t almost feels like yesterday when we, you and I, were dissecting reasons as to why Cape Monze Records from Karachi is our pick for the indie-label of the year.

We were talking about the second EP of Tarbooze, with a sharp zinger as its title: Taraqiati Kaam among other things.

Fast forward to this week, our attention is back on Cape Monze Records. In early March, they’ve released a new batch of music in what is their first release with an artist we know as TMPST.

Titled 18C, the EP is not TMPST’s first release by any means. But it is his first release with Cape Monze Records, a partnership that we hope succeeds.

The new work from TMPST (stage name of Asfandyar Khan) falls under the genre of techno (a subgenre of electronic dance music) and is a showcase of TMPST’s growth as an artist throughout the years. Musically speaking, TMPST’s new EP is a nod to the city of lights, Karachi.

In terms of the 18C EP, it features three-tracks and is a bold techno EP. The cardinal sin of giving listeners reiterations of past music is not something TMPST has pulled. As an artist, he knows what he is doing and that is palpable in the three tracks: ‘KLPD’, ‘Abay Saalay’ and ‘BSDK’. Each song has a running time of over 5 minutes so this particular release is not noise; it is a thoughtful interpretation, an ode to the sprawling, perplexing, beautiful, brutal, formidable city of Karachi and the baggage, good and bad, that comes with it. The musicianship (and rightly so) feels like an adrenaline rush at first, intimate and distant because we are all messy contradictions. A celebration is also present. But you can only find those elating moments if you dedicate some time to this EP without multitasking.

Reading the press statement of the artist and it is even more obvious that he is among the names who continue to make music for the love of making music, and isn’t playing to the gallery.

Noted the press statement from TMPST via Cape Monze Records, “18C is an ode to the city of Karachi - not just the indefatigable chaos of the city, but also to the openness with which it welcomes all those who come to her. This EP represents the community I found there; a sense of belonging bursting at the seams with joy. Yet, Karachi is not easy to exist in, and this EP looks to capture those jagged moments of happiness and freedom within the confines of everyday life. I spent seven years there, and one of the ways I learnt to acclimatize to it was to never take things too seriously, or Karachi would remind you that life itself is subject to its whims.

This EP then, looks to be serious, but not too serious, full of just the kind of fun that seems tailor-made for a metropolis like Karachi.”

Let me break this down. Eminem might be rapping that techno is over (he came to that conclusion years ago) but it really isn’t.

You may find the genre of techno not something you’d try as a listener. But think back to certain songs breakthrough songs in history like ‘Children’ by Robert Miles, or Moby’s ‘Go’ or ‘Sandstorm’ by Darude, and techno doesn’t sound like something you might not understand fully. Start with TMPST’s 18C. It can do everything from creating a fanbase based on the music and also close the gap between techno and listeners who find the idea of this genre overwhelming. Just hear it once for the many reasons including an ode to Karachi, the collective work of TMPST as an artist or just to understand how Pakistani music’s counter culture is developing.