043 ALTER.NATION weekly favtraX 27-06-2019

ALTER.NATION #43

The Raconteurs, Titus Andronicus, Jane Weaver, CUP (Nels Cline & Yuka Honda), Sui Zhen, Divino Niño, Black Midi, Los Straitjackets, Black Pumas, Buddy & Julie Miller, Mannequin Pussy, Bleached, Oh Sees

weekly favtraX 

2 7 - 0 6 - 2 0 1 9

ALTER.NATION #43 on DEEZER

Indie rock supergroup featuring Jack White of the White Stripes, Brendan Benson, and two members of the Greenhornes. 
The Raconteurs - Somedays (I Don't Feel Like Trying) from Help Us Stranger
Reconvening after a decade's absence, the Raconteurs resemble nothing less than a guild of craftsman united by taste and work ethic on their third album, Help Us Stranger. Ever since their debut, the quartet displayed a shared love for the rock and pop made before the advent of MTV, and while they've never abandoned an aesthetic steeped in FM radio, they've gotten livelier with each passing LP. Which isn't to say Help Us Stranger is a slack, loose affair. One of its considerable pleasures his how Brendan Benson encourages Jack White to stick to a strict outline and color within the lines, trends the latter largely abandoned on his willfully obtuse 2018 album Boarding House Reach. There are jokes and asides peppered throughout Help Us Stranger -- the best of these is an intentional skip at the start of the title track, the kind of thing that will drive vinyl freaks batty upon the initial listen -- but the album is distinguished by its velocity, a momentum delivered as much through writing as it is through performance. Whether they're stitching together individual ideas or writing in tandem, Benson and White are full collaborators, honing their hooks and melodies so they're gleamingly lean, then they dress up these handsome bones with squalls of guitar, vintage synths, campfire acoustics, ghostly piano, gypsy violin, and thundering rhythms...

New Jersey kids make good on wildly diverse group of rock ’n’ roll influences. New Jersey's Titus Andronicus have a raucous and individual take on punk rock that embraces the fast and loud parts of the formula but leaves room for indie rock, garage rock, classic rock, and folk influences as the band careen through it all with a muscular passion and a surprising variety of literary references.
Titus Andronicus - My Body and Me from An Obelisk
Titus Andronicus have been a great rock & roll band since they debuted in 2008 with The Airing of Grievances, but that never seemed to be enough for the group's leader, Patrick Stickles. Determined to cram as many influences and stylistic twists onto their roaring attack (and as many literary references into their lyrics) as humanly possible, it seemed like Stickles desperately wanted to prove they were more than a bunch of punks from New Jersey. After the larger-than-average concept album of 2010's The Monitor and the stuffed-to-bursting rock opera of 2015's The Most Lamentable Tragedy, Stickles' ambitions seemed bigger than rock itself, and with 2018's A Productive Cough, he turned away from rock into a boozy brand of folk music with none of his previous bandmates on board. In the wake of all that, 2019's An Obelisk is a surprise, and a fun one -- it's a stripped-to-the-frame exercise in fast, loud punk rock, full of straightforward guitar raunch, throbbing bass, furious drumming, and smart but unpretentious howling...

A multifaceted English singer/songwriter, guitarist, collaborator, and record label head with ties to Brit-pop and indie folk. 
Jane Weaver - Did You See Butterflies (Loops Variation) from Loops in the Secret Society
Over a few years' time, Jane Weaver released two albums and an EP that redefined her as a psychedelic wizard who used electronics, her expressive voice, and burgeoning production skills to cast a dark and entrancing spell. Loops in the Secret Society is a collection that reworks tracks from 2015's The Silver Globe and 2017's Modern Kosmology albums, as well as 2017's Architect EP, along with quite a few ambient interludes made up of synthy squiggles, atmospheric diversions, and moody electronic wanderings that fit in between like tiny, gleaming gems...

