Month: December 2020

Shoegaze Sensuality From Spain – Discover ‘FANATSIA MORAL’ By UNIFORMS

Posted on by JL

24 December 2020

Band: UNIFORMS
Who: A band formed in 2017, in Andalusia, Spain. They share their
fondness for noise, shoegaze, psychedelia, garage and rock in general.

Album: FANTASIA MORAL
Released: 20 September 2020

Keywords: Layers of ghostly guitar electricity / Moral fantasies / Cinematic sound-waves / Romantic wanderings / Sensual shoegaze vibrations / Whispering voices in the sky

The lead-single: Semana Satán…

Stream/buy full album here…


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UNIFORMS: Facebook

We Don’t Need You – ‘SANTA STAY HOME’ By U.S. GIRLS Feat. RICH MOREL

Posted on by JL

24 December 2020

U.S. GIRLS scored big time with their seventh album called Heavy Light
this year. Pitchfork said euphorically: “Another vivid and highly affecting
album of experimental pop music.”

But the Toronto ladies led by Meghan Remy are not really fond of that
Ho Ho Ho man dressed in red, with his messy beard, who comes around
every single year in December.

“When one stops to really think about it, Santa is creepy
and Christmas makes no damn sense.” says Remy

Go home, Santa…

Santa, stay home
This is not a test
Not a test
Santa, stay home
Santa, stay home
Get to know yourself
Know yourself
I can’t have you coming in my house, no
I don’t know what you’re all about
Gently push it, push it more, oh, oh
It’s like the news don’t reach the North Pole
Year after year
Nice and naughty, shock the planet to tears
Life is the gift
Presents don’t, presents don’t mean shit


Where is he?…

(cover new album Heavy Light)

NEVER FORGET!

Posted on by JL

Unfortunately, after all these years we still have to repeat this over and over again. When will intolerant and racist people learn that black lives matter, that black humans matter, that black hearts and souls matter.

Humankind will destroy it selves when it keeps on ignoring equality, tolerance, respect for one another, regardless color, religion or sexual nature. What makes people think they’re superior to others? No reason whatsoever justifies discrimination. No reason whatsoever justifies supremacy, no reason whatsoever justifies dominance. So…

NEVER FORGET!

The 20 Albums That Saved TURN UP THE VOLUME In This Surreal 2020 Year

Posted on by JL

1. Bejahung by ELEFANT (Belgium)

Released: 24 January 2020
TUTV: Soundtastic explorations, making me think of longtime weirdos The Residents. The Belgian – we do what we like – crusaders have entered another cutting-edge space with layers of special effects, some steamy knockouts, some puzzling razzmatazz, a cappella surprises and an overall arresting Sturm Und Drang sonority. The 2020 winner!

Stream/buy here…


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2. Bedroom by bdrmm (Hull, UK)

Released: 3 July 2020
TUTV: Talking about a flabbergasting debut. Believe the hype NME started: “It’s a gripping modern-day shoegaze classic.” Totally spot-on. Dream-stimulating, romantic, blue-sky and yes, angelic. Stroke of genius. Bingo!

Stream/buy here…

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3. Hot Slick by PINS (Manchester, UK)

Released: 29 May 2020
TUTV: Lockdown blues? Turn your living room into a cozy discotheque with Xmas lights and dance, sway, twirl, shake and sweat like it’s 1999 all over again. Party record of the year. Hot stuff with bad girls!

Stream/buy here…


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4. Deap Lips by DEAP LIPS (California/Oklahoma)

Released: 13 March 2020
TUTV: When the blues-punk-rock Amazons of Deap Vally and the surreal fairy tale daydreamers of The Flaming Lips join forces… motherfuckers got to go. Jump on your Yamaha, let your hair blow in the wind and imagine that you’re an Easy Rider.


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5. Under The Spell Of Joy by DEATH VALLEY GIRLS

Released: 2 October 2020
TUTV: Without a shadow of a doubt the best DVG album (so far). A joyful choir, 60s organs, a line-up of addictive tunes, garage rock thrills, sultry sax salvos and Bonnie Bloomgarden leading the troops as usual. Hold her hand and she’ll make you swing on cloud nine.

