I could barely follow the subtle beat of contemporary salsa without counting, my lips moving as I danced, and I did not doubt that we would look like amateurs beside people like Annie Rosado, who said she had learned salsa in her mother's womb.
Many dubstep tracks start with a very subtle beat, incorporating a few simple drum sounds and gradually and steadily building up until the beat drops.
Ever since The Average White Band in the 70s, Glasgow has excelled at white soul and blue-eyed funk: Deacon Blue, Danny Wilson, Hue & Cry, Love & Money, Wet Wet Wet, Texas and OJ surrogates Lloyd Cole & The Commotions all produced variations on this theme, while The Blue Nile offered hushed reveries over the most subtle beats that were more chilling than chilled.
Mercer's cool vocals and smart songs backed by Danger Mouse's subtle beats, soft orchestral touches and off-beat instrumentation sound like a couple of groovy guys letting you into their secret party.
Turner's direction manages to bring out some of the play's subtler beats and moments — a level of quiet that the glamorous women who starred in the 1986 film version (Diane Keaton, Sissy Spacek, and Jessica Lange) trampled over in their ambition to look good while playing kooky.
Earlier this year, the backlash against a recent tech invasion of the city was even less subtle: activists beat a piñata in the shape of one of the buses Google uses to shuttle workers from San Francisco to its Mountain View headquarters.
Last year Mr. Fehlmann released "Visions of Blah" (Kompakt), a hypnotic CD that combined the subtle pulse of classic Detroit techno with the newer subgenre known as shuffle-beat.
Though her influences are eclectic, her approach to jazz is straightforward, combining inventive, wistful melodies with subtle Latin beats, presented in uncomplicated arrangements (you can listen to one of her best songs, "Grateful Friendship," here).
But the thing which most strongly aligns them with Simon is their similar playful linking of joyous music with cerebral ruminations – as most evident here in "Holiday", where over a subtle ska-beat they yoke together joy at the prospect of holidays with discomfort at US involvement in the Middle East.
The two were on opposite sides at Wembley, Brown his usual bustling self, breaking out of challenges and taking the game to Saracens while Goode, who was named man of the match, has more subtle qualities, beating defenders through stealth rather than power.
Few actors can play broad, winking comedy and still bring home small, subtle character beats the way he can.
