ALTER.NATiON #26
weekly favtraX
16-03-2019
16-03-2019
Dido - Hell After This from Still on My Mind
Reinvigorated and confident, Dido returns from a six-year absence with her sparkling fifth album, Still on My Mind. Following 2013's neon-washed Girl Who Got Away, this set features her liveliest, catchiest production since early-era breakthroughs No Angel and Life for Rent, and soundtracks familiar themes of love, loss, desire, and -- as the mother of a young son -- family. Anchored by her yearning and ever-ethereal vocals, the LP delivers on the promising glimmers that were teased on its cool (but ultimately sedate) predecessor, successfully synthesizing the spirit of her early hybrid sound with updated late-2010s sheen. Yet another collaboration with her brother Rollo, Still on My Mind finds the English singer/songwriter in a mature, controlled space -- an elegant but fresh collection of her familiar electro-folk with a hip-hop heartbeat.
Stephen Malkmus - Ocean of Revenge from Groove Denied
It's called Groove Denied because Matador insisted on releasing Sparkle Hard, an album Stephen Malkmus recorded with his mainstay supporting band the Jicks, instead of this electronic-infused record in 2018. This back story was revealed in a May 2018 Washington Post profile of Malkmus by Geoff Edgers, an article that perhaps overplayed the label's rejection of Groove Denied. Matador maintained that its plan was to have the album appear after Sparkle Hard, which was a better record to re-introduce the ex-Pavement leader into the marketplace after a four-year hiatus. All this hoopla around Groove Denied undeniably makes for a good yarn, but it also tends to oversell the weirdness of the album.
On their upcoming Better EP, Philadelphia’s Caracara are honing a unique, inspiring sound. The project finds a thrilling midpoint between the city’s signature emo stylings and the stately indie rock of bands like Bon Iver and the National. It’s coming out on Memory Music, the label run by in-demand Philly producer Will Yip, who also helmed these sessions. Today they’re offering a preview in the form of the title track.
“Better” is a six-minute epic featuring vocals from Mannequin Pussy’s Marisa Dabice. It unfolds in two halves: First a tense buildup with William Lindsay singing to “the Bathsheba of the strip-mall set” and eventually crying out, “I thought you knew me better than that!” The second half of the song explodes into a cloud of gorgeous noise, with Lindsay eventually returning to the mic to howl us home.
Here’s what the band had to say about the track in a press statement:
“Fake News” was a direct response to what was going on (and still is) politically at the time, and the growing gap I feel between people leaning both left and right. I think with press and algorithms, we are only fed the kind of news we already believe in and agree with, which is super dangerous. The song then connects that to an experience I had when we visited the the BBC for an interview with Huw Stephens. We went inside and there was this gigantic newsroom with so many screens but no windows at all. I found that a bit disturbing: Like here’s the people making the news and they can’t look outside.
Nasty Cherry are a new all-female rock band made up of Kitten’s Chloe Chaidez, Star Wars set decorator Georgia Somary, Charli XCX drummer Deborah Knox-Hewson, and model Gabbriette Bechtel. A press release describes them as the “brainchild” of Charli XCX, who signed the group to her Vroom Vroom Recordings imprint and collaborated extensively with them on their upcoming debut EP.
Today, Nasty Cherry have released their official debut single, “Win,” which was co-written with Charli XCX and produced by Charli/Sky Ferreira/Angel Olsen collaborator Justin Raisen. The song successfully merges shadowy ’80s post-punk riffs with a huge anthemic pop chorus.
Karen O - High-energy lead singer for NYC indie rockers Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Danger Mouse / Karen O - Leopard's Tongue from Lux Prima
This is a stately, cinematic listen from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman and the veteran producer, as they take up residency a few lunar resorts over from Arctic Monkeys' Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino... There’s sex – perhaps the most human act of all – on ‘’Leopard’s Tongue’. “One touch and you ask for more / Two touch and you’re on the floor,” Karen hushes halfway through. “Just a lick of sweat off your skin / Like an aftershock from the prick of a pin.” It’s easily the record’s most lustful moment, made all the more thirsty by the lack of anything really going on around it. Where most of ‘Lux Prima’ is fleshed out with layers of lush instrumentation, it’s sparse and emaciated – just the soft jingle on percussion and a rolling bassline filling out the verses.
