Album Of The Day

MEATBODIES – Los Angeles’ Psych Rockers Score Big With Their New Rollicking Riffage Album ‘FLORA OCEAN TIGER BLOOM’

Posted on by JL

8 March 2024


Photo by Amanda Adam

Today Los Angeles‘ psych rockers MEATBODIES fronted by voice/guitarist/songwriter Chad Ubovich, have added a 4th LP to their résumé. It’s baptized FLORA OCEAN TIGER BLOOM. Order info here.

Press info: Meatbodies’ latest undertaking and borderline lost album, Flora Ocean
Tiger Bloom, is their most varied and realized work to date. It’s a melodic, hook-filled
rock epic in which frontman and lead guitarist Chad Ubovich faces the trials of sobriety, redemption, reinvention while literally learning to walk and play again.

Resurrection not only accompanies the record, but its production as well, and examines themes surrounding love and loss, escapism, defeatism, hedonism, psychedelics and much more.

TUTV: Without a shadow of a doubt their best achievement, so far. Their 4th
resonates like a badass riff-hook-lick machine with, sonically, lots of echoes from the swinging 60s/70s psych pop/rock era translated to modern-day guitar-noizz electricity.

From harmony experts The Byrds and The 13th Floor Elevators‘ delirious garage hullabaloo to the nightingale splendor of Scottish heroes Teenage Fanclub. From Black Sabbath drones and The Stone Roses‘ sassy Madchester swagger of their 1989 debut LP to Jane’s Addiction towering art-rock flamboyance.

Chad Ubovich could be the main vocalist of any of those bands. His voice has that timeless psychedelia-rock timbre that elevates this record’s tracks to far-out highs. We, fans, know that he’s a six-string virtuoso too and that he’s backed by a terrifically solid band. He has a lot of demons to fight with, but in the end the healing power of music triumphs.

Big rollicking Meatbodies score.
One for best-of-the-year lists.

Singles/clips: Hole / Move / Billow

– HOLE –

– MOVE –

– BILLOW –

ALBUM


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MEATBODIES: Facebook – Instagram

THE GLASS HOURS – Wholehearted Country Folk Duo Touch Heart And Soul With Their Self-Titled Debut Album

Posted on by JL

1 March 2024


Album cover

Artists: THE GLASS HOURS

Who: Seasoned American songwriters Brad Armstrong and Megan Barbera.
Their music blurs between Sunday afternoon country-folk and the golden age
of the 1970s. Combining influences from Megan’s mountain roots and Brad’s southern roots, The Glass Hours is currently based in New York’s Hudson Valley. Prior to start the project, they have written, performed and recorded for various independent projects.

Debut album: THE GLASS HOURS

Press info: “The songs go where they want to go; Brad and Megan simply try to stay
out of the way. Although it is nearly impossible, in this new world of niche artistry, not
to pick a genre camp and pitch a tent, The Glass Hours seem intent on trying.

Yet, there is a thread that ties the whole thing together, and that is the constant tension and tapestry of their voices harmonizing. Every song on The Glass Hours was written with the idea of this harmony and interaction, point and counterpoint, between two voices trying to come together as one.”


Photo: Braden Chattman

TUTV: This is the kind of record I love to play at the end of a busy day and after
listening to too much, noisy stuff. The soothing mix of melancholic country, musing
folk, sepia-colored blues, some bluegrass, roots, and pop/rock influences can work magically to slow down your stressed mind, as happens here.

The heroes of the sensitive songs here are the duo’s wholehearted voices, solo or harmonizing together. Armstrong and Barbera are both blessed with a characteristically warm, tender and yearning Americana voice. Of course, you need the right, affective tunes that can entertain people’s ears. There are 9 of them here. All enchanting and heart-and-soul touching. References? Young and old(er) artists such as Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, Lana Del Rey, Willie Nelson, Crystal Gayle, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. Impressive, right? You betcha.

Add romanticized stories about all things good and sad, bright and dark in life, and you get a lasting record and sonic companion for quiet moments, away from this world’s rat race.

Get a drink of your choice, dim the lights, sit down,
relax, let the music come to you, and start dreaming.

