Their first three LPs (Yerself Is Steam – 1991 / Boces – 1993 / See You
On The Other Side – 1995) were dope-infused, psych-driven records.
From there on the two remaining, original key members, devotional
vocalist and co-songwritter Jonathan Donahue, who played for two
years with The Flaming Lips, and musical orchestrator and sublime
guitarist Grasshopper (born Sean Thomas Mackowiak) created their
renowned trancelike aura, with another six albums.
Last Sunday was a vintage Rev experience, another spiritual happening. Of course,
all very familiar to my eyes and ears with Donahue as the visual attraction who regularly conducted the band with grand gestures and Grasshopper as the voltaic motor of the band’s sonic rhapsody.
Their symphonic trademark sound is what defines them for a long time now. Also, their bone-chilling, psychedelic outros, lasting often longer than the songs themselves, were omnipresent. But it didn’t work all the time on this occasion and threatened to suck the flow out of the performance, now and then.
Goddess On A Hiway
Then again when magical golden oldies like Tonight It Shows, Holes, Opus 40 and,
of course Goddess On A Hiway (all from their 1998 magnum opus ‘Deserter’s Songs’
filled the cozy venue, shivers ran down your spine.
Add Tides Of The Moon and the usual, magistral closer The Dark Is Rising (both from All Is Dream their 2nd best album ever, from 2001) and you have the blistering half
of the full set. Weirdly enough, with Ancient Love we got only one track of the new LP.
The Dark Is Rising – Live in Belgium, 2002
Although not as balanced as I’m used to, Mercury Rev offered enough orchestral
manoeuvres in the dark, once again, to relive in your head for a couple of days.
Album: ALL IS DREAM
The group’s 5th LP, released
in August 2001.
.
The Rev – with key members Jonathan Donahue
and Sean “Grasshopper” Mackowiak are still around.
Last month, they launched their 9th longplayer with Born Horses.
Band: XIU XIU
The Californian art noise duo XIU XIU aren’t the lazy kind of artists.
In their 22-year-old career, they recorded/released 14 LPs including
the new one.
The Quietus writes: “13”… is a superlative pop record, but still an endless cycle of extremes.
A shining, distorted, expertly constructed, open-ended record, that might be Xiu Xiu’s best.”
TUTV: This is their most intense, most emotional, and most accessible album to date.
Well, not that it will sell millions of copies and be No. 1 on the charts all over the world.
It’s still XX, always exploring different soundscapes, but here they come up with
less complex song structures, actually more (sort of) conventional alt ones. And?
Outstanding record dominated by layers of industrial synths and chilling melodies.
I hear Cure-esque echoes (Common Loon / Veneficum), eerie and ghostly vocality
à la the late great Scott Walker (Arp Omni / Sleep Bvld.) and trippy Cabaret Voltaire
dynamics. All together, these sonic ingredients lead to a fascinating XX opus.
The more spins, the more your ears
get around this new Xiu Xiu exploit.
MOJO (monthly UK magazine): “A yin-yang parity asserts itself with the wistful, jazzy,
Rose-sung Simple Days, electro-pop You Saw and epic, wicca-ish Druantia. Elsewhere,
there’s arty chamber pop, demented swing-jazz and the epic Surf’s Up-echoing closer
Sunrise: middle-aged bliss has rarely sounded so weirdly magical.”
TUTV: Partners in love, partners in parenthood, partners in music. With this 2nd LP Coxon and Dougall offer an even more varied one than their notable debut. They rock out (City Lights, You Saw, Moth To The Flame, Broken Boys, Simple Days) and slow down (I Belong To, lullaby for their little daughter Song For Eliza May, Girl Of The Endless Night) with three constants.
Arrestive tunes, rich instrumental orchestrations and emotional, alternating and duet vocals. You hear a happy and dynamic couple delivering a high-songwriting-quality record. Embrace it with your ears, heart and soul, it’ll feel good.
Uncut (British music monthly): “The fourth album is a
masterclass in simple but devastatingly effective melodies.”
Press photo by Dario Vazquez
TUTV: Infectious tune after infectious tune make you reach for Piña Colada after
Piña Colada. Hinds resurrect here from a difficult period with 2 members leaving.
It leads to songs of love and loss, yep, songs about life.
The overall vitalizing formula of this new longplayer lies in the fact that every single track
is embedded in an on-the-spot galvanizing melodiousness that triggers joyous, gratified and devil-may-care feelings. It’s called pop-ular music. No less, no more. Oh so welcome
in these disordered times. Uplifting entertainment for all seasons. Gracias ciervas.
