Subtle
For Hero: For Fool

The gift of synthesis is acquired through experience. It is with this warning that I set out to write my second un-review. But...but...the singer raps!? Long sentences?!...Endless enjambments?!...A unique piece to listen to in one breath?! And how do you manage to be succinct with this.

"For Hero: For Fool" (2006 @ Lex Records) is the second effort by the Oakland collective born from the twisted mind of the ex-cLOUDDEAD-ex-Themselves-ex-a-bit-of-everything Dose One (damn, if it weren't blasphemy, I'd compare him to Mike Patton for his countless collaborations, including notable ones with BoomBip "Circle" [2002 @ Mush] and with Notwist "13 & God" [2005 @ Anticon]).

A theater but not a puppet show. The scenic representation is combined with one of the most incomprehensible streams of consciousness ever birthed by a semi-human mind (an impression confirmed by their Live performances, absolutely dramatic, recited). The first Subtle work had pleasantly impressed, but it seemed like a less erratic version of Ten by cLOUDDEAD (read the excellent review). Here the guys take their own path, they take off running. Fast... no, lightning fast! It's impossible to pin down the tracks of this work which approaches many genres but never fully embraces them, mocking them.
Electronic or acoustic, sampled or played, spoken or sung, the music of Subtle hits hard...in the stomach...difficult to digest immediately.

"There were a carrot and a monkey... both on stage", the beginning of the beginnings. The pamphlet of the show. Silence in the hall, Subtle takes care of the noise. The rhythm section, very tight, sometimes can't keep up with the hyper-fast tongue of Dose One who uses various tricks to play all the actors in the show in a Petrolian chameleonism. From the fake joy and carefreeness of the beginning, it quickly descends into more uncomfortable terrains. The initial track is composed of 4 pieces fused together.

"A Tale of Apes I" and "A Tale of Apes II" are like Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde on acid and at a rave. Disco Trash.
"Middleclass Stomp" is the most theatrical piece of the opus where body language is the only clear and canonical form of communication. The instrumentation is pushed to its limits with acoustic and rhythmic guitars, electric cellos, and saxophones. The only thing missing is the conductor... no, there is one... it's Jel, with his electronic pads, setting the pace.
"Middleclass Kill" opens with a duet of voices and a muffled drum, then breaks out of its slumber in a whirlwind of refrains and keyboards.
"Midaz Gutz" is noir and decadent rap.
"Nomanisisland" is a falsetto lullaby, brass and strings, the slowest and most reflective piece.
"The Mercury Craze" the only single from the album, is extremely immediate, with a dry beat and one of the most gaudy guitar riffs ever heard...kitsch in the service of irony...."What if your blood weren't you?" sings Dose. Absolutely comical is the radio spot placed at the end of the track to emphasize that in the end, advertising is the soul of music... uh, the market.
There are no patterns, styles, or mannerisms (wow, the rhyme...Dose, I'll steal your job) that our guys don't touch, infecting them, and the siren at the beginning of "Bed To The Bills" seems like the only cure....forced internment.
"Returne To The Vein" is an escalation of tones where the flow of words is abruptly interrupted by 2 minutes of prog ramblings and picked up by the hair at the end, miraculously.
Even "The End" dares to last 8-minutes-8 and meticulously repeats every genre used in the album... too pretentious to be true... yet... shall we call it Extreme Crossover? Let's do it!

The curtain falls, the actors exit, they bow, the audience leaves almost threatened by a sudden and sad piano (on the first listen it seems the CD skips) and a tail to skip (deliberately, like in the cinema? This way, please, the exit is this way).
An album challenging for challenging ears, jam-packed with self-references, neologisms, samples, and mood swings, in pure Dose style, in pure Subtle style. It won't remain in history, it makes its own history.

P.S. The new work of the gentlemen reviewed here has just been released: "Exiting Arm" which, as soon as I have digested it, I will review.