Subsoil
Gig Seeker Pro

Subsoil

Rochester, New York, United States | SELF

Rochester, New York, United States | SELF
Band Hip Hop Folk

Calendar

This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"HIP HOP/FUNK: Subsoil (8/29)"

HIP HOP/FUNK: Subsoil (8/29)
By Saby Reyes-Kulkarni on Aug. 27th, 2008

"...wisely gives the music equal weight in the mix, so that instruments and vocals act as a whole."

"MCs Mooney and Laz Green have tongues as sharp as daggers..."

"...Laz and Mooney pull it off with integrity and grace. The pair also switches to melodic vocals on a dime, which gives the otherwise delightfully lazy music the perfect boost at just the right times."

This is a show preview in the City Paper 8/27/08

http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/events/choice-concerts/HIP+HOP+FUNK%3A+Subsoil+%288+29%29/
- By Saby Reyes-Kulkarni - City Newspaper


"If you’re craving some funk..."

"The 8-piece collective, Subsoil, is a grooving, jamming, hip hop machine, complete with 2 emcees, and positive lyrics that transcend the genre. These cats are a party waiting to happen, so don’t miss out!"

http://www.freetimemag.com/?q=content/columns/lots-cool-shows-coming
- by FREETIME Magazine - wor


"Organic band a 'hip hop funk fusion'"

"Subsoil writes music for themselves, staying humble to their roots"

"Subsoil is a group that is not making music for the sake of becoming another one-hit wonder on MTV."

http://www.cardinalcourieronline.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=bf1d6312-2b14-46c5-9cd2-351c23de4736 - By Nicole Reitz - Cardinal Courier (St. John Fisher College's paper).


"Subsoil opens for Sean Price (interview)"

"...blending elements of rap and funk in it's live energetic shows."

"It's something a casual music fan moght not expect from five white guys."

Troy Johnson 4/27/2007
Rochester Insider page 33 - Rochester Insider (Troy Johnson 4/27/2007)


"RocLoop Interview"

"Funk? Reggae? Jazz? R&B? Subsoil takes all these elements and combines them to form Rochester’s most electic hip-hop outfit. Starting as just two MCs, the group has grown into a full live band, a characteristic that defines the group’s desire to capture the sponteanity that the love about hip-hop music."

http://rocloop.com/videos/7784-meet-the-band-subsoil

By:
Aaron J McGrath
Kat Sidelnik
RocLoop.com
© 2008
- Aaron J McGrath & Kat Sidelnik - RocLoop.com


"MUSIC PREVIEW: Subsoil"

MUSIC PREVIEW: Subsoil
Striving for that peak emotion

MUSIC PREVIEW: Subsoil
Striving for that peak emotion
By Frank De Blase on March 18, 2009


Total Recommendations (2)
Leave A Comment
Read Comments (2)



Subsoil frontman Matt Faugh credits the band's live instrumentation with getting Rochester music fans out to live, local hip-hop shows. PHOTO PROVIDED
Though considered not only a lifestyle, but a culture at this point, hip-hop is first and foremost music. Rochester's Subsoil employs actual instruments and substantive lyrics that aren't just clever but socially conscious and involved, and because of that is at the center of a locally burgeoning hip-hop movement.

Subsoil started as a two-MC group in late 2004, and slowly built a band around it after discovering the advantages in playing live instruments.

"There's more spontaneity than with a DJ," says Subsoil front man Matt "Mooney" Faugh. "I think there's a bigger live element if you can see a band putting the music together on stage." Besides Faugh, Subsoil includes MC Laz Green, keyboardist Ted Ladwig, guitarist Gerald Pratt, trumpeter Katie Horn, and bassist Craig-O-Matic.

Subsoil is putting this music together in the studio as well. "Worm's Eye View" is the band's first full-length CD, and first recording with its current bass player and drummer. The disc is slated for a May self-release and is already over budget.

"We're a little over double what we were going to spend," says Faugh. "We're getting some people to sponsor it - ACT LIVE, Dubland [Underground], Guillotine Marketing - they're gonna put some money down to put some logos on it, make it like a NASCAR car." And like those NASCAR drivers who pimp everything on their jumpsuits, Faugh has no qualms about having his clothes cluttered with endorsements as well.

"I never buy clothes," he says. "All my clothes are hand-me-downs or from rummage sales. So if anyone wants to give us a clothing sponsorship, we're ready for that too. Anything that's free, I'll wear."

Most bands spend their studio lives chasing the elusive live show. The vibe, the energy, that in-the-moment feel are often lost in the mix. Conversely, Subsoil aims to keep the two situations separate.

"It's incredibly different compared to live," Faugh says. "We did it to a click. We did it perfect. We wanted to make it studio polished."

In a live setting, Subsoil clearly feeds off the crowd's energy, which feeds off of the band's, and so on. You'd think Subsoil would want - hell, need - that vibe as the tape began to roll.

