061 ALTER.NATION weekly favtraX 27-10-2019

ALTER.NATION #61

Broen, Carla dal Forno, Common Holly, Squirrel Flower, Kneebody feat. Becca Stevens, The Orielles, Vida Blue, Sorry, Mikal Cronin, Circles Around the Sun with Joe Russo, Desert Sessions, Leonard Cohen

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"Do You See the Falling Leaves?"

ALTER.NATION #61 on DEEZER

Vibrant Norwegian quartet blending jazz, electronic music, R&B, and psychedelia into eclectic pop.
Broen - Do You See the Falling Leaves? from Do You See the Falling Leaves?
It's hard to express the creative leap Broen made between their international debut and its follow-up better than the albums' titles do. On 2017's I <3 Art, the Norwegian collective were above all creative, channeling their passion into breaking any remaining boundaries between pop, jazz, electronic music, R&B, and hip-hop. On Do You See the Falling Leaves?, they use their genre-fluid sound to explore the connections between the desire to make art and the desire to reach out to others... The title track's sensuous nine-minute sprawl is remarkably intimate, thanks to the husky warmth of Røe's voice -- which calls to mind Joan as Police Woman's Joan Wasser -- and the surprising, charming combination of tuba and a scorched electric guitar solo...

Australian singer/multi-instrumentalist who writes sparse, haunting tunes as part of trio F ingers in addition to solo work. 
Carla dal Forno - Took a Long Time from Look Up Sharp
Breaking away from the dubby abstractions of her group F ingers, Australian singer/songwriter Carla dal Forno made her solo debut in 2016 with You Know What It's Like, a magnificent album of ambient pop tunes that prompted comparisons to obscure names like Kendra Smith and In Gowan Ring. Following two EPs, including a 2018 tour cassette that included covers of songs by the B-52s and Lana Del Rey, dal Forno's second album contains some of her most direct compositions, with clearer vocals and more upfront melodies. While still sparse and haunting, this album doesn't feel as detached, and dal Forno's sentiments aren't as ambiguous as they were before... The shivering, slowed-down post-punk of "Took a Long Time" is a bit murkier, but seems to imply uncertainty in a relationship...

The project of Montreal-based singer/songwriter Brigitte Naggar, Common Holly blends acoustic, electric, and manipulated textures to weave intimate, off-kilter songs.
Common Holly - Joshua Snakes from When I Say to You Black Lightning
The follow-up to 2017's Playing House, When I Say to You Black Lightning is the Barsuk label debut of Montreal-based musician Brigitte Naggar, who records as Common Holly. With assistance from returning co-producer Devon Bate, she continues to blur and fuse distinctions between catchy and experimental, and song and composition here, settling into a presentation that's entirely digestible, if persistently peculiar... Though the songs are quiet, they hold turbulent moments, such as in "Joshua Snakes," which opens with a few seconds of finely textured noise before settling into a whispery funk groove. The rhythmic, rhyming vocal lines are routinely accosted by samples, sound effects, and instrumental interjections that never throw off the singer or her spare accompaniment (bass, snare, intermittent guitar). Midway through, a simple, staccato distorted-guitar break sounds thunderous in comparison to what preceded it. The guitar hangs around for the rest of the song with the rhythm section, layered vocals, and...flute.

Squirrel Flower is the solo dream-folk project of Ella Williams. She is based in Boston, MA and Grinnell, IA.
Squirrel Flower - Red Shoulder
Squirrel Flower is the musical project of Boston-based Ella O’Connor Williams. Polyvinyl has signed on to release her debut album I Was Born Swimming early next year... “Red Shoulder” is a melancholy indie-rock power ballad that bears a strong Mitski influence, but its tangled web of guitars evokes acts like American Football and Slaughter Beach, Dog too. “I’m still reeling from your last call,” Williams sings, before the song descends into a dramatic guitar breakdown. In a press release she says “Red Shoulder” is “a song about destabilization and dissociation,” continuing, “Something soft and tender becomes warped and sinister, turning into sensory overload and confusion. How can something so lovely turn painful and claustrophobic? The song ends with a heavy and visceral guitar solo, attempting to reground what went awry.”

