We’re on our way, slowly but surely, to the end of 2025.
Instead of starting to think about this year’s best LPs,
let’s go back to 2024 and listen to TUTV’s 20 Best Albums
again and look back on what we wrote about each one
of them.
Orchestrator Robert Smith about
their supreme new opus.
TUTV: In the past 16 years Robert Smith lost his mother, father, and brother.
All these painful events led to this extraordinarily touching record. It’s one
long, emotionally layered lament that works liberating in the end.
Strong sentiments of heartache, grief, and sadness are omnipresent, but you
hear and feel frequently that Smith has accepted humankind’s inevitable destiny.
Live and die. Life and death.
Sonically, it feels like if you’re part of a funeral march that progresses in slow
motion. Almost every song starts with a long instrumental intro of waves of
mourning synths and weeping guitars, and every time when Smith‘s feverish
voice joins in, the sense of tristesse augments wondrously heavy-hearted.
5-star masterpiece!
Album: SONGS OF A LOST WORLD
Their 14th LP, their first in 16 years.
It went to the top spot in the UK and the US.
NME says: “The album deals in darkness and death, but with
flowers on the grave… Being arguably the most personal album
of Smith’s career. “
TUTV: Sonically, it resonates as if you’re part of a funeral march that progresses in slow
motion. Every song starts with a long instrumental intro of waves of melancholic synths and weeping guitars, and every time when Smith‘s feverish voice joins in, the intensity augments wondrously captivating.
The most drastically soul-stirring record I heard all year, accentuating how sorrow
can overwhelm and hurt one’s heart and mind. It’s a universal experience that millions, and millions of people who lost loved ones – past, present and future – can relate to.
Pure masterpiece.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
. Instagram – All Cure Albums
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– 2 –
New album artwork
Artist: KIM DEAL
Best known as the utterly cool bass player of indie icons Pixies and from her own band The Breeders, featuring
her twin sister Kelley.
MOJO (British music monthly) says: “Nobody Loves You More is a singularly uplifting,
life-affirming listen, where joy and despair, love and loss, are irrevocably entwined, and
kept afloat by Deal’s unfailing lightness of touch.”
TUTV: Kim Deal on her own, expresses mixed emotions about past and present
personal experiences. Mostly with moony and subtly orchestrated reveries such
as the title track, Coast, Are You Mine?, Wish I Was, and Summerland. All charming
and melancholic songs for a quiet winter night in.
Deal‘s slightly hoarse voice is instrumental. Its tender-hearted aura creates a relaxing ambiance, interrupted now and then by more uptempo, upbeat tracks like stand-out
vibe Crystal Breath, the vigorous guitar-frisky Disobediece and the buzzing Big Ben Beat
jam. A formidable debut record.
Band: MAYFLOWER MADAME Who: A band from Oslo, Norway who specialize in a dark and distinctive blend
of post-punk, shoegaze, and psych-noir. Their history, so far, includes two album
releases, Observed In A Dream (2016) and Prepared For A Nightmare (2020).
MM: “Insight’ is the album we’ve always wanted to create, but at the same time it’s
the most personal and emotionally hardest we’ve made so far. Lyrically, it delves into
a wide range of emotions, from somber reflections about loss and sorrow to feverish
depictions of love, escapism and catharsis.”
TUTV: As they showed/proved us so many times before MM know mesmerically well
how to embed infectious, poppy melodies into trance-like orchestrations infused with waves of sparkling guitar lines and transfixing vocals, creating a magnetic appeal.
Best examples are the 4 top-tier singles Crippled Crow, Never Sever, Paint It All In Blue
and A Foretold Ecstasy. References? Depeche Mode, New Order, Interpol. Impressive, right? You betcha.
The Guardian (British newspaper): “Its two predecessors
were surprisingly good, this is genuinely great.”
TUTV: Lots of critical praise for PP’s new opus, deservedly so. At 72, he still excels
in writing high-quality pop/rock songs and he’s still a romantic at heart. His unique
voice and luminous guitar play combine for a splendiferously aural delight. With
20 tracks a bit too long, although there’s not one bad one on this gratifying record.
Band: THE CHRONICLES OF MANIMAL AND SAMARA Who: London-based DIY duo – Daphne Ang (Singapore) and Andrea Papi (Italy)
that fills a gap in music by bringing literature, art, and history together into a
space where rock and metal meet electronica. They released two fascinating
albums so far.
