Well, another year has come to an end. A year stuffed with a tsunami of striking tunes
and stunning albums, as TUTV already displayed on its 2023 best-tracks and best-albums lists.
But that was just a fraction of this past year’s superb music extravaganza. Let’s go out with
a big bang. 20 Top Tunes from 20 Top Albums that made our ears go bonkers in 2023.
This sizzling Scottish trio nailed it with their 3rd LP. Heavy Heavy is one of those remarkable records (one every 3 months or so) that arouses from start to finish, with the cliché no fillers, all killers all over it. You hear its sonic brilliance, you feel its dauntless vocality, you realise quickly that this LP is special, very special.
(Photo by Turn Up The Volume – Antwerp 2023)
An undisputable first-class work where vitalizing soul, ecstatic pop melodiousness
and self-willed hip-hop come together in an organic way. A spiritual happening.
Funk-punk drunk virtuosity with astonishing vocal teamwork.
2. ‘First Tow Pages Of Frankenstein’ by THE NATIONAL
I second the multiple raving reviews for this brilliant album. It’s not the first time that troubled and depressed artists (Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave and others made a living out of it) come up with healing music.
Despite a temporary writer’s block and severe depression, Matt Berninger (aged 52)
found his way in his chaotic mind and came back to express the psychic fights with all of his demons in a most affecting manner. And his crooning voice, once more, is instrumental for The National‘s sound.
This Californian experimental act, founded in 2002 by singer-songwriter Jamie Stewart surprise every time they come up with new music. Also with Ignore Grief, already their
13th full length, XX impress mightily.
(Press photo)
Ignore Grief is not happy music, it’s grim reality music, it’s mind-absorbing music.
Inventive, capricious and ideal as the soundtrack for one of David Lynch‘s hallucinatory films. Although after a couple of spins, you’ll find out that Xiu Xiu‘s bone-chilling sonic exorcism is more accessible than you thought at first. Their orchestral manoeuvres in
the dark are flabbergasting.
With Shook this American/English outfit drew tons of critical praise. Rightly so.
It’s a tremendously varied work. They jump from zestful hip-rap-hop to forceful
post-punk-rock, to soulful lullabies, to arresting spoken-word protest, to sparkling
gospel. 54 minutes long, but you get sucked in every second. Wowzers!
5. ‘A Headlong Fall Into The Vast Ocean Of Anxiety’ by EYEMOUTH
Expect atmospheric synth-scapes for soundtracks of sci-fi movies, mellow Pink Floyd echoes, dark-electro-wave surrealism, and an overall synth-symphonic sonority.
All mesmerizingly orchestrated with both classical and venturesome music structures. Now and then composer Marcus Lilja‘s ghostly voice adds an extra mysterious touch to the instrumental grandeur at play. The power of nature in sonic motion.
Weird collaboration? No, certainly not. The very popular EBM/house/hip-hop/DJ Fred and the legendary ambient wizard Brian Eno complete each other here perfectly. They create a sonic labyrinth where Eno‘s hallucinatory ambient waves progress in slow motion, causing a trance trip in a foggy environment while Fred‘s phantasmal vocals seem to come from an unknown universe.
Secret Life is a hushed, soothing companion for late-night mind entertainment after
another busy day and too much noisy music. Relaxing, calming and triggering lazy dreaming.
The L.A. garage rock fury led by vocalist/guitarist/organist and natural-born
charismatic front-Amazon Bonnie Bloomgarden hit bullseye with their 5th LP.
(Photo by Turn Up The Volume – Brussels, 2023)
Islands In The Sky is, without a shadow of a doubt, according to my trained ears, their best achievement (so far). When you combine pop/rock songwriting quality, richly layered orchestrations, Bloomgarden‘s full-hearted vocal dynamism and tons of tunes (if anything else tunes are key) wrapped up in party-igniting vibes, you have a winner. FACT!
The British glam and glitter popsmiths delivered
their best LP since hitting the scene back in 2014.
