I guess lots of people only know DEXYS (previously named Dexys Midnight Runners) from their giant 1982 hit Come On Eileen (more than 806 million streams on Spotify), but the now 72-year-old mastermind Kevin Rowland has done so much more in his 52 years in the music biz.
The most recent Dexys album The Feminine Divine,came out in 2023. A masterly crafted record featuring a song called MY SUBMISSION, one of the best love ballads I ever heard.
Happy Valentine.
[Verse 1] And I will worship and adore
In every way
And I will do as you will
[Chorus] Oh I’m yours
I crave your smile
And I always will
You, you, you are everything
You, you, you are my world
And I, I will give you all you want and more, so please
[Verse 2]
Now you own me
I’m trusting all to you
I’m scared, but I’m excited
You could disown me if you choose
And leave me completely alone
I’m trusting all to you
You have the power now
I hope you will look after me and I will be your pet, to do with as you will
[Chorus] Oh, I’m yours
I crave your smile
And I, always will
You, you, you are everything
You, you, you are my world
And I, I, I’ll dedicate my life to serving you
Well, another year has come to an end. A year stuffed with a tsunami of striking tunes
and stunning albums, as TUTV already displayed on its 2023 best-tracks and best-albums lists.
But that was just a fraction of this past year’s superb music extravaganza. Let’s go out with
a big bang. 20 Top Tunes from 20 Top Albums that made our ears go bonkers in 2023.
Suppose David Lynch wants to make a Spaghetti Western then this wistful lullaby should be part of the soundtrack. I’m sure he would like it for the shadowy vibe, the psychotic sinner (he likes psychotic sinners) and for the guitar reverberating sparks, thinking that’s it his fav nostalgic Casanova Chris Isaak on guitar (note: Lynch directed Isaak‘s Wicked Game video that featured flashes from his 1990 Wild At Heart movie).
The stirring Throwing Muses/50 Foot Wave songstress has her
new solo LP, titled Clear Pound Road out on 8 September.
Hersh about the song: “I lived on Constance Street in New Orleans
when that song’s story happened. Buying slips in the Irish Channel/broken
prince in fluorescent camo is a very Southern day. I was born a hick and
I guess I’ll always be one.”
It’s a subtly groovin’ beauty
with Hersh poetic storytelling
adding a magical touch.
This Dutch-American rock band has its roots firmly planted in both the regional
and international counterculture. They produce a raw, dirty groove influenced by
punk, Provo, and punk icons. Their poetry is packed with social criticism.
The IL have canned their 4th LP. It’s named Good Busy and arrives via Floprecords, digitally on 11 September and physically (vinyl/CD) 4 days later.
This first single is a tremendously catchy and melodic tune that mesmerizes from the kick-off. Stimulated by a sparkling and melancholic guitar riff à la Kurt Vile, a foot-stompin’ beat and word-smith Joshua Baumgarten‘s expressive storytelling, it becomes an electrifying pop gem, after a couple of spins. One for which the repeat button was invented for. One that invites you to stop for a while and look around to find the light at the end of the tunnel.
No retirement yet for the imperishable, now 72-year-old, pop-rock songsmith.
From the early 70s on he wrote/recorded/released a countless number of LPs
featuring several masterpieces.
Last February the Los Angeles‘ psychedelic garage pop/rock darlings
released their 5th longplayer Islands In The Sky. Their best ever to
my satisfied ears.
I Am A Wave is a new standalone single.
It’s a haunting mid-tempo psych jam, a sonic torch in the dark. The combination of the characteristically high-pitched Bloomgarden vocals, her 60s-sounding Hammond organ, the weeping guitars, the howling backing vocals, the steady drum beat and the glowing finale is just riveting and engrossing.
This is not a Mexican wave, it’s Bonnie‘s wave.
Follow her flow, she’s really kind of amazing.
This sharp-rap-cutting Los Angeles duo released their highly acclaimed riot-gun album Mid Air last month. This 3rd single is nothing less than fucktastic, with a sickly sticky flow, a killer guitar riff and the tandem’s adrenalized vocality.
The kawaii metal girls teamed up with Rage Against The Machine
guitarist Tom Morello for this new head-banging blast. Their mix of
glam metal, pop-punk melodies and pithy/screamy vocals are an
infallible formula.
