Alternative Album Chart: the best new indie and alternative albums this week
When lauded bands take extensive periods of time away from studio albums, fans await with bated breath the arrival of their next one, pondering how it might emerge in the very best and worst-case scenarios. Yet, after nearly five years since their masterful Deceiver materialised, DIIV have put all doubts to bed and released their most accomplished record, Frog in Boiling Water.
Their first release on Fantasy Records sees the group become more democratic in the writing process, with each member deliberately impressing themselves upon the creative process to construct a more distilled version of the DIIV’s essence than ever. Accordingly, breakbeats and heady electronic textures enter the fold, adding a different and compelling dimension to the quartet’s already-established sound. This fresh tact is augmented further by frontman Zachary Cole Smith’s profound, often wry discussions concerning the ongoing collapse of society under late-stage capitalism, which he expanded on in a new interview with Far Out. It’s a consequential opus perfect for our strange times.
Aside from the long-awaited re-emergence of one of our era’s most influential guitar bands, purveyors of haunting surf rock, La Luz, also return. With News of the Universe, their first on Sub Pop itself and not imprint Hardly Art, frontwoman Shana Cleveland explores her battle with breast cancer and the strange ways life can unfold, all the while offering a distinct ray of hope out of the darkness. The album represents a majestic triumph in the face of such a monumental and life-changing period for the vocalist.
Elsewhere, the brilliantly named Warrington Runcorn New Town Development Plan release Your Community Hub, which futuristically delves into the forgotten world of the post-war consensus and the utopian new towns that sprang up and quickly faded into post-industrial wastelands. Similarly, on Nothing or Something to Die For, Mui Zyu produces a wonky electronic album that’s simply unlike anything else out there. Following these highlights, there are new ones from Bess Atwell and Paul Weller, as well as a David Bowie reissue.
Find this week’s Alternative Album Chart below.
The best new indie and alternative albums this week:
Frog in Boiling Water – DIIV – 4.5
The DIIV behind Frog in Boiling Water is a different entity from the one that produced what many deem their masterpiece in 2019’s Deceiver. While the lineup and familiar aspects of their sound remain, such as the atmospheric guitars and frontman Zachary Cole Smith’s distinctive, hushed delivery, naturally, the members have changed in the span between albums. As a result, the band is more democratic than ever. The art is also more political, as evidenced by the title being based on Daniel Quinn’s philosophical 1996 novel, The Story of B.
Creativity proves that nothing of worth is produced without tribulation, and with DIIV’s fourth album, we get another compelling exhibit. It is a culmination of a band attempting to account for everyone’s individual contexts and tastes, fizzing with the friction this creates. With the band reconciling their existence while the world is on the brink, the end result is something of a paradox, which is fitting for a band that have often found themselves at a confluence of opposites.
Whether it be the familiar aspects of their sound evolving or new ones introduced, such as heady, warped tape samples and intoxicating breakbeats, in many ways, Frog in Boiling Water is the closest thing to DIIV we have ever heard. The internal friction remains, but it is necessary for art of such depth. The sparks from this constant push and pull are what they have bottled, and they are more illuminating than ever.
Frog in Boiling Water is exquisite, challenging, and constantly evolving, a fitting description of the band behind it. It’s the soundtrack of our times.
News of the Universe – La Luz – 4.5
On the fifth album from La Luz, songwriter Shana Cleveland contends with abrupt and brutal life changes through sunlit metaphors and soft psychedelia. She turns the world-shattering experience of a cancer diagnosis into poignant observations about the inevitability and universality of decay, approaching the impossible with poise.
Largely leaving their surf noir stylings behind, News of the Universe sees La Luz taking a new sonic direction, pushing tender, truthful vocals to the forefront of their sound. Remnants of their psychedelic influences forge a backdrop for Cleveland’s open lyrics and gentle delivery, blanketing and bolstering her statements in droning keys and intimate twangs.
It feels as if the entire meaning of life itself may well be contained in News of the Universe, in Cleveland’s declarations of love in the face of loss, in the comparisons she draws between humanity and nature, into each moment of realisation and acceptance. There are moments of bitterness, confusion and frustration with our strange world, but Cleveland always returns to calmness and to connection. News of the Universe is La Luz’s best work yet. [Words: Elle Palmer]
Nothing or Something to Die For – Mui Zyu – 4
To capture some of the best natural sound recordings, artists will travel deep into rainforests and jungles, knee-deep in rivers and lakes, holding up microphones to trees to capture tides, birdsong and the gentle breeze. The result sounds like you have fully immersed yourself in the world being recorded without having to leave the comfort of your living room. On her new album, nothing or something to die for, Mui Zyu weirdly manages to do the same thing.
