Favourites 4ever
2 May 2024
Whitest Boy On The Beach by Fat White Family.
from their 2nd LP, named Songs For Our Mothers.
Intoxicating vibrations. Freaky clip. Totally far-out. Ace!
FWF: Instagram
29 April 2024
Band: THE BLACK KEYS (Akron, Ohio)
Album: OHIO PLAYERS – their 12th
TUTV: Surprise. The Black Keys made an album that features lots of bright pop tunes and some light blues ones. The licks/riffs and hooks, about a thousand of course, haven’t that BK’s raw and rough edge as we are used to. It’s all about feel-good, easy-going, and most entertaining tunes. It makes me feel happy and relaxed.
The overall sonority leans more towards power guitar pop (slow, mid-tempo and only
a couple of fast ones), maybe that’s Beck‘s vibes influence, who is present on half of the songs. They also invited befriended rappers Lil Noid and Juicy J and some other celebs.
I never thought that the tandem would come up after 23 years (yes, twenty-three years!) with a different sounding, coherent longplayer, without ignoring their blues roots that is. Ohio Players will be the album that I’ll play more than their whole catalogue together.
14 songs, 44 minutes with an accurate cliché ‘all killers, no fillers.’
STREAM
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Instagram
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Band: METZ (Ottawa, Canada)
Album: UP ON GRAVITY HILL – their 5th
TUTV: ‘Up On Gravity Hill’ blows your mind, your psyche, and your ears
for 34 thunderous minutes of razor-blade wall-of-sound exorcism. Vintage
chainsaw voltage (No Reservation/Love Comes Crashing, Entwined (Street Light
Buzz), Never Still Again and the ace anti-advertising ballyhoo sledgehammer
’99’), a mean drum/bass machine throughout, and Edkins‘ mixed emotions
cry outs combine for a rough helter-skelter ride.
No arty farty BS for them, no special effects. All cylinders, all burners. It’s only
on the gripping mid-tempo closing reflection that the trio slow down a bit but
still make your stereo tremble. A great ending to another great record.
STREAM
Band: FAT WHITE FAMILY (London, UK)
Album: FORGIVENESS IS YOURS – 4th LP
TUTV: Gone are the days of rock to shock with pathetic songs such as the one about
Nazi propaganda chief Goebbels and Lebensraum. Also gone is musical orchestrator Saul Adamczewski who left the band amidst the recording sessions (not the first time he went through the exit).
Less drugs and less hedonism led to more focus on the songwriting/music, which
got better and better over the years and results now in their best full length.
Almost all tracks are ongoing electronica-infused vibes (Polygamy Is Only For The Chief / Feed The Horse) and addictive jams with poetic frontman Lias Saoudi telling/singing lots of enigmatic and absurd stories showing again how extensive his vocabulary is (The Archivist, Today You Become Man).
Here and there he’s the crooner he loves to be (Religion For One / You Can’t Face It). Sonically the record, enriched with lots of spot-on details (flutes, backing choir vocals, piano) is ingenious and crackerjack. A winner.
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Instagram
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Band: VIRGINS (Ireland)
Album: NOTHING HURT AND ANYTHING WAS BEAUTIFUL – 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 plane’s speakers. For 40 phantasy-stimulating minutes, you’ll forget all about what happens down there, on our dramatically disturbed planet.
📸 @ebony_alexander_media
We need to escape it all, now and then to stay sane, and that’s when these Belfast daydreamers are a great option to connect with. Layers of glowing guitars, hallucinatory vocals and an overall lyrical sonority will trigger your fantasies and will make you feel
going high(er) forgetting all about the daily, mind-boggling rat race.
STREAM
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Instagram
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Band: THE LIBERTINES (London, UK)
Album: ALL QUIET ON THE EASTERN ESPLANADE
TUTV: After the turbulence, chaos, and drugs addictions (especially Doherty) of the early years, the side-projects, solo records, and getting clean and healthy the Libs are back, again. They’re not the boys in the band of yesteryear, they’re now grown-up men who
enjoy a stable life and are still obsessed by making music.