TUTV: TCOMAS have broadened their musical and lyrical boundaries again.
Mind you, their psycho-delic, metallic trademark sound, their quiet/Loud/quiet rollercoaster compositions and their intriguing sagas are still in place here, but
there’s more room for meditative moments, annex Samara‘s chill-out voice/vocals,
like on Waves, Mysterium Tremendum, with beautiful classical piano play, and Per Astra.
Their mercurial and emotional odysseys are inventively fragmented, swinging
forth and back. And then there’s the unexpected, but superb collaboration with Italian hip-hop rapper Mr Meuri on standout piece Bite The Bullet. Another rad
longplayer achievement.
NME says: “Robert Smith and co’s first full album in 16 years deals in darkness and death,
but with flowers on the grave. ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ feels sufficient enough for the wait we’ve endured, just for being arguably the most personal album of Smith’s career. Mortality may loom, but there’s colour in the black and flowers on the grave.” Full review here. Score: 5/5.
TUTV: In the past 16 years Robert Smith lost his mother, father, and brother. All the painful experiences surrounding these impactful, indelible passings led to this brilliant, gloomy record. One long emotionally layered lament, one that seems to work liberating in the end.
Strong sentiments of heartache, grief, and sadness are omnipresent, but you hear and
feel frequently that Smith has accepted humankind’s inevitable destiny. Live and die. “There’s nothing you can do to change the end‘ he sings on ‘A Fragile Thing‘.
Sonically, it resonates as if you’re part of a funeral march that progresses in slow
motion, just the way the music evolves. Every song starts with a long instrumental
intro of waves of melancholic synths and weeping guitars, and every time when Smith‘s feverish voice joins in, the intensity augments wondrously captivating. Only on two tracks Drone:Nodorne and All I Ever Am the pace goes up a bit, but they have the same overall orchestral somber sonority of the full album.
The most drastically soul-stirring record I heard all year, accentuating how sorrow
can overwhelm and hurt one’s heart and mind. It’s a universal experience that millions, and millions of people who lost loved ones – past, present and future – can relate to.
I played Songs Of A Lost World at least 5 times for
4 consecutive days now, always in full, always. I didn’t
do that with any album this year. I can’t see who will top
this sublime opus in the coming 2 last months of 2024.
Band: STRAND Who: Power pop quartet from Dublin, Ireland which
changed their group’s name from Soundstrand to just Strand.
Track: PROGRESS
Their first single as Strand, part from their
upcoming 5-track EP that’ll land early next
year.
“Progress is a song about changing places, people and times.”
TUTV: Epic. Grandiose. Staggering. Amplified guitar-pop at its mind-blowing best.
Get the exciting picture? Progress has a promptly goosebumps impact. It’s one of
those not-everyday puissant standout tunes that overwhelms your emotions from
the first listen.
TUTV: I have no clue what this vociferous punk headbutt has to do with
the late legendary jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, but this deafening
wall-of-hells-bells havoc we experience here isn’t exactly a bebop tune.
Imagine two trains coming from opposite directions at an insane
speed crashing into each other. That’s what happens here. Beware.
Band: DITZ Who: Post-punk dropouts
from Brighton, UK.
The turbulent bohemians have their sophomore LP, named Never Exhale. It’ll show up on 25 January 2025. Pre-order
info here.
Track: SPACE/SMILE
TUTV: Space/Smile is a slash/trash stormer, pushed by fulminating percussion,
schizo guitars and fronman Francis‘ spitting and sneering, fueled by his three
lungs, without breathing, for 108 seconds. DITZ is a mean raging machine.
They mess up your head, whether you like it or not.
Band: HEARTWORMS Who: Psych-pop act led by fast up-and-coming British songstress Jojo Orme.
They drew a lot of aural attention with last year’s EP A Comforting Notion.
The band have now announced details of their debut LP. It’s baptized Glutton For Punishment and will land on 25th February 2025.
Warplane is a head-over-heels missile that speeds up sky-high from the get-go, propelled by a disco-vibe infused synth/guitar/bass collaboration and Orme‘s feverish vocals rollin’ all over it. Every time the choir-like chorus comes up your adrenalin’s production doubles . Supersonic stunner.
Press info: A light-hearted, humorous, autobiographical documentation of a semi-dramatic nervous breakdown that happend when “one morning all plans went pear-shaped and patience went down the drain”. No longer feeling the need to pretend that everything is shiny and running smoothly, Koan lets rip on this catchy tongue-in-cheek art-pop tune. Influenced by her favourite artist Baxter Dury (yes, the son of).
