Long time not heard, actually since 2022, with their 3rd LP Most Normal, but here they are back in noiz town. Raw Irish post-punk chainsaws GILLA BAND just dropped a new razorblade-cutting track, called GIRAFFE.
It will be out on a picture disc single via Rough Trade from tomorrow, May 29th on.
Pre-order here.
Dara Kiely (frontman): “In this track, the first few sections represent what my general headspace is like. It can be a very scattered and sometimes lonely place. Feeling unloved
and finding it difficult to articulate what I’m actually thinking.
The outro on the other hand indirectly details a kind of confirmation that affection towards me does exist. While I appreciate it, I still find that hard to believe. That amount of love is difficult for me to accept but it is a beautiful thing to have in life.”
”
TUTV: Bone-chilling, zigzagging, high-voltage guitar/bass
electromagneticism, pushed as usual by frontman Kiely‘s
droning, nigthmarish vocality.
Antonoff: “It’s very rare that I write from the perspective of an everyone-ness. Obviously, the album is about my personal life, but when I was writing it, I was like, ‘We’ve never disagreed more. We’ve never been more torn apart.’ And yet there’s one core thing that everyone agrees on, which is: this version of modernity is trash. No one’s having a good time.”
Press photo by Alex Lockett
TUTV: It’s only recently that I found out that Antonoff is not one but an 11-time Grammy Award winner for his longtime production/songwriting work with megastars such as Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, and Kendrick Lamar. Well, I’m not a follower of these 3 global celebrities, so there you go.
But I do follow, and I do love his Bleachers project. And I do think that his new opus is
his/their best. Antonoff is a masterly, romantic singer-songwriter à la Beirut‘s Zach Condon, an enchanting mood-swinger à la Matt Berninger, and an absorbing human-stories teller à la Father John Misty.
Not one dull moment on Everyone For Ten Minutes. He writes/muses
about the shit times we live in, and it feels like you’re not alone comforting.
I wonder where he finds the time, aside from his hectic, main job for some of the biggest names on this planet, to write, compose, record, and then tour, alluring beauties like this hearty, mixed emotions one. Almost half of the year gone, and I’m quite sure this new Bleachers diamond will be Top-10 in my 2026 list.
TUTV: This is one of those indie DIY records that overwhelm my (experienced) ears way more than some massive mainstream successes within the same genre, in this case, powerhouse-noise rock.
I listened to the new Foo Fighters LP ‘You’re New Favorite Toy’ twice, and I probably won’t return to it, except for a couple of corking standouts. Thus far, this Japanese Jesus debut (released the same day as the Foos LP) has heated my earphones about 10 times now.
And it won’t be the last time.
Why? Well, it’s simple. These two hepped-up underdogs come up with more impressive tunes than Dave Grohl‘s globally famous band. With The Beige, Big Balls, Boredom Forever, No Rest and Over It the Irish turbo deliver riff-sick master blasters (think The Jesus Lizard on amphetamines, backed by Black Sabbath‘s cast-iron rhythm section) with blood-curdling melodies at the core of them all and vociferous vocalist Bertie Kelly screaming, at times, way more scarily than the former Nirvana drummer
With “I’m Bits,“ “Right Back Where They Started,” and “Whatever,” they offer some reflective moments amid the overall paranoid racket, balancing the record comprehensively well.
Japanese Jesus have outscored the Foos. Say no more, except for the
fact I always love it when the underdogs beat the big rock stars.
Tyson Ritter (frontman) told NYC’s magazine Paper: “This album has taken
a lot of fireside chats, and a lot of mending fences. I think I said in an interview
before. People don’t really want a new All-American Rejects record.
People want their time capsule and want to jump into it and feel like they smell CK One and it makes them feel young. But the question I pose is, ‘What if we can say something now? What if we can actually resonate?’”
TUTV: After 27 years, these vets come up with a highly peachy longplayer. A fireworks record stuffed with a series of whoppingly fab tunes. We get scream-along/fist-pumping rockers (Easy Come, Easy Go / Sandbox / Staring Back At Me), euphoric rockers à la The Killers (Get This / Eggshell Tap Dancer / King Kong / Lemonade), and a couple of gripping ballads (Green Isn’t Yellow / Mama).
Enough sonic scores, with familiar life-observing-affirming stories, to have yourself one of the best rawk ‘n’ roll LPs of the year. Retro? Old-fashioned? Maybe, but I don’t give a flying f**ck if it’s hip or not. Sandbox made/makes me go for the repeat button several times now. It activates my bloodstream and doubles my production of adrenaline.
Band:THE CORAL Who: Liverpool‘s psych-folk-pop-rock ramblers wandering since 2002,
when they drew instant ear-attention with their dynamite self-titled debut LP.
