1 October 2024
Band: XIU XIU
The Californian art noise duo XIU XIU aren’t the lazy kind of artists.
In their 22-year-old career, they recorded/released 14 LPs including
the new one.
Album: 13″ FRANK BELTRAME ITALIAN STILLETO WITH BISON HORN GRIPS
The Quietus writes: “13”… is a superlative pop record, but still an endless cycle of extremes.
A shining, distorted, expertly constructed, open-ended record, that might be Xiu Xiu’s best.”
TUTV: This is their most intense, most emotional, and most accessible album to date.
Well, not that it will sell millions of copies and be No. 1 on the charts all over the world.
It’s still XX, always exploring different soundscapes, but here they come up with
less complex song structures, actually more (sort of) conventional alt ones. And?
Outstanding record dominated by layers of industrial synths and chilling melodies.
I hear Cure-esque echoes (Common Loon / Veneficum), eerie and ghostly vocality
à la the late great Scott Walker (Arp Omni / Sleep Bvld.) and trippy Cabaret Voltaire
dynamics. All together, these sonic ingredients lead to a fascinating XX opus.
The more spins, the more your ears
get around this new Xiu Xiu exploit.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
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Band: THE WAEVE
Blur‘s guitarist Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall.
launched their sophomore album, titled CITY LIGHTS.
Album: CITY LIGHTS
Their 2nd one.
MOJO (monthly UK magazine): “A yin-yang parity asserts itself with the wistful, jazzy,
Rose-sung Simple Days, electro-pop You Saw and epic, wicca-ish Druantia. Elsewhere,
there’s arty chamber pop, demented swing-jazz and the epic Surf’s Up-echoing closer
Sunrise: middle-aged bliss has rarely sounded so weirdly magical.”
TUTV: Partners in love, partners in parenthood, partners in music. With this 2nd LP
Coxon and Dougall offer an even more varied one than their notable debut. They rock out (City Lights, You Saw, Moth To The Flame, Broken Boys, Simple Days) and slow down (I Belong To, lullaby for their little daughter Song For Eliza May, Girl Of The Endless Night) with three constants.
Arrestive tunes, rich instrumental orchestrations and emotional, alternating and duet vocals. You hear a happy and dynamic couple delivering a high-songwriting-quality record. Embrace it with your ears, heart and soul, it’ll feel good.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
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Linktree
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New album cover
Band: HINDS
The peppy Spanish power pop outfit is now
reduced to two Amazons. So, only 2 hinds left.
ALBUM: VIVA HINDS
Uncut (British music monthly): “The fourth album is a
masterclass in simple but devastatingly effective melodies.”
Press photo by Dario Vazquez
TUTV: Infectious tune after infectious tune make you reach for Piña Colada after
Piña Colada. Hinds resurrect here from a difficult period with 2 members leaving.
It leads to songs of love and loss, yep, songs about life.
The overall vitalizing formula of this new longplayer lies in the fact that every single track
is embedded in an on-the-spot galvanizing melodiousness that triggers joyous, gratified and devil-may-care feelings. It’s called pop-ular music. No less, no more. Oh so welcome
in these disordered times. Uplifting entertainment for all seasons. Gracias ciervas.
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KEY SINGLE
(Contender for best one of 2024)
ALBUM
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Band: EQUATOR
Who: Hard-hitting-screaming
noiseniks from Toronto, CA.
New album: HOOLIGAN
Press info: This new release is a raucous blend of anthemic rock ‘n’ roll, brimming with boogie, rage, forgiveness, and raw energy. The music is loud, fast, and bombastic, infused with lyrics that highlight our ongoing struggle for equality and the collective effort required to bridge the gap.
TUTV: Imagine MC5 have a headbutt fight with The Stooges, while Led Zeppelin are
waiting around the corner, armed with battleaxes, to have their go at the winner.
Gee wizz. Sounds fucking cool, right? You betcha.
Equator unleash uppercut after uppercut at your ears and poor loudspeakers. What you hear is what you get. Filthy garage blues-punk rock. Helter-skelter. A non-stop tsunami of Herculean riffs, primal Wolfmother screams, berserk octopus drumming, and voluminous choruses combine for a badass whopping record. Fasten your seatbelts for these manic hooligans.
You know what to do.
Turn the volume to the max.
STREAM/BUY
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Album artwork
Band: MERCURY REV
The day-and-night dreamers from Buffalo, New York MERCURY REV – with key members Jonathan Donahue and Sean “Grasshopper” Mackowiak are around for 35 years now and still float in a universe of their own They now operate with new members Marion Genser (keyboardist) Jesse Chandler (piano).
ALBUM: BORN HORSES
Mojo (British musical monthly): “Bands, as Donahue famously sang on Holes,
“never work quite right”, but with this late-period beauty, Mercury Rev have hit
the cosmic balance perfectly.”
Press photo by Joe Magistro
TUTV: Reflections about the past, the present, and the future. Frontman Jonathan
Donahue tells stories about life. Real images, illusionary images. His heartwarming
voice and the subtly jazzy, soothing, and tranquillizing orchestrations flow into each
other just beautifully.
Poetry in motion. Born Horses is an ideal companion for meditative nights, for silent
moments of nostalgic pensiveness and widescreen fantasies. After a couple of spins,
I played Laurie Anderson‘ new album Amelia (about the legendary female aviator Amelia). Other stories but a same telling atmosphere and impact, same cinematic sonority. Then back again to Born Horses. A spiritual experience. Dim the light, sit down, relax, and let
your thoughts flow.
SINGLE
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