Sad news came in a couple of weeks ago. L.A.’s blues rock tandem Deap Vally – Lindsay Troy andJulie Edwards – one of the most exciting
and dynamite acts, of the past 10 years call it a day.
But not without a big bang. They say farewell with an extensive North America tour.
They’ll release a new vinyl edition of their superb debut LP Sistrionix, out Spring 2024.
The song fits Deap Vally like a glove. The sultry beat, the mid-tempo
blues swagger, the steamy drive, the awesome vocals. Feels like it was
written for them.
British famous singer-songwriter-producer Trevor Horn (now 74), who scored a No 1 UK hit in 1979 with his one-time project Buggles and their pop tune Video Killed The Radio Star (more than 323 million streams on Spotify) released an album of 11 covers yesterday. It’s called Echoes: Ancient & Modern. The record features several celebrities on vocals.
One of the covered songs is PERSONAL JESUS, the 24-Carat Depeche Mode classic
from 1990. Horn invited eternal punk IGGY POP to do the singing. An inch-perfect
decision. At the age of 76 he still sounds like he wants to be your dog. His performance here is bone-chilling.
British rap-punk duo SLEAFORD MODS released their
12th LP UK Grim last March, followed by an extensive
tour that will continue into 2024.
The mods will have a new limited-edition 7″ single out next month – pre-order infohere – with all profits going to Shelter, an organization that helps people with housing issues and homelessness.
Last week mega country star her 49th (!) LP. It’s called Rockstar.
Yep, Parton‘s first rock longplayer. It features mostly covers with big
name collaborations.
The supreme standout track is her cover of Purple Rain,
the 1984 blockbuster hit from late musical genius Prince.
The guide contains classic archive interviews, from the band’s earliest meetings with the music press to David Gahan’s full and frank discussions of his brushes with death. Every album is reviewed in-depth, from their charming pop debut Speak and Spell to the latest, and heaviest work, Memento Mori. It’s the band’s journey from synthpop to earth-shaking electronica; from Basildon to the world.
You can purchase a copy and let it be sent to your home. Info HERE.
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 2023 playlist.
These 4 motherrockers learned their craft by making noisy waves in different
bands before. They just released their cooking 4-track EP named ROBOT.
Robot artwork
The title track is a bass/guitar-riff hammer blow going everywhere fast.
A fanatical flare-up that speeds towards a monstrous climax. Who needs
humans when robots kick ass this knife-edged way.
Last week these English misfits released their new
turbulent album Trying To Be Normal. Stream it here.
Closer Sabetrooth Monkey is one of the highlights. A viciously funky bass-driven shocker that does your head in with its maddening mid-tempo beat. The ominous chorus with its metallic guitar aggression adds even more fervent furor to this brainbreaker. Touchdown.
I don’t wanna know
I’m a sabre-toothed monkey
So what you gonna do
now you Juiced up Flunky
Where you gonna go
EC: “It’s about the trials and tribulations of modern day life and how no matter who
you are or where you come from, we all have our own personal battles that we’re fighting.
It’s ideally a message of hope, and tries to convey that no matter who you are, we’re all in
this together and we’re all just trying to hold on to our faith, and not to lose it when times
get tough or big changes come around.”
Losing My Faith rumbles, rattles, and roll from the kick-off. Afire guitars,
bashing drumming, and hopped-up vocals going paranoiac on the titanic
chorus. A crackerjack stroke. Trust me, you can have faith in this band.
This Swedish duo just dropped their first album in 10 years. It’s called Pt. V
“With their love for captivating melodies and soft synths, Degrees continue
where they left off; epic, poetic melancholy with reveling pop rhythms, enriched
with a little drive from the early 80ies Synthpop and modern Shoegaze.”
Album artwork
A Little To Well is a sizzling stunner, a supersonic missile, sounding like a falbbergasting
post-punk symphony loaded with frenetic guitars, frantic synths, flaring duet vocals and
an amazeballs chorus. Yeah!
One of the covered songs is Personal Jesus, the 24-carat Depeche Mode classic from 1990. Horn invited eternal punk IGGY POP to do the singing. An inch-perfect decision. At the age of 76, he still bites like he wants to be your dog. His performance here is bone-chilling.
