ALTER.NATION #113 (13 trax, 51m)
Oceanator, Henrik Appel, Dale Crover, Pom Poko, Sleaford Mods, Shame, Buck Meek, Kurt Vile, Midnight Sister, Pearl Charles, Emma Rurh Rundle, Thou, Kate Davis, Muriel Grossmann
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"January 21st"
The debut full-length effort from Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Elise Okusami, who operates under the moniker Oceanator, Things I Never Said is a delightfully understated grunge-pop paean to the disillusionment of early adulthood. Okusami is a nimble pop architect who knows how to bait a hook, and her songs, which marry the riot grrrl ethos of Sleater-Kinney with the neatly wrapped emo-pop earworms of Jimmy Eat World, frequently take abrupt instrumental detours that lead the listener into new sonic headwaters...
Stockholm garage rocker who played with Martin Savage Gang and Lion's Den before going solo in the late 2010s.Henrik Appel - Humanity / Humanity
Powerhouse drummer best known for his work with the Melvins and brief tenure with Nirvana; released his debut solo album in 2017.
Freewheeling Norwegian act who combine math rock, post-punk, and more into equally sugary and explosive music.
British rap-punk duo with an aggressive, no-nonsense sound led by the blue-collar, ranting wordplay of Jason Williamson.
Bracing South London post-punk band with a passionate, political viewpoint. South London's brash post-punk outfit Shame follows in the footsteps of unflinching musicians and writers such as the Fall, Television Personalities, and Irvine Welsh.
Although best known as guitarist and backing vocalist for Big Thief, Buck Meek makes gentle and melancholy, cowboy country-inflected songs as a soloist. 
Philly guitar hero built a celebrated discography around his dazed and confused update to straightforward roots rock.
Cinematic art pop from the Los Angeles duo of Juliana Giraffe and Ari Balouzian.
Los Angeles singer/songwriter melds jangling indie pop with low-key Americana.
The singer and guitarist for California post-rock/psych-metal outfit Marriages, a member of Isis-connected post-rockers Red Sparowes, and frontwoman for atmospheric psych-folk/slowcore collective Nocturnes, singer/songwriter, guitarist, and visual artist Emma Ruth Rundle is also an accomplished solo artist.
Musical polymath who released jazz albums as a teen and wrote "Seventeen" with Sharon Van Etten before emerging with indie rock of her own.
European saxophonist whose approach to spiritual jazz reflects Coltrane's legacy yet possesses an individual musical signature.
Already a dedicated member of the Stockholm garage rock scene, Henrik Appel offered up an impulsive, catchy solo debut with 2018's Burning Bodies. While that album consisted of voice, electric guitar, and few extra touches (he imposed a three-instrument limit on each song), Humanity embraces fuller arrangements on the whole... Another punk-derived, sax-bolstered entry, "Humanity," kicks up the tempo as it slides away from Mick Jagger toward Fred Schneider on the Appel vocal spectrum. Lyrics like "Sleep, fall, cry, die, circle of humanity" top off the track, which has a '60s go-go-boots energy all its own...
You don't spend a few decades playing with the Melvins and not learn a few things about making music that's heavy, and on Dale Crover's second solo album, 2020's Rat-A-Tat-Tat!, the band's longtime drummer (and occasional bassist) once again shows he has a real knack for coming up with a memorable hard rock song. At the same time, much like his 2017 effort The Fickle Finger of Fate, Crover also makes it clear he knows how to come up with a melody and a hook, and even though this is still full of the sort of eccentric experimentalism you might expect from a side project, the best moments here are engaging and accessible in a way many fans might not expect...
After charming fans of freewheeling indie pop with their debut Birthday, Pom Poko get even more rambunctious and ambitious on Cheater. Though the COVID-19 global pandemic prevented the band from road-testing these songs the way their constant gigging let them refine their debut, their second album still reflects their growing experience. Pom Poko sound looser and more cohesive on these spiky fluorescent outbursts, and the way they turn the bits and pieces other bands wouldn't think of putting together into swift, dazzling collages is truly impressive. To challenge conventional notions of femininity on "Like a Lady," Ragnhild Fangel Jamtveit adds a spoonful of sugar to her vocals, while Martin Miguel Almagro Tonne channels the elephantine riffs of the Breeders' "Cannonball."...
On Spare Ribs, Sleaford Mods prove once again that they're capable of not just surviving but thriving during difficult times. Largely written and recorded during the COVID-19 global pandemic, its songs are very much of the moment -- and what a moment... Likewise, the punchy bass and synths on the title track give an extra weight to the duo's observations about the pandemic's earliest victims. However, the album's biggest change comes with the inclusion of two female guest vocalists who are more than capable of holding their own against Williamson's rasp...
Shame already displayed plenty of ambition and a penchant for drama on Songs of Praise, but they're twice as potent on Drunk Tank Pink. Though it's named for the color used to subdue violently inebriated prisoners, there's little soothing about the band's second album; in fact, by comparison, their debut sounds almost staid. Following Songs of Praise's success, Shame found new ways to tear things up. Guitarist Sean Coyle-Smith got into Nigerian highlife music, ESG, and Talking Heads, while vocalist Charlie Steen used the highs and lows that followed their whirlwind fame as fodder for his lyrics... Even in more restrained moments like these, Shame never lose their momentum on Drunk Tank Pink, an often thrilling snapshot of a band headed for great things -- and quickly.
