Picture This…
Madness in motion…
(Band: Future Of The Left / Photo: Turn Up The Volume!)
Future Of The Left
FUTURE OF THE LEFT – Local Earthquake in Brussels…
FUTURE OF THE LEFT – Botanique Venue, Brussels – 9 February 2017
Last year, the kick-ass Welsh/English noisemakers FUTURE OF THE LEFT released their
fifth, fan-funded, album THE PEACE AND TRUCE. One of my favorite albums of 2016…
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Last Thursday they played Brussels (again) and did what they do best on a stage:
causing a local, apocalyptic earthquake with nasty bass and guitar drones while
unstoppable chatterbox frontman Andrew Falkous‘s turbo-charged voice is ranting
against anything and anybody with tons of sarcasm and humor. Top band! Top gig!
Falkous going red-hot…
Bloody cool bassist Julia Ruzicka pumps it up…
Muscled passion and caustic intensity…
Time to move some gear…
Ready for a gloriously chaotic finale…
Testing the flexibility of the audience’s ears…
The future mother looks gorgeous…
FUTURE OF THE LEFT: Website – Facebook – Discography
Setlist…
(All pics by Turn Up The Volume!)
MY 2016 ALL STAR TEAM – 21 Captivating Crackers…
21 Outstanding Killer Tracks
Dancing Inside My Head
This Past Scary Year…
The Best of All in 2016
21 Knockout Number Ones
Sonic Food for Body & Soul
Start the party! HELL YEAH!
https://open.spotify.com/user/turnupthatvolume/playlist/30vqNBmyeoJSnaEOu8sCZv
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1/ ‘Whitest Boy On The Beach’ by FAT WHITE FAMILY (Sheffield, England)
Smacked out Götterdämmerung disco drive. Irresistible groove to keep Satan happy…
Album: Songs For Our Mothers 
2/ ‘Trippin’ On Your Love’ by PRIMAL SCREAM (Scotland/UK)
Saturday Night Fever rapture with an elevating gospel feel. Magical pop spirituality…
Album: Chaosmosis 
3/ ‘Black Hanz’ by THE MOONLANDINGZ (London/Leeds, UK)
“You can hit the outsiders, but you can not beat them!” Let’s dance before we’re all doomed…
EP: 4-track here on iTunes
4/ ‘Zipperface’ by THE POP GROUP (Bristol, UK)
Imperishable post-punk legends with an adrenaline injection to activate your lazy limbs…
New album: Honeymoon On Mars 
5/ ‘Disco Glove’ by EXPLODED VIEW (Berlin/Mexico City/UK)
Twisted rhythmic machinery & singer Anika ranting about Robert De Niro. Screwdriver!…
Album: self-titled debut ‘Exploded View’ – here on Bandcamp
6/ ‘Step Up’ by White (Glasgow, Scotland)
Deranged funk madness pushed by an incendiary engine. Mind-boggling score!…
EP: Cuts That Don’t Bleed
7/ ‘One’ by PSYCHO COMEDY (Liverpool, England)
Unstoppable psych steamroller getting more stormy with every second. Glorious debut…
8/ ‘Gonnawanna’ by DEAP VALLY (Los Angeles, CA, US)
Hammering Californian duo returned this year with tons of red-hot blues rock dynamite…
New album: Femejism
9/ ‘Disco’ by DEATH VALLEY GIRLS (Los Angeles, CA, US)
Doom punk boogie to set fire to underground discotheques around the globe. Killer cut!…
Album: Glow In The Dark
10/ ‘The Itch’ by CROWS (London, UK)
These sinewy blusterers turn grimness into forceful energy. Apocalyptic thunder!…
EP: brand new 4-track titled ‘Cold Comfort’ – here on iTunes 
11/ ‘If AT&T Drank Tea What Would BP Do’ by FUTURE OF THE LEFT (Wales/UK)
Andrew Falkous’ biting, verbal virtuosity and smashing hacksaw drones! Kick ass havoc…
Album: ‘The Peace & Truce of Future of the Left’ – here on Bandcamp
12/ ‘Hypnotised’ by SLAVES (London, UK)
The 2-piece punk army will thrill all your senses while messing up your unaware brain…
New album: Take Control
13/ ‘Now You’re Gonna Listen’ by DEUX FURIEUSES (London/Glasgow)
This outspoken powerhouse duo demands your attention with razor-sharp panache…
Debut album: Tracks Of Wire
14/ ‘Whirling Eye’ by THE KILLS (UK/US)
Jamie & Alisson alive and kicking again in 2016. Magnetic, swirling and catchy…
New album: Ash & Ice
15/ ‘Cu Cu Cu Cool’ by THE GLÜCKS (Ostend, Belgium)
The mental Bonnie & Clyde of garage trash produce slashing tumult for psychobillies…
Debut album: Youth On Stuff
16/ A-OK by COSMONAUTS (Los Angeles, CA, US)
Dazzling firework rock fueled with flashing guitars and vivacious vocals. Smoking punch!
