Brighton‘s indie stars SQUID hit the bullseye immediately with their debut LP Bright Green Field that came out in 2021 and went Top-5 in the UK and with
their sophomore album O Monolith they doubled their fanbase.
And here’s longplayer number three, named COWARDS.
New album artwork – Design by Ben Sifel / Photography by Tonje Tielsen.
Press info: “Cowards is about evil. Nine stories whose protagonists reckon with cults, charisma and apathy. Real and imagined characters wading into the dark ocean between right and wrong. It’s Squid’s most courageous album: simultaneously growing in scope
and returning to basics.”
Stereogum says: “Cowards marks Squid’s third album in just under four years and,
ike many of their contemporaries awkwardly lumped together under the “post-punk
revival,” they continue to restlessly mutate far beyond the signifiers of their original breakthrough sound.
The songwriting and lyricism alike sharpen to get to the guts of things, capturing an illness at the heart of the world that only seems to have metastasized during the years the band has been chronicling it. On Cowards, the band’s world and sound alike open up. It feels as if their story is just getting started.”
TUTV: Squid resonate like a volcano in motion with boiling lava streaming
in every direction. Always pressure, tension and danger in the air, but no
explosions. Always eldritch, sinister and wicked, but never soul-destroying.
They easily could be family of The Murder Capital. In the end I’m left behind
with mixed emotions about Cowards.
Singles: Crispy Skin / Building 650 / Cro-Magnon Man
Brighton‘s rackety indie stars SQUID hit the bullseye immediately with their debut LP Bright Green Field that came out in 2021 and went Top-5 in the UK and with their sophomore album O Monolith they tripled their fanbase.
New album artwork – Design by Ben Sifel / Photography by Tonje Tielsen.
They will even enlarge their huge following with album #3 baptized Cowards. It’ll come our way on 7 February 2025. More info here.
Following steamed-up first single Crispy Skin
they throw a second preview to our ears.
Ollie Judge (singer/drummer) about BUILDING 650 on the single.“It’s a song inspired
by our first ever trip to Japan. On the plane I read in the Miso Soup by Ryu Murikami and watched Lost in Translation out of excitement and later decided to write lyrics about being
an outsider visiting Japan, including a very particular type of loneliness one can feel visiting a country that is so different from their own. This loneliness feels exaggerated in Tokyo, on the surface it’s hectic and full of people but when you listen, it’s eerily quiet.”
In order to not miss a beat Turn Up The Volume scans the musical
horizon daily (doing it for years now, actually) to stay in touch with
all new things sonically great and shares the results on a weekly
basis.
FULL JUKEBOX (so far)
.
The 10 new ones added this week
TRACK-BY-TRACK
Band: BABY SCHILLACI Who: Welsh alt-act producing a raw, unfiltered sound. Rooted in post-punk
and noise, the band’s aggressive yet intricately layered compositions evoke
comparisons to seminal acts like Mclusky, At the Drive-In, and Fugazi.
Track: BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA
A barbed slice of mayhew from their upcoming
debut album ‘THE SOUNDTRACK’ in 2024.
TUTV: This Welsh foursome is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of
the most excited bands my ears have experienced lately. Fact! Think Sonic Youth going forth and back, and finishing with a flabbergasting finale.
Fucktastic.
Band: LAFRANTZ Who: The culmination of a journey that began in Salt Lake City,
where two kindred spirits, Jack and Meg, united by their love for
music, decided to chase their dreams together in Los Angeles. FFO: Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, and The Allman Brothers Band.
Press info: It’s a modernized, Southern rock n’ roll inspired pop track. The move-inducing wild and raucous song is brought to life through a determined, foot-stomping beat, catchy lyrics and twangy instrumentation.
Advice from the duo: “Blast this song when you’re in the car with your windows down and wanting to feel like a badass, when you’re at a party with your friends wanting to DANCE, or when you’re on a dusty desert road-trip wanting to feel like an outlaw.”