CUP (Nels Cline & Yuka Honda) - Soon Will Be Flood
Despite his many cross-genre affiliations, Nels Cline is best known as the reality-reordering lead guitarist for Wilco, a role he’s held for the past 15 years. He is married to Yuka C. Honda, a founding member of pioneering New York trip-hop group Cibo Matto, who broke up two years ago to pursue other projects. One of those projects is CUP, a new duo pairing spouses Cline and Honda... The beat-driven banger “Soon Will Be Flood” is a reminder that both of these musicians are restless explorers. It’s brisk and bubbly and psychedelic, and it doesn’t much remind me of anything I’ve heard from these two before, though I guess it could pass for sped-up Cibo Matto in a pinch. In a recent interview Cline elaborates, “The pieces I’m only doing with or for Yuka, I’m thinking about her language, what instruments and sounds that she uses. That’s where I’m coming from.” Honda adds, “I don’t know if I would call what I’m doing ‘singing.’ I’m thinking that I am creating a vocal sound.”

Sui Zhen is the alias of Melbourne-based ‘dream beat’ artist Becky Sui Zhen. 
Sui Zhen - Perfect Place
Melbourne artist Becky Sui Zhen has been making experimental pop music for a while now...  “Perfect Place,” is disquieting in its pristine production. Sui Zhen sings in robotic intonations: “I got the perfect place/ Quiet, gentle/ You don’t bring a thing, I got it,” turning that comfort into something to be wary of...

Chicago by way of Colombia group who make chill guitar- and keys-pop that's hooky, relaxed, and bilingual. 
Divino Niño - Foam from Foam
After two solid albums that helped establish their lo-fi indie pop bona fides, the Chicago by way of Colombia group Divino Niño take a great stride forward with 2019's Foam. Laid-back and sneakily hooky, the record folds in disco, chillwave, beach pop, classic indie, soft rock, and Latin pop to make an easy to drink, long-lasting musical cocktail. It was recorded in the apartment of the band's guitarist/vocalist Camilo Medina and it sounds like they had to play quietly so the neighbors wouldn't complain...

Croydon, England-based math rock quartet known for their elusive media presence and feverish live shows. 
Black Midi - Of Schlagenheim from Schlagenheim
London quartet Black Midi gained maximum buzz with a minimal presence in the press or online. Shortly after graduating from the BRIT School, the performing arts institute that also served as an incubator for artists like Adele and Ed Sheeran, the members of Black Midi began attracting attention through their untethered live shows and a slow release of new material. Before debut album Schlagenheim arrived, the band existed largely on word-of-mouth buzz and a reputation grown off of three or four songs. Schlagenheim delivers on the hype surrounding the band without seeming to be aware of it whatsoever...

Instrumental combo from Nashville who play twangy, surf-centric rock with a sense of humor and a bunch of cool masks. 
Los Straitjackets - Game of Thrones from Channel Surfing
Instrumental groups of the '50s and '60s used to regularly turn to movie and television themes for material, and Los Straitjackets have taken this great tradition into the year 2019. Channel Surfing is a four-song EP from everyone's favorite masked, reverb-obsessed, vocalist-free combo where they tackle tunes associated with popular TV shows, and the lead-off track, "Game of Thrones," was cut as the finale of the HBO series was the talk of the entertainment media...

Neo-soul and lightly psychedelic R&B from the Austin duo of Adrian Quesada and Eric Burton. 
Black Pumas - Fire from Black Pumas
Faintly psychedelic, wholeheartedly vintage-sounding Cali-Tex soul duo Black Pumas consist of multi-instrumentalist/producer Adrian Quesada and singer/guitarist Eric Burton. Quesada, an Austin music scene veteran with assorted projects on the boil and in the past -- he won a Grammy with the Latin funk orchestra Grupo Fantasma and was behind Look at My Soul: The Latin Shade of Texas Soul -- laid down the preliminary work in 2017 with some instrumentals. In need of a vocalist, he was put in touch with California transplant Burton, also a guitarist and songwriter. Burton's background in church, musical theater, and busking cuts through these ten studied originals, which are filled out with a supporting group of musicians covering the rhythm section, additional guitar and keyboards, plus horns, strings, and background vocals...

