TURN UP THE VOLUME’s 20 BEST ALBUMS OF 2025
– 1 –
Band: THE BELAIR LIP BOMBS
Who: Buzzing indies from
Montreal, Canada.
Album: AGAIN
Their 2nd one.
NME: ‘Again’feels like Belair Lips Bomb
are auditioning to be the biggest band
in the world.”
TUTV: Just one spin and I knew this LP was a winner. Ace tune, after ace tune, after
ace tune. Guitar pop at its most move ‘n groove exciting. In the middle, vocalist and
guitarist Maisie Everett draws all attention. Wonderful voice, striking performance.
She’s backed by a well-oiled rock turbo. Hype or not, these
revved-up Aussies are going places, all around the globe
that is.
SINGLE
ALBUM
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Instagram – Album On Spotify
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– 2 –
Album artwork
Band: DITZ
Who: Unbridled post-punks
from Brighton, UK.
Album: NEVER EXHALE
Follow-up to their astonishing debut
The Great Regression from 2022.
Press info: “The album explores themes of unnecessary hatred and
division. It’s political, but ultimately personal. More Genet or Kafka
than Orwell or Huxley.
TUTV: Without a shadow of a doubt, the perfect soundtrack for Doomsday.
Sledgehammer after sledgehammer, drone after drone, brainfucker after
brainfucker. Always tension in the air.
Any track would work in a zombie horror movie. And we know all
about horror, right? Just take a look outside the window, and you
see a lot of it. For free.
Cal Francis‘s spoken word performances are bone-chilling. Their primal screams
send shivers down the spine. Lyrically, they operate in a space where reality and
surreality meet. No room for birds and bees.
Cal Francis – Pukkelpop Fest 2025 – Photo by TUTV
Never Exhale is an other-worldly Götterdämmerung experience.
It smells like something is alive and kicking here. No regression,
only progression.
Inhale them.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
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Instagram – Linktree – NEVER EXHALE on Spotify
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– 3 –
Band: SPRINTS
Who: Irish post-punk whirlwind, led by charismatic
voice/songwriter/guitarist Karla Chubb.
Album: ALL THAT IS OVER.
Their sophomore one, following last year’s
amazeballs debut LP Letter To Self.
Sprints about the LP: “While the world is literally burning down around us there are voices that seem hell bent on pointing the finger at anyone but those actually responsible. There’s no need to dream-up dystopia, we’re living in it. And somehow, while the world has never seemed uglier, our life has never been more beautiful.”
TUTV: Their riff-ripping quiet/loud/quiet formula works again, big time. Their sucker-punches hit you, piece by piece, hard in the teeth while Karla Chubb‘s hepped-up vocals rule again. Here and there, her unbridled explosiveness brings young Courtney Love‘s borderline cry-outs to mind. Only the 6 last cooking/boiling/bloodcurdling haymakers
are already worth a full album.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
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Instagram – Linktree
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– 4 –
Band: LAMBRINI GIRLS
Who: Two razorblade riot girrrrlzz – vox/guitarist Phoebe Lunny
and bassist Lilly Macieira – from Brighton (UK), with an insatiable
appetite for mass moshpits.
Album: WHO LET THE DOGS OUT
Their debut LP.
Photo by Turn Up The Volume
NME said: “Lambrini Girls prove punk is alive and kicking. They’re unapologetically amplifying chaos, calling out societal wrongs, and daring us all to feel something. This record is loud, raw, and impossible to ignore.”
TUTV:
Faster than a Formula One Ferrari.
Louder than a supersonic jet.
Punkier than any punks around.
Trashing. Crashing. Slashing.
Hellish. Demonic. Manicial.
11 knockouts. 11 killers. 11 hits.
11 Molotov cocktails. 11 bulls-eyes.
Bitchy. Boiling. Blasting.
Chaotic. Mental. Queer.
Bonkers. Berserk. Banging.
Massive bass buzz.
Schizo guitar riffs.
100 sneers. 100 spits.
100 rants. 100 bursts.
100 shits. 100 fuck-offs.
