Boston‘s celtic punks DROPKICK MURPHYS cause
sonic havoc and massive sing-alongs since 1996.
Last weekend they unleashed their 13th album including two tribute
ones (2021 and 2023) dedicated to legendary left activist and folk hero Woody Guthrie (1912-1967).
Press info: “For The People shows courage and confidence, speaking up against
the injustices happening in the United States, doing so with the strength and power
that harkens back to Dropkick Murphys’ earliest punk rock roots. For The People is
more than a title. It’s a heartfelt stance, a declaration of who this band is, and who
they’ve always been.
For The People rises to its moment: an expression of humanity at a time of relentless dehumanization, a promise of hope in an era fueled by fear-mongering, a declaration
of solidarity in an age of disunion, a defiant rebuttal to the charlatans and demagogues
who seek to divide us for their own power.
TUTV: With every Dropkick Murphys album you can be sure of two things. Their never-ending support for the weak, the unwanted and the oppressed and their high-energy paroxysm. Once they ignite their Celtic punk engines they never look back and chase
the powers that be. In this case Trump‘s chaotic and discriminating administration.
Vocally they sound like a full army of blue collar soldiers. Accordions, flutes, aggressive guitars, frantic drums and their vintage full of vim and vigour choruses are soaked with
a combative call to arms, sinewy and muscular. Hail, hail!
Daily noise that works faster than a stream of caffeine
5 June 2025
Boston‘s celtic punks DROPKICK MURPHYS cause
sonic havoc and massive sing-alongs since 1996.
So far, they have 12 albums on their résumé, including two tribute
ones (2021 and 2023) for legendary left activist and folk hero Woody
Guthrie.
And #13, named For The People is waiting to be
launched on Independence Day, July 4. Info here.
The first clamorous, pumped-up chant we get is titled WHO’LL STAND WITH US?
A loud invitation to join DM and fight all money-and-power greedy autocrats. And
there’s a lot of them around, as we experience every single day.
Wake-up people,
oil your vocal cords
and kick some far-right
butt.
Boston‘s celtic punks DROPKICK MURPHYS turn
up the heat and crank up the decibels since 1996.
So far, they fabricated 12 albums, including two tribute ones (2021
and 2023) for legendary left activist and folk hero Woody Guthrie.
And here’s brand-new single SIRENS.
First track from a new album, that’ll
land next year.
Ken Casey (frontman): “For nearly a decade, the division has grown deeper, darker
and uglier — dividing families and ending friendships. Nobody enjoys this more than
the billionaires, who are making record profits off the working class. They love it when
we fight amongst ourselves, because their biggest fear is us joining together to come
after them…THE REAL ENEMY.”
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 tracks
added to this rad 2023 playlist.
The record is the second DM album that honors the late
working-class folk hero Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) following
2021 longplayer This Guitar Kills Fascists.
The lyrics come from Guthrie the music is by Dropkick Murphys.
And it’s another vintage Celtic punk rock party album.
Singles/clips: Cadillac, Cadillac / I Know How It Feels / Gotta Get To Peekskill
Daily noise that works faster and harder than any stimulant
2 April 2023
Last September American/Celtic punks DROPKICK MURPHYS launched their 11th album, entitled This Guitar Kills Fascists. The LP accentuated the sharp-cutting lyrics of the late great and heavily influential (ask Bob Dylan) American folk hero Woody Guthrie (1912-1967).
And 2023 will be as prolific as last year. Another album is canned with Guthrie stories interpreted by DM. It’s called Okemah Rising and arrives on 12 May. More info here.
They just shared a new peppery piece from that LP named GOTTA GET TO PEEKSKILL features veteran rockers Violent Femmes. It’s an anti-Ku Ku Klux Klan belter.
Brian Ritchie (bassist of VF): “We have always loved the Dropkicks’ aggressive
approach to roots material. They don’t need any help, but it was a pleasure to contribute flamboyant acoustic bass guitar. I was moved by the vocal interplay between Gordon and Ken. Mysteriously, the end result sounds suspicious like Dropkicks meets Femmes. Which is a good thing!”
Band: THE FEELGOOD MCLOUDS Who: Up-and-coming act from Germany mixing Irish Celtic traditionals with raucous punk rock sing-a-longs. Sometimes with a clear edge, sometimes with a good dose of humour, sometimes against confused ideologies, sometimes against thirst – but in any case always against the exclusion of people.
New single: BACK IN LIFE
Track from their upcoming, 3rd album
titled Dance With Broken Bones.
Turn Up The Volume: Holy Moly! If you can resist going bananas to this crackbrained belter you really need to change your meds or consult another doctor. Back In Life is a shake-and-quake booster, a head-over-heals burner with a punked-up polka whizz. You can scream along with your fists in the air and jump up and down like a kangaroo on dope. Firing guitars, glowing accordion and a mental singer with a hardcore voice. It’s non-stop full throttle towards the finish. Watch your backs Dropkick Murhys, these red hot-blooded German motherrockers are coming… fast.
