Smiti Malik — Sad Songs for a Sunday
A quiet new EP from singer-songwriter Smiti Malik — intimate, slow-burning songs made for melancholy Sundays. An under-the-radar release worth catching early.
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Rawal — Ambassador
Rawal's sprawling 2026 album — 22 tracks across nearly an hour, largely produced with longtime collaborator Spy Boi. A big, full-length statement from one of Indian hip-hop's sharpest voices.
RANJ — 27 CLUB
The most covered Indian indie release of the year by far. Wild City called it "a public-view experimentation and successful arrival at a recognisable identity by one of the strongest new voices" in Indian music. A 27-track behemoth exec-produced by Clifr, covering identity, womanhood, family and loss in English and Tamil. The consensus pick of the year so far.
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Reble — Praying Mantis
Reble currently has over 11.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify, with more than 150 million streams across her catalogue. Wild City noted she is "having an undeniable career moment" with this return to aggressive trap roots after her Bollywood breakthrough. The biggest Indian indie story of 2026 in terms of audience reach.
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Tarun — Garhkumaon
The Indian Music Diaries called it one of the most demanding regional hip-hop projects in India. A 14-track debut that merges "Garhwal" and "Kumaon" in both name and sound — migration, addiction, ecological anxiety, and generational drift. Widely regarded as the most important debut album of the year.
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Kaali Duniya (BamBoy / Swadesi) — Babylon's Camp
Wild City reviewed it as keeping dubstep political and rooted, with "visceral, sustained bass motifs" giving voice to the youth of marginalised castes in India — framing it as a direct lineage from UK diaspora dubstep. One of the most intellectually significant releases to cross into 2026 coverage.
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Taba Chake — Khud Ko Miloon
The Indian Music Diaries called it impossible to skip — "the humming is soulful, the melodies effortless" — and Rolling Stone India placed it on their 25 Best Indian Albums and EPs of 2025. Released in late 2025 but continued to dominate coverage well into 2026 as Chake completed his first international tour.
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khokkosh. — freeuse .org
Wild City noted that on 'freeuse .org', Yashomati Parveen aka khokkosh. "keeps her sound in that spot" of distilling unease into leftfield pop. One of the more critically interesting leftfield pop releases from India this year.
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Champak — Feed The Clown
Wild City featured Champak as "the new alt-rock band on the block." A debut introduction that generated significant critical buzz for its alt-rock directness.
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That Boy Roby — New Single
Wild City featured the Chandigarh trio who set out to mix Haryanvi Ragini with dub and ended up with a psych-rock jam — one of the more unexpected and critically praised sonic fusions of the year.
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Rolling Stone India
Wild City
The Indian Music Diaries
Homegrown India
Instagram
Spotify