BobbyFriction

Sub Swara are without any doubt unique in the world of left-field Desi Electronica.  With a manic attention to detail and militancy in their work ethic, both Dhruva Ganesan & Dave Sharma make sure their music lives in a space of its own.  With both of them being accomplished multi-percussionists as well as great users of software it means we get Desi Dub-stepped audio made by musicians, as opposed to producers. Yay!

They are now beavering away on the follow up to ‘Coup d’Yah’, their debut album.  This entails trips between bedrooms & studios in New York, as well as trips out to Chennai in the Motherland.  Initial ’sketches’ of ideas in beat form are taken to musicians (who also work with AR Rahman) for them to play over, which Sub Swara then cut up and reproduce.  The reason Sub Swara’s percussion & bass heavy sound is so unique is they go down the production route like scientists instead of just throwing in some tabla to make it ‘Desi’.  I remember once Dave Sharma telling me about the 20+ rhythm tracks they had layered in the studio whilst creating their biggest track yet, ‘Koli Stance’.  I also love the way Dhruva blogs about the different drums he’s been recording in Chennai,

“…sick instruments that aren’t often heard, like bass dholak (wow, ridiculous sub on that one), and folk drums like nagara and ghat singhari (clay pot with a leather skin on top for that super modulating wuump wuump kinda vibe).”

I think it’s safe to say that we all need a bit more ‘ghat singhari’ givin us some ‘wuump wuump’ in our lives!  This is their latest video Blog, which sees Dhruva in the process of getting some great ‘wuump wuump’.