Grian Chatten (frontman/songwriter) who spent time among the faded grandeur
of Venice, Vienna and Sicily in search of lyrical inspiration: “I think Romance was maybe
60 per cent human and 40 per cent corrupted by automation, and a loss of feeling.
This one feels more like 60 per cent corrupted — the mask is wearing the face a little
more. I felt it would be more powerful to leave the hope out and reflect the ugliness
honestly. This one needed to feel more like a catastrophic warning.”
TUTV: Their first 2 LPs were afire ones, the ones young gunslingers make, full of vim
and vigour and stuffed with muscular barnstormers. With their third album Skinty Fia
the growing-up Irishmen showed signs of change of course, sonically and lyrically.
The 4th full-lengthRomance confirmed their new direction completely
and now with Dopamine Chamber they created/crafted a masterpiece.
A strings sweeping, orchestral, gloom/doom triumph. More cinematic, designed synth arrangements, less youthful guitar upheaval, more in-depth reflections about what worried Chatten sees and hears around him in this dark era.
His ruminative tonality and affecting storytelling timbre are on his most entrancing
button. This sign of the times exploit will spin on my headphones for a long time. One
of the most fulfilling records of 2026.
Press info:Fat Dog have created an exhilarating, swaggering, panoramic, inventive,
re-inventive, re-re-inventive electro-punk-art-pop-rock’n’roll-space-country triumph that deserves all the adjectives. Over ten mind-bending and melodic tracks, it blends electro-pop anthems, cascading rave bangers, cowboy-tinged pitstops and swirling psychedelia.
TUTV: Fat Dog are barking at the same tree. They use their prize-winning formula
of their debut again, and it works fabulously piquing. Electro-punk pyrotechnics accompanied by boosting bass riffage, drubbing drum beats, crescendo-going vitality,
and Joe Love‘s pressurizing vocals combine for another tiring 24-hour party where you
can chase your tail all night long.
It would be a major blunder to cancel them.
Never modify a victorious dog team.
Let’s go to the races with FD.
Artist: JOHNNY MARR Who: The former The Smiths‘ guitar hero, who played afterward
several years with Modest Mouse, also with The Pretenders, Brian
Ferry and many more.
Marr: “This is the record that’s been the most cathartic. The title came to me early in the process and became an inescapable idea. It seemed to sum up the way I think a lot of people are feeling. It’s all encompassing, but it’s not necessarily a negative statement. There’s a sense
of overwhelm in the culture brought about by technology, but looking at it with a different light, there could also be a sense of possibility.”
TUTV: Arguably his best solo effort. A series of top-drawer tunes, action-packed
guitar riffs and sparkling hooks, as usual, with vocal striving. This charming man
made a notably arresting record, up there with The Smiths‘ better work.
Press info: While rooted in synthpop, THING constantly drifts into darker territory, pulling in elements of post-punk, darkwave, industrial and EBM. It’s an album shaped by two very different musical personalities: one drawn to urgency, noise and momentum, the other to restraint, atmosphere and reflection. Somewhere between those poles, WHOLE found its most direct and cohesive work yet.
Lyrically, the record revolves around a simple but increasingly relevant question:
what makes a human being human? In an age of algorithms, profiles, AI and endless
self-optimization, where exactly is the line between a person and a thing?
TUTV: Overall, Thing sounds like wandering aimlessly in a puzzling labyrinth.
Many ways to walk, many ways to lose yourself, only one way to freedom. WHOLE are looking for answers in this world’s growing AI spider web. Who or what are we, really?
The duo shifts from industrial textures to darkwave dynamics, from gloomy goth to doomy
post-punk percussion, from Die Krupps to Bauhaus, from Nosferatu to Lebanon Hangover. Participate in their sonic odyssey; it’s a worthwhile adventure.
Band: KIDS WITH BUNS Who: Belgian dream pop duo, featuring Marie Van Uytvanck and Amber Piddington.
“We started out with Kids With Buns at age 18 and 20 respectively, and we were
not trained musicians by any means. To be able to put that complete puzzle together.
The arrangement, the songs, the production everything contributes to the whole of
a song.
We have had the privilege of learning it by doing it, from the bedroom to the stage. And we see the potential in each other’s ideas where no one else would.”
Album: BELL JAR
Their 3rd. Recorded in Philadelphia.
The album title is a direct reference to the famous semi-autobiographical
novel by American author Sylvia Plath (1932-1963).
