Next month, 29 March, it will be 30 years since London‘s glam rock heroes
SUEDE released their monumental self-titled debut LP (stream below) that
catapulted them to the top of the indie rankings, in and outside of the UK.
Yes, the album with the notable front artwork. A photograph taken by Tee Corinne that, in its entirety, shows a woman kissing an acquaintance in a wheelchair. Corinne had turned down the band’s request to use the full shot of the two naked women and insisted they could only use a head and shoulders close-up of the women to protect their identity.
To start the festive celebrations of the 30th anniversary the band
just shared a remastered video of one of the 4 sublime singles.
The British music and culture website/magazine (one of Turn Up The Volume‘s favorite sources) that focuses mainly on alternative music, arts, books and movies for 12 years now, revealed their TOP 10 of BEST SONGS OF 2022.
1. ‘The Only Way I Can Love You’ by SUEDE (London, UK)
British long-running music website LOUDER THAN WAR is, without a shadow of a doubt, my favorite one on the Internet. They support/challenge alt-rock, post-punk, guitar-pop and all related genres by as well, small indie artists as the big ones (old and new). My kinda stuff.
As we near the end of the year, best-of lists are coming in. LTW just published their, yes,Top 100of best 2022 LPs.
9th LP of the British glam heroes (1989–2003, 2010–present)
led by charismatic maestro Brett Anderson
Key single: 15 Again
Louder Than War: “An album to treasure for life. It really does contain all the bombast, swells and drama of the orchestral classical music so beloved by Brett’s father, but also an intimacy wrapped up in the intensity.”
TUTV: As much as I am a fan, this is too many Suede
by numbers. Except for one of the best singles of
the year with15 Again the LP doesn’t work for me.
Singer-songwriter from Chicago
with a vulnerable heart and soul.
His/her 6th full length.
Key single: Forever In Sunset
Louder Than War: “All Of Us Flames focuses on the resistance, the struggle, and the community of the threatened. Furman says the album is, “a queer album for the stage
of life when you start to understand that you are not a lone wolf, but depend on finding
your family, your people, how you work as part of a larger whole.”
DIY post-punks from Cheshire, UK with their 2nd longplayer.
Key single: Harmonia
Louder Than War: “This absolute scorcher of an album set alight the start of 2022
with a sonic bang of pure power that screams along at breakneck speed throughout,
one which burns but never crashes.
TUTV: To be honest I never heard of this band until now. Thank you Louder Than War. These guys are amazing. No brakes, no breaks. Bingo!
The hardest working band in the world. 23 albums in 12 years. Hallelujah.
Key single: The Tripping Tap (18-minute riff-manic psych jam)
Louder Than War: “Omnium Gatherum, a miscellaneous collection; eclecticism order of the day as they pull on every one of their strengths to create what just may be their least defined yet most defining record to date.”
No less than 33 songs, which will be revealed one at a time
chronologically via a new podcast called Thirty-ThreeWith Billy Corgan leading up to the album’s launching.
The first taster is a piece called BEGUILED.
A mid-tempo banger with a rotating heavy metal riff.
C’mon, Billy.
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS: Facebook
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Artist: JAI BEAM Who: Musician/producer/engineer from studio NJ Sound in River Edge, NJ
“I wrote this song about my good friend Nicole who is dying of cancer and
autoimmune disease. She is an amazing person who is so full of life and joy
even though she’s been given up until 5 years to live. She infuses 70,000 people’s
white blood cells every week to stay alive because if she didn’t she could die of a
simple paper cut to her finger. Nicole is such a loving and free person who faces
death every day with strength and vigor. This song is dedicated to her and her life.”
It’s a hypnotic electronic jam with Krautrock-like dynamics.
May the road rise with Nicole…
JAI BEAM: ReverbNation
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Band: SUEDE New album: Autofiction
Their 9th LP. Their best in years.
Epic stuff. Released last week.
Band: MAGNA ZERO Who: Lifelong friends and bandmates who explore what it means to be human through the music of Magna Zero. A journey through a metaphorical black hole with the band as they meld an unforgettable musical experience into their colorful cauldron of Space Rock.
It’s a song for peace, calling on us all to find the common ground that can help heal the division that threatens further hatred, war, and genocide in the world today. The music video juxtaposes imagery of violence and destruction with scenes of human connection, friendship, and family to highlight the deepest bonds between each other as a starting point on the path to peace.
Once upon a time, R.E.M. sang about the end of the world as we know it. Humankind survived since then, but Doomsday glares again at the horizon. Pandemics, wars, intolerance, racism, and so forth. It doesn’t look good… again. Only together we
can change the threatening tide.
We Are All is an amplified darkwave stroke with an ominous tone and
a shadowy feel, yet it’s about hope, about us all, about our future.
Glam pop stars SUEDE have their 9th LP,
baptized AUTOFICTION out this Friday.
Brett Anderson: “Autofiction is our punk record. No whistles and bells.
Just the five of us in a room with all the glitches and fuck-ups revealed.
The band themselves exposed in all their primal mess.”
