MOMMA are the daughters of Juliana Hatfield in my imagination,
with the guts of British sensation Wet Leg (with who they toured
recently) and the glam and glitter looks of 90s troubled pin-up
duo Shampoo.
The 3 singles/clips they
shared so far say it all…
Band: WET LEG Who: Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers
from England’s Isle Of Wight.
Rhian Teasdale: “Wet Leg is sad music for party people, and party music
for sad people. It is cathartic and joyful and punk and scuzzy and above all,
it’s fun. Wet Leg was originally just supposed to be funny. As a woman, there’s
so much put on you, in that your only value is how pretty or cool you look. But
we want to be goofy and a little bit rude. We want to write songs that people
can dance to. And we want to people to have a good time, even if that might
not possible all of the time.”
New album: WET LEG – self-titled debut LP Released: 8 April 2022 – order info here
The Telegraph (British newspaper): “It is an absolute blast, a crunchy, punchy, smart, deliciously goofy charge through new wave pop rock. It bursts with earworm hooks, snappy choruses and the delightful sense that the duo at its heart are having such a hoot they don’t really care what anyone else thinks. “ Score: 4/5.
Turn Up The Volume: These ladies’ pop vision is refreshing and most welcome in these grim times. Expect twist and turn tunes, hilarious deadpan stories, and some drop-dead-cool attitude. As the ladies say themselves we’re ‘goofy and rude‘. Hurrah!
Key/singles:Too Late Now / Oh No / Wet Dream / Chaise Longue
– CHAISE LONGUE –
(More than 2 million views on YouTube)
Press info: ‘The Line Is A Curve’ is about letting go. The core of the record is that the pressures we face do not always have to be heavy burdens, but can be reframed; the more pressure a person is under, the greater the possibility for release. The album plays like a chronicle of pressures – the mind-numbing pursuit of a comfortable life, the eternal striving for more, the pressures of the city, the country, the times. The pressures of maintaining relationships, of battling illness, addiction, poor mental health, the vacuous life of our online selves. The musicality becomes more expansive as the lyrical horizon broadens and we glimpse coastlines, high streets, scrap yards, train stations in the rain.
NME says: “The songwriter and poet’s fourth record is a direct and dazzling step forward,
and provides a shining example of the power in emotional exploration… At this point, the overwhelmingly acclaimed, Ivor Novello-nominated Kae Tempest has little to prove as a lyricist. What’s most notable about their fourth record ‘The Line Is A Curve’, then, is that it sees those standards surpassed – and all without straying from the direct power of a perfectly honed lyric. Although frequently dazzling, the record deals in simple terms, the songwriter-poet’s slick and direct vocal always front-and-centre over spacious and emotive production from frequent collaborator Dan Carey”. Score: 4/5.
Turn Up The Volume: Tempest raps, rattles, and rolls as a female Mike Skinner
aka The Streets. But her journey goes deeper emotionally. Her lifelike observations,
human stories, and dreamy musings read like her biography and musically it’s
catchier than ever. Swagger and ardour through the whole ride. Top!
“Fear of the Dawn is the fourth studio album from Jack White, founding member
of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather. True to his DIY roots,
this record was recorded at White’s Third Man Studio throughout 2021, mastered
by Third Man Mastering and released by Third Man Records.
Turn Up The Volume: White is a garage bluesman at heart. He doesn’t try to reinvent the blues wheel but brings his work with seldom heard/felt panache, uppermost love, and an authentic drive. Hats off!
Tony Foresta about the new LP: “We’re not writing any love ballads to sell records.
We’re just doing what we’ve always done since the band started—and that’s try to write
loud, fast, and ripping hardcorepunkmetal. We hope you walk away with some bloody
ears, blown speakers, pissed off parents, black eyes, and a healthy distrust of authority.”
Band: DESTROYER Who: Indie popsters from Vancouver, Canada
fronted by singer-songwriter Dan Bejar Active: Since 1995
New album: LABYRINTHITIS – 13th LP Out: 25 March 2022 – order info here
Pitchfork: “Dan Bejar’s marvelously inscrutable songwriting reaches beyond meaning. On his most live-sounding record in years, he finds clarity when language recedes and the music takes over… Bejar has always been a cryptic songwriter, but on Labyrinthitis he seems intent on piling on associations until they reach beyond meaning itself… Listening to Labyrinthitis feels like how it might feel to be a Thomas Pynchon character: journeying circuitously toward a goal you can’t quite apprehend, accosted by signs and symbols that may be of world-historical importance if they don’t turn out to be nonsense, haunted and comforted by the intuition that all this could easily be a big joke.” Full review here. Score: 8.5/10.