KWB: “The theme of The Bell Jar is how every process in your life is actually circular,
regarding the healing from mental health issues. When things get better, they will also
get worse, and at some point, that becomes a very present theme in our lives. We felt
that we kept falling into certain patterns.”
Pukkelpop Festival, 22 August 26, photo by Turn Up The Volume
TUTV: Once again, we can hear/experience how heartfelt music can generate
a healing force after a break-up and hurting lovesickness. These two wonderful
buns also channel their crestfallen feelings through their singer-songwriters skills
in the hope of a cathartic recovery.
Marie and Amber enchant with guitar-sparkled musings, with warm vocals and
breezy harmonies. Dream-pop tranquillity with a rehabilitating outcome. Enlivening
tunes and ambivalent lullabies alternate throughout this falling down, standing up
record. Bittersweet symphonies for twilight moments.
Press info: “Over ten mind-bending and melodic tracks, it blends electro-pop anthems, cascading rave bangers, cowboy-tinged pitstops and swirling psychedelia. Into its lyrical orbit, the record pulls mentions of addiction, family ties, love, AI, ancestry, extra-terrestrials, Chris Tarrant, S&M, B&M, H&M and M&Ms.”
Mojo says: “Exhausting. But that’s the point.”
TUTV: Fat Dog are barking at the same tree here. They use their prize-winning
formula of their debut again. Electro-punk fireworks accompanied by boosting
bass riffage and drum beats and Joe Love‘s pushing voice. Their crescendo-going
vitality sounds both very familiar and still very inviting to crash the dancefloor and
chase your tail.
Artist: JOHNNY MARR Who: The former The Smiths‘ guitar hero, who played afterward
several years with Modest Mouse, also with The Pretenders, Brian
Ferry and many more.
Marr: “This is the record that’s been the most cathartic. The title came to me early in the process and became an inescapable idea. It seemed to sum up the way I think a lot of people are feeling. It’s all encompassing, but it’s not necessarily a negative statement. There’s a sense
of overwhelm in the culture brought about by technology, but looking at it with a different light, there could also be a sense of possibility.”
Clash Magazine says: “The Mancunian icon confronts modern
malaise and uncertainty with restless, life-affirming rock’n’roll.”
TUTV: Arguably his best solo effort. A series of top-drawer tunes, action-packed
guitar riffs and sparkling hooks as usual, with vocal striving. This charming man
made a notably arresting record, up there with The Smiths‘ work.
Louder Than War (UK) writes: “Six albums in and Blossoms are now at the level
where they’re filling arenas. Lyrically, songs come from day-to-day observations of
life, in particular, the process of becoming a different person once you get married
and settle down. The songs are laden with their trademark melodies, harmonies
and backing vocals that make them feel timeless.”
TUTV: The album’s title could easily have been one from a sugary love songs
compilation from the 60s. As it happens with many weddings poppy tunes make everybody hit the dancefloor.
Blossoms could be your fav band for your post-wedding ceremony party. Their feel-good, body-activating melodies are sickly sticky and instantly digestible. You don’t need to marry to pirouette around the Blossoms’ matrimony cake.
Band: THE FALL Who: The notorious Manchester post-punk gang
fronted by the late, crackbrained Mark E. Smith.
Album: POST SCRIPT
It features unused vocal recordings of Smith dating from 2001 to 2014.
Press info: It features 9 previously unreleased tracks from the band’s later era, Post Script finds The Fall at their rawest and most restless. These songs carry Smith’s caustic wit, hypnotic repetition and jagged post-punk energy with the same snarling authority that defined the band for decades.
TUTV: As a Fall fan, I’m not really impressed by this posthumous album. Several songs sound like demos, unfinished and chaotic, but not the chaotic The Fall way we know, and that makes your ears go berserk.
Mind you, overall it’s not a total hit-and-miss washout, but there’s so much great, galvanic, and anarchic The Fall music boisterousness out there to listen to again and again, and Post Script falls short of being special in the band’s mind-boggling catalogue.
Smith once said, “If it’s me and your granny on bongos, it’s The Fall”.
It seems like granny left the band a while ago.
TUTV: Back to the future with The Crystal Teardrop. They flew back to the swinging 60s; they bought records by The Mamas and Papas, The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, Love and other related legends, then returned to the present and wrote/recorded/released their own sonic vision on swirling psych-pop-rock.
