Band: KULA SHAKER
Who: British psych rock vets, fronted by charismatic
vocalist/songwriter Crispian Mills. Their 1996 debut LP,
titled K made them instant indie stars.
Press info: “Named after a 9th-century Indian poet king, the band have always existed
in an alternate reality, mixing mysticism, psychedelia, and raucous rock ‘n’ roll energy. With Wormslayer, they continue that quest, creating a kaleidoscopic journey that feels both
timeless and urgently fresh.”
Press photo
TUTV: KS show again their passion for 60s psychedelic rock/pop flavered with Indian sitar vibes and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds symphonies. Think early Pink
Floyd, The Kinks, The Pepper Beatles,Traffic and Arthur Lee’s Love.
And they are very good at it. Wormslayer is stuffed with top-flight pop-edelia tunes, elevating this 8th LP to a must-hear on repeat level. Voice/face/songwriter and vibrant guitarist Crispian Mills lifts his troops to ecstasizing heights of nostalgia. Retro delirium
at its todays best. Formidable record.
Press info: “Look Who’s Back took shape in a homegrown, late-night party atmosphere, playfully debaucherous sessions ran late into the night, the cozy room as crowded with mics, cables, and recording equipment as it was with friends, pizza boxes, and beer cans.”
TUTV: This party squad keeps it simple, but oh irresistibly efficient with laid-back
melodiousness, sparkling guitar play, euphonious harmonies, and top-drawer sing along/tap along/clap along tunes with at times, a cosy country feel. It’s called pop-ular music. Instantly entertaining, chipper and ear-pleasing fun.
Trust me, the cliché, no fillers, all killers, is 100% accurate here.
Artists: DEAD ANYWAY Who: British duo who set the dark lyricism of Kate Arnold against the music
and soundscapes of Marc Symonds. They offer a mix of poetry, electronica
and guitars. A heady brew of dark, glitchy head-messing wonder.
TUTV: Again, DA takes you on a relaxing wander, entertaining your ears, mind,
and psyche en route. They trip and hop their way through eight new pieces. Sonically,
as we experienced so many times before, Tricky,Arab Strap, and Portishead come
to mind.
Sydmonds designs a fitting, easy-listening atmosphere, flavored with scintillating guitar
sparks, shiny synth,s and bass-dipped Massive Attack-like percussion, for Arnold‘s spoken
word reflections.
Her laid-back vocals suit the whole sonic picture organically, and her hush-hush
tonality creates an inviting, intimate ambiance. Thematically, the songs are Arnold reflections on her mental issues. The overall outcome of this new LP is engrossing
once again.
Ronker about the record: “The initial plan was to write half of the record completely sober. We mostly succeeded in that effort. Not quite. We noticed that the songs we wrote in those sober sessions had a very distinct nature compared to the more fierce banger-like
songs we hammer out when we have some sort of intoxicants in our veins.”
📸 Nathan Dobbelaere
TUTV’s impressions.
Ronker rage and race once again.
These volcanic punk hyenas develop
an earsplitting havoc that crushes
your mind, your psyche and your
shaking stereo.
Manic demon Jasper De Petter – Trix, Antwerp – Photo by Turn Up The Volume
Vociferous vocalist Kasper has 4 lungs
and iron pipes. He growls, barks, howls
and spits and sneers at a sizzling speed.
His backing crew hits hard, really hard.
Schizo riot gun riffs and a Herculean
bass/drum tandem. What you hear
is what your terrified ears get.
On the short & soft, classical piano-driven
instrumental in the middle, you can take
a breather, and the closing ballad, an
intensity-growing ballad Using Eyes is
one of my favorite pieces on the record.
This 2nd LP could easily be the soundtrack
to Quentin Tarantino‘s first horror movie.
Band:GORILLAZ Who: The brainchild of Blur’s Damon Albarn and comic book artist Jamie Hewlett, who celebrated the 25th anniversary of their top-ranking
project this year.
Press info: “The album is a collection of 15 new tracks featuring artists and
collaborators, living and dead, including: Ajay Prasanna, Anoushka Shankar, Asha
Bhosle, Asha Puthli, Bizarrap, Black Thought, Gruff Rhys, Idles, Jalen Ngonda, Johnny
Marr, Kara Jackson, Omar Souleyman, Paul Simonon, Sparks, Trueno and Yasiin Bey;
as well as the voices of the late Bobby Womack, Dave Jolicoeur, Dennis Hopper and
Mark E. Smith
TUTV:Gorillaz offer us the first summer record of the year. And if you’re a longtime
G fan you know what that means. Yes, a soft stream of easygoing, feel-good, and bubbly reggae-tinted tunes. But it’s not all sunlight and carefreeness.
Albarn and Hewlett both lost their fathers, in between two trips they did together to India. Those sad happenings resonate in several melancholic musings, embedded in Indian instrumentation (lots of sitars) and Eastern vibes, yet they obviously want to
keep up the good spirits and look to the future.
It results in one of their most entertaining longplayers in their 25-year career.
Stereogum says: “For such a ceaselessly aggressive band, there’s a huge dynamic
range here; they shift from runaway-train speed to slo-mo churn to discordant midtempo freakouts, making the transitions feel as natural and effortless as an world-class athlete’s graceful body contortions.
Their fury would drown out a lesser frontperson, but Kelly commands the mic with enough unbound personality to shine through the chaos.”
Australia’s THE MUSIC website: “Mega riffs ready to send a festival crowd into raptures? Tick. A riotous celebration of the joys of getting back on the road? Sure. Rock anthems that address the weird place we find ourselves, with personal privacy and the pale blue dot we
call home under threat from dark forces? Several.”
TUTV: 31 minutes of running rock amok, producing as many licks, hooks and riffs,
possible in that short time. No arty farty baloney. No ego wanderings. No unnecessary digressions.
Only combusting rock and bloody roll. They take a breather (well, sort of) on
2 tracks, Real Love and lullaby Warped but ‘Easing Out Of Control’‘s dominating
racket is roisterous and boisterous.
