Artist: JESSIE WARE Who: Lauded British songstress.
who started her career in 2009.
Single: RIDE
From her forthcoming 6th LP, named Superbloom, out on April 10th.
Ware: “Ride was the first song I wrote for this record. I made it in 2024 with
my best friend Jack Peñate and Karma Kid, who feature throughout the album.
It’s a song for the clubs, for the dancefloor – fun, cinematic, cheeky and powerful.”
We’re on our way, slowly but surely, to the end of 2025.
Instead of starting to think about this year’s best LPs,
let’s go back to 2024 and listen to TUTV‘s 20 Best Albums
again and look back on what we wrote about each one
of them.
Pitchfork said: ‘Interplay does just about enough to keep everyone happy.
Shoegaze fans get a sonic-cathedral finale, while Ride follow their creative
whims.’
TUTV: With Interplay their shoegaze past goes into the dustbin. Ride came
up here with a multi-layered pop LP stuffed with arousing tunes, alternated
with pepped-up reveries.
All songs are sublimely orchestrated and bathe in a psychedelic jacuzzi,
while vocalist Mark Gardner‘s velvet vocals match the radiant atmosphere
exquisitely. It’s a new ride, and it’s a gratifying one.
British shoegaze legends RIDE were one of the greatest and most popular bands
of the genre between 1988-1996, scoring 4 successful albums. Afterward, each
member pursued his own musical path.
But in 2014 they got back together for a new chapter, with (so far) 3 full lengths, of
which last year’s Interplay is not only their most recent one, but also a pop masterpiece according to TUTV‘s aural verdict. I still have the album on my earphones, on a regular basis.
All songs are sublimely orchestrated and bathe in a psychedelic jacuzzi,
while vocalist Mark Gardner‘s velvet vocals match the radiant atmosphere
exquisitely.
Mark Gardner
So, I was totally blissed-out, hearing 6 (Monaco, Last Night, Peace Sign, Last Frontier, I Came To See The Wreck, and the brilliant Light In A Quiet Room) out of the 12 LP’s gems getting the Ride live treatment last Wednesday in Lille, France.
The 4-piece build an awesome wall-of-psychedelic-guitar hysteria throughout the concert. Yet, vocalists Mark Gardener and Andy Bell managed somehow to get them heard, despite the titanic hurricane, fueled with long, gobsmacking outros.
All burners and all cylinders on, decibels up, amps up, temperature up, ecstasy up.
Andy Bell
Obviously, golden oldies such as Leave Them All Behind, Seagull, Twisterella, Black Nite Crash and Future Love were greeted with euphoric delight. No, not one dull moment. One small remark. Now and then, the sound volume was that high that you couldn’t hear yourself think.
It was a wild ride, one to remember for a long time.
INTERPLAY
. SETLIST
1.Monaco 2.Last Night I Went Somewhere to Dream 3.Dreams Burn Down 4.Future Love 5.Last Frontier 6.I Came to See the Wreck 7. Unfamiliar 8.Lannoy Point 9.Peace Sign 10.Black Nite Crash 11. Cool Your Boots 12.Sennen 13.Vapour Trail 14.Seagull
Encores: 15.Light in a Quiet Room 16.Leave Them All Behind 17.Chelsea Girl
Artist: ANDY BELL Who: Veteran musician best known as a member
of British shoegaze old-timers Ride and temporary
bassist for Oasis.
He recorded/released (so far) 7 longplayers, with
last year’s Interplay unquestionably their best.
Bell needs a space of his own and released a couple of
collaboratives and a couple of solo albums. And here’s
his brand new one, his 3rd, titled PINBALL WANDERER.
Press info: “The albums is an otherworldly collection of intergalactic wizardry that
mixes psychedelic melodies, Can-via-The Stone Roses grooves and Arthur Russell-style experimental textures.
With guest appearances from Dot Allison and Neu! legend Michael Rother on a cover of The Passions’ peerless post-punk classic ‘I’m In Love With A German Film Star’, it is perfect for both deep-listening headphones moments and cutting across the coolest, most understated dancefloors.”
