31 August 2021
British roll over and lay down rockers Status Quo made a living out of playing countless variations of The Doors‘ sultry sledgehammer Roadhouse Blues from their 1970 album Morrison Hotel.
Of course the Quo recorded the blues rock classic themselves and played it live for about a zillion years, like here on their farewell concert – before a temporary break – in 1984.
Let your hair hang down…
R.I.P. Rick Parfitt
31 August 2021
Artist: SHAUN RYDER
Who: Madchester hero(ine). Happy Mondays and Black Grape frontman.
Guest vocalist on countless collaborations. TV celebrity with several books
out.
New album: VISITS FROM FUTURE TECHNOLOGY
Info: Ryder‘s personal manager and legendary Creation Records mastermind
Alan McGee found enough songs recorded back around 2010 in hot Los Angeles
to fabricate a solo Shaun Ryder album, who probably has no idea he has ever
been in L.A.
Louder Than War says: “Shaun is no stranger to the continuous, endless cyclical twists
and turns of the industry conveyor belt and all that comes with its ebbs and flows, its ups
and downs, its peaks and pits. ”Someone is given a fresh start, and six months later, they’re repeating the exact same thing through bad habits, or whatever, or robbing, or whatever.
So it’s sort of all that shit going on. Personally giving a dig at someone”.
Full review here. Score: 9/10.
Turn Up The Volume: Want to be a rock star? Order Shaun‘s new book and learn. He knows all about it. Ahead of it, welcome the intoxicating teacher back from never being away. And? This guy is genuine. No boring birds and bees for the Manc man, no arty farty shit either. What you see and hear is what you get from this eternal desperado. And there’s enough sassy stuff to fill dance floors with.
Electro pop, fervid funk, hip and hop, trippy acid house, sweaty swagger, but also some unexpected soulful moodiness (Monster / Crazy Bitches / Turn Off The Air). After a couple of spins it feels like the dope expert accomplished one of his best works ever. He’ll twist your melons, once again. FACT! Bob’s your uncle, folks. Hallelujah!
Singles/clips: Pop Star’s Daughters / Close The Dam…
– POP STAR’S DAUGHTERS –
– CLOSE THE DAM –
Full album right this way…
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SHAUN RYDER: Facebook
VISITS OF FUTURE TECHNOLOGY out now – order info here
31 August 2021
Artist: PATTI SMITH
Active: Since 1967 / 11 studio albums
New EP: LIVE AT ELECTRIC LADY
Living legend Patti Smith has a live EP out as part of Spotify and Electric Lady Studios‘s
live registrations, also featuring Japanese Breakfast, Faye Webster, Bleachers, and more.
Her 7-track performance contains five of her own songs and two covers.
Bob Dylan’s ‘One Too Many Mornings’ and Stevie Wonder’s ‘Blame It On The Sun.’
Patti: “We are very proud to be part of Spotify’s Live At Electric Lady series, our favorite recording studio. It was a unique challenge and offered us an exciting and innovative
platform. We are grateful to Spotify for their generous support and willingness to
present a live performance with all its possibilities of risk and revelation.”
Tune in here…
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PATTI SMITH: Website
Turn Up The Volume‘s 20 Knockout Tracks for August 2021!
A stream of rattling rippers, jagged jams and romantic reveries.
All together on Spotify…
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Knockout by knockout…
‘Before You Gotta Go’ by COURTNEY BARNETT (Australia)
An infectious ditty, bouncing in your head before it ends. If this, simply irresistible, tune doesn’t do anything for you, you gotta go to your shrink. From Barnett’s new, upcoming album Takes Time, Take Time, out 12th November.
Catchy as hell…
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‘Hot Summer’ by PRINCE (US)
Summer is only over when it’s over. Still time to move and groove to this disco
stomper from the recently released lost Prince album Welcome To America.
Make your move here, ladies and gents…
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‘Go Get A Tattoo’ by FRANK CARTER & THE RATTLESNAKES feat. Lynks
Why don’t we all get a tattoo, suggests Frank. I think he’s right, it’s
the only way to really go nuts to this bangtastic jackhammer. From
the band’s 4th longplayer called Sticky, arriving in October.
Smash your TV…
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‘Security’ by AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS (Australia)
“I’m not looking for trouble, I’m looking for love / Let me in your hard heart Let me in your pub” sings Amyl over and over again with fervency and tons of gusto, while flamed-up guitars go mental. A blast from new album Comfort To Me, out 10th September.
Hit hit hit, Amyl…
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‘Aire & Calder’ by ULTRASOUND (UK)
These passionate British glam-prog rockers unleash a deluxe edition of their
1999 double debut LP Everything Picture on 24 September. More info here.
