Best of the best of the past month
ALL TOGETHER
.
TRACK-BY-TRACK
– 1 –
Artists: SOFT CELL
Who: British electro pop champs SOFT CELL,
featuring vocalist Marc Almond and keyboardist
Dave Ball.
Track: OUT COME THE FREAKS
Lead single from their upcoming 6th LP,
baptized Dancetaria. Details TBA.
The album was finished before co-founder
Dave Ball, passed away last October.
TUTV: Back to the discotheques’ dancefloors of the 80s, colored
with its soulful flamboyance and hedonistic nights out. Sway, swing,
and shake. Get sweaty.
Instagram – All Albums
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-2-
Band: SOULWAX,
Who: The Belgian brothers David and Stephen Dewaele‘s main project for
30 years now, released their 6th longplayer, called All Systems Are Lying,
last year in October.
Track: PERFECT WE ARE NOT
New piece which they wrote and recorded in
just 24 hours in the historic Abbey Road Studios
in London.
TUTV: It’s a nearly 8-minute electro-spiked brainbreaker echoing,
both New Order and LCD Soundsystem with its motorik beeps an
bleeps perseverance, and nerve-racking repetition.
The siblings throw some nonchalant vocals in the mix before
storming towards an orgastic techno finale. Perfect.
All Systems Are Lying –Instagram – Facebook
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– 3 –
Artist: GELLI HAHA
Who: Elated EB-pop-M
songstress based in L.A.
Track: KLOUDS WILL CARRY ME TO SLEEP
Single from her brand new debut full-length
Switcheroo.
TUTV: Get on cloud nine and twirl yourself
dizzy with this eye-and-ear catching pop pearl.
Blissful.
Instagram – Spotify
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– 4 –
Artist: COURTNEY BARNETT
Who: Utterly cool rocker
from down under.
Track: GREAT ADVICE
Cut from her brand new,
4th LP Creature Of Habit.
TUTV: Don’t expect Barnett to turn into a pop diva. She’s still her slacker rocker
self, writing both lazy and electrical sonic goodies. And that’s what she does here
again. Great Advice is bite-sized, infectious, and uplifting.
Press play
and wiggle.
.
Instagram – Linktree
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– 5 –
Press photo by Alex Lockett
Band: BLEACHERS
Who: Workalcoholic (producing multiple other artists,
writing music for his own band, touring) JACK ANTONOFF
and his back-up team.
Track: DIRTY WEDDING DRESS
Piece from their upcoming new full-length, called
Everyone For Ten Minutes and out on May 22.
TUTV: Bleachers rock out on this upbeat,
sax-flavored, foot-tapping, and scream-along
corker.
Bang-on.
Instagram – Website – Spotify
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– 6 –
By Ay Eye
Act: BRIAN & THE ONIONS
Who: A project of no fixed members, but emerging
as a duo to release this reactive stonker.
Track: SMALL BOATS
TUTV: Brian and The Onions don’t waste time. They produce a ton of decibels from
the get-go. They move and groove with sturdy doggedness, mulled with in-your-face vocals. And you can yell along to the chanty chorus. Rock ‘n’ rap-punk roll rules.
Think Sleaford Mods with their amps way up.
Instagram – Facebook
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– 7 –
Band: THE ACTIONS
Who: duo from Bristol, UK.
Track: TAKE MORE
Their first release since their
2021 debut album Flourish.
“Take More is a song about growing up in the suburbs. It captures nights spent twisting your mind over the future, caught between staying with the people you love and the need to escape, struggling to find anything that breaks the loop.”
TUTV: Imagine Hole fronted by Joan Jett. Bitchy, right? You betcha. This is a knife-edged stormer, vitalized by buzzing guitars and non-stop pushing drum beats, while the male action of the duo jumps in for some vocal assistance. Wanna have fun partying downtown?
Take more and hit the floor.
Instagram
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– 8 –
Band: THE SOPHS
Who: Young up-and-coming
indies from Los Angeles.
Track: THEY TOLD ME TO JUMP, I SAID HOW HIGH
Piece from their debut LP Goldstar.
TUTV: Yes! A stirred-up ska-like groove gets your pelvis abuzz. Rapping vocals,
a hefty guitar upsurge, and 70s organ glow complete the hustling picture. What
if I tell you to jump? Would you?
Maybe, definitely.
.
