New Albums

THE MARS VOLTA Release An Acoustic Rework Of Their 2022 Comeback Album

Posted on by JL

16 March 2023

Band: THE MARS VOLTA
Who: Former At The Drive-In members
Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Active: 2001 present / 6 LPs so far

Last September they released their critically praised self-titled comeback album.

The experimental prog-rock duo stripped that album down to the bone afterward
and recorded an acoustic version of all songs. They named the collection QUE DIOS
TE MALDIGA MI CORAZON (May God Damn Your Heart) and it will be out on 21st April.

Pre-order info here.


New artwork

Rodríguez-López (guitarist, producer): “It was a fun process. And it made me think about the history of record music in the United States. There was ‘traditional music’, which became ‘Americana’, or country music. And the other genre was ‘race music’, which was exactly what it sounds like: music made by anyone who was an ‘immigrant’, mostly meaning black people. So that means everything that wasn’t ‘country’. In other words, all the interesting shit: r&b, blues, rock’n’roll, electronic music… It says a lot about this country. It was super-fun. I feel like The Mars Volta is finally beginning – that’s why the last album was self- titled, because we’ve finally stripped everything away and arrived at what the whole concept was at the beginning. And this acoustic version comes from a profound place, with its own meaning and philosophy, and its own reason for being.”

Listen to first taster Black Condolences.

The 2022 electric album.

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THE MARS VOLTA: Facebook – Instagram

London’s Electronic Chameleon LEG PUPPY Scores EBPM Masterstroke With His New Album

Posted on by JL

Standout longplayers

14 March 2023

Artist/collective: LEG PUPPY
Who: London’s electronic chameleon
and his accomplices.

Album: FEEL THE FEAR AND DO IT ANYWAY
Released: 10 March 2023 via Lucida Records

TUTV: Let’s start with a cliche for an album that was 3 years in the making… it was worth the wait. Before I start to over-analyze, I just want to give you my final verdict on Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway. This is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best longplayer Leg Puppy ever fabricated. If you’re an EBPM (Electronic Body Punk Music) fanatic that is all you need
to know to buy this Machiavellian masterstroke of a record. Right now, right here. And if you’re not, read on and see/hear the light at the end of the fear tunnel.

Leg Puppy is a smartass musicican/orchestrator. He makes unfashionable acid-house pop tunes sound like fashionable acid-house pop tunes (Special Kind Of Girl, Dream Pop Hero, and the FANTASTIC Green Room groove). He lets his robotic mind do some intoxicating trance-techno work in between (Always Ask Mummy to get in the right mood, Nico And The Art Junkies/ Hector Hyppolite) to keep control of your restless 2023-state-of-mind and he ends this versatile-tastic album with a booming, nightmarish David Lynchesque movie theme called Johnny Pigman to come down after a raving rollercoaster ride with, to essential to forget to mention, an excellent cast of spot-on-fitting vocalists.

So, this is why, without a shadow of a doubt,
Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway is the best LP
electronic chameleon Leg Puppy ever fabricated.
Capishe?

Singles/clips: Special Kind Of Girl / Warm leatgerette (34) / Johnny Pigman

– SPECIAL KIND OF GIRL –

– WARM LEATHERETTE (34) –

– JOHNNY PIGMAN –
(Stunning, extended, alternate version)

FULL ALBUM


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Also st(r)eaming on Spotify.

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LEG PUPPY: Facebook – Instagram

THE CHURCH – Australian Psych Rock Legends About To Release Their 26th Album

Posted on by JL

13 March 2023

Band: THE CHURCH
Who: Australian psych guitar masters
with more than 40 years in rock business.

New album: THE HYPNOGOGUE
The band’s 26th longplayer
Out: 28 April 2023
Pre-order info: here

Info: It’s a monumental concept album, The Church hone in on their bespoke
sound in The Hypnogogue without retreading creative steps. The record offers
a pool of melancholy tones and psychedelic swells, transporting listeners to
another realm, guided by its striking science fiction narrative.

Steve Kilbey (bassist, vocalist and founder) explains: “The Hypnogogue is the most
prog rock thing we have ever done, we’ve never created a concept album before. It is the
most teamwork record we have ever had. Everyone in the band is so justifiably proud of
this record and everyone helped to make sure it was as good as it could be.

Personally, I think it’s in our top three records. The complexity, the way the songs relate
to each other and the level of collaboration that has gone into the record. For fans of older records, give this one a chance, it will go on rewarding you for years and years. There’s lots
of subtle references to other artists, other songs and other times”.

