British groundbreaking guitar noise legends MY BLOODY VALENTINE, fronted
by feedback sound wizard Kevin Shields, who turned 60 last May released their flabbergasting debut LP ISN’T ANYTHING 35 years ago today, on 21 November 1988.
Pitchfork says: “At the heart of My Bloody Valentine was the mixture of the crushing power of Dinosaur Jr. and Hüsker Dü and the delicate vulnerability of indie pop; the masculine/feminine dynamic was accomplished not through the brilliant interplay between Kevin Shields and singer/guitarist Bilinda Butcher (whose voices complement each other but often sound quite alike) but by the effect of their voices against the guitar noise. My Bloody Valentine offered a new expression of androgynous sensuality in pop, crafting deeply sexual but also abstracted music, short on specifics but heavy with feeling.”
Score: 10/10.
TUTV: One kind of band, one kind of noise, one kind of album.
Artist: THE COSMIC GOSPEL Who: The project of Italian multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Medina, active for years in various bands, whose moniker is inspired by the American animated series The Midnight Gospel.
Influenced by past and present star artists like The Beatles, Damon Albarn, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Spiritualized, Ty Segall, Beck and Donovan he goes on a journey, without destination, of distorted drums, synths, fuzz, love, psychedelic melodies, and despair, on his upcoming debut album.
Impressive album artwork
Debut single: IT’S FOREVER MIDNIGHT
First piece of his debut full length ‘Cosmic Songs For Reptiles In Love’,
out on 15 December via Bloody Sound.
TUTV: Expect a psychedelic pop groove that rolls on throughout its spaced-out
flow, juiced with smooth vocals. It includes a galvanic guitar solo that spices up
the song before returning to its strumming vibe. Promising debut.
The track comes with a hallucinatory music video created by Italian
graphic designer Paolo Tasso using the 3D animation technique.
Iceland‘s musical elf Björk, full name Björk Guðmundsdóttir , was born in Reykjavik
on 21 November 1965. Happy 58 to a singular artist whose work got more and
more adventurous and innovative over the years, sonically as well as visually with
her spectacular artwork, outfits and videos.
Oral artwork
Today (not a coincidence I guess) she dropped a song named ORAL. It’s actually a previously unreleased 25-year-old song of hers, performed with famous songstress Rosalia.
Bjôrk announced the news yesterday on her social media.
i am so happy to announce the release of “oral” a single with @rosalia , tomorrow 21st of november
the profits will all go to stop open net pen fish farming in iceland.
this is a 25 year old song of mine i wrote and programmed inspired by a dancehall beat (the grandmother of… pic.twitter.com/I9FyKGpcVC
Scottish kids (well, they still look like kids) THE SNUTS stormed
to fame like a comet in space since they formed in 2015.
They’re gearing up for their 3rd LP. No further details so far.
To get the heat going they dropped the 3rd single off the album. NPC is The Snuts by numbers. But their fans like their unbridled
high-powered pop numbers.
NEIL YOUNG posted this message on his website: “We are stopping all use of X that
we can control. For reasons that should be obvious to the richest man on Earth, we are taking this action against his company.” An image of Musk with the text “Teslas should fly flags of love not hate” was inserted in the post, along with this statement by Young.
“For our many Palestinian friends and our many Jewish friends, we do need to start over
in the present and release our terrible connections to the past. As bad as they are, they need to be forgotten so we can be free to move on in life together, all humanity, focused on saving our planet for future generations of all people.”
Last weekend big corporate advertisers such as Disney, Apple, Paramount and LionsgateFlee stopped their marketing campaigns on X (formerly twitter) following owner Elon Musk’s antisemitic abuse on his social media platform.
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.
TRACK-BY-TRACK
1. ‘Weather Warning’ by LEISURE FM (Poland-born / London-based)
Leisure FM are twins Milena & Weronika, born in Poland, who lived in Wales as
children and now calling South East London home. Driven by late-night contemplation
and experimental spirit, they started producing music in their bedrooms a few years
back to combat lockdown blues, alongside DJing regularly.
They just released one of the most notable debut EPs of 2023. Stream fableshere.
Weather Warning is the opener and sets the tone for Leisure FM’s sensual and enigmatic sound. It’s a trippy vibe that circles around a bewitching beat and subtle guitar sparks. Midway, a surprising, 15-second classical strings/flute fragment comes on before that mesmeric beat returns. Magnetic piece.
After almost 4 decades of wayward pop tunes with his band, THE LEMONHEADS and
some solo records EVAN DANDO (born in Massachusetts, now aged 56) is still around.
He co-wrote Fear Of Living last year, with the late
frontman Dan Lardner of NYC’s indie band QTY.
It’s a jangly jingle with Dando‘s
voice resonating quite low.
The Background is the Belgian band’s 3rd single of the year. It highlights the challenges
of mental health and feelings of being lost in modern life. The single explores the inner struggle of a person who feels lost in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, through metaphors related to the film world, and who desperately tries to find his/her place in
a world that moves too fast.
Sonically bouncy guitars and the harmonies colored chorus create, despite the delicate content, a brisk and jaunty flow that seems to suggest that there’s still a light shining at
the end of the tunnel.
It’s been 5 years since this Belgian garage guitar indies released
their debut album Common Specimen/Indoor Mold.
But they’re back now, and they didn’t lose their electrical mojo nor their stompin’ swagger. Cracking drums, afire guitars and tense vocals are what you get. Don’t miss their return.
