#alter records

[musicollage]

Helm — Saturnalia. 2020 : Alter.

! acquire the album ★ attach a coffee !

[falsestuff]

2019 FAVORITE ALBUMS

Kit Sebastian - Mantra Moderne (Mr Bongo)

music to save money if you buy this now and not 40 years later.

Unloved - Heartbreak (Heavenly)

music totally resonating with the band name and the album title 

Cereal Killer! ‎- Beginning And End Of Cereal Killer! (Drunken Sailor Records)

music when you’re a punk but you obviously binge on too much metal

Low Life ‎- Downer Edn (Goner Records, Alter, Cool Death)

music to never want to be young again

Orville Peck ‎– Pony (Sub Pop)

music to cuddle with a stranger in a run-down motel room full of fetish gear

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Sault - 5 (Forever Living Originals)

[ifeellikeaporsche]

Low Life, “Lust Forevermore” from Downer Edn (2019)

The highly anticipated follow-up to Low Life′s Dogging landed almost eight months ago, courtesy of Goner, Alter and Cool Death. Second records are notoriously difficult, and the somewhat quiet reception of Downer Edn speaks to the high bar set by their last outing. Every song on Dogging hit home, and hearing the vocal effect on “Gabbertron” the first spin through this new record flattened all expectations. Still warming up to that track, but the rest of Downer Edn soaks into your bones. The band takes the “Dream Machine” route more often than not this time, with vocals buried and chorus pedals turned up. But the songs are given some urgency, unlike other contemporaries - the track lengths are short, sure, but the vocals are often delivered quickly, and the punchy riffs on tracks like “Rave Slave” and “Crash” ground the whole affair. Low Life’s tighter this time around, naturally approaching the bleary atmosphere with churning efficiency, coming across like a grimmer Chair Missing-era Wire or, on “Warrior,” Wipers in a concrete bunker. The bits of lyrics I can pick up from “The Pitts,” “Glamour” and especially “92″ are dire, but not desperate; it’s clear they’ve seen some shit but it doesn’t cloud their worldview. I mean, they still made room to write a banger of a fight song for their football team on “RBB,” something a lesser band couldn’t pull off (though I’m sorta game for more bands to try). The best track here is “Lust Forevermore,” sporting a big incandescent riff and a whiff of vulnerability, and features a parade of mates (including @fearofgod) in the video, the whole thing a peephole into the band’s beating core that snaps shut once the song ends. Five years is a lifetime for a band anymore, but Low Life’s dug in and carved out an effective, biting record that stands tall next to Dogging; Downer Edn’s an LP fit for dreary modernity. A perfect companion for fall, or whenever the fog rolls in.

If you slept on this heater, Downer Edn is still available from Goner in the US, or via Bandcamp. The band has their own store set up for Aus/NZ, and Alter can service the rest of ya. 

[ifeellikeaporsche]

It’s been seven long years since Fabulous Diamonds quietly released Commercial Music, a dubbed-out journey to zones unknown that stands as one of the decade’s best albums. I figured the duo were done, but now Alter brings us Plain Songs, a new LP that puts the band’s previous discography in an acid bath and lets the sharp crags and valleys stand in stark relief. Initial listens to Plain Songs left me a little cold because any warmth has been just about wiped away, something hinted at on the dusky colors and sharp lines of the cover art. But the attention to detail on this record, combined with Nisa Venerosa’s powerful vocal performance, make this one of the richest records in recent memory. 

The label points to Nico’s solo work as a reference point; I’m reminded of Andy Stott’s work with Alison Skidmore, the longer tracks from Maria Monti’s Il Bestiario, and Cosey Fanni Tutti’s Time to Tell (”G.B.H.,” ”Desperate Living”). These are instantaneous reference points that are swallowed up as Plain Songs plays out; there’s just not a reference point for the opener “Wheel of Fortune,” a stop-start introduction led by alternatively lush and shrill organ drones that re-enters every time with a gasping breath, and ultimately ends up riding out on a bouncy yearning synth line that Clams Casino would love to use to relaunch his career. It’s a brilliant introduction that’s also a line in the sand, but the record settles in nicely after. “On Temptation” and closer “Desperate Living” are about as close as the band gets to Commercial Music’s unhurried grooves, but beats stutter and stall, tracks are adorned in rusty breathing sounds and watery minor key tones, and they often cut out without resolution rather than fade seamlessly into the sunset. Jarrod Zlatic’s trumpet on “Flowers and Fade” and “On Temptation” is a strong addition: on the former, the smeared echo of the brassy notes shine a light on the unadorned open spaces and make the darker areas behind you more foreboding; on the latter, it’s a funereal presence in contrast to the warm plucked keyboards. It’s hard to think of a record that’s worked with a palate so lush and simultaneously as cool as shaded concrete, but that’s not to say that Plain Songs is uninviting or esoteric. The stronger presence of Nisa Venerosa’s voice, on “Wheel of Fortune” and especially “A Short Confession,” pulls the record from the detached or purely synthetic into more human concerns. Combined with the patient architecture of the album and the myriad details within each track, Plain Songs stands alone, a powerful record that creates its own foreign atmosphere, one that you really oughta learn to breathe in. An absolute stunner.

Plain Songs can be streamed/purchased direct from Alter on Bandcamp, or purchased from Forced Exposure for those in the US. The LP is limited to 250 copies. Pairs well with Brannten Schnüre (their LP on Aguirre was just repressed), the Crazy Doberman LP on Mastermind and Jon Mueller’s latest solo record. Hit all those pleasure centers.