AllMusic says: “The essence that Bell distills on Pinball Wanderer is one of happy
exploration, indeed wandering from one creative idea to the next with very little second guessing or restraint. If there are any unfinished thoughts or untidy loose ends in that approach, they’re easily outshined by the feeling of radiant joy that carries the album.”
TUTV: Bell, is as we known him for years now, a vivid vibe aficionado. He confirms
his appetite once again here with subtly funky and boogielicious jams. Think Madchester‘s rave and wave champions The Stones Roses. Glittering guitar rhythms, bouncy bass riffs, breezy synths and other psychedelic dynamics create a light-hearted ambiance for some
shadow dancing.
Unquestionable standout from the Irish indie
stars’ much applauded 4th LP Romance.
TUTV: Intense jam, rollin’ on with a bone-chilling flow and
frontman Grian Chatten raps all over it with his characteristic
uptight parlando and grasping for his breath every time the
refrain comes on.
Part of their upcoming 5-track EP
that’ll land early next year.
“Progress is a song about changing places, people and times.”
TUTV: Epic. Grandiose. Staggering. Amplified guitar-pop at its mind-blowing best.
One of those not-everyday puissant killer tracks overwhelms your emotions
from the first spin.
Piece from their forthcoming second longplayer, baptized Never Exhale. It’ll hit the streets on 25 January 2025.
TUTV: Taximan does your head in the way we, brainbangers, like it.
Bam Bang Boom. No mercy for the wicked. Manic mayhem as usual.
You’d better check out if Robert ‘Travis’ De Niro is behind the wheel
before taking a cab.
The song is about rediscovering old lovers after a night out from disco(theque) to disco(theque), with references to The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan and his excessive
drinking, and a legendary Belgian crooner.
TUTV: Full steam ahead from the get-go. All engines on. Decibels up, amps up.
The breakneck speed and the relentless synth/percussion riff make your head
spin 360°. I dare you to catch up with this missile all the way.
Band: LAMBRINI GIRLS Who: A two-motor punk bulldozer from Brighton, UK who have built
a notorious reputation over the past 2 years, on record and on stage.
Cut from the duo’s upcoming debut LP Who Let The Dogs Out. Out next year, on
January 10.
TUTV: Without a shadow of a loud doubt, one of the grrrlz’s best stormers so far.
An amazeballs wall-of-nasty-guitar/bass hullabaloo, a ruthless octopus drummer
and Phoebe‘s best vocals. Hell-tastic.
‘True love is nothing more than the wrong hill to die on”.
TUTV: The jaw-dropping vitality these volcanic Irish beatniks develop here is off the charts. They build a near-unbearable tension and explode insanely, time after time, along the rough ride. Vocalist/songwriter Karla Chubb knows terrifically well how to double your adrenalin production.
TUTV: Dog Dribble operates somewhere between Yard Act and Sleaford Mods.
Its limbs-activating groove is simply irresistible. Get up, stand up, and fight
for your right to bounce up and down like mad.
Band: FAT DOG Who:South London-based gang that made thousands
and ‘true love is nothing more than the wrong hill to die on”.
thousands of ears go bonkers with their first-rate debut
longplayer Woof.
TUTV: A ballistic disco-punk whopper to end and start all (il)legal
raves with. When the huge orchestral injections blast out of your
vibrating speakers you know that these misfits are your new
favorite dogs. Hallelujah!
One of the stellar singles from their
new, third, album Insight.
TUTV: Drums and bass team up for an incessantly beat that carries
this instantaneously infectiuos trip, along with a magnetizing Cure-esque guitar riff that gets you in a trance.
Truly hypnotizing from start to finish with velvety vocals
and darkwavish synths in the back adding a twilight tone.
TUTV: No, this is not a New Order song but it could easily be one, actually a stellar one. Summer Breeze sparkles from the very start to finish with scintillating guitar riffs, zealous percussion, shiny synths and Gibbard‘s eager vocals. It’s a pure pop pearl for all seasons.
