New Albums

Los Angeles’ Vibes Popsters WARPAINT Have Their 4th LP ‘RADIATE LIKE THIS’ Out

Posted on by JL

New longplayers

6 May 2022

Band: WARPAINT
Who: Indie pop ladies from Los Angeles
Active: 2004-present / 4 studio LPs


(Press promo)

New album: RADIATE LIKE THIS – 1st in 6 years
Released: 6th May 2022 – order info here

NME says: “This comeback is a tribute to what you can accomplish when creating with
people you love, proving the band can’t be tied to a specific scene… a tribute to what you
can accomplish when creating with people you love – to feeling supported in exploring
some of life’s most complex offerings, yet maintaining curiosity and a sense of fun. And,
as ‘Radiate Like This’ shows us, that never goes out of style.”
Review here. Score: 4/5.

Turn Up The Volume: All sorts of vibes. Moody, trippy, soulful and
several lazy ones. But, unfortunately, no vibes that invited me to play
them several times in a row. Bummer.

Singles/clips: Champion / Stevie

– CHAMPION –

– STEVIE –

WARPAINT: Facebook – Instagram

Pet Shop Girls LET’S EAT GRANDMA Praised For Their New ‘TWO RIBBONS’ Album

Posted on by JL

New longplayers

2 May 2022

Band: LET’S EAT GRANDMA
Who: British art-pop duo featuring childhood
friends Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth
Active: 2013-present / 3 studio LPs (new one included)

New album: TWO RIBBONS
Order info: here

The Guardian (British newspaper): “Written amid grief and separation,
the duo’s third album uses beautiful melodies and Top 40 choruses to consider
their evolving bond.” Full review here. Score: 5/5.

Turn Up The Volume: Lots of praise for the duo’s new longplayer. I’m not that
euphoric. It’s back to the 80s synth-pop with Pet Shop Boys and Soft Cell, nothing
wrong with that, but the girls’ new record misses massive earworms like West End
Girls/It’s A Sin or Tainted Love/Say Hello, Wave Goodbye. So I’ll stick with the 80s heroes.

Singles/clips: Levitation / Happy New Year

– LEVITATION –

– HAPPY NEW YEAR –

Stream the full album on Spotify…

.

LET’S EAT GRANDMA: Instagram

Coming Up… New MACHINE HEAD Album ‘ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN’

Posted on by JL

What’s up?

13 April 2022

Band: MACHINE HEAD
Who: Cast iron metalheads from Oakland, CA
Active: Since 1991
Albums: 10 (new one incl.)

New album: ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN

Out: 26 August 2022 – more details here

Press info: “It’s centred on two rival characters: Ares, who loses the love of his life (Amethyst) and goes on a murderous rampage against the vile sect responsible for her murder; and Eros, the perpetrator, who loses his mother to a drug overdose and becomes radicalised in the aftermath, manifesting his own killing spree.”


(Press photo by Travis Shinn, and Paul Harries)

Robb Flynn (frontman): “Thanks to my two teenage boys, my family has become obsessed with this awesome Japanese anime series called Attack On Titan. The album’s concept was loosely inspired by the series in the sense that in the storyline, there is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ guy – both characters believe they’re doing the right thing as it applies to their being. But make no mistake, both are committing acts of pure atrocity and evil. The opening track ‘SLAUGHTER
THE MARTYR’ is basically our character #1’s origin story.”

Lead Single: CHØKE ØN THE ASHES ØF YØUR HATE

Thrash metal at its
slashing best.

Release the bats…

MACHINE HEAD: Facebook – All Albums

Upcoming… New SHARON VAN ETTEN Album

Posted on by JL

9 April 2022

Artist: SHARON VAN ETTEN
Who: Eminent singer-songwriter born
in Belleville (New Jersey) 41 years ago
Active: Since 2007 / 6 studio LPs (new one incl.)

Over the past few weeks arresting and exquisite songstress
VAN ETTEN made me and my ears happy with two new
beauties.

– PORTA –

– USED TO IT –

Clearly harbingers for a new album. True, Sharon announced her sixth longplayer, titled WE’VE BEEN GOING ABOUT THIS ALL WRONG, arriving on 6 May. But surprisingly those new songs will not be on the album.

Van Etten: “I wanted to approach this release differently, to engage my fans in an intentional way, in an effort to present the album as a whole body of work. These 10 songs are designed to be listened to in order, at once, so that a much larger story of hope, loss, longing and resilience can be told.”