“Recorded in two weeks and inspired by Rocksteady, vocal groups of the early 60s, Ethiopiques compilations and “the highs, lows, births and deaths of the last three decades”
11-tracks bring the band back to the essence of being The Coral.”
TUTV: It’s vintage The Coral. Over the years, they grew mellower, more relaxed, more melancholic, more dreamy, and more sepia-toned. Charming, hum-along, mid-tempo tunes for romantic sunsets. If I think of it, the Scousers never ever disappoint(ed). They’re always welcome on my headphones. Right on, let the music play.
Press info: “As most of us go through life’s formative stages, there are often
two lanes of maturity and fulfillment that casually intertwine, with each helping
inform and propel the other.
One is establishing who we are as a person, while discovering a sense of identity
and comfort as our true selves; and the other is finding our community along the
way, seeking refuge and safety in those that exist, and persist, closest to us.
Those lanes converge and come to the forefront of Jesus The Dinosaur’s introspective
debut album, Nothing To The Branches, a record that acts as a portal into a different
kind of emotive headspace.”
Tommy Ng (frontman) “The statement that we are making with this album is that we’re here! The songs cover a range of things from complex relationship dynamics to gender identity to anxiety attacks. But at our core, the music we make is really more about being involved in an intimate collaborative creation process together and finding our own expressions within it.”
“Our chemistry is everything! We’ve been friends for a long time. They are my closest friends.
It allows for the process of music writing to be very intimate and vulnerable and expansive. There’s space for everyone to have their expressions, and we all want to work together and
feel seen.”
TUTV: On this debut, the band explore gender identity, relationship dynamics, anxiety,
and escapism. Musically, they embed these life-important issues in gentle, charming, candid and acoustic-euphonious reveries. Luring indie folk that triggers self-analysing daydreaming.
The ruminative balladry of Bon Iver and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy comes to mind. Nothing To The Branches embraces a similar heart-and-soul stirring melancholia, wrapped in introvertive reveries such as Lifetime, Not Yr Boy, I Miss My Friend and fervent tunes such as (Agender, Empty Space, Sweet Nothing and Looking For A Way Out). Great vocals too from Ng and guitarist Hannah Foxman on Can’t Say.
I’m sure many young people out there can relate to the covered
topics on this brave and frank debut. Kudos to Jesus The Dinosaur.
Album: 10 000 HZ LEGEND
The French synth duo’s 2nd LP was released
on 28 May 2001, today 25 years ago.
AllMusic said: “10,000 Hz Legend is a darker work, just as contemplative
and unhurried as its predecessor, but part of a gradual move from drifting,
almost pastoral melancholia to a downright post-modern helplessness in
league with Radiohead.”
It peaked at #7 in the UK, and #3 on the US Dance Album Charts.
Former The Smiths legend Johnny Marr and New Order voice Bernard Sumner
teamed up as ELECTRONIC for a total of 3 longplayers (between 1989 and 1998)
with their eponymous debut LP as their best (to my ears). Synth-pop at its brisky
best.
It was released on 27 May 1991, today 35 years ago.
It peaked at #2 in the UK and sold more than 1 million
copies worldwide.
Vox (English music monthly) said: “Electronic is simply a 100 per cent pure
distillation of Marr and Sumner’s respective talents. Hit single ‘Get the Message’
has it in a nutshell: it breaks no new ground; it simply achieves perfection”
Artist: SPRING TIM CULL Who: Musical moniker of Liverpool singer-songwriter Tess Corr. Inspired by PJ Harvey, QOTSA, and NIN, she produces a dark alt rock sound with elements of grunge, industrial, indie, shoegaze & goth, resulting in powerful fuzz-heavy outbursts & softer episodes, scattered with serrated guitar & synth elements.
“The song is was inspired by a devastating news article about how a whole pack of wolves was illegally poisoned in the Apennine mountains in Italy in 2023 by a suspected farmer. The song is sung from the point of view of a mother wolf warning her cub about the dangers of humans: how they have exploited their habitat for their own means, and view wolves as a threat.
This story made Tender Claws think about human-wildlife coexistence on a wider scale and how it is so imbalanced and unfair, and how nature is often disrespected, disregarded or taken for granted.”
TUTV: Spring Time Cull displays a monumental sonority, generated by a towering drum/guitar clash and glueing synths. Thunder and lightning everywhere, while Corr‘s gothesque voice completes the sonic presence of horror and evil in the air. This
spine-chilling thrill sends shivers down your spine. Helter skelter.
“I saw something I hope you never have to see
Six black death bags in the shapes of us
Another pack that were unfortunate
Victims of the spring time cull”
Muscular British rock topliners NOTHING BUT THIEVES just announced the upcoming birth of their 5th full-length. It’s named Stray Dogs and will arrive on September 25th.