No, this isn’t an album that Zyu has travelled to the corners of forests to create. It’s synth-heavy, laced with electronic music, minimalist in its conception but fulfilling in the way the tracks are delivered. The way that the noises present blend into one another and the lack of repetitive melody on synth hits that accompany tracks give it a natural sound as if someone has gone to capture field recordings in a future dystopian land that exists in a bubble underwater.
The sound is unlike anything available at the moment. To create something so evidently the result of a computer but still have it come across as natural is a triumph, and that’s before we get into the best part of the album: Zyu’s voice. The way that she can convey emotion subtly is tough to come by; the songs sound as though they come as naturally as breathing, as every syllable feels more like an extension of the artist than a separate piece of art. [Words: Dale Maplethorpe]
Your Community Hub – Warrington Runcorn New Town Development Plan – 4
Sometimes, the greatest artistic inspiration can come from the most unlikely of places. Austerity-battered Northern towns like Runcorn or Warrington have often not been deemed as noteworthy, but if you scratch beneath the surface, there is a wealth of cultural history and inspiration there for the taking. Somebody who has never taken these places for granted is Gordon Chapman-Fox, whose musical project Warrington Runcorn New Town Development Plan uses synthesizers and electronica to explore the history and impact of these ‘new towns’.
Your Community Hub, the latest effort from New Town Development Plan is part electronica-based concept album and part lesson in the cultural history of Northern England. It explores the sense of community that was supposed to be fostered by Britain’s ‘new towns’ – meant to improve living conditions and alleviate city overcrowding in the wake of the Second World War. The concept has been tackled in music before, most notably by punk icons The Slits, but never in as great detail as the new record by Warrington Runcorn New Town Development Plan. The album is awash with the kind of optimism and euphoria that emanate from the retro-futurism originally associated with these communities but also hints at something darker.
Concept albums are difficult to master, but Chapman-Fox has seemingly established a whole act spanning multiple albums. His latest effort is undoubtedly one of his most appealing, suiting itself equally to soundtracking quiet contemplation about the state of modern society, as well as a day spent working from home – which, in itself, is an interesting comment on life in the 21st century. Your Community Hub is an innately political record and a stunning indictment of the damage caused by successive right-wing governments and a widening North-South divide. [Words: Ben Forrest]
Light Sleeper – Bess Atwell – 3.5
Bess Atwell has one of those voices where she could be singing a shopping list over a gentle acoustic instrumental, and it would be lovely and listenable. For fans of light songs packed full of poetic lyrics and tender emotions, sung by an angelic and effortless vocal, she’s easily up there with the best of them. But with ten tracks, all coloured with the same soft colours, Atwell is relegated to ‘nice’ when she deserves to be ‘great’.
Because, really, everything about the build of Light Sleeper is great. The collaboration between Atwell and Aaron Dessner is a perfect combination. Dessner’s experience feels custom-made for an artist like her, combining the accessible and confessional sensibilities of Taylor Swift with the cinematic air of The National. With his production hand, the songs are polished till they sparkle, with instrumentals that swell just the right around but never crowd her voice, instead acting like a nest for the lyricism that leads the way.
Those lyrics are perfect, too, existing in the golden round between richly poetic and spontaneously intimate. “At least if no one else does, I know what I mean,” she sings on ‘The Weeping’, dedicating her words to codified personal symbols. But as she balances those small and specific things with plain-speaking declarations, Atwell manages to nail the language of pure emotion perfectly.
However, there’s a lingering feeling that Light Sleeper is somehow too polished. It’s somehow too perfect in that it doesn’t take enough risks. Dessner largely prefers to work in a fast-paced manner, encouraging artists to let go, do fewer takes, and embrace the emotion of performance. It might be expected that that process alone might birth a more dynamic record, but it feels like while they have absolutely nailed and captured the beauty and poetry of Atwell’s work, it hasn’t been pushed anywhere different. [Words: Lucy Harbron]
Sunday Morning Put-On – Andrew Bird – 3.5
Jazz is a fairly divisive genre within the music world; while it elicits deep appreciation – bordering on obsession – for some, others view it with confusion and indifference. To give jazz its due, though, it has perhaps the longest shelf-life of any popular music genre. Jazz has never really gone away, nor will it ever, and the latest endorsement of its timeless quality comes from the musical chameleon that is multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird.
