Album Of The Day

Metal Titans METALLICA Crash Concrete Walls With Their New Cast Iron Album ’72 SEASONS’

Posted on by JL

Standout longplayers

14 April 2023

Metal titans METALLICA released their 11th LP,
baptized 72 SEASONS today. Order info here.

Hatfield (voice/guitarist) “The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents.
A possible pigeonholing around what kind of personality we are. I think the most interesting part of this is the continued study of those core beliefs and how it affects our perception
of the world today. Much of our adult experience is reenactment or reaction to these
childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we
carry.”

NME: “The hard rock veterans roll back the years to deliver a thrilling sonic onslaught – including their longest ever song… The whole album roars past in an unremitting and intense 77 minutes, pausing only for a few moments of in-studio banter recorded for posterity. There are no ballads here, just speed demon anthems purpose built for mosh pits, bedrooms, car journeys and anywhere else you choose to head-bang.” Score: 4/5.

TUTV: Guess what, I never was a big Metallica fan (too macho, too many times the same old tricks) but (you knew a but was coming) with this thunder-and-lighting loaded album I’m headbanging and playing air guitar like a real M fanatic. I never thought these old master-billionaire-puppets would have still that much ear-crushing energy in their tank.
It’s a cast iron album you can crash concrete walls with. 12 ballbreakers, 72 seasons. Hallelujah!

Singles/clips: Lux Æterna / If Darkness Had A Son / Screaming Suicide

– LUX ÆTERNA –

– IF DARKNESS HAD A SON –

– SCREAMING SUICEDE –

FULL ALBUM

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TOUR 2023 (more dates TBA)

METALLICA: Website – Instagram

Electro Post-Punk Eccentrics CHUM Strike With Debut Album ‘METAPHYSICAL’

Posted on by JL

Standout longplayers

12 April 2023

Band: CHUM
Who: 5 DIY psych/noise
rockers from London.

Debut album: METAPHYSICAL
“Part crystal healing ceremony, part self-help seminar, part
just-taken-thebrown-acid; we’re never quite sure of where
we might end up.”

Order info here.

TUTV: Chum play around with post-prog-synth-rock (Casual Body / Social Animal),
they blow your mind with pounding bangers (Beefcake Doctrine / Nu Age / Gold Star)
and schizo strokes (Music Providence / Humanities) and they finish with a sonically deformed and bizzaro helter-skelter called Annul.

Want references? The unpredictable kookiness of The Residents, the psychedelic
post-punk turbulence of Killing Joke, and yes, the symphonic bombast of Emerson
Lake & Palmer all mixed up and cranked up in a far-out 8-track debut album with
weird stories.

Video/clip for TUTV’s favourite track,
the stunning sledgehammer Beefcake Doctrine.

Buy/stream album here.


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Also st(r)eaming on Spotify.

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CHUM: Facebook

Artwork/photos by Suzi Corker

TOILET RATS – One-Man Synth-Punk Army Leaves Its Sewer To Release New Album

Posted on by JL

Standout longplayers

10 April 2023

Artist: TOILET RATS

Who: The one-person operation of Tommy Ratz (synonym for Thomas Rehbein), who allegedly operates out of a small studio in the sewers beneath Minneapolis, MN where
he is surrounded by synthesizers, guitars, and fast food wrappers. He used to play in several bands and produce them too. Unable to get internet or television signals in
the sewer, Ratz collects discarded VHS tapes, audio cassettes, and discarded brochures, which inform his sense of reality and worldview.

New album: TOILET RATS IV

TUTV: I’m not sure if Ratz‘s bio (see above) is true, but it definitely sounds cool,
just like his new album. It’s all burners and all cylinders on from track one until
the final one. Expect 10 sped-up, steamed-up and punked-up sucker punches.

Tons of synth-guitar-drum electricity with a head-twisting speed
force (Haunted House / Carol Kane / Clap Back) and vivid vibrancy.

At times it feels like a full wall-of-cranked-up orchestra is at work (like on the Ramones-esque Drug Bird / Sensory Overload / Walk The Earth), at times it’s industrial noise-rock time (Lava / Black Box Recorder). This toilet rat never slows down. No brakes, no breaks. I dare you to pogo to this clash and trash record without falling over your feet every 2 minutes.

Buy/stream here.


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TOILET RATS: Instagram

Romantic Indie Trio DAUGHTER Mesmerize With Their Third Album ‘STEREO MIND GAME’

Posted on by JL

Standout longplayers

9 April 2023

Band: DAUGHTER
Who: Indie trio from North-London

New album: STEREO MIND GAMES

Press info: Returning with their first studio album in seven years, Stereo Mind Game
is a new chapter for Daughter. Released on 7 April, the group’s third record follows Not To Disappear (2016) and soundtrack Music Before The Storm(2017). After more than a decade spent depicting the darkest emotions, the trio of Elena Tonra, Igor Haefeli and Remi Aguilella present their most optimistic record yet.


