It’s a discography-spanning set that includes tracks from ‘Psychocandy’, ‘Darklands’, ‘Automatic’, ‘Honey’s Dead’, ‘Stoned and Dethroned’, ‘Munki’ and ‘Damage and Joy’.
The band already shared a first taster with Sometimes Always
featuring great Scottish voice Isobel Campbell (former Belle
and Sebastian vocalist).
Artists: JUNE BUG Who: Experimental electro/EBM duo featuring Sarah June (vocals)
and Béryl Ben (multi-instrumentalist) from Lille, France.
An album that speaks of life, death, hope a little. Domination, celebrities and contradictions. Personal reflection on a world in loss of sense. The folk sounds
flirt with electro, rock and psyche somewhere between the DIY music of Tune
Yards, dark tracks of Billie Eilish and repetitive measures of Stereolab.
Photo by Nicolas Djavanshir
TUTV: June Bug sound like drinking a sonic cocktail with intoxicating flavors.
Expect haunting slo-mo jams (Dusk / Paradise / Fearless), trippy vibes with R&B
rhythms (Clap Your Hands / Bite Me) and a closing dancefloor stomper (Gold Eater).
All infused with a varied palette of shiny sparks, magnetic bass electronics, and sexy vocals. All served with inventive, synth-tastic textures and bewitching psychedelia, but
fully accessible. The duo create an ambient ambiance, a tingling trance for twilight hours and escapist moments from our troubled reality. Supreme stuff. Only 7 tracks? I know,
but the repeat button was invented for records like this. Use it.
Band: THE CHURCH Who: Australian psych guitar masters
with more than 40 years in rock business.
New album: THE HYPNOGOGUE
The band’s 26th longplayer Out: 28 April 2023 Pre-order info: here
Info: It’s a monumental concept album, The Church hone in on their bespoke
sound in The Hypnogogue without retreading creative steps. The record offers
a pool of melancholy tones and psychedelic swells, transporting listeners to
another realm, guided by its striking science fiction narrative.
Steve Kilbey (bassist, vocalist and founder) explains: “The Hypnogogue is the most
prog rock thing we have ever done, we’ve never created a concept album before. It is the
most teamwork record we have ever had. Everyone in the band is so justifiably proud of
this record and everyone helped to make sure it was as good as it could be.
Personally, I think it’s in our top three records. The complexity, the way the songs relate
to each other and the level of collaboration that has gone into the record. For fans of older records, give this one a chance, it will go on rewarding you for years and years. There’s lots
of subtle references to other artists, other songs and other times”.
Singles/clips:The Hypnogogue / No Other You / C’est La Vie
Band: MAGNA ZERO Who: Lifelong friends and bandmates from Los Angeles who explore what it
means to be human through their music with a journey through a metaphorical
black hole with the band as they meld an unforgettable musical experience
into their colorful cauldron of Space Rock.
The album’s artwork. Solar eclipse vector total sun background.
Moon eclipse glow in space. Solar planet circle.
Info: Rich in sonic versatility, the eleven songs of Magna Zero’s The Great Nothing are a thrilling joyride past distant stars towards the mystic void, which ultimately lies within each of us as a key to inner peace. The tracks explode and whisper, caress and shred, while hope for a compassionate future emerges intact. The band describes The Great Nothing as a journey to ‘be free and let go,’ to ‘give up oneself to find the self’, and to ‘become nothing by paradoxically experiencing unity with everything’.
As a psychedelia freak myself I championed this L.A. trio before with reviews of singles from the upcoming debut longplayer. I had the opportunity to hear it and my eager ears told me that an intriguing, notable, and mindboggling work is on its way.
These 6 out of the 11 tracks offers you a crystal clear impression of the great nothing.
– WE ARE ALL –
Towering cry out for tolerance and unity.
Puzzling brilliance reaching for the sky.
– EAT YOU UP –
Scary and scorching powerstroke. It expresses the desire
to consume all that plagues and haunts one’s true love.
– WALKING TO NOTHING –
Mindblowing Odyssey into the unknown.
– STEP INTO THE LIGHT –
Amplified slo-mo jam in search of
the light at the end of the tunnel.
– ALL MUST GO –
Rockin’ and rollin’ to free yourself.
Band: American/English indie hip-rap-hop-rock
outfit formed in Atlanta. Active: Since 2012 / 4 LPs (new one included)
New album: SHOOK Released: 25 February 2023.
