The British music and culture website/magazine (one of Turn Up The Volume‘s favorite sources) that focuses mainly on alternative music, arts, books and movies for 12 years now, revealed their TOP 10 of BEST SONGS OF 2022.
1. ‘The Only Way I Can Love You’ by SUEDE (London, UK)
Turn Up The Volume: My ears fell in love with these Irish noise-challenging mavericks when I first saw them explode in my hometown of Ghent, Belgium back in 2014 (a year before their debut LP) when they were support act to the mindblowing Fat White Family in front of a handful of spectators.
Three LPs and several excorsistic live seances later you can call me a fanatic fan.
With their new bulldozing full-length Most Normal I experience another horror-ific combination of watching a surreal David Lynch movie soundtrack while I’m tied up on
an electric chair. It all starts with paranoid shocker The Gum followed by two cast iron sucker punches (Eight Fivers/ Backwash). So far so Gilla normal.
But here and there they throw some obscure what-the-fuck-is-going-on soundbites
in the mix (Gushie / Capgras / Red Polo Neck / Pratfall) that can wake up the death on Halloween and the way Dara Kiely howls I’m sure his demons want to get rid of him,
instead of the other way around. Panic time.
Before you run away screaming their magnetic sonic power holds you back
with some vintage GB thrashers (I Wash Away / Almost Soon / Post Ryan).
In 1975 late genius Lou Reed released his sickly deranged anti-record label
LP Metal Music Machine. Gilla Band have their own metal music machine
album now, bur it’s one you can listen to without the risk of brain damage.
Singles/clips: Eight Fivers – Backwash – Post Ryan
Early this month psych rock virtuoso Anton Newcombeand his orchestra
released new LP Fire Doesn’t Grow On Trees. Their 19th and one of their
best to my keen ears.
Ila is a Belgian post-punk trio fronted by bewitching songstress Ilayda Cicek.
Last year they had their stunning debut album Felt out, containing one of the
best singles of 2021 with Leave Me Dry.
Brand new piece Live To Love confirms
the immense intensity of ILA.
They are here to stay!
“This song is about a friend that you loved but just cannot be near. They always get
into trouble, always cause drama/fights, make a bunch of empty promises and get
you to do a bunch of intense stuff for them without getting anything in return.”
It’s a blazing bass/drum tandem that ignites this jiggish jackhammer with ardency
and flamboyance and keeps on steamrolling for the full 140 seconds.
And when an avid Amazon jumps in with pithy and bouncy vocals
you know, you feel and you hear straight away that we have a winner.
6. ‘Baby, I Had An Abortion’ byPETROL GIRLS (UK/Austria)
Last month this raging feminist post-hardcore 4-piece unleashed their 3rd album
named Baby. A badass beast of a record mixing raw power, mouthy screams, and a tsunami of loud and clear messages.
In the light of the incredible Roe v Wade debacle, disrespecting women’s fundamental
human rights, this LP’s sassy slam is a middle finger to all anti-abortion idiots.
American film soundtrack composer DANNY ELFMAN has a new album
out, titledBIGGER. MESSIER., on 12 August with reimagined versions of
songs from his last year’s Big Mess longplayer. More info here.
It features guest vocals from Trent Reznor, HEALTH, Zach Hill
of Death Grips, Xiu Xiu, Squarepusher, Ghostemane.
And the omnipresent Iggy Pop joined the fun too with this kick-ass jam.
These psycho-billy maniacs produce a wall-of-holy-smoke havoc on this horror-ific haymaker with sawing guitars, punk turbulence, hellish vocals a pulverizing chorus.
This razzle-dazzle master blaster races and rushes with vivid vigor and fervid
firmness. Punk ‘n roll at its razor-sharp best. And when the towering chorus kicks
in the sky-screaming vocals go through the roof. Amazeballs energy in overdrive.
If this Krautrock-like rotating electro ripper doesn’t trigger
your body, mind, and senses you need to change your meds.
