Alternative Nation: The Fediverse's Alternative and Indie Music Community

Just posted today, recorded last year.

Last fall at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur our show was rained out. The sky cleared just as dusk fell & someone said: let’s go into the forest. So in a grove of redwoods we played a few songs for the hermit thrushes and spotted owls. Thank you Mark Satterthwaite & crew for filming it.

I loved them before and I love them now.

It's a Saturday night/early Sunday morning in 1994. You've just returned home from a gig, stopping off for some junk food, to soak up the booze, on your way. You flick on the TV, adjust the antenna because the signal isn't that great sometimes, and switch on an overnight music video show.

As the cathode ray tube warms up, this music video comes on and you think, "They sound like a cross between Curve, Lush, Cocteau Twins and The Telescopes. I wonder if they are on 4AD or Creation?".

The room starts spinning. You eventually regain consciousness, flat on your back, on the cold floor. You realise it's not 3am on Sunday in 1994. It's actually 2024 and Austin, Texas band, Blushing, have released an album called Sugarcoat, that this is the title track of.

Slapping yourself, you get back to distracting yourself from real work, looking for more indie bands you haven't heard yet, on the internet.

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The first in a series of bands with terrible names (with decent tunes, in this case). Do you have any other examples?

Apparently this Japanese band chose their name by combining random words that the founding members liked. Despite the absolutely terrible name, they have some good sounding songs.

They are going on tour in N. America in Sept.

• Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/de/artist/8230550-Rote-Augen
• Bandcamp: https://roteaugenmusik.bandcamp.com/

As Guided by Voices’ resident mad scientist, Robert Pollard churns out songs at a rate that makes the speed of light seem slothful. From homegrown four-track fuzzfests to comparatively high-tech stints with famous producers, GBV’s dozens-strong discography defies easy listening. With Pollard as the only constant, the Dayton band toiled in ‘80s indie rock’s sub-basement obscurity before emerging as the surrealist kings of lo-fi land in the mid ‘90s.

Today, they’re a scrappy but stalwart alt-rock institution. At each album’s core are Pollard’s delirious dream-logic lyrics and miniaturist mania, with songs sometimes ending after a single verse. “I’ve tried to write epics, but I’ve got a short attention span from working with kids for 14 years,” the former schoolteacher told SPIN.

It's Propeller, right? The best GBV album? Yeah, OK.

The band has a new album due out in Sept.

https://lunarvacationatl.bandcamp.com/album/everything-matters-everythings-fire

I dig 'em.

Nice and mellow.

Songwhip: Alien Ant Farm - These Days

• MusicBrainz: https://musicbrainz.org/artist/41225e9f-3b4c-4287-a778-165c65f04be9
• Official homepage: https://davidjhaskins.com/

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Sydney's (terribly named, IMO) Phantastic Ferniture released one self-titled album. This was the featured track that got a bit of play around the place, at least where I live.

Julia Jacklin (vox/guitar), Elizabeth Hughes (guitar), Tom Stephens (bass), and drummer Ryan K. Brennan's song is a chill yet jaunty, mellow yet catchy slice of tuneful guitar music that just might be suitable for your next playlist.

Andersen's Mising Bell is a melancholic alternative rock band based in Quebec city. Inspired by bands like Manchester Orchestra, The Hotelier, Death Cab For Cutie and Radiohead, the band defines itself by its explosiveness and vulnerability.

Bandcamp

I won’t ever get a house
I won’t ever feel secure
I won’t ever be something more

So just give up already
You’ve got better things to do
Then listen to a lost cause

‘Cause everyone can be replace
And nobody’s special
Sometimes I would just rather

Get hit by a car
I’d feel so much better
Sometimes I would just rather
Get hit by a car
I’d feel so much better
Well, sometimes I would just rather

No I’m not worth your time
(Not worth my time)
And I hope that you leave
As soon as you can
(As you can)

And I won’t even try
(Won’t even try)
To keep you in my life
‘Cause I’m hurting you
Yeah I’m hurting you so bad
(You’re hurting me so bad)

‘Cause I never talk
(Never talk)
And I never smile
I can’t cope with my mind
(With my mind)

So I’ll go back
(Go the fuck away)
To where I belong
All alone in my queen sized bed
(Queen sized bed)

I’m not worth your time
(Not worth my time)
And I hope that you leave
As soon as you can
(As you can)

And I won’t even try
(Won’t even try)
To keep you in my life
‘Cause I’m hurting you
Yeah I’m hurting you so bad
(You’re hurting me so bad)

‘Cause I never talk
(Never talk)
And I never smile
I can’t cope with my mind
(With my mind)

So I’ll go back
(Oh please go the fuck away)
To where I belong
All alone in my queen sized bed
(Queen sized bed)

Sometimes I’d just rather
Sometimes I’d just rather

Get hit by a car
I’d feel so much better
Sometimes I would just rather
Get hit by a car
I’d feel so much better
Well, sometimes I would just rather

Get hit by a car
Get his by a car
And fly (and die)
And fly (and die)

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I was delighted to find this clip from an appearance on Conan O’Brien in 2006. I was lucky enough to be in New York at the right time to go to one of the shows that Conan mentioned in the intro. It was a really good show!

Conan mentioned that this song was from the album Rabbit Fur Coat that’s they were on tour for, however, it was actually on the follow up, Acid Tongue (2008). Both are good albums.

When checking this, I discovered that Paz Lenchantin played on See Fernando and several other tracks on Acid Tongue. Paz was later recruited to play bass in The Pixies.

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I’m not a big fan of Muse but I am of this song!

Do the sounds of early Primal Scream, The Pastels, Sarah Records and all things jangle pop, appeal to you? Then take a listen to this.

This band from a town west of Glasgow is the reincarnation of the spirit of C86. Fronted by two sisters, they appear to be young aficionados of jangle pop, setting out to create it anew. Appropriately, the physical release of this single is on a cassette tape.

Youtube link

A remastered video for a song that was indeed, quite widespread, in its day.

Yard Act performing a song off of one of my favorite albums this year on Later... With Jools Holland

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Mega Fäuna members are also involved with some of Sydney’s most compelling contemporary guitar bands. Guitarist Lily Keenan and bass player Lucy Warriner are both members of Sweetie. Drummer Tess Wilkin plays in The Buoys. Keyboardist Ellen Fitzgibbon is part of the Skeleten live band and Wilkin. Vocalist Freyja Fox previously performed in Rochelle Rochelles. I like their jangle.

Not to be confused with Megafauna from Austin, TX.

This is a 2021 live version of a song that got a release in 2023 on a this EP.