Here’s a new video clip for one of the album’s highlights ‘Aire And Calder‘…
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‘Soap And Cigarettes‘ by Nun habit (London)
A queer five-piece from London who play fun, fuzzy garage rock. Their songs are a mishmash of influences all pulled together by a love of loud noises, pop tunes, and
having a good time. ‘Soap And Cigarettes‘ is a stand-out knockout from their brand
new album Hedge Fun.
Trust me, you can’t resist this vibrant vibe…
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‘You And Me’ by THE RUDDY RUCKUS (Canada)
This ardent 4-piece flames with force on this new riff-roaring ripper. They operate somewhere between Green Day and Weezer, with peppery panache, gusty guitars,
vivid vocals, and a cracking chorus.
Scream along…
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‘What’s Wrong With People?’ by PESCH (Belgium)
Darkwave electricity from Belgium. Haunting and ominous. You can smell Doomsday waiting around the corner. It’s 2021, folks, we need to fix our problems now. This sickly sticky roller coaster is a call to arms.
What’s wrong with all of us..
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‘Highway To Hell’ by TOM MORELLO feat. Eddie Vedder and Bruce Springsteen
Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello launches his new album titled
The Atlas Underground Fire on 15 October. He invited several friends, like
Springsteen and Vedder for a bombastic version of AC/DC’s classic headbanger.
Yessssss…
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‘Queen Of Swords’ by TYPHOID ROSIE (Brooklyn, US)
The speedy and steamy title track is one of the fired-up highlights of the new album of this punked-up Brooklyn squad. A zigzagging collection of amplified belters to start and end post-lockdown parties with. More info here.
Rock your ass off here…
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‘Money Song’ by ROYAL CASTLES (Canada)
Wham bam, bloody bam! From the kick-off Money Song booms, bangs and batters. Hefty guitars blare in between and raise your blood pressure on the spot. And when the blissful chorus pops up it’s time to leave your cocoon and let your body do its thing. Don’t wait to boost your stream of adrenalin.
Act now, dance now, party now.
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‘And Tomorrow’ by LORE CITY (Portland, US)
A stunning and shadowy top piece from this duo’s equally stunning
album Participation Mystique. And Tomorrow sounds cinematic,
atmospheric and spacey. Join Lore City on their journey.
Listen today and tomorrow too…
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‘No Regrets’ by SHE/BEAST (Sweden)
Wurlitzer jukeboxes were invented for these 60s inspired humdingers, so they could be played in dark bars downtown were broken hearts gather at midnight. One more thing:
do not mess with SHE/BEAST, she’s not in the mood for fucking assholes and psychos.
And she’s absofuckinglutly right.
Press play…
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‘Popstar’s Daughters’ by SHAUN RYDER (Manchester, UK)
The Happy Mondays frontman’s brand new solo album
Visits From Future Technology is hip-shaking proof
that he still can fill dance floors.
Here’s the trippy and poppy single…
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‘All Nations’ by NADINE GAGNE and The Star Nation Collective (British Columbia)
This resonates as a bright sonic light at the end of our troubled world tunnel. Only with togetherness, friendship, mutual respect, equality, harmony and tolerance, humankind can have hope for the future. This tremendously catching chant reflects all that. It’s a joyful, anthem that should be played on radios all over the planet.
“We are all stars, all stars come on now. Rise, rise and shine, gotta stay proud!”
Let’s get together…
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‘Heart Like Chernobyl’ by SOFT CELL (UK)
The song’s title is the gloom and doom harbinger for
a scary, realistic vision of how we live on the edge.
Tainted love…
Lead-single from new album *Happiness Not Included,
out in the Spring of 2022.
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‘See The Light’ by SHAUNA SEETEENAK (Iqaluit, Canada)
We need songs like these in the restless times we live in. Songs of hope, songs of consolation, songs of inspiration. Shauna wants humankind to fight to see the light
(at the end of the tunnel) again. Her thoughts are embedded in a starry-eyed and
instantly enthralling groove that hops from dreamy pop to hip-swaying rap and back.
See the light here…
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‘Nowhere’ by THE BLACK FEVER (Toronto)
Nowhere sounds like a desperation song, but one that has a deeply felt effect on your psyche, on your state-of-2021-mind. This spellbound jam is driven by melancholic guitar lines, reminding me of Interpol‘s electrically-charged drive. Affecting and soul-stirring fever.
