Subtle

Some smart-ass white boy just had to come along and make hip-hop all arty. Doseone achieved nearly instant notoriety for combining non-typical beats, ambience and overtly complex structures with rhyme flows that read more like feverish dreams than life-based observations with his key trio, cLOUDDEAD. His other main project, Themselves, a collaboration with fellow Anticon crew member and label producer Jel, focuses more on switching up beats and structures than spacing out, and are more successful and accessible for it. Subtle is Doseone and Jel’s new project, one that features four supplementary members, and is the duo’s most accessible effort yet. A New White isn’t as compelling as Themselves’ The No Music, but it does have its strong moments, that is when they’re not trying too hard to be purposely difficult, the pitfall that the Anticon crew consistently fall into. But when Subtle find a groove and actually stick to it, as on the moody standout "F.K.O.,” the results are truly moving. It’s just a shame you have to sift through so much vague wankery to find such moments.