You know when you’re listening to a mix, a radio show, or even a live set and there’s that one song that comes on that gives you the feels? Recently for me that song has been “Behind the Barricade” by local Bay Area resident Swapneel Ukhalkar, aka SNR. The song features the serenading vocals of Arielle Maren and brings me back to a time when “I Remember” by Deadmau5 & Kaskade were on heavy rotation. “Behind the Barricade” has been featured on consecutive episodes of Above & Beyond’s weekly podcast ABGT (most recently #253) and each time I’m drawn back in with those sweeping deep synth licks.
When I told SNR the song reminded me of “I Remember” with similar chord progressions and dreamy vocals he told me “the inspiration actually came from some jazz song”. Always interesting hearing how artists get inspired to write songs of varying sounds.
SNR is an enterprising music producer who’s part of an exciting generation of new electronic artists erupting into the mainstream. A California-grown Indian, he spent most of his childhood tinkering with computers and designing software algorithms. After earning engineering degrees from UC Santa Barbara and Carnegie Mellon University he went on to study music at Pyramind in San Francisco. Soon afterwards he founded the independent record label Adrenalin Room, which has grown into one of San Francisco’s most reputed beacons for dance music and events. SNR’s tracks are consistently forward-thinking and musically rich. His synthesis of melodic soundscapes and bass music is as beautiful as it is addictive. As his popularity rises, SNR has been breaking into main stages worldwide. He’s performed at some of the world’s biggest music festivals like EDC Las Vegas, Beyond Wonderland Bay Area, Boomstock Music Festival Houston, Sunset Sessions Sri Lanka and many more. SNR has also garnered support from some of the world’s biggest brands and his discography includes releases on numerous major dance music labels like Myon & Shane 54’s Ride Recordings, Silk Music and Black Hole Recordings.
If you like what you hear show SNR some love! And check out his label’s latest album below.