Pawn (born David Sandstrom) is both a member and producing artist of Los Angeles-based dubstep collective SMOG. Currently residing in San Francisco, (the only SMOG artist living outside the City of Angels), his dynamic California-style and charismatic productions place him in a wide range of electronic music genres. Surrounded by the colorful palette of The Golden State’s endless musical influences, Sandstrom’s productions venture through layers of glitch-hop and jungle, often energized by elements of crunk and painted with the guttural auras of dubstep.
After a decade-plus relationship with the local drum-and-bass community, Sandstrom joined SMOG in 2008. Inspired by the fresh and rapidly growing bass culture of the LA underground, he quickly landed a fundamental role in pushing Los Angeles dubstep forward. He joined the crew during the height of its endeavor into the more mainstream world, and in 2009 he stepped into a broader spotlight with his remix of hip-hop legends GZA and Ras Kass, featured on “Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture Vol. 2: Enter the Dubstep”. Soon after, in 2010 he released the Headshot EP (SMOG) – a punchy dance track featuring E.M.U. and the vocals of Atlanta’s dub emcee, Word2Jah. Sandstrom features several collaborative and remixed works with artists The Glitch Mob, CC Sheffield and SMOG artists 12th Planet, E.M.U., Kelly Dean, and Steady. He is currently working on remixes for The Sounds (Sweden) and Lukeino of Sublife records. Recently featured in Big Up Magazine as one of the next “Big Up and Coming” artists, Pawn keeps the ball rolling with his first album Close the Lights just dropping on Smog.
