange of ideas, innovation and execution. In just the last year, we organized over a dozen events featuring formidable international artists like Nikita Zabelin, Mohini Dey, Dauwd and Mary from African Acid is the Future, and Matteo from Chineseman, placing them with upcoming artists from the country, raising over USD20,000 in revenue for the artists. We also focus on details like using organic materials (coconut leaves, discarded cloth, discarded fishnet etc) for visual backdrops, and create marketplaces at our events to highlight local artisans, craftspersons and artists.

What sound are you trying to push with OCL? what is at the core of your vision?

Currently the label’s focus is on underground Electronic Dance Music but we do hope to work with artists across genres who are committed to empowering left-field, gender-positive, genre-bending narratives. There are no budgets or budgetary policies in India to invest in crucial visionaries from overlooked art practices, and our aim is to address this. South Asia has much more in common within, than the division portrayed for political gains. We have shared realities in terms of lifestyle, culture, history, narratives, some of which are often marginalized/censored. We hope to weave all the available resources into our burgeoning independent creative industries, and nudge it towards being more self-sustainable, open, and progressive.

Who have been your main inspirations (both musical and in «life»)?

We are a team of two. So we have diverse inspirations. However, together, we are invested in collectives, entrepreneurs, and creators who are doing more to break down boundaries, and make resources and information accessible to all.

Ryan
My parents, Marshall McLuhan, GaryVee, John David Ebert,
Emperor Machine, Tipper, Parvati Records, Qilla Records, Haws Records, Swadesi Movement and I can go on…

Gowri
Family (taught me resilience, patience, importance of being independent), Joni Mitchell, Asha Puthli, Tom waits, Nick Drake, female:pressure, Khabar Lahariya, Shoma Sen, Sudha Bharadwaj, Medha Patkar, PARI, Roza Terenzi, Powder, the artists on the upcoming compilation by WAPM Records, NoName

How do you go about A&R, what do you look for when signing music?

As DJs and producers, we are constantly looking for new music, new perspectives, and this keeps us on our toes even when we aren’t actively looking for artists. Authenticity, honesty, and dedication to craft is key in what attracts us most.

Gowri: I do constantly look for women who are changing the scene. I’ve been doing this since I was a kid, with singer-songwriters, instrumentalists, entrepreneurs, collectives. Things are so off and imbalanced, one of my greatest incentives to do anything is to level the playing field.

How important is it to promote local artists?

The most important. And go further to add how important it is to support local narratives. We have our stories to tell, and it’s time to tell them. We have often found India’s independent music industry to be too exclusive, while we want inclusive. There has been so much worth given to imitation and appropriation (literally there were articles that read like this: if you listen to XXY in the global scene, you should check out ZZX in the local scene who sounds like THAT). We have so much going on as a people, it’s time we used any genre, style, space, to convey these uniquely shared perspectives and realities.

What can you tell us about your first release? 4 artists brought together made for something quite unique right?

We love this release. It really showcases all the individual artists’ styles and willingness to experiment with themselves. We had already established a connection with Shantam and Himay: they had performed previously at some of the events we organized, and we love their original works. We were keen on reaching out to Nigel Perera, an incredible producer and part of the ultra-inspiring Jambutek Recordings in Sri Lanka, and he was on board as well.

“Swarm intelligence is a branch of computational intelligence that discusses the collective behavior emerging within self-organizing societies of agents. SI was inspired by the observation of the collective behavior in societies in nature such as the movement of birds and fish.” Our project/s are inspired by this assimilation and movement of collective idea, society, consciousness, which is integral to our vision of a united creative future in the region.

What other contemporary artists are you enjoying?

Zequenx, Noni Mouse, Audio Units, Qilla Records, Film, Mbius, Jad & The, WAPM Records, RAND Muzik, Rene Wise, Emperor Machine, Lisene, Sansibar, Guy Contact, Anz, HAWS Music, Planetary Assault Systems, Many Roots Ensemble, Swadesi Movement, Gauley Bhai, Brainwaves, Buttechno, Lautaro Scavuzzo, Afro latin Vintage Orchestra, Gouri & Aksha, Lettuce, Little Simz, Trombone Shorty, Kohra, Adam Pits, Federika …

Visual artists: non.linear (Dennis Fabian Peter, Sensko, ThreeYellowLines (Anuj Gothi), Food_Slayer (Shrishti Bhandari), Payal Kundu, Afrah Shafiq, Devi Ganguly, Chris Dyer, TEHNC, Reuben Margolin …

Who are your dream artist that you would love to work with on OCL?

Any and all of the artists we mentioned above. We always look for emerging artists who blow our minds. So if you know any, mail us with demos at orbscurelabs@gmail.com

The past few years have been more difficult than ever when it comes to releasing music and running a label. How has it been preparing to launch your label in that period? Did you hold it back until now as things are getting better?

We decided to set up a label last April, in the midst of another lockdown in Goa.

The songs came through nice and early, and we loved them as we received them – there were influences of glitch, dub, acid, breaks, minimal techno, but all the tunes were unique and not run-of-the-mill in the slightest bit. We kept it to four tunes, because we wanted it to be compact, efficient, and not crowded. However, we got pretty broke right after we received all the tracks. We had embarked on incorporating Orbs Cure Labs as a limited liability partnership, and with the mastering costs, artwork, and the company formation, and in organizing events which were often jeopardized by bad weather, cops, inconsistent venues, etc, we had to wait and gather bits and pieces over nearly a year, to finally see it through. We are broke once again … lol.

What new projects are you lining up after Swarm Intel vol1?

For OCL Records, we are excited for the release of co-founder Ryan Kardam’s debut EP. The project features two Techno tunes at the moment. Ryan’s productions are heavily influenced by psychedelia, early trance, prog and forest. Another one in the (dream) pipeline is a compilation featuring live (afrobeat/folk/jazz/funk) bands from Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Australia and Colombia.

With a strong team of visual and sound artists, we are researching our entry into the world of NFTs and web 3.0 as well.

Label Social Links:

https://www.instagram.com/oclrecords/
https://oclrecords.bandcamp.com/

Sales / Pre-sales Link: https://linktr.ee/oclrecords