Sub Swara Video Blog #2– HIRED GUN

whattup y’all– Dave here, in a stunningly-unslept state– I just got back into NYC this morning at 530am after playing some great shows in the Middle Atlantic with goldspot, and tomorrow me and my better 5/6ths are off to India for a family wedding, a gig in Delhi, and some downtime in Mumbai.

So what does a sleep-deprived Sub Swaran do on his day off? HE RECORDS!

As much as we’d like you to think that we work in a room full of training ninjas, dancehall MC’s and SWAT team members, the truth is that we often are developing ideas solo, and then bringing them to the table for collaboration. This happened last week when Dhruva brought in a nearly-done tune called “October” for a mixdown. He, Haj and I thought it could use some hype vocals, so we started coming up with names who’d be good. One stood out immediately for me: HIRED GUN!

I know HG from doing gigs with Nomadic Wax; he’s a killer rapper, poet, and one of the most intense freestylists you’ll ever see. To put it simply:

Dude is nice on the mic.

HG dropped by after teaching urban poetry to his after-school classes (!); I set up a mic/pre/compressor, let him rip, and he gave us 300% more than we were looking for in ONE take. Take heed, young musicians: that is how you do it. Couldn’t have been easier or more enjoyable.

So while we’ve got our sonic work cut out for us, fitting such a huge vocal performance into a song, HG and i sat down to listen to some less-developed ideas. I pulled up a dubstep thing i’m working on, and he just started spitting fire. I jumped to grab the flip and…. check it:

i’m like YO!!!!!!!

so in a month we’ve had Shamik, the Genie, and Hired Gun drop by to share their talents; feeling completely blessed by that.

gotta go pack but– next update from INDIA! If you’re in Delhi, i’m playing BASSFoundation’s party on 12/4 at Café Morrison– should be a blast!

Sub Swara Video Blog #2– HIRED GUN

Dave’s Mo’ Glo DJ set

what’s cookin good lookins?

From time to time, the mighty Chris Kellog over at KEXP has asked us to do one of the Mo’Glo DJ sets that air on Friday nights in NYC and Seattle.  this time, the stars aligned, and Dave was able to fire up his decks and lay down an hours worth of new tunes– some dancehall, some bashment, some uk funky-ish stuff, some dubstep and dubstep-inspired material.  lots of great tunes— and the added benefit of hearing Dave do extemely sexy, extremely-self-conscious voiceovers.

check it out!

Tracklisting:

Roots Manuva	Highest Grade Dub	Dub Come Save Me
Jahdan Blakkamore	Never Like This	Reggae Got Soul
Shelene	It’s You	Reggae Got Soul
Lynn & Wade feat. Izza Kizza	We Run Dis Crew	Reggae Got Soul
Sub Swara vs. Steven Marley	Traffic Jam (Dhruva Refix)	dubplate
Sub Swara vs. Rob Symennon	Empress (Sub Swara Remix)	Empress Remixes promo
Kush Arora feat. General Levy	The Heat (Mr. Leub Shuffle Riddim)	dubplate
Stamma Ramma	Hood In (Gravy Rice Riddim)	dubplate
Juakali	What You Want (Gravy Rice Riddim)	dubplate
Zed Bias & MJ Cole	Fly Up Ya Banner	PROPH12 promo
Geiom	Luna	SMR006 Promo
Refuge	Here 4 Yr Ears	dubplate
Nickodemus	2 Sips & Magic (Kush Arora Remix)	ESL 12″ promo
The Invisible Kid	Sometimes (Sub Swara Remix)	Sometimes Remixes
Fort Knox 5	Killa Soundboy (Sub Swara Remix)	Killa Soundboy
LV feat. Rubi Dan	Crossfire	dubplate
Untold	Stop What You’re Doing	Gonna Work Out Fine EP
Headhunter & Invisible	Love Dup	SMR006 Promo
Sharmaji	How to Move	dubplate
Distal	Attempt at Yellow	dubplate
Gravious	Nimbus	dubplate
DZ	Chalet	dubplate

Dave’s Mo’ Glo DJ set

Sub Swara Podcast 007 is Now Up

It’s that time of the month again – Sub Swara podcast time! For this installment Sharmaji takes the reigns and guides us through 35 minutes of morphing tempos and energy ranging from the deep to the ‘hands-up!’ and traversing all sorts of continental lines.  Of course, the mix is peppered with plenty of Sub Swara originals and remixes and also features one of the new remixes from Coup d’Yah Remixes Volume 3 (coming out real soon!), care of the one and only purple dino-bot, Daly City Records‘ Mochipet.

Check the tracklist below and get it here via itunes – Sub Swara Podcast 007: Sharmaji in the Mix

or, if you don’t use itunes, grab it straight from the RSS.
You can also download the podcast in ultra hi-res Apple Lossless Format below.

Tracklist

Sub Swara Podcast 007 is Now Up

Sub Swara Video Blog #1-Locking down in the studio for album #2!

yo Sub Swarans! Dispatches from the Eastern Parkway, Brookyn Control Room:

Dhruva, Haj and I are fast-amassing song ideas for our next record; after a year of intense, post-gig conversations about direction, style, energy, sonics, etc i think we’re more than ready to get IN IT TO WIN IT . Expect the unexpected, as genres get turned on their heads, the old sounds new, and we prepare to shake the entire idea of dance music to its core.

As always, we thrive on collaboration, and were lucky enough to get both Vancouver’s Shamik and San Francisco’s own Genie in for a sessions last week. Dhruva jumped on Shamik’s offerings and quickly incorporated them into a tune he and Haj started…

and no, we’re not going to share that one with you just yet

The Genie left us with our mouths agape– you know that feeling when you’re present at something you just can’t begin to comprehend? Something so awesome that language doesn’t begin to have the tools to describe it? That’s Genie’s take on music. I plugged him into a preamp and we just let him rip. Check this out– and WATCH HIS FEET:

so yes- we are STEPPING UP THE GAME! more details to come on recording, experimenting, and divining the groove out of the Earth as the process goes along.

Love from Brooklyn!

Sub Swara Video Blog #1-Locking down in the studio for album #2!