Middle-finger to all LGBTQ-haters.
To hell with all greedy capitalists.
Kick Brex-shit in the nationalistic ass.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
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Album On Spotify – Instagram – Website
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– 5 –
Album artwork
Band: THE WATERBOYS
Who: The Scottish veteran pop-rock-folk band
orchestrated by singer-songwriter Mike Scott.
ALBUM: LIFE, DEATH AND DENNIS HOPPER
Press info: Inspired entirely by the life and mythos of actor Dennis Hopper, Mike Scott
and The Waterboys created this expansive album as tribute to one of American popular culture’s most compelling public figures.
TUTV: This a remarkable piece of work. It could be the soundtrack for a yet to be made
Dennis Hopper documentary. Hats off to Mike Scott for his boldness, imaginativeness, and ingenuity to score this musical movie, constructed marvellously with its sonically cinematic versatility.
Pop, rock, blues, country, bar-room jazz, and musing balladry take turns and puzzle
a most coherent and highly entertaining whole together, spiced with magnificent vocal contributions by Fiona Apple, Steve Earle and others. Never a dull moment with its varied stream of entertaining songs and Scott‘s awe-inspiring vocality throughout.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
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Instagram – Linktree – All Waterboys Albums
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– 6 –
Band: HEISA
Who: 3 Belgian post-punk crusaders.
Album: TROIS
TUTV: Trois is one of the most balanced, the most arousing and the most vitalizing
noise rock records I heard in a very long time. Heisa grab you by the throat for 40 wicked minutes, and you won’t protest for one second. The cliché all killers, no fillers is so accurate here.
No arty farty tricks, no unnecessary overdubs, no useless volume exaggerations.
The production is flawless, and is an instrumental factor for the overall organic
resonance of this expressive exploit.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
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TROIS on Spotify – Instagram – Facebook
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– 7 –
Band: MCLUSKY
Who: The renowned Welsh post-punk noiseniks
featuring Andrew Falkous, as known as hysterical
frontman of Future Of The Left.
Album: THE WORLD IS STILL HERE AND SO ARE WE
Their 4th.
Press photo by Damien Sayell
TUTV: Loudmouths Andrew Falkous and Damien Sayell still spit and sneer their 4 lungs
out and rip politicians to shreds while they wield their razor-sharp axes. Chainsaw guitars everywhere, backed by a hellacious drum/bass duo. And they’re still maddening masters when it comes to search and destroy punk havoc.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
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Album On Spotify Instagram – Linktree
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– 8 –
Band: WHOLES
Who: A fresh, rowdy hit team led by Belgian
musical chameleon Wolf Vanwymeersch,
Album: A MASS IN THE WATER.
Press info: An intense and raw reflection
of grief, trauma, and the desire for healing.
‘A Mass In The Water’ roughly describes the last day of Wolf Vanwymeersch‘s father,
who took his own life during a psychotic episode. The album balances between
mockery, anger, powerlessness, grief, understanding, compassion, and love.
TUTV: It’s both a scary and flabbergasting opus that takes a lot of courage to make and share with the world. The album’s ominous dynamics, distorted vocals, and riff-roasting razzmatazz resonate like if you are listening to the soundtrack of a modern day horror movie.
Vanwymeersch and Wholes created their own Dante’s Inferno.
Bloodcurdling, pitch-black, and bone-chilling. Helter-skelter.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
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Instagram – Album On Spotify
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– 9 –
Artist: HEAD ON STONE
Who: The solo project of Belgian songstress
Nele Janssen, frontwoman of post-punk turbo
Peuk.
Album: STONY BEDS
Debut LP
TUTV: Nele Janssen bewitches with her crystalline voice and enchanting piano play. Intimate, passional and heartfelt. From a Peuk scream to a solo whisper. A beautiful,
soul-stirring record that silences you from start to finish.
Eleven bittersweet reveries for the midnight hours. Stony Beds is an ideal companion
for cold winter nights, while relaxing with dimmed light on your couch and your favourite drink at hand.