Experimental jazz-based outfit that crosses the boundaries between post-bop, funk, rock, and electronic music.
Kneebody feat. Becca Stevens - Wounds Let in the Light from Chapters
Kneebody's tenth studio album, 2019's Chapters, is one of their most accessible albums to date, featuring a handful of guest vocalists on songs that ably straddle the line between hooky post-rock and exploratory jazz. It's an aesthetic the forward-thinking Los Angeles outfit featuring saxophonist Ben Wendel, trumpeter Shane Endsley, keyboardist Adam Benjamin, drummer/bassist Nate Wood, and bassist Kaveh Rastegar have been forging since the early 2000s, combining fusion-esque group arrangements with propulsive exploratory improvisation...

Conversely, Becca Stevens' introspective "Wounds Let the Light In" features her circular guitar arpeggio and hushed vocals framed in vibrant trumpet and sax harmonies and spiraling keyboard solo, all of which brings to mind Joni Mitchell's work with Wayne Shorter.

Trio of '90s worshipers from Halifax, U.K., with dream pop and disco influences that come together to give their indie pop sound a twist.
The Orielles - Come Down On Jupiter
The Orielles are a sleek and psychedelic indie-pop quartet from Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They released their debut Silver Dollar Moment in early 2018 on the venerable UK label Heavenly... Disco Volador’s opening track and lead single, “Come Down On Jupiter,” begins as a languid shuffle, but before long it has exploded into guitar-pop bliss. And then suddenly it’s something like outer-space disco rock. As the five-minute runtime unfolds, the transformations continue to be as abundant as the hooks.

Jam band fronted by Phish's Page McConnell whose electronic-oriented funk, jazz, and rock first appeared in the early 2000s.
Vida Blue - Real Underground Soul Sound from Crossing Lines
The sprightly electro-funk jam band Vida Blue released a pair of studio albums and one live set in the front half of the 2000s before their helmsman, Page McConnell, retired the project and resumed his primary role as keyboardist for Phish. Formed in 2001 during a Phish hiatus, Vida Blue's original lineup was essentially a power trio with the fleet-fingered McConnell joined by bassist Oteil Burbridge (the Allman Brothers Band, Aquarium Rescue Unit) and drummer Russell Batiste (the Funky Meters)... Newcomer Adam Zimmon joins the core trio on guitar for 2019's Crossing Lines, adding new dimensions while respectfully adhering to the spaciousness of their original setup. Of the album's eight generally lengthy cuts, only two are instrumentals (the dubby "Weepa" and the Meters-esque "Real Underground Soul Sound"), marking a trend that favors McConnell's more structured, lyric-driven songwriting...

Sorry are a new London band centered around Asha Lorenz and Louis O'Bryen, two 19 year-old childhood best friends. Along with Lincoln Barrett (drums) and Campbell Baum (bass) Sorry have been making a name for themselves on London's underground circuit since 2015.
Sorry - Right Round The Clock
Sorry have been around for a while now, but they still haven’t put out their debut album, though they have been keeping us busy with a long string of singles. Next year, though, the UK band will release their debut album, which is called 925, in the spring...  “Right Round The Clock.” It’s a brassy drunken stumble, an extended character study that plays out like a nightmare. “I’m feeling kind of crazy/ I’m feeling kind of mad/ The dreams in which we’re famous are the best I’ve ever had,” the band’s Asha Lorenz and Louis O’Bryen duet together...

Creator of clever and idiosyncratic indie pop with a garage rock undertow; frequently collaborates with Ty Segall.
Mikal Cronin - Shelter from Seeker
...With the help of producer Jason Quiver of Papercuts, Segall and members of his band including guitrarist Emmett Kelly of Cairo Gang, Cronin set about putting them on tape. Much like the expansive, dense music on MCIII, Seeker isn't anything close to resembling his early power pop in the garage sound. This is huge, imposing music that's clothed in full arrangements of layered guitars, swelling background vocals, various keys and orchestral strings with Cronin singing with fierce passion and rueful regret. It builds on the sturdy frame of MCIII and delivers bigger emotions, trickier melodies and more sound...

