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Subculture Sage – Diggin’ In The Crates

11th Sep 2014

We featured newcomer duo Subculture Sage recently here and liked them so much we invited them back to do a special Diggin’ In The Crates playlist for us to shine a light on their diverse influences. From Cold War Kids to underground UK hip-hop, lets go diggin’ in the crates…

The Streets – Has It Come To This
Subculture: “This is such a seminal track from a record so legendary and important for me. I bought Original Pirate Material the year it came out (when I was 14) and I still listen to it regularly. The diversity of the record, the way he selectively collects London’s sounds for his own recreation, on top of his social commentary, all make this one of the best and quintessentially London records I own!”

Bonobo – Flutter
Sage: “Another great escape from London’s noise pollution. I challenge you to get on the London tube, bump this on and not smile! No matter your stress that day, this track will make everything not seem so bad.”

Jaylib – Nowadays
Sage: “This that grittiness you don’t even wanna dance to, this is that ish that you just stand there and frown on some headbop business. The whole champion Sound album is epic, but this track for me would have to be my favorite from the whole album, though very hard to choose as there are a lot of bangers on there.”

Common – Faithful
Subculture: “This track comes from one of my favourite Hip Hop records of all time. Common’s ‘Be’, produced by Kanye and Dilla melts like butter every time I hear it, from start to finish. I’ve probably spent years habitually refusing to remove it from my CD player. This jam in particular means a lot to me also.”

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps
Subculture: “I first heard this song at Reading ‘04. When the White Stripes were headlining, they covered it and it just clicked for me. I became a Yeah Yeah Yeahs fan for many years after that.”

Mystro – Strong Rhyming
Sage: “Mystro. One of the best lyricists the UK has seen to date in my opinion. Just listen to this track and try tell me the man ain’t got mad skills on the mic. Music Mystro is one of the strongest UK Hip Hop albums that influenced me as an MC during my adolescence.”

Cold War Kids – We Used To Vacation
Subculture: “Although the Cold War Kids came in at a time of indie/alternative obsession for me, their blues influence and scrappy arrangements always had my head bopping in a way few other bands could.”

Kormac – Wash My Hands
Sage: “Swing is the Vibe is all I’ve got to say about this track here. If you know, you know. If you don’t, get to know #SwingTing.”)

MF Doom & MF Grimm – The Original (Remix Instrumental)
Sage: “This is one of my favorite instrumentals to practice bars over. Everything just sounds great over it.”

Shy FX – Original Nuttah
Subculture: “There’s no better sound to sum up the UK underground than this. Post 1am, it might be impossible to drop this on a London dancefloor and not make the floor vibrate and sweat drip from the walls. Jungle is something that froze in time and never became overexposed quite like Drum and Bass did. This is the T-shirt slogan for that sound.”

Defenders Of Style & Tha Office – Defenders Of Style vs Tha Office
Sage: “Some more of that gritty UK underground ish for you here. Big up my Leeds fam Defenders Of Style all day. One of my favorite recent undeground UK Hip Hop bits of music put out, I know its not one track but the whole album is just f-ing awesome, its free aswell, go download that ish – support UK Hip Hop.”

Groove Armada – Paris
Subculture: “My favourite Groove Armada track and probably also one of my favourite songs of all time. It’s beauty speaks for itself. This song has given me the same feeling for so many years and every time it comes on, a part of me just melts.”