The best of the past month…

Turn Up The Volume‘s 15 Knockout Tracks for March 2021!
A fervid fusion of rhapsodic rippers and clashing crackerjacks.

‘High Horse’ by DEAP VALLY (LA, California)
When the utterly cool Deap Vally queen cats invite their friends you may expect firework like this blues-rock steamer featuring KT Tunstall & Peaches. Stream/buy the full stellar Digital Dream EP here.

‘Stay’ by ONISM E (New York)
A soul-stirring and electrifying top track – from one of, yes, the best albums of 2021 –
by this rad emo-striking NY-based outfit. Stream/buy ‘Survivors’ LP here.

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‘White Elephant’ by NICK CAVE & WARREN ELLIS (Australia)
What can I say? Cave & Ellis made a brilliant longplayer called Carnage and
White Elephant is its most impressive piece (to my ears). Mind-boggling.

‘Not To’ by WOLF VAN WYMEERSCH (Belgium)
Melancholia at its starry-eyed synth-pop best. Here’s a romantic at heart, going solo, who’s sanely obsessed with creating music, playing music, and enjoying music, if possible all at the same time. Damon Albarn‘s moody side comes to mind.

‘Five Finger Exploding Heart Technique’ by OK COOL (Chicago, US)
A sonic shot of riot grrrl guitar-pop that has an instant impact on your body activity. You just want to go out and scoot in the street, feel ecstatic, and hear your heart beat madly. These are 130 thrilling seconds you want to relive over and over again.

‘I Want Noise’ by LOBSTERBOMB (Berlin)
What you get here is Bikini Kill‘s raw outcries, L7‘s detonating gusto, B-52‘s rock lobster’s liveliness and catchy aaah-aaahh-aaaah chants. A boosting injection of Riot Grrrl adrenalin. A punk-fun knockout.

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‘Hail Satan’ by PINK ROOM (Belgium)
A merciless haymaker, a scrappy Molotov cocktail banging from start to finish
like a brutal sledgehammer. The mean Pink machine honors their best friend.
From their brand new, ace album Putain Royale.

‘One + One’ by DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 (Canada)
With Is 4 Lovers the Canadian champions of drone noise rock made one of their best
full-lengths (so far). And the lead-single ‘1 + 1’ feels like a bulldozer coming at you.

‘Crank Bugs’ by RADIO SILENCE (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
Blustery guitars all over the place, manic drum hits, and combative Richard Hell vocals. 2021 is the new Orwellian 1984. From their red-hot-blooded debut EP ISOLATION.

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‘Cimmerian’ by SLAP RASH (Manchester, UK)
After an ominous word-spoken intro this industrial hammer blow explodes like
a raging volcano and singer Amelia starts her enigmatic and nightmarish rant
about obscene abuse. Insane masterstroke with a hell-raising shock-chorus.

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‘Living In Dystopia’ by CRUX (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK)
Crux translate their justified discontent, about our messed-up world, in this razor-sharp-cutting-power-stroke with pounding punch. A bludgeoning Royal Blood groove is the firm backbone throughout this stormy stunner. Wham bloody wham bam.

‘Hunted From Below’ by EMPTY HEAD (Belgium)
Sonic madness, mind-crushing paranoia, and muscled tumult all rolled into one bad motherrocker of an electro-shock wallop. You can smell the scent of scorching punk frenzy. Nasty, filthy and vicious! Totally insane!

‘Electric Yerevan’ by SERJ TANKIAN (LA, California)
System Of A Down loudmouth Taikan rocks like hell, sings like hell and raps like hell. What
a titanic voice! Fuck SOAD, welcome Serj. From his fresh smelling solo EP Elasticity.

‘Hourglass’ by GLASS VIOLET (Bristol, UK)
Multiple waves of blistering guitars infiltrate your greedy ears, while a persistent drumbeat activates your feet and makes your head spin. When the flamboyant chorus pops up with a fervent flair à la The Killers you know and you feel that Hourglass is amplified top pop bliss with a dark lyrical twist.

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‘Unspoken’ by ANNIE TAYLOR (Switzerland)
A troubled love reverie with a sorrowful touch. Heartbreaking romanticism at its balladesque best, notable for its vocal splendour and silver-toned resonance.
A sweet little pearl.

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All 15 together on Spotify…

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See/hear you next month, music junkies…