TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘High Land, Hard Rain’ – AZTEC CAMERA…

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past

‘High Land, Hard Rain’
AZTEC CAMERA
Released: 19 April 1983
Debut longplayer

ALL MUSIC wrote: “Some performers never make a bigger splash than with their first record, a situation that the Ramones and De La Soul know all too well. If that’s the case, though, said musicians had better make sure that debut is a doozy. Aztec Camera, or more specifically, Roddy Frame, falls squarely into this scenario, because while he has doggedly plugged away ever since with a series of what are, at times, not bad releases, High Land, Hard Rain remains the lovely touchstone of Frame’s career. Very much the contemporaries of such well-scrubbed Scottish guitar pop confectionaries as Orange Juice, but with the best gumption and star quality of them all, Aztec Camera led off the album with “Oblivious,” a mini-masterpiece of acoustic guitar hooks, lightly funky rhythms, and swooning backing vocals. If nothing tops that on High Land, Hard Rain, most of the remaining songs come very close, while they also carefully avoid coming across like a series of general sound-alikes.” Score: 5/5 – Full review here.

TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s favorite track: PILLAR TO POST

Album in full…

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AZTEC CAMERA: Biography – Discograhy


Early days…

PICK OF THE DAY – Here’s Canadian Hardcore Monster NEEDS With ‘EAT THE RICH… PEOPLE’S LEFTOVERS’

Posted on by JL

Daily fuel to load your sonic batteries…

20 April 2018

Band: NEEDS (Vancouver, Canada)

Who: “The group invokes feelings similar to the first time you heard Nation of Ulysses and Big Black, or that time you discovered the Wipers. NEEDS call on the mighty lords of DC; They pillage the record bags of Trash Talk and Fucked Up; They kneel before fuzz and distortion… Pay heed to the gods of avarice.”

Pick: ‘EAT THE RICH… PEOPLE’S LEFTOVERS’ – THEIR NEW SINGLE

Score: MONSTROUS! NASTY! LOUD! CLAMOROUS! DEMONIC! FUCKED UP! COLOSSAL! MASSIVE! KING-SIZED! HUGE! DEVILISH! BAD-ASS! KNOCKOUT! CHAOTIC! DERANGED! INSANE! MENTAL! PSYCHOTIC! MANIC! WACKO! FAST! FURIOUS! SCREWY! MANIACAL!

TURN! UP! THE! DECIBELS! AND! GO! COMPLETELY! APESHIT! RIGHT! HERE! RIGHT! NOW!

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NEEDS: FACEBOOK – WEBSITE – TWITTER


THESE! FREAKISH! MOTHERROCKERS! RELEASE! NEW! LP! LIMITATIONS! ON! 22! JUNE!

BOARDS OF CANADA – Their Spacey LP ‘MUSIC HAS THE RIGHT TO CHILDREN’ Came Out 20 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

Going back in sonic history looking for memorable albums…

20 April 2018

Band: BOARDS OF CANADA (Scotland)

Album: MUSIC HAS THE RIGHT TO CHILDREN

Released: 20 April 1998 – 20 years ago

PITCHFORK wrote: “When you discover that Boards of Canada took their name came from an organization committed to educational film, the overriding idea of their project clicks immediately into place. I’ve no memories of the National Film Board of Canada but I remember tapes with narration and incidental music accompanying filmstrips, tapes that were always damaged from age and overuse on poorly maintained equipment. The warbly pitch and warped voices mirrored the anxiety that came with the “carefree” days of being a kid and living subjugated to others. Boards of Canada tapped into the collective unconscious of those who grew up in the English speaking West and were talented enough to transcribe the soundtrack. No need to get hung up on specifics; however we lived and whoever we were, Music Has the Right to Children reflected back the truth for a lot of us. You can’t ask more of an album than that.” Score: 10/ 10 – Full review here

TURN UP THE VOLUME says: “An outlandish sonic electro trip for ears, mind and soul”

Album in full…

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BOARDS OF CANADA: Facebook – Discography

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘Bricks Are Heavy’ – L7

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past

‘Bricks Are Heavy’
by L7
Released: 14 April 1992
Third longplayer

ALL MUSIC wrote: “Though they hailed from sunny L.A., L7 became the poster girls for grunge in 1992, with the meteoric success of their third album, Bricks Are Heavy. While their previous efforts had sounded sloppy and uneven, Nevermind producer Butch Vig helped the girls obtain a tight, compact sound on Bricks, pushing them to focus on their songwriting to boot. After all, great albums need great songs, and that’s exactly what you have here. these four ladies had been doing this kind of thing for as long as the Seattle trio. L7’s crowning achievement, Bricks Are Heavy sadly proved to be an impossible act to follow, and the band gradually faded into obscurity thereafter.”

TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s (and almost anybody’s) favorite track: PRETEND WE’RE DEAD

Album in full…

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L7: Website – Facebook – Discography


Back in town…


L4…

COURTNEY BARNETT Shares ‘CITY LOOKS PRETTY’ – New Dashing Track From Her Upcoming Album…

Posted on by JL

New sonic impulses to activate your senses…

new-stuff

19 April 2018

Singer/songwriter/storyteller/feminist COURTNEY BARNETT just shared a third track from her upcoming new album. A swirling cracker titled CITY LOOKS PRETTY. It rocks, rolls and rumbles. Capture the swinging beat right here…

COURTNEY BARNETT: Website – Facebook – Twitter


New LP TELL ME HOW YOU REALLY FEEL Out 18 May – all info & pre-order facilities here.

Vibrant Synth Pop Duo APRIL TOWERS Shares Clip For Earworm Single ‘TEL AVIV…

Posted on by JL

Clips that will have an impact on your eyes and your ears…

VivaVideo

19 April 2018

After having played together in other bands previously, the duo of Alex Noble (vocals, guitars & keyboards) and Charlie Burley (production, samples, guitars and keyboards)
started APRIL TOWERS back in August 2013. They will release their debut longplayer
next June. Ahead of the album launch the British pair just shared a clip for ace single
TEL AVIV. An elevating synth earworm that will energize all your senses and all your
limbs. This luminous pop humdinger magnetizes from start to finish. Just impossible
not to dance to this king-sized tune. Blissful vocals and a sparkling chorus as catchy
as hell. Funky summer is in the air! You can shake your booty right here…

Of the video the duo says: “Water is a key theme of the upcoming album so we headed to the Cornish coast to take in the stunning scenery. We loved experimenting with the lighting and feel of the video to reflect the intensity of the record and what it means to us.”. The clip was directed by Sean Robinson.


Album CERTIFIED FREAKY out 8 June – All info right here

APRIL TOWERS: Website – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram

THE MU-TONES – Manchester Trio Hits Bullseye With Flamboyant Debut Single ‘SLAB CITY RECORDS’…

Posted on by JL

Daily fuel to load your sonic batteries…

19 April 2018

Band: THE MU-TONES

Who: “A noisy garage pop trio from Manchester forged of three talents and a desire for direct communication, led by former Marion guitarist/songwriter Anthony Grantham and joined by Alex Redhead (bass) formerly of Amplifier and Peter Gray (drums) who used to play with Letters to Fiesta. The Mu-Tones manifesto is direct and to the point: short sharp songs crammed full of loud, angry, weird magic.”

Pick: SLAB CITY RECORDS – debut single

Score: pushed by a feverish, ongoing bass riff this red-hot crackerjack gets nastier with every second. After a couple of foreplay explosions and driven by raging vocals this garage ripper finally crashes big time. Flaming debut score! Get the razor-sharp vibe right here…

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THE MU-TONES: Facebook –  Twitter


SLAB CITY RECORDS will be officially out 30 June via Ugly Man Records

MASSIVE ATTACK Released Their Obscure Masterwork ‘MEZZANINE’ 20 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

Going back in sonic history looking for memorable albums…

19 April 2018

Band: MASSIVE ATTACK

Album: MEZZANINE

Released: 20 April 1998 – 20 years ago

Pitchfork wrote: “The album corroded their tendencies to make big-wheel hymnals of interconnected lives where hope and despair trade precedent—on Mezzanine, it’s alienation all the way down. There’s no safety from harm here, nothing you’ve got to be thankful for, nobody to take the force of the blow: what ‘Mezzanine’ provides instead is a succession of parties and relationships and panopticons where the walls won’t stop closing in. ‘Mezzanine’ stands as an album built around echoes of the ’70s, wrestled through the immediacy of its creators’ tumultuous late ’90s, and fearless enough that it still sounds like it belongs in whatever timeframe you’re playing it.” Score: 9.3/10 – Full review here

Turn Up The Volume says: This longplayer always sounded to me like a perfect soundtrack for sci-fi movie ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind‘. Otherworldly, transcendental, but most of all astonishingly fascinating in sound and vision. Groundbreaking performance…

Three Top Tracks: Teardrop / Risingson / Man Next Door

* TEARDROP

* RISINGSON

* MAN NEXT DOOR

Album in full…

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MASSIVE ATTACK: Twitter – Discography


“In light of Facebook’s continued disregard for your privacy, their lack of transparency and disregard for accountability, ‘Massive Attack’ will be temporarily withdrawing from FB”
(March 2018)