If you’re hooked on terrific blues licks, boiling garage rock and modern folk firework then ROOTS & ROSES Festival is, unquestionably, the place to be. When? 1 May 2018. Where? Lessines, Belgium . This year’s line-up is probably the best ever. Info & tickets right here.
Here’s Turn Up The Volume‘s must-see/hear acts…
1/ THE DARTS (Phoenix, AZ and Los Angeles, CA) Who: Utterly cool garage cats released their inflammable debut LP Me.Ow. last year Why: They’re sensual, sultry and sexy and claw like the best when they hit a stage… More info: Facebook – Interview with TUTV Music, maestro, please…
2/ YAK (London) Who: Young brats producing a hurricane hullabaloo on their debut LPAlas Salvation Why: Last year they invaded Brussels with a big bang. I want to get knocked out again More info:Facebook Music, maestro, please…
3/ COCAINE PISS (Liege, Belgium) Who: 4-headed hardcore trashers Why: they’ll crush your brain with the help of a mad saxophonist… More info: Facebook Music, maestro, please…
4/ TJENS MATIC (Belgium) Who: Belgian icon Arno playing crackers from 2 former bands Tjens Couter & TC.Matic Why: Arno is a monument, one of the last original motherfuckers… More:Website Music, maestro, please…
5/ TONY JOE WHITE (Oak Grove, Louisiana, US) Who: Living blues/country/swamp rock legend… Why: Because TJW is an essential musician in the history of the blues Link:Facebook Music, maestro, please…
Who:“Despite having only started writing music in 2015, Rebecca Lou offers a refreshing, in your face, dose of self-confidence that is needed now more than ever. Joining forces with Paw Skovbye (bass), Joachim Holmgaard (guitars) and August Ottsen (drums), she has quickly built a formidable reputation across Denmark for her frenzied live shows, and has supported Danish rockers ‘Velvet Volume’ on their tour last year.”
Pick: UNDER THE MOON
Score: Wow! This is truly one of the most overwhelming voices I heard in recent times. Vigorous, dynamic and highly brisk. Assisted by a high-voltage band pumping up the decibels, Rebecca Lou pushes this massive pop banger up their into the sky. ‘Under The Moon’ is a dazzling firecracker that will make your sonic adrenalin stream uncontrollably. Double wow! Trust me, you’ll have this glowing on repeat all day long. Press the button right here, turn it op and feel the burning power…
Belgian’s rowdy high-voltage powerhouse SKISKA SKOOPER just launched their deranged
debut album, titled UNIVERSAL SPACE SHIFTER. Only 4 songs, including an apocalyptic
46-minutes escapade, titled ‘Introvert Party‘ as the brain-cracking closer. Either you have nasty anticommerce balls or you just hate making a boring career in music, or both of course, in order to release such an otherworldly & demonic record. Their raw racket is certainly not as shocking and alien as Lou Reed‘s Metal Music Machine but I’m sure this wicked three-piece had the same psychotic mindset as the late King Of New York when creating their anarchist pandemonium. Only, compared to Reed‘s arty farty cock-up, you
can actually listen and even lose yourself completely in Skiska Skooper‘s fucked-up, sonic disorder. Hallelujah, I really dig this mind-crashing shit! Next to Skiska Skooper‘s digital chaos Sonic Youth sound like harmonious pussies. Let’s try to find out some more about these noiseniks and talk to manic frontman Mathias. But first, to start the acquaintance properly, we will watch/hear the group’s hair-raising steamroller ‘Pink Harlot‘ right here…
Hello Mathias, welcome at Turn Up The Volume!
1/ What’s the story behind the band’s name?
“We wanted to make a tribute to Siska Schoeters (note: a Belgian radio DJ) by using her name, but our violinist is quite spastic, so when trying to type in the name on Facebook,
it all went horribly wrong.”
2/ I read on your Facebook: “SKISKA SKOOPER is the musical
equivalent to a kick in the face.“ Should we be scared?