SINGLES: Hurricane / Scarlet Tongues / Same Old You

– HURRICANE –

– SCARLET TONGUES –

– SAME OLD YOU –

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THE GLASS HOURS: Instagram – Website

THE VACCINES – Earworm Jukebox With Their 6th Album ‘PICK-UP FULL OF PINK CARNATIONS’

Posted on by JL

13 January 2024

British guitar pop idols THE VACCINES have their new,
6th full-length, baptized Pick-Up Full Of Pink Carnations out.

Press info: “The title comes from a misheard lyric from Don McClean‘s “American Pie,”
a song that for Young fittingly evokes the death of innocence and the American Dream. After he moved to Los Angeles – a city the band has grown up being captivated by – he
was forced to wrestle with the disillusionment that comes when expectations, dreams,
and reality don’t quite meet.

Justin Hayward-Young (frontman) : “The album is about reconciling with loss, but it’s
also filled with gratitude for the people and places we once loved.”Pink carnations symbolise gratitude and tell a person they’ll never be forgotten. So whether it’s the loss of a lover, or a friend, or even just a dream, the record is a reminder that they’ll live on in whatever capacity the mind allows them to. And it’s a reminder to keep on dreaming.”


Album artwork

NME says: “Over a decade on from their breakout moment, The Vaccines remain dependable,
if frustratingly predictable. That’s not to say it doesn’t work. It might not offer anything new, but
it doesn’t necessarily need to. There’s a reason why they’ve remained a festival favourite for over
a decade – they’re good at what they do, even if it’s nothing particularly groundbreaking.”
Score: 3/5.

TUTV: Tune after tune after tune is what you get. That’s what The Vaccines do since day one and their cracking debut LP What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? (2011). The new one will help to fill their jukebox further on with whistle/sing/hum along vaccines. Why making complex music, if you can make people happy with simple, boosting TUNES.

Key singles/clips: Sometimes, I Swear / Lunar Eclipse / Heartbreak Kid

– SOMETIMES, I SWEAR –

– LUNAR ECLIPSE –

– HEARTBREAK KID –

ALBUM


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Europe/UK 2024

US Tour 2024

THE VACCINES: Instagram

THE KILLERS Hit Bullseye With ‘Best Of’ Album ‘REBEL DIAMONDS’ – Jukebox Filled With 20 Power Pop Earworms

Posted on by JL

9 December 2023

Californian power pop celebs THE KILLERS fronted by
the charismatic Brandon Flowers have recorded/released
7 albums between 2004 and 2021.

They’re experts when it comes to write euphoric, sing-along nuggets
and get massive crowds to go nuts at their sizzling live shows.

In time for Xmas they launched a best of album, REBEL DIAMONDS
yesterday. A jukebox stuffed with 20 gems. Bullseye.

It features one new one, titled SPIRIT which is, of course, a killer tune.

SPIRIT

MR. BRIGHTSIDE
Live euphoria

Let the diamonds shine.


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THE KILLERS: Bio – Discography – Instagram

ROWSIE Offer Americana Fireworks The British Way With Their Debut Album ‘I’

Posted on by JL

25 November 2023

Band: ROWSIE
Who: Classic rock 4-piece from London.

Debut album: I

“Each song is a story encased in a startling sonic blanket; taking a swing
at love, lost childhood, salvation and never-ending ironic encounters with
their own defects of character.”


Album artwork

TUTV: Tons of roasting riffs, racy licks and sizzling hooks is what you get
here. Enough rollin’ rippers to make your ears go bonkers with excitement
for a while.

Mind you, it’s not just about turning up the amps. ‘I’ offers catching melodies
embedded in fiery Americana-rock inspired tunes (Hard To Be Me / Willingness /
Itch), amplified country & blues moments (Billionaire Bankers / Fertile Fields / She
Shines Electric), and a tender, gripping and melancholic ballad with closing
pearl ‘So I’m Told‘.

Instrumental to this record are not only the firework guitars, but also frontman
Richard Rothenberg‘s hearty and powerful voice. Think John Mellencamp and Nathaniel
Rateliff. Americana fireworks the British. Classic old skool electricity? Sure, but
oh so timeless.