1. ‘Twitchin’ in The Kitchen’ byWARMDUSCHER (London)
This punky-funky disco corker is the perfect pick-me-up tune for all the wacky
weirdos who are always in the kitchen at parties waiting for free drinks and waiting
for Warmduscher to come in and kick their lazy asses. Big stroke, big chorus, big fun!
The Scottish dance-funk-punk trio YOUNG FATHERS launch
their 5th LP called HEAVY HEAVY on 3 February.
Ahead of hit came this ridiculously sticky stunner I SAW.
A master blaster that makes your blood stream faster
through your veins. The addition of a choir in the back
works on the spot.
This London post-punk team unleashed their 2nd scorching album Beware Believers, last April. One of TUTV’s best full-lengths of 2022.
Slowly Separate is a schizo sonic serpent generating a mind-blowing backwash
while chainsaw guitars turn up the decibels to an illegal peak, and vox-in-the-middle James Fox rages and blazes through his teeth.
The by now legendary passion rockers from Cincinnati, Ohio with mastermind Greg Dulli leading the troops. Their new 10th LP How Do You Burn? was voted Best Album Of 2022 on Turn Up The Volume.
I’ll Make You See God was the lead single. A sturdy steamroller, a red-hot-heated juggernaut, an unstoppable cannonball going everywhere fast. Manic blitzkrieg
guitars, ruthless drum/bass attacks, Greg Dulli‘s rush of blood vocality, and a brutal
finish. Flabbergasting.
Dulli: “That’s one of the hardest rock songs we’ve ever done.
It was written and performed on sheer adrenalin.”
This frenetic Brit force hit big time with their dazzling
debut album The Great Regression last March.
Single I Am Kate Moss is a cast-iron brainbreaker. It’s a poignant, biting, and
anxious uppercut. I’m pretty sure Moss would love this hit-and-run drone when
it would hit her ears. She is, after all, the Femme Punk Fatale of fashion.
The Prophet progresses like a vicious viper sliding to its prey until a horrific explosion strikes you in the face. Next is a titanic bass riff that keeps the roller coaster turning with scary speed. This flabbergasting monster is part of their 2nd notable longplayer Trust No Leaders.
About: “As a story or metaphor, we are all ‘Frankenstein’s monster’ – made up of
other people’s opinions and parts that don’t belong to us. That we were born
perfect but people, in their own conditioning, come along and can make us feel
undesirable/inadequate/the monster. But we can choose to be real instead.”
This is without a shadow the best debut single of 2022.
A towering tune going low, high and back. A sickly sticky pop gem wrapped in
a big-boisterous wall-of-sound. And up front, Sianna Lafferty‘s phenomenal voice
causes goosebumps when she reaches for the sky on the chorus. The ardency of Porridge Radio comes to mind.
“I am not what you want me to be
Uncle Sam won’t even point at me
Even the eyes of the Virgin Mary wall
hanging won’t even stare at me.”
Kill Me Again, one of three pieces shared so far, is an infectious groove
propelled by a pounding synth/bass riff, spiced with Coxon on saxophone
and mesmerizing (duet) vocals. Splendid stuff. Bring on the LP.
This power pop sensation impressed big time with their self-titled debut album. The outstanding dingle Chaise Longue – catchy, funny and witty caused choirs of thousands of sing-along people at festivals this past summer as I experienced myself, not at Glastonbury (below), but in Belgium at Hear!Hear! fest.
After releasing her sterling debut LP last year, songstress Ilayda Cicek and her band
came back this year for a series of riveting concerts (I saw 5 of them) and this sublime single. Her passion, her vivaciousness and vocal fervency push this electrifying pearl
way up to the stars.
Where We Sleep is the alter ego of Beth Rettig,
former front force of electro-rock band Blindness
On this boiling groover Rethig rants non-stop with anger and frustration.
A nasty bass riff is the backbone here, while layers of menacing guitar
electricity augment this ripper’s rowdy roll.
A crystal clear statement, a menacing projectile.
“They Don’t Want The Truth / They Just Want The Power”
12. ‘Nothing Good Comes Easy’ by DEAD LEVEE (Canada)
What a wowzer! This uplifting motherrocker boosts your state of mind with
fired-up dynamism from the get-go. Rapid-fire rawk and roll riffs switch on
a fervent feel of euphoria. It did it in the past, it does it in the present and
it will do it in the future.
Despite all the BS we have to endure (pandemic, Ukraine, natural disasters,
and other threats) it’s never too late to get back on track and why not start
with 4 and a half minutes of heart-warming guitar-fueled boogie-woogie
that triggers hope and assurance.