Sticky tunes, colourful choruses, layered vocals and jangly guitars mix organically
and turn Love You More in a brisk collection of entrancing thrills. The 60s were, still
are, and will always be an incorruptible inspiration for pop-ular music.
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.
“The song is about the chaotic, toxic, and explosive dynamic between
two people who constantly fight and treat every argument like the end
of the world.”
TUTV:Fat Dog sound like pitbulls going off their heads in a nightclub. When the chorus kicks in they start barking like mad. This spiked blast invites you to join the four-legged punks.
Inspired by the uncomfortable and often absurd world of the online Manosphere,
the song employs satire, defiance and a healthy dose of irreverence to call out the
culture of misogyny, insecurity and misinformation that exists within these online
spaces.
TUTV: Wowzers. Once under your skin, this non-stop roasting rocker drives you
out of your aroused mind. A blistering cadence, greedy guitars, whomping drumming
and a devilish chorus work tightly together for this crackerjack barnstormer.
Standout track from their brand new 4th full-length, named Hiareth.
TUTV: 8-and-a-half-minute bittersweet symphony Wich Way The Weather is the grand centrepiece of the LP where the band peaks with gripping intensity and orchestral
voltage, turning this staggering jam into a truly stupendous opus.
Band: NRVS Who: Mysterious post-punk outfit “with a nightmare-normal vision of the near future, that you can dance to”. Ideologically they are confrontational, unapologetic, existentially on the edge & uncompromising in their beliefs – all of which is reflected in their creative output, whether it’s music, visuals or their involvement in Extinction Rebellion & similar protests against the status quo.
While we’re all busy putting out fires in our everyday lives, governments
and leaders around the world are accumulating tanks, bombs & drones.
Photomontage by Peter Kennard
TUTV: Ominous. Dark. Feverish. So 2026. This goosebumps alarm has a striking impact, growing in chilling fervidness. Anxious vocals accentuate the tune’s foreboding theme. Monumental sonic warning for more evil to come. Fuck all political psychopath leaders.
Band: BODEGA Who: Zesty indie-dance
rock team from NYC.
Track: WEATHER ME
3rd taster from their upcoming 5th album
titled All Inside Aquarium. It’s out October 9th.
Tracklist and order detailshere.
Album artwork.
TUTV: These New Yorkers are at their best when they trigger all of your limbs
and make you get up, stand up, and thwirl you out of balance. C’mon, arise.
Awake your muscles, people.
TUTV: Amps up. Decibels up. Heat up. Both feet on the punk gas pedal.
This uproarious haymaker, spiced with punchy vocals, makes you wanna
know everything about these Berlin gunslingers.
Artist: BAD WITH PHONES Who: Artistic moniker for Manny T Deroy, a South London
musician/bassist/producer. A one-off, a future of weirdo
pop, R&B, rap and post-punk.
Manny stopped carrying a phone for six months, as a sort of social experiment to see if he could live in the 21st century without one. “I wanted to see why we all feel so obligated to own one, smirking as he recalls the annoyance of all the friends who struggled to reach him.
T Deroy: “I wrote Human for my son who passed away days after he was born. The whole thing felt like an out of body experience. ‘Human’ is about birth and death respecting the way life plays out. I could rationalize that maybe the kid got all they needed from the planet maybe they thought they didn’t need to experience any more.
We all go through things in life no one’s exempt from a heart break. I’m glad I was able to express my experience, and I genuinely hope it is a help to anyone who’s experienced something similar. I believe if you have life, you should celebrate it and ultimately the song is a celebration of life. It’s my anthem to liberation of all kinds.”
TUTV: Hello? Listen up, people. Human is a highly impassioned reflection about
the traumatic experience of losing your son shortly after birth. Its rappin’ flow, soul-stirring vocals, and overall sticky tempo have a long-lasting effect on your psyche. Gripping song.
TUTV: Leg Puppy 2.0 is back from never being away and still constructs techno EBM for night owls who are addicted to 24-hour parties. Don’t be sorry, man, you’ve made it for 10 years now. We’re thrilled that you still produce beeps, bleeps and banging beats to make our stereos go nuts. Leg forever Puppy.
Artist: DREW FIVE Who: A versatile musician from London who creates/records electronica,
ambient minimalism, neo-classical and post-rock. He’s also half of electro
pop duo Feral Five and Dice Machine.
