Naya Beat Select Remixes and Reworks 2
Naya Beat may be mostly known as a reissue label, but few labels are as successful at bringing the past into real dialogue with the present. Rather than treating archival recordings as museum pieces, the LA-based imprint gives them room to evolve, building connections between generations of artists and the different dancefloors they inhabit. Select Remixes and Reworks 2 puts that approach into practice with four wonderfully eclectic, dancefloor-ready reinterpretations.
Take “Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya,” originally recorded by Punjabi singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra for her pioneering 1982 album Punjabi Disco, reissued by Naya Beat in 2025. Here, California duo Woolfy vs Projections aren’t remixing the original, but a psychedelic-tinged cover by label founders Turbotito & Ragz, featuring Say She She‘s Piya Malik. Their version brings a breezy West Coast Balearic feel to the song, with dubbed-out loops, trippy synths and a rolling electro-funk bassline accompanying Malik’s smooth, dreamy Punjabi vocals. Meanwhile, Psychemagik’s Thomaas Banks takes “Tu Aaja,” from British Asian outfit Pinky Ann Rihal’s 1985 album Tere Liye — whose wonderfully eccentric blend of Hindi vocals, new wave synths and prog-rock guitars Naya Beat rediscovered in 2022 — into moodier, synth-heavy territory.
But the label isn’t only interested in reworking old recordings. “Pawa!” is a new collaboration between Indian disco pioneer Asha Puthli and Say She She, here given a silky extended disco mix, while on “Going Out Hoping To See You,” label founders Turbotito & Ragz bring together even more disparate musical worlds, reworking a track by Greek duo Boys’ Shorts with Bollywood-style strings, acid bass, Hindi vocals and percussion by Kuljit Bhamra. It’s a fitting full-circle moment: Bhamra is the son of Mohinder Kaur, whose Punjabi Disco he helped create at just 22 through kitchen-table experiments with synthesizers and drum machines. Four decades later, he’s part of the same musical conversation Naya Beat is helping to carry forward.