Last SeptemberNorwegian art pop/rock outfit DIM GRAY
released their second LP, the magnificent FIRMAMENT.
Turn Up The Volume said: “This heart-and-soul stirring trio reverberates like
a full orchestra. They’re cinematic pop architects working with a drone flying up
high like an eagle and showing us where the ocean meets the sky.”
Artwork by Linnea Vestre
The band will tour in August and September
in Europe/UK supporting Big Big Train.
To warm up DG just shared a new live video clip shot in the Netherlands last September, performing AVALON I TIDE
The band have previously stated that ‘Avalon | The Tide’ was an important song
as they progressed musically following their 2020 debut, ‘Flown’, and that it “became
a blueprint for ‘Firmament’. The expansiveness in its lydian harmonies and modulations, the prevalence of piano and strings, as well as the lyrical themes, all came to influence the rest of the songs.”
The Rolling Thunder Revue was a 1975–1976 concert tour by Bob Dylan with
an impressive cast of artists. On this tour, Dylan wanted to play in smaller venues
in small cities to get intimate again with his fans.
The docu contains contemporary interviews with the whole group of big names that accompanied Dylan on the tour. Joan Baez, Sam Shepard, Ronee Blakley, Ramblin’ Jack
Elliott, Roger McGuinn, Ronnie Hawkins, Larry Sloman, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter among
others and also old chats with Scarlet Rivera and poet Allen Ginsberg.
Who: 3 rock indies from Dublin, Ireland. Their unique pick ‘n’ mix of sounds has a tight groove but also a heady rush which you feel could veer off at any moment; like a three horse chariot taking a corner too fast, you can feel the thrill as it teeters on one wheel, balanced between chaos and control, before racing to a satisfyingly simultaneous finish.
New single: THREE
A 2nd shared cut from their upcoming
debut LP Information Blip.
Artwork single
TUTV: I swear, when this knife-edged tune hit my ears for the first time, I thought
I pushed the wrong button and instead of these young Irish gunslingers I got post-punk legends The Fall on my headphones. Their combination of a hyperkinetic drum/bass beat, the fanatic guitar riff, the Mark E Smith sneering and the overall staccato resonance combine for 78 thrilling seconds that sound familiar but irresistibly engrossing. Bring
on the album.
It’s PART 5 of Turn Up The Volume‘s yearly hot summer playlists.
A mix of new and old tunes. A mix of adrenalin-infused punk/rock
anthems, dance fireworks, and some moony musings to end the
party when the sun comes up.
NME says: “Their brilliance continues The band’s joyous reunion only gets more emotional with this tear-jerking, soaring epic. Unlike many of their peers, there has never been a timelessness to a Blur album – that’s a good thing. When you listen to ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’ now, you can feel disdain for the culture that surrounded them, or the raw confusion of heartbreak on 1999’s ‘13’; they have a way of transporting you to a precise moment or emotion. It’s why ‘The Ballad of Darren’ is so memorable and touching: you can feel it, everything, in every line sung or note played. Speaking to NME last week, Rowntree says that when they were recording, “everything we tried, worked”, and that “magic was in the air”. It is keenly felt here; may it never fade away.” Full review here. Score: 4/5.
TUTV: Lots of slow ones, lots of reflective musings, lots of romantic ballads (including Darren‘s one), lots of melancholia. They only rock out on the punked-up St. Charles Square.
To be honest, a surprisingly intimate record but it grows on you slowly but surely.
Singles/clips: The Narcissist / St. Charles Square
Belgian guitar pop/rock band CMON CMON started their second coming
about two years ago, driven by sheer love for music. Writing it, recording it,
sharing it, playing it live, and enjoying it along with their fans.
No masterplan whatsoever to conquer the world, no commercial pressure.
They restarted with one and only one goal. Making the best album their
experience and their hearts and souls could come up with.
A balanced mix of amplified guitar-infused dream pop tunes with a melancholic
and soothing touch. References? R.E.M, Dinosaur Jr., Teenage Fanclub, Sparklehorse
and The Chills, to name a few. I’m sure you get the sonic picture.
To get deeper into CMON CMON and their firstborn, I thank Jorrit Hermans, vocalist/guitarist, for taking time to tell us about themselves and the record.