The album’s artwork
They just announced their first 2023 Tour Dates
to promote the new record. A series of UK concerts.
A stream of rattling rippers, jagged jams, and magnific musings
All 20 on Spotify.
. TRACK BY TRACK
Band: GILLA BAND Who: Raw Irish post-punk projectile New album: Most Normal,
their third, out on out 7th October.
Dara Kiely (frontman man): “The lyrics are from a stream of consciousness rant, weird imagery and all that. The track is about attraction – fancying someone and not knowing what to say exactly. It’s an indirect love song, knowing you like someone but can’t quite articulate it.”
It follows the character of Billy as he loses his job, his house, his wife and kids, and ultimately maybe his life. After pursuing everything at all costs, we follow Lehman brother’s banker Billy as he chronologically loses everything throughout the worst day of his life, after the bank collapses and everything just keeps going wrong.
Be ready to jump up and down, left and right. This not-so-happy song sounds terrifically happy. A riveting pop tune that could come straight from a Yungblud album. If this devil-may-care earworm doesn’t make you go gaga I don’t know what will.
Turned-on guitars and Oberti‘s quick-fire vocals – on the cracking
chorus he goes as fast as a rapper – inflame this straightforward
standout. From bankrobber to bankrocker.
Fantastico!
THE BANKROBBER: Twitter – Instagram
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(photo by Sandra Ebert)
Band: MODERN WOMAN Who: London-based act that began as the songwriting project of Sophie Harris.
The band’s music, still based around Harris’ songwriting, explores a diverse range
of sounds drawing from their melting pot of influences.
Following their splendid 2021 debut EP Dogs Fight In My Dream these up-and-coming gunslingers score again with their new sassy bass/drums motorized and guitar-spiced stunner, extra energized with Sophie Harris‘s clear-cut vocals and a schizo finish. They should get the same attention as Liverpool‘s sensation The Mysterines. NOW!
MODERN WOMAN: Facebook
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Band: THE KILLERS (Los Angeles) Active: Since 2001 / 7 studio albums
Brando Flowers (frontman): With ‘boy’, I want to reach out and tell
myself, and my sons, to not overthink it. And to look for the ‘white arrows’
in their lives. For me now, white arrows are my wife, children, my songs
and the stage.”
The tunesmiths experts do what do best, writing
lyrical anthems for huge stadiums.
Boy, oh boy.
THE KILLERS: Facebook – Instagram
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This slow-mo reflection on personal turmoil is driven by an ongoing bass-riff that got under my skin and kept on rotating in my head after just one spin. And when Rettig adds psychedelic guitar pizazz and flashy fingertip touches, the bone-chilling progression gets even more poignant. Her shadowy vocality seduces once again. To hypnotise, magnetise and mesmesize are familiar Where We Sleep characteristics I never get tired of.
With The Speed this Belgian darkwave duo invites you once more to get off your
lazy couch, to dress black and head to the nightclub where they are waiting
to make your booty shake to their ghostly bass synth riffs. Nirvana guaranteed.
Jodie: “How It Is, the recurring tale of getting messy with your mates to escape from the standard 9 to 5 working life. This track celebrates the poor life choices made after deciding to go for a drink with your friends/colleagues and the chaos and amusement experienced along the way. “
It’s only Langford‘s third single.
This new one is a brisk clap-along groover with an instantaneous swaying
impact on your hips. Could be the ideal remedy when trying to get out of bed after
a 48-hour weekend revelry and shake your hangover off. Sheeny synths, hip-hopper Marx‘s jaunty contribution, and the zestful chorus, it all comes together seamlessly.
Band: TUHAF (Copenhagen, Denmark) Who: The fusion of different types of musicians and all kinds of genres
– Anatolian folk, indie rock, free jazz, Danish traditional songs and US
roots rock – wondrously merges into the sound of TUHAF. The band is
fronted by Turkish-born singer Berrin Bas.
New single: HAFLA
From their debut album ‘Mere Guld’,
out this Friday.
Berrin: “‘Hafla’ is about celebrating oneself. It is dedicated to Bicop (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and everybody
can join the party.”
Hafla is a sensual groove with an exotic Eastern vibe. Its ongoing vibe
gets you, slowly but surely, into an elevating trance, while Berrin Bas‘s
vocals add a mesmerizing touch that works as a magnet.
Everybody is invited to Tuhaf‘s politically progressive party to celebrate
diversity with them. Music has the power to unite people. We all should
use that power to get together and respect each other as humans without
any kind of discrimination. Tolerance of diversity is the one and only key
to live together, side by side.
The marvelous black & white video will help
you to get in the right mood to dance…
Jordan Speare: I wrote “Hey Stacey” for a friend of mine named Stacey, who also just
so happens to be one of the best people I’ve ever met. I remember when we first met, she
had mentioned how she hated whenever she’d meet new people, they would always make
a reference to that Fountains Of Wayne song “Stacy’s Mom” – she would joke: “it’s not funny
and my name isn’t even spelled that way!” I thought that was hilarious, so I wrote this song especially for her, with her name spelled correctly, of course.
