Turn up the heat,
move your feet, and
feel your heart beat.
It’s PART 3 of Turn Up The Volume‘s yearly hot summer
playlists. A mix of adrenalin-infused dance/groove/rock
fireworks and some moony musings to end the party
when the sun comes up.
Disco-freak stomper of the month, hands down. This new punky-funky corker follows
the previous 2 shared crackers Wild Flowers and Fatso. They will all be on their upcoming album At the Hot Spot, out tomorrow, 1 April (no joke).
It’s a bangin’ beast with a screamin’ chorus. A perfect pick-me-up tune for all the weirdos
who are always in the kitchen at parties waiting for Warmduscher to kick their lazy asses.
Compared to this Japanese red-hot-bloody fury the Ramones sound like choirboys. Otobeke Beaver‘s race and rush in an overwhelming overdrive. No brakes, no breaks.
Their rabidity rolls like a tsunami through your ears. These perky punkettes produce
moshpit madness on the spot. The average song length is 2 minutes, 120 seconds
of clamorous pandemonium.
3. ‘Territorial Call Of The Female’ by BODEGA (Brooklyn, NY)
The New Yorkers still operate on Parquet Courts’ playground with their new,
2nd full-length Broken Equipment. But they supersized their jangly beats
and they turned up the temperature.
Territorial Call Of The Female is my favorite cut. It activates
every muscle and every nerve in my itching body.
Scott Kirkland (the remaining member of Las Vegas dance act The Crystal Method)
invited icon Iggy Pop (you can hear him almost any day on a new collaboration, the
past few years) and his British buddy, composer/DJ Hyper in his studio.
The raving result is a techno boom boost, bursting all the way, with Pop‘s voice
strangled by a blender. Sounds spooky, sounds wicked, sounds like lust for life.
Breaking news: Iggy says he’s not a punk anymore!
“I don’t want to be a punk
I don’t want to belong to any of it
I just want to be”
Busy blues-rock bee Jack White canned two new longplayers for this year, titled Fear Of The Dawn (out 8 April 2022) and Entering Heaven Alive (out 22 July 2022)
The hottest cut I heard so far is Hi-De-Ho (from ‘Fear Of The Dawn’ LP) featuring Q.Tip.
The by now legendary passion rockers from Cincinnati, Ohio with mastermind
Greg Dulli in control are back from being away for 5 years. Their last album In Spades came out in 2017.
I’ll Make You See God a striking steamroller, a red-hot-heated stunner, an unstoppable
cannonball going everywhere fast. It will feature in the upcoming PlayStation game Gran Turismo 7.
7. ‘Nothing Comes Good Easy’ by DEAD LEVEE (Canada)
Wowzer! This sickly uplifting belter (from upcoming EP Rise-Up) elevates your state of mind with fired-up dynamism from the get-go. Rapid-fire rawk and roll riffs switch on a fervent feel of euphoria. It did it in the past, it does it in the present and it will do it in
the future.
Despite all the BS we have to endure (pandemic, Ukraine, natural disasters,
and other threats) it’s never too late to get back on track and why not start
with 4 and a half minutes of heart-warming guitar-fueled boogie-woogie
that breathes hope and assurance.
Once I learned that this startling uppercut is about the horrible
exploitation of human beings by ferocious money sharks this
jagged jackhammer blew my mind even harder than I heard it
the first time before knowing about the band’s inspiration
for this standout.
Expect rabid guitars, doom and gloom vocals, and frantic twists and turns
until the chaotic finale. Post-punk at its razorblade best. Think fierce Canadian
turbine Metz and London‘s up-and-coming gunslingers Crows.
This fiery crackerjack goes forth and back with
turbulent velocity. Imagine the full of vim and vigor
intenseness and puissant vocality of The Afghan Whigs.
Anxious, unyielding, and ablaze.
Breaking Grounds races like a rush of blood to the head with
screaming guitars and propelling drum muscularity.
The first taster from the upcoming debut full-length Dancing On A Volcano.
Imagine the fervid fuzz of punchy guitar pop legends Buzzcocks, with The Stranglers’ Jean-Jacques Burnel on bass, combined with the cutting
verbality of today’s post-Brexit-punk rebirth and you know a frisky doozy
is coming your way.
Add some American-dream girls of the City of Angles on your imaginary
mind-screen and you’re about to start a champagne party in your head.
The combination of a nasty Gang Of Four bass riff,
frenzied Keith Levene guitars here and there and Skinner
hip-hop-rapping like Beck used to do, works like an ecstatic
upper.
