Month: May 2025

PULP Score Again With Second Single ‘GOT TO HAVE LOVE’ From Their Upcoming First Album In 24 Years

Posted on by JL

New striking strokes

23 May 2025


New album artwork

Sheffield‘s guitar-pop heroes PULP released between 1983 and 2002, seven
good-to-superb albums, with the breakthrough one Different Class, turning
30 next October, as their magnum opus. It spawned their two biggest hits with
Common People and Disco 2000.

Afterward the band went on a long hiatus, used by
charismatic vocalist/songwriter Jarvis Cocker to start
some solo projects.

They reunited for 2 years (2011-2013), to play some huge
big money concerts, went away again and are doing the
reunion game again since 2022.

A couple of weeks ago the news cam in that they have canned their
first LP in 24 years. It’s named MORE and will be shared with the world
on June 6th.

Cocker: “Love is a word I was unable to say until I was approaching 40. I listened to love songs all the time but couldn’t use the word in real life. The words to this song are me having a word with myself about this state of affairs. I gave myself a real talking-to. I have now learnt how to say it whilst keeping a straight face. “

Following the ridiculously catchy lead single Spike Island
we get a second taster. GOT TO HAVE LOVE is an equally
infectious pop gem.

Instagram – Linktree

WHOLES – Modern Day Post Punks Steam From A Whisper To A Scream On Their New Riff-Roasting Single

Posted on by JL

Daily electricity to load your batteries

23 May 2025

Band: WHOLES
Who: A fresh, rowdy hit team led by Belgian, musical chameleon Wolf Vanwymeersch,
who played with several bands (pop, rock, sludge metal) and released a pure singer-songwriter pearl with solo debut album The Early Years back in 2022. Wholes are what remains after a soul has been detonated, what struck those around it, what could no longer be contained.

Track: MODERN DAY DRAMA
New single following their cooking debut Till We Don’t Meet Again.
Both will appear on their upcoming debut album ‘A Mass In The Water
which lands on 14 November.


Single artwork by Maxime Rouquart

TUTV: Two singles in, and my ears tell me that Wholes are going places.
Modern Day Drama is their new slam dunk. Its ominous mid-tempo dynamics,
its distorted vocals, and its riff-roasting razzmatazz resonate like if you are
hearing the goosebumps theme song of a horror movie.

Creepy tension in the air, melodrama about to happen. Yes, at the 2.30 minute
mark all hell breaks loose. Decibels up, amps up, temperature up. From a whisper
to a scream. From planet Earth to Dante‘s inferno. Helter skelter.

“Rate disrupting so vile
Raid this life so stale
I can’t be bothered much longer
so I blow a 1000 winds
modern day drama
a gap in your mind
eyes in one line
run and turn the cheek
to the moon

modern day drama
modern day drama
modern day drama
modern day drama
modern day drama
a gap in our mind

things got weird
and before I knew I was swimming
modern day drama
modern day drama”

Stream


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Buy


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And LIVE they walk it like they talk it (read: they bellow like they’re in pain) as
I experienced last Thursday when they steamed through a blistering set played in
a small bunker-like club. Remember the Queens Of The Stone Age 2002 album
Songs For The Deaf? Yes, that was the villainous vibe. Say no more.


Modern day loudmouth


Till we meet again


Most stylish setlist ever

WHOLES: Instagram – Facebook – Bandcamp

Live photos by Turn Up The Volume.

SLEATER-KINNEY – Their Critically Acclaimed 7th Album ‘THE WOODS’ Is 20 Today

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

Washington‘s riot rock grrlz SLEATER-KINNEY released their
7th LP THE WOODS today 20 years ago, on 23 May 2005.

Pitchfork: “On their seventh full-length, Sleater-Kinney hook up with producer Dave
Fridmann to fully realize the sound they’ve been inching towards on their past two albums.
The result is their most streamlined and confident album yet, resurrecting the righteous fury
of their first great albums (Call the Doctor and Dig Me Out) in the name of classic rock titans
like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Jimi Hendrix.” Score 9/10.


Photo by Turn Up The Volume – Antwerp, Belgium – August 21st, 2024

Singles.

– ENTERTAIN –

– JUMPERS-

ALBUM


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Instagram – Linktree

Imperishable SPARKS Brothers Released Their 28th (!) LP Today – ‘MAD!’ Stuff

Posted on by JL

23 May 2025

The brothers Ron (79) and Russell Mael (76), known to the world as SPARKS
are around since 1967. Yes, that’s 59 years and no sign of retirement. Music
is the dominant element in their DNA. They can’t stop.

They released their 28th (!) album, named MAD! today.
The bros say “Our mantra since 1972, amplified in 2025”.