TUTV: Back to the raving 90s with this mid-tempo chemical bros pelvis-shaker.
Its psychedelic-infused and ambient-juiced groove causes a hypnotic effect on
mind and body. Move your furniture and display your best moves.
TUTV: BC are around for 27 years (OMG, time flies), and they still come up with
swirling pieces of entertaining vibes. Okereke‘s energy is as awe-inspiring as on
Day one.
Artists: PRINCESS UGLY Who: Two misfits – J. Christopher-Rome and Christopher Moncrieffe – from Portland, OR
who are influenced by goth, post-punk, darkwave and adjacent genres. So far, the tandem has released two albums and 2 EPs.
“The new single presents lyrically as an existential, ontological horror supported by EBM-influenced instrumentation. We are compelled to always work, and we will be consumed by the work. We work to create, only for our creation and the work itself to gain autonomy, stalk us, prey on us. We are pursued and controlled by them, endlessly.”
TUTV: Welcome to Princess Ugly‘s underground batcave where darkwave-addicted clubgoers gather to move in mysterious ways to non-stop techno beats and creepy vocals. The Work is sonic nutrition for EBM night owls. Preferably consumed in the midnight hours.
Artist: SOUTHPAW GRAMMAR Who: Singer-songwriter and producer from Derby, UK. He delivers
high-energy live performances and a sound that feels both nostalgic
and urgently contemporary. His music speaks directly to the realities
of working-class life while delivering dancefloor-ready grooves.
“The song tackles political tribalism, online hostility and economic inequality without descending into slogans or partisan rhetoric. The song reflects on how quickly neighbours become opponents, friends become ideological rivals and public debate collapses into accusations and insults.”
TUTV: This UK garage grime piece brings The Streets‘vibrant vibes to mind. Trouble Coming bounces around in your head after a couple of spins. Its groovy flow and chantlike chorus generates swaying body motion.
Southpaw Grammar looks at our collapsing world and, as (almost) all of us, he sees messed-up societies all over the planet where intolerance, bigoted extremism, and narcissistic politics dictate our lives. Suffocating trouble is already here; the only way
to survive is in togetherness.
Band: INDIGO SYNDICATE Who: Nashville-based trio that blends alternative, pop, indie, and soul influences.
The group has carved out a lane that feels both genre-fluid and intentional. They
released their debut full-length Sasquatch this year, in January.
The song explores the small moments that make
absence of your lover feel impossible to ignore.
TUTV: My ears hear enticing Big Thief folk and harmonious I’m From Barcelona echoes. Howling At The Moon‘s growing catchiness turns this acoustic gem into a sticking ditty that puts a big smile on your face all day long. Romanticism in motion. Mood-stimulating beauty.
“I know you love me, but I’m overthinking / In my head / I miss you in our bed /
Ever since you left / The house is quiet so I keep on singing,”
It’s the first song the band wrote together and is the only track on the EP
not previously released. The song’s lyrics deal with the discovery of mortality
as a child and explore the void it leaves behind, before landing on something
that feels like acceptance.
TUTV: This burning torch jam smells like slow-mo Nirvana spirit. Rough vocal passion, grungy guitar rawness and overall sinewy emotionality. Ardent ardour is the key word leading to a highly appealing captivation.
Who: Alt-rock project from multi-instrumentalist Peter W. Bartash built on the idea that who we are on paper is not who we are in reality, exploring existence through a sonic lens of post-hardcore, shoegaze, and alternative metal.
TUTV: Zealous guitars are embedded in a delirious and expressive melodiousness. On the mighty chorus, the all-consuming vocals echo the immense vehemence of the late great voice Chris Cornell. Say no more.
Band: KIDS WITH BUNS Who: Belgian dream pop duo, featuring Marie Van Uytvanck and Amber Piddington.
Track: BEST FRIEND
Newest single from their forthcoming sophomore LP,
named Bell Jar. It’ll land on October 16th.
TUTV: These Belgian buns know exatcly how to entice with peppy pop melodies which
invoke a feel-good, sun-lit vibe with smooth guitar riffs and warm duet vocals.
Track: LA BLUES POOL
Preview from their upcoming EP.
Details TBA.
TUTV: The ghost of early Velvet Underground wanders all over this slo-mo jam. Gloomily orchestrated and ominously progressing, with Adamczewski‘s obscure vocals augmenting the sinister sonority of this truly notable piece of music.
