Now you see him, now you don’t. Now you hear him, now you don’t. The multi-faced centipede rocker JOHN DWYER has so many projects/bands/gangs that I suspect him
of releasing music we aren’t even aware of him being involved. Whatever. OH SEES is
one crushing hit team we do know. And they just released a new monstrous single. It sounds like death garage metal. Apocalyptic! Doomed! Sinister! Insane! Mind-smacking! Press the button and get totally OVERTHROWN…
. OH SEES will release new album SMOTE REVERSER in a couple of months.
The artwork accompanying OVERTHROWN looks like DOOMSDAY IS COMING!
Everything you always wanted to know about ELEFANT’s album but were afraid to ask…
22 May 2018
Finally, the very-long-awaited lange debut Spielplatte ‘KONARK UND BONARK’ von das verrückteste Belgische Lebenslied OrchesterELEFANT found its way to our troubled planet! These four misfits, dressed in a modern designed version of Stanley Kubrick‘s
outfit for his Clockwork Orange‘s gang of droogs have some serious shit out now. Just imagine Pink Floyd‘s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon‘ escapade produced by Ennio Morricone
while having a nightmarish LSD trip. Trust me, this is not Scheißmusik! This is the
optimum Armageddon soundtrack. Eine geistig gestörte Aha-Erlebnis! A sort of close encounters of the third kind, whatever that might be. Exactly! Only the band knows
what really fucked up their sick minds when creating this balls-shaking mumbo
jumbo. Only they know the secret to the song’s codes. Only they can clarify what
this mind-cracking ‘Konark und Bonark‘ bollocks is all about…
Ladies, gents and all wicked science-fiction fans, it’s Turn Up the Volume‘s pleasure to welcome, right here the Fürher dieser kranke Musikgruppe who will reveal all enigmas
of ELEFANT’s first baffling record, one by one. Spit it out, Wolfman…
The music…
. The stories, track by track…
1/ Haven’t Heard Of Yet
“Some time ago I had nodes on my vocal chords. I had surgery and the following night I had to keep silent. That and a bottle gin was a bizarre experience, I wrote some five pages of drunken rant about having to shut up, which was love I haven’t heard of yet. I edited the lyrics and turned it into an a-capella song. In the studio we just jammed on it to what it is now.”
2/ Oh My Dog (Oh Mein Hund)
“When I heard that someone close to us was diagnosed with cancer,
it freaked me out and this popped out. Satie meets Black Sabbath.”
Ozzy, Elefant’s invisible fifth member…
3/ Schräg
“I wrote this fairly quickly watching TV. I started with a quote from Wolfgang
Borchert‘s “Der viele viele Schnee“, because I am such a well-read prick. It deals
with the sexy subject Death, that ugly thief that I meet more and more.”
4/ Landman
“This is the last one wrote I for the album. It ended up as an ode to our maecenas and sound engineer Dr. P. Landman. Some lyrics are easy to explain and some you just don’t know what they’re about. Landman is one I can’t figure out what it means. Schizophrenia dealing with your genetic past/psycho-shit/keep coming back smaller and smaller//////….”
5/ Credulity
“This is the hippie song, at least lyrically. It’s the new ‘We are the world‘.
Deliciously naive I wish I was myself.”
We were the world, we sounded like shit…
6/ Wie Scharf Ist Dein Messer?
“This song is the result of the alienating vibe and the eery repetitive sounds echoing
in Pre-Op Room. Racing thoughts, sweaty paws as you’re left in the hands of science,
its machinery and disciples. We live in an era where Man and Machine become more
and more intertwined, be it smartphones, bionic implants, robots, or A.I.”
7/ Groan Sweet Groan
“I like this song a lot, because its arrangements just happened. we jammed on it in the studio and this is take 1 shortened to what it is now. Lyrically it’s about the goons in power fucking it up for the rest of us minions.”
8/ Der Publizist
“For this one I tried to use the most dissonant sounds. combined with – according to our keyboardist Stijn – Das Ich-like vocals and lots of humour. This one has the Sherman filterbank all over it.”
9/ Lord Sleep
“What’s that face? Who are you? Where is this room I’m in? Who that face? Who that space, well I recall, I do recall, don’t I?” My grandmother lived her last years becoming more and more demented until she was totally gone. A painful thing to witness.”
Lord Sleep… in motion
10/ A 1000 Smells
“This one is for humanity: you’ve wandered far off…”
11/ 1929
“This is one of the oldest Elefant instrumentals and still a favourite.
It’s a beautiful, moody, almost happy and freaky piece.”
11/ Norsun Muisti
“Another hip dementia inspired song. I am trying to remember
all the things I was trying to forget. Now are you?”
Thank you Wolfman for being our guide!
Thank you ELEFANT for freaking us out…
Thirty-five years ago today – 21 May 1983 – late genius DAVID BOWIE hit the top spot
on the UK singles chart with timeless diamond single LET’S DANCE, from the same titled bestseller album. It featured the late legendary blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan . Here’s that still amazing beauty and the iconic girl with the red shoes…
Let’s dance
Put on your red shoes and dance the blues
Let’s dance
To the song they’re playin’ on the radio
Let’s sway
While color lights up your face
Let’s sway
Sway through the crowd to an empty space
If you say run
I’ll run with you
And if you say hide
We’ll hide
Because my love for you
Would break my heart in two
If you should fall into my arms
And tremble like a flower
Let’s dance
Let’s dance
For fear your grace should fall
Let’s dance
For fear tonight is all
Let’s sway
You could look into my eyes
Let’s sway
Under the moonlight, this serious moonlight
And if you say run
I’ll run with you
And if you say hide
We’ll hide…
Who:“An alternative psychedelic stoner rock band that aims to the pure artistic expression, when both composing and performing. Their sound turns from warm and atmospheric into distorted and aggressive, sometimes enriched with acid dissonances and psychedelic arrangements.”
