Band: KULA SHAKER
Who: British psych rock vets, fronted by charismatic
vocalist/songwriter Crispian Mills. Their 1996 debut LP,
titled K made them instant indie stars.
Press info: “Named after a 9th-century Indian poet king, the band have always existed
in an alternate reality, mixing mysticism, psychedelia, and raucous rock ‘n’ roll energy. With Wormslayer, they continue that quest, creating a kaleidoscopic journey that feels both
timeless and urgently fresh.”
Press photo
TUTV: KS show again their passion for 60s psychedelic rock/pop flavered with Indian sitar vibes and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds symphonies. Think early Pink
Floyd, The Kinks, The Pepper Beatles,Traffic and Arthur Lee’s Love.
And they are very good at it. Wormslayer is stuffed with top-flight pop-edelia tunes, elevating this 8th LP to a must-hear on repeat level. Voice/face/songwriter and vibrant guitarist Crispian Mills lifts his troops to ecstasizing heights of nostalgia. Retro delirium
at its todays best. Formidable record.
Press info: “Look Who’s Back took shape in a homegrown, late-night party atmosphere, playfully debaucherous sessions ran late into the night, the cozy room as crowded with mics, cables, and recording equipment as it was with friends, pizza boxes, and beer cans.”
TUTV: This party squad keeps it simple, but oh irresistibly efficient with laid-back
melodiousness, sparkling guitar play, euphonious harmonies, and top-drawer sing along/tap along/clap along tunes with at times, a cosy country feel. It’s called pop-ular music. Instantly entertaining, chipper and ear-pleasing fun.
Trust me, the cliché, no fillers, all killers, is 100% accurate here.
Artists: DEAD ANYWAY Who: British duo who set the dark lyricism of Kate Arnold against the music
and soundscapes of Marc Symonds. They offer a mix of poetry, electronica
and guitars. A heady brew of dark, glitchy head-messing wonder.
TUTV: Again, DA takes you on a relaxing wander, entertaining your ears, mind,
and psyche en route. They trip and hop their way through eight new pieces. Sonically,
as we experienced so many times before, Tricky,Arab Strap, and Portishead come
to mind.
Sydmonds designs a fitting, easy-listening atmosphere, flavored with scintillating guitar
sparks, shiny synth,s and bass-dipped Massive Attack-like percussion, for Arnold‘s spoken
word reflections.
Her laid-back vocals suit the whole sonic picture organically, and her hush-hush
tonality creates an inviting, intimate ambiance. Thematically, the songs are Arnold reflections on her mental issues. The overall outcome of this new LP is engrossing
once again.
Ronker about the record: “The initial plan was to write half of the record completely sober. We mostly succeeded in that effort. Not quite. We noticed that the songs we wrote in those sober sessions had a very distinct nature compared to the more fierce banger-like
songs we hammer out when we have some sort of intoxicants in our veins.”
📸 Nathan Dobbelaere
TUTV’s impressions.
Ronker rage and race once again.
These volcanic punk hyenas develop
an earsplitting havoc that crushes
your mind, your psyche and your
shaking stereo.
Manic demon Jasper De Petter – Trix, Antwerp – Photo by Turn Up The Volume
Vociferous vocalist Kasper has 4 lungs
and iron pipes. He growls, barks, howls
and spits and sneers at a sizzling speed.
His backing crew hits hard, really hard.
Schizo riot gun riffs and a Herculean
bass/drum tandem. What you hear
is what your terrified ears get.
On the short & soft, classical piano-driven
instrumental in the middle, you can take
a breather, and the closing ballad, an
intensity-growing ballad Using Eyes is
one of my favorite pieces on the record.
This 2nd LP could easily be the soundtrack
to Quentin Tarantino‘s first horror movie.
Band:GORILLAZ Who: The brainchild of Blur’s Damon Albarn and comic book artist Jamie Hewlett, who celebrated the 25th anniversary of their top-ranking
project this year.
Press info: “The album is a collection of 15 new tracks featuring artists and
collaborators, living and dead, including: Ajay Prasanna, Anoushka Shankar, Asha
Bhosle, Asha Puthli, Bizarrap, Black Thought, Gruff Rhys, Idles, Jalen Ngonda, Johnny
Marr, Kara Jackson, Omar Souleyman, Paul Simonon, Sparks, Trueno and Yasiin Bey;
as well as the voices of the late Bobby Womack, Dave Jolicoeur, Dennis Hopper and
Mark E. Smith
TUTV:Gorillaz offer us the first summer record of the year. And if you’re a longtime
G fan you know what that means. Yes, a soft stream of easygoing, feel-good, and bubbly reggae-tinted tunes. But it’s not all sunlight and carefreeness.
Albarn and Hewlett both lost their fathers, in between two trips they did together to India. Those sad happenings resonate in several melancholic musings, embedded in Indian instrumentation (lots of sitars) and Eastern vibes, yet they obviously want to
keep up the good spirits and look to the future.
It results in one of their most entertaining longplayers in their 25-year career.
British duo DEAD ANYWAY set the dark lyricism of Kate Arnold against the music
and soundscapes of Marc Symonds. They offer a mix of poetry, electronica and guitars.
A heady brew of dark, glitchy head-messing wonder.
Again, DA takes you on a relaxing wander, entertaining your ears, mind, and psyche en route. They trip and hop their way through eight new pieces. Sonically, as we experienced so many times before, Tricky,Arab Strap, and Portishead come to mind.
Sydmonds designs a fitting, easy-listening atmosphere, flavored with scintillating guitar
sparks, shiny synth,s and bass-dipped Massive Attack-like percussion, for Arnold‘s spoken
word reflections.
