Month: December 2020

BIG BLASTS FROM THE PAST – 5 Killer Singles Turning 30 In 2021

Posted on by JL

1. You Love Us by MANIC STREET PREACHERS

Released: 7 May 1991
Score: #16 in the UK
Album: Generation Terrorists

We realised and won’t be mourned
We gonna burn your deathmask uniforms…

2. Smells Like Teen Spirit by NIRVANA

Released: May 1991
Score: #6 in the US, #7 in the UK
Album: Nevermind

Here we are now, entertain us…

3. Losing My Religion by R.E.M.

Released: 19 February 1991
Score: #4 in the US, #16 in the UK
Album: Out Of Time

That’s me in the corner
That’s me in the spot-light
Losing my religion…

4. Get The Message by ELECTRONIC (Johnny Marr & Bernard Sumner)

Released: 15 April 1991
Score: #8 in the US and the UK
Album: Electronic

I’ve counted the nights, living in sin
How can we talk? Look where we’ve been…

5. Planet Of Sound by PIXIES

Released: 28 May 1991
Album: Trompe Le Monde

And when I first touched some ground
They simply told me to leave
This ain’t the planet sound…

 

Indie Jingle Bells Compilation – ‘COMFORT AND JOY’ From Shiny Happy Records

Posted on by JL

22 December 2020

If you’re a fan of indie music and if you like the thrill of discovering new, titillating tunes than this supercalifragilisticexpialidocious compilation is what you’re looking for if you
like sonic Xmas beauties, but not the classic carols you can hear everywhere these days.

Shiny Happy Records is an Indonesia-based label that succeeded in bringing 23 cool bands from all around the world together for this festive collection with both covers and original work. Expect amplified pop jingles, starry-eyed reveries, heartwarming reveries and moony musings. A glorious voyage of discovery this is.

Eko Sutrisno, the ringleader of the label is, rightly so, very proud: “23 bands from different parts of the globe have contributed to this Xmas compilation. From Indonesia, Philippine, Japan, UK, US, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, and Germany. Hopefully, this comp can be a precious gift for you from us, Shiny Happy Records and the bands as we wish for a better life in 2021. I would like to say thank you to the groups and Madoka who made the beautiful artwork.”

Without further ado let’s go straight to
Comfort And Joy. Dim the lights, have a
seat, forget reality for a while and listen to
these sparkling indie jingle bells…


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SHINY HAPPY RECORDS: Facebook

Waiting For… GLASVEGAS

Posted on by JL

21 December 2020

Band: GLASVEGAS
Formed: Emotive Scottish indie rockers who entered the scene back in 2003.
Five years later they left an unforgettable impression on my ears with their
self-titled debut LP.

New album: GODSPEED – their fourth longplayer.
Doesn’t look the front cover familiar? You bet.
You can pre-order here.
Out: April 2021

James Allan (frontman/songwriter) about the LP’s concept:“The character basically leaves the house at the beginning of the album and starts to drive somewhere. The character’s always inside the car but there’s parts of that drive that are like a daydream, not reminiscent but the way you are when you’re out driving somewhere, your thoughts can jump from one place to
the next, and then you’ll maybe notice something that has a memory in real time.”

Here’s the lead-single Keep Me A Space. Allan about the song “I was writing that for my cousin who I grew up with who then, from the age of maybe 10 or whatever, I never really
saw again”.

GLASVEGAS: Facebook

BIG BLASTS FROM THE PAST – 5 Stellar Albums Turning 25 In 2021

Posted on by JL

These five stellar albums celebrate their 25th anniversary in 2021…

1. Everything Must Go by MANIC STREET PREACHERS (Wales)

Released: 20 May 1996 – 4th LP
The Guardian (UK) wrote: “‘Everything Must Go’ achieved the zenith of the Welshmen’s
original ambition: to conquer the mainstream with anger, art and soul.”

Stream here…

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2. Ugly Beautiful by BABYBIRD (UK)

Released: 21 October 1996 – sixth LP
The Independent wrote: “Another South Yorkshire sexual ironist to set alongside Jarvis, Babybird’s Stephen Jones delves here into clefts and crannies most people would rather
leave unprobed.”

Stream here…

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3. ‘Odelay’ by BECK (US)

Released: 18 June 1996 – fifth LP
AllMusic wrote: “Odelay is a full-fledged, full-bodied album, released on a major label bearing an intricate, meticulous production by the Dust Brothers…Like a mosaic, all the details add up to a picture greater than its parts”

Stream here…

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4. Entroducing… by DJ SHADOW (US)

Released: 16 September 1996 – debut LP
Melody Maker wrote: “The album flips hip hop inside out all over again
like a reversible glove. You need this record. You are incomplete without it.”

Stream here…

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5. Scream, Dracula, Scream! by ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT (US)

Released: 10 October 1996 – fourth LP
NME wrote: “Play it loud enough and the neighbours will complain to the fuzz
that a bunch of Hell’s Angels are having a party… Inhale this fuel. Rocket From
The Crypt are blasting. Get burned.”

Stream here…

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Striking 2020 Album Artwork – DEEP PURPLE

Posted on by JL

21 December 2020



Band: DEEP PURPLE
Active: 1968–1976, 1984–present

Album: WHOOSH! – 21st LP
Released: 7 August 2020

NME said: “‘Whoosh!’ might not sound like it was created
in 2020, but considering the last few months we’ve had,
maybe that’s a good thing.”

Stream here…

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DEEP PURPLE: Facebook

Deathgaze Duo VAZUM Wishes You A Doomed Xmas With ‘CAROL OF THE WITCH’

Posted on by JL

Daily fuel to load your batteries…

21 December 2020

Detroit’s deathgaze duo VAZUM released their 3-track Holiday EP titled Vazumnacht a couple of weeks ago. Three pitch-black reworks of Xmas songs that seem to celebrate the birth of Satan rather than Jesus‘ nativity. Not really surprising when you look back to this science-fiction like 2020.

