Red-hot-blooded Philly pop-punk burners MANNEQUIN PUSSY
just unleashed shared their 4th LP, titled I GOT HEAVEN.
Press info: Mannequin Pussy‘s music feels like a resilient and galvanizing shout that demands to be heard. Their new album, I Got Heaven, which will be released via Epitaph Records , is the band’s most fully realised recording yet. Over ten ambitious tracks which abruptly turn from searing punk to inviting alternative pop, the album is deeply concerned with desire, the power in being alone, and how to live in an unfeeling and unkind world. It’s a document of a band doubling down on their unshakable bond to make something furious, thrilling, and wholly alive.
Pitchfork: “The Philadelphia rock band meets the moment with an essential, wide-
ranging record that’s mouthy, messy, and self-assured… It operates by a pop album’s rules;
it’s unashamed of its ambition and unselfconscious of its artifice, and in that way it’s a perfect reflection of its own thematic commitment to self-definition. The vulnerability that’s always made Mannequin Pussy’s music feel personal and urgent has now given them the freedom to expand in unexpected ways and discover what else they might be able to contain. It never feels like pure product; it’s too moist, too clammy, far too impolite.” Score: 8.8/10.
Impressive album artwork
TUTV: From spiked pop turbulence (Nothing Like / Sometimes) to brutal punk-exorcism
(I Got Heaven / OK? OK? OK? OK? / Of Her / Aching) and some barbed lullabies (I Got Heaven
/ I Don’t Know You / Split Me Open). Be ready for a series of maddening mood swings that does your ears, your mind and your speakers in with its vociferous and fulminating primal screams and its high-strung rollercoaster disturbance. They got heaven but they sure know a lot about hell too. Amen to that.
Singles/clips: Sometimes / I Don’t Know You / I Got Heaven
The celebrated British indie rockers prepare for the launch
of their 6th LP, titled ‘Pick-Up Full Of Pink Carnations’, with this
new stonker, bringing the sonic euphoria of The Killers to mind.
This synth-pop duo is warming up for their third full length ‘A Kiss of the Mind’
Lead single ‘In Slow Motion’ is dark-synth-wave pizazz at its haunting best.
Booming beats rotate on and on towards a full orchestral plangency while
shadowy vocals add even more sinister vibes.
These masked synth-punk freaks from Vancouver (CA)
produce lots of mayhem on their new album Play Cobra.
One of the 5 best albums of the month on TUTV’s list.
Mouth Yellow is one of the crazy corkers.
Fasten your seatbelt, folks. It’s a rough ride.
The veteran superstar born Leonard Albert Kravitz in New York City 59 years
ago has his new longplayer – a double one – dubbed ‘Blue Electric Light’ out
on 15 March 2024.
On the video for the first taster ‘TK421’ Kravitz
drops his towel and shakes a lot of body parts.
6. ‘Downtown Operation’ by DUBINSKI (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Four brothers who’ve literally been through everything together – from childhood
through adolescence, success and grief – using music as the gel to hold them in place.
This first cut from their forthcoming 2nd album is a pure not-so-happy
pop pearl about the doom and gloom era we’re living in.
Its whirling groove, its ebullient beat, its glistering synth flashes, its vivacious
harmonies and last but not least its tremendously infectious chorus combine
for a top-notch earworm. Think Everything Everything and/or Hot Chip turning
up the heat.
Beginning as a solo project and growing into a band, Millie Milner & The Deadnames
of Manchester, UK was forged with a stronger mission at the heart to be the queer representation that the band’s members struggled to find in their own teenage years.
Lie was inspired by a breakup of Milner‘s and co-penned by a friend. It tells of
a need to take ownership of their life and their choices and the newfound element
of fun and recklessness they found themselves surrounded by as a newly single
person.
It’s indie at its vivid best. Sparkling guitars going berserk now and then, firm
drum hits, crystal clear vocals/harmonies, evocative lyrics, and a steamy chorus.
10. ‘Dead Moon Rising‘ by CACTUS FLOWERS (Houston, Texas)
This psych-rock act is fronted by Jessica A.M., whose mother photographed bands for
the legendary Rolling Stone music weekly during the magazine’s counter-culture heyday.
Their new sultry mid-tempo garage blues-rock corker is fuelled by echoing, rollicking
riffs, steady drum hits and bewitching Jessica A.M. vocals. Dead Moon Rising resonates
like glorious legends The Cramps with a mean machine vibe, rock-and-psycho-billy
swagger and footstompin’ dynamics. From bad moon rising to dead moon rising.
The Libs met in the studio once again for a new LP.
It’s been 8 years since the release of their 3rd album Anthems For Doomed Youth, which was their first
in 11 years back then.
Their new one ‘All Quit On The Easter Esplanade‘
and comes our way on 8 March 2024.
Run Run Run is a sickly sticky runner.
A vintage Libertines anthem.
