Kush Aurora Bhang Ragga

• Words: Tomas Palermo
• Label: Kush Aurora

Oakland, CA-raised Kush Aurora embraces his New Delhi heritage without denying his high school music obsession: death metal. Like Kid 606 or The Bug, Aurora-also an avowed digital-dub and industrial music fan-doesn't limit his production to a polite Desi dance sound. Instead, he links up with Jamaican emcees N4SA and Mr. Frank, and percussionists Jagtar Singh and Sukhadia, and adds his own barrage of war zone beats. "Cold World" blends Crip-walking tablas with moody synths, while "Sad Corruption" (with Amit Kumar Das on santoor) is potent South Asian dubstep. With an aural anarchist behind the mixing board, Bhang Ragga does for Punjabi beats what Adrian Sherwood did for dub.