This funk-punk stonker has an immediate intensifying impact on all of your
limbs and your bloodstream’s flow. Add some sexy sax thrills to the mix and
you’ll have all you need to jump out of your slump. Capice?
Cut from their sophomore album
‘Moon Reflections’, out on June 24
A rotating synth riff echoes British electro legends New Order and
is the beating heart of this new piece, yet the mood is meditative
and musing, strengthened by the near-whispering and eager vocals.
This darksome and soul-searching reverie gets under your skin after
a couple of spins.
This impassioned hard-luck story grows slowly but surely into a soul-stirring and mesmerising heartbreaker with an epic finale. Glowing guitars, a steady drumbeat,
and mixed emotions vocals all come together for a poignant performance.
‘Love Is Cruel / The Hurt Within’. You can feel it.
You’ll hear titillating electro-echoes of early Depeche Mode before
they became the darkwave Goth-esque rockers we all know. But
in an eye-blink White Skin becomes an infectious nightclub earworm
with an ecstatic chorus.
In a normal world (does that actually exists?) this adrenaline-infused
and hip-swinging spark should top the dance charts around the globe.
The musical project of singer/songwriter Jordan Speare
assisted by guitarist/bassist and friend Andrew Billone.
After a couple of EPs the pair’s canned their first longplayer
called Silhouettes. Release at the end of the year.
I don’t know if it’s the world-famous and historic museum in Paris
they want to burn, that wouldn’t be so nice. What I do know is that their
brisk and spirited sound is infectious and captivating with an immediate
impact on your body’s movements. Expect guitar pop electricity, extra
pushed by lively vocals.
16. ‘Life And Lies’ by LEE ROGERS (Northern Ireland)
The Americana voice of Northern Ireland releases
his new album Gamebloodon 13 May.
Ahead of it came this mixed emotions single with Rogers‘ sky-reaching voice as the star, once again.
It’s a bluesy goosebumps reflection. Wurlitzer jukeboxes should be reinvented
for these heartbreakers so moody minds can cry their eyes out (or cry in their beer)
at night in a downtown bar where lonely ones gather and chat about life and lies.
A poppy synth trip with a floating flow and near-whispering vocals. Both eerie and affecting, both dizzy and hypnotic with a frenetic guitar attack coming out of nowhere around the 3-minute mark.
It’s an epic ballad with a country feel. If this melancholic gem was written
in the 60s it would have been sung by Linda Rondstadt, Tammy Waynette
or Dolly Parton, anyway, by an angelic voice like Olsen‘s magnific one.
Album info: Inspired by a book club. In the early months of 2020, the Brooklyn
art-punk incendiaries gathered together with close friends to study the works of a
wide range of philosophers. Passionate debates lasting long into the night became
a regular occurrence, motivating the band to become as ideologically unified as the
weighty tomes they were reading. Broken Equipment is Bodega’s attempt to interrogate
the external factors that make them who they are, propelling existential quandaries
with tongue-in-cheek humour, highly personal lyrics, and irresistible grooves.
The female Bodega voice
NME says: “The New York band’s second album sees their wiry, sceptical post-punk slowly giving way to warmer, more romantic ideas… For a band with complex philosophies and
critical theories to burn, BODEGA’s most vital moments come when they lower their guard
down and just let it all out.” Full reviewhere. Score: 4/5.
Turn Up The Volume: The New Yorkers still operate on Parquet Courts’
playground (not a bad thing), but here on their second full length they funk-up
their post-punk disco beats, they turn up the temperature and they activate every
muscle and every nerve in your itching body even more than on their debut LP.
A fucktastic touchdown!
The male Bodega voice
Singles/clips: Statuette On the Console / Doers
– STATUETTE ON THE CONSOLE –
– DOERS –
Put on your blue suede post-punk shoes and
pirouette yourself dizzy without falling over
your own feet…
Band: KILLING JOKE Who: Post-industrial-punk veterans from London Active: 1979–1996, 2002–present / 15 LPs
with Pylon as their latest, released 7 years ago.
The second single from their 11th LP
called Wild Loneliness, out 25 February.
Mac McCaughan (guitarist) About: “Like much of Wild Loneliness, this song was
written in the mode of “let’s look around and be thankful for what we have rather
than focusing on what Republicans have taken from an entire generation.”
Almost three years after their debut album Silver Tongues this must-hear
post-punk hit team returns with follow-up Beware Believers, out 1st of April.
