Disjointed. Loud. Abrupt. Corrosive. If these words aren’t descriptive enough then I suggest plugging in and tuning into New York’s Alpha Hopper, the 4-piece out of the Empire State. The band, made up of “A bartender, a personal trainer, a graphic designer, and an immigration attorney” hail more specifically out of the Queen City, which many know as Buffalo, NY. Fortunately, the city is over 370 miles away from NYC and insulates the noisy Alpha Hopper from the Big Apple’s trend-happy shenanigans. Fortunate indeed.
The band formed back in 2014 and is set to release its third full-length offering, Alpha Hex Index (Hex Records) on Friday, November 20, 2020. For this album, Alpha Hopper had decided to record it themselves in their homes. The pandemic though forced a few hiccups, lengthening the recording process. The group’s recording sessions were conducted in intervals when the members could safely get together and hash out their respective parts. Once the band finished and were satisfied with the results, engineer John Agnello (Burning Airlines, Dinosaur Jr., Gwar, Sonic Youth) handled the final mastering duties.
With just one day away from the album’s release but the year being what it is, why wait to share the sonic explosiveness of the new songs compiled on the release? The band gives listeners an advanced look – and listen – to the album which will assuredly have everyone mesmerized. No two songs are the same obviously, but the band’s musical explorations will undoubtedly confound everyone while leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind that the band is strikingly riveting and original.
Of the album, the band offers:
“This being our third album, I think we’ve really begun to understand this bizarre atmosphere we’ve marooned ourselves in on a deeper level. It seems fitting that when we ventured out deeper on our own by choosing to record and mix the album entirely ourselves, the world would pivot on its head right as we began. It was a bit of a learning experience, but we decided that having unlimited time to fuck around and get things exactly right would be more valuable than the ease and convenience of working with a real professional like we did on the last two records.
So here it is; the record and our vision as an edifice to what change can’t touch. Some strange sonic document forever orbiting around art-punk, noise-rock, hardcore, no-wave, rock and roll, and whatever other planets that will never truly clear it for docking.”
Social Media