TURN UP THE VOLUME’s 20 BEST ALBUMS OF 2025

– 1 –

Band: THE BELAIR LIP BOMBS
Who: Buzzing indies from
Montreal, Canada.

Album: AGAIN
Their 2nd one.

NME: ‘Again’feels like Belair Lips Bomb
are auditioning to be the biggest band
in the world.”

TUTV: Just one spin and I knew this LP was a winner. Ace tune, after ace tune, after
ace tune. Guitar pop at its most move ‘n groove exciting. In the middle, vocalist and
guitarist Maisie Everett draws all attention. Wonderful voice, striking performance.

She’s backed by a well-oiled rock turbo. Hype or not, these
revved-up Aussies are going places, all around the globe
that is.

SINGLE

ALBUM


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Instagram – Album On Spotify
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– 2 –


Album artwork

Band: DITZ
Who: Unbridled post-punks
from Brighton, UK.

Album: NEVER EXHALE
Follow-up to their astonishing debut
The Great Regression from 2022.

Press info: “The album explores themes of unnecessary hatred and
division. It’s political, but ultimately personal. More Genet or Kafka
than Orwell or Huxley.

TUTV: Without a shadow of a doubt, the perfect soundtrack for Doomsday.
Sledgehammer after sledgehammer, drone after drone, brainfucker after
brainfucker. Always tension in the air.

Any track would work in a zombie horror movie. And we know all
about horror, right? Just take a look outside the window, and you
see a lot of it. For free.

Cal Francis‘s spoken word performances are bone-chilling. Their primal screams
send shivers down the spine. Lyrically, they operate in a space where reality and
surreality meet. No room for birds and bees.


Cal Francis – Pukkelpop Fest 2025 – Photo by TUTV

Never Exhale is an other-worldly Götterdämmerung experience.
It smells like something is alive and kicking here. No regression,
only progression.

Inhale them.

KEY SINGLE

ALBUM


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Instagram – Linktree – NEVER EXHALE on Spotify
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– 3 –

Band: SPRINTS
Who: Irish post-punk whirlwind, led by charismatic
voice/songwriter/guitarist Karla Chubb.

Album: ALL THAT IS OVER.
Their sophomore one, following last year’s
amazeballs debut LP Letter To Self.

Sprints about the LP: “While the world is literally burning down around us there are voices that seem hell bent on pointing the finger at anyone but those actually responsible. There’s no need to dream-up dystopia, we’re living in it. And somehow, while the world has never seemed uglier, our life has never been more beautiful.”

TUTV: Their riff-ripping quiet/loud/quiet formula works again, big time. Their sucker-punches hit you, piece by piece, hard in the teeth while Karla Chubb‘s hepped-up vocals rule again. Here and there, her unbridled explosiveness brings young Courtney Love‘s borderline cry-outs to mind. Only the 6 last cooking/boiling/bloodcurdling haymakers
are already worth a full album.

KEY SINGLE

ALBUM


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Instagram – Linktree
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– 4 –

Band: LAMBRINI GIRLS
Who: Two razorblade riot girrrrlzz – vox/guitarist Phoebe Lunny
and bassist Lilly Macieira – from Brighton (UK), with an insatiable
appetite for mass moshpits.

Album: WHO LET THE DOGS OUT
Their debut LP.


Photo by Turn Up The Volume

NME said: “Lambrini Girls prove punk is alive and kicking. They’re unapologetically amplifying chaos, calling out societal wrongs, and daring us all to feel something. This record is loud, raw, and impossible to ignore.”

TUTV:

Faster than a Formula One Ferrari.
Louder than a supersonic jet.
Punkier than any punks around.

Trashing. Crashing. Slashing.
Hellish. Demonic. Manicial.

11 knockouts. 11 killers. 11 hits.
11 Molotov cocktails. 11 bulls-eyes.

Bitchy. Boiling. Blasting.
Chaotic. Mental. Queer.
Bonkers. Berserk. Banging.

Massive bass buzz.
Schizo guitar riffs.

100 sneers. 100 spits.
100 rants. 100 bursts.
100 shits. 100 fuck-offs.

Middle-finger to all LGBTQ-haters.
To hell with all greedy capitalists.
Kick Brex-shit in the nationalistic ass.