UNCUT Magazine (British glossy music monthly): “Williams reveals her chief preoccupation: America and where it stands today. Her natural impulse is to channel compassion, concern, empathy and anxiety in a batch of wise songs that know their past and present but refuse to crumple or compromise.
One year into Donald Trump’s second term, Williams knows people need to feel their woes
are acknowledged and understood, and more so, that they need hope for a kinder future.
The music is straight and soothing, a band coming together in a rootsy salve as Williams returns to a favourite theme, deliverance through music. She is engaged in nothing less
than a battle for America’s soul.”
Williams: “We are here to bear witness to this monstrous sickness.”
TUTV: If you have any kind of common sense, you’re disgusted by that orange dictator’s damaging politics in the White House. First of all, all the not-brainwashed Americans, of course, but also at least half of the world despises him because of his authoritarian
‘Me, Myself and I‘ politics.
Lucinda Williams is one of those millions of Americans who are sick of this MAGA cult POTUS. She embeds her rage into a series of most captivating songs, sonically, vocaly and lyrically. World’s Gone Wrong is both a worrying, candid, and sharp-observing record. Don’t miss it.
CLASH MAGAZINE says: “With as many albums in this century as in the last, ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’ finds Cast building on the momentum of the previous two years with both confidence and quality. Refusing to trade solely on nostalgia, it’s a beefed-up version of their best selves. Long may their positivity last.”
TUTV: When someone says Cast I say “Fine Time,” referring to their
995 debut single. Yep, the former Britpop stars, led by former The La‘s
member John Power, have been playing around for more than 3 decades.
And they didn’t lose their appetite for feel-good, easy-going, joyful tunes, at all.
YYY features 10 jangly guitar pop songs. Simple but oh so catchingly infectious. Cast have no ambition to reinvent the rock wheel, they just wanna entertain us.
Mission accomplished.
“This album is the culmination somewhat, since the beginning of writing
these words down. i would like to thank everybody in my life, past, present,
and future, for simply being in my life.”
TUTV: Think of the early raw rockin’ days of Evan Dando and his Lemonheads. Contagious melodies embedded in a swamp of high-energized tuines. At times chaotic, ramshackle and distorted, but hey, that’s DIY garage rock for you, folks. No arty farty production, no superfluous special effects. Direct, raw and rough. Love it.
The LP is an intense and raw reflection of grief, trauma, and the desire for healing.
‘A Mass In The Water’ roughly describes the last day of Wolf Vanwymeersch‘s father,
who took his own life during a psychotic episode. The album balances between
mockery, anger, powerlessness, grief, understanding, compassion, and love.
TUTV: It’s a both scary and flabbergasting opus that takes a lot of courage to make and share with the world. The album’s ominous dynamics, distorted vocals, and riff-roasting razzmatazz resonate like if you are listening to the soundtrack of a modern-day horror movie.
Vanwymeersch and Wholes created their own Dante’s Inferno.
Bloodcurdling, pitch-black, and bone-chilling. Helter-skelter.
TUTV: Just one spin and I knew this LP was a winner. Ace tune, after ace tune, after
ace tune. Guitar pop at its most move ‘n groove exciting. In the middle, vocalist and
guitarist Maisie Everett draws all attention. Wonderful voice, striking performance.
And she’s backed by a well-oiled rockin’ engine. Trust me, these Aussies are going
places, very soon.
TUTV: Nele Janssen bewitches with her crystalline voice and enchanting piano play. Intimate, passional and heartfelt. From a Peuk scream to a solo whisper. A beautiful,
soul-stirring record that silences you from start to finish.
Eleven bittersweet reveries for the midnight hours. Stony Beds is an ideal companion
for cold winter nights, while relaxing with dimmed light on your couch and your favourite drink at hand.
TUTV: PP offer sinewy pieces of a high rock-punk-and-blues calibre,
all delivered with lots of gusto and bold brio. They fuzz and buzz
throughout the whole record. 40 minutes of barbed electricity.
Artist: MAVIS STAPLES Who: Legendary soul/blues/rock voice who, along with family, had a long and
greatly accomplished career under the name ofThe Staple Singers (1948-1994).
She’s 86 now, singing and swinging like a 36-year-old.
Produced by Brad Cook, the album spans seven decades of the American songbook,
a range nearly as vast as Mavis’ career, and includes reinventions of timeless songs
by Tom Waits, Sparklehorse, Gillian Welch, Frank Ocean and more.
Cook imagined an album in the tradition of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band‘s Will the Circle Be Unbroken, a group of artists coming together to celebrate community. In this case,
one centered on Mavis. Collaborators include Buddy Guy, Bonnie Raitt, Jeff Tweedy, Derek Trucks, Katie Crutchfield, MJ Lenderman, and Justin Vernon.
Sprints about the LP: “While the world is literally burning down around us there are voices that seem hell bent on pointing the finger at anyone but those actually responsible. There’s no need to dream-up dystopia, we’re living in it. And somehow, while the world has never seemed uglier, our life has never been more beautiful.”
TUTV: Their riff-ripping quiet/loud/quiet formula works again, big time. The decisive factor for making this my fav album of the month is the cooking/boiling/bloodcurdling ebullience of the 5 last tracks. They hit you, piece by piece, hard in the face. Karla Chubb‘s hepped-up vocals rule again. Here and there her unbridled explosiveness brings young Courtney Love‘s borderline cry outs to mind. Helter-skelter.
Dury about the album: “It’s kind of a character arc that goes through the whole thing,
two personalities. It’s very critical of people, this album, whoever they are, maybe some
bloke with a moustache and sockless loafers in Shoreditch or a fat old Chiswick gangster lording it up in a really comfortable middle class part of London”
“It doesn’t sound like a Harrods hamper band made it. It doesn’t sound like a band made
it all. Which is what I wanted most of all. It’s just something that’s brand new for me. It’s
quite exciting, really.”