. KEY SINGLE
(Contender for best one of 2024)
Press info: This new release is a raucous blend of anthemic rock ‘n’ roll, brimming with boogie, rage, forgiveness, and raw energy. The music is loud, fast, and bombastic, infused with lyrics that highlight our ongoing struggle for equality and the collective effort required to bridge the gap.
TUTV: Imagine MC5 have a headbutt fight with The Stooges, while Led Zeppelin are
waiting around the corner, armed with battleaxes, to have their go at the winner.
Gee wizz. Sounds fucking cool, right? You betcha.
Equator unleash uppercut after uppercut at your ears and poor loudspeakers. What you hear is what you get. Filthy garage blues-punk rock. Helter-skelter. A non-stop tsunami of Herculean riffs, primal Wolfmother screams, berserk octopus drumming, and voluminous choruses combine for a badass whopping record. Fasten your seatbelts for these manic hooligans.
Band: MERCURY REV
The day-and-night dreamers from Buffalo, New York MERCURY REV – with key members Jonathan Donahue and Sean “Grasshopper” Mackowiak are around for 35 years now and still float in a universe of their own They now operate with new members Marion Genser (keyboardist) Jesse Chandler (piano).
Mojo (British musical monthly): “Bands, as Donahue famously sang on Holes,
“never work quite right”, but with this late-period beauty, Mercury Rev have hit
the cosmic balance perfectly.”
Press photo by Joe Magistro
TUTV: Reflections about the past, the present, and the future. Frontman Jonathan
Donahue tells stories about life. Real images, illusionary images. His heartwarming
voice and the subtly jazzy, soothing, and tranquillizing orchestrations flow into each
other just beautifully.
Poetry in motion. Born Horses is an ideal companion for meditative nights, for silent
moments of nostalgic pensiveness and widescreen fantasies. After a couple of spins,
I played Laurie Anderson‘ new album Amelia (about the legendary female aviator Amelia). Other stories but a same telling atmosphere and impact, same cinematic sonority. Then back again to Born Horses. A spiritual experience. Dim the light, sit down, relax, and let
your thoughts flow.
Day-and-night dreamers MERCURY REV – with key members Jonathan Donahue and Sean “Grasshopper” Mackowiak – have their 9th LP, their first in 9 years out. It’s named BORN HORSES. The band have cited the late beat poet Robert Creeley as one of the inspirations when creating the album.
Press info: “In upstate New York, deep in the seam between the Catskills mountains and the Hudson Valley, a richly swelling, spellbound sound emerges, eddying and flowing like the local Esopus Creek, or in the slipstream of the grander Hudson river, carrying the flotsam and jetsam of our hopes, dreams, fears.
A sound composed of organic and electronic; guitars, keys, brass, strings, woodwind, drums – and a voice of incantations, tapping streams of consciousness that similarly
eddy and flow.
Spiritually, literally, psycho-geographically: where else does Mercury Rev’s ninth album Born Horses spring from? This cascade of gleaming, glistening psych-jazz- folk-baroque-ambient quest that searches its soul but can never truly know the answer?
A sound and vision linked to their exalted past whilst quite unlike anything they have created before? The answer is somewhere between the homes of founder members Jonathan Donahue (the hamlet of Mt Tremper) and Grasshopper (the town of Kingston), in their veins and brains of their now- legendary tapping of musical cosmology, and the vital presence of new permanent member Marion Genser (keys), plus long- term ally Jesse Chandler (keys) and guests Jeff Lipstein (drums), Martin Keith (double bass) and Jim Burgess (trumpet).”
Press photo by Joe Magistro
Mojo (British musical monthly): “Bands, as Donahue famously sang on Holes,
“never work quite right”, but with this late-period beauty, Mercury Rev have hit
the cosmic balance perfectly.”
TUTV: Reflections about the past, the present and the future. Frontman Jonathan
Donahue tells stories about life. Real images, illusionary images. His heartwarming
voice and the subtly jazzy, soothing and tranquilizing orchestrations flow into each
other just beautifully.
Poetry in motion. Born Horses is an ideal companion for meditative nights, for silent
moments of nostalgic pensiveness and widescreen fantasies. After a couple of spins,
I played Laurie Anderson‘ new album Amelia (about the legendary female aviator Amelia). Other stories but a same telling atmosphere and impact, same cinematic sonority. Then back again to Born Horses. A spiritual experience. Dim the light, sit down, relax and let
your thoughts flow.
Brand-new cut from her upcoming solo debut
album ‘Nobody Loves You More‘ out November 22.