KEY SINGLE

ALBUM


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Album On Spotify – Instagram – Website
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– 5 –


Album artwork

Band: THE WATERBOYS
Who: The Scottish veteran pop-rock-folk band
orchestrated by singer-songwriter Mike Scott.

ALBUM: LIFE, DEATH AND DENNIS HOPPER

Press info: Inspired entirely by the life and mythos of actor Dennis Hopper, Mike Scott
and The Waterboys created this expansive album as tribute to one of American popular culture’s most compelling public figures.

TUTV: This a remarkable piece of work. It could be the soundtrack for a yet to be made
Dennis Hopper documentary. Hats off to Mike Scott for his boldness, imaginativeness, and ingenuity to score this musical movie, constructed marvellously with its sonically cinematic versatility.

Pop, rock, blues, country, bar-room jazz, and musing balladry take turns and puzzle
a most coherent and highly entertaining whole together, spiced with magnificent vocal contributions by Fiona Apple, Steve Earle and others. Never a dull moment with its varied stream of entertaining songs and Scott‘s awe-inspiring vocality throughout.

KEY SINGLE

ALBUM


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Instagram – Linktree – All Waterboys Albums
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– 6 –

Band: HEISA
Who: 3 Belgian post-punk crusaders.

Album: TROIS

TUTV: Trois is one of the most balanced, the most arousing and the most vitalizing
noise rock records I heard in a very long time. Heisa grab you by the throat for 40 wicked minutes, and you won’t protest for one second. The cliché all killers, no fillers is so accurate here.

No arty farty tricks, no unnecessary overdubs, no useless volume exaggerations.
The production is flawless, and is an instrumental factor for the overall organic
resonance of this expressive exploit.

KEY SINGLE

ALBUM


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TROIS on Spotify – Instagram – Facebook
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– 7 –

Band: MCLUSKY
Who: The renowned Welsh post-punk noiseniks
featuring Andrew Falkous, as known as hysterical
frontman of Future Of The Left.

Album: THE WORLD IS STILL HERE AND SO ARE WE
Their 4th.


Press photo by Damien Sayell

TUTV: Loudmouths Andrew Falkous and Damien Sayell still spit and sneer their 4 lungs
out and rip politicians to shreds while they wield their razor-sharp axes. Chainsaw guitars everywhere, backed by a hellacious drum/bass duo. And they’re still maddening masters when it comes to search and destroy punk havoc.

KEY SINGLE

ALBUM


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Album On Spotify Instagram – Linktree
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– 8 –

Band: WHOLES
Who: A fresh, rowdy hit team led by Belgian
musical chameleon Wolf Vanwymeersch,

Album: A MASS IN THE WATER.

Press info: An intense and raw reflection
of grief, trauma, and the desire for healing.

A Mass In The Water’ roughly describes the last day of Wolf Vanwymeersch‘s father,
who took his own life during a psychotic episode. The album balances between
mockery, anger, powerlessness, grief, understanding, compassion, and love.

TUTV: It’s both a scary and flabbergasting opus that takes a lot of courage to make and share with the world. The album’s ominous dynamics, distorted vocals, and riff-roasting razzmatazz resonate like if you are listening to the soundtrack of a modern day horror movie.

Vanwymeersch and Wholes created their own Dante’s Inferno.
Bloodcurdling, pitch-black, and bone-chilling. Helter-skelter.

KEY SINGLE

ALBUM


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Instagram – Album On Spotify
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– 9 –

Artist: HEAD ON STONE
Who: The solo project of Belgian songstress
Nele Janssen, frontwoman of post-punk turbo
Peuk.

Album: STONY BEDS
Debut LP

TUTV: Nele Janssen bewitches with her crystalline voice and enchanting piano play. Intimate, passional and heartfelt. From a Peuk scream to a solo whisper. A beautiful,
soul-stirring record that silences you from start to finish.

Eleven bittersweet reveries for the midnight hours. Stony Beds is an ideal companion
for cold winter nights, while relaxing with dimmed light on your couch and your favourite drink at hand.

ALBUM


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Instagram – Album On Spotify
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– 10 –

Band: THE NEW EVES
Who: Must hear/see indies from Brighton (where everybody is in a band).
They cruise from folk to punk, using, besides traditional instruments (guitar,
bass and drums) also cello, flute, violin and other classical gear.


