I am not a remix fan—most are pointless excuses to lengthen a song that was usually too long in the first place. Nor am I a fan of Subtle. I don’t hate the band, I just don’t know them well. But when I saw that “Yell & Ice†would feature members of The Notwist, TV on The Radio, and Wolf Parade, I got curious.
I’m glad I did. Yell & Ice is based on last year’s Subtle album, “For Hero: For Fool.” For those who don’t know, Subtle is billed as hip hop, but at least Yell & Ice (the only Subtle album I’ve listened to) is actually closer to the kind of discopunk made by DFA 1979 and The Rapture—a heavy blend of high-hat percussion and menace. Band members Adam “Doseone†Drucker and Jeffrey “Jel†Logan were a part of the anticon. Music collective, which probably gives you a better idea of what they sound like.
Released on Lex Records, “Yell & Ice†is an extremely interesting album. It is certainly genre-breaking. “Middle Class Haunt,†with Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade, is a Beck-style lament; “Deathful,†with Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio, is protest song for fans of Gnarls Barkley; “Sinking Pinks,†with Notwist, is creepy crawl through a cave, reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s Several Species of Small Animals Getting Together And Grooving With a Pict. And so on: Every track is fresh, innovative, and fascinating.
Plus, the band needs your support. In ’06, their van was robbed and they lost $15,000 in property, including their demos and other unreleased music, and then their van crashed, leaving one of their members a quadriplegic.
So go git it.
