TUTV: Hiraeth is a genuinely soul-stirring and brutally honest record.
Singer-songwriter/guitarist Scott Marsden recalls his past demons and finds comfort
in the beauty of his beloved Wales, its compelling history and the making of this new formidable album. He’s an emotive storyteller, blessed with a heartwarming voice that
fits his self-exploratory quest in every respect, spiritually and musically.
This is unquestionably the band’s most coherent, engrossing, and complete work,
excelling on every level and showing the cathartic power of music, once again. Mind
you, their previous work is more than noteworthy, but Hiraeth‘s full-blown execution makes it a grand achievement to cherish for a long time.
One of the best indie guitar rock-pop albums of the
year. A milestone for the Welshmen. Hands down.
TUTV: They go up, they get down. Up again. Down again. At first I was confused by the
by now pretty famous indie duo’s changing sonic moods breaking down the record’s
flow.
Lullabies, rock outs, moony mid-tempo reflections. One tune they put you in a soothing modus with a lullaby. The next tune they plug in their amps for a couple of pelvis-shaking firecrackers. Then it goes back to life-reflecting/watching thoughts, daily reveries, existentialist questions, and some depressing moments. Quite something else than
their non-stop groovy fiesta debut.
But I didn’t give up, as I felt some sort of connection anyway, and I kept on listening,
and it all started to make sense. This record’s emotional fluctuations, musically, vocally
and lyrically, became one full Getdown Services picture/experience that sticks seamlessly
in the end. Big score.
TUTV: These young Mancunians nail it big time with this crackerjack debut. Their ramshackle post-punk fieriness is startling. Its jittery, hypnotic, speedy, repetitive riffing rippers, spirited with Geese-resonating duet vocals combine for a wayward, thrilling
record. A wowzers way to start your journey.
TUTV: The Afghan Whigs catalog is strikingly notable for its mad keen fervidness,
true-blue authenticity, at times its dark emotionality, and its sonic brilliance. Soft Control has all those substantial characteristics.
Greg Dulli is one of the greatest guitar-rock songwriters and blessed with a terrific
voice. Lyrically, he digs deep down again with inner-soul-searching quests. After four
decades, The Whigs are alive and kicking once again. Respect!
Album: ALIEN METAL
They just released their 28th LP in 14 years.
They must be the hardest-working band on
this planet.
Credit: Maclay Heriot
TUTV: It’s a pretty unusual record for the riff junks from down under, as they have thrown their guitars through the window and surprise with a full electronic opus. They go back to the British 90s techno raves.
Alien Metal resonates as if KG&TLW locked themselves up for a couple
of weeks playing Underworld, The Prodigy and Leftfield records on repeat.
Expect an incessant tsunami of hyperkinetic beats, mind-blowing electro
Krautrock madness, and deformed vocal flashes. Full blast forward without
breaks. Not one moment to have a much-needed breather. E-cstatic.
Who: London-based collective with a fluid membership, active since 2016,
who value expressing their ideas and feelings simply and directly, sometimes uber minimally, over any flash displays of musical skills. There have been Scottish, English, Australian and Irish members at various points.
MR: “Building better worlds…what could possibly go wrong?…history always shows that giving
a government as much ‘authority’ over citizens as it would like, works out really well…it’s best practice to treat everyone like a potential criminal…total surveillance makes you free. So, here’s a new happy go lucky MR album for 2026.”
TUTV: It feels like the alarming ghost of visionary novellist/poet/journalist George Orwell is roaming about this record, attracting attention to his 1949 dystopian book Nineteen Eighty-Four once again.
Sonically, these rebels run, run, run like The Velvet Underground in their early days when they looked/played like the last gloom and doom band on earth. Strangely similar (and vice versa) to the debut LP by British young post-punk gunslingers (see/hear above). Then, why the fuck is the mainstream press not talking about this stunning record as they do abundantly about Westside Cowboy?
Whatever, MR constructed a must-hear, dazzling-puzzling Götterdämmerung rock opus for your twilight hours.
TUTV:Man/Woman/Chainsaw join the (new) generation of new Brit-post-punk artilleries that started sometime post Brex-shit, with innovative bands such as Black Midi (already gone), Black Country New Road, Squid, Ditz, Bdrmm and newcomers Modern Woman, Westside Cowboy, Mary In The Junkyard, and My New Band Believe.
