The number of great songs/singles released this year is very high, so we’re going to split our list into at least 3 parts if not more. By the way, fun fact of the day: a song is called a ‘single’ when it’s released on its own; the term comes from when music used to be released on wax cylinders and only a few minutes of music could fit on one of them.

We’re going to talk about 9 songs or singles in each list, and we’ll do one a day.

Let’s get into it, shall we?

Floral Circuit - Waking Reverie

Electronic music went from being the most popular genre of the pre-hip-hop 2010s to a niche in a matter of a couple years, so to see that it’s still kicking is a good thing. Floral Circuit is out of Ujjain, and ‘Waking Reverie’ is a semi-psychedelic and trippy little tune with some nice melodies that will sound good when played between 11 p.m and 2 a.m.

Saachi Mendon – Letters To Christchurch

Homesickness and acoustic guitar music go together pretty well, and Saachi Mendon uses this to her advantage on the very simple but pleasant ‘Letters To Christchurch’. It’s got some subtle piano, string and cymbal work on it for a little flavour as well.

Corner Café Chronicles – Homebound

Lots of bands do justice to one genre or sound, but Mumbai band Corner Café Chronicles does two styles well on this electronica-meets-grunge song. It’s always gratifying to hear musicians actually have fun writing something; it’s even more fun to experience the end product. This one has synth-pop, big rock riffs and a big solo in quick succession. Fun!

Hautewulf – Arcadestep

Mohan Kumar, based in Delhi, has a new album out now (it’s called THE THERAPY SESSION, if you want); but we’re going to talk about a single he released earlier this year instead. It’s a raucous, aggressive and instantly dance-able bit of electronic music that will get you all pumped up half an hour before you have to go to a party you don’t want to be at.

Wild Wild Women – Wild Wild Women

Easily one of the coolest rap singles to come out this year, multi-lingual collective Wild Wild Women knocked it out of the park. It’s patently obvious that HashtagPreeti, MC Mahila, Pratika, JQueen and Krantinaari are talented as hell; their bars are topical and their tehcnique is excellent (individually). This song has all of them together. It’s a good one.

Sidharth Bendi – 2006

Sidharth Bendi makes no bones about his penchant for 2000s nostalgia on his single, which is a pop track that dials every possible trope from the era up to 11. It’s refreshing to see an artist take a bunch of musical references and genuinely pay tribute to it; Sidharth pulls all of this off in a decently written song, and if this is a time you remember fondly, go ahead and give it 2006 plays.

Dot. – Indigo

Most of you know Dot. at this point; her faultless single ‘Indigo’ is a clinic in writing and songwriting (which you should expect from an artist that genuinely cares about what they’re saying while constantly searching for new inspirations). It’s also well-made and has impeccable production… She happens to have done a movie and released her older stuff on streaming since this single came out, so you can go check out those things while you’re at it. ‘Indigo’ is pretty good too, though.

Rishab Rikhiram Sharama – wyd tonight? (feat. Raj.)

A sitar player and a rap producer come together on the wonderful ‘wyd tonight?’, which is a weird combo of lo-fi beats to study to and Indian classical-inspired melodies. It’s a mystery to us how this works as well as it does, but it’s a nice tune that you can enjoy on your way to work.

krishaa – figure it out

Krishaa (formerly based in Mumbai and currently in Boston) just does a standard pop tune with the catchy ‘figure it out’, but it lands on this list because it ticks every box in the genre’s textbook. There’s a nice chorus, huge reverb-filled drums and even more reverb on her vocals. Krishaa knows what she’s doing, which is following in the tradition of ‘guilty pleasure’ music you will listen to a lot by yourself but might not play in front of your friends. You can try out the latter too.

Part 2 comes out tomorrow. Enjoy!