“Yes.”
3/ Your brand new debut album is titled ‘UNIVERSAL SPACE SHIFTER’.
Who or what is that shifter?
“A shifter is the mechanism under the stage in an arena that makes everything spin around. That way all the people get a chance to look at us from our good side.”
4/ What’s the LP’s front sleeve image about?
“We tried to combine all the topics from the songs in a single image.
Failing that, we just picked the last drawing in our friendship booklet.”
5/ What the hell is going on? on last track, the 40+ minutes
‘INTROVERT PARTY’ jam?
“We tried to create the absolute radio hit. Guess we failed.”
6/ Which movie would you pick to visualize your music
on a big screen when playing a concert?
“‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, because everything
can be a love story with a bit of imagination.”
Introvert party massacre…
7/ Your number one artist/band to do a world tour with?
“Aqua. That way when we start playing our cover of ‘Barbie Girl‘,
she can get on stage with us and sing along.”
8/ Any special rituals before going on stage for a show?
“I always drip gasoline over my guitar, so, at the highlight of the set,
when I ask people to put up their lighters, the show really gets lit.”
9/ If you could go back in time on which artist’s front
door would you knock and ask to have a selfie together?
“John Lennon. When he opens the door, I’ll just shout “Here’s Johnny!”
and run away screaming, leaving him standing in awe.”
10/ Future plans for SKIKSA SKOOPER?
“We are about to release our greatest hits vol. 9 next month. If you’d like to pre-order it, you can always send us 5 cents and a yellow popsicle and we’ll put it in the mail for you.”
Thank you, Mathias, for the horror-ific chat.
May the road rise with SKISKA SKOOPER!
Leatherface… unmasked
Time to smash your old furniture to pieces
Here’s the accompanying soundtrack in full
Stream/buy UNIVERSAL SPACE SHIFTER…
PITCHFORK wrote: “Radical feminist and anarchist Emma Goldman once said, “I don’t want to be part of your revolution if I can’t dance.” Like Fleetwood Mac before them (but with more politically relevant lyrics than, “All I want is to see you smile/ If it takes just a little while”), Le Tigre’s debut will provide anthems for their target demographic. Fleetwood Mac reached out to hippies and people who liked to look at Mick Fleetwood’s faux-testicles. Le Tigre aims for anyone interested in an addictive pastiche that could ultimately lead to metaphorical “voting-booths” for the cultural and political issues they’re singing about.”
New York threesome SUNFLOWER BEAN launched their second full length, titled TWENTYTWO IN BLUE a couple of weeks ago. Compared to their debut album this swirling successor is a massive leap forward. A rapturous record of high-quality power
pop songwriting. From sickly catchy humdingers (Burn It / Crisis Fest / Human For / Puppet Strings) to 60s pop sensibility ( I Was A Fool / Twentytwo / Oh No, Bye Bye). Spirited, sensual and shiny overall. A 18 Karat gold accomplishment. Here’s ‘Crisis Fest‘, one of my favorite highlights…
Compared to their gig two years ago in Brussels, their show yesterday, in Antwerp, was
an entirely different experience. The trio’s confidence, craft and presence on stage, grew stunningly since 2016. Combined with the new big tunes (also thumbs up for their magical rendition of Neil Young‘s Harvest Moon) these bona fide popsmiths are ready for the major-league. Most remarkable to my ears was frontwoman Julia Cumming‘s powerful singing. Her voice turned into a truly confident, alluring and impressive instrument. It also helps
of course when you’re looking/sounding like a cross between Courtney Love, Stevie Nicks and Nancy Sinatra. Here’s romantic gem ‘I Was A Fool‘ telling so much more than what I
can express in words…
Thrilling British threesome ORANJ SON nails it big time with new stellar single RADIO WIRES. A mighty synth pop belter pushed by temperament-driven vocals, fueled with
a towering chorus and injected with glowing guitars somewhere in the middle. It makes your hair in the back of your neck stand up. A triumphant performance overall. Press the button and capture the electrified vehemence right here, right now…
Going back in sonic history looking for memorable albums…
11 April 2018
ARTIST: DAVID BOWIE
ALBUM: ALADDIN SANE – sixth album
RELEASED: 13 April 1973 – 45 years ago
ROLLING STONE wrote: “If by conventional lights Bowie is a lad insane, then as an Aladdin, a conjurer of supernatural forces, he is quite sane. The titles may change from album to album — from the superman, the homo superior, Ziggy, to Aladdin — but the vision, and Bowie’s rightful place in it, remain constant. The pun of the title, alternately vaunted and dismissive, plays on his own sense of discrepancy. Which way you read it depends upon whether you are viewing the present from the eyes of the past or the future. ‘Aladdin’ is less manic than ‘The Man Who Sold the World’, and less intimate than ‘Hunky Dory’, with none of its attacks of self-doubt. ‘Ziggy’, in turn, was less autobiographically revealing, more threatening than its predecessors, but still compact. David is more than ever more mastermind than participant.”
