Daily noise that works faster than a gallon of caffeine
3 March 2023
(Press credit)
Manchester’s vibrant dance legends A Certain Ratio
canned their 11th LP, named 1982. It lands at the end
of March.
One of the singles shared so far, named SAMO is as funky as
hell. It made Turn Up the Volume‘s Best Tracks Of February 2023 list.
Can’t get enough of this tantalizing tune. Consult your doctor if your
limbs refuse to move to this nightclub corker.
Clamorous frontman Alex Edkins of Canadian noise engine Metz and Graham Walsh, keyboardist of dance punks Holy Fuck, got together for a project of their own, named, Noble Rot. They have their debut ‘Heavenly Bodies, Repetition, Control.‘ out next month.
They just dropped first single Casting No Light. A motorik Krautrock-like mindfucker that circles around like forever, pushed by a pumping synth/drum/guitar riff-boom-beat that grows in hypnotic intensity along the way. Fucktastic!
This Scottish dance-funk-punk trio is on an unstoppable roll. Their new, 3rd LP Heavy Heavy is a total triumph (Turn Up The Volume‘s Album of the Month) and their swirling concert in Antwerp (Belgium) blew the roof off the building.
One of the standout tracks on the album isDrum.
A flamboyant, head-over-heels stormer.
The Belgian Gods released their new longplayer How To Replace It?,
their first in 10 years, a couple of weeks ago.
The title song is a phenomenal piece. A mid-tempo stunner, driven by big
drums and frontman Tom Barman‘s bewitching vocality. It advances with
swelling orchestration toward the grand symphonic climax.
The amazing Los Angeles Amazons delivered their
best album (so far) Islands In The Sky only last Friday.
The title track is a blissful guitar-pop earworm that sticks from the get-go
with Bonnie Bloomgarden‘s spell-binding vocals inviting you to her island of joy.
I’m on my way. Join me.
You’re in charge of your perception of your life
You can choose what you keep
And what you leave behind
This Seattle-based Cyberpunk duo – Wesley and Jewels Foster – nailed it with this arousing mid-tempo, electro-drum-beat-driven knockout from their upcoming full length World’s End. It’s sexy, catchy, trippy, and makes your blood pumping through your heart.
Newest single Scatterbrain is a riff-roaring rocker that grows on your ears
with every spin. It has a moody, shoegazy resonance annex reflective vocals.
Striking stroke. Bring on the album.
This fresh high-energetic trio features members from Shudder To Think, Guided By Voices and The Dambuilders.
Their self-titled debut LP will see the day of light on 17 March.
What If? is a freaked-out, riff-drunk sucker punch that could
easily come from a Hüsker Dü LP. Herky-jerky electricity with
a steamrollin’ sticky chorus. Wowzers.
This dark-Goth-wave duo from the City of Angels look like vampires,
they sound like vampires and they fabricate vampirish stuff.
The torrid tandem unleash their
new album KRYPT on 28 April.
Ahead of the release, to get us in the right make-up mood, they hit us
with first single I Expire. A punked-up electro uppercut to set batcaves
on fire with. One listen and the brisk beats will haunt you all day long.
In the accompanying video, Male Tears get straight in
your scared face and suck you into their wicked world.
His new song is a groovy love-drunk gem featuring the sensuous voice
of his ex-partner. It gets under your skin from the kick-off. Two spins and
you’re hooked.
NECRØ is the latest project of Portuguese musician João Vairinhos
featuring idiosyncratic singer and keyboard player Sara Inglês,.
The title track of their 6-track EPDeath Beats
is Turn Up The Volume‘s favorite.
A dark-techno-wave rumbling that stomps and whomps with intense
impetus doing your head in from the get-go. Doomed beats for twilight parties.
The tenebrous vibe at play here sends shivers down your spine, while Sara Inglês‘s
ghostly wailing is reminiscent of shadowy Siouxsie Sioux moments.
This Charlotte-based collective seduced my sensitive ears with the title track of
their 3-track EP What A Day. The harbinger for upcoming 7th LP ‘Haunted Organic Machines’.
Feel-good tunes like these are always welcome on my headphones. What A Day is
a breezy synth-scintillating vibration that triggers sensual body moves. Its featherlight tonality causes a dreamy state of mind with trancy tinglings. And when that sweet flute came on, I swear, I saw a Spring bird flutter in the blue sky.
I’ll be a pretty special one as the pair wrote a collection of bilingual duets, with both of them singing in English and Spanish and explore a variety of European music cultures. First single Lonely Town is a sweet, little pop ditty. You can sing/hum/whistle along.
17. ‘I Remember What You Said’ by Artist: DYAN VALDÉS (Cuban-American)
(Photo credit: Petra Valdimardottir)
This Cuban-American singer-songwriter, living in Berlin, played/plays
in several bands and works as a solo artist too and has now a new single
out, named I Remember What You Said.
It follows her last year’s excellent debut album Stand.
The pretty poppy song is about a nightmarish memory of a poisonous
relationship. With its agitated words-flowing drive it feels like Valdés
wants to wash away all the BS and move on. Mission accomplished.
