Subtle - Swanmeat

I finally got a chance to see these guys last week while back in New York. Subtle are a Bay Area group, born out of a collective of individuals revolving around the record label Anticon. I believe the story goes that a few of these guys were working together at the Amoeba store up in Berkley, each shared an eclectic musical enthusiasm ranging everywhere from Public Enemy and battle rapping to Krautrock and Brian Eno, and decided to form a band. Hey, why not?

The results so far have been more than inspired. Their wide spectrum of influences hold no hierarchy over each other, the output being a sound wholly distinctive and completely their own. Plus, check the rapid fire vocals and dense verbage from frontman Doseone. I’m sure there’s a rapping term for that style, but I’m a bit green (help me out hip-hop nation!). Non sequitur quote of the night by Doseone: “…We’re gonna have a black president y’all. That’s some sci-fi shit.”

They have a new record ExitingARM coming out tomorrow.

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Sun Lips
Opening for them were Black Moth Super Rainbow, one unapologetically weird yet engaging band. Weird and engaging not so much for their music, which is a pleasant enough mix of dancey psychedelic rock, but more so for their visual presentation. When you begin a show with a Richard Simmons workout video that syncs up perfectly with your opening song, you better be able to back that silly statement up in the rest of your set. And the did, with a bizarrely cohesive mix of campy nostalgia including but not limited to: 80’s B-movie horror films, vintage children’s shows, 70’s New Age instructional meditation, women blowing huge bubbles of gum, 80’s WWF wrestlers trash talking, and finally their own music videos (such as the one above).

Though I’m pretty sure you had to be one something to fully appreciate it (which many arrived prepared for), I thought it worked nonetheless.