Artist: MAVIS STAPLES Who: Legendary soul/blues/rock voice who, along with family, had a long and
greatly accomplished career under the name ofThe Staple Singers (1948-1994).
She’s 86 now, singing and swinging like a 36-year-old.
Band: CHARM SCHOOL Who: The latest project from singer-songwriter Andrew Sellers
who, originally from Louisville, has paid his dues in both the
NYC and LA DIY music scenes.
Brooklyn‘s lauded folk pop/rock band BIG THIEF launched
their 6th full length, titled Double Infinity last September.
The new LP was recorded by a sprawling collective, with multiple musicians joining
them in the studio. Those musicians all joined the group on The Tonight Show With
Jimmy Fallon last Monday. That line-up includes the 82-year-old ambient pioneer Laajari, who plays and sings backup on much of the album.
They played GRANDMOTHER, one of the album’s highlights.
Never saw vocalist Adrienne Lenker perform
with black sunglasses on. Pretty cool!
Sprints about the LP: “While the world is literally burning down around us there are voices that seem hell bent on pointing the finger at anyone but those actually responsible. There’s no need to dream-up dystopia, we’re living in it. And somehow, while the world has never seemed uglier, our life has never been more beautiful.”
TUTV: Their riff-ripping quiet/loud/quiet formula works again, big time. The decisive factor for making this my fav album of the month is the cooking/boiling/bloodcurdling ebullience of the 5 last tracks. They hit you, piece by piece, hard in the face. Karla Chubb‘s hepped-up vocals rule again. Here and there her unbridled explosiveness brings young Courtney Love‘s borderline cry outs to mind. Helter-skelter.
Dury about the album: “It’s kind of a character arc that goes through the whole thing,
two personalities. It’s very critical of people, this album, whoever they are, maybe some
bloke with a moustache and sockless loafers in Shoreditch or a fat old Chiswick gangster lording it up in a really comfortable middle class part of London”
“It doesn’t sound like a Harrods hamper band made it. It doesn’t sound like a band made
it all. Which is what I wanted most of all. It’s just something that’s brand new for me. It’s
quite exciting, really.”
Photo by Turn Up The Volume – Lokerse Feesten, Belgium
TUTV: Dury does it again. Allabarone is another invitation to get up, stand up and sway your pelvis to sultry beats. Buzzing bass grooves and hip-shaking vibes have you going non-stop while he tells/whispers/sings his weird stories about weird characters. As usual, female harmonies add a sensual touch. An album to consume regularly to keep your lazy limbs vivifying. Boom boom boom!
KEY TRACKS: Allbarone / Alpha Dog / The Other Me / Mockingjay
TheOGM in an interview with New Noise Maagzine: “We want to be able to grow and express our musical range and artistry, so it’s an evolved sound and a process of trying new things and not compromising. There’s so much going on in the world right now and it’s very overwhelming.
You have to sit back and realign yourself, focus, and push through. That’s on a personal level and family level. If you’re going on that political route and that’s what you’re about, you gotta go that route, but everybody has a different route.”
TUTV: You can relax for 2.22 minutes during the opening lines of I Miss Home.
From there on, non-stop louder than war pyrotechnics dominate the record.
Imagine Rage Against The Machine have a motherfucking rap-scream contest with Body Count while the crushing crossover decibels, trash, and crash the roof.
That’s how Ho99o9 deal with our daily, suffocating, rat race. Chop, chop, chop.
Attack, attack, attack. Hit, hit, hit. Don’t escape yet, guys, let’s party hard first.
KEY TRACKS: Target Practice / Incline / Immortal / LA Riots / Godflesh
Press info: “Still in their twenties, the five childhood friends have grown exponentially, with ambitious sonic ideas and the technical chops to execute them. Having proved themselves several times over with legendary live shows and three critically acclaimed albums under their belts, Shame went into Cutthroat ready to create a new Ground Zero.”
TUTV: Without a shadow of a doubt their 2nd best following their terrific debut.
Pumped-up vocalist Charlie Steen spits and sneers again with vitriolic self-assurance, injecting the razor-edged tunes with extra firepower. London’s wackadoos smite again unashamedly with hurry-scurry tempestuousness. Abso-bloody-lutely. Get your pogo
stick out of the closet, you’ll need it.
