PRIMAL SCREAM was conceived in Scotland in 1982. That’s a looooong time ago. And it was a highly turbulent journey with good to sublime albums (with 1991’sScreamadelica as their magnum opus), chaotic gigs, and human drama (guitarist Robert Young passed away in 2014, only 49 and keyboardist Martin Duffy died in 2022 after a fatal fall at his home).
As of today, frontman/lyricist Bobby Gillespie and guitarist Andrew Innis (both 63 now) are the only original members, with awesome bassist Simone Marie Butler (since 2013) and relentless drummer Darrin Mooney (since 1997) as longtime additions.
Last November The Scream released their 12th, critically acclaimed LP,
named Come Ahead (with Gillespie‘s young father on the cover).
NME said: “Personal and political, Bobby Gillespie and co’s David Holmes-assisted first album in eight years wants us to dance our way to justice… ‘Come Ahead’ may have a whole lot of funk on its surface but still packs oodles of punk and grenades of protest in its trunk.” Score 4/5.
New album, new tour.
The band is in my Top-5 of best live ones for a very long time now, so when they
landed in The Netherlands, in the cozy city of Utrecht last Monday, I was upfront for
another spiritual Primal Scream gathering.
Yes, that’s what a PS concert is all about. It’s an euphoric and uplifting celebration of
life (oh yeah, just look around, hug your beloved family and friends, it’s not like if all in
our tormented world is shit), a festive jamboree for your heart, soul and vocal cords. Screamdelica‘s highlights Don’t Fight It Feel It, Movin’ Up, Loaded, as Come Together are
the emotive exponents of the exuberant mindset throughout the night.
The fact that a full orchestra is up there, including two soul-powered voices and a sultry saxophonist, shows the group’s determination to walk it like they talk it and give the people an all-in sonic gospel-like treatment.
The album’s singles Ready To Go Home, Love Insurrrection and The Centre Cannot Hold, fitted the fervent flow just perfectly. A couple of other newbies were integrated, but of course everybody went berserk when the aforementioned e-tastic highlights and 24 Carat firecrackers Rocks, Jailbird, Medication, and Country Girl made the sweaty venue shake to its foundations. What can I say. There’s no such thing as an expiration date for The Scream. Not on record, not on stage. Hail hail!
An idea of the live Scream spirit
SETLIST
1. Don’t Fight It, Feel It 2. Love Insurrection 3. Jailbird 4. Ready to Go Home 5. Deep Dark Waters 6. Medication 7. Innocent Money 8. Heal Yourself 9. I’m Losing More Than I’ll Ever Have 10. Love Ain’t Enough 11. The Centre Cannot Hold 12. Loaded 13. Swastika Eyes 14. Movin’ on Up 15. Country Girl
Band: VELOURIAS Who: Hefty Irish trio fusing alternative rock, post-punk, indie,
and hardcore, what results is a striking, robust sound and an
unforgettablenergy inside and out of the studio.
Track: TAXIDERMISTI
Cut from their upcoming debut
album that’ll land next year.
All cylinders and burns on,
amps and guitars up.
This is a towering slice
of roasting rock ‘n’ roll
fueled with fiery vocals.
Hooton (frontman): “I knew I had to match the infectious nature
of the music, so went for lyrics that aim straight between the eyes.
I went for the timeless theme of everlasting love. It’s about
love, obsession and infatuation.”
Artist: THE HARPOONIST Who: Known to family, friends and hardcore fans as Shawn Hall.
A harpoon/harmonica/harp virtuoso with a couple of decades in
the hardcore blues-based rock and roll trenches, from Canada.
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.
FULL JUKEBOX (so far)
.
The 10 new ones added this week
TRACK-BY-TRACK
Artist: WHITEY Who: British singer-songwriter whose music has made its mark, from rock’n’roll clubs
to electronic dance floors, fashion catwalks to movie soundtracks, television to computer games, from Breaking Bad and the Sopranos to Grand Theft Auto.
He has built a strange home in the shadows between mainstream entertainment and the vanishing underground, an outsider who celebrates his outsider ethos in his work- and yet whose music is embraced by both popular and alternative culture.
Track: ADRIANA AGAIN
Following this year’s new LP Audio Vertigo the band offers this new
piece, that’ll be part of an EP, slated for release sometime next year.
Oh yes, Elbow can rock out, with this
badass belter as convincing proof.
No idea who the band in the video is.
Only Guy Garvey & Co. know.
“Great art holds a mirror up to the world; exposing its many flaws,
highlighting its beauty and screams back the question we are all too
afraid to ask. It’s this dichotomy that Rose Fatale bring to this new
single.”
This barbed wire punk
juggernaut challenges
your speakers.
Red-hot stroke.
Helter skelter.
Artists: STUKA Who: Finnish electro punks
of the 41st Millenium.
Track: SUNSET OF THE CORRUPTED
First taster of their upcoming 3rd album,
named Electronic Body Metal, out early 2025.
In the song, a female voice chanting in Latin on top of
an EBM techno beat create a moody, haunting atmosphere.
Poetic lyrics tell how corruption of the soul destroys men.
Expect a head-twisting electro-manic
trip to a nightclub galaxy.
“Looking at everyone’s lives over recent years, and considering the news at the moment, “Renegade” feels a lot more loaded in retrospect. We wanted to go for a dystopian feel,
thinking about Manchester itself over the next century or so. A totally imaginary thing…
Blade Runner set in our home city.”
Doves still know how to write compelling, lyrical
symphonies with a melodramatic appeal.
“There’ve been times since Sony I’ve felt paralysed – like I’ve lost my voice, and can’t
honour my blessings… We’ve all got talents that define us – it’s vital we nurture them.
