Month: April 2021

Young Welsh Gunslingers BANDICOOT Hit The Rock ‘N Roll Bullseye Again With New Single ‘FUZZY’

Posted on by JL

9 April 2021

Band: BANDICOOT (South-Wales)
Who: A Welsh 4-piece reclaiming for a new generation the poetry of
Dylan, the stark beauty and unhinged Rock and Roll of mid-70s John Cale,
and Badfinger’s melancholic timeless songcraft. Their sound flows like post-
industrial blues through Swansea’s rain-soaked concrete streets.

Pick: FUZZY – brand new (second); single

About: “A deranged attempt at seduction which draws on 70s ‘Top of the Pops’,
glam rock and memories of misguided adolescence.”

Score: Two months after this crazed Welsh quartet scored big time with their
rollicking debut jackhammer Dark Too Long they confirm with convincing verve
and punchy puissance that they mean business and came here to stay. New flashy
glam powerstroke FUZZY rattles and rolls, shakes and swings and rushes and buzzes.

Too bad that all those legendary British music shows like Top Of The Pops, Ready Steady Go and The Old Grey Whistle Test disappeared when the video clips, pushed by MTV, became the new way to promote music, if not Bandicoot had made their growing fanbase go loco on that good old TV set.

Let’s rock…

BANDICOOT: Facebook


(Photo credit: @BethanMillerco)

The 5 Best Moments (So Far) Of Hilarious Lockdown Stars TOYAH And ROBERT

Posted on by JL

9 April 2021

Countless artists (and many will follow in the near future, I guess) went on to cover
their favorite songs of their favorite artists, at home, to kill the time and keeping in
touch with their fans during these awful freedom-and-tour-limiting lockdown and quarantine times (OMG, already more than a year now).

The indisputable cover stars are TOYAH WILLCOX (8 top 40 hits and over
more than 20 LPs) and her husband ROBERT FRIPP (best known as a pivotal
member of legendary prog-rock band King Crimson).

A year ago they started their weekly Sunday Lunch cover sessions.

Toyah told NME: “Here I am in this house with this 74-year-old husband who I really
don’t want to live without. He was withdrawing, so I thought: ‘I’m going to teach him to
dance.’ And it became a challenge. I do the lighting, the filming, the conceptual side and
the persuading Robert to take part.”

What we got/get every week is just brilliant. Musical comedy at its hilarious best with Robert mostly, while playing guitar, looking at his utterly cool and most inventive wife
while she changes crazy outfits every week and screams her lungs out. Thousands
and thousands of people – including me – laugh their socks off every single Sunday
they hit YouTube.

As the show is now going on for about a year Turn Up The Volume selected his
5 favorite performances starting with their insanely amusing little dance to
the Swan Lake Theme. Here we go again… (l)aughing (o)ut (l)oud!

– SWAN LAKE –

– PARANOID – Black Sabbath

– ANARCHY IN THE UK – Sex Pistols

– GIMME ALL YOUR LOVIN’ – ZZ Top

– BLACK DOG – Led Zeppelin

Keep on rockin’ in the free world, Toyah & Robert. You’re the best!

LOU BARLOW Finally Home – New LP In May And Hear Lead-Single ‘OVER YOU’

Posted on by JL

New sonic impulses…


(Photo credit: Adelle Barlow)

Lou Barlow was/is very productive these past years.

A new Sebadoh
album Act Surprised (2019), six years after the previous LP.
And recently he returned to Dinosaur Jr., the band he co-founded
in 1984. Their new LP Sweep It Into Space sees the day of light
on 23rd April.

But his songwriting hunger isn’t satisfied yet.
A solo album called Reason To Live lands on 28 May.
Pre-order info here.

“This album is me really opening up, and the album follows that through
its many different themes. Some of my other work could be almost claustrophobic
in its insistence on being all tied together but there’s space for people to live inside
these songs. People have this vision of me as this heartbroken, depressed guy, but
this record feels so true to who I am, to this rich life I now have full of people I love.
The songs culminated over the last five years to show that music has returned to its
central comforting role in my life. Now I’m home.” says Barlow.