Compared to their first two tempestuous and jarring indie punk LPs they mellowed naturally. Older and wiser. But Doherty/Barat are still terrific songwriters, assisted here
by John Hassall/Gary Powell, with Doherty as the 5-star one.
They still rock with vivacious punch (Run Run Run / Of Shit / Mustangs / Be Young ), they
still know how to seduce with captivating, romantic ballads (Shiver / Night Of The Hunter / Baron’s Claw), and Doherty/Barat still are soul-stirring vocalists.
Not one dull moment, not one dull song. They became notable, experienced musicians who left their hedonistic lifestyle behind themselves for several years now. They sound clean, healthy and happy (lots of laughter between songs, especially at the end of closer Songs They Never Play On The Radio) all the way through and it feels very fine.
STREAM
20 March 2024
Press photo
Infamous British misfits FAT WHITE FAMILY – one of the best bands
of this Century on record and on stage – just announced the upcoming
birth of their 4th longplayer.
It’s baptized FORGIVENESS IS YOURS and lands on 26 April. Pre-order info here.
During the recordings co-founder and musical captain Saul Adamczewski left.
(Lias Saoudi, photo by TUTV)
Lias Saoudi, voice/face/wordsmith/poet/writer, about the LP: ‘Forgiveness Is Yours,’ is about life as eternal contingency…about no longer suspecting, but knowing that this shit will never get any easier…in fact, it’s about to get a whole lot worse, your body’s going to go into decay and the people you love will slowly start dropping dead around you…but somehow, you’ve smashed enough of your expectations thus far in life, you’re sort of fine with it…you accept it.The overarching aesthetic themes at work here are torpor and further torpor still.”
Sounds like FWF have written/recorded the soundtrack for our daily Doomsday experiences, as we know it. In the end, humankind will destroy itself rather sooner
than later. World War III is just around the corner.
Artwork
The three shared singles, so far.
– RELIGION OF ONE –
Enigmatic, pondering ballad with AI backing vocals by Pavarotti
– BULLET OF DIGNITY –
A trippy, richly orchestrated groove. The accompanying video shows the band,
led by commanding general Lias Saoudi , having an SM party (to my eyes that is)
– TODAY YOU BECOME MAN –
Word waterfall storytellin’ by Saoudi
FWF: Instagram – Facebook
Every week 10 new rad tracks added
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 2024 playlist.
ALL TOGETHER
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TRACK BY TRACK
Photo credit: James Alexander
Artist: SUKIE SMITH
Who: Artist from London who has collaborated widely with artists, musicians and writers creating cross-disciplinary sonic work, exhibiting and performing internationally. She has released three critically acclaimed albums with her band MADAM and toured throughout the UK and Europe.
New track: INTO THE LIGHT
Piece from her upcoming 4th album, named ‘The Glass Dress and a Ringing Bell’
and will land on 8 March via Sukie Smith’s own label Shillingboy Records.
A song about leaving a turbulent relationship Smith found herself trapped in during lockdown, as Smith succinctly says, “I wrote this, then escaped,” with its focus a celebration of the jubilation felt in newfound freedom and the liberation found in the enlightening processes of recovery.
Into The Light grooves and moves pushed by dynamic eurythmics from the get-go and keeps on cruising throughout its ablaze 3.07-minute duration. Glowing jingle-jangle guitar play, rock-solid drumming and Smith‘s impassioned vocals combine for a striking juggernaut. Top-tier score.
Instagram
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Artist: FRANKIE FLOWERS
Who: Singer/songwriter from Ontario, Canada. She creates a genre-bending sound
by merging her love for dark-wave and post-punk music, as well as combining elements
from other genres.
New single: LUST
“You can lust for anything. People, money,
power, we’re all longing for something.”
Lust is a sassy stomper to fill dancefloors with.
It’s only 1.44 minute long, but you know where
the repeat button is.
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Instagram
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Super Manchester duo LIAM GALLAGHER and The Stone Roses‘ JOHN SQUIRE
have their collaborative longplayer, simply titled Liam Gallagher John Squire out
on March 1.
With Mars To Liverpool they dropped a second retro guitar pop track off the LP.
