They swapped their guitars for electronica. And it works. From prog rock psychedelia to prog synth-dream-pop. 7 great, trippy/vibey/dancey tunes (not one longer than 5 minutes except for the remixes LP where not one of the 7 tracks is shorter than 10 minutes. Think Tame Impala on a roll with layers of shiny synthesizers.
.
To promote the new record the hardest working band in the world will keep on
working hard in 2024 with a massive tour brining them to Europe, the UK, Canada
and the US. I wonder how many new LPs they will fabricate in between on the tour
bus.
In order to not miss a beat Turn Up The Volume scans the musical
horizon daily (doing it for years now, actually) to stay in touch with
all new things sonically great and shares the results on a weekly
basis.
Check the 10 new rad cuts just
added to this rad 2023 playlist.
“The music of Ex-Hyena – Reuben Bettsak and Bo Barringer – has often
explored our collective sense of being through hyper-specific moments.
But if we were granted the ability to slow those moments down, would we
react differently, and would we have a greater or lesser understanding of
what transpires before us? That’s at the core of the Boston dystopian
dance-pop duo’s new single and video.”
Reuben Bettsak: “Things seem to move so fast sometimes and it’s hard to savor moments,
or understand a magical day, a traumatic event, a breakup or a fight, etc. It’s kind of the whole imagining life as a movie where you could replay things in slow motion – with other psychedelic effects for good measure.”
In Slow Motion is the lead single of the duo’s forthcoming, third album ‘A Kiss of the Mind’. Expect dark-synth-wave pizazz at its haunting best. Booming beats rotate on and on towards a full orchestral plangency while shadowy vocals add even more sinister vibes.
The Aussie psych-prog-rockers announced their 25th LP in 13 years.
Their second of 2023. I don’t know when they sleep, or what meds
they take but their productivity is off the charts.
The new one is called The Silver Cord
and comes our way on 27 October.
One of the pieces they already shared is Set.
Psychedelic disco for the wicked.
3. ‘Fourth Pass Over The Graveyard’ (UNKLE Reconstruction) by THE BLACK DELTA MOVEMENT (Kingston-Upon-Hull, UK)
TBDM has a new 5-track EP, titled In Acetate, out on November 17th. More info here.
One of the pieces is a remix by UNKLE (the musical act of veteran trip-hop hero James Lavelle) of February single Fourth Pass Over The Graveyard. Expect psychedelia in slo-mo with Stone Roses‘s Fools Gold echoes, fuzzy vocals and spacey rhythms.
Newdance is the title track of the duo’s brand-new EP. Stream/buy it here.
It’s about non-stop burning matches and circles around and around pushed
by a mind-boggling synth riff creeping in your head faster than you can say Fuck Putin. It’s stroboscope electro that gets you in a trance for 5 and a half
minutes. Want more? You know where the repeat button is.
Boasting power vocals and a rippin’ guitar riff, she’s a pleaser and a teaser dealing pure punk out your speakers. This is the hand; a perfect play for lovers, an ex, or one night stand.”
Punk-pop fireworks at work. Dark Angel rattles and rolls with energetic elan and greedy guitars and flares up when the tempestuous chorus hits your ears. Desirous vocals complete this roaring ripper.
This British 5-piece just released their high-spirited 5-track debut EP,
titled A Place Like No Other. Stream here.
Same Old Story is a standout track. Think Garbage‘s Shirley Manson
rockin’ out with freaked-out guitars flying around her head.
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8. ‘Safe’ byWIRE SPINE (Vancouver, British Columbia)
Wire Spine was formed in 2015 by Robert Katerwol of Weird Candle, and Jesi Tekahionwake. Following their 2018 debut album Bury Me Here they’re back now with new single Safe. An electro-pop stomper with New Order-like synth beats and seductive Tekahionwake vocals.