Stellar acoustic version of Fertile Fields

STREAM ‘I’

BUY ‘I’


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ROWSIE: Website – Instagram
TUTV: Facebook – Instagram – Twitter

GUIDED BY VOICES – Prolific Ohio Rockers Released Their 3rd LP Of The Year Today With ‘NOWHERE TO GO BUT UP’

Posted on by JL

24 November 2023


Album artwork

Ohio‘s imperishable rockers GUIDED BY VOICES‘ released their 3rd LP
of 2023. I repeat their 3rd LP of 2023. It’s titled NOWHERE TO GO BUT UP.

Order info here.

It’s their 39th album in their 40-year career. Unquestionably the hardest-working
band in music’s history. Their only contender are Aussie psych-prog rockers King
Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard with 25 LPs in 13 years. The question of course is how
long KGATLW will be around?

PASTE Music says: Everything just fits, and there are only a few stop-and-start, proggy shifts in tempo that Pollard has enjoyed lately—all of which pay off beautifully here. There is no doubt that these songs will blast off live, as Pollard has never shied away from the spotlight. In a true “not leaving the mound until the last pitch moment,” he almost became sick on-stage singing his guts out, as the band delivered an unheard of 100-song set at a New Year’s Eve show in 2019. And there really is no precedent for a band like Guided By Voices, or an artistic visionary like Robert Pollard. With so many essential entries still being released even after his 40th year of piloting the ship, how could you not trust the man at his word when he gives it to you so plain and simple? Full review here. Score: 9/10.


TUTV: The creativity and productivity of maestro Robert Pollard is phenomenal.
I’m sure a day in his Ohio lasts for 48 instead of 24 hours and I’m sure he writes songs
while he sleeps, eats and works out. And it’s not like he produces rubbish. GBV doesn’t make bad albums. Some of them are better than others, of course. But you always get
a rip-and-riff roaring mix of rock/grunge/post-punk entertainment. Just like on this new one.

ALBUM


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GBV: Instagram – Bio – Discography

LEATHERETTE – Italian Misfits Create Glorious Post-Punk Havoc On 2nd Album ‘SMALL TALK’

Posted on by JL

16 November 2023

Band: LEATHERETTE
Who: 5 noisy pop/rock indies
from Bologna, Italy.

Album: SMALL TALK

Following their incendiary 2022 debut album Fiesta,
their sophomore longplayer, titled Small Talk is out now.

Press info: “Leatherette’s second album is clearly the work of a group ready to take flight in a new direction and it transcends all they have done before. It coins a voice uniquely their own, driven by the same furies that propelled debut album ‘Fiesta‘, but finding fresh new forms for expression. It boasts some of their most unabashed pop songs to date – albeit pop that’s deftly twisted, pointedly perverse and ready to explode when you least expect it. It also contains some of the group’s most challenging and uncompromising noise yet, the violent swinging back-and-forth between ugly din and nagging tunefulness a (molotov) cocktail that grows only more addictive with each listen. A smart, bold and focused thrill ride that sounds like nothing else out there.”

TUTV: If I didn’t know from which country Leatherette is, I would say, without hesitation, that they’re British. More specifically, part of the post-Brexshit-punk rebirth. Let’s have a look.

Echoes of the blazing bravado of Shame (Bureaucracy Apocalypse / Isolation / Ponytail / Spying On The Garden), the saxy cacophony of Black Road, New Country ( (Experimenting / Fade Away) and the impassioned ardency of The Murder Capital (they’re actually Irish) on Lips and Monday (Still Here). Pretty cool, right? You betcha. Wait, Leatherette are around as long as these bands are, maybe they influenced them.

Whatever, these Italian misfits delivered a gloriously chaotic full-length with a biting
and bone-chilling impact. Maddening music without frontiers. Molto impressionante

STREAM


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BUY


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LEATHERETTE: Instagram – All Streaming Platforms
TUTV: Facebook – Instagram – Twitter

SUN JUNKIES – Canadian Noiseniks Rock Faster Than A Formula 1 Race Car On New Album ‘PARACHUTING’

Posted on by JL

11 November 2023

Band: SUN JUNKIES
Who: Four-piece outfit from Brantford, Ontario that formed in 2018. Cutting their teeth in the Southern Ontario indie scene, as well as touring the USA and Canada’s east coasts, the four best friends have had plenty of time to hone their songwriting abilities.

