20 BEST BALLADS OF 2024

ALL TOGETHER

TRACK BY TRACK

Band: THE MYSTERINES
Who: Impassioned powerhouse pop indies from
Liverpool fronted by ravishing voice Lia Metcalfe.

Track: SO LONG
From their 2nd LP
Afraid Of Tomorrows.

Haunting femme fatale tragedy.

Linktree
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Artist: BILL RYDER-JONES
Who: Singer-songwriter who was co-founder
of Merseyside heroes The Coral.

Track: THIS CAN’T GO ON
Piece from his 6th solo LP
Lechyd Da.

Choral magnificence.

Instagram – Spotify
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Artist: NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS

Track: WILD GOD
Title song from their
18th full length.

Orchestral grandeur.

Linktree
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Artist: T BONE BURNETT
Who: Legendary American songsmith and lauded producer who worked
with many greats (Elvis Costello, Robert Plant, John Mellencamp and many
more) and scored movie soundtracks all through his long career.

Track: WAITING FOR YOU
From his intimate and warm
longplayer The Other Side.

Goosebumps beauty.

Linktree
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Band: FAT WHITE FAMILY
Who: Notorious UK squad, led by the charismatic
voice/songwriter/author Lias Saoudi.

Track: RELIGION FOR ONE
From their 4th and best LP
Forgiveness Is Yours.

Enigmatic tearjerker.

Instagram – Spotify
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Peter Murphy – photo by Jolene Siana / Boy George – photo by Dean Stockings

Artists: PETER MURPHY and BOY GEORGE
Bauhaus maestro and Culture Club voice/face.

LET THE FLOWERS GROW
The song was originally written by Boy George with its initial message being
“one of
personal acceptance about being gay. As the song developed, it took on a more expansive and universal scope with its lyrics extending beyond sexuality and embracing race, gender, creed and religion.”

Epic.

Boy George – Peter Murphy
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Artist: PETER PERRETT
Who: Former frontman of legendary British new
wavers The Only Ones (1976–1982, 2007–2017)

Track: FOUNTAIN OF YOU
Song from his 3rd solo album
The Cleansing.

Still a romantic at heart.

Instagram

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Band: HEARSING
Who: Long-time American
musical friends.

Track: SILICON PRAIRIE
Opener of the tandem’s 5-track
debut EP Pastoral.

“The song incorporates themes of longing and desperation I felt in my own
life at the time that found a home in anecdotes of the desert and its characters
experiencing these feelings for reasons far removed from my reality.”

Americana tristesse in motion.

Linktree


Press photo by 📸: Dean Chalkley

Artist: RICHARD HAWLEY
Who: British master of melancholia.

Track: HEAR THAT LONESOME WHISTLE BLOW
Reverie from his 10th LP In This City They Call You Love.

Fanciful idealisation.

Instagram
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Artists: THE GLASS HOURS
Who: American songwriters Brad Armstrong and Megan Barbera.
Their music blurs between Sunday afternoon country-folk and
the golden age of the 1970s.

Track: SAME OLD YOU
From their heartfelt
self-titled debut LP.

Bittersweet country magic.

Website – Instagram
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Artist: KAT KOAN
Who: Entrancing songstress
from Berlin.

Track: DREAM GIRL

Whispering nightclub sensuality.


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Linktree

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Artist: KIM DEAL

Track: ARE YOU MINE?
Song from her solo debut album
Nobody Loves You More.

Captivating love song for her mother.


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Linktree
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Band: THE BLACK KEYS

Track: ON THE GAME
Song from their 12th, bluesy dream pop,
longplayer Ohio Players. Stellar record.

Spellbinding.

Instagram
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Artist: OLIVER HOHLBRUGGER
Who: Norwegian songwriter.

Track: BLACK CANVAS.

“It’s about that someone you’ll never be with and that you allow to remain
inside you as a perfect unspoiled thing, yet still you measure and hold your
real relationship up against it. It’s a dream, an illusion, an unfair fantasy.
Nothing and therefore able to be perfect.”

Yearning amorousness.

Linktree
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Band: THE SMILE
Who: Two radioheads – Thom Yorke and
Jonny Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner.

Track: Instant Psalm
Highlight from their 3rd and
best full-length Cutouts.

Vintage Thom York blues.

Instagram
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Band: MGMT
Who: Psych-pop star duo
from Connecticut, US.

Track: PHRADIE’S SONG
Composition from their 5th LP
Loss Of Life.

Candlelight sensibility.