Okay, we got the message, Sharon.

Warning: The album trailer, below, can cause rapid eye movement…

SHARON VAN ETTEN: Facebook – Website – All Albums

JOHN FATHER MISTY – Another Winner With 5th Album ‘CHLOË AND THE NEXT 20TH CENTURY’

Posted on by JL

8 April 2022

Artist: FATHER JOHN MISTY
Who: Singer-songwriter (real name: Joshua Michael Tillman)
from Rockville, Maryland, U.S.

New album: CHLOË AND THE NEXT 20TH CENTURY – his fifth LP
Released: 8 April 2022 via Sub Pop

NME says: “On album five, Mr Tillman’s ambitious, big band-style visions and bossa nova experiments (yes, really) come to life with thrilling effect… Besides its flirtations with big band-style instrumentals, ‘Chloë and the Next 20th Century’ serves as a gorgeously crafted highlight reel of the singer’s many previous styles and guises, rather than a complete reinvention. Much of it is delivered with a wink, and is as dramatically brooding as his past work; every track is vivid yet still quietly dark as it conjures various kinds of lamentation.” Score: 5/5.

Turn Up The Volume: This FJM album sounds like a tribute to the great late singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson (1941 – 1994), most famous for his big hits Everybody’s Talkin and Without You. And that’s a good thing. FJM can join the21st Century crooners club with members such as Nick Cave, Bon Iver, Bill Callahan & Bonnie Prince Billy, and other related songsmiths.

Singles/clips: Funny Girl / Goodbye Mr. Blue

– FUNNY GIRL –

– GOODBYE MR. BLUE –

Full album on Spotify…

.
FATHER JOHN MISTY: Facebook

Order info here

Coming In August… 9th MUSE Album

Posted on by JL

1 April 2022

Band: MUSE
Who: Mega famous (in the UK and Europe)
rock trio from Teignmouth, Devon, UK
Active: Since 1994 – 9 studio LPs
(including the new one)

New album: WILL OF THE PEOPLE
Out: 26 August 2022 – order info here

Matt Bellamy (frontman): “‘Will Of The People’ was created in Los Angeles and London and is influenced by the increasing uncertainty and instability in the world. A pandemic, new wars in Europe, massive protests and riots, an attempted insurrection, Western democracy wavering, rising authoritarianism, wildfires and natural disasters and the destabilization of the global order all informed Will Of The People. It has been a worrying and scary time for all of us as the Western empire and the natural world, which have cradled us for so long are genuinely threatened. This album is a personal navigation through those fears and preparation for
what comes next.”

Singles (shared so far): Compliance / Won’t Stand Down

– COMPLIANCE –
(With ‘The Final Countdown’ synths)

– WON’T STAND DOWN –
(A giga pop-metal blast)

MUSE: Facebook – All Albums

It’s Only Toronto 1977 But THE STONES Liked It

Posted on by JL

25 March 2022

In March of 1977 — a year after their reggae-inspired LP Black And
Blue and a year before Some Girls – rock icons The Rolling Stones
played two secret shows at the El Mocambo club in Toronto in front
of 300 people.

The Stones were named the Cockroaches for this special occasion.

A few recorded songs featured on the 1977 in-concert LP Love You Live.

A new double LP titled El Mocambo 1977 is planned
for release on 13th May. Pre-order info here.

Keith Richards: “We’re up on stage at the El Mocambo
and we never felt better. I mean, we sounded great.”

We get two tasters to satisfy us.

– IT’S ONLY ROCK ‘N ROLL BUT I LIKE IT –

– RIP THIS JOINT – 

The Rolling Stones: Website

PETER DOHERTY And FREDERIC LO Composed A Soothing Beauty With ‘THE FANTASY LIFE OF POETRY & CRIME’

Posted on by JL

19 March 2022

Artists: PETER DOHERTY and FRÉDÉRIC LO
Who: The Libertines man and French composer/producer

Album: THE FANTASY LIFE OF POETRY & CRIME
Released: 18 March 2022 – order info here

NME says: “Breezy and charming baroque indie. Now married and nearly three years clean, Pete Doherty is happier and sorted for cheese and fizz rather than chasing darker endeavours. ‘The Fantasy Life of Poetry & Crime’, the Libertines and Babyshambles man’s first collaborative album with French musician, composer and producer Frédéric Lo, is testament to that: written and recorded in Pete’s new home of France, there’s a sense of place throughout.” Full review: here. Score: 4/5.