Anderson .Paak - King James
Anderson .Paak released his latest LP, Oxnard, last November. A few weeks ago, he announced his forthcoming album, Ventura. He shared its star-studded tracklist yesterday, and now, we hear its lead single. “King James” is a jazzy track about uniting and standing up against injustice.
He sings over a jazzy beat, “If they build a wall / Let’s jump the fence / I’m over it.” Ventura will feature artists like André 3000, Smokey Robinson, Brandy, and the late Nate Dogg, among others.
The Comet Is Coming - Timewave Zero from Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery
England's sci-fi jazz trio the Comet Is Coming have been exploring the cosmos since 2015 when drummer Maxwell Hallett (Betamax) and keyboardist Dan Leavers (Danalogue) were playing a gig as futurist duo Soccer96 when they encountered Shabaka Hutchings (King Shabaka) hanging near the stage with a saxophone. They invited him up and improvised. Received enthusiastically, the trio formed the Comet Is Coming to explore a mutual love of Sun Ra, John and Alice Coltrane, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and future-forward electronica... "Timewave Zero" enters from the margins in a soundscape at once cinematic and intimate before articulating a fusion of spiritual jazz-funk, dancehall rhythms, and punky grime.
The Cinematic Orchestra - Lessons from To Believe
Over a decade after the release of 2007's Ma Fleur, the Cinematic Orchestra return with their fourth album of expansive soundscapes, To Believe. During the gap between efforts, the primary duo of Jason Swinscoe and Dominic Smith remained active with multiple projects (including a Disney soundtrack, a live album, and a compilation of tracks composed for avant-garde short films), but didn't return focus to their core material until late 2016... On the instrumental side, the uplifting "Lessons" evokes Radiohead at their most experimental and glitchy... To Believe is very much an experience that requires engagement if a worthwhile connection is desired; otherwise, it makes for a terrific soundtrack to a film that resides purely in the soul.
Dexter Story - Electric Gurage from Bahir
Dexter Story is a musical polymath. He is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and arranger. He works in genres from global spiritual soul and jazz to funk, folk, and hip-hop. He has spent the 2010s studying and traveling the Horn of Africa, immersing himself in its musical traditions -- beautifully articulated on 2015's Wondem. The Carlos Nino-produced Bahir, filled with guests, picks up from and expands the terrain explored on his previous outing. Rooted in Eastern Africa's musical traditions, he engages influences with the soul, funk, and jazz from his Western world albeit one transformed by his travels. His intention is not simply to bring those influences to the West, but to contribute music that expands the traditions he employs here.
Snarky Puppy - Bigly Strictness from Immigrance
Snarky Puppy helped bring '70s-style fusion into the jam band era with a series of Grammy-winning albums that found them incorporating elements of funk, jazz-rock, and blues. Produced by bassist and bandleader Michael League, 2019's Immigrance continues this trajectory with a set of highly kinetic instrumental tracks (purportedly inspired by the band's travels around the globe) that balance exploratory improvisation with intricately arranged group interplay. As with past Snarky Puppy albums, Immigrance is less about each bandmember's individual improvisational contribution (though there are moments of brilliant soloing)...
Joey DeFrancesco - Awake and Blissed from In the Key of the Universe
Following up his 2018 collaboration with Van Morrison, You're Driving Me Crazy, Joey DeFrancesco returns to his own work with his quartet on 2019's spiritually inspired In the Key of the Universe. Produced by DeFrancesco and his wife, Gloria, the album finds the organist tapping into the hypnotic, deeply soulful metaphysical jazz that artists like Pharoah Sanders, Don Cherry, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk further explored in the wake of spiritual jazz pioneer John Coltrane's death in 1967. In fact, DeFrancesco showcases Sanders here on three tracks. Joining them are several longtime associates including legendary drummer Billy Hart, saxophonist Troy Roberts, and percussionist Sammy Figueroa...
Dido, Stephen Malkmus, Caracara, Gurr, Nasty Cherry, Danger Mouse / Karen O, Anderson .Paak, The Comet Is Coming, The Cinematic Orchestra, Dexter Story, Snarky Puppy, Joey DeFrancesco
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