Utterly cool female rock duo DEAP VALLY out of Los Angeles
released their 3rd album, named MARRIAGE in November 2021.
It was a top-10 LP of that year on Turn Up The Volume‘s list.
Deap Vally said: “Being in a band is like being in a marriage: sometimes it’s magical,
sometimes it’s unbearably challenging. To reinvigorate that marriage we’ve made
album three a genre-bending experiment with new collaborators and instrumentation
that push the limits of what has previously defined us. Marriage’ is our musical Rumspringa,
if you will. We’re breaking free of the rigid creative constraints within which we previously existed (two members, two instruments, two voices). Writing with the calibre of musicians
that we did on this record was an unforgettable experience, and we’re so happy to have
the result of our creative rebirth eternalised in ‘Marriage’.”
The album featured a number of collaborations including
songs with Peaches, KT Tunstall, and Warpaint‘s Jenny Lee.
Paradiso Club, Amsterdam – photo by Turn Up The Volume
Turn Up The Volume wrote: The message of Marriage is loud and clear: Lindsey
Troy and Julie Edwards are here to stay. Their musical bond is tighter than ever. Looking
to the future they broadened their musical horizons impressively. Mind you, don’t expect
a free jazz record. Deap Vally are still about rocking and rolling while tackling their demons with an intimidating vocal bravado, but in a far more varied way than before.
I hear eruptive echoes of Death From Above (Perfuction / Billions / I’m The Master), The Black Keys (Where Do We Go / Better Run), and early Deap Vally with a full-sound injection (Tsunami / Magic Medicine). And with Give Me A Sign (bringing Sparklehorse to mind) and the soul-stirring beauty of Look Away the couple shows their softer sonic side.
After 10 years and 3 LPS (and one together
with The Flaming Lips) their matrimony is alive and kicking.
Singles/clips: Tsunami / Magic Medicine / Perfuction
The Los Angeles rock Amazons DEAP VALLY – Lindsey Troy (guitar, vocals) and Julie Edwards (drums and vocals) – released their third LP called MARRIAGE (one of Turn Up The Volume’ top 10 albums of 2021) last month, with fervid firecracker MAGIC MEDICINE as the lead-single.
Deap Vally: “Magic Medicine is a song five years in the making, born in Allen Salmon’s Nashville studio, and raised in Josiah Mazzaschi’s Cave Studio back in LA. Initially, a song about being high on what-have-you (body chemistry, lab chemistry, nature’s chemistry) the lyrics have taken on a new meaning in the era of coronavirus, a moment when more than ever we need a miracle cure to make it safe to have fun and feel free again.”
Warning: the accompanying video clip will make you high.
A great reason for Turn Up The Volume to name this video
‘the best of 2021’.
After 10 years the sisters in arms want to inject their bond with new musical challenges
to keep their marriage alive and kicking (they’ll be always alive and kicking anyway).
Their new LP called, yes, Marriage and lands on 12 November.
The first taster is a slo-mo synth-vaccinated groove with Lindsey Troy‘s fully charged
guitars all over it and Julie Edwards, as usual taking care of the solid backbone drum
beat. Troy‘s vocals and Edwards echoing voice in the back give the song an extra thrill.
Expect a slash and trash jackhammer, an angry
spit and sneer storm, a Sturm und Drang uppercut.
143 seconds of furious frustration is what you get. Retro organs
clatter like if a nightmare is just around the corner, but Domestic
thunders like he’s a determined survivor who will not go down
just like that.
I listened to the title track of this London-based singer/songwriter’s new album
about 50 times, so far. It’s a guitar-driven riff-hook-and-lick standout that cuts like
a new Swiss knife with feverish and heartfelt vocals amplifying the dumbfounded
chorus. Holy smoke.
The rock ‘n roll swagger of Eddie Cochran, the surf guitar electricity
of Link Wray, and the fervent fire of Bo Diddley. Get the punchy
picture? This rollin’ razzle-dazzle riffage will boost your mood.
London’s funk-punk gang is gearing up
for their big breakthrough album.
This first taster is a trippy bass-driven disco groove you can sway
your hips to in the morning while waking up, in the evening while
getting drunk, and during the day when you’re getting bored.
When surreality becomes reality cry outs like these pop up to translate
alienated feelings that dominate your daily life. This club of two decided
to embed their frustration into a swirling dance stunner for our doomed
generation.
Pithy, peppery, and a blacked-out chorus that sticks as primo glue.
Add glamorous vocals and a glittering full-on wall-of-sound and the
final result is a supersonic stunner.
‘It’s Critical’ by SAVING JACKIE (San Antonio, Texas)
The heated rap-rock gang from San Antonio launched
a video for the title track of their debut album.
The clip is a clear-cut message regarding life-threatening diseases.
Flamboyant frontwoman Jenny 4C Ramirez emphasizes the fight
for your life bravery while making your blood stream faster through
your veins.
