May 3rd

SURYA DUB returns my friends, the 18th! Excited to have Voodoo Sessions hit the stores on May 18th. Also posted here is the new Funky Daggering Mix i threw together for you guys. it's been months of fun, between Dread Bass Soundsystem's debut at SXSW(me, juakali, nate mars), and partying it up IN miami seeing some killer sets by likes of Jubilee, Riva Starr, Dj Medhi, and so many more. Tropical bass sounds around and the 2snare feel was the order of the day all around, nice to see Dutty Artz, Sabo, and so many other folks out there doing there things. Thanks so much to the Ableton Warper crew and Surefire for having us play their showcases.

Other fun news- Look for Process Rebels "Other WEapons Remixed" ON juno, featuring myself, Dave Sharma, remixing Zulu, Dr. Isreal, and many others off this Very Dubstep and Uk Funky Influcned Remix Journey. Also!, the Dread Bass Chronicles Remixes Volume 1 is about to come through, featuring killer remixes from Rogue State, RedBud, The Knightriderz,Searchl1te and MC ZULU, Fluorescent Grey, Vermin Street Music,Process Rebel, Carson Day, Slayers Club, and many more!!!!

August 3rd

What a summer it's been! Just came in from a round of shows around the country, gotta say there are good sounds out there right now

Started off with A nice trip to start a record with Nate Mars and Juakali in NYC at smtstudios( smtstudios.com), a roots bubbler record with touches of all of our styles. The next night, july 16th played basement Bhangra with rekha- fun stuff showing these jatts some new sounds my friends. Then back to Las vegas for the ever classic SMASH DUBS crew( look facebook for disasterous pics of yours truly) with Maneesh the Twister doing our SUrya Dub Bizness. Juakali and me had a wild fun filled wieekend at the JUJU beats festival, a classic la rave, and are really looking forward to our deep late night session at SHAMBALA on Sunday night. wWOOOO!!!!!!!

Here is an interview Surefire crew just did with me

May 3rd 2009

REVIEWS from the world on the dread bass chronicles

XLR8R.

San Francisco producer Kush Arora makes digital dancehall for us to dance to in 2012—a futuristic, globalized, bhangra-infused ragga built for the impending Mayan Doom.Read more on the link!

Big Up Magazine

Kush Arora’s seventh record, The Dread Bass Chronicles finds this San Francisco electronic dub/futuristic dancehall badman expanding on the sound he unleashed with his last full length release, From Brooklyn to SF (KAP003). Arora has enlisted the talents of vocalists and MCs such as the Warrior Queen, Juakali, MC Zulu, Bongo Chilli, N4SA, and Wiseproof as a focus for his imaginative and “culturally styled” electronic dance music productions. Spanning across a range of tempo and vibe, Dread Bass Chronicles is a distillation of Arora’s diverse influences, ranging from Punjabi instrumentals to dark dubstep and grime to futuristic dancehall.

Across all eleven tracks of the release, Kush Arora maintains an extremely high standard of production which has been tailored to compliment each vocalist/MC. Warrior Queen is featured on the playful album opener Making Money. This bubbly riddim features Warrior Queen’s lyrics against a lush instrumental background and strong club beat. It is not often that Warrior Queen’s voice is presented so clearly and cleanly. Arora has wisely chosen this production route, as it will set this track apart from many other Warrior Queen-featured releases of late, in which producers have opted for a more edgy and distorted timbre.

Lose Control, featuring Chicago’s MC Zulu, is a compelling sublow, dread bass track that hits hard on a sound system. Zulu’s powerful delivery and excellent cadence drives this dancehall-tinged cut. His voice is also heard on Poison Pill and 11th Hour Escape. The latter is a frantic riddim featuring Zulu’s vocals and a touch of wobble bass that culminates in serious compelling darkness. Kush’s processing technique on the vocals on this track is breathtakingly intense.