A roots music renaissance man, Buddy Miller has made a name for himself as a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer, and he's worked with an impressive array of artists as well as creating a well-regarded body of work on his own. 
Texas-born singer/songwriter Julie Miller grew up in a music-loving household. As a teen in Austin, Miller made her professional debut as a singer and began collaborating with her future husband, guitarist/singer/songwriter Buddy Miller. 
Buddy & Julie Miller - I’m Gonna Make You Love Me from Breakdown On 20th Ave. South
Buddy & Julie Miller are two unique talents who happen to work very well together, which is convenient, since they happen to be married. He's a fine songwriter and an inspired guitarist and producer with a gift for the evocative and atmospheric, while Julie's lyrics are compelling stories of love and human experience that gain greater emotional depth through her voice, which subtly melds vulnerability and strength. While Buddy Miller is one of the busier people in Nashville between his own recordings and his frequent work with others, little has been heard from Julie since she and Buddy released the duet album Written in Chalk in 2009. While health problems kept Julie on the sidelines for most of the 2010s, she was well enough late in the decade to cut a batch of fresh songs with Buddy, and 2019's Breakdown on 20th Ave. South is a welcome reminder of her special talents as a vocalist, songwriter, and collaborator...

Punk rock band, formed by childhood friends Marisa Dabice and Thanasi Paul, makes room for emotions other than anger. 
Mannequin Pussy - Fear/+/Desire from Patience
Known for both their brevity and intensity, Philadelphia combo Mannequin Pussy have issued two albums of ferocious full-bore punk, each one clocking in around the 18-minute mark. Led by singer/guitarist Marisa Dabice, the quartet's evolution between 2014's Gypsy Pervert and 2016's Romantic was subtle but distinct as they tightened up their musicianship and harnessed some of their raw energy into a more resolute yet still anarchic sound. On Patience, the band's third LP and first for punk stalwarts Epitaph Records, Mannequin Pussy offer a more dramatic transformation, turning in their most intricately layered and sonically muscular set to date...

Serving up raffish punk-pop that sounds a little like a cheerier take on their former band Mika Miko, Bleached features sisters Jennifer and Jessica Clavin. After Mika Miko disbanded in 2009, Jennifer took a break from performing music, although she and Jessica continued to write songs together...
Bleached - Rebound City
Anyway, the fourth Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough single, “Rebound City,” is out... It’s another winner. In keeping with the album’s theme of sobering up and bouncing back from the brink of destruction, it’s a rolling, ripping, rambunctious pop-rock track about the various missteps we make in the wake of a breakup. As Jennifer Clavin explains, “This song is a brief history of the mistakes I’ve made…except there really are no mistakes, they’re all lessons in the end. No regrets! Listen loud.”

Influential California combo that mixes wild garage-punk noise and unhinged psychedelic exploration with occasional bouts of prog and metal...   Thee Oh Sees are one of the most invigorating garage punk bands of their era. Led by guitarist/vocalist John Dwyer, whose guitar sound and brutally powerful way of playing are instantly identifiable... The group were oddly silent for the first half of 2017; when they returned it was with an abbreviated name (Oh Sees) and a new drummer, Paul Quattrone, to replace the departed Moutinho.
Oh Sees - Henchlock
Welcome to the Oh Sees, bitch. Oh Sees, the prolific California garage-rock institution led by John Dwyer, are following up last year’s Smote Reverser with a new double album. It’s titled Face Stabber, and it’ll be out in August, almost exactly a year after their last one. And today, they’re previewing it by sharing a glorious 21-minute psychedelic freakout called “Henchlock.”

The Raconteurs, Titus Andronicus, Jane Weaver, CUP (Nels Cline & Yuka Honda), Sui Zhen, Divino Niño, Black Midi, Los Straitjackets, Black Pumas, Buddy & Julie Miller, Mannequin Pussy, Bleached, Oh Sees

22-06-2019 ~ WORLD_MUSiC_MiX # 33 selected ETHNiC FUSiON tracks in WmW

Combo Chimbita

22-06-2019 * WORLD:MUSiC:MiX # 33 selected ETHNiC FUSiON tracks # WmW:    Combo Chimbita, Femi Kuti, Warsaw Village Band, Lajkó Félix, Hugh Masekela, Femina, Olcay Bayir, Zun Zun Egui, Sidestepper, Ani Cordero

M  U  S  I  C / WmW

LISTEN THE PLAYLIST ON DEEZER.COM

Brooklyn-based quartet bring more psychedelic impulses to traditional Colombian forms. Combo Chimbita honed their sound by playing together for years, experimenting with different styles until they landed somewhere between lively guacaracha rhythms and cosmic psychedelia.

