Album Of The Week

METZ – Canadian Noise Challenging Crusaders Flabbergast With 5th Album ‘UP ON GRAVITY HILL’

Posted on by JL

Rad new longplayers

23 April 2024

Canadian noise-challenging crusaders METZ have their
5th LP, titled UP ON GRAVITY HELL out. Order-info here.

Press info: For those who believe in the power of the rock band to exemplify the
highest resonance of human connection, there is much on ‘Up On Gravity Hill’ to lift
the spirit, a puzzle worth repeated listening to unlock or just to get lost in again and
again. Lyrically, Up On Gravity Hill pulls no punches: this is a record about death the
way all art is ultimately about death, yet it crackles with life and intensity.

Alex Edkins (voice/guitar/lyrics) : “We’re at the point now where we feel really strong as
a band and as musicians, and there is no second guessing our collective instincts. Allowing ourselves to branch out and work with other musicians has been a blessing and also continues to remind us that what we have, our musical bond, is very rare and really special. The lyrical content is more heart-on-sleeve than I’ve ever allowed myself to do. I tried to be direct with my words, this record felt like a big step.”

TUTV: ‘Up On Gravity Hill’ blows your mind, your psyche, and your ears
for 34 thunderous minutes of razor blade wall-of-sound exorcism. Vintage
chainsaw voltage (No Reservation/Love Comes Crashing, Entwined (Street Light
Buzz), Never Still Again and the ace anti-advertising ballyhoo sledgehammer
’99’), a mean drum/bass machine throughout, and Edkins‘ mixed emotions
cry outs combine for a rough helter-skelter ride.

No arty farty BS for them, no special effects. All cylinders, all burners. It’s only
on the gripping mid-tempo closing reflection that the trio slow down a bit but
still make your stereo tremble. A great ending to another great record.

Flabbergasting achievement.
Metz rule big time.

STREAM ALBUM


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BUY ALBUM


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METZ: Linktree

ENGLISH TEACHER – British Indies Astound With Their Multi-Layered And Ingenious Debut Album ‘THIS COULD BE TEXAS’

Posted on by JL

16 April 2024

Band: ENGLISH TEACHER
Who: Fast up-and-coming inventive
indies from Leeds, UK.


Press photo

Debut album: THIS COULD BE TEXAS

NME: “The fantastic and the everyday collide on this landmark debut – an adventure in
sound and words. What you have in ‘This Could Be Texas’ is everything you want from a
debut; a truly original effort from start to finish, an adventure in sound and words, and
a landmark statement.

Poised for big things? Who knows if this industry even allows that anymore. Here are
a band already dealing in brilliance, though – who dare to dream and have it pay off.
Not everyone gets to go to space, but at least English Teacher make it a damn site
more interesting being stuck down here.” Score: 5/5.


Belgium, 13 February 2024 – Photo by Turn Up The Volume

TUTV: English Teacher are special, their debut LP is special. It sounds indie,
but certainly not in a familiar way when it comes to the stunning creativity
and striking architecture of the songs.

Expect a mix of prog-rock dynamics, bits and pieces for a reality musical, wayward euphony and sudden, yet accessible changes of pace and flow, rhythms and moods.

You really need several spins to get into This Could Be Texas but once the mist is gone
you’ll be dazzled by its sheer ingeniousness and the impact of frontwoman Lily Fontaine, vocally and emotionally. This could easily be one of the best longplayers of the year including one of the best singles of the year with ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab‘.

ALBUM


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ET: Instagram

EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBATEN Invite You Once Again In Their Fascinating Labyrinth With Double LP ‘RAMPEN (Amp: Alien Pop Music)’

Posted on by JL

5 April 2024


Album artwork

Germany‘s experimental mavericks EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBATEN, fronted by
bad seed Blixa Bargeld are around for almost 45 years and 12 LPs. Way longer
than an average relationship, and with no sign of divorce yet.

Their brand-new work, a double LP, baptized
RAMPEN (Amp: Alien Pop Music) is out today.

Press info: “Einstürzende Neubauten present their new album Rampen (amp: alien pop music). Since the band was founded on April 1, 1980, Einstürzende Neubauten have been shifting the parameters of mainstream and subculture to make the inaudible audible, perhaps the unheard as well. This experimental field research, spanning more than four decades, is now entering the next stage. In its 44th year of existence, the band is going back to its roots while redefining itself. It’s a change in self-image, for which the Berlin quintet plus one has created its own genre of alien pop music.”

