Band: DRY CLEANING Who: Much lauded indie outfit from London, fronted by
spoken-word frontwoman Florence Shaw, who made their
breakthrough with their 2nd LP Stumpwork from 2022.
NME says: “From six-minute jams to new adventures in
freak-folk, the London band carve deeper into their niche
on album three.”
TUTV says: I have mixed emotions about this one. At times DC come close
getting your hips activated and make a move, but as many previously tunes,
here are too many sleep-inducing musings. So, play it before you go to bed,
spoken-word dreams will pop up in yourt mind.
– KEY TRACKS –
Hit My Head All Day
Cruise Ship Designer
Blood
Rocks
Band: THE CRIBS Who: Beloved indie bros – one pair of twins and a young brother – from Wakefield, England, making riff-charged racket since 2001. Once upon a time Johnny Marr was
a member for a while.
New album: SELLING A VIBE
1st in 5 years, their 9th overall.
The Guardian (English newspaper) says: “What is striking is how uniformly
well-written and powerful the songs are. Time and again, they hit a perfect balance.
Nothing here feels slick or overworked, but the melodies soar, the choruses hit,
everything clicks faultlessly.”
TUTV says: I’m not as enthousiatic as The Guardian. Many tracks are guitar pop by numbers, as so many bands of the genre produce. Okay tunes, but nothing more.
Then again they caught my ears’ attention with 3 standout gems: Never The Same,
Looking For The Wrong Guy and You’ll Tell Me Anything. Three tracks that stick and
make you reach for the repeat button.
– KEY TRACKS –
Never The Same,
Looking For The Wrong Guy You’ll Tell Me Anything.
Stereogum says: “Songs that infuse many hooks with jittery/jangly energy
a la the dB’s or Undertones, the exploratory whimsy of Elephant 6, and the
requisite GBV-esque anthems and dirges.”
Glass: “13 scrap-rock sketches straight from the heart to the gut.
Maybe we can keep rock’n’roll alive for one more day? Who knows.”
TUTV says: A blend of early R.E.M. electricity, garage Ty Segall rock
and Replacements buzz. Get the picture? I’m sure you do.
– KEY TRACKS –
Dust On Your Halo
Freight Train Woman
All About You
It’s A Drag
Unquestionable standout from the Irish indie
stars’ much applauded 4th LP Romance.
TUTV: Intense jam, rollin’ on with a bone-chilling flow and
frontman Grian Chatten raps all over it with his characteristic
uptight parlando and grasping for his breath every time the
refrain comes on.
Part of 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.
One of those not-everyday puissant killer tracks overwhelms your emotions
from the first spin.
Piece from their forthcoming second longplayer, baptized Never Exhale. It’ll hit the streets on 25 January 2025.
TUTV: Taximan does your head in the way we, brainbangers, like it.
Bam Bang Boom. No mercy for the wicked. Manic mayhem as usual.
You’d better check out if Robert ‘Travis’ De Niro is behind the wheel
before taking a cab.
The song is about rediscovering old lovers after a night out from disco(theque) to disco(theque), with references to The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan and his excessive
drinking, and a legendary Belgian crooner.
TUTV: Full steam ahead from the get-go. All engines on. Decibels up, amps up.
The breakneck speed and the relentless synth/percussion riff make your head
spin 360°. I dare you to catch up with this missile all the way.
Band: LAMBRINI GIRLS Who: A two-motor punk bulldozer from Brighton, UK who have built
a notorious reputation over the past 2 years, on record and on stage.
Cut from the duo’s upcoming debut LP Who Let The Dogs Out. Out next year, on
January 10.
TUTV: Without a shadow of a loud doubt, one of the grrrlz’s best stormers so far.
An amazeballs wall-of-nasty-guitar/bass hullabaloo, a ruthless octopus drummer
and Phoebe‘s best vocals. Hell-tastic.
‘True love is nothing more than the wrong hill to die on”.
TUTV: The jaw-dropping vitality these volcanic Irish beatniks develop here is off the charts. They build a near-unbearable tension and explode insanely, time after time, along the rough ride. Vocalist/songwriter Karla Chubb knows terrifically well how to double your adrenalin production.