Buck Meek - Two Saviors / Second Sight
Guitarist, singer, and songwriter Buck Meek released his first solo material, a three-song live album, in 2013. Backing him on the recording was soon-to-be bandmate Adrianne Lenker, and both musicians' solo endeavors were soon sidelined to a significant degree by the success and continual touring of their band, Big Thief, which formed the following year. Meek did manage to put out an eponymous solo debut on the Austin-based Keeled Scales label in 2018. It was an introduction for many to his rustic, winsome, empathic songs, which carry touches of the country and jazz manouche of the Texas native's formative playing. Performed live in the studio sans headphones and recorded to eight-track tape, the follow-up, Two Saviors, features multi-instrumentalist Mat Davidson, guitarist Adam Brisbin, pianist/organist Dylan Meek, and drummer Austin Vaughn, all prior live collaborators, as his backing band...
Kurt Vile's dazzled and disoriented songwriting usually leans heavily into slacker guitar rock influences, but the acoustic instrumentation and hints of twang that sometimes surface suggest there might be some latent country-folk inspirations deep in the mixture. The five-song EP Speed, Sound, Lonely KV brings Vile's country leanings into the spotlight, centering the short collection around a duet he recorded with his tour mate and songwriting hero John Prine a few months before his death in 2020. The song, a cover of Prine's 1979 tune "How Lucky," is jaunty and bright, Vile's voice sounding relatively light when it joins in with Prine's weathered rasp...
The follow-up to Midnight Sister's 2017 debut, Saturn Over Sunset, Painting the Roses takes the cinematic, stylized art pop of wispy-voiced vocalist Juliana Giraffe and producer Ari Balouzian in still more adventurous directions... Mercurial but persistently larger than life, even in quieter moments, the sophomore set doesn't yield quite as many memorable hooks as Midnight Sister's debut but still holds fascination.
In a pleasing tangle of sun-warmed melodies and 1970s influences, Pearl Charles strikes a confident, if laid-back tone on Magic Mirror, her sophomore album. The Los Angeles native has been bubbling under the radar for nearly a decade, trying her hand in a variety of indie subsets from lo-fi Americana to garage and psychedelia before landing on a more polished amalgam of vintage-flavored country-pop and West Coast soft rock... While similar in feel to her debut, Magic Mirror is a significant step forward for Charles, who really steps up her game here.
An experimental doom band from Baton Rouge known for their staunchly D.I.Y. philosophy and boundary-pushing music. Born in of the swampy humidity of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, stoner/sludge metal band Thou are as massive as they are prolific. Thou's sound blends the shuddering heaviness of doom with the oppressive atmospherics of black metal, giving the band a monolithic sound that feels, at times, inescapable. Thou have maintained a strictly D.I.Y. philosophy, booking their own tours and making their music available with free downloads.
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou's 2020 collaborative album May Our Chambers Be Full was a marriage of intensities, bringing together vocalist/guitarist Rundle's gifts for dark melodic atmospheres with Louisiana ensemble Thou's thick and sludgy doom metal. The album paired Rundle's controlled, shadowy vocals with wraithlike screams from Thou's Bryan Funck, and explored moments of floating dreaminess not unlike early 4AD output that turned on a dime to psychedelic alt-rock guitar riffing or blasts of black metal-inspired power... The other three songs waver between sections of intense doom metal and quiet, moody goth rock, with "Hollywood" being the most dynamic of the bunch...
Following an engaging indie singer/songwriter debut that showcased her sophisticated, self-examining writing style, onetime jazz prodigy Kate Davis puts a personalized spin on the work of beloved outsider musician Daniel Johnston. A track-for-track cover of his lo-fi 1984 album Retired Boxer, Strange Boy alternates songs with brief, manipulated recordings of interviews with friends reminiscing about Johnston and his music...
With 2019's Reverence, Ibiza-based saxophonist and composer Muriel Grossmann sought to explore the connections between the spiritual jazz tradition and its antecedent roots in African music. To realize this, she expanded her quartet -- guitarist Radomir Milojkovic, bassist Gina Schwarz, and drummer Uros Stamenkovic -- to include Hammond organist Llorenç Barceló. The B-3's textural, tonal, and rhythmic possibilities added dimension to the group's already expansive approach to groove and explorations... The rhythm section opens the gate for Barceló, who bridges groove and North African modes to jazz. "African Call" weds West African juju and highlife styles to South African Township jive and Afro-Latin jazz. The entwined guitar and organ sound like Sonny Sharrock and Larry Young playing with Sonny Rollins on "Don't Stop the Carnival" -- it gets quoted in Grossmann's solo. The interplay between Stamenkovic's cymbal syncopations and Milojkovic's chunky single-string playing is nearly symbiotic, reflecting the rhythmic and textural depth in this band's approach... On Quiet Earth, Grossmann expands her earlier avant approach and embraces a more sophisticated, spiritually and emotionally resonant one. That said, this album is not a mere signifier for stylistic transition; instead it achieves a holistic, fully developed musical realization.
Oceanator, Henrik Appel, Dale Crover, Pom Poko, Sleaford Mods, Shame, Buck Meek, Kurt Vile, Midnight Sister, Pearl Charles, Emma Rurh Rundle, Thou, Kate Davis, Muriel Grossmann
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