Album Of The Month

Psychedelic Shoegaze Trip – London’s GHOST PATTERNS Score With Debut Album ‘INFINITE’

Posted on by JL

Best longplayer of September 2021

1 October 2021

Band: GHOST PATTERNS
Who: London based quartet formed in 2019 blending
psychedelic, shoegaze and post-punk influences
into their music.

Debut album: INFINITE
Released: 3 September 2021
You can purchase the record via Bandcamp

Turn Up The Volume: The amplified haziness of Slowdive, the mystifying nightmares
of Spacemen 3, the multi-layer-constructing skills of My Bloody Valentine. Hallucinating soundscapes, sonic shadowplays, synths and guitars duelling with each other while
tireless drums dauntlessly beat, and wailing voices wander in an enigmatic fog of reverberation.

This and much more is what the (sur)real world of Ghost Patterns has to offer. Put your headphones on, open your mind and ears and you’ll experience a wondrous, psychedelic shoegaze trip. Strongly intense debut! Don’t miss it!

Single: House Of Lies

Stream/buy full album here…


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GHOST PATTERNS: Facebook

Vocals/guitars/keys- Terry Hale
Vocals- Somrata Sarkar
Bass- Letitia Austin
Drums & Percussion- James Walker

Lyrics/music
Tracks 3,4,6,8,9 – Somrata Sarkar/ Ghost Patterns
Tracks 1,2,5,7 – Terry Hale/ Ghost Patterns

Recorded by Ghost Patterns
Produced & mixed by Terry Hale & James Walker

Pic credit: Serge Kutuzov

ALBUM OF THE MONTH – Power Trio METZ With ‘LIVE AT THE OPERA HOUSE’

Posted on by JL

30 August 2021

Band: METZ (Toronto, Canada)
Who: Titan noise junks based in Toronto, Canada.
Active: Since 2008 / 4 studio albums so far

New album: LIVE AT THE OPERA HOUSE
Released: 4 August 2021
Order info: here

The band: “We were determined to find a way within the confines of the pandemic
to create a live experience that felt dynamic and let us connect with you all. So we
took to the stage in October 2020 at the Opera House in Toronto, a hometown favorite
independent venue, to livestream a performance of Atlas Vending in its entirety.”

The live performance (2020 album Atlas Vending and two older tracks) is available on all digital service providers, with bundles at Bandcamp and Sub Pop that include also a film of the of the full concert.

Turn Up The Volume: To be honest, most live albums do not reflect what artists accomplish on a podium. Its hard to capture the live sound on a record. But this one is remarkably different. As I saw these wall-of-havoc crusaders multiple times, I know what they’re capable of. From the first chord on, the trio explodes as if they’re on a kamikaze mission.

They develop a slash and trash amount of illegal decibels. You actually feel the noise physically. Fact! Several times I really thought that frontman Alex Edkins would run out of oxygen. This live record is what you can expect from these noise titans when they hit the stage. Their sound is bigger than the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris (before the fire).

ALBUM OF AUGUST 2021

Alert your neighbors before you press play…


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METZ: Facebook – All Tour Dates 2021-2022

(Live photos by Turn Up The Volume)

Album Of The Month – May 2021 – ‘SEEK SHELTER’ By ICEAGE

Posted on by JL

1 June 2021

Band: ICEAGE
Who: Danish rockers who entered
the scene in 2008 / 5 albums so far

Album: SEEK SHELTER – 5th LP
Released: 7 May 2021


(photo by Turn Up the Volume!)

NME says: “A record that never sits still, an album of considerable polish and scope
and by far the boldest thing the Danes have ever made, but also an album that still feels distinctly theirs. The fierce 90-second punk songs of their early days might now have
morphed into vast stadium-rock anthems, but Iceage remain as razor-sharp as ever.”
Full review here. Score: 4/5.

Turn Up The Volume: Finally, Iceage do what they were expected to do for a long
time. Creating a standout album that makes the hair in the back of your neck stand
up. Melodramatic with balls, impassioned with vigour, romantic with grimness. Charismatic frontman Elias Bender Rønnenfelt leads the troops as never before.
Their fifth, their best.

Rønnenfelt: “We by no means wanted a producer to go in and tell us what to do
or lead the way as to what kind of record we were trying to make. We just wanted
a partner in crime.”

Singles/clips: Vendetta / Shelter Song / The Holding Hand

– VENDETTA –

– SHELTER SONG –

– THE HOLDING HAND –

Stream/buy album here…

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ICEAGE: Facebook

Best Album April 2021 – ‘G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!’ By GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR

Posted on by JL

1 May 2021

Band: GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR
Who: Wayward enigmatic, and experimental
collective from Montreal active since 1994.

New album: G d’s Pee at STATE’S END! – 7th LP
The follow-up to 2017 LP Luciferian Towers.
Release: 2 April 2021.

The band: “This record is about all of us waiting
for the end. all current forms of governance are failed.
This record is about all of us waiting for the beginning.”

Pitchfork wrote: “They’ve opted to acknowledge a world of seemingly infinite struggle and
offer a well-earned, well-timed score for continuing the fight. Godspeed You! Black Emperor spent a quarter-century making hold music for awaiting a revolution; why shouldn’t they bask
in signs of its potential sparks now, however limited or fleeting they might be?” Score: 8/10.

Turn Up The Volume says: Fitting soundtrack for the funeral of the past, and at the
same time for the re-birth of humankind. Somber and apocalyptic. Only a very small light
at the end of the tunnel. Repetitive doom-and-gloom psychedelia, repetitive wall-of-guitar-scapes. Goosebumps all the way. One word: Götterdämmerung!

Song titles (take a deep breath):
1. A Military Alphabet (five eyes all blind) (4521.0kHz 6730.0kHz 4109.09kHz) / Job’s Lament / First of the Last Glaciers / where we break how we shine (ROCKETS FOR MARY) 20:22
2. Fire at Static Valley
3. “GOVERNMENT CAME” (9980.0kHz 3617.1kHz 4521.0 kHz) / Cliffs Gaze / cliffs’ gaze at empty waters’ rise / ASHES TO SEA or NEARER TO THEE
4. OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN (for D.H.)
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GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR: Facebook

Stream/buy (digital version) here…


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GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR: Facebook