TUTV: Dog Dribble operates somewhere between Yard Act and Sleaford Mods.
Its limbs-activating groove is simply irresistible. Get up, stand up, and fight
for your right to bounce up and down like mad.
Band: FAT DOG Who:South London-based gang that made thousands
and ‘true love is nothing more than the wrong hill to die on”.
thousands of ears go bonkers with their first-rate debut
longplayer Woof.
TUTV: A ballistic disco-punk whopper to end and start all (il)legal
raves with. When the huge orchestral injections blast out of your
vibrating speakers you know that these misfits are your new
favorite dogs. Hallelujah!
One of the stellar singles from their
new, third, album Insight.
TUTV: Drums and bass team up for an incessantly beat that carries
this instantaneously infectiuos trip, along with a magnetizing Cure-esque guitar riff that gets you in a trance.
Truly hypnotizing from start to finish with velvety vocals
and darkwavish synths in the back adding a twilight tone.
TUTV: No, this is not a New Order song but it could easily be one, actually a stellar one. Summer Breeze sparkles from the very start to finish with scintillating guitar riffs, zealous percussion, shiny synths and Gibbard‘s eager vocals. It’s a pure pop pearl for all seasons.
Artists: ARROWS OF ATHENA (Boston, MA) Who: A pandemic project that found its two main players – multi-instrumentalist and producer Scott Lerner and vocalist and lyricist Jac-Lyn Gibson – reuniting after the latter spent some time away from music, Arrows of Athena are crafting a distinct sound on
their own terms, bridging usually disparate ends of the pop and rock spectrum for an illuminated sound of big dance beats, heavy riffs, and melodic intensity.
On this song the duo explores the mental and emotional work required
for a successful marriage, and how we’re often careless with love.
TUTV: I’m quite sure that Arrows Of Athena are huge fans of former Swedish glam and glitter pop duo Roxette. The bliss and blitz at play on Reckless Heart is sonically similar. Sizzling guitars, battering drums/bass grooves, sensuous vocals and a peppy chorus combine here for a power pop pearl that flames lustrously. Orchestral melodiousness, fiery 90s spirit, and musical. An invigorating joyride.
TUTV: This is a psychedelic shoegaze stunner, a multi-layered symphony
propelled by about a thousand guitars, a mindboggling bass riff, and combative
drums, while Rebecca Dow‘s ghostly vocals come from another galaxy.
TUTV: What’s in store for humankind. Nuclear war or peace and free love?
Or will we be just another brick in the wall? Whatever happens, never stop
pirouetting yourself dizzy to Leg Puppy.
We don’t need your education
We don’t need no your thought control
TUTV: The most energetic, exciting, pizzazy band around. Cooking on record and on stage. Sultry garage rock for party animals. This is my absolute favorite of this years Boomerang LP. Chipper tune.
TUTV: Think Cypress Hill fronted by Zack de la Rocha, rattling like
a rapid-fire riot-gun. An avid anthem that celebrates freedom and
invites you to shout along while pumping your fists in the air.
TUTV:Hallelujah rages against the anti-LGBTQ
haters with knives between their teeth and an
unstoppable drive.
“To express oneself, now expressly forbidden/ That’s a spiritual hell, that’s
a new prohibition/ And they’ll boil you down to reproductive function/ When
they see you as a vessel and not as a person!”
Track: Anna Save A Life
. TUTV: A manic motherrocker from a duo who sound as a 4-motor hit-and-run team. Riff-o-rama all the way while bashing drums do your head in. Garage punk ‘n’ roll at its filthy best. Call your own Anna and challenge the anti-decibels police.
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: SOFT SKIES INC Who: Philadelphia-based identical-twin duo and longtime musical confidants Ryan and Martin Rex, their shared sonic compass draws a straight line from the
classic alternative of their youth to the modern alternative and dream-pop of
today.
A song of hope, riding those tender waves of nostalgia, understanding that a loss of innocence comes with age but that we emerge from the other side with newfound perspective and awareness.
Melodic guitar pop at its Sebadoh best. Uptempo shoe-slacker-gaze
spiced with scintalling synths and ethereal vocals. Start dreaming in
overdrive.
