Best Tracks So Far Archives - TURN UP THE VOLUME

25 BEST TRACKS OF 2025… So Far

ALL TOGETHER

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TRACK BY TRACK

– 1 –

Band: THE SLOW READERS CLUB
Who: Alt-pop rockers
from Manchester, UK.

Track: BOY SO BLUE
Single from their notable 7th album,
Out Of A Dream released last March.

“‘Although it’s a big, joyous dance track, it’s about hiding deep emotional pain and trauma and how hedonistic coping mechanisms, like drugs, alcohol, and womanizing, are just temporary distractions. They ultimately fuel a self-destructive cycle. There’s a deliberate contrast between the euphoria of the music and the melancholy of the lyrics, capturing the subject’s duality of light and darkness.”

TUTV: This is what great pop-ular music is all about. Big tune, big emotions, big orchestration. Euphorically cacthy despite its dramatic ‘real life‘ story. Aftermath
soul-searching can work cathartically, and here it sounds pretty boosting.

24 Carat pearl.
Hands down.

Linktree – Spotify
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– 2 –

Band: PANIC SHACK
Who: 4 pop punkettes from Wales. In 2022 they
released their 6-track debut EP Baby Shack.

Track: GIRL BAND STARTER PACK
Single from their forthcoming self-titled
debut LP, out this Friday, on July 18th.

TUTV: These utterly cool Welsh punkettes drive you bonkers with
this bass-insane punk ‘n’ roll uppercut. Kick-ass band, kick-ass attitude,
kick-ass blast.

Party! Party! Party!

Instagram – Linktree
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– 3 –

Band: PUNCHBAG
Who: A new brother-sister party duo, from South London colliding the raw unfiltered energy of punk, with the overflowing ecstasy of pop. With fierce tempos and ferocious energy, their music is an explosively cathartic release of raw intensity and unapologetic fun.

Track: I’M NOT YOUR PUNCHBAG
From their same titled debut EP,
released last May.

TUTV: Ecstasy. Elation. Exhilaration. This flamboyant electro-slam makes
you bounce and jump like mad. Punchbag kick you in the teeth without
asking while having uppercut fun. And they’ve only just started.

Amazeballs.

Instagram – Linktree
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– 4 –

Artist: FANCLUBWALLET
Who: Canadian outfit led by
songstress Hannah Judge from
Ottawa.

Track: COTTON MOUTH

“I wrote this one when I was feeling stuck and stagnant, but when I finally
brought it to the band they really breathed new life into it and made it feel
magic again!!”

TUTV: This sickly sticky steam-riff-roller drives me crazy. Head-twisting stonker.

Instagram – Spotify
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– 5 –

Band: BOB VYLAN
Who: Controversial hip-punk-hop
duo from London.

Track: DREAM BIGGER.
A re-worked, re-named jackhammer single from
their 3rd album, Humble As The Sun released
last April.

TUTV: It features roasting vocals by the fantastic Australian punk
daredevil Amyl Taylor from Amyl And The Sniffers. She’s the perfect
sharp-mouthed match for this fierce flametrohwer.

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Instagram – Linktree
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– 6 –

Band: KNEECAP
Who: Belfast‘s sharp-mouthed, notorious rap team KNEECAP – Mo Chara,
Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvaí – hip & hop around with a knife between their
teeth since 2017.

So far they released 2 albums.

Lately, they make headlines with their loud and clear, ongoing support for Palestine.
They got heavily critiqued for it when they played Coachella Festival in Indo, California
last April.

Then the UK’s right wing politicians jumped into it, and prosecuted Mo Chara after allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah last November (no verdict yet), and tried to get them banned from playing Glastonbury Festival next week. It gained them, rightly so, countless support from musical colleagues and fans.

To emphasize the whole political charade, the band just released a new single, named
THE RECAP, going after Tory politician, business and trade minister Kemi Badenoch who started to hunt them back in 2023 when he withdrew an arts grant awarded to the band.

The trio brought a discrimination case against the U.K. government
and won, donating the proceeds to Belfast community groups. Yes!

Free Palestine.
SHOUT! SHOUT! SHOUT!

Instagram – Linktree
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– 7 –

Artist: JEHNNY BETH
Who: France-born, former frontwoman of
female post-punk band Savages (2011-2017)

Track: OBSESSION
Single from her upcoming, 2nd solo LP,
baptized You Heartbreaker You. It’ll
land on August 29th.

Beth: “We’re living in a dark time, full of drama and barbarous tragedy.
It became clear to me that, in these times, we either learn how to scream
really well, or we learn how to whisper.”

TUTV: With this savage industrial shocker it’s crystal clear what Beth meant
when she talked about her amadant intention to make an agressive sound
on her new record. Obsession is a nine inch nails bombshell. Volcanic
2025 gloom and doom eruption.

Helter skelter.

Instagram – Linktree
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– 8 –

Press photo by Damien Sayell

Band: MCLUSKY
Who: Notorious Welsh noiseniks feat. angry man
Andrew Falkous, also the mastermind of Future
Of The Left.

