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 Subtle
Since it's genesis in 2001, Oakland-based
sextet Subtle has been home-recording its way to the
far side of song. Drawing from a diverse palette of
instruments: sampler, synth, guitar, cello, winds, electronic
and acoustic drums, and the unmistakable voice and prose
of doseone, the band fashions a self-sampled and live-mic'd
honest to genreless music. For Subtle, the last twelve
months have been nothing short of life changing. Surviving
through and recovering from a terrible tour van accident
last February has led the subtle6 to their most adventurous
and clear-hearted achievement, the soon to be released
"for hero : for fool". A contiguous and conceptual
work of album as art, picking up and running away with
the motifs and musical arrangements of "a new white"
and their four self-released season themed ep's. Carrying
on Doseone's outer/inner monologue that underlies his
previous endeavours cLOUDDEAD, themselves, and 13 &
god, "for hero : for fool" boldly follows
the B-movie dreams and midday terrors of a working-class
poet, born of raw raps and the somewhat vacuum times
of the last quarter century. Their latest release "wishingbone"
is a CD/DVD collection of new material, re-approaches
and remixes as recorded by Subtle and a few of their
closest friends. Mike Patton, Beck, Console, Hrvatski,
Fog, and Ms. John Soda. The DVD features three music
videos by London-based animators SSSR, tied together
as a short film. Creating a twice-textured and all-era
style, SSSR melds filmed miniatures, surreal sketch
work, and classic animation to create a world in and
of itself. Subtle hits the stage this spring in support
of the "wishingbone", touring the U.S.of A
and Europe in stride. Not to be missed, their live performance
parallels and elaborates on the complex and natural
lengths of their recorded material. With painted backdrops,
stageprops and a whole lot of middleclass mojo, it is
in the midst of live performance that Subtle's works
of song complete themselves.
Links
http://www.lexrecords.com
http://www.roughtrade.de
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