Artists: ARROWS OF ATHENA (Boston, MA) Who: A pandemic project that found its two main players – multi-instrumentalist and producer Scott Lerner and vocalist and lyricist Jac-Lyn Gibson – reuniting after the latter spent some time away from music, Arrows of Athena are crafting a distinct sound on
their own terms, bridging usually disparate ends of the pop and rock spectrum for an illuminated sound of big dance beats, heavy riffs, and melodic intensity.
On this song the duo explores the mental and emotional work required
for a successful marriage, and how we’re often careless with love.
TUTV: I’m quite sure that Arrows Of Athena are huge fans of former Swedish glam and glitter pop duo Roxette. The bliss and blitz at play on Reckless Heart is sonically similar. Sizzling guitars, battering drums/bass grooves, sensuous vocals and a peppy chorus combine here for a power pop pearl that flames lustrously. Orchestral melodiousness, fiery 90s spirit, and musical. An invigorating joyride.
TUTV: This is a psychedelic shoegaze stunner, a multi-layered symphony
propelled by about a thousand guitars, a mindboggling bass riff, and combative
drums, while Rebecca Dow‘s ghostly vocals come from another galaxy.
TUTV: What’s in store for humankind. Nuclear war or peace and free love?
Or will we be just another brick in the wall? Whatever happens, never stop
pirouetting yourself dizzy to Leg Puppy.
We don’t need your education
We don’t need no your thought control
TUTV: The most energetic, exciting, pizzazy band around. Cooking on record and on stage. Sultry garage rock for party animals. This is my absolute favorite of this years Boomerang LP. Chipper tune.
TUTV: Think Cypress Hill fronted by Zack de la Rocha, rattling like
a rapid-fire riot-gun. An avid anthem that celebrates freedom and
invites you to shout along while pumping your fists in the air.
TUTV:Hallelujah rages against the anti-LGBTQ
haters with knives between their teeth and an
unstoppable drive.
“To express oneself, now expressly forbidden/ That’s a spiritual hell, that’s
a new prohibition/ And they’ll boil you down to reproductive function/ When
they see you as a vessel and not as a person!”
Track: Anna Save A Life
. TUTV: A manic motherrocker from a duo who sound as a 4-motor hit-and-run team. Riff-o-rama all the way while bashing drums do your head in. Garage punk ‘n’ roll at its filthy best. Call your own Anna and challenge the anti-decibels police.
TUTV: Wham bloody wham bam. Expect a sharp-splitting punk rock juggernaut. Amps up and full steam ahead. No rest for the wicked with this razor-blade cutting, head over heels bombshell spiced with sneering vocals. Wham bloody wah-wah guitars bam. Scrunched Up Fist hits your face really hard. Hurry-scurry stroke.
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.
TUTV: Just Like Everybody Else is a glorious, full-orchestrated pop gem, that transfers you in an eye/ear blink to a sonic dreamland with its affecting melodiousness, riveting chorus and warm-hearted vocals. Three highly-entertaining minutes and twenty seconds with Spielmann
Orchestrator Robert Smith about
their supreme new opus.
TUTV: In the past 16 years Robert Smith lost his mother, father, and brother.
All these painful events led to this extraordinarily touching record. It’s one
long, emotionally layered lament that works liberating in the end.
Strong sentiments of heartache, grief, and sadness are omnipresent, but you
hear and feel frequently that Smith has accepted humankind’s inevitable destiny.
Live and die. Life and death.
Sonically, it feels like if you’re part of a funeral march that progresses in slow
motion. Almost every song starts with a long instrumental intro of waves of
mourning synths and weeping guitars, and every time when Smith‘s feverish
voice joins in, the sense of tristesse augments wondrously heavy-hearted.
5-star masterpiece!
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TUTV: Musically, tattoo artist Carter and his accomplices have left their angry punk days behind them and moved closer to classic rock on this surprising and bold longplayer.
And it’s a truly staggering result with several melodramatic power ballads that generate goosebumps, and some stoner rock ebullitions to keep balance. Carter sings his heart out with monumental vivaciousness. A vocal tour de force throughout, dealing with up and down emotions.