Photo by Turn Up The Volume – Lokerse Feesten, Belgium
TUTV: Dury does it again. Allabarone is another invitation to get up, stand up and sway your pelvis to sultry beats. Buzzing bass grooves and hip-shaking vibes have you going non-stop while he tells/whispers/sings his weird stories about weird characters. As usual, female harmonies add a sensual touch. An album to consume regularly to keep your lazy limbs vivifying. Boom boom boom!
KEY TRACKS: Allbarone / Alpha Dog / The Other Me / Mockingjay
TheOGM in an interview with New Noise Maagzine: “We want to be able to grow and express our musical range and artistry, so it’s an evolved sound and a process of trying new things and not compromising. There’s so much going on in the world right now and it’s very overwhelming.
You have to sit back and realign yourself, focus, and push through. That’s on a personal level and family level. If you’re going on that political route and that’s what you’re about, you gotta go that route, but everybody has a different route.”
TUTV: You can relax for 2.22 minutes during the opening lines of I Miss Home.
From there on, non-stop louder than war pyrotechnics dominate the record.
Imagine Rage Against The Machine have a motherfucking rap-scream contest with Body Count while the crushing crossover decibels, trash, and crash the roof.
That’s how Ho99o9 deal with our daily, suffocating, rat race. Chop, chop, chop.
Attack, attack, attack. Hit, hit, hit. Don’t escape yet, guys, let’s party hard first.
KEY TRACKS: Target Practice / Incline / Immortal / LA Riots / Godflesh
Press info: “Still in their twenties, the five childhood friends have grown exponentially, with ambitious sonic ideas and the technical chops to execute them. Having proved themselves several times over with legendary live shows and three critically acclaimed albums under their belts, Shame went into Cutthroat ready to create a new Ground Zero.”
TUTV: Without a shadow of a doubt their 2nd best following their terrific debut.
Pumped-up vocalist Charlie Steen spits and sneers again with vitriolic self-assurance, injecting the razor-edged tunes with extra firepower. London’s wackadoos smite again unashamedly with hurry-scurry tempestuousness. Abso-bloody-lutely. Get your pogo
stick out of the closet, you’ll need it.
KEY TRACKS: Cutthroat / Cowards Around / Nothing Better / Spartak / Axis Of Evil
Anderson said to Dazed: “It’s a kind of memento mori, a reminder of death.
It’s not an original thought, but let’s just say that we’re going to die, and that’s that,
but try and make the most of our time on time on Earth. There’s a bleakness to that,
but it’s actually also about embracing life – carpe diem. There’s beauty in transience.”
TUTV: On their past 3 longplayers, hefty guitars create a wall of elevating electricity
with an epic sonority. It results in more rock swagger than pop sensibility, even when
they slow down (Somewhere Between An Atom And A Star and June Rain) guitars have an overpowering impact. Only Brett Anderson melodramatic vocals can compete with them. His hypersensitive vocality is always present upfront and an instrumental factor for Suede‘s work.
The singles (Dancing With Europeans / Trance State and Disintegrate) and the title track stand out. Their anthemic puissance hits your ears with huge fervidness. At times the band try to hard to maintain the vital potency all the way through.
Mind you, most of the songs have an adrenalizing quality. Many other bands would sell their soul to have the necessary craftsmanship to write tunes like Anderson & Co still do today. Great trash.
KEY TRACKS: Dancing With Europeans / Trance State / Disintegrate /
Antidepressants / Life Is Endless, Life Is A Moment
Band: THE IRRATIONAL LIBRARY Who:The Irrational Library is a Dutch-American rock band with its roots
firmly planted in both the regional and international counterculture. The Dutch-American band produces a raw, dirty groove influenced by punk,
provo and punk icons. Their poetry is packed with social criticism.
Press info: Carrying forward their unmistakable blend of groove, grit, and spoken-word swagger, The Irrational Library once again proves they’re tuned into the heartbeat of the here and now. Their music connects yesterday, today, and tomorrow into a sound both urgent and timeless.
TUTV: The IL are back in full kick-ass form, tackling hypocrites of all sorts, who mess up society for their personal benefit. Trenchant lyricist and eloquent word-waterfall Joshua Baumgarten is the heart-and-soul in the middle, whether he screams his lungs out or just tells us what is on his worried mind.
But without the fabulous trio that back him up with their characteristic jazzy-saxy,
bluesy-punk-rock sound, it would be half fun to listen to this record. Band and frontman
are a streamlined team holding your attention with groovy and funky ease, lyrically as
well as sonically.
KEY TRACKS: Notes From The Playground / Gun To Your Head /
Truth Serum / Evidence Of Proof / Today
Press info: “Vibrantly oscillating around a carefully curated palette of electronic and analogue sounds, the eight new tracks reflect the group’s continuous strive to explore sonic spaces through subtle yet gripping songwriting.”
They breathe an overall airy and intimate atmosphere, yet resonate with the structural heft of time and structured, they echo their origins from different seasons, cities, and spaces—neatly stitched together with unparalleled craftsmanship. They breathe an
overall airy and intimate atmosphere, yet resonate with the structural heft of time.”
TUTV: History Of Silence‘s strength lies in its mind-relaxing flow. It feels like an ear massage. Sweet, slo-mo synth/piano symphonies, enlivened now and then with crystalline guitar sparks transfer you to a de-stressing place, far away from the noisy reality, while heartfelt duet vocals complete the tranquil sonority. Headphone music for cold nights.
KEY TRACKS: Miss You Dance / Kill The Light / A Dry Heart Needs No Winding
Stereogum says: The songs have an essential simplicity that makes it still feel accurate
to call Big Thief a folk band. A lot of that accessibility and simplicity is thanks to Lenker’s lyrics. They’re open-hearted and lovely, more so than ever, and their realness and plainness keeps them from being saccharine.
These songs are about the inexorability of passing time, the uselessness of language, and
how love and music can fill the gaps between these things we try to hold on to but never
can.”