It’s their 4th one.
(Photo by Turn Up The Volume)
This album grew on me spin after spin. It’s still a mellow, laid-back, and familiar
resonating collection of tunes. But its sunlit spirit, its vivid vibe, and its melodies are so infectious. Let your thoughts ignore reality and drift away in your happy-go-lucky cocoon. Top-tier effort.
No pension yet for these veteran indies from New Jersey who started their journey
in 1984 and recorded/released 17 longplayers so far (new one included).
(Press photo)
They’re experts in creating uncomplicated, electrifying melodies and then giving them a psychedelic edge with distorted guitars. Different moods, different sonic tones. We all know that we live in a stupid world where political ‘me, myself, and I’ leaders use the 2000-year-old trick of divide and conquer. YLT know too, of course, and it inspired them (again)
to can another topmost record.
It’s the second longplayer from these 4 Belgian mavericks.
Both sonically and lyrically, you get a mood-swings record that evokes both eerie and profound emotions. Filibuster fabricate a melting pot of grunge (Nirvana), slacker rock (Dinosaur Jr.) and anything post-punk edged. You can rock out to it, take a breather now and then, and go quiet/loud all the way through. Overall an impassioned job well done.
THDV embed 60s psychedelia in a blistering mix of flaming garage rock mania,
swaggering mid-tempo grooves, an impressive, amplified slo-mo jam right in the middle and a stunning opener with horns snippets of Primal Scream‘s e-tastic classic Loaded.
Back In The Room is a hell of a must-hear-now record.
Weird collaboration? No, certainly not. The very popular EBM/house/hip-hop/DJ FRED
and legendary sound wizard ENO complete each other here on this surprising album. They create a sonic labyrinth where Eno‘s hallucinatory ambient waves progress in slow motion, causing a trance trip in a foggy environment and Fred‘s rare, ghostly vocals seem to come from a mysterious universe.
Secret Life is a hushed, soothing soundtrack for late-night mind entertainment after
another busy day and too much noisy music. Relaxing, calming and triggering lazy dreaming.
It’s the second longplayer by these 4 Belgian mavericks.
Both sonically and lyrically, you get a mood-swings record that evokes both eerie and profound emotions. Filibuster fabricate a melting pot of grunge (Nirvana), slacker rock
(Dinosaur Jr.) and anything post-punk edged. You can rock out to it, take a breather now and then, and go quiet/loud all the way through. Overall an impassioned tour de force.
Karl Strooban (frontman/songwriter): “It’s hard for us/me not to make music that’s
extremely personal. You tend to cut out the overly emotional bits during the writing process,
but somehow it just always turns out sentimental and angsty. Most of these songs were written during a tumultuous time in my/our personal life and while grieving a family member. So the title reflects this I guess. We don’t mean to say the quiet parts out loud, we just wanna have fun and rock out, you know, but we can’t really help it.”
Wanna know more? Read the full interview with Karl Strobanthere.
Who?“A trio of Edmonton, Canada-based musicians has built a sound that’s synonymous with the hardest-hitting country and rockabilly acts around with sound that stands on its own. Their sound fills dance floors with fans from age 8 to 80. Their thoughtful and hard-hitting songs are for people that believe that music should have a little dirt under its fingernails.”
Westernization is their 3rd album.
These motherrockers jump from hot-blooded blues jams to garage rock electricity, from peppery punk echoes to charged-country music in an eye/ear blink. And it’s good old riff-rotating rockabilly that glues all the frenetic havoc together. Confusionaires know all the tricks to activate you to get up, to stand up and to fight for your right to go apeshit.
Sounds fucktastic, right? You betcha.
By the way, these three desperadoes look (see band photo above) like the reincarnation of maddening noise maniacs Motörhead ready for that infamous digging-body-up scene in Maffia movie Goodfellas. Hell bloody hell yeah.
STREAM/BUY
. 4. ‘First Tow Pages Of Frankenstein’ by THE NATIONAL
Artwork: The cover features a photo of a young boy holding a mannequin’s head.
