Sub-Division

It's hard to decribe Sub-Division. At times, the band conjures up the sort of female-fronted electronica of Portishead, yet still there's a Yeah Yeah Yeahs vibe conjured through the use of real instruments and the frank vocals. From the three different songs on the EP (though there are also three remixes of two of the three songs on it), the vibe moves from the slow droning punk-distortion of "Express" to the more upbeat, repetitive sameness in "Leave Me" to the more melodic, slowed down "Promise."

The remixes work over the songs focusing on electronica, some turning it into 16-bit MIDI-sounding nerd rock á la a minimalist Thomas Dolby while the two others just focus on minimalizing the sound in general and using loops for the vocals and overdubs. All in all, the three remixes don't offer much more than the original song, and seem a bit frivoluous.

The band itself hails from Mexico City, featuring a brother/sister combo with another dude in there too, and there might even be another dude as well. I don't know much more about the band, except for that this EP is sort of like a preview for their full-length coming out in April on Hard Soul. All in all, I'm really intrigued by the first two songs, a sort of meshing of punk and droning electronica, but the rest of the album doesn't really tickle my fancy, if you catch my drift.