ALBUM
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Instagram – Album On Spotify
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– 10 –
Band: THE NEW EVES
Who: Must hear/see indies from Brighton (where everybody is in a band).
They cruise from folk to punk, using, besides traditional instruments (guitar,
bass and drums) also cello, flute, violin and other classical gear.
Photo by Turn Up The Volume – Brussels
Album: THE NEW EVE IS RISING.
Their debut.
NME: “A record that mines the unpredictable free-spiritedness of freak
folk, the loose, louche nature of rock’n’roll and the no-rules attitude of punk.”
TUTV: Eccentricity is the new normal. Poetic, medieval music is among us.
The New Eves are something special, really special. Next to drum/bass/guitar
they use more untraditional instruments such as cello, flute, violin and other
classical music gear.
At their core, musically, they’re a folk punk rock band, an outlandish one, that is.
One of those that play gloriously out of tune at times, enthuse up with splendacious chants and have your bewildering attention for the full 40 baffling minutes. One of
the most innovative full-lengths of the year. Hands down.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
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Album On Spotify – Instagram – Linktree –
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– 11 –
Band: AVALANCHE PARTY
Who: High-voltage outfit from Yorkshire Moors (UK),
formed by Joe and Jordan Bell, vocalist and bassist
respectively.
Album: DER TRAUM UBER ALLES
Their second one.
TUTV: TAP funk and punk, buzz and fuzz, move and groove on this voltaic
record. They shoot a series of titanic tunes from their hips with a hair-raising
impact.
Avalanche Party have become masterly songwriters who know exactly how to construct adrenalized knockout killers with the right combination of roasting riffs, jagged hooks, bang-on licks, powerhouse drumming, effervescent synths and sultry horns here and there. Stupendous record.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
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Album On Spotify – Instagram – Linktree
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– 12 –
Band: WOLF ALICE
Who: Lauded British guitar pop quartet, fronted
by the charismatic vocalist Ellie Rowsell.
New album: THE CLEARING
Their 4th.
TUTV: With The Clearing, the changing, musical process since their debut LP is complete. It’s now more ELLIE + THE WOLF (yes, FLORENCE + THE MACHINE territory) than before. Pop music in all its seducing and alluring ways. It’ll make them superstars in and outside the UK.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
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Instagram – Store
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– 13 –
Artist: BLACK VIIOLET
Who: Alter-ego of American garage punk ‘n’ roll
turbo The Darts‘ front Amazon Nicole Laurenne.
Album: AFTER YOU
Her debut.
Laurenne: “The songs were written in the style of vintage jazz standards, but are then drenched with Rhodes piano and sparkling horn parts, with upright bass and triphop beats holding down a groovy, downtempo feel underneath. The vocals are the polar opposite of my garage rock sound in The Darts – in Black Viiolet, I am quietly telling you secrets in the dark.
TUTV: After You is delectable music for the midnight hours that massages
your ears for 40 minutes. The most sensual record I heard in a long time.
It transfers you to a place where you can dream away, far from today’s
depressing outside world.
SINGLE
ALBUM
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Linktree
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– 14 –
Artist: PREWN
Who: The moniker of Massachusetts‘ born, LA-based chilling
singer-songwriter Izzy Hagerup. She released her debut album
Through The Window in 2023.
New Album: SYSTEM
Her 2nd one.
Hagerup: “I need to tap into my grief and sadness and stuff because it’s there. And when
you don’t live in it then you’re just numb. You can’t see the beauty and you are running from
the pain. It’s this Groundhog Day feeling. I feel that’s the antithesis to art, love, and connection, and giving a shit about the world.”
TUTV: The combination of creepy violins, ominous cello shadow play, and last but
not least Hagerup‘s wailing voice dominate this record causing bone-chilling sensations.
Her laments evoke moments of uncomfortableness, but her grip is so overwhelming
that you just can’t get away of her sonic exorcism. Like watching a traumatic thriller
you can’t escape from without knowing the end of the story.
SINGLE
ALBUM
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Instagram – Album On Spotify
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– 15 –
Band: SPAMMERHEADS
Who: Techno tandem
from Valencia, Spain.