Lias Saoudi (voice/face/wordsmith/poet/writer): ‘Forgiveness Is Yours,’ is about life as eternal contingency… about no longer suspecting, but knowing that this shit will never get any easier… in fact, it’s about to get a whole lot worse, your body’s going to go into decay and the people you love will slowly start dropping dead around you… but somehow, you’ve smashed enough
of your expectations thus far in life, you’re sort of fine with it… you accept it.The overarching aesthetic themes at work here are torpor and further torpor still.”
TUTV: Without a shadow of a doubt their most startling, and most creative/inventive accomplishment. Sounds like FWF have written/recorded the bone-chilling soundtrack
for an entertaining Doomsday party. Enigmatic reflections, dark deliberations, distressing vibes, a John Lennon tribute and Saoudi as the foreboding messenger and sinister poet in the middle of it all. It’s the end of the world, as we know it, and it feels like Fat White Family.
Cave: “There’s no fucking around with this record. When it hits, it hits. It lifts you. It moves
you. I love that about it. I hope the album has the effect on listeners that it’s had on me. It bursts out of the speaker, and I get swept up with it.”
TUTV: Cave is the God of cloak-and-dagger balladry. Now here’s a God I can believe in. Again he shows why he’s one of the best ever crooners in the universe. And lyrically it
feels as if, after so many devastating, heart-crushing years, with the loss of two sons,
he lets sparks of light back in his life. God bless Nick Cave.
TUTV: White returns to his punk blues roots of the early days. Swipe after swipe,
blue stripe after blue stripe, kick after kick, clap after clap. A total of 13 thunder
strokes. High-wired electricity. Dope stuff.
TUTV: The charismatic Lia Metcalfe‘s singular voice, both anxious and bewitching,
is all over this new, awe-inspiring full-length. Overall the sound is even more gloomy
and spine-chilling than on their debut from 2022.
It fits Metcalfe‘s introspective reflections on her turbulent past terrifically well.
They’re embedded in arresting songs that send shivers down your spine.
But, eventually, there’s a light shining
at the end of the Mysterines tunnel.
One that illuminates their future
and your stereo.
TUTV: The star duo made an album with lots of bright pop tunes and some blues light
ones. The licks/riffs and hooks – about a thousand – haven’t that BK’s raw and rough edge as we are used to, but I don’t miss it whatsoever.
The overall sonority leans more towards power guitar pop (slow, mid-tempo and only
a couple of fast ones). I never thought that the tandem would come up after 23 (!) years with a pretty different sounding, coherent longplayer, without ignoring their blues roots that is. I played Ohio Players more than their whole catalog together. Say no more.
TUTV: The three main elements that make this album special are Jeen’s remarkable
voice, her high-quality songwriting expertise, and the heart-and-soul passion that streams throughout it. Whether Jeen rocks out, muses, or swings moods, she always holds your aural attention.
TUTV: With Interplay their shoegaze past goes into the dustbin. Ride came up here
with a multi-layered pop LP stuffed with arousing tunes, alternated with pepped-up reveries.
All songs are sublimely orchestrated and bathe in a psychedelic jacuzzi,
while vocalist Mark Gardner‘s velvet vocals match the radiant atmosphere
exquisitely. It’s a new ride, and it’s a gratifying one.
TUTV: This first Mancunian collabortion sounds as if was made about 30 years ago.
Most tunes could be leftovers from The Stone Roses‘ 2nd and final 1994 LP Second Coming, the one on which Squire played his guitar exactly the way Jimmy Page did in Led Zeppelin for years. And Liam is Liam. Arms together on his back and letting his pipes do the talking. The two heroes just did what they wanted to do, making an album together and having fun doing it.
Before I was aware of it I had played the album about 10 times in 2 days.
Mind you this is not a masterwork whatsoever, but all 10 tunes are top-entertaining
and stick faster than I can say “I want the Stone Roses support Oasis on their reunion tour”?
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. Liam Gallagher – John Squire
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TUTV: The Other Side is a concept record about a “mysterious couple” having
adventures in an otherworldly America. The by-now 76-year-old Burnett translates
their journey in lovey-dovey lullabies, heartfelt musings, and amourus ballads.