New album: PARACHUTING
Their 3rd

“Although it’s mainly about time, Parachuting has many other recurring themes and deals with topics like the soul crushing monotony of the 40 hour work week, as well as the coping mechanisms and anxiety that come with such a mundane reality. Featuring an orchestral arrangement of pianos, violins and horns juxtaposed with growling feedback and distorted guitars, these songs will (hopefully) make you feel like you’re unreasonably sad at the most debaucherous party you’ve ever been to.

TUTV: Holy smoke! Wanna go berserk? Here’s the fuel to do it. Sun Junkies rock their tails off and bulldoze their way through 15 kick-ass punk slams. No brakes, no breaks, no mistakes. These 4 Canadians are adrenalized noiseniks producing tons of hurly-burly hullabaloo.

They storm fast-forward with screeching guitars, boisterous drumming and clamorous chanting. Like a Formula One race car in overdrive. Fast and furious, crushing their demons along the whirlwind way. All cylinders and burners on. Think Green Day, Blink 182, and Fall Out Boy in their reckless primes. They end Parachuting out of breath. So will you. Kamikaze rock is what these junkies are about. Hail hail.

Ignore reality for 50 minutes and go nuts. .

Singles/clips: Nothing/Smile –

NOTHING/SMILE

PARKSONG

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SUN JUNKIES: Instagram – Facebook – Spotify
TUTV: Facebook – Instagram

PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS – Australia’s Turbulent Team Have Their Tempestuous 6th Album Titled ‘FRONZOLI’ Out

Posted on by JL

10 November 2023


Hilarious album artwork

Today the psych-rock team PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS from Perth, Australia
have their 6th album, titled FRONZOLI (title meaning, ‘something unnecessary added
as decoration’) out today.

Order info here.


Press photo

Jack McEwan (songwriter/frontman): “This record is my favourite creation
to date. Every nuance has been discussed, slandered and carefully contorted into place,
it sporadically colours outside the lines, so you’re left with these extraverted squiggles.”

TUTV: Uppercut after uppercut, corker after corker, jackhammer after jackhammer
(you get two breathers with amplified ballad Cpt. Gravity Mouse Welcome and the short acoustic beauty ‘Illusions of Grandeur’). Your ears need to be in great shape to absorb
this whirlwind record.

If PPC were animals they would be hungry wolves wandering in the deserts of Australia looking for prey. Their melting pot of glam metal, pithy punk, high-voltage pop and other noisy shout-outs results in an ecstatic body of infectious. Btw, am I the only one who thinks McEwan‘s voice resembles Arctic Monkey’s Alex Turner one (now and then) and vice versa, of course.

Favorite tracks: (I’m a Kadaver) Alakazam / Illusions of Grandeur / All Aboard the S.S. Sinker and the mind-boggling closer Mr. & Mrs. Misanthrope.

PPC: Facebook – Instagram

KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD Swap Guitars For Electronica On Their 25th LP In 13 Years

Posted on by JL

28 October 2023

The Aussie psych-prog-rockers have their 25th LP
in 13 years out, titled THE SILVER CORD.

It’s their second of the year, following, take a deep breath: PetroDragonic Apocalypse Or, Dawn Of Eternal Night: An Annihilation Of Planet Earth And The Beginning Of Merciless Damnation.

UNCUT Magazine: The Aussie Maestros deliver seven concise tracks of electronica, largely indebted to Giorgio Moroder but with ventures into many of those elements Moroder inspired, from disco to techno and even jungle.

TUTV: The incredibly productive misfits step into another sonic universe – leaving
their by now familiar psych-prog rock one – this time. No guitars here, unless they
mixed them unrecognizably. It’s all about experimenting with electronica, synths
and related devices, all the way through.

Their hurried psychedelic rainbow sound is still intact, yet it resonates more like EBM
for post-punk indies. Inventive but in the end still the Aussies we know. And guess what, there are only 7 songs, and for the first time not one reaching the 5-minute mark.

But for their fanatic fans, in order to avoid withdrawal symptoms, the band remixed
all 7 songs – with each one not shorter than 10 minutes – and pressed them on an
extra vinyl edition. You can also stream the whole shebang here on Spotify.
Score: 3.5/5.


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KG & TLW: Facebook – Website