“The Standard Model’ has been with us since the birth of our band. Although it hits
hard, it’s our least serious, most purely fun and ecstatic song. We built it by stitching
two catchy riffs together”
TUTV: Blimey. Guerilla guitars explode in your face from the kick-off, followed
by a turbulent, gassed-up race, dynamized with urgent vocals. These jittery
juveniles are going places.
Band: TOOTH Who: New indie guitar rock sensation from England.
NME says: “The London four-piece have asserted themselves as
a guitar-wielding voice for a new generation with their angsty and
introspective sound.”
Track: RESTLESS IN BLOOM
Title song of their upcoming
debut EP, out in June.
TUTV: Shoegazy guitar layers, a restless rhythm section, and ardent
vocals dominate this swivel-eyed stunner until it transitions into an
unexpected, calming finale.
Artist: LENNY KAYE Who: Best known as the longtime guitarist, for
more than 50 years, of Patti Smith‘s band.
Track: GOIN’ LOCAL
At 79, and after a zillion years in the music business, Kaye will release
his solo debut album. It’ll land on July 17th. Tracklist and info here.
“I feel like I’m a new artist. I think this album will surprise those
who think they know me from what I’ve done previously.”
TUTV: Well, you’re obviously never too old to put out your debut LP.
Of course, after half a decade of electrifying Patti Smith’s backing band, Kaye knows all the tricks to deliver some good old rock ‘n’ roll buzz.
Band: QUICKSAND Who: Post-hardcore vet rockers from NYC,
1990–1995, 1997–1999, 2012–present.
Track: GET TO IT
Along with Regenerate, two hefty previews from their upcoming new
album, 5th full-length and first in 5 years, Bring On the Psychics. It’ll hit the
streets on July 17th. More info here
TUTV: I wonder where vet bands like this still get their red-hot-blooded
appetite for titanic tunes from? Quicksand are back on fire, folks. Fervent fire.
The album was finished before co-founder Dave Ball, passed away last October.
TUTV: Back to the discotheques’ dancefloors of the 80s, colored
with its soulful flamboyance and hedonistic nights out. Sway, swing,
and shake. Get sweaty.
Band: SOULWAX, Who: The Belgian brothers David and Stephen Dewaele‘s main project for
30 years now, released their 6th longplayer, called All Systems Are Lying,
last year in October.
Track: PERFECT WE ARE NOT
New piece which they wrote and recorded in
just 24 hours in the historic Abbey Road Studios
in London.
TUTV: It’s a nearly 8-minute electro-spiked brainbreaker echoing,
both New Order and LCD Soundsystem with its motorik beeps an
bleeps perseverance, and nerve-racking repetition.
The siblings throw some nonchalant vocals in the mix before
storming towards an orgastic techno finale. Perfect.
TUTV: Don’t expect Barnett to turn into a pop diva. She’s still her slacker rocker
self, writing both lazy and electrical sonic goodies. And that’s what she does here
again. Great Advice is bite-sized, infectious, and uplifting.
TUTV: Brian and The Onions don’t waste time. They produce a ton of decibels from
the get-go. They move and groove with sturdy doggedness, mulled with in-your-face vocals. And you can yell along to the chanty chorus. Rock ‘n’ rap-punk roll rules.
Track: TAKE MORE
Their first release since their
2021 debut album Flourish.
“Take More is a song about growing up in the suburbs. It captures nights spent twisting your mind over the future, caught between staying with the people you love and the need to escape, struggling to find anything that breaks the loop.”
TUTV: Imagine Hole fronted by Joan Jett. Bitchy, right? You betcha. This is a knife-edged stormer, vitalized by buzzing guitars and non-stop pushing drum beats, while the male action of the duo jumps in for some vocal assistance. Wanna have fun partying downtown?
TUTV: Yes! A stirred-up ska-like groove gets your pelvis abuzz. Rapping vocals,
a hefty guitar upsurge, and 70s organ glow complete the hustling picture. What
if I tell you to jump? Would you?