9. ‘Crown Of Thorns’ by THE SUBTHEORY (Los Angeles/Oxford)
At its core, Crown of Thorns delves into the concept of boundaries, those elusive lines
that define personal space and individuality. Singer Cate DeBu lyrical talent shines as she weaves a narrative that vividly portrays the dynamics of establishing and maintaining these boundaries.
It’s a smooth, soulful reverie with gentle and charming vocals
and a Portishead vibe. Sensuous, relaxing and appealing.
Enjoy.
Reverb Records
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10. ‘Thoughts Of A Child’ by THE LATHUMS (Greater Manchester, UK)
Last March the British pop-rock darlings launched their 2nd album From Nothing To
A Little Bit More. And last week they dropped this brand-new splendid and infectious humdinger.
The new one, is called The Silver Cord
and comes our way on 27 October.
The band, a couple of months ago, about their album-release strategy.
When they broke the news they didn’t share a single.
To compensate, they just dropped 3 in one go, now.
Theia (this one you can play when you fly in space),The Silver Cord (this one is
also a space oddity tune) and Set (disco hip-hop, yes disco hip-hop, à la KG & TLW)
For the occasion, the prog-rock eccentrics from down under lose their selves
in speed-riff metal extravaganza. Experience their trash and crash Metallica side.
No mercy for this Blue Monday.
In order to not miss a beat Turn Up The Volume scans the musical
horizon daily (doing it for years now, actually) to stay in touch with
all new things sonically great and shares the results on a weekly
basis.
Check the 10 new rad tracks just
added to this rad 2023 playlist.
1. ‘Gorilla Guerilla’ by MANTRA OF THE COSMOS (UK)
The smoking punk-disco debut by new supergroup with Shaun Ryder
and Bez (Happy Mondays/Black Grape), Andy Bell (Ride/Oasis) and drummer Zak Starkey, yes Ringo‘s son, who played with Oasis and The Who among others.
Party time!
2. ‘Road To Joy’ by PETER GABRIEL (UK) Gabriel keeps on dropping singles from his upcoming i/o
(release date still unknown). This one is a funktatsic upper.
3. ‘Gilla Monster’ by KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD (Australia)
Dragonic slam dunk from the Aussies 24th LP in 13 years (!) out next Friday.
4. ‘Undergrowth’ by SQUID (Brighton, UK)
Top piece from the British post-punks’ second,
highly lauded, LP O Monolith.
5. ‘This Town’ by VALA (Manchester, UK) British gunslingers who infuse pop melodies and lyrics with indie riffs
and a nu-wave feel. On This Town – a bang-on cut from their debut EP I Love The Sound – the swagger of NYC’s darlings The Strokes‘ comes
to mind.
6. ‘They Live In My Head’ by BUSH TETRAS (NY)
Tense and feverish serpent of a track, going forth and back, from NYC’s
indie heroes BUSH TETRAS (1979–1983, 1995–1998, 2005–present). It’ll
feature on their new longplayer out, named Things I Put Together, landing on 23 July.
8. ‘Mine’ by CLAUDIA CAPPELLETTI
With this captivating vocal pearl, Italy-born songstress Cappelletti wants to inspire and unite all the people around the world to fight for the rights for women to live free from violence and discrimination, to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical.
9.‘I Inside The Old I Dying’ by PJ HARVEY (UK)
The title track – a mesmeric reverie – from PJ’s 10th LP,
coming up on 7 July.
10. ‘Otherworld’ by CELESTIAL NORTH (Scotland)
The life affirming and glorious dreamscape title track from this
compelling artist’s debut album Otherworld, out on the 7th of July.
For the occasion, the prog-rock eccentrics from down under will let us hear their
metallic trash and crash side. We already had a first taster with the demoniac lead
single Gila Monster and here’s another draconian behemoth of a torpedo track.
An almost 10-minute escapade that shifts from speed-death-metal to familiar
prog-rock sequences and back, trashing stuff along the way. KGTLW rules!
VERY LOUD AND VERY CLEAR!
The accompanying video was directed by the band’s close collaborator Jason Galea, matches footage of King Gizz playing Dragon interspersed with some computer-animated lizardry inspired by the original Sony PlayStation.