They have one thing in common: looking for new musical angels, exciting ideas
and unconventional soundscapes, within the broad rock-pop-punk universe,
without being arty farty.
M/W/C does it now for the first time with this debut LP. Whimsical, chopped-up song structures, spine-tingling melodiousness, two perfervid vocalists, nightmarish stories, mood-changing violins and confusing orchestrations. Everything in place to score a bodacious firstborn. Have a bloodcurdling trip.
Who: Post-punk project of Manchester-born, experimental singer-songwriter-guitarist Vincent Gerard “Vini” Reilly (now 72). The band’s name refers to the Durruti Column,
an anarchist military unit in the Spanish Civil War, named after Buenaventura Durruti.
TUTV: This is a soothing, ambient Eno-like soundtrack for a melodramatic movie. Reilly offers cinematic, dreamy soundscapes, rather than conventional song structures.
His singular, crystalline, finger-picking guitar playing style commands the aural tone throughout.
7 out of the 11 tracks are instrumentals. Caoilfhionn Rose sings on 3, Lucas Elliot
on one, and Reilly stirs with vulnerable vocals on the album’s best piece, the wondrous musing Scammer. Give Renascent a couple of spins; once you’re connected with The Durutti Column‘s imaginative and blue-sky world, you’ll enjoy a very gratifying record.
TUTV: 10 years since they formed this London indie collective unleashed their debut LP, following their attention-grabbing 7-track debut EP My Eyes, Brother! from 2022.
A brassy, funky and punky-jazzy party record, stuffed with pelvis-wobbling grooves and Angus Rodgers‘ bossy vocals pushing his abstract stories up front. OP blend, effortlessly vaudeville, ska and mariachi elements in heart-stopping and invigorating dynamics.
Who: The charismatic Californian
frontman of The Killers
The LP is recorded in Nashville, the mecca of country music, with some renowned
country musicians. Rooted in his formative childhood years in the small town of Nephi, Utah, the timeless sonic approach proves to be the ideal home for Flowers’ most personal and vulnerable songwriting yet.
TUTV: When Flowers works solo, he regularly delves into his youth, coming up
with both sad and happy memories. He doesn’t trash anything whatsoever here.
He drenches his melancholic stories in bittersweet country tunes.
A bit sugary here and there, but nevertheless, the overall musical radiance
is very charming and entertaining. Music for daydreaming moments.
Band: OPUS KINK Who: Razor-edged, funked-up, sax-and-trumpet-infused
collective from Brighton (UK) fronted by their charismatic
voice/songwriter Angus Rodgers.
Press-info: Underscored by a formidable horn section and ragged, sardonic delivery,
the band bear passing resemblance to post-punk and no-wave acts like The Pop Group, Birthday Party and Lounge Lizards.
It’s the weaving of older, more traditional influences: choral, folk, country, Latin, Weimar cabaret, cruise-ship-crooning, into the fabric of their music
that sets them apart.
NME: Madness and menace abound on the jazz-punk band’s long-awaited first album. It’s a the debut that Opus Kink should have made, but the problem with coming up amongst a scene is that the scene moves fast and what once sounded fresh can swiftly become old news. Give it a little more time and ‘The Sweet Goodbye’ might come into its own, away from the shadow of what recently went before.”
Ghent, Belgium 2025 – Photo by Turn Up The Volume
TUTV: 10 years since they formed this London indie collective unleash their debut LP, following their attention-grabbing 7-track debut EP My Eyes, Brother! from 2022. A brassy, funky and punky-jazzy party record, stuffed with pelvis-wobbling grooves and Angus Rodgers‘ bossy vocals pushing his abstract stories up front.
OP blend, effortlessly, vaudeville, ska and mariachi elements in heart-stopping and envigorating dynamics. Move. Move. Move. Yet, The Sweet Goodbye doesn’t feel convincing after the last track fades out because, overall, it lacks versatility, as the band rarely leave their comfort zone, creating a déjà vu throughout the album’s progression.
Two more things: With I’m A Pretty Show Boy they score(d) a long-lasting, hypnotically swinging knockout, and If you get the chance to see them live, don’t miss them. As I
already experienced 3 times, they blew you off your feet.
TUTV: It’s the song’s live version as played two
weeks ago at the Electric Ballroom in London and
as I experienced myself when they played my
hometown of Ghent, Belgium last month.
