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 (in late 2006) “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.
“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.
Subtle is: Adam “Doseone”
Drucker
voice and
samples
Jeffrey “Jel” Logan
electronic
drums
Jordan Dalrymple
drums and
guitar
Dax Pierson
voice and
harmonica
Marton Dowers
winds and keys
Alexander Kort
electric cello
All shows w/ Fog and
Jel
4-6 – Los Angeles, CA – Knitting Factory
4-7 –
San Francisco, CA – Slims
4-8 – Eugene, OR – WOW Hall
4-10 – Portland,
OR – Dougfir
4-11 – Seattle, WA – Neumo’s
4-14 – Minneapolis, MN –
Triple Rock
4-15 – Chicago, IL – Bottle / Abbey
4-16 – Detroit, MI –
Magic Stick
4-17 – Toronto, ONT – Lee’s Palace
4-18 – Montreal, PQ – La
Sala
4-19 – Boston, MA – TT
4-20 – New York, NY – Knitting Factory
4-21 – Philadelphia, PA – First Unit Church
4-22 – Chapel Hill, NC –
Local 506
4-23 – Atlanta, GA – Drunken Unicorn
4-24 – Baton Rouge, LA –
Spanish Moon
4-25 – Austin, TX – Emo’s
4-26 – Denton, TX – Hailey’s
4-28 – Tucson, AZ – Congress
4-29 – San Diego, CA – Casbah
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