Glass Beams

Last updated

Glass Beams
Origin Melbourne, Australia
Genres
Years active2020 (2020)–present
LabelsResearch Records
Ninja Tune Records
Members
  • Rajan Silva
Website glassbeams.com

Glass Beams is an Australian musical trio from Melbourne, Australia. The band was founded by Rajan Silva in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their debut EP Mirage was released in June 2021. The band blends synth, rock, psychedelic, electric guitar, eastern instrumentals, and subtle cooing vocals. [1] Their on-stage presence is characterised by their Russian-designed bejeweled glass masks.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Background

Glass Beams is influenced by founding member Rajan Silva's childhood exposure to diverse music. Some inspiration is from traditional Indian popular music and western rock. A fusion of styles is evident in their self-produced works, which combine live instruments with electronic elements. Silva remembers watching "Concert for George," a tribute to the Beatles' George Harrison, featuring sitar maestro Ravi Shankar and western rock legends. This mix mirrored his father's record collection, where Bollywood film songs shared space with blues icons. Silva was drawn to the work of Indian artists, such as R. D. Burman, Ananda Shankar, and the fraternal duo Kalyanji-Anandji, who pioneered the mixing of eastern and western styles.

Their debut EP Mirage, was released in 2021. Mahal was released in 2024.

Early live performances (reverse chronological order)

Discography

Extended plays

List of EPs, with selected details
TitleDetails
Mirage
  • Released: June 2021
  • Label: Research Records
Mahal
  • Released: March 2024
  • Label: Ninja Tune


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ravi Shankar</span> Indian musician and sitar player (1920–2012)

Ravi Shankar was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known expert of North Indian classical music in the second half of the 20th century, and influenced many musicians in India and throughout the world. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tinariwen</span> Collective of Tuareg musicians from the western Sahara Desert

Tinariwen is a collective of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara region of northern Mali. Considered pioneers of desert blues, the group's guitar-driven style combines traditional Tuareg and African music with Western rock music. They have released nine albums since their formation and have toured internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saosin</span> American rock band

Saosin is an American rock band formed in 2003 in Orange County, California. The group originally consisted of Beau Burchell, Justin Shekoski, Zach Kennedy and Anthony Green. Their debut EP, Translating the Name, was released in the same year. However, Green departed from the band due to personal reasons, leading to Cove Reber joining as vocalist in 2004. With Reber, the band released their self-titled debut album in 2006 under Capitol Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WOMADelaide</span>

WOMADelaide is an annual four-day festival of Music, Arts and Dance, which was first held in 1992 in Botanic Park, Adelaide, South Australia. One of many WOMAD festivals held around the world, it is a four-day event that presents a diverse selection of music from artists around the world, as well as side events like talks and discussions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anoushka Shankar</span> British-American musician (born 1981)

Anoushka Hemangini Shankar is a British-American sitar player and musician of Indian descent, as well as occasional writer and actor. She performs across multiple genres and styles—classical and contemporary, acoustic and electronic. In addition to releasing seven solo studio albums beginning with Anoushka (1998), she has also worked alongside a wide variety of musicians, including Karsh Kale on the full-length collaboration Breathing Under Water (2007) and her father Ravi Shankar. She has received nine Grammy Awards nominations and was the first musician of Indian origin to perform live and to serve as a presenter at the ceremony. She was the youngest and first woman to receive a British House of Commons Shield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pendulum (drum and bass band)</span> Australian drum & bass band

Pendulum is an Australian electronic rock band founded in 2002. Pendulum originally formed in the city of Perth, Western Australia, by Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillen and Paul "El Hornet" Harding. The band was later expanded to include members Ben Mount, Peredur ap Gwynedd and KJ Sawka. The group is notable for its distinctive sound, mixing electronic music with hard rock and covering a wide range of genres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hard-Ons</span> Australian punk rock band

The Hard-Ons are an Australian punk rock band, which formed in 1982 in Punchbowl, New South Wales. Its founding members were Keish de Silva on lead vocals and drums, Peter "Blackie" Black on guitar and backing vocals, and Ray Ahn on bass guitar. The band issued five studio albums prior to their disbandment in 1994. The band reformed in 1997. In 2002, de Silva announced his departure from the band. He was replaced on drums by Front End Loader's Peter Kostic, while Black took over on lead vocals. Kostic was later replaced in turn by Conation drummer Murray Ruse in 2011. de Silva returned as a guest vocalist in 2014, and permanently rejoined the band in 2016. This version of the band would stay together for a further five years and one studio album, prior to de Silva's second departure in 2021. You Am I frontman Tim Rogers has since taken over as the band's lead vocalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justice (band)</span> French electronic music duo