Band: AWAY // FANS Who: Jumpy London team, formed in 2020, classing themselves as an indie-dance
five-piece who set out to make music that gets everyone dancing, screaming, and misbehaving. Formed in the early part of the 2020’s
“Perfect Moment is an ode to messy nights and hungover mornings with the people you love.
It’s a celebration of youthful stupidity and hedonism, as well as the long-lasting connections
we can make in all the silliness.”
TUTV: C’mon, get your lazy butt off your couch and shake your booty to this
bass-propelled twist-around this stimulating invigorator. This is the perfect moment to throw your furniture out of the window and make some room for your twirling actions.
The rapping vocalist shows the way, backed now and then by cheery harmonies,
while the diligent drummer produces an addictive disco beat, which made that
1978 hit Born To Be Alive popped up on my stereo in my head.
“It’s a song about the ecstasy of being in love, the feeling that floating on air, of being so close that you can feel the pulse of your heart when looking into the eyes of your special person. The sensation of spinning and spiralling higher with a rush of feelings which won’t ever stop, you won’t come down.”
TUTV: Pop techno for crowded dancefloors in torrid nightclubs. If your body doesn’t vibrate when We Can’t Fall enters your eager ears, you need to consult your shrink or change your medication. Anyway, invite your lover for a wild night out in the city and
let the adrenaline take over.
Band: McCASLIN DAHLE Who: Duo of seasoned musicians featuring Donny McCaslin (3x Grammy nominee, bandleader on Blackstar by David Bowie) and Ryan Dahle (Limblifter, Age of Electric, Mounties).
Track: HENRY TAKES THE 5TH
First single, from their upcoming debut album MXD,
out May 22nd. Tracklist and more info right here.
“The song frames the mundane through a child’s lens where
the everyday feels enormous, heavy and extraordinary.”
TUTV: Expect a speedy, head-twisting ride, full-steam ahead from the get-go. Vocally magnetic, sonically intoxicating, and hopped-up, spiced with frenetic saxophone upsurges, adding a freaky force to this turbulent psych stormer. One spin and your ears are hooked.
Band: THE N.S.O. Who: A Yorkshire (UK) four-piece who mix various influences and genres into their work, resulting in a sound that is enticingly fresh and exciting. They combine dark and gritty vocals with light-hearted melodies making for a winning combo at every turn.
“Counsellors Call is a conversation with yourself, your partner, your boss, your friends or your ‘counsellor’. It’s realisation and contradiction in one, to a familiar rhythm in a humorous way, just like life itself.”
TUTV: Take up the phone and wobble and wabble to the strumming Coral-esque guitar swagger at work here. Counsellors Calls is a jumpy, frisky,
and pop-juiced tune that will bounce in your head for the rest of the day.
TUTV: It’s been a while since we had Common Flaws on our headphones, and it’s
a techno-stoked pleasure to hear Oberti again playing around with synths, producing
an ongoing, motorik EBM stomper, which bounces around in your head all day long.
Band: DOPAMINE FIX Who: Fresh-Irish indie duo who’s manifesto says a lot about them: “With a nod to the Dadaists, we create Post Punk, Experimental and
Electronica which aims to unnerve, to disturb and to question.”
“This piece speaks from inside the aftermath: after the damage, after the noise, when
certainty has begun to fail. In a world shaped by artificial intelligence, disinformation
and continuous media manipulation, perception is no longer shared. Reality becomes something assigned rather than lived.”
TUTV: Dopamine Fix offer a voltaic, jump-up-and-down earworm
that bangs and booms from start to finish, like disco legends Erasure
with a punky vibe. Trust me, they’re for real, and they produce real
sonic stimulants.
Band: DEAD RAT SOCIETY Who: London-based team producing bombastic explosion of Punk, Electro, Hip Hop and Grunge Rock. They are a genre-bending conceptual rollercoaster, fusing the no-nonsense lyricism of punk, the hard hitting dance beats of Electronic Music and the raucous noise of fuzz rock.