James Cox (frontman): “Slowly Separate is about living in London, working a job
you hate and just going through the mundane routine of hand to mouth living.”
A blazing uppercut with the
cutting force of a chainsaw.
I’m not a big fan of remixes unless the remixer – in this case, electro duo Flight Facilities – transforms a head-dazzling rocker into a head-dazzling
disco stomper that works like a vaccination with a shot of adrenalin.
I’m sure that this Big Apple indie squad has all Parquet Courts records on their shelves. You already could hear it on their 2019 debut album Endless Scroll and their second one, titled Broken Equipment looks to go in the same direction when hearing new single Thrown.
Not original but tumbling
and revolving nevertheless…
7. ‘Fraggle Rock Rock’ by FOO FIGHTERS (Seattle, US)
Seems like Dave Grohl and his Fighters adore the spotlights
and do anything to have them shine on them every day.
Check this… children’s television series Fraggle Rock gets a full revival on Apple TV+ and yes, you already guessed it, the Foos are among the musical guests on the show. For the occasion, they wrote this bonkers retro rocker that triggers your laughing muscles.
With debut album ‘Endless Scroll’ New York‘s dazzling hit-and-kick quintet BODEGA scored one of the best albums of 2018, and live their energy is just awesome as Turn Up The Volume experienced earlier this year in Brussels (review here). Today the band shared
a new track, a surprisingly moody one called ‘SHINY NEW MODEL’. Check it out here…
BODEGA – Botanique Venue, Brussels – 12 February 2019
As I said before on repeat New York‘s dazzling hit-and-kick quintet BODEGA is one of
the most thrilling new bands around. They spit and sneer sharper and hookier than
their wide awake jingle jangle mentors Parquet Courts, they resonate like if Talking Heads and Tom Verlaine’s Television were rattling punks rather than exploring new wavers and they clatter as contagious as those British early 80s outsiders Delta 5 once did. Bodega‘s debut longplayer Endless Scroll, released last July, ended up as one of the best three albums of 2018 in Turn Up The Volume‘s list. A rollicking, astonishing record.
Yesterday in Brussels the New Yorkers did exactly what I expected. They turned up the heat, the audience’s adrenalin and their own uninterrupted vitality for a full hour. Nikki Belfiglio, one of the two vocalists, stole the show visually. In the middle of the stage, she hit one cymbal relentlessly with her rhythm stick while shouting and clamoring and dancing graciously all around the podium in between. Guitarist and main singer Ben Hozie is the electrical riff generator whose biting vocals cut like a Swiss knife and who turned ‘Truth
Is Not A Punishment‘ (the 2.49 min closing track of the album) into an almost 10 minutes trance like psychedelic jam with some terrifically frenzied help from second guitarist Madison Velding-Vandam . Quite surprising as most of their songs balance around the
2-minute mark, but it worked perfectly. They played a couple of new ones that fitted in smoothly but they got everybody going ballistic with yell along crowd-pleasers ‘Name Escape’, ‘Gyrate’, How Did This Happen’ and ‘I’m Not A Cinephile‘. Wham Bam! Electrifying performance! if you never heard of this motherrockers here’s an idea of their live vibrancy…
Lots of hair-splitting havoc and flaming pop firework this year.