Blixa Bargeld in an interview with Backseat Maffia about the LP’s title with : “I saw two different strains of thought. One was to say I had created a new genre and to make it another ‘stream’ as there is no mainstream anymore, and we make another popular music stream other than the one that borders on populism. We created one for the aliens living on the planet, the ones who are not part of anything else. They are entitled to have their own pop music. The other strain, we are the Beatles in another parallel universe. I just thought it funny to put Einstürzende Neubauten in the context of pop music, because nobody does that.


Press photo

TUTV: 15 songs, 1 hr 14 min of alien pop music. Another exploring journey into Blixa Bargeld‘s intriguing mind labyrinth. Fanatic fans know their way around there now, yet Bargeld and EN still fascinate with every new record, even with this 13th album in almost 45 years. Most of the songs were created and composed of improvisations that started on their 2022 tour.

The band would take a simple concept and some root notes and Bargeld would join
in playing around with some choice phrases projected onto a monitor in front of him.
A rudimentary approach that led to this amazing alien pop music record. EZ isn’t about pop-ular music as we know it, but their vintage sonic wanderings have become quite accessible over the years.

Mind you, they’re still astonishing architects of capricious, unorthodox, and spellbinding
soundscapes, spiced with all kinds of percussion tools, lots of wicked bass intimidation, and of course, Bargeld‘s unique, storytelling vocals, always mind-bending, always ghostly, and at (many) times creepy.

There’s always a feeling of imminent danger, blood-curdling tension and erratic
melodrama in the air. Welcome again to Einstürzende Neubauten‘s entrancing
labyrinth of spine-chilling experiences. Wir wünschen Ihnen eine gute Reise.

TUTV’s fav tracks: Wie Lange Noch? / Ist Ist / Isso Isso / Besser Isses /
The Pit Of Language / Aus Den Zeiten

ALBUM

Tour 2024

EN: Instagram – Bio – Discography

RIDE Deliver One Of The Best Albums Of The Year (So Far) With Their New Ace Pop Gems Filled LP ‘INTERPLAY’

Posted on by JL

Standout longplayers

2 April 2024


Press photo by Cal McIntyre

British renowned shoegaze veterans have their
7th LP, named INTERPLAY out, their first in 5 years.

The Guardian: “Like reunited noise-poppers Slowdive, Pixies and the Jesus and Mary Chain, Ride’s reformation era has now lasted longer than their original incarnation. Unlike those peers, though, the Oxford four-piece usually delivered far better singles and gigs than albums. On Interplay, they don’t try to replicate the delicate thunder of their live shows, but foreground less familiar elements such as synths, pianos, strings and, crucially, space.
It’s their most adult album yet, and it suits them.” Score: 4/5.


Album artwork

TUTV: I wasn’t a big Ride fan over the years as they kept on shoegazing too much in the same space, for my liking. Guess what? With Interplay the past goes in the dustbin as the present Ride are fabulous. They come up with some terrifically arousing tunes (Peace Sign / Last Frontier / Monaco and the superbly exploding Light In A Quit Room), alternated with pepped-up reveries (Last Night I Went Somewhere To ream / Midnight Rider / Essaouira / Yesterday Is Just A Song).

All songs are sublimely orchestrated and bath in a psychedelic jacuzzi while vocalist Mark Gardner‘s velvet vocals match the sonic atmosphere exquisitely. It’s only April, but Interplay is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best longplayers of 2024, so far. Ride have mixed emotions about today’s restless times, me too, but not about this record. Lots of five-star stuff.

Singles/clips: Peace Sign / Monaco / Last Frontier

– PEACE SIGN –

– MONACO –

– LAST FRONTIER –

ALBUM


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RIDE: Instagram

No Expiration Date For THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN As They Prove With Flair On Their 8th Album ‘GLASGOW EYES’

Posted on by JL

23 March 2024

Scottish post-punk legends Jim and William Reid aka THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN have been around for ages, although they only made/recorded 7 studio LPs in their 40-year career (with an 8-year hiatus between 1999-2007). But, wait, here’s their brand new 8th
one, titled GLASGOWEYES is out now.


Photo by Mel Bulter

Pitchfork: “Beneath its electronic veneer, Glasgow Eyes sounds curiously settled. The synthesized arrangements are something of a sleight of hand, disguising how the Jesus and Mary Chain aren’t abandoning their old obsessions; they’re still singing about longing and decadence. Ultimately, what’s different about Glasgow Eyes is not the form but the tenor. As they advance into middle age, the tension between the Reid brothers has dissipated, giving Glasgow Eyes an unusually congenial spirit.”

TUTV: No expiration date for the Reid Bros, yet. With Glasgow Eyes they come up with a solid tunes-stuffed record, many young bands would sell their souls for. It’s The Jesus And Mary Chain by numbers, rad numbers that is. They added a lot of synth structures to their music here, but still sound as crystal clear, as polished and as vocally glamorously smooth as ever, even when they rock out with their familiar flamboyance (Venal Joy / American Born / jamcod / Girl71 with its Lou Reed‘s ‘Vicious‘ riff). It’s who they are, it’s what set them apart.

