NME: “Pop meets politics on their most adventurous record yet. It refracts the dystopian state of modern America through the prism of their lightest, poppiest record to date. The band lean into hooks and melody more than ever before.”
TUTV: The whispery vocal tonality founder/main songwriter/guitarist Zachary Cole Smith, aligns completely with the soft tone of Jason Lylte, the frontman of electro dream-pop collective Grandaddy. They easily could switch bands without confusing your ears.
I want to add that I’m a Grandaddy fan but not a DIVV one. The Brooklyn beatniks’
multi-guitar-layered shoegaze vigor differs from Grandaddy’s magnetic, melancholic attractiveness that captivates me.
Due to DIVV’s overall monotone euphoniousness, I’m not charmed by Zirp! Except for The Crash, Trillions, and Us Against You, notable for their more-than-average vivid verve,
Unlike their numerous admirers. I will not return to this album, unlike their many admirers.
Track: TO WHO IT MAY CONCERN
It’s been 8 years since APC released their latest album Eat The Elephant.
Then last May they unleashed new single Starless and were pretty active
at summer festivals.
TUTV: Their 2nd single in 5 months.
A moody, melodic and majestic piece
of music.
Band: FONTAINES D.C. Who: The high-spirited Irishmen who
are enjoying a supersonic career.
Track: TONGUE
After Marianne, the 2nd appetizer from their upcoming album
number 5. Dopamine Chamber will arrive on October 16th.
TUTV: Fontaines D.C can sound themselves differently. As they prove
here once again with this bass-charged midtempo jam, sounding as
if singer Grain Chatten‘s vocals were recorded in a garage.
Taster from her upcoming 13th LP, baptized The Orchard. Out in October.
A song about the intoxicating feeling of longing that comes
when you feel chemistry with someone, but aren’t sure if
it’s all in your head.
TUTV: The song’s footstomping, iterative, groovy drum/bass beat gets you in
a trance from the first listen. On top of the stream comes Nova‘s gentle and
crystalline voice. Transfixing pop ardour.
Band: VEDA RAYS Who: Indie duo from Philly, making ethereal indie rock rooted in dream pop, post-punk, and traditional shoegaze, with lyrics that explore liminality and abstraction, channeling subconscious impulses into the present moment.
TUTV: Veda Rays deliver some glorious guitar pop gusto infused with
a capriously catchy drive here, pepped up with expressive vocals and
a kinetic chorus. Striking stroke.
All the days go careening by
strangers replaced when we tried to hide
All the days went careening right by
capricious fates upending the ride/
capricious fates upending the ride
Artist: E.T. Who: Captivating singer-songwriter Eric Turner from Chattanooga, TN
whose music is built on honest storytelling that comes straight from the heart.
While he has spent time in several notable bands over the years, most of E.T.’s
career has been on the road as a solo acoustic performer.
TUTV: Get ready for some old rock ‘n’ roll time vibrations. A mix of boogie woogie swagger, pelvis-twisting Americana rock, galvanic guitar hooks and spot-on fitting vocals will get you in the mood to jump into a convertible Chevy oldtimer and hit the road, hair in the wind and playing this sepia-colored earworm. I won’t take you long to enjoy the ride.
Band: DIIV Who: Noisy shoegazers
from Brooklyn, NY.
Track: KID
Taster from their new, 5th full-length, entitledZIRP!.
Out October 30th. Tracklist and more info here.
New album artwork
TUTV: I could have sworn this is a Grandaddy song. Its soft, dreamy tonality, melancholic vocality and romantic timbre assured me of it. But, hey, it’s DIIV at their most relaxed.
Lokerse Festival, Belgium – August 2025 – Photo by Turn Up The Volume
Tomorrow, the band release a concert film, titled BOILED ALIVE. It’ll be
accompanied by a full live album, releasing both digitally and physically,
on CD and cassette. Detailed info HERE.
TRAILER
DIIV: “As a band we’ve always been at our best in a live concert environment.
We care as much about the quality of our shows as we do about our albums.
Filming the Frog set felt like a way to make our live show more accessible to
everyone and an opportunity to further build out the world of the album. We
hope you enjoy what we made.”
Not really my cup of tea, but their performance
last Friday at Lokerse Feesten – Belgium was
a pretty fuzzy and buzzy affair.
PICTURE THIS Photos by TUTV
Dive
Buzzzzy
Gazing shoes
SETLIST
1. In Amber
2. Brown Paper Bag
3. Soul-net
4. Under the Sun
5. Reflected
6. Horsehead
7. Taker
8. Take Your Time
9. Frog in Boiling Water
10. Somber the Drums
11. Between Tides
12. Blankenship
13. Doused
Quote: The band’s singer/songwriter and mastermind Cole Smith says: “I’ve known everyone in the band for ten years plus separately and together as DIIV for at least the past five years. On ‘Deceiver’, I’m talking about working for the relationships in my life, repairing them, and accepting responsibility for the places I’ve failed them. I had to re-approach the band. It wasn’t restarting from a clean slate, but it was a new beginning. It took time—as it did with everybody else in my life—but we all grew together and learned how to communicate and collaborate.”
Sound: A absorbing collection of profound and electrical meditations. From melancholic reveries to fully charged flare-ups. A varied melodious palette with tons of guitar layers reminding me at times of legendary noiseniks My Bloody Valentine, and a fully charged emotional shoegaze intensity at its gripping best.
