Takatak record debut album at Aleph

When Karachi’s Bilal Nasir Khan - who plays electronic music under the alias of Rudoh and is armed with an undergraduate degree from London – designed the Karachi-based Aleph (Studio), it took him 8 months. The result: a state of the art facility that has, among other things, played host to the album listening session of Chand Tara Orchestra’s Volume I.CTO’s Babar Sheikh, in an interview, had described ‘Aleph’ founder Umair Dar – who is a musician himself and a member of The D/A Method and Cosmic Fluid - as a “beautiful person”.Given all that, it is not at all surprising that Lahore-based music group Takatak (props to the band for coming up with this name) flew down to Karachi for two weeks just recently to record their debut album. They have a strong reputation as a band, having played the 2018 edition of Lahore Music Meet, where they had the crowd head-banging to their music at what was their biggest show.Now the band is moving in a more ambitious direction: a full-scale record. And so, for the purpose of this particular piece, Instep spoke to a number of people involved in this 14-day stretch recording, starting from Takatak’s Zain Peerzada. As Zain explains: “This is our debut full-length record, although we have put out a three song EP before this, among other sporadically released singles from 2009 to now. Our previous EP is called Out of Something and you can find it on bandcamp.”One chief difference in this debut album will be that it won’t be an instrumental record (not that there’s anything wrong with instrumentals).“That [Out of Something] was an instrumental EP,” expands Zain. “This one is different both in size and content. It will contain 6 to 7 songs, with two vocalists singing on the record. Both Ali Suhail and Altamash Sever have joined the band and are singing in tandem all over the record.”As for why did the band chose Karachi-based Aleph over other studios, Zain tells Instep, “’Aleph’ because of the gear, the facility and also because we wanted to be away from home and work in a focused manner on the record and have it finished in a small pocket of time. It really is the best studio I’ve ever had the pleasure of working in.”The recording process, said Zain, went well but was both hectic and ultimately rewarding. “The recording went really well. It was super long and hectic but very rewarding. It’s such a well-equipped space and we were living there as well, so super smooth. We spent a little under 200 hours in the studio in our 14 days there.”Ali Suhail, a maverick of sorts in the music scene, told Instep: “I do the vocals in Takatak, along with Altamash Sever. I wrote a bunch of vocal melodies and parts and lyrics over the music so I guess that’s my role.”Ali Suhail, too, calls the Aleph experience a great one. “It was absolutely amazing recording at Aleph; everyone is really accommodating and eager to help. The equipment and listening environments are amazing. It was a great experience! I would do it again!”Describing hosting Takatak for two weeks at his facility, Umair Dar said, “Recording Takatak was like a dream come true, not just for me but for all of us.”Umair added: “I first met these guys three years ago and it was at Lahore Music Meet that I saw them performing for the first time and I was completely blown away. I met them afterwards and found out that they didn’t have an EP or an album out. No proper recorded music. At that time, having a recording studio or Aleph was my vision and something far away from manifesting.”But dreams, sometimes, do come true. And in the case of Umair, it did. “I believed in it and told Takatak that one day I’d love to record your album and it is going to happen. They knew I was from Karachi and was young, even younger than now. They couldn’t fathom how they could all come to Karachi to record at some guy’s studio who is giving them the offer.”Over the years, Umair lent them his digital amp modeling device that can be played virtually on any amp through it. “It’s useful for the kind of music they make. I lent it to them because I had two of them. I knew they could put it to better use. So they’ve had it for the last year or more, and they use it to come up with new songs, new sounds, which inspired them. It got rid of one of their excuses, which was that we don’t have the equipment.”That, says Umair, is just the story of how they made it to Aleph. Once they arrived, there was a challenge, which was to record the album in two weeks. “It’s quite nerve-wrecking, especially for the kind of detail oriented music they do. It’s a testament to how talented, laser precise these musicians are with their craft. Zain was taking on a lot of stress but my role was making sure everyone was well-fed, well rested, giving interviews. I was taking footage. We had multiple rooms in the house, active with production stations. There was recording happening downstairs; editing upstairs; a second recording station upstairs as well and a video recording suite, putting up our daily updates; going through the footage. So for me, why Aleph was set up, this was the model project. It was the first time we took on a band through an entire residency and came out with a record. It was an incredible experience and there was no argument, or negative energy. We swallowed our egos to create something bigger than any of us – together. I’m happy that spirit was retained.”

from The News International - Instep Today http://bit.ly/2PVd2i3