The presence of Krautrock-like electronics is at its best on stylized grooves Discothèque, Silver Strings, and Second Of June, while vintage TJAMC psychocandy pop is audible on Pure Poor, Chemical Animal and The Eagles and The Beatles (citing 60s icons Stones, Beatles, Small Faces, Bob Dylan and more). And to close the album and their appetite for the swinging sixties we get a, and makes you wonder why.

Final verdict: the Glaswegian brothers Jim and William Reid still have
that desirous look in their eyes to create most entertaining pop pizzazz.

Singles/clips: jamcod / Girl71

– JAMCOD –

– GIRL71 –

ALBUM


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TJAMC: Instagram

YARD ACT Will Get Bigger Than They Already Are With Their 2nd Full Body-Shaking Album ‘WHERE’S MY UTOPIA?’

Posted on by JL

7 March 2024


Album artwork

British indie rockers YARD ACT shot to the top like a
comet last year with their ace debut LP The Overload.

Last summer they came back with a high-caliber, stand-alone single,
named The Trench Coat Museum. A harbinger for album number two,
titled, WHERE’S MY UTOPIA that is out now.

Press info:” The return of Yard Act. Where’s My Utopia? is the follow up to the Leeds
band’s critically-acclaimed debut record The Overload which arrived in January 2022. Written in snapshots of time between a relentless touring schedule, and produced jointly by the band and Gorillaz’ Remi Kabaka Jr, the quartet’s second act is a giant leap forward into broad and playful new sonic waters. Across the record, influences ranging from Fela Kuti to Ennio Moricone via Spiller’s ‘00s pop smash ‘Groovejet’ make themselves known.”

NME: “The Leeds quartet seek to obliterate the ‘post-punk’ tag with an eccentric second album that’s packed with surprises… Co-produced by Remi Kakaba Jr of Gorillaz, ‘Where’s My Utopia?’ is sonically playful from the get-go. Where’s My Utopia?’ marks an outlandish yet assertive second chapter for Yard Act, going toe-to-toe with the peculiar world that we find ourselves in.” Score: 4/5.

TUTV: Sonically much richer and versatile than YA’s debut, and they still make your
hips sway, your feet move from left to right and back, and your head shake in circles,
“we make hits”, and that’s what counts the most to my ears.

Yep, 10 sickly sticky tunes and one 7+ minute spoken-word story with waterfall
wordsmith vocalist James Smith, who became a father amidst touring and dealing
with sudden fame, asking himself “I attained perfection / So why the fuck was I still
wondering what wankers would think of album two?”. Give it a couple of spins and
you will discover a masterly entertaining record.

Yard Act will get even bigger than they already are.

Singles/clips: Dream Job / Petroleum / We Make Hits

– DREAM JOB –

– PETROLEUM –

– WE MAKE HITS –

ALBUM


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YA: Facebook – Instagram

MONOSCOPES – Italian Psych Dream Rock Outfit Score Big Time With Their Heart-And-Soul Touching LP ‘ENCYCLOPEDIA’

Posted on by JL

22 February 2024

Band: MONOSCOPES
Who: Italian act started by Paolo Mioni, former member of Jennifer Gentle,
spearhead of the Italian psych scene. They released their debut album
Painkillers And Wine last year.

New album: ENCYCLOPEDIA

Press info: A sequence of tracks that touch on complex themes such as the unbearability of pain (Today Today), the helplessness one feels when faced with a god who sends a flood to destroy the world (The Maker), the feeling of regretting the past (The Green Bed), love as an obsession (You’re Gonna Be Mine). In between there are also glimpses of optimism, such as Hey Atlas, which invites the listener (or the singer?) not to carry all the weight of the world on our shoulders like the titular character, or the jazzy This Silly Night, in which a relationship becomes the only way to escape the ugliness of the outside world.

The album moves from the psychedelic rock with pop overtones of The Electric Muse to the noise ride of You’re Gonna Be Mine, from the nocturnal atmospheres of A Quiet Life to the Velvet Underground-influenced garage pop of It’s A Shame About You. In between there are noise, melody, harmonic and rhythmic experimentation (above all the alternating odd and even times in The Green Bed), and a resurgence of the middle eight, so dear to The Beatles, as an important element of the song form. In Endcyclopedia one hears echoes of the noisy spirituals of Spiritualized, of the more apocalyptic side of PJ Harvey, of the power pop of Big Star, but also of R.E.M. and the melodic quest of the unforgettable LA’s.”