Her laid-back vocals suit the whole sonic picture organically, and her hush-hush
tonality creates an inviting, intimate ambiance. Thematically, the songs cover very personal, mental issues, which is why we asked Kate to guide us through them.
– WITHOUT IS A LUXURY –
“I thought I’d start with ‘Without is a Luxury’ and work back, since the last track of ‘Squeak
Piggy Squeak’ is a reflection on those which have gone before. When I’ve emerged (blinking,
like a mole) from writing for a collection, it’s always hard to work out what planet I’ve been on lyric-wise, and it takes some time for the themes to appear. And that’s what the track is about, really. Taking stock, I guess.”
. – TACKY WALLS –
“I suffer quite badly (physically and emotionally) from claustrophobia and ‘Tacky Walls’
is about having to have a brain scan, and a diagnosis that came from it. It’s that
simple, really.
As always with Dead Anyway, the album title comes from something within one of the tracks and ‘Squeak Piggy Squeak’ (from this one) is a frankly quite sinister party game (Google it) which I remember being terrified at the prospect of playing as a child.”
. – THE OVERLINE –
“This one covers how the internet has overtaken our lives, the way it seems to have changed basic human nature, and how grateful I am that I won’t be around to witness the way I see it playing out, if we don’t wake up and reflect.”
. – DUMB WAITER –
“The theme of claustrophobia appears again in ‘Dumb Waiter’. We all dig our own
holes, don’t we, and those holes can get way too comfortable if they’re allowed to go unrecognised. I seem to resort to using the second person (the ‘you’) when I’m being
particularly self-accusatory – so I was clearly talking about myself here.”
. – A SHIFT OF PERSPECTIVE –
“The single, ‘A Shift of Perspective’ is, sadly—but not, I’m afraid, untypically—the only vaguely optimistic track on the album. Magic Eye puzzles were popular in the UK a while ago (again, Google it) and the technique was to stare at the pattern really hard, adjusting your focus, until the 3D image (or the answer to the puzzle) suddenly appeared.
Some people, including Marc, never got the knack and he still doesn’t know what the image is in the artwork! The lyric is basically saying, ‘keep going, something will shift’. And of course, what’s not to love about a Wizard of Oz reference?”
. – NO POPCORN –
“This song is another self-beratory thing. I’ve always been gormless. Far too long spent looking out of the train window at the trees and the sky, not even considering the destination. And now look.”
. – BEYOND REPAIR –
“‘Beyond Repair’ deals with trying to contain depression, trying to crack on with life when depression hits, and recognising—and gathering the nerve to utilise—someone who might
just understand. It’s also about not wanting to be a burden to them.”
. – WHO NEEDS THE VOICE OF THE MYSTERONS –
“Stick ‘the voice of The Mysterons’ into YouTube: genuinely, is there anything more terrifying?
Is there anything more terrifying than what we’re capable of doing to ourselves in our heads, alone in the wee small hours? Another second person. I’ll leave it there.
So, there we have it. The themes have emerged. Claustrophobia,
alienation, depression. We’re not called Dead Anyway for nothing.”
Band: LIME GARDEN Who: British pop-rock act from Brighton, UK.
They released their debut LP One More Thing
in 2024.
Track: 23
New piece from their upcoming 2nd album Maybe Not Tonight, out on April 10th.
TUTV: Yeah! Absolutely yeah! Move your pelvis, move your head, move your feet, move anything that is movable. This resistless dancefloor upper boosts your mood on the spot.
Band: THE DARTS Who: Steamy garage Amazons based in Seattle, Washington,
fronted by charismatic singer-songwriter Nicole Laurenne,
also operating solo as Black Viiolet
Track: MIDNIGHT CREEP
The first single from their forthcoming LP, their 6th, named Halloween Love Songs. It’ll hit our stereos on March 3rd.
TUTV: Midnight Creep is vintage Darts frenzy. Sizzling, blistering, and red-hot-blooded. Laurenne and her sidekick, her organ, lead the hungry troops once again. The piquant buzz and fuzz at play here ignite all of your limbs and make you jump like a kangaroo from left to right and back. From now on, every day is Halloween.
TUTV: Beware, these punked-up bloodhounds bite. They chase you with ruthless racket. They bark like werewolves. They bloody rock! They’re no waste of time whatsoever. Rabid stuff. Arrrggghhh.
“This song is about the endless lists of goals and resolutions we make for ourselves, many of which have arbitrary deadlines attached to them. ‘On Time’ is trying to capture that feeling of being right on the crest of a wave of busyness, the ‘last wave’ where you think surely it will be calm seas after this. But there’s always another and another.”
TUTV: WTF. Riot grrl clamour is back, but dirtier, rawer, and LOUDER.
94 boiling seconds that do your poor head in. Punktastic.
Band: COWBOY HUNTERS Who: Glasgow‘s punk dropouts Megan Pollock and Desmond Johnston.
Track: HAVE A PINT
New single from their upcoming 5-track EP,
titled EPeepee. It’ll hit the streets on March 20th.
TUTV: This is it. Raw and rough punk hysteria at its sharp-cutting best. These two hungry hunters take you on a wham-bam rollercoaster ride, up and down, left and right. Have A Pint sounds like it was recorded in their local pub’s toilet, generating some barbed wire shit, juiced with obstreperous duet vocals that drive you nuts .
TUTV: What the hell is this? Must be the most dancey, vibey, and trippy track
of their sonic canon. A Shift Of Perspective has an irresistible pelvis-energizing
swing spiced with wah-wah guitar sparks and, of course, Kate Arnold‘s
spoken-word panache.
“Lee is a guy that we never want to become, let’s make that clear! This tune goes out to all the blokes who keep it blokey and delve too far into the cretin side of the internet, dudes that base their entire lives around some bonkers right wing conspiracy. When it comes to Lee, what you see isn’t a what you get, and what you get is much darker than you’d expect.”