The photograph was taken by the boy’s father, John Solimine, an illustrator and longtime friend of vocalist Matt Berninger. They met as dishwashers in a Cincinnati restaurant.
I second the multiple raving reviews for this outstanding LP. It’s not the first
time that troubled and depressed artists (Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave and others experienced it too) come up with healing music. Despite a temporary writer’s block and severe depression, Matt Berninger (aged 52) found his way in his chaotic mind and came back to express the psychic fights with all of his demons in a most affecting manner. And his crooning voice, once more, is instrumental for The National‘s sound.
THDV embed 60s psychedelia in a blistering mix of flaming garage rock mania,
swaggering mid-tempo grooves, an impressive, amplified slo-mo jam right in the middle and a stunning opener with horns snippets of Primal Scream‘s e-tastic classic Loaded.
Overall I hear Beatles-like harmonies, multi-layered guitar extravaganza à la Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, steady drums/bass horsepower, sizzling six-string solos, psyched-out space steamrollers, 24 Karat riff-rushing rockers, some slow ones, and echoing vocals
from the eight miles high past. Final result: a hell of a must-hear record that I added to
my best-albums-of-2023 list. The Dharma Violets should be huge. FACT! Don’t miss them.
FILIBUSTER are four music maniacs from Belgium. They produce a melting pot of grunge (think, of course, Nirvana), slacker rock (think Dinosaur Jr.) and anything post-punk edged.
They released their second longplayer, baptized Quit Part Out Loud last March. Both sonically and lyrically a mood-swings record. You can rock out to it, take a breather now and then, and go quiet/loud all the way through. Sounds cool right? You betcha. That’s why Turn Up The Volume invited frontman Karl, who’s a creepy starer at times, to tell you and me some more about the band and their new impassioned album.
Hello Karl,
thanks for taking
time for this chat
When and how came the band together?
“About 5 or 6 years ago I (Karl, vocals/guitars) had been wanting to start a new project
with the vague idea of combining noise, post-punk and shoegaze. I was obsessed with the sound of guitars dissonantly battling each other I heard in Interpol’s PDA or Goo-era Sonic Youth.
Pieter-Jan (guitar) was my roommate at the time and a fellow student of classical guitar
in Antwerp. He had been specializing in 20th-century avant-garde stuff and fit the mold perfectly. Timo (bass) was a former bandmate and musical soul mate let’s say, and he turned out to be an infinite source of emo-riffs.
We made some DIY demos to try out some ideas, under the name Sultan of Sentiment,
and sent them to Humo’s Rock Rally for laughs. We accidentally got selected and had to train a drummer in a few months to play and understand our impossible music. Jonas
was a willing victim. Berbel’s Helena Van Hoolst joined to do keys and backing vocals.
We played a god awful set during the pre-selections, the p.a. guy didn’t know what to do with us, but we kept the band going. Helena left but our other roommate Nathaniel, prog and death metal genius for Winterblind, stepped in for a few years. We recorded some new demos with Koenraad Foesters and then approached Bert Vliegen to record a first album. Etc etc!”
What’s the story behind the band’s name?
“Filibuster was just a word we thought sounded cool and snappy and political and
it had a certain post-punk vibe I guess. I still like that it’s kind of an ode to a huge
political dick-move. Although we had some issues with people confusing us with
a Californian ska-band with the same name. Oops.”
You have your debut album out. It’s titled QUIET PART OUT LOUD.
What did you want to express with it?
“It’s hard for us/me not to make music that’s extremely personal. You tend to cut out
the overly emotional bits during the writing process, but somehow it just always turns
out sentimental and angsty.
Most of these songs were written during a tumultuous time in my/our personal life and while grieving a family member. So the title reflects this I guess. We don’t mean to say the quiet parts out loud, we just wanna have fun and rock out, you know, but we can’t really help it.”
Who designed the album’s cover and what
did you want to visualise with that drawing?