Its repetitive rhythm mesmerizes and stupefies. Its sickly sticky synth swirl is simply irresistible and its magnetic voice brought the late great Talk Talk leader Mark Hollis
to mind.
On this Herculian stroke metal, shoegaze and classic guitar rock mania (think Eddie Van Halen and Neil Young‘s Crazy Horse) meet with forceful effect, while Rachel Bacon‘s vocals float above the giant raucousness. Bystander is a slow-burning torch, a powerhouse with mammoth riffs. Hefty score from their sterling 5-track EP Spiralized.
The obscure slow-progressing synth/guitar intro could easily be the shadowy intro
theme of a film noir starring this duo – Hana Piranha and Mishkin Fitzgerald – as Femmes Fatales with spine-chilling voices that cause a sensation of puzzlement and perturbation strengthened by the heavy metallic reverberations in the back.
When you look glamorous, move glamorous, and sound glamorous,
you have my attention in a flash. This London’s colorful gang’ new wallop
mourns the loss of heroes such as Tom Petty and genius Bowie.
Its avid flow gets under your skin from the get-go. A voltaic retro-resounding
guitar goes solo midway and challenges the somber mood. And Amazon Jo-Jo spices the ripper with her notable rock voice.
High-passionate mavericks The Afghan Whigs from Ohio
with general Greg Dulli upfront will share their 9th longplayer
named How Do You Burn? with the world on 9 September.
A Line Of Shots is one of the brill tracks we heard so far off the LP.
Vince Grant is no stranger to Turn Up The Volume. His dedication to darkwave
is infectious as he shows again here with his new shadowy single. Sonically you still
hear Joy Division and The Cure echoes.
Too Close To The Sun is an addictive melody at heart locked in tenebrous eurhythmics. Think of lots of The Cure hits (Close To You / Friday I’m In Love / Lovecats and so many more). They were experts in writing uncomplicated pop tunes and made them sound instantly captivating.
Grant also unites aural catchiness with shady musicality including
a melancholic saxophone solo in this new composition. Top.
Two weeks ago New York City‘s darlings dropped their 7th LP titled The Other Side Of Make Believe. In my aural opinion their best
since their 2002 debut.
Kilguss‘s voice is just amazing. Resonating somewhere between the magnific
voices of nightingales Angel Olsen and Sharon Van Etten. Yes, that is amazing and Great White Shark is also a heartfelt sort of musing that those two emotive ladies love. Say no more.
He tears open
From the heart
From the root
From intuition
He tears open
From the gut
From the soul
From inner vision
Concert: Handelsbeurs venue, Ghent belgium – 18 July 2022
Five reasons why Turn Up The Volume was shocked and loved it.
1. Motormouth Dara Kiely is The Exorcist of post-punk pain.
You can feel his agony physically. FACT!
2. Bassist Daniel Fox operates in an bubble of his own creating bone-crushing
mayhem without blinking an eye. He creates fuzz/buzz blasts with 4 strings.
3. Alan Duggan is the chainsaw guitarist of this demonic quartet.
He cuts songs in pieces, one by one, with his maniacal noiz.
4. All together they produce a brain-breaking
brouhaha, people in straitjackets try to pogo to.
Watch/listen.
5. Their brand new single Eight Rivers causes, yes, shockwaves.
Kiely (vocalist) “‘Eight Fivers’ is about being out of touch with modern circumstances
while feeling socially limited. Never fitting in and kind of proud of it. Stuck with what I
have and happy for it. Being grateful and not fashionable, self-conscious and too aware
of what is lacking. Accepting that jealousy has played a big role in my life but trying not
to feed into it.”
I love these raw and rough post-punk mavericks. Their staccato sound,
the demonic voice of frontscreamer Dara Kiely, their chainsaw guitars and
electro crushes cause a casting out experience. Minacious and manic.
TURN UP THE VOLUME 