New Album Alert

ALAN VEGA – Another Lost LP Named ‘INSURRECTION’ Shows The Legend’s Spine-Chilling Electro Noise Groove Impact Once Again

Posted on by JL

6 June 2024

Another previously unreleased album named INSURRECTION,
following the splendid 2021 Mutator LP, by the late great
ALAN VEGA (1938-2016) is out now.

11 songs showcase the unparalleled vision and uncompromising
force from one of the most influential artists of all time.

Liz Lamere (Vega’s widow and collaborator): “Insurrection was created in the time
period around 1997/98, after Mutator and prior to Vega’s 1999 release of 2007 and
captures the intense energy of NYC in the 90s rife with crime, killing, hate, fascism,
racism, and moral bankruptcy. You can hear the tortured souls floating through this
album.”

Jared Artaud (fellow Vega collaborator): “Insurrection hits hard and shows the power
and intensity of Alan Vega’s visionary solo work. It feels like he was trying to break new
ground. There’s always a kind of magic that goes into working on Vega’s music. I feel like
he was tapped into some other dimension. One hand in the gutter and one hand in
the stars.”

Pitchfork: “Unearthing 11 lost recordings from the late ’90s, the Suicide co-founder’s
newest posthumous release frames him as a doomsday prophet of the information age.

Born into a brazen New York underworld, Vega spent his career taking evil, masticating
it to its sonic rudiments, and spitting it back out, often directly in people’s faces. Half of experiencing his work is allowing yourself to suffer, to be under his control.

This newest collection is an oppressive, nauseating roller-coaster ride.
Once you get off, you’ll want to do it again.”

Order info here.

TUTV: Uncanny percussion, ghostly vocals, other-worldly vibes, jagged jams, capricous synth loops. It’s Alan Vega allright with another lost treasure. Modern day art from last century showing once again that Vega was a musical visionary, an absorbing noise crusader, and a doom and gloom prophet.

Singles: Mercy / Cyanide Soul

– MERCY –

– CYANIDE SOUL –

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ALBUM


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Alan Vega: Linktree

RICHARD HAWLEY – Master Of Melancholia Ensorcells With His 10th Album ‘IN THIS CITY THEY CALL YOU LOVE’

Posted on by JL

New longplayers

4 June 2024


Press photo by 📸: Dean Chalkley

Seasoned British songsmith RICHARD HAWLEY has his
10th full-length, named IN THIS CITY THEY CALL YOU LOVE,
out.

NME:“The songwriter captures a sense of aching beauty through vivid odes to
the characters and architectural quirks of his hometown. His ninth LP, ‘In This City
They Call You Love’, elegantly represents what it means to be so entwined with one’s
locale; even in a place rich with musical history, Hawley remains a singular figure
for the way in which this fascination has permeated his songwriting…

In This City They Call You Love’ doesn’t falter for its lack of invention; there is
just a feeling that these sonic quirks can be pushed even further, made even
bolder. But as the soulful, breathtaking inner-city vignette ‘People’ shows, he
clearly remains focused on the next great song he hasn’t written yet.” Score: 4/5.

TUTV: Romanticism is written all over this sepia-colored record. As we already know
for a long time Hawley is a romantic at heart who’s in love with his city Sheffield since
he was a child. It feels/sounds like it’s more than just his hometown.

It’s the place where he experienced all things good and bad, happy and sad. It leads to melancholic musings, gripping daydreams and wistful reflections. With his soft-heartened voice and late-night lullabies, the late great Roy Orbison comes to mind on several occasions. Just added this candlelight music pearl on my best-albums-of-2024 list.

Singles: Two For His Heels / Heavy Rain

– TWO FOR HIS HEELS –

– HEAVY RAIN –

ALBUM


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RH: Instagram – All Albums

CROWDED HOUSE – Maestro NEIL FINN Still Is A Guitar-Pop Authority As He Shows (Again) On New LP ‘GRAVITY STAIRS’

Posted on by JL

New longplayers

2 June 2024

New Zealand/Australian beloved popsters CROWDED HOUSE are coming and
going and coming back again (1985–1996, 2006–2011, 2016, 2019–present).

They just released their 8th LP, named GRAVITY STAIRS.

Press info: For more than four decades, Crowded House leader Neil Finn has
been on an evolving, winding journey. Crowded House’s mid-Eighties hits like
“Don’t Dream It’s Over” and “Something So Strong,” combined with albums like
Woodface and Together Alone, set the standard for the period’s erudite jangle
pop while always pushing the band’s art forward.