Get up, stand up, and fight for
your right to show off in 2026!!!
Angus Rogers (frontman): “Rock and roll music for the empty and stunning.
A song about contempt, appetite, impotence and self-preservation through
gyration. Enjoy superficially with your body and send the reeling mind on
to hell.”
TUTV: Wham Bam! Yeah Yeah! Go Go! Oh my Oh My! Razzle Dazzle!
This is the kind of adrenaline-pumping thrills I wait impatiently for
every single day.
Get up, stand up, and fight
for your right to show off.
“‘Although it’s a big, joyous dance track, it’s about hiding deep emotional pain and trauma and how hedonistic coping mechanisms, like drugs, alcohol, and womanizing, are just temporary distractions.”
TUTV: This is what amazing pop-ular music is all about. Big melody, big emotions, big orchestration. Euphorically sticky as first-class glue despite its dramatic ‘real life‘ story. Aftermath soul-searching can work cathartically.
Who: Irish post-punk whirlwind, led by charismatic
voice/songwriter/guitarist Karla Chubb.
Track: BETTER
Along with Something’s Gonna Happen, my top fav track
on their brand new, second LP, called All That Is Over.
TUTV: Every time I play this pure punk-rock gem, I feel way better.
It’s striking swagger, superb groove, passionate duet vocals, and
high-strung guitar play mesmerize.
Who: The moniker of Massachusetts‘ chilling singer-songwriter Izzy Hagerup. She released her debut album Through The Window
in 2023.
Track: SYSTEM
First new piece and title track from her
2nd LP, coming our way on October 3rd.
Hagerup: “When I wrote ‘System’ I was supposed to be present and alive
and gracious and happy. But somehow I couldn’t escape my own internal
fears and depression that can follow me wherever I go.”
TUTV: What a brilliant torch song. Weeping guitars come and go while Hagerup‘s heart-stopping vocals cause goosebumps. And what a fuming
finale.
TUTV: Its ominous mid-tempo dynamics, its distorted vocals, and its riff-psychotic razzmatazz resonate as if you are listening to the scary theme song of a horror movie.
At the 2.30 minute mark, all hell breaks loose.
From a whisper to a scream. From planet Earth
to Dante‘s Inferno.
Track: FOUR
One of the highlights from their
brill 2nd LP Never Exhale
TUTV: Ditz operate in a very dark place. Sonically, as well as lyrically.
In the middle Cal Francis barks at the moon, while dense drones
infiltrate your shocked ears. Inhale, exhale.
TUTV: This 4-piece grab you by the throat from the kick-off and never lose their firm grip, while vociferous vocalist Marie De Graeve‘s has a crushing impact on your petrified stereo. Liar is a titanic motherrocker that pulverizes the Richter scale in just 250 seconds. Queens Of The Stone Age, Deftones and Black Sabbath come to mind.
TUTV: OMG! What a riot-gun banger. These Irishmen create suffocating havoc with
a maddening mix of nasty racket that brings illegal-decibels-producing bands such as
NIN and Metz to my cooking mind.
TUTV: Ecstasy. Elation. Euphoria. Exhilaration. This electro smack makes
you bounce and jump on your pogo-stick. They punch you in the teeth
without asking, while having fervent fun.
Who: Belgian noise rock trio whose sound draws influences from bands such
as Black Midi, Tool, Battles, and Swans, blending dissonance with a strong sense
of identity.
Track: NANDOR
Piece from their ace
3rd album Trois.
TUTV: What the fuck! From the very kick-off, chainsaw guitars do your
brain in. Electric chair electricity throughout. No way to escape. Neurotic
vocals complete this blitzkrieg assault.
Band: DOWN THE LEES Who: The post-rock noise project of seasoned Canadian
singer/songwriter/guitarist Laura Lee Schultz. DTL released
3 notable albums, so far.
Track: MIDI DORIC
First single. A song that deals with the
isolation and depression of the pandemic.
TUTV: A characteristic DTL thunderstorm, cranked up by blustery bass lines,
monstrous guitar riffs, Herculean drumming, Schultz‘s sky-scraping vocals and
a volcanic finale. One of the best noizz rock bands around.
TUTV: It’s a sublime, crystalline pop nugget, with its hypnotizing guitar riff,
the non-stop drum beat and the intertwined, spellbinding vocals of Win Butler
and his spouse, Régine Chassagne.