Press Photo by Genesis Báez
TUTV: Big Thief seduce and charm once again with playful tunes. Sensitive ones, sad ones
and other related emotive ones, but always ear-pleasing ones. They don’t rock, nor do they really pop, it’s the band’s folk roots that catalyze a laid-back campfire feel. More acoustic than electrical resonance.
No unnecessary bells and whistles, no fake glamour, no studio tricks for BT. They’re
about authenticity and honesty, and Adrienne Lenker‘s voice was made for these serene and thoughtful moments. A great companion for a night in.
KEY TRACKS: Incromprehensible / Los Angeles / All Night All Day / Grandmother
Mojo Magazine‘s verdict: “Birthed via a Black Country communion which saw Robert Plant and his new, largely unknown bandmates enjoy a lengthy courtship off-radar, Saving Grace feels guileless, almost serendipitous. What might happen, Plant mused, if he shipped what he’d learned from T Bone Burnett, Alison Krauss et al home and duetted on choice blues, alt-country and folk covers with Brum-born former music teacher, Suzi Dian? Across 10 intimate songs deftly ornamented by guitarists Matt Worley and Tony Kelsey and cellist Barney Morse-Brown, magic happens.”
TUTV: Mesmerizing roots music with alluring duet/alternating vocals. Plant and Dian are blessed with magnicicent voices perfectly fitting this timeless genre of traditional music.
KEY TRACKS: It’s A Beautiful Day Today / Ticket Taker / I Never Will Marry / Higher Rock
Artist: LEXYTRON Who: “Half Greek, half Persian and half English” – as this musician described herself
age 5 – the Manchester-born Lexy found her identity in music early on as a pianist and violinist.”
She’s now based in Auckland, New-Zealand.
Press info: “Following Lexytron’s genre-bending debut album ‘Something Blue’, lead singer Lexy slips into something more electronic on ‘Something New’, pairing an alternative pop rock style with sardonic wit, big choruses, and a painful honesty that has now become her trademark. The album was self-produced in Auckland and mixed and mastered by London producer Marco Meloni.”
TUTV: Dream pop, power pop, jaunty pop, guitar pop, musing pop, Lexytron let it all flow into each other, resulting in an entertaining, colorful and feelgood album that puts a big smile on your face. Her vivid vocals lift up the inherent strength of the frisky tunes.
It feels like if the young, happy mother is settled don a carefree cloud. She radiates
joviality and joi de vivre on Something New and it’s fully contagious for the listener.
KEY TRACKS: Elevator / Disco Jenny / Your Love / Another Lover / Laughing From Above
Band: THE WATERBOYS Who: Scottish pop-rock-folk heroes orchestrated by
songsmith Mike Scott with 16 LPs, new on included,
on their most impressive résumé.
Press info: “Inspired entirely by the life and mythos of actor Dennis Hopper, Mike Scott and The Waterboys created this expansive album as tribute to one of American popular culture’s most compelling public figures. Deeply conceptual, this album of all original songs brings together high-profile featured artists like Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple, and Steve Earle to musically weave through Hopper’s life, including a song for each of Hopper’s wives.”
TUTV: This an amazing piece of work. A soundtrack for a yet to be made Dennis Hopper documentary. Hats off to Mike Scott for his boldness, imaginativeness, and ingenuity to score this musical movie, constructed marvellously with its sonically cinematic versatility.
Pop, rock, blues, country, bar-room jazz, and musing balladry take turns and puzzle
a most coherent and highly entertaining whole together, spiced with magnificent vocal contributions by Fiona Apple, Steve Earle and others. Never a dull moment with its varied stream of top-tier songs and Scott‘s awe-inspiring vocality throughout.
Movie shots from Hopper‘s parts in doom and gloom films such as Blue Velvet, Apocalypse Now, True Romance, Speed and, of course, counterculture classic Easy Rider pop up on the screen in your head. He was at his best when he played psychotic characters. And Scott is here at its best too. Can’t stopping listening to it and discover new things with every spin I know it’s only April but this pièce de résistance is, unquestionably, a contender for album of the year. Let’s fuck.
Band: THE MOONLANDINGZ Who: English electro-pop combo started by the Eccentronic Research Council
duo, featuring Adrian Flanegan and Dean Honor back in 2015. Lias Saoudi (Fat
White Family, Decius, author, modern day, philosopher) joined them, as well as
different guests.
Press info: “No Rocket Required delivers brassy squawks, motorik convulsions and
sinister soothing vocals from a righteous line-up of guest singers and ranters: Nadine
Shah, Iggy Pop, Jessica Winter and Ewen Bremner. Plus, of course, there’s The Moonlandingz’ own front man, Johnny Rocket aka Lias Saoudi.
What to do, as we potter and fret, as we watch bodies, homes and lives destroyed every day while our elected leaders, so forensic and so sensible, use their weasel words, shrug their coward shoulders and saunter off to raise our bus fares. Dancing of course and togetherness, looking out for each other, and that’s not enough. What kind of fight are we bringing? We will always need to organise, to fight, to collaborate, to connect and to dance dance dance. And that is what The Moonlandingz do.”
TUTV: Where the first album was a 24-hour party affair, this 2nd one is musically a
sonic melting pot of 70s disco (like Sign Of A Man that clearly is inspired by 1978 classic Born To Be Alive by Patrick Hernandez) and 80s house (like Yama Yama) uppers and midnight hour downers (like Roustabout, and the romantic ballad It’s Where I’m From with perfectly matching vocals by the one and only Iggy Pop) that messes with your mind, body and soul.
To make sure that you hit the (dance)floor in the end, Flanegan and Honor knock you
out with the 9-minute hyperkinetic brainbreaker The Knack Drought Suite (Pts 1-3) that hammers your head in relentlessly and gives the last word to film-noir crooner Lias
Saoudi. Lyrically, NRR echoes Twin Peaks‘ unhinged stories from the dark side of the
human psyche. Everybody happy now? I definitely am.