TUTV: Just Like Everybody Else is a glorious, full-orchestrated pop gem, that transfers you in an eye/ear blink to a sonic dreamland with its affecting melodiousness, riveting chorus and warm-hearted vocals. Three highly-entertaining minutes and twenty seconds with Spielmann
Band: ILA Who: Vigorous Belgian rock quartet led by formidable singer-songwriter/guitarist,
with Turkish roots, Ilayda Cicek who’s blessed with a unique voice and shares
unadulterated emotions, sonically and lyrically.
TUTV: The imperishable cliché is totally accurate here. No fillers, all killers. Heartfelt ardency in motion. 12 heart-and-soul stirring pieces of poignant music that put you in
a feverish trance. Cicek‘s devout voice is the seductive heroine in the middle, surrounded
by a rock-solid band that got better and better over the past couple of years. You can hear/feel her genuine vocal/lyrical passion throughout this highly emotionally striking record.
Prominent artist, high-quality songwriting,
astonishing debut, very bright future.
SINGLE
ALBUM
. Instagram – Apple Music
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Band: FAT DOG Who: Five London disco-punk cowboys
who found each other during the awful
2020 lockdown year.
NME said: “Unserious, unhinged and sensational London’s must-see
live band justify the hype with a reckless and raucous debut album
pumped full of adrenaline.”
TUTV: Expect a punk disco drone machine with a, yes, Eastern music-inspired sultriness
on the orgasmic choruses. This turbulent ride will create maddening moshpits around
our messed-up planet with people who desperately want to escape their straight jackets and the exhausting rat race as we know it, at least on the weekends.
They build up their songs, then zigzag their way to a mind-blowing refrain, smack them
down afterward, and start all over again. This barking gang is chaotically awesome,
on record and on a podium.
SINGLE
ALBUM
. Instagram – Apple Music
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Pitchfork wrote: “Sprints channel rage into communal uplift Letter to Self
is a bracing, frantic record designed for both thrashing mosh pits and solo
meltdowns, best heard with the volume turned up loud.”
TUTV:‘Letter To Self’ landed on the first official album release day of 2024
and is still spinning regularly, out loud, on my headphones. These Irish
indies burst with astounding vehemence and sharp-teethed gusto. Their
high-voltage riff-rippers trash and slash along their build-up/break-down
course.
Schizo guitars, unrestrained bass/drum forcefulness, and Karla Chubb‘s
borderline vocality combine for exorcistic flare-ups. Sprints hit the scene
with a big bang on record and on stage. They’re here to stay. Fact!
Pitchfork said: “The Iceage frontman experiments with a newfound sincerity and
an Americana-inspired sound, searching for beauty in the small and insular.”
TUTV: We already knew from his work with Iceage that Elias Rønnenfelt is a genuine
singer-songwriter-performer and he confirms that status on his debut with engrossing
pop songs, slow and fast, intimate and upbeat.
He’s a romantic at heart and wraps his personal daily-life impressions, desires, demons, going-ons and anything that impacts his existence in through-and-through heart-melting stories and melodramatic melodies.
Artist: KIM DEAL Who: For those who lived on another planet the past years, Kim is 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) said: “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: In the past Deal wrote/shared some of her self-made songs without any real attention from the outside. Now, finally she expresses her mixed emotions about past
and present personal experiences on a full debut LP with several meditative, moony,
and subtly orchestrated reveries. All charming songs for a quiet winter night inside.
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. Forget those past bands, Kim, come back solo. Nobody loves you more than TUTV.
TUTV: No pop tunes, no songs about the bees and the trees. This album is stuffed with manicial mind-fuckers and badass brain-breakers that trash and slash your poor stereo relentlessly and mercilessly. The maddening man in the middle, mental vocalist Jasper, screams and howls, and spits and sneers, with bone-chilling and psychotic horsepower.
Think Kurt Cobain with 4 lungs, fronting a hellish hardcore gang featuring 3 other ruthless punks on an ear-splitting mission. No brakes, no breaks. No rest for the wicked. Ronker is
a barbaric force, their singer is an out-of-this-normal-world performer, their debut is a flabbergasting monster. AARRGGHH!