Here’s TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s 2018 ALL STAR TRACKS TEAM
21 Knockouts, 21 standoouts, 21 big ones right here, right now…
. 1. ‘Liberty Belle’ by FONTAINES D.C. (Dublin, Ireland)
Up and coming Irish punk idols impress with catchy ramshackle punk force…
2. ‘Dust On Trial’ by SHAME (London, UK)
Razor-sharp rage from South London from their cutting debut album ‘Songs Of Praise’…
3. ‘Danny Nedelko’ by IDLES “Fear leads to panic, panic leads to pain / Pain leads to anger, anger leads to hate”…
4. ‘Isolation’ by TUBELIGHT (Belgium)
Belgian garage rockers sneer and spit with poise…
5. ‘Lately’ by TERRA PINES (Queensland, Australia)
A tornado of multi-layered guitars rollin’ all over you…
6. ‘User Guide’ by IT IT ANITA (Belgium)
Primal screams getting way deep under your skin…
7. ‘How Did This Happen?’ by BODEGA (New York, NY, US)
Irresistible jingle jangle electricity from one of the most thrilling new acts around…
8. ‘Paradox’ by SEXTILE (Los Angeles, California, US)
Inflammatory firecracker thundering like electronica pioneers Suicide on speed…
9. ‘Odyssey’ by MIEN (UK/US/Canada)
Like minded spirits from different bands coming together for a psych-y trip…
10. ‘Shiny One’ by BELLY (Boston, US)
A glowing return in grand style with Tanya Donnelly‘s touching vox in the middle…
11. ‘The Bluebirds Are Singing’ by EERIE GLUE
Ongoing bluesy psych groove with a spellbinding impact on your soul…
12. ‘Turn The Knife’ by PALM GHOSTS (Nashville, US)
Mesmerizing make or break love song with glimmering guitars and vivid duet vocals…
13. ‘You Don’t Walk Away From Love’ by PEACE (UK)
Euphoric guitar pop at its very best…
14. ‘When We Left’ by SOMEDAYS (London, UK)
Glowing drive, tenacious pace, confident dynamic and instantly infectious. Strike!…
15. ‘Dark Stains’ by EXPLODED VIEW
Mysterious, magnetizing and masterful…
16. ‘Subsonic Dream’ by THE DARTS (Phoenix, CA, US)
Fuzzy garage banger hittin’ and kickin’ relentlessly…
17. ‘Faith & Science’ by MODERATE REBLS
The addictive power of repetition combined with a catchy boowie woogie piano…
18. ‘Under The Moon’ by REBECCA LOU (Denmark)
Vigorous, dynamic and highly brisk pop standout…
19. ‘Human Child’ by BELLY (Boston, US)
A gripping human pearl…
20. ‘Wayne’ by RICH GIRLS (New York, NY, US)
This is how authentic sensitivity resonates like…
21. ‘Knocking’ by BASEMENT REVOLVER (Hamilton, Canada)
Singer Chrisy Hurn‘s breathtaking voice will make you silent.
2018 – Another dazzling year for longplayers!
Here’s Turn Up The Volume’s All Star Team
Here are the 11 chosen ones – Let’s roll…
1. ‘Laurent’ by IT IT ANITA (Luik, Belgium)
This is a spellbinding mix of vintage IIAA primal screams and new sound structures that match the band’s clamorous intensity terrifically. An ideal challenge for your speakers…
Listen…
. 2. ‘Joy As An Act Of Resistance’ by IDLES
This hammering punk tour de force, dealing with the political vileness that fucks up our planet and other daily shit that causes human pain, is a massive work of turbulent joy.
Listen…
. 3. ‘Endless Scroll by BODEGA (New York NY, US)
Rip-roaring jingle jangle firepower with echoes of former British post-punks Au Pairs, early punky Talking Heads and their wide awake mentors Parquet Courts. A hip-shaking score!
Listen…
. 4. ‘Songs Of Praise’ by SHAME (South London)
These hungry South London wolves hit you straight in the face with tumultuous knockout punk anthems and wall-breaking eruptions of youthful frustrations. Concrete debut!
Listen…
. 5. ‘Expert By Virtue Thereof’ by TUBELIGHT (Belgium)
Like The Fall playing in tune with a singer who can actually sing which results in an electrical melting pot of rousing spit & sneer missiles and some puzzling escapades.
Listen…
. 6. ‘Dove’ by BELLY (Boston, US)
A comeback in grand style with fetching guitar pop splendour, captivating stories and most of all a series of supreme tunes causing a heartwarming glow you can wallow yourself in.
Listen…
. 7. ‘Insecure Men’ by INSECURE MEN (UK) Fat White Family‘s Saul Adamczewski and Childhood‘s Ben Romans-Hopcraft surrounded themselves with a whole orchestra for this wondrous, sepia-colored retro pop beauty.
Listen…
. 8. ‘Black City’ by RICH GIRLS (New York, NY, US)
This is a comforting companion for moony moments. Once you’ve heard singer/songwriter Luisa Black‘s voice you’ll never forget her vulnerable and passionate timbre. Spine-tingling.
Listen…
.
‘9. MIEN‘ by MIEN (US/UK/Canada)
Like-minded spirits of different psych bands finding each other in a colorful adventure.
A rad record full of mind-stimulating explorations and richly orchestrated odysseys.
Listen…
. 10. ‘Megamix’ by RUMOURS (Belgium)
A magnificent and magnetizing longplayer of transcendent soundscapes ranging from grand symphonies to mighty bass-loaded-synths drones with a chilling vox in the middle.
Listen…
. 11. ‘Egypt Station’ by PAUL MCCARTNEY(Liverpool, UK)
And when the noise is over Macca comes in and tells you about his life on his best LP (as
if I know all of them!) in ages, full of melancholic and melodic pop humdingers. Lovely!