TUTV: These weirdos are big fun, triggering your foxtrot moves with big horns, big beats, big vocals, and big rotations. DRS make you smile, cheer, and spin around like a carousel. Simple and 100% effective with a lot of sassy swagger. That’s entertainment for you, mister Weller
Ali Lipman (singer/guitarist) : “I wanted to reflect on the stage of life I was in before her
death, recognizing how youth, distraction, and inexperience kept me from fully appreciating
the time we had together. The song explores that painful awareness, as well as the disorientation of sudden loss and the struggle to make sense of it all.
At its core, this song is about how grief becomes a lasting expression of love, shaping
how I move through the world and reminding me to stay present, because nothing is guaranteed.”
TUTV: At the song’s start, the light goes on slowly and smoothly until frenzied guitars,
a pushing rhythm section and passionate vocals take over and inject this flare-up with gusto and fervor, peaking on the ardent chorus.
It feels as if Lipman wants to ease her pain caused by a dramatic loss and decides
to choose for the future with this emotional eruption. Music has a cathartic force.
TUTV: Once again, these Swedish music addicts show their knack for writing
attention-grabbing tunes that spin around in your head throughout the day.
This new bass-peppered composition has a bit of slacker rock touch, bringing Dinosaur Jr to mind, with fewer guitar layers, but more melodic and with vocally
passionate J Mascis echoes.
Band: SEADOG Who: Dream-pop outfit from the mystic shores of Brighton.
They have 2 albums under their belts. Cabin Fever Blues (2018)
and Internal Noise (2024).
Press info: “An indie anthem for the underdog. A celebration of the ones who carve their own path, rather than follow the herd. The song embraces that raw authenticity and the care-free energy of youth.
Sleeve artwork by B. Kayla Bell
TUTV: Against The Grain balances somewhere between smooth Dinosaur Jr moments
and guitar-layered fuzziness by Band Of Horses, invigorated with rigid drum/bass pulsations and spacey melodiousness. On top, silvery vocals float along, bringing Sparklehorse‘s hallucinatory vocals to mind. Splendiferous stroke.
The song captures the internal tug-of-war of extroversion: throwing yourself into the night to escape your own thoughts and masking heaviness with noise, movement and people. Written for those who are always invited and always present, the track sits in the uneasy aftermath of the night when you are imminently left alone.
TUTV: This slow-burning torch progresses in slo-mo, amplified with weeping guitars and somber-sounding vocals. The party is over, once again. You’re alone, again. I guess many can connect by experience with this sad situation, therefore making this distressed song an inspiring one. Shared sorrow is half sorrow
Vitalizing tunes that work faster than a stream of caffeine
20 March 2026
Photo by Royal Cream
Cincinnati‘s rock bigshots THE AFGHAN WHIGS(1986–2001, 2006, 2011–present)
released their most recent full-length, their 9th overall, How Do You Burn? in 2022.
It was picked by Turn Up The Volume as the best album of that year.
A couple of weeks ago, they announced new tour
dates to celebrate their 40th anniversary as a band.
Greg Dulli – TAW in Belgium, 2022 – Photo by Turn Up The Volume
2026 marks the 40th birthday of Cincinnati‘s avid rockers THE AFGHAN WHIGS fronted by songwriter and gutsy voice Greg Dulli. 40? Really? OMG.
Well, now and then they took a pause for solo projects. Anyway,
they released 9th albums so far with the superb How Do You Burn?
from 2022 as their most recent one. TUTV named it best album of
the year.
.
Dulli: “40 years later, I still get to do the thing I love the most. Writing songs
and performing them with my friends all over the world. I truly have to pinch
myself.” .
And, of course, the Whigs will celebrate on the road.
Pitchfork wrote: “Greg Dulli sings about some fucked-up shit on the Afghan Whigs’ fourth album and major-label debut, 1993’s Gentlemen, a harrowing song cycle chronicling the death throes of a relationship… This is an album that serves as an emotional exorcism, visceral and violent, played by a band not known for its squeamishness.” Full review here.