Band: BAD RITUAL Who: Polish trio formed at the beginning of 2020 by three architects.
They play songs immersed in a dark and unsettling atmosphere. Their
music is a blend of indie-folk, swampy blues, and rock ‘n’ roll. It often
evokes associations with David Lynch‘s films, spaghetti westerns, and
film noir.
TUTV: As mentioned in their bio this trio’s music has a shadowy cinematic film noir resonance. They offer songs for the midnight hours, songs for nightclubs where misfits, loners, marginalized characters and dropouts seek some human warmth and a free drink. The tone is melancholic, the timbre is heavyhearted. Think glam legend Chris Isaak, famous crooners The National, and moody Bad Seeds moments. Splendid debut.
TUTV:Virgins take you on a flight at supersonic speed way up into the sky above the clouds, where reality becomes surreality, where layers of seventh heaven shoegaze symphonies blast from the space shuttle’s speakers. For 40 phantasy-stimulating minutes, you’ll forget all about what happens down there, on our dramatically disturbed planet.
Layers of glowing guitars, hallucinatory vocals, and an overall lyrical sonority will trigger your fantasies and will make you feel floating high(er) forgetting all about our daily, mind-boggling rat race.
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.
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.
WHO: Seasoned American songwriters Brad Armstrong and Megan Barbera.
Their music blurs between Sunday afternoon country folk and the golden age
of the 1970s. Combining influences from Megan’s mountain roots and Brad’s
southern roots, The Glass Hours is currently based in New York’s Hudson Valley.
TUTV: This is the kind of music I love to play at the end of a busy day and after
listening to (too much) noisy stuff. The soothing mix of melancholic country, musing
folk, sepia-colored blues, some bluegrass, roots, and pop/rock influences can work magically to slow down your stressed mind, as it happens here.
The heroes of the sensitive songs here are the duo’s wholehearted voices, solo or harmonizing together. Armstrong and Barbera are both blessed with a characteristically warm, tender and yearning Americana voice.
References? Young and old(er) artists such as Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, Lana Del Rey, Willie Nelson, Crystal Gayle, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. Impressive, right? Definitely.
Add romanticized stories about all things good and sad, bright and
dark in life, and you have a sonic companion for relaxing moments.
The flabbergasting energy these ear-splitting loud Irish beatniks develop on their ace debut LP Letter To Self is off the charts. The opener Ticking is what these 4 Irish indies
do on repeat. Building a near-unbearable tension and exploding insanely along the rough ride.
Since this Australian punk tornado released their 2nd
longplayer Comfort To Me back in 2021 they’re on an
endless tour around the globe.
Yet, in between all gig mayhem they found some time to write/record/release
two new searing sucker-punches with U Should Be Doing This as my favourite.
Amyl: ‘This song makes me laugh, but it’s also in a way poking fun at the shock that
people still feel at a little bit of skimpy clothing, and the bitchy high school way that
the music community still is.’
Washington‘s flamboyant guitar pop quartet release
their 3rd LP, baptized Wearing Out The Refrain next
September.
On Hallelujah they rage against the anti-LGBTQ
machine with knives between their teeth and an
unstoppable drive.
“To express oneself, now expressly forbidden/ That’s a spiritual hell, that’s
a new prohibition/ And they’ll boil you down to reproductive function/ When
they see you as a vessel and not as a person!”
The feminist-punk duo went nuclear the past year following their
amazeballs 6-track EP You’re Welcome and this year’s bulldozing
and gender-themed missile Body Of Mine.
Irish indie stars FONTAINES D.C. will share their 4th LP,
named ROMANCE with the world on August 23rd.
The lead single Starburster is a feverish corker
with a bone-chilling gush and frontman Grian
Chatten rapping all over it with his characteristic
uptight parlando.
Last March the Dandys came up with their 12th album, named Rockmaker.
Lead single Danzing With Myself features Pixies‘ general Frank Black and
is a gloomy and doomy groover. With its poignant progression, this piece
creeps under your skin in an eye/ear blink.
UK’s rock/hip-hop team Rapturous invite us to scream
our lungs out on their avid anthem that celebrates freedom.