Crystal Breath is quite special and pretty different from anything Deal has been done before. EBM bass dynamics, trip-hop quivering
and a spiky guitar riff.
“‘Body Bag’ is a peak behind the curtain at the reality of modern romance and feeling young and old at the same time. I think sonically the song has so many ups and downs, and that’s exactly how this stage of my life has felt. It’s running barefoot on the concrete, chasing something you can’t quite put your finger on, but running towards it nonetheless. That’s
how I would best describe ‘Body Bag.’”
TUTV: This is an astounding piece of multi-layered music. An effervescent mix of pop,
rock and EBM going everywhere fast and Romano‘s sensual voice adds an arousing dynamic. A stream of adrenalin rushes through your body, all the way.
It will be on their debut EP Disco To Disco, out on September 13.
The song is about rediscovering old lovers after a night out from disco(theque) to disco(theque), with references to The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan and his excessive drinking, and a legendary Belgian crooner. Bringing these two completely different iconic figures together makes you wonder if they don’t have more in common than you might think.
TUTV: Full steam ahead from the get-go. All engines on. Decibels up, amps up.
The breakneck speed and the relentless synth/percussion riff make your head
spin 360°. I dare you to catch up with this steamroller.
If you don’t know they’re from Belgium you would think they are one of those
post-Brexshit-punk misfits such as Deathletter, Ditz, shame, English Teacher, and
more of those exciting indie wolves. Cool, right? You betcha.
One of the two new shared pieces from their upcoming 3rd LP, named Catouts, out October 14. It’s a hypnotizing Krautrock-like jam rushing through your bloodstream.
Great saxophones too.
The Smile: Instagram
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Photo credit: Ebru Yildiz
Band: A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS Who: The rapid-fire Brooklyn turbine,
led by Oliver Ackermann, pump up the
decibels since 2003.
Track: YOU GOT ME
A foretaste of their upcoming LP,
titled ‘Synthesizer‘, out on October 4.
TUTV: Expect a spine-chilling guitar/bass riff rocket with Ackermann‘s
vocals echoing all over it. Another hellraiser for your graveyard parties.
“It’s a shout out to all the unusual characters that you may find in any High Street who, for whatever reason, are considered outsiders. They need championing as they are just like everyone else and want the best for themselves, but have been dealt a difficult hand.”
TUTV: The Veras storm out of the gates with tons of high-voltage force, powered by
an army of ablaze guitars and mighty drum/bass beats. The spanking chorus fueled by peppy vocals completes this rattling burst. Now go out in the streets and start a riot.
Band: THE CHRONICLES OF MANIMAL AND SAMARA Who: London-based DIY duo – Daphne Ang (Singapore) and Andrea Papi (Italy)
that fills a gap in music by bringing literature, art, and history together into a
space where rock and metal meet electronica.
TUTV: This surprising, blistering collaboration sees TCOMAS exploring another
musical place where they’ve never been before. Teaming up with sharp-cutting
Italian rapper Mr Meuri and make it work, combined with their by-now trademark
metallic wall of sound and monstrous growls is flabbergasting.
Band: LONELY LITTLE KITSCH Who: Two-piece alt-rock band from Niagara, Canada featuring
vocalist Kristen Goetz and drummer Nolan Jodes. What started as
a way to pass the time during the pandemic, soon became a more
serious project as fully formed songs took shape.
TUTV: A grungy headbanger propelled by hammering vigorousness, some
edged Grohl riffs and exploding when the crashing chorus crushes in. Right
in the middle of the song and the video, vocalist Kristen Goetz, draws your
attention with her Shirley Manson-like vocal tone and her subtle moves.
Band: THE MERINGUES Who: A Kingston, Ontario-based
post-punk powerhouse.
Track: ROYALTY
This track is a cut from their 2nd album, Pavlova’s Dog,
which will be available on September 16th.
“It’s that feeling of having idealized someone, only to discover they didn’t deserve it.
Or when you thought you knew someone, but they revealed a different side. This song
explores the disorienting feeling of realizing you were wrong about someone or something.”
TUTV: This punk ‘n’ roar torpedo guarantees you a vitalizing kick. Royalty explodes
from the get-go. The smashing chorus, with its screamy duet vocals, causes ecstatic
elation.
Band: RAZORLIGHT Who:British power guitar-pop indies RAZORLIGHT (2002–2014, 2017–present),
led by guitarist/singer Johnny Borrell, who have their first LP in 16 years finished.
They baptized it Planet Nowhere.
It’ll land on October 24.
