Baalti and Anish Kumar unveil new collaborative project, Stunt Doubles: Listen

Baalti and Anish Kumar have unveiled a new collaborative project, Stunt Doubles. Listen to ‘Title Theme’ below.

The first edition of the EP series – described as “the best-kept secret from your desi Dad’s cassette collection” – landed today (Friday, 20th June) on Method 808. Across two high-concept cuts, the trio merge theatrical Tamil-influenced filter house with splashes of woozy psychedelia, all cooked up during “manic 30-minute beat battle power sessions”.

Baalti and Anish Kumar have been teasing the collaborative project through a series of cryptic social media posts, including blurred photos of the trio and light-hearted snippets from mock interviews discussing the debut record.

“It was really great to find exciting creative partners in the Baalti boys,” Anish Kumar told DJ Mag. “Bouncing musical ideas off each other felt very natural and we knew pretty quickly that we wanted to delve into a concept that is a bit more indulgent for this collaboration.”

“We really loved that these tracks didn’t sound much like either of our solo projects, and for us it was quite a left turn from our last EP ‘Mela’ and gave us a chance to go in a totally different direction,” Baalti added.

Elaborating on the concept behind Stunt Doubles, the trio shared: “We really leaned into worldbuilding… creating a new fictional ‘band’ separate from our solo projects and playing theatrical, weird, and over-the-top characters.

“The Stunt Doubles name and visuals came from our experiences of brown people getting mixed up for each other all the time, and we really pushed that idea to a bit of an extreme.”

To celebrate the launch of the project, the trio hosted a free release party at Hackney venue Behind This Wall on Thursday (19th June).

‘Stunt Doubles (Pt.1)’ is out today (Friday, 20th June) via Method 808. Grab a copy of the release here, and listen to ‘Title Theme’ below via DJ Mag’s Soundcloud.

Baalti’s latest EP, ‘Mela’, landed in February via Steel City Dance Discs. DJ Mag premiered the lead single, ‘Overbit’, which was described as a “percussive rave heater”.

Baalti shared some of the projects that inspired the EP for DJ Mag’s Selections series, from heart-in-mouth house and hypnotic qawwali, to adventurous electro and leftfield club. Check it out here.