Local Blood is a dystopian post-punk band from Vilnius, Lithuania. They just released their 2nd, intriguing, eight-song album named Loverman revealing a multi-layered, even more mature, more complex sound. Thematically it reflects experiences of a man in the 90s, in the troubled Lithuania of that time. Stream/buy here.
The ominous guitar-riff/drum driven title track has both an impassionate and mysterious sonority mostly caused by the creepy vocals and grows in intensity along its eerie way.
7. ‘The Great Upheaval’ by “THE ALTER KRAKERS (Canada)
This loose, careening, ’70s rock ‘n’ roll inspired trio wrote this track, inspired by The Great Upheaval Art Exhibitt at the AGO in Toronto, the song is told from the perspective of Russian/French painter Marc Chagal in the first verse “I made my
name as a painter; I helped create a new style, and we changed the landscape for a
while” and then Picasso in the second verse: “I’ll put your ass on a canvas, cut you
into cubes; they’ll know your name but never recognize you.”
Expect Mona Lisa to be part of a riff-roaring rock ripper.
Blending a love of 90’s alt-rock with modern indie sensibilities, Jiants
is a Toronto-based group led by ex-pro skateboarder Jesse Landen.
They have a brand-new full-length out, named Tall Tales. Stream it here.
The uplifting title track is basically a classic ‘get your girl back’ song. It’s about realizing you have a special bond with someone and deciding whether to step forward with them or leave each other behind forever. It’s from the perspective of someone feeling uncertain but offering up their full commitment this time.
A frisky and captivating tune that your ears will embrace on the spot.
9. ‘Good Lookin’ Liars’ by THE BLIPS (Birmingham, Alabama)
This seasoned Alabama rock team just released their
2nd lonplayer, baptized Again. Stream it here.
I don’t know if ‘Good Lookin’ Liars‘ is an autobiographical song, but what I do now is that it has enough jangly riffs and a banging chorus beat that’ll boost your state of mind instantly. I suppose you know where to find the repeat button.
In The Middle is the first song these Canadians have released in over three years.
Lyrically, the song is a warning not to get too close. Written as one voice speaking to another, the song documents the feeling of desiring closeness while nonetheless knowing that you are changing and evolving. This song tries to provide a snapshot of the emotions we feel in those moments when love and growth fight for dominance in our lives.
It’s an intimate, vulnerable, yet tender musing that brought
the touching voice of Perfume Genius to my mind.
At the age of 77, fabulous country queen DOLLY PARTON
is still working longer than from 9 to 5 per day.
In a recent interview, she said:“I would never retire. I’ll just hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song on stage someday, hopefully one I’ve written.”
Her never-ending creativity and productivity is astonishing.
The living legend just launched her 49th (!) LP ROCKSTAR.
Parton about the album: “I’m so excited to finally present my first Rock and Roll album.
I am very honored and privileged to have worked with some of the greatest iconic singers
and musicians of all time and to be able to sing all the iconic songs throughout the album
was a joy beyond measure. I hope everybody enjoys the album as much as I’ve enjoyed
putting it together!”
Rolling Stone Magazine: “Parton’s 49th album, Rockstar, is her first foray into rock & roll.
She got the idea to do a rock covers LP after being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. She throws a Karaoke Party with a bonkers guest list. Dolly and her longtime bandleader and producer Kent Wells convened an astonishing collection of all-star duet partners. This has got to be the most stacked guest list in the history of guest lists, a karaoke night out where the party bus is stocked with a decent hunk of the most famous people ever in music.”
The longplayer contains no less than 30 songs and 20 covers, including collabs
with Miley Cyrus, Sheryl Crow, Lizzo, Elton John, Chris Stapleton, Stevie Nicks, Sting,
John Fogerty, and many more.
I don’t own a Dolly album, I didn’t follow her career but as so many million people
I know her hits, and I do love her formidable voice – the heroine again on this record –
and her charismatic I do what I want attitude.
Her Prince cover is my favorite. Sublime performance
Joe Walsh was born Joseph Fidler on 20 November 1947 in Wichita, Kansas, U.S.
Happy 76 to the guitar hero, best known for being a member for a number of years of the Eagles, his own band James Gang, his solo work and playing on multiple albums of multiple artists. Here’s his greatest solo hit (more than 66 million streams on Spotify).
Last year Australian rock songstress AViVA toured with ES. The friendship let to this new pithy piece called STRANGERS. An up/down, forth/back corker with erupting swing moods.
Rou Reynolds (frontman ES): “AViVA has such a great voice – I can still hear her operatic warm-ups, echoing around the backstage rooms! – so it was a pleasure to sing with her on the track. Rob and I got to visit her at home on the beautiful coast of New South Wales and work together on what would become STRANGERS, the story of newly found freedom from a suffocating relationship.”
(Press photo)
AViVA: ““We all share a deep passion for music, and together, we’ve crafted something truly special that I believe our fans will love. The song has been worked on across multiple countries, and time zones, and we were even lucky enough to do the vocal recording together at my home studio. The song continues to explore a concept I see as a through-line in much of my artistic work. The loss of connection, and isolation that follows. the line ‘we’re just strangers now’ really sums it up, but I think people will really connect with the rawness of this song, be it the loss of a romantic relationship or losing a friend, that pain often lingers with us for a long time.”
