TUTV: Expect an emotive lullaby driven by saddening vocals,
a slow burning torch, about a perfect pair of human monsters.
Confusing story, puzzling performance.
I am the bride, of Frankenstein
My hair shocked through with, that crazy line
Eyes wide and mouth crying
‘Better to be dead than dying’
But that wasn’t my own thought first
It just kept me from my own hurt
We are monsters, a perfect pair
You make me crazy, I make you scared
Is it the city, is it the things we chose
Was it the plague, the way the whole world froze
How do we change, how do we become real
Reanimation is a rotten deal
British glam rockers TEMPLES are back in town. They just announced their
5th full-length, first in 3 years, named Bliss. They will share it with the world
on June 26th.
James Bagshaw (frontman) told NME the following about lead single JET STREAM HEART: “For me, it’s Kylie Minogue, meets Daft Punk, meets Temples! “These days we’re always just trying to make stuff that’s fun. That song started the whole thing for this record. The song is about being enticed by music itself, and it does it on its own. You’ll be walking past a club
or a venue and there’s an allure to it. What is that pulls you in?
Kylie Minogue? Daft Punk? My ears hear something different,
more like good old T.Rex hanging out with Hot Chip at the disco.
Below, you can enjoy a cool clip from 1984, with electro-guitar pop legends NEW ORDER doing a live session in the BBC Radio studio, playing their 1981 debut single, the sublime Ceremony.
Glorious footage, but also hilarious seeing frontman Bernard Sumner in a white way too short, short.
Click and watch.
Won’t you please let me go
These words lie inside they hurt me so
A rare slice of pure Manchester history — New Order performing Ceremony live at BBC Radio 1 in 1984, captured at the exact moment the band — and the city — were shifting into a new era. pic.twitter.com/mRxkmsuiDY
Band: PULP Track: BEGGING FOR CHANCE
One of the 23 tracks performed by big-name bands/artists on a new album,
named Help, with all benefits going to War Child. An organisation that shapes
systems that protect and support the well-being of children affected by conflict.
The record is out on March 6th. More info here.
TUTV: The common people of Pulp rock out for charity.
War Child UK: Website
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Band: SPECIAL FRIEND Who: French-American indie
guitar pop, based in Paris.
Track: CLIPPING
New appetizer from their upcoming 3rd album, named Clipping. It’ll arrive on March 20th. More info here.
TUTV: Lazy groovin’, lazy movin’. Echoes of slacker rock.
Track: AMERICAN OBITUARY
Opening piece from their brand new anti-political
violence EP, titled DAYS OF ASH, featuring 6 songs.
TUTV: I wondered when Bono would jump on the fence and critise, rightfully so, all BS going on right now in the US. Here he is with his mates translating their dissatisfaction with Trump’s Ubermensch politics into a raucous rocker.
Artist: THUNDERCAT Who: Singer-songwriter, record producer, and bass player
from Los Angeles, California, doing his thing since 2000
Track: SHE KNOWS TOO MUCH
Single from his forthcoming 5th LP, first in six years, called Distracted.
Out April 3rd. It features vocals by the late rapper Mac Miller (1992-2008),
a good friend and multiple collaborator of his.
THE BEATLES (1960-1970) released NOWHERE MAN, one of the many highlights
of their game-changing LP Rubber Soul as a single in America and Canada, this
day 60 years ago, on 21 February 1966.
The song was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney
partnership. Both in the US and Canada the song topped the charts.
Lennon reflected in a 1980 Playboy interview: “I’d spent five hours that morning
trying to write a song that was meaningful and good, and I finally gave up and lay
down. Then ‘Nowhere Man’ came, words and music, the whole damn thing as I lay
down.
The song is generally credited as being among the first Beatles ones, not pertaining to themes of romance or love.
“He’s a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Doesn’t have a point of view
Knows not where he’s going to
Isn’t he a bit like you and me?””
Press info: “Ever since their rapid rise in the depths of lockdown, Liverpool’s Stone have tended to thrive best when leaning into the
chaos.