But first, as usual, we start an interview with a slice of music. Enjoy one of the
LP’s highlights, the sprightly looking-back-and-forth gem ‘The Summers We Missed’.
Hello Jorrit,
CMON CMON had a first life about 20 years ago.
What or who inspired you to come back?
“We wanted to get back together as musicians because we missed playing
together and writing the songs we love but couldn’t hear on the radio.
So, our first goal was to have fun and share a laugh as friends.
Our second goal was to be ruthlessly creative and make the best album
we could possibly write. Nothing more. If you expect anything from music,
you’re expecting too much.”
What’s the story behind the band’s name?
“If you watch R.E.M.’s music video for “Imitation of Life”, you should pay attention
to the first 10 seconds. You’ll see a neon sign that reads CMON CMON. That’s where
we got the name from. Steven came up with this while we got back from London
on the Eurostar after we decided to launch the band.
The story behind the name? Well, that’s all about the attitude to just go out there and get it. Nothing is impossible in our world, and we love to encourage our fans with that positive message.”
Which track would you play to the people who never heard of you?
“Love that question! I guess it would be our debut album’s closing track “New Orleans” because it really is the summary of what the band is about: a captivating story, cool melody, vocal harmonies, big, jangly guitars, Rickenbacker basslines, and drums to die for.”
. The debut album is out now. It’s titled THE CRACK AND THE LIGHT.
What does it mean?
“The Crack and The Light” reflects the nature of the songs, all of which are true stories. They’re quite dark and twisted with lots going wrong, but what connects them is hope. That’s the crack and the light.”
The LP’s image is quite intriguing. What or who do you want
express with it and how is it related to the album’s title?
“We wanted to create a mysterious cover with lots of stopping power and symbolize
the album title. Meanwhile, we wanted to tell a little story with the cover in its own right.
If you look at that girl, she seems frozen in the air, and you ask yourself, ‘Is she falling?
Or is she jumping up?’ What happened in the seconds before that shot? Is it a positive or
a negative story? It’s all in the eye of the beholder. That’s what we loved to trigger with
this cover.”
Were all three of you involved in the writing/recording process?.
“Oh yes, writing together is what we love the best. I come up with rough song ideas and demos and throw them in the group, Michel and Steven take them apart and together we make them better. Same with recording, it’s what we do together as a group that makes it work for us.”
Do all songs are in some way connected
or do they all stand on their own?
“They all have a crack and a light in them so I would say they are thematically connected but not on a storyline level. In that sense, it’s not a concept album. Every song can stand on its own. But if you listen back in hindsight, they all share the same intention. Must be the universe that was on our side there.
Were you listening to other music while writing the album?
“Well, I can’t really listen to other music when I’m writing songs. Obviously,
we build on our backgrounds and inspiration from the heroes that went before
us, but songwriting with CMON CMON is a very intense, deep dive into emotions,
narratives, and arrangements that leave no margin at all to be able to process
other music than ours.
It’s just so compelling, and we always pour our very hearts into this every time again.”
Opening track SAY WHAT IT MEANS sets the sonic tone for the full
record. What did you want to reflect with its video?
“Lyrically, this song was fueled by my experiences with dishonest people who disguise their true intentions. I developed the lyrics to support people when they’re at their most vulnerable and delicate state of mind. Yet, this can be very powerful as well. So, here’s a plea to look at strength and vulnerability as two sides of the same thing. We hope it can help people to speak up and speak out to actually say what they mean.
It’s everyone’s right to do so. In the accompanying music video for “Say What It Means” by director Aline Boyen and DOP Michel Rosendaal and produced by Wenneker in Belgium, we watch how a group of teenagers chase another teenage girl. She’s being hunted and bullied and has to escape the glances, preoccupations and judgments of others. This
creates a strong tension because a very grown-up theme is played by a group of kids
who should be representing honesty and authenticity.
These kids start to yell brutally and run towards the protagonist. They chase her down
in a scary event that ends in darkness on a deserted country road. The story shows how we sometimes deal with other cultures, ideas, feelings and opinions. Who can escape the herd? How can we find the strength and the confidence to act our spirits?
This is what we wish for everyone. Especially kids growing up with social media, unintentional attention and everything that can go wrong with being misunderstood.
Just say what it means. Not what it seems.