TUTV: Hit! Hit! Hit! Need an upbeat upper to get you through the day? This Adult DV
one, right here, will do the job, with striking Chemical Bros echoes and other electronic pyrotechnics.
TUTV: Alert your limbs, folks. Some boom-boom Basement Jaxx e-cstasy
is coming your way. Techno blitz in quadrophonia. Chemical beats and
underworld heat. Insane, right? You betcha.
TUTV: These dance-inducing Belgians do what they did before in other bands. They move and groove with a slow-burning intensity, like a snake sneaking up on its prey. Alright, all you nightclubbers out there, get your lazy ass off your couch and shake your booty to the guitar-motorized beats.
TUTV: A brisk, sprightly, and tremendously catchy guitar pop gem
peaking on its splendiferous chorus. A tantalising slice of music.
The repeat button was invented for tintillazing tunes like this.
Ali Lipman (guitarist/vocalist) channels an inner strength as she details
the pressures women face to be emotionally regulated when everything
is overstimulating.
“We’re known for our upbeat power-emo songs, with big leads, big harmonies, and big refrains. This song perfectly encapsulates what we do best. There’s plenty of surprises to come on Place Memory, but ‘Calm & Delivered’ is the perfect definition of a Cape Crush anthem.”
TUTV: A kind of those tunes that puts a blissful smile on your face right away.
Guitar fireworks from the kinetic kick-off, working their way to the heartening
chorus. Sinewy indie fuel to get you going. Sensitive vocals. Punchy girl power.
Band: LIP SERVICE Who: Electro pop outfit
from Belgium.
Track: SLOWLY
Piece from their upcoming album Swalman, out early next month.
TUTV: Electro-pop at its funky and vivifying best. A lazy tune that makes you hum/whistle along on the spot. A dreamy ditty, jaunty and breezy. A perfect sonic companion on your earphones while strolling in slow-mo in the city.
Artist: SIMON LE MA Who: Belgian singer-songwriter
with an eclectic musical taste.
So far, he has 2 albums under his belt.
Track: NEW RELIGION
New single from his upcoming 3rd album,
named Get Sweaty, out next September.
TUTV: Expect brassy Motown vibes. Glamorous, soulful, and uplifting. New Religion energizes all of your limbs. You can sing, whistle or hum
along. Early spring fun, folks.
Band:THE TWILIGHT SAD Who: Scottish romantic indies who have
been earning a loyal fanbase since 2003.
Track: DESIGNED TO LOSE
Taster from their upcoming album, named It’s The Long Goodbye.
They’re 6th overall, and first in seven years, written in the wake
of frontman James Graham losing his mother to dementia.
Out March 27th.
TUTV: Sad story, sticky tune. Great bass riffage, bouncy
drums, expressive vocals, and an overall orchestral resonance.
TUTV: Need some day-night-dreaming stimulus? This near-whispering reverie is what you’re looking for. Soothing and chilling. Lovely duet vocals. Starry-eyed chorus. You
won’t feel lonely when Dreamager touches your soul.
Artist: WINONA OAK Who: The musical moniker of engrossing Swedish songstress Johanna Ewana Ekmark.
Track: HORSES
The 2nd single from her upcoming,
sophomore album (details TBA).
TUTV: Oak‘s velvety voice makes me think of superstars Lana Del Rey and Billie
Eilish‘s heartfelt tenderness. Melancholic reverie Horses is a nostalgic lullaby. She
revisits childhood memories of riding, a time when she felt safe, free, and deeply connected to the natural world.
Another year, another Jukebox to fill with new
tracks, 5 twice a week, for your aural pleasure.
This is the 5th batch of 5 new rad ones of 2026.
ALL TOGETHER
TRACK BY TRACK
Artists: DEAD ANYWAY Who: British duo that sets the dark lyricism of Kate Arnold
against the music and soundscapes of Marc Symonds. A mix
of poetry, electronica, and guitars.
TUTV: What the hell is this? Must be the most dancey, vibey, and trippy track
of their sonic canon. A Shift Of Perspective has an irresistible pelvis-energizing
swing spiced with sparkly guitar play and, of course, Kate Arnold‘s spoken-word
panache. Let the siren howl.
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.
TUTV: Another torch burning jam enflamed with feverish, ominous
and sinewy guitar dynamism, a high-strung rhythm section, and Schultz‘s delirious vocals.
Band: SPECIAL FRIEND Who: French-American indie
guitar pop, based in Paris.
Track: BREAKFAST
New preview from their upcoming 3rd album, named Clipping. It’ll arrive on March 20th. More info here.
TUTV: Breakfastimmediately made me think of Canadian girl power pop band The Beaches and New Zealand‘s peppy outfit,The Beths. This is the kind of blithe
ditties that kick-start your mood after your first coffee in the morning. Trip and
hop along the speedy flow and the frolicsome duet vocals.
Band: THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS Who: Alt rock duo – John Flansburgh and John Linnell – started their
journey way back in 1982 and have since released 23 albums.
TUTV: These two giants are musical addicts. If you have released 23 albums, you
deserve some blue ribbons. And they’re not done yet. They’re still full of energy.
‘The sound itself comes from the nature of the home recordings, I’m limited
in what I can do in certain places so I’ll tend to lean more into more scrappy
lo-fi/garage sounds. The gear I like to use is simple and mostly broken.’
TUTV: Full electrifying speed from the get-go. This swirling guitar-riffing
missile has an adrenalizing gusto that makes your head spin 360°, while Holloway lets his sentiments roll out, loud and clear.
We’re on our way, slowly but surely, to the end of 2025.
