Drop-dead gorgeous Aussie punkette AMY TAYLOR and her SNIFFERS
have two blistering punk rock albums out, so far. Their self-titled boiling
debut LP (2019) and the red-hot follow-upComfort To Me (2021).
A week ago the Aussie fury and her desperadoes caught
fire in front of the cameras of The Late Night Show with
a volcanic version ofHertz, one of the many highlights on
the new longplayer. And of course, all eyes are on Amyl.
NRVS: “So what about Scum? We’re all scum. We’re the future of the human race and we’re fucked, as Extinction Rebellion used to say when they were cool – and we love it, or at least we seem to! Us lot just happen to be feeling it at the moment cos we happen to be alive now, so we’re the toppest layer of the pond… scum, get it?”
Turn Up The Volume: Your body temperature rises the moment this wild-and-woolly midtempo whopper invades your greedy ears. NRVS kick ass with their king-sized wall-of-electrically-powered sound.
Oil your pipes ’cause when the wicked chorus pops up it’s scream-yell-bellow
along time. I can go berserk any day of the week to this kind of blistering belters.
(Btw, this mysterious trio looks a bit like the animated Gorillaz figures).
One more thing, people. Look around, scumbags have taken over the world.
Fuck Putin! Fuck Boris! Fuck Trump! Fuck all intolerant dirtbags!
Oli Spleen: Ten years ago when I was in Paris finalising my debut solo album
“Fag Machine”, I would not have believed that ten years on I’d be five albums in.”
Cover artwork: The cover art is a painting by Sara Abbott of a baby albatross,
dead from plastic consumption. Based on a photograph by Clare Fackler (NOAA
Office of National Marine Sanctuaries). In seafaring folklore, it is thought that he
who kills the albatross will be cursed. This image reflects how we as a species are
dooming ourselves and future generations in our relationship to the environment.
Turn Up the Volume: Oftenly, hard times can be an artistic inspiration for
musicians (for all sorts of artists, actually). It can work or not for the psyche
of the listener. Here it works magnificently.
Spleen constructed 10 sonic paintings about his struggle for life, about
soul-destroying and physical pain, and doubts about the present and
the future.
10 heartfelt, tender, and very intimate ballads, at times distressing, at times mournful,
but in the end, there’s hope, redemption, and lust for life. Spleen‘s voice is both doleful
and warm, just like star crooners such as Nick Cave, Father John Misty, The National‘s maestro Matt Berninger and most of all the midnight hour voice of Tindersticks maestro Stuart Staples sound.
Ten pearls about suffering and surviving.
A poignant and riveting work. Don’t miss it.
Artist: REGINA SPEKTOR
Born Regina Iljinitsjna Spektor (Регина Ильинична Спектор) Who: Russian-American singer-songwriter, and pianist Active: since 1997
Spektor on her FB page: “What a crazy world it has been. And still is.
I’m just so glad it IS… cause knowing us humans, that’s not always a given…
I’m full of extra gratitude and love for the world these days. Just glad to
be here.”
Band: THE LINDA LINDAS (Los Angeles) Who: Awesome female teen band Half Asian/Half Latinx
featuring Mila (11), Eloise (14), Lucia (15) and Bela (17) who
play together since 2018 and already opened as support
act for punk icons like Bikini Kill and Best Coast.
Pitchfork says: “The Linda Lindas were destined for greatness, one way or another.
The Los Angeles quartet—whose members range between 11 and 17 years of age and
are Asian American, Latin American, or both—began as part of a kid cover band organized by Dum Dum Girls’ Kristin Kontrol. The musicians, a mixture of sisters, cousins, and chosen family, then formed their own band. Within a year, they were opening up for Bikini Kill… The teen (and pre-teen) punk rockers turn adolescent angst and razor-sharp hooks into heartwarming pop-punk with ample charm.” Score: 8/10.
Turn Up The Volume: Power to the youth. Power to The Linda Lindas!
Certainly when they talk about their generation the way these young riot grrls do,
with pop-punk gems flying all over the place. All delivered with panache, flamboyance,
and swagger. These Los Angeles-based punkettes already know how to kick out the
jams. Think The Bangles teaming up with Weezer. Don’t grow up too fast, teenagers.
