ALTER.NATION #34
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Drahla, Vampire Weekend, Versing, Filthy Friends, Patience, Kedr Livanskiy, Crazy P, Bobby Oroza, Tank and the Bangas, Lila Downs, Combo Chimbita, Drahla
weekly favtraX
05-05-2019
05-05-2019
Drahla - Gilded Clouds from Useless Coordinates
“Go inwards and be bold.” This was Harmony Korine’s advice to aspiring creatives, during a Q&A at the British Film Institute back in early 2016. For the recently-formed Drahla, his words served as something of a directive, encouraging the trio to trust their own instincts, however far removed they might be from those of their peers. Three years on, the Leeds-formed band have defined their own vital subset of art-rock with Useless Coordinates, a debut album that’s as fearless as it is enthralling... As per their earliest releases, No Wave and post-punk remain integral to Drahla’s musical universe, evident in Brown’s brilliantly deadpan drawl, in the Gang Of Four-esque guitars on Gilded Cloud... On Gilded Cloud elegant snapshots from the golden age of Hollywood are juxtaposed with abrasive guitar textures... The result is an uncompromising but deeply rewarding debut where the internal and external, cerebral and visceral coalesce to quite startling effect.
Vampire Weekend - Sympathy from Father of the Bride
During the six years between Modern Vampires of the City and Father of the Bride, things that seemed essential to Vampire Weekend changed drastically. Founding member Rostam Batmanglij left to pursue his solo career, while Ezra Koenig left the East Coast to settle in Los Angeles. These shifts in lineup and location are just a few of the changes Vampire Weekend take in stride on their fourth album. After reaching peak musical and lyrical density on Modern Vampires of the City, they're reborn with a West Coast perspective and pace on Father of the Bride, giving all 18 of its songs more room for their novelistic detail and surprising juxtapositions...
Emerging from the Pacific Northwest college radio system, Seattle-based combo Versing present an organic collision of post-punk, jagged indie rock, and shoegaze, glazed with a matte finish and a '90s underground aesthetic. That frontman Daniel Salas once served as the alternative music director of Tacoma's KUPS-FM -- where he bonded with bandmates Graham Baker (guitar), Kirby Lochner (bass), and Max Keyes (drums) -- almost seems like a prerequisite for the type of coolly detached, politically driven alt-rock that Versing champions...
Filthy Friends - Emerald Valley from Emerald Valley
It shouldn't surprise anyone that a band with Corin Tucker on lead vocals would have a strong political bent, and that was certainly the case with 2017's Invitation, the first album from Filthy Friends, her supergroup side project with Peter Buck from R.E.M., Kurt Bloch from the Fastbacks, and Scott McCaughey from the Young Fresh Fellows and the Minus 5. But for their second album, 2019's Emerald Valley, Tucker has upped the ante, with nearly every song delivering some salvo in support of the environment, in defiance of social and economic inequality, and against the persecution of the powerless...
Patience - Voices in the Sand from Dizzy Spells
After the demise of indie pop royalty Veronica Falls, the band's Roxanne Clifford jumped continents and landed in Los Angeles. Once there, she started writing songs with guitars like she had in the past, but soon gravitated towards using keyboards and delving deeply into the colder sounds of synth pop. When it came time to start recording, she chose the name Patience and headed back to Scotland to work with Lewis Cook of Happy Meals. The sound of Patience was both familiar and strikingly new on the three singles that were released in 2015 and 2016. Clifford's hauntingly pure vocals remained, her brilliant use of backing vocals was in effect -- though she sang them all herself this time-- and the songcraft was still the perfect mix of restraint and drama...
Kedr Livanskiy - Why Love ( з а ч е м л ю б о в ь) from Your Need ( т в о я б е д а)
Russian electronic artist Kedr Livanskiy's early releases contained wintry lo-fi house and jungle tracks with supremely haunting vocal melodies which still resonate several years later. As fantastic as those records were (particularly 2016's January Sun EP), her second full-length, Your Need, outdoes them and feels like nothing less than a creative rebirth. The fog has mostly cleared, and these songs sound much brighter and sunnier. They're also shorter, poppier, and more energetic...
Crazy P - Is This All It Seems from Age of the Ego
British electronic band Crazy P have been continually refining their blend of disco, soul, house, and pop since the second half of the '90s, delivering remarkably solid albums and bringing enough live heat to land supporting slots for Chaka Khan and Chic. Age of the Ego, the group's eighth studio album, sounds perfectly in line with their other albums, but this one is unmistakably charged with a greater sense of urgency than anything else they've done. The album's title and cover art, which depicts monkeys taking a selfie, immediately express pointed commentary on the public's social media obsession, and the lyrics go further than that...