Juakali and Bongo Chilli also make strong appearances on the album, with Bongo Chilli’s work on The Truth being particularly strong. Arora has created a great context for Bongo Chilli’s deep toned voice and strong delivery. People A Dead and Newcomers feature Bay Area badman N4SA on two of Kush’s more purely dancehall tracks, both edgy and driving.

Kush Arora’s Dread Bass Chronicles puts on display a great array of dubwize dance floor music. As a producer Arora has reached across cultural lines to create a thoughtful fusion of Indo-reggae influences blended with an underground electronic dance aesthetic. The production values are very high and the vocal performances all deliver on an emotional and musical level. Big Up Kush Arora!

SF Weekly feature

The evolution of dub takes another step forward with the release of Kush Arora's The Dread Bass Chronicles. Influenced by the European "digi-dub" sound--a minimalist, post-dancehall style which preceded dubstep by a good ten years--as well as the exotic cultural flavor of Southeast Asian bhangra, the SF-based producer, remixer, and member in good standing of the Surya Dub massive has assembled a bunch of killer tracks with wickedly murderous emcees. Guests on the album include Warrior Queen (the Bug), as well as MC Zulu, Bongo Chilli, Wiseproof, and longtime spars N4SA and Jukali.

What's especially fresh about The Dread Bass Chronicles--Kush's fourth studio album--is its unrelenting emphasis on an original, futuristic sound which creates an innovative new template while still maintaining a connection to cultural roots. Kush has already attracted notice from Pitchfork (who called him a "laptop musician extraordinaire who's pioneering the digital bhangra sound"), and the release of The Dread Bass Chronicles can only bring more recognition to SF's emerging coterie of dub-influenced producers, who are beginning to give their counterparts in London, Paris and Vienna a run for their money. The Dread Bass Chronicles' official release date is April 21, and a record release party happens April 26 at the Elbo Room's Dub Mission party. Listen to an MP3 of "Come From Yard" here, or watch a YouTube video of Kush and Jukali performing live here.

SF bay guardian blog

"I've been living with SF dub stalwart Kush Arora's new release Dread Bass Chronicles in my headphones for a week now -- partly out of addiction to its golden production and throbbing bass (this shit will truly bang the dancefloor), but also because it's given me a lot to think about. Kush is part of the Surya Dub collective, which has become a Bay classic by melding bhangra raveups with dupstep wigouts at its monthly parties at Club Six. A couple years ago, Surya started throwing around the phrase "dread bass" to describe its direction -- more aggressive, more dancehall-oriented, less electronically psychedelic than other "worldly dubstep" nights -- and here we have the most definitive statement of dread bass to date. (OK, OK, dread bass was also a miniature jungle movement in the early '90s, but nevermind that.)

Suitably, that statement comes from Surya's most audio-aggressive member, who claims death metal and punk among his early influences, and who told the Guardian's Tomas Palermo last year that he believes his family's roots in the often-volatile Punjab region between India and Pakistan breathe through his music. "That's why I like bhangra. It has an element of aggression and sadness," he said.

In this, Kush's seventh release, however, most bhangra references are almost completely subsumed into ornate background decorations to the 11 tracks' insistently energetic thudding and boasting. Yes, there are some bubbling tablas and burbling, looped flutes -- but it's Kush's other Bay nightlife association, with Sunday night dub and dancehall mainstay Dub Mission, that's more telling here.

His compass is firmly pointing to steamier Western Hemisphere climes, by loading up the disc with big names like Jamaica's Warrior Queen, Panama's MC Zulu, and Trinidad's Juakali (who'll be performing with him at the release party Sun/26 at Dub Mission) and keeping the dancefloor belligerence of the beats, bass, and lyrics up front. Nonstop bhangra this is not, and you can feel Kush trying hard to prove that he's no globaltronic softie. Lack of money and immigrant woes are persistent Chronicles themes, and the struggles are reflected in the production's tone.

