Irish eccentric, utterly cool prima donna CMAT (Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson) has
a new video clip out for last year’s hit single THE JAMIE OLIVER PETROL STATION, remarkable for her vocal tour de force on it, and it features none other than the cook himself.
The song is an astounding standout from last year’s EURO-COUNTRY album, her third. CMAT said at the time that, contrary to what it may sound like, the track was a love song for the star chef Jamie Oliver.
Below you can watch CMAT in action at the Lowlands festival in the Netherlands last year.
Her vocal performance, her flamboyant presence, and her funnily cool band are just eye-and-ear-popping.
DIY: “‘EURO-COUNTRY’ has been the soundtrack to – and the driving force behind – her arrival proper in the mainstream’s big leagues. An opus in the truest sense of the word, it’s an instant-classic album that, in the future, will be held up as the gold standard for just how much you can say with pop.”
Angus Rogers (frontman): “Rock and roll music for the empty and stunning.
A song about contempt, appetite, impotence and self-preservation through
gyration. Enjoy superficially with your body and send the reeling mind on
to hell.”
TUTV: Wham Bam! Yeah Yeah! Go Go! Oh my Oh My! Razzle Dazzle!
This is the kind of adrenaline-pumping thrills I wait impatiently for
every single day.
Get up, stand up, and fight
for your right to show off.
“‘Although it’s a big, joyous dance track, it’s about hiding deep emotional pain and trauma and how hedonistic coping mechanisms, like drugs, alcohol, and womanizing, are just temporary distractions.”
TUTV: This is what amazing pop-ular music is all about. Big melody, big emotions, big orchestration. Euphorically sticky as first-class glue despite its dramatic ‘real life‘ story. Aftermath soul-searching can work cathartically.
Who: Irish post-punk whirlwind, led by charismatic
voice/songwriter/guitarist Karla Chubb.
Track: BETTER
Along with Something’s Gonna Happen, my top fav track
on their brand new, second LP, called All That Is Over.
TUTV: Every time I play this pure punk-rock gem, I feel way better.
It’s striking swagger, superb groove, passionate duet vocals, and
high-strung guitar play mesmerize.
Who: The moniker of Massachusetts‘ chilling singer-songwriter Izzy Hagerup. She released her debut album Through The Window
in 2023.
Track: SYSTEM
First new piece and title track from her
2nd LP, coming our way on October 3rd.
Hagerup: “When I wrote ‘System’ I was supposed to be present and alive
and gracious and happy. But somehow I couldn’t escape my own internal
fears and depression that can follow me wherever I go.”
TUTV: What a brilliant torch song. Weeping guitars come and go while Hagerup‘s heart-stopping vocals cause goosebumps. And what a fuming
finale.
TUTV: Its ominous mid-tempo dynamics, its distorted vocals, and its riff-psychotic razzmatazz resonate as if you are listening to the scary theme song of a horror movie.
At the 2.30 minute mark, all hell breaks loose.
From a whisper to a scream. From planet Earth
to Dante‘s Inferno.
Track: FOUR
One of the highlights from their
brill 2nd LP Never Exhale
TUTV: Ditz operate in a very dark place. Sonically, as well as lyrically.
In the middle Cal Francis barks at the moon, while dense drones
infiltrate your shocked ears. Inhale, exhale.
TUTV: This 4-piece grab you by the throat from the kick-off and never lose their firm grip, while vociferous vocalist Marie De Graeve‘s has a crushing impact on your petrified stereo. Liar is a titanic motherrocker that pulverizes the Richter scale in just 250 seconds. Queens Of The Stone Age, Deftones and Black Sabbath come to mind.
TUTV: OMG! What a riot-gun banger. These Irishmen create suffocating havoc with
a maddening mix of nasty racket that brings illegal-decibels-producing bands such as
NIN and Metz to my cooking mind.
TUTV: Ecstasy. Elation. Euphoria. Exhilaration. This electro smack makes
you bounce and jump on your pogo-stick. They punch you in the teeth
without asking, while having fervent fun.
Who: Belgian noise rock trio whose sound draws influences from bands such
as Black Midi, Tool, Battles, and Swans, blending dissonance with a strong sense
of identity.
Track: NANDOR
Piece from their ace
3rd album Trois.
TUTV: What the fuck! From the very kick-off, chainsaw guitars do your
brain in. Electric chair electricity throughout. No way to escape. Neurotic
vocals complete this blitzkrieg assault.