“Wannes Cools had so many great ideas, but this one drawing he made stuck. I can’t speak for him artistically, but for me, this little grotesque dude seems to be trying to hide behind his hand but struggling to contain himself.
I think it really fits the themes of the album. Our first LP was so beautiful and lush but this drawing and the font, it’s so simple and effective and it oozes punk-rock too. We will never get sick of seeing this little fella on a vinyl cover.”
One of the highlights is the single CAN’T UNFRIEND YOURSELF.
What’s the song about?
“Can’t Unfriend Yourself is about our online persona. The digital veil that should hide or embellish who we are, but betrays more about ourselves than we would like. About not being able to escape this conundrum and neurotically ego-looping to infinity.”
Is the LP the work of the whole band? Who writes the songs?
“The first concepts are usually riffs from Timo or me, then I try to make them into something resembling a song. We get together to flesh them out, which somehow
we succeeded at in like… 5 rehearsing sessions. Props to Pieter-Jan for improvising
and composing some of my favourite guitar leads on the album and the beautiful
synth section on Lo-Fi Insane.”
Suppose the album would be the soundtrack
for a movie, which one would it be?
“Hmm, something moody with insane bursts of frantic energy.
Maybe Psycho. But starring Nicolas Cage as the girl in the shower.”
Suppose the band was an animal, which one would it be and why?
“Ostriches when feeling anxious or scared they will express it by screaming or running away, or if any of these doesn’t work, awkwardly try to blend with the environment.”
What’s a FILIBUSTER gig like?
“Loud and unforgiving but also intimate? At least that’s how we’d like to think it is.
We loooove to see people bounce around to our songs, so bring your earplugs and dancing shoes!”
Which band would you love to tour with and why?
“Pardoner (note: 4 indie rockers from San Francisco) because we think
it’d be a great laugh to hang out with and because I wanna tell them
how much I dig their music.
Warpaint because I have a fantasy where I play in a Korean drama and creepily
stare at the bass player from around various corners and somehow it ends up
with us getting into a totally non-toxic relationship.”
. What’s your Top 3 of Belgian bands?
The Hickey Underworld
We were insane fanboys and very hyped
about them touring again.
Evil Superstars (1994-199) Mauro Pawlowski and Tim Vanhamel in one band!
“Honestly we just want to keep making records, so I guess getting to a point where we don’t have to drain our personal bank accounts for it? Also, I personally get a kick out of just one person saying they’ve been listening to our album over and over.
Really anytime anyone has some kind of physical reaction to our music whether it’s laughing or crying or just feeling the need to jump up and down, I feel like I can die peacefully.”
Thank you, Karl, for this interview.
May the road rise with Filibuster.
Clamorous frontman Alex Edkins of Canadian noise engine Metz and Graham Walsh, keyboardist of dance punks Holy Fuck, got together for a project of their own, named, Noble Rot. They have their debut ‘Heavenly Bodies, Repetition, Control.‘ out next month.
They just dropped first single Casting No Light. A motorik Krautrock-like mindfucker that circles around like forever, pushed by a pumping synth/drum/guitar riff-boom-beat that grows in hypnotic intensity along the way. Fucktastic!
This Scottish dance-funk-punk trio is on an unstoppable roll. Their new, 3rd LP Heavy Heavy is a total triumph (Turn Up The Volume‘s Album of the Month) and their swirling concert in Antwerp (Belgium) blew the roof off the building.
One of the standout tracks on the album isDrum.
A flamboyant, head-over-heels stormer.
The Belgian Gods released their new longplayer How To Replace It?,
their first in 10 years, a couple of weeks ago.
The title song is a phenomenal piece. A mid-tempo stunner, driven by big
drums and frontman Tom Barman‘s bewitching vocality. It advances with
swelling orchestration toward the grand symphonic climax.
The amazing Los Angeles Amazons delivered their
best album (so far) Islands In The Sky only last Friday.