Two years after the release of their charged self-titled debut EPEmpty Head are
back with a brand new follow-up EP named Tales Of A Modern Man. A 5-track
one anchored by the overarching theme of the Modern Man and bristling with
a wiry tension.
Opener Violence sets the tone with its hammering beats, its inflammable
guitar galvanism and frontman Simon Galloy‘s sky-scraping vocals.
This Belgian/Iraqi launched their excellent debut
full length The Shedding Of Skin, last year.
Their new piece is “a cynical “c’est-la-vie” anthem, set to a heavy 95 BPM beat and a disarray
of fucked up samples & sounds, about ten little wanderers who wander kilometers from home trying to belong. But home is where the heart is. And the House will never share its wealth.”
The release was initiated before the brutal reality of the genocide happening in Gaza.
Now, the cynical message must make way for solidarity with the Palestinian people.”
Expect a both haunting and hypnotic trip, with ominous slo-mo beats pounding
relentlessly with eerie chants all over it. Dark clouds in the air, calm before the storm, subdued electronic anger. It’s an alarming beast of a track.
Carter and Co release their fifth LP Dark Rainbow on 26 January 2024.
First single Man Of The Hour is a gorgeous surprise. Sonically and vocally
we get the softer side of the post-hardcore punk and tattoo artist. A super
duper ballad.
Abdelbarry: “The song reflects on having a friend who is acting in immature
ways you’ve outgrown, but knowing they still need your support and friendship.”
Birthday Cake is slow-progressing musing that appeals instantly with its
rudimentary PJ Harvey-esque guitar play and Abdelbarry‘s affectional voice.
The song has both a romantic and wistful sonority that captivates and moves.
And halfway melancholic synths accentuate the overall ruminate timbre in
an endearing way.
Caleb Orr is a young skilled country-pop-rock singer-songwriter who grew up in Helena, Alabama. He found his passion for music at a young age. He and his two older siblings were raised on music legends like Alan Jackson, Van Halen, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings.
Great voice, great musicality, and great guitar play, echoing classic country
melancholia, and proving that the genre is simply timeless. As we all know, music can
have a healing, comforting and cathartic power and it also works here as Orr wants
to shake off bad habits of the past and want to focus on the future as a compelling
singer-songwriter.
This is the brainchild of seasoned Norwegian singer-songwriter Hans PetterGundersen
Dusty Road is a smooth mid-tempo country musing with a bluesy feel and both
a melancholic and yearning sensitivity. Warm voice, captivating melody, vintage
pedal steel guitar charm. All the matching ingredients for a warm sepia-colored
nugget.
Dan Cummings fronts Boston’s rowdy trio Already Dead
No wall-of-Already-Dead-dynamite electricity this time. Cummings
picked up his acoustic guitar and wrote this bone-chilling cry-out
about living on the edge of drowning or surviving.
Imagine British leftist/political activist and terrific veteran songsmith Billy Bragg
raising his voice or equally politically driven folk legend Woody Guthrie killing fascists
again with his wooden guitar. Landlord‘s profound emotions go from hope to despair
and back, and Cummings‘ anxious vocals send shivers down your spine.
Artist: WOLF MANHATTAN Who: The alter-ego of musician, composer, producer and post-punk
electronic wizard João Vieira. A bedroom producer who, in a non-specific
time, lives alone above a local shop in New York City. Surrounded by his
uncle’s record collection, a 4-track and a guitar from the 50s that belonged
to a well-known artist, he finds that the only way to ease his loneliness is to
listen to The Velvet Underground, Daniel Johnston, Jonathan Richman, Adam
Green and The Shangri-Las.
Manhattan released his noteworthy, catchy tunes-filled debut album (buy/stream below via Bandcamp) last year.
The album’s impressive artwork
One of the highlights, titled SOMETIMES is representative for the longplayer.
A feel-good retro pop ditty, a lazy hum/whistle/sing-along earworm to dream
away to.
The song is now visualized in this new video clip.
‘Laid’ by JAMES Released: 27 September 1993 – 25 years ago
BBC MUSIC wrote: “It may be hard to believe, but once upon a time, back in the pre-Britpop era of the early 90s, James were one of the biggest groups in the UK… A warm, subtle album in tone, songs like Out to Get You, One of the Three and Lullaby might be seen as forerunners of Snow Patrol’s more-measured, less-grating fare… The cover may make your eyes bleed – the band in dresses, eating bananas – but the contents of Laid comprise what is probably James’ real masterpiece.”
TURN UP THE VOLUME! says: I’m still wondering why these colorful and sprightly popsmiths didn’t become global stars.
THREE TOP TRACKS: Laid / Out To Get You / Sometimes
* LAID – If that doesn’t make you happy then I don’t know what will do the trick …
* OUT TO GET YOU – goosebumps beauty…
* SOMETIMES – “Sometimes, when I look deep in your eyes I swear I can see your soul”