(Brussels 2015 -pic by TUTV)
TUTV: Pitch-black sentiments, bone-chilling tunes, spellbinding orchestrations.
As a fervid Whigs fan I can listen to Gentlemen every single day (already two times
today, and it’s only noon). It’s their magnum opus (note: Black Love, 65 and last year’s How Do You Burn? are not far away).
This time the cliché ‘no fillers, all killers‘ is 150% accurate. Every song is humanly perfect.
I’m not a big fan of artists playing an album in full live, but Gentlemen is definitely a rare one I would travel a long way for to hear it for its 48 grand minutes. Having experienced their high-powered live exploits several times, I just know it would be an unforgettable blast/night. What do you think, Mister Dulli?
Track-by-track breakdown. Back in 2014 Greg Dulli
talked to Spin about every song. Read the feature here.
1. ‘Twitchin’ in The Kitchen’ byWARMDUSCHER (London)
This punky-funky disco corker is the perfect pick-me-up tune for all the wacky
weirdos who are always in the kitchen at parties waiting for free drinks and waiting
for Warmduscher to come in and kick their lazy asses. Big stroke, big chorus, big fun!
The Scottish dance-funk-punk trio YOUNG FATHERS launch
their 5th LP called HEAVY HEAVY on 3 February.
Ahead of hit came this ridiculously sticky stunner I SAW.
A master blaster that makes your blood stream faster
through your veins. The addition of a choir in the back
works on the spot.
This London post-punk team unleashed their 2nd scorching album Beware Believers, last April. One of TUTV’s best full-lengths of 2022.
Slowly Separate is a schizo sonic serpent generating a mind-blowing backwash
while chainsaw guitars turn up the decibels to an illegal peak, and vox-in-the-middle James Fox rages and blazes through his teeth.
The by now legendary passion rockers from Cincinnati, Ohio with mastermind Greg Dulli leading the troops. Their new 10th LP How Do You Burn? was voted Best Album Of 2022 on Turn Up The Volume.
I’ll Make You See God was the lead single. A sturdy steamroller, a red-hot-heated juggernaut, an unstoppable cannonball going everywhere fast. Manic blitzkrieg
guitars, ruthless drum/bass attacks, Greg Dulli‘s rush of blood vocality, and a brutal
finish. Flabbergasting.
Dulli: “That’s one of the hardest rock songs we’ve ever done.
It was written and performed on sheer adrenalin.”
This frenetic Brit force hit big time with their dazzling
debut album The Great Regression last March.
Single I Am Kate Moss is a cast-iron brainbreaker. It’s a poignant, biting, and
anxious uppercut. I’m pretty sure Moss would love this hit-and-run drone when
it would hit her ears. She is, after all, the Femme Punk Fatale of fashion.
The Prophet progresses like a vicious viper sliding to its prey until a horrific explosion strikes you in the face. Next is a titanic bass riff that keeps the roller coaster turning with scary speed. This flabbergasting monster is part of their 2nd notable longplayer Trust No Leaders.
About: “As a story or metaphor, we are all ‘Frankenstein’s monster’ – made up of
other people’s opinions and parts that don’t belong to us. That we were born
perfect but people, in their own conditioning, come along and can make us feel
undesirable/inadequate/the monster. But we can choose to be real instead.”
This is without a shadow the best debut single of 2022.
A towering tune going low, high and back. A sickly sticky pop gem wrapped in
a big-boisterous wall-of-sound. And up front, Sianna Lafferty‘s phenomenal voice
causes goosebumps when she reaches for the sky on the chorus. The ardency of Porridge Radio comes to mind.
“I am not what you want me to be
Uncle Sam won’t even point at me
Even the eyes of the Virgin Mary wall
hanging won’t even stare at me.”
Kill Me Again, one of three pieces shared so far, is an infectious groove
propelled by a pounding synth/bass riff, spiced with Coxon on saxophone
and mesmerizing (duet) vocals. Splendid stuff. Bring on the LP.
