rhythmism
Wednesday, Jan 5th 2005, 12:21 AM
AFter the crazed holidays and NYE debauchery, take a break with L'altra. Their latest album Different Days will have you waxing poetic and hearing things. Different Days will educate you on the glory of subtle crescendo. Different Days will pulse below 110 beats per minute. When one album does all of those things, you can’t help but succumb to the intrigue.
“Chicago’s L’altra is the musical equivalent of a very good kisser – the kind that intimates trouble, heartbreak and guilt on contact.” — Spin
“The perfect soundtrack for a late Sunday night…” — URB
“Wonderful songwriting…Costa and Anderson are out to yank your heartstrings as much as each other’s.” — Magnet
At L’altra’s captivating core are Lindsay Anderson and Joseph Costa. Binaries abound in supple, seductive unions: the Joe and Lindsay symbiosis, the digital & analog sway, the double helix of masculine and feminine back-and-forth (according to a number of Romance languages, L’altra translates as “the feminine other”). Now Different Days, L’altra’s third full-length release, marks a band renaissance.
Besides finding a new and welcome home with Chicago’s Hefty Records, Lindsay and Joe have transformed what was once a revolving-door collective into a “duo and friends” by employing the production prowess of labelmate Joshua Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv. Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley) contributed horn arrangements, top avant-garde cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm laid down extraordinary strings, and pulseprogramming’s Marc Heller is credited with additional programming.
While The Windy City blows a cool breeze through each and every one of Different Days’ tracks, we remember that L’altra are staples of a new Chicago electronic scene — at the helm of their niche and ahead of the curve. As Hefty Records’ favored songstress, Lindsay has lent her vocals to Telefon Tel Aviv’s Map of What is Effortless (January 2004) and Slicker’s We All Have a Plan (July 2004).
“Bring on Happiness,” recently released as an EP with b-sides, pleads and waltzes woefully, while “So Surprise” is the first song on your forlorn lover’s mixtape; “Different Days,” the album’s title track, possesses the hypnotic sparks of found sounds, “Morning Disaster” perfects the imperfect orchestral swell, and “A Day Between” closes the album with a soul-stirring instrumental reckoning.
Lindsay has performed on tour with Will Oldham as a vocalist and keyboardist, and L’altra has played with Tortoise, Smog, Rebecca Gates and Solex.
L’ALTRA LIVE IS BREATHTAKING:
2/1/05 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
2/11/05 Chicago, IL @ Metro (w/ Low and Pedro the Lion)
2/14/05 Chicago, IL @ The Hideout
2/19/05 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
L’altra
Different Days
(Hefty Records; January 25 2005)
www.laltra.com
www.heftyrecords.com
“Chicago’s L’altra is the musical equivalent of a very good kisser – the kind that intimates trouble, heartbreak and guilt on contact.” — Spin
“The perfect soundtrack for a late Sunday night…” — URB
“Wonderful songwriting…Costa and Anderson are out to yank your heartstrings as much as each other’s.” — Magnet
At L’altra’s captivating core are Lindsay Anderson and Joseph Costa. Binaries abound in supple, seductive unions: the Joe and Lindsay symbiosis, the digital & analog sway, the double helix of masculine and feminine back-and-forth (according to a number of Romance languages, L’altra translates as “the feminine other”). Now Different Days, L’altra’s third full-length release, marks a band renaissance.
Besides finding a new and welcome home with Chicago’s Hefty Records, Lindsay and Joe have transformed what was once a revolving-door collective into a “duo and friends” by employing the production prowess of labelmate Joshua Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv. Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley) contributed horn arrangements, top avant-garde cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm laid down extraordinary strings, and pulseprogramming’s Marc Heller is credited with additional programming.
While The Windy City blows a cool breeze through each and every one of Different Days’ tracks, we remember that L’altra are staples of a new Chicago electronic scene — at the helm of their niche and ahead of the curve. As Hefty Records’ favored songstress, Lindsay has lent her vocals to Telefon Tel Aviv’s Map of What is Effortless (January 2004) and Slicker’s We All Have a Plan (July 2004).
“Bring on Happiness,” recently released as an EP with b-sides, pleads and waltzes woefully, while “So Surprise” is the first song on your forlorn lover’s mixtape; “Different Days,” the album’s title track, possesses the hypnotic sparks of found sounds, “Morning Disaster” perfects the imperfect orchestral swell, and “A Day Between” closes the album with a soul-stirring instrumental reckoning.
Lindsay has performed on tour with Will Oldham as a vocalist and keyboardist, and L’altra has played with Tortoise, Smog, Rebecca Gates and Solex.
L’ALTRA LIVE IS BREATHTAKING:
2/1/05 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
2/11/05 Chicago, IL @ Metro (w/ Low and Pedro the Lion)
2/14/05 Chicago, IL @ The Hideout
2/19/05 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
L’altra
Different Days
(Hefty Records; January 25 2005)
www.laltra.com
www.heftyrecords.com