Experimental And Enigmatic And Accessible – JEFFF The Brotherhood Dropped New EP ‘YE OLDE…’

Extended plays

11 March 2022

Artists: JEFF The Brotherhood
Who: American two-piece rock band consisting of brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall and guitarist , hailing from Nashville, Tennessee.
Active: Since 2001 / 11 studio albums so far

New EP: YE OLDE…

Along with the release comes this message from the bros on their Bandcamp page
(if anybody knows what they’re talking about, give me a call. Thanks.)

“I imbue thee, my divinely favored brother, to ride eastward from the Gates of Alexandria, two moons on palfrey across an ancient sea of cracked earth, o’er a valley with two yellow rivers, ascending upward through the pass between the snowy spade and the rocky twin daggers. There, opens a vast plateau filled with white sand and black stallions, a kingdom without a king, where heretics and saints share prayers in pure faith. Sire, you know of my abstention from the mystical, my shrewdness to decipher the flesh of meat from the scents of hunger, yet I assure you, my worshipful master, that I have reached the Land of Cockaigne!

Sugary smoke and distant drumming waft through palm trees, drawing throngs of Wakoku warriors, Persian nymphs, and Daimo shamans around a trio of musicians. A Jacobite monk, cloaked in a hooded robe, kneels against the earth and blows into a gemshorn, inside which the tootle-too transforms into an herbal potion that flows into the mouths of naked pilgrims. A squirrelly jester donned in bright fabrics with motley patterns, pounds his feet against goat skins, while with strings tied to his fingers, pulls the wind to a standstill and holds back the sun itself from setting beyond the horizon. Sitting on a silk pillow, a swarthy alchemist, his neck wrapped by a sleeping snake, plucks sounds from metal strings that form streams of pink smoke, lifting into the sky and falling down as morsels of soft cheese.

I defy you to ask upon yourself, o faithful priest, whether our brotherhood is bound, not by the oaths we pledge to wars of the flesh, but rather to the communion we share while we await the eternal spirit beyond. Farewell, my all.”

Turn Up The Volume: Both experimental and accessible,
jazzy and psychedelic, enigmatic and within reach.

Stream/buy the 5-track EP here…


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JEFF The Brotherhood: Facebook

MATT JENKS & ROWETTA – Anything You Want To Do In Your Club Again

8 March 2022

Manchester artists in crime DJ MATT JENKS and imposing happy Monday
voice ROWETTA team up here for 3 booming house bangers you can anything
you want to do with in your club.

Seems like we won the exhausting battle against that mean virus. What a liberating feeling for heart, soul, mind, and body. The spirit of Saturday Nigth Fever is back and this adrenalized chemical duo has the fuel to feed your eager limbs with block rockin’ beats!


International Women’s Day 2022

“Rumbling sub-bass and bone-rattling percussive drums underpin ‘Anything You Want To’, as Rowetta adds her seductive touch, and a dandy melodic synth riff delivers a warm sheen to this first-class club cut. ‘Step To It’ again pushes a heavy wandering bass to the fore, and hypnotic stabs and icy hi-hats drive this sultry track forward, leaving ‘Make A Move’ to sign off this killer EP in fine style with its frenetic bassline and energetic rises and drops.”

Shake, swing and sway right here…


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ROWETTA: Facebook

DJ JENKS: Facebook

Coming Soon… 5 Previously Unreleased Tracks By Legends SONIC YOUTH

28 February 2022

Band: SONIC YOUTH
Who: Guitar noise legends with
Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore,
Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley

Active: 1981-2011 / 15 LPs

New EP: IN/OUT/IN
Release: 11 March 2022 – order info here

Three Lobed Recordings label says: In mulling over their career, it’s staggering to realize that Sonic Youth not only delivered a healthy slab of releases as a unit but also have a myriad of shelved material still waiting for broader ears. While the group’s current Bandcamp abode lays out a generous amount of it, a bunch more has yet to surface. And it’s a massive mountain to chip away at in the sense of the group output alone; individual members’ projects are a whole other game, needless to say. “In/Out/In” ably delivers a new slab of mostly-unheard Sonic righteousness, with a scope on the post 2000-era band in specially zoned/exploratory regions.

Here’s taster IN & OUT. A ghostly trance-like jam, stirring and spooky, with Kim Gordon wailing all over it and Thurston Moore letting his guitar do the psychedelic talking. Great find.

Press
play…


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SONIC YOUTH: Facebook

Psych Pop Canadians ELEPHANT STONE About Destruction And Survival On Their New 4-Track EP

21 February 2022


(Photo Credit: Bowen Stead)

Band: ELEPHANT STONE
Who: Montreal based psych-pop outfit led by
singer-songwriter and sitar star Rishi Dhir.