This is the perfect record for daydreaming and relaxation. Soft, mellow, and tender.
His slightly hoarse Americana voice enchants and entices all through this sepia-colored album. Pure romanticism. Pure songsmith.
Artist: JUJU (Italy)
Brainchild of Sicilian multi-instrumentalist
and producer Gioele Valenti. Album: Apocalypse Is God’s Spoiler
Photo by Turn Up The Volume
TUTV: Valenti is a jam champ and a groove master creating electrifying, trance-like vibrations that transfer you to the dark side of your mind where you can freely
fantasize and explore your own psyche.
Circling Krautrock-like psychedelia is all over the place. Choir chants and spacey percussion cause a tribal atmosphere à la The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. Mind-bending and dream-triggering. As always.
TUTV: After the turmoil, chaos and drugs addictions (especially Doherty) of the early
years, the side-projects, solo records and getting clean and healthy the Libs are back, again. They’re not the boys in the band of yesteryear, they’re now grown-up men who
enjoy a stable life and still are obsessed by making music.
They became notable, experienced musicians who left their hedonistic lifestyle behind themselves for several years now. Not one dull moment, not one dull song on the eastern esplanade.
TUTV: The Irishmen have become first-class songwriters (which they already proved on previous LP Skinty Fia– – still my favourite one). Frontman Grian Chatten‘s lyrics show (again) his observative view on this modern-day, confused world and how it affects
his inner-self.
This is not their masterpiece yet to my ears, but it’s only a matter of
time that they will come up with a longplayer that will blow us all away.
Turn Up The Volume: Old skool punk ‘n’ roll? Absolutely. Any good? You betcha! Amyl and her loud buddies made another roasting riff-manic-monster of a hell fucking
hell yeah record. Pogo madness is back. Sturm un drang from start to finish. HOLY MOLY!
Band:THE SMILE
Sort of supergroup featuring 2 radioheads, Thom
Yorke and Jonny Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner.
Album: Cutouts.
Their 3rd LP in just 2 years
(Radiohead 8 in 31 years).
TUTV: By far their best to my ears. On the previous 2 ones they tried too hard
to not sound like Radiohead (which they did frequently anyway) and did it with
too many redundant orchestrations, too many unnecessary layers and a bit of
arty farty structures here and there.
Mind you these are good LPs but on this one they keep it far more simple resulting
in 10 very compelling pieces of mesmerizing music. Trippy fast ones alternate with slow
musing ones and throughout the arrangements are subtle, direct and most entertaining with Thom Yorke sounding, yes, at ease, not forcing his compassionate voice/vocals. Bingo.
TUTV: Nostalgia is the keyword all over this fully devoted record. As we already know
for a long time Hawley is a romantic at heart who’s in love with his city Sheffield since
he was a child. It’s more than just his hometown.
It’s the place where he experienced all things good and bad, happy and sad. It leads
to yearning renumerations, fanciful daydreams and wistful meditations. With his soft-heartened voice and late-night stories, the late great Roy Orbison comes to mind on
several occasions.
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– 18 –
Artists:DEAD ANYWAY British duo combining the dark lyricism of Kate Arnold
against the music and soundscapes of Marc Symonds. Album: Tough, Listen
TUYV: Slow/mid-tempo/fast trip-hop tunes are wrapped in layers of
distortion and feedback, creating an eerie and at times sinister ambiance.
Massive Attack, Tricky, Arab Strap and Mike Skinner’s The Streets
and Laurie Anderson‘s latest opus Amelia come to mind.
DA resonates as EBM for people who come alive when the darkness sets in, far away
from our 24/7 suffocating life and the world’s destructive nature as we experience now, again.
Kate Arnold‘s spoken word stories evolve on waves of chilling synth soundscapes that actually ease one’s confused mind (mine, for sure) and transfer you to your space of imaginativeness. Trance massage it is. You’ll feel alive anyway.