That creative spirit brings Finn and his Crowded House bandmates to Gravity Stairs,
their first new release since 2021’s Dreamers Are Waiting. The album shows the band
in its current incarnation — Finn, Nick Seymour, Mitchell Froom, and Finn’s sons Elroy and Liam — as sharp as ever, feeling musically adventurous, and still capable of reaching the staggering highs that have made them an international favorite. It’s the act of climbing those figurative “gravity stairs,” inspired by a heavy stone staircase near where Finn vacations, that he likens to his own mindset as a creator.

TUTV: Crowded House took some years off a couple of times, that’s why only 8 LPs
in 40 years, sounds like they were pretty lazy. But New Zealand-native founder/frontman
Neil Finn kept being busy in between with 5 solo albums.

He’s the band’s heart and soul and songwriting captain, also on this new longplayer
which results (again) in a sonic stream of well-crafted guitar-pop songs that stand together, shoulder to shoulder, making Gravity Stairs a full, zestful accomplishment.

Lively and colorfully melodic, vividly sunlit and titillating, spiced with lots of Beatles/Beach Boys-like harmonies and Finn‘s hearty voice. One more thing, I listened to GS for the first time, about a half hour after I enjoyed MGTM’s new one again. At times the polyphonic and sweet-toned resonance between these 2 records is quite striking. Check it out and entertain your ears.

SINGLE: Oh Hi

ALBUM


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CH: Linktree

2024: A LEG PUPPY 2.0 SPACE ODYSSEY

Posted on by JL

16 May 2024

Act: LEG PUPPY
Their 8th longplayer

TUTV: Ever heard politically and society-caring techno?
Well, thematically, it’s what HUMANITY 2.0 is about.
And the music fits it perfectly well.

As theoretical physicist Einstein said (1879-1955): “Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth” and English modernist novelist D.H. Lawrence (1985-1930) wrote: “Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically“. Two quotes, so relevant in 2024, meaning that nobody, especially all power-greedy world leaders/politicians, ever listened carefully to what these geniuses had to say. No wonder these two masterminds show up on this record.

As Leg Puppy states about his UK country: “This used to be a hell of a great country.”
Again the narcissistic Tories fucked up. Brexshit is their awful work. Unfortunately,
they get away with their bullshit.

Sonically Humanity 2.0 is heavily influenced by Puppy‘s natural musical habitat:
the 90s techno/acid house revolution, developed around the mid-1980s by DJs
from Chicago and British trance-dance and (il)legal rave orientated acts such as
Chemical Brothers, The Orb, Leftfield, The Prodigy and lots of other e-tastic
crusaders. Throw all this together and you get Humanity 2.0.

A versatile, electronic doom-gloom-boom record for the future circa two thousand and thirty, not that it looks/sounds really bright, but I’m an optimistic pessimist and dreaming realist with family and great music driving me daily.

Again LPI (Leg Puppy Intelligence) creates an intoxicating roller coaster stuffed with wayward and mind-exploring, electronic symphonies for a 2024 space odyssey.

Leg Puppy 1.0 is cancelled, welcome to your new Leg Puppy 2.0

Key singles/clips: Welcome To Your New Future / Everybody Happy Now

– WELCOME TO YOUR NEW FUTURE –

– EVERYBODY HAPPY NOW? –

– STREAM ALBUM –


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– BUY ALBUM –


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LP 2.0: Linktree

PET SHOP BOYS – Synth Pop Experts Have Their 15th LP ‘NONETHELESS’ Out

Posted on by JL

28 April 2024


Album artwork

After 4 decades, British synth-pop experts THE PET SHOP BOYS,
Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe still transfer their fans to a Utopian
place where you can dance and dream carelessly.

Their 15th LP, titled NONETHELESS is out now.

Clash Magazine (London): “Taken as a whole, this is an utterly brilliant,
dependably polished listen, and one that is unquestionably up there with
the best moments in this duo’s storied career.” Full review here: here.

TUTV: I’m not as enthusiastic as most of the critics are on this one. Yes, PSB
still are starry-eyed synth-pop experts and know all it takes to write titillating
tunes, upbeat as well as downbeat.

But after more than 40 years and 15 LPs, you can’t surprise anymore like you
used to do when you operate in this musical genre. Mind you they still shine
brightly but the déja vu and déjà entendu feel is unavoidable.

