ALTER.NATION #115 (13trx 59m)
Goat Girl, The Notwist, Tamar Aphek, Ani DiFranco, Steven Wilson, Arlo Parks, Baio, Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, Rats on Rafts
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"Sad Cowboy"
Even for a young, buzzed-about band, the three years between Goat Girl's self-titled debut album and its follow-up On All Fours were notable. Along with more typical shake-ups like lineup changes (bassist Holy Hole stepped in for founding member Naima Jelly), the group endured guitarist/vocalist L.E.D.'s diagnosis of stage four Hodgkin's lymphoma and six-month course of chemotherapy. Happily, Goat Girl's second album reveals that they've only grown stronger together in the wake of these events. There's a greater feeling of connection and cohesion in these songs -- which makes sense, since they took a collaborative approach to songwriting this time out -- and their experimental and pop impulses are more clearly defined and cleverly integrated... Both nervier and more confident than their debut, On All Fours is a huge step forward from a band that's well-equipped to bring post-punk's legacy into the future.
Vertigo Days' ranginess suits the Notwist; after all, they've always resisted easy categorization... Longtime Notwist fans will be happy to hear them get back to the anything-goes heart of post-rock on songs such as the haunting "Oh Sweet Fire," where Markus Acher trades vocals with Ben LaMar Gay over instrumentation that folds hints of dub and jazz into its flow...
All Bets Are Off is Tamar Aphek's first full-length release as a solo artist, but she's been making music for years as a member of different Israeli bands and a composer. Maybe that's why her debut album has such a distinctive mix of familiarity and strangeness -- every time it feels like things might be remotely predictable, she changes things up again. "Russian Winter," the dense, knotty rocker that kicks off All Bets Are Off, sounds like it starts in media res, leaving listeners to play catch-up with her. It's a feeling that extends to nearly every other song here, as Aphek and her band combine touches of punk, psychedelic, and jazz in ever-changing ways...
For more than three decades, Ani DiFranco has made the personal political and vice versa. Whether playing solo, working the road with her trio, or in a studio with a raucous band, she has consistently shown unflinching honesty in critiquing the myriad ways in which power informs relationships across racial, social, gender, economic, environmental, and romantic lines in an astonishing variety of musical contexts. DiFranco has also called New Orleans home for some time; many of its musical traditions have burrowed their way into her artistic DNA... As a whole, Revolutionary Love is economical and smooth. The title track is drenched in gentle yet gritty soul. As a slide guitar, brushed snare, and Wurlitzer pave the way, one can hear traces of Percy Mayfield in the melody. The lyrics are pure DiFranco: "I will tend my anger/I will tend my grief/I will achieve safety/I will find relief/I'll show myself some mercy/I'll show myself respect....And even if you hurt me/I will not shut down/No you can't make me hate you/and carry that hate around."... "Shrinking Violet" is a 21st century gospel blues that looks head on at an abusive relationship with stinging slide guitar underscoring her protagonist's steely, redemptive resolve. ..
Steven Wilson fans have been primed for The Future Bites since he released To the Bone in 2017. That record, and the subsequent 4½ EP, were deliberately "pop" responses to his three-album dalliance with prog -- Raven That Refused to Sing, Hand. Cannot. Erase, and Grace for Drowning. In contrast to the above, The Future Bites is a slick exercise in Wilson's oft-articulated love of synth pop and electronic music... Given the musical m.o. here, it should come as no surprise that the production on these nine songs is slick, even icy. It contrasts sharply with most of Wilson's songwriting that remains saturated in welcoming, effusive melodies and hooks. On most tracks, guitars and drums are subservient to keyboards and electronic rhythms and soundscapes. ..
On the heels of the viral success of a handful of early songs, London singer/songwriter and poet Arlo Parks makes her full-length debut with Collapsed in Sunbeams, a set that draws on episodes from adolescence. Sharing an empathic, personal approach that doesn't shy away from matters of heart or mental health issues... The jealous "Eugene" is a duskier entry with a similarly elegant groove that scores Parks trying to comfort a friend after a breakup ("You know I like you like that")... If the musical qualities of Collapsed in Sunbeams suffer from a bit of sameyness by the end, the formula is a soothing, pleasant one with sentiment to spare and, as a debut, full of promise.
When Vampire Weekend's Chris Baio released his second solo album, 2017's Man of the World, his strutting synth pop was clouded by the anxiety of the previous year's elections in his native U.S. and adopted home of the U.K. Arriving in 2021, the title of his third Baio LP, Dead Hand Control, refers to an automated Soviet-era missile system (Dead Hand, aka Perimeter) still rumored to be operational decades later...
In 2015, Seattle-based Hammond B-3 organist Delvon Lamarr was challenged by wife and partner Amy Novo to put together a career-making band; she'd take care of the business end so he could make music. .. The band took their heady mix of jazz-funk, blues, R&B, and rock on the road across the U.S. and Europe, playing electrifying, booty-quaking shows that brought down houses and festival stages across the globe... I Told You So, the band's second Colemine outing, includes mainstays Lamarr on Hammond B-3 and Jimmy James on guitar. It's their first with newly recruited drummer Dan Weiss (Sextones), who replaced Doug Port. Opener "Hole in One" weds break-heavy drum funk to biting, meaty, lo-fi blues and roots rock vamps from James.
The third album by Dutch post-punk weirdos Rats on Rafts is partially inspired by the band's 2018 tour of Japan, performing in arenas opening for Franz Ferdinand. Expanding on their previous record's textural noise-rock sound, the long-in-the-making, extravagantly titled Excerpts from Chapter 3: The Mind Runs a Net of Rabbit Paths is an ambitious quasi-opera pulling from Krautrock, psychedelia, and avant-garde pop in the vein of Van Dyke Parks and Scott Walker. Threaded throughout the songs are sound effects representing the elements, ranted narratives, and dreamlike interludes. ..
Goat Girl, The Notwist, Tamar Aphek, Ani DiFranco, Steven Wilson, Arlo Parks, Baio, Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, Rats on Rafts
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