1. ‘Twitchin’ in The Kitchen’ byWARMDUSCHER (London)
This punky-funky disco corker is the perfect pick-me-up tune for all the wacky
weirdos who are always in the kitchen at parties waiting for free drinks and waiting
for Warmduscher to come in and kick their lazy asses. Big stroke, big chorus, big fun!
The Scottish dance-funk-punk trio YOUNG FATHERS launch
their 5th LP called HEAVY HEAVY on 3 February.
Ahead of hit came this ridiculously sticky stunner I SAW.
A master blaster that makes your blood stream faster
through your veins. The addition of a choir in the back
works on the spot.
This London post-punk team unleashed their 2nd scorching album Beware Believers, last April. One of TUTV’s best full-lengths of 2022.
Slowly Separate is a schizo sonic serpent generating a mind-blowing backwash
while chainsaw guitars turn up the decibels to an illegal peak, and vox-in-the-middle James Fox rages and blazes through his teeth.
The by now legendary passion rockers from Cincinnati, Ohio with mastermind Greg Dulli leading the troops. Their new 10th LP How Do You Burn? was voted Best Album Of 2022 on Turn Up The Volume.
I’ll Make You See God was the lead single. A sturdy steamroller, a red-hot-heated juggernaut, an unstoppable cannonball going everywhere fast. Manic blitzkrieg
guitars, ruthless drum/bass attacks, Greg Dulli‘s rush of blood vocality, and a brutal
finish. Flabbergasting.
Dulli: “That’s one of the hardest rock songs we’ve ever done.
It was written and performed on sheer adrenalin.”
This frenetic Brit force hit big time with their dazzling
debut album The Great Regression last March.
Single I Am Kate Moss is a cast-iron brainbreaker. It’s a poignant, biting, and
anxious uppercut. I’m pretty sure Moss would love this hit-and-run drone when
it would hit her ears. She is, after all, the Femme Punk Fatale of fashion.
The Prophet progresses like a vicious viper sliding to its prey until a horrific explosion strikes you in the face. Next is a titanic bass riff that keeps the roller coaster turning with scary speed. This flabbergasting monster is part of their 2nd notable longplayer Trust No Leaders.
About: “As a story or metaphor, we are all ‘Frankenstein’s monster’ – made up of
other people’s opinions and parts that don’t belong to us. That we were born
perfect but people, in their own conditioning, come along and can make us feel
undesirable/inadequate/the monster. But we can choose to be real instead.”
This is without a shadow the best debut single of 2022.
A towering tune going low, high and back. A sickly sticky pop gem wrapped in
a big-boisterous wall-of-sound. And up front, Sianna Lafferty‘s phenomenal voice
causes goosebumps when she reaches for the sky on the chorus. The ardency of Porridge Radio comes to mind.
“I am not what you want me to be
Uncle Sam won’t even point at me
Even the eyes of the Virgin Mary wall
hanging won’t even stare at me.”
Kill Me Again, one of three pieces shared so far, is an infectious groove
propelled by a pounding synth/bass riff, spiced with Coxon on saxophone
and mesmerizing (duet) vocals. Splendid stuff. Bring on the LP.
This power pop sensation impressed big time with their self-titled debut album. The outstanding dingle Chaise Longue – catchy, funny and witty caused choirs of thousands of sing-along people at festivals this past summer as I experienced myself, not at Glastonbury (below), but in Belgium at Hear!Hear! fest.
After releasing her sterling debut LP last year, songstress Ilayda Cicek and her band
came back this year for a series of riveting concerts (I saw 5 of them) and this sublime single. Her passion, her vivaciousness and vocal fervency push this electrifying pearl
way up to the stars.
Where We Sleep is the alter ego of Beth Rettig,
former front force of electro-rock band Blindness
On this boiling groover Rethig rants non-stop with anger and frustration.
A nasty bass riff is the backbone here, while layers of menacing guitar
electricity augment this ripper’s rowdy roll.