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Instagram
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Band: MONOSCOPES
Who: Italian psych-pop act.

Track: HEY ATLAS
Cut from their notable 2nd full
length Endcyclopedia.

Starry-eyed nostalgia.


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Instagram – Spotify
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Artist: JOHNNY CASH
The immortal country icon.

Track: HELLO OUT THERE
One of the 11 self-penned songs from 1993 that weren’t
released until now, on the new longplayer Songwriter.

Affecting as ever.

Instagram
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Artist: RINGO STARR
No pension for 85-year beatle.

Track: TIME ON MY HANDS
Starr goes country again. New LP
Look Up out early next year.

Little drummer boy.

Instagram
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Band: THE VEILS
Who: New Zealand‘s guitar-pop veterans
centered around singer/songwriter Finn Andrews .

Track: THE LADDER
From new, upcoming 6th LP Asphodels
that will arrive on January 24th.

Endearing moments.

Linktree – Spotify

5 BEST BALLADS Of The Month – APRIL 2024

1 May 2024

78-year-old American singer/songwriter and highly respected producer
T Bone Burnett released his 15th LP, named The Other Side a couple of
weeks ago featuring this heavyhearted beauty, called Waiting For You.

Mellow and compassionate romanticism at its candlelight best.


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Instagram
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Norwegian songsmith Oliver Hohlbrugger and sensuous voice
Frøkedal will make your melt heart with this melancholic pearl,
titled Black Canvas.

Hohlbrugger: “It’s about that someone you’ll never be with and that you allow to remain
inside you as a perfect unspoiled thing, yet still you measure and hold your real relationship up against it. It’s a dream, an illusion, an unfair fantasy. Nothing and therefore able to be perfect.”

A yearning and gripping reverie for the midnight hours. Think murder ballad
duo Nick Cave/Kylie Minogue, but also legendary 60s duo’s Nancy Sinatra/Lee
Hazlewood
and Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg.

Instagram
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Time Alone is another glamourous musing by Berlin-based songstress Kat Koan
and her befriended collaborator Freddie Dickson on guitar. It’s a whispering, sexy,
and revealing story about a secret love.

So you’re dimming down the light I should be leaving now I guess
But then, when you touch me right It’s such a beautiful mess
Should be calling it a night It’s better if we don’t
but then you kiss me where my husband wont
Let go it’s alright let go it’s alright


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Instagram
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Press photo

Akron‘s blues brothers The Black Keys have their 12th LP, titled Ohio Players out.
It’s their best, without a shadow of a doubt, with this glowing gem on.

Instagram
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After being part for 17 years of the duo The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer,
Canadian songsmith Shawn Hall goes his own way as The Harpoonist.

His debut solo LP, baptized ‘Did We Come Here To Dance‘ comes out this
summer, featuring Canadian blues-rock legend, Big Sugar’s Gordie Johnson.

Taster Good People reveals, for all who haven’t heard (like me) of Hall, the unique voice he’s blessed with. The song is a pondering blues jam – did we come here to dance or to die? – spiced with some of The Harpoonist‘s retro harmonica play and a warm-hearted organ.

Instagram

TURN UP THE VOLUME’s JUKEBOX 2024 – 10 New Tracks Added Every Week

Every week 10 new rad tracks added

In order to not miss a beat Turn Up The Volume scans the musical
horizon daily (doing it for years now, actually) to stay in touch with
all new things sonically great and shares the results on a weekly
basis.

Check the 10 new rad cuts just
added to this rad 2024 playlist.

ALL TOGETHER


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TRACK BY TRACK

Band: THE MYSTERINES (UK)
Track: SINK YA TEETH

New cut from the British post-punks’ second album,
titled Afraid Of Tomorrows, that’ll see the day of light
on June 7.

Cool as fuck!


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Instagram
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Band: METZ (Ottawa, Canada)
Track: SUPERIOR MIRAGE

Newest single from this Canadian noise turbine.
Part of their 5th LP, named Up On Gravity Hill
that comes out tomorrow.

Intoxicating Metz groove.

Instagram
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Photo credit – Natalie Hewitt

Artist: PETER BIBBY (Australia)
Track: FUN GUY

From his new, forthcoming album Drama King. More info here.

“Fun Guy” shares Bibby’s perspective of his recent turn to an alcohol-free
lifestyle and the subsequent challenges faced to his social standing and
chaotic live performance. It’s a drum-machine-fuelled, hard and fast, punk
banger taking notes from Suicide and Throbbing Gristle.

