Subtle and TV on the Radio Thwart the Death of Rock

[Seattlest apologizes for the lateness of this post. We've been fighting off illness. And dragons.]

The encore defined the relevance of Sunday night's Subtle/TV on the Radio show at the Moore. By then both bands had come out and done their thing, with Subtle blending their Anticon experimental hiphop leanings with rock, and TV on the Radio pushing the boundaries of the rock form. The encore started with TVotR frontman Tunde Adebimpe bringing Subtle out onto the stage to join them, with the various members taking up drums, bells, and whatever else was handy.

"A Method" was the first of two songs the collective performed, with Subtle's Doseone joining Adebimpe on vocals, marking how how appropriate this double-billing was; Both acts could easily be described as "arty," with each offering no apologies and no pretension regarding their output. And here they were, not only on the same bill, but on the same stage. "Hardly a method you know" wasn't just a lyric, it was a statement. For all of the declarations of the death of rock, it's the methods of bands like Subtle and TV on the Radio that prove rock is indeed alive and well.

Subtle's latest release is For Hero: For Fool.
TV on the Radio's latest release is Return to Cookie Mountain.

Image from flickr user joshtrix.