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Formed in late 2007 in Bangalore, Sridhar/Thayil is a lyrical pop duo from Bombay-NY-NJ-Hong Kong. Their "brand of urban grime" concocts sweet jazz vocals with mean gravelly talk over wailing blues guitar and electronic back beats.
S/T has been known to combine scratchy beats with pop melodies and operatic vocals with Hindustani funk; and they play a range of characters as part of their live act: a demented preacher, a three year old, a drowning man...
S/T has performed internationally and in India at venues such as the Galle Festival (Sri Lanka), Sula Fest (Nasik), Prithvi festival (Mumbai) etc.
SPLIT-MAGAZINE Interview
WHAT OTHERS SAY:
"Sridhar/Thayil are redefining indie music in India."-Rolling Stone, July 2009.
"music and performing art meet whimsy..."-Rolling Stone, July 2009.
"The project of the uber-talented Suman Sridhar and Jeet Thayil, Sridhar/Thayil gave us reason to believe that creativity and substance could work together in only the dirtiest of ways. If ‘cutting edge’ was ever a term used to define music, this would be it. Their brand of urban grime...is refreshing and totally unique to an Indian scene that needs people to speak up about art and feelings. And stuff." -Indiecision.com, May 2008.
"Suman Sridhar and Jeet Thayil combine their unmistakable talents of word-smithing, song writing and all-round performing to cook up a jazz-toned, grass-root feel stew pot of sexy groove music." -Times of India, May 2008.
"An unabashedly intriguing act", "refreshingly engrossing and honest."-The Asian Age, September 2008.
"The project of theatre actor and singer Suman Sridhar and poet Jeet Thayil, Sridhar/Thayil’s lyrical pop takes thematic Indian music sensibilities and combines them with an urban swagger in the vein of early Björk and, occasionally, Tom Waits. Bring Me Rain is a perfect example of their dirty-sexy feel, taking traditional Indian sounds and cooking up something that could work equally well at a nu-jazz club or a grimy bar." -Music Alliance Pact, August 2009
"'This Be the Beat’ is what makes performance word art the adrenalin-pumping, head nodding, table thumping voodoo it is, when its done good." -Times of India
"Suman (Sridhar)'s clear, almost child-like soprano rang out like a clarion, even as Jeet (Thayil) wove wicked blues licks on his guitar, emphasising a punch line, riding a tricky vocal passage, dropping some gravelly witticisms in a forest of midis and occasionally switching to play a rather grating keyboard." -Rolling Stone
"Suman Sridhar got words spilling from her mouth, eyes and finger tips...You can hear this artist’s passion in her voice...It rolls over the jazz structures like the tones of a mature Vanessa Paradis meets Bjork reborn with the controlled honey that comes with Indian classical training."-Times of India
"Thayil’s gravelly, clear cut delivery..You need to hear the man tell it on ‘This Be the Beat’ to truly believe that he knows his jazz! He has that sensibility of the vein-and-bone four piece blues band, where it takes four tired, jazz-souled people to swing an entire club through the night."-Times of India
"...the fun and depth they hit with the lyrics, the lack of clichés and that perfect rough finish! "-Times of India
"bare-foot, lo-fi rhythmic magic" -Times of India
Read the full
Priyanka Joseph, Times of India review
Read the full
Himanshu Bhandari, Asian Age review
ALL BOOKINGS, CONTACT sridhar.thayil@gmail.com
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'Opera Noir' premiere @ Prithvi festival 2009; photo by Santhosh Verma
S/T @ Sula fest 2009, Nasik; photo by Sapna Bhavnani
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