It’s the first taster off of the forthcoming full-length. A simple, but oh so
effective tune. Jaunty and terrifically infectious. Welcome back to the party,
guys.
Band: STRAWBERRY SLEEPOVER Who: A psych, garage rock act from Baltimore, MD which makes waves in
the local music scene with their unique sound and captivating performance.
Track: FILTH
From their upcoming new
album, out September 6.
TUTV: If you’re depressed because summer is almost over, comfort yourself with this bonkers cowboy-punk jackhammer. Big, really big fun. ‘Filth‘ gets filthier and filthier along
its rowdy course. Think Dropkick Murphys riding wild horses while consuming a stream
of cold beers. Get the picture? As I said, big fun.
TUTV: A moony daydream floating smoothly around and in your ears and
has an on-repeat effect. It’ll appear on their 4th LP, baptized ‘Viva Hinds‘
and lands on September 6.
Martel: “After surviving elementary and high school, working in customer service and an office job, going to college and university I realized I still have not overcome social anxiety. I wrote this song about it so I could finally try to stop caring so much.”
TUTV: Martel strikes again with unbridled punch on this invigorating pop pearl juiced with jumpy bass lines, a vigorous drum beat, an edgy guitar solo and a chirpy chorus. Vocally Martel could be family of Alanis Morissette‘ voice. That same stirring timbre and expressive tone.
TUTV: City Lights is an ardent upper for the midnight hours when you hit town. Coxon lets his greedy guitar and his sultry saxophone have some funky fun, the
relentless bass/drums tandem take care of the groove’s banging beat. Uplifting
duet vocals and a chipper chorus complete the sonic picture.
“This is very different to anything we have released before it’s
very pop and a song of unrequited love and idolising others.”
TUTV: The Trusted deliver again. Miracle Face is a bittersweet power-pop symphony. Vehement orchestrations, layers of guitars, drum/bass puissance, and perfervid vocals combine for an affecting anthem. Think of New York City‘s heroes The Strokes’ mellower moments.
Band: MERCURY REV Who Day-and-night dreamers with key members Jonathan
Donahue and Sean “Grasshopper” Mackowiak
Track: A BIRD OF NO ADDRESS
From their 10th LP, their first in 9 years, named Born Horses, and out on September 6.
TUTV: A Bird Of No Address is a starry-eyed musing, a magnific symphony
with classical piano play, sensitive orchestrations and Donahue‘s romantic
vocals.
Bewitching, just bewitching.
Instagram – Tour
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Artist: BLACK VIIOLET Who: The moniker of the new solo project of Nicole Laurenne, the
flamboyant daredevil/voice/face of American garage rockers The Darts.
Track: KILL ME NOW
The title song of Laurenne‘s debut EP. A totally different
affair from what she has done for a long time with The Darts.
TUTV: Music for jazzy, smoky nightclubs where crooners play love songs,
happy and sad ones on piano, backed by a smooth little orchestra.
Viiolet‘s sexy, near-whispering voice and her sensual
film noir appearance fit the mood just perfectly well.
“I was playing around with this song and the chorus came to me almost immediately. It reminded me of something from Joni Mitchell’s Clouds album and the line “Some things hurt a little more, this one’s you” had such a resigned sentiment the rest of the song was easy to write. It’s a love song, but from an older point of view. Less drama and more realisation that another one had slipped away. The loneliness of an empty house and the need to escape the quiet.”
TUTV: Singer-songwriter splendour. A dynamic reverie, driven by titillating acoustic
six-strings, playful piano fragments, and a heartwarming voice. I’m pretty sure that Jamie Sutherland is a fervent Nick Drake and Tim Buckley fan.
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.
Band: ZEBEDEE
Who: International neo-psych and desert rock-inspired outfit
creating something of their own, with a plethora of ruckus Sabbath
riffs on the fingertips and psycho billy licks on the lips.
Single: FAST EDEE
It sees the band expand their sonic universe with booming
drums, smooth guitar riffs and honest, contemplative lyricism.
TUTV: Dazzling intensity and fiery vocals grab you by the throat from the get-go.
This astonishingly groovy ride gets under your skin without asking. Sassy swagger.
Striking stroke.
TUTV: This could easily be a piece from Canadian post-hardcore loudmouths Fucked Up‘s newest album. No rest for the wicked. According to my ears, The Battery Farm operate in
a 2024 wasteland where surreality becomes reality. OM-G, this is a formidable jam.