This in-your-face approach works wonders with the right combo of sounds and MC -- Juakali on growling "By the Numbers" and atmospheric "Come From Yard," Warrior Queen on the proudly gold-digging "Making Money," MC Zulu on the entertaining, slightly gynoparanoid "Poison Pill" (whose wacky quotation of BBD's "Poison" is the one solid flash of humor on the disc). In a couple instances though, like "Wallflower Flex" with Wiseproof, the tip into mainstream sex-rap territory deflates the power of an otherwise compelling track. The final entries, "People A Dead" and "Newcommers" both with a gruffly chanting N4SA, reveal the magic that can happen when Kush follows his more erratic, and to me more interesting, impulses in the studio and explores thrillingly original soundscapes that play off his Punjab heritage and assertive tastes while avoiding geo-sonic gimmickry and outright chest-thumping.

Here is my feature in MIX magazine this past month, check out the studio!!!!

Check myspace for the slew of shows coming up including Bassnectar, THe Dread Bass Chronicles Release party at Dubmission April 26th.

I will be at WMC this year! I hope to meet many folks out there and looking forward to good tunes.

June 12th! XLR8R Features KAP artists ! Juakali and Zulu in an article onon Us Ragga Mc's by Tomas Palmero. Check these page clips to see the

bisness!

March14th 08- back from chicago! Great times out there with Zulu,David Last, Searchl1te,4/4 and the Bass Goes Boom crew! Dj C and Ghislain as well tore it up outhere was a very exciting bouncy, ball smashing house shuffling juke smashing time out there. This month has been exciting. Recently Dub Gabriel and myself got a chanceto remix the Balkan Beat Box track "hermetico" for the Euro label Crammed. It's some baile dancehall bass madness, soon to come in May digitally. Also Next week will be the free release of a track featuring Zulu called "Lose Control".Then following, a new collaboration with Dave Sharma in the desi cyber dubstep realm.

Jan 11, 08- back from nyc

here is a collection of shots from The Takeover in NYC at club love with lots of dif, crews Trouble And Bass, Sub Swara, Dub War, Secret Night of Science

Future Friction Interviews Kush on BBC Asia Network .Uk Punjabi madman Bobby Friction does an interview and spins some tracks week of Sept 1st, click on the graphic to go to the archived version that remains online..

Dub War Podcast Volume 1 by Dave Q features "Surya Dub" and more alongside Skream, and many more.

August 21: Bobby Friction from Radio 1 and Asia Network NamesKush and Luke Argilla's "Surf's Up" as #3 track of the week, coming under M.I.A!

CMJ Issue 1024 In TOP TWENTY:: "Brooklyn to SF Climbs to #20 in the New World/Reggae charts!

URB magazine nominated me for top 100 producers issue, where people vote for the upcoming producers each year. Help me move from top 1000 to top 100 by clicking on the vote ICON above.

Brooklyn to Sf comes in #3 add to New World inCMJ Issue 1019!

BRAND NEW 12": "Dub Elements: Ocean". 300 ONLY Limited Edition! Brand New Red/Black Color Vinyl 12" all dubwize on RecordLabelRecords Delve Into the World of twisted future dubstep, steppers, and IDM dub feat collabs with Luke Argilla, Maneesh The Twister, and Process Rebel. 3 tunes deep vibes.

Here is stuff from after the Surya dub with Lukeino, Dj G, and many more! great shots miro!

Dec 13 th, 2007:

Shit has been good out here in San Francisco. Insane amounts of dub, bashment, and dubstep/grime tunes flying around town and a great musical atmosphere. Seems like there is a little bit of a metal revival going on too, which is good news. Thanx for all the folks who came out to Surya Dub this past week, we had a blast and seriously Lukeino and Dj G's sets were pretty over the top!!!!

