TURN UP THE VOLUME

A stream of rattling rippers, jagged jams, and magnific musings

All 20 on Spotify.

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TRACK BY TRACK

Band: AUS!Funkt
Who: Post-punk misfits from Toronto, embracing in the process
the elements of electronica, dub, disco, garage rock and blues
while maintaining grittiness, simplicity, and repetitiveness.

Track: PROLOGUE (SHALLOW).
My favorite cut of their new dance-crazy
EP Hey! I See You.

If your limbs don’t get activated by this stomping synth stunner
it’s time to get on the phone and fire your shrink. Right now.

For everybody else, shake your booty.

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AUS!FUNKT: Instagram – Facebook
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GORILLAZ share new – their 8th – album, titled Cracker Island with the world next year, on 24 February 2023. As usual Damon Albarn invited a big-name cast of guests, like here for this song, called New Gold with Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker and Bootie Brown behind the mic.

Feel the vibe.

GORILLAZ: Instagram – All Albums
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Band: BURN THE LOUVRE
Who: The musical project of singer/songwriter Jordan Speare
assisted by guitarist/bassist and friend Andrew Billone

Their debut album Silhouettes lands after all this
year’s singles (one per month) are released. .

The September one, DUMB is my favorite (so far).

Frisky, tingling, and totally catching.

Earworm!

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BURN THE LOUVRE: Facebook – Instagram
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LUKE HAINES (mastermind of former Britpop-rock outfit The Auteurs
and R.E.M. guitarist PETER BUCK have their second collaborative album,
named All Kids Are Super Bummed Out on 26th October.

First single, titled Psychedelic Sitar Casual is a jangly R.E.M. like
rocker that gets under your skin sooner than you can say fuck Putin.

Tune in and pogo like you used to.

HAINES & BUCK; Website
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(Photo by Turn Up The Volume – Brussels, 2019)

Toronto‘s noise generator METZ celebrate the 10th anniversary
of their smashing self-titled debut LP with a new tour.

Along the tour announcement, the trio shared two tracks, of which one is
pretty special. COME ON DOWN features their longtime friend Joe Talbot
of Bristol punks Idles.

A perfect match in noise hell.

METZ: Bio – Discography – Instagram – Spotify
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Band: ON
Who: An punk-rock-experienced Toronto trio

New album: ON
Released: 20 September 2022 via Indiestructable Records

Closing cracker AMENDS is my kind of electrical eruption.
It’s an imposing Led-Zeppelin-like heavy blues-rock knockout
including unhinged wah-wah electricity. Nasty stuff!

No, it’s not Jimmy Page on guitar, or is it?

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ON: Facebook – Bandcamp
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American/Celtic punks DROPKICK MURPHYS have their 11th album, named
This Guitar Still Kills Fascists out on 30 September. The LP accentuates
the sharp-cutting lyrics of the late great and heavily influential (ask Bob Dylan)
American folk hero Woody Guthrie (1912-1967).

If you’re a Murphys fan you know what to do when
this massive chant ALL YOU FONIES comes on.
Yes, screaming your lungs out.

Hallelujah!

DROPKICK MURPHIES: Facebook – Instagram
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Band: DEAD LEVEE
Who: Old-school no-nonsense five-piece rock
band from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

New single SHOUT is a wallbreaker, a let-it-all-out loud haymaker.
Think The Black Crows and Guns ‘n Roses have a nasty rollicking riff fight.
I wonder if it’s Axl Rose who’s screaming his head off in the end.

Holy riff smoke.
Play it to the max.

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DEAD LEVEE: Facebook
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(Pic by Turn Up The Volume!)

Boston‘s noise rock icons PIXIES have no intention whatsoever to retire.
They have a new – their 9th – album out on 30th September. It’s baptized
Doggerel.

This taster, titled DREGS OF WINE
off the new LP is a burning belter.

Check it out.

PIXIES: Website – Instagram
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Band: ALEX JAMES
Who: A wheelchair-fronted, high-energy
alternative rock band from the North East.

New single: TELL ME

Expect a rollicking ripper bucking up all the way. A sterling crackerjack that
scurries full tilt with steamy swagger pushed by a flat-out rhythm section,
storming guitars – think Black Sabbath‘s Paranoid riff – and James‘ lively
vocals. When the sizzling chorus kicks in, it’s go mental time.

Tell all your friends about this exuberant score!

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ALEX JAMES: Facebook – Instagram
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Band: DETROIT REBELLION
Who: Singer/songwriter/guitarist Jeff Tostee uniquely exploring
a world of gritty blues and garage rock with drummer Micaiah
Castro, taking their name from the 1967 Detroit Riot

New single: CLAP OF THUNDER
From the forthcoming – 3rd – album
Fake News, due this fall.

This red-hot-roaring corker thunders all the way with
turned-up decibels for the psychotic guitar-charged chorus.
Think Queens oF The Stone Age fronted by Jack White.

Hurry yourself to a green field and freak out.