“The singular mixture of classic punk/hardcore and electronic styles result in 12 frantic tracks of postmodern pop for the genreless future. Painted with a broad pallet of only the most extreme hues of emotion, each track is marked by a distinctive danceable mania.”
TUTV: Let your head kicked in with schizophrenic disco sledgehammers for illegal raves in batcaves where dropouts, misfits, loners, eccentrics, bohos, and other related outsiders gather to move in mysterious ways, far away from the normal world.
TUTV: It’s vintage Shellac/Steve Albini with its wayward song structures, its
capricious and minimalistic approach, its broken riffs, edgy hooks, sinewy
drumming, Albini‘s firm vocals and the raw and rough post-punk dynamics.
Absolutely weird to listen to, knowing
that the noise wizard is here no more.
He passed away on May 7, following a heart attack.
Only 10 days before the album release. Sad loss.
TUTV said: “With tensely emotive singles Man Of The Hour and Brambles, tattoo artist Carter seemed to let his angry punk days behind him and move towards classic rock.
This album confirms that surprising, bold move.
And it’s a truly staggering record, filled with several melodramatic power ballads that generate goosebumps and some stoner rock ebullitions. Carter sings his heart out with monumental vivaciousness. A vocal tour de force throughout, dealing with mixed love emotions. Dark Rainbow will impact your ears for a very long time.”
Lias Saoudi, voice/face/wordsmith/poet/writer, about the LP: ‘Forgiveness Is Yours,’ is about life as eternal contingency… about no longer suspecting, but knowing that this shit will never get any easier… in fact, it’s about to get a whole lot worse, your body’s going to go into decay and the people you love will slowly start dropping dead around you…but somehow, you’ve smashed enough of your expectations thus far in life, you’re sort of fine with it…you accept it.The overarching aesthetic themes at work here are torpor and further torpor still.”
TUTV: Without a shadow of a doubt their best, most startling, and most inventive accomplishment. Sounds like FWF have written/recorded the bone-chilling soundtrack
for Doomsday. Poignant vibes, ominous reflections, dark ballads, and frontman Lias Saoudi as the foreboding messenger and sinister poet. It’s the end of the world, as we know it, and it feels like Fat White Family.
TUTV said: The star duo made an album with lots of bright pop tunes and some light
blues ones. The licks/riffs and hooks, about a thousand of course, haven’t that BK’s raw
and rough edge as we are used to.
The overall sonority leans more towards power guitar pop (slow, mid-tempo and only
a couple of fast ones). I never thought that the tandem would come up after 23 years (yes, twenty-three years!) with a different sounding, coherent longplayer, without ignoring their blues roots that is. Ohio Players will be the album that I’ll play more than their whole catalogue together.
TUTV said: It sounds as if the two rock stars made this record about 30 years ago when Oasis and The Stone Roses had both a glorious debut LP out. It sounds as if the 10 songs here, didn’t make those masterpiece albums, because they’re somehow lazy tunes. That’s what my ears told me at first. Two famous Manchester lads had some time to kill.
But I’ve played it countless times by now. All tracks are infectious and electrifying. Liam & John didn’t look back in anger and may be adored for this easy-peasy, but oh-so-effective psych-rock-blues longplayer. Touchdown.
TUTV said: The charismatic Lia Metcalfe‘s singular voice, both anxious and soul-stirring,
is all over this awe-inspiring new record. So instrumental for the band’s sound that resonates more poignant, gloomier and spine-chilling than on their debut.
It fits Metcalfe‘s introspective reflections on her turbulent past terrifically well,
with haunting and goosebumps-causing songs that have an imposing impact.
There’s always a light shining at the end of the Mysterines tunnel.
The 4 scousers are ready up for a triumphant future.
TUTV said: The three main elements that make this album special are Jeen’s remarkable
voice, her high-quality songwriting expertise, and the heart-and-soul passion that streams throughout the record. Whether Jeen rocks out, muses, or swings moods, she always holds your aural attention.
The cliché is accurate here, ‘no fillers, all killers’. 10 intoxicating, 10 solid gold songs.
This first-rate longplayer should get at least the same attention as Sheryl Crow‘s
new one.
