Month: April 2019

Chicago’s Grit Rockers FAUX CO. Released Their Debut LP ‘RADIO SILENCE’ – Discover It Here TRACK BY TRACK…

Posted on by JL

18 April 2019

What a relief to find out there are still artists and bands out there that still care about the genuine and timeless essence of rock and pop, namely, writing irresistible and infectious tunes that make you forget, temporarily, about the strain and stress of daily life, creating passion injected songs for hungry hearts and sentimental souls, composing captivating melodies that tickle your emotions in a magnetic and mesmerizing way.

That is exactly what Chicago‘s spirited quartet FAUX CO. and its chief singer/songwriter
Ben Mackey does. Inspired by influential icons, from The Beatles to Elliot Smith, this band produces stimulating and invigorating music that makes you feel both exhilarated and stirred. They just released their affecting debut LP ‘RADIO SILENCE’. Ben Mackey will tell you more about that beauty, track by track…

Here’s the music…


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Here’s the breakdown, track-by-track …

1. PROZAC SPACEMAN
“I always thought of this one as the album opener; the way things come in gradually. This one is about getting yourself free from toxic people, [away] from ‘Prozac Spacemen‘ in the workplace.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY03EHL_b2s
The Prozac injected video clip..

2. SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT
“Definitely proud of this one in all aspects. The dirty horns turned out great. We wanted a kind of White Album feel from this one. Lyrically it’s about pursuing your art at all costs.”


The band that set several records straight…

3. THE SUN WILL COME BACK
“This is probably the only cover song we will release. We reworked it from being a Nick Gagne folk song into kind of a banger. The album has a retro vibe, [so] what could be
more retro than reworking a [someone else’s] song and making it your own?

4. OH, MOTHER NIGHT
“This one is our take on that early rock and roll feel. My favorite tracks are from that era, and this one echoes that love of early rock and roll records.”

5. GIMME SUMTHIN’
“A straight-up rocker of a track, the song is from the point of view of a frustrated beggar on the street giving people who are ignoring him the business because he is tired of people’s lack of humanity.”

6. IT’S NOTHING, REALLY
“This one is a story of apathy and coming to terms with romanticizing an ideal of someone, while the reality of that person might be more complicated. I like how all the elements blend in this one sonically.”

7. MAYBE IS A WORD
“This one started out in 3/4 but we moved it to 4/4 and I’m glad we did. My love of Elliott Smith‘s work really shows in this introspective ballad. Thematically, it’s about knowing when to take a hint.”


The late great Elliott Smith, still an inspirational force for many…

8. GET A SAY
“The end of this song is musically my favorite part of the record. This one is about not listening to Gurus more than yourself and humanity taking back its power from the makers of our dysfunctional world. Definitely the ending though, probably the most
epic (dare I say) moment on the record.”

FAUX CO.: Facebook – Bandcamp

(promo photos FAUX CO via PR agency Chicago)

PULP Released Fourth Album ‘HIS ‘N’ HERS’ 25 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

18 April 2019

Today 25 years ago, on 18 April 1994 stylish popsters PULP from Sheffield released their 4th LP called HIS ‘N’ HERS. The album put the band and its lively frontman and sharply observing songwriter Jarvis Cocker on the ‘we are famous‘ map. It peaked at #9 in the UK albums chart.

BBC Music wrote: “Pulp’s breakthrough album some 16 years into their existence. It finally gave them a taste of success as well as introducing Jarvis Cocker to the general public, just as Britpop – Parklife was released the week after, and Oasis were readying their second single – came along as a then-refreshing shot-in the-arm.”

Turn Up The Volume‘s favorite tracks…

– BABIES –

– DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME? –

– HAVE YOU SEEN HER LATELY? –
(Live rendition – Glastonbury 1994)

PULP: Facebook – All Albums

FAT WHITE FAMILY Shares Another Cut/Clip From Their New LP – Here’s Chill Out Groove ‘WHEN I LEAVE’…

Posted on by JL

Brand new sonic impulses…

South-London‘s infamous desperados FAT WHITE FAMILY will release their new, third, album SERFS UP! tomorrow. For the impatient family freaks here’s, ahead of it, another new track after dropping lead single Feet  and the red-blooded follow-up Tastes Good With The Money earlier on. Chill out groove WHEN I LEAVE will lead you the woods, to the FWF’s headquarters. Here we go…

FAT WHITE FAMILY: Facebook


New album SERFS UP! out 19 April – pre-order facilities here

Collaborative Magic Act SPIRITS HAVING FUN Scores With Impressive Debut Track ‘ELECTRICITY EXPLORER’…

Posted on by JL

Daily fuel to load your sonic batteries…

18 April 2019

Band: SPIRITS HAVING FUN – debut single from upcoming debut LP

Who: A fresh, inventive act out of Chicago and New York. ‘Coming from such eclectic backgrounds as jazz and composition, ska and punk, folk and synthpop, the members of
Spirits Having Fun (Katie McShane, Jesse Heasly, Andrew Clinkman, and Phil Sudderberg)
are at home with improvisation, but only/especially because of their affinity for each other, musically. ‘Collaborative magic’ they call it. ‘