Circles Around the Sun is a contemporary instrumental rock band that formed with the specific purpose of creating intermission music for Fare Thee Well, a series of reunion concerts played by the surviving members of the Grateful Dead during their 2015 tour.
 An accomplished musician, Russo has played drums often with pop and rock groups. Among bands with which he has played are Danjaboots, Fat Mama, Tom Hamilton's American Babies, and Robert Walter's 20th Congress, but is best known for his duo performances with pianist Marco Benevento. 
Circles Around the Sun with Joe Russo - Get It Right the First Time from Circles Around the Sun Meets Joe Russo
Meets Joe Russo is an informal jam that is startling for its sheer musicality. Cut live from the floor in a single day, it showcases just how intuitive the interplay was between Casal, keyboardist Adam MacDougall, bassist Dan Horne, and drummer Mark Levy. The addition of Russo'a drumming only adds to that depth of field...  "Get It Right the First Time," is led by the rhythm section: The drummers converse with call-and-response snares and kick drums to a rocksteady reggae groove provided by MacDougall's punchy Wurlitzer fills, Horne's strolling bassline, and Casal's spacy slide playing.

The seeds for the revolving door lineup that Queens of the Stone Age has become famous for were originally sown in another related project, the Desert Sessions
Desert Sessions - Noses in Roses, Forever from Desert Sessions, Vols. 11 & 12
Josh Homme always meant to get back to the desert, it just took him nearly 16 years to do so. Homme never officially put his Desert Sessions project on ice, but Queens of the Stone Age kept him busy, as did domestic duties, so the call of the wild remained muted for year after year, until the collective finally returned in 2019 with Desert Sessions, Vols. 11 & 12. Time changes everything, including the tenor of the Desert Sessions. Where previous excursions into the arid netherworld relied on overpowering volume and nocturnal menace, Desert Sessions, Vols. 11 & 12 is concise and colorful, a blast of madness and mischief...

Cerebral yet sensual Canadian poet, novelist, and singer/songwriter who is acknowledged as one of the greatest lyricists of all time.
Leonard Cohen - Happens To The Heart
Leonard Cohen died three years ago, but we’re about to get a new Leonard Cohen album anyway. When he died, Cohen left behind sketches of nine unreleased songs. His son Adam Cohen fleshed those sketches out into complete songs, and he got help from people like Beck, Feist, Bryce Dessner, and Daniel Lanois, turning them into the new LP Thanks For The Dance... The song itself is pretty great. It’s a simple track, with Cohen intoning heavily in the deep, ravaged voice we heard on his goodbye album You Want It Darker. He gives us one of his inimitably evocative opening lines: “I was always working steady, but I never called it ‘art’ / I’ve got my shit together, meeting Christ and reading Marx.” The song uses fluttery flamenco guitars, and the music slowly wraps itself around Cohen’s voice.

Broen, Carla dal Forno, Common Holly, Squirrel Flower, Kneebody feat. Becca Stevens, The Orielles, Vida Blue, Sorry, Mikal Cronin, Circles Around the Sun with Joe Russo, Desert Sessions, Leonard Cohen

059 ALTER.NATION weekly favtraX 13-10-2019

ALTER.NATION #59

Big Thief, Danny Brown, Kim Gordon, Comet Gain, Starcrawler, Allah-Las, The Hecks, Rocketship, Julien Chang, Fabienne Delsol, 808 State, Carla dal Forno

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"Forgotten Eyes"

ALTER.NATION #59 on DEEZER

Brooklyn indie rock quartet steered by the vulnerable songwriting of singer/guitarist Adrianne Lenker.
Big Thief - Forgotten Eyes from Two Hands
Following quickly on the heels of the spacey, artful U.F.O.F. -- by five months, to be exact -- Big Thief's fourth long-player, Two Hands, was recorded just days after its contrasting sister album. However, while U.F.O.F. was tracked at a wooded facility outside of Seattle, the band deliberately moved to the 100-plus-degree environs of a desert studio west of El Paso for Two Hands... Though less improvised-sounding on the whole than its predecessor, the loose Two Hands was recorded live with few overdubs by the same crew (producer Andrew Sarlo and engineer/mixer Dom Monks, though drummer James Krivchenia helped mix this time around)... It's followed by catchier album highlight "Forgotten Eyes," which settles into the visceral, full-band folk-rock of Big Thief's earlier albums but with a distinctly immediate recording quality. (Though any such descriptions are relative in the case of this band.)... While it's hard to talk about Two Hands in 2019 without the context of the stunning U.F.O.F., the album's quality stands on its own, offering its own grade of intimacy, sound, and feel for alternate moods.