“The song is about the chaotic, toxic, and explosive dynamic between
two people who constantly fight and treat every argument like the end
of the world.”
TUTV: Vintage Fat Dog. Built up, explode, built up, explode.
If you’re having a Shit Life or not, go bonkers to this boosting
barker.
Joe Love (frontman) was inspired by John Lennon’s song ‘How Do You Sleep’ combined with
what Anatolian rock experimentalists Altın Gün would sound like if they were under siege from a thumping club beat.
Track: COWBOY ON AISLE THREE
Piece for their upcoming self-titled debut full-length,
which comes our way on September 25th.
Harry Hanson (frontman) says: “I came up with the idea when I was in Lidl.
I’m sure everyone has thought, ‘Imagine if I just went nuts now,’ to get out of
doing the big shop.”
Five London disco-punk cowboys teamed up during the awful 2020 lockdown year
(many bored youngsters decided to do so, to kill time inside) and started FAT DOG.
Last year, they showed up for the first time with bombastic banger King Of The Slugs and several singles later they dropped their debut LP WOOF. One of the best debuts of 2024. And if you can catch them live (like I already did a couple of times) don’t hesitate to go out and have a ball with them.
Anyway, before embarking on their umpteenth tour, we get
a brand new frenetic flamethrower, named PRAY TO THAT.
Get on your knees, folks, and adore the dog priest.
TOUR
7/31 – Diepholz. Germany @ Appletree Garden 8/01 – Katowice, Poland @ Off Festival 8/02 – Waterford, Ireland @ All Together Now 8/06-10 – Winchester, UK @ Boomtown 8/08 – Cornwall, UK @ Boardmasters 8/10 – Budapest, Hungary @ Sziget Festival 8/14 – Paredes De Coura, Porgugal @ Vodafone Paredes de Coura 8/15 – Charleville-Mézières, France @ Cabaret Vert 8/16 – Crickhowell, UK @ Green Man 8/22 – Northampton, UK @ Shambala 8/23 – Málaga, Spain @ Canela Party 8/24 – Paris, France @ Rock En Seine 8/27 – Sheffield, UK @ Utilita Arena * 8/31 – Seattle, WA @ Bumbershoot Festival
9/02 – Sacramento, CA @ Starlet Room 9/03 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop 9/04 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room 9/05 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy + Harriet’s 9/06 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah 9/07 – Las Vegas, NV @ Swan Dive 9/20 – Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees 9/22 – Raleigh, NC @ Kings 9/23 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery 9/24 – Philadelphia, PA @ Warehouse on Watts 9/25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Market Hotel 9/26 – Somerville, MA @ Warehouse XI 9/27 – Montreal, QC @ Toscadura 9/29 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison
11/01 – Manchester, UK @ Aviva Studios
(Day Of The Dog Halloween Special) 11/06 – Reykjavik, Iceland @ Iceland Airwaves 11/08 – Kortrijk, Germany @ Sonic City
Band: FAT DOG Who: Disco-punks from South-East London who gathered during
the Covid-19 depression. They released their smashing debut LP,
named WOOF.
last year.
The band said, jokingly, that they want to compete at the Eurovision Song Contest of 2035 with this song. The big question, of course, is ‘will the world still turn in 2035?‘ as devastating wars destroy lives every single day on half of our planet and the future doesn’t look bright whatsoever. One can only hope… and sing/dance/jump along.
Unquestionable standout from the Irish indie
stars’ much applauded 4th LP Romance.
TUTV: Intense jam, rollin’ on with a bone-chilling flow and
frontman Grian Chatten raps all over it with his characteristic
uptight parlando and grasping for his breath every time the
refrain comes on.
Part of their upcoming 5-track EP
that’ll land early next year.
“Progress is a song about changing places, people and times.”
TUTV: Epic. Grandiose. Staggering. Amplified guitar-pop at its mind-blowing best.
One of those not-everyday puissant killer tracks overwhelms your emotions
from the first spin.
Piece from their forthcoming second longplayer, baptized Never Exhale. It’ll hit the streets on 25 January 2025.
TUTV: Taximan does your head in the way we, brainbangers, like it.
Bam Bang Boom. No mercy for the wicked. Manic mayhem as usual.
You’d better check out if Robert ‘Travis’ De Niro is behind the wheel
before taking a cab.
