What People Are Saying
Shindig Magazine Issue 137 - Review by Lenny Helsing
ALTERMODERNS
Side Effects Of Reality - Album Review
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THIS COULD PROVE FATAL
Brazilian via Bristol art-punk garage-psych duo AlterModerns make good on their promise and deliver a stripped-back punch-filled debut album of politically personal declarations.
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AlterModerns hit our radar full-on nearly a year back when our very own Ged Babey tipped them for cult success. They have quickly become one of his favourite acts of recent years through their intense live shows. “Inventive psych meets art-punk sound,” said Ged back when he turned me on to them and their debut album, Side Effects Of Reality, doubles down on it, pulling together their various singles from the last year or so with more new tunes to immerse yourself in. They deal in stripped-to-the-bone, bare and crunching blues-driven garage psych full of personal and political proclamations that make the album a riot from start to finish.
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They kick off proceedings with last year’s single, She’s Not Yours, described on its release as a feminist empowerment anthem that highlights the duo’s garage art-punk and inventive psych mix. It’s a hard-hitting opener that sets out their stall perfectly as they crash through the first side, the couple playing between each other vocally. When they hit Showcase, they bring in an almost flamenco-lament rhythm as they dissect the impact of a capitalist system that urges us to shop, consume and adorn ourselves aesthetically while we break inside. It’s clear that, although their medium may be stripped down, their message is one to be shouted from rooftops.
On the single Overdose Of You, they manage to pull in a sinewy new-wave groove, like a parred-back Punishment Of Luxury, all pounding beats and wiry guitar lines that run beneath a cautionary tale of losing one’s sense of self by absorbing the personality of another. They fly out of it and straight into the raucous Wednesday, really showcasing their proto-punk side on a song that berates the working class week, driving into dust that modern syndrome of being over-worked and under-valued. However, AlterModerns’ focus is not one of self-centred preoccupation, but one of community, something that they bring to the fore on the twisting The Others. It’s seemingly a missive at the recent past of their home country of Brazil and completes a trio of tunes that takes them from the personal to the political step by step.
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Nearing the close, Mind Your Head takes a more desert-psych turn before they sign off with Unmaterial World, a title that hammers home their manifesto. It grooves slowly, snaking and winding through hypnotic shifts.
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On Side Effects Of Reality, Glauco Caruso and Ananda Kuhn give us rich fruits of their labour. They are a band that live their music, producing songs that reflect clearly their outlook. As a couple, they are slowly but surely becoming an art-punk force to be reckoned with. With more projects on the go, including opening their own art space, as we said back at the beginning of the year, Altermoderns are definitely ones to watch.
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As they sing on Walk Alone, we don’t need borders, religion or prejudice, just to be free.
Words by Nathan Whittle. November 11, 2022
https://louderthanwar.com/altermoderns-side-effects-of-reality-album-review/
What's HOT on the Shindig Turntable:Shindig Magazine Issue 128
Reviews45s:Shindig Magazine Issue 111
ALTERMODERNS
Day Off / She’s Not Yours
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THIS COULD PROVE FATAL
The way this starts almost lulls the listener into a false sense of security, as the song’s ongoing direction is completely open to speculation before it explodes into ‘the garage bizarre’. A fierce burst of rock ‘n’ roll-infused rhythm merges with the inescapable thump of sticks on skin and all crying out for merciful release.
‘Day Off’ conveys the drudgery and frustration of serving the (rich) man through the endless daily toll perfectly, enduring works’s mundanity in the hope a break will come soon. The barrage of minimal guitar churn and unrelenting basic kit assault is a great fit with the deliciously cheesed-off vocal. AlterModerns – previously in business as Moldy Couple – offer a fresh, two-pronged attack, the super-enthused Brazilian punk thinkers Glauco Caruso (guitar/voice) and Ananda Kuhn (drums) transplanted to the hub-bub mecca of Bristol: mission – the creation of meaningful psychedelic punk noise. ‘Day Off’ and the excellent ‘She’s Not Yours’ are surely just the beginning of them spitting out a succession of quality home made recordings.