Photo by Turn Up The Volume – Brussels

Album: THE NEW EVE IS RISING.
Their debut.

NME: “A record that mines the unpredictable free-spiritedness of freak
folk, the loose, louche nature of rock’n’roll and the no-rules attitude of punk.”

TUTV: Eccentricity is the new normal. Poetic, medieval music is among us.
The New Eves are something special, really special. Next to drum/bass/guitar
they use more untraditional instruments such as cello, flute, violin and other
classical music gear.

At their core, musically, they’re a folk punk rock band, an outlandish one, that is.
One of those that play gloriously out of tune at times, enthuse up with splendacious chants and have your bewildering attention for the full 40 baffling minutes. One of
the most innovative full-lengths of the year. Hands down.

KEY SINGLE

ALBUM


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Album On Spotify – Instagram – Linktree –
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– 11 –

Band: AVALANCHE PARTY
Who: High-voltage outfit from Yorkshire Moors (UK),
formed by Joe and Jordan Bell, vocalist and bassist
respectively.

Album: DER TRAUM UBER ALLES
Their second one.

TUTV: TAP funk and punk, buzz and fuzz, move and groove on this voltaic
record. They shoot a series of titanic tunes from their hips with a hair-raising
impact.

Avalanche Party have become masterly songwriters who know exactly how to construct adrenalized knockout killers with the right combination of roasting riffs, jagged hooks, bang-on licks, powerhouse drumming, effervescent synths and sultry horns here and there. Stupendous record.

KEY SINGLE

ALBUM


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Album On Spotify – Instagram – Linktree
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– 12 –

Band: WOLF ALICE
Who: Lauded British guitar pop quartet, fronted
by the charismatic vocalist Ellie Rowsell.

New album: THE CLEARING
Their 4th.

TUTV: With The Clearing,  the changing, musical process since their debut LP is complete. It’s now more ELLIE + THE WOLF (yes, FLORENCE + THE MACHINE territory) than before. Pop music in all its seducing and alluring ways. It’ll make them superstars in and outside the UK.

KEY SINGLE

ALBUM


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Instagram – Store
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– 13 –

Artist: BLACK VIIOLET
Who: Alter-ego of American garage punk ‘n’ roll
turbo The Darts‘ front Amazon Nicole Laurenne.

Album: AFTER YOU
Her debut.

Laurenne: “The songs were written in the style of vintage jazz standards, but are then drenched with Rhodes piano and sparkling horn parts, with upright bass and triphop beats holding down a groovy, downtempo feel underneath. The vocals are the polar opposite of my garage rock sound in The Darts – in Black Viiolet, I am quietly telling you secrets in the dark.

TUTV: After You is delectable music for the midnight hours that massages
your ears for 40 minutes. The most sensual record I heard in a long time.
It transfers you to a place where you can dream away, far from today’s
depressing outside world.

SINGLE

ALBUM

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Linktree
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– 14 –

Artist: PREWN
Who: The moniker of Massachusetts‘ born, LA-based chilling
singer-songwriter Izzy Hagerup. She released her debut album
Through The Window in 2023.

New Album: SYSTEM
Her 2nd one.

Hagerup: “I need to tap into my grief and sadness and stuff because it’s there. And when
you don’t live in it then you’re just numb. You can’t see the beauty and you are running from
the pain. It’s this Groundhog Day feeling. I feel that’s the antithesis to art, love, and connection, and giving a shit about the world.”

TUTV: The combination of creepy violins, ominous cello shadow play, and last but
not least Hagerup‘s wailing voice dominate this record causing bone-chilling sensations.

Her laments evoke moments of uncomfortableness, but her grip is so overwhelming
that you just can’t get away of her sonic exorcism. Like watching a traumatic thriller
you can’t escape from without knowing the end of the story.

SINGLE

ALBUM


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Instagram – Album On Spotify
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– 15 –

Band: SPAMMERHEADS
Who: Techno tandem
from Valencia, Spain.

Album: THE MIRE CHRONICLES

Press Info: “This album, was born from the difficult experience of the floods that hit Valencia on October 29, 2024. During this time, the duo lost part of their studio and actively participated in the cleanup efforts in their city.

