003 ALTER.NATiON: weekly favtraX / 27-10-2018

ALTER.NATiON
Ty Segall, Barry Adamson, Klaus Johann Grobe, Dean Wareham, Cheval Sombre, Edan, Homeboy Sandman, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Christian McBride, Makaya McCraven, Etienne de Crécy, Baxter Dury, Delilah Holliday, Thom Yorke, Yo La Tengo, Kamasi Washington

Ty Segall covers I'm a man by Spencer Davis Group

weekly favtraX

27-10-18

California-based garage rock revivalist known for his prolific discography and his accurate recreations of '60s lo-fi. 
Ty Segall - I'm a Man (The Spencer Davis Group cover) 3:07
...Segall’s improvisational style of psyched-out rock lends itself nicely to the genre, and what better way to dive right in than with a cover of Spencer Davis Group’s rumbling 1967 single “I’m A Man” — or as it usually reads in my head, “I’m a maaaaaan.” If you’re a Mad Man fan, or just a human with functioning ears on this earth, you have probably heard this song before and might find yourself humming it in times when you need to hype yourself up...

Barry Adamson's work as a bassist for Magazine and Nick Cave's Bad Seeds gave little indication of the complex, cinematic works he has composed and arranged as a solo artist.
Barry Adamson - The Snowball Effect 4:24
If the post-punk era produced a renaissance man, it's Barry Adamson. He was an integral member of Magazine and the founding incarnation of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. He played on synth pop albums by Visage and Pete Shelley. He's written and arranged for Nitzer Ebb, Ethyl Meatplow, Scott Walker, and Simple Minds, to name a few, and has contributed music to soundtracks like Derek Jarman's The Last of England, David Lynch's Lost Highway, Allison Anders' Gas Food Lodging, and Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers...

Duo from Switzerland who wowed critics and DJs with their witty and satisfying take on classic Krautrock and EDM.  
Klaus Johann Grobe - An diesem Abend 5:19
After switching from the polished prog rock sound of their first album, Im Sinne der Zeit, to the relaxed disco/synth pop sound on their second, Spagat der Liebe, Swiss duo Klaus Johann Grobe don't mess much with the formula on their third record, 2018's Du Bist So Symmetrisch. It worked so well on Spagat der Liebe, the team of Sevi Landolt and Daniel Bachmann didn't really need to do anything different, and they don't...

Singer/guitarist Dean Wareham is more influential than he is usually given credit for. Often sounding like a depressed slacker, Wareham has inspired a number of indie rockers to express their sadness with a wistful tenor. / With his poetic, atmospherically hazy sound, New York singer/songwriter Cheval Sombre (aka Christopher Porpora) emerged in the mid-2000s as a torchbearer for '60s psychedelia and hypnotic space rock.
Dean Wareham and Cheval Sombre - The Bend in he River 3:19
As one might expect, 2018's Dean Wareham vs. Cheval Sombre finds the Luna frontman teaming up with fellow New York psych-folkie Cheval Sombre (aka Christopher Porpora) on set of thoughtfully curated covers. Less expected is the album's loose cowboy theme. As evoked by the title, this collection of songs by country luminaries like Townes Van Zandt, Blaze Foley, and Marty Robbins (as well some traditionals, standards, and lesser-known covers), brings to mind a late-'60s spaghetti Western buddy movie with Wareham playing the wandering troubadour and Sombre the cool-eyed poet/gunslinger...

One of indie rock's most respected bands, with a dreamy melodicism influenced by the Velvet Underground. 
Yo La Tengo - For You Too 4:13
...Over a wind tunnel of electric guitars, Ira Kaplan’s voice echoes along with the persistent rhythm, mirroring the self-actualization in the lyrics. With a familiar and instantly memorable melodic pattern, he sings about the consistency of his personality like someone who’s long grown resigned to it...

Nicknamed the Humble Magnificent, Edan is a multifaceted hip-hop artist whose music is equally reverential to old-school rap and '60s acid rock, yet sounds utterly fresh and innovative.  / Thanks to his inventive flows, literate lyrics, and dry sense of humor, Homeboy Sandman emerged as one of the most original, prolific underground rappers of the late 2000s and 2010s.
Edan & Homeboy Sandman - Rock & Roll Indian Dance 3:10
Endlessly creative MC Homeboy Sandman and multi-talented psychedelic rap maestro Edan first collaborated on "Talking (Bleep)," a playful standout from Sandman's 2016 album Kindness for Weakness. Two years later, the duo teamed up once again for Humble Pi, the first studio album to bear the name Edan since 2005's cult classic Beauty and the Beat, which pre-dates Sandman's entire career. Both artists are in top form on the brief but explosive release. Edan's fetish for echo and obscure acid rock records is as evident as ever through his mind-bending productions, and Sandman's effortlessly complex lyrics are typically biting as well as insightful...

