Brilliant actor Al Pacino about You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught written
by legendary duo Rodgers & Hammerstein. The song featured in 1958
movie South Pacific. 65 years later it’s still a crucial time for America.
Artists: PRINCESS UGLY Who: The duo of J. Christopher-Rome (lyrics/vocals) and Christopher Moncrieffe (music/instruments) from Portland, Oregon. They mix post-punk, early 80’s goth,
shoegaze, and new wave into their own brand of sound.
TUTV: I’m sure Princess Ugly operate in a batcave between night and twilight.
I guess it’s their natural habitat. They don’t like the light, they enjoy the darkness,
where they fabricated their new notable 6-track EP ‘Death After Life’ (stream/buy
below).
Opener Body Will Hold is one of the highlights. It’s a viciously catchy doom
and gloom banger that grooves and moves with panache and eeriness. Christopher-Rome‘s spooky vocals do the rest. Create your own batcave,
go underground and join Princess Ugly.
“I wonder about your mind
Left inside
A presentation that’s dead inside
Disgust and disguise
You thin yourself away
You thin yourself away
You thin yourself away
Away”
NIRVANA released their 3rd and final LP IN UTERO
30 years ago today, on 21 September 1993
Rolling Stone wrote: “This is the way Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain spells success: s-u-c-k-s-e-g-g-s. Never in the history of rock & roll overnight sensations has an artist, with the possible exception of John Lennon, been so emotionally overwhelmed by his sudden good fortune, despised it with such devilish vigor and exorcised his discontent on record with such bristling, bulls-eye candor… ‘In Utero’ is a lot of things — brilliant, corrosive, enraged and thoughtful, most of them all at once. But more than anything, it’s a triumph of the will.”
Score: 4.5/5 – Full review here.
Turn Up The Volume: Heart-piercing eruptions. Emotional musings.
Profound sentiments. Deeply human. Unquestionably Nirvana‘s magnum
opus to my ears.
Three highlights: All Apologies / Heart-Shaped box / Scentless Apprentice
Band: OK PANDA Who: Dream team founded in December 2020 in Brussels. Pop music with British influences, mixing alternative rock and 80’s electronic sounds with catchy
vocal melodies that contrast with the melancholic themes addressed in the lyrics.
“‘Echoes‘ is an ode to freedom, a call to escape from the routine and into
new ones to explore horizons. With introspective lyrics and a catchy melody,
it invites you song invites the listener to be carried away by the music
and dream away.
This invitation is also reflected in the video clip, which however shows other
levels of lectures makes interpretations possible. This is directed by Timo
Duhamel and Santiago Otálora, a Belgian-Colombian director duo.”
TUTV: Following last year’s excellent 5-track EP Perspectives the Brussels-based
dreamers score again with Echoes. It’s a charming pop pearl, colored with shiny
guitar sparks, entrancing vocals, a riveting chorus, and a fired-up finale. Think
the romantic six-tring resonance of The War On Drugs.
The brilliant B-sides album THE MASTERPLAN by OASIS, one of my
all-time favourite bands (saw the 27 times live), turns 25 on November 3.
An anniversary reissue features remastered audio and available on limited
2LP silver-coloured vinyl, 2LP black vinyl and Oasis Shop exclusive 2LP green/black
marbled coloured vinyl will hit the streets on November 3. The band’s store also
includes an exclusive limited edition ‘cream’ cassette There’s also a standard
CD version.
AllMusic wrote back then: “Critics and fans alike claimed that the best of these B-sides
were as strong as the best moments on the albums… Apart from the sludgy instrumental
“The Swamp Song,” there isn’t a weak track here, and the brilliant moments are essential not only for Oasis fans, but any casual follower of Britpop or post-grunge rock & roll.” – Full review here – Score: 4.5
TURN UP THE VOLUME! says: Noel Gallagher once said ‘I don’t write B-sides,
I only write A-sides.‘ He was right.
Former Smiths‘ guitar icon JOHNNY MARR worked with countless other artists
after the legendary Morrissey fronted indie band broke up. With New Order‘s Bernard Summer in Electronic, Chrissy Hynde, Bryan Ferry, The The,Modest Mouse and many more.
In between he found the time to fabricate 4 solo albums.
The compilation will also feature this new guitar pop gem,
titled SOMEWHERE. A sickly sticky tune that made my day
on the spot.
Marr: “I’ve played a lot of arenas over the years, and in terms of songwriting,
there’s nowhere to hide. For a song to work, it has to be a banger. I know it’s
almost uncool to think in those terms, but I grew up in a house where my parents
listened to Motown, where you couldn’t get a song released if it wasn’t full of hooks.”
Johnny Marr, Antwerp Belgium, 2018 – photo byTurn Up The Volume
It’s a sickly sticky tune that made my day on the spot, which
happened/happens so many times with Marr‘s killer instinct
for flaming tunes.
Album: PORTISHEAD
The 2nd of their (only) 3 LPs (so far) Released: 29 Sept 1997 Score: No 2 in the UK, No 21 in the US
AllMusic said: “Throughout the album, the group crafts impeccable modern-day torch songs, from the frightening, repetitive “Cowboys” to the horn-punctuated “All Mine,” which justify the detailed, engrossing production. The end result is an album that reveals more with each listen and becomes more captivating and haunting each time it’s played.” Score: 4.5/5.
TUTV‘s fav track. The pitch-dark and eerie opener Cowboys.
Last March British rap-punk poets SLEAFORD MODS
released their 12th longplayer, titled UK Grim
Today they announced a new EP with 5 new songs recorded
at the album sessions. Therefore, the duo named the EP simply MORE UK GRIM. It’s out on 20 October via Rough Trade.
Along with the news we get a taster called BIG PHARMA.
Jason Williamson (vocalist): “Big Pharma was written in the opening chapters
of autumn 2022 when Covid kicked in again. It carries a lot of the normal Sleaford
Mods absurdism, but also looks at the ongoing fascination with trying to find truths in information wholly pushed by very questionable people,” Williamson said, continuing:
The term ‘Big Pharma’ has been uprooted from its original place, one that rightly
threw critique at the pharmaceutical industry as it produced more and more products
that would ruin lives on a mass scale. Instead now, Big Pharma is more familiar as a
term used by right wing and industrial groups trying to mask the financial aims of their arguments with some kind of critical thinking panache-type legitimacy.
It just feels wrong. It feeds on hopelessness, widespread fear and generations of unfettered misinformation linked to the limited critical perception we as the masses are burdened with.”