Italian groove rockers ALiX is a pretty new band to me. I only recently discovered their ’04 album “Ground” but I was hit right between my eyes by that. At that time they played pretty tight stonerrock with a nice twist of steel guitar and a magnificent female vocal with a twist of ‘60’s psyche. I’ve been looking forward to this new album because of the band itself but also because it was to be produced by Steve Albini! Then how is it? Well, at first … very different! Actually I was a bit disappointed at first because the band and the production is quite different than at “Ground”. But after some more spins this is again a damn cool record. The sound is more stripped down and less stoned. Most songs have a tight up-beat tempo pushing the songs forward while other songs are completely laid back and groovy. There’s a lot of steel guitar and less heavy distortion. Vocalist Alice sings even more drowsy and with less vibrato and the vocal is moved more to the front in the mix. Compared to “Ground” Alice sounds even more like Chrissie Hynde and less like psyche icons like Joplin or whomever – and that’s cool.
In all this is a very convincing release and pretty daring because the fat stonersound have been exchanged with a much lighter and more alternative style. But it’s still groovy rocking and still one of the most intriguing vocals – especially when she delivers sexy Italian lyrics in the remake of “Bianco E Nero” backed by one of the coolest psychedelic chill-out tunes. http://www.myspace.com/alixband
If you dig: The Misteriosos, Pretenders, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
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