Light the Dark’s a call to exercise your talents no matter what… Or as Dr. King says:
‘we must keep moving’” muses Mayor”
Funky pop tune. Steely Dan vibes.
Mixed emotions.
Emotive vocals.
Martin Luther King.
“There’s something that’s still very radioactive about the song; it’s still relevant because race is still relevant. The impulses that Meeropol was talking about are very much still with us, on the front pages of our newspapers and across our social media every day. For us, ‘Strange Fruit’ evokes racial injustice, representing not just lynchings, but racism generally. Racism is a virus that mutates, taking on different forms as it adapts to a changing environment. Its mutation is made harder to observe by it being deeply embedded, not only in our traditions and institutions, but also in our unconscious lives.”
Band: BABY SCHILLACI Who: Welsh alt-act producing a raw, unfiltered sound. Rooted in post-punk
and noise, the band’s aggressive yet intricately layered compositions evoke
comparisons to seminal acts like Mclusky, At the Drive-In, and Fugazi.
Track: BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA
From their upcoming debut album
‘The Soundtrack’ out next week.
A barbed slice of mayhew. Think Sonic Youth going forth
and back, and finishing with a flabbergasting finale.
Band: BLACK DOLDRUMS Who: British synth-pop-Goth trio, with key
members Kevin Gibbard and Sophie Landers.
Track: SUMMER BREEZE
Song from their their second longplayer In Limerence which lands on October 18.
No, this is not a New Order song but it could easily be one, actually a stellar one.
It’s a pure synth-pop pearl for all seasons. Uplifting, heart-warming, and gratifying.
The high-octane rock ‘n’ roll explosion tells the darkly humorous and gripping tale of a woman who has taken drastic measures against a deceitful lover. Noanne ventures into uncharted emotional territory, portraying a dramatic shift from dependence to outright animosity—and beyond.
Band: SOME REMAIN Who: Young punk gunslingers
from Ireland.
Track: DEATH DEFYING STUNTS
The first taken from an upcoming EP
slated for release early 2025.
Not only does it defy death, it pretty much defies description as it takes you on a glorious and wild ride through early UK punk (Read About Seymour – Swell Maps) and surf rock (Miserlou – Dick Dale) with some Dr Feelgood and The Cribs thrown in for good measure.
“A hectic party tune that leaves you feeling like you’ve
just landed a sick kickflip over a tank of sharks.”
CC have that uplifting drive of the Levellers and the eurythmic catchinesss of Mumford & Sons. Wash Away The Day is a brisk pop tune going forth and back, from
low-key to vivacious and back, while ardent harmonies and energetic violins complete
the swirling sonic picture.
Band: SOFT SKIES INC Who: Philadelphia-based identical-twin duo and longtime musical confidants Ryan and Martin Rex, their shared sonic compass draws a straight line from the
classic alternative of their youth to the modern alternative and dream-pop of
today.
A song of hope, riding those tender waves of nostalgia, understanding that a loss of innocence comes with age but that we emerge from the other side with newfound perspective and awareness.
Melodic guitar pop at its Sebadoh best. Uptempo shoe-slacker-gaze
spiced with scintalling synths and ethereal vocals. Start dreaming in
overdrive. Right here.
Nicks: I wrote this song a few months after Roe v Wade was overturned. It seemed like overnight, people were saying ‘what can we, as a collective force, do about this…’ For me,
it was to write a song. It took a while because I was on the road. Then early one morning I was watching the news on TV and a certain newscaster said something that felt like she was talking to me ~ explaining what the loss of Roe v Wade would come to mean. I wrote the song the next morning and recorded it that night.”
A vehement pro-reproductive rights anthem that
overwhelms on the chorus. Nicks‘s impressive voice
lights in the middle.
The first composition of the Goth icons’ upcoming 14th LP, their first
in 16 years, titled Songs Of A Lost World. It’ll drop on planet Earth on
November 1st.
Alone is an almost 7-minute funeral march, a slowly progressing lament, layered with mourning synths. Smith only starts singing halfway and augments the sombre atmosphere all the way through. After a couple of spins the songs keeps on coming back to haunt you. Sonic cure for restless minds.
Band: JOHNNY MARR AND THE HEALERS Who: Short-lived (2001-2004) Johnny Marr project
after he left The Smiths.
Track: THE WAY THAT IT WAS
Previoulsy unreleased song from the deluxe
reissue (released last week) of their one and
only album, named Boomslang.
A sweet 18-carat pop diamond with a melancholic resonance and impassioned
and affecting Marr vocals. No idea why this gripping reverie was hidden for so long,
but happy that my ears can enjoy it today. The Way That It Was wouldn’t have been
out of place on The Verve’s 1997 classic ‘Urban Hymns‘.
Released: 16 June 1997 Album: Urban Hymns Score: No 2 in the UK, No 12 in the USA
“Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony, that’s life
Tryna make ends meet, you’re a slave to money then you die
I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah”
Released: 5 May 1997 Album: Vanishing Point Score: #2 in Scotland, #8 in the UK
“This radio station was named Kowalski
In honor of the last American hero to whom
Speed means freedom of the soul
The question is not when he’s gonna stop
But who is gonna stop him”
“Nancy is joining me because the message this evening is not my message, but ours
“Despite our best efforts, shortages of marijuana are now being reported. From the early
days of our administration, Nancy has been abusing marijuana on a daily basis and her
personal observations and efforts have given her such dramatic insights that I wanted
her to share them with you this evening.”
Band: Primal Scream Album: Riot City Blues Released: 5 June 2006 – the band’s eight LP Except: Dirty street blues rock and the best melancholic ballad ever Singles: Country Girl / Dolls / Sometimes I Feel So Lonely…
– COUNTRY GIRL –
– DOLLS –
– SOMETIMES I FEEL SO LONELY –
(Here’s that heartbreaking tearjerker)
