PANDA BEAR & SONIC BOOM – New Collaborative Album ‘RESET’ Out Now

15 August 2022


(Artwork new album)

American multi-instrumentalist Noah Benjamin Lennox better known as
PANDA BEAR and equally musical centipede Peter Kember aka SONIC BOOM
(co-founder of Spacemen 3) worked together again. The result is the new album,
titled Reset. It’s inspired by Kember’s collection of records from the ’50s and ’60s
and has several samples of hits of those memorable music decades on this new longplayer.

Pitchfork says: “Sharing equal billing for the first time, longtime collaborators Noah Lennox and Peter Kember achieve an intoxicating mind meld over a sample-heavy tribute to 1960s pop. Reset addresses our own troubled zeitgeist by avoiding the ambient dread, blithe critique, and seething anger that often characterize records we consider to be topical today… Less palliative than corrective, Reset is a dose of human lightness in the drudgery of the now. Conventional wisdom says that only younger performers have the unspoiled optimism and energy necessary to make such enthusiasm believable—the ardent songs Reset samples, after all, were sung by teens or twenty-somethings. But Panda Bear and Sonic Boom counter with the longevity of artists who have never compromised, and they give us the defiant Reset knowing that despair is a weapon in the hands of a present hell-bent on stamping out our souls.” Score: 8/10.

TUTV: Back to the future spirit all the way.

Singles/clips: Go On / Edge Of The Edge

– GO ON –

– EDGE OF THE EDGE –

Full album streams on Spotify.

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PANDA BEAR: Instagram
SONIC BOOM: Instagram

KASABIAN Is Dead! Long Live KASABIAN! New Album ‘THE ALCHEMIST’S EUPHORIA’ Out Now

14 August 2022

Two years ago flamboyant frontman Tom Meighan left KASABIAN following personal problems. The announcement came via this statement from the band: “Tom Meighan is stepping down from Kasabian by mutual consent. Tom has struggled with personal issues that have affected his behavior for quite some time, and now wants to concentrate all his energies on getting his life back on track.”


(Serge Pizzorno – photo by Turn Up The Volume)

The band’s songwriter Serge Pizzorno, who occasionally
sang Kasabian songs in the past, is the new vocalist, on the
new full length, baptized THE ALCHEMIST’S EUPHORIA,
released 2 days ago.

NME says: “The band’s seventh album – and first with Serge Pizzorno on the mic – is a space-inspired recalibration that still boasts old-school anthems aplenty. Kasabian have always been about having a good fucking time, and although this is understandably their most introspective record yet, it does point to euphoria ahead. Back in May, the frontman told NME: “This album was just us saying, ‘Let’s see what we can do – let’s see where we can take this’. On the evidence of this surprising, eclectic and intimate record – which still finds time for the anthems of old – the answer is: as far as they want to”. Score: 4/5.

TUTV: Without rock frontman Tom Meighan I guess the band’s mastermind Serge Pizzorno made/released the synth-pop-symphonic orientated album he already had in his head for a long time, but was afraid to share it under the old Kasabian banner – the rock gang. So here it’s now. And hats off to Pizzorno for doing the bold thing: not looking back at the good old rock days, and instead re-start with a new(er) sound, the one he would have developed some time, anyway. On the other hand, honestly, I liked the first Kasabian version better.

Singles/clips: ALYGATYR / SCRIPTVRE / CHEMICALS

– ALYGATYR –

– SCRIPTVRE –

– CHEMICALS –

Stream the full album here…

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KASABIAN: Facebook – Instagram

Coming Soon… LEONARD COHEN Tribute Album Via BLEU NOTE

25 July 2022

There are so many Leonard Cohen tribute albums already around and another one is
coming up on 11 November via the iconic jazz label Blue Note (in business since 1939).

Here It Is: A Tribute To Leonard Cohen will feature covers of 12 of his countless pearls performed by artists such as Peter Gabriel, Iggy Pop, James Taylor and Mavis Staples.

Here is the song that inspired the new tribute album’s title.