Turn Up The Volume: The result of the collaboration of wordsmith and poetry fanatic
Peter Doherty and French composer Frédéric Lo who wrote the music, is a sparkling thing
of beauty.

This is the record to play when you’re feeling lazy, and in the mood for doing nothing but daydreaming while lying in a green field enjoying the Spring sun. Expect romantic lullabies with violins, piano and smooth horns, sweet little pop ditties, and sepia-colored tunes that transfer you to a place far away from the cruel reality.

It’s my birthday today and this is the tranquil and soothing music (and
a couple of early Bowie’s) my mind, my heart, and my soul want to get lost in.

Singles/clips: The Fantasy Life Of Poetry & Crime / You Can’t Keep It From Me Forever

– THE FANTASY LIFE OF POETRY & CRIME –

– YOU CAN’T KEEP IT FROM ME FOREVER –

Stream full album here…

.
PETER DOHERTY: Facebook

Psychedelic Prog Rock Pandemonium With Riff Junks GRAMPFATHER

Posted on by JL

14 March 2022

Band: GRAMPFATHER

Who: An eclectic rock band based out of Kingston NY,
whose material traverses a variety of rock genres, such
as indie, garage, punk, psych, chill, and thrash.

New album: GRAMPAPPIES
The group’s 5th longplayer

Grampfather: “Gramppappies, our fifth album, is our most realized album yet in that it encapsulates our range of sounds, wavering between abrasive rockers and indie chillers.
While our last album, Magnum Grampus, was fueled by the anger and frustration conjured
by the countless tragedies of 2020, Gramppappies offers more hope for the future, a weighted, contemplative hope that’s informed by past experiences and events, and not a naive, starry-eyed one. A main theme that’s threaded throughout the album is our appreciation of music, the role it plays in our lives, and how it keeps us going despite the many miseries we’ll endure in this life. It’s too easy to just give up and resolve that it’s all hopeless. The contrary seems like a much better and brighter path. Here’s to hoping for hope.”

Turn Up The Volume: These riff-crazy motherrockers know a thing or two and so
much more about psychedelic prog-rock’s history, from the 60s all the way to today.

At times they go mental the way Aussie gang King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard go
mental (Murder Hornets / The Myspace Continuum / Large Garbage), at times (when
they slow down) they do it the way Canadian legends Rush did it and still do it with
guitar solos packed jams (Weeding / Dead Ends), with Poppies you get a sticky pop
tune to whistle to, on Thad B. Radd they storm like hungry punks, and droning
closer The Grampening brings Black Sabbath to mind.

Get the sonic picture? Yep, this is a flaming-hot top record.

Singles: Poppies / Murder Hornets

– POPPIES –

– MURDER HORNETS –

Stream/buy the album here…


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GRAMPFATHER: Bandcamp – Website – Facebook

THE DISTRICTS – Philadelphia’s Indie Rockers Released 5th LP ‘GREAT AMERICAN PAINTING’

Posted on by JL

13 March 2022

Band: THE DISTRICTS
Who: Indie rockers from Philadelphia, PA
Active: 2009-present / 5 LPs (including new one)

New album: GREAT AMERICAN PAINTING
Out: 4 February 2022
Order info: here

Rob Gore (frontman): “The thing I value most in music is when an album
expresses some sort of pain or frustration, or hope that I also feel. I hope
this album makes people feel like something within themselves is reflected
in the wider world, and I hope that makes them feel less alone.”


(photo by Turn Up The Volume)

CLASH Magazine says:” ‘Great American Painting’ is a record that is strongest for its instrumentation, featuring The Districts’ typical cross-streams of guitars that amply lamenting vocals, intriguing listeners by making reference to social issues within America. The Districts paint a Great American Painting that taps its toes in the pool of social justice without feeling overbearing or holding the holier-than-thou attitude we’ve come to know of some rock bands’ reinventions.” Full review here. Score: 7/10.

Turn Up The Volume: I love this band. They proved over and over again that they can write sonic anthems with big sentiments and big guitar-driven orchestration, and they do
it again here. With a more refined sound now – think Band Of Horses – they’ve constructed several tunes where riffs, hooks and licks fall into place like pieces of a puzzle. Touchdown!

Key tracks: No Blood / Do It Over / White Devil / Outlaw Love / On Pur Parting, My Beloved

Singles: Do It Over / Outlaw Love

– DO IT OVER –

– OUTLAW LOVE –

Stream/buy the album here…


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THE DISTRICTS: FacebookAINT