Subtle

Many acts have tackled hip-hop from a rock mind-set, but most get mired in the sticky thicket of authenticity, i.e., is it real? Subtle -- a sextet featuring Dax Pierson (vocals) and anticon collective's Doseone (vocals/lyrics) and Jel (drum programming) -- build their hybrid from a quarter century of pop and college radio, then animate it with a megawatt jolt of race/class anxiety. What results is the kaleidoscopic journey of fictional rapper/cultural warrior Hour Hero Yes. Along the way, "Middleclass Stomp" finds the unlikely DNA shared by Swell Maps and Sir Mix-A-Lot, while the Burroughsian "Midas Gutz" satirizes rap machismo in a gory throwdown. 

Now Hear This:
Subtle feat. Wolf Parade - "Middleclass Haunt" DOWNLOAD MP3

Now Watch This:
Subtle - "The Mercury Craze"
WINDOWS MEDIA | REAL PLAYER

By J. Niimi