The title track is a blissful guitar-pop earworm that sticks from the get-go
with Bonnie Bloomgarden‘s spell-binding vocals inviting you to her island of joy.
I’m on my way. Join me.
You’re in charge of your perception of your life
You can choose what you keep
And what you leave behind
This Seattle-based Cyberpunk duo – Wesley and Jewels Foster – nailed it with this arousing mid-tempo, electro-drum-beat-driven knockout from their upcoming full length World’s End. It’s sexy, catchy, trippy, and makes your blood pumping through your heart.
Newest single Scatterbrain is a riff-roaring rocker that grows on your ears
with every spin. It has a moody, shoegazy resonance annex reflective vocals.
Striking stroke. Bring on the album.
This fresh high-energetic trio features members from Shudder To Think, Guided By Voices and The Dambuilders.
Their self-titled debut LP will see the day of light on 17 March.
What If? is a freaked-out, riff-drunk sucker punch that could
easily come from a Hüsker Dü LP. Herky-jerky electricity with
a steamrollin’ sticky chorus. Wowzers.
This dark-Goth-wave duo from the City of Angels look like vampires,
they sound like vampires and they fabricate vampirish stuff.
The torrid tandem unleash their
new album KRYPT on 28 April.
Ahead of the release, to get us in the right make-up mood, they hit us
with first single I Expire. A punked-up electro uppercut to set batcaves
on fire with. One listen and the brisk beats will haunt you all day long.
In the accompanying video, Male Tears get straight in
your scared face and suck you into their wicked world.
His new song is a groovy love-drunk gem featuring the sensuous voice
of his ex-partner. It gets under your skin from the kick-off. Two spins and
you’re hooked.
NECRØ is the latest project of Portuguese musician João Vairinhos
featuring idiosyncratic singer and keyboard player Sara Inglês,.
The title track of their 6-track EPDeath Beats
is Turn Up The Volume‘s favorite.
A dark-techno-wave rumbling that stomps and whomps with intense
impetus doing your head in from the get-go. Doomed beats for twilight parties.
The tenebrous vibe at play here sends shivers down your spine, while Sara Inglês‘s
ghostly wailing is reminiscent of shadowy Siouxsie Sioux moments.
This Charlotte-based collective seduced my sensitive ears with the title track of
their 3-track EP What A Day. The harbinger for upcoming 7th LP ‘Haunted Organic Machines’.
Feel-good tunes like these are always welcome on my headphones. What A Day is
a breezy synth-scintillating vibration that triggers sensual body moves. Its featherlight tonality causes a dreamy state of mind with trancy tinglings. And when that sweet flute came on, I swear, I saw a Spring bird flutter in the blue sky.
I’ll be a pretty special one as the pair wrote a collection of bilingual duets, with both of them singing in English and Spanish and explore a variety of European music cultures. First single Lonely Town is a sweet, little pop ditty. You can sing/hum/whistle along.
17. ‘I Remember What You Said’ by Artist: DYAN VALDÉS (Cuban-American)
(Photo credit: Petra Valdimardottir)
This Cuban-American singer-songwriter, living in Berlin, played/plays
in several bands and works as a solo artist too and has now a new single
out, named I Remember What You Said.
It follows her last year’s excellent debut album Stand.
The pretty poppy song is about a nightmarish memory of a poisonous
relationship. With its agitated words-flowing drive it feels like Valdés
wants to wash away all the BS and move on. Mission accomplished.
Summit Of The Big Low is the moniker of British musician Toby Uffindell-Phillips,
who was a member of the early 00s folktronica group Sound Sanctuary.
This new piece, from his self-titled album out on 19 May, is an affecting folk-pop reverie that streams as a brisk brook. Sparkling, crystal clear, and glimmering in the sun. Its wistful tone, smooth vocals, and frisky finger-picking guitar play combine for a sweet little pearl.
This 4-piece from Nashville produces a mix of metal, opera & 80’s rock.
Their new single Prisoner is about being captured and trapped by someone’s love.