Instead of starting to think about this year’s best LPs,
let’s go back to 2024 and listen to TUTV’s 20 Best Albums
again, and look back on what I wrote about each one
of them.
Today: No. 18
Artists:DEAD ANYWAY British duo combining the dark lyricism of Kate Arnold
against the music and soundscapes of Marc Symonds.
TUYV: Slow/mid-tempo/fast trip-hop tunes are wrapped in layers of
distortion and feedback, creating an eerie and at times sinister ambiance.
Massive Attack, Tricky, Arab Strap and Mike Skinner’s The Streets
and Laurie Anderson‘s latest opus Amelia come to mind.
DA resonates as EBM for people who come alive when the darkness sets in, far away
from our 24/7 suffocating life and the world’s destructive nature as we experience now, again.
Kate Arnold‘s spoken word stories evolve on waves of chilling synth soundscapes that actually ease one’s confused mind (mine, for sure) and transfer you to your space of imaginativeness. Trance massage it is. You’ll feel alive anyway.
Artists: DEAD AWAY Who: British duo project that sets the dark lyricism of Kate Arnold against the music and soundscapes of Marc Symonds. A mix of poetry, electronica and guitars. A heady brew of dark, glitchy head-messing wonder.
TUTV: The duo has a sort of enigmatically attractive power that creates an aural
curiosity. It happens once again with this new EP. In 4 songs, lasting only 8 minutes
all together (a bit too short, guys) they draw you into their heartfelt psyche, lyrically
and musically.
Expect a melting pot of trip-hop dynamics, industrial echoes, schizo guitar scratches, distorted synths, drum/bass reverberations and Arnold‘s spoken word musings.
Mind you, This Or Broadmoor is not some arty-farty piece of work. There’s an organic catchiness that massages your ears and mind gently and makes your hips groovin’ smoothly. Okay, enough talk from yours truly.
Kate and Marc took the time to guide us through This Or Broadmoor, track by track. Here we go,
fifty/fifty.
Kate: “The collection as a whole is around two themes: 1) the way older people (especially women) are viewed by society, and 2) generally taking stock of my own life so far.”
CRONE
. Kate: “I think ‘Crone’ is perhaps pretty self-explanatory – sure, the way women are
overlooked once they cease being viewed as of use sexually but also that their opinions
are often discounted due to their age, despite their experiences. Of course, this stuff
applies to men too – but I’m not one so can only speak from my own standpoint!”
CLOWN CAR
.
Kate:“‘Clown Car’ is me berating myself for spending all my years turning my life into poetry and lyrics, when, really where has it got me? Would it not have been better to have just shut
up and got on with it, like any normal person?
The meaning of the EP titles comes in here too: Broadmoor is a high security mental
institution/prison in the UK – and I genuinely feel that if I hadn’t found the ability to turn
‘every stray thought and feeling’ into something lyrical then I’d have been in real trouble mentally. I know Marc feels the same about making music, so it’s an extension of that
feeling really: it’s Dead Anyway, or Broadmoor for us! “
A FEAR OF EXPLOSIONS
.
Kate:“It’s a taking stock piece. It’s not a swipe at an ex; it’s more about learning through one’s experiences and the way those experiences shape you as you age. The ‘you’ it’s addressed to is any younger person, who may feel that age won’t ever come to them. As we all did, of course.”
ANOTHER NIGHT DONE
. Kate: “It’s quite simply, a list of my recent dreams that I was keeping! Marc came up with
a ‘groove’ one night in the studio and, seeing that he was on a roll, I just started putting them
to what he was doing and recorded the vocal there and then. It’s also, I guess, a nod to the EP title, since I’m aware that the whole lyric is fairly barking!”
Marc about the music:
“After writing ‘Unspoken Word’, ‘Partially Eaten by Animals’ and ‘Tough Listen’ in 2 years,
I felt musically exhausted. I genuinely thought that my best musical work was behind me and couldn’t see the point in any of it. Kate was still writing, however, and chose two tracks (‘Crone’ and ‘Clown Car’) from what she calls ‘the pantry’ of tracks I’d sent her over the years which she hadn’t already used.
This kicked me up the bum to come up with two new tracks, one of which (‘Fear of Explosions’) was written to a piece she’d already recorded into her phone at home (you may be able to tell this from the recording) and it was a real nod to how we were forced to do things due to Covid restrictions during the first 4 EPs and the first album!
The other one I wrote something brand new for, ‘Another Night Done’, came together
on the night – a first for us as we usually write separately. I really just wanted to create something that would make people dance!”
Orchestrator Robert Smith about
their supreme new opus.
TUTV: In the past 16 years Robert Smith lost his mother, father, and brother.
All these painful events led to this extraordinarily touching record. It’s one
long, emotionally layered lament that works liberating in the end.
Strong sentiments of heartache, grief, and sadness are omnipresent, but you
hear and feel frequently that Smith has accepted humankind’s inevitable destiny.
Live and die. Life and death.
Sonically, it feels like if you’re part of a funeral march that progresses in slow
motion. Almost every song starts with a long instrumental intro of waves of
mourning synths and weeping guitars, and every time when Smith‘s feverish
voice joins in, the sense of tristesse augments wondrously heavy-hearted.
5-star masterpiece!
SINGLE
ALBUM
. Instagram – All Albums
________________________________________________________________________________________________
TUTV: Musically, tattoo artist Carter and his accomplices have left their angry punk days behind them and moved closer to classic rock on this surprising and bold longplayer.
And it’s a truly staggering result with several melodramatic power ballads that generate goosebumps, and some stoner rock ebullitions to keep balance. Carter sings his heart out with monumental vivaciousness. A vocal tour de force throughout, dealing with up and down emotions.
