Raja Rani’s ‘The Indian Italian’ EP bridges cultures & club-ready sounds

Raja Rani is set to release their EP titled ‘The Indian Italian’ on January 24, 2025, via New York-based Aqualabian Records.

Spanning three tracks—‘The Indian’, ‘The Italian’, and ‘The Indian Italian’—it seamlessly fuses South Asian and Italian influences, drawing inspiration from the duo’s cultural heritage and musical journey since meeting in Singapore.

“The EP has been designed taking inspiration from the 80's/90's acid house/disco, electronic pop, and new age indie dance. “We took sound samples from Roland TR 808 for rhythm and Roland TB 303 for acid synths to give old school energy,” the duo mention.

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Before the official drop, the Singapore-based duo exclusively share with Mixmag Asia a brief breakdown for each track’s sonic direction.

“For ‘The Indian’, we wanted to have the influence of 80’s acid music—Charanjit Singh had a major influence on us. Meanwhile, ‘The Italian’ had an interesting approach when we came across some vocal samples. It’s more romantic and poetic, talks about endless love and kisses; classic Italian. The concept is a bit cheesy, so we wanted to give a strong contrast with the sound, making it more modern and edgy.”

As for ‘The Indian Italian’, the duo recorded their own voices and manipulated them using AI tools to create what they describe as a “dirty and rusty fashion of sounds we like to play in clubs when our set time is past midnight.”

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The EP was showcased at Wonderfruit 2024, marking a milestone for the duo. “Playing our music in Wonderfruit 2024 edition has been incredible! …the crowd really responded to the tracks in a very enthusiastic way, which for us is fundamental,” they share. Listen to their set here.

Representing Singapore on such a stage holds deep meaning for the duo, who credit the city’s vibrant electronic music scene for shaping their artistic identity.

“Singapore brought us together as a couple, a DJ duo, as producers and a fashion startup, we are forever grateful to our supporters and event organizers in Singapore who gave us this opportunity to kickstart. However, our inspirations are not only coming from our favourite artists in Singapore and the international acts flying in every weekend but also from our countries of origin and our ‘growing up’ musical journey.”

Pre-order Raja Rani 'The Indian Italian' here.

Amira Waworuntu is Mixmag Asia’s Managing Editor, follow her on Instagram.

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