This power pop sensation impressed big time with their self-titled debut album. The outstanding dingle Chaise Longue – catchy, funny and witty caused choirs of thousands of sing-along people at festivals this past summer as I experienced myself, not at Glastonbury (below), but in Belgium at Hear!Hear! fest.
After releasing her sterling debut LP last year, songstress Ilayda Cicek and her band
came back this year for a series of riveting concerts (I saw 5 of them) and this sublime single. Her passion, her vivaciousness and vocal fervency push this electrifying pearl
way up to the stars.
Where We Sleep is the alter ego of Beth Rettig,
former front force of electro-rock band Blindness
On this boiling groover Rethig rants non-stop with anger and frustration.
A nasty bass riff is the backbone here, while layers of menacing guitar
electricity augment this ripper’s rowdy roll.
A crystal clear statement, a menacing projectile.
“They Don’t Want The Truth / They Just Want The Power”
12. ‘Nothing Good Comes Easy’ by DEAD LEVEE (Canada)
What a wowzer! This uplifting motherrocker boosts your state of mind with
fired-up dynamism from the get-go. Rapid-fire rawk and roll riffs switch on
a fervent feel of euphoria. It did it in the past, it does it in the present and
it will do it in the future.
Despite all the BS we have to endure (pandemic, Ukraine, natural disasters,
and other threats) it’s never too late to get back on track and why not start
with 4 and a half minutes of heart-warming guitar-fueled boogie-woogie
that triggers hope and assurance.
Stoogefather IGGY POP still wants to be your dog.
He has his new – 19th – LP, named Every Loser
lands out next week, on 6 January.
Lead-single was the perfect harbinger. A motherfucker of a punk bomb
featuring an all-star band including Watt, Guns N’ Roses‘ Duff McKagan
and Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith.
I’m in a frenzy
Fucking prick
I’m in a frenzy
Goddamn dick
It’s been two years since these Scottish hound dogs made
my speakers tremble with their furious Johnny single.
But on their steamy comeback stomper they still have the same barnstorming groove and move drive. Something Good is a nasty rip-roaring-riff jackhammer,
annex agitated vocals, rotating in your head in an ear-blink. Think NYC’s darlings Interpol playing The Fall. Something good? Way better, something ace!
Geordie Greep (vocalist, guitar): “Almost everything I write is from a true thing, something
I experienced and exaggerated and wrote down. I don’t believe in Hell, but all that old world folly is great for songs, I’ve always loved movies and anything else with a depiction of Hell.”
A screwy zig-zagging haymaker it is.
From their head-spinning 3rd LP Hellfire.
“A paean to taking your foot off the gas and letting things slide, or a warning of the perils of procrastination, perhaps? It’s hard to tell whether ‘Mañana’ is meant to serve as a confessional regarding Domestic’s own perceived lack of willpower, or a celebration of idleness. It could be either of these things; and that’s one of its many joys.”.
A sirens intro, David Bowie‘s saxophone, and steel drums straight from Trinidad. Sounds like an exotic swing and shake ditty is coming up. No folks, it’s a lazy rap-sody you can play the morning after a booze marathon to get up and sober up, slowly.
Soul voice Clare Gillet takes care of the chirpy chorus.
These Welshmen released their new excellent album Druids and Bards
displaying mastermind Scott Marsden high-quality songwriting.
This impassioned hard-luck story is my fav cut. It grows slowly but surely into a soul-stirring and mesmerising heartbreaker with an epic finale. Glowing guitars, a steady drumbeat, and mixed-emotions vocals all come together for a poignant performance.
‘Love Is Cruel / The Hurt Within’. You can feel it.
This wholly charismatic and fast up-and-coming darkwave duo mixes Gothic Depeche Mode beats, with sonic Human League echoes, bass-synth-riffs à la German legends D.A.F. and spice it all up with spooky vocals. And it looks like 2023 will even be bigger than 2022.
After their eponymous bonkers debut EP (2020) followed by some staggering singles,
the high-decibels tandem nail it with another sucker punch. Leader is a funk-punk riff ripsnorter that kicks forth and back before a freakish guitar outbreak slashes and
trashes its way to the end.
