002 ALTER.NATiON: weekly favtraX / 23-10-2018 (52')

ALTER.NATiON #002
All Them Witches, Beak>, Doyle Bramhall II, Exploded Wiev, Ian Siegal, John Sofield, Jon Batiste, Mudhoney, Ron Gallo, Toe, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Iceage

DOYLE BRAMHALL II

weekly favtraX

23-10-18

ALTER.NATiON #2 on DEEZER

 Austin, Texas-based guitarist who gained fame in the '90s as Eric Clapton's right-hand man and who pursued a blues-rock career of his own. 
DOYLE BRAMHALL II - Love and Pain 4:10
It took Doyle Bramhall II 15 years to deliver Rich Man, the sequel to 2001's Welcome, but only two to follow that 2016 record with Shades. Appropriately, Shades feels looser than its predecessor and more direct, too. Where Rich Man was dotted with epics, Bramhall keeps things generally concise on Shades, and he also firmly grounds the album in soul. The first sounds on Shades may recall the thick, heavy blues grooves of the Black Keys but by the time Bramhall gets to the chorus of "Love and Pain," he spins the song into classic '60s R&B...

 Former Toy Soldiers frontman whose music evolved from roots rock to garage punk as he moved from Philadelphia to Nashville. Ron Gallo is the name of a Philadelphia-bred rock musician whose music embraces elements of both roots rock and garage punk with an abundance of smarts and passion.
RON GALLO - It's All Gonna Be OK 2:51
Leaving his well-mannered past as a roots rocker behind, Ron Gallo showed off a lean-and-mean sound and a lyrical style full of snarky wit on 2017's Heavy Meta, and he's dug in deeper with his second album from his eponymous band. 2018's Stardust Birthday Party is dominated by no-frills melodies rooted in Gallo's sharp, choppy guitar figures and the taut, efficient rhythms of bassist Joe Bisirri and drummer Dylan Sevey, which isn't that far off from the formula on Heavy Meta...

 Primarily instrumental post-rock quartet from Japan with an angular, guitar-driven sound. Bearing no relation to the short-lived Chicago-based group of the same name, Toe are a primarily instrumental rock quartet from Japan consisting of guitarists Mino Takaaki and Yamazaki Hirokazu, drummer Kashikura Takashi, and bassist Yamane Satoshi.
TOE - Dual Harmonics 3:13
Since 2000, Japanese quartet Toe have been making highly intricate post-rock music that sounds like it was produced by an advanced, ultra-precise machine, yet feels earthy and organic. Their songs are typically characterized by clean-sounding guitar melodies working in tandem with eternally fluctuating drumbeats... "The Latest Number" features a slightly stilted but danceable rhythm along with hushed yet alert vocals, with bits of electronics and vibraphones stitching the guitars and rhythm section together during the bridge. This is certainly Toe in pop mode, but even when they concentrate on showcasing their musicianship, they're still quite accessible.

Felirat hozzáadása

 A neo-psychedelic, dark blues quartet from Nashville. Though their '60s and '70s influences are plain, their sound is mercurial.  A versatile hard rock quartet based out of Nashville, Tennessee, All Them Witches draw from a deep well of musical inspiration that includes Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath, Sun, Moon & Herbs-era Dr. John, and the electric Delta swamp blues of Junior Kimbrough.
ALL THEM WITCHES - Diamond 6:09
2017's Sleeping Through the War saw the Tennessee-based psych-blues outfit drop a largely song-oriented set of cosmic stoner metal emissions that dialed back on some of the more exploratory aspects of their previous outings...  If anything, ATW feels like a product of pure instinct, and while it may take some patience to absorb, there isn't a single note that feels coerced.

Louisiana-born jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader known for his eclectic crossover music. Keyboardist, bandleader, singer, composer, and educator Jon Batiste is an adventurous, eclectic, jazz-based musician. 
JON BATISTE - Saint James Infirmary Blues 4:18
“There’s so much going on in the world that I wanted to respond to, and there’s not a lot of music where people can meditate, think, reflect, but also be uplifted by” says Batiste, calling from a car in the midst of a hectic day of press in Manhattan for his new album. “I wanted to get back to the basics of who I am as a musician but also the basics of who I am as a person.”... Produced by T Bone Burnett, the album is a sparse solo affair guided entirely by Batiste’s Jelly Roll Morton–inspired piano playing and, for the first time, his vocals. Across 11 tracks, Batiste traverses the entire history of 20th-century music,

Danish band who offer a smart and ambitious spin on punk that's still packed with emotional and physical power. 
Iceage - Catch It 5:45
...Lead singer Elias Bender Rønnenfelt was born to brood, and on “Catch It,” he delivers one of his most emotive vocal performances yet. Over a simple, lurching chord progression, he groans and seethes into the mic, telling his story as with the wrinkles in his voice as with his words. Because there are only a few notes in the new single’s vocal melody, Rønnenfelt has more of a chance to modulate the texture of his voice...