A crystal clear statement, a menacing projectile.
“They Don’t Want The Truth / They Just Want The Power”
12. ‘Nothing Good Comes Easy’ by DEAD LEVEE (Canada)
What a wowzer! This uplifting motherrocker boosts your state of mind with
fired-up dynamism from the get-go. Rapid-fire rawk and roll riffs switch on
a fervent feel of euphoria. It did it in the past, it does it in the present and
it will do it in the future.
Despite all the BS we have to endure (pandemic, Ukraine, natural disasters,
and other threats) it’s never too late to get back on track and why not start
with 4 and a half minutes of heart-warming guitar-fueled boogie-woogie
that triggers hope and assurance.
Stoogefather IGGY POP still wants to be your dog.
He has his new – 19th – LP, named Every Loser
lands out next week, on 6 January.
Lead-single was the perfect harbinger. A motherfucker of a punk bomb
featuring an all-star band including Watt, Guns N’ Roses‘ Duff McKagan
and Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith.
I’m in a frenzy
Fucking prick
I’m in a frenzy
Goddamn dick
It’s been two years since these Scottish hound dogs made
my speakers tremble with their furious Johnny single.
But on their steamy comeback stomper they still have the same barnstorming groove and move drive. Something Good is a nasty rip-roaring-riff jackhammer,
annex agitated vocals, rotating in your head in an ear-blink. Think NYC’s darlings Interpol playing The Fall. Something good? Way better, something ace!
Geordie Greep (vocalist, guitar): “Almost everything I write is from a true thing, something
I experienced and exaggerated and wrote down. I don’t believe in Hell, but all that old world folly is great for songs, I’ve always loved movies and anything else with a depiction of Hell.”
A screwy zig-zagging haymaker it is.
From their head-spinning 3rd LP Hellfire.
“A paean to taking your foot off the gas and letting things slide, or a warning of the perils of procrastination, perhaps? It’s hard to tell whether ‘Mañana’ is meant to serve as a confessional regarding Domestic’s own perceived lack of willpower, or a celebration of idleness. It could be either of these things; and that’s one of its many joys.”.
A sirens intro, David Bowie‘s saxophone, and steel drums straight from Trinidad. Sounds like an exotic swing and shake ditty is coming up. No folks, it’s a lazy rap-sody you can play the morning after a booze marathon to get up and sober up, slowly.
Soul voice Clare Gillet takes care of the chirpy chorus.
These Welshmen released their new excellent album Druids and Bards
displaying mastermind Scott Marsden high-quality songwriting.
This impassioned hard-luck story is my fav cut. It grows slowly but surely into a soul-stirring and mesmerising heartbreaker with an epic finale. Glowing guitars, a steady drumbeat, and mixed-emotions vocals all come together for a poignant performance.
‘Love Is Cruel / The Hurt Within’. You can feel it.
This wholly charismatic and fast up-and-coming darkwave duo mixes Gothic Depeche Mode beats, with sonic Human League echoes, bass-synth-riffs à la German legends D.A.F. and spice it all up with spooky vocals. And it looks like 2023 will even be bigger than 2022.
After their eponymous bonkers debut EP (2020) followed by some staggering singles,
the high-decibels tandem nail it with another sucker punch. Leader is a funk-punk riff ripsnorter that kicks forth and back before a freakish guitar outbreak slashes and
trashes its way to the end.
Watch out for the pigman,
he looks like a meme in disguise.
“It’s a warning, an unflinching assessment of the vastness and insignificance of this
life, is precisely counterbalanced by their lesson, which models the resilience that this understanding demands. ‘Demolition Row’ is persistent, concise, and alarmingly physical.”
This blustery belter is vintage Metz. Full blast ahead. The track
featured on a split 7” with London-based group Adult Life.
From Dylan’s Desolation Row
to Metz’s Demolition Row…
Once I learned that this startling belter is about the horrible exploitation of human
beings by ferocious money sharks this jagged jackhammer blew my mind even harder than I heard it the first time before knowing about the band’s inspiration for this slam.