Lots of fun events over the past few months for everybody invovled. most notably, SURYA DUB, won the Readers Poll best Nightclub Night in San Francisco, so we want to thank all of you for your support and help with our vision bringing the best in new styles to the people.

Also SURYA DUB TSHIRTS ARE IN!Ladeez - $15 ** Mens - $15 ** Toddler - $10
plus shipping or meet us around town at a gig You Can order them by emailing me or info@suryadub.com

In Collabs: Kossak from RLR and me have started a new project called The Placebo Brothers. This is an exploration of new experimental sounds with a focus on sound design and less dancefloor related vibes, no vocals all instrumental. A clip will be up shortly.

Bongo Chillii , wicked mc from Uk who has been featured on recordings by The Bug, Rootsman, Rogue State, and many more and I have just cut a tune, with a flipside with N4SA on the Dirty Needle Riddim. This riddim is an industrial stomper with distorted snares, warbling acid basslines, melodica, death metal guitar from Aaron Hegg, and a serious performance from Bongo not to be missed, soon to be on vinyl.

Badman reggateon artist Santero and myself have been fleshing out a riddim for a future collaboration, whihc will include vocals from Omega, previously of Afro_mystik, the OM records artist. The riddim is a punjabi tudd vibe type of thang, but we will see where this goes, just started!

Bassist bassmaster Dubsworth( lives in my neighborhood in SF) of the Sons of Liberty dubstep, live dub, and experimental vibes has been laying his licks and collaborating on two tunes. One natural mellow dnb remix of Dub Gabriels' version with 77Klash( Klash city records) from his new record "Anarchy and Alchemy", but lays deep dub vibes with Kush on the drumset/melodies/dubbing, DJ Kiva from babylon sound NYC on Horns, and himself on bass and collabing on arrangement.

fun at surya dub halloween

June 29th, 2007:In exciting news, Sub Swara featuring Dhruva, Haj, Sunder, and Juakali were featured on BBC1 last night on Mary Ann Hobbes show, verses Skull Disco from UK. It was absolutely heat, and tracks from myself, Process Rebel, Dave Sharma, Dave Q, were dropped in a NYC vs. LONDON dubstep battle. make sure to take a listen to it off bbc's site this week.

In collaboration: New tunes are in the works with KOSSAK(RLR), Dhruva(SS), Dave Sharma, Dj KIVA(Babylon Studios).

In Media: For some fun reason, NIRVANA WOMEN"S MAGAZINE, an indian women's vogue equivalent, asked me to be the guest music reviewer in next month's issue. Pick up a copy and check it out, with reviews on the new TUSS record, MDK CARTEL, and State of Bengal.

06:

April 12: BHANG RAGGA hits top TWENTY for New World CMJ at #19 in issue 957. It debuted at #32 and has quickly climbed. Thanx to American and Canadian college radio, this record is being heard- thank you all the dj's who have made this possible. http://www.cmj.com

March 23rd: LA WEEKLY features "Bhang Ragga" in an article with Dr. isreal, Scientists, Heavy Weight Dub Champions. " You know how sometimes you start an album, and you can’t goddamn turn it off? That befell me with the new Bhang Ragga, by the Bay Area dubmaster Kush Arora... rest of the article can be seen at http://www.laweekly.com/music/beauty-noise/i-got-riddim/12881/

March 06: Kush Arora/Drop the Lime/Dj RXM new vinyl 12" dancheall badman Juakali from Brooklyn
Juakali is at the forefront of dubstep, grime, junglist rasta mc'ing and has worked with DIgital Myztics, Kode 9, and a host of people all over the world. Kush is doing the new "2 finga "remix for the remix side of the vinyl. Punjabi dread bass at it's Finest..

Jan 25, 06 San Francisco Bay Guardian Does A Feature on Bhangra with Kush interview/photos: San francisco bay guardian does a fun interview with Kush Arora and has some memorable quotes! check out the fun at http://www.sfbg.com/40/17/art_music_bhang.html