5 BEST ALBUMS – MAY 2025
31 May 2025
Band: MCLUSKY
Who: Welsh notorious post-punk noiseniks featuring future of the left iconoclast
Andrew Falkous, who made a loud and clear mark on the indie list of max decibels
producing acts between 1993 and 2004 with three ear-piercing and politically loaded albums. The it was time for other projects.
In 2015 Mclusky suddenly returned for a benefit gig in London and played
some more here and there. In 2023, they released a new 4-track EP, called
Unpopular Parts Of A Pig / The Digger You Deep to fund a delayed US tour.
And now they’re back with LP #4, titled THE WORLD IS STILL HERE AND SO ARE WE.
Press photo by Damien Sayell
Kerrang says: “The highlights are plentiful, from the misanthropic maelstrom of ‘People Person‘, to the lolloping ‘The Digger You Deep’ and the Pixies-esque ‘Hate The Polis’, but you don’t need to pan for gold when there’s so much of it. When The World Is Still Here And So Are We was announced last year, it came as a surprise to many; that the resulting opus is such a remarkably consistent collection after 21 years probably should be too, but somehow isn’t, as mclusky always offered a safe – and strange – pair of hands.”
Andrew Falkous, Mclusky in Brussels – May 18, 2025 – Photo by Turn Up The Volume
TUTV: The world is still spinning and Mclusky decided to come back after 21 years
to see what’s going on and let us know what they experienced/experience in their
own tumultuous way. To be honest, it’s Mclusky by numbers, but their numbers still
slice and slash as a first class Swiss knife. And that is what matters.
Primal screamers, guitarist Andrew Falkous and bassist Damien Sayell spit and sneer
their 4 lungs out while they rip puppet politicians to shreds with razor-sharp axes. Chainsaw guitars everywhere, backed by a hellacious drum/bass duo. They’re maniacal
masters when it comes to search and destroy punk havoc.
And they still come up with daft song titles like ‘unpopular parts of a pig’, ‘kafka-esque novelist franz kafka’, ‘the competent horse thief‘ and ‘autofocus on the prime directive‘. Welcome back, noizz freakz.
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Instagram – Linktree
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New album artwork
Artist: EZRA FURMAN
Who: Flaring singer-songwriter from Chicago. She started
her career with a band called The Harpoons who released
3 albums.
New album: Goodbye Small Head.
Her 7th one.
Furman: “Twelve songs, twelve variations on the experience of completely losing control, whether by weakness, illness, mysticism, BDSM, drugs, heartbreak or just living in a sick society with one’s eyes open. These songs are vivid with overwhelm. They’re not about someone going off the rails, they are inside that person’s heart.
The songwriting here is a revision to William Wordsworth’s famous proclamation that “Poetry
is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.” I can agree with that, except for the tranquility part. This poetry, my poetry, arrived in the midst of the storm. It was written as I teetered toward the edge.”
DIY Magazine says: “It’s a textured tapestry of overwhelm that’s as desperate as it is defiant. She employs a string section across much of the record, and yet also dabbles in sampling for the first time; with its skittish drums, eulogic cello, and haunting vocals, ‘You Mustn’t Show Weakness’ is the potent pinnacle of this new frontier. Lyrically, too, ‘Goodbye Small Head’ is some of her finest work.”
TUTV: Furman‘s records are all soaked in emotional tenseness and troubled sensitiveness, lyrically and sonically. Her all-consuming voice is the perfect instrument to emphasize all her ardent eagerness.
And it works thoroughly on expressive highlights Jump Out, Power Of The Moon, You Hurt
Me I Hate You, A World Of Love And Care and closer I Need The Angel. Ezra Furman puts all of her heart and soul in her mesmerizing music. It makes Goodbye Small Head a formidable accomplishment.
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Band: SKUNK ANANSIE
Who: The British robust rock veterans,
fronted by the fantabulous Skin.
Album: THE PAINFUL TRUTH
Their 7th one.
Kerrang‘s verdict: “The Painful Truth sounds eye-openingly fresh for a band with such
history. Everything about this is new, except its heart-on-sleeve honesty. They’ve never
released an album that embraces creativity this openly. My Greatest Moment, for example,
is full of ear-catchingly extracurricular sounds – the sort of thing artists in the NIN-to-Starset bracket specialise in, but without sounding like either. Life’s truth might be painful sometimes, but it’s rarely sounded better.”
TUTV: SA return less raw, rough and heavy as usual, even poppy at times. Mind you,
there’s still enough sonic vehemence and inflamed volume to challenge the decibels police, especially when Skin‘s voice reaches for the sky. As always she put all of her heart and soul into her performances. Overall, there’s more emphasis on melody and harmony than before, resulting in a top drawer record.
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Instagram – Linktree
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Artist: PETER MURPHY
Who: Former Bauhaus‘ goth
icon, now aged 67.
Album: SILVER SHADE.
It’s produced by renowned producer Youth (Pink Floyd, The Verve, Crowded
House, member of Killing Joke, The Orb, The Firemen w/Paul McCartney).
SPIN Magazine: “Artists age differently, it comes through in their work. Some turn contemplative, some opt for acceptance, some even refuse to admit they’re getting older (looking at you, Rolling Stones). On Silver Shade, famed Bauhaus vocalist and post-punk
pioneer Peter Murphy reveals how he chooses to face his golden years: with an album of
grand, baroque defiance you can dance to.
TUTV: Murphy solo is as relevant as Bauhaus was. He’s still as rhapsodic, motivated and
ambitious as he ever was. Silver Shade is stuffed with big, bombastic and melodramatic tunes to draw goth fans to gloomy discos with. Banger after banger, stompers after stomper. Gloriously orchestrated, anthemically constructed. His phenomenal vocal performance lifts this remarkable record to an astonishing level. Class!
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Instagram – Linktree – All Solo Albums
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Artist: CHUCK D
Who: Public Enemy‘s riot-rap-gun frontman.
Album: CHUCK D PRESENTS ENEMY RADIO: RADIO ARMAGEDDON
His 5th solo trip.
AllMusic: “Radio Armageddon is intended for an audience who has been listening to Public Enemy for most of its life, but the album continues in the group’s tradition of delivering timely, empowering messages with dense, confrontational barrages of revolutionary noise.”
TUTV: Chuck D is at his razor blade sharp best when he fulminates against the rotten powers that be. And with that egomaniacal idiot Trump back in the White House there’s
a lot to get furious about. America wasn’t as divided as it is right now because of that deranged hate-preacher who normalizes sexism, racism, and overall intolerance.
Chuck D hips and hops, raps and claps, with knife-edged rhymes and riot-gun tirades, forth and back, left and right. He turns 65 in August, but he will never shut up and mouth off when it comes to expose all sorts of injustices. With or without Public Enemy he will always speak out against the oppressors in charge.
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