Check it out…
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‘Skin’ by BASEMENT REVOLVER (Hamilton, Canada)
An inspiring reverie for the countless girls/women and boys/men worldwide, struggling with the looks of their body when it doesn’t correspond with society’s everlasting sexist perception of how a body should look like, as we all know. Skin is an instantly heartfelt
slo-mo musing, turning after a distorted guitar intro, into a vocal and musical pearl, with touching piano play. I’m sure The Sundays‘s Harriet Wheeler would love it.
Open your ears and eyes here…
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‘You Are A Runner And I Am My Father’s Son’ by PORRIDGE RADIO (Brighton, UK)
Porridge Radio‘s leading Amazon Dana Margolin is a fan of Canadian rockers Wolf Parade. Here’s her terrifically gripping rendition of the band’s 2005 composition.
Just beautiful…
See/hear you next month, music junkies…
30 August 2021
Artist: TOM MORELLO
Who: Firework guitarist from crossover rappers Rage Against The Machine.
He also played with Audioslave and collaborated with about a million other
artists (so far) and he fabricates solo LPs.
His motto: Feed the poor. Fight the power. Rock the f*ck out.
New album: THE ATLAS UNDERGROUND FIRE
His 2nd solo longplayer
Out: 15th October 2021
Order-info: here
New single: DRIVING TO TEXAS featuring excellent voice Phantogram.
From a cover feat. Bruce Sprinsgteen and Eddie Vedder of the classic AC/DC
crackerjack Highway To Hell to this. Weird, but ace! The first part of this
new cut made me doubt if this was a Morello song. A moody reverie/ballad
with an appealing female voice is not really what you expect from the RATM
man. But as this slo-mo composition moves on, Morello comes out of the
shadows and delivers a most captivating guitar solo. Thrilling.
Capture the vibe here…
TOM MORELLO: Facebook
New album The Atlas Underground Fire out Oct 15th, 2021
30 August 2021
Album: I’LL BE YOUR MIRROR: A TRIBUTE TO THE VELVET UNDERGROUND
What: A star-studded (see tracklist below) tribute to iconic band
The Velvet Underground, and more specifically to their 1967
masterpiece debut LP.
Release: 24 September via Verve Records
One of the covering artists is the wonderful
Australian songstress Courtney Barnett.
Here’s her I’ll Be Your Mirror version…
COURTNEY BARNETT: Facebook
30 August 2021
Band: METZ (Toronto, Canada)
Who: Titan noise junks based in Toronto, Canada.
Active: Since 2008 / 4 studio albums so far
New album: LIVE AT THE OPERA HOUSE
Released: 4 August 2021
Order info: here
The band: “We were determined to find a way within the confines of the pandemic
to create a live experience that felt dynamic and let us connect with you all. So we
took to the stage in October 2020 at the Opera House in Toronto, a hometown favorite
independent venue, to livestream a performance of Atlas Vending in its entirety.”
The live performance (2020 album Atlas Vending and two older tracks) is available on all digital service providers, with bundles at Bandcamp and Sub Pop that include also a film of the of the full concert.
Turn Up The Volume: To be honest, most live albums do not reflect what artists accomplish on a podium. Its hard to capture the live sound on a record. But this one is remarkably different. As I saw these wall-of-havoc crusaders multiple times, I know what they’re capable of. From the first chord on, the trio explodes as if they’re on a kamikaze mission.
They develop a slash and trash amount of illegal decibels. You actually feel the noise physically. Fact! Several times I really thought that frontman Alex Edkins would run out of oxygen. This live record is what you can expect from these noise titans when they hit the stage. Their sound is bigger than the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris (before the fire).
ALBUM OF AUGUST 2021
Alert your neighbors before you press play…
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METZ: Facebook – All Tour Dates 2021-2022
(Live photos by Turn Up The Volume)
30 August 2021
Artist: BOB DYLAN
Active: since 1961 – 50 years
39 studio albums so far
Anniversary album: MODERN TIMES
Released: 26 August 2006 – 30 years ago today
Pitchfork said: “The music legend returns with a companion piece
to 2001’s Love and Theft, offering new tracks of jazz-inspired, rockabilly-
scamming, ragtime-aping rock’n’roll, more heavily indebted to blues
and honky-tonk than Woody Guthrie and Folkways.”
Full review here. Score: 8/10.
Turn Up The Volume: My all-time favorite singer-songwriter goes back
to the 50s/60s on this one. Several musical genres that inspired his
extraordinary career are featured. Retro rather than modern times,
but Dylan is a supreme retro master.
Single…
Full album…
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BOB DYLAN: Website
Patriotism sucks…
(Image on top: cover of JG’s album ‘Pale Green Ghosts’)
TURN UP THE VOLUME 