Track: UNDER TONS – a song about the struggle for life, about “a nonsense
journey unless you realise where you are really heading to…”
Score: this is a monumentally orchestrated opus by a striking noise force producing heavy-hearted rumpus balancing between Metallica‘s Black Album stamina and the darkest side of Soundgarden‘s robust swagger. Gigantic, overpowering and intimidating. Grandly melodic with a huge, anthemic impact. A pitch-black outburst, yet ‘Under Tons‘ feels like their’s an illuminating spark of hope at the end of the horizon. Get impressed right here…
A brand new SEVEN IN THE MIX for a brand new week!
Seven stirring strokes I played on repeat these past days
Seven top-notch tracks to feed body & soul all week long
Turn up the volume! Music is the dope! Here’s the stuff!
. 1/ ‘Sloane Ranger’ by THE ESSEX GREEN (US)
This amplified pop injection will put a really wide smile on your face. Its organ colored
flow affects the speed of your adrenalin’s stream instantly. Gorgeous harmonies, catchy arrangements and an addictive chorus. New LP ‘Hardly Electronic’ out 29 June. All info here.
2/ ‘Feels’ by DEEPER (Chicago, US)
An irresistible 2-minute jingle jangle guitar drone with a feverish drive fueled by cutting riffs. No-nonsense electricity bringing Texan rockers Parquet Courts to mind. This is a glowing score from the band’s self-titled debut full length – out on 25 May via Firetalk.
3/ ‘Statuesque’ by YOUTH MAN (Birmingham, UK)
This destructive Brummie sex punk duo comes right at your earsystem with a rowdy mid-tempo smack. What a scorching intensity, what a badass bass, what an impressive vox.
4/ ‘Extreme Handshakes’ by TERRA PINES (Brisbane, Australia)
Overwhelming wall-of-towering-guitar-dynamite by this self-declared grungegaze and sludgepop trio from down under. High-powered, in-your-face stuff you’ll have on repeat!
From the band’s new self-titled album. Stream/purchase the steamy LP on Bandcamp.
6/ ‘Reach’ by ONLY TAKES A DAY (London, UK) “Conscious and dynamic display of lyricism that sidesteps the braggadocio of commercial hip hop”. Oh, yeah, this tremendous catchy groove will activate your hips ‘swaying movements.
7/ ‘One Day With You’ by SONNY ELLIOT (UK)
This brotherly duo designs a magical sonic rainbow, a bewitching musing. A chill out beauty that energizes your mind’s phantasy. Romantic, meditative and poetic. Top!
THE FRANKLYS – Kinky Star – Ghent, Belgium – 19 May 2018
Turn Up The Volume follows – completely legally – this 4-headed all female turbine for some time now, for all the reasons you should follow this steaming squad too. THE FRANKLYS know the art of producing raging garage grrrl hullabaloo perfectly. They know pretty damn well how to rock, how to roll, how to hit, how to roar, how to get your unsuspected mind and lazy limbs going totally berserk. These four electrical amazons come at you with tons of steamy horsepower. They hit you mercilessly, non-stop, without brakes, as you can hear on their 2017 debut longplayer ARE YOU LISTENING? A smoking powerhouse from the exploding start to the smacking finale. Have a heat check for yourself right here with one of the album’s powerful uppercuts…
Yesterday the London based engine came to play Belgium for the first time. The 40-minute set felt like a blitzkrieg eruption of nasty riffs, booming beats and clamorous punk flare-ups. A series of blistering punches landing just between your eyes and ears. Committed emotions wrapped in cast-iron bangers. All performed with confident conviction, in-your-face persuasiveness and streams of feel-good sweat. I will remember this Saturday night as the soul-saving medicine against another pointless, massive media event surrounding another sick look-how-ridiculous-rich-we-are prince/princess wedding day. God Save The Franklys! Come back soon, ladies…
British Indie quartet LUNA ROSA will release an unplugged EP this summer. Here’s
a wonderful taster of what is to come with EMPTY. A heartfelt ballad that makes you daydream instantly. A melancholic reverie that touches your soul with frontman Rory McDade‘s standout voice in the middle of a moody orchestration. Magnificent score. Capture the affecting beauty right here…
Atlanta garage squad THE COATHANGERS release a live album, simply titled LIVE,
on 1 June. It was recorded across two nights at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach, California
last November. The record is a career-spanning collection, with songs from their
2007 self-titled debut through 2017’s Parasite EP. “It’s like our anthology… our
entire career in 38 minutes,” says guitarist/vocalist Julia Kugel.
Along with the longplayer, the band will also launch some live videos from those shows. Here’s the first clip, a hot rendition of HURRICANE from 2011 LP ‘Larceny & Old Lace’…
Talking about sweaty live action! Here are some impressions
of The Coathangers hitting my hometown Ghent, Belgium last year…