Bobby Oroza - This Love from This Love
Singer Bobby Oroza fills his debut album, 2019's evocative This Love, with vintage-sounding pop and R&B that sounds like it was recorded at Motown's "Studio A" in 1963. However, rather than bringing to mind the work of a mainstream artist like Marvin Gaye or the Temptations, This Love is more akin to a lost cult classic. A Helsinki native of Finnish and Bolivian descent, Oroza purportedly grew up listening to his grandfather play Latin and Cuban folk songs, and later became enamored of classic R&B, jazz, Nuyorican soul, and vintage pop albums. As a teenager, he also spent time in Cuba studying percussion and singing... This Love was recorded at Finland's Timmion studio with Oroza's own Funk Brothers -- drummer Jukka Sarapää and bassist Sami Kantelinen (aka Cold Diamond & Mink) -- as well as guitarist Seppo Salmi. All three musicians previously worked with the similarly retro-inspired singer Nicole Willis and bring a raw, analog sound to the album...
Tank and the Bangas feat. Robert Glasper - Lazy Daze from Green Balloon
Not to be mistaken for a club-oriented project from Grammy-nominated R&B stalwart Durrell "Tank" Babbs, Tank and the Bangas are a wholly collaborative band fronted by the like-nicknamed Tarriona Ball, a poet, singer, and rapper of many, many voices... Two live EPs and a much larger studio recording budget later, the band truly arrive with Green Balloon. For Tank and the Bangas, the title symbolizes wealth, weed, inexperience, and celebration all at once. Ball indulges in some joyously materialistic wordplay but elsewhere alludes to money as a necessity for survival. She sings often of getting high while also feeling guilt about it. As she tries to keep it together, she feels overstimulated, loses track of time and belongings, and achieves blissful escape until a sense of inertia takes over...
Lila Downs - Clandestino ((Manu Chao cover) from Al Chile
...Comprised of originals and covers, the album's second single, "Clandestino," was penned and recorded by Manu Chao during the '90s; it's a fine example of the musical flavors at work here. Downs' reading is a protest of current U.S. immigration policies, delivered from a feminine perspective -- a mother's. She keeps the original lyrics that depict people living like outlaws because they lack documentation, then ad-libs with real pain: "If we’re not going to take care of our children, who will?" Downs takes the reggae backdrop of Chao's original and transforms it into an electro cumbia as Lara adds dubwise elements to bridge the gap...
Combo Chimbita - El Camino from Ahomale
While creating music firmly rooted in Columbian traditions, Brooklyn-based outfit Combo Chimbita often sound like they're broadcasting live from another planet entirely. Ahomale is the band's second full-length album and expands on their cosmic approach to Afro-Latin styles, incorporating a wealth of celestial synth sounds into performances that are both fiery and controlled. The first of many striking things about Combo Chimbita's sound is the power of singer Carolina Oliveros' voice... The precision playing and flawless design of Ahomale take the listener on a mind-bending trip through unexplored worlds, where both danger and discovery lurk.
Drahla - React/Revolt from Useless Coordinates
...As per their earliest releases, No Wave and post-punk remain integral to Drahla’s musical universe, evident in Brown’s brilliantly deadpan drawl, in the Gang Of Four-esque guitars on Gilded Cloud, and in Duffin’s skronking saxophone on React/Revolt, which draws parallels with the work of James Chance and the Contortions... The set’s sharp angles, stark tones and claustrophobic textures are reflected in the album’s artwork. Designed by Brown and Riggs - as per all previous record sleeves and promotional videos - the minimalist, mixed media creation takes inspiration from Talking Heads and Gang Of Four album art, the work of American artist Cy Twombly, and the economical, regimented aesthetic of the Bauhaus movement. “Drahla came about off the back of needing an outlet for creative expression,” Brown explains. “So the whole aesthetic is hugely important. As important as the music.”... All tracks written and performed by Luciel Brown, Rob Riggs and Mike Ainsley. Saxophone written and performed by Christopher Duffin.
Drahla, Vampire Weekend, Versing, Filthy Friends, Patience, Kedr Livanskiy, Crazy P, Bobby Oroza, Tank and the Bangas, Lila Downs, Combo Chimbita, Drahla