Turn Up The Volume: Destroyer‘s mastermind Dan Bejar is a songwriting architect.
He builds his songs brick by brick. He likes to wander in his labyrinth in his mind, to
lose himself in his own mysterious thoughts but returns on time to finish his sonic construction. Fascinating pop humdingers.
NME says: “The result is Placebo’s best and most consistent album since 2006’s dark, intoxicated ‘Meds’ – and might prove their most rejuvenating since 2003’s arena-filling
‘Sleeping With Ghosts’… ‘Never Let Me Go’ is a true renaissance record. It’s no ‘Metal
Machine Music’ or ‘Yeezus’, but a record that finds Placebo inspired and ready for a
new era, reinventing the rock veterans for the modern age.”
Full review here. Score 4/5.
Turn Up The Volume: Another Placebo record, another too familiar one,
another mediocre one. But as the cliché goes: another masterpiece for all
devoted fans, until the next one. I was a devoted fan… years ago.
Singles/clips: Surrounded By Spies / Try Better Next Time / Beautiful James
Artist: PAUL ANDREWS Who: New York City based singer-songwriter
“I can’t remember a time when music wasn’t a part of my life.
In my earliest memories, I see my mom loading up the record
player with 45’s. She would play every kind of music and we
would all sing along, wrong words and all.”
“A nostalgic musical sensibility can be heard throughout the multi-layered From the Distance, encompassing 1960s R&B, 1970s pop, 1980s new wave/dance, and 1990s dance—with musical flourishes that recall recordings by Tears for Fears, Burt Bacharach, Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys, Swing Out Sister, Steely Dan, Sade, Men Without Hats, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and Basia/Matt Bianco. Still, the songs of From the Distance are firmly rooted in the here and now.”
Turn Up The Volume: This is a varied moods record with synth-pop sparks (Dream State / Borrowed Time / Shady Pines) that made me think instantly of the galvanizing glow of Prefab Sprout, with soft Motown vibes à la Marvin Gaye(Reach The Stars / Masquerade), and with an invitation here and there to do some of your best dance moves.
Expect an overall soulful ambiance that feels both tenderhearted and
dream-stimulating, but without, lyrically, losing track of the real world
outside.
Headphones on,
dim the lights,
press play and
float away…
We already knew for some time that the youngest
of the three Gallagher brothers has his 3rd solo LP C’mon You Know out on 27 May.
Also a couple of weeks ago Liam revealed the lead-single Everything’s Electric (co-written with foo fighter Dave Grohl)…
And now comes the news that his virtual live concert of 5 December 2020 under the bannerDown By The River Thames will have a CD/Vinyl release on the same day of C’mon You Know. Yep, you can’t stop the marketing machine.
You can buy both albums together in a bundle
(also one of those recent marketing tricks).
Band: A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS Who: Infamous psych-noiseniks from Brooklyn, NY
led by founder/mastermindOliver Ackermann Active: Since 2003 / 6 LPs (new one included)
“Outpacing even their own firmly blazed path of audio annihilation, this album repeatedly delivers the massive walls of chaos and noise that every A Place To Bury Strangers fan craves
in spades. See Through You is an explosive journey which explores the listener’s limits of mind-bending madness while simultaneously offering the catchiest batch of songs in the band’s discography. It’s a nod of the cap to the art school ethos of the band’s origins, while forging
a new and clear direction forward. Simply put, See Through You is an epic, instant classic.”
(credit: APTBS)
Turn Up The Volume: I love these motherfuckers. They kick bad-asses, they rage and roll, they trash and bash whether they go slo-mo, or on speed without brakes, or somewhere in the middle. What does it sound like? Remember Ozzy Osbourne telling his mates about movies that scare people and his idea of making music that scares people. That’s exactly what A Place To Bury Strangers do, and their creepy videos visualize their Doomsday vision
even more.
Ackerman’s graveyard voice leads the deafening troops backed by paranoid guitars, scorching synths and merciless drum attacks. Psych-noise-rock turned upside down. Lovely, right? You bloody betcha.
Singles/clips: My Head Is Bleeding / Let’s See Through You / I Disappear / Love Reaches Out
TURN UP THE VOLUME 