TUTV said: With Interplay the shoegaze past goes into the dustbin as the present Ride are fabulous. They come up with some terrifically arousing tunes, alternated with pepped-up reveries.
All songs are sublimely orchestrated and bathe in a psychedelic jacuzzi, while vocalist Mark Gardner‘s velvet vocals match the sonic atmosphere exquisitely. Ride have mixed emotions about today’s restless times, me too, but not about this record. Lots of five-star stuff.
TUTV said: It’s vintage Shellac/Steve Albini with its wayward song structures, its
capricious and minimalistic resonance, its broken riffs, edgy hooks, sinewy drumming, Albini‘s firm vocals and the raw and rough post-punk dynamics at play. Absolutely weird
to listen to it, with the incredible knowledge that Albini is here no more.
He passed away on May 7, following a heart attack.
Only 10 days before the album release.
Sad, really sad.
The album closes with the ominous track I Don’t Fear Hell, including these lines “I don’t fear hell. Their baseball team is undefeated. If there’s a heaven, I hope they’re
having fun. ‘Cause if there’s a hell, I’m gonna know everyone.” Sounds quite bizarre and macabre at this very moment. Maybe, just maybe, Albini is happy, wherever he might
be. Rest in peace.
TUTV said: Monoscopes made an ideal record for the midnight hours, to relax
and escape from the daily rat race and lose yourself in your thoughts of choice.
Heavy-hearted lullaby pearls such as ‘The Electric Muse (I Wanna Know Why?)’, Hey Atlas and The Things You Want To Hide should be hits in a normal world. Imagine the moody musings of Evan Dando (The Lemonheads) interwoven with the shadowy electricity of NYC’s celebs Interpol.
And when they turn up the temperature and the amps, now and then, like on top-tier tracks ‘It’s A Shame About You’ and ‘Quite Life‘ you feel the mixed emotions coming through your speakers making their way to your heart and to your soul. Top!
TUTV: As a solo artist, he recorded/released several LPs. As a producer, he worked
with Los Lobos, Elvis Costello, Brandi Carlile, and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss and so many
more. He toured with Bob Dylan and other famous friends and he won a bunch of Grammys.
The Other Side is a concept record about a “mysterious couple” having adventures
in an otherworldly America. The by-now 76-year-old Burnett translate their mixed
emotions experiences in lovey-dovey lullabies, heartfelt musings, and nostalgic
ballads.
This is the perfect record for daydreaming and relaxation. Soft, mellow, and tender.
His slightly hoarse Americana voice enchants and entices all through this sepia-colored album. 12 bittersweet serenades for the midnight hours, away from our hyperbenthic reality. Pure compassionate romanticism. Pure songsmith.
The flabbergasting energy these ear-splitting loud Irish beatniks develop on their ace debut LP Letter To Self is off the charts. The opener Ticking is what these 4 Irish indies
do on repeat. Building a near-unbearable tension and exploding insanely along the rough ride.
Since this Australian punk tornado released their 2nd
longplayer Comfort To Me back in 2021 they’re on an
endless tour around the globe.
Yet, in between all gig mayhem they found some time to write/record/release
two new searing sucker-punches with U Should Be Doing This as my favourite.
Amyl: ‘This song makes me laugh, but it’s also in a way poking fun at the shock that
people still feel at a little bit of skimpy clothing, and the bitchy high school way that
the music community still is.’
Washington‘s flamboyant guitar pop quartet release
their 3rd LP, baptized Wearing Out The Refrain next
September.
On Hallelujah they rage against the anti-LGBTQ
machine with knives between their teeth and an
unstoppable drive.
“To express oneself, now expressly forbidden/ That’s a spiritual hell, that’s
a new prohibition/ And they’ll boil you down to reproductive function/ When
they see you as a vessel and not as a person!”
The feminist-punk duo went nuclear the past year following their
amazeballs 6-track EP You’re Welcome and this year’s bulldozing
and gender-themed missile Body Of Mine.
Irish indie stars FONTAINES D.C. will share their 4th LP,
named ROMANCE with the world on August 23rd.