Unknown Mortal Orchestra's genre-defying approach to music has allowed the band's sound to shift and evolve with every new album. The band's driving force, Ruban Nielson, is a psychedelic explorer with an experimental bent that was clear from the very first home-recorded Unknown Mortal Orchestra album, which paired his soaring guitar work with winsome melodies and trippy production.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Hanoi 6 9:47
...The album features local musician Minh Nguyen and the Nielson’s father, Chris, and a press release notes that takes inspiration from jazz, krautrock, and avant-garde music. Today, they’re sharing a selection from the album, which comes in as “Hanoi 6,” and it’s a hypnotic blend of horns and gently shifting undercurrent...

One of the most in-demand jazz bassists of the 1990s and beyond, Christian McBride is renowned for both his work as a leader and sideman. 

Christian McBride - Ballad of Ernie Washington 5:34
What's a jawn? Well, it's Philly slang for something that you cannot name yet, or do not see the need to name. In Christian McBride's case, jawn refers to his immensely talented ensemble of fellow jazz musicians on his engaging 2018 album, Christian McBride's New Jawn. A titanic presence on the jazz scene since arriving in the '90s, McBride spent his early years playing propulsive neo-bop before re-engaging with his hip-hop, funk, and R&B roots on a series of genre-bending fusion albums...

Crucial part of L.A.'s progressive jazz scene, a saxophonist whose connections include Gerald Wilson and Raphael Saadiq; released an expansive 2015 LP. 
Kamasi Washington - Fists of Fury 9:43
...“Fists of Fury,” the opening song of Washington’s new double album Heaven and Earth, represents a slight change of pace from his previous work: It endorses physical combat as a way to fight injustice. “I use hands to help my fellow man,” vocalists Dwight Trible and Patrice Quinn declare in unison. “And when I’m faced with unjust injury/Then I change my hands to fists of fury.” Backed by a full choir, a bright piano solo, and Washington’s shrieking horn, the song grows more restless as it plays, settling into a calm groove before rising to a volcanic peak...

Chicago-based drummer, composer, and producer whose highly original creative music fuses jazz, hip-hop, rock, and global rhythmic traditions. 
Makaya McCraven - Voila 5:00
...“It’s like, gag me,” he says of the idea that jazz needs saving. Part of the inspiration behind his latest album, Universal Beings (due out October 26th on International Anthem) was the music’s current vitality. McCraven recorded the project with four different ensembles, in four different cities: New York, Los Angeles, London and Chicago, his adopted hometown...

Parisian deep house DJ and producer Etienne de Crécy was a key figure behind the French capital's rise as one of the world's dance music hubs during the 1990s. / Spinning wry, observant stories of life among the well-heeled but poorly behaved, Baxter Dury is a songwriter and vocalist with a strong and distinctive style. He's also British rock royalty, the son of pub rock/new wave icon Ian Dury, and his vocal style and lyrical bent owe a certain debt to his old man, while his music confirms he has a keen creative mind of his own./  Skinny Girl Diet is an unsigned independent British political punk band, often described as riot grrrl, formed in London, England. The group consists of singer, songwriter and guitarist Delilah Holliday and drummer Ursula Holliday.
Etienne de Crécy / Baxter Dury / Delilah Holliday - Centipedes 1:29
On paper, the combination of French house pioneer Étienne de Crécy, caustic monologist Baxter Dury, and new-breed riot grrrl Delilah Holliday of Skinny Girl Diet seems like it wouldn't work. Or maybe it was just mad enough to work, because their 2018 album, B.E.D, is a delight. The performers work to fit their individual skills into a cohesive unit; de Crécy builds sparse, bubbling musical beds over which Dury intones his tales of woe and disdain, while Holliday brings some velvety drama to the proceedings...

The perpetually haunted voice of Radiohead reserved his solo billing for further electronics and beats experimentation. 
Thom Yorke - Has Ended 4:56
...Now he’s released another sample from the soundtrack double-album: a droning, psych-rock composition called “Has Ended,” featuring echoing, processed vocals from Yorke and a synth-sitar underpinning. If you enjoy Yorke at his most Can-worshipping, then “Has Ended” may be the song for you this morning...

Ty Segall, Barry Adamson, Klaus Johann Grobe, Dean Wareham, Cheval Sombre, Edan, Homeboy Sandman, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Christian McBride, Makaya McCraven, Etienne de Crécy, Baxter Dury, Delilah Holliday, Thom Yorke, Yo La Tengo, Kamasi Washington