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Website
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Band: DIE HARD HABITS
Who: Texan outfit that draws inspiration from the pioneers of post-punk, infusing
their own restless creativity to forge a sound characterized by angular guitar riffs, pulsating basslines, and propulsive rhythms. Their music conveys a sense of urgency, reflecting their desire to challenge norms and provoke thought.
Track: ARKANSAS
From their brand new EP Hey You!
Arkansas is my ears’ favorite track. It rocks, it rolls, and it rattles with
vivid vehemence, fueled by greedy guitars, a robust drum/bass duo and
firm vocality. Bang-on.
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Instagram
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Album artwork by Simon Wright
Band: OPINION
Who: It’s the pseudonym under which French musician Hugo Carmouze chose to release his solo albums at the age of 13, marking the ordinary chapter of a garage rock fan born into the internet generation… Well, not quite, as the young Occitan has never stopped producing an impressive number of albums since, reminiscent of his great master Ty Segall.
Track: HYPERGLAM
Piece from upcoming album
Horrible, out 23 February.
Grungy chaos, glammy disturbance, fuzz and buzz stir.
Yep, Ty Segall would like this riff-ripper.
Instagram
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THE SMILE featuring two radioheads – Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood – and
drummer Tom Skinner — just launched their new album WALL OF EYES, only 11
months after their compelling debut A Light For Attracting Attention.
Mesmeric and magnetic track READ THE ROOM is a fascinating highlight.
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Instagram
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Band: CROW BABY
Who: Berlin-based duo featuring Jean-Louise Parker and
Cherilyn MacNeil – both born and raised in Johannesburg,
South Africa, and each a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
with their own projects.
New single/video: PITY PARTY
Their 4th single.
Pity Party is a multi-layered art-pop tingle swinging forth and back,
left and right, around an infectious guitar/drum groove with high-pitched
vocals adding a bouncy vibe.
The self-made video features both Cherlyn and Jean-Louise
as children as well as their animated adult selves.
Instagram
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Infamous British misfits FAT WHITE FAMILY have their
4th longplayer out on 26 April.
Second eerie single BULLET OF DIGNITY sounds like FWF have
written the soundtrack for our daily Doomsday experiences.
“The overarching aesthetic themes at work here are torpor and further torpor still.”
Doom and gloom.
Instagram
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The British folk-pop sisters THE STAVES release
their 4th LP, baptized All Now on 22 March.
I DON’T SAY, BUT I FEEL IT is the 3rd taster.
“The song came from a train-ride down to Brighton with friends with the scenery whizzing
by the transient flashes as things come in and out of focus. It is built around this two-chord pattern that kind of chugs along and motors through, picking out these jolts of feeling or memory that rush by.”
Totally entertaining.
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Instagram
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Artist: OLIVE GRINTER
Who: Singer-songwriter from
Cardiff, Wales
New single: MURMURATIONS
Isn’t it wondrous that it only takes a spellbinding voice, an acoustic
guitar and a tantalizing tune can combine for a delightful aural
experience.
This is what happens here. Grinter enthralls and enchants
with this melodic lullaby flavored with crystalline harmonies.
Wondrous, indeed.
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TUTV: Facebook – Instagram – Twitter
Daily electricity to load your batteries
14 December 2023
British misfits FAT WHITE FAMILY are back, after
4 years, with new single RELIGION FOR ONE.
“Abject narcissism is our only real code of conduct anymore. Everything is thinly veiled
self-interest. The post-modern post social media condition constitutes a complete death
of outwardness. We are smothered by the infinite present. We have swapped art for the
history of art. The game is up. The party’s over…NO SURRENDER!”
TUTV: First things first. FWF are one of the best bands of the past decade on
record and on stage and spearhead Lias Saoudi is one of the most charismatic frontmen/lyricists/poets around.
Lyrically, Religion For One is a doom and gloom meditation, a pitch-black ballad perfect as dirge at the funeral of the world. Sonically, it sounds like a hidden track on one of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds‘s latest albums. Just like Cave, Saoudi (now and then), is a goosebumps crooner taking you on his dark side of the mind with a candlelight. Sitting around the Xmas tree with your family will never be the same again.
