South Korean electronic rock trio IDIOTAPE has returned with “SUBHUMAN,” the band’s fourth full-length album and its first in nine years. The album was released on November 11 through music streaming services, according to the band’s agency CAM, as reported by Newsis.
“SUBHUMAN” arrives nine years after IDIOTAPE’s third full-length album, “DYSTOPIAN,” which came out in 2017. The release also lands in the 15th anniversary year of the band’s debut album, which was released on November 11, 2011, making the new record a milestone in the trio’s career as well as a long-awaited return.
The album carries 14 tracks in total, combining new songs with reworked versions of the band’s signature material. Its central theme is what the band describes as the imperfect coexistence of humans and technology: technology that learns human thought but can never become imperfect emotion itself, and humans who can never be complete, with the gap between the two accepted as a way of existing rather than as an error. The band builds that idea up in layers of sound across the record, letting the tension between the human and the mechanical sit at the center of the album instead of resolving it.
For the first time since the band was formed, IDIOTAPE has actively brought in guest vocalists, expanding the texture of its music beyond its long-standing instrumental sound. Singer-songwriter SUMIN features on the title track, “Taboo,” while O3ohn, CIFIKA and Choi Won-bin each lend their voices to other tracks on the album. The move marks a clear change of direction for a group that built its name on instrumental electronic rock, and it gives the new record a human voice at the very moments when its theme is about what technology cannot feel.
The full tracklist runs from opener “Dime Everything” through “Taboo” featuring SUMIN, “Access,” “Great Nothing” featuring Choi Won-bin, “Too Old to Die Young,” “Hyper,” “Future That Never Comes,” “Your Name” featuring CIFIKA, “Acid Punk,” the title track “Subhuman” featuring O3ohn, “Underground Disco,” “Vladimir Komarov,” “Buzz” and closer “Sorry to Greta,” according to the tracklist published with the official music video. The two songs that carry the album’s identity sit at opposite ends of the record: “Taboo” opens the album’s run of collaborations as the second track, while “Subhuman” arrives near the end as the tenth.
The music video for “Taboo” was directed by Shin Hee-won, the director known for her stylish work with NewJeans. The video gives the album’s lead single a visual counterpart, and it was released alongside the album on IDIOTAPE’s official YouTube channel, where the full tracklist was also published.
IDIOTAPE is made up of DGURU on synthesizer, ZEZE on synthesizer and DR on drums. The trio is known for combining precise analog synthesizer work with explosive drumming, a sound that has earned the band a firm place on festival stages in South Korea and overseas. That live reputation is a key part of the band’s identity, and the new album is built to be performed as well as streamed: the record’s layered sound is the product of three musicians whose stage presence has long been as important as their studio work.
The band will mark the release with a solo concert on November 14 at Musinsa Garage in Mapo-gu, Seoul. The show will be the first chance for fans to hear the new songs performed live, with the new material taking center stage alongside the band’s established repertoire. Held just three days after the album’s release, the concert is designed as a release celebration, giving the band an immediate stage on which to present a record nine years in the making.
“SUBHUMAN” is available now on music streaming services, and the concert on November 14 will be the band’s first live outing for the new album.
