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