5 BEST ALBUMS OF THE MONTH – January 2024
1 February 2024
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Band: FRANK CARTER & THE RATTLESNAKES
Who: The musical vehicle of British arousing
songsmith and tattoo artist Frank Carter.
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Album: DARK RAINBOW
Their 5th
TUTV: With tensely emotive singles Man Of The Hour and Brambles, tattoo artist Carter seemed to let his angry punk days behind him and move towards classic rock. Now the album confirms that surprising, bold move.
And it’s a truly staggering record, filled with several melodramatic power ballads that generate goosebumps and some stoner rock ebullitions. Carter sings his heart out with monumental vivaciousness. A vocal tour de force throughout, dealing with mixed love emotions. Dark Rainbow will impact your ears for a very long time. Top-tier achievement.
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Instagram – Linktree
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THE SMILE featuring two radioheads – Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood – and
drummer Tom Skinner — launched their new album WALL OF EYES, only 11 months
after their compelling debut A Light For Attracting Attention.
Press photo by Alex Lake
TUTV: With less pressure than that’s on that mega band called Radiohead, the pair
of Yorke and Greenwood seem to feel more at ease to do what they want to do without
any expectations whatsoever. Wall Of Eyes sounds less complex than the last Radiohead albums, but still echoes that band’s work here and there (Teleharmonic / Friend Of A Friend / I Quit). And Yorke‘s familair falsetto voice is omnipresent.
Then again, capricious tracks like Road The Room and Under Our Pillows resonate more directly and less polished than a lot of the multi-layered Radiohead symphonies as we know them. All that said, it really doesn’t matter if there are comparisons or not. What matters is that this record features (only) 8 paramount songs, 8 first-rate quality tunes,
8 mesmeric compositions.
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Facebook – Instagram – Euro Tour
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Band: WARM EXIT
Who: Experimental post-punk outfit from Brussels, Belgium. The band has been a driving force in its underground scene for 4 years. With only its founding member remaining, Valentino Sacchi, the band has gone through numerous mutations over the years
Album: ULTRA VIOLENCE
The album’s title is a reference to Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 brutal masterpiece
A Clockwork Orange. It marks a turning point in the band’s career. A vow to be confrontational to yourself, a rejection to being hesitant about one’s inner turmoil,
and to celebrate it. The music, and more importantly the band is driven by a tireless motivation that sources its energy from within; the good, the bad, the ugly. In short,
it’s human. Warts and all.
TUTV: You can feel a menacing tension in the vocals and in the piercing sonority throughout this record. Demons all around. No rest for the wicked. Anxious guitar riffage, spitting and sneering, maddening drumming, and roller coaster jams, fast-forward or in slo-mo, combine for a both nightmarish and blood-curdling experience. Post-punk at its jagged best. Dim the lights, put your headphones on, and try to find your way into your mind’s messy labyrinth.
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Instagram
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Artist: HAZE (Ghent, Belgium)
Who: Musical project of Belgian singer-songwriter Mirabelle van de Put.
After years of playing bass and doing backing vocals with several bands
she decided to pursue her own dream pop journey.
New album: OUT OF SIGHT
Haze’s second one
TUTV: Three elements make this album special. Mirabelle‘s crystalline voice, from
near-whispering to playfully sensual, the guitar play, whether acoustic or electrical,
with or without reverb, has a magnetizing impact with its rotating riffs and the subtle
but richly layered arrangements of the songs create an organically dreamy sound.
Out Of Sight is a sonic companion for relaxing winter
nights and will be one for summer sundowns.
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Facebook – Website
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Band: SPRINTS
Who: Irish soon-to-be-the-talk-of-the-town
post-punk turbine.
Album: LETTER TO SELF
Order info: here.
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TUTV: These Irish indies burst with tremendous vehemence and sharp-teethed gusto. Their high-voltage jackhammers trash and slash along their build-up/break-down course. Breathtaking hullabaloo.
Psychotic guitars, unrestrained bass/drum forcefulness, and Karla Chubb‘s borderline vocals combine for exorcistic flare-ups. At times, Chubb‘s unbridled intensity brings Courtney Love‘s maddening cry-outs to mind. As I said, breathtaking hullabaloo. And the cliché no fillers, all killers can’t be more accurate here.
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