For the Sisters of Mercy like lead-track CAROL OF THE WITCH, an interpretation of the Christmas classic Carol of the Bells redone with original lyrics in a sinister tone, the pair just launched an eye-catching video clip.

Vocalist/bassist Emily Sturm: ‘We were driving through the countryside when we came upon rolling hills with the early-rising full moon and migrating birds in the distance, and a beautiful decaying old barn and knew we had a location to shoot.’ Perfect indeed for a doom and gloom clip.

Watch here…

Stream/buy full EP here…


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VAZUM: Facebook

(photo on top received via band email)

New THE BEATLES Documentary ‘GET BACK’ Coming… Summer 2021

Posted on by JL

21 December 2020

A new Fab Four documentary titled GET BACK, directed
by The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson was planned
to premier this summer, but is now moved to the summer of
2021, due to the awful pandemic.

But today a preview clip went online introduced by Jackson
with snippets of rare Beatles footage… in the studio.

Pretty cool, folks…

THE BEATLES: Website

Fuck The Rules This Xmas With ‘NO ROOM AT THE (HOLIDAY) INN’ By THE POCKET GODS

Posted on by JL

21 December 2020

Band: THE POCKET GODS (St. Albans, UK)
Who: Cult indie rockers originally discovered by the legendary DJ John Peel. They hold
an official Guinness World Record (most tracks on an album) for their 100X30 series of albums (100 songs all 30 seconds long) which were written as a protest against lack of fair royalties for artists from streaming.

Album: NO ROOM AT THE (HOLIDAY) INN
Released: 4 December 2020

Turn Up The Volume: With song titles such as ‘Surplus Population (Ode To Boris),
‘Fuck The Rules This Christmas’, Covid Christmas, Glitter Shitter, Stop the (Covid) Cavalry (yep, their far-out version of the Jona Lowie hit) you know that biting sarcasm is the keyword. Targets: Boris Johnson, COVID-19, racist US police, Xmas and more bullshit. Imagine
John Cooper Clarke backed by a post-pop-and-pulp-punk orchestra. PLAY IT!

Full album…

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THE POCKET GODS: Facebook

10 Best Hardcore LPs Of 2020 According To STEREOGUM

Posted on by JL

21 December 2020

American Music website STEREOGUM (founded in 2002 – 320.000 followers on Facebook) has published its 2020 list of best Hardcore Albums. Here’s the deafening top 10…

1. Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress by GULCH (Wichita, Kansas)

Released: 24 July 2020
Stereogum: “There is so much happening in this wild 16-minute ride of an album. Mysterious Santa Cruz berserkers Gulch bring the icy grandeur of Mayhem, the erratic bloodthirst of Nails, the adrenalized speed of Infest, and a whole lot else.”

Yeaaaaahhhhhhh…


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2. World House by MIL-SPEC (San Jose, California)

Released: 25 September 2020
Stereogum: “The band draws inspiration from ’90s bands that combined fury with melody — Turning Point, Quicksand, Moss Icon. But Mil-Spec also have a way of taking those influences, twisting them into new shapes, and transforming them into something urgent and vital and new.”

Wham bloody bam…


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3. Ronin by ROTTING OUT (Pasadena, California)

Released: 17 April 2020
Stereogum: “The Los Angeles band that Delgado has led for a decade-plus, has a whole lot of Californian surf-punk in its sound; they’re the rare modern hardcore band who sounds as much like Pennywise as they do Madball.”

Go nuts…


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4. ’27 Miles Under Water’ by HIGHER POWER (Leeds, UK)

Released: 24 January 2020
Stereogum: “The line between populist riffage and hardcore stomp isn’t an easy one to walk, but Higher Power do it better than anyone this side of Turnstile.”

Hell this way…

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5. Cruelty Of Heaven by

Released: 21 August 2020
Stereogum: “Sometimes, when hardcore bands slow things down for the mosh pit, it feels obligatory, a clockwork part of a long-established format. When Unreal City do it, it sounds like the sky turning ash-grey before blood rains down.”

Here’s the mosh-pit…


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6. California Cursed by DRAIN

7. Black Line by RESPIRE

8. Rather Be Alone by POWER ALONE

9. Punishment Park by BIG CHEESE

10. Flesh, Steel, Victory… by SEED OF PAIN

Immortal Soul Legend MARVIN GAYE Back In OSTEND…

Posted on by JL

20 December 2020

I’m enjoying my Xmas holidays (with my wonderful wife) at the Belgian coast, in Ostend.
The historic city where the late great soul legend MARVIN GAYE lived for 18 months. He arrived on a liner from England on Valentine’s Day 1981.

Struggling with financial problems, a broken heart, drugs and alcohol he wanted to leave America and work out solutions for his problems. He went to stay with Freddy Cousaert, an Ostend hotelier and occasional manager, who offered to give him a home.

The what’s going on star regained a taste for life, no longer hanging out with the wrong crowd and put himself back together, in semi-anonymity… and he wrote Sexual Healing while being in Ostend.

Check this short, amazing footage from Gaye’s stay in Belgium…

As I had a walk a couple of hours ago I was completely surprised when I saw this advertising board/poster saying Marvin Gaye: Midnight Love Tour. Being curious, of course, I checked Ostend website. There I found what this is about: “During the walking documentary Marvin Gaye “Midnight Love Tour” you will learn everything about his comeback and how the monster hit “Sexual Healing” came about.” Cool, I know what to do tomorrow.

MARVIN GAYE: Website

(pic by Turn Up The Volume!)