Brooklyn rockers THE HOLD STEADY prepare
themselves for a new album, out next month,
with a new ace single.
HEAVY COVENANT is an organ-driven snorter
getting more intense along its feet-and-head tapping
way, while steamy horns heat up the feverish chorus.
Bullseye!
With the wine glass on the microwave
The ashtray in the kitchenette
I could tell that it was difficult
Sleeper city with the underplay
You can get it almost anywhere
If you know the perfect words to say…
Band: SHAME Who: Razor-sharp-verbal punks, led by hot-blooded
blusterer Charlie Steen, from South-London, who nailed
it big time with their fury filled debut Songs Of Praise.
Album: DRUNK TANK PINK – second LP Released: 15 January 2021
NME‘s verdict: “Angst and isolation from one of the country’s best bands…
An intense record that searches for answers in chaos and uncertainty. Whether
or not they found what they were looking for, ‘Drunk Tank Pink’ confirms Shame’s
status as one of the most exciting bands at the forefront of British music. Long
may they reign there.” Full review here. Score 5/5.
Turn Up The Volume says: Debut LP Songs Of Praise was one of best albums
of 2018. Drunk Tank Pink is/will be one of the best albums of 2021. The band’s
fervid fury does your head in the way you like it. You’ll be out of breath after
just one spin. Young wolves with a heavily beating heart and a loud-mouthed
soul, kicking ass with inexhaustible vim and vigor. Damn right.
Singles/clips: Snow Day / Water in the Well / Alphabet / Nigel Hitter
Last summer San Antonio‘s forceful crossover turbine SAVING JACKIE, with loud
and clear Amazon Jenny 4C Ramirez in the middle, released a new EP with three
bang-on-target grenades. Three heated rap-mother-rockers. Three explosive
firecrackers.
For opener, MY FAITH IS LARGER – imagine Body Count fronted by Ramirez – the
4-piece launched a video clip with the band in full action, hitting it big time. You
have no excuse whatsoever not to bang your head against your lockdown living
room wall. Beat your virus frustration now, worry about the headache later!
Fresh from their surprising collaboration with the Flaming oddballs Lips, releasing one of the best albums of 2020 with Deap Lips, Los Angeles’ femejism twosome DEAP VALLY are back on their own. They have an EP planned for a 26th February release.
Ahead comes instantly sticking single LOOK AWAY feat. jennylee. A yearning love groove. A melancholic lullaby. A bittersweet symphony. Quite special and sonically quite different from their powerful trademark sound.
Picture myself on a hill
Picture myself in LA
Picture myself all lost in a moment of dreams
And I’m going to be
In your arms, it’s a holiday
In your arms, it’s a holiday
In your arms, it’s a holiday, holiday
Last Wednesday Sylvain Mizrahi aka Sylvain Sylvain, born in Cairo in 1951 and globally famous for being the guitarist of the infamous glam punks New York Dolls (1971–1976) passed away after a long battle against cancer. He was 69.
Legendary Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye
broke the news with a tribute message on his Facebook page…
“Sylvain Sylvain, the heart and soul of the New York Dolls, bearer of the Teenage
News, passed into his next astral incarnation on Wednesday, January 13, 2021.
Syl loved rock and roll. His onstage joy, his radiant smile as he chopped at his guitar, revealed the sense of wonder he must have felt at the age of 10, emigrating from his native Cairo with his family in 1961, the ship pulling into New York Harbor and seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time. It was he who looked across Lexington Ave. and saw the sign for the New York Doll hospital. Syl and a high school friend, Billy Murcia, were in the rag trade then, the aptly named Truth and Soul, handknit sweaters with a side of rockattitude. Hooking up with another classmate, John Genzale, and then, as bands will, Arthur Kane, and David Johansen, and Jerry Nolan, they became a quasar in the rock firmament; embodying trash, glam, garage-to-punk, the ambisexual affirmation of music played louder.
His role in the band was as lynchpin, keeping the revolving satellites of his bandmates in precision. Though he tried valiantly to keep the band going, in the end the Dolls’ moral fable overwhelmed them, not before seeding an influence that would engender many rock generations yet to come. Syl never stopped. In his solo lifeline, he was welcomed all over the world, from England to Japan, but most of all the rock dens of New York City, which is where I caught up with him a couple of years ago at the Bowery Electric. Still Syl. His corkscrew curls, tireless bounce, exulting in living his dream, asking the crowd to sing along, and so we will. His twin names, mirrored, becomes us.
Thank you Sylvain x 2, for your heart, belief, and the way
you whacked that E chord. Sleep Baby Doll.“
Steamy British combo SPIZZENERGI, formed in 1979 and led by vocalist and
guitarist Kenneth Spiers aka SPIZZ left an everlasting impression in their first years
with new-punk-wave crackers such as Where’s Captain Kirk? and Soldier Solider.
They also were infamous for changing the band’s name every year, subsequent
names including Athletico Spizz 80, Spizzoil and The Spizzles.
But it’s all about SpizzEnergi again for a while now. Today they unleashed a David
Bowie cover. Their take on the late genius’ 2013 love song Valentine’s Day (from The Next Day album) honors the Thin White Duke greatly with an electrifying and
high-energetic buzz and fuzz drive. Captain Kirk is back in time for a Feast of Saint
Valentine party. Love is in the air!
Jason Williamson about the LP’s title: “it’s the idea of the amount
of people that died from the first wave of coronavirus, human lives
are always expendable to the elites. We’re in a constant state of being
spare ribs.”
NME writes: “The Nottingham duo put COVID Britain bang to rights with
stunning production, great guests, scabrous lyrics – and a steadfast refusal
to offer easy answers.” Read the full interview here. Score: 5/5.
Turn Up The Volume says: Sleaford Mods music matters.
Singles/clips: Nudge It / Shortcummings / Mork n Mindy