Lias Saoudi (voice/face/wordsmith/poet/writer): ‘Forgiveness Is Yours,’ is about life as eternal contingency… about no longer suspecting, but knowing that this shit will never get any easier… in fact, it’s about to get a whole lot worse, your body’s going to go into decay and the people you love will slowly start dropping dead around you… but somehow, you’ve smashed enough
of your expectations thus far in life, you’re sort of fine with it… you accept it.The overarching aesthetic themes at work here are torpor and further torpor still.”
TUTV: Without a shadow of a doubt their most startling, and most creative/inventive accomplishment. Sounds like FWF have written/recorded the bone-chilling soundtrack
for an entertaining Doomsday party. Enigmatic reflections, dark deliberations, distressing vibes, a John Lennon tribute and Saoudi as the foreboding messenger and sinister poet in the middle of it all. It’s the end of the world, as we know it, and it feels like Fat White Family.
Cave: “There’s no fucking around with this record. When it hits, it hits. It lifts you. It moves
you. I love that about it. I hope the album has the effect on listeners that it’s had on me. It bursts out of the speaker, and I get swept up with it.”
TUTV: Cave is the God of cloak-and-dagger balladry. Now here’s a God I can believe in. Again he shows why he’s one of the best ever crooners in the universe. And lyrically it
feels as if, after so many devastating, heart-crushing years, with the loss of two sons,
he lets sparks of light back in his life. God bless Nick Cave.
TUTV: White returns to his punk blues roots of the early days. Swipe after swipe,
blue stripe after blue stripe, kick after kick, clap after clap. A total of 13 thunder
strokes. High-wired electricity. Dope stuff.
TUTV: The charismatic Lia Metcalfe‘s singular voice, both anxious and bewitching,
is all over this new, awe-inspiring full-length. Overall the sound is even more gloomy
and spine-chilling than on their debut from 2022.
It fits Metcalfe‘s introspective reflections on her turbulent past terrifically well.
They’re embedded in arresting songs that send shivers down your spine.
But, eventually, there’s a light shining
at the end of the Mysterines tunnel.
One that illuminates their future
and your stereo.
TUTV: The star duo made an album with lots of bright pop tunes and some blues light
ones. The licks/riffs and hooks – about a thousand – haven’t that BK’s raw and rough edge as we are used to, but I don’t miss it whatsoever.
The overall sonority leans more towards power guitar pop (slow, mid-tempo and only
a couple of fast ones). I never thought that the tandem would come up after 23 (!) years with a pretty different sounding, coherent longplayer, without ignoring their blues roots that is. I played Ohio Players more than their whole catalog together. Say no more.
TUTV: The three main elements that make this album special are Jeen’s remarkable
voice, her high-quality songwriting expertise, and the heart-and-soul passion that streams throughout it. Whether Jeen rocks out, muses, or swings moods, she always holds your aural attention.
TUTV: With Interplay their shoegaze past goes into the dustbin. Ride came up here
with a multi-layered pop LP stuffed with arousing tunes, alternated with pepped-up reveries.
All songs are sublimely orchestrated and bathe in a psychedelic jacuzzi,
while vocalist Mark Gardner‘s velvet vocals match the radiant atmosphere
exquisitely. It’s a new ride, and it’s a gratifying one.
TUTV: This first Mancunian collabortion sounds as if was made about 30 years ago.
Most tunes could be leftovers from The Stone Roses‘ 2nd and final 1994 LP Second Coming, the one on which Squire played his guitar exactly the way Jimmy Page did in Led Zeppelin for years. And Liam is Liam. Arms together on his back and letting his pipes do the talking. The two heroes just did what they wanted to do, making an album together and having fun doing it.
Before I was aware of it I had played the album about 10 times in 2 days.
Mind you this is not a masterwork whatsoever, but all 10 tunes are top-entertaining
and stick faster than I can say “I want the Stone Roses support Oasis on their reunion tour”?
SINGLE
ALBUM
. Liam Gallagher – John Squire
________________________________________________________________________________________________
TUTV: The Other Side is a concept record about a “mysterious couple” having
adventures in an otherworldly America. The by-now 76-year-old Burnett translates
their journey in lovey-dovey lullabies, heartfelt musings, and amourus ballads.
This is the perfect record for daydreaming and relaxation. Soft, mellow, and tender.
His slightly hoarse Americana voice enchants and entices all through this sepia-colored album. Pure romanticism. Pure songsmith.
Artist: JUJU (Italy)
Brainchild of Sicilian multi-instrumentalist
and producer Gioele Valenti. Album: Apocalypse Is God’s Spoiler
Photo by Turn Up The Volume
TUTV: Valenti is a jam champ and a groove master creating electrifying, trance-like vibrations that transfer you to the dark side of your mind where you can freely
fantasize and explore your own psyche.
Circling Krautrock-like psychedelia is all over the place. Choir chants and spacey percussion cause a tribal atmosphere à la The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. Mind-bending and dream-triggering. As always.
TUTV: After the turmoil, chaos and drugs addictions (especially Doherty) of the early
years, the side-projects, solo records and getting clean and healthy the Libs are back, again. They’re not the boys in the band of yesteryear, they’re now grown-up men who
enjoy a stable life and still are obsessed by making music.
They became notable, experienced musicians who left their hedonistic lifestyle behind themselves for several years now. Not one dull moment, not one dull song on the eastern esplanade.
TUTV: The Irishmen have become first-class songwriters (which they already proved on previous LP Skinty Fia– – still my favourite one). Frontman Grian Chatten‘s lyrics show (again) his observative view on this modern-day, confused world and how it affects
his inner-self.
This is not their masterpiece yet to my ears, but it’s only a matter of
time that they will come up with a longplayer that will blow us all away.