The Valencian duo offers six tracks (plus two digital bonus tracks) to remind us that despite
the difficulties we may face, we must always fight to get ahead, get back on our feet, and not
be swept away by the current.”

TUTV: Eight titanic techno thrills, eight 90s inspired trance tunes. Think Chemical Brothers, The Orb and The Prodigy. The pair’s Mire Chronicles have a hammering impact on their post-drama demons. At the end of the traumatic tunnel there’s a Spammerheads light that
illuminates a healing future.

SINGLE

STREAM/BUY


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Instagram – Album On Spotify
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– 16 –

Band: THE LEMONHEADS
Who: Veteran tunesmith
Evan Dando and his crew.

Album: LOVE CHANT
Their first in 19 years,
their 11th overall.

TUTV: Dando has resurrected himself and his band gloriously. Now and then he touches turbulent memories from the past and does some soul-searching again, but you can feel he’s truly happy, healthy and excited to be here in great artistic shape. A welcome reaffirmation of The Lemonheads‘ riveting pop mastery.

KEY SINGLE

ALBUM


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Instagram – Facebook – All Albums
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– 17 –

Artist: PETER DOHERTY
The notorious Libertine.

Album: FELT BETTER ALIVE
His 3rd solo one.

TUTV: Writing songs is Doherty‘s oxygen. He has music running through his veins.
Enter this new solo album. A collection of daily life tunes that puts a smile on your
face. The man entertains, charms and shows his inspiring skills once again. It’s clear
that the French air stimulates his productivity. Poetry in motion.

KEY SINGLE

ALBUM


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Instagram – Linktree
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– 18 –

Artist: MARK STEWART
Who: One of the most adventurous/inventive/original post-punk & dub artists/performers
ever. He was a founding member of genre-bending new wave group The Pop Group and released lots of solo and collaborative records. Unfortunately, he passed away 2 years ago,
only 62.

As a prolific solo artist, he scored 7 LPs, collaborated with countless
other artists, and caused poignant waves with his Mafia outfit.

Album: THE FATEFUL SYMMETRY
His 8th solo LP, released posthumously
by Mute Records.


Album artwork

TUTV: Stewart expresses again his mixed emotions about humanity and its messy planet. Both pessimistic and optimistic reflections, but always with sparks of hope. Musically, it’s
a very accessible pop work with several crooning musings.

His characteristic, captivating voice, both heartrending and heartwarming at the same time, feels so real, so close, and as always, engaged and genuine. Mark Stewart was one
of a kind and will always be in my book.

KEY SINGLE

ALBUM


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Facebook – Mute Records
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– 19 –

Band: NEIL YOUNG and the THE CHROME HEARTS .

Album: TALKIN TO THE TREES.

TUTV Talkin To The Trees brings Young‘s 1975 masterwork Tonight’s The Night instantly
to mind, sonically that is. Raw and rough, as if the LP was recorded live in one take, in
a garage with lots of echo and plenty of ramshackle guitars, buzzing electricity and
Young‘s characteristic, ardent vocals. Very familiar, very entertaining.

It’s vintage Young, musically and thematically, wondering about the world’s future, warning for environmental pollution dramas, difficult times to come for our children, and the need of a big positive change.

KEY SINGLE

ALBUM


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Neil Young’s Archives Website
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– 20 –

Artists: BRIAN ENO and BEATIE WOLFE

They met in 2022 at the SXSW festival. They met again while exhibiting visual
and conceptual art pieces in London and began recording together early
last year.

Album: LIMINAL
The duo’s third in only 5 months.
Talking about a fertile collaboration

TUTV: I always loved and embraced Eno‘s sonic ambient paintings, his chimerical and fanciful synth symphonies with its calming impact and starry-eyed radiance. Liminal is another Eno opus I added to my headphone music playlist for psychological relaxation.

An invitation to ease your mind and ears in their
phantasmagorical universe. A record to cherish.

SINGLE

ALBUM


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Instagram

HEAD ON STONE – Belgian Songstress Shifts From A Scream To A Whisper With Her Soul-Stirring Debut LP ‘STONY BEDS’

28 November 2025

Emotive Belgian singer-songwriter Nele Janssen is, so far, known by her fans as the fiery frontwoman of high-powered post-punk turbo Peuk who have released 2 albums to this day.