Band: KASABIAN Who: British star rockers from Leicester. One of the best bands
of the past 25 years on record and on stage, in my book.
Track:HIPPIE SUNSHINE.
Lead single from their forthcoming
9th LP. Details TBA.
TUTV: Expect a mega vitalizing, disco-charged haymaker.
Since co-founder/songwriter/frontman Serge Pizzorno pulls
all the band’s strings, he provides dynamite tunes you can
throw 24-hour parties with.
Who: One of the most adventurous/inventive/original post-punk & dub artists/performers
ever. He was a founding member of genre-bending new wave group The Pop Group and released lots of solo and collaborative records. Unfortunately, he passed away 2 years ago,
only 62.
Track: MEMORY OF YOU
Single from Stewart‘s solo album The Fateful Symmetry,
which was completed early 2023, not long before his passing.
TUTV: Haunting, synth-symphonic and bang-tastic,
with Mark‘s characteristically energetic voice on top.
First single from their forthcoming 4th full-length, their
first in 4 years, slated for release in September 2026.
TUTV: Holy Coves are back, and they don’t waste time. It’s full steam ahead from
the get-go. Eager guitars and sinewy drumming inject this sweltering steamroller with
a flaming briskness that causes a kinetic reverberation, while Marsden emotive vocals accentuate the song’s sad sentiments.
Who: 2-piece from Birmingham (UK) – Euan Woodman (drums/vocals) and Tom Rhodes (bass/vocals) – born in late 2023 over a shared love of noise, literature and late night shebeens. They write music about love and hate. They’re good for your soul.
TUTV: Warning. This insanely groovy punk blast will bulldoze all over your shocked speakers. Expect a superheated funky firestorm that attacks the Richter scale with a shattering impact. A manically jagged jackhammer it is. Trust me, you’ll think you like them, VERY MUCH, while you bang your head into your fridge’s door.
Who: A collective with members scattered across the UK and the Netherlands.
This group, now comprising seven members, has its roots in a trio that expanded
over the past four years.
New track: WET LEATHER
Piece from their sophomore
LP Total Technik.
TUTV: Kraut-rock and roll with an intoxicating force. A wall-of-guitar-pyrotechnics rollercoaster. An overpowering tempest of rambunctious riffs. Voltaic psychedelia
at its spine-chilling best, bombarding your ears the way you like it.
Who: The musical project of singer-songwriter-poet Jamie Cameron. Hailing from
the Scottish Borders, the music blends lo-fi beats, synths and guitars with spoken word lyrics in which he discusses subjects ranging from politics and premonitions to self help culture, and a modern society obsessed with economic thinking.
TUTV: This rattling rap ‘n’ punk roll crackerjack swings forth and back, left
and right and Jamie Cameron’s full of vim and vigour word-flow activates all
of your insatiable limbs before he relaxes towards the synthy end. Kinetic throb.
Hands up for the coach.
TUTV: A nasty bass riff motorizes this rollicking psych jam that seems to go on
like forever, and when the powerhouse chorus kicks in, your ears are instantly
overwhelmed. Life Is Joy is one of those riff-crazy haymakers that stick after just
Who: Mysterious trio with an inimitable take on
humanity’s downward spiral into a dysfunctional
entropic existence. They unleashed their punk-groovy
debut EP Like You last year.
TUTV: This arresting, melancholic song is heart-rending. Its bluesy guitar
radiance, its bass-beat-heavy cadence, and despondent vocals get under
your skin. Its melodic catchiness has irresistible written all over it.
TUTV: A razzle-dazzle steamroller that gets under your skin faster
than you can say “this is bloody superb”. Its insane, mind-bending
course doubles your serotonin production on the spot.
Who: Must hear/see indies from Brighton (where everybody is in a band).
They cruise from folk to punk, using, besides traditional instruments (guitar,
bass and drums) also cello, flute, violin and other classical gear.
TUTV: These young wolves bulldoze their way through the daily
bullshit we have to endure with a knife between their teeth. Sippy Cup
is a bruising, full of vim and vigor, uppercut hitting where it hurts.
Angus Rogers: “Here is our song, rock and roll music for the empty and stunning.
A song about contempt, appetite, impotence and self-preservation through gyration.
Enjoy superficially with your body and send the reeling mind on to hell! “
TUTV: Wham Bam! Yeah Yeah! Go Go! Oh my Oh My! Razzle Dazzle!