Over the course of his 30-year career in music, Bird has moved sporadically between genres, refusing to ever stay stuck in one place. Backed up by Alan Hampton on bass and Ted Poor on drums, Sunday Morning Put-On sees the shark-like musician continue this endless quest to move forward, bringing his own unique take to a vast range of jazz standards.
Conveying these tracks into the modern era is no easy task, but the Illinois-born musician tackles it with his usual grace and seemingly effortless cool. The album is essentially a love letter from Bird to the jazz stars of the 1940s and 1950s. Sunday Morning Put-On celebrates the long and illustrated history of the genre without dwelling upon it or ever feeling particularly unoriginal or derivative. [Words: Ben Forrest]
66 – Paul Weller – 3
Paul Weller joined the fray in the late 1970s as the singer and bandleader of The Jam. Thanks to a raw, riotous sound full of energetic riffs and stage jumps, the band became engulfed by the concurrent punk wave, yet Weller was never comfortable with this label. The so-called Modfather’s education in rock music was primarily rooted in the British invasion era, with bands like The Zombies and Small Faces remaining long-lived favourites.
Over time, Weller became increasingly infatuated with soul artists like Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder. This, coupled with an appreciation for jazz, led to his brazen decision to abandon The Jam in 1982 and form The Style Council with Mick Talbot. Since then, Weller has led a career of unwavering commitment to his diverse taste in music.
When forming The Style Council, Weller stated in reference to Talbot, “he shares my hatred of the rock myth and the rock culture”. While he never abandoned rock altogether, traces of its influence have grown scarce as we embrace Weller’s 17th solo album, 66. The album panders to tastes in crooning jazz-pop, soul, psychedelic rock and even electro.
The title references Weller’s 66th birthday, which falls on Saturday, just a day after the album’s launch.
The lyricism exhibited in 66 doesn’t come up to the standards of some of Weller’s classic releases. Still, a characterful croon reaches a pleasing harmony in several highlight tracks, framed throughout by well-produced instrumentation. [Words: Jordan Potter]
Call a Doctor – Girl and Girl – 2.5
If you thought emo was a thing of the past, you’d be wrong. Blending jangly guitars with the kind of emo, self-pitying lyricism that was popular in the 2000s, Girl and Girl harness a sound that could be best described as ‘post-emo indie rock’. The Australian band—who signed to Subpop last year—have crafted a debut album, Call A Doctor, intent on bringing a sense of liveliness to melancholy, but it sometimes falls into woeful repetitiveness.
Songs like ‘Mother’, ‘You’ll Be Alright’ and ‘Comfortable Friends’, which appear near the end of the record, are much stronger than their predecessors, revelling much more sun-soaked, fun instrumentals, with James’ vocals (and lyrics) much more enjoyable. These tracks feel perfect for festival season, hopefully allowing the band to bring the Australian sunshine to every stage they play. ‘Mother’ specifically feels like an indie banger, standing out among the rest of the songs as an album highlight.
While the first half of Call A Doctor sounds like a poor imitation of bands like Car Seat Headrest and early Black Country, New Road, the band seems to find their feet further into the LP. Still, they remain comfortably in the realm of this indie rock-emo hybrid that is certainly an acquired taste. [Words: Aimee Ferrier]
Reissue – David Bowie – Diamond Dogs – 4
On May 24th, 1974, David Bowie released his eighth studio album, Diamond Dogs. The Starman had enjoyed a gradual breakthrough to worldwide acclaim following a shaky start in the late 1960s and a period of unbound prosperity in the early 1970s. In Diamond Dogs, Bowie began to emerge from his successful glam-rock phase, as signposted by his Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane personas.
Although less prominent than his previous characters, Bowie created the eye-patch-sporting Halloween Jack for his Diamond Dogs tours. Like Aladdin Sane, this character was kooky and unhinged but had much stronger affections for soul music. If 1975’s Young Americans soaked itself in soul, Diamond Dogs was the temperature-testing toe, bridging Bowie’s early 1970s sound towards a complete makeover.
This week, on its 50th anniversary, Diamond Dogs receives a special limited edition vinyl reissue. The unique Parlophone keepsake was cut with high-fidelity half-speed masters onto a picture disc vinyl depicting the Bowie-dog hybrid cover image on one side and a monochrome image from the same photoshoot on the other. The package also includes a copy of the original poster. You can view purchase options here.