Summit Of The Big Low is the moniker of British musician Toby Uffindell-Phillips,
who was a member of the early 00s folktronica group Sound Sanctuary.
This new piece, from his self-titled album out on 19 May, is an affecting folk-pop reverie that streams as a brisk brook. Sparkling, crystal clear, and glimmering in the sun. Its wistful tone, smooth vocals, and frisky finger-picking guitar play combine for a sweet little pearl.
This 4-piece from Nashville produces a mix of metal, opera & 80’s rock.
Their new single Prisoner is about being captured and trapped by someone’s love.
It’s a mid-tempo power ballad that slowly but surely infiltrates your ears with its
anthemic dynamics, impassioned vocals, and weeping guitars.
This musical project started in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2014 and presents a soundscape based on electronic backgrounds and a more classic rock instrumentation blended with mellotrons, vibraphone, santur, harmonium and other alluring sounding instruments. In short, atmospheric psychedelic darkness with occult undertones.
Band: A CERTAIN RATIO (Greater Manchester) Who: Art-funk collective who started their journey
back in 1978. Active: 1977–present / 11 LPs (new one included)
New album: 1982 Out: 31 March 2023 – pre-order info here
(Press credit)
Info: “Looking backwards and forwards all at once, drawing on influences from across every spectrum, 1982 is an unpredictable record that will reward a dedicated listener dozens of times over.
Even by the band’s high standards – which includes a gleeful disregard for boundaries of style and genre, their eye fixed firmly on constant movement forwards – their latest studio album 1982 is multidimensional. Recorded by the core ACR line up of Jez Kerr, Martin Moscrop and Donald Johnson, alongside Tony Quigley, Matthew Steele and Ellen Beth Abdi, it shoots off in every direction, whether via searing Afrobeat, mind-melting jazz breakdowns or moody electronic experiments.
And the album title? Although 1982 might conjure memories of the year that saw ACR put out both the acclaimed Sextet and the cult favourite I’d Like To See You Again, it’s more of a playful red herring than an invitation to nostalgia.”
Singles/clips (so far): Samo / Waiting On A Train / Afro Dizzy
– SAMO –
Funky as hell
– WAITING ON A TRAIN –
(feat. Ellen Beth Abdi & Chunky)
Band: A CERTAIN RATIO (Greater Manchester) Who: Art-funk collective who started their journey
back in 1978.
New EP: ACR:EPA Info (via Mute Records): Back in March 2020, ACR gathered at Oxygene in Salford for an informal weekend of studio time. With no fixed agenda, and no
preconceived ideas, the band – Denise Johnson, Tony Quigley, Matthew Steele, Jez
Kerr, Donald Johnson and Martin Moscrop – all got together in part to celebrate
completing the mix of their first new album in over a decade, ACR Loco.
The sessions that followed are unmistakably ACR: the energy and chemistry
of the band evokes the unbridled joy of their live performances and the
effortless fusing of the genre that has become their trademark.
ACR: “We’re so happy with the results and the outcome and hopefully this release
gives an insight into how much fun and energy Denise would always bring to a
session when we recorded together.”
This EP will always be a striking and heartbreaking memory of Denise Johnson,
the magnificent soul voice, who sadly passed away last year in July. She was
only 56. Rest in peace.
ACR about Denise: “Denise was on top form and you will hear in places that she
isn’t actually singing words because we hadn’t written all the lyrics yet. At the end of
‘Down and Dirty’ you can hear us cheering in the background as Denise had completed
yet another fantastic vocal take and was laughing and saying ‘I enjoyed that’. We wanted
to keep all her laughter and our response in the track as it has such warmth and it
highlights the real Denise, always laughing and smiling and full of passion.”
Here’s the Saturday Night ACR Fever video for Keep It Together…
Turn Up The Volume about the EP: ACR are as relevant as back in their Factory days.
ACR still knows how to fill a dance floor. ACR still has a sassy sonic soul. Have yourself a party. Start with foreplay track ‘Wonderland‘, then get steamed-up for the funky-as-hell-stomper ‘Keep It Together‘, keep on movin’ and groovin’ with Talking Heads vibe ‘Down And Dirty‘ before chilling out to ‘Feel No Fear‘. That felt mighty good, right? You betcha.
AllMusic/Andy Kellman verdict: “ACR Loco is freer in spirit and lighter in touch than their previous LP, Mind Made Up. While ACR could be forgiven for feeling the weight of a 40-year history, there’s a spring in their step… They’re as comfortable with referring to their past as they are with exhibiting old and new inspirations… it’s all put together in a way that only A Certain Ratio could possibly manage… forward motion and eternal optimism.”
Turn Up The Volume‘s first impressions: sounds like the late great sex machines Prince and James Brobn teamed up in ACR’s notorious Manchester haven, recording together in the infamous Haçienda night club with the band’s Jez Kerr in the production room.”
Following last year’s career retrospective edition ACR:BOX Manchester’s
post-punk legends announced a new LP back in June called ACR Loco, to
be released in September. Simultaneously they made us dream with first
taster Always In Love.