Mark Harris (frontman): “Written from the perspective of someone longing for another
and the cruelty of this person not letting go, ‘The TV’s Snowing’ emulates how this person lives helplessly in limbo, with nights stretched further and afar. Our love of Bon Iver really influenced the atmosphere of the production, and it’s one of our proudest creations.”
TUTV: A perturbed reflection with Harris‘ anxious vocals lifting this impassioned
tragedy to a bone-chilling level. It’s a feverish tour de force that keeps on reverberating after its volcanic finale. Splendid.
Artist: KAKTUS EINARSSON Who: Singer-songwriter from Reykjavík (Finland) who opened up
with his band Fufanu, opened hometown shows for Radiohead and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Also supported Blur in Hyde Park, and playing
at big festivals.
His debut solo album ‘Kick The Ladder’ was released in 2021.
His second one ‘Lobster Coda’ will be launched on October 25th.
TUTV: White Burn starts as a mellow candlelight meditation, dreamy and starry-eyed,
and evolves around the 2-minute mark into a soulful and touchy-feely pop symphony. Beautifully orchestrated and arranged with crystalline vocals on top of it.
A new piece from their first album in 9 years. Born Horses comes out on September 6th.
A Bird Of No Address is a starry-eyed musing, a magnific symphony with classical piano play, sensitive orchestrations, and Donahue‘s romantic vocals. Bewitching, just bewitching.
TUTV: Expect a multi-layered soundscape with a bewitching resonance,
going on and on, creating a trance-like magnetism you can’t and don’t want
to escape from. Pretty special. Don’t miss Upupayāma‘s fantasy in motion.
Day-and-night dreamers MERCURY REV – with key members Jonathan Donahue and Sean “Grasshopper” Mackowiak – revealed details of their 10th LP, their first in 9 years
last June. It’s named Born Horses, and is out on September 6.
Album artwork
The band have cited the late beat poet Robert Creeley
as one of the inspirations while making the album.
Grasshopper (guitarist/songwriter): “The grounds for hope are in the shadows,
in the people who are inventing the world while no one looks, who themselves don’t
know yet whether they will have any effect.’ For all the birds of no address: Fly on!”
A Bird Of No Address is a starry-eyed musing, a magnific symphony with classical piano play, sensitive orchestrations and Donahue‘s romantic vocals. Bewitching, just bewitching.
As announced recently MERCURY REV – with key members Jonathan Donahue and Sean “Grasshopper” Mackowiak – have a new LP, their first in 9 years, called Born Horses, out
on September 6.
Album artwork
The band have cited the late beat poet Robert Creeley
as one of the inspirations while making the album.
Following the mellow lead single Patterns we get another
moony one, partly spoken, titled ANCIENT LOVE.
MR: “What we are today comes from our thoughts and perceptions
of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life for tomorrow.
Our life is the creation of our mind which originates from ancient love.”
The American pop/rockers – with key members Jonathan Donahue and Sean “Grasshopper” Mackowiak – have a new longplayer ready, their first
in 9 years. It’s called Born Horses and comes our way on September 6.
Album artwork
MR about first single: “When we gaze up at the stars in the sky at night, the flickering
lights seem random. If we could zoom out and see all of the galaxies revolving around
each other, we would see the order in it. There are only Patterns on top of Patterns.”
It’s a mellow, romantic and starry-eyed spoken word reverie.
How great to see – for the 15th time – one of my all-time bands,
on record and on stage play again. MERCURY REV formed in 1989
in BuffaloNew York.
Their first three LPs (Yerself Is Steam – 1991 / Boces – 1993 / See You
On The Other Side – 1995) were dope-infused psych rock-out records.
With goosebumps vocalist and co-songwritter Jonathan Donahue
(who
also played for 2 years with fairytale eccentrics The Flaming Lips) and musical
orchestrator Grasshopper (born Sean Thomas Mackowiak) as the beating heart
of the Rev, another 5 albums followed, with The Light In You as the most recent
one, released in 2015. Stream on Spotify.
Last night – 23 June – was another psychedelic experience, another spiritual happening
in a beautiful park in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. Can’t ask for more on a hot summer night, a holiday atmosphere, and all spectators with a smile on their faces.
A perfect time and place to see/hear/enjoy Rev again playing symphonic pearls such as Holes, Tonite It Shows, Goddess On A Hiway and The Dark Is Rising, but also magnific covers of Flaming Lips and Peter Gabriel songs.
As spellbinding as 21 years ago
Frontman Jonathan Donahue thanked, in a heart-touching way, the audience for showing up. As humble as ever. Thank you Jonathan, thank you Grasshopper, thank you Mercury Rev.