Press Info: “Most acts, by their seventh decade in the biz, would have slowed to a crawl, creakily playing their past hits on the heritage circuit and releasing nothing more than the occasional Greatest Hits collection. This is not the case for Sparks, who have triumphantly returned yet again, proving their resilience and relevance in a modern world with a fresh record and summer world tour to accompany it.”

MOJO Magazine: “Pop’s rainbow would be significantly less colourful without Sparks. Sibling rivalry’s cooperative and prolific inverse, Ron and Russell continue to concoct songs that are distinctively, resolutely Mael. On MAD!, synth-pop, art-rock and a programmed Shostakovich vibe (see paean to Californian interstate highway I-405 Rules) all feed into their skewed, self-contained universe, the arrangements as unpredictable as the subject matter.”

TUTV: Hats off to these imperishable bros stars. After all these years they’te still an entertaining force with their glam and glitter tunes. Synth-pop at its fun best. No arty
farty stuff, the Maels do it straight up and with the dash and bash of young bands.
Hail hail Sparks.

Singles: My Devotion / Downed In A Sea Of Tears / JanSport Backpack / Do Things My Own Way

– DO THINGS MY OWN WAY –

– JANSPORT BACKPACK –

– DROWNED IN A SEA OF TEARS –

– MY DEVOTION –

ALBUM


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TOUR

Instagram – Linktree

CRACKS – Young Belgian Punk Gunslingers Shoot From The Hip

Posted on by JL

23 May 2025

Lately Belgian groups form, show up and nail it faster than you can say
“Trump is an idiot.” Small country, big bands. I experienced the irrefutable
fact that razor blade punk ‘n’ roll belongs to young, hungry and thirsting
gunslingers again, not to money-greedy institutions such as Green Day,
Metallica, AC/DC and those Guns ‘n Roses poseurs.

Mind you, these businessmen fabricated some great stuff along their careers,
but their original, genuine frame of mind and middle finger gusto of yesteryear
is long gone. They all became/are capitalist dinosaurs.

Make way, oldtimers, for CRACKS. Five young, hungry gunslingers. Last Thursday
they landed in my hometown of Ghent, to turn sweaty club Kinky Star upside down.

From the first chord, the first drum hit and the first primal scream on, my trained
ears knew some roasting racket was about to fill the place. And that’s exactly what happened.

Picture this. A spit and sneer frontman with black sunglasses on (I dig the witty
arrogance) backed by a riff-roasting artillery. No breaks, no brakes. The Stooges‘ motto search and destroy was omnipresent, very loud and very clear. Uppercut after uppercut after uppercut.

These motherrockers came, saw and blew the roof off. If they were the only band of the red-hot night, they would still be playing this very moment. Their lust for life and insatiable appetite to be your dog is huge. They bite and excite. Don’t miss them. Cracks zijn krakken.

Now, let the music do the talking. Here’s their debut EP Don’t Let This Get
To Your Head. Five Molotov cocktails that will test your stereo’s resilience.


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Instagram – Facebook

Dinosaur Bands DEEP PURPLE And YES Will Do It Together in The USA

Posted on by JL

22 May 2025

We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile, yeah
We didn’t have much time now
Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around

But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground
Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky
(Smoke) on the water, you guys are great

Instagram – Linktree

SNÕÕPER – Nashville Punk Team Drop New 4-Track EP ‘UNKNOWN CALLER’

Posted on by JL

22 May 2025

Trash-clash-and-slash pop punk squad SNÕÕPER from Nashville, TN, unleashed
their unbridled debut LP Super Sn​õ​õ​per 2 years ago. A blustery blitzkrieg record.
14 songs in 22 minutes, like in the good old Ramones days.

Since then, they released a couple of singles and played countless gigs.

And to make their fans go apeshit again, they just dropped a new 4-track EP,
titled Unknown Caller. More of their head-twisting, razzle-dazzle commotion.


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Last Sunday they played in Belgium again (this was the 5th time in 2 years) as part
of Les Nuits Botanique Festival in Brussels. Unfortunately, the sound mix was horrible.
It felt like they were sinking into a swamp of deafening racket. What a no-show.

Photos by Turn Up The Volume

PULP Released Their Epic Anthem ‘COMMON PEOPLE’ 30 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

Daily electricity to load your batteries

22 May 2025

Although PULP were around for some years, actually since 1983,
before Britpop happened the English press presented them as one
of the inventors of it.

They released their triumphant 5th LP Different Class in 1995. It featured their
biggest hit (so far). COMMON PEOPLE is a 24-Carat gold masterstroke. It came
out today 30 years ago, on 22 May 1995. It peaked at #2 in the UK.

LIVE – Glastonbury – 1998

Instagram – All Albums