Month: April 2018

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me – THE CURE

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past

‘Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me’
by THE CURE
Released: 25 May 1987
Seventh studio album

ROLLING STONE wrote: “Even in a year already marked by sprawling, ambitious double albums from Prince and Hüsker Dü, the Cure’s new Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me stands out.
Like ‘Sign o’ the Times’ and ‘Warehouse: Songs and Stories’, this 2-record, 18-song set is about reaching inward. The Cure is trying to deepen and refine an existing sensibility rather than reach outward to expand it. On previous efforts, guitarist and singer Robert Smith has flirted with everything from conceptually orchestrated studio pop (The Top) to sarcastic dance tracks (“Let’s Go to Bed”); now that the Cure has evolved into an actual band, he’s able to consummate those eclectic desires. Kiss Me is a breakthrough all right. For the first time, the Cure’s music is relatively unfettered by pretension and indulgence, and the results are remarkable.”
Score: 5/5 – full review here.

TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s favorite track: JUST LIKE HEAVEN

Album in full…

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THE CURE: Website – Facebook – Discography


Kissing legends…

SEVEN IN THE MIX! 7 Crackers For Week 17…

Posted on by JL

A brand new SEVEN IN THE MIX for a brand new week!
Seven splendid strokes I played on repeat these past days
Seven terrific tracks to feed body and soul all week long
Turn up the volume! Music is the dope! Here’s the stuff!

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1/ ‘Mushrooms’ by YES YES WHATEVER (Melbourne, Australia)
Crazy, deranged and bloody cranky, that’s exactly how these garage misfits sound like, probably stimulated by quality mushrooms. And their band name is wacko too. Hallelujah!

YES YES WHATEVER: Facebook

2/ ‘Kids’ by HEY BABY! (Brisbane Australia)
This poppy jingle jangle surf punk kick will electrify all your limbs, instantly. Amplified ecstasy to go completely bananas to. I guess, this happens when Aussie kids have fun.

HEY BABY!: Facebook

3/ ‘Comrades’ by RODNEY CROMWELL (London, UK)
These electronic DIY waves feel like sonic sunbeams on your face. Atmospheric, uplifting and refreshing. Cut from Cromwell‘s upcoming ‘Rodney’s English Disco‘ EP – info right here.

RODNEY CROMWELL: Bandcamp – Facebook / Label: Happy Robots Records

4/ ‘Iterate’ by CRUSH DIAMOND (Houma, LA, US)
Swirling electro duo out of Louisiana producing steamrollin’ electricity that will mess up your mind and all of your senses. Get up and shake it, here’s some booming firework…

CRUSH DIAMOND Facebook –  Twitter – Instagram

5/ ‘The Suffering Of Spiders’ by TRAITRS (Toronto, Canada)
Bass driven darkwave passion for the nightly hours. Melodic gloominess sounding both eccentric and affecting. From debut LP ‘Butcher’s Coin‘ – out 25 May via Pleasence Records

TRAITRS: Facebook

6/ ‘Gladiator Contender’ by John MOuse (Cardiff, Wales)
Mysterious, yet sweet and highly catchy story/tune with singer/songwriter MOuse assisted by a young girl’s touching voice. From his new LP ‘Replica Figures’. Stream it on Bandcamp

John MOuse: Facebook –  Twitter

7/ ‘Pink Thoughts’ by TOPOGRAPHIES (Bay Area, Oakland, CA, US)
Californian shoegaze vibrations with sparkling The Cure guitar echoes. Multi-layered, harmonious, melodic and weirdly tender. This dreamy beauty is available on Bandcamp

TOPOGRAPHIES: Facebook – Bandcamp

See/hear you next week, music junkies…

PICK OF THE DAY – Electro Rockers SWOON Impress With Banger ‘FUN POLICE’…

Posted on by JL

Daily fuel to load your sonic batteries…

23 April 2018

Band: SWOON

Who: “A cracking four-piece electro alt-rock band hailing from
Brighton, UK, who create leftfield pop songs. Songs with teeth.”

