New York-based label Kindergarten Records is thrilled to unveil Ayesha’s debut album, ‘Rhythm is Memory’ – 10 boundary-pushing tracks, a shape-shifting percussive journey with electric moments. While intended for maximum dancefloor impact, Ayesha’s first LP is also conceptually thought-provoking and playful, exploring how bodies store and channel creative knowledge.
A self-taught producer, Ayesha relies on her instincts to make music: sensing what her body wants to feel and hear. To her, essential to building a groove is channeling what is already inside us – memories – whether they are based on lived experience or coded in the body: culturally, ancestrally, or intergenerationally. The result is this Indian-American producer’s distinct rhythmic voice, with its many configurations boldly expressed across her debut album.
Kindergarten first released Ayesha’s material in 2020 with her ‘Natural Phenomena’ EP, a four-track journey which she described as “an undulating love letter to nature and the dancefloor, [a] space where [her] biophilia collides with her yearning for the dancefloor.” Subsequently, she continued to build upon her luminous, scintillating sound with a contribution to ‘Fluo II’ titled “Aspara Dub”, followed by “Varanasi” and “Downpour” on ‘Ether’, a split release with Sha Ru in 2021. With each release, Ayesha's sound evolved, adding shades, layers, and perpetual rhythmic nuance to a mind palace of dancefloor possibilities.
That is why her and Kindergarten are a perfect match -- driven by their mutual fascination with exploratory sonics and a shared commitment to the community that inspires them. Kindergarten Records has shaped itself into a trailblazing label, uniting a diverse and innovative collective of local and international producers, while embodying a strong familial atmosphere.This debut LP represents a significant step-up for both the artist and the imprint, as they strive harmoniously towards a shared goal: delivering a sonic experience full of colorful, otherworldly bass-fueled expansion.
‘Rhythm is Memory’ captures Ayesha’s signature love for driving techno and organic percussion, while at moments veering into newer electro territory while keeping it psychedelic, spacious, dubby, and always playful. This feels intuitively right for a producer at a crossroads in her career. All tracks intricately weave together pulsing drum grooves, slinky synths, nuanced melodies, and delightfully unexpected twists. No single genre can do justice to describing this project as Ayesha delicately nods to many, reveling in the spaces between.
Undoubtedly, across A and B sides, 'Rhythm is Memory' imparts the joy of sonic experimentation to listeners and dancers. Ayesha invites us into her creative process and its steady evolution – rooted in many days and nights of exploration, reflection, and repetition. "The ritual practice of cultivating and tending a garden is what comes to mind if I were to visualize this record. Beautiful things can emerge from care and consistent attention," says Ayesha. While she refers to her specific experience making 'Rhythm is Memory,' this powerful album culminates a decade of working in nightlife for Ayesha – a project slated to leave an indelible mark on the underground. To mark this impressive milestone in their catalog, Kindergarten Records is proud to return to pressing vinyl after a hiatus since 2020, recognizing the significance of putting out a physical release to behold such a moment in both the label's and the artist's trajectory.
