Research activities

Aniruddha Das

Aniruddha Das is an experimental electronic musician exploring the relationship between rhythm and noise. His emphasis is on minimalism, repetition and fragmentation in sound. His spartan but heavy beats are punctuated by the accents of African clave patterns, whilst his alien synth motifs betray his love of the sound of Detroit. His real time manipulation of various distortions impels each soundtrack towards entropy - a sense of impending collapse - and is the main performative aspect of his live improvisations.

Aniruddha was a founder member and the original bassist of Asian Dub Foundation. His current practice is a return to his roots in experimental sound, pre-dating any involvement with dub. As he veers towards the non-metric, and prises open samples using granular synthesis, one can sense him attempting to exorcise 30 years of certain rhythmic and sonic strictures.

He has released three albums under the moniker of “Dhangsha” (Bengali for ‘destruction’): “Future Tense,” “Autonomous Zones” and “Live at Spirit of Gravity.” A fourth album “Aberrant” is set for release on sound art label “Hard Return” in May 2023. He has additionally put out  two albums of noise and caustic ambience under the auspices of DSPSSSSD (‘dispossessed’): “Exit Wounds” and “Livid." He has also contributed tracks to compilations by Syrphe, Avon Terror Corps and Iklectik.

As Dhangsha, he has toured in Colombia, performing at several gigs at the Bogotrax electronic festival in February 2020, and has twice toured with duo Yao Bobby, political rapper from Togo, and Simon Grab, ‘no-input’ experimentalist from Switzerland - once in Europe, around the UK in March 2022. Throughout 2022/23, he consolidated his reputation for intense, bass heavy, improvised soundscapes by performing extensively in London and the South East.