Jingle jangle pop at its exciting best. Hey Stacey is a steamy swinger with all
cylinders rollin’ all the way. It’s sticky as first-class glue and you can sing
the chorus to your lover.
Check the vibe.
. BURN THE LOUVRE: Facebook
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Band: THE ZINVANDELS Who: 4 uproarious rockers from Wales
New single: BLACKHOLES
Their sixth one. A statement of intent
ahead of their debut LP release.
Oh my, oh my. Expect riff schizophrenia bucking up this flipped-out
corker for its whole 4 minutes. Blackholes is a rollicking post-punk
juggernaut that scurries full tilt without looking back.
Add a steamed-up drums/bass tandem and poignant vocals and you
know this head-over-heels thunderstorm will attack your speakers
mercilessly.
These Welshmen are a burning engine.
THE ZINVANDELS: Facebook – Instagram
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Band: STICK TO YOUR GUNS Who: The famous Californian hardcore tormentors Active: Since 2003 / 7 studio LPs (new one incl.)
The slowest and moodiest piece on the LP. But as intense
and fanatical as their hard-screeching-core missiles.
STICK TO YOUR GUNS: Facebook – Instagram
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Photo Credit: August Wolfe
Band: REIGN MAKER Who: Australian prog rock band formed in Melbourne, Victoria in 2020.
Reign Maker is the collaborative project of passionate, activists who weave
politically charged, social commentary throughout their songs to raise
awareness and give voice to a wide range of current issues faced
in the world today.
The band take a stance here against racial discrimination and
police brutality needlessly taking the lives of innocent people.
This mighty-powered and impassioned ballad blows your mind in sound and vision.
Its metallic sonority and its titanic fervency send shivers down your spine. Astonishing.
And the monumental heart-and-soul cutting vocals are just flabbergasting, making me think of the haunting voice of Tarja Turunen from Finnish metalheads Nightwish. Midway, when the decibels go sky-high, the delirium increases to a jaw-dropping level.
Get the picture? Yes, this is a towering stonker
with an aroused impact. Touchdown.
Don’t be a stranger, press play
and get overwhelmed.
Right here, right now.
. GATHERING OF STRANGERS: Facebook – Instagram
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Band: ERASE ME Who: Sludge pop band from Phoenix, Arizona. Their songs cover the gamut of topics but are often driven deep into what it’s like to be piece a of desert trash blowing through gentrified downtown phoenix landscapes, just tryin’ to survive.
Expect a hugely catchy guitar booster with a head-spinning cadence, an electrical rush, and elated vocals As short as a Ramones song. For some reason, my ears tell me that this could be Pavement if they would write a pop tune as silver-toned as this one. Sounds like kick-ass fun, right? You betcha
Listen/watch.
JOAN OF ARKANSAS: Facebook
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(credit: Bianca Petris)
Band: THE CASE Who: Firm 4-piece from Romania who started their journey in 2012, always
refining their rock & grunge sound. On their creative process, the band reckons
they “tried to create a space where originality prevails, to detach themselves from
the current musical cliches while glorifying their lord and savior David Bowie.”
“‘Fever’ is about the passage of time, about the failed attempts to correlate the quality of
a relationship with its duration and intensity. The song is about happiness, sadness, breakup, and forgiveness. It would be love if we were to associate our new single with just one word.”
This is a mind-magnetic and slow-burning sonic torch. Sounds both riveting and piercing as American alt-rockers The Afghan Whigs did/do so impressively for years. The Case develop a similar sensation of vivacity.
A cast-iron winner.
THE CASE: Facebook – Instagram
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Band: THE TRUSTED (Southend-on-Sea, UK) Who: Formed in 2016, making music with strong melodies and catchy hooks. Being inspired by the new age Brit-rock bands like The 1975 and Catfish and the Bottlemen, The Trusted have made their own unique sound by the fusion of post-punk and punk energy with a little hint of modern rock.
“A song about being abandoned by the good guys.”
It was composed during lockdown. The band couldn’t write together
face to face. The creative collaboration went through computers.
Smooth synths, and gently weeping guitar lines take you immediately
on a dreamy head-in-the-clouds trip that moves slowly, heading to an
epic climax. Stylishly composed, greatly arranged.
A bittersweet symphony.
A romantic beauty.
.
THE TRUSTED: Facebook
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Band: SUEDE Who: Britpop glam champions from London Active: 1989–2003, 2010–present Albums: 9, new one included
New album: AUTOFICTION Out: 16 September 2022 – more info here
New single 15 AGAIN, following the first one She Stills Lead Me On,
is about “about falling in love with life for the first time” says
frontman Brett Anderson.
Band: SUEDE Who: Britpop glam champions from London Active: 1989–2003, 2010–present Albums: 9, new one included
New album: AUTOFICTION Out: 16 September 2022 – more info here
Brett Anderson (frontman/songwriter): “Autofiction is our punk
record. No whistles and bells. Just the five of us in a room with all
the glitches and fuck-ups revealed; the band themselves exposed in
all their primal mess.”
TURN UP THE VOLUME 