Turn Up The Volume: Old skool punk ‘n’ roll? Absolutely. Any good? You betcha! Amyl and her loud buddies made another roasting riff-manic-monster of a hell fucking
hell yeah record. Pogo madness is back. Sturm un drang from start to finish. HOLY MOLY!
Band:THE SMILE
Sort of supergroup featuring 2 radioheads, Thom
Yorke and Jonny Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner.
Album: Cutouts.
Their 3rd LP in just 2 years
(Radiohead 8 in 31 years).
TUTV: By far their best to my ears. On the previous 2 ones they tried too hard
to not sound like Radiohead (which they did frequently anyway) and did it with
too many redundant orchestrations, too many unnecessary layers and a bit of
arty farty structures here and there.
Mind you these are good LPs but on this one they keep it far more simple resulting
in 10 very compelling pieces of mesmerizing music. Trippy fast ones alternate with slow
musing ones and throughout the arrangements are subtle, direct and most entertaining with Thom Yorke sounding, yes, at ease, not forcing his compassionate voice/vocals. Bingo.
TUTV: Nostalgia is the keyword all over this fully devoted record. As we already know
for a long time Hawley is a romantic at heart who’s in love with his city Sheffield since
he was a child. It’s more than just his hometown.
It’s the place where he experienced all things good and bad, happy and sad. It leads
to yearning renumerations, fanciful daydreams and wistful meditations. With his soft-heartened voice and late-night stories, the late great Roy Orbison comes to mind on
several occasions.
SINGLE
ALBUM
. Instagram – All Albums
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– 18 –
Artists:DEAD ANYWAY British duo combining the dark lyricism of Kate Arnold
against the music and soundscapes of Marc Symonds. Album: Tough, Listen
TUYV: Slow/mid-tempo/fast trip-hop tunes are wrapped in layers of
distortion and feedback, creating an eerie and at times sinister ambiance.
Massive Attack, Tricky, Arab Strap and Mike Skinner’s The Streets
and Laurie Anderson‘s latest opus Amelia come to mind.
DA resonates as EBM for people who come alive when the darkness sets in, far away
from our 24/7 suffocating life and the world’s destructive nature as we experience now, again.
Kate Arnold‘s spoken word stories evolve on waves of chilling synth soundscapes that actually ease one’s confused mind (mine, for sure) and transfer you to your space of imaginativeness. Trance massage it is. You’ll feel alive anyway.
“The singular mixture of classic punk/hardcore and electronic styles result in 12 frantic tracks of postmodern pop for the genreless future. Painted with a broad pallet of only the most extreme hues of emotion, each track is marked by a distinctive danceable mania.”
TUTV: Let your head kicked in with schizophrenic disco sledgehammers for illegal raves in batcaves where dropouts, misfits, loners, eccentrics, bohos, and other related outsiders gather to move in mysterious ways, far away from the normal world.
TUTV: It’s vintage Shellac/Steve Albini with its wayward song structures, its
capricious and minimalistic approach, its broken riffs, edgy hooks, sinewy
drumming, Albini‘s firm vocals and the raw and rough post-punk dynamics.
Absolutely weird to listen to, knowing
that the noise wizard is here no more.
He passed away on May 7, following a heart attack.
Only 10 days before the album release. Sad loss.
Band:THE SMILE Who: Sort of supergroup featuring 2 radioheads, Thom
Yorke and Jonny Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner.
Album: CUTOUTS.
Their 3rd LP in just 2 years (Radiohead 8 in 31 years).
NME says: “The Smile return for more jazz-influenced,
experimental rock and they seem to be having more fun
than ever.”
TUTV: By far their best to my ears. On the previous 2 ones they tried too hard
to not sound like Radiohead (which they did frequently anyway) and did it with
too many redundant orchestrations, too many unnecessary layers and a bit of
arty farty structures here and there.
Mind you they are good LPs but on this one they keep it far more simple resulting
in 10 very arresting pieces of mesmerizing music. Trippy fast ones alternate with slow
musing ones and throughout the arrangements are subtle, direct and most entertaining with Thom Yorke sounding, yes, at ease, not forcing his compassionate voice/vocals. It all feels tremendously natural and blithely .
Margolin: “A lot of this album is about a more frenetic and desperate kind of love.
It is about completely losing my sense of self in a relationship, and the deep residue
of insecurity and pain that lingered and clouded a new relationship. There was a lot
of love and confusion, all interspersed with exhaustion and pain. All the songs started
out as poems. I wanted to challenge myself. ”
Uncut Magazine: “Sitting somewhere between alt.rock, indie-pop and a singer-songwriter album, it’s a neat balancing act that feels personal and intimate yet also sonically ambitious.”
TUTV: Spearhead Dana Margolin (guitar/vocals/songwriter) opens her heart and soul
again on this new longplayer. Following a toxic relationship, she recovered, rediscovered her own self, and looks to the future with confidence. As in the previous 3 albums she’s
as expressive and emotive about her turbulent personal life, even more explicit.
Sonically we get the by now familiar song structure. Slow start, building up the fervency, and finishing with haunting outbursts. But this time all pieces/tracks fall more into place than before. The songs have more body, are more elaborated and display Margolin‘s growing composing skills. Yes, it’s PR’s best effort yet.
An 8-track offering that traces the transformation of Long Island City, the part of Queens that Geni calls home. Situated across the East River from Manhattan with its stunning skyline views and now booming with skyscrapers, this place is haunted by its industrial past and friends who have moved on. These recordings explore themes of change, impermanence and loss amidst the city’s constant evolution.
Photo by Alice Teeple
TUTV: I really like the idea of Cities Built Upon Cities. An universal sign’ of the modern
times. Just google old photos of your own town and compare them with today’s views. Geni seems to have it done in detail with his beloved Long Island City and wrote eight
heavy-hearted songs about it.
