Sub-Division
If the first band out of the Hard Soul records stable, The Capes, were sent to reclaim pop, then Sub-Division are here to redefine it. Nobody likes Sub-Division, people LOVE them or HATE them.

Slug Magazine said,
“…is really quite entrancing all by itself, but with the addition of Amira Baltezar’s completely unique vocal sound—holy fuck—it starts to become incomparable.”

then Stylus came along with,
“…but our singer is now saying “Please don't leave me again / Or I'm going to
kill, kill myself,” which makes me want to throw this EP out of the window….not enough real content to tell whether “Express” is the fluke or “Leave Me” is.”

The thing is, we think they’re a rock ‘n’ roll phenomenon, something so powerfully unique that if the Stylus writer had been driven to throw their record out of his window, someone below would have picked it up and worshipped it as manna from heaven.

Sub-Division are definitely NOT a fluke.

Sub-Division sprang from an unforgiving existence of forsaken Third World street kids who weren’t raised on disposable American pop culture, but rather a suffocating social nihilism, and that experience is vividly depicted in their gut-wrenching and captivatingly difficult-to-categorize songs that can only be given extremely vague comparisons to The Sugarcubes, Romeo Void, X-Ray Spex, Cabaret Voltaire and early Velvet Underground.

A pair of firey twins front the band, railing along the streets, drunken joy and fiercely unapologetic. Here are Amira (vocals) and Amed (bass): at the heart of this clamorous family. With compadre Ramiro an occasional fixture on guitar, their cousin Yamil ropes the brother and sister back in every so often, and ultimately his drumming harnesses a sound that is both meticulously tight, and on the brink of total shambles. The group is unabashed in its uncompromising attitude about its place in music and culture.

There’s an almost tragic confidence in having utterly nothing to lose brewing at the core of Sub-Division’s difficult to unravel sound. The somber detachment of early 80s Rough Trade post-punk seems a likely reference point, but there’s also a skewed sense of pop structure reminiscent of the Sugarcubes, as well as early industrial dance music in each song (albeit these are real drums and guitars---no sequencers or synthesizers allowed).

After the teaser Hard Soul brought with Sub-D’s EP “The Primos,” the band sharpens the blade with their freshman album “Blue Boy” unleashed on April 11th 2006. Packed with their Nietzschean once-tracked songs, and mixed by producer Phil Vinall (Radiohead, Placebo, Das Pop), “Blue Boy” rains down punches to the head, dragging the listener into the fray that Sub-Division constantly thrives on. As the guitar grinds against Yamil’s measured, unyielding drums, Amira steps in like a 21st century Nico. She leaves you used, abused and seeing stars.

Sub-Division is undeniably dark, but not in the typical sense. It’s a sound that doesn’t stem from suburban shopping mall boredom, but rather a seething honesty borne from a group’s collective will to shake off the demons of culture by inventing a musical language of it’s own.

For More Info about Sub-Division please check out www.hardsoulrecords.com or contact us at info@hardsoulrecords.com