Stream/buy here…


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6. Every Bad by PORRIDGE RADIO (Brighton, UK)

Released: 13 March 2020
TUTV: This quartet rolls from amplified pop to post-punk and back, with ardent passion, anarchic and sweet, chaotic and intense, zealous and plainspoken with frontwoman and future indie star Dana Margolin as the driving force.

Stream here…

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7. A Hero’s Death by FONTAINES D.C. (Ireland)

Released: 31 July 2020
TUTV: Reflections on daily life embedded in spine-tingling post-punk jams. A loud and clear confirmation of what they achieved on their awesome debut LP. Another bold accomplishment! These Irish heros are here to stay! Life is not always empty, indeed!.

Stream/buy here…


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8. Atlas Vending by METZ (Canada)

Released: 9 October 2020
TUTV: A thunderous tsunami of jaw-dropping sledgehammers. Apocalyptic guitars and battering drum attacks while Alex Edkins yowling vocal-chords challenge the Richter scale
of madness. Explosive tour de force! Fasten your seatbelt.

Stream/buy here…


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9. Dances/Curses by HEY COLOSSUS (UK)

Released: 6 November 2020
TUTV: Never ever a dull moment with these post-punk-tastic groove machine. They master the art of wrapping sickly sticky tunes in a wall-of-bang-up sound. Tons of riveting hooks, never-ending riffs and mind-bending licks. Shake your booty to the blistering beats!

Stream/buy here…


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10. The Doctrine Of Infinite Kindness by THE MIGHTY ORCHID KING (UK)

Released: 26 June 2020 – debut LP
TUTV: An existential, bizarro piece of psychedelic work. Otherworldly, metaphysical, mind-boggling and rainbow-colored. Lose yourself in these zealots’ nature-caring stratosphere. Go outside and hug a tree.


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11. The New Abnormal by THE STROKES (New York)

Released: 20 April 2020 – their sixth LP
TUTV: A terrific longplayer with several moody and melancholic moments. Most tracks sound like introspective meditations. Wholehearted, spellbinding and captivating with Julian Casablancas‘s characteristic voice yearning in the middle. One of their best achievements. This is it!

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12. Sun Racket by THROWING MUSES (California)

Released: 4 September 2020
TUTV: Leading lady Kristin Hersh is still as driven and ambitious as she was about 30 years ago when she and her stepsister Tanya Donelly formed the Muses. A solid gold return!

Stream/buy here…

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13. Self-Surgery by MRS PISS (US)

Released: 29 May 2020
TUTV: Bloodcurdling shrieks / Firework in hell / Schizophrenic underground hysteria / Mind-crushing eruptions / Sisters of darkness in crime / Bone-chilling frenzy and dark waves.

HAVE FUN!

Stream/buy here…


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14. Division by VIOLENT VICKIE (Long Beach, Califonia)

Released: 4 September 2020
TUTV: Influenced by Goth, electro-punk and industrial greats such as Crystal Castles, Adult., Siouxsie and the Banshees, and one of Atari Teenage Riot‘s former, awesome voices Hanin Elias Californian Vickie made a be-witch-ing twilight record for illegal graveyard parties. Electro-swart, psyche-petrifying and Chelsea Wolfe-esque. She actives your serotonin’s stream with shadowy stimuli and droning doom and gloom beats. Midnight hour kicks!

Stream/buy here…


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15. Rough And Rowdy Ways by BOB DYLAN (US)

Released: 19 June 2020
TUTV: My all-time favorite singer/songwriter. Say no more.

Stream here…

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16. Fall To Pieces by TRICKY (UK)

17. Ultra Mono by IDLES (UK)

18. England Is A Garden by CORNERSHOP (UK)

19. American Head by THE FLAMING LIPS (Oklahoma)

20. Imploding The Mirage by THE KILLERS (US)

Have a safe and cozy Xmas and a splendid and healthy 2021, music junkies!

BIG BLASTS FROM THE PAST – 5 Masterpiece Longplayers Turning 30 In 2021

Posted on by JL

These masterpieces celebrate their 30th anniversary in 2021…

1. The Real Ramona by THROWING MUSES

Released: 18 February 1991 – fourth LP
AllMusic wrote: “‘The Real Ramona’ marked the perfect balance of Throwing Muses’ angular songwriting and latent pop tendencies… Their final album as a quartet, it highlights the best points of the group’s sound, making it a great starting point for new Throwing Muses fans.”