The track is about emotional turmoil, something that worked as a burden on the late great Kurt Cobain‘s psyche. Hunn translated this confused state of mind into a droning grunge sucker-punch that races with illegal speed.
It has some mind-bending boogie-woogie piano play that’s surrounded by mental guitars and Hunn‘s flipped-out vocals. The huge chorus does the rest. Smells like a bewildering Cobain tribute.
Justin Wiesinger about Sitcom: “Sometimes life feels like a “Sitcom.” Minus the audience laugh tracks. This song is super tongue in cheek silly, but I think it has a humanity and a certain depth to it that can make you, the listener, squirm and really think deeply about your own life.”
These are the kind of frolicsome and upbeat pop tunes always welcome on my headphones in these worrying times. It’s a tremendously infectious and an inspiringly charming earworm. Sunbeams for Fall. Sing along, hum along, whistle along. Always believe in a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
A previously unreleased John Lennon song, titled Now And Then,
billed as the last song by The Beatles was released last week.
Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr worked on the 1979 demo while
compiling The Beatles Anthology in the mid-’90s featuring ‘new’ songs Free As A Bird
and Real Love, but didn’t finish it.
Now, using advanced technology and a curatorial touch, McCartney
and Starr have completed what they started with George, and turned
it into a fully orchestrated pearl of a love song.
Originally from Orlando and Gainesville, FL and currently based in Nashville, TN, Giselle and Erik are a husband-and-wife duo. Their genre-crossing style melds their roots in folk and jazz. Each of them songwriters, Giselle and Erik offer their audiences a collection of original music that pairs Giselle’s warm, lyrical voice and mellow piano with the sweet sounds of Erik’s jazz and classical guitar.
After experiencing a life-or-death medical surgery, the pair found comfort in
music with the release of their brand new affectional EP, fittingly called Healing.
Opening track Take It All The Way is my favourite. A romantic and uplifting beauty
with marvellous acoustic guitar play, subtle piano touches and blissful vocals.
Think Angel Olsen/Emmilou Harris.
British famous singer-songwriter-producerTREVOR HORN (now 74),
who scored a No 1 UK hit in 1979 with his one-time project Buggles and their pop
tune Video Killed The Radio Star (more than 323 million streams on Spotify) has canned
an album of 11 covers. It’s called Echoes: Ancient & Modern and comes out on December 1. The record features several celebrities on vocals.
One of the covered songs is PERSONAL JESUS, the 24-Carat Depeche Mode classic
from 1990. Horn invited eternal punk IGGY POP to do the singing. An inch-perfect
decision. At the age of 76 he still sounds like he wants to be your dog. His performance here is bone-chilling.
Horn about Iggy: “Iggy adds another truth to whatever he does. We didn’t let the Johnny Cash version enter our thinking. We came to it as though there was only the Depeche Mode universe and here’s Iggy swinging it his way on some deviant variety TV show he happens to host.”
DAVE GAHAN was born, named David
Callcott in Epping, England on 9 May 1962.
Happy 61 to the man who’s been the charismatic face and vox of British lionized darkwave heroes DEPECHE MODE for 43 years now.
With DM he made 15 studio LPs (so far). With production and remix duo Soulsavers he canned three longplayers with covers album Imposter as
the most recent one, released last year. He also released two solo albums.
To celebrate the man’s birthday I picked the video of my favorite DM
song, the supreme Personal Jesus from their 1990 album Violator.
Dark-synth-pop-wave giants DEPECHE MODE are back in the spotlight
after the passing of their co-band-founder and keyboardist Andy Fletcher
who passed away last year in May following an aortic dissection, only 60.
Next month – 24 March – the duo share their new, 15th longplayer
named MEMENTO MORI and will embark on a massive world tour.
So it’s promotion time now. Last Thursday DM were on The Late Show
with Stephen Colbert for a special edition in the Ed Sullivan Theatre on
Broadway. They performed new single Ghosts Again and imperishable
1990 golden oldie Personal Jesus.
David Gahan‘s performance was highly passionate and
intense and caused a standing ovation by the audience.