Album artwork

NME says: “On their third album the London trio thrive by wading into the depths of human relationships. With ‘Stereo Mind Game’, Daughter marks a new era of tending to sorrow instead of dwelling in it, where the band wading into new wider ranges of emotion without leaving behind the rich orchestration and poetic lyricism they’re known for.”
Full review here. Score: 4/5.

TUTV: Daughter operate in a sort of fantasy world experiencing real-life moments.
Their new record is a collection of smooth pop balladry, starry-eyed lullabies, and relationship meditations. Music for day-and-night dreamers.

Singles/clips: Be On Your Own Way / Party / Swim Back

– BE ON YOUR WAY –

– PARTY –

– SWIM BACK –

STEREO MIND GAME

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DAUGHTER: Facebook – Instagram

A Riveting Guide To Dark-Post-Punk-Rock-Wave Duo VAZUM

Posted on by JL

Standout longplayers

7 April 2023

Band: VAZUM (Detroit, Michigan)

Who: Zach Pliska and Emily Sturm. Their musical project started in 2017.
They describe their sound as deathgaze, combining the raw energy of
deathrock with the depth of shoegaze. So far the duo released four
albums and a handful of singles and EPs.

New album: V-

V- is a greatest hits album consisting of re-recorded songs from 2020-2022.
The longplayer serves as a proper introduction to VAZUM’s unique blend of
goth rock and shoegaze. Lyrically, V- is fueled by a distaste for idol worship,
social media influencers, self-righteous zealots, corporate greed, and
consumerism and speaks out against domestic abuse and self-harm.

TUTV: If you’re into all things Goth/dark-shoegaze-wave and never heard of VAZUM you should buy this album. It captures their versatile songwriting creativity. From blazing industrial-punk-rock (Angel / Embers / Unspoken) to their love for Siouxsie And The Banshees (Thief / Love To Death / Gallows), to spooky darkwave wanderings (Werewolf / Razor Smile / Haunted House), to the closing album stomper The Familiar. And everywhere Zach Pliska and Emily Sturm‘s (now and then sounding like Siouxsie Sioux‘s twin voice) vocals fuel their glimmering-synth-guitar plangency. This is a perfect guide to Vazum‘s fascinating world.

Buy/stream
V- right here.


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VAZUM: Facebook – Instagram

Pitch Black Electro-Blues For The Midnight Hours – Seattle Duo 2LIBRAS With Debut Album ‘WORLD’S END’

Posted on by JL

Splendid albums

4 April 2023

Artists: 2LIBRAS

Who: Seattle-based Cyberpunk duo – Wesley and Jewels Foster that creates dark, synthy beats infused with melodic guitars and vocal harmony since 2018. Their music infuses genres of industrial, dark electro, synthwave/synthpop and rock. Thematically, 2Libras focuses on lyrics that reflect the influence of technology, big data, and social media in our global society and how that affects interpersonal relationships while diminishing our collective outlook. So far they produced/released 9 EPs/singles, 4 music videos and now their brand new debut album.

Debut album: WORLD’S END

“We created an AI child from the pieces of ourselves that we preferred the most. We made it immune to death and out of love it found a way to keep us from dying also. For some time we were content in our prison of silicon. Eventually we started questioning everything, including a way to escape. The ghosts in the machine told us a way. Will we make it out before the World’s End?”

TUTV: 2Libras operate in a surreal-like shadowy environment where they prepare for Doomsday, where they fabricated this soul-purifying and cathartic, synth-infused darkwave album and from where they share their worrying reflections with our messed-up world.

Expect nightmarish hallucinations in slow motion (Into The Sun, Talking To Ghost, World’s), synth-overwhelming scores with angered and bone-chilling duet-vocals (Golden Age Of Isolation, We Fought The Machines And They Won, Heads Against The Wall) here and there
you hear early poppy Depeche Mode echoes but overall the mood is gloomy and sombre. Pitch-black electro-blues for the midnight hours.

But maybe, only maybe, there’s a light at the end of our miserable 2023 tunnel as I experience on their standout, both romantic and haunting, single (one of the most haunting songs I heard all year) Heart On.

Buy/stream album here.


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2LIBRAS: Website – Instagram

(Press photos via 2Libras)

The Rebirth Of BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD With New Album ‘LIVE AT BUSH HALL’ Out Now

Posted on by JL

Standout longplayers

25 March 2023

Band: BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD

Who: Experimental 7-piece from London producing a hypnotic mix
of prog and math rock, jazz, post-psych-punk, and other musical roads.

The band made an instant impression with their 2021 debut full-length
For The First Time and repeated the feat with follow-up LP Ants From
Up There.

Dark clouds threatened the collective’s future as frontman and otherwordly
vox Isaac Wood left citing mental health problems, shortly after the 2nd album
was recorded.

But the band doubted not one second to go on without Wood. This live registration
of a gig at London’s Bush Hall venue proves they were totally right to do so, they’re just
to good to vanish. Bassist Taylor Hyde, saxophonist Lewis Evans, and keyboardist May Kershaw take care of the vocals now.