Combo Chimbita
El Camino 3:47
Sola 1:30
Ahomale 3:40
Testigo 4:56
from Ahomale 2019
While creating music firmly rooted in Columbian traditions, Brooklyn-based outfit Combo Chimbita often sound like they're broadcasting live from another planet entirely. Ahomale is the band's second full-length album and expands on their cosmic approach to Afro-Latin styles, incorporating a wealth of celestial synth sounds into performances that are both fiery and controlled. The first of many striking things about Combo Chimbita's sound is the power of singer Carolina Oliveros' voice...

The son of legendary Nigerian singer Fela Kuti, he has added young Lagos and American dance music to his father's sound. 
Femi Kuti
Africa Will Be Great Again (Femi Anikulapo-Kuti) 4:48
One People One World (Femi Anikulapo-Kuti) 3:35
Corruption Na Stealing (Femi Anikulapo-Kuti) 6:27
from One People One World 2018
...One People One World is Kuti's tenth album with his longstanding band Positive Force and its musical director and guitarist Opeyemi Awomolo. Unlike the righteous anger that inspired almost all of his previous recordings, One People One World is by contrast more affirmative; it's celebratory without sacrificing its activism. While Afrobeat is at the core of these 12 songs, Kuti picks up on the mosaic he began weaving on No Place for My Dream by incorporating the harmonies and rhythms of reggae, highlife, soul, R&B, hip-hop, and other global sounds into its mix, adding depth and complexity without sacrificing immediacy and accessibility....

Global experimentation, Polish-style. Warsaw Village Band are one of the most inventive folk groups in Europe, with an edgy, driving style in which the harsh-edged female-harmony vocals of Magdalena Sobczak-Kotnarowska and Sylwia Świątkowska are matched against violins, percussion, dulcimer and brass.
Warsaw Village Band
Fly My Voice 4:50
She Celebrated Kupala 5:12
from Sun Celebration 2017
...Their compositions are usually based on traditional themes, but the old Polish influences are transformed by a remarkable cast of special guests. From Galicia, Spain, there’s the experimental multi-instrumentalist Mercedes Peón, who adds vocals, electronics or bagpipes on eight of the tracks. Then there’s the Iranian master musician Kayhan Kalhor adding the kamancheh fiddle on the rousing Towards the Sun, and an Indian contingent, including the Dhoad Gypsies from Rajasthan and the singer and sarangi player Ustad Liaqat Ali Khan, bringing unexpected textures to the throbbing and atmospheric Perkun’s Fire. An inventive and often thrilling exercise in breaking down musical borders.

042 ALTER.NATION: weekly favtraX 21-06-2019

ALTER.NATION #42

Gauche, Black Midi, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Dungen, Mattiel, Dressy Bessy, Julia Shapiro, Los Coast, B Boys, The Hold Steady, Daughter Of Swords, Noël Wells

weekly favtraX 

2 1 - 0 6 - 2 0 1 9

ALTER.NATION #42 on DEEZER

Anti-capitalist, anti-racist, feminist jam band Gauche was forged in the fires of the mighty Pompeii millions of years ago, then fossilized until a northern wind carried Her to the sea where She was discovered by a young Boi in a small unnamed fishing village on the Mediterranean coast. Boi was killed instantaneously upon contact with Gauche and upon death became an animated vessel for the transfer of the Gauche seed. Undead Boi became Undead Womyn and gave birth to the six Soldiers that comprise the bands current lineup. They are based in Washington, DC and Providence, RI.
Gauche - Flash
We’re a little less than a month out from the release of Gauche’s debut album, A People’s History Of Gauche...they’re sharing another one, “Flash,” the album’s opening track and its longest, a jam about reflections and refractions. “A flash collapses the depth of field/ A flash collapses all that we feel,” goes the hook. Daniele Yandel about the track:
"The flash of a camera flattens a scene. It makes the colors pop, but it also makes reality 2D. To see true depth, you have to wait for your eyes to adjust to the darkness. You can’t cheat time. That’s what a flash is: a way of cheating time and vision, and like all attempts to cheat, it cheapens the experience. It distorts the depth and detail of the scene captured. To truly take it in, you have to wade into the darkness and wait. Slowly, the scene lightens of its own accord, and the shadows appear. Shadows reveal truth. Shadows are how you see when you’re really in it..."