KEY TRACKS: Cutthroat / Cowards Around / Nothing Better / Spartak / Axis Of Evil
Anderson said to Dazed: “It’s a kind of memento mori, a reminder of death.
It’s not an original thought, but let’s just say that we’re going to die, and that’s that,
but try and make the most of our time on time on Earth. There’s a bleakness to that,
but it’s actually also about embracing life – carpe diem. There’s beauty in transience.”
TUTV: On their past 3 longplayers, hefty guitars create a wall of elevating electricity
with an epic sonority. It results in more rock swagger than pop sensibility, even when
they slow down (Somewhere Between An Atom And A Star and June Rain) guitars have an overpowering impact. Only Brett Anderson melodramatic vocals can compete with them. His hypersensitive vocality is always present upfront and an instrumental factor for Suede‘s work.
The singles (Dancing With Europeans / Trance State and Disintegrate) and the title track stand out. Their anthemic puissance hits your ears with huge fervidness. At times the band try to hard to maintain the vital potency all the way through.
Mind you, most of the songs have an adrenalizing quality. Many other bands would sell their soul to have the necessary craftsmanship to write tunes like Anderson & Co still do today. Great trash.
KEY TRACKS: Dancing With Europeans / Trance State / Disintegrate /
Antidepressants / Life Is Endless, Life Is A Moment
Band: THE IRRATIONAL LIBRARY Who:The Irrational Library is a Dutch-American rock band with its roots
firmly planted in both the regional and international counterculture. The Dutch-American band produces a raw, dirty groove influenced by punk,
provo and punk icons. Their poetry is packed with social criticism.
Press info: Carrying forward their unmistakable blend of groove, grit, and spoken-word swagger, The Irrational Library once again proves they’re tuned into the heartbeat of the here and now. Their music connects yesterday, today, and tomorrow into a sound both urgent and timeless.
TUTV: The IL are back in full kick-ass form, tackling hypocrites of all sorts, who mess up society for their personal benefit. Trenchant lyricist and eloquent word-waterfall Joshua Baumgarten is the heart-and-soul in the middle, whether he screams his lungs out or just tells us what is on his worried mind.
But without the fabulous trio that back him up with their characteristic jazzy-saxy,
bluesy-punk-rock sound, it would be half fun to listen to this record. Band and frontman
are a streamlined team holding your attention with groovy and funky ease, lyrically as
well as sonically.
KEY TRACKS: Notes From The Playground / Gun To Your Head /
Truth Serum / Evidence Of Proof / Today
Press info: “Vibrantly oscillating around a carefully curated palette of electronic and analogue sounds, the eight new tracks reflect the group’s continuous strive to explore sonic spaces through subtle yet gripping songwriting.”
They breathe an overall airy and intimate atmosphere, yet resonate with the structural heft of time and structured, they echo their origins from different seasons, cities, and spaces—neatly stitched together with unparalleled craftsmanship. They breathe an
overall airy and intimate atmosphere, yet resonate with the structural heft of time.”
TUTV: History Of Silence‘s strength lies in its mind-relaxing flow. It feels like an ear massage. Sweet, slo-mo synth/piano symphonies, enlivened now and then with crystalline guitar sparks transfer you to a de-stressing place, far away from the noisy reality, while heartfelt duet vocals complete the tranquil sonority. Headphone music for cold nights.
KEY TRACKS: Miss You Dance / Kill The Light / A Dry Heart Needs No Winding
Stereogum says: The songs have an essential simplicity that makes it still feel accurate
to call Big Thief a folk band. A lot of that accessibility and simplicity is thanks to Lenker’s lyrics. They’re open-hearted and lovely, more so than ever, and their realness and plainness keeps them from being saccharine.
These songs are about the inexorability of passing time, the uselessness of language, and
how love and music can fill the gaps between these things we try to hold on to but never
can.”
Press Photo by Genesis Báez
TUTV: Big Thief seduce and charm once again with playful tunes. Sensitive ones, sad ones
and other related emotive ones, but always ear-pleasing ones. They don’t rock, nor do they really pop, it’s the band’s folk roots that catalyze a laid-back campfire feel. More acoustic than electrical resonance.