And here ‘s another cut. YO YO GI sounds like if the band had a date with Chemical Brothers in the studio. Primarily instrumental, this is a tremendously groovy techno
fueled belter that pumps and jumps with an instant impact on your dance moves.
Be prepared to sweat to this funky music, folks.
Band: A Certain Ratio Track: Shack Up B-side: And Then Again Released: 1980 – via Factory Benelux/Les Disques Du Crepuscule. Note: The song was a cover. The original was by Washington’s
disco/funk band Banbarra who wrote and recorded it in 1975.
To celebrate their 40th birthday Greater Manchester‘s post-punk dance legends A CERTAIN RATIO will release ACR:BOX, an extensive compilation featuring more
than 20 unreleased songs among its total of 54 tracks, on 3 May. More info here.
One of those previous unreleased cuts is ACR‘s rework of Talking Heads‘ stellar
cracker HOUSES IN MOTION from their great, fourth LP Remain In Light (1980).
Eleven killer tracks we played on repeat in September!
A crazed fusion of roaring rippers and galvanizing grooves
energizing all of our senses and our limbs this past month!
Here’s Turn Up The Volume‘s Knockout September Team!
. 1. ‘Dark Stains’ by EXPLODED VIEW (Mexico/Berlin)
A truly booming dance knockout. Its ongoing menacing and eurhythmic vibrancy is simply irresistible and will put a spell on your senses. New album Obey out today. Stream here.
2. ‘Dirty Boy’ feat. Barry Adamson by A CERTAIN RATIO (Manchester, UK)
The veteran Manchester post punks still make your hips sway uncontrollably. With special guest (ex-Magazine) Barry Adamson you can hit the dance floor and funk yourself dizzy…
3. ‘Danny Nedelko’ by IDLES (Bristol, UK)
A moshpit punk uppercut from the band’s smashing new longplayer Joy As An Act Of Resistance. It will catapult this hot-blooded gang of misfits into the premier rock league.
4. ‘Get Along’ by FADE AWAAYS (Toronto, Canada)
This loud-mouthed corker, made to energize mad crowds, confirms that guitar rock is still alive and kicking! Expect uproarious riffs, a pumping bass/drums force and a killer chorus.
5. ‘Bigfoot’ by DIANE GRACE (Belgium)
Demonic and exorcistic, yet catchy as bloody hell. Hot boiling ripper from this up and coming punk desperados’ debut EP ‘Panic!’. Stream/buy the whole shebang right here.
6. ‘When We Left’ by SOMEDAYS (London, UK)
Its glowing drive, its tenacious pace and its confident dynamic will vitalize your adrenaline’s stream and will activate your nerves. The Strokes are dead! Long live Somedays! Damn right.
7. ‘Graphite’ by TWIST HELIX (Newcastle upon Tyne. UK)
Here’s a wholehearted, passion injected synths power stroke. Ardent, blazing and totally infectious. An anxious crackerjack strongly intensified by frontwoman Bea Garcia‘s vox.
8. ‘The Present’ by MOVIESTAR feat. Professor Elemental (Oslo, Norway)
This is a funky hippy-hoppy party humdinger featuring the wacko steampunk-rapper Professor Elemental. Its funny, trippy, poppy, dancey and totally contagious all the way.
9. ‘The Beast Of Love’ by HERSELF Featuring JONATHAN DONAHUE (Italy/US)
A stirring ballad feat. Jonathan Donahue, angelic vox of legendary New York dreamers Mercury Rev. The song resonates like a sensitive symphony growing fuller along its starry-eyed path. New LP by Herself aka Italian singer/songwriter Gioele Valenti out 19th October.
10. ‘Young Fools’ by SMALL MILLION (Portland, Oregon, US)
A highly charming pop pearl with singer Malachi Graham‘s gracious vox turning the sticky melody into a moony reverie. Ryan Linder‘s poetic guitar play adds magic to this beauty.
11. ‘As One’ by SUEDE (London, UK)
Grand and epic symphony. It’s the magnificent opener from the glam rockers’ new album ‘The Blue Hour‘. There’s a phenomenal choir in there that just blows my mind. Top score! SUEDE: Facebook
‘Sextet’ by A CERTAIN RATIO Released: 1982 / The band’s third longplayer
PITCHFORK review: “‘Sextet’ is either that era’s creepiest, boggiest dance album or its funkiest smear of brittle art-noise… One axis of the Sextet-era band is Tilson, who’s as odd a vocalist as they could have picked. She’s perpetually lagging behind the beat and beneath the pitches for which she’s reaching, and she swallows her words, as if she’s struggling to repeat them to herself… meanwhile Kerr and Johnson are doing their damnedest to play funk as hard as the Sugar Hill Records house band–hitting precise, clipped grooves while their band mates run interference with haphazardly flung splashes of atonal piano and dissonant horn bleats… ‘Sextet’ is a gorgeous mess, slumped against the back wall of the best dance club in town.” – Score: 8/10 – Full review here
TURN UP THE VOLUME says: Highly infectious funk eccentricity standing the test of time brilliantly! Blow the horns, hit the bass and shake your booty, folks! My favorite tracks: Lucinda / Knife Slits Water / Skipscada