This is the kind of adrenalizing tunes I wait impatiently for every single day.
Tunes that put a big smile on my face, tunes that make all of my limbs go nuts,
tunes that go straight to my best-tracks-of-the-year list. Funky buzz, vocal fuzz.
Isaac Stroud-Allen (frontman): “It’s about power, corruption and how people
are happy to watch the world burn if they’re the ones sitting on a rooftop bar sipping
on a Sex On The Beach.”
TUTV: Believe the hype. These young wolves bulldoze their way through the daily
bullshit we have to endure with a knife between their teeth. Sippy Cup is a bruising,
full of vim and vigor uppercut hitting where it hurts. If this is your first time that you
hear these rabble-rousers, you’ll be gobsmacked. Bring it on, rascals.
TUTV: One of the 5 astronomical sledgehammers of their brand-new
debut EP Alter Ego. Love Machine takes you on a hair-rising rollercoaster.
Awesome vocalist, awesome band, asewome tune.
Band: PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS Who: The dumbfounding psych-prog rockers from
down under, who started their odyssey in 2014.
Last May they launched their volcanic 7th full-length, titled Carpe Diem, Moonman and only 2 days ago they dropped
album #8, named Pogo Rodeo.
There’s definitely something in the Australian air that makes bands over there very productive. Yes, as you may or may not know, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are
also from down under.
TUTV: We know for a long time that the sharp-mouthed mods are an unstoppable
groove engine, and this one is another pulsating one. Wowza. Fucking-A. Let’s see
if you can catch up with this speedy hip-shaking trigger.
TUTV: Picture this. Aggressive guitars rage like chainsaws around a nasty mid-tempo groove, juiced-up by sinewy drum hits and when the clamorous chorus kicks in the
vocalist bellows as if he can’t get out of his straitjacket. Oh yeah, you’ll love this horrific slice of hellraising post-punk mayhem.
They look and they operate like your new favorite Halloween band. Amps up, decibels
up, heat up. I wonder if this track isn’t a hidden one on one of Fugazi‘s detonating exploits.
An in-your-face debut. Bang-on.
Band: TEST PLAN Who: Indie noizz trio from London looking for the sweet spot between
dancing and moshing. They cultivate a ferocious blend of noise-rock,
dance-punk, and post-hardcore.
Track: GONE
The beginning of a brand-new chapter, according to the band.
It’s the first of a few singles from an EP out sometime next year.
TUTV: Hells bells. Test Plan grab you by the throat from the blaring intro and never
lose their suffocating grip. They come at you, full speed, with schizophrenic guitars,
an indefatigable drummer and a psychotic vocalist who screams his four lungs out
and tries to excommunicate his eerie demons.
No rest for the wicked. No emergency exit. We’re trapped, so let’s join these
maniacal mindfuckers in their attempt to make the Richter scale go ballistic.
Track: I THINK I’M IN LOVE
Single from their upcoming album
called ‘Evil Love‘.
TUTV: So these four Polish dropouts think they’re in love.
In love or not, I guess any reason is good for these riff-shooting
punk cowboys to run amok.
Their new cacophonous sucker-punch is a piercing piece of rambunctious racket motorized by raucous guitars, a brutal drummer and a weird frontman who looks
mental and sounds mental. Hell, bloody hell, yeah.
Get on your pogo-stick and pretend
you are a kangaroo on dope.
TUTV: Ashcroft does what he does best for years now, making your hair in the back of your neck stand up. This is another stadium anthem for thousands and thousands vocal cords to sing a long out loud.
Band: ARYEL MOON Who: Fresh Irish indie outfit, fronted by Italy-born musician Donatella Camedda, who have been building a reputation on Dublin’s live circuit.
Camedda: “It carries that mix of desire, anticipation, and adrenaline you feel
in the very first stage of falling for someone. That in-between space where you’re
caught between genuine connection and the rush of limerence.”
TUTV: Expect flamboyant indie power-pop, invigorated with reverberating guitars,
pummeling drumming and penetrating vocals, intense and intrepid, and a passional
chorus. One spin and you know we have a winner. In a normal world this should be
an indie hit. Trust me, you’ll fall in love with Aryel Moon.