Singles/clips: Racist, Sexist Boy / Oh! / Growing Up
Another new cut from the upcoming full length, another astounding
hellraiser swinging your mind from left to right and back, from Samara‘s
sort of vocal broadcasting performance to Manimal‘s death metal
snarls and back.
130 seconds of intimidating thunder-and-lighting brouhaha.
A merciless brainbreaker. From their
2nd, upcoming LP Trust No Leaders.
Pushed by a one-note, boogie-woogie piano touch (played by Parks‘ father on her grandfather’s piano – wow, that’s cool) that I couldn’t get out of my head anymore after
a couple of spins. I can’t get her husky, sensual voice out of my mind either, but that’s already been for several years now.
Combine the filthy psychobilly swagger of The Cramps, the black-leather
rockabilly of The Raveonettes and the blues-rock coolness of The Kills, and
I am sure you can work out for yourself what will blast out of your
stereo in a minute.
Yes, a sick riff stunner with a speedy version of The Stones’ unforgettable
‘woo woo, woo woo‘ chant on Sympathy For The Devil when the chorus
comes on strong.
A splendid corker going full steam from the kick-off.
No brakes, no breaks for this blistering bolide.
Hair in the wind, foot on the pedal, going nowhere fast.
Hungry guitars, Billy Idol-esque vocals, magnetic melody.
Don’t feel sad if you’re alone at home, you can dance with
yourself to this pick-me-up thrill.
The video is created by van Wetering, made entirely of ASCII characters
and has a stylistic kind of retro-futurism perfectly befitting of his sound.
The video is created by van Wetering, made entirely of ASCII characters and
has a stylistic kind of retro-futurism perfectly befitting of his sound.
Van Wymeersch masters the art of writing smooth, instantly
appealing songs you can play any time of the day.
His crooner voice, the easy-listing construction of his compositions and the gracious orchestrations transfer you to a place where reality fades away and makes room for
sepia-colored memories. As I said before Wolf is a romantic at heart.
I love this adrenalizing booster. Makes me smile from left to right and back.
The little low verses are alternated with a little high chorus, actually a euphoric
resonating high. Feels terrific, for hungry ears and restless minds. This caring
tandem knows what pop-ular music is about. Upper tunes, upper emotions
and upper choruses.
After last year’s clashing and crashing album Sauvé
IIAA came back a few weeks ago, with a new (double)
single with missile Mascare as the first one.
They are racing like a blustery bulldozer on speed, riffing and
screaming their lungs out like madmen is what IIAA is. I’m a
longtime fan of these manic motherrockers on record and
on stage. So should you be(come).
London’s rapper OSCAR MIC decided to write and release a song
for Ukraine after witnessing on the news the horrific violence and
criminal civilian targeting of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion.
The rad result is WE ARE UKRAINIAN. A tremendously catchy hip-rap-pop
jam featuring steel drums and timpani balancing somewhere between Roots
Manuva and Mr. Scruff. Top tune.
If you combine Interpol‘s hypnotic guitar romanticism, and their frontman Paul Banks‘ mesmeric vocal timbre and you add your own heart and soul as a band, you have all
my attention. That’s what happens on Porcelain, a standout track from the group’s tremendous new album Barricades.
Time to turn up the bright lights. Principe Valiente know exactly how to switch them on.
16. ‘Worthless Souls’ by MELTED WINGS (Toronto, Ontario)
An addictive synth stomper inviting you to throw your furniture out of the window
to make some room, to hang a disco ball on the ceiling, and rotate yourself dizzy.
Seadog create a little head-in-the-clouds world of their own.
One you can hide in, and doze for a couple of minutes, to forget about
the worrying times we live in. Titillating melodiousness, sparkling synth-pop
catchiness and feather-light vocals are the fitting ingredients that evoke
that pleasurable dream-away feel.
It’s an epic ballad with a country feel. If this melancholic gem was written
in the 60s it would have been sung by Linda Rondstadt, Tammy Waynette
or Dolly Parton, anyway, by an angelic voice like Olsen‘s magnific one.