Instagram – Facebook
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– 9 –
Band: AWAY // FANS
Who: Jumpy London team, formed in 2020, classing themselves as an indie-dance
five-piece who set out to make music that gets everyone dancing, screaming, and misbehaving. Formed in the early part of the 2020’s
Track: PERFECT MOMENT
“Perfect Moment is an ode to messy nights and hungover mornings with the people you love.
It’s a celebration of youthful stupidity and hedonism, as well as the long-lasting connections
we can make in all the silliness.”
TUTV: C’mon, get your lazy butt off your couch and shake your booty to this
bass-propelled twist-around this stimulating invigorator. This is the perfect moment to throw your furniture out of the window and make some room for your twirling actions.
The rapping vocalist shows the way, backed now and then by cheery harmonies,
while the diligent drummer produces an addictive disco beat, which made that
1978 hit Born To Be Alive popped up on my stereo in my head.
Time to work out.
A//F Linktree
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– 10 –
Artist: MY LO-FI HEART
Who: The project of electro-pop songwriter
Ian Turley from Sheffield, UK.
Track: WE CAN’T FALL
“It’s a song about the ecstasy of being in love, the feeling that floating on air, of being so close that you can feel the pulse of your heart when looking into the eyes of your special person. The sensation of spinning and spiralling higher with a rush of feelings which won’t ever stop, you won’t come down.”
TUTV: Pop techno for crowded dancefloors in torrid nightclubs. If your body doesn’t vibrate when We Can’t Fall enters your eager ears, you need to consult your shrink or change your medication. Anyway, invite your lover for a wild night out in the city and
let the adrenaline take over.
Catch up, but don’t fall over your feet.
Instagram – Linktree
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– 11 –
Band: McCASLIN DAHLE
Who: Duo of seasoned musicians featuring Donny McCaslin (3x Grammy nominee, bandleader on Blackstar by David Bowie) and Ryan Dahle (Limblifter, Age of Electric, Mounties).
Track: HENRY TAKES THE 5TH
First single, from their upcoming debut album MXD,
out May 22nd. Tracklist and more info right here.
“The song frames the mundane through a child’s lens where
the everyday feels enormous, heavy and extraordinary.”
TUTV: Expect a speedy, head-twisting ride, full-steam ahead from the get-go. Vocally magnetic, sonically intoxicating, and hopped-up, spiced with frenetic saxophone upsurges, adding a freaky force to this turbulent psych stormer. One spin and your ears are hooked.
Dope.
.
Instagram – Linktree
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– 12 –
Band: THE N.S.O.
Who: A Yorkshire (UK) four-piece who mix various influences and genres into their work, resulting in a sound that is enticingly fresh and exciting. They combine dark and gritty vocals with light-hearted melodies making for a winning combo at every turn.
Track: COUNCELLORS CALL
“Counsellors Call is a conversation with yourself, your partner, your boss, your friends or your ‘counsellor’. It’s realisation and contradiction in one, to a familiar rhythm in a humorous way, just like life itself.”
TUTV: Take up the phone and wobble and wabble to the strumming
Coral-esque guitar swagger at work here. Counsellors Calls is a jumpy, frisky,
and pop-juiced tune that will bounce in your head for the rest of the day.
Bingo.
.
Linktree
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– 13 –
Photo by Royal Cream
Band: THE AFGHAN WHIGS
Who: Cincinnati‘s rock bigshots
who celebrate their 40th birthday
as a group.
Track: HOUSE OF I
Greg Dulli (singer/songwriter): “Laid this one down in New Orleans
last summer. Was looking for an uptempo banger and feel like we
found one here.”
TUTV: An uptempo banger it is, Mr. Dulli. It sounds
like 2026 is gonna be a wild Afghan Whigs party year.
Instagram – Linktree
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– 14 –
Artist: COMMON FLAWS
Who: The solo project of Giacomo Oberti
the singer/songwriter for Italian synth-pop
team The Bankrobber.
Track: FOR YOU
TUTV: It’s been a while since we had Common Flaws on our headphones, and it’s
a techno-stoked pleasure to hear Oberti again playing around with synths, producing
an ongoing, motorik EBM stomper, which bounces around in your head all day long.
Dance.
Here.
Instagram
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– 15 –
Band: DOPAMINE FIX
Who: Fresh-Irish indie duo who’s manifesto says a lot about them:
“With a nod to the Dadaists, we create Post Punk, Experimental and
Electronica which aims to unnerve, to disturb and to question.”