Singles/clips: The Hypnogogue / No Other You / C’est La Vie

– THE HYPNOGOGUE –

– NO OTHER YOU –

– C’EST LA VIE –

THE CHURCH: Website – Instagram – Facebook

MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA Released New 6-Track EP ‘THE VALLEY OF VISION’ – Symphonic Magic In Motion

Posted on by JL

12 March 2023

Band: MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA
Who: Indie rockers from Atlanta, US
Active: Since 2004 / 7LPs (incl. new one)


(Press photo)

New EP THE VALLEY OF VISION
Release: 10 March 2023

The Valley of Vision is a collection of prayers and meditations that were written by Puritan Christians during the 17th century. A quite special and inventive angle and most of all pure crystal splendor. Six majestic performances, musically and vocally. Six awe-inspiring bittersweet symphonies. MO magic in motion.

Single/clip: Capital Karma

FULL EP

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MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA: Website – Instagram

New Upcoming Albums – Los Angeles’ Pysch Crusaders MAGNA ZERO With Debut ‘THE GREAT NOTHING’

Posted on by JL

What’s up?

9 March 2023

Band: MAGNA ZERO
Who: Lifelong friends and bandmates from Los Angeles who explore what it
means to be human through their music with a journey through a metaphorical
black hole with the band as they meld an unforgettable musical experience
into their colorful cauldron of Space Rock.

Debut album: THE GREAT NOTHING
Out: 20 March 2023


The album’s artwork. Solar eclipse vector total sun background.
Moon eclipse glow in space. Solar planet circle.

Info: Rich in sonic versatility, the eleven songs of Magna Zero’s The Great Nothing are a thrilling joyride past distant stars towards the mystic void, which ultimately lies within each of us as a key to inner peace. The tracks explode and whisper, caress and shred, while hope for a compassionate future emerges intact. The band describes The Great Nothing as a journey to ‘be free and let go,’ to ‘give up oneself to find the self’, and to ‘become nothing by paradoxically experiencing unity with everything’.

As a psychedelia freak myself I championed this L.A. trio before with reviews of singles from the upcoming debut longplayer. I had the opportunity to hear it and my eager ears told me that an intriguing, notable, and mindboggling work is on its way.

These 6 out of the 11 tracks offers you a crystal clear impression of the great nothing.

– WE ARE ALL –
Towering cry out for tolerance and unity.
Puzzling brilliance reaching for the sky.

– EAT YOU UP –
Scary and scorching powerstroke. It expresses the desire
to consume all that plagues and haunts one’s true love.

– WALKING TO NOTHING –
Mindblowing Odyssey into the unknown.

– STEP INTO THE LIGHT –
Amplified slo-mo jam in search of
the light at the end of the tunnel.

– ALL MUST GO –
Rockin’ and rollin’ to free yourself.

– ENDURE –
Early Pink Floyd echoes

MAGNA ZERO: Facebook – Instagram

SLOWTHAI Goes Back To His Rap-Punk Basics And Scores Pure Masterpiece With New Album ‘UGLY

Posted on by JL

6 March 2023

NME says: “The Northampton artist enlists Fontaines D.C., Shygirl and more on this exhilarating return to his punk-rap roots. UGLY’, is a warts-and-all reckoning, his most exhilarating project to date from front to back. Following the public fall-out from the NME Awards in 2020, and right-wing criticism of his exuberant stage presence and stunts (which included him holding an effigy of Boris Johnson’s severed head at the Mercury Prize in 2019), Tyron Frampton’s “cartoonish” public persona came at the detriment of his brutal honesty and self-expression.” Score: 5/5.

TUTV: This Slowthai guy is a natural-born rap-punk star. His new longplayer stands loud and proud as masterpiece albums do. He spits and sneers, he rants and chants. He tackles injustice, intolerance, and any human discrimination. He’s on fire. Slowthai rules.

Singles/clips: Feel Good / Selfish

– FEEL GOOD –

– SELFISH –

UGLY in full.

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SLOWTHAI: Facebook – Instagram

Hip-Rap-Hop-Rock Act ALGIERS Released Their Astounding Tour De Force Album ‘SHOOK’

Posted on by JL

26 February 2023

Band: American/English indie hip-rap-hop-rock
outfit formed in Atlanta.
Active: Since 2012 / 4 LPs (new one included)

New album: SHOOK
Released: 25 February 2023.
Order info here.

The New York Times says: “Throughout the album, Algiers lashes out at injustice,
exults in its sonic mastery and insists on the life forces of solidarity and physical impact.
But it refuses to promise any consolation.” Score: 8/10.


(Press – FB Algiers)

TUTV: Algiers nail it big time with their 4th full length. Remarkably varied in sonic performance. They jump from zestful hip-rap-hop to forceful post-punk-rock, to
soulful lullabies, to arresting spoken-word protest, to ruminative gospel. 54 minutes
long, but you get sucked in Algiers’ 2023 for every second, never a dull moment. Astounding tour de force. Touchdown!

STANDOUT TRACKS: Everybody Shatters / Irreversible Damage
A Good Man / Green Iris / Cold World / Momentary.