Having further sealed themselves as a vital force on the global punk scene with their 2024 debut album Fear Life For A Lifetime, the band are back with a follow-up that’s loaded with their most reflective and bruising work to date. Autonomy comes as a fierce testament to the band’s resilience, fighting spirit and togetherness.”
TUTV: Loads of bursting post-punk brawniness. Loads of stooked guitar oomph.
Loads of barnstorming vocality. But (oops, there’s a but) a lack of really memorable
tunes you want to go back to in a flash.
The Beatles-esque title track, steamed-up singles Monkey See Monkey Do and Money (Hope Ain’t Gone), riff-ripsnorter Stack Up Thd Reasons and fiery fulminations Moulin Rouge and Sweet Heroine are muscular blowups that have an immediate impact,
but no a very lasting one. The rest of the songs are just variations, sonically that is,
of the aforementioned pieces.
Loads of evaporative vitality to make you jump out of your bed in the morning, but once you’re alive and ready to kick, you change the tune, well, I do. Yep, mixed emotions about Stone‘s 2nd longplayer.
First-class songsmith ELVIS COSTELLO (born Declan Patrick MacManus 71 years ago
in London) had his 10th album (out of a total of 32, so far), named KING OF AMERICA released on 21 February 1986, today 40 years ago.
Co-produced by Costello and his musical pal T Bone Burnett, the album originated following a series of tours the two made under the name The Coward Brothers.
The longplayer reached number 11 in the UK and number 39 in the US.
Hailed as a return to form for Costello and his best record in years, the album was
praised for its production, depth and vocal performances. Mixed reviews found the
LP too complex and lacking accessibility to attract new fans.
Later reviewers call King of America one of Costello‘s best works, praising its
personal tone and the songwriter’s growing maturity, and arguing the album
anticipated Costello‘s various musical excursions and collaborations in the
following decades.
Melody Maker said at the time: “He’s still this blighted isle’s
finest songwriter, a force, who at his best, is simply beyond peer.”
British music monthly MOJO has a new issue
out, available with 2 different front covers.
One, with JOHNNY ‘ROTTEN’ LYDON, celebrates the Golden Jubilee
of UK PUNK’s Year Zero. The other salutes MILES DAVIS – music’s
ultimate re-inventor – who would have been 100 this spring.
Inside the magazine, premier punk historian Jon Savage revisits 1976 while new
interviews with Sex PistolsSteve Jones, Paul Cook, and Glen Matlock take us back into
the trenches. Meanwhile, Davis’s extraordinary life and work prompt an in-depth exploration – from bebop to space-funk and beyond.
Also in the issue: Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir eulogised; Flea flies solo; The Specials’ Terry
Hall remembered; Courtney Barnett returns, unheard Beach Boys; unseen Kinks; The Black Crowes; Happy Mondays; Shabaka Hutchings; The Hold Steady; Funkadelic; Faust; NRBQ; Osees; David Bowie’s gaff; all back to Michael Imperioli’s; and more.
This month’s FREE CD features The Classic Sounds Of Miles Davis & Friends. Fifteen giant steps in jazz featuring this month’s co-cover star as band leader or key sideman, with Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Rollins, ‘Rubberlegs’ Williams, and more!
You can purchase a copy and have it sent to your home address.
With the Johnny Rotten cover, right here.
With the Miles Davis cover, righthere.
Band: DREAMWAVE Who: A diverse psychedelic rock group from Bristol, South West England, known for their explosive live presence, playful personality, and genre-blurring songwriting. Drawing from garage rock, acid punk, and dream pop, the band move effortlessly between raw, high-energy performances and soft, floating moments of introspection.
Press info: “With Over You, the band lean into their raw, high-energy roots — driving rhythms, sharp-edged guitars, and a restless momentum that reflects their reputation for explosive live shows. It sits firmly in the louder, more visceral side of their catalogue, built for packed rooms and late-night singalongs.
TUTV: Puzzling pysch rock at its flaming best. Think Black Angeles on a rowdy roll after a rambunctious helter skelter intro. Roisterous guitars are creating havoc everywhere, while an unfaltering drum/bass collaboration takes care of the combative corker’s bracing beat, and echoing vocals reverbarate left and right. Sinewy score. All cylinders on.