The accompanying video clip was filmed in Paris, directed by ‘The Dream Machine’s’ Michael William West. It’s described as “a portrait of corrupt ambition, aesthetic incest and the history of abstract expressionism.”
WATCH/LISTEN
STREAM
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FWF: Instagram – Linktree
(Photo by Turn Up The Volume – Dour, Belgium – 2019)
2 July 2023
(Photo by Turn Up The Volume)
What did you do there, Lias?
One live track a day keeps the doctor away
11 September 2022
Band: FAT WHITE FAMILY
Who: Post-punk cowboys from Sheffield/London
One of the best live bands of the past 15 years.
Song: IS IT RAINING IN YOUR MOUTH?
From their 2014 debut album Champagne Holocaust.
Where/when: David Letterman Show (US) – 2017
At the end of the a.w.e.s.o.m.e. performance, host David Letterman
addressed the audience, “you don’t see that every night.”
He’s right, we should see that every night.
Here’s why…
FAT WHITE FAMILY: Bio – Discography – Instagram
Daily live fireworks to entertain or annoy your neighborhood during summer
The a.w.e.s.o.m.e FAT WHITE FAMILY were the best band in the world between 2011 and 2019, off and on stage as I experienced myself several times. These are the mavericks who turned chaos on a podium into an art form. The team’s prima don Lias Kaci Saoudi is without a shadow of a doubt the best live frontman I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen tons of them.
Both diabolic and blustering, always – I repeat, always – singing/screaming his brains out.
One day in August 2017 FWF went on TV in the Divided States of America on the legendary Late Show wIth David Letterman. As Letterman said, in the end with a big smile on his face, ‘You don’t see that every night. I still wonder how they got past the show’s security with their sacks filled with dope.
Just watch this, ladies and gents, and you’ll understand why I want this gang back with a new album and an extensive tour (preferably with the other key member Saul Adamczewsk also on the bus) and become the best band in the world again, before Harry Styles spreads a new virus, fabricated by Bill Gates, of course, to hypnotize this planet’s population and forcing them all to buy his shitty records.
Fucktatsic performance!
FWF Albums
Champagne Holocaust – 2014
Songs For Our Mothers – 2016
Serfs Up! – 2019
I WAS THERE
Ghent (my hometown) – 2014
Brussels – 2015
Tourcoing, France, 2015
The gig was over after 20 minutes after
Saul left the stage (no idea why).
Brussels – 2016
Saul left the stage after 10 minutes (no idea why)
but the show had to go on and it did.
Brussels – 2019
Dour festival, Belgium – 2019
All pictures by Turn Up The Volume.
(photo by Turn Up The Volume)
Best live band of the 21st Century (to my ears/eyes)…
Favorite Turn Up The Volume bands
12 February 2022
Band: FAT WHITE FAMILY
Who: Natural born misfits with key members Lias Kaci Saoudi (manic frontman)
and Saul Adamczewski (musical director). They crawled out of their squats in
Peckham, London in 2011.
It’s really a miracle that the Family is still around as their first years were filled with too many drugs and booze, chaotic gigs (I know, I saw them several times. They even left the stage – nobody sober – after 20 disorderly minutes in France a couple of years ago) and different line-ups.
Despite all that make-or-break shit, the hit team survived with smiling faces and their concerts became tempestuous helter-kelter events, making them one of the best live
acts of the past 10 years I’ve ever witnessed and their records got better and better.
Manc rock legend Liam Gallagher is a big fan too. He invited the natural-born
misfits them to play at his upcoming massive outdoor shows in Knebworth (UK)
Albums
Champagne Holocaust (2014)
Songs For Our Mothers (2016)
Serfs Up! (2019)
Three TUTV favorites…
– I AM MARK E SMITH –
(Flabbergasting)
– WHITEST BOY ON THE BEACH –
(Modern disco)
– IS IT RAINING IN YOUR MOUTH –
(Absolutely sick performance)
FAT WHITE FAMILY: Facebook
(Photos by Turn Up The Volume)