KEY SINGLES: 73% – Irreversible Damage – I Can’t Stand It

– 73% –

– IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE –
Feat. RAGTM’s frontman Zack De La Rocha

– I CAN’T STAND IT –
Feat. Samuel T. Herring & Jae Matthews

ALBUM

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ALGIERS: Facebook – Instagram – Linktree

ANTON NEWCOMBE And THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE Hit The Bullseye Again With New Magnum Psych Opus

Posted on by JL

Standout longplayers

25 February 2023

Band: THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE
New album: THE FUTURE IS YOUR PAST
Released: 10 February 2023 – order info here

Anton Newcombe: “My son Wolfgang is very different to me, thank god, but we have so many things in common; dancing, making up songs, and vocalizing strange combinations of words and ideas that make us laugh, or make sense to us in some meaningful way,” frontman Anton Newcombe said in a press release. “At a certain point, I started writing down these words and random ideas to use as titles. I felt like everything was so sad and hopeless, but I am not helpless. I decided to sing anthems to empower me, to remember to remember, to fight the beast until it dies, to give it everything you got because that’s all there is to give… these were not songs for COVID times, for these times of war and crisis after crisis, these are songs for all time.”


(Photo by Turn Up The Volume)

Louder Than War said:“Aside from plundering the darkest corners of psychedelic rock,
Brian Jonestown Massacre have ventured into all corners of the sonic spectrum from rock’n’roll, blues, folk, country and pop through to blazing swirls of distortion and mesmerising fuzzed up soundscapes. Also do not forget the sonic textures which have been influenced by musical traditions across the globe, especially the middle east. Much of all of this is on this album
albeit in different shades and shapes than before.”

TUTV: Last year’s Fire Doesn’t Grow On Trees was unquestionably one of the best BJTM’s longplayers of the 21st Century. An intoxicating piece of work still playing regularly on my stereo.

Guess what? Only eight months later and 24/7 musician Anton Newcombe hits bulseye again with this fantastic new LP. Fans (including me, of course) know his all-time favorite sonic sphere he operates in for years now.

The 60s psychedelic fuzz and buzz, the famed BJTM feedback, the jingle jangle virtuosity, the affecting, feverish vocals are all around again with an (even) richer and coherent reverberation than in the old(er) days, but most of all the record’s 10 songs, are without any exception, TOPNOTCH TUNES. Every single track has its own magnetizing attraction and its own spellbinding aura. No arty-farty redundancy, only pure spot-on crafted melodies. An art in itself, missing with so many artists/bands.

I know and you know the cliché, but it’s the most effective way to describe this magnum psych opus: no fillers, all killers. File between the Stones’ Their Satanic Majesties Request and Love’s Forever Changes.

SINGLES: Fudge / The Future Is Your Past

– THE FUTURE IS YOUR PAST –

– FUDGE –

ALBUM

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UK Tour 2023
Say no more.

TBJTM: Facebook – Instagram – Discography

Electro-Psycho Eccentrics CHUM Release Their Debut ‘METAPHYSICAL’ In April – Hear Stunning Single ‘BEEFCAKE DOCTRINE’

Posted on by JL

22 February 2023


(photo by Suzi Corker)

Band: CHUM
Who: A 4-piece enigma from London. They have already gained an underground reputation for bringing a live show which floats somewhere between séance, pantomime and bad trip. They have a passion for humour, theatrics and the ethereal all the while set to a backdrop of crushing bass heavy sonics, maniacal kraut-tinged drumming and toe-tapping pop-esque melodics, interspersed with a dry somewhat disturbed vocal delivery.

Debut album: METAPHYSICAL
Out: 7 April via Crackedankles. Expect
a mental-groove-infused 8-track record.

Debut single: BEEFCAKE DOCTRINE
It came a few weeks ago and the 7″ version
sold out in 45 minutes. Hallelujah!

Turn Up The Volume was heavily impressed and still is: “What a brainbreaker,
what a mindtwister. From the get-go repetitive Krautrock dynamics do your
head without asking permission first. It just happens in an eye-ear blink. Its
trance-inducing beats create a hypnotic and puzzling razzmatazz you can’t
and you won’t escape from. Touchdown!”

Press play and get impressed too.

CHUM: Facebook – Bandcamp

New Upcoming Albums – Swedish Songsmith THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH With His 6th ‘HENRY ST.’

Posted on by JL

21 February 2023

Artist: THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH
Who: The stage name of 39-year old,
Swedish singer-songwriter Kristian Matsson.

New album: HENRY ST. – his 6th
Out: 14 April 2023 – order details here

Matsson: “Henry St. is the most playful, most me album yet, because it covers so many
of the different noises in my head. When you overthink things, you get further away from
your original ideas. And God knows I overthink things when I’m by myself. Having been away from it taught me that making music and performing is what I’m doing for the rest of my life, and I’m so grateful for it. It has given me new confidence and playfulness. This is what I do.
It’s unconditional.”

Single: Every Little Heart

TOUR 2023

Facebook – Instagram