Stuart Dacosta and Jehangir Jehangir of Baycity Lights launch new project

Dirty Jays perform at popular restobar Bonobo in Mumbai
Photo Credit: Shannon Mikhail Lobo

This month, drummer Jehangir Jehangir and bassist Stuart Dacosta of funk band Baycity Lights, who are also both fans of drum ’n bass, launched a new electronica project called Dirty Jays. The duo, who performed an opening set for Mumbai-based electronic group Madboy/Mink recently, use layers of synth, distorted loops and vocal harmonies to create a grimy disco, funk sound.  Says Dacosta, about his new project, “We’re dirty songwriters. We want to add dirt into everything! There’ll be dirt in the filters, the lyrics won’t be clean – it’s going to be a dirty sound.”

The pair began toying with the idea of an electronica project last year. Says Dacosta, “When we started, we had this idea of being two mad scientists, who, surrounded by a gazillion gizmos, would geek out and make the sound evolve in different ways.” While performing, they use two laptops ”“ Jehangir’s channels the grooves, basslines, and samples and Dacosta’s has his vocals, bass guitar and mastered effects running through it. Each of the samples that the Dirty Jays use, has either been pre-recorded by them in the studio or includes live samples produced while they’ve performed. Some of the gadgets they use include a Numark Orbit which is a MIDI remote controller and Leap Motion which is a motion-sensor device that produces sounds that are triggered by movement. Says Jehangir, “The point is to be able to perform expressively so that you’re not at a computer, typing.”

Using triggered samples, loops and drum grooves, the Dirty Jays have already worked on six songs and plan to release an EP later this year. Says Jehangir, “It’s a completely different side of music that we haven’t explored, it’s the main thing that got both of us excited. We want to make people dance.”