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(Photo credit Paul Elledge – press via website)

Chicago‘s bombastic veteran rockers THE SMASHING PUMPKINS
orchestrated by main man Billy Corgan are back in town.

Next year, on 23 April, they’ll share their new longplayer
ATUM: A Rock Opera In Three Acts with the world,
with no less than 33 songs.

The first single is an uppercut called BEGUILED.
A mid-tempo upper with a rotating heavy metal riff.

Nice one, Billy.

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THE SMASHING PUMPKINS: Facebook – Instagram
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Artist: JEEN
Who: All-round Canadian singer/songwriter who has written for many recording
artists such as ‘Great Big Sea’, ‘Serena Ryder’, ‘Res’, ‘Hawksley Workman’, ‘Brendan Canning’, ‘FUWA FUWA’, Martin ‘Doc’ McKinney and more. She was a member of ‘Cookie Duster‘ with ‘Brendan Canning‘ of ‘Broken Social Scene‘.

New single: CHEMICAL EMOTION
It’s the lead-off track of new – her 6th – album Tracer, out October 21st.

Jeen: “It’s about letting yourself drift in the flow of everything and hanging
on as hard as you can to what makes the shitty parts more tolerable.”

After only one spin, you’ll know that Chemical Emotion is a mesmerizing humdinger.
Jeen‘s emotive voice bewitches right away, the mid-tempo cadence emphasizes
the meditative reflection perfectly, the compelling chorus brings Alanis Morissette
to mind, and overall the orchestral sonority and the layered harmonies lead to
a thrilling triumph.

And I know it sounds trite, but you made impossible possible sometimes

JEEN: Facebook – Instagram
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(Press photo via YYYs)

Band: YEAH YEAH YEAHS
Who: Pop/rock trio from New York fronted
by the gorgeous Karen O

Today their new – 5th – longplayer Cool it down is out,
their first in 8 years. A few weeks ago my ears started
trembling when single BURNING came through my
speakers.

Still love you Karen.

YYYs: Facebook – Website
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(photo via AYU – press)

Artist: AYU
Who: Singer/songwriter/producer born in Bern (Switzerland), and living in Hamburg (Germany) delivering a mixture of contemporary pop, future-thinking electronics,
catchy RnB tunes and sweet indie.

AYU seduced me before with her infectious tunes and this one
is another one to embrace. Tremendously sticky with an irresistible
I love-you chorus.

Delightful!

AYU: Facebook – Instagram – Twitter 
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Artist: AUGUST GONZALEZ
Who: Drawing from an array of influences ranging from hip-hop, indie-pop,
to pop-punk, Gonzalez is an artist that refuses to be put into a box.

Track LXXKN 4 THE L!TE
From her upcoming debut solo EP

Gonzalez serves an effervescent cocktail of hip-hop-pop-rock sparks
inviting you to jump out of your lazy couch for a hip-swaying two-step.

Make your move here…

August Gonzalez: Instagram
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Band: WIDOWS GOLD
Who: Riveting rock outfit from Costa Messa, California that
made an auspicious entrance onto the music scene last year.

New single: I CAN’T HELP YOU
From their upcoming debut LP, out January 2013.

Expect a melancholic smooth guitar pop uplifter. The brisk combination of a jaunty rhythm section, flickering guitars, a toe-tapping melody, a contagious chorus, and last but not least Madeline Star‘s soulful and romantic voice, turn I Can’t Help You into a glam gem.

Help yourself right here.

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WIDOWS GOLD: Instagram
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PPhoto by Arne Frøkedal

Band: MISTY COAST
Who: Chamber psych-pop duo – Linn Frøkedal
and Richard Myklebust – from Norway.

New single: THE END OF THE BEGINNING

For this new composition, the duo’s minds went down memory lane
to get inspired by the musical preferences of their
adolescent years.

They came back and cemented the experiences of those bygone
times for the future, in a song. The End Of The Beginning is a shoegaze rainbow,
but one that’s sepia colored. The mood is blue-sky, idyllic, and halcyon. So is
the musing’s slo-mo progression, Frøkedal‘s foggy vocals, and the glowing
synth waves.

Start dreaming here.

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MISTY COAST: Facebook – Spotify
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Artist: COLESNO JONES
Who: Folk-pop singer-songwriter from West-Wales

Debut single: BISCUIT TIN

This is a firm energizer with a resistless pick-me-up groove
and a highly stimulating sonority from start to finish. Its lively
melodiousness, vigorous vivacity and zealous vocality make
you reach for the repeat button again and again.

Bingo!

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COLENSO JONES: Facebook
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(photo by Turn Up The Volume)

Artist: EZRA FURMAN
Who: Chicago born singer songstress

Furman released her new album
All Of Us Flames last month.

A very notable one with this sepia-colored beauty, named
TRAIN COMES THROUGH as one of the many highs on
the record.

Enjoy.

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EZRA FURMAN: Instagram – Facebook
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See/hear you next month, music junkies