Track: ELECTRICITY EXPLORER – first single from upcoming debut LP

Score Triggered obviously by the free spirit of prog & jazz rock and their own capricious minds this adventurous team of exploring musicians catches your sonic attention from
the get-go as they turn an exciting blend of wayward riffs, bouncy licks, trippy percussion and far-out vocals into something infectiously kooky that will activate every nerve of your agitated body. Weird, inventive, highly entertaining and big fun! And they take care about your visual needs too. Open your eyes, focus, have a lemon and listen/watch right here…

SPIRITS HAVING FUN: Facebook


Four spirits preparing themselves to have fun…


Debut album AUTO-PORTRAIT out – cassette and digital album – on 28 June. All info here

25 Years Ago NICK CAVE And THE BAD SEEDS Released 8Th Album ‘LET LOVE IN’…

Posted on by JL

18 April 2019

NICK CAVE and his BAD SEEDS released their eighth LP LET LOVE IN today 25 years ago, on 18 April 1994.. One of their most affecting works ever, where doom and passion go hand in hand. A truly puzzling album that leaves you behind with mixed emotions. Weirdly enough it wasn’t really a bestseller. Only 50.000 copies sold in the UK and 60.000 in the US.

Here are Turn Up The Volume‘s selected highlights…

– DO YOU LOVE ME –

– RED RIGHT HAND –

– LOVERMAN –

– NOBODY’S BABY NOW –

Album in full…

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NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS: Facebook – Website

Electrifying Duo COWGIRL Will Dance In Your Head With New Earworm ‘DIFFERENT WAYS’…

Posted on by JL

Daily fuel to load your sonic batteries…

17 April 2019

Band: COWGIRL

Who: The soul child of Danny Trew Barton & Sam Coates. Starting as a bedroom project taken to the studio in 2018. Both hail from York, England. After a revolving back line of musicians, they hit Greenmount Studios in Leeds late last year to lay down some tunes…”

Track: DIFFERENT WAYS – third single via Desert Mine Music

Score: A honey-sweet electrifying humdinger that sticks directly. Imagine The Jesus & Mary Chain and Teenage Fanclub deciding to do together what both did separately throughout their careers: making infectious pop earworms embedded in guitar drenched melodies that float around in your head all day long after one spin. ‘Different Ways’ has that same unadulterated, catchy feel-good timbre. You can sing along, hum along or whistle along…

COWGIRL: Facebook

HISTORY – 17 April 1989 – PIXIES Release Second LP ‘DOOLITTLE’ 30 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

17 April 2019

PIXIES, the band who changed noise rock in a way that it actually became part of the left side of the mainstream, released their second and one of their best LPs DOOLITTLE today 30 years ago, on 17 April 1989. Six years later (1995) the record certified gold in America (see, I just told you, left-side of the mainstream) thanks partly, IMO, to its accessible singles.

Rolling Stone wrote: “Another frightening, compelling whirlwind. Francis is at all times in command of the album, quietly stringing us along before turning on us and screaming for attention. It’s about time everyone started taking notice.”

Three of Turn Up The Volume‘s favorite tracks…

– DEBASER –

– HERE COMES YOUR MAN –

– WAVE OF MUTILATION –
(Live version – all looking so young!)

Album in full…

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PIXIES: Facebook

THE DREAM SYNDICATE Drops Another Bang-Up Cut From New Album – Here’s ‘THE WAY IN’…

Posted on by JL

Brand new sonic impulses…

Los Angeles‘ psych rockers THE DREAM SYNDICATE just dropped another rad
cracker from their first new album in 7 years. After groovy lead single Black Light
and catching steamroller Put Some Miles On here’s another electrifying cut. Catch
THE WAY IN right here..

DREAM SYNDICATE: Facebook – Tour Dates


THESE TIMES – New album out 5 May via ANTI-

Space Rockers EYEBALL Love Sonic Nightmares – Here’s Their Latest One ‘CRAWLING CREATURES’…

Posted on by JL

16 April 2019

EYEBALL is a collective of beings from Raleigh, North Carolina “who combine their music with effects, noise, and feedback to venture beyond the astral realm of psychedelic neo-space rock. “ Latest single CRAWLING CREATURES will tell all you about their disturbed appetite for scary sonic nightmares.

And then the crawling creatures, paralyzed
Victims of lights illusion, from the sky
Return into the nothing, from far away
All burn in flaming madness, find demise in the light

Expect some mental weirdness balancing between eternal icons Hawkind and the early trips of eccentric sound explorers Flaming Lips. Spooky, otherworldly, enigmatic and deranged. Release the bats here…


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EYEBALL: Facebook