Watch out for the pigman,
he looks like a meme in disguise.
“It’s a warning, an unflinching assessment of the vastness and insignificance of this
life, is precisely counterbalanced by their lesson, which models the resilience that this understanding demands. ‘Demolition Row’ is persistent, concise, and alarmingly physical.”
This blustery belter is vintage Metz. Full blast ahead. The track
featured on a split 7” with London-based group Adult Life.
From Dylan’s Desolation Row
to Metz’s Demolition Row…
Once I learned that this startling belter is about the horrible exploitation of human
beings by ferocious money sharks this jagged jackhammer blew my mind even harder than I heard it the first time before knowing about the band’s inspiration for this slam.
Expect rabid guitars, doom-and-gloom vocals, and frantic
twists and turns until the chaotic finale. Post-punk at
its razorblade best.
Jeen: “It’s about letting yourself drift in the flow of everything and hanging on as hard as you can to what makes the shitty parts more tolerable…I was thinking of that Hunter S. Thompson quote, “buy the ticket, take the ride.” It was written in April 2021, which was a rough part of last year for me. I needed to write something that reminded me to tread lightly, to forget about the heaviness of everything.
After only one spin, my ears told me that Chemical Emotion is an bewitching pop doozy. Jeen‘s emotive voice bewitches right away, the mid-tempo cadence emphasizes the meditative reflection perfectly, the compelling chorus brings Alanis Morissette to mind, and overall the orchestral sonority and the layered harmonies lead to a thrilling triumph.
Oscar Mic wrote this song after witnessing the horrific violence of
psycho Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine on the news. All proceeds of
the song weent to Save The Children’s Ukraine Appeal.
We Are Ukrainian is a vivid hp-rap-pop anthem featuring steel drums
and timpani balancing somewhere between Roots Manuva and Mr. Scruff.
“Fleeing people running scared, so tell me Where’s the justice? Our leaders say they care,
tell me can you trust this? Urban warfare, your home’s done and dusted, Aiming at the
public, they wouldn’t? They just did,”
TUTV: Greg Dulli‘s pipes reach for the sky throughout this new standout LP. His unique rock voice is the unwearying motor of this heart-and-soul opus. And when the songs are of supreme quality, as all 10 terrific tunes here are, and your bustling band are on a raucous roll with the vitality of young wolves you end up with the undeniable best album of 2022.
2. ‘Cave World’ by VIAGRA BOYS (Stockholm, Sweden)
Turn Up The Volume: The more our world gets fucked-up the more inspiration Viagra Boys have to write absurd, hilarious, sarcastic, crazy, monkey-ish songs about
all the related mess, embedded in their by now familiar filthy punk and roll grooves.
Never a dull moment with punk rock loser Sebastian Murphy in the middle. And they
played the best gig to my ears/eyes a couple of weeks ago in Antwerp, Belgium.
Turn Up The Volume: After playing opener Clocks to the max, with its Blitzkrieg grinta, it feels like the band and I are already out of breath as you can hear on the post-explosion outro. I felt wrong, as several KO Killers (Ded Würst / The Warden / I Am Kate Moss and the JAWDROPPING missile closer No Thanks, I’m Full) follow and do your head in. Ditz is a mean manic post-punk machine. The first minutes of the slower pieces (Three / Instinct / Teeth) are misleading, halfway they explode like grenades. No rest for the wicked, no rest for Ditz, no rest for your ears.
Turn Up The Volume: Back in 2016 Crows blew my mind when they played a small club
gig in my hometown of Ghent, Belgium. A memorable one cemented in the aural side of my
brain. The immense intensity and their frenetic furiosity were no less than jaw-dropping. On Beware Believers, their high-powered passion is still intact and its sizzling sound evolved further into a mean Herculean rock machine.
Blistering hammer blows like Garden Of England, Slowly Separate, and Room 156 are already noted in my end-of-the-year list of best 2022 knockouts. And reflective reality checks like the Joy Division-esqueHealing, Moderation, Wild Eyed & and Loathsome, and the fucktastic Meanwhile have the sonic vehemence to burn holes in your stereo.