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Artist: ANIKA Who: British, Berlin-based songstress. She released two splendid
albums with indie band Exploded View and has her 4th solo one
out now.
Press info: “Anika channels her frustration, anger, and confusion with the world.
The album captures raw energy with minimal overdubs, resulting in a visceral and
urgent 10-track journey fueled by intense emotions.
Abyss reflects Anika’s desire to create a space where people can unite and feel free to express themselves amidst the chaos of the world. With influences ranging from 90s grunge and Courtney Love to Patti Smith and Genesis P-Orridge, the album is driven by
a rebellious spirit.”
Press
TUTV:Abyss is sonically, her most heavy-laden longplayer. From revved-up pop crazing (Hearsay / Honey / Last Song) to psych rock shocks (Abyss / Oxygen / Out Of The Shadows).
It’s Anika Vs Anika and the outside world as she makes clear in Walk Away with the lines “The truth is, I don’t really like myself / And the truth is / I don’t really like anyone else.”
Anika still struggles with all kinds of demons (media moguls, a broken relationship, being trapped in your own narrative, patriarchy, toxic masculinity, and other mind-destroying dangers). Eventually, she’s at her best when she faces and fights her worst nightmares and she knows she’s not alone. We’re all in it together. We should try not to hate each other and be tolerant for a chance. L’union fait la force. 2025 is Anika‘s year.
Band:VIAGRA BOYS Who: Swedish punk-rock dropouts fronted
by the human tattoo Sebastian Murphy.
New album: VIAGR ABOYS
Not their smartest LP title, but
already their 4th one.
Press info: “The LP sees VB turn inwards, leaving the acid-laced, conspiracy-addled societal commentary of previous LP Cave World behind to journey into the acid-laced, conspiracy-addled landscape within. Absurd, intense and surprisingly tender, viagr aboys shuts out the noise to find that the important part of being alive in the big, stupid world is figuring out that the world inside of you that is equally big and stupid.”
Press photography by Fredrik Bengtsson
TUTV: At their core, Viagra Boys still are the mean groove machine we know from
their swirling start. Whether they speed up, slow down, or move somewhere in
between (except for the closing, tender piano ballad), they always have an intense
impact on your body’s movements.
Wordsmith Murphy still keeps on rattling and rap-like rolling non-stop, but the overall
sonic vibe is more varied this time. From catchingly capricious to one-direction punk crazy, to sultry saxy. I’m not sure all the time what Murphy rambles about, but our messed-up times are always in the middle of his bizarre stories. Ultimately, it’s all about love, the only answer to hate. Another great job, boys.
Artist: NELL SMITH Who: A highly talented teenage singer-songwriter, who died
in a car crash last October, only 17. Cruel, really cruel.
As a dedicated Flaming Lips fan, she got in contact with the Oklahoma band aged 13,
and after frontman Kevin Coyne found out that Nell has a great voice and musical skills,
they recorded a Nick Cave covers album together, titledWhere The Viaduct Looms together in 2021. A once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Full of confidence, Nell Smith started to write songs for herself,f which are now collected on her posthumously released album, named ANXIOUS produced by renowned siblings Jack and Lily Walter.
It displays her artistically, far-reaching potential, with 10 spirited, real-life pop songs.
All beautifully orchestrated tunes. A combination of mixed emotions, reflective reveries and jaunty ruminations, with Smith‘s crystalline voice as the star in the middle. This record is/will be an everlasting memory of a bona fide artist in the making, who was taken from life abruptly, way too soon.
Press info: “New album ‘Der Traum Über Alles’, is compared to their debut a more
considered, full-formed beast, its dark underbelly undoubtedly a result of it being
conceived during and after the caged-animal isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic.
TUTV: This record is a funk and punk, buzz and fuzz, move and groove jukebox. Avalanche Party have become masterly songwriters who know exactly how to construct adrenalized knockout killers with the right combination of roasting riffs, jagged hooks, bang-on licks, powerhouse drumming, effervescent synths and sultry horns here and there.
You’ll hear echoes of Scottish celebs Franz Ferdinand, English post-punks Squid and
rowdy rockers Young Knives, but all 3 references’ new album can’t match the fireworks extravaganza of Der Traum Uber Alles.
The Line Of Best Fit (UK) says: “The album captures the band at their most
independent, revelling in high-energy performances while embracing a broad
eclecticism.”
TUTV: The critics are divided for different reasons. My trained ears tell me that TMC
made their best work so far. Extremely passionate, feverishly absorbing and brutally honest.
Singer-songwriter James McGovern still fights his demons, still delivers soul-stirring vocals and the band still back him up with a vehement boldness. Sterling songs, sterling sound, sterling execution.
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Album artwork
Band: CUT THE KIDS IN HALF Who: Boston via Rahway, NJ rock siblings Charlie and Jack Silver, named after Radiohead‘s line in Morning Bell. They bring a fresh approach to the age-old genre with songs sure to make their predecessors proud with catchy hooks and an emotional tenderness.
Press info: “Vignettes of struggle, loss and life come to the forefront, soundtracked by soaring guitars and sticky melodies. Heading to college in Boston, the brothers soon added guitarist Kevin Mortenson and bassist, keyboardist and trumpeter Joey Sorkin to their live trio. A group of native New Jerseyans, Cut the Kids in Half follows in the state’s storied musical tradition of raw but fine-tuned lyricism paired with gritty guitars.”
TUTV: Young, but already sounding as seasoned musicians who know exactly
how to fabricate solid pop/rock songs of high-quality. Whether they speed up,
slow down or groove in between, they grab your aural attention and hold it
from start to finish.
Acoustic and electric guitars, drums and bass, all work together as well-trained
teammates. The vocals are pretty impressive, full of vim and vigour. With this
highly promising debut these kids will become talk of the indie town quite soon.
MOJO Magazine: “The combination of Schultz’s desperately appealing voice and
Fraites’s lonesome but poppy piano still hits hard. They’re still doing things right.”