Album: THE MIRE CHRONICLES
Press Info: “This album, was born from the difficult experience of the floods that hit Valencia on October 29, 2024. During this time, the duo lost part of their studio and actively participated in the cleanup efforts in their city.
The Valencian duo offers six tracks (plus two digital bonus tracks) to remind us that despite
the difficulties we may face, we must always fight to get ahead, get back on our feet, and not
be swept away by the current.”
TUTV: Eight titanic techno thrills, eight 90s inspired trance tunes. Think Chemical Brothers, The Orb and The Prodigy. The pair’s Mire Chronicles have a hammering impact on their post-drama demons. At the end of the traumatic tunnel there’s a Spammerheads light that
illuminates a healing future.
SINGLE
STREAM/BUY
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Instagram – Album On Spotify
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– 16 –
Band: THE LEMONHEADS
Who: Veteran tunesmith
Evan Dando and his crew.
Album: LOVE CHANT
Their first in 19 years,
their 11th overall.
TUTV: Dando has resurrected himself and his band gloriously. Now and then he touches turbulent memories from the past and does some soul-searching again, but you can feel he’s truly happy, healthy and excited to be here in great artistic shape. A welcome reaffirmation of The Lemonheads‘ riveting pop mastery.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
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Instagram – Facebook – All Albums
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– 17 –
Artist: PETER DOHERTY
The notorious Libertine.
Album: FELT BETTER ALIVE
His 3rd solo one.
TUTV: Writing songs is Doherty‘s oxygen. He has music running through his veins.
Enter this new solo album. A collection of daily life tunes that puts a smile on your
face. The man entertains, charms and shows his inspiring skills once again. It’s clear
that the French air stimulates his productivity. Poetry in motion.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
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Instagram – Linktree
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– 18 –
Artist: MARK STEWART
Who: One of the most adventurous/inventive/original post-punk & dub artists/performers
ever. He was a founding member of genre-bending new wave group The Pop Group and released lots of solo and collaborative records. Unfortunately, he passed away 2 years ago,
only 62.
As a prolific solo artist, he scored 7 LPs, collaborated with countless
other artists, and caused poignant waves with his Mafia outfit.
Album: THE FATEFUL SYMMETRY
His 8th solo LP, released posthumously
by Mute Records.
Album artwork
TUTV: Stewart expresses again his mixed emotions about humanity and its messy planet. Both pessimistic and optimistic reflections, but always with sparks of hope. Musically, it’s
a very accessible pop work with several crooning musings.
His characteristic, captivating voice, both heartrending and heartwarming at the same time, feels so real, so close, and as always, engaged and genuine. Mark Stewart was one
of a kind and will always be in my book.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
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Facebook – Mute Records
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– 19 –
Band: NEIL YOUNG and the THE CHROME HEARTS .
Album: TALKIN TO THE TREES.
TUTV Talkin To The Trees brings Young‘s 1975 masterwork Tonight’s The Night instantly
to mind, sonically that is. Raw and rough, as if the LP was recorded live in one take, in
a garage with lots of echo and plenty of ramshackle guitars, buzzing electricity and
Young‘s characteristic, ardent vocals. Very familiar, very entertaining.
It’s vintage Young, musically and thematically, wondering about the world’s future, warning for environmental pollution dramas, difficult times to come for our children, and the need of a big positive change.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
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Neil Young’s Archives Website
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– 20 –
Artists: BRIAN ENO and BEATIE WOLFE
They met in 2022 at the SXSW festival. They met again while exhibiting visual
and conceptual art pieces in London and began recording together early
last year.
Album: LIMINAL
The duo’s third in only 5 months.
Talking about a fertile collaboration
TUTV: I always loved and embraced Eno‘s sonic ambient paintings, his chimerical and fanciful synth symphonies with its calming impact and starry-eyed radiance. Liminal is another Eno opus I added to my headphone music playlist for psychological relaxation.
An invitation to ease your mind and ears in their
phantasmagorical universe. A record to cherish.
SINGLE
ALBUM
