Turn Up The Volume’s 5 Best EXTENDED PLAYS Of 2020

COMMON SENSE by VIAGRA BOYS

This EP is the emotive, bluesy and saxy harbinger – with Lick The Bag as one of the best rollicking 2020 tracks – for the Swedish punks’ new album Welfare Jazz, out 8th January.

“I think our songs are mostly written about what’s going on in our lives. Not every band needs
to take themselves so seriously. I’m not very good at political commentary, so I’m not gonna go write a political song. There’s enough of that, in a way. You know, ‘Nazi punks fuck off’”
says sharp-tongued singer/songwriter/tattooist Sebastian Murphy.

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SPELLS by ATTAWALPA

Singer/songwriter Attawalpa is a South-American, London-based artist who’s “music
is the sum of his influences, a colourful and culturally rich Schmorgers board of sounds, textures, emotions, and grooves from eras across a multitude of genres, sitting comfortably
in between rock, alternative and pop spaces. His Peruvian heritage plays a part too.”

These four gracious pearls, with multi-layered orchestrations, shows an imaginative and
impassioned artist with a transcendent vox and the masterly gift to write absorbing songs with a sticking pop melodiousness.

Stream/buy here…


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BLUE STRAGGLERS by BLUE STRAGGLERS (Horsham, UK)

This rowdy Sussex turbo trio produces a fired-up blues-rock turbulence that electrifies
your body, makes smoke coming out of your ears and open up your sweat pores. Feel
free to bang your head against your living room walls, kick that coronavirus in the balls and let your locked up 2020 energy go its way with volcanic force. Yeeeeeeeeessss!


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PASTILLE EP by HMS MORRIS (Cardiff, Wales)

A collection of the 5 songs representing 2020 for this Welsh art-pop-folk duo.
“The taste of our particular flu pastille.”
says the pair.

Expect dream-pop in colors and mixed-emotions poetry in motion, embedded
in multi-dimensional arrangements and free-spirited patterns Kate Bush and
Florence Welch would definitely approve. Yes, that twinkling and sparkling good.

Stream/buy here…


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NEW EP by REMINGTON SUPER 60 (Norway)

If you want to get away from reality for a while than this Norwegian dream-pop act is the ideal partner. It’s romanticism wrapped in six lyrical musings – including one charming instrumental – with the near whispering, sensual voice of vocalist Elisabeth Thorsen having a soothing effect on your state of mind. The feel is tranquilizing, tender, idyllic like a sort of zen experience.


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Glistering Duo HMS MORRIS Shares Dance Inviting Clip For New Single ‘POETRY’…

Clips that will have an impact on your eyes…

VIVA VIDEO

3 April 2020

A couple of days ago Welsh glistering dream pop duo HMS MORRIS released new
moony single POETRY. A magnificent reverie about the affecting consequences of obsessive love. An amplified ballad that grows in emotion, magnetism and power
along its wondrous progression. Another delightful sonic rainbow that twinkles
magically in these dreary days.

The pair just shared a lively clip for Poetry,
a fitting visual inviting you to dance along…

Also on Spotify

HMS MORRIS: Facebook

Bewichting Welsh Duo HMS MORRIS Drops New Radiant Love Ballad ‘POETRY’

26 March 2020

Turn Up The Volume featured this thrilling Welsh duo before. Why? Because they produce dreamy synth art-pop with an enticing resonance, magical vocals by singer Heledd Watkin and an overall mysterious and enigmatic touch, balancing between Scottish ethereal wave act Cocteau Twins and dream-pop outfit The Sundays.

Here’s their brand new single POETRY. A fervid song about the affecting consequences of obsessive love. A schmaltzy and radiant ballad that grows in emotion, magnetism and orchestration along its wondrous progression. HSM Morris painted another marvelous sonic rainbow. Just beautiful. A relief in these difficult times.

Enjoy here…


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HMS MORRIS: Facebook

TURN UP THE VOLUME’S KNOCKOUT TRACKS For February 2020…

Best killer tracks of the month…

Eleven superb tracks that energized my sonic
bloodstream this month. From roaring to moody,
from shaky to gloomy. Here is the sonic dope…

1. ‘Hot Slick’ by PINS
Without a shadow of a doubt one of the most exciting bangers of the year! Utterly cool!


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2. ‘Scavengers’ by MECHANIMAL (Greece)
A high-powered industrial, darkwave drone that will blow you of your socks…

3.’Conveyor’ by LICE (Bristol, UK)
Ominous and thunderous jackhammer. Armageddon is just around the corner…


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4. ‘See What I See‘ by SINKA (Watford, England)
A powerhouse smack and ear-splitting outburst that will trash your speakers…

5. ‘Paranoiacs’ by CHEMTRAILS (Manchester, UK)
A flaming ripper that encourages you to get up in the morning and kick some macho ass…


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6. ‘Dreams Like Drugs’ by LIONS OF DISSENT: LIONS OF DISSENT  (Wolverhampton, UK)
Transcendent psychedelia at its dazzling best. Sonic dope to get eight miles high to…

7. ‘Hopeless Romantic’ by OH BROTHER (UK)
Flamboyant razzmatazz! Cracking stuff! Rocking dynamism…

8. ‘Talking About You Man’ by PLASTIC SUN (UK)
This cutting indie power-pop stroke is a biting rejection of appalling toxic masculinity…


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9. ‘Babanod‘ by HMS MORRIS (Wales)
An endearing art-pop pearl and mesmeric electro beauty. A spine-tingling experience…

10. ‘Your Days’ by LES FLÂNEURS feat. HANNA TURI
Colourful, sparkling, romantically orchestrated musing that puts a big smile on your face…

11. ‘Holiday’ by ATTAWALPA (London based, UK)
A sensual, soothing slo-mo groove with a glam touch reflecting the desire to drift away…

All together on Spotify

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See/hear you next month…

Here’s Welsh Art-Pop Duo HMS MORRIS And Their New Mesmeric Single ‘BABANOD’

Daily fuel to load your sonic batteries…

1 February 2020

After two multifaceted and inventive LPs Intern Design (2016) and Inspirational Talks (2018), lots of touring and a Welsh Music Prize nomination experimental pop duo HMS MORRIS is gearing up for a series of singles this year. The first one ‘BABANOD‘ (in English: Babies) will be officially out on 7th February.

“The impetus for writing ‘Babanod’ was the awkward moment in your friend’s wedding when someone feels compelled to reassure you that “you’ll be next”. In that situation, surrounded
by married couples and young children, how do you assert your right to a slightly alternative lifestyle, something other than just moving directly from graduation to marriage to parenthood, without sounding like a total dick? Better to smile, bottle it up, and release it in a song when you get home.”

Babanod, partly sung in English, partly in Welsh, is an endearing art-pop pearl. It starts with pulsating synths and the starry-eyed and gorgeous voice of singer Heledd Watkin floating slowly but surely to the amplified, angelic and polyphonic choir chorus causing a spine-tingling experience and making me think of the atmospheric and ethereal resonance of former Scottish duo Cocteau Twins. The dynamizing sequence near the end where ardent guitar electricity is backed by the choir adds a rousing sensation to this mesmeric beauty.

Tune in and drift away…


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HMS MORRIS: Facebook


“You’ll be next”…