Croydon-based math rock quartet known for their elusive media presence and feverish live shows. 
Black Midi - Talking Heads
Things seem to be changing for Black Midi. The UK band generated a whole lot of buzz in spite of but also partly because of having so little music available; word of mouth drove their rise, spreading news of their incendiary and shape-shifting live shows. Naturally, that kind of thing probably has to remain a specific chapter in a band’s career if they’re going anywhere, and Black Midi definitely seem to be going someplace... they’re back with another new track called “Talking Heads.”... “Talking Heads” opens with the kind of perfectly tense rhythm that openly nods to Black Midi’s forebears: constricted but hyperactive drums and bright, sputtering guitars. But if anything is clear about Black Midi so far, it’s that you never know exactly where their songs might venture. “Talking Heads” soon departs from whatever template it seemed to exist within, becoming looser and buggier as it continues, Greep going into that wide-eyed yelp mode as the instrumentation intensifies along the way...

Exploratory and melodically rich guitar rock from an Australian psych combo. 
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Native Tongue from And Now for the Whatchamacallit
Go ahead and read that name… Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. Respond as needed, then set it to the side for about 33 minutes. Do likewise with And Now for the Whatchamacallit, a blandly ambiguous title likely stemming from some inside joke shared by its four creators. Behind this veil of overt psych nuttiness lies a rather impressive album made with plenty of craft and attention to detail. On their first two releases, the Australian combo developed a riffy 21st century take on guitar-based psych rock, filtering the progressive elements of forebears like Pink Floyd and Soft Machine through more contemporary heroes like Tame Impala and adding a dose of garage grit... and the labyrinthine layers of "Native Tongue" also offer plenty in terms of their musicality...

Long-running Swedish band whose nostalgic sound incorporates free jazz, their native folk and instrumental ambience into their expansive psychedelic rock.
Dungen - Var Har Du Varit from Self-Discovery for Social Survival
Self-Discovery for Social Survival is a documentary film in three parts, following 16 surfers in three very different countries. Exploring hazy adventures in surfing cultures in Mexico, the remote Maldives Islands, and Iceland, the film's soundtrack is an integral part of the package, as the musicians worked closely with the producers of the documentary to create original music that not only scored the visual elements but acted as an emotional counterpart to the experiences of the surfers. For this project, the bands and artists were handpicked for their place in the somewhat psychedelic nature of surf culture and philosophy... Swedish acid rock powerhouse Dungen..

Singer and songwriter whose retro vibe evokes '60s garage rock and the blues-rock edge of the White Stripes. 
Mattiel - Je Ne Me Connais Pas from Satis Factory
The second album by Atlanta-based retro-contemporary singer Mattiel (Mattiel Brown), Satis Factory returns collaborators Randy Michael and Jonah Swilley from her 2017 self-titled debut. The pair are not trivial contributors to her work to this point; while Mattiel writes the lyrics and melodies for her songs, between them, Michael and Swilley have written, recorded, produced, mixed, and played multiple instruments for her releases. It's a symbiotic arrangement that began when they met in 2014 and bonded over similar tastes in music. Satis Factory delves into a further-expanded stylistic selection, representing not only the debut's blues-rock-injected '60s garage and R&B inspirations, but interests spanning proto-punk and classic Nashville country-pop... She extends her melodic range on the yelping, delay-spattered "Je Ne Me Connais Pas," a track highlighted by a cracker-jack retro garage rock guitar solo by Randy Michael...

Long-running indie pop band centered around singer/songwriter/guitarist Tammi Ealom. 
Dressy Bessy - Mon Chéri from Fast Faster Disaster
Over the years, indie fixture Dressy Bessy's records moved from fun and fizzy pop into scrappier, attitude-heavy sounds. As early as 2005's Electrified, bandleader Tammy Ealom began injecting her good-natured melodies with a more sinister, punky flavor. From there the band just continued to turn up the volume. Fast Faster Disaster marks not just the Denver group's seventh studio album, but 20 years since their 1999 debut... heartfelt pleading on the low-lit slide-guitar slowdown "Mon Cheri"...