That will all change now with her brand-new solo debut album, named
STONY BEDS, released under the moniker of HEAD ON STONE.

Only Nele Janssen and her piano. Intimate, passional and heartfelt. From a Peuk scream
to a solo whisper. A beautiful, soul-stirring record that silences you from start to finish. Eleven bittersweet gems for the midnight hours. Stony Beds is an ideal companion for cold winter nights, while relaxing with dimmed light on your couch and your favourite drink at hand.

Enamoured by this musical exploit, Turn Up The Volume reached
out to Nele for a chat about her amazing solo adventure.

Do you have a classical music schooling, or is this a DIY story, Nele?

“I had some classical music schooling when I was a kid/teenager, but I didn’t take
lessons for it in high school because in those days, you had to work with sheet music, and I wanted to create my own stuff. I don’t create music on sheets.

I write down some notes in a small book and record some ideas on a small recorder.
The rest is in my head. So I have to keep on playing the songs now and then to
remember them.”

For many PEUK fans, this intimate solo album will be a musical and
vocal surprise. How and when did you start this project?

“I’ve been writing this music since I was finishing my classical music school. I needed to express these feelings and find ways to cope with them. It was hard for me to put these feelings into words, and so my piano became my friend. The piano gave me the comfort and focus I needed. So I just played for myself in my room.

I did not want people to hear it. It was between me and the piano. Later on, I let some close friends into this world, and it felt okay to do this. So I guess I was opening up more. They told me to share it, but I was scared. So I wanted to overcome this fear, and I played some small, intimate gigs.

People showed their love for it, and it felt like maybe it could be important to other people too in a way. But I still wanted to keep it more to myself. Peuk is a more extroverted affair and helped me to become less scared of performing, and it helped show a different, more angry emotion. So now I’m sharing more of this intimate side Peuk protected me from in a way.

What does your moniker ‘HEAD ON STONE’ stands for, Nele?

“It was the title of a song I wrote when my Head On Stone project didn’t have a name yet.
I wrote the lyrics of the song when I was lying down on a sandy hill in the woods, and my
head rested on a stone, and it felt kind of nice, but also discomfort. Warm but cold.

The songs are like that. Some lyrics come from negative feelings
and thoughts, but the piano carries them in a healing way.

Is that a horse eye on the album’s cover?
What’s the story behind the artwork?

“Yes, it’s a horse eye, and my reflection is in it. This horse was very important to me.
She passed away, but I wrote some of the songs during a period she was still with me.

OUT is a song I wrote for her.

She wanted to hide from the sun because of the mosquitos. She was allergic to them. It itches badly. A bit like I don’t like crowded places and hide from people. This picture was taken when it snowed, so no mosquitos there.”


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What do you want to express with the record’s title ‘STONY BEDS’?

Stony Beds is like Head On Stone. A bed is comfortable and soft. A stone is cold and hard. So there’s a contrast, and I think you can find that in the songs. Also, you can hear me sing it in the song ‘mountainside‘. It’s about going into nature without anything but yourself. You meet nature. So if we rest, we lay our heads on stony beds. Lying on something stony.”


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Your crystalline vocals are impressive. Quite different from your
fiery PEUK vocality. Does it feel that way for you too, Nele?

“It’s different, but it’s still me. It’s the way I sing. I sing how I feel. So I guess I have different kinds of voices because of the feeling I get when I sing with them. I don’t think about it, it just happens.”

I hear mixed emotions about life and these weird times in the
lyrics. Is that what you wanted to address or are my ears wrong?

“The songs are more about myself, in this life. It’s not really about life in general but more about what’s going on in my head, how I feel, and how I try to cope with it. But I’m in this life, so it’s included. It’s just more introverted.”


Photo by Syl

Is this a one-time adventure, or do you have more solo work in mind?

“It doesn’t feel like a one-time adventure. I don’t know yet, but for now I don’t think it is.”

Thank you very much, for this chat, Nele.
May the road rise with Head On Stone.

STREAM ALBUM

BUY ALBUM


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Instagram – Facebook