Track: CHEKHOV’S GUNS
Piece from their 4th full length, called
The World Is Still Here And So Are We.

TUTV: Post-punk aggression at its Mclusky‘s sharp-biting best,
gas-powered by a cast iron bass/drum tandem, schizo guitars
and Falkous‘s intimidating sneering.

Chop, chop, chop.

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Instagram – Linktree
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– 9 –

Photo by his wife Daryl Hannah

Band: NEIL YOUNG & THE CHROME HEARTS
Who: You know who.

Track: LETS ROLL AGAIN

Single from the brand new excellent
LP, named Talkin’ To The Trees.

TUTV: No pension whatsoever for the incomparable 79-year-old rocker in
the free world. Middle-finger straight up, in the face of billionaire monkeys.

“If you’re a fascist, then get a Tesla”

Instagram – Linktree
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– 10 –

Band: WHOLES
Who: A fresh, rowdy hit team led by Belgian
musical chameleon Wolf Vanwymeersch.

Track: MODERN DAY DRAMA
Single from their upcoming debut LP
‘A Mass In The Water, which lands
on 14 November.

Single artwork by Maxime Rouquart

TUTV: This hellraiser’s ominous mid-tempo dynamics, distorted vocals, and
riff-roasting razzmatazz resonate like if you are listening to the goosebumps
theme song of a horror movie.

Creepy tension in the air, melodrama about to happen. Yes, at the 2.30 minute
mark all hell breaks loose. Decibels up, amps up, temperature up. From a whisper
to a scream. From planet Earth to Dante‘s inferno.

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Instagram – Facebook – Bandcamp
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– 11 –

Press photo by Danny Clinch

Band: ARCADE FIRE
Who: The famous pop-rock
collective from Canada.

Track: YEAR OF THE SNAKE
First single from their forthcoming 7th album, named
Pink Elephant ready for release on May 9th. 2025 is
the ‘year of the snake‘ in the Chinese Zodiac.

TUTV: It’s a sublime, crystalline pop nugget, with its hypnotizing guitar riff,
the non-stop banging drum beat and the intertwined, spellbinding vocals of
Win Butler and his spouse Régine Chassagne.

Sterling stroke.

Instagram – Shop
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– 12 –

New album artwork

Band: PULP
Who: Sheffield‘s guitar-pop heroes
fronted by the charismatic songsmith
Jarvis Cocker.

Track: SPIKE ISLAND
single from their first LP in 24 years.
More came out on June 6th.

TUTV: A vintage, mid-tempo, pop thrill with a grandiose
chorus. Wake up common people, here’s some more pulp.

Instagram – Linktree
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– 13 –

Band: THE LATHUMS
Who: British folk rockers with a massive following,
countless Mumford & Sons fans included.

Track: HEARTBREAKER
From their 3rd LP, titled
Matter Does Not Define,
released last March.

TUTV: Expect an adrenalizing, hurly-burly track that drags you into
its head-over-heels flow, from the very start. Ridicously infectious.

Top-drawer earworm.

Instagram – Facebook
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– 14 –

Artist: BAXTER DURY
Who: The playboy son of his
late playboy father Ian.

Track: ALLBARONE
Title track of his 8th full-length,
available from September 12thn.

TUTV: Baxter invites us all to the dancefloor with
this ultra-contagious disco stomper. Jump in
Dury‘s gondola below.

Instagram – All Albums
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– 15 –

Credit: The Irrational Library

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.

Track: TRUTH SERUM
First single from the quartet’s new, upcoming
5th LP ‘The Saying Of It All’. More details TBA.

Artwork by political cartoonist TRIK

TUTV: TIL is back in town. And they move and groove again with brio and gusto
motorized by a striking drum/bass tandem, while a 60s psychedelic flute flutters
like a butterfly throughout the song. Frontman Joshua Baumgarten draws your
aural attention (as usual) with his near-rapping phrasing of the clear-cut lyrics.

Gutsy groover.

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Instagram – Facebook
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– 16 –

Band: SKUNK ANANSIE
Who: Famous British noizz rockers,
fronted by the charismatic Skin.

Track: AN ARTIST IS AN ARTIST
Single from their 7th LP The Painfull Truth
which came out last May.

TUTV: An Artist Is An Artist is a sizzling sledgehammer
pushed by a mind-boggling speedy velocity, Skin‘s
hyperactive vocals, a paranoid sax and a flabbergasting chorus.

Skintastic flare-up.

Instagram – Linktree
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– 17 –

Artist: LAURA JANE GRACE
Who: Chicago‘s notorious singer-songwriter who’s around since the 90s.
She makes a lot of noise with her punk group Against Me! (7 albums so far)
and solo (2 albums so far).

Track: YOUR GOD (GOD’S DICK)

Grace: “Does God have a dick? Is that what those of the faith believe when they refer to their Lord as “he” & “him” & “father”? Well, imagine that! Oops, I think I may have imagined a little too hard and gone and written a song about it. He lord’s heavenly hammer must swing mighty! And away we go!”