TURN UP THE VOLUME says: Glamour. Glitter. Sex. Masterpiece.
THREE HIGHLIGHTS:The Jean Genie / Drive-In Saturday / Watch That Man…
‘The Battle Of Los Angeles’
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
Released: 2 November 1999
Third album
ROLLING STONE wrote: “There are no love songs, just abused altar boys. No cries of alienation, just calls to arms for peasant Mexican rebels. The fact that music about events so removed from the lives of most American teens has become immensely successful speaks to Rage’s preaching style: They come armed not with a sword but with a microphone. RATM may never ignite the youth war they want to see. But at last, with The Battle of Los Angeles, they’ve managed to win a war within — one in which the band’s notoriously feuding members have come together to produce a sound that’s not quite louder than a bomb but that’s definitely as loud as Led Zeppelin II.” – Score: 4/5
TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s favorite track: SLEEP NOW IN THE FIRE …
DANIEL RIDDLE, a Portland, Oregon based musician/songwriter has been creating music with his band KING BLACK ACID since the late ‘80s. With four studio albums, a multitude of singles and original musical score for productions such as The Mothman Prophecies, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, CSI and revered live performances, King Black Acid gained the status of legend in Portland.
Here’s King Black Acid‘s newest production. A magical cover of I’M IN LOVE WITH A GIRL. An affecting lovey-dovey gem by BIG STAR, the rock ‘n pop cult band formed in the 70s
by the late, great ALEX CHILTON. On first hearing, I was convinced that this starry-eyed version was actually an interpretation by psych junks ‘The Flaming Lips’ as it has that misty fairytale Lips tone, but it’s definitely Riddle‘s sensitive, almost spiritual rendition. Press the button and dream away…
. Original by cult legends BIG STAR…
King Black Acid will release the song (with a The Carpenters
cover on the flip side) as a 7” on bubblegum pink vinyl 27 April.
From Belgium here’s VVYNN (read = win). A most promising sonic trio from the carnival
city of Aalst. “Three born-too-late Generation X’ers combining hope, fear and passion on their musical journey” claims the band. A threesome of gifted youngsters to Turn Up The Volume‘s ears, producing amplified guitar pop with a healthy dose of rousing adrenalin, balancing between Kristin Hersch‘s ardent Throwing Muses and Tanya Donelly’s starry-eyed Belly, but less polished. VVYNN’s youthful swagger is injected with passionate vocals, glimmering guitars and a vivacious, pushing rhythm engine. Before talking with Angie (vocals, guitar), Jonathan (drums) and bassist Koen let’s get in the right mood with ‘Sirens‘, an excellent cut from their newest EP…
Hello VVYNN, welcome at Turn Up The Volume!…
1/ What’s the story behind the band’s name and who came up with it? Angie: “After a long time searching for a band name we liked, I ended up googling ‘celtic names’ (don’t ask me why, I don’t know) and I was sold by the boy-name Wynn. Written in capitals it looks really good and it’s short and powerful. We ended up writing the band name with 2 V’s instead of a W because there is a hotel/resort that’s called Wynn and
they own the rights to distribute music under the name ‘Wynn‘…”
2/ When did you know: “this is how we want to sound, this is what we want to tell”? Jonathan: “I would say that the sound comes from my experience as a guitar player, especially listening to a lot of grunge when I learned playing the guitar 14 years ago.” Angie: “At the beginning the overall thought was ‘we want to play rock, hard but still melodic’. We’re still searching for our own signature sound.” Jonathan: “When It comes to the lyrics, it starts with simple conversations about life.