TUTV: What can I add to this accurately detailed press release? I’ll add this. Monoscopes made an ideal record for the midnight hours, for the moments you want to escape from our daily rat race and lose yourself in your thoughts of choice.

Heavy-hearted lullaby pearls such as ‘The Electric Muse (I Wanna Know Why?)’, Hey Atlas and The Things You Want To Hide should be hits in a normal world. Imagine the moody musings of Evan Dando (The Lemonheads) interwoven with the shadowy electricity of NYC’s celebs Interpol.

And when they turn up the temperature and the amps, now and then, like on top-tier tracks ‘It’s A Shame About You’ and ‘Quite Life‘ you feel the mixed emotions coming through your speakers making their way to your heart and to your soul. In my world, this is a grand 2024 album. It should be in yours too.

– THE ELECTRIC MUSE (I WANNA KNOW WHY) –

– STREAM ALBUM –

– BUY ALBUM –


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Monoscopes: Instagram – Facebook

LEE “SCRATCH” PERRY – Dub Reggae Master’s Splendid Final Album ‘KING PERRY’ Posthumously Released

Posted on by JL

3 February 2024

Iconic record producer, composer, singer, and pioneer of the dub music genre
LEE “SCRATCH” PERRY was born in 1936 in Jamaica. He influenced generations of
artists such as Bob Marley & The Wailers, The Clash, Beastie Boys, Max Romeo, Junior
Murvin and The Orb. He passed away in 2021, aged 85.

Yesterday, his final album KING PERRY was posthumously released
via Berlin-based record label False Idols. Order info here

Conceived, written and recorded during the COVID pandemic, ‘King Perry’ was
produced by Daniel Boyle, and features guest performances from Greentea Peng,
Shaun Ryder, Tricky, Marta, Rose Waite and Fifi Rong.

“The album was born out of a request from Perry that he “wanted to do something new, something different but still with a dub framework”. And so, armed with influences as diverse as synthwave, big beat, drum & bass and electronica, Boyle and Perry traded ideas, beats and lyrics in a project that continued to grow as its various guest performers were added, resulting in a kaleidoscopic and engaging melting pot of rhythms, melodies, and voices. Poignantly, closing track ‘Goodbye’ was Perry’s last ever recorded vocal performance.”

Splendid farewell LP.
A king indeed.

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LSP: Instagram – Bio – Discography

Argentinian Punks Kill Fascists With Synths On New Blistering Compilation ‘ESTE SINTE MATA FASCISTS’

Posted on by JL

25 January 2024

One month after the assumption in Argentina of the new ultra-right-wing president Javier Milei, Buenos Aires-based indie label Fichines Ruido Zafarla released a compilation called Este Sinte Mata Fascistas / This Synth Kills Fascists featuring 18 Argentinian synth-punk bands. The idea was to bring together projects with a punk attitude and the digital sound of synthesizers and electronic drums.

The album’s title is, I’m pretty sure, a nod to legendary folk icon Woody Guthrie
(July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) who had a sticker on his guitar saying ‘This Machine
Kills Fascists’.

The compilation is a fierce whirlwind of barbed wire punk protest against Argentina‘s
new dictatorial leader who got in power only last December. Trust me, you don’t need
to understand Spanish to feel/hear here the blistering rage, the scorching frustration
and the very loud and very clear screams for libertad/freedom.

Punk started as an anti-establishment movement with politically outspoken spirit.
It still is and always be, of which this 18-track compilation is a vivacious and fiercely combative example.

Este Sinte Mata Fascistas


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Fichines Ruido Zafarla: Facebook – Instagram

OOGAN Take You On A Pitch Black Electronic ‘2024 Space Odyssey’ With Their New Record

Posted on by JL

18 January 2024

Artist: OOGAN
Who: Musical project hailing from the village of Akākaz, which was burned
and destroyed by The Kalkazar Tribes, who in turn sacrificed villagers at the
stake. The survivors fled and a curse was put upon the land.

Album: HELIOS MAHINA OOGAN

“It combines an audio visual experience with minimal techno rituals.”


Striking album artwork

TUTV: Imagine Californian electro avant-garde-noise wizards Xiu Xiu
wrote an updated soundtrack for Stanley Kubrick‘s 1968 classic SF movie
2001: A Space Odyssey. Well, at least that’s what my impressed ears
tell me.

It feels and resonates as if Oogan recorded this bewildering, wriggling synth paranoia
in Dante Alighieri‘s inferno studio. Enigmatic, spooky but also chillingly entertaining.

Put your headphones on at midnight, get out, watch the doomed stars in the pitch-black sky and play Helios Mahina Oogan. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and we feel fine.

STREAM/BUY


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OOGAN: Instagram – Bandcamp