The DAYTIMERS collective has announced its debut album, ‘Alterations’. Listen to the first single, ‘Tere Bina’ by Baalti, below.
Announced with a teaser trailer on Instagram, the 10-track LP is a landmark moment for the collective, which was founded in 2020 with the goal of championing South Asian representation in the UK club scene and beyond. For this project, 10 producers were granted unprecedented access and clearance to sample Sony Music India’s extensive catalogue to create a record that "celebrates South Asian heritage and diaspora club culture."
Curated by Surya Sen, the release sees artists based in London, Toronto, New York and elsewhere put their own spin on classic tracks from the Sony Music India archives, incorporating styles including jungle, garage, baile funk and more. The album's title, 'Alterations', is said to be inspired by the "hand-crafted tailoring of South Asian garments".
While a full tracklist is still to be announced, Baalti's reimagining of the Bollywood classic 'Tere Bina’ has been released as a taster for what's to come. Sharing the news on Instagram, the duo, who recently released their ‘Mela’ EP, wrote: "For like a year now we’ve been playing this song out in our sets and feeling the feels with everyone in the club. it felt like a nice little secret between us and the audience, and it took a bit of a life of its own. excited to finally set it free."
Speaking about the overall release, DAYTIMERS co-founder Provhat Rahman said: “Through the restitching of iconic music from the South Asian catalogue, Alterations is a patchworking of club cultures and subcultures through the lens of its diaspora. It celebrates cultural roots merging with our experience of the club. Having these club tracks platformed like this is so exciting to see!”
Revisit Baalti's contribution to DJ Mag's Selections series here.