My ears tell me that your overall sound is
reminiscent of Dinosaur Jr. Are they right?
You have an excellent pair of ears!
Suppose the album would be the soundtrack
for a movie, which one would it be?
Lovely thought! I guess I’d pick “Revolutionary Road” by Sam Mendes.
It has all the inevitable drama, insight into the human psyche,
lots of cracks but also a little light.
What’s the band ultimate goal?
“We have had a tremendous first year with worldwide critical acclaim and
amazing fan response, but our ultimate goal will never change. We’re not
in this band for achievement, we just want to add a little beauty to the world
and touch people’s hearts with our songs.
If we can do just that, who needs money or fame?”
Thank you very much, Jorrit, for this interview
May the road rise with CMON CMON.
Veteran PittsburgANTI-FLAG have broken up. Last night, the long-running political
punk band announced on Patreon that they had disbanded. The breakup is abrupt.
The band is on tour in Europe and they were scheduled to play in Prague tomorrow night.
The announcement includes very little context. Here it is.
“Anti-Flag has disbanded. the patreon has been switched into a mode where it will n
o longer charge the monthly fee. i will begin to process refunds to all patrons in the coming weeks. once all refunds are processed the patreon page will also be removed.”
All their social media accounts are deleted now.
Stereogum reports: “The band’s website and their social-media pages have all been removed. This leaves a lot of questions unanswered. On Reddit, fans pointed out a podcast episode that went live yesterday. On the latest episode of Enough, a podcast dedicated to sexual assault in the music business, a woman tells a story about being raped by the singer in a political punk band. She never names the band or the singer, but it’s hard to hear that story without connecting dots. The story is extremely upsetting, both in its details and in the sense of betrayal that surrounds it. You can hear it here below.
50-year-old frontman JUSTIN SANE, started the first version of Anti-Flag in Pittsburgh in 1988. For their entire lifespan, Anti-Flag have pushed left-wing principles and political causes. They released 13 albums, with this year’sLies They Tell Your Children.
Last April the first single titled Positive Charge landed.
And now TGA share a 2nd track from the upcoming album.
It’s the title track and features co-vocals by their longtime friend Bruce Springsteen. Well, they always sounded a bit like The Boss.
Brian Fallon said to Associated Press: “I was going to seek the guy on the hill for wisdom, but really, it was Federici’s Pizza in Freehold, New Jersey. But some mythical work was done at that table. We brought the band back together.” Later, Springsteen texted, “Hey, why don’t you write us a duet? I’ll come sing with you.’”
History Books is a glorious 24-karat anthem.
Rock ‘n’ roll streams through their veins.
Movie:QUADROPHENIA Featuring Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, Toyah,
Philip Davis, Mark Wingett, Sting, Ray Winstone
Quadrophenia was a 1979 British film,
loosely based on THE WHO‘s 1973 rock
opera of the same name.
The film was set in London in 1964, a time when the working class youth broadly aligned themselves with one of two factions, who frequently fought each other. The Mods wore sharp suits, listened to current pop and soul music, took amphetamines, and rode scooters. Rockers rode powerful British motorcycles such as Triumph and BSA, wore
black leather jackets and listened to 1950s rock’n’roll and soul.
Story: “London, 1965: Like many other youths, Jimmy hates the philistine life, especially
his parents and his job in a company’s mailing division. Only when he’s together with his friends, a ‘Mod’ clique, cruising London on his motor-scooter and hearing music such as
that of The Who and The High Numbers, does he feel free and accepted. However, it’s a
flight into an illusionary world.”
Northern Irish trio ASH were labelled Britpop by the critics because they hit that scene in the midst of it, in 1996. If so, they were without a doubt the loudest of all Britpop bands.
With driving guitar force/face/voice Tim Wheeler at the wheels they had immense success
with their four first – all top 10 – albums. Afterward, in 2009, they took a break from
relentless touring and from writing new material.
Six years later they returned into the public eye and fabricated
two more albums (one in 2015, and one in 2018) and toured them.
And now longplayer #8 – titled Race The Night – is waiting
in the pipeline to be released in October. Pre-order info here.
Following the pretty poppy and terrifically catchy title track
we can go bonkers to the unbridled blues-rock belter LIKE A GOD.
Hallelujah!
The accompanying video clip is a visual-animated spectacle.