TUTV: No, it’s not the White Stripes but Lafrantz cause the same adrenalized delirium with this fantastic debut banger. The sultry harmonica, the glam vocals, the wham bam bloody wham bam drones combine for a solid gold knockout. Don’t miss the fireworks.
TUTV: No retirement yet for the Boston legends. After almost 40 years, the band hasn’t
the same stupefying force anymore (well, they’re 40 years older), but still come up with infectious tunes that resonate from the get-go. I wonder if Francis has already found his mind.
Track: DISINFECTANT
From his forthcoming, second solo full-length,
called ‘The Cleansing‘ out on November 1st.
TUTV: The 72-year-old only one rocks out as if he’s 22 again. Disinfectant is an utterly cool, straightforward rocker. Listen up, all you ambitious upstarts out there, and take notes.
Press info: “Cowards” is a high-octane anthem that rips through the false bravado
and empty promises of a generation hiding behind masks. With fiery guitars and raw, unapologetic lyrics, this track calls out the pretenders and fair-weather friends, daring them to show their true colours in a world full of fakes.
TUTV: Hello Hüsker Dü fans, attention. Escape Goats‘s vigorous verve and reckless
drive remind me of the electrical panache of the former Minnosota noise rock heroes.
No-nonsense commotion. Fast-forward swiftness without looking back. Spot-on!
Press info: There’s a subtle softness to “Kisses Goodbye,” yet the energy is fully commanding with a catchy riff chugging us through. Bonnie Trash shows off their skill
with tight percussion and a heavy bass line. Squealing electric guitar, distortion, and harsh noise give a rough edge to this shoegaze-y track, while Sarafina’s airy and intimate vocals show off the band’s impressive ability to genre-hop from heavy metal to soft rock and everything in between.
TUTV: Layers of distorted guitars. Shoegaze echoes. Kisses Goodbye gets under your skin within 10 seconds and takes you on an entrancing trip juiced with dreamy vocals. Right on.
Barry Burns (multi-instrumentalist): “I couldn’t come up with the lyrics
so I asked my 7 year old daughter to make some up, and she did and I
sang them”
Are you kidding us, Barry?
TUTV:Scottish post-punk heroes are around for ages, actually since 1995, and still
appeal with every new release. This stand-alone single goes on like forever – 6,40 minutes – and rotates incessantly with Krautrock-like dynamics. For all fans: the band embarks on a world tour next year. Dates here.
Expect fringing post-punk, flirting with dance and suffusing no little funk into precious
few minutes of an incessant, rug-cutting “Afrobeat Curious Post-Hardgaze”, the four-piece transmit the crucial sounds of a raging, wide-awake, no more bullsh*t society.
Joe (vocals/guitar) says: “I was in a police cell in Scotland after getting arrested for disrupting the Scottish Grand National in April 2023. I could request a piece of paper and a pen to write or draw to keep me sane, whilst waiting to be released. I used the piece of paper that I got given about halfway through to write drafts of about two lines, one being eventually “I may not see what I want before I leave here, but I can’t regret in the cell I sit” – just trying to console myself that even though I’m in this unpleasant situation now, it won’t be for nothing. There’s also a jab at the royal family in there.”
TUTV: I hope that Joe gets arrested again soon and goes to jail, long enough to write an album. Meanwhile this head-twisting, bass-infused, vocally stand-out will mess-up your troubled mind the way you like it. Hells bells.
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.
Ryan: “‘Sooner or Later’ is filled with bittersweet nostalgia for a time in one’s life that was innocent and free. I think no matter your circumstances, most can point to a period, usually younger years, where the world feels open, limitless, profound – before ‘real life gets in’. The song both lyrically and sonically reminisces about this time and laments the fact that we all get mangled – even under the best of conditions – and that sooner or later this is inevitable. And that somewhere deep down, we all know it’s inevitable.”
TUTV: Melodic guitar pop at its Sebadoh best. Uptempo shoe-slacker-gaze
spiced with scintalling synths and ethereal vocals. Start dreaming in overdrive.
Right now, right here.