No unnecessary bells and whistles, no fake glamour, no studio tricks for BT. They’re
about authenticity and honesty, and Adrienne Lenker‘s voice was made for these serene and thoughtful moments. A great companion for a night in.
KEY TRACKS: Incromprehensible / Los Angeles / All Night All Day / Grandmother
Mojo Magazine‘s verdict: “Birthed via a Black Country communion which saw Robert Plant and his new, largely unknown bandmates enjoy a lengthy courtship off-radar, Saving Grace feels guileless, almost serendipitous. What might happen, Plant mused, if he shipped what he’d learned from T Bone Burnett, Alison Krauss et al home and duetted on choice blues, alt-country and folk covers with Brum-born former music teacher, Suzi Dian? Across 10 intimate songs deftly ornamented by guitarists Matt Worley and Tony Kelsey and cellist Barney Morse-Brown, magic happens.”
TUTV: Mesmerizing roots music with alluring duet/alternating vocals. Plant and Dian are blessed with magnicicent voices perfectly fitting this timeless genre of traditional music.
KEY TRACKS: It’s A Beautiful Day Today / Ticket Taker / I Never Will Marry / Higher Rock
Artist: LEXYTRON Who: “Half Greek, half Persian and half English” – as this musician described herself
age 5 – the Manchester-born Lexy found her identity in music early on as a pianist and violinist.”
She’s now based in Auckland, New-Zealand.
Press info: “Following Lexytron’s genre-bending debut album ‘Something Blue’, lead singer Lexy slips into something more electronic on ‘Something New’, pairing an alternative pop rock style with sardonic wit, big choruses, and a painful honesty that has now become her trademark. The album was self-produced in Auckland and mixed and mastered by London producer Marco Meloni.”
TUTV: Dream pop, power pop, jaunty pop, guitar pop, musing pop, Lexytron let it all flow into each other, resulting in an entertaining, colorful and feelgood album that puts a big smile on your face. Her vivid vocals lift up the inherent strength of the frisky tunes.
It feels like if the young, happy mother is settled don a carefree cloud. She radiates
joviality and joi de vivre on Something New and it’s fully contagious for the listener.
KEY TRACKS: Elevator / Disco Jenny / Your Love / Another Lover / Laughing From Above
Stereogum says: The songs have an essential simplicity that makes it still feel accurate
to call Big Thief a folk band. A lot of that accessibility and simplicity is thanks to Lenker’s lyrics. They’re open-hearted and lovely, more so than ever, and their realness and plainness keeps them from being saccharine.
These songs are about the inexorability of passing time, the uselessness of language, and
how love and music can fill the gaps between these things we try to hold on to but never
can.”
Press Photo by Genesis Báez
TUTV: Big Thief seduce and charm once again with relaxing tunes. Sensitive ones, sad ones
and other related emotive ones, but always ear-pleasing ones. They don’t rock, nor do they really pop, it’s the band’s folk background that gives all soothings songs here, a laid-back campfire feel. More acoustic than electrical resonance.
No unnecessary bells and whistles, no fake glamour, no studio tricks for BT. They’re about authentic reveries and musings, and Adrienne Lenker‘s voice was made for these serene and reflective moments. A great companion for a night in.
The wait is finally over for the millions (including me) of BIG THIEF fans, although,
let’s not forget we got frontwoman Adrienne Lenker‘s wondrous solo full-length Bright Future last year.
Three years since Brooklyn’s folk-pop-rockers released their enthralling
20-song strong LP, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, they
have recorded a new one, their 6th.
TUTV: Jangly indie Britrock at its arousing best. No way to not go
bonkers when this rip-roaring The Strokes-like anthem infiltrates
your ears. Trust me, one spin and you’re hooked. You know
where to find the repeat button.
Band: SOULWAX, Who: Belgian brothers David and Stephen Dewaele‘ working together
for 30 years now, with diverse projects. They DJed the world around
as 2manydjs, had their own Radio Soulwax, and produced/remixed
countless other artists.
Track: RUN FREE
One of two new shared pieces from their 6th LP,
titled All Systems Are Lying and on your stereo
on October 17th.
Album artwork
“We wanted to capture the feeling of a band playing electronic instruments,
live, loud and loose. This record is the result of that experiment. It’s a rock
album made without any electric guitars.”