Expect a maddening missile that races like a 4-motor hotrod on the run.

Instagram
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© Ben Beauvallet

Artist: KIRAN LEONARD
Track: PASS BETWEEN HOUSES

Newest shared piece from Leonard‘s upcoming album
Real Home out on April 17. Pre-order info here.


Album artwork

A flood of diverse percussion, acoustic guitar and jittery vocals create a both
chaotic and intriguing flow. Capriciously fascinating, waywardly impressive.

Instagram
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Artist: JOVI SKYLER (Sydney, AUS)
Track: ASSHOLE

Sydneysider vegetarian punk-rocker/singer-songwriter and
DIY music video maker just released his brand new 4-track EP
named Call It A Day.

Asshole is the revved-up opener. A razzle-dazzle banger that blasts
out of your trembling speakers with combative horsepower.

Facebook

Band: THE LEMON TWIGS (Long Island, NY)
Track: HOW CAN I LOVE HER MORE?

Another retro Beatles/Beach Boys infused pop tune from their
upcoming 5th LP A Dream is All We Know , that comes our way
on May 5.

Linktree
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Photo by Suzi Corker

Artist: TAPE RUN OUT (Cambridge, UK)
Track: SMALL JOYS

This British collective, formed in 2012, have 3 albums
and 6 EPs on their résumé. Discover it all via Spotify.

New single Small Joys is a brisk guitar pop symphony that sticks instanly. Beautifully orchestrated with moony vocals floating all over it. The accompagning video is quite remarkable.

Instagram
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Photo credit: Chelsea Kyle

Artist: JACK MANLEY (Hudson Valley, NY)
Track: SAVE YOUR OWN

From his upcoming EP Unmeasurable Terms, out on May 10.

Manley about Save Your Own: “In the chaos of addiction and treatment,
sometimes the best you can do is take care of yourself first–put on your own
oxygen mask first. It’s a plea to my partner Anna to take care of herself and
let me go.”

Despite the dream pop vibrancy, think Vampire Weekend, the sentiments at
play here are alarming. An awe-inspiring, real-hard-life inspired tune that’ll
boggle your mind.


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Linktree
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Artist: OLIVER HOHLBRUGGER (Norway)
Track: BLACK CANVAS

Hohlbrugger: “It’s about that someone you’ll never be with and that you allow to remain
inside you as a perfect unspoiled thing, yet still you measure and hold your real relationship up against it. It’s a dream, an illusion, an unfair fantasy. Nothing and therefore able to be perfect.”

It’s a yearning, gripping, melacholic ballad for the midnight hours. The bittersweet duet perfomance features the sensuous vocals by critically acclaimed Norwegian indie artist Frøkedal. Think murder ballad duo Nick Cave/Kylie Minogue, but also legendary 60s duo’s Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazlewood and Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg. Heartfelt romanticism.

Instagram

Artist: DOLLY PARTON
Track: SOUTHERN ACCENTS
Tom Petty cover

Dolly Parton‘s performance of Petty‘s 1984 classic Southern Accents for tribute
album Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration is a vocally goosebumps pearl.


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TURN UP THE VOLUME’s JUKEBOX 2024 – 10 New Tracks Added Every Week

Every week 10 new rad tracks added

In order to not miss a beat Turn Up The Volume scans the musical
horizon daily (doing it for years now, actually) to stay in touch with
all new things sonically great and shares the results on a weekly
basis.

Check the 10 new rad cuts just
added to this rad 2024 playlist.

ALL TOGETHER


.
TRACK-BY-TRACK

1. ‘Eat It And Beat It’ by SHEER MAG (Philadelphia)

Philly‘s garage punks SHEER MAG launch their 4th album, titled
Playing Favorites on March 1. And they keep on throwing new tracks
off it around. The 4th one is named EAT IT AND BEAT IT, a raw rocker
that rattles and rolls all the way. Hail hail.

Sheer Mag: “‘Eat And Beat It’ is an anthem for the next generation. The legacy acts that we grew up admiring and styling ourselves after aren’t going to be around forever, and nor should they be. It’s high time for a new cohort to take over and carry the torch for rock and roll in the 21st century.”

Go.

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2. ‘Velveteen’ by OLIVER HOHLBRUGGER feat. Pal Jackman (Norway)

Oliver Hohlbrugger is a Norwegian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and
producer who carves out his own high energy 60’s pronto-punk/psychedelic pop.