Track: REAL
“This piece speaks from inside the aftermath: after the damage, after the noise, when
certainty has begun to fail. In a world shaped by artificial intelligence, disinformation
and continuous media manipulation, perception is no longer shared. Reality becomes something assigned rather than lived.”
TUTV: Dopamine Fix offer a voltaic, jump-up-and-down earworm
that bangs and booms from start to finish, like disco legends Erasure
with a punky vibe. Trust me, they’re for real, and they produce real
sonic stimulants.
Play that funky music, here and now.
Instagram
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– 16 –
Band: DEAD RAT SOCIETY
Who: London-based team producing bombastic explosion of Punk, Electro, Hip Hop and Grunge Rock. They are a genre-bending conceptual rollercoaster, fusing the no-nonsense lyricism of punk, the hard hitting dance beats of Electronic Music and the raucous noise of fuzz rock.
Track: OPEN YOUR MIND (TOOTI FROOTI ICE CREAM)
TUTV: These weirdos are big fun, triggering your foxtrot moves with big horns, big beats, big vocals, and big rotations. DRS make you smile, cheer, and spin around like a carousel. Simple and 100% effective with a lot of sassy swagger. That’s entertainment for you, mister Weller
Here we go,
up and down,
left and right.
Instagram
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– 17 –
Photo: Cat Meade
Band: CAPE CRUSH
Who: Power-emo-pop indies from Boston, MA
fronted by singer/guitarist Ali Lipman.
Track: COME ON SHED YOUR LIGHT ON ME
Final single from their upcoming debut LP, titled
Place Memory. Tracklist and order info here.
The song is about the loss of Lipman‘s mother.
Ali Lipman (singer/guitarist) : “I wanted to reflect on the stage of life I was in before her
death, recognizing how youth, distraction, and inexperience kept me from fully appreciating
the time we had together. The song explores that painful awareness, as well as the disorientation of sudden loss and the struggle to make sense of it all.
At its core, this song is about how grief becomes a lasting expression of love, shaping
how I move through the world and reminding me to stay present, because nothing is guaranteed.”
TUTV: At the song’s start, the light goes on slowly and smoothly until frenzied guitars,
a pushing rhythm section and passionate vocals take over and inject this flare-up with gusto and fervor, peaking on the ardent chorus.
It feels as if Lipman wants to ease her pain caused by a dramatic loss and decides
to choose for the future with this emotional eruption. Music has a cathartic force.
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– 18 –
Band: GREAT HARE
Who: Seasoned DIY guitar
rockers from Sweden.
Track: VOYAGER 3
TUTV: Once again, these Swedish music addicts show their knack for writing
attention-grabbing tunes that spin around in your head throughout the day.
This new bass-peppered composition has a bit of slacker rock touch, bringing
Dinosaur Jr to mind, with fewer guitar layers, but more melodic and with vocally
passionate J Mascis echoes.
Get on board.
.
Instagram – Spotify
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– 19 –
📷 Gareth Harwood and B. Kayla Bell
Band: SEADOG
Who: Dream-pop outfit from the mystic shores of Brighton.
They have 2 albums under their belts. Cabin Fever Blues (2018)
and Internal Noise (2024).
Track: AGAINST THE GRAIN
Press info: “An indie anthem for the underdog. A celebration of the ones who carve their own path, rather than follow the herd. The song embraces that raw authenticity and the care-free energy of youth.
Sleeve artwork by B. Kayla Bell
TUTV: Against The Grain balances somewhere between smooth Dinosaur Jr moments
and guitar-layered fuzziness by Band Of Horses, invigorated with rigid drum/bass pulsations and spacey melodiousness. On top, silvery vocals float along, bringing Sparklehorse‘s hallucinatory vocals to mind. Splendiferous stroke.
Linktree
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– 20 –
Band: CHERRY NOVA
Who: Australian indies
from Sunshine Coast.
Track: LIFE OF THE PARTY
The song captures the internal tug-of-war of extroversion: throwing yourself into the night to escape your own thoughts and masking heaviness with noise, movement and people. Written for those who are always invited and always present, the track sits in the uneasy aftermath of the night when you are imminently left alone.
TUTV: This slow-burning torch progresses in slo-mo, amplified with weeping guitars and somber-sounding vocals. The party is over, once again. You’re alone, again. I guess many can connect by experience with this sad situation, therefore making this distressed song an inspiring one. Shared sorrow is half sorrow
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TURN UP THE VOLUME