Lenny Helsing
Shindig Magazine
Reviews45s:Shindig Magazine Issue 123
ALTERMODERNS
She’s Not Yours – video/song review
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Very cool garage-punk duo on ultra-cool new label called This Could Prove Fatal. Art’n’politics and simple rock’n’roll is all your brain and body need, says Ged Babey.
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She’s an anarchist / She’s a dynamite / She’s not yours!
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Originally from the south-western tip of Brazil, AlterModerns are Glauco Caruso and Ananda Kuhn. They decided to create their own brand of psychedelic garage punk and they crossed continents, relocating to Brescia, Italy. They tore-up the stages of Northern Italy before moving again to Swansea, South Wales… (Bandcamp biog)
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I had not ever heard the ‘art term’ Altermodern before. (Y’know, like a step on from Postmodern..)
Coined by Nicolas Bourriaud in 2009. This is what the Tate website has to say about it, much of which could literally be applied to the band (or duo) who have chosen the name:
Altermodern artists position themselves within the world’s cultural gaps. Cultural translation, mental nomadism and format crossing are the main principles of altermodern art. Viewing time as a multiplicity rather than as a linear progress, the altermodern artist navigates history as well as all the planetary time zones producing links between signs faraway from each other. Altermodern is ‘docufictional’ in that it explores the past and the present to create original paths where boundaries between fiction and documentary are blurred.
Some might say that this is pretentious horse shit. I think it sounds kinda cool… even though I don’t really understand it.
AlterModerns, the band, are as cool as fuck. Ananda is a handsome woman and Glauco a beautiful man. They both have sharp chiselled features and penetrating eyes. At the time of the video below, he had hair a bit like Iggy Pop on the cover of Lust For Life and she looks like a 1920’s Silent Movie heroine. They are beautiful people. Always an advantage if you form a rock’n’roll band.
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The video for She’s Not Yours is quite literally a work of art. It’s funny. It’s cool. And it’s a great song. A feminist empowerment anthem – but performed by hetero-norm-couple. Watch Glauco’s face when ‘She doesn’t need a man..’ is sung at him.
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I have to admit that the way their accents and enunciation affect the vocal is what makes it uber-cool. It brings to mind Nico, Kleenex and the Mo-dettes: artists with vocalists who sang in English, when it wasn’t their mother tongue.
Not to mention the divine Isabel Monteiro from Drugstore (a fellow Brazilian). It gives the vocal an exoticism and a detachment… which maybe fits with the whole definition of Altermodern-ism.
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By Ged Babey
for Louder Than War February 12, 2021
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https://louderthanwar.com/altermoderns-shes-not-yours-video-song-review/
AlterModerns Don’t Need No Drum Stool by Graham Petrie (picture)
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AlterModerns: South Parade Pier, Southsea 31/7/2022
Live review (edit)
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Playing as part of the Pompey Punk and Roll Summer Party Part 2 with six other acts, Ged Babey only had time to see his current favourite band (due to projectile vomiting beyond his control…) How would the Brazil-via-Bristol art-punk-psych duo cope with daylight and sea air?
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AlterModerns have a charisma and indefinable essence that very few bands have… they are a two-person army who disarm you with their unique rock’n’roll… and indefatigable personality. They are a serious ‘art & politics’ band but have such a joy and energy about them.
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When not onstage the duo, Ananda and Glauco, danced to every other band playing… ended the day swimming in the sea and charmed everyone they met along the way.
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Gradually, one gig at a time, by word of mouth and one online radio and video play at a time they are winning over more and more people with their intense performances, concise docu-fictional songs and offstage charm. They will be the cult band everyone wants to see before too long…
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Ananda the drummer and vocalist seems to exist at twice-the-speed as everyone else on the planet. Her voice and accent sounds ‘Germanic’ despite (Brazilian) Portuguese being her first language and Brazil her country of birth. As an indie rock singer she gets the inevitable ‘Nico’ and Kleenex comparisons. Big Hollywood sunglasses and a strapless dress means she exudes movie star glamour but her proclamations of ‘Fuck Brexit. No Borders For Art’ between songs show she’s more of an Ulrike Meinhof on Mo Tucker-style drums and a force to be reckoned with despite her slight female frame.