Order info here.
The New York Times says: “Throughout the album, Algiers lashes out at injustice,
exults in its sonic mastery and insists on the life forces of solidarity and physical impact.
But it refuses to promise any consolation.” Score: 8/10.
(Press – FB Algiers)
TUTV: Algiers nail it big time with their 4th full length. Remarkably varied in sonic performance. They jump from zestful hip-rap-hop to forceful post-punk-rock, to
soulful lullabies, to arresting spoken-word protest, to ruminative gospel. 54 minutes
long, but you get sucked in Algiers’ 2023 for every second, never a dull moment. Astounding tour de force. Touchdown!
STANDOUT TRACKS: Everybody Shatters / Irreversible Damage
A Good Man / Green Iris / Cold World / Momentary.
KEY SINGLES: 73% – Irreversible Damage – I Can’t Stand It
– 73% –
– IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE –
Feat. RAGTM’s frontman Zack De La Rocha
– I CAN’T STAND IT –
Feat. Samuel T. Herring & Jae Matthews
Content: Fragments follows the evolution of songs written for the album, from
intimate early incarnations in the previously unreleased 1996 Teatro sessions through incandescent live renditions from 1998-2001. Also included is a brand new mix of the original album.
Formats: 5CD or 10LP Deluxe Edition and a 2CD
or 4LP Highlights version.bootleg series. All details
right here.
English longtime hard rockers URIAH HEEP started making lots of
noise back in 1969, 53 years ago. The band was formed by guitarist
Mick Box, the only original member left today, and the late big voice David Byron.
So far Heep recorded/released 24 studio LPs and #25, titled Chaos & Colour
is out today and Heep hero and Mick Box has some great news…
Who: An art-pop ambient noise band whose music is full of atmosphere and intensity.
Based in Berlin, the group is fronted by South African-born Lucy Kruger. To encounter
her music is to witness a singular journey of constant reflection that produces an ever-widening arc of creativity. This burning psychedelic folk is both intimate and energetic.
FFO: Aldous Harding, PJ Harvey, Cate Le Bon, Jenny Hval
Out today. A capricious stunner, going forth and back, featuring a chaotic and cathartic doomsday monologue, while the sickly sticky chorus invites you to press the repeat button. Top!
“I’m catwalking out of a Burning Building.”
– STEREOSCOPE –
A near whispering, slo-mo meditation.
Both mystifying and sensual. Anika is not far away.
“Your blue eyes
Pressed against the portal
Past present
Dim dazzling
Do you mind if I leave on the light
Do you mind the theft of a line
My my my my morning
My my my my mourning”
“On ‘New York City’, nocturnal proto-punk meets a timeless, all-guns-blazing rock’n’roll gusto. That the album leans into a more primitive, back-to-basics sound owes largely to the way in which was forged. The ‘New York City’ album was revised, reorganized and shaped until it became clear that things fall into place like the hammer driving the nail or the scythe’s swipe through the tall grass.”
Based on the three singles (here below) my greedy ears tell me that NYC will be
a steamed-up, fired-up and punked-up motherrocker of an album. Bring it on, men.
His new – 19th – LP, named EVERY LOSER is today.
It follows his acclamaid 2019 album Free.
Lots of star collaborators joined Pop in the studio, such as Blink-182’s
Travis Barker, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith, Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan,
Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard, Jane’s Addiction’s Dave Navarro, and also the late Taylor Hawkins, it became one of his last recordings
NME: “The Godfather of Punk stages a raucous return to his roots. Iggy is as feral – and furious – as we’ve heard him in years. An album that, even when it’s lyrically sincere, self-deprecating, or acutely aware, manages to stay larger than life. ‘Every Loser’ is a present-day primal punk resurrection from the only musician qualified to make one. “4/5.
TUTV: Unlike NME I only hear 4 filthy punk-Pop missiles (Frenzy, Modern Day Ripoff,
All The Way Down and Neo Punk) out of the total of 11 tracks. In between 3 semi-rockers (Strung Out Johnny / Comments / The Regency), 2 ballads (New Atlantis / Morning Show)
and 2 otiose interludes make for a sonically unbalanced longplayer altogether. 7.5/10.
It feels like taking a hot/cold/lukwarem/hot/cold shower and therefore my ears/mind/body got confused. So I changed the order of the tracklist – from hot to medium to cold – and deleted the 2 interludes. Bingo, Every Loser sounds so much better. You should try it too.