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Tracklist

1. ‘Steer Your Way’ – Norah Jones
2. ‘Here It Is’ – Peter Gabriel
3. ‘Suzanne’ – Gregory Porter
4. ‘Hallelujah’ – Sarah Mclachlan
5.‘Avalanche’ – Immanuel Wilkins
6. ‘Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye’ – Luciana Souza
7. ‘Coming Back to You’ – James Taylor
8. ‘You Want It Darker’ – Iggy Pop
9. ‘If It Be Your Will’ – Mavis Staples
10. ‘Seems So Long Ago, Nancy’ – David Gray
11. ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’ – Nathaniel Rateliff
12. ‘Bird on the Wire’ – Bill Frisell

LEONARD COHEN: Bio – Discography

September 21, 1934 – November 7, 2016

Busy Bee TY SEGALL Says HELLO And HI

New longplayers

23 July 2022

Artist: TY SEGALL
Musical Californian centipede entered the rock arena in 2004
and fabricated 14 studio albums (including the new one) so far.

New album: HELLO, HI
Released: 22 July 2022 – order info here.
His 14th solo LP

Pitchfork: “The prolific songwriter’s latest is an acoustic detour, a quiet
soundtrack for overcast days… Ty Segall is an expert craftsman. The dead
space and repetition are what give the album its momentum, and the
ambling detours have an idiosyncratic charm that belongs entirely
to Segall.”
Score: 7/10.

Turn Up The Volume: After dropping his previous LP Harmonizer last year, without
any warning Segall has already another one out. Now and then noiseniks need a break from turning up the volume and do a sort of acoustic, moody Neil Young thing. That’s what Segall tries here too. Unfortunately, the result is lukewarm. Come back soon Ty and keep on rockin’ in the free world again.

Stream album on Spotify

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TY SEGALL: Facebook Discography

JACK WHITE – His Second LP (Also His Best) Of The Year ‘ENTERING HEAVEN ALIVE’ Out Now

Standout longplayers

22 July 2022

Busy bee JACK WHITE has his 2nd LP of 2022 out. Following the fired-up
Fear Of The Dawn last April here’s ENTERING HEAVEN ALIVE.

From the first spin on, this new one struck me as the best of the two. Its mellow, smooth, yet impassioned, and poignant soulfulness touched me directly. Bluesy reveries, bluesy lullabies, and bluesy introspections, and most of all bluesy top tunes. His best solo work ever? Could be. But first, a couple of listens more, to find out.

Rolling Stone says: “Entering Heaven Alive presents him as a flesh-and-blood creature, chewing over his past and future before a full moon transforms him in a different kind of beast.”

Singles/clips: If I Die Tomorrow / Love Is Selfish

– IF I DIE TOMORROW –

– LOVE IS SELFISH –

Stream the full album on Spotify.

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JACK WHITE: Facebook

Their Best Since Their First – New INTERPOL Album ‘THE OTHER SIDE OF MAKE-BELIEVE’ Out Today

15 July 2022

Band: INTERPOL
Who: New York’s indie heroes, fronted
by American-British vox Paul Banks
Active: Since 1997 / 7 LPs

New album: THE OTHER SIDE OF MAKE-BELIEVE
Order info: here

Paul Banks: “It definitely feels like us. It’s the heart and soul of our band,
like there’s a DNA to our sound. Another part of me thinks. This might be
super fucking different’.”

NME writes: “On ‘The Other Side Of Make Believe’, they’re still very much in a mid-career
purple patch. You won’t find any indie radio bangers like ‘Slow Hands’ or ‘All The Rage Back Home’, but instead a consistent and engaging tapestry of moods and textures… Far from a
total reinvention, but all adds up to a confident, rewarding and subtly adventurous new chapter for Interpol – or, as Banks sings himself on the aforementioned peak of ‘Toni’, “Still in shape, my methods refined”.
Score: 4/5.

TUTV: It’s simple. Their 7th is their best since their 1st (Turn On The Bright Lights – 2002, turning 20 next month). In between, it felt like Interpol was searching for a new sonic identity. A trial and error journey with half great//half lukewarm longplayers.

But here their characteristic gloominess touches moony hearts again (definitely mine)
with their distressed musings in sound and content. No charged corkers this time, only sensitive and soulful melodies with moody shades for candlelight evenings.

Welcome back to twilight land.

Singles/clips: Gran Hotel / Something Changed / Toni

– GRAN HOTEL –

– SOMETHING CHANGED –

– TONI –

Stream album below…

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INTERPOL: All Albums – Instagram

Coming Up HOT CHIP Album ‘FREAKOUT/RELEASE

What’s up?