The song is about rediscovering old lovers after a night out from disco(theque) to disco(theque), with references to The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan and his excessive
drinking, and a legendary Belgian crooner.
TUTV: Full steam ahead from the get-go. All engines on. Decibels up, amps up.
The breakneck speed and the relentless synth/percussion riff make your head
spin 360°. I dare you to catch up with this missile all the way.
Band: LAMBRINI GIRLS Who: A two-motor punk bulldozer from Brighton, UK who have built
a notorious reputation over the past 2 years, on record and on stage.
Cut from the duo’s upcoming debut LP Who Let The Dogs Out. Out next year, on
January 10.
TUTV: Without a shadow of a loud doubt, one of the grrrlz’s best stormers so far.
An amazeballs wall-of-nasty-guitar/bass hullabaloo, a ruthless octopus drummer
and Phoebe‘s best vocals. Hell-tastic.
‘True love is nothing more than the wrong hill to die on”.
TUTV: The jaw-dropping vitality these volcanic Irish beatniks develop here is off the charts. They build a near-unbearable tension and explode insanely, time after time, along the rough ride. Vocalist/songwriter Karla Chubb knows terrifically well how to double your adrenalin production.
TUTV: Dog Dribble operates somewhere between Yard Act and Sleaford Mods.
Its limbs-activating groove is simply irresistible. Get up, stand up, and fight
for your right to bounce up and down like mad.
Band: FAT DOG Who:South London-based gang that made thousands
and ‘true love is nothing more than the wrong hill to die on”.
thousands of ears go bonkers with their first-rate debut
longplayer Woof.
TUTV: A ballistic disco-punk whopper to end and start all (il)legal
raves with. When the huge orchestral injections blast out of your
vibrating speakers you know that these misfits are your new
favorite dogs. Hallelujah!
One of the stellar singles from their
new, third, album Insight.
TUTV: Drums and bass team up for an incessantly beat that carries
this instantaneously infectiuos trip, along with a magnetizing Cure-esque guitar riff that gets you in a trance.
Truly hypnotizing from start to finish with velvety vocals
and darkwavish synths in the back adding a twilight tone.
TUTV: No, this is not a New Order song but it could easily be one, actually a stellar one. Summer Breeze sparkles from the very start to finish with scintillating guitar riffs, zealous percussion, shiny synths and Gibbard‘s eager vocals. It’s a pure pop pearl for all seasons.
Artists: ARROWS OF ATHENA (Boston, MA) Who: A pandemic project that found its two main players – multi-instrumentalist and producer Scott Lerner and vocalist and lyricist Jac-Lyn Gibson – reuniting after the latter spent some time away from music, Arrows of Athena are crafting a distinct sound on
their own terms, bridging usually disparate ends of the pop and rock spectrum for an illuminated sound of big dance beats, heavy riffs, and melodic intensity.
On this song the duo explores the mental and emotional work required
for a successful marriage, and how we’re often careless with love.
TUTV: I’m quite sure that Arrows Of Athena are huge fans of former Swedish glam and glitter pop duo Roxette. The bliss and blitz at play on Reckless Heart is sonically similar. Sizzling guitars, battering drums/bass grooves, sensuous vocals and a peppy chorus combine here for a power pop pearl that flames lustrously. Orchestral melodiousness, fiery 90s spirit, and musical. An invigorating joyride.
TUTV: This is a psychedelic shoegaze stunner, a multi-layered symphony
propelled by about a thousand guitars, a mindboggling bass riff, and combative
drums, while Rebecca Dow‘s ghostly vocals come from another galaxy.
TUTV: What’s in store for humankind. Nuclear war or peace and free love?
Or will we be just another brick in the wall? Whatever happens, never stop
pirouetting yourself dizzy to Leg Puppy.
We don’t need your education
We don’t need no your thought control
TUTV: The most energetic, exciting, pizzazy band around. Cooking on record and on stage. Sultry garage rock for party animals. This is my absolute favorite of this years Boomerang LP. Chipper tune.
TUTV: Think Cypress Hill fronted by Zack de la Rocha, rattling like
a rapid-fire riot-gun. An avid anthem that celebrates freedom and
invites you to shout along while pumping your fists in the air.
TUTV:Hallelujah rages against the anti-LGBTQ
haters with knives between their teeth and an
unstoppable drive.