Unique Detroit rapper whose hood/hipster personality, embrace of social media, and prolific mixtape output fostered an underground phenomenon.
Danny Brown - Change Up from uknowhatimsayin¿
Danny Brown took his grotesquerie to its highest level yet with Atrocity Exhibition. Concurrent with his divergent pursuits and evolving public image -- he's now done a sitcom theme, dipped into acting, hosted a talk show, and has spoken about living less recklessly -- the rapper dials back a bit with his follow-up and second Warp LP, executive produced by Q-Tip. Paul White is still one of Brown's preferred co-pilots, producing or co-producing four of the cuts. The uptick in serious matters is signaled with the slow-churning rhythm undergirding the weary but resolute opener "Change Up," as in "Never change up," "clench my teeth, knuckle up."...

Iconic indie rock musician and feminist, best known for her work with Sonic Youth and several solo projects. A major figure on the American indie rock scene of the '80s and onward, Kim Gordon is best known for her work with the influential group Sonic Youth. However, in many respects Gordon was as well regarded for her writings and interviews as for her music; she was willing to discuss feminism in a way that was as thoughtful but direct as Sonic Youth's music. Gordon was also willing to explore the outer limits of experimental rock music, both with Sonic Youth and her various side projects, and her most advanced work helped to link indie rock with the true musical avant-garde.
Kim Gordon - Hungry Baby from No Home Record
With every year that passes after Sonic Youth's breakup, Kim Gordon's art becomes more liberated and more revealing. As she focused on the visual art career she sidelined for decades, her music shattered her limiting persona as an aloof, cooler-than-cool alt-rock icon while holding onto her most essential strengths. This is especially true of No Home Record, her fearless, witty and sensual solo debut. It feels like equal parts fresh start and homecoming for good reason: Gordon began making the album soon after she returned to her hometown of Los Angeles in late 2015. Frequently, it feels like she challenges Californian stereotypes as much as she dispels the received wisdom about her music... Conversely, she cuts loose on "Hungry Baby," a nervy, sexy rave-up that's far wilder than the deadpan affect she often cultivated in the past. Elsewhere, No Home Record proves just as challenging as Body/Head's music... With its raw edges and open ends, No Home Record exposes the deepest levels of Gordon's art, and they're more thought-provoking and bracing than ever.

British indie band plays timeless, reverb-drenched indie pop that never quite sounds new but never gets old. Led by guitarist and vocalist David Feck (aka David Bower and David Christian), Comet Gain are a British indie pop band whose music is a freewheeling, literate fusion of folk-rock, twee pop, garage rock, R&B, punk, and any number of points in between.
Comet Gain - We're All Fucking Morons from Fireraisers Forever
When a band has been around as long Comet Gain have -- over 25 years -- and keep making great records, it's easy to take them for granted. They have a foolproof plan for always getting the full attention of their listeners: make the angry songs feel like the attack of a swarm of insane bees, make the pop songs pop like giant bubblegum bubbles, make the sad songs cry a bucket of tears sad... Everything clicks into place right from the start and the emotion, the songcraft and the power hooks never let up. Comet Gain may have been around a long, lomng time but they have never felt as alive or as vital as they do on this amazing and important album.