The title track is the 3rd appetizer. A happy-go-lucky summer tune.
Irresistibly infectious. These two manoeuvres in the dark still come
up with vitalizing electro thrills.
The accompanying video is an animated spectacle, that features a nod to the imagery
of various sci-fi films, notably Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Run Lola Run, and Blade Runner.
9. ‘Your Side Of Town’ by THE KILLERS (Los Angeles)
Following their underrated 2021 album Pressure Machine and last
year’s single BoyLos Angeles‘ pop champs return with a new gem with
a vintage, nostalgic Killers flavor.
Asalone is the solo project of singer/songwriter/producer Adam Stanley Putzer from Buffalo, NY.
His new song is a reflection on returning to the place you
grew up, only to feel like a stranger in your own hometown.
Uplifting tunes like this one are always welcome on my busy headphones.
It’s a richly orchestrated melody that grabs your aural attention straight
away with its jaunty piano touches, scintillating guitar play, a bracing refrain
and last but not least Asalone‘s impassionate voice.
Amplified pop melancholia is what you get here.
Don’t be a stranger, enjoy and embrace the shadow.
11. ‘Fingerprints’ by : TREMENDOUS (Birmingham, UK)
Fingerprints is a post-break-up love song starting slowly and smoothly, only with
frontman’s Dudzinski‘s heartbroken voice and his weeping guitar, but 45 seconds
in, the emotions and the decibels go up and turn the song into a goosebumps power ballad, proving once again that lovesickness can lead to compellingly cathartic music.
Think the romantic vibes of The War On Drugs mixed with Noel Gallagher‘s raw guitar
play of the early Oasis days. To my persuaded ears Dudzinski has a torch-burning gem
on his hands. In a normal world, it would be a hit. Hands down.
Common Flaws is the solo project of Giacomo Oberti,
the singer/songwriter from Italian synth-pop outfit The Bankrobber.
Cosmic Dance offers ambient vibes, jungle-esque drum beats, scintillating
synth sparks, and echoing vocals. It trips in your mind from the get-go.
Its tempting, playful flow and its melodic resonance have a tranquilizing
effect. A dream-stimulating effort.
This London-based quartet formed in 2019. They blend psychedelia,
shoegaze and post-punk influences into their music.
Prize is the first 2023 music following a couple of new ones
last year and their excellent 2019 debut album Infinite.
I wonder if they invited Interpol‘s stellar guitarist Daniel Kessler and
give him a license to overdub the guitars at play on Prize. The result is
a wall-of-shoegaze vibrancy that progresses in slo-mo and grows in
intensity along its route, with foggy vocals all over it.
More melodic than My Bloody Valentine, tighter than Slowdive. Is it real or
fantasy? No idea, but who cares when it’s as ear-and-mind pleasing as this.
Small Circles is an indie act from Cardiff, Wales. Inspired by the early New Wave movement, they infuse elements of Punk, Blues and Grunge into their genre-bending sound. Their music has a distinctly queer, underground feel, finely balancing heavy grooves and breakdowns with catchy hooks and choruses.
Mirari tackles all war-greedy political leaders. You can feel/hear
the anger, the frustration and the in-your-face rage on ExtraTerrestrial.
Its cast-iron slow-mo drones, its vocal aggression, its ear-piercing guitar furor
and its razor-sharp Mirari rap sequence combine for a volcanic knockout.
We need big miracles to end all the Warshit!
15. ‘The Light At The End Of The World’ by IAN WILLIAMS (UK)
Williams started his music career in Edinburgh (Scotland) in the mid 1980’s as a founder
of Beautiful Pea Green Boat, whose ethereal, atmospheric sound pre-dated the vogue for dream pop by at least twenty years. He is now based in London and more recently, he has worked with singer Claudia Barton aka Gamine, releasing two albums of dark, piano-led torch songs and lullabies.
This new piece will feature on his new, forthcoming
full-length ‘Slow-Motion Apocalypse’, out in October.
Think Vangelis sharing ideas with Tangerine Dream and Jean-Michel Jarre.
Cinematic, with spacey, melodramatic vocals. It could be part of the soundtrack
of a nature documentary about an eagle flying between the sea and the sky. Proud, mighty, fearless and untouchable. These are the images I see on my screen in
my mind.