TUTV: Koan‘s most explicit, unbridled and personal reflection/introspection
so far, bundled in a sensual bass-juiced melody with a nightclub vibe. Explicit?
Well, life itself is explicit, right? Let us dump our shit, ignore what people think,
and feel loose.
Band: GIRL TONES Who: High-energy rock duo brought to life by two sisters, Kenzie and Laila. Both classically trained musicians, Kenzie transitioned from cello to guitar and Laila from piano to drums in an effort to electrify sentient beings from this galaxy to the next.
TUTV: Who needs a Hole reunion if we have these two rock chicks who challenge your
stereo’s potency with inflammable swagger and ablaze gusto. Aggressive guitars, battering
drums, fiery vocals, and a hell-bloody-helly-yeah chorus.
Ciarán Fitz (vocalist/guitarist): “This is definitely one of the most outright punkers we have, probably. ‘Scrunched Up Fist’ was literally written in the jam room in 10 minutes. Matthew and James were just playing this thing as I was coming back from a smoke, and I knew I had lyrics
in my phone that would work with it. Added some guitar but not much, and it was donezo”
TUTV: Wham bloody wham bam. Expect a sharp-splitting punk rock juggernaut. Amps up and full steam ahead. No rest for the wicked with this razor-blade cutting, head over heels bombshell spiced with sneering vocals. Wham bloody wah-wah guitars bam. Scrunched Up Fist hits your face really hard. Hurry-scurry stroke.
Band: DHARMA GUNS Who: 4 indie rockers
from Helsinki, Finland.
Track: M.I.D.L.I.F.E. CRISIS
Third shared cut from their upcoming debut LP Ex-Generation Superstars, out November 1st.
Pete (singer): “Some guys buy fast cars and fell for younger women; others purchase expensive guitars and hang them on the wall. And some of us wish to leave a mark in history and/or do the right thing. The verse riff is a bit ‘stonesian’ whereas the chorus of the song is a classical punk rock sing-a-long.”.
TUTV: Yes! Yes! Do you need a badass booster today to get you through the outside
rat race? Here it comes. Dharma Guns offer you a noisy piece of rock’n boogie ‘roll to test your stereo’s resilience with. Think The Black Crowes with a 70s Britpunk attitude. Get the picture? You’ll never get a midlife crisis with these Finnish wackadoos. Yes! Yes!
Track: LET IT LOOSE
Cut from their debut LP Days,
out on November 20.
TUTV: This guitar/drum beat-driven groove melt Southern rock and Motown soul, with its glowing horns and backing gospel vocals. Well, that’s what my ears tell me. Anyway, this catching cracker will active several of your limbs.
Kelly: “It’s about being at the top of your game and being a human under a lot of pressure. It’s about the superficiality of the people you meet, keeping up the facade of fame in the eyes of the world and trying to relate to others… I just had Hollywood in mind for some reason and what it must be like for people who are so famous and desirable they can’t walk down the street. Then what it’s like to be the person who used to be that famous and the shit you get for not being as ‘perfect’ or ‘beautiful’ as you used to be. Washed up, if you will.”
Infectious, mixed emotions piece
that moves and grooves with a
doom and gloom sonority.
Viens: “Most of us do not want to live in a world where LGBTQ+ people are not safe;
where people of color are not safe, or have the same opportunities as whites; where children are being gunned down daily; where books and education are devalued; and where women don’t have control over their own bodies. No candidate is perfect. We must vote while we still can, especially in this election, to ensure that future generations continue to have the sacred power of their freedom, their choices, and their voices.
TUTV: This song was written about 20 years ago by a Boston musician when George W. Bush was running for re-election against Massachusetts’ own John Kerry and it’s highly relevant again.
GWAH, rockers at heart, turned the encouraging tune, into a jaunty country folk pop
gem you can hum, sing and whistle along all day long. Here in Europe, we are also waiting with anticipation for the election results. Whoever wins the White House, it’ll have an impact on the rest of the world. Here in Europe want democracy to prevail, it takes care of humanity in all aspects. While waiting for November 5 , let’s rock the boat, and vote for GWAH today.
Track: A FRAGILE THING
Gloomy piece from their 14th album, their first in 16 years, titled Songs Of A Lost World, and lands on planet Earth tomorrow, Nov 1.
