ALTER.NATION #38
Pip Blom, Sacred Paws, Frank Iero and the Future Violents, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Gnoomes, Apex Manor, The Gotobeds, Agent Blå, The Warlocks, Beak>, Cosmo Gold, Sleater-Kinney
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Don't Make It Difficult from Boat
The Dutch quartet Pip Blom spent a couple years releasing home-recorded songs, mid-fi EPs, and the occasional single, all the while refining and honing their '90s indie rock-loving sound into something sleek, sharp, and powerful. When they went into the studio to record their first album, they were ready for their closeup, and the result is something special. Boat has all the hallmarks of classic indie rock -- loud/quiet dynamics, crashing cymbals, guitar overload, yearningly off-kilter vocals, and hooks that cut flesh while breaking hearts -- while never sounding like the youngsters in the band were doing a homework assignment for music class. It never feels calculated or cynical; they invest their tried-and-true approach with vigorous energy and dedication. They also have a great asset in chief songwriter and vocalist Pip Blom herself. When she sings, she twists the melodies around like she's examining each word before reluctantly letting them go; it's a disarming approach that's instantly arresting... "Don't Make It Difficult" is an upbeat post-punk rambler...
Former Golden Grrrls members who went on to form Sacred Paws, producing sunny, polyrhythmic pop. Sacred Paws are built around the Afro-pop-inspired guitar playing of Rachel Aggs and the fluid drumming of Eilidh Rodgers, as well as their nimble dual vocals.
Sacred Paws -
The Conversation
On the opening song from their second album Run Around the Sun, Glasgow indie-pop duo Sacred Paws recreate the experience of talking past each other. Though it begins with a sharp blast of feedback, “The Conversation” is a sunny, carefree jaunt, allowing Rachel Aggs’ guitar to bounce in loose curls around Eilidh Rodgers’ bubbly drums. Mimicking the back-and-forth nature of dialogue, the pair’s voices slip over one another, alternating flustered confusion and mellow concession as they try to remember exactly why they were arguing. “I’m taking the temperature/When I’m quiet I hear it more/It’s that simple,” Aggs admits as Rodgers murmurs in the background. Sacred Paws never find resolution to “The Conversation,” but they seem content to let it fade away.
American singer/songwriter Frank Iero is best known as the rhythm guitarist of early-2000s emo-punk band My Chemical Romance. Following that band's split, he began a solo career defined by bleeding lyrics, a passionate delivery, and consistent name changes, shifting from 2014's Frnkiero & the Cellabration to 2016's Frank Iero & the Patience and then Frank Iero & the Future Violents in 2019.
Frank Iero and the Future Violents -
Fever Dream from Barriers
...Engineered and mixed by Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies, Helmet), the set recalls Iero's early-2000s emo/hardcore heyday, corroded with some grit and grime from the '90s alt scene. Following 2016's bloody Parachutes and heavily informed by Iero's near-death car crash from that same year, Barriers not only builds upon a sound palette that he's been developing for half a decade but also exercises restraint. The result is a totally enjoyable and satisfying experience, even considering the amount of aches and pains within. Iero is joined by guitarist Evan Nestor, bassist Matt Armstrong (Murder by Death), drummer Tucker Rule (Thursday), and Kayleigh Goldsworthy (keys, violin, vocals) -- his self-described "dream band" -- who join forces to help bring the singer/songwriter's vulnerable confessionals to life with as much power and humanity as possible...
An eccentric figure who stands as one of reggae's greatest producers, as well as the pioneer of dub music.
Lee "Scratch" Perry -
Let It Rain from Rainford
Since the late '80s, Jamaican dub innovator Lee "Scratch" Perry has sporadically collaborated with British producer Adrian Sherwood, whose truly jarring, rule-breaking sound is a clear descendent of Perry's. Rainford (Perry's legal birth name) follows sometimes underacknowledged albums such as From the Secret Laboratory, in addition to Perry's guest appearances on records by Dub Syndicate and Sherwood's collaborations with dubstep pioneer Pinch. Both artists are in fine form on Rainford, with Perry delivering his inimitable brand of playful, free-associative verse and Sherwood twisting trippy rhythms around him... More dramatic and lushly orchestrated is the stepping dancehall blues of "Let It Rain," where Perry wishes to "wipe out Babylon and drown Satan" over stirring cellos and swirling, choppy beats...
Contemporary guitarist from the Deep South who gained rare fame for a bluesman despite his interests, which vary from acoustic to rock.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd -
Woman Like You from The Traveler
Kenny Wayne Shepherd arrived on the scene as a blues guitar hero at 18 to an overload of media hoopla and pressure. At 40, he has evolved from the blues-guitar-slinger ghetto and become a mature musician whose wide-angle vision embraces American roots music -- blues, rock, country, and soul/R&B -- as an inseparable whole.
While it's true that most of his albums have charted, his last two, Goin’ Home and Lay It on Down, have done better than all the others, placing well inside the Top 40. The Traveler is a direct aesthetic follow-up to Lay It on Down. Co-produced once more with Marshall Altman, it utilizes the same band (including uber-drummer Chris Layton and singer Noah Hunt). Recorded in Los Angeles over ten days, it offers eight new originals and two excellent covers.
Shepherd takes a classic rock approach to blues, gritty old-school Southern funk and R&B, country and Americana. Opener "Woman Like You" is introduced by screaming organ, guitars, and horns. Hunt's vocal digs into gritty Southern funk in the vamp while the horns, arranged straight from the Muscle Shoals fakebook, soar to announce the choruses...
Russian group combining elements of Krautrock, shoegaze, and techno, referring to their sound as "stargaze." The band formed in Perm in 2014, consisting of vocalist/bassist Sasha Piankov, drummer Pavel Fedoseev, and guitarist Dmitriy Konyushevich, all of whom play synthesizers.
