altopalo is a group of long-time friends that make music that Pitchfork cal… Read Full Bio ↴altopalo is a group of long-time friends that make music that Pitchfork calls "genre-less". Their LP "frenemy" is a self-produced sonic journey about both the hardships and joys of friendship. Created in and out of bedrooms in Indiana and New York, the record also speaks to the band's artist community, with features from Bartees Strange and Dora Jar peppered throughout. For the Deluxe LP "frenemy (with friends)", altopalo have called on their friends to give their original tracks their own individual sparkle. In this package we have remixed tracks from Chrome Sparks, J. Mordechai, Jacana People, James Hartnett, Clear Eyes, Swansea Skag, and Youngest Brother.
It was touch and go as to whether altopalo would come together to make another album again. Being best friends for over ten years has made them incredibly comfortable with each other, to the extent that their friendship has become more like a brotherhood, a familial kind of relationship with all the strains and hurt that entails. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in the summer of 2020, drummer Dillon Treacy decided that he needed to take a step back from the band as the only black member of a group otherwise made up of white people, at least until they could all take some time to reflect. This lasted a couple of weeks and wasn’t something that they publicly talked about on social media, but Dillon’s leave of absence led altopalo to realize how they needed to be with each other in order to make music and relate to each other. Added to the fact that the pandemic forced the music industry machinery of constant gigging and endless album cycles to grind to a halt, altopalo had to become truly friends again rather than friends who played in a band together. Going into writing frenemy, they were clear that they wanted to make an album that spoke to their relationships to each other; as guitarist Mike Haldeman puts it, “the least dishonest thing we could do is just make music about us. The source material is literally the fabric of our friendship.”
It was touch and go as to whether altopalo would come together to make another album again. Being best friends for over ten years has made them incredibly comfortable with each other, to the extent that their friendship has become more like a brotherhood, a familial kind of relationship with all the strains and hurt that entails. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in the summer of 2020, drummer Dillon Treacy decided that he needed to take a step back from the band as the only black member of a group otherwise made up of white people, at least until they could all take some time to reflect. This lasted a couple of weeks and wasn’t something that they publicly talked about on social media, but Dillon’s leave of absence led altopalo to realize how they needed to be with each other in order to make music and relate to each other. Added to the fact that the pandemic forced the music industry machinery of constant gigging and endless album cycles to grind to a halt, altopalo had to become truly friends again rather than friends who played in a band together. Going into writing frenemy, they were clear that they wanted to make an album that spoke to their relationships to each other; as guitarist Mike Haldeman puts it, “the least dishonest thing we could do is just make music about us. The source material is literally the fabric of our friendship.”
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