Seattle-based singer/songwriter whose sharp, witty style with Chastity Belt and Childbirth turned introspective on her solo work. 
Julia Shapiro - Harder To Do from Perfect Version
Julia Shapiro has firmly established herself as Seattle's leading oracle of witty feminist snark through her work with Chastity Belt and Childbirth, two bands whose songs about women's lives in contemporary America are both perceptive and hilarious. But Shapiro suggested there were other sides to her musical personality on Chastity Belt's 2017 release I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone, where her songwriting became more personal and introspective, and she bravely wades deep into these waters on her first solo album, 2019's Perfect Version... The punky buzz of Shapiro's earlier work is pushed to the margins, and instead she summons clouds of languid guitar tones, suggesting a more intimate variation on shoegaze, alongside minimal bass and drum patterns, though she switches to a massive, roaring guitar tone for "Harder to Do." (Shapiro also handled all the instruments and vocals on Perfect Version, as well as recording and mixing it mostly by herself.)

Austin, Texas-based combo who employ a rich and hip-shaking amalgam of pop, soul, R&B, funk, gospel, and psychedelic rock. 
Los Coast - Shadow Work from Samsara
The debut long-player from the eclectic Austin-based combo, Samsara delivers a rich and hip-shaking amalgam of pop, soul, R&B, funk, gospel, and psychedelic rock. An assured effort, especially for an inaugural release, the 13-track set bristles with intent, yet plays with its quarry like a bored house cat...

Brooklyn trio whose intense sound recalls post-punk icons like Wire and Gang of Four. 
B Boys - Pressure Inside
Brooklyn rockers B Boys released the ridiculously fun Dada back in 2017, following their 2016 debut EP No Worry No Mind. Next month, the band will share their next album, Dudu... “Pressure Inside” boasts the raucous, in-your-face energy of an angsty Parquet Courts cut. Over a tight, jittery guitar, they shout, “I’m always busy in my mind / Can’t think things through / It’s getting harder to breathe.”

Acclaimed and respected Minneapolis-bred indie rockers who boast a melodic, contemporary take on mid-'70s classic rock. 
The Hold Steady - Denver Haircut
Five years ago, the Hold Steady released Teeth Dreams, their last album. That was the last time they functioned like a regular band. Since then, the great word-spewing Brooklyn rockers have switched things up... Along with the announcement, they’ve shared a new song, the album opener “Denver Haircut.” If you love the Hold Steady, a song like this will sound familiar. It’s a charged-up, inspirational rocker about people living on the edges of society, and it’s got some classic Craig Finn lyrics: “In five hours on the carpet, he visits six different planets / On a spaceship shaped like a Gibson Marauder / The pilot kinda looked like Kirk Hammett.”...

Indie folk singer/songwriter with introspective, laid-back songs that are tinged with sadness and hope in equal measure. 
Daughter Of Swords - Fields Of Gold
Daughter Of Swords is the solo project from Alexandra Sauser-Monnig of Mountain Man. Last year, Mountain Man returned with their first album in eight years, titled Magic Ship. Daughter Of Swords is announcing the release her debut album, Dawnbreaker, which was co-produced by Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn. The album is expected next week, and today, we get to hear a new single, “Fields Of Gold.” The track feels instrumentally country, delivered through a folk melody. Twangy guitar plunks get lost in the reverb of shakers and taps. A steely guitar solo grounds the track in a Nashville swing. The ghostly, yet warm layer of additional vocals opens up for a blooming cymbal section on the downbeat of the chorus. It shimmers and shines like a ray of light, a true field of gold if you will.

Noël Wells - Sad Girl Blues
You may already know actress, comedian, and filmmaker Noël Wells from Saturday Night Live, or Master Of None, or her own movie Mr. Roosevelt. But soon, you might know her for her music too... along with the album announcement, Wells is sharing another new song, “Sad Girl Blues,” a self-aware folk-rocker that gradually builds from its lo-fi intro to a fiery conclusion: “I’ve played this song for the last time/ Wanna take what’s mine.” The song is “an anthem I hope everyone can sing,” Wells says. “At the core it’s a song about a woman divided against herself, trying to reclaim the disowned aspects of her psyche, knowing none of us can do it alone.”

Gauche, Black Midi, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Dungen, Mattiel, Dressy Bessy, Julia Shapiro, Los Coast, B Boys, The Hold Steady, Daughter Of Swords, Noël Wells