“To express oneself, now expressly forbidden/ That’s a spiritual hell, that’s
a new prohibition/ And they’ll boil you down to reproductive function/ When
they see you as a vessel and not as a person!”
Track: Anna Save A Life
. TUTV: A manic motherrocker from a duo who sound as a 4-motor hit-and-run team. Riff-o-rama all the way while bashing drums do your head in. Garage punk ‘n’ roll at its filthy best. Call your own Anna and challenge the anti-decibels police.
TUTV: Wham bloody wham bam. Expect a sharp-splitting punk rock juggernaut. Amps up and full steam ahead. No rest for the wicked with this razor-blade cutting, head over heels bombshell spiced with sneering vocals. Wham bloody wah-wah guitars bam. Scrunched Up Fist hits your face really hard. Hurry-scurry stroke.
Band: SOFT SKIES INC Who: Philadelphia-based identical-twin duo and longtime musical confidants Ryan and Martin Rex, their shared sonic compass draws a straight line from the
classic alternative of their youth to the modern alternative and dream-pop of
today.
A song of hope, riding those tender waves of nostalgia, understanding that a loss of innocence comes with age but that we emerge from the other side with newfound perspective and awareness.
Melodic guitar pop at its Sebadoh best. Uptempo shoe-slacker-gaze
spiced with scintalling synths and ethereal vocals. Start dreaming in
overdrive.
TUTV: Just Like Everybody Else is a glorious, full-orchestrated pop gem, that transfers you in an eye/ear blink to a sonic dreamland with its affecting melodiousness, riveting chorus and warm-hearted vocals. Three highly-entertaining minutes and twenty seconds with Spielmann
Band: ILA Who: Vigorous Belgian rock quartet led by formidable singer-songwriter/guitarist,
with Turkish roots, Ilayda Cicek who’s blessed with a unique voice and shares
unadulterated emotions, sonically and lyrically.
TUTV: The imperishable cliché is totally accurate here. No fillers, all killers. Heartfelt ardency in motion. 12 heart-and-soul stirring pieces of poignant music that put you in
a feverish trance. Cicek‘s devout voice is the seductive heroine in the middle, surrounded
by a rock-solid band that got better and better over the past couple of years. You can hear/feel her genuine vocal/lyrical passion throughout this highly emotionally striking record.
Prominent artist, high-quality songwriting,
astonishing debut, very bright future.
SINGLE
ALBUM
. Instagram – Apple Music
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Band: FAT DOG Who: Five London disco-punk cowboys
who found each other during the awful
2020 lockdown year.
NME said: “Unserious, unhinged and sensational London’s must-see
live band justify the hype with a reckless and raucous debut album
pumped full of adrenaline.”
TUTV: Expect a punk disco drone machine with a, yes, Eastern music-inspired sultriness
on the orgasmic choruses. This turbulent ride will create maddening moshpits around
our messed-up planet with people who desperately want to escape their straight jackets and the exhausting rat race as we know it, at least on the weekends.
They build up their songs, then zigzag their way to a mind-blowing refrain, smack them
down afterward, and start all over again. This barking gang is chaotically awesome,
on record and on a podium.
SINGLE
ALBUM
. Instagram – Apple Music
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Pitchfork wrote: “Sprints channel rage into communal uplift Letter to Self
is a bracing, frantic record designed for both thrashing mosh pits and solo
meltdowns, best heard with the volume turned up loud.”
TUTV:‘Letter To Self’ landed on the first official album release day of 2024
and is still spinning regularly, out loud, on my headphones. These Irish
indies burst with astounding vehemence and sharp-teethed gusto. Their
high-voltage riff-rippers trash and slash along their build-up/break-down
course.
Schizo guitars, unrestrained bass/drum forcefulness, and Karla Chubb‘s
borderline vocality combine for exorcistic flare-ups. Sprints hit the scene
with a big bang on record and on stage. They’re here to stay. Fact!
Pitchfork said: “The Iceage frontman experiments with a newfound sincerity and
an Americana-inspired sound, searching for beauty in the small and insular.”
TUTV: We already knew from his work with Iceage that Elias Rønnenfelt is a genuine
singer-songwriter-performer and he confirms that status on his debut with engrossing
pop songs, slow and fast, intimate and upbeat.
He’s a romantic at heart and wraps his personal daily-life impressions, desires, demons, going-ons and anything that impacts his existence in through-and-through heart-melting stories and melodramatic melodies.
