GREEN DAY ‘s 5th LP was titled NIMROD. The title is the name of a character
from the Bible that was a hunter. In American English, it became a term for a stupid or dimwitted person as the usage is often said to have been popularized by the Looney Tunes cartoon character Bugs Bunny sarcastically referring to the hunter Elmer Fudd
as nimrod.
Artist Chris Bilheimer just had the album’s title to work with for the artwork. One of his ideas was inspired by a photo he saw, where a politician’s poster had his face removed.
He felt the image seemed to fit the band by featuring “a typical middle-age male, corporate politician American kind of guy, and someone had completely taken his identity away through vandalism.” Following that idea Bilheimer took an encyclopedia picture of men in suits and ties and put colored circles reading “nimrod” on their faces, “using that to take away the people’s identity”.
Now with criminal Donald Trump‘s recent mug shot, the band decided to use it in
the same way as it happened with that album, for an exclusive, limited T-shirt run.
Band: DEAD IN BLUE Who: Three noise rockers from Hull (UK) you can
air guitar and scream to until your lungs give out.
New single: FEELINGS
Only the trio’s second one. Lyrically, it touches on innermost thoughts around rejection and regret experienced when personal relationships fall apart, part of life’s journey that we all have to deal with from time to time and overcome.
DIB: “Feelings was the first song we ever wrote together so it’s kind of like our favourite
child you could say. Despite having a large period of time between initially writing the song
and getting it recorded there haven’t been too many major changes with it so the original sentiment is thankfully still well represented. We’ve always been very happy with how it sounds and it’s a fan favourite when we play it live too.”
TUTV: Think Guns N’ Roses, Linkin’ Park and My Chemical Romance all rolled into one titanic riff monster. Feelings is a maddening metallic projectile that speeds straightforwardly with all engines on. No rest for the wicked. This clamorous crusher can help you to get up again after a relationship breakdown. Advice: You’d better warn your neighbours that lots of noise is coming up before you start playing this deafening burst. If not, you will risk to
have a visit by the anti-decibels police.
Last weekend, THE KILLERS excited the masses at the Reading/Leeds Festival in the UK.
The Los Angeles darlings, fronted by Brandon Flowers got some help from thousands of fans. Big, very big choir.
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibis
But it’s just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
‘Cause I’m Mr. Brightside
Band: SCREAMING TREES Who: Grunge rockers from Ellensburg, Washington. The group was
formed in 1985 by Mark Lanegan (vox), Gary Lee Conner (guitarist), Van Conner (bassist) and Mark Pickerel (drummer), later replaced
by Barrett Martin.
Active: 1985-2000 / 7 studio LPs
After the split, Mark Lanegan started a successful solo career and also
played/recorded with multiple artists (Queens Of The Stone Age, Isobel
Campbell, The Gutter Twins with Greg Dulli, Soulsavers). Unfortunately,
he passed away last year, on 22 February. Aged only 57.
In March 2020 Lanegan was infected with Covid-19, went into a coma,
he couldn’t walk for months, and got completely deaf. While recovering
he started to write a memoir called Devil In A Coma, out in December.
Marisa Dabice (frontwoman): “I Got Heaven” is a song intended to merge the sacred
and the profane and to serve as a reminder that we are all perfect exactly as we have been made and that no one gets to decide how a life should or should not be lived. Heaven is here on a planet that gave us everything we needed to survive. Heaven is in the plants and in the water and in the animals who we share this world with. Heaven is inside of me and inside of you. The weaponization of Christianity for political means, for individual profit and power, as a tool to intentionally divide us, is one of the greatest threats to our modern world and a threat to our ability to find solidarity through love. To allow the hatred and the violence and the noise to rise is to reject our sacred purpose as individuals, which is simply to love.”
Artwork single
TUTV: I Got Heaven is an up/down, forth/back, left/right blast with mood swings
vocals by frenetic front Amazon Dabice. She’s her entire self, and so should we all.
Every individual is unique, so is Mannequin Pussy.
London‘s cool post-punk indie band ELASTICA ( (1991-2001), fronted by Justine Frischmann, who played for a couple of weeks with her then-lover’s (Brett Anderson)
band Suede got a lot of attention when they the scene with a series of rad singles and
their 1995 Self-titled debut LP.
One of those singles was WAKING UP (#3 in the UK) of which the intro was exactly sounding like the riff from The Stranglers‘ 1977 hit No More Heroes. The bastards
filed a lawsuit that was in the end settled out of court.
In order to not miss a beat Turn Up The Volume scans the musical
horizon daily (doing it for years now, actually) to stay in touch with
all new things sonically great and shares the results on a weekly
basis.
Check the 10 new rad cuts just
added to this rad 2023 playlist.
In two weeks – on 6 September – this Danish Herculean rock trio unleash
their debut LP ‘No Weather, No Cry, The Desert Don’t Lie’ with the world.
But first another piece off the LP.
Burn Out Bright is about “chasing your dreams is like standing on the edge of a cliff,
you got to be willing to jump, leaving everything behind. The sacrifices are part of the
game. But it’s worth it, because when you’re up there, living your dreams, nothing else
matters.”
It’s a powerhouse of a belter.
Big emotions, big sound, big tune.
These punk-rooted misfits make noise since 2019. Following
their 2022 debut EP What’s New they just released their 3rd
single of 2023.
“Crawlers explores the idea of a toxic relationship and the line between
symbiosis and parasitism. The earth-shattering conclusion that we are
also at fault can be just as devastating, as we see ourselves ‘becoming
a crawler too.'”
Expect a slow-boiling and haunting rap-like rant that
creeps and crawls slowly but surely under your skin.
Americana folk-pop-rock quartet from North-Carolina just released
their 6th LP, named Book Of Fools. Stream the full beauty here.
One of the stellar singles is Radio Hell. Only 15 seconds in and the groovy vibe intro convinces your ears that this is a winner. Totally infectious, going forth and back, and activating your feet’s movements.
5. ‘Your Side Of Town’ by THE KILLERS (Los Angeles)
This is Los Angeles‘ pop celebrities’ brand new single.
“With much excitement we present to you Your Side of Town. It’s got the ghosts
of a lot of the synth music that inspired us over the years. And yet, somehow, feels
completely our own. Now it’s yours. Turn it up!”
Florida-based veteran rapper Bullet Brak has been turning heads for over
a decade with his dynamic delivery and witty wordplay. Last December he
released his debut LP, titled Brock Holliday. Stream it here.
For this new single he teamed up with Philly‘s top bar
spitter OT The Real. The result is a smoking flow of rants.
Following their 2 albums, Can’t Have It All (2019) and Evolving (2021) these
4 impassioned Amazons have a brand new 6-track EP out, titled Called Upon .
Stream it here.
Bunga is a towering tour de force off the EP. A slow-burning torch
that grows in intensity and passion along its energetic path.
Somewhere between Alanis Morissette and PJ Harvey.
Who: American rock trio from Los Angeles led by
singer-songwriter Grant-Lee Philipps (now 58)
who launched a successful solo career after the break-up.
So far he made 10 solo albums with Lighting, Show Us
Your Stuffas his most recent one (2020).
AllMusic about the band: ‘Although heralded by the critics and
championed by their musical peers, the ’90s alternative/roots rock
trio Grant Lee Buffalo failed to break through to the mainstream,
despite strong songwriting and an original style.’
Three GLB moments picked
by Turn Up The Volume.
– Live Glastonbury 1994 –
(Live version of ‘Grace’ from debut LP
BRILLIANT – thanks to Scottish Teevee)
– FUZZY –
(The supreme title track of debut album)