TUTV: These are ecstatic days for folk rock-pop fans with the new album from The Luminineers. The Lathums‘ 3rd one, titled Matter Does Not Define, which lands on 7th March and Mumford & Sons 5th, named Rushmere, which comes out on March 25th.
Except for anthemic, upbeat openers So Long and Asshole they entice with a series
of sepia-colored torch songs, passional musings and picturesque balladry. C’mon,
all you romantic hearts, lit some candles and enjoy the longing melodrama at play
here.
Artist: GHOST ON TV Who:Boston-based alternative singer-songwriter who found himself in Japan several years ago, wandering back alleys, absorbing a more spiritual sense of culture, and embracing a kind of creative balance that had previously eluded him. There, he understood the art of being quietly loud and, as he puts it bluntly, to “be impactful with less.”
With this record, disparate elements of styles and sounds are wrapped tightly around a rock music core. And like a back alley of Tokyo, what lurks on the other side, beyond what our mind perceives, may not be what we first anticipated. When DePasquale looked beyond what was right in front of him, Ghost on TV truly found its rhythm.
DePasquale: “Some of these songs are about being tired of all the noise, and some are about getting old, losing memories, getting older and becoming wiser, standing up for yourself, being bold, and also just knowing your humbled place in the world.”
The album’s artwork is a photograph of DePasquale and a friend, backs turned, walking through Tokyo’s back alleys in search of a hidden cocktail bar, with elements of bright new technology jostling with old-school decay, reflects a scene like something out of a dystopian film, drawing us deeper into this world.
TUTV: Beneath all the distortion, sonically and vocally, there’s always a galvanizing
groove generated mostly by a busy bass, that carries the songs and infuse them with
a magnetizing hauntingness which turns the record into an eerie trip you need to repeat
a couple of spins to let it sink in. Don’t get lost in translation, people.
TUTV: Without a shadow of a doubt, the perfect soundtrack for Doomsday.
Sledgehammer after sledgehammer, drone after drone, brainfucker after
brainfucker. Always danger in the air.
Cal Francis‘s spoken word performances are bone-chilling. His primal screams
send shivers down the spine. Lyrically, he operates in a space where reality and
surreality meet. No room for birds and bees.
Sonically, they fabricate a volcanic and bombastic wall-of-helter-skelter havoc.
Blood-curdling emo-punk exorcism. Chainsaw chaos. Flabbergasting and
jaw-dropping are the keywords.
Never Exhale is an other-worldly Götterdämmerung experience.
It smells like something is alive and kicking here. A spectacular and
lasting tour de force. No regression whatsoever, only progression.
Photo by TUTV – Belgium, 2024
Canadian noizz bulldozers Metz are on a long hiatus. Ditz will fill the gap. 2025 is theirs. Inhale them.
Band: LAMBRINI GIRLS Who: Two razorblade riot girrrrlzz – vox/guitarist Phoebe Lunny
and bassist Lilly Macieira – from Brighton (UK) with an insatiable
appetite for mass moshpits.
Artist: BENJAMIN BOOKER Who: Absorbing singer-songwriter
from Virginia.
Album: LOWER
His first one in 7 years,
3rd overall.
Pitchfork says: “The New Orleans-based singer-songwriter constructs a corroded
beat-centric grunge that soundtracks stories of violence and perseverance… He pays
sneering homage to the U.S. government’s history of covertly undermining
African American liberation.
The message: This game wasn’t winnable then, and it certainly isn’t winnable now. Booker has seemingly spent the seven years since his last record swallowing down all the hopelessness and dread he could hold. Now he’s spitting it back up like bile. Booker offers pockets of solace amid the outrage.
(Photo by Turn Up The Volume – Brussels 2014)
TUTV: 11 years ago BB released his garage blues/soul rock debut LP. Raw and rough.
I saw him perform an emotional gig in Brussels before about 100 people. His 2nd more laid-back album ‘Witness‘ followed in 2017 and he went away after it and now 7 years he’s back with Lower.
A totally different piece of work. A mostly guitar-distorted, yet quite melodic sound
fits his near-whispering, at times haunting and ominous vocals à la trip-hop legend Tricky. The tone is inky accentuating his downhearted sentiments, his pain caused by
that disease called racism. It’s still present in America’s society an under Trump all white supremacists are crawling back from their caves without any fear. That orange criminal gave them a voice again. Poor, poor America.
This significant, awe-inspiring and cathartic opus reflects the still alarming and
oppressing situation black people have to suffer from. Not only in the USA.
It takes its name from the Ancient Greek flower of the Underworld, and lyrically, Andrews draws more from the great poets than he does from the well of more traditional rock and roll songwriters.
TUTV: Andrews‘ enthrals one again with songs of love and death, songs of hope
and loss. He evokes Nick Cave and Father John Mysty atmospherics where introspection, melancholia and contemplations stir heart and soul. The tone is almost acoustic throughout. The timbre is mellow, affectionate, and melodramatic.
Andrews‘s vulnerable vocals are heartbreaking at times and draw your aural attention uninterruptedly. He’s blessed with a spellbound voice that fits his romantic music perfectly. 9 ruminative ballads, 9 soft-hearted musing for laid-back evenings, away
from all outside noise. A memorable 2025 accomplishment.
Artist:BONNIE “PRINCE” BILLY Who: Alter ego of singer-songwriter Will Oldham. He started his busy journey back in 1993. He released a lot of solo work so far, collaborated with other songsmiths (and still does), and, was also a member of a couple of bands.
Pitchfork says: “A sort of companion to his two previous studio LPs, it’s also his
best and most focused in some time. The Purple Bird is a Bonnie “Prince” Billy country record. Oldham gave himself over fully to the Nashville experience, participating in a series of casual songwriting sessions with various local legends and playing with a wrecking crew of musicians who are deft enough to sound like they’ve been backing him on stages all over creation. There’s a freewheeling spirit to the music they created together, a punchy camaraderie that connects.”