TUTV: Anderson stars, once again, in the middle with an overwhelming vocal performance, peaking on the epic chorus, and he’s backed by a full of vim and vigour drums/bass tandem and glimmering guitars.
Oberst: “It’s an homage to ska in all its waves. From Desmond Dekker
to Tim Armstrong, we’re just happy to add our track to the bin. The video
is inspired by NYC 90s hip hop, which like ska, has a long tradition of unifying
people & using celebratory music to convey subversive political themes. To be
played loud. Windows down. Summertime.”
TUTV: Sounds and feels like you are
ska-ing on a shaky merry-go-round.
Big fun. Big tune.
Isbell has reissued his 10-year-old album Something More Than Free
digitally. It will be available on physical media on October 3. It includes
this previously unreleased track, a B-side for one of the LP’s singles.
TUTV: Fortunately, this psychedelic, slide-guitar ripper didn’t go missing.
It resonates like a swamp blues burner spiced with good old organ play
and Isbell‘s firm voice. Totally cool.
Band: MELT MOTIF Who: An experimental band based in Bergen, Norway, and São Paulo, Brazil.
Known for their unique fusion of genres, they blend elements of metal, dark
electronic, darkwave, industrial, and more.
So far, they have released two albums and their respective remixes.
A new full-length is waiting in the pipeline to be released in September.
TUTV: It’s a nasty industrial brainfucker motorized by fierce percussion
and ominous vocals. Its haunting and bloodcurdling progression has an
instant impact on your psyche. This is sick shit. I love it.
Band: NRVS Who: Mysterious trio with an inimitable take on
humanity’s downward spiral into a dysfunctional
entropic existence. They unleashed their punk-groovy
debut EP Like You last year.
“Just another dumb song about love found & lost within
the wreckage! It happens… what are you gonna do?”
TUTV: This arresting, melancholic song sticks after just one spin. Its bluesy guitar
radiance, its bass-beat-heavy cadence and despondent vocals get under your skin.
Its melodic catchiness has irresistible written all over it. In a normal world this should
be a bloody big hit.
TUTV: Full steam ahead from the get-go, motorized by bedazzling guitars,
a relentless drum beat, and peppy vocals culminating in a pungent chorus. Lobsterbomb‘s appetite for blistering pop punk is insatiable. Don’t stop.
Band: IDLEWILD Who: Veteran Scottish
indie pop team.
Track: IT’S NOT THE FIRST TIME
Newest single from their upcoming 10th, self-titled
album, their first one in 6 years. It’ll hit the streets
on 3 October.
TUTV: Vintage Idlewild. Nostalgia and romanticism
wrapped in a sticky guitar pop melody. Welcome back.
TUTV: Your World is a glammy, full-riff-blooded, rollicking burner.
All amps up, all decibels up, while afire guitars have an ongoing
sonic fight with a badass bass and a chorus that goes airborne
every time it pops up, powered by frisky vocals.
Band: EDITRIX Who: Disorderly noise trio from Easthampton, Massachusetts.
Track: FLESH DEBT
New piece from their upcoming 3rd LP,
titled The Big E. It’ll show up on July 25.
TUTV: Bass and guitar have a metallic riff contest while vocalist Wendy Eisenberg
tells us a story. A knock-down-and-drag-out finale will blow you off your socks.
Schizophrenic electricity!
Band: THE IRRATIONAL LIBRARY Who:The Irrational Library is a Dutch-American rock band with its roots
firmly planted in both the regional and international counterculture.
Track: NOTES FROM THE PLAYGROUND Newest single from their
forthcoming, 5th full-length ‘The Saying Of It All‘. More details TBA.
TUTV: Wham bam. Here comes the rumbling blues train once again. Rollin’ and steamin’, always thundering to the pounding heartbeat of its fat groove, while hungry guitars and Joshua Baumgarten‘s stirring vocals inflame this rough ripper with extra fuel.
Band: NEWMOON Who: Popular Belgian
melodic shoegazers.
Track: SAME DISTANCE
Piece that should have been on their excellent 2024 album Temporary Light ,
but it didn’t due to vinyl constraints. It was never intended as a single or B-side.
