I was looking for this album for a long time and I finally found it via a /mu/ request thread, so I naturally downloaded it at lightning speed and then promptly let it sit there for a week before actually listening to it. Now that I have a chance to finally get my thoughts out on music and stuff I felt that I couldn't possibly continue without covering this strange gem. I think what stands out most about Subtle's for hero: for fool is that it's an amalgamation of indie rock and rap, all with a great lo-fi feel. Also what stands out is the frontman/MC of Subtle sounds like an indie singer forced to rap. The result is a strange, raspy sounding style coupled with a frenetic flow. Regardless of this, you don't really come to fh:ff looking for a "hip-hop" album. This could be reviewed as a rock album as well. Through and through it's a literal hard soup: hard rap and hard rock streamlined together into one strange sound. You may often wonder what would happen if Linkin Park and Cypress Hill didn't completely fucking blow the rap/rock genre into parody. Subtle offers a respite from those clowns with a sound that deftly incorporates rock, rap and electronic.
What I get from Subtle is the feel that these guys have some direction, but they still don't know what to do with their sound yet. It's so erratic, so emotional and so "out there." I feel as if these guys can barely contain the energy and feeling built up inside them. Sometimes Doesone's rhymes are literally tumbling over eachother, just pouring out as the rock beats on and you get the feel this band is on the edge. When it devolves into just a instrumental hard rock interlude, you can imagine they're recollecting their thoughts, gathering their composure, and reassigning that raw feeling into the instrumentals. I got that vibe with "Return of the Vein," which I can only describe as the buildup to some sort of anarchistic romp. With Subtle, all I can see is those big dudes from Where The Wild Things Are. These guys have basically created a soundtrack to a child's raucous, crazed dreamscape. There are no rules to their music and it's childlike, rebellious quality basically reminds me of throwing eggs at people's houses. Indeed, Subtle serves as a better voice for our generation than fun.'s lighthearted, anthemic crap could ever be. These guys pretty much know how to translate youth into music. It has to be crazy, it has to be fast and it has to be loud at some points and restrained at others. I mentioned Subtle doesn't seem like they know what they can truly do yet. That massive potential and talent is there, but you're not sure what to do with it yet. Isn't that what growing up and being a teenager is like? Even the album art hearkens back to some crazy shit we'd imagine in our dreams, or maybe after a tab of LSD.
Subtle's a rock band/rap group hybrid and they showcase this to the best of their ability. They also demonstrate some considerable skill with electronic music and production. But their appeal, for me, doesn't lie in their technical prowess (which they have plenty of) but in the feel of the music they've produced. It'd be hard for me to list Dose as one of my favorite rappers ("Midas Gutz" notwithstanding, it's easily one of my favorite "rap" tracks on the album and deserves a listen from anyone in the backpacker crowd.) and harder still for Subtle to break my top ten list of "rock bands." What they bring to table for me is that raw emotion that defines tracks like "Bed To The Bills" or "Nomanisisland." Whether Subtle's laying down bars or riffs, the fact that it's so unrefined and real for a studio-produced album gives me the chills. You won't be finding impeccably produced youth anthems but rather bangers that you could imagine at some sleazy indie venue or your best friend's garage (complete with empty bottles of Jack Daniels.) The rasps of Doseone and the occasional melodic backing vocals are raw and visceral. They can build tension and make you feel like you're ready to go ten rounds with a bear.
Part of that blood-boiling, adrenaline-filled aura they give off is thanks to the rock aspect of Subtle's repertoire. The heavy-handed, hard as stone riffs and drums lay on you in a thick haze worthy of any 20 year old basement rocker. They often switch off the rap completely to display their instrumental rock, with occasional crooning from the group that almost makes your forget for a minute ago they sounded like underground battle rappers. They certainly know how to sing as well as rap- "Middleclass Stomp" is an especially good example of their work as vocalists- and they can hold their own weight through minutes-long guitar slams and drum work. I was never once bored with the instrumentals, despite the fact the last two tracks stand at seven and eight minutes long, respectively. If you want me to sit through a goddamn eight minute outro, you better be enticing. Luckily, Subtle's knows how to bring the ruckus and keep your blood pumping even during the slower refrains. It's good-ass music.
If I were to nitpick I'd simply have to say that some of this music is a bit on inaccessible side. "Middleclass Kill" has some harsher, more ominous sounds that lightweight listeners might shirk from, and throughout the album Dose and Subtle have a tendency to be loud and proud. It's not easy listening in any sense of the word. Rock purists might find it a little too heavy on the hippy-hop side, but it's definitely an alternative masterpiece and offers enough to please even the "rap is crap" dreck. If you're here looking for hip-hop, however, they deliver plenty on that front with sick tracks like "Midas Gutz." for her: for fool truly does wonders and could please those on both sides of the spectrum. It's easily one of the coolest crossover albums of the decade. I just hope you can keep up with it, and maybe hold in the impulses to rob a liquor store with your buddies.
for hero: for fool hits the mark, and gets a solid 8/10
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