The Guardian: “Glory was intentionally written as a group effort and sounds like it,
with Hadreas, now based in LA, and his longtime collaborator and partner, the multi-instrumentalist Alan Wyffels… For all the sombre maturity often shrouding this record,
it’s full of energy and biting nuance. The vigour of Hadreas’s lyrics once again confirms
Perfume Genius as a consummate chronicler of 21st-century sensuality.”
TUTV: Perfume Genius is one of a rare kind of emotive, evocative and expressive songsmiths/performers that always open their heart and soul, grab your aural
attention and make you listen, very closely.
Glory is another glorious accomplishment, one of his absorbing best with several orchestral torch songs that drown out all surrounding noise and drags you into
an utopian space. Entrancing all the way.
Singles: It’s A Mirror / No Front Teeth / Clean Heart
In order to not miss a beat TURN UP THE VOLUME scans the musical horizon
daily, for 10 years now in 2025, to pick ace tracks and add 10 new rad ones, every
week, to the one and only JUKEBOX that matters.
ALL TOGETHER
.
This week’s 10 fresh ones. TRACK BY TRACK
Press photo by Destiny Robb
Band: CHARM SCHOOL Who: The latest project from Andrew Sellers who, originally from Louisville (KY),
has paid his dues in both the NYC and LA DIY music scenes, and his various bands
have played with seminal acts like Joan of Arc, Grizzly Bear & At The Drive-In.
Track: WITHOUT A DOUBT
Cut from their upcoming LP, titled ‘Debt Forever‘,
out on January 24th. More info here
Album artwork
Sellers about the track: “It’s by far the most pensive, melancholic song on the record, and it seems fitting that it’s coming out right now, amidst all the turbulence in the world. The main theme of this new record is financial uncertainty (or just uncertainty in general), so the main thing I remember about this song is the refrain “Please don’t let me run out of money” coming out randomly during practice one day.”
Interpol guitar echoes are the backbone of
this glorious mid-tempo gem. Close your eyes
and lose yourself in this riveting masterstroke.
Artist: ERIC SCHROEDER Who: Very productive San Diego-born songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
who released no less than 5 albums in just 4 years and a new one is waiting
in the pipeline.
Track: EMILY
Piece from his new, forthcoming LP
named Cat’s Game out on April 11.
The lyrics speak to a lost love, as he sings, “I long to be where the colors tease, and her love concedes” with wounded swagger benefitting the paradoxical paradise of psychic devotion. There’s a unique form of bittersweet American poetry in Schroeder’s ability to make you feel the weight of longing with every lancing line.
A guitar-infused earworm from start to finish.
Catchy as hell. This classy cracker will stay with
you for a long time.
Artist: MR BILLY FRITZGERALD Who: Dublin-based solo artist writing lush indie-pop songs
that simultaneously bathe in the faded light of heartbreak
while pulling you on to the dancefloor.
Track: LET US BE (SINGLE)
Song from his upcoming debut album,
titled ‘A Grand Romantic Gesture’, out on
Feb 20th.
Lyrically the track explores the theme of being with someone when everyone else thinks it’s a bad idea. Billy draws on his own experience, while growing up and learning how to be in a relationship and developing those tools, inevitably and regrettably, people get hurt along the way. Here he delves into this, as he declares love and devotion while facing down the barrage of words against the union. A true Romeo and Juliet story.
Tremendous intro. Infectious upper
juiced with sparkling guitar play,
a puissant, foot-tapping drum beat
and intensive vocals.
Artist: ANDY BELL Who: Veteran musician best known as a member
of British shoegaze old-timers Ride and temporary
bassist for Oasis.
Track: I’M IN LOVE…
His cover of The Passions’ sweet 1981 tune I’m In Love With A German Filmstar.
It features Dot Allison & Neu!’s Michael Rother. It’ll be on his 5th solo longplayer,
named ‘Pinball Wanderer’, out on Feb 28.
Bell: “I went through a stage of playing
the guitar part for that song at every
Ride soundcheck.”
“’Dream Pixel’ is about what we all see in our dreams; the colours, sounds
and occurrences that are often too surreal to put into words and leave you
questioning how the subconscious can paint such a vivid, psychedelic picture.”
Combining 70s inflected, layered vocals with psych-tinged, Gordian instrumentation that darts and weaves around broken beat rhythms, the track throbs with moments of intense saxophone, distorted guitars, mangled electronics, trembling synths, and reversed vocals. It’s another valiant testament to the band’s conscious effort to continually challenge their songwriting, told via Dan Carey’s explorative creative filter.
Album artwork
It’ll be part of the band’s debut album All In The Game, out 7 March.
Mesmerizing psych-pop jam
going left/right, driven by
a multi-instrumental groove.
The capricious saxophone
finale messes up your mind.
The slowly haunting, intoxicating and hypnotizing progression
at play here, the psychedelic orchestration and ghostly vocals
combine for an enticing experience.
Band: MY MORNING JACKET Who: Renowned pop-rockers
from Louisville, Kentucky.
Track: TIME WAITED
Piece from their new, 10th LP, named IS.
It arrives on 21st March.
This melancholic ballad
stirs heart and soul.
Magnific return.
Instagram – All Albums
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Artist: PERFUME GENIUS Who: The musical moniker of acclaimed Iowa
singer-songwriter and visual artist Michael Hadreas
Track: IT’S A MIRROR
Lead single from his new 7th LP, baptized Glory,
and out on March 28th. More info here.
“I wrote ‘It’s A Mirror’ while stuck in one of these isolating loops, seeing
that something different and maybe even beautiful is out there but not quite
knowing how to venture out. I have a lot more practice keeping the
door closed.”
PG’s vulnerable vocals
star once more in this
smooth muse.