TUTV: Yes, it would have been an unquestionable highlight on the album. But on or off it, it’s great to have this phantasmagoric pearl right now. A dream-in-motion beauty for the ears, mind, and soul. Made me immediately think of Brian Eno‘s ambient atmospherics. Wonderful. Truly wonderful.
The wait is finally over for the millions (including me) of BIG THIEF fans (although,
let’s not forget we got frontwoman’s Adrienne Lenker‘s wondrous solo full length Bright Future last year).
After three years since the Brooklyn‘s folk-pop-rockers released their enthralling
20-song strong LP, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, they have
recorded a new one, their 6th.
It’s titled Double Infinity and comes out on September 5. The news
came in last month and was accompanied by the heartrending lead
single Incomprehensible .
And here’s beauty number two with the melancholic musing, named ALL NIGHT ALL DAY. Lenker‘s starry-eyed voice stirs once again.
Band:MANTRA OF THE COSMOS Who: British supergroup featuring happy mondays Shaun Ryder and Bez, Andy Bell (Ride/Oasis) and drummer Zak Starkey, Ringo‘s on, who came up with the project’s
idea.
TUTV: A blaring belter of a banger. Disco-punk pzazz. Noel Gallager
is somewhere in there too, they say. I have no clue what he’s doing.
Anyway, this a bonkers tune.
Band: KNEECAP Who: Belfast‘s sharp-mouthed, notorious rap team KNEECAP – Mo Chara,
Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvaí – hip & hop around with a knife between
their teeth since 2017.
They released their debut album 3cag in 2018
and went viral last year with follow-up Fine Art.
Lately, they make headlines with their loud and clear, ongoing support for Palestine.
They got heavily critiqued for it when they played Coachella Festival in Indo, California
last April.
To emphasize the whole political charade the band go after the Tory trade minister Kemi Badenoch who started to hunt them back in 2023 when he withdrew an
arts grant awarded to the band.
The trio brought a discrimination case against the U.K. government
and won, donating the proceeds to Belfast community groups. Yes!
“I wrote this one when I was feeling stuck and stagnant, but when I finally
brought it to the band they really breathed new life into it and made it feel
magic again!!”
TUTV: This sickly sticky steam-riff-roller drives me crazy. Head-twisting stuff.
Band: THE IRRATIONAL LIBRARY Who:The Irrational Library is a Dutch-American rock band with its roots
firmly planted in both the regional and international counterculture. The Dutch-American band produces a raw, dirty groove influenced by punk,
provo and punk icons. Their poetry is packed with social criticism.
Track: TRUTH SERUM
First single from the quartet’s new, upcoming
5th LP ‘The Saying Of It All’. More details TBA.
Artwork by political cartoonistTRIK
TUTV: TIL move and groove again with brio and gusto motorized by a striking
drum/bass tandem, while a 60s psychedelic flute flutters like a butterfly throughout
the song. Frontman Joshua Baumgarten draws your aural attention (as usual) with
his near-rapping phrasing of the clear-cut lyrics.
Artist: GINA BURCH Who: Co-founder/bassist of British punkettes The Raincoats (1977-1984, 1996)
were one of the top indie bands in the UK. They released 3 LPs, then called it a day.
In 2023 she released her critically acclaimed solo debut
LP I Play My Bass. It was released through Jack White’s
Third Man Records.
New album artwork
Track: DOOM MONGER
New single of her 2nd LP, named Trouble,
out on 11 July, again via Third Man Records.
TUTV: We’re in the middle of Armagideon Time as we know it. Doomsday is just around the corner. The good news is that this
dub reggae earworm will activate your hips and uplift your worried
state of mind. If we have to go, why not with a slow-mo sway.
Artist: DAVID BYRNE Who: The former talking
head voice/face.
Track: EVERYBODY LAUGHS
First single from his upcoming 9th solo album (that’s already one more than
with Talking Heads). Who Is The Sly? will see the day of light on September 5th.
TUTV: Imagine a beach bathing in the sun and a cocktail bar serving piña colada
while enjoying this feel-good upper. A luminous light in a dark world. Laugh.
“The song is essentially about people only wanting the sweet stuff in life, and sugar coating anything and everything that may be a difficult subject. We live in a society where social media is treated like the Holy Bible, simultaneously releasing dopamine hits, a highly addictive drug, when posting pictures for ‘instant gratification.”