“The song was inspired by the old blues style of call & response, we wanted to create something that could be easily sung back to us by the crowd. The song is about being free from anything that is getting you down, be it your job, finances, the world, or the weekend’s football scores. Freedom from misery, that’s the idea.”
Think Cypress Hill fronted by Zack de la Rocha,
rattling like a rapid-fire riot-gun.
This Norwegian band specializes in a dark and distinctive blend
of post-punk, shoegaze and psych-noir. So far they released two
albums.
On this new, superb single drums and bass team up for an
incessantly beat that carries this instantaneously sticking ride,
along with a magnetizing Cure-esque guitar riff that gets you in
a trance.
Truly hypnotizing from start to finish with velvety vocals
and darkwavish synths in the back adding a twilight tone.
This hepped-up EBM duo conjure their influences of EBM, techno and electropop,
their sound is an intoxicating mix of analog synthetics and seductive vocals, touching
on themes of desire and despair, domination and submission.
They have a new 3-track EP, titled Inservio out, with opener Lights Down Low
as my favorite. An electro booster with a mindblowing techno beat à la The Prodigy
that rotates irresistibly, non-stop.
Lead single Softer is a psychedelic shoegaze stunner, a multi-layered symphony
propelled by about a thousand guitars, a mindboggling bass riff, and combative
drums, while Rebecca Dow‘s ghostly vocals scrape the sky. A titanic thrill.
19. ‘I Don’t Understand What Any Of You Are Doing’ by DEAD ANYWAY (UK)
This British duo combine the dark lyricism of Kate Arnold
against the music and soundscapes of Marc Symonds.
They caught my attention with last February‘s top album Partially Eaten By Animals.
Highlight ‘I Don’t Understand What Any Of You Are Doing’ dives into trip-hop-pop territory with Arnold‘s crystal clear voice floating all over shiny synth dynamics. Catchy as hell.
20. ‘Welcome Tou Your New Future’ by LEG PUPPY 2.0 (London, UK)
This madcap techno act scored their best (so far)
album with Humanity 2.0 which came out last May.
You can shake your (p)elvis to single Welcome To Your New
Future while getting nervous about the unknown tomorrow.
What’s in store for humankind. Nuclear war or peace and free love?
Or will we be just another brick in the wall? Whatever happens,
never stop pirouetting yourself dizzy to manic music .
We don’t need your education
We don’t need no your thought control
Just Like Everybody Else is a glorious, full-orchestrated pop gem, that transfers you in an eye/ear blink to a sonic dreamland with its affecting melodiousness, riveting chorus and warm-hearted vocals. Three highly-entertaining minutes and twenty seconds with Spielmann
New star tandem Gallagher-Squire produced/released their debut LP last March.
The lead-single Just Another Rainbow is partly Oasis, partly Stone Roses. Liam sings like Liam (who else?) and Squire does his psychedelic 6-string Stone Roses thing.
Stress Dolls is the musical moniker of songstress Chelsea O’Donnell.
Last May she released her enchanting debut album Queen Of No.
Close Enough is one of my favorite tracks. A captivating pop song.
Tantalizing tunefulness, glistening guitar sparks, and gratifying vocals
combine for a top tune.
Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds have canned album number 18.
It’s baptized Wild God and will show up on August 30.
The title track is a sublime composition. The first part is crooner Cave as we know him,
but quickly the vocal passion and goosebumps intensity go up and from halfway on, this diamond turns into an orchestral masterpiece, with a zealous hallelujah choir and an opera-like majesty.
FAT DOG is a South London-based gang that will shake up 2024 big time.
With (only) their 2nd single out now, following fucktastic debut whopper Kings Of The Slugs, it’s a loud and clear fact that these party animals
will rise faster than a comet in the near future.
New piece ALL THE SAME is a 24-Carat disco-punk jackhammer to end and start all
(il)legal raves with. It’s a head-spinning electro-rock shocker that doubles your adrenalin flow and has an instant impact on your ears and your limbs. And when the huge orchestral injections blast out of your vibrating speakers you know that these misfits are your new favorite dogs. Hallelujah!
ALL THE SAME
Keep on going bonkers.
Here’s their debut slam KING OF THE SLUGS