Artist: KIM DEAL Who: For those who lived on another planet the past years, Kim is best known as the utterly cool bass player of indie
icons Pixies and from her own band The Breeders, featuring
her twin sister Kelley.
MOJO (British music monthly) said: “Nobody Loves You More is a singularly
uplifting, life-affirming listen, where joy and despair, love and loss, are irrevocably
entwined, and kept afloat by Deal’s unfailing lightness of touch.”
TUTV: In the past Deal wrote/shared some of her self-made songs without any real attention from the outside. Now, finally she expresses her mixed emotions about past
and present personal experiences on a full debut LP with several meditative, moony,
and subtly orchestrated reveries. All charming songs for a quiet winter night inside.
Deal‘s slightly hoarse voice is instrumental. Its tender-hearted aura creates a relaxing ambiance, interrupted now and then by more uptempo, upbeat tracks like stand-out
vibe Crystal Breath, the vigorous guitar-frisky Disobediece and the buzzing Big Ben Beat
jam. Forget those past bands, Kim, come back solo. Nobody loves you more than TUTV.
TUTV: No pop tunes, no songs about the bees and the trees. This album is stuffed with manicial mind-fuckers and badass brain-breakers that trash and slash your poor stereo relentlessly and mercilessly. The maddening man in the middle, mental vocalist Jasper, screams and howls, and spits and sneers, with bone-chilling and psychotic horsepower.
Think Kurt Cobain with 4 lungs, fronting a hellish hardcore gang featuring 3 other ruthless punks on an ear-splitting mission. No brakes, no breaks. No rest for the wicked. Ronker is
a barbaric force, their singer is an out-of-this-normal-world performer, their debut is a flabbergasting monster. AARRGGHH!
Band: BAD RITUAL Who: 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.
TUTV: As mentioned in their bio this trio’s music has a shadowy cinematic film noir resonance. They offer songs for the midnight hours, songs for nightclubs where misfits, loners, marginalized characters and dropouts seek some human warmth and a free drink. The tone is melancholic, the timbre is heavyhearted. Think glam legend Chris Isaak, famous crooners The National, and moody Bad Seeds moments. Splendid debut.
TUTV:Virgins take you on a flight at supersonic speed way up into the sky above the clouds, where reality becomes surreality, where layers of seventh heaven shoegaze symphonies blast from the space shuttle’s speakers. For 40 phantasy-stimulating minutes, you’ll forget all about what happens down there, on our dramatically disturbed planet.
Layers of glowing guitars, hallucinatory vocals, and an overall lyrical sonority will trigger your fantasies and will make you feel floating high(er) forgetting all about our daily, mind-boggling rat race.
NME:“The fantastic and the everyday collide on this landmark debut – an adventure in
sound and words. What you have in ‘This Could Be Texas’ is everything you want from a
debut; a truly original effort from start to finish, an adventure in sound and words, and
a landmark statement.
TUTV:English Teacher are special, their debut LP is special. It sounds indie,
but certainly not in a familiar way when it comes to the stunning creativity
and striking architecture of the songs.
Expect a mix of prog-rock dynamics, bits and pieces for a reality musical, wayward euphony and sudden, yet accessible changes of pace and flow, rhythms and moods.
You really need several spins to get into This Could Be Texas but once the mist is gone
you’ll be dazzled by its sheer ingeniousness and the impact of frontwoman Lily Fontaine, vocally and emotionally.
WHO: Seasoned American songwriters Brad Armstrong and Megan Barbera.
Their music blurs between Sunday afternoon country folk and the golden age
of the 1970s. Combining influences from Megan’s mountain roots and Brad’s
southern roots, The Glass Hours is currently based in New York’s Hudson Valley.
TUTV: This is the kind of music I love to play at the end of a busy day and after
listening to (too much) noisy stuff. The soothing mix of melancholic country, musing
folk, sepia-colored blues, some bluegrass, roots, and pop/rock influences can work magically to slow down your stressed mind, as it happens here.
The heroes of the sensitive songs here are the duo’s wholehearted voices, solo or harmonizing together. Armstrong and Barbera are both blessed with a characteristically warm, tender and yearning Americana voice.
References? Young and old(er) artists such as Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, Lana Del Rey, Willie Nelson, Crystal Gayle, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. Impressive, right? Definitely.
Add romanticized stories about all things good and sad, bright and
dark in life, and you have a sonic companion for relaxing moments.