Lead-single OVER YOU is a short ode to the golden state California
were he lived for 17 years, including 6 years with his beloved wife.

A sweet nostalgic daydream.
Enjoy here..

LOU BARLOW: Facebook

Artwork new album REASON TO LIVE – out 28 May

Coming Soon… Brand New BLOODY Punk HEAD Album

Posted on by JL

New albums to look out for…

8 April 2021

Band: BLOODY HEAD
Who: Rebels producing broken (brain/dick/mind) blues and
battling against things (mind/body/spirit) going very wrong.
Home: Nottingham, UK

Album: THE TEMPLE PILLARS DISSOLVE INTO THE CLOUDS
(talking about a striking LP title … and striking artwork!)
Out: 21 May via Hominid Sounds. Order info here.

Turn Up The Volume says: For these loudmouthed in-your-face outlaws
punk is a religion and they are devilishly obsessed apostles. They trash and
smash all evil sinners. They make your neighbours move house. They generate
deafening pleasure for your pierced ears, for your fucked-up soul & your angry
heart. No arty farty BS. No special effects. These punk junks will save you!

Hallelujah. May Satan bless them!

Be ready for the lead-single
Homeopathic Mountains…


.
HOMINID SOUNDS: Bandcamp

Smells Like DU BLONDE Spirit – ‘HOMECOMING’ Is A Chill-Out Pop Triumph

Posted on by JL

8 April 2021

Artist: DU BLONDE (Newcastle Up Tyne, UK)
Who: All-round, outspoken, eccentric and utterly
cool British artist – real name Beth Jeans Houghton.

Album: HOMECOMING
Her third LP – order info here
Released: 2 April 2021

NME says: “The grunge-pop guitar don is throwing a hell of a party, with
Ezra Furman and Shirley Manson on the guestlist – and you’re absolutely
invited too.Du Blonde’s throwing a party. You’re on the guestlist, along with
her norm-busting indie-punk compadre Ezra Furman (on the thunderous
‘I’m Glad That We Broke Up’) and fellow ultra-badass Shirley Manson of
Garbage (on Pixies-got-good-again belter ‘Medicated’).”
Full review here. Score: 4/5.

Turn Up The Volume says: I read here and there that ‘Homecoming‘ is a pure party LP.
To my hungry ears, it’s more like the ideal warm-up record when driving to a party and
an ideal chill-out LP when driving home in the morning after the party is over. Mind you, Du Blonde rocks, moves, and grooves with tons of feminist flair and peppery panache.

But most of the 10 emotive earworms – a couple of spins and you sing along, hum
along and whistle along – float between moony melancholia (closer ‘Take Me Way‘ is a
most gripping and soul-stirring ballad) and personal, bad-ass reflections, all embedded
in both bang-on and shadowy glam tunes. This is a record Blondie never made.

Hail hail Du Blonde! The triumphant queer/trans queen of pop!

Singles/clips: I’m Glad That We Broke Up / Medicated

– I’M GLAD THAT WE BROKE UP –
(With Ezra Furman)

– MEDICATED –
(With NME’s Godlike genius Shirley Manson)

Stream/buy Homecoming here…


.
DU BLONDE: Facebook

10-Year-Old Sensation NANDI BUSHELL Covers PIXIES – And It’s Awesome!

Posted on by JL

8 April 2021

Boston’s 10-year-old NANDI BUSHELL is a young, confident
and gifted musician who challenged Dave Grohl last year for a
drum contest, which actually happened. Check it out here. She
also went viral on YouTube with covers of Metallica and Rage
Against The Machine.

She’s a big fan of legendary noise rock band Pixies, and
shows it by covering their 1988 cracker Where’s My Mind.

The result is just brilliant. Nandi sounds cool, looks cool, and
moves cool. A Star Is Born!

“I was listening to Bellyache by Billie Ellish and the chorus reminded
me of the Pixies song ‘Where Is My Mind?. They are both awesome songs.”
said the teenager. She got the thumbs up from Pixies mastermind and
frontman Black Francis.

Turn it up, Nandi…

NANDI BUSHELL: Facebook