TUTV: This is both a hilarious and punktastic choir chant reminiscent
of scream and shout Celtics Dropkick Murphys with a blustering storm
of surf riffs chainsawing your stereo into pieces.

Wowzers.

Instagram – Linktree
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– 18 –

Band: THE NEW EVES
Who: Must hear/see indies from Brighton (where everybody is in a band).
They cruise from folk to punk, using, besides traditional instruments (guitar,
bass and drums) also cello, flute, violin, and other classical gear.

Photo by Turn Up The Volume

Track: HIGHWAY MAN
Piece from their upcoming debut longplayer
The New Eve Is Rising , out on August 1.

It’s a darkly-energised, female-first retelling of
writer/poet Alfred Noyes classic 1906 romantic
poem.

TUTV: These four musical mavericks don’t care about rock ‘n’ roll rules. They do what they want, the way they want to do it, annex unseen visual presence on stage and in video clips. On Highwayman they rattle and brattle full speed ahead motorized by restless drum/bass teamwork.

Here and there the tune, goes, eh, out of tune, and it sounds totally perfect for this emotional belter. No arty farty production for TNE. Winder-Lind‘s awesomely agitated vocals put a spell on you. My, oh my.

Instagram – Linktree – All Singles – Tour Dates
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– 19 –

Photo by Graham Noble

Band: DECLAN WELSH AND THE DECADENT WEST
Who: Post-rock-punk combo from Scotland. So far
they recorded/released two albums.

Track: CAREFREE

TUTV: A razzle-dazzle steamroller that gets under your skin faster
than you can say “this is bloody superb”. Its insane, mind-bending
course doubles your serotonin production on the spot.

Blimey.

Instagram – Linktree
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– 20 –

Artist: MARK STEWART
Who: One of the most adventurous/inventive/original post-punk & dub artists/performers
ever. He was a founding member of genre-bending new wave group The Pop Group and released lots of solo and collaborative records. Unfortunately, he passed away 2 years ago,
only 62.

Track: MEMORY OF YOU
Single from Stewart‘s solo album The Fateful Symmetry,
that was completed early 2023, not long before his passing.

TUTV: Haunting, synth-symphonic and boom-tastic,
with Mark‘s characteristically energetic voice on top.

Mark Stewart Facebook – Mute Records
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– 21 –

Photo by Shelly Reese

Band: THE LIVING PINS
Who: Indie outfit featuring, Carrie Clark and Pam Peltz, who found each other on
the edge of the delicately ramshackle playground of the 1990s Austin (Texas)
music scene. They released their 4-track debut EP Let It Be So in 2023.

New single: GOLD

TUTV: Gold is a bluesy, foot-tapping garage ripper that has an instant impact on your greedy ears with its solid swagger, its gloriously cracking guitars, with a feverish solo somewhere in the middle, and its cool duet vocals.

Shake your booty.

Instagram – Facebook – Bandcamp
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– 22 –

Artist: LIFE COACH
Who: The musical project of singer-songwriter-poet Jamie Cameron. Hailing from
the Scottish Borders, the music blends lo-fi beats, synths and guitars with spoken word lyrics in which he discusses subjects ranging from politics and premonitions to self help culture, and a modern society obsessed with economic thinking.

Jamie Cameron

Track: SQUADDIES IN HAIR NETS
Highlight from his 2nd full length
A Love Letter To Your Yearning Heart,
released last May.

TUTV: Life Coach are on fire, again. This new rattling rap ‘n’ punk roll crackerjack
swings forth and back, left and right and Jamie Cameron’s full of vim and vigour
word-flow activates all of your insatiable limbs before he relaxes towards the
synthy end. Kinetic kick. Hands up for the coach.

Let the siren blare.

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Instagram – Facebook
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– 23 –

Image Credit: Euripides Altintzoglou

Band: LIONS OF DISSIDENT
Who: Electrifying outfit from the Midlands (UK).
They released their debut album Ghost Behind You
in 2022.

Track: SIRENS AT THE SEA

Tim Baker (founder and creative director): “The best of what we do in one song,
it’s a tune that really carries the soul of everything good we have stood for over the
last ten years”.

TUTV: Expect electrifying energy from the kick-off. Delirious guitars set
the haywire tone and hyperventilating vocals augment the buzzing fuzz.
A modern-day post-punk roller coaster.

Rapturous ride.

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Instagram – Linktree
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– 24 –

Berlin-based artist KAT KOAN offers her first music of
the year with a new, jaunty little gem, called COCOON.

Koan: “It’s a little circus themed escape world. I wanted to create a bit of a dreamy
break from daily worries. It’s pretty crafty and full of cool instruments. It also features
my daughter for a brief moment. It’s my favourite song I’ve made so far.”

TUTV: Leave your own cocoon and move to Koan‘s one where she will treat
you with this lighthearted tune that swings in mid-tempo from left to right
and back.

It relaxes your mind, triggers you to set your busy plans on a hold, and invites
your body to have a waltz-y dance that transfers you to a utopian circus
place for a while, far away from our daily, suffocating rat race.

Don’t worry, be happy.

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Linktree