These young gunslingers rushed to indie stardom with their ace jazz and prog-rock influenced debut LP For The First Time.
Isaac Wood (frontman) about this brand new song: “it’s the best song we’ve ever
written. We threw in every idea anyone had with that song. So the making of it was
a really fast, whimsical approach – like throwing all the shit at the wall and just
letting everything stick.”
A blazing rock slam about the desperate need for stable emotional stimulation.
Blustering guitars, flurried synths, hot-blooded vocals, a discharging chorus, and somewhere in the middle a thunder and lighting guitar solo to electrocute all your
mind-destroying demons. Every time you take this medicine, you’ll get a kick out of it.
If you like British turbo Royal Blood
you’ll go berserk to this cracker too.
Instantly effective pop tunes like these make me smile
from left to right and back. Shiny guitars with shoegazy
sparks, a dizzy-making rhythm, happy-go-lucky sentiments,
and seducing vocals. A song that would turn Taylor Swift
into an indie star.
A crystal-clear structured protest against greedy political sharks and
megalomaniac charlatans oppressing people for their own devastating
agendas. Again Manimal and Samara show how to fuse poignant poetry
and versatile metal genres.
The fab goth-metal gang made an album with goth heroine Chelsea Wolfe
and Cave In‘s Stephen Brodsky. The LP, titled Bloodmoon: I will soundtrack
our nightmares from November 19 on.
Here comes the first piece Blood Moon. A classic mix of deafening bombast,
theatrical doom and gloom, barking voices (except for Chelsea of course), and
hardcore torment. A perfect Halloween monster.
White continues her sound-exploring search. Here she fuses
symphonic instrumentation with deep-bass-resonating synth
turbulence. Trippy, dissonant, and even claustrophobic when
short fragments of White‘s restless breathing emerge somewhere
in there.
The ongoing pizzicato violin play adds both an airy and eerie timbre.
I have no idea what the totally silent outro with some echoes of (what
seems to be) firecrackers in the very end, is about. What I do know is
that the first thought that crossed my mind when hearing this, was: Aphex Twin is back, in disguise.
Pretty quick into the song the early days of electronic
British legends Human League and Baxter Dury‘s synth
pop sensuality (especially the female voices) popped up
on my stereo in my head.
It sounds as if this Boston tandem warns us of Big Brother’s ambition to brainwash humankind with mind-altering chemicals with this darksome, yet instantly striking
electro jam. Haunting, feverish, and gloomy are the keywords here. Best played at
night while being dazed and confused by the surreal times we experience the past
18 months.
It’s been a while since I heard an epic belter that evokes
an image on the screen in my head of a massive stadium
filled with a sea of people holding their phones up with
shining lights and scream at the top of their lungs.
This powerful love ballad will
trigger your romantic side…
Band: DEAP VALLY Who: Utterly cool female rock duo out of Los Angeles Active: Since 2011 / 4 studioalbums (the ace collabarotive
one with The Flaming Lips last year, and the upcoming new
one included).
Recent work: Two EPs Digital Dream and American Cockroach,
featuring several guests, released this year. Put together it’s an
extra Deap Vally album to my ears.
New album: MARRIAGE Out: 12th November 2021 – order info here
Deap Vally: “Being in a band is like being in a marriage: sometimes it’s magical,
sometimes it’s unbearably challenging. To reinvigorate that marriage we’ve made
album three a genre-bending experiment with new collaborators and instrumentation
that push the limits of what has previously defined us. Marriage’ is our musical Rumspringa,
if you will. We’re breaking free of the rigid creative constraints within which we previously existed (two members, two instruments, two voices). Writing with the calibre of musicians
that we did on this record was an unforgettable experience, and we’re so happy to have
the result of our creative rebirth eternalised in ‘Marriage’.”
The new LP also features a number of collaborations from the aforementioned
EPs, including songs with Peaches, KT Tunstall, and Warpaint‘s Jenny Lee.
”’Magic Medicine’ is a song five years in the making. Initially, a song about being high on what-have-you (body chemistry, lab chemistry, nature’s chemistry) the lyrics have taken on a new meaning in the era of coronavirus, a moment when more than ever we need a miracle cure to make it safe to have fun and feel free again.”
Turn Up The Volume: Deap Vally is dead! Long live Deap Vally! This year’s two EPs (see above) surprised us with other sonic sides of these two steamy sisters in rock. After 10 years they inject their bond with new musical challenges (mind you, I still go bonkers to their first two blues-rock albums). And here’s the first taster. A slo-mo synth-vaccinated groove with glimmering Lindsey Troy guitars all over it and Julie Edwards, as usual taking care of the solid backbone drum beat. And Troy‘s vocals and Edwards echoing voice in the back give the song an extra thrill.
Trust me, this magic medicine will protect you against post-lockdown blues.
TURN UP THE VOLUME 