TUTV: This happens when The Ultra Violets eat too much sugar. They pick up their instruments and go mental, producing mental hullabaloo for mental people, like
you and me. Roaring ripper. Flaming score.
Band: LOVINA FALLS Who: The dark dream-pop project of Boston-based singer-songwriter,
multi-instrumentalist, and producer s Valerie Forgione. In 2023, they
released their debut album, Calculating The Angle Of Our Descent.
Forgione: “‘Light and Low’ is about recognizing that as time goes on, it’s ok to let go of old
and ‘historic thinking’ to create a new path through and out of the Thicket of Now. It’s about knowing that when things change, the path is not predestined. Change the change. Move with conviction but head gracefully into the unknown, light and low.”
Collage art by Lindsey Walker, design by Valerie Forgione
TUTV: Lovina Falls take you on a swift gothwavish ride from the get-go, propelled by a motorik bass riff, nervy drum hits, jittery tremelo riffs and poignant vocals. Fast-forward, without brakes nor breaks, speeding like a runaway train. Light And Low unfolds like a salvo of light flashes out of the dark, causing a rapid eye movement sensation. Intriguing, right? Absolutely. Don’t wait, get started.
Artist:JEHNNY BETH Who: Former France-born frontwoman
of female post-punk band Savages.
Track: OBESSION
Single from her 2nd solo LP called You Heartbreaker You.
It’ll land on August 29th. She wrote the album with partner
and collaborator Johnny Hostile.
Beth: “We’re living in a dark time, full of drama and barbarous tragedy.
It became clear to me that, in these times, we either learn how to scream
really well, or we learn how to whisper.”
TUTV: Be prepared for a savage industrial shocker showing her
amadant intention to make an agressive sound on her new record. Obsession is a splintering bombshell with a raging Beth finale.
TUTV: Blimey. Lobsterbomb return with an adrenalized missile, going fast-forward,
full steam ahead from the kick-off. And they never slow down. No breaks, no brakes.
135 seconds of eruptive emotions and high-voltage dash. Imagine The Stooges fronted
by riot grrrl Kathleen Hanna. Boisterous punk turbulence. Bang-on.
p|m: “We wrote and recorded it ourselves, delivered in our trademark double-team
deadpan vocal style, rhyming “80’s car” with “Californiarr”. This one has Arctic Monkeys
swagger and Mannequin Pussy edge, featuring a one-shot video in an iconic venue’s
bathroom.”
TUTV: Punk-pop spunky, sassy spirit, sharp-mouthed flair, dry humor, word spielerei, and utterly cool. That’s what p|m is about. This new non-stop drum-thumping tune zigzags left and right, forth and back flavored with slap-happy vocals. I’m quite sure that peach|melba will become your new favourite bathroom band.
TUTV: This burning funky-punky soul-burst is revved-up with ardent passion, electrical energy, warm-blooded vocals and sultry sax. Shake your booty and scream your lungs out when the clamoring chorus pops up. Sly Stone would have said there’s a riot going on. And it is. Spread the gospel, people.
Artist: NELSON SOBRAL Who: Singer-songwriter-guitarist hailing from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His music is as much Americana and blues as it is soul and rock’n’roll, perfectly balanced with the energy and sound of each of his respective influences.
TUTV:Sobral‘s cover of Cyndi Lauper‘s supreme 1984 classic Time After Time (more
than 1 billion streams on Spotify) is a soulful and enticing accomplishment. A gripping vocal performance, bringing the emotive timbre of the sublime voices of Springsteen and Seger to mind.
Artist: PAUL WELLER Who: The 67-year-old former The Jam and Style Council
maestro, who started his solo career back in 1990.
Track: I STARTED A JOKE
A cover of the Bee Gees‘ 1967 goosebumps ballad.
It’ll appear on his 18th solo LP, a covers one, named El Dorado, out on July 25th.
TUTV: Weller‘s version is pretty poignant and appealing.
It’s already 3 years since Brooklyn‘s folk-pop-rockers BIG THIEF released their
5th LP, titled Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You. An enthralling
20-track record with Adrienne Lenker‘s angelic voice as the star.
But great news for the fans (including myself). Number 6,
named Double Infinity is ready to be shared with the world
on September 5.
The first single Incomprehensible is a wonderful and soulful musing.