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Glauco, her partner in crime, love and music on guitar is a charming, stylish man. Open, laidback and friendly offstage, he can appear fierce and volatile onstage where he lets go of his pent-up frustrations, whilst periodically glancing over to Ananda for cues and to ensure their musical juggernaut is on track. He is an incredible guitarist as he attempts to play lead, rhythm and bass-lines all-at-the-same-time but within a self-imposed minimalist format.
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After not seeing them for almost a year they have got noticeably tighter and sharper and were superb in daylight and open-air and the crowd warmed to them and didn’t have time to lose interest as there is not a song longer than two and a half minutes.
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Opening with ‘Plastic Bag’ older people hear the Palm Olive type drum-pattern and the title alone echoing Poly Styrene ( whose mind was like a plastic bag, lest we forget) but AlterModerns are much more than a retro-punk band. The juddering ‘How Soon Is Now’ guitar effects in the next song and twists and turns in the guitar figure of ‘Overdose of You’ are testament to that.
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‘Mask’ has a familiar Stones-y riff but the songs are stuffed full of real-life politics instead of sexual frustration. ‘The Others’ is AlterModerns’ masterpiece and will be at the centre of their debut album due in a month or two.
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‘She’s Not Yours’ is positively anthemic, with Ananda’s fabulous pronunciation of Anar-keist not an echo of Lydon at all, but an accident of accent.
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The anthems to wage-slavery ‘Day Off’ and ‘Wednesday’ go down a storm and the Nico sings the Shangri-Las hit from a a parallel universe ‘Out In The Street’ is absolutely storming.
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They sing about ‘lived’ politics and frustrations in life but in such a way that it makes its sound like a positive affirmation – and how the struggle can be beautiful and full of passion.
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All words by Ged Babey for Louder Than War, August 2, 2022
Read the full review here:
https://louderthanwar.com/altermoderns-south-parade-pier-southsea-live-review/
Blue Orchids, Mellotronics, AlterModerns: The Thunderbolt, Bristol - LIVE REVIEW
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Third on the bill, the only band I hadn’t seen before, were AlterModerns. A couple from Brazil, via Italy and Wales, now settled in Bristol. Ananda on drums and vocals and Glauco on guitar and vocals. Beautiful, crazy people who speak in what he calls ‘dirty English’ as it is not their first language. They play punk-rock garage-psych and are the best new band I’ve seen for a long time.
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Meeting them was an absolute pleasure. They look like models or film stars with sharp cheekbones and alternate between moody pouts and beaming smiles. It’s rare to meet people who are so (to use Rowland S Howards word) auto luminescent and charismatic.
They have an album recorded and plan to make a 45 minute film telling their story, mixing fact and fantasy.
Onstage
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AlterModerns just look so cool before they play a note. Ananda drums stood up in a strapless dress. Glauco holds his guitar high up (like Rob Symonds from the Fallen Leaves) with his good luck charm, a crescent shape claw, around his neck.
Like all good duos they sound like a full band and play fast and loose. It is a dirty garage rock sound one minute. Then pure punk rock and swirling psych the next. Sometimes all in the space of one song. Ananda sounds like Nico at times – the heavy accent. Glauco and her make eye contact at every vital change in pace. He sings too, sometimes alone – sometimes both of them. They are just a joy to watch.
They sing about ‘lived’ politics and frustrations in life but in such a way that it makes its sound like a positive affirmation – and how the struggle can be beautiful and full of passion.
When mentioning ‘fascists’ in one song, whilst frantically strumming, Glauco still finds space and time to raise a fuck-you finger to them, without missing a stroke of his six-strings. A beautiful second in a raw but faultless performance.
Best new band in the country? I think so.
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By Ged Babey for Louder Than War August 21, 2021
Brescia Oggi/Italy, November 2020
YouTube Comments:
"I FUCKING LOVE THIS!! Wo Wo Wo Wo"
"I'm obsessed with this song"
"Brutal!"
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