Stoogefather IGGY POP still wants to be your dog.
He has his new – 19th – LP, named Every Loser
lands out next week, on 6 January.
Lead-single was the perfect harbinger. A motherfucker of a punk bomb
featuring an all-star band including Watt, Guns N’ Roses‘ Duff McKagan
and Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith.
I’m in a frenzy
Fucking prick
I’m in a frenzy
Goddamn dick
It’s been two years since these Scottish hound dogs made
my speakers tremble with their furious Johnny single.
But on their steamy comeback stomper they still have the same barnstorming groove and move drive. Something Good is a nasty rip-roaring-riff jackhammer,
annex agitated vocals, rotating in your head in an ear-blink. Think NYC’s darlings Interpol playing The Fall. Something good? Way better, something ace!
Geordie Greep (vocalist, guitar): “Almost everything I write is from a true thing, something
I experienced and exaggerated and wrote down. I don’t believe in Hell, but all that old world folly is great for songs, I’ve always loved movies and anything else with a depiction of Hell.”
A screwy zig-zagging haymaker it is.
From their head-spinning 3rd LP Hellfire.
“A paean to taking your foot off the gas and letting things slide, or a warning of the perils of procrastination, perhaps? It’s hard to tell whether ‘Mañana’ is meant to serve as a confessional regarding Domestic’s own perceived lack of willpower, or a celebration of idleness. It could be either of these things; and that’s one of its many joys.”.
A sirens intro, David Bowie‘s saxophone, and steel drums straight from Trinidad. Sounds like an exotic swing and shake ditty is coming up. No folks, it’s a lazy rap-sody you can play the morning after a booze marathon to get up and sober up, slowly.
Soul voice Clare Gillet takes care of the chirpy chorus.
These Welshmen released their new excellent album Druids and Bards
displaying mastermind Scott Marsden high-quality songwriting.
This impassioned hard-luck story is my fav cut. It grows slowly but surely into a soul-stirring and mesmerising heartbreaker with an epic finale. Glowing guitars, a steady drumbeat, and mixed-emotions vocals all come together for a poignant performance.
‘Love Is Cruel / The Hurt Within’. You can feel it.
This wholly charismatic and fast up-and-coming darkwave duo mixes Gothic Depeche Mode beats, with sonic Human League echoes, bass-synth-riffs à la German legends D.A.F. and spice it all up with spooky vocals. And it looks like 2023 will even be bigger than 2022.
After their eponymous bonkers debut EP (2020) followed by some staggering singles,
the high-decibels tandem nail it with another sucker punch. Leader is a funk-punk riff ripsnorter that kicks forth and back before a freakish guitar outbreak slashes and
trashes its way to the end.
Watch out for the pigman,
he looks like a meme in disguise.
“It’s a warning, an unflinching assessment of the vastness and insignificance of this
life, is precisely counterbalanced by their lesson, which models the resilience that this understanding demands. ‘Demolition Row’ is persistent, concise, and alarmingly physical.”
This blustery belter is vintage Metz. Full blast ahead. The track
featured on a split 7” with London-based group Adult Life.
From Dylan’s Desolation Row
to Metz’s Demolition Row…
Once I learned that this startling belter is about the horrible exploitation of human
beings by ferocious money sharks this jagged jackhammer blew my mind even harder than I heard it the first time before knowing about the band’s inspiration for this slam.
Expect rabid guitars, doom-and-gloom vocals, and frantic
twists and turns until the chaotic finale. Post-punk at
its razorblade best.
Jeen: “It’s about letting yourself drift in the flow of everything and hanging on as hard as you can to what makes the shitty parts more tolerable…I was thinking of that Hunter S. Thompson quote, “buy the ticket, take the ride.” It was written in April 2021, which was a rough part of last year for me. I needed to write something that reminded me to tread lightly, to forget about the heaviness of everything.
After only one spin, my ears told me that Chemical Emotion is an bewitching pop doozy. Jeen‘s emotive voice bewitches right away, the mid-tempo cadence emphasizes the meditative reflection perfectly, the compelling chorus brings Alanis Morissette to mind, and overall the orchestral sonority and the layered harmonies lead to a thrilling triumph.
Oscar Mic wrote this song after witnessing the horrific violence of
psycho Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine on the news. All proceeds of
the song weent to Save The Children’s Ukraine Appeal.
We Are Ukrainian is a vivid hp-rap-pop anthem featuring steel drums
and timpani balancing somewhere between Roots Manuva and Mr. Scruff.
“Fleeing people running scared, so tell me Where’s the justice? Our leaders say they care,
tell me can you trust this? Urban warfare, your home’s done and dusted, Aiming at the
public, they wouldn’t? They just did,”