It’s a mid-tempo power ballad that slowly but surely infiltrates your ears with its
anthemic dynamics, impassioned vocals, and weeping guitars.
This musical project started in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2014 and presents a soundscape based on electronic backgrounds and a more classic rock instrumentation blended with mellotrons, vibraphone, santur, harmonium and other alluring sounding instruments. In short, atmospheric psychedelic darkness with occult undertones.
New single: First slam from their upcoming second longplayer.
A garage rocker at its riff-licking best. Schizophrenic guitars thrash
and slash from start to finish, while the drummer adds hit-and-turn
thwacks and the vocalist is ready for a visit to the shrink.
Mad, manic, and mental. Hurry up to your Facebook page and
become friends (at your own risk) with this crazed bunch of misfits.
A band that understands that rock ‘n’ roll is fucking fun, in the first
place.
Band: FILIBUSTER (Antwerp, Belgium) Sound: A ragtag collection of classical, avant-garde, jazz,
punk and metal musicians, dedicated to anything that
falls under the common denominator of pretty noise.
Artwork: By Sara Vandyck (Antwerp, Belgium). She creates
surreal illustrations and paintings, often experimenting with
different techniques, in which the theme of absurdity prevails.
I love the smell of rock ‘n’ roll all month long! Turn Up The Volume‘s 15 Knockout Tracks
November 2020! Right here, right now…
‘State Of The Union’ by PUBLIC ENEMY (US) Whatever it takes, rid this dictator / POTUS my tail, Ass debater / Prime-time Preemo, rhyme-time crime / Like no other in this lifetime / Stay away from me / State of the Union, shut the
fuck up / Sorry ass motherfucker / Stay away from me / State of the Union / Shut the fuck up
‘There’s A Ghost’ by SUPERCHUNK (North-Carolina)
This steamed-up missile proves that Superchunk still has the adrenalin-fueled buzz and fuzz energy to make you go nuts like a manic kangaroo. A welcome wham bloody bam smack to ventilate your lockdown frustration. Pogo along here…
‘I Don’t Know What I’m Doing’ by MAXÏMO PARK(Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
Instant rollicking-guitar-crazy stormer. An agitated and keyed-up cracker on the
run with an adrenaline-fueled chorus triggering your jump up-and-down button.
From the upcoming album Nature Always Wins, out 26 February 2021…
‘The Eyeball Dance’ by HEY COLOSSUS (UK)
From the get-go, this ongoing repetitive-riff-ripper infiltrates your mind without asking permission. And the sickly sticky chorus causes head-twisting dynamics making you totally dizzy. Mind-bending psych jam for greedy ears! Get up and turn it up…
. ‘The Observer’ by FLYING MOON IN SPACE (Germany)
Only thirty seconds in and this electrical Kraut-synth stunner is already jumping from left to right and back in your uncontrollably spinning head. Ongoing sparkling rotations cause a transcendent experience giving you the opportunity to escape our grim reality for a while…
Cutting Sonic Youth echoes, flashing Metz dynamics, and layers of Dinosaur Jr. guitars.