He obviously has a very hot spot for the jangly side of legends The Velvet Underground.
His velveteen VU tribute is part of his new, upcoming album ‘Nothing’s Changed Everything Is New’ to be released digitally and on vinyl on 19 April 2024 via REVIR / Moon Flower Music.

The track is an intoxicating psych jam that goes on like forever. High-energetic electricity.

Run Run Run

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3. ‘Mindcave’ by DREAMWAVE (Bristol, UK)

‘Mindcave’ was heavily inspired by FrodoBagg ins’ harrowing escape through the labyrinthine tunnels of Shelob’s Lair, home to the giant spider in ‘Lord of the Rings’.
Its frantic tempo mirrors the panic of the chase, underscored by the haunting lines”
Gravity apparates, and breaks in the depths of the cavity.

These steamrolling Brits go fast-forward with no brakes nor breaks. It’s like if
a whole army of guitars try to crush your ears, assisted by distressed vocals.
Glorious. Striking stroke.

Let’s roll.

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4. ‘Cross Your Fingers’ by THE BLACK CROWES (USA)


Press photo

The brothers Robinson return with their 9th LP, called Happiness Bastards on March 15.
They still do what they did their whole career, playing vintage old-school blues-rock with flaming brio.

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5. ‘Selling Lies’ by STEFSKI & HUTCH (Paris/Warsaw)


📸Antek Bogacki, via Decent Music Pr

Stefski & Hutch is a rock band founded in 2016 by a songwriter born in Paris and
a guitarist, composer and producer from Warsaw. New cooking Selling Lies, is a protest song addressing the confusion resulting from the flood of information and disinformation.

No, they’re not the legendary glamorous detective duo. They’re a high-voltage
tandem that combines hard-rock riffs with garage-punk gusto. And the candescent
telling lies chorus completes the sharp-cutting fake news message.

Check-in.

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6. ‘Gen-X Cops’ by VAMPIRE WEEKEND (NYC)


Press photo

Back in town. VV share their upcoming, fifth LP,
titled Only God W with planet Earth on April 5.

One of the two dropped tracks is this elevating pop injection.


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7. ‘Hungry Moon’ by GLAS (Denmark)

Lisbet Fritze and Louise Foo have shared artistic trajectories for half of their lives. As Glas, the duo reveals a patchwork of everyday observations rooted in significant life changes while their alternative pop sounds convey a quest for balance, riding the line between doomy drama and playing it cool.

New piece Hungry Moon “raises the impossible questions about the well-being of our planet, addressing big-scale frustrations while simultaneously delving into human feelings of big dreams, loss and insufficiency. Musically, we also wanted to create a duality with two distinct vocal parts. Almost like a duet between night and day. In one, dreamy vocals are interwoven into a fabric of layered guitars, creating a chant. In contrast, the other features a groovy, spacious arrangement with dry vocals.”

Hungry Moon mesmerizes and magnetizes with its part ghostly, part crystalline vocals,
its shoegazy dreamy feel and its moony atmosphere. Beguiling and compelling.


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8. ‘I’m A Man’ by KIM GORDON (US)


(photo by Turn Up The Volume)

As announced a couple of weeks ago Gordon has bagged
her 2nd solo LP. It’s titled The Collective and it’ll land
on March 8.

Second single I’m A Man is a slo-mo industrial shocker with Gordon‘s
spoken-word vocality adding a cold-blooded perturbation.

Listen/watch.

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9. ‘Smack Water’ by JACK MANLEY (NYC)


Photo credit: Chelsea Kyle

Hudson Valley-based singer-songwriter Jack Manley gears up for his upcoming
debut EP Unmeasurable Terms, out on May 10. Pre-order info here.

Smack Water is a “relaxed yet aggressive vibe—I wanted this song to have
a lot of space and attitude with moments of distortion, swells and feedback,
so that it raises the stakes as the tune progresses.”

I hear echoes of the late great Alex Chilton. Jangly and rousing, soothing and
entrancing with commanding vocals. An electrical and melancholic thrill.

Play.

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10. ‘New’ by LUNAR PATHS feat. Ben Keaton (Chicago)

Veterans of the original UK northern goth scene, Lunar Paths are a transatlantic musical duo. With memorable hooks woven through intricate, powerful percussion, laced together with haunting vocals, their eclectic sound shares traits with goth & alternative indie artistes.

New is a psychedelic and darkwavish slo-mo trip with a trancy effect.
Its glowing, shadowy The Cure-like guitar radiance and its hallucinatory
female/male vocals lead to an eerie experience. Intriguing stuff.


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