TUTV: Musically and lyrically, this 3rd LP is moony, mellow and pensive with frontman Grian Chatten becoming a modern-day crooner who touches sensitive hearts, especially Irish ones as this album is about their Irish past/present/future identity in and outside of their beloved country.
TUTV: Weirdly exciting and capriciously inventive. This new LP resonates like a Zappa-esque rock circus. A sundry potpourri of symphonic jazz-prog-rock twists and turns, building up/breaking down constructions, forth/back and vertical/horizontal saltations with head-spinning orchestrations. Welcome to Black Midi‘s hell.
. Turn Up The Volume wrote: Prepare your ears for brawny industrial bombast (No Yes More less / Veni Vidi Vici / Feed The Wound / Taranatula), nightmares in slow-motion (Limbo / Sugar My Pill / The Judas Chair), wham-bam-glam drones (Glitz Krieg / The Dark Room) and the fantastic slow-burning gospel chant of the title track. It’s all there to have yourself a merciless head-banging pig trip. File next to Rammstein’s new opus Zeit.
TUTV: The result of the collaboration of wordsmith and poetry lover Peter Doherty and French composer Frédéric Lo who wrote the music, is a sparkling thing of beauty. This is the record to play when you’re feeling lazy, and in the mood for doing just nothing but daydreaming while lying in a green field enjoying the sun. Expect romantic lullabies with violins, piano and smooth horns, sweet little pop ditties, and sepia-colored tunes that transfer you to a place far away from our cruel reality.
9. ‘All Of Us Flames’ by EZRA FURMAN (Chicago, US)
TUTV: Definitely her most complete accomplishment to date. Majestic songwriting quality. Top-level tunes in orchestration, arrangement and vocal emotiveness. Here and there songs’ structures and Furman‘s fragile voice (Train Comes Trough / Throne / Poor Girl A Long Way From Home) bring, yes, Tom Petty to mind. Un-Americana Americana splendor with an artist who’s slowly but surely finds her way as a human being on this frightful planet.
TUTV: Disco fuel for 24-Hour misfit parties in obscure nightclubs for SM fans, physically unsatisfied individuals looking for sexual healing, gangbang addicts, nudists, lost sex workers, manic David Lynch characters, neurotic Brexit victims, acid-house junks, erotic lovers, lobotomized politicians, trashmouth artists, Andy Weatherall junks and all other messed-up souls who hate reality and want to dance/party/fuck/hallucinate to stripped-down techno beats. E-tastic.
Turn Up The Volume: Check in on a Saturday Warmduscher Fever Night, ladies and gents, at the club called The Hotspot. Feel the sultry ambiance, have a couple of cocktails at the bar, dance to some banging boosters and some funky Sly Stone vibes, and go twitchin’ in the kitchen now and then.
Turn Up The Volume: JO-JO is the flamboyant Amazon in the middle. She sings the
blues with the vigorous vitality of eternal legend Janis Joplin (We’re Just Animals / Moon Child), she rocks her multi-colored tail off with the gusto of Grace Slick on a roll (My Babe / No More Good News / Don’t Get Too Heavy), she has the groovy guts and the glamorous looks of eccentric punkette Nina Hagen and to close the show she affects with a gripping candlelight reverie for the midnight hours (Oh Brother).
Mind you, she’s not alone. Her bang-on band The Teeth know all the 60s/80s/80s
rock ‘n’ blues ‘n’ glam ‘n’ punk ‘n’ roll classics. They back Jo-Jo with a mood-and-cadence fitting firework of Jimmy Page riffs, John Lee Hooker hooks and Slash licks. Retro injected electricity.
Turn Up The Volume: As I said several times before, Samara and Animal are
adventurous architects in sound and vision (watch the singles’ spectacular videos
below / also the artwork for their releases is always a reflection of vivid visual inventiveness).
