Description
Product DescriptionPeople of the North is Kid Millions (drums) and Bobby Matador (keyboard, synth, vocals) of Oneida, and Sub Contra is their Thrill Jockey debut. While their sound, like Oneida s, is constantly shifting and absorbing new concepts and ideas, Sub Contra is a work that fully embraces tumult and darkness in startling and dramatic ways. People of the North have been an active entity since 2003, but it wasn t until 2010 with the release of Deep Tissue on their own Brah imprint and Steep Formations, which followed in 2012, that recordings became an important part of the duo s identity. Sub Contra also features contributions from Shahin Motia and Barry London of Oneida.Opener Drama Class is a combative slice of improvised psychedelia, with Matador s distorted organ tones providing an understructure for Kid Millions to weave complex drum patterns throughout. Coal Baron provides a respite from the discord, with Matador and Millions droning on Farfisa and Echoplex, nodding to Bo Hansson and Cluster. The Sub Contra minisuite that opens side 2 is an attempt at expressing in sound the Louise Bogan poem of the same name: Build there some thick chord of wonder/Then, for every passion s sake/beat upon it till it break. The 14minute Osage Orange , which closes the album, is an epic slow build and decay, ethereal howls of synthesizer morphing into pulsating beads of sound as Millions dances effortlessly around his kit.POReviewits an unrelenting proposition, with a ground layer of shredding distortion (the guitar equivalent to the highpressure snare raps of Millions Man Forever work) which gets met by some exploratory, polygonal rhythmic stutterings, both eventually subsumed by a viscerally noisy assault by Matadors synth arsenal. The QuietusSub Contra is an interesting addition to that band of musicians relentless and prolific output. The 405On album opener Drama Class fuzzy feedback greets you at the door and steals your wallet. Amidst the scuzzy drone, Kid Millions flexes at the skins with a percussive eraticism. This is your entrance into the house of a rising sun, stripped of your belongings, and only the electrified pulse of an industrious hum to keep you company. Impose