Active: The band formed in 2008 and made 6 studio
albums so far with Hollow as the most recent one,
released in 2020.

New EP: LE VOYAGE DE M. LONELY DANS LA LUNE
Out: 18 February – more info here.

“The EP follows the band’s previous album Hollow, and continues the themes
of destruction and survival from a personal aspect, as M. Lonely comes to realize
life in an imperfect world might not be so bad. Sung entirely in French, a first
for the English-speaking band, the EP is dubbed a love letter to the band’s
French-speaking fans around the world.”

Turn Up The Volume:: I always have been a fan of Rishi Dhir. He has that gift of
writing songs that take you somewhere where you can dream, reflect and meditate.
On this overall excellent EP he does it with a moony psych-pop daisy (M. Lonely), a
racy and invigorating ripper (La Fusée du Chagrin), a melancholic and starry-eyed
gem with weeping guitars (Solitude) and a gloomy goodbye (Adieu).

Psychedelia at its Elephant Stone best. Formidable!

Stream/buy here…


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ELEPHANT STONE: Facebook

Produced, recorded, and mixed by Rishi Dhir
at Sacred Sounds Studio, Montreal (July-December 2020)
Drums recorded by Miles Dupire at Phasing Fun Studio, Montreal
Mastered by Ryan Morey (January 2021)
Artwork by Juliana Carlevaris
Music by Rishi Dhir
Lyrics by Félix Dyotte

BOB MOULD Shares Ardent Acoustic 3-Track Live EP ‘THE OCEAN’

New striking strokes

19 February 2022

Former Hüsker Dü and Sugar hero shared,
unexpectedly, a 3-track live EP titled THE OCEAN.

Just him and his acoustic guitar. Two songs (The Ocean
and Forecast Of Rain are from his 2020 LP Blue Hearts and
the third track is an old Hüskerr Dü one Divide And Conquer).

The way he performs here, ardent and passionate,
is so characteristic for Mould. Genuine artist.

Acoustic Bob…

The full EP…


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BOB MOULD: Facebook – Instagram

Singer-Songwriter ODAWIN Shines On 4-Track Debut EP

15 February 2022

Artist: ODAWIN
Who: An Italian singer-songwriter, born Patrizio Ottavianiiter.
His sound draws on psychedelic rock and Arabic harmonies.

Debut EP: UNTITLED
Released: 4 February 2022 via Wires Records

“Four songs that describe the progressive stages of a project,
first of all interior, started in March 2020. The songs, composed
several months apart, are the expression of different emotional
past and experiences encountered by the Roman artist over time. “

Turn Up The Volume: An exotic spark with glimmering guitars (Knight Of Cups),
a meditative piano ballad and two prog-rock resounding compositions (Love Burns
/ Beliefs
), bringing legends Genesis (early years with Peter Gabriel) and YES to mind.
Add Odawin‘s scintillating voice and the final result is a triumphant, effervescent
debut EP.

Stream here…

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ODAWIN: Facebook

Join The Trance Trip Of SOLILIANS On Their New EP ‘AMERICAN KLEZMISCHE’

24 January 2022

Band: SOLILIANS
Who: Jewish mystics/drone/space pop explorers from Merrick, US.

EP: American Klezmische

Second installment of the In The Running series by I Heart Noise, the Boston
label that thinks out of the box promoting musicians who think out of the box.

Turn Up The Volume: I guess we can all can use some relaxing and tranquilizing moments, now and then, to get away from all that mind-oppressive pandemic misery.

Let’s start to relax with the first two tracks Old Schmeckled Hen and Noshville. Two magnetizing meditations that cause a trance-like sensation with its repetitive flow
and a hypnotic clawhammer banjo riff sounding like a sitar to my ears.

Tracks 3 and 4 (Stratoshmear and Klezmische) generates a similar effect but have
a different, more upbeat texture with its spirited harmonies and keep up the bracing balance of this extended play.

Someday soon change will come.
Humankind always found a way to survive.

Positive vibes like these are welcome…


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SOLILIANS: Facebook
I HEART NOISE: Bandcamp

COCTEAU TWINS Legend ROBIN GUTHRIE Celebrates His 60th Birthday With New Cinematic EP ‘SPRINGTIME’

Great extended plays

5 January 2022

Artist: ROBIN GUTHRIE
Who: Scottish trailblazer best known as a founder and
sonic dreamweaver of legendary trio Cocteau Twins

Recent works: 2 EPs, Mockingbird Love and Riviera, and
one full album called Pearldiving, all released in 2021.

