Looking to explore new sounds? Here's how you can immerse in vinyl music in Mumbai

It’s quite easy to explore music in Mumbai where every week, you can find new themes and listening sessions. PICS/TANISHA BANERJEE

There is something exciting about a room full of people listening to songs they already know. Or don't. And not just as background noise in a cafe or through algorithmic playlists. I'm talking about playing a record on turntable with a needle on the groove and conversation orbiting around music. In my quest to discover music with people and listening sessions, I found that there are multiple opportunities to do it in the city. Some free, some paid.

Collective memory

I have fond memories of the Retro Vinyl Listening session hosted by Laguna by TGS. The evening was a celebration of the 1980s and 1990s - an era whose music has escaped the fate of nostalgia. These songs continue to exist in public memory, passed between generations. A room can still collectively react to a Michael Jackson bassline or a guitar riff that has become part of cultural vocabulary.

The songs were built to travel. Even decades later, they retain a remarkable clarity of purpose - to bring music lovers in one room. What struck me most, however, was the social nature of the experience. Unlike contemporary listening habits, which often happen through headphones and personalised recommendation engines, vinyl listening sessions create a temporary collective memory.

People anticipate the next track together. They exchange stories attached to particular songs. Someone remembers hearing it on cassette, another on television, someone else discovers it for the first time. While this was a one-time session, such experiences can be found all over the city throughout the year. To learn about similar, follow @thebrownlady on Instagram.

Meditating under soundscapes

A few days after spending an evening with familiar pop classics, I found myself at FRICTION at Method Kala Ghoda, an experience on the opposite end of the musical spectrum. The focus here was music that exists outside mainstream circulation like gothic sounds, experimental recordings, and artistes whose names rarely appear in conventional conversations about popular music. It was less a listening session and more an exploration of artistic resistance.

I ventured with Miles Davis. Not the Miles Davis most people associate with traditional jazz, but the artiste deep into his electric period, expanding the possibilities of what jazz could become. By the end of his album, people were dancing and prancing about. There is a lot of art to view at Method, so if you don't want to simply sit or dance, you can walk about looking at art with a coffee in your hand. What better way to marvel and interpret art than with music echoing against the walls?

The second record was Menjadi by the Indonesian experimental duo Senyawa. It completely blew me away as the entire album felt eerie with the handmade instruments playing in the background. They were the result of inventing entirely new sonic possibilities. Both of these albums, played one after the other, were set apart with their genres and themes, and by the end of the session you feel completely different. The listening session is a walk-in event, so even if you have just 15 minutes on hand, feel free to stop by and leave whenever you want!