On this new, bone-and-mind chilling, longplayer both high-tech DIY artists keep
on challenging sonic and thematic boundaries. It’s also the first time we hear poetry fanatic Samara sing instead of reciting her poetic chimeras, as on psychoanalytic
discharge Shaman and on doom-punk sledgehammer Human Sacrifice.
There are so many layers, so many different directions, so many pendulum movements and so many unexpected turns at play here that you need several spins to get a grip of their poetallica world fully. This record as well as their debut are voyages of discovery.
Turn Up The Volume said: Damon Albarn was the first name that popped up in my head when The Early Years impressed my ears on first hearing. At times I thought he was a guest singer on Vanwymeersch‘s debut longplayer, with his pondering voice and his musing songs . Check Drama I, Who Can Tell, I’m Wide Awake and you’ll find out why.
Vanwymeersh also, like Albarn, is a song architect. All lullabies, reveries, and tunes at
play here stick quickly. But with every listen you discover how rich and subtly layered the musical arrangements and feel-good orchestrations (hear that playful banjo sound on Part Of Me ) are. Then again he invites you into his sonic labyrinth where he goes left, right, and back in one and the same song (When You’re Old And Grey And Full Of Sleep / Fall From Grace).
15. ‘Carrion Repeating’ by JAMES DOMESTIC (Essex/Suffolk, UK)
TUTV: Domestic is a story-telling Cockney wordsmith, tackling politics, daily life shit, gobbling business sharks, and other related mess.
Musically anything is possible. Screechy guitars and 60s sounding Hammond organs to inflame tirades such as Itchy Itchy, Faze Out, Bean Counter and Push on Trough. Saxophone and steel drums straight from Trinidad on Mañana. Soulful female voices and Le Freak C’est Chic riffs on Never Enough. A reggae vibe with xylophone touches on Is Thay You?. Dub Jah Wobble bas on Weekend Carbs and Giblets. He just does what his ears like.
Turn Up The Volume:Dim Gray float in a universe where the poignancy and
starry-eyed melodrama of Sigur Rós and the spiritual vocality of day-and-night
dreamers Fleet Foxes become one. This heart-and-soul stirring trio reverberates
like a full orchestra. They’re cinematic pop architects working with a drone flying
up high like an eagle and showing us where the ocean meets the sky.
Symphonic pop splendour. Firmament is a shiny diamond of a record.
I really can’t say more about this multi-faceted record and its from lost soul to ‘fuck it, you only live once’ author does herself.
Koan: “This record sounds like I’m schizophrenic in a way coz there are so many mad emotions in the songs. They are all very real, which took some guts to vocalize but I’m proud that we managed to bring it all across in a raw and real way. It’s not as sexually charged as my first album.
This new album COCOON was written during the lockdown, so many emotions that were pent up inside had time and space to surface and they sure came out with a vengeance. Anger, procrastination, questions about the way we C/O-exist in this society, and some new relationship issues like jealousy, infidelity, breakups. So it’s a more grown up album with more grown up topics.”
Turn Up the Volume: A striking work of top-notch tunes, written by mastermind Scott Marsden, that get under your skin slowly but surely until you see/hear the whole picture and realize that this is one of the most gripping albums of 2022 in my book. And lots to learn about Wales’ history.
Turn Up The Volume: Liam says that he is happy with his rock formula. So nothing new? No, just a bunch of new songs from good to very good. As much as I love our kid I enjoy him the most when he’s a rock ‘n’ roll star on stage. That’s his habitat. That’s what he does best. Entertaining a crowd/choir of 50.000 in a green field. See you in Belgium in August, Liam, on a green field of course.
The greatest Belgian singer-songwriter ever past away this year. A passionate chansonnier, a blues man, a rocker, a goosebumps crooner, a charismatic personality, and a one-of-a-kind live performer. I saw him about a 100 times, mostly solo, but also with his fantastic band TC Matic and one-time side projects.
Opex is his final longplayer. Vocally you hear him suffer from that deadly
disease that killed him shortly after recording the LP. I miss him, really hard.