Guthrie was born 60 years ago, on 4 January 1962. Happy B. to the heart and soul
touching musician. To celebrate his birthday, he just released (yesterday) another
EP titled SPRINGTIME, containing 4 instrumental, synths painted pieces with an
instant soothing effect.

Imagine this: an eagle flying, with its wide wings spread, over a high mountain, with
a bright blue sky on top of it. All nature, all beauteousness, all cinematic magnificence.
Get the picture? I’m sure you do.

Dim the lights, sit down, relax, open your mind and
your ears and let yourself float on these moony waves…


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ROBIN GUTHRIE: Facebook

Photo by Violette Guthrie

TURN UP THE VOLUME’s 5 Best EPS Of 2021

The 5 best extended plays of the past 12 months to Turn Up The Volume’s ears

1. ‘American Cockroach’ by DEAP VALLY

Talking about being productive. The two charismatic rock queens
Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards from the city of angels, Los Angeles
released two EPs and their 3rd LP titled Marriage (with some of
the EP songs on it) this year.

Extended Play American Cockroach is the one I listened to the most
with its two steamrollers (I Like Crime / American Cockroach) and two
slower beauties (Give Me A Sign / Better Off With Nothing).

First-rate score!

Stream/buy here…


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2. ‘Body Electric’ by ULTRA SUNN (Belgium)

This cool black leather duo turns darkness into a stroboscopic
disco place where you can shadow dance yourself dizzy.

Their electro electricity, doomed drones, Goth echoes, eerie
baritone vocals, and synth riffs that stick as first-class glue
have both a mind-intoxicating impact and a sensual feel.

Thunder and lighting beats for the twilight hours.

Their brisk 6-track EP is a fitting soundtrack
to kick another virus year into oblivion.

Stream/buy Body Electric here…


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3. ‘Bad Time’ by PEEPING DREXELS (UK)

I discovered these London misfits last October in Amsterdam playing there
as part of an indoor festival at the legendary Paradiso club. What I felt was
what felt so many times when seeing their mates Fat White Family slash and
trash stages.

You know, that feeling of pumped-up confidence to go out in
the street and kick some fascists’ asses. Hell bloody hell yeah!

Bad Time will tell you all about it…


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4. ‘This Sceptic Isle’ by SHATTERCONES (London, UK)

Who: Politically outspoken rock outfit from London.

Opener Ghoul Driver sets the tremendously torrid tone of this jaw-dropping
extended play. An ominous outburst that threatens to explode any second.
Say Goodbye both surprises and impresses with its longing Mexican tango
melodiousness.

Fulminating stroke Butterly Room is an acrimonious reflection on the state
of chaotic Brexit England and closer The Man Who Ate Capitalism progresses
at a funeral pace, lamenting and dolesome. Throughout, ill-omened vocals
cause goosebumps.

Awesome stuff!

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5. ‘The Space In Between, Part 1 by TMCF (UK)

TMCF is a British pop/rock duo unafraid to blend ambience
with indie hooks to create a psychedelic experience. Formed
in a time of hopelessness.

Expect an instrumental synth/guitar opener (The Space In Between), a shadowy
prog-roller-coaster with twists and turns, and a magnetic bass riff (Thaumaturgy),
darkwavish pop-scapes (From Green To Grey / Collapse), a sparkling dreamtune
(The Lions Den ) and a euphonic, vocal symphony with mellow piano touches
(Soon The World Goes Black). Top!

Stream EP here…

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ROBIN GUTHRIE – Former Cocteau Twin Charms With Soothing Magnificence On New EP ‘RIVIERA’

13 December 2021

Artist: ROBIN GUTHRIE (Scotland)
Who: Co-founder of Cocteau Twins (1979–1997)

New EP: RIVIERA

It has been a busy year for the Scottish musician. Last October he brought us his starry-eyed Mockingbird Love EP, followed in November by his first longplayer in nine years, called Pearldiving.


(photo by Violet Guthrie)

And here’s another EP titled RIVIERA.

An instrumental 4-track one with a featherlight, heavenly and spiritual magnificence. Stardust everywhere. If you’re not into all that festive end-of-the-year fuss (like me) play
all Guthrie‘s 2021 releases on repeat. It’ll give you (and me) a mind-relaxing, soothing,
and idyllic feel. Sparkling vibrations for the midnight hours. Guthrie transfers you to a blissful place.

Enjoy…


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ROBIN GUTHRIE: Facebook