Stress Dolls is the moniker of alt/pop/rock artist Chelsea O’Donnell.
Her new single is a fully electricity-charged stunner with O’Donnell
expressive vocals adding a poignant resonance.
The dream-pop duo from Brighton, UK enthrall with their new musing that
will be part of the new, forthcoming album, named Internal Noise, out in
the autumn via Austerity Records.
It features the vocal harmonies of Jack and Lily Wolter,
both from the band Penelope Isles, while Jack also
drums on it.
Singer-songwriter Mark Benton encapsulates his psychologically and physically
crushing insomnia experiences in a bittersweet and melancholic pop tune that
babbles like a sparkling brook, yet underlying this humdinger resonates as if
the after-effects of the sleepless years are still wandering around. In the end
here’s proof again that music can be healing. Beautiful.
The Cincinnati heroes fronted by Matt Berninger, their songwriter
and one of the best crooners of the modern age released their 9th LP,
named First Two Pages Of Frankenstein last April.
Last week they dropped two new gloomy ballads to keep
the momentum going. One of them is Alphabet City.
Now, after 45 (!) years, several line-ups and several hiatuses Dexys released (only)
their 6th album, the highly entertaining and feel-good full-length The Feminine Divine.
Mastermind Kevin Rowland celebrated his 70 birthday a couple of weeks ago,
and still has the gift to write a goosebumps balledis about. My Submission is
a diamond of a song.
KEVIN ROWLAND was born in Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, UK. Happy 70 to the magnificent voice/songsmith of Dexys Midnight Runners, later shortened to Dexys.
They formed in 1978 and got their first triumph with the 1980 soul-infused
debut LP Searching For The Soul Rebels featuring No 1 hit Geno.
Two years later they gained massive attention with their 2nd longplayer Too Rye Ay
with million-seller single Come On Eileen which topped the US and UK charts. More than
553 million streams on Spotify so far.
Now, after 45 (!) years, several line-ups and several hiatuses Dexys released (only)
their 6th album, the highly entertaining and feel-good full-length The Feminine Divine.
To celebrate Rowland‘s 70 birthday, I’m not going to play one of the golden oldies.
Instead, I’ll spin (for the umpteenth time) the new goosebumps masterstroke balled
off the new LP, named MY SUBMISSION. I listened to it at least once a day since it came
out as a single at the end of last month. Here we go for the 6th spin of this festive day.
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.
Check the 10 new rad cuts just
added to this rad 2023 playlist.
TRACK-BY-TRACK
1. ‘Listening To The Higsons’ by SPARKLEHORSE (US)
Mark Linkous, the conductor of Virginia band SPARKLEHORSE
left this world too soon. He took his own life back in 2010, at the
age of 47.
The album he was working on, named Bird Machine, at the time
of his passing, will be launched on September 8. Linkous’ brother
Matt and sister-in-law Melissa have been working on finishing
the LP.
This 5-piece trash-and-slash pop-punk combo from Nashville, Tenessee
(punk in Nashville) hit bullseye with their recently released debut LP, titled SUPER SNÕÕPER released through Jack White‘s label.
An unbridled punk fun record with all headbutts, except for one,
shorter in time than an average Ramones track. Gabba Gabba Hey.
Pod is a perfect example of the band’s Riot grrrl
infectious chanting. Think the B-52s on acid.
This merciless sledgehammer is the 1st single from these British gunsligers’ 3rd EP, named ‘The Humour In Hell‘, landing
on October 6th.
“Sabbath Town is our love letter to Birmingham and
an obvious nod to the kings of metal Black Sabbath.
‘The whole thing behind this punk rock is to stimulate noise’
The question is, will your speakers survive this brutal in-your-face projectile?
Well, to find out, press play and as OZZY proposed to his BS bandmates before
they started out: “there are movies made to scare people, let us
make music that scare people” you know what to expect below.
Think Sisters of Mercy and Depeche Mode having a wall-of-synth-rock-sound
competition. Trace Amounts has both a vicious and sickly sticky flow accentuated
by its titanic resonance and agitated vocals. Perfect to start and end (il)legal
raves with.
Giordano Giacchetti (lead singer) says that the lyrics are a cathartic expression of anger and disappointment, emotions that everyone experiences at some point in life. The track serves as a reminder that sometimes, we need to let go of the pain and disappointment we feel toward others or even ourselves.