Then again, Tennant‘s stories are always compelling and drawn from life experiences as well as from daydreaming. Songs about Oscar Wilde, homophobic thugs, useless tyrants, fighting loneliness and isolation by dancing on and on aren’t your average pop content. And Tennant silky voice still is an important key to the duo’s satiny sound. PSB fans are aurally pleased once again, no doubt about that. Key tracks: Nonetheless, Why Am I Dancing?, New London Boy, and The Schlager Hit Parade.

Singles/clips: Nonetheless / Dancing Star

– NONETHELESS –

– DANCING STAR –

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ALBUM


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PSB: Instagram – Facebook

MARK KNOPFLER – Former Sultan Of Swing Serves A Sonic Cocktail Of Roots Music On New Wholehearted Album ‘ONE DEEP RIVER’

Posted on by JL

13 April 2024


Press photo

74-year-old guitar wizard/songsmith MARK KNOPFLER is one of those
70s no-retirement for us musicians who will write/record/release until their
last breath. They have music in their DNA and it streams non-stop through
their veins.

Over the years Knopfler, just like his dear friend Bob Dylan, started to look back and embrace the roots of music, giving it their personal twist, and let us all enjoy along.

His new, 10th album, baptized ONE DEEP RIVER is out today.

Order info here.

UNCUT (British monthly): “Characterised by a laid-back, full-band sound, this heartfelt
music exudes the warm thrill of catching up and looking back among old friends.”

Sparkling single ‘Ahead Of The Game’

TUTV: No arty farty blah-blah, no special effects, no fake commercial BS for Mark Knopler. Only authentic music from the heart and soul is what counts for him. And he created some affecting new of it for this new record.

He serves another refined and flavored sonic cocktail of roots, blues, folk, country, pop and rock. 12 wholehearted, tender, melancholic and melodic musings with, as always, Knopfler‘s warm voice and his sparkling guitar play at the centre of it all.

The ambiance is mellow, cosy and romantically entertaining. It all sounds like if an old friend comes around to dredge up old memories and to dig up unforgettable stories for the umpteenth time together, that put a nostalgic smile on your face and makes you forget about the daily rat race outside.

Let that friend do the talking about then and now right
here in this short 3-part interview (total of 12 minutes).

Dim the lights,
lit a candle,
sit down,
have a drink,
relax and enjoy.


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Knopfler: Instagram – Website

ELBOW – British Reliable Pop Architects Deliver Another Solid Album With ‘AUDIO VERTIGO’

Posted on by JL

New notable longplayers

25 March 2024

British veteran pop-rock combo ELBOW have their 10th LP, named Audio Vertigo out.

Guy Garvey (voice/lyricist): “Audio Vertigo was built from ‘gnarly, seedy grooves created
by us playing together in garagey rooms’ and is both more direct and sonically varied by purpose that its predecessor.”

The Guardian (British newspaper): “The band’s 10th album incorporates African and South American rhythms and instrumentation alongside Guy Garvey’s darkest, funniest lyrics for years. Garvey tackles a diversity of topics, from the welfare state to memories of teenage wildness, with some razor-sharp writing. The singer is forever finding new ways to use his voice. He experiments with texture and even puts it through a vocoder but, for all Elbow’s adventures, the foundations are still classy songwriting, heart and soul.”
Score: 4/5.


Promo photo

TUTV: After 10 LPs chances are huge that you sound familiar. Which happens here
on Elbow‘s new one. And that’s okay as long as your new set of new songs is alluringly constructed, musically and lyrically, in a way that your ears’ attention is irresistibly
drawn, as happens here.

Elbow are reliable pop music architects for a very long time who work with two different
kind of sonic brisks. Wayward crooner wanderings such as Things I’ve Been Telling Myself
For Years, Very Heaven, Her To Earth and Poker Face, and orchestral discharges such as Balu, The Picture, and my favorite one Good Blood Mexico City. Nothing really overwhelming, but solid songwriting everywhere (except for the two useless transition fragments). Another Elbow mission accomplished.

TUTV’s STAND OUT TRACK

ALBUM


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ELBOW: Facebook – Instagram

DYR FASER – Boston’s Wayward Noise Duo Bedazzle On Repeat With New Album ‘IMPRESSIONS’

Posted on by JL

New exciting longplayers for your greedy ears

25 February 2024

Band: DYR FASER
Who: Underground noise
rock duo from Boston

New album: IMPRESSIONS

Press info: Arguably their most accomplished release. On the 12-track LP their signature psych and post-punk concoctions are intact but this time around they’ve sharpened, if you will, almost every aspect of their vibe, vocals, arrangements, and production.