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Audio: Sydney's Low Life Releases a Brooding and Uneasy New Single

New Audio: Sydney's Low Life Releases a Brooding and Uneasy New Single @gonerrecords @grandstandhq

https://soundcloud.com/gonerrecords/hammer-the-fist Sydney-based outfit act Low Life — initially founding trio Mitch Tolman, Cristian O’Sullivan and Greg Alfaro — exploded into the national and international punk scene with the release of their full-length debut, 2014’s Dogging. The Aussie punk outfit’s sophomore album 2019’s Downer Edn (read as Downer Edition) was written and recorded over a…

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[bandcampotheque]

Listen/purchase: SCRAMBLERS by CONTAINER

[thesunlounge]

Reviews 127: Cremation Lily

Zen Zsigo uses his Cremation Lily project to craft mesmerizing sound sculptures of meditative noise and nostalgic ambiance, leaning more and more towards the latter as time progresses. His newest and second vinyl LP under this name is the wistful and heartache soaked In England Now, Underwater released by A L T E R. The sounds here recall Constellation Records and especially Godspeed You! Black Emperor, though not their bombastic moments of post-rock triumph. Rather, Cremation Lily floats in a zone similar to GY!BE’s droned out intros and outros, with soaring strings and emotional electronics washed over by enigmatic sound samples and destructive cascades of noise and feedback. In that way, there is also a similarity to the recent Bathhouse 2xLP by Steven Legget. But amidst the layered squalls of atmospheric beauty and organic sampling, Zen also chooses to hit the body by offering some surprising moments of esoteric dancefloor magic.

Cremation Lily - In England Now, Underwater (A L T E R, 2018) The title track comes to life with wind blowing over crashing waves, while hazy pianos and synth drones fade in. Bleary streaks of reverb and feedback coalesce with birdsong up in the sky, while down at sea level barely there ivory melodies and affecting bass movements swirl slowly. At times the serenity is disturbed by rattling static and as the melodic elements fade away, a hiss-obscured spoken word passage remains. “Washed Through Glass” follows, with samples of crackling spectral fire and whooshing white noise. Disturbing feminine vocal smears hypnotize the mind and then we smash cut into a buried four-four pulse accented by dark bass flows, factory drones, and chiming loops. It’s a soundtrack for some futuristic western set underwater, with self-oscillating feedback bubbles growing in size and brass hued synth leads intertwining with acidic sequencing. Towards the end, a sumptuous bass hook diffuses into the mix, bringing an enveloping warmth that underlies synthetic foghorns calling out over the strange atmospheres of an alien sea. And in “Radiance and Instability”, gongs and Tibetan prayer bowls are electronically transformed into mystical crystals that shimmer and shine. Elsewhere, strings are smothered in static and ran backwards as they join together with percolating beads of piano glass, while heart-melting cellos add a barely there drift to the repetitive dreamscape. 

“Leniency” serves as a transitional palette cleanser, with the sounds of crystal shattered under foot accompanied by layered piano loops covered in decaying dust. Then comes the rhythmic sound expanse of “Rusted Red,” as a vibed out kick drum pulses beneath disjointed tapestries of effected guitar luster, streaking feedback, and arcing drones. A clicking beat is added to the bass drum patterns and hissing static layers pan ear to ear like some cosmic breath, while soft melodies played on wavering dreamland vibraphones fade together with haunted voices. The vibe is like Acronym or even Gas, with head nodding rhythms being surrounded by mutating guitar layers and galactic drones. “Outlined Expanse” is next and has Zen washing synthetic mbiras in layers of naturalistic sampling…the effect both calming and disturbing. Gong tones echo alongside chimes and bells that cascade through off-kilter delay fx, while electronic idiophones morph into dreamtime acid lines and burst through the subaqueous bowed bass drones. The result is a dance of sound loops that neither line up in time nor fit together sonically, but Zen is able to keep control of the madness and ends up creating a psychedelic paradise along the way. And the human source of the spoken word section in “In England Now, Underwater” returns for “The City & Sea” to deliver an obscured poem shrouded in overwhelming walls of ominous wind noise and bright static…the effect like being submersed in a towering miasma of radio interference and trying to discern a familiar voice amidst panoramic swirls of white and grey.

The music of “As a Sea Creature Might Watch from an Aquarium” is every bit as captivating as the title, featuring guitar and/or string drones fighting through thick sheets of destructive interference…like beautiful clouds of sound crushed into mutant feedback fractals A beat can be heard from miles away…its energetic propulsion barely discernible through the layers of sonic detritus brought into and out of the mix. The shards of guitar/string feedback grow ever more granular as the song progresses and cymbals are covered in electronic smoke before returning the light, while high up in the grey sky one can see interlocking dream melodies swimming through the electrified air. For “Feminine, Listening” Zen is joined by Theodore Cale Schafer on violin…his gorgeous melodies pulling at every fiber of the soul. Piercing satellite transmissions float in the starry ether and the smeared out orchestrations and gaseous bass drones recall early Stars of the Lid. But then, Zen starts to smother the mix in noises sourced from the natural world that are treated into feverish currents of anxious atmosphere, while metallic plods soaked in reverb join extra-terrestrial angel choirs for a section of futuristic new age from some faraway star system. The album closes with “Immaculacy,” which sees the pianos return, sputtering like a flame and being stretched into layered wisps of feedback drifting alongside kaleidoscopic noise textures, crackling samples, and amorphous drones.

(images from my personal copy)

[naivemelodie-blog]

Cremation Lily - Washed Through Glass (ALTER, 2018)