Expect rabid guitars, doom-and-gloom vocals, and frantic
twists and turns until the chaotic finale. Post-punk at
its razorblade best.
Jeen: “It’s about letting yourself drift in the flow of everything and hanging on as hard as you can to what makes the shitty parts more tolerable…I was thinking of that Hunter S. Thompson quote, “buy the ticket, take the ride.” It was written in April 2021, which was a rough part of last year for me. I needed to write something that reminded me to tread lightly, to forget about the heaviness of everything.
After only one spin, my ears told me that Chemical Emotion is an bewitching pop doozy. Jeen‘s emotive voice bewitches right away, the mid-tempo cadence emphasizes the meditative reflection perfectly, the compelling chorus brings Alanis Morissette to mind, and overall the orchestral sonority and the layered harmonies lead to a thrilling triumph.
Oscar Mic wrote this song after witnessing the horrific violence of
psycho Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine on the news. All proceeds of
the song weent to Save The Children’s Ukraine Appeal.
We Are Ukrainian is a vivid hp-rap-pop anthem featuring steel drums
and timpani balancing somewhere between Roots Manuva and Mr. Scruff.
“Fleeing people running scared, so tell me Where’s the justice? Our leaders say they care,
tell me can you trust this? Urban warfare, your home’s done and dusted, Aiming at the
public, they wouldn’t? They just did,”
I’m quite sure that days down under last for 48 instead of 24 hours. Psych-rock Aussies KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD canned a total of 25 LPs in only 10 years. That’s insane.
Recently they explained in NME about the band’s philospy: “If an album is shit and nobody likes it, you just put another one next month”. Next month? Last October they had 3 albums out in 3 weeks. Insane, indeed.
And on one of those, named Omnium Gatherum, they start with a 18 minute jam called THE DRIPPING TAP. The longest song I heard all year. Supersonic guitar schizophrenia, like a jet at cruising speed. A maniacal mindfucker. Hallelujah!
British long-running music website LOUDER THAN WAR is, without a shadow of a doubt, my favorite one on the Internet. They support/challenge alt-rock, post-punk, guitar-pop and all related genres by as well, small indie artists as the big ones (old and new). My kinda stuff.
As we near the end of the year, best-of lists are coming in. LTW just published their, yes,Top 100of best 2022 LPs.
9th LP of the British glam heroes (1989–2003, 2010–present)
led by charismatic maestro Brett Anderson
Key single: 15 Again
Louder Than War: “An album to treasure for life. It really does contain all the bombast, swells and drama of the orchestral classical music so beloved by Brett’s father, but also an intimacy wrapped up in the intensity.”
TUTV: As much as I am a fan, this is too many Suede
by numbers. Except for one of the best singles of
the year with15 Again the LP doesn’t work for me.
Singer-songwriter from Chicago
with a vulnerable heart and soul.
His/her 6th full length.
Key single: Forever In Sunset
Louder Than War: “All Of Us Flames focuses on the resistance, the struggle, and the community of the threatened. Furman says the album is, “a queer album for the stage
of life when you start to understand that you are not a lone wolf, but depend on finding
your family, your people, how you work as part of a larger whole.”
DIY post-punks from Cheshire, UK with their 2nd longplayer.
Key single: Harmonia
Louder Than War: “This absolute scorcher of an album set alight the start of 2022
with a sonic bang of pure power that screams along at breakneck speed throughout,
one which burns but never crashes.
TUTV: To be honest I never heard of this band until now. Thank you Louder Than War. These guys are amazing. No brakes, no breaks. Bingo!
The hardest working band in the world. 23 albums in 12 years. Hallelujah.
Key single: The Tripping Tap (18-minute riff-manic psych jam)
Louder Than War: “Omnium Gatherum, a miscellaneous collection; eclecticism order of the day as they pull on every one of their strengths to create what just may be their least defined yet most defining record to date.”