Stream here…

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2. Achtung Baby by U2



Released: 18 November 1991 – seventh LP
Pitchfork says: “U2 changed their sound from chiming melodics to lurching, distorted rhythm. But they also changed their attitude, their demeanor, their look, their ideas on how to deal with celebrity. All of a sudden, they were funny, sexy, a bit dangerous– three things few would’ve associated with U2 in the 80s.”

Stream here…

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3. Nevermind by NIRVANA

Released: 24 September 1991 – second LP
Rolling Stone said: “Nirvana’s undistinguished 1989 debut, Bleach, relied on warmed-over Seventies metal riffs, but the thrashing Nevermind boasts an adrenalized pop heart and incomparably superior material, captured with roaring clarity by coproducer Butch Vig.”

Stream here…

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4. Screamadelica by PRIMAL SCREAM

Released: 23 September 1991 – third LP
NME said: ” ‘Screamadelica’ is one of this era’s most beautiful, far-reaching pieces of musical adventure; a dreamy, occasionally spooked vision of life on the pop frontier, sustained by club culture and brain-wacky chemicals and many kinds of spirit-rousing music.”

Stream here…

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5. Out Of Time by R.E.M.

Released: 12 March 1991 – seventh LP
Rolling Stone wrote: “Out of Time moves this unconventional band another step forward.
A discernible connection to past records remains, but it is not constricting. The point is that R.E.M. has done it again: defied and fulfilled the conflicting expectation of a broad, mainstream audience and a smaller, more demanding cult.”

Stream here…

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IGGY POP Comes Up With A Fitting New Groover ‘DIRTY LITTLE VIRUS’

Posted on by JL

Daily electricity to load your batteries…

23 December 2020

The imperishable icon of punk IGGY POP has a new single out about that awful corona devil called DIRTY LITTLE VIRUS. He co-wrote it with famous trumpeter Leron Thomas.

It’s a haunting groove and semi-ballad with Pop‘s familiar, strong voice
upfront and a jazzy trumpet solo jumping in around the 2-minute mark.

Nice one, guys…


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And in this video Pop tells what he wanted to achieve with the song…

IGGY POP: Facebook

Turn Up The Volume’s 20 KNOCKOUT TRACKS Of 2020 – Simply The Best!

Posted on by JL

22 December 2020

I love the smell of rock and roll.
Here come Turn Up The Volume’s
20 Knockout Tracks of 2020.
Nothing but the best! Hands down!

1. ‘State Of The Union’ by PUBLIC ENEMY (Long Island, New York)
Time to get up and leave the White House, Donald Dumped. You split the USA right down the middle, you’re a disgrace for America, for humanity and the whole wide world. GO!

From brill album: What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?

Unprecedented, demented, many president’d / Nazi Gestapo dictator defended / State of the Union, shut the fuck up / Sorry ass motherfucker / Stay away from me / State of the Union,
shut the fuck up…

2. ‘Ultra Plus Ultra’ by ELEFANT (Belgium)
The Belgian sound-exploring motherrockers unleashed their second stupefying album Behajung  early this year with Ultra Plus Ultra‘ as one of the dazzling highlights.
A schizophrenic sonic blast with balls. Abso-fucking-lutely cool! VREE WIJS! You betcha!

3. ‘Hot Slick’ by PINS (Manchester, UK)
A hot stuff disco stomper that should be played in all discotheques around the globe,
from one of the coolest gangs on the planet. Bad girls forever. Title track from their swirling party album. Saturday night pins fever all the way!

4. ‘Under The Spell Of Joy’ by DEATH VALLEY GIRLS (Los Angeles)
Sickly sticky like first-class glue. With an angelic choir, feet-tapping drum beats, sweaty
sax flames and a mental finale. Yes, it’s Death Valley Girls en-joy-ing themselves in a new sonic zone. Don’t resist the spell! From the rad, same titled full length.

5. ‘I Found Out’ by OFFWORLD (UK)
Hard-Fi‘s frontman Richard Archer and imposing vox Krysten Cummings realized a high-powered tour de force. An epic heart and soul explosion! TOP! Waiting for the album!

6. ‘Never Ever Ever’ by BOA Vs COBRA (Belgium)
Don’t mess with charismatic frontwoman Sandy Fee who rants unambiguously about a toxic relationship from the very start when ‘Bad bad bad boy‘ bursts out of your speakers. The decibels turn up when the ablaze chorus kicks in. Stunning uppercut!