L.A. punk rockers known for their wild, theatrical shows and glam-metal overtones. Punk rockers Starcrawler formed in 2015 in Los Angeles, California and quickly formed a sound and attitude that placed them somewhere between the punk/hard rock of fellow L.A. natives the Runaways and the shock tactics of legendary metal influencers Black Sabbath.
Starcrawler - Bet My Brains from Devour You
... On their second long-player, 2019's Devour You, they've eased back on the lyrical decadence just a bit (no songs about oral sex this time, though there is one about masturbation) but have pumped up the guitars and drums, and thanks to producer and engineer Nick Launay, they've managed to sound glossier and dirtier at the same time... Starcrawler blend the snot of pop punk, the swagger of glam rock, and the eager darkness of vintage metal with the arrogantly blank vocal sneer of Arrow de Wilde, who sounds like the love child of Cherie Currie and Aubrey Plaza. That said, if de Wilde often sounds like she hates you (or someone else nearby) despite the fact she doesn't actually care, the band sound tougher and more locked in on their second effort. Henri Cash's guitar has gained some welcome muscle and flexibility, barking with a new degree of authority, while bassist Tim Franco and drummer Austin Smith are tight enough to hold these songs together and loose enough to put both groove and attitude behind the music...

Los Angeles combo Allah-Las play a reverb-drenched, moody version of garage rock. Created by record store employees with a love for laid-back 60s sounds that verged on somnambulant psychedelia, the LA band Allah-Lahs documented the sounds and moods of sunny West Coast days with nothing to do but strum guitars and gently harmonise. 
Allah-Las - Roco Ono from Lahs
After three records spent digging deep into the super chill fantasy version of LA, complete with surf guitars, Allah-Las do things a little differently on Lahs. The band still play with the relaxed style of four guys with nowhere to go and all the time in the world to not get there, but this time around they are looking outside of their comfort zone and trying some new things. Not only that but they've given their well-established sound a makeover; stripping back a least three layers of reverb, bringing the vocals closer to the front and allowing the drums to snap a little bit here and there... not just sticking to gauzy psych and sleepy surf music. There's a little bit of slow motion, last call disco ("Roco Ono,")... There may be moments that give fans expecting another laidback psych record pause, but on the whole the band succeed in refurbing their template and coming up with something that's both extremely chill and interesting at the same time.

Chicago-based group whose sound has evolved from clanging, dissonant noise rock to mutated new wave. Chicago-based group the Hecks started out making a clanging, dissonant brand of experimental art rock reminiscent of Sonic Youth and Wire. However, by the release of their second album, 2019's My Star, they had drastically reconstructed their sound into a mutant blend of jittery new wave and synth-heavy funk.
The Hecks - Heat Wave from My Star
On their early releases, the Hecks (initially the duo of Andy Mosiman and Zach Hebert) played a tense, angular form of deconstructed post-punk that seemed to focus on certain elements of rock music songcraft rather than build them into one solid, sturdy package. This included tracks made up primarily of clanging, throbbing guitars or scorched noise drones. After the band released their self-titled debut album in 2016, engineer Dave Vettraino joined the group full-time, and keyboard player Jeff Graupner soon became their fourth member. This added an entirely new dimension to the Hecks' music, causing them to scrap the initial sessions for their second album and completely rework the material. With My Star, they've reinvented themselves as a twisted new wave act, injecting Day-Glo synths into their jittery tunes and channeling the repetition of their earlier work into something more driving and hypnotic...

Sacramento trio whose 1990s hat tip to 60s pop earned them indie legend status. Sacramento, CA-based indie-pop favorite Rocketship was the brainchild of singer/guitarist Dustin Reske, who formed the group in 1993 with bassist Verna Brock, keyboardist Heidi Barney and drummer Jim Rivas.
Rocketship - Under Streetlights Shadows from Thanks to You
Following up a classic album is never easy. Roughly 99.9% of bands or artists lucky enough to make something that stands out as a paragon of their genre never get within range of it ever again. That seemed to be the case with Rocketship. Their 1996 album A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness is a brilliant distillation of indie pop sweetness, chamber pop skill, shoegaze softness and dream pop hooks played on space age keyboards and perfectly jangled guitars and sung by a chorus of voices dialed in on the special frequency between lovelorn and melancholy... Cue the record scratch sound effect because 2019's Thanks to You is exactly that. Working mainly with vocalist Ellen Osborn, Reske concocted a record that nearly measures up to their debut in every way and it's clear that while time has passed and there are new elements added to Rocketship's sound, Reske's gifts as a writer and producer haven't faded at all. Whether dipping back into the space age shoegaze sound (complete with vintage organ chords) on the opening "Under Streetlights Shadows,"...

Singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer whose shape-shifting songs reflect his classical training and omnivorous musical taste. Singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Julien Chang combines his classical training and encyclopedic knowledge of pop music into shape-shifting songs that balance experience and wonder. Though he was just 19 when his debut album, Jules, was released in 2019, its kaleidoscopic mix of jazz, folk, R&B, and pop boasted a sophistication beyond his years.
Julien Chang - Moving Parts from Jules
In some ways, it's hard to believe Julien Chang made Jules while he was a high school senior. His classical training, skills as a multi-instrumentalist, and encyclopedic knowledge of pop music all suggest the experience of a significantly older artist. However, in other, more important ways, Jules could have only been made by someone so young... As he jumps from one sound to the next over the course of each song, the detours he takes are just as engaging as his main ideas... That Jules is so hard to pin down is a big part of its appeal; wondering where he'll go next is almost as exciting as the music he's already made. One thing is for sure: This album is an introduction to a first-rate musical mind.

Born in Limoges, France, Fabienne Delsol combines French pop with classic British beat. French-born vocalist Fabienne Delsol started her career as lead singer of the beat group-obsessed Bristols, then branched out on her own with a sound that started off in similar fashion only with some psychedelia and French pop added to the mix.
Fabienne Delsol - J’ai Fait De Lui Un Reve from Four
After taking a long break from recording, Fabienne Delsol returns with another light-hearted and snappy album that combines the hookiness of the beat group boom, the drama of vintage French pop, and the murky swirl of psychedelia. Her previous solo albums were helmed by Liam Watson at his famed Toerag studio; this time around Delsol takes half the wheel, with the studio's engineer Luke Oldfield also steering. They get a sound that's a little less reverb coated and a bit snappier, bringing Delsol's sound a little closer to the modern era. Not close enough to be be bland or slick; just enough to make the album sound less like a long-lost curio. As before, the songs are split between newly written tracks and covers of decades-old obscurities, both sung by Delsol in her sophisticated style... Delsol also covers a classic Françoise Hardy song from 1968, "J’ai Fait De Lui Un Rêve," capturing the song's stately charms while adding some buzzing guitars and soaring Mellotron. This song and the rest of the covers are done exactly right, with respect to the original but played and sung with unique style and personality. Delsol and her crew have plenty of each, and they make the covers sounds as much hers as the songs skillfully written for her by Gardiner. Four is another special record from an artist who can do no wrong, except for not making albums more regularly.

Manchester techno band with immense impact on world of electronica. A pioneer of the acid house sound, 808 State formed in Manchester, England in 1988 when Martin Price, the owner of the city's legendary record store Eastern Bloc and the founder of the independent label Creed, first joined forces with local musician and producer Graham Massey.
808 State - Skylon from Transmission Suite
The acid house pioneers return with an album inspired by Manchester’s electronic music scene, past and present.
808 State are back with Transmission Suite, their first album in nearly two decades.
Drawing on the rich history of Manchester’s electronic music scene, as well as certain members of the city’s new guard, the album is described as an immersion in “their home city of Manchester, and the ghosts that swirl around it.”

Australian singer/multi-instrumentalist who writes sparse, haunting tunes as part of trio F ingers in addition to solo work... Carla dal Forno writes haunting, downcast tunes influenced by post-punk, dub, and ambient pop.
Carla dal Forno - Hype Sleep from Look Up Sharp
Breaking away from the dubby abstractions of her group F ingers, Australian singer/songwriter Carla dal Forno made her solo debut in 2016 with You Know What It's Like, a magnificent album of ambient pop tunes that prompted comparisons to obscure names like Kendra Smith and In Gowan Ring... dal Forno's second album contains some of her most direct compositions, with clearer vocals and more upfront melodies. While still sparse and haunting, this album doesn't feel as detached, and dal Forno's sentiments aren't as ambiguous as they were before.

Big Thief, Danny Brown, Kim Gordon, Comet Gain, Starcrawler, Allah-Las, The Hecks, Rocketship, Julien Chang, Fabienne Delsol, 808 State, Carla dal Forno