Linda Pardee (vocalist/songwriter): “This song has morphed into a different meaning
than what was originally intended when written. The lyrics were initially about friendships, acquaintances, people coming into your life. Being part of a community. Finding your
people. Despite differences, we can or should be able to at least co-exist.
TUTV: TCC are no strangers to Turn Up The Volume. And their back again with
this new flashy rocker. Those jangly guitars, that vital, that feverish drive. Resonates
like R.E.M. are back and teamed up with Evan Dando‘s Lemonheads. No I don’t have a
hangover whatsoever. Listen closely and your ears will experience what I experience(d).
All you shiny people out there, come on feel the Dando vibe.
Track: WHAT IF
Piece from her upcoming 3rd full-length, called A Rupture A Canyon A Birth, out October 17th.
The song is inspired by the moment that a semi truck plowed into her broken-down tour van. Nobody in the Jane Inc. touring party was hurt in that accident, and they even played their scheduled show later that night. But everyone could’ve easily been killed, and that kind of near-death experience will do something to you. That’s the key to what if.
TUTV: Bumping EBM thrumming, shimmering synths, trippy piano touches,
and vocal outpouring. Donna Summer would like this stomper. Dress up
and hurry to the discotheque.
Band: BLURT Who: Experimental post-punk combo founded in 1979 in Stroud,
Gloucestershire (UK) by poet, saxophonist and puppeteer Ted Milton,
aged 82 now.
Milton grew up in Africa, Canada and Great Britain. He started his artistic career
with poetry publications. In the mid-1960s, he began performing as a puppeteer, participating in numerous international festivals and TV performances
With Blurt he recorded/released a dozen of albums
with Beneath Discordant Skies from 2015 as their
most recent one.
They’re back in town now with a brand
new track, titled THE MECCANO GIRAFFE.
TUTV: It grooves and moves along to a non-stop drum beat, a rollin’ bass
riff, trippy guitar lines, some saxy moments and Milton’s shivering voice.
Amy (vocalist): “The Brighton Scene is buzzing at the moment and it is thrilling to be playing alongside so many other great bands. Our single launch at the venue Alphabet in Brighton is part of a great new grassroots series of gigs from Spagetti promotions that showcases emerging bands from across the city”.
TUTV: Way to start! These Brits hit bullseye
right away with their chirpy debut single.
Its lazy indie pop vibes stick on the spot. Feathers is a tremendously catchy
feel-good lullaby, juiced with sparkling guitar solos, a bouncy drum/bass
tandem, and happy-go-lucky duet vocals upfront.
Band: THE GOODS Who: American power pop band blending big guitars, huge hooks,
and sweet British Invasion-style harmonies into a fresh, distinctive
sound. Formed by singer-songwriter Rob Good, a veteran of
the Oakland underground.
TUTV: Imagine nightingale legends The Byrds eight miles high, causing a jingle jangle
spectacle at an adrenalized speed, flavored with vivid vocals. Trust me, one spin and
you’ll be hooked.
Band: DIRT ROAD SOULS Who: Roots rock band who have a story tell, not per se their own,
and not entirely yours, either. It’s universal in its truth, but specific
in its intent.
Track: HOLD ON SOUL
Single from their upcoming album named ‘(The Life and Times of) Johnny Moonshine’, an ambitious 12-track concept album and roots rock opera set for release in early 2026.
Davis Black (vocalist/guitarist) “‘Hold On Soul’ was first written many years ago when
I had left my small town and gone off to start a life in Boston. After high school and college years I’d often return to my small town to recharge – and get drunk with my friends who didn’t leave town. These lyrics come from the culture shock between the two places. The stress of the city vs. the simplicity of the small town was very real for a little while.”
TUTV: Americana at its entertaining best. Groovy and cacthy melodiousness, heart-ans-soul stirring vocals/harmonies and glowing guitar electricity combine for a galvanic chant.
Jonny Woolnough (songwriter): “It’s a character appropriation offering a lens
into a couple’s day-to-day existence. A protagonist veering off the track is reminded
of his immaterial fortune. It celebrates life, existence, and endless possibility.”
TUTV: De-stressing fuel for daydreamers. Columba feels like an Indian summer
sun ray.
Angus Rogers: “Here is our song, rock and roll music for the empty and stunning.
A song about contempt, appetite, impotence and self-preservation through gyration.
Enjoy superficially with your body and send the reeling mind on to hell!
