San Francisco Blog

Adam "Dose One" Drucker and Jeffrey "Jel" Logan have constantly pushed hip-hop towards unexplored territories with impressive results. Their Avant-Garde approach has spawned a trilogy of delightfully genre-expanding albums through their six-piece outift, Subtle. This year's release of exitingARM continues that tradition with a fierce offering that blends fresh rhymes with new wave synths, electronic indie rock rhythms, and prog rock storytelling elements. It's no surprise coming from a band that name-checks X-Clan as an influence on their MySpace page while covering Shellac tunes during live shows.

Although put out through Lex Records, the men of Subtle are better known for their work through Oakland record label and artist collective, Anticon. Before putting out the first Subtle album, Drucker, Logan, and fellow Subtle member Dax Pierson were perfecting their trademark abstract sound as Themselves, putting out The No Music in 2002, a precursor for things to come. In fact, Subtle's main members have been at the forefront of many other notable Anticon projects, including cLOUDDEAD, 13 & God, and Deep Puddle Dynamics. Their prior efforts have served as the backbone of Subtle's forward-thinking stylings.

Subtle's release of exitingARM marks one of the best albums of the year, and has earned them an SF Weekly Music Awards nomination for best local Rap/Hip-Hop act. If you'd like to vote for Subtle, cast your ballot now. --Oscar Pascual

All Shook Down will be setting the spotlight on Music Award nominees today through Oct. 16.