“This song is a fragile thing
This song is my everything
Nothing you can do to change the end
There’s nothing you can do to change the end”
This month Uncut Magazine (British music monthly) delves into the past,
present and future of Goth titans THE CURE with their orchestrator Robert
Smith who’s all over the Internet lately as the band will release their 1st LP,
called Songs Of A Lost World in 16 years on November 1st. So far these are
the two tasters.
– ALONE –
– A FRAGILE THING –
Also articles about Radiohead, Art Garfunkel, Howard Devoto,
Bryan Ferry, Joan Armatrading , Paul Weller and more.
This month’s Free CD is compiled by Kim Deal, which includes
tracks from the Stooges, Black Sabbath, Neu!, The Faith Healers and Joy Division.
You can purchase a copy and let it be
sent to your home address. Info here.
On November 1st Goth icons THE CURE launch their 14th album, their first
in 16 years. We already got two tasters, two soul-stirring pieces,A Fragile Thing
and Alone (listen below)
Reviews from the mainstream media pour in.
This one is by legendary music website/zine NME
“Robert Smith and co’s first full album in 16 years deals in darkness and death, but
with flowers on the grave. “This is the end of every song that we sing,” mourns Robert
Smith on ‘Alone’, the opening track and launch single of The Cure’s long-mooted first
album in 16 years. A radio-alienating, sprawling and cinematic seven-minute gut-punch, ‘Lovecats’ it ain’t – but it speaks to the heart of ‘Songs Of A Lost World’. Inspired by Ernest Dowson’s poem Dregs, Smith said that this was the lyric that “unlocked the record”: one
that begins with an end.
Catching up with NME at various stops along the long and winding path of making the album, Smith teased that the record would be “merciless” and “express the darker side of what I’ve experienced over the last few years”, drawing more on the sounds of goth-rock standard bearer ‘Pornography’, having lost his mother, father and brother in the latter years since 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream‘. Take a deep breath, we’re going in.
Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten recently told NME how the band’s ‘Romance’ cut ‘Favourite’ compares to the likes of ‘Perfect Day’ by Lou Reed in feeling like both “death itself” and “the final hug” – “the saddest and happiest song possible” all at once. That bittersweetness is an art for The Cure, and you can rank ‘And Nothing Is Forever’ among gems like classics ‘Plainsong’ and ‘Pictures Of You’ as another masterfully euphoric sigh, one that sees Smith waltzing into the winter: “I know that my world has grown cold / But it really doesn’t matter if you say we’ll be together / If you say that we’ll be with me in the end”.
With “the dying of the light”, there is, of course, still some light. There are still pop hooks
in the ticking clock rhythms of ‘A Fragile Thing’, as Smith measures how love is “everything”
but ultimately makes peace with how there’s “nothing you can do to change the end”.
You want more gloom? ‘Warsong’ – a pummelling sludge of noise that mourns “the hope of what we might have been” – leads into ‘Drone_Nodrone’, a wailing, noir rocker with a devious earworm chorus that feels like the impish cousin of ‘One Hundred Years’, ‘Burn’ and ‘Killing An Arab’.
Then, album highlight ‘I Can Never Say Goodbye’ lays waste with an emotional H-bomb.
“As lightning splits the sky apart, I’m whispering his name / He has to wake up,” pleads Smith.
It musters everything he and the band have in the tank to breathe with that deep, dull ache that lingers when you lose someone closest to you: “Something wicked this way comes / To steal away my brother’s life.
The 10-minute opus of ‘Endsong’ – always intended as the album closer – circles back to
that full stop from the start: how we’re all ultimately dust and “left alone with nothing at the end of every song”. Merciless? Yes, but there’s always enough heart in the darkness and opulence in the sound to hold you and place these songs alongside The Cure’s finest.
The frontman suggested that another two records may be arriving at some point, but
‘Songs Of A Lost World’ feels sufficient enough for the wait we’ve endured, just for being arguably the most personal album of Smith’s career. Mortality may loom, but there’s
colour in the black and flowers on the grave.” Score: 5/5.
Following lead single Alone. It’s another tearjearker, but even
more moving and more gripping than Alone. Smith‘s vocals are truly
bone-chilling. Bring on the album.
“This song is a fragile thing
This song is my everything
Nothing you can do to change the end
There’s nothing you can do to change the end”
The band already played it live on The Lost World Tour in 2022.
Here, below, they perform the song in Italy.