There is a world in which blues-riff basslines, big-band horns, Black Sabbath breakdowns, Samuel Beckett, breakbeat and trad folk refrains live happily together, perhaps not the one
we live in, yet here we are.The first song recorded of what might be considered a ‘collection’
of some form. Stay with us now. On me, sailors!”
TUTV: Wham Bam! Yeah Yeah! Go Go! Oh my Oh My! Razzle Dazzle!
This is the kind of adrenalizing tunes I wait impatiently for every single day.
Tunes that put a big smile on my face, tunes that make all of my limbs go nuts,
tunes that go straight to my best-tracks-of-the-year list. Funky buzz, vocal fuzz.
Catchy as hell, cool as fuck.
Thank you OK, you’ve made my day and tomorrow’s
one and the next one, and the next one, and the
next one, etc.
Get up, stand up and fight
for your right to show off.
If you can catch them live, don’t hesitate. They’re awesome.
Photo by Turn Up The Volume – Antwerp, Belgium – 2023
From the first time I saw them play live (2022) on, I knew this British
gang OPUS KINK was destined to make jaws drop to the floor with their
razor-edged, punked-up, sax-and-trumpet infused noizzz output and its
haunting and charismatic frontman Angus Rodgers.
Single artwork
That year they amazed my avid ears with their stunning 7-track EP ‘Til The Stream
Runs Dry. Last year they confirmed their huge potential with another 7-track EP,
named My Eyes, Brother!
Rogers: “It’s a slice of gutter-pop romance concerning our desire for everlasting and fatal love. Take deep into your heart its voluptuous bassline, seductive overtones and irresistible beat, become infatuated with the navel-scream of its wild horns, and we could connect like we’ve never done before.”
TUTV: It’s their most accessible track so far. A sickly sticky earworm that moves,
grooves and improves along its hip-shaking way. Its irresistible vibe makes your
head spin 360°, augments your epinephrine volume and creates a big grin on your
blithesome face. Goddammit, the power of music can be so fucking overwhelming.
Thanks OK. Blow the horns.
Chum are a pretty kooky combo that got my ears trembling with joy with their
grooves-filled debut LP a few weeks ago. Its lead single Beefake Doctrine is a
manic mind-twister with its trancy beats creating a mesmeric and puzzling
razzmatazz you can’t and you won’t run from.
With 1:18 these post-punk-rock misfits dropped a neurotic caterwaul that goes forth and back with burning pzazz. Monomaniacal vocalist Angus Rogers gets worked up to an almost hysterical level and sounds like a tormented and obsessed soul and the band’s horn duo blow their lungs out with nerve-racking urgency. Blimey!
My Illusion is a head-banging and riff-crushing jackhammer that makes
your fists pump in the air, makes your legs shake, and triggers you to check out
your vocal cords’ potential. Ignore your illusions, just get real and get out to party.
For those about to rock Electric Circus salute you.
DTL’s mastermind LL Schultz‘s expresses her frustration and stressful state of mind
caused by those two claustrophobic pandemic years with this high-strung cry out. Its ominous mid-tempo progression, its swelling intensity advancing over an ongoing
hypnotic guitar riff and her sky-scraping send shivers down your spine.
Lockdown threw Schultz to the mat, but it couldn’t
knock her out and she’s back stronger than ever.
London‘s up-and-coming young dogs DEADLETTER rattle on repeat
on this rad ripper spiced with relentless vocality, a sensuous saxophone,
a pumping bass and a sickly sticky chorus. 5-star punk funk.
With Sub these Chicago dudes sound like a cross between legends Gang Of Four and Parquet Courts. It’s a riff motherrocker making your head spin uncontrollably. On top of it comes the singer’s highly tense vocal performance. Don’t miss this holy smoke cracker.
These noisy indies from Bristol, UK Post-punk at its sharp-cutting best. Neurotic guitars and frenetic drums alternated with freaked-out vocals, rhythm changes that drive you nuts, an instrumental Devo-esque intermezzo and a mind-boggling climax. I have nothing whatsoever to complain about.
Who? A socially caring dark disco duo featuring Ony Godfrey and Fauzan Pratama from Indonesia.
Your Death Is My Glory is about political hypocrisy
that suppresses the common people for their own
benefit.
It’s a steamed-up disco corker. A catchy-as-hell boomer that
accelerates your bloodstream. An irresistible tune to jump up
and down to like mad while giving the middle finger to all
power-greedy politicians.
