Kalistani Major History

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Vive L'Alternative
Amethyst Lemon and Newcomer Michelle Carter end pop hegemony in Kalistan
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
November 15, 5551


Vrassa City's Michelle Carter and Kaliburg's Amethyst Lemon bring Alternative back to the Top 5

It seems just a few months ago that the top of the Album and Singles Charts on Radio 1 were blocked solid with Pop music and R&B. But the tide has clearly changed as two sonic juggernauts have charged through pabulum and cleared the channel. And more rock and alternative acts are following in their wake, bringing in the next wave of Alternative which looks to be the mode in Kalistan for the next few years at least. The two guitar rock acts that have broken into the top 5 are an unlikely combo of Alt-Folk songstress Michelle Carter, from Vrassa City and the next loudest thing our of Kaliburg, Amethyst Lemon.

Carter, a newcomer to the scene, has released her largely blues and alternative inspired alt-Folk debut Leaving Reynoldia on VDR. The album debuted at Number 15 largely on Carter's reputation as a relentless tourer. "Last year, Carter played 15 shows in 9 days across Vrassa and Neveras," said Radio 1 Drive time DJ Bobbi N, who helms the channel from 3-6 every night and has a nightly half hour show specifically aimed at bringing new artists onto the radio. "She had a built in fanbase before this record was even released. So when the news that VDR had recorded the LP with her, basically a million people lined up to buy it the first day it was put on shelves." The first pressing sold out in minutes, and it was more than three days before record stores could get more copies in: three weeks later, VDR is planning a pressing of 450,000 to keep up with demand. "Carter really knows how to rock, and there's a lot of folk and blues influences in all her songs. She really is a crowd pleaser."

Amethyst Lemon is now on their third single from their Debut LP, the spacey, trippy noise alternative plodding psychedelic distortion monster "Pachyderm," which is melting resin speaker cones from Kaliburg to Sulari. "This record is pretty massive," said N. "Nobody would have thought it when it was released that it would really be this big. But: unlike Carter's record, this LP has a ceiling. A lot of songs are really inaccessible to mass audiences and the singer Roger Stuart is a notorious perfectionist, so they don't really go out on tour so to speak. As they get more famous, they're probably gonna get more pressure from KMI to tour, but right now, they are still in Kaliburg playing clubs, by choice, I mean."

Along with a hand full of other, mostly noise Alternative bands following both these two artists into the higher reaches of the charts, including a hastily recorded first single from the upcoming Ultrafuzz LP, most of which hasn't even been recorded yet, called "Everything Ends with And", Alternative music represents 73% of all upward movement on the Top 40 Singles Chart this week. "Alternative singles are killing it in November," said N. "That's good for Radio 1, for sure." Radio 1 is the Flagship music radio station on KRTVN, and focuses on Alternative and Rock primarily. "There are a few Pop hold outs this week, like Phat Kali featuring Hannah and Addisjah's Mortensen Kliq. But pop and R&B as a genre has been taking loss after loss in the last few weeks, and it is doubtful that by the New Year, there will be a single track that isn't described as either Alternative or Rock in the entire top 20, and that includes al the ballots and R&B styles that was so popular over the last few decades."

What's even more amazing is the way the big labels are themselves embracing the louder, more gritty music typified with Noise Alternative. "New Albums to date from every label in Kalistan, with the exception of LTD, the primary KME label, have been raiding the rock clubs lately." said N. "It's getting to the point where anyone who would have been doing folk five years ago was told, 'plug in your guitar and run it through some pedals, and you'll get signed.' and meanwhile the Pop&B acts that seemed to have a mealticket simply handed to them by the big labels have completely abandoned not only those artists but also those fans. But as these Noisey artists are saying, you can only make the same album over again so many times, and that is the formula that has typified modern Pop&B for about 20 years now. The music is boring and the musicians are uninspired. They are doing the formula, the one preferred by the Labels, and now the formula is switching and leaving a lot of those fake, hypermaterialistic poseurs in the dust, and they don't even know that their time is over. but its really hard to feel sorry for them: They went to the well too many times, and got complacent, and in Kalistan, complacency in music is always punished."

Carter herself represents a cross current in the general noise alternative trend, though. VDR, typically known for alt-folk, is often forgotten in the discussion, said N, "but so many huge acts in Kalistan's history have come out on VDR that it is never a good idea to sleep on VDR. Just when you think KMI has a big thing, VDR goes and changes it up." Carter's LP shows that the demand is not just about distortion and noise, but more of a guitar and rock orientation in general. "Fans dig the distortion, but Carter's music is sweet and gentle compared to these Noise Alternative bands." Carter's background is in Folk, and she is right at home in the Alt-Folk scene that embraced such acts as Joanie Yeardley, Lysergamide, and Jennifer Stepanov. Her music also incorporates blues and even gospel trappings as well to move the alt-folk genre forward into more eclecticism without totally abandoning the format, as Grit did.

With Carter's record just getting going, and Amethyst Lemon still releasing tracks from its debut album, it is likely that these groups and others like them will be battling for the top of the charts for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, you can check out videos from these artists' latest singles, including the new one from groundbreakers Ultrafuzz, right here. Carter is expected to hit Number 1 in both the Singles chart and the Hot 100 Albums Poll, while Amethyst Lemon's new single is expected to hit Number 3, up from 7, while its record continues a strong Number 5 place on the Albums Poll. Ultrafuzz is 18 this week on the singles chart.

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CUr0bnDCfM]
Ms. Michelle Carter, from Vrassa City, sings "Baby Loves to Run" from her Number 1 Record Leaving Reynoldia

Amethyst Lemon's best selling single to date, "Pachyderm" from Bloom hits Number 3

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hBUdKK1T5s]
Ultrafuzz returns with the Single "Everything Ends with And", reaches #17 and draws comparisons to Sulari Indie Rocker Michelle Love