This Italian hit team nail it with this big riff-insane
rock banger that explodes on the Herculean chorus.
6. ‘POV / Are You Watching Me?’ by TRIPLE A (Belgium)
📸 by Robin Gevaert
Sharp-cutting post-punk turbulence from Belgium. A jittery jackhammer
with a drop-dead cool bass riff, neurotic guitars, high-strung vocals and
a what-the-fuck chorus.
Good Man is a peppery piece from their 2nd EP coming up in 2024.
I guess you know that band named Bruce Springsteen and The E-Street Band, right?
If not, you never ever left your cave and, it’s about time to discover their rock ‘n’ rolling, glowing-organ and Americana-bliss-infused ardency as echoed here in this ridiculously catchy earworm.
And so much better than THE1975, although respect for what they did in Malaysia.
Now, here’s an idea, maybe THE 925 should fly to Malaysia and kick some homophobic
ass over there.
Oluja is a versatile electronic artist from Ontario, Canada. He describes his sound
as adventurous, lyrical, detailed, intense and progressive. He mashes up different
styles in his current works, including Black Metal, Folk, Electronic and Experimental.
This new extended piece puzzles me. Should I Kill Myself? is a scary thought, of course,
but you don’t expect that mindfucking pondering as a song title, yet we know that more people than we think are tormented by this very question.
But (there’s always a but) the cynical, dry humor lyrics and contagious poppy melodiousness makes you feel… alive, until halfway that is when the pace slows
down and the tone gets sinister and resonates like a mourning religious prayer.
Lyrically, this is not a happy song. It relates to the central concept of William Blake’s Songs Of Experience – it bemoans the corruption that
inevitably comes from adulthood and longs for a return to the purity
of childhood.”
Sonically, it’s a bittersweet symphony that enchants.
A stunning diamond of a romantic ballad from the new album,
titled The Feminine Divine by long-time famous soul-pop combo DEXYS led by mastermindKevin Rowland
Gripping.
Shivers down your spine.
Classic songwriting.
Famous British soul-pop combo DEXYS (1978–1986, 2003–present, and known
until 2012 as Dexys Midnight Runners) led by mastermindKevin Rowland released
their 6th LP, titled The Feminine Divine
AllMusic says: “Nobody expects him to go back in time and deliver another classic
album like Too-Rye-Ay, but it doesn’t seem too much to ask for him to make a record
that has more zip than this. That being said, it’s always good to get another transmission
from the heart and soul of Kevin Rowland, even one lacking the sweat and excitement he usually delivers.” Score: 3.5/5.
(Press photo)
TUTV: The 4 first songs are easy-going, feel good, sunlit tunes. But from track 5 on
until the closer Rowland takes a soft turn with bluesy musings and emotive lullabies.
Overall nothing to get wild about. It’s a relaxing record for relaxing moments. And
that’s fine by me.
Singles/clips: Coming Home / My Submission / I’m Going To Be Free
It’s PART 4 of Turn Up The Volume‘s yearly hot summer playlists.
A mix of new and old tunes. A mix of adrenalin-infused punk/rock
anthems, dance fireworks, and some moony musings to end the
party when the sun comes up.
Frontman Bobby GillespiePRIMAL SCREAM and Kevin Rowland from DEXYS got together in support of British railway workers with a soul-and-heart stirring ballad named ENOUGH IS ENOUGH after a campaign to fight the cost of living crisis by trade unions and community organisations determined to push back against the misery forced on millions by rising bills, low wages, food poverty, shoddy housing – and a society run only for a wealthy elite.
Info: After a plea from theNational Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union Twitter account to Dexys’ Kevin Rowland, an amazing collaboration was born between Primal Scream and Dexys to create a fundraiser for the RMT with an original song called Enough is Enough The song was inspired by both the RMT and the nascent Enough Is Enough campaign. As such, all proceeds go to the RMT dispute fund and huge thanks and eternal gratitude go to both bands, in particular Kevin Rowland and Bobby Gillespie, and also to former The Jesus and Mary Chain bassist Douglas Hart for producing a wonderful video.
Buy the track HEREand support people/families in alarming need.
The accompanying clip is manifest, crystal clear and
expresses the anger and frustration of exploited workers.
