Turn Up The Volume picks 10 gems of favorite artists/bands
25 August 2022
Who doesn’t like making all sorts of (play)lists?
I do. Best of lists, end-of-the-year lists, golden oldies lists, only family lists, guilty pleasure song lists, summer lists, brand new song lists. Okay, stop, I think I made my point.
The London post-punk-pop band orchestrated by Kele Okereke.
released 6 albums so far (with 2 different line-ups), with this year’s Alpha Games as the most recent one.
London’s indie warriors BLOC PARTY conducted by Kele Okereke came up with their
6th LP – Alpha Games – a couple of weeks ago. It was received by the press with mixed emotions, which I agree with.
But with single TRAPS they unleash their devils as they used to do in their early days.
And they showed they live on the American The Late Show.
Okereke: “Alpha Games was conceived on the road,
playing in front of amazing crowds on our last tour
and then brought to life with the fire and the frustrations
of 2020.”
NME says: ‘Alpha Games’ sees Bloc Party still championing
the ’00s scene that they came up in, but there’s not a hint of
nostalgia in sight. With a renewed vigour and the desire to
keep things moving, this sixth album could soundtrack
a new generation of indie discos.
Turn Up The Volume: Great singles (below) but for the rest,
this new record isn’t good enough and far from Bloc Party‘s
high standard. Too many songs going nowhere, not enough
tunes that stick. Next, please.
Singles: Traps / The Girls Are Fighting / Sex Magik
Okereke: “Alpha Games was conceived on the road,
playing in front of amazing crowds on our last tour
and then brought to life with the fire and the frustrations
of 2020.”
After 28 years Skin and her henchmen still make your blood cook.
This new sizzling stroke calls out all incompetent governments,
specifically UK’s short-sighted Brexit statesmen. It’s a metallic bomb
with a volcanic Skin chorus.
When grunge has a date with metal, when Nirvana hooks up with Korn, an earthquake is in the making. These Belgian bulldozing
rockers know all about it and make it happen with this explosive
detonation. Hell bloody hell yeah!
Two years ago, director Matt Yoka’s documentary Whirlybird
premiered. It shows the adventures of two video journalists,
soaring above the chaotic spectacle of ’80s and ’90s Los Angeles,
including the OJ Simpson chase in 1994.
A re-release accompanied by a new soundtrack will be issued soon.
One of the participators is musical centipede Ty Segall drumming his
tail off on this dynamizing instrumental
Libertine Peter Doherty is clean for 2 years now and has just been married.
The happy man lives in Normandy, France and teamed up with French musician Frédéric Lo. The result is the album The Fantasy Life Of Poetry & Crime,
coming out on 22 March.
Band: BLOC PARTY Who: London post-punk force
from London led by Kele Okereke Active: Since 1999 / 6 studio albums,
with Hymns (2016) as the most recent one
Okereke: “Alpha Games was conceived on the road,
playing in front of amazing crowds on our last tour
and then brought to life with the fire and the frustrations
of 2020.”
(photo by Wunmi Onibudo)
Singles (so far shared): Traps / The Girls Are Fighting
Band: BLOC PARTY Who: London post-punk force
from London led by Kele Okereke Active: Since 1999 / 6 studio albums,
with Hymns (2016) as the most recent one
Band: BLOC PARTY Who: London post-punk force
from London led by Kele Okereke Active: Since 1999 / 6 studio albums,
with Hymns (2016) as the most recent one
Kele: ‘From the moment we wrote ‘Traps,’ we knew it had
to be the first thing people heard from this album; playing
it in soundchecks on our last tour before it was finished and
hearing how it sounded in those big rooms and outdoors.”
Talking about a comeback! Holy smoke! Traps is a steaming
stormer, a killer knockout, a whopping whirlwind.
TURN UP THE VOLUME 