10-28-2021 alter:MiX # 33 alter tracks in PRSNT_PRFCT_MiX [2019-2021] # Sharon Van Etten, Field Music, Oceanator, Sue Foley, Routine, Juliana Hatfield, G. Love & Special Sauce, Pearl Charles, Still Corners, Little Barrie, Malcolm Catto, Circles Around the Sun
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A singer of distinct, controlled passion, Sharon Van Etten carved out a loyal audience with her hushed, intense albums... A dedicated choir student during her childhood, Van Etten studied clarinet, violin, and piano before moving on to guitar. She began writing songs in high school and sang in a choir group, the Madrigals. She credits her choral experiences as indispensable in learning to musically notate, as well as to sing harmonies.
No One's Easy to Love 4:38
Memorial Day 4:27
Malibu 3:23
from Remind Me Tomorrow 2019
For a decade, Sharon Van Etten specialized in understatement. From her 2009 debut Because I Was in Love through 2014's Are We There, she mined the tension generated by murmuring instrumentation clashing with her passionate delivery, a balance that proved quietly compelling. Van Etten maintains that sense of drama on Remind Me Tomorrow, her fifth full-length album, but she's radically shifted her presentation. Working with producer John Congleton, she's expanded her sonic palette, incorporating vintage synthesizers and drum loops while occasionally cranking up her amplifiers. Some of the sounds are conscious throwbacks, but they don't play like retro nostalgia, not in the context of Remind Me Tomorrow, which juxtaposes fearless aural adventure with keenly observed observations of easing into a satisfied life. ..
Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Michael Nau crafts reflective indie rock tinged with folk, psychedelic, and vintage pop influences. He's known for leading the like-minded projects Page France and Cotton Jones from the mid-2000s to the early 2010s before beginning to record under his own name in 2016.
Look Into Dance 5:22
Hoops 4:27
Grow My Wave 3:38
from Less Ready to Go 2019
Still a collaborative effort, and even more bustling than 2018's Michael Nau & the Mighty Thread in terms of arrangements, Less Ready to Go is Michael Nau's fourth album under his own name. Recorded at a studio in Joshua Tree, it was produced by Dr. Dog's Scott McMicken. As for its particularly colorful sound, Nau has explained that each song was recorded live with guests, who would then "switch instruments and do a live overdub on top." Alongside extra touches and sound effects, the results are often wonky and woozy on an album whose otherworldly quality extends to reaching back to the '60 and '70s for R&B, pop, and psychedelic influences. Rather than ever playing like a tribute, these elements seep into Nau's dreamy songs...
Hailing from Sunderland, England, indie/art rockers Field Music emerged in the middle part of the 2000s with a distinctive blend of smartly crafted pop hooks and an ambitious nature that pulled from a variety of rock subgenres. Helmed by brothers Peter and David Brewis, the group earned critical acclaim and a devout fan base...
Field Music
Coffee or Wine 3:03
A Shot To The Arm 2:32
Only In a Man's World 2:46
from Making a New World 2020
...Their distinctive brand of indie pop has been constantly refined over the years as they smartly thread between bits of clever guitar rock, synth pop, soul, disco, and chamber pop, this time adding in some light prog-rock sophistication and the sort of aerodynamic new wave that harkens back to Thomas Dolby's early work. Like each of their previous releases, Making a New World is an ambitious, original, and exquisitely crafted work, full of rich details and compelling songs that translate the past into modern new shapes.
The stage moniker of Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Elise Okusami, Oceanator emerged in 2016 with a sound that combines heavy grunge, fuzzed-out indie rock, and deeply personal lyrics with synth pop-laced, incisive pop hooks.
Goodbye, Goodnight 4:03
Hide Away 6:11
Walk with You 4:20
from Things I Never Said 2021
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...