Romantic reveries with real/surreal images of the past, present and future of LIC. Bittersweet, richly orchestrated, symphonies with his monumental voice – think of Perfume Genius, Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis and James Bay‘s bewitching vocality – taking them to sky-high heights, up there in the clouds, while floating over the city. This is the kind of record you listen best to with headphones on, dimmed lights and far away from our daily rat race. It’ll evoke mixed emotions about the place you love the most. Well, that’s what I experienced while listening.
Band: AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS Who: The punk rock whirlwind from down
under fronted by the utterly cool Amyl Tylor.
Kerrang! writes: “Added together, it makes for an instantly irresistible album
that – just like its opening line – is frank, fearless, funny and fucking fantastic.”
Turn Up The Volume: Old skool punk ‘n’ roll? Absolutely. Any good? You betcha! Amyl and her loud buddies made another roasting riff-manic-monster of a hell fucking
hell yeah record. Pogo madness is back. Sturm un drang from start to finish. HOLY MOLY!
TUYV: Never change a winning sound. As on their previous album DA keep on
drawing your aural attention with slow/mid-tempo/fast trip-hop tunes. But this time embedded in layers of distortion and feedback, creating an eerie and at times sinister ambiance.
Massive Attack, Tricky, Arab Strap and Mike Skinner’s The Streets
and Laurie Anderson‘s latest opus Amelia.
DA resonates as EBM for people who come alive when the darkness sets in, far away
from the suffocating day life and the world’s destructive nature as we experience now, again.
Kate Arnold‘s spoken word stories evolve on waves of chilling synth soundscapes that actually relax one’s confused mind (mine, for sure) and transfer you to your space of fantasies. Trance massage it is. You’ll feel alive anyway.
Kasabian‘s general Serge Pizzorno is a master in writing sing/scream-along stadium/festival belters. And the lead single of new, upcoming longplayer Happiness Bastards, is another ecstatic call to arms.
2. ‘Welcome To Your New Future’ by LEG PUPPY 2.0 (UK)
If you’re a party animal and you don’t know the self-proclaimed best Techno/EBM act in
the world LEG PUPPY, it’s about time you will because a new LP is coming up, baptized ‘Humanity 2.0’, and will signify a totally new beginning for you and them.
Welcome to your new future, all you survivors out there.
These fast up-and-coming indies from Leeds (UK) fronted by wonderful
voice Lily Fontaine prove their huge talent once more with this new pearl.
R&B is another wayward slice of ET pop intensity. It starts a bit like a Dry Cleaning
song with a rigid bass riff and Fontaine‘s spoken word vocals, but turns quickly into
a strenuous stunner fueled by schizo guitar frenzy and jittery percussion.
Lily Fontaine, Brugge, Belgium, 13 February – photo by TUTV)
4. ‘I Don’t Understand What Any Of You Are Doing’ by DEAD ANYWAY (UK)
This British duo combine the dark lyricism of vocalist Kate Arnold
with music and soundscapes of Marc Symonds.
Their new album, Partially Eaten By Animals is the best indie one of the month
in TUTV’s book, with trip-hop thrills all the way. Think Massive Attack, Arab Strap
and Portishead. I know big names, but my trained ears told me what they heard.
‘I Don’t Understand What Any Of You Are Doing’ will draw your aural attention on the spot.
Yokophono is a Finnish duo that hit the scene in 2020. Their music consists of energetic
dance-punk/indie rock songs. Their sound has been compared to the likes of Royal Blood, Arctic Monkeys and even Queens Of The Stone Age. Consisting of just drums and guitar they also rely on their catchy melodies.
Their new single Red a is wham bloody wham bam disco-punk juggernaut.
This Finnish tandem make you jump around like a kangaroo on acid. Distorted guitars
and banging percussion work close together to create a filthy disco-punk juggernaut.
Red triggers your limbs’ actions from the kick-off until the final beat. Inbetween you
can go berserk every single time the clamorous chorus hits your greedy speakers.
After 3 albums the Canadian post-rock-noise project of seasoned Canadian singer-songwritter-guitarist Laura Lee Schultz, backed by a tremendous bass/drum tandem return with this scorching Herculean shocker from their new, upcoming EP, titled Dirt,
out on May 3.
The heaviest parts of this quiet/Loud/quiet/Loud uppercut resonate like if British blues rock turbo Royal Blood having a fierce sonic fight with post-industrial-punk legends Killing Joke.
These 4 young Irish bullpits take you on a tempestuous ride with this new blazing blast.
Just like their countrymen Gilla Band, they look like 4 regular guys from around the block. But when they open the gates for Dead Sound they become 4 not-regular guys storming fast forward. A bumpy bass riff takes the haymaker on its back throughout the full course of its speedy rush.
The vocalist spits and sneers like Mark E Smith did his whole jarring career. The clamourus chorus is one that’ll start mospiths and when a psychotic guitar works its way to the front we get pandemonium. It’s also a loud and clear harbinger of an out-of-your-fucking head finale. Bingo master’s breakout.
Molly Horses left their basements only a year ago.
They produce elements of post-punk, krautrock, and Albini-esque noise rock.
With King Dundalk they take you on a dazzling rollercoaster.
All burners, all cylinders on. No rest for the bad man. Hefty.
You really need to check out these maddening motherrockers.
This fresh 4-piece outfit from the North Wales nail
it right away with their first cut Mourning Sickness.
What a superb debut. It’s a slow-progressing psych guitar jam rotating around an intoxicating riff that creeps under your skin without asking. Think of early Radiohead
days. Engrossing and riveting.
There’s an eerie vocal and electrifying tension in the air that makes you wonder when
the song’s intensity will explode. But it moves on like a serpent on a mission until the last second.