From these conversations, we always find a good subject to write about.” Angie: “The lyrics are all a bit dark, a lot of them are about breakups, the fear
of growing older and trying to make sense of our own little world.”
3/ The sleeve of 2016 debut EP CRUMBLE looks poppy and tasty while the tracks are quite raw and vigorous. Any secret connection between cover and music? Angie: “No, we wanted artwork that was a bit bizarre. At that time we were thinking about shooting a video clip with a lot of food and we bought these old cookbooks with ridiculous menus and pictures of food. Claire who did the artwork just started making collages with the pictures. And that’s why the sleeve of Crumble looks like that.. but, except for the word ‘crumble’, there is no connection with the music.” Jonathan: “I just really wanted a lobster somewhere in the design.”
4/ Second EP ‘Lux’ sounds more melodic than the first one.
A conscious decision or a natural evolution? Jonathan: “I think this was a really natural evolution. Since Koen joined the band, it was possible to write songs with an extra layer. Before, the guitar had to play the lower and higher regions which made it almost impossible to do a guitar riff like on Sirens or the break on Shewolf. Now with a really flowing and sturdy bass it is possible to have a different approach to musical creativity.”
5/ I’m always intrigued by records’ artwork.
What is the image of LUX about? Angie: “Fear and being trapped.”
6/ Which movie would you pick to visualize your music
on a big screen when playing a show? Koen: “Wow, weird question. I’d go for a David Lynch film, just for the eeriness.” Jonathan: “Batlle Royal by director Kinji Fukasaku and writer Koushun Takami,
I just love the story. The government forcing youth to kill each other until only
one survives. It’s one against all: life sometimes feels like you’re in a free-for-all.”
Big in Japan…
7/ What’s on the stereo when driving to a gig? Angie: “I’m not driving so I can’t choose 😉 but I guess most of the time it’s anything but rock music. I actually like to listen to pop music and do some dance moves in the car to get rid of the nerves.” Koen: “I think we quite match in music taste so everything between jazz and rock, pop, indie. In my car you can also hear the heavier genres like hardcore. Music in my car goes from Django Reinhardt to Nasty.” Jonathan: Mostly music we don’t play ourselves: GoGo Penguin’s new album is on repeat, Phronesis, Esbjörn Svensson Trio, Snarky Puppy’s ‘We Like It Here’ is one of my favorites, Special Others, Lite. So in my case a lot of instrumental music.”
8/ Your number one artist/band to do a world tour with? Angie:“Patti Smith. Not only for playing shows together but also
because I think she’s a really interesting person to hang out with.” Koen: “Nothing But Thieves.”
Great company…
9/ If you could go back in time on which artist’s front
door would you knock and ask to have a selfie together? Angie: “Janis Joplin, the first queen of rock” Koen: “Django Reinhardt or Jaques Brel.” Jonathan: “Probably Layne Staley of Alice In Chains.
Not only for a selfie, but to have a jam maybe.”
Vive La Belgique…
10/ What’s the next step for VVYNN?
“The next big step will be a full album but you’ll have to wait for that a little while!
In the mean time, we’ll be playing shows as much as we can.”
Thank you all for this interview!
May the road rise with VVYNN…
