Nashville-based husband and wife duo Sub-ID (aka bassist Alana Rocklin and electronic producer Brad Bowden) have previously established a reputation as highly sought-after session players for the likes of Bela Fleck and Nanci Griffith, but this debut album “BFF’ released on the Chicago-based 1320 sits miles away from those sorts of countrified explorations. Having previously contributed a remix to STS9′ preceding “Artifact: Perspectives’ collection, the nine tracks collected on “BFF’ see the duo fusing an approach that’s borne straight from psychedelic / free jazz with the sorts of IDM / click-hop grooves you’d associate with Prefuse 73 or Dabrye. Indeed, opening track “C.N.S.’ gives good indication as to the predominant mood on offer here, fusing heavily treated horn elements that call to mind Ben Neill’ “mutantrumpet’s with shimmering Detroit-hued synth pads, clattering angular hiphop rhythms and stuttering MC samples, the entire resulting vibe sitting somewhere that’s an equal distance between Compost Records and Stones Throw.
“The Raven & The Ruby’ meanwhile gets a little more scattered and IDM-focused in its aesthetic, blending crunching beat distortion with some warm live bass runs and epic delayed-out Sun Ra horns that nicely prevent things from getting too icy, shortly before the entire sound palette strips down to just a lone trumpet and 808, in what’s easily one of the most spectacular moments here. Elsewhere, the title track offers up a furious jazz-junglist onslaught that’s not a million miles from Squarepusher (albeit with far more frenzied jazz-horn stabs), before “Punchbowl’ nicely crunks things up by meshing some slightly Jimmy Edgar-esque click-hop rhythms with a live bassline that’s pure Rn’B. While many similar jazz-centric IDM/hiphop collections of this type often succumb to interminable noodling, with “BFF’ Sub-ID have managed to craft an extremely impressive debut album that’s consistently absorbing from start to finish.