The lead single Starburster is a feverish corker
with a bone-chilling gush and frontman Grian
Chatten rapping all over it with his characteristic
uptight parlando.
Last March the Dandys came up with their 12th album, named Rockmaker.
Lead single Danzing With Myself features Pixies‘ general Frank Black and
is a gloomy and doomy groover. With its poignant progression, this piece
creeps under your skin in an eye/ear blink.
UK’s rock/hip-hop team Rapturous invite us to scream
our lungs out on their avid anthem that celebrates freedom.
“The song was inspired by the old blues style of call & response, we wanted to create something that could be easily sung back to us by the crowd. The song is about being free from anything that is getting you down, be it your job, finances, the world, or the weekend’s football scores. Freedom from misery, that’s the idea.”
Think Cypress Hill fronted by Zack de la Rocha,
rattling like a rapid-fire riot-gun.
This Norwegian band specializes in a dark and distinctive blend
of post-punk, shoegaze and psych-noir. So far they released two
albums.
On this new, superb single drums and bass team up for an
incessantly beat that carries this instantaneously sticking ride,
along with a magnetizing Cure-esque guitar riff that gets you in
a trance.
Truly hypnotizing from start to finish with velvety vocals
and darkwavish synths in the back adding a twilight tone.
This hepped-up EBM duo conjure their influences of EBM, techno and electropop,
their sound is an intoxicating mix of analog synthetics and seductive vocals, touching
on themes of desire and despair, domination and submission.
They have a new 3-track EP, titled Inservio out, with opener Lights Down Low
as my favorite. An electro booster with a mindblowing techno beat à la The Prodigy
that rotates irresistibly, non-stop.
Lead single Softer is a psychedelic shoegaze stunner, a multi-layered symphony
propelled by about a thousand guitars, a mindboggling bass riff, and combative
drums, while Rebecca Dow‘s ghostly vocals scrape the sky. A titanic thrill.
19. ‘I Don’t Understand What Any Of You Are Doing’ by DEAD ANYWAY (UK)
This British duo combine the dark lyricism of Kate Arnold
against the music and soundscapes of Marc Symonds.
They caught my attention with last February‘s top album Partially Eaten By Animals.
Highlight ‘I Don’t Understand What Any Of You Are Doing’ dives into trip-hop-pop territory with Arnold‘s crystal clear voice floating all over shiny synth dynamics. Catchy as hell.
20. ‘Welcome Tou Your New Future’ by LEG PUPPY 2.0 (London, UK)
This madcap techno act scored their best (so far)
album with Humanity 2.0 which came out last May.
You can shake your (p)elvis to single Welcome To Your New
Future while getting nervous about the unknown tomorrow.
What’s in store for humankind. Nuclear war or peace and free love?
Or will we be just another brick in the wall? Whatever happens,
never stop pirouetting yourself dizzy to manic music .
We don’t need your education
We don’t need no your thought control
Just Like Everybody Else is a glorious, full-orchestrated pop gem, that transfers you in an eye/ear blink to a sonic dreamland with its affecting melodiousness, riveting chorus and warm-hearted vocals. Three highly-entertaining minutes and twenty seconds with Spielmann
New star tandem Gallagher-Squire produced/released their debut LP last March.
The lead-single Just Another Rainbow is partly Oasis, partly Stone Roses. Liam sings like Liam (who else?) and Squire does his psychedelic 6-string Stone Roses thing.
Stress Dolls is the musical moniker of songstress Chelsea O’Donnell.
Last May she released her enchanting debut album Queen Of No.
Close Enough is one of my favorite tracks. A captivating pop song.
Tantalizing tunefulness, glistening guitar sparks, and gratifying vocals
combine for a top tune.
Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds have canned album number 18.
It’s baptized Wild God and will show up on August 30.
The title track is a sublime composition. The first part is crooner Cave as we know him,
but quickly the vocal passion and goosebumps intensity go up and from halfway on, this diamond turns into an orchestral masterpiece, with a zealous hallelujah choir and an opera-like majesty.