Gnoomes -
Sword In the Stone from
MU!
Over two full-lengths and a scattering of EPs, Russian outfit Gnoomes have refined their self-described "stargaze" sound, which uses a platform of Krautrock, shoegaze, and techno as its launchpad for deeper explorations... With their third album, Mu!, Gnoomes have headed in the other direction and engaged more deeply with their organic impulses. The addition of a fourth band member, Masha Piankova, on keyboards, allowed singer/bassist Sasha Piankov to switch to guitar, pushing them toward a more guitar-driven approach that seemed to better reflect the intensity of their live shows. The resulting album still relies heavily on the pulsing Krautrock rhythms and spacy experimentation they've used in the past, but with a more spontaneous feel...
Potent but tuneful indie pop from songwriter and guitarist Ross Flournoy, formerly of the Broken West.
Apex Manor -
Asked & Answered
Apex Manor, aka vocalist and guitarist Ross Flournoy, is making his commanding return with a new single titled “Asked & Answered,” the opening track from his first new album in eight years, Heartbreak City, out May 31 from Merge.
Flournoy says of the forthcoming album, “Conceptually, the record really explores variations on the theme of rejection and the different ways people react to it, especially the isolation—either by choice or by circumstance—that can sometimes follow.”
Flournoy, joined by drummer Dan Allaire of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and bassist Rob Barbato, spent less than two weeks in the studio before completing the new album through live-in-studio recordings.
Raw, energetic Pittsburgh indie/post-punk quartet in the vein of Pavement, the Fall, and Wire, but with a garagey aftertaste.
The Gotobeds -
Calquer the Hound (with Evan Richards of The City Buses and Rob Henry of Kim Phuc)
from Debt Begins at 30
Having talented friends is very rarely a drawback, and while the Gotobeds don't need much help in order to make a good album, that doesn't mean it's not good to have some likeminded pals drop by. The Gotobeds' third album, 2019's Debt Begins at 30, has a broader and more diverse sound than their previous LPs, and at least in part, that has to do with the many guests who stopped by for these sessions... On their first two albums, the band sounded like an inspired amalgam of the Fall, Pavement, and early Sonic Youth filtered through the perspective of a smart but utterly unpretentious garage band, and here they've added a few more ambitious angles without spoiling the formula or losing sight of their strengths. Eli Kasan and Tom Payne are still a strapping guitar team, sharp and complementary whether there's a third player on deck or not, and bassist Gavin Jensen and drummer Cary Belback hit hard but generate a groove rather than just clamor...
Swedish band combining post-punk and dream pop into a sound they call "death pop."
Agent Blå -
Colors of the Dark from Morning Thoughts
On their debut album, Agent Blue, Agent Blå often pitted the two halves of their self-described "death-pop" -- a mix of doomy intensity borrowed from post-punk and the sweet melodies of indie pop and shoegaze -- against each other. Though the results were frequently thrilling, the band reap richer rewards by putting both sides in harmony on Morning Thoughts. It's an approach that hints at Agent Blå's increasing maturity: Most of the band's members were still barely in their twenties when they recorded these songs, but their growing control and finesse allow them to capture the way they teeter between young adulthood and being fully grown in richer and more fascinating ways...
Los Angeles-based band who retrofit Nuggets-style garage rock, British shoegaze, and Velvet Underground-inspired art-rock into a contemporary frame.
The Warlocks -
Tribute to Hawkwind from Mean Machine Music
The highly experimental new album from L.A.'s spellbinding psych rock masters, The Warlocks!
Inspired by everything from Stereolab to Krautrock to Death Rock, this album presents 5 new compositions and then revisits those songs for instrumental reprises that reveal deep layers of melody and atmosphere!
Engineered by Phillip Haut (Ariel Pink, Centimeters)!
Follows on the heels 2016's extremely well-received Songs From The Pale Eclipse as well as the band's first ever official live album Vevey released in 2017!
Cosmo Gold is an LA-based four piece pop-rock outfit formerly known as Velvet. The group began in 2017 as a solo project from singer Emily Gold, daughter of the late Andrew Gold, best known for his 1977 top 10 hit “Lonely Boy.”
Cosmo Gold -
Drown The Fly
With a name change for the act earlier this year and the addition of new bandmates, the foursome is now releasing their first EP under this new moniker... Quick-tempo high hats kick off the track, which give way to a funky bass line. “I am so scared to die/ Like when they first broke it down as a child,” goes the lead lyric. The addition of a spunky chord progression on a Telecaster lays the groundwork for synthesis of Motown percussion with pop-conscious rock n’ roll. Following a rather sick guitar solo, some dainty synth keys add an undeniable sweetness...
Arguably the most important punk band of the 1990s and 2000s, with feminist songwriting matched by taut melodicism and jaw-dropping sonic complexity.
Sleater-Kinney -
Hurry On Home
Sleater-Kinney are back! Earlier this year, the legendary trio announced that they would have a new album out this year and that it was being produced by St. Vincent, and they’ve followed through. Their new album is called The Center Won’t Hold, as we found out last week, and it’ll be out later this year via Mom + Pop Records... In a press release, Carrie Brownstein says: “We’re always mixing the personal and the political but on this record, despite obviously thinking so much about politics, we were really thinking about the person — ourselves or versions of ourselves or iterations of depression or loneliness — in the middle of the chaos.”
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| New Sleater-Kinney Album, Produced By St. Vincent |
Pip Blom, Sacred Paws, Frank Iero and the Future Violents, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Gnoomes, Apex Manor, The Gotobeds, Agent Blå, The Warlocks, Beak>, Cosmo Gold, Sleater-Kinney