New album: A-OK 
17/ ‘Blink Your Eyes’ by BIG BAD ECHO (Brisbane, Australia)
Hypnotizing serpent turning scary and frenzy, slowly but surely. Superb mind fucker!…
Mini-album: It Takes a Big Dog To Weigh a Tonne
18/ ‘Garden Of Love’ by THE LIMINANAS feat. Peter Hook (Perpignan, France)
Garage pop splendor with a sexy French touch & sensual bass lines by a famous friend…
Album: Malamore
19/ ‘Loaded’ by Rich Girls (New York, NY, US)
Gripping sadness to accompany your tears. Gloomy gem Karen O would sell her soul for…
EP: Love Is The Dealer
20/ ‘Intern’ by ANGEL OLSEN (St. Louis, MO, US)
Soul touching electro ballad and one of the most compelling voices in years. Breathtaking!
Album: MY WOMAN
21/ ‘Flags From The Old Regime’ by PETER DOHERTY (London, UK)
“But I don’t want to die anymore / Any more than I did want to die before” Magnificent!….
Album: Hamburg Demonstrations
(all concert pics by TUTV!)
FUTURE OF THE LEFT – Awesome Drones In Belgium…
Who: Future Of The Left
Where/when: Nijdrop Club, Opwijk (near Brussels) – May 14, 2015…
How was it for me: I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that tremendous Welsh noisemakers Future Of The Left would play Belgium. Just out of the blue. No announcement of new material nor a full tour, except for a couple of festival performances, on their website. My guess is they just don’t care about social media, fans will find them anyway anywhere. So here they are, in a cosy cultural club (thank you, Nijdrop) in a small village near Brussels. Still alive and still bloody kicking after their fourth and rousing 2013 fan-funded ‘How To Stop Your Brain In An Accident’ album (Spotify link below).
A couple of power chords in and you remember immediately again how awesome intense this hardcore quartet rocks. A wall cracking cocktail of metal, hard rock & hardcore, horror noise and post punk kicks. Hallelujah ! They sound like nobody else but themselves. They created their own metal drones and concrete melodic rock over the years. Master of satire, frontman Andy Falkous, still leads the angry troops with a samurai sword between his teeth.
Before eating “David Cameron and his fascists pigs” for breakfast he dedicates a song
to the man. “Any Metallica fans?” he asks, a bit later, with a grin. Metallica? FOTL makes those colossal capitalist fakers sound like a third-rate pub rock outfit. Falkous‘ ‘losers’ list is endless. His anger is genuine. Meanwhile Julia Ruzicka tortures her bass guitar like only she can. Enormously loud and tremendously sexy. Whether she likes it or not she’s a star ! One of the coolest around. Jack Egglestone sends rowdy signals to his crowdy family in Cardiff via his drums and guitarist Jimmy Watkins is more off than on stage, he’s a man of the people.
After 10 years and 4 albums FOTL serves you a hard rockin’ greatest ‘clamor & turmoil’ hits set. They end the concert in their trademark “Megadeth medley” like way: long enough to have the time to dismantle the drums and to disperse all parts all over the stage while everybody’s still playing on and off the podium. Brilliant, just brilliant !
Grandios, mad finale…
FOTL: Website – Facebook – FOTL – Twitter
Noise, maestro, please….
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(concert pics: TUTV!)