Guess what? I didn’t miss Wood here (mind you, I will go back to their studio longplayers to hear him, annex the full orchestra). Black Country, New Road make it loud and clear: they’re here to stay.


Photo by Holly Whitaker

NME: “‘Live At Bush Hall’, then, offers a remarkable snapshot of a band in transition, one willing to push on and not let circumstances stand in the way of what they love doing most. They’re a collective that remains humble and ready to tackle whatever is yet to come, steadfast that, as a unit, they are unstoppable.” Score 4/5.

LIVE AT BUS HALL

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BC, NR: Facebook – Instagram

DEPECHE MODE Released Mellow And Tender Album ‘MEMENTO MORI’ Today

Posted on by JL

24 March 2023

Darkwave pop Goths DEPECHE MODE released their new LP – their 15th – named MEMENTO MORI today. The first one without original member Andy Fletcher who passed away last May – only 60 – following an aortic dissection.

Dave Gahan: “We started work on this project early in the pandemic, and its themes were directly inspired by that time. After Fletch’s passing, we decided to continue as we’re sure this
is what he would have wanted, and that has really given the project an extra level of meaning. Fletch would have loved this album. We’re really looking forward to sharing it with you soon, and we can’t wait to present it to you live at the shows next year.”

NME‘s verdict: “To have an album of this quality after what the band have been through
may seem miraculous, but Depeche Mode have always turned turmoil, tension and life’s
darker moments into magic. ‘Memento Mori’ is comfortably their best album this side of
the millennium, and, most importantly, a testament to creativity and friendship. The music world is richer for it.” Full review here. Score: 4/5.

Turn Up The Volume: It feels like DM, understandably so, process their grief on this new LP after their longtime friend/colleague Andy Flecther passed away last year. Memento Mori is a mellow and emotive work, very different from their vintage Goth bombast. It’s a stylish and gracious record. Synth-pop created with a melancholic heart.

SINGLES/CLIPS: Cosmos Is Mine / Ghosts Again

– COSMOS IS MINE –

– GHOSTS AGAIN –

FULL ALBUM

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DEPECHE MODE: Facebook – Instagram – All Albums

24/7 Electro-Rap-Punk-Funk Party – ‘100 gecs’ Will Fill Dancefloors Around The Globe With ‘10.000 gecs’

Posted on by JL

Standout longplayers

22 March 2023

Band: 100 gecs
Who: Hyerpop duo from St. Louis, Missouri. They stunned
all nightclubbers with their debut LP 1000 gecs 1 followed
by a remixed edition a year later.

New album: 10.000Gecs

NME: “An intoxicating hurricane of manic nostalgia. 10,000 gecs’ is insanely fun and impressively ambitious. It’s also short but sweet, throwing its turbulent flurry of punches
and then dipping out before listeners have a chance to really think about what’s going on.
And therein lies the key to making the most of ‘10,000 gecs’: don’t think too hard about it,
just take a deep breath and ride the wave.” Score: 5/5.

TUTV: Holy moly! This 24/7 party beast doesn’t reinvent the nightclub wheel but will definitely fill dancefloors around the globe with its effervescent mix of go-out-of-your-fucking-mind mix of rap, pop-punk-funk and ska, oh, and daft stories. Prepare your
body in the gym, because you need to be fit to go bananas to this crazy dance bliss.

Single/clip: Hollywood Baby

100 gecs: Facebook – Instagram

We Know It’s Only Country Rock ‘N’ Roll But We Like It On THE STONES Tribute Album ‘STONED COLD COUNTRY’

Posted on by JL

19 March 2023

Country producer Robert Deaton had this project
with covers of 24 Karat classics of one of the greatest
bands ever planned for a few years.

As it’s the 60th birthday of THE ROLLING STONES as
a band this year, it’s the perfect moment to release it.

The longplayer named STONED COLD COUNTRY features 14 Stones classics covered by 14 different stars. It’s rockin’ and rollin’ electricity. Believe me, it’s a top tribute album you have big fun with.

TRACKLIST

1.“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” – Ashley McBryde
2. “Honky Tonk Women” – Brooks & Dunn
3. “Dead Flowers” – Maren Morris
4. “It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (But I Like It)” – Brothers Osborne & The War And Treaty
5. “Miss You” – Jimmie Allen
6. “Tumbling Dice” – Elle King
7. “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” – Marcus King
8. “Wild Horses” – Little Big Town
9. “Paint It Black” – Zac Brown Band
10. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” – Lainey Wilson
11. “Sympathy for the Devil” – Elvie Shane
12. “Angie” – Steve Earle
13.“Gimme Shelter” – Eric Church
14. “Shine a Light” – Koe Wetzel

We know it’s only country rock ‘n’ roll but we like it.

Start up the jukebox.

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THE ROLLING STONES: Instagram

(Live photos by Turn Up The Volume – Brussels, 2022)