Track: FUN POLICE – title track of upcoming EP

Score: This Brighton quartet combines vivifying electronics, hot-spirited guitar lines and pushing bass/drums perfectly in order to create an overpowering bravado that blows you off your socks. ‘Fun Police‘ is a roaring knockout that turns totally badass when the rowdy chorus kicks in. This Brighton quartet combines vivifying electronics, hot-spirited guitar lines and pushing bass/drums perfectly in order to create an overpowering bravado that blows you off your socks. Add frontwoman Alice‘s sturdy and biting vox on top of it and what you get is pure dynamite. Don’t hesitate to turn up the decibels and let this solid
gold wallop mess up your head the way you like it. Listen/watch right here, right now…

SWOON: Facebook – Twitter – Spotify


FUN POLICE available on iTunes – Same-titled 4-track EP out 25 May

Electro Trance Powerhouse ‘RUMOURS’ Created Striking Spiritual Magic At Luminous Dash Fest Last Night…

Posted on by JL

RUMOURS – Cosa Nostra, Aalst (Belgium) – 21 April 2018

RUMOURS is a Belgian electronic unit that became Turn Up The Volume‘s favorite outfit
the ‘world should hear/see ‘ after witnessing this gripping 4-piece three times live in the
past two months and listening countless times to their sparkling debut LP ‘MEGAMIX’
in between. A spiritual electro record that feels as a trance-like excursion. An affecting, enigmatic & hypnotic work of transcendent vibrations. An overall sky-high wall-of-sound, ranging from towering synths symphonies to robust bass-loaded-synths drones.

Yesterday night at the monthly Luminous Dash Fest in the festive city of Aalst these young and inventive musicians nailed it again with ecstatic thrills and king-sized beats
with frontwoman Hannah‘s overwhelming, charismatic vox right in the middle. Due to
the hot European weather, these days, the heat in the small ‘Costa Nostra‘ club hit the
level of sauna degrees. But what happened on and off the stage was worth every single sweat drop as this gig is, undoubtedly, the most magical one I’ve experienced so far this year. FACT! A 2-faced sonic seance where darksome emotions impact the speed of your adrenalin’s flow in an uplifting and fantastical way. Enough talk. Music, maestro, please. If you never heard of this imposing force check this mesmerizing moment and capture the group’s mind-expanding energy right here…

Picture this…


Hair-rising electricity…


Getting into trance…


Magic…


Passion…


Charisma…

MEGAMIX album in full…

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RUMOURS: Facebook


Available on iTunes

(all concert pics by JL/Turn Up The Volume!)

WEEKEND BEAT – Relax In The Shadow With Berlin Artist STONY SUGARSKULL…

Posted on by JL

Weekly vibrations to soundtrack your favorite 48 hours…

quotefield-kopie

20 April 2018

The greatest part of Europe enjoys sunny days, but if you rather prefer to relax in the shadow than here’s Berlin-based artist Monika Demmler aka STONY SUGARSKULL to
keep you company with her darksome, twilight voice and puzzling reveries, sounding like the enigmatic ex-Mazzy Star singer Hope Sandoval fronting an acoustic Velvet Underground. Mystifying and heavy-hearted, yet weirdly attractive and sensual. Here are two of her new, sonic meditations. Two gloom-ridden reflections that will affect the moody side of your dreamy sentiments while reposing in the shade…


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STONY SUGARSKULL: More on Bandcamp – Facebook – Instagram

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘High Land, Hard Rain’ – AZTEC CAMERA…

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past

‘High Land, Hard Rain’
AZTEC CAMERA
Released: 19 April 1983
Debut longplayer

ALL MUSIC wrote: “Some performers never make a bigger splash than with their first record, a situation that the Ramones and De La Soul know all too well. If that’s the case, though, said musicians had better make sure that debut is a doozy. Aztec Camera, or more specifically, Roddy Frame, falls squarely into this scenario, because while he has doggedly plugged away ever since with a series of what are, at times, not bad releases, High Land, Hard Rain remains the lovely touchstone of Frame’s career. Very much the contemporaries of such well-scrubbed Scottish guitar pop confectionaries as Orange Juice, but with the best gumption and star quality of them all, Aztec Camera led off the album with “Oblivious,” a mini-masterpiece of acoustic guitar hooks, lightly funky rhythms, and swooning backing vocals. If nothing tops that on High Land, Hard Rain, most of the remaining songs come very close, while they also carefully avoid coming across like a series of general sound-alikes.” Score: 5/5 – Full review here.

TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s favorite track: PILLAR TO POST

Album in full…

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AZTEC CAMERA: Biography – Discograhy


Early days…

PICK OF THE DAY – Here’s Canadian Hardcore Monster NEEDS With ‘EAT THE RICH… PEOPLE’S LEFTOVERS’

Posted on by JL

Daily fuel to load your sonic batteries…

20 April 2018

Band: NEEDS (Vancouver, Canada)

Who: “The group invokes feelings similar to the first time you heard Nation of Ulysses and Big Black, or that time you discovered the Wipers. NEEDS call on the mighty lords of DC; They pillage the record bags of Trash Talk and Fucked Up; They kneel before fuzz and distortion… Pay heed to the gods of avarice.”

Pick: ‘EAT THE RICH… PEOPLE’S LEFTOVERS’ – THEIR NEW SINGLE

Score: MONSTROUS! NASTY! LOUD! CLAMOROUS! DEMONIC! FUCKED UP! COLOSSAL! MASSIVE! KING-SIZED! HUGE! DEVILISH! BAD-ASS! KNOCKOUT! CHAOTIC! DERANGED! INSANE! MENTAL! PSYCHOTIC! MANIC! WACKO! FAST! FURIOUS! SCREWY! MANIACAL!

TURN! UP! THE! DECIBELS! AND! GO! COMPLETELY! APESHIT! RIGHT! HERE! RIGHT! NOW!

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NEEDS: FACEBOOK – WEBSITE – TWITTER


THESE! FREAKISH! MOTHERROCKERS! RELEASE! NEW! LP! LIMITATIONS! ON! 22! JUNE!

BOARDS OF CANADA – Their Spacey LP ‘MUSIC HAS THE RIGHT TO CHILDREN’ Came Out 20 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

Going back in sonic history looking for memorable albums…

20 April 2018

Band: BOARDS OF CANADA (Scotland)

Album: MUSIC HAS THE RIGHT TO CHILDREN

Released: 20 April 1998 – 20 years ago

PITCHFORK wrote: “When you discover that Boards of Canada took their name came from an organization committed to educational film, the overriding idea of their project clicks immediately into place. I’ve no memories of the National Film Board of Canada but I remember tapes with narration and incidental music accompanying filmstrips, tapes that were always damaged from age and overuse on poorly maintained equipment. The warbly pitch and warped voices mirrored the anxiety that came with the “carefree” days of being a kid and living subjugated to others. Boards of Canada tapped into the collective unconscious of those who grew up in the English speaking West and were talented enough to transcribe the soundtrack. No need to get hung up on specifics; however we lived and whoever we were, Music Has the Right to Children reflected back the truth for a lot of us. You can’t ask more of an album than that.” Score: 10/ 10 – Full review here

TURN UP THE VOLUME says: “An outlandish sonic electro trip for ears, mind and soul”

Album in full…

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BOARDS OF CANADA: Facebook – Discography

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘Bricks Are Heavy’ – L7

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past

‘Bricks Are Heavy’
by L7
Released: 14 April 1992
Third longplayer

ALL MUSIC wrote: “Though they hailed from sunny L.A., L7 became the poster girls for grunge in 1992, with the meteoric success of their third album, Bricks Are Heavy. While their previous efforts had sounded sloppy and uneven, Nevermind producer Butch Vig helped the girls obtain a tight, compact sound on Bricks, pushing them to focus on their songwriting to boot. After all, great albums need great songs, and that’s exactly what you have here. these four ladies had been doing this kind of thing for as long as the Seattle trio. L7’s crowning achievement, Bricks Are Heavy sadly proved to be an impossible act to follow, and the band gradually faded into obscurity thereafter.”

TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s (and almost anybody’s) favorite track: PRETEND WE’RE DEAD

Album in full…

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L7: Website – Facebook – Discography


Back in town…


L4…