TUTV: BPB doesn’t behave, doesn’t dress, or doesn’t brag like super rock and roll
stars do. He’s a star when it comes to masterly singer-songwriter qualities. For years
he wrote/recorded contemplative records. Both moody and mellow. He’s a unique crooner, a genuine balladeer and a wholehearted vocalist.
And this laid-back collection of country reveries confirms once again what
we know for a long time. Never a dull moment with Bonnie “Prince” Billy.
Dim the lights, relax, listen, feel the warmth, and enjoy the soothing music.
Album: SONGS OF A LOST WORLD
Their 14th LP, their first in 16 years.
It went to the top spot in the UK and the US.
NME says: “The album deals in darkness and death, but with
flowers on the grave… Being arguably the most personal album
of Smith’s career. “
TUTV: Sonically, it resonates as if you’re part of a funeral march that progresses in slow
motion. Every song starts with a long instrumental intro of waves of melancholic synths and weeping guitars, and every time when Smith‘s feverish voice joins in, the intensity augments wondrously captivating.
The most drastically soul-stirring record I heard all year, accentuating how sorrow
can overwhelm and hurt one’s heart and mind. It’s a universal experience that millions, and millions of people who lost loved ones – past, present and future – can relate to.
Pure masterpiece.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
. Instagram – All Cure Albums
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– 2 –
New album artwork
Artist: KIM DEAL
Best known as the utterly cool bass player of indie icons Pixies and from her own band The Breeders, featuring
her twin sister Kelley.
MOJO (British music monthly) says: “Nobody Loves You More is a singularly uplifting,
life-affirming listen, where joy and despair, love and loss, are irrevocably entwined, and
kept afloat by Deal’s unfailing lightness of touch.”
TUTV: Kim Deal on her own, expresses mixed emotions about past and present
personal experiences. Mostly with moony and subtly orchestrated reveries such
as the title track, Coast, Are You Mine?, Wish I Was, and Summerland. All charming
and melancholic songs for a quiet winter night in.
Deal‘s slightly hoarse voice is instrumental. Its tender-hearted aura creates a relaxing ambiance, interrupted now and then by more uptempo, upbeat tracks like stand-out
vibe Crystal Breath, the vigorous guitar-frisky Disobediece and the buzzing Big Ben Beat
jam. A formidable debut record.
Band: MAYFLOWER MADAME Who: A band from Oslo, Norway who specialize in a dark and distinctive blend
of post-punk, shoegaze, and psych-noir. Their history, so far, includes two album
releases, Observed In A Dream (2016) and Prepared For A Nightmare (2020).
MM: “Insight’ is the album we’ve always wanted to create, but at the same time it’s
the most personal and emotionally hardest we’ve made so far. Lyrically, it delves into
a wide range of emotions, from somber reflections about loss and sorrow to feverish
depictions of love, escapism and catharsis.”
TUTV: As they showed/proved us so many times before MM know mesmerically well
how to embed infectious, poppy melodies into trance-like orchestrations infused with waves of sparkling guitar lines and transfixing vocals, creating a magnetic appeal.
Best examples are the 4 top-tier singles Crippled Crow, Never Sever, Paint It All In Blue
and A Foretold Ecstasy. References? Depeche Mode, New Order, Interpol. Impressive, right? You betcha.
The Guardian (British newspaper): “Its two predecessors
were surprisingly good, this is genuinely great.”
TUTV: Lots of critical praise for PP’s new opus, deservedly so. At 72, he still excels
in writing high-quality pop/rock songs and he’s still a romantic at heart. His unique
voice and luminous guitar play combine for a splendiferously aural delight. With
20 tracks a bit too long, although there’s not one bad one on this gratifying record.
Band: THE CHRONICLES OF MANIMAL AND SAMARA Who: London-based DIY duo – Daphne Ang (Singapore) and Andrea Papi (Italy)
that fills a gap in music by bringing literature, art, and history together into a
space where rock and metal meet electronica. They released two fascinating
albums so far.
TUTV: TCOMAS have broadened their musical and lyrical boundaries again.
Mind you, their psycho-delic, metallic trademark sound, their quiet/Loud/quiet rollercoaster compositions and their intriguing sagas are still in place here, but
there’s more room for meditative moments, annex Samara‘s chill-out voice/vocals,
like on Waves, Mysterium Tremendum, with beautiful classical piano play, and Per Astra.
Their mercurial and emotional odysseys are inventively fragmented, swinging
forth and back. And then there’s the unexpected, but superb collaboration with Italian hip-hop rapper Mr Meuri on standout piece Bite The Bullet. Another rad
longplayer achievement.
Band: XIU XIU
The Californian art noise duo XIU XIU aren’t the lazy kind of artists.
In their 22-year-old career, they recorded/released 14 LPs including
the new one.
The Quietus writes: “13”… is a superlative pop record, but still an endless cycle of extremes.
A shining, distorted, expertly constructed, open-ended record, that might be Xiu Xiu’s best.”
TUTV: This is their most intense, most emotional, and most accessible album to date.
Well, not that it will sell millions of copies and be No. 1 on the charts all over the world.
It’s still XX, always exploring different soundscapes, but here they come up with
less complex song structures, actually more (sort of) conventional alt ones. And?
Outstanding record dominated by layers of industrial synths and chilling melodies.
I hear Cure-esque echoes (Common Loon / Veneficum), eerie and ghostly vocality
à la the late great Scott Walker (Arp Omni / Sleep Bvld.) and trippy Cabaret Voltaire
dynamics. All together, these sonic ingredients lead to a fascinating XX opus.
The more spins, the more your ears
get around this new Xiu Xiu exploit.
MOJO (monthly UK magazine): “A yin-yang parity asserts itself with the wistful, jazzy,
Rose-sung Simple Days, electro-pop You Saw and epic, wicca-ish Druantia. Elsewhere,
there’s arty chamber pop, demented swing-jazz and the epic Surf’s Up-echoing closer
Sunrise: middle-aged bliss has rarely sounded so weirdly magical.”