28 June 2022


Artwork of new album

Band: HOT CHIP
Who: Veteran dance heroes from London
Active: Since 2000 / 8 LPs (new one included)

New album: FREAKOUT/RELEASE
Out: 19 August 2022 – more info here

Press info: Freakout/Release is another dizzying high in a multi-decade career that’s seen Hot Chip continuing to innovate and develop a rich, resonant songcraft. And while they continue to operate at peak form, the album also feels like a new chapter for the group – a collection of flesh-and-blood songs that finds the band reaching into the darkness to emerge as a true creative unit, their gazes fixed positively on the future ahead. The album features Canadian rapper Cadence Weapon, British DJ and musician Lou Hayter and production work from Soulwax.

Lead single: the up-lifting Down

HOT CHIP: Facebook

COMING UP – 16th MEGADETH Album ‘THE SICK THE DYING… AND THE DEAD’

Upcoming longplayers

27 June 2022

Band: MEGADETH
Who: Veteran metal freaks from Los Angeles
Active: 1983–2002, 2004–present / 16 studio LPs (new one incl.)

New album: THE SICK THE DYING… AND THE DEAD
Out: 2 September 2022
Pre-order info: here

TRACKS (Cute titles)

1. The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!
2. Life In Hell
3. Night Stalkers
4. Dogs Of Chernobyl
5. Sacrifice
6. Junkie
7. Psychopathy
8. Killing Time
9. Soldier On!
10. Célebutante
11. Mission To Mars
12. We’ll Be Back

Lead-single: We’ll Be Back

Mega trash fury…

MEGADETH: All Albums – Website

Symphonic Pop Opera – REGINA SPEKTOR Enthralls With New Album ‘HOME, BEFORE AND AFTER’

24 June 2022

Artist: REGINA SPEKTOR
Born Regina Iljinitsjna Spektor (Регина Ильинична Спектор)
Who: Russian-American singer-songwriter, and pianist
Active: Since 1997 / 7 LPs (new one incl.)

New album: HOME, BEFORE AND AFTER – her 1st in 6 years
Out: 24 June 2022 – order info here

Spektor on her FB page: “What a crazy world it has been. And still is.
I’m just so glad it IS… cause knowing us humans, that’s not always a given.
I’m full of extra gratitude and love for the world these days. Just glad to
be here.”

NME says: “As emotional as ‘Home, before and after’ is, there’s a playful, punk attitude to every experimental flourish. This is a colourful, energised collection of work from an artist who could comfortably stay in her own lane, but chooses not to. With twee, indie sleaze and ‘00s alt-rock all finding new footholds in 2022, Spektor finds joy in creating a world all of her own.”
Score: 4/5.

Turn Up The Volume: Topnotch record. A pop opera backed by a symphonic orchestra. Every song enthralls. Every song is a Spektor fantasy about love, pain, about her heart and soul. She’s back in supreme style. Welcome.

Singles/clips: Up The Mountain / Coming All Alone / Loveology

– UP THE MOUNTAIN –
(Sublime pop earworm)

– BECOMING ALL ALONE –
(Symphonic mid-tempo lullaby)

– LOVEOLOGY –
(Piano colored grandeur)

Stream full album on Spotidy

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REGINA SPEKTOR: Spotify – Instagram

New AFGHAN WHIGS Album ‘HOW DO YOU BURN?’ Now Available For Pre-Order

What’s up?

17 June 2022


(artwork album)

High-passionate mavericks AFGHAN WHIGS from Cincinnati, Ohio
with general GREG DULLI upfront will share their 9th longplayer
named HOW DO YOU BURN? with the world on 9 September.

Work on it was begun in September 2020 – the COVID pandemic having forced Whigs frontman/songwriter Greg Dulli to abandon plans to tour his highly-praised solo album, ‘Random Desire’ – and continued over the next 14 months. The global pandemic dictated
also that the band record largely apart from, and in different locations to, each other: Dulli,
his co-producer Christopher Thorn and drummer Patrick Keeler together in California; bassist John Curley, guitarist Jon Skibic and strings man Rick Nelson laying down and engineering
their own parts in Cincinnati, New Jersey and New Orleans, respectivel
y.

PRE-ORDER INFO HERE

The late monumental voice Mark Lanegan came up with the LP’s title.
He contributed backing vocals to two tracks on the record before his
sudden death last February.

Singles/clips (so far): I’ll Make You See God / The Getaway

– I’LL MAKE YOU SEE GOD –
A blistering blast

– THE GETAWAY –
Sepia-colored Dulli reflection

TRACK LIST:

I’ll Make You See God
The Getaway
Catch A Colt
Jyja
Please, Baby, Please
A Line Of Shots
Domino and Jimmy
Take Me There
Concealer
In Flames

AFGHAN WHIGS: Website

Tour 2022 – all dates HERE