Born in the deep south (of England!) in 1971, Ian's earliest musical memories are of the likes of Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis and Chuck Berry, but it was on hearing the great Little Richard that he really caught the music bug and became nothing short of obsessive about it. This lead him into a life-long passion for the Blues and all of its various branches, and most of all, the man he calls "God" - the inimitable Muddy Waters.
IAN SIEGAL - The Sh*t Hit 5:39
A studio album from Ian Siegal is always a seismic event. Recent times have seen this award-winning British songwriter put untold miles on the clock, with the spit-and-grit of his shows bottled in several live albums. But in 2018, it’s tantalising to find his name alongside ten new original songs and to anticipate where All The Rage might take the man whose material was rightly trumpeted by Mojo as “awash with wit, lust and distraction”.

The former Pavement frontman's solo career has a broader musical palette, evoking British folk, '70s prog, psychedelia, and blazing guitar rock.
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Middle America 3:31
...Melodically, “Middle America” sounds like it could have been hiding in a vault since Pavement's final 1999 album, Terror Twilight. Lyrically, it adopts more gravitas than Malkmus' irreverent former band ever attempted. Lines about growing older in the United States circle around his patented breezy guitar work...

 The quartet that defined Seattle grunge, a group with a penchant for heavy metal muscle, punk attitude, and garage rock primitivism.  Nirvana may have been the band that put an entire generation in flannel, and Pearl Jam and Soundgarden both sold a lot more records, but Mudhoney were truly the band that made the '90s grunge rock movement possible
MUDHONEY - Prosperity Gospel 3:48
Some bands mellow with age, as their youthful fury gives way to a more understanding frame of mind. Mudhoney are clearly not one of those bands. The grunge pioneers have long thrived on snark the way other folks require oxygen, but since they returned to the indie ranks with 2002's Since We've Become Translucent, lead singer Mark Arm has been more eager than ever to vent his spleen on the troubles of the world around him. Mudhoney have rarely sounded as flat-out pissed off as they do on 2018's Digital Garbage, an album that's a clear reflection of America in the year it was created

 The largely improvised post-punk-meets-Krautrock collaboration between Anika and Mexico City's indie luminaries. A kinetic mix of post-punk, dub, and Krautrock, Exploded View builds on the sounds of its members' other projects -- most notably vocalist/keyboardist Annika Henderson's work as a solo artist -- while creating its own identity with its stream-of-consciousness grooves.
EXPLODED VIEW - Dark Stains 3:25
On Exploded View's self-titled debut, the band's stream-of-consciousness post-punk drew a significant part of its impact from its live recording process, which emphasized the album's dreamlike flow and surprising tangents. The band -- now the trio of Annika Henderson, Hugo Quezada, and Martin Thulin -- brings a little more order to the proceedings on Obey. The trio tracked the album in a more traditional fashion at Thulin and Quezada's Mexico City studio, but fortunately, the more controlled environment doesn't diminish Exploded View's evocative power at all. If anything, Obey draws listeners into their lucid dreams more completely as they explore the costs of conformity and resisting it.

 A blend of Krautrock grooves and eerie atmospheres, featuring Portishead's Geoff Barrow. Featuring members of Portishead and Moon Gangs, Beak> is a trio crafting dense and atmospheric music inspired by dub, Krautrock, and the Beach Boys. 
BEAK> - Brean Down 3:51
>>>  "You don't like our music cuz it ain't up on the radio," Beak>'s Geoff Barrow sings on >>> with something approaching pride. This contrarian attitude defines the band's third album: Barrow and company could have easily made another album of sinister motorik-driven instrumentals like >>, but this time, they blow up their music.

A dazzling electric guitarist with a steely tone and fluid lines to earmark his distinctive post-bop style. Known for his distinctive, slightly distorted sound, jazz guitarist John Scofield is a masterful jazz improviser who has straddled the lines between straight-ahead post-bop, fusion, funk, and soul-jazz. One of the "big three" of late 20th century jazz guitarists (along with Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell), Scofield's influence grew in the '90s and continued into the 21st century.
JOHN SCOFIELD - Dang Swing 6:08
Scofield is on fine form here with a strong selection of tunes that, in their stylistic breadth, serve as a great introduction to the iconic guitarist's roots-based language. Scofield, like Bill Frisell, is perhaps more mellow in his sixties, luxuriating in every note, weighing every phrase, but there are still enough sparks here to satisfy his legion of long-term fans.

Guitarist John Scofield is one of the most respected contemporary jazz musicians. (johnscofield.com photo)

All Them Witches, Beak>, Doyle Bramhall II, Exploded Wiev, Ian Siegal, John Sofield, Jon Batiste, Mudhoney, Ron Gallo, Toe, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Iceage