TUTV: Dyr Faser is another side project of musical centipede Ty Segall. Well it’s actually
not, but it could have been. Why? The echoing and waywardly glam garage rock sonority, the fuzz and buzz guitar electricity à la the early days of The Jesus And Mary Chain, and the 60s chaotic The Velvet Underground jangliness in Warhol‘s hedonistic club The Factory, are gloomy ingredients you find on several Segall albums too.

Expect repetitive layers of jagged riffs (on Bronze, Two Headed Monster, Reductive Silence, and Connection, just to name a few). The Boston duo Eric Bøømhower and Amelia May alternate vocals, both sounding as if they were recorded in The Cramps 70s psychobilly
bat cave. Spooky at times, ghostly at times. Once you start up Impressions you’ll stay with
it for the full 12 tracks. It’s a record that works as a sonic magnet, accentuating again the bedazzling power of repetition.

STREAM


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BUY


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Dyr Faser: Facebook – Instagram

MGMT – Psych-Pop Duo Went Back To The Past To Shine In The Present With Their New Warm-Hearted Album ‘LOSS OF LIFE’

Posted on by JL

New LongPlayerS

24 February 2024


Album artwork

Psych-pop darlings MGMT from Connecticut have their 5th LP, baptized LOSS OF LIFE out.

NME: “A career highlight ‘Loss of Life’ is imbued with just enough sweetness that by the time it reaches its overarching message – “nothing prepares you for loss of life” – it doesn’t just make you want to prepare yourself, it makes you excited to do so.” Score: 4/5.

TUTV: MGMT’s new record is stuffed with 60s/70s psych-pop vibes and its era’s layered harmonies. Echoes of The Byrds, Beach Boys, The Beatles, and other related vocal-driven bands from those great decades are everywhere on ‘Loss Of Life‘.

Lead singer Andrew VanWyngarden’s alluring voice wouldn’t be out of place in one
of the aforementioned bands and is instrumental in MGMT’s sonic universe.

For the duo writing easygoing, infectious,
mainstream hit tunes isn’t a priority anymore.

It’s now more about song-writing than about tune-writing. Mind you, easy-listening melodiousness is still key in their work but less dominant. They described the new
album as “a group of songs about love and change, first and foremost.” The tone is introspective, warm-hearted and melancholic, with several yearning musings that
slowly but surely win over your aural attention, and will stay with you for a long time.

My fav tracks: Dancing In Babylon, Bubblegum Dog, Nothing Changes, and Phradie’s Song.

KEY SINGLE

ALBUM


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MGMT: Instagram – Facebook

IDLES Leave Punk Days Behind Them On Their Love Album ‘TANGK’

Posted on by JL

17 February 2024


Press photo by Tom Ham

Bristol punks IDLES have worked their
way up since 2018 with 4 splendid LPs.

And they have their brand-new number 5 out now. It’s baptized TANGK.

Joe Talbot (frontman): “I needed love. So I made it. I gave love out to the world and
it feels like magic. This is our album of gratitude and power. All love songs. All is love.”

Pitchfork: On their fifth album, the UK band enlist Nigel Godrich and Kenny Beats for a smoother, softer rock record that still fires its love songs from a cannon. There’s a subtlety
to writing about love that Talbot misses on this record—it’s a topic that’s often best gestured
at, rather than bossed around. Press materials note that the word “love” appears 29 times throughout the record, and yet the songs that speak to the feelings undergirding that powerful emotion—the exhilaration of romantic attraction, the fear of abandonment—don’t mention the topic directly at all. On TANGK, Idles seem poised to let down their ironclad armor and reveal a far more interesting and nuanced band, just as soon as Talbot is ready to relinquish his stubborn and self-defeating grasp.” Score: 6.7/10.

TUTV: It’s an album about love. Joe Talbot: “I find love fascinating and empowering” .
The weird thing is that Talbot doesn’t sound happy, or in love. On half of the songs,
his voice has a moody crooner resonance. Yes, half of the tracks are mixed-emotions lullabies.

Yes, their punk days, sonically and lyrically, are behind them. Surely, copying themselves over and over again, and pretending they’re the very same people as 6 years ago, would get boring. But I miss the fury, the moshpit haymakers and the slam dunks. Tangk is a good record with some rad highlights (Dancer, Grace, Hall & Oates and Jungle) but nothing more, nothing less.

Singles/clips: Dancer / Grace / Gift Horse

– DANCER –

– GRACE –

– GIFT HORSE –

ALBUM


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TOUR DATES 2024
More shows TBA

IDLES: Instagram – Linktree