"I guess I don't need it all the time," Faugh says. "I guess I can picture what works good when I'm in the studio. If you know what works good live, you have that internal signaling to say, ‘I would love to see this live, so I'm gonna love hearing it through these speakers.' But we want them to see a contrast between studio and live."

It's live on stage where Subsoil, along with a growing number of local hip-hop acts - Reece Q, Soul Slingers, Hustle Heads, and Tim Tones among them - has helped develop a healthy hip-hop scene in Rochester, with shows springing up at venues like Dubland Underground and the Bug Jar.

"We've been trying to put together a scene like this since we started," he says. "The live band element in Subsoil shows helped get a lot of people out to live hip-hop shows in general at first. So when quality acts like Reece Q and Soul Slingers came along, people took to it."

And as the upstate hip-hop landscape evolves, Faugh finds himself branching out on solo products with producer Husky.

"Some of it is the same content as Subsoil," he says. "But it's also something where it's much simpler - just me and a digital track. It's lot more exploratory. I can just do whatever and not have to worry where the keyboard solo goes. It's easier to balance a beat and lyrics. And there are a lot of people who listen to hip-hop who like a lot of lyrical content. In Subsoil we're balancing lyrics and good music."

The band will be adding regional touring to that balance once "Worm's Eye View" hits the street. Cities in the northeast will soon get to dig the organic groove and instrumental spontaneity. Faugh says he wants the audience at Subsoil shows leaving happy and horny.

"I want them at some sort of peak emotion," he says. "I want them to be tense in some way; violent and visceral in some fashion."

Subsoil

Part of the Water For Sudan benefit concert w/Sleeping Giant, The Buddhahood, Thousands Of One, Teressa Wilcox, MC Scribe, Jatoba, Whinny Blue, Headie Lemar, On The Sly, Hassaan Mackey, The Macro Meltdown

Thursday, March 19

Water Street Music Hall, 204 N Water St

5 p.m. | $10-$15 | 325-6490

Myspace.com/subsoil

Comments for "MUSIC PREVIEW: Subsoil" (2)
City Newspaper is not responsible for the content of these comments. City Newspaper reserves the right to remove comments at their discretion.


Dude-er-otomy said on Mar. 18, 2009 at 5:55pm
Subsoil is easily the best live-act-hip hop group in Rochester. I was a fan of Laz Green long before he joined SubSoil, and paired with Moon makes for the nicest one-two emcee combo in the area. Bigg Ups to the SOIL.


J-Dub said on Mar. 26, 2009 at 1:50pm
There are not enough solid, original local bands in Rochester who are worthy of actually following, Subsoil is def one of them. The music flows from one song to the next leaving you not knowing what exactly to expect in regards to style or pace - all you know is that you will like it.
If you see them on a flyer or card, believe me when I say you wont be listening to them just once.
- CITY NEWSPAPER


Discography

Bowel Groovements (4-Song Demo CD 2007)
Worm’s Eye View (River Bottom Studios JULY 2009)
Dirt Worship EP (Spring House Studios Dec 2012)

Photos

Bio

Subsoil (Rochester, NY) has an original sound best described as "Lyric-Rich Hip-Hop Fusion". Known for high-energy live shows, Subsoil's performance has developed into a keen-edge of razor-sharp lyricism, giving equal weight to the groove. This earned them award for "Best Live Act" in 2010 from the Rochester Insider/Metromix Magazine.

Subsoil's unique style is a progressive expression of musical diversity, focusing on verbal stimulation and satire from frontmen/emcees Moon.Roc and Laz Green, while allowing the live instrumentation to shine through at just the right time. Teamed with a cadre of like-minded musicians, Subsoil has grew into a self-sufficient entity whose debut full-length release entitled “Worm’s Eye View” (2009) made waves in the regional music scene, and the new EP "Dirt Worship" (Dec 2012) is moving through the northeast and online communities, gaining passionate attention from many new listeners. Subsoil is a popular act in Rochester NY, and continues to gain momentum in other markets such as Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Jamestown, Syracuse, and Oswego, and continues to steadily play many outdoor festivals and events. They are a genre-smashing brand of hip-hop that has been paired well with a wide spectrum of styles like reggae, jam/progressive, livetronic (EDM), Funk, Rock, Jazz, and almost anything! Subsoil has played festivals such as Rochester's EastEnd, Sterling Stage Festivals, Rock the Resort, and many others. Subsoil has been honored to play with such outstanding acts as; Kill The Noise, John Brown's Body, Rubblebucket, Badfish, Kung-Fu, Dopapod, BioDiesel, Consider The Source, The Movement, Manhattan Project, Thousands of One and hip-hop acts such as; Chali 2na, Afroman, Jean Grae, Louis Logic, Action Bronson, Sophistafunk, Raashan Ahmad (fr Crown City Rockers) among many others. Subsoil remains Rochester's hometown Hip-Hop Fusion Champions!