The video is a DIY rapid-eye-movement tour de force.
All Of A Sudden is a B-side that easily could be an A-side. It features on the 12″ of
the previous single No Reason It’s a rotating beats-banger to start and end all
(il)legal raves with. It’ll make your adrenalin production go through the roof.
Lunar Twin‘s new full-length opus Aurora is an ideal
companion to relax with when the twilight sets.
One of the highlights and my favorite track Cars is a trippy dreamwave
with tingling guitars, scintillating synths, and near-whispering voice
combining for a top-notch vibration.
This masked Italian dance act describe themselves as “losers on a planet
where nobody really wins. He who has nothing to lose cannot lose anything.”
They recently released a must-hear 5-track EP with Juicy Lips as one of the 5 highlights.
A capricious crackerjack for nightclubs where misfits, dropouts, eccentrics and other related outsiders have a ball. Wicked music for wicked people by wicked madcaps.
They decided to invite an impressive cast of musical friends to remix songs
from that album. The collection is namedSee Trough You: Rerealized. You
can buy it here. The digital version will be available from June 2.
Andy Bell of legendary shoegaze band Ride operating under the moniker
of GLOK is one of the remixes. He picked the psych-mind-bending piece I’m Hurt and turned it into an ambient techno stunner with Kraut-rock-like
synth rhythms and chainsaw guitar fragments. Score!
Who? A British quartet inspired by a mutual passion for the sights,
sounds and creative experimentation of the mid to late 1960s with
its unique blend of garage rock, psychedelia and acid folk.
A 60s colored psych-pop gem that could be written by Californian legends
The Mamas & Papas. Layered vocals, jangly guitars (playing backward at
one point. Remember The Beatles‘ Tomorrow Never Knows song?), and an
infectious chorus. Play it 81 times.
“A song inspired by my walks to coffee shops, my friends,
the band TOPS, and the scotch I like to drink!”
Easy-going tunes you can hum and whistle like this one are always welcome on my headphones after having too much noizz buzzing in my ears. Scotch is a laid-back, jaunty, and happy-go-lucky melody enriched with sunlit guitar play. Perfect for a walk in the city on a lazy Spring day. Kelly‘s mellow voice sounds like it was meant to sing devil-may-care songs like this one. Canadacana at its strolling best. Bottoms up!
To celebrate the first anniversary of their debut album 10 MinutesGmbtLife decided to cover a Pixies classic.
They picked one of their best-known songs, Monkey Gone To Heaven from 1989. Their take is pretty special and surprising. They decelerated it and added subtle piano play, distorted guitars, and low-pitched vocals.
Last September I discovered London gang OPUS KINK at the glorious
indie-crowded Leffingeleuren Festival in Belgium. I was flabbergasted
by their jackhammering sound and their we-are-the-coolest-band -in-the-world
attitude.
And yesterday they impressed my greedy ears again while
bulldozing through their steamy set in Antwerp (Belgium).
Maybe conquering the world isn’t on their agenda… yet, but their definitely one
of the best gunslingers of the post-Brexshit-punk (r)evolution along with such bands
as Ditz, Lambrini Girls, Lice, DEATLETTER, black midi and Cassels (which I all saw
live too, already).
Why?
1. First of all the music of course. High capricious quality songwriting and staggering
sonic execution. Post-punk exorcism heated up with saxophone and trumpet. Not in a Black Country, New Road way, but rather in a James Brown punk orchestra way. Horntastic awesome.
. 2. Their flaming intensity/passion-loaded songs all get an enormously adrenalin
injection on stage. All burners on. They jump from rock opera to scream-your-lungs-out chants (at times in one and the same song) to barb-wire funk pushed by a brill rhythm section. When they slow down and the lights dim you feel another storm coming. And, yes, the saxophonist and the trumpetist are really special, sonically and visually. Their towering play is a fundamental aspect of who/what Opus Kink is and they look cool as fuck.
3. Besides being blessed with a knife-edged vox, frontman Angus Rogers
leads the troops with his big heart, restless soul, and cast-iron determination
to make a difference.
Final result: Opus Kink are here to stay for a long time.
Here’s an idea of their live force.
And before we all can take a breather, here’s
their new rad
singleCHILDREN described as ‘our Ibiza summertime anthem’.
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 tracks
added to this rad 2023 playlist.
