(Written Oct. 25 2007)

It's been far too long since I put the pixel pen to this page but better late than never. The last couple months have been a whirlwind for Sub Swara and a blessed one at that. From Shambhala (check Juakali's blog about this -- www.myspace.com/Juakali - he does proper justice to how it went down and it went down large!).

None of us in the SS crew have really reflected about Burning Man this year and it's definitely worth a hot minute. We started things off at the Temple of Breaks (Haj was there earlier and I only wish I could have witnessed his lunar eclipse set with Koli Stance dubbing out the Playa). and it was a wonderful way to kick things off. We rolled up in the afternoon on Wednesday and were fully immersed in the full peppered spectrum of emotion and sensation that the Playa bestows from the getgo. Ran into Haj and Vanita pretty quick after a little bicycle cout mission and we knew it was an auspicious beginning.
Patricio and Smoove laid down a phatty breaks set before us and then we took the rig at the Temple -- I'd be lying if I said we didn't have some nerves in the mix. The whole logistics of transporting tablas on the playa, our admittedly high maintenance set up, etc. ..but all was laid to rest right quick. We took the stage.. tablas wrapped in EV light as were Sunder's arms and Haj starting things off on the decks -- was a blast (you can check some video at... http://youtube.com/watch?v=NFgxewxCZ0E - sound is distorted off the camera mic but you get the vibe). FreQ Nasty and Oscure balzed through the rest of the night -- illy fully.
Next day was the Entheon Village, which , amidst a tragic backdrop (tweakin dude climbed to the top of the dome and ended up falling 40 feet to the ground, dying of internal bleeding 2 days later) ended up ironically being one of my favorite sets there. A Real voyage through the SS soundscape and with Videolicious' wizardry it was a feast of synaesthesia all round.
Friday I got to play rock a sunset dubstep set with strictly North American dubstep fam (Djunya, Lighta! crew and more) on a Turbo sound rig (what! I could get used to having a sub monitor up in the booth - big up to Danny Corn and Moon tribe crew). Was the nice intimate bass session I was looking for right about then.
Later that night, Sunder, Bass Society and I did the Pyramid Giza on the Playa -- was a lotta fun reconnecting with the Texas crew and was more of an uptempo set -- trading
2's and 3s throughout.
And quite possibly my favorite session was at El Circo on Sunday morning -- the one that closed it out for us on the BM stages -- The lush Baggend Soundsystem and proper family vibes throughout as the sun warmed up and rejuvenated...fruit being passed around, Chris Sia dropping a beautifully melodic low freQ set beforehand and Lighta crew rampin after (blessed be they for braving the difficulties of vinyl on the playa and still comin' correct).

Then back to NY -- couple days after being back from the Burn we dropped down to Crash Mansion on the LES to play a show with DJ Spooky and Liquid Todd as part of the HOWL Festival -- we were a newly tuned machine after the run of shows over the past few months and I think Juakali saw the change (he wasn't with us at BM this time round) and had a nice little grin on his face seeing things move to the next level. Was one of the best sets we've had this year and funny that it was to an empty room for all of us. Wonder when was the last time we or Spooky or Todd played to like 15 people -- but it was a blast! It was basically rehearsal -- tried new shit, Sunder running dubstep (what?!), breaking out thumb pianos and kazoos ;).

The Soundtribe Sector 9 party was ill, albeit with mad problems with the venue and technicalities throughout the day -- never one to be a hater, but if ur gonna do a show at Rebel, make sure you got shit locked down and that they actually show up with a game face -- that's all I'm gonna say.

Played another show that night and as much as it was bitter to be missing DMZ at Dub War, I paid hommage to Mala, Loefah et al. on the roof at Grand Space in Brooklyn till the cusp of sunrise and that was as sweet as I could have hoped for. Was exhausting and beautiful and I felt like I was on an urban Burning Man romp and that's not a bad way to feel.

And then we come to the Sub Swara 2 year anniversary at Love. What more can be said about Love than the shit is the illest sound rig in NYC! The GLitch Mob Bredren and Amar (Surya Dub, electric Vardo, SF) got up with us that night for a plus-capacity crowd and it was better than anything we could have hoped for. Slammin' all night, hype crowd (big up SS fam!) and a nice little surprise tagteam dubstep session with Dave Q (Dub War), Haj and myself at the end to close things out. We've found our tru home for the SS night in NY.

And last weekend, all you can say is what a wise man (badman) named Juakali once said -- "you better come to Dub Waaaaar!" Time to make a t-shirt....Sharmaji and I did a tag team dusbtep session, dropping a grip of new original dubs during our set to open the gates for Joe Nice and Vex'D! Can safely say this was one of my favorite gigs of my life. The Dub War crowd is so forward, so open, so thirsty for new bass weight. I was blushing throgh my Dravidian skin pulling rewinds on new shit that Kush Arora and I and Sharma and I did. And Vex'D ---dayaaamm - live PA set and it was a proper journey through soulful, devastating, eerie, massive, and whatever other adjectives that do more justice than the trite ones I just dropped. Rolie and Jamie (aka Vex'D) dropped it large as did Dub War Residents, Dave Q and Joe Nice and Jua on the mic... and on a revamped and retooled Love soundystem at that -- as if it couldn't get any nastier!

So that brings up to right about now. Sunder, Haj and I are off to Boulder for the Voix de La Ville gig this weekend, Jua's off to Europe and Asia next wek (he and I'll be connecting for show in India this December and January), and next week we've got the follow up to the Sub Swara 2 year anniversary with DJ SUV (Roni Size Reprazent crew, V Recordings) and ELF (Maui) comin thru. Gonna be LARGEness.

So much more to come this year, a pivotal 07 in so many ways.

08 is comin' correct with the TAKEOVER at Love -- more on that soon -- too big for now plus I'm about to get carpal tunnel from typing...