Justice is a French electronic music duo consisting of Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay. Justice is known for incorporating a strong rock influence into their music and image.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gods of Blitz</span>

Gods of Blitz is a rock band founded in Berlin. They performed a pop-friendly style of Garage rock, with strong punk and proto-punk influences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sitar in popular music</span>

While the sitar had earlier been used in jazz and Indian film music, it was from the 1960s onwards that various pop artists in the Western world began to experiment with incorporating the sitar, a classical Indian stringed instrument, within their compositions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digitalism (band)</span> German electronic music duo

Digitalism are an electronic music duo formed in Hamburg by German musician Jens Moelle and Turkish musician İsmail Tüfekçi in 2004. The duo are signed to French label Kitsuné, as well as Virgin Records and Astralwerks in other parts of the world.

Pod People are a doom metal band from Canberra, Australia that formed in 1991. The band has recorded six releases, playing a blend of stoner and sludge traits, with lyrics on themes of cannabis in their earlier works, to topics thematically based around The Divine Comedy. The band released one EP and several demo tapes with the original line up. The founding members later left the band during 1993–1996, which drastically altered the make up and sound of the band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moriarty (band)</span> Multinational band

Moriarty is a French-American musical group formed in 1995. It is a musical collective of five artists of French, American, Swiss and Vietnamese origin, who were mostly born in France to American parents. The group was named Moriarty in reference to Dean Moriarty, the hero of On the Road by Jack Kerouac.

You and What Army were an English four-piece electronic rock band formed in 2007, originating from Telford. It consisted of David Brown, Kieran Charles Smith, Jamie Hancox and Zak Hammond from 2008, and previously with Joseph Allen (guitar), Darren Smith (bass), and Thomas Bridgwater (drums). Although they are predominantly a rock band, they combine several different musical styles into their sound and are mainly influenced by heavy metal and electronic music.

The Shaolin Afronauts are an Afrobeat band based in Adelaide, Australia. Their music is heavily influenced by West African Afrobeat artists such as Fela Kuti, but also incorporates elements of avant-garde jazz, soul and other traditional African and Cuban percussive rhythms. They describe their music as "interstellar futurist afro-soul".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Dead Daisies</span> Australian-American rock band

The Dead Daisies are an Australian-American hard rock band formed in 2012 in Sydney, Australia. The band has sometimes been referred to as a supergroup, as its membership has included a number of musicians who have performed with other highly notable acts, such as Guns N' Roses, Noiseworks, Rob Zombie, The Cult, The Rolling Stones, Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake. The band has had substantial changes of membership since its formation, having only its rhythm guitarist David Lowy as a continuing founding member since 2015.

<i>Collaborations</i> (Ravi Shankar and George Harrison album) 2010 box set by Ravi Shankar & George Harrison

Collaborations is a four-disc compilation box set by the Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar and the former Beatle George Harrison. Released in October 2010 on Dark Horse Records, it compiles two studio albums originally issued on that label – the long-unavailable Shankar Family & Friends (1974) and Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from India (1976) – and Chants of India, first issued on Angel Records in 1997. Although all three albums were originally Shankar releases, for which Harrison served in the role of music producer and guest musician, both Shankar and Harrison are credited as artists on the box set. Each of the collaborative projects represents a departure from Shankar's more typical work as a sitarist and performer of Hindustani classical ragas, with the box set showcasing his forays into, variously, jazz and rock, Indian folk and orchestral ensembles, and devotional music.

Moutaiz Al-Obaidi, known professionally as Motez, is an Australian record producer, musician, installation artist and DJ. Motez was a refugee born in Iraq and moved to Adelaide in 2006. Motez's Song "The Future" featuring Antony and Cleopatra was certified Platinum in Australia. He has won several South Australian Music Awards for Best Solo Artist (2021) and Most Popular Electronic Artist

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Brian Jonestown Massacre</span> American rock band

The Brian Jonestown Massacre is an American rock band led and started by Anton Newcombe. It was formed in San Francisco in 1990.

The South Australian Music Awards, also known as SA Music Awards, commonly SAM Awards, formerly Fowler's Live Music Awards (FLMA), are annual awards that exist to recognise, promote and celebrate excellence in the South Australian contemporary music industry. They take place in Adelaide, South Australia every November. The venue has varied over the years.

References

  1. "Exclusive: Glass Beams Speak About Indian Heritage and Magnetic Fields Festival". Rolling Stone India . Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  2. "Photo: Archived WOMADelaide stage photo" . Retrieved March 29, 2024.