“I enjoy myself the most when I explore things that are new to me” says Anil Macwan, creator of euphoric Dance Pop micro musicvideos, who has his roots in Berlin and Bombay.

The singer is interested in aesthetics in different forms, and while melodies and sound are the obvious choices for a musician, Anil sees the visual aspect as of equal importance. He releases multiple small musicvideos with each song and calls it “Visual Pop Music”, playing with the generally faster and more audiovisual consumption of music. Among songwriting and music production, he thus recently added film editing, lighting and grading to his abilities. To celebrate his cultural heritage, he is more and more remixing Indian aesthetics.

Anil is fascinated by new things. That’s one of the reasons why he is infatuated with Dance Pop music and its ever-changing face. With commercial artists experimenting more with artificial sound and pushing the envelope in that field, he feels that Dance Pop is one of the most interesting music styles currently. Combined with the optimistic sound of Eighties music, it marks an important feature of Anil’s music. Another field the musician is drawn to is the disruption that iPads are currently causing in music production. Innovative music apps constitute completely new, never seen before instruments: a sheer never-ending array of new possibilities for musicians that he fully embraces.

He plays all the instruments on his songs, including keyboard, drums, guitar, bass and sitar with his voice channeling “the rough vocals charms of Violent Femmes, Jonathan Richman and Joe Strummer, yoked to a percolating rhythm track” (WIRED Magazine). He developed from a sensitive singer-songwriter into a pop musician that heavily flirts with Eighties music. And to integrate the visual aspect is just one more way for him to express a core idea with more creative control, through channels like melody or lyrics, playing instruments, singing or now through visuals.

For his pop music work under his name “Anil Macwan”, beside his iPad-only music project “Berlin Bombay”, it is the enthusiasm, joy and playfulness of the Eighties that gives his music a twist. To him, this represents a much needed lightheartedness, a new hope. Or as he puts it: “We are facing a lot of difficult challenges right now. But I think there is also the need for enthusiastic voices for us to enjoy our togetherness once in a while.” For Anil, this creates purpose during his journey.

In his past, the interest in psychology and communication made him become a psychologist and later an advertising strategist. There, his ambition led him to write, perform and produce the main song for a worldwide HEAD Tennis TV campaign – overnight. That put him on the map for ad music production in Germany. Anil has written numerous ad music productions ever since, through which most people in Europe have heard his music in ads, if unknowingly. He continues being the creative director for his boutique audio production house. In his work as an advertising music composer, he learned to love fast turnaround times and the thrill of the deadline.

Anil was born and raised by his Indian mother and German father in Berlin. He started DJing and performing live in the experimental electronic music scene in Berlin around 2000, where he combined singing pop music with noise. Still being underage, he performed alongside artists like Gonzales, Peaches and Atari Teenage Riot.

These were the years that sparked Anil’s curiosity for the new. And what excites him about Dance Pop music is exactly that: the constant push for innovation.