7. ‘American Dream’ by TOKYO TABOO (London, UK)
A steamy stunner with an explosive in-your-orange-face-intro, kick-starting this
clamorous jackhammer instantly with a titanic wall-of-blazing-riff hurly-burly and deafening percussion slams. YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!

Hey Mr President
You’re just a joke
Kids dodging bullets
World’s up in smoke

8. ‘Sweet’ by PORRIDGE RADIO (UK)
A towering loudQUIETloud haymaker with Margolin‘s repeating magnetically ‘I’m charming, I’m sweet and she will love me when she meets me‘. Emotive belter from the band’s excellent album Every Bad. Porridge Radio is on its way to world domination! Capeesh??

9. ‘Mr. Motivator’ by IDLES (Bristol, UK)
A riff-roaring ripper made to start crowded moshpits at gigs (for now you need to pirouette yourself bananas at home). A red-hot-blooded corker that does your head in. Hells Bells! Album: Ultra Mono.

10. ‘A Hero’s Death’ by FONTAINES D.C. (Ireland)
‘Life isn’t always empty ‘ states frontman Grian Chatten in his characteristic parlando
flow while the band grooves non-stop. Album: A Hero’s Death.

11. ‘Dark Blue’ by THROWING MUSES (California)
A firm banger driven by a solid beat with a pounding guitar groove, Kristin Hersh‘s characteristic sensual voice, and a catchy polyphonic chorus. Throwing Muses rocks!
From the band’s highly acclaimed longplayer Sun Racket…

12. ‘The Rise And Fall Of America’ by THE MOODS (Manchester, UK)
A crystal clear stream of cutting lines as sharp as a brand-new Swiss knife. It’s The Moods‘ towering take on the bombastic American National Anthem. They rock, roar and rage. The Moods kick ass! Go home Donald Duck Trumpet!

13. Psychopath’s Monologue by THE CHRONICLES OF MANIMAL AND SAMARA
A 2020 Apocalypse Now Odyssey. It all starts enigmatically with Samara reciting her Dante’s Inferno inspired poem in a haunting foreplay tone until Manimal shows up and all metallic hell breaks loose. Learn more about this year’s most intriguing act in their interview with Turn Up The Volume right here.

14. ‘Paycheck’ by LEG PUPPY
A dizzy disco-ball drone making you jump up and down like a kangaroo on E. It goes bang, bang, bang, and bang with crazy duet vocals all over it and that psych-o-delic surf guitar riff that messes up your mind the way you like it. Dance floor blast. PAY THEM!

15. ‘A Reason To Celebrate’ by bdrmm (Hull, UK)
Delightful shoegaze rainbow. Like a nightingale symphony waking you up in the morning. From – yes, ladies and gents – the best debut LP of the year with Bedroom.

16. ‘Out Of The Shadows’ by GREAT HARE (Sweden)
From the stimulating intro on you’ll tap your feet, without even noticing it. This is the wake-up-call I want to hear when I can’t get out of my bed in the morning. You simply can’t resist this shot of adrenaline. This is what elevating pop is all about.


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17. ‘Man Of Chaos’ by FLIGHT ATTENDANT (Nashville, US)
A feverish cracker and jaw-dropping power slam. The sensual, magnetic, and spellbinding vocals create a sort of delirious trance. And when, unexpectedly, bouncy strings kick in as a harbinger for a vibrant finish you’ll reach a sonic orgasm.

18. ‘Rainbow Records’ by OCEANOGRAPHY (Oakland, CA)
Glorious guitar pop stonker getting your aural attention from the get-go with a repetitive riff sticking immediately. Inflammable passion, scintillating ardency, and vehement fervor. Big tune, big sentiments and a big voice reminding me of Greg Dulli‘s imposing vocals at times.


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19. ‘Maggot Line’ by THE BATTERY FARM (Manchester, UK)
“We all gonna die and it’s our fault.” This is not just a punk slogan. It’s the fucking truth. Middle-finger to all those buffoons who ignore global warming, corona and The Battery Farm. NO MERCY!

20. ‘No Rock Save In Roll’ by CORNERSHOP (UK)
A rattling Stones-esque garage rocker with an unstoppable groove that makes you
want to jump in the street and have a sweet little dance (with mouth mask on).

All together on Spotify…

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