The reincarnated Ramones are back among us as 4 Ramonas fronted led by Australian songwriter (now living in Los Angeles) and musician Romy Hoffman. They make schizo, synthy, paranoid, post-punk with a dash of dysmorphic desire.
An absolute standout piece from the L.A.’s psych-pop gem from their brand new
full-length Loss Of Live. It features Christine and the Queens and turns out to be
a match in heaven.
Portland‘s dark-dance-wave trio say about their new single Impetus: “While creating this track, we all pushed our creative boundaries to write a song that reflects our desire to grow
as artists and people. This song encourages the listener to reflect inward. We hope to inspire ourselves and others to stop hiding. Stop waiting. Take one small step toward your goals, then another, and another. The time is NOW. Stop hiding your gifts. The world needs your passion.”
Impetus is a sensual mid-tempo electro-pop tease. Seductive,
flirtatious and tempting. Dim the light and move in mysterious
ways.
Sukie Smith is a songstress from London who has collaborated widely with artists, musicians and writers creating cross-disciplinary sonic work, exhibiting and performing internationally. She has released three critically acclaimed albums with her band Madam and toured throughout the UK and Europe.
Into The Light is a new compostion from her upcoming 4th album, named ‘The Glass Dress
and a Ringing Bell’ and will land on 8 March via Smith’s own label Shillingboy Records.
A song about leaving a turbulent relationship Smith found herself trapped in during lockdown, as Smith succinctly says, “I wrote this, then escaped,” with its focus a celebration of the jubilation felt in newfound freedom and the liberation found in the enlightening processes of recovery.
Into The Light grooves and moves pushed by dynamic eurythmics from the get-go, and keeps on cruising throughout its ablaze 3.07-minute duration. Glowing jingle-jangle guitar play, rock-solid drumming and Smith‘s impassioned vocals combine for a striking stroke.
The iconic Jamaican pioneer of dub reggae passed away in 2021, aged 85.
His final album, titled King Perry is now posthumously released. It features
vocal guest performances from Greentea Peng, Shaun Ryder, Tricky, Marta, Rose Waite
and Fifi Rong.
The musical project of Bo Barringer and Reuben Bettsak, have since their project’s inception in 2020, surfacing through the haze of a global pandemic and illuminated by the city’s darkest corners, produced steady and prolific beats across underground dance floors.
Their 3rd album, called A Kiss of the Mind,
is waiting in the pipeline for its imminent release.
First new shared piece Spiral Down is vintage synth-pop pulsation. Utterly infectious. There’s a shadowy side to it, but its bootylicious vibes, its subtle guitar riff, its shiny electronic waves and moony vocals combine for a spot-on EBM thrill.
Common Culture is a rousing, fiddle-driven alternative folk band from Barnsley, England.
They fuse traditional and contemporary elements into an upbeat and energetic
sound, their songs are full of catchy hooks, infectious rhythms and a party spirit.
The song serves as a poignant lament for the Earth’s dwindling natural beauty and a stirring call to action in the face of greed and injustice destroying the planet. It’s five to twelve, indeed. The majority of political leaders look the other way when these world-crushing issues come up. Some even don’t believe that our climate is changing drastically. More red-alert songs like this one are always welcome.
Bad Ritual is a Polish trio formed at the beginning of 2020 by three architects.
They play songs immersed in a dark and unsettling atmosphere. Their music is
a blend of indie-folk, swampy blues, and rock ‘n’ roll. It often evokes associations
with David Lynch‘s films, spaghetti westerns, and film noir.
They have their arresting self-titled debut album out now. Stream it here.
Standout track On The Road gets you in Bad Ritual‘s sonic/cinematic world. Its melancholic timbre and shiny guitar sparks, make me think of romantic glam legend Chris Isaak. Bad Ritual‘s idol David Lynch directed Isaak‘s Wicked Game video that featured flashes from
his 1990 Wild At Heart movie).
Leonardo: “I wrote this song after reading Nick Cave‘s reply (note: read below) to some of
his fans, who had asked him why he was about to attend the coronation of the UK’s king as
part of the Australian delegation. I love most of Nick Cave’s records and I consider him one
of the greatest songwriters ever.
I’m also a long-time Nick Cave fan. A truly remarkable artist. But attending King Charles‘ coronation? Disgusting. That guy nor his late mother never ever had something done to earn their status, they were born that way, they didn’t pay taxes for many years etc… It’s just as disgusting as Johnny ‘Rotten’ Lydon (the Sex Pistols‘ album the best punk one ever, in my book) voting for natural-born charlatan Trump. What is wrong with those millionaire artists?
That said Nicholas Palace is an infectious groove, a jagged jam, driven by an addictive riff with Leonardo‘s augmenting the funeral vibe of the song, think The Velvet Underground on a rainy day. Around the 1.30 min mark aggressive guitar play accentuates the ultimate end of Cave‘s birthday party.
TUTV: Expect slow/mid-tempo/fast trip-hop soundscapes, bringing Massive Attack,
Tricky, Arab Strap and Portishead to mind. Electronics and Arnold‘s spoken word flow
match perfectly. Her crystal clear voice floats all over the groovy synth dynamics, attracting your ears’ attention easily. I’m not always sure what her stories are really about, but that leaves a lot of room to follow our perceptive instincts.
Album artwork
The pair invited 2 guests for a short cameo, Dutch rapper Marco ‘Magieke’ Jansen (on Underbite) and versatile American artist Joshua Baumgarten, the frontman of Dutch counter-culture collective The Irrational Library (on We Are the Rudderless).
I know, the record lasts for only 17 (great) minutes, but the repeat button was
invented for this kind of situations, I know I used it for about 10 times now.