A sizzling bolide about loving each other while rocking your balls off. From the band’s excellent debut LP Future Anachronisms. Start the fire…
. ‘Out Of The Shadows’ by GREAT HARE (Sweden)
This is the wake-up-call I want to hear when I can’t get out of my bed in the morning. You simply can’t resist this shot of adrenaline. This is what elevating pop is all about. Vitalizing, energizing, and galvanizing. In a normal world, this should be a global hit…
. ‘Breaking Out’ by GHOSTLAWNS
Middle finger to the lockdown, there’s no law against freaking out in your living room and it helps to activate your adrenaline production. And kraut-dance impulses are so much cheaper and more effective than therapy. Hit the floor…
. ‘For Daze’ by FAUX MACHISMO (Leeds)
Passion, desperation, devotion, distress, and heartache. An anxiety-driven outburst making your hair in the back of your neck stand up. A haunting groovy guitar riff-mad stroke with emotive vocals dragging you to the dark side of your soul and the exploding full-grunge chorus messes up your mind. Smells like heart-shaped box melodrama to me…
. ‘Where You Find Me’ by THE NOTWIST (Germany)
The German indie rockers are gearing up for a new album called Vertigo Days, out
29 January 2021. Lead-single Where You Find Me is a frolic pop tune you’ll whistle, hum and/or sing along pretty quick in your shower. As sticky as first-class glue…
‘Edge Of The World’ by THE SEA AT MIDNIGHT (Los Angeles)
One-man band The Sea At Midnight balances between twilight and sunrise, between
past and present, between pain and hope. This both melodious and darkwave blues introspection has a healing effect. Gripping piece from his new self-titled album…
. ’20th Century Boy’ by BEAUTY IN CHAOSfeat. AL JOURGENSEN
20th Century metal boy Al Jourgensen from industrial noiseniks Ministry obviously
has fun with this hot-tempered and filthy cover of the 1973 T.Rex blockbuster…
Well, It’s plain to see you were meant for me / Yeah, I’m your toy, your 20th Century boy.
‘King Of Machines’ byTIGER MIMIC (London)
Tiger Mimic rants about the dangerous state of chaos we live in with a crystal clear, outspoken jackhammer fueled by sinewy guitar hooks, a battering beat, sharp-cutting male/female vocals, and a caustic chorus. Midway the tempo drops and the intensity goes up before starting the pugnacious ‘I’ll Stand My Ground’ finale. Time to act! Time to survive!
. ‘No Justification’ by LOUD APARTMENT (New York)
Uplifting music is what we need to inject our concerned minds with hope and faith in
a better future while battling for survival. This hip-shaking, funky, hip-hop party tune
will do the trick perfectly. From the new albumSystem Breakdown…
. ‘Compersion Pt. 1’ by ARAB STRAP
Back after 15 years. A track that “depicts a quest to find the ever-elusive unicorn, to bond fluidly, and safely, with the like-minded and adventurous, in the comforting arms of an anonymous hotel, and the stark realization that you never really wanted it.” A near-spoken story over an ongoing addictive riff. Magnetic cut…
All together on Spotify…
. See/hear you next month for the best-of-2020-tracks…
Band: FILIBUSTER (Antwerp, Belgium) Who: A ragtag collection of classical, avant-garde, jazz, punk and metal musicians, dedicated to anything that falls under the common denominator of pretty noise. Their sound is situated somewhere in the middle of 80’s and 90’s guitar music, combining the tendency of post-punk/noise pioneers to break form and alt-rock/shoegaze’s slacker philosophy to just play songs and immerse themselves into a raw guitar sound. With moody, introspective songwriting and mellow but frantic riffing, the result is a kind of bipolar, nostalgic-fatalistic noise pop. Designed to comfort and annoy, push, and drag.
Turn Up The Volume: From clamorous emo outbursts to schizophrenic guitar jams,
from slash and trash rippers to amplified borderline belters, from reflective swing moods to chainsaw electricity. I guess you get my drift? This pretty insane record is what you need to ventilate your lockdown frustrations, to kick that awful coronavirus in its balls and to annoy neighbors who like bully Trump. Listen to it in your isolation room without your mouth mask on, the decibels turned up and a bottle of Jack Daniels close by.
Ear-gasms guaranteed.
Key singles: Gee / The World Is Dying I Just Wanna Feel Love
Score: Cutting Sonic Youth echoes, flashing Metz dynamics, and layers of Dinosaur Jr.
guitars. Challenging, right? Damn right! It’s full steam ahead from the get-go. No looking back until the last chord. And John Lennon singing ‘All You Need Is Love‘ doesn’t sound cheesy anymore, now that the world is on the verge of collapsing. That’s what this sizzling bolide is about, loving each other while rocking your balls off until the inevitable end.
Watch The Beetles making out…
Check also their album (striking cover artwork) on Bandcamp