TUTV: Partners in love, partners in parenthood, partners in music. With this 2nd LP Coxon and Dougall offer an even more varied one than their notable debut. They rock out (City Lights, You Saw, Moth To The Flame, Broken Boys, Simple Days) and slow down (I Belong To, lullaby for their little daughter Song For Eliza May, Girl Of The Endless Night) with three constants.
Arrestive tunes, rich instrumental orchestrations and emotional, alternating and duet vocals. You hear a happy and dynamic couple delivering a high-songwriting-quality record. Embrace it with your ears, heart and soul, it’ll feel good.
Uncut (British music monthly): “The fourth album is a
masterclass in simple but devastatingly effective melodies.”
Press photo by Dario Vazquez
TUTV: Infectious tune after infectious tune make you reach for Piña Colada after
Piña Colada. Hinds resurrect here from a difficult period with 2 members leaving.
It leads to songs of love and loss, yep, songs about life.
The overall vitalizing formula of this new longplayer lies in the fact that every single track
is embedded in an on-the-spot galvanizing melodiousness that triggers joyous, gratified and devil-may-care feelings. It’s called pop-ular music. No less, no more. Oh so welcome
in these disordered times. Uplifting entertainment for all seasons. Gracias ciervas.
. KEY SINGLE
(Contender for best one of 2024)
Press info: This new release is a raucous blend of anthemic rock ‘n’ roll, brimming with boogie, rage, forgiveness, and raw energy. The music is loud, fast, and bombastic, infused with lyrics that highlight our ongoing struggle for equality and the collective effort required to bridge the gap.
TUTV: Imagine MC5 have a headbutt fight with The Stooges, while Led Zeppelin are
waiting around the corner, armed with battleaxes, to have their go at the winner.
Gee wizz. Sounds fucking cool, right? You betcha.
Equator unleash uppercut after uppercut at your ears and poor loudspeakers. What you hear is what you get. Filthy garage blues-punk rock. Helter-skelter. A non-stop tsunami of Herculean riffs, primal Wolfmother screams, berserk octopus drumming, and voluminous choruses combine for a badass whopping record. Fasten your seatbelts for these manic hooligans.
Band: MERCURY REV
The day-and-night dreamers from Buffalo, New York MERCURY REV – with key members Jonathan Donahue and Sean “Grasshopper” Mackowiak are around for 35 years now and still float in a universe of their own They now operate with new members Marion Genser (keyboardist) Jesse Chandler (piano).
Mojo (British musical monthly): “Bands, as Donahue famously sang on Holes,
“never work quite right”, but with this late-period beauty, Mercury Rev have hit
the cosmic balance perfectly.”
Press photo by Joe Magistro
TUTV: Reflections about the past, the present, and the future. Frontman Jonathan
Donahue tells stories about life. Real images, illusionary images. His heartwarming
voice and the subtly jazzy, soothing, and tranquillizing orchestrations flow into each
other just beautifully.
Poetry in motion. Born Horses is an ideal companion for meditative nights, for silent
moments of nostalgic pensiveness and widescreen fantasies. After a couple of spins,
I played Laurie Anderson‘ new album Amelia (about the legendary female aviator Amelia). Other stories but a same telling atmosphere and impact, same cinematic sonority. Then back again to Born Horses. A spiritual experience. Dim the light, sit down, relax, and let
your thoughts flow.
Cave: “There’s no fucking around with this record. When it hits, it hits. It lifts you. It moves
you. I love that about it. I hope the album has the effect on listeners that it’s had on me. It bursts out of the speaker, and I get swept up with it. It’s a complicated record, but it’s also deeply and joyously infectious. There is never a master plan when we make a record. The records rather reflect back the emotional state of the writers and musicians who played
them. Listening to this, I don’t know, it seems we’re happy.”
Press photo
Rolling Stone says: “Here’s a sense of abandon and play to Wild God that’s infectious. Produced by Cave and long-time collaborator Warren Ellis, the record continues their
constant conversation, confidently proclaiming that better times are ahead.”
TUTV: Cave is the God of melodramatic balladry. Now here’s a God I can believe in. Again he shows why he’s one of the best ever crooners in the universe. And lyrically it feels as if, after so many devastating, painful years, with the surreal loss of two sons, he lets sparks of light back in his life. God bless Nick Cave.
Uncut Magazine said: “On No Name, he’s done something special on his own terms,
delighted and surprised his audience, and provided one of the great rock moments of
the year.”
TUTV: White returns to his punk blues roots of the early days. Swipe after swipe,
blue stripe after blue stripe, kick after kick, clap after clap. A total of 13 thunder
strokes. High-wired electricity. Dope record.
NME said: “Knockout, spiritual songs for the end of time The ever-evolving five-piece enter a new phase of transformation on their arresting fourth album – their most considered and intricately crafted work yet.”
TUTV: The Irishmen have become high-quality songwriters (which they already proved on previous LP Skinty Fia– – still my favourite one). Frontman Grian Chatten‘s lyrics show (again) his observative view on the modern, gloomy world and how it affects him emotionally.
This is not their masterpiece yet to my ears, but it’s only a matter of
time that they will come up with a longplayer that will blow us all away.
The Guardian (British newspaper): “A cheerfully rocking album about global collapse”.
TUTV: After 25 albums, it sounds as if the prolific Aussies decided to simply rock out
for a change, and they do it with striking 70s-inspired juggernauts with sultry harmonica-blues echoes here and there. Conventional guitar solos pop up in every track. Listen quickly to the record, if not they will have another one out before you press play.
AllMusic said: “Punk without guitars has been done before — everything has. Few have done it with the blend of skill, imagination, and flat-out commitment that Osees exhibit on SORCS 80.”
TUTV: For the first time Osees general John Dwyer has incorporated layers of synths in
the band’s sonic, head over heels turmoil. Don’t expect top-notch tunes. This LP is about bulldozing for 38 minutes with punk velocity and schizophrenic electronics and I like it.