Band: DOWN THE LEES Who: The post-rock noise project of seasoned Canadian
singer/songwriter/guitarist Laura Lee Schultz. DTL released
3 notable albums, so far.
Track: MIDI DORIC
First single. A song that deals with the
isolation and depression of the pandemic.
TUTV: A characteristic DTL thunderstorm, cranked up by blustery bass lines,
monstrous guitar riffs, Herculean drumming, Schultz‘s sky-scraping vocals and
a volcanic finale. One of the best noizz rock bands around.
TUTV: It’s a sublime, crystalline pop nugget, with its hypnotizing guitar riff,
the non-stop drum beat and the intertwined, spellbinding vocals of Win Butler
and his spouse, Régine Chassagne.
Band: KASABIAN Who: British star rockers from Leicester. One of the best bands
of the past 25 years on record and on stage, in my book.
Track:HIPPIE SUNSHINE.
Lead single from their forthcoming
9th LP. Details TBA.
TUTV: Expect a mega vitalizing, disco-charged haymaker.
Since co-founder/songwriter/frontman Serge Pizzorno pulls
all the band’s strings, he provides dynamite tunes you can
throw 24-hour parties with.
Who: One of the most adventurous/inventive/original post-punk & dub artists/performers
ever. He was a founding member of genre-bending new wave group The Pop Group and released lots of solo and collaborative records. Unfortunately, he passed away 2 years ago,
only 62.
Track: MEMORY OF YOU
Single from Stewart‘s solo album The Fateful Symmetry,
which was completed early 2023, not long before his passing.
TUTV: Haunting, synth-symphonic and bang-tastic,
with Mark‘s characteristically energetic voice on top.
First single from their forthcoming 4th full-length, their
first in 4 years, slated for release in September 2026.
TUTV: Holy Coves are back, and they don’t waste time. It’s full steam ahead from
the get-go. Eager guitars and sinewy drumming inject this sweltering steamroller with
a flaming briskness that causes a kinetic reverberation, while Marsden emotive vocals accentuate the song’s sad sentiments.
Who: 2-piece from Birmingham (UK) – Euan Woodman (drums/vocals) and Tom Rhodes (bass/vocals) – born in late 2023 over a shared love of noise, literature and late night shebeens. They write music about love and hate. They’re good for your soul.
TUTV: Warning. This insanely groovy punk blast will bulldoze all over your shocked speakers. Expect a superheated funky firestorm that attacks the Richter scale with a shattering impact. A manically jagged jackhammer it is. Trust me, you’ll think you like them, VERY MUCH, while you bang your head into your fridge’s door.
Who: A collective with members scattered across the UK and the Netherlands.
This group, now comprising seven members, has its roots in a trio that expanded
over the past four years.
New track: WET LEATHER
Piece from their sophomore
LP Total Technik.
TUTV: Kraut-rock and roll with an intoxicating force. A wall-of-guitar-pyrotechnics rollercoaster. An overpowering tempest of rambunctious riffs. Voltaic psychedelia
at its spine-chilling best, bombarding your ears the way you like it.
Who: The musical project of singer-songwriter-poet Jamie Cameron. Hailing from
the Scottish Borders, the music blends lo-fi beats, synths and guitars with spoken word lyrics in which he discusses subjects ranging from politics and premonitions to self help culture, and a modern society obsessed with economic thinking.
TUTV: This rattling rap ‘n’ punk roll crackerjack swings forth and back, left
and right and Jamie Cameron’s full of vim and vigour word-flow activates all
of your insatiable limbs before he relaxes towards the synthy end. Kinetic throb.
Hands up for the coach.
TUTV: A nasty bass riff motorizes this rollicking psych jam that seems to go on
like forever, and when the powerhouse chorus kicks in, your ears are instantly
overwhelmed. Life Is Joy is one of those riff-crazy haymakers that stick after just
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.
TUTV: This arresting, melancholic song is heart-rending. 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.
TUTV: A razzle-dazzle steamroller that gets under your skin faster
than you can say “this is bloody superb”. Its insane, mind-bending
course doubles your serotonin production on the spot.
Who: Must hear/see indies from Brighton (where everybody is in a band).
They cruise from folk to punk, using, besides traditional instruments (guitar,
bass and drums) also cello, flute, violin and other classical gear.
TUTV: These young wolves bulldoze their way through the daily
bullshit we have to endure with a knife between their teeth. Sippy Cup
is a bruising, full of vim and vigor, uppercut hitting where it hurts.
