Big tunesmiths THE KILLERS nail it for the
umpteenth time, now with a big BOY tune.
Brando Flowers (frontman) about the new song: “I had recently moved back to Utah
and started to make trips to Nephi, where I grew up. I found that the place I had wanted to get away from so desperately at 16 was now a place that I couldn’t stop returning to. I have a son approaching the age I was at that time in my life. 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.”
Head down
Wrong fit
Big deal
That’s just growing up
Untouched
Sixteen
Don’t overthink it, boy
White arrows will break the black night
But don’t overthink it, boy
And when you’re out on the ledge Please come down, boy There is a place that exists Just give it some time Drawn arrows unseen will fly
Ounsworth (mastermind): “The songs are politically motivated,
which is unusual for me. It’s about what I think we’re all experiencing
at the moment, certainly here in the United States, anyway, trying
to move forward amidst an almost cruel uncertainty.”
Turn Up The Volume: Riveting tunes, sharp-cutting reflections,
magical sparks, Ounsworth‘s feverish voice, and his glittery guitar
play make this LP the best one since the self-titled 2005 debut.
Bewitching all the way. My 2021 number one
Turn Up The Volume: Finally, Iceage do what they were expected to do for a long
time. Creating a standout album that makes the hair in the back of your neck stand
up. Melodramatic with ardency, impassioned with vigour, emotional with grimness. Charismatic frontman Elias Bender Rønnenfelt leads the troops as never before.
Turn Up The Volume: From outlandish sonority – think Scott Walker – to
Zappa-esque adventurousness, from a ‘normal’ song (Marlene Dietrich) to
free jazz weirdness. The sonic search of this impressively inventive band is
both inscrutable and intriguing.
Cavalcade confirms the experimental brilliance of their debut LP. Miles Davis going post-punk in the 21st Century.
Turn Up The Volume: The drop-dead gorgeous sisters in rock arms Lindsey Troy
and Julie Edwards celebrate their 10th year of producing high-powered turbulence.
Their bond is tighter than ever and their boogie-woogie more varied than ever.
Mind you, don’t expect a jazz record. Deap Vally are still about rocking ‘n rolling
while tackling their demons with vocal bravado and forthright ruminations.
Old skool punk ‘n’ roll? Absolutely. Any good? You betcha!
Amyl and her buddies made another blistering riff-manic-monster of
a hell fucking hell yeah record. Pogo madness is back. Sturm und drang
from start to finish. Holy Moly!
Turn Up The Volume: This black and white pearl is the work of
the romantic Cave crooner meeting the haunting Cave crooner. Idyllic
orchestrations, classical arrangements, and bad seed Warren Ellis
showing, once more, his refined grandeur.
Turn Up The Volume: Manimal and Samara are a poetallica sensation.
A new laser light at the end of a mythical and tenebrous tunnel.
Imagine Sylvia Plath fronting a mind-challenging, noise-exploring band.
Their debut album is a multi-faceted opus in sound and vision. Puzzling poetry
exploring life, death, birth, past, present, and future embedded in titanic thunder
and lighting symphonies going from perplexing metal to chill-out ambient.
Turn Up The Volume: The amplified haziness of Slowdive, the mystifying
soulfulness of Spacemen 3, the multi-layer-constructing skills of My Bloody
Valentine.
Hallucinating soundscapes, synth shadowplays, and guitars dueling with
each other while tireless drums dauntlessly beat, and wailing voices wander
in an enigmatic fog of reverberation.
This is what the (sur)real world of Ghost Patterns sounds like.
Turn Up The Volume: This time the bombastic rockers take another direction
to express their emotiveness. Moody, nostalgic, melancholically romantic with
frontman Brandon Flowers looking back at his teenage years in his hometown
Utah. Think Bruce Springsteen‘s sentimentality on his masterpiece Nebraska.
Overall an emotive and melodramatic
record without going over the top.
For some critics, it’s too mellow.
For me, its gripping mellowness
that works just fine.
Liz Lamere (Vega’s widow) remembers: “Our primary purpose for going into the studio
was to experiment with sound, not to ‘make records. I was playing the machines with Alan manipulating sounds. I played riffs while Alan morphed the sounds being channeled through the machines.’
Turn Up The Volume: Most of the lost albums that eventually came/come to the
surface one day should have stayed lost forever. If they were good enough to be
released the moment they were recorded they would have never ended up in a
smelly cellar or, worst case, in a trash can.
So what about Alan Vega’s lost one? One: it feels special to have the legend back.
Two: the album seems to come from a very dark mind, from the obscure places
of Vega‘s soul, creating a nightmarish and Kafkaesque chill-out atmosphere for
a 30-minute David Lynch film-noir.
Turn Up The Volume: The rap and roll venom of Rage Against The Machine, the
fuck-you-hypocrites grimness of Black Flag, the punky saxophone of X-Ray-Spex,
the sharp poetic spit and sneer anarchy of Mark. E. Smith, the challenging spirit
of open-minded-and-ass-kicking-anti-establishment doom and gloom crusaders.
Sounds like 2021, like the end of the world as we know it.
Turn Up The Volume says: Like Pavement going prog rock with the sound- exploring
state of mind of Mogwai. Jazzy and classical music textures make sure your curious mind
is focused all the time. And singer Isaac Wood‘s voice resonates freakishly identical to the chilling voice of American songwriter Conor Oberst from indie band Bright Eyes.
It’s not a happy record, but who needs a tsunami of cheesy pop tunes in these science-fiction-like times, anyway. I know it’s their first time, but these hungry noise crusaders
will stun us again in the future.
Turn Up The Volume wrote: Gusto, high-spiritedness, and anxiety are the
keywords here. This warm-blooded record is a heart-rending reflection of the
group’s state of 2021 mind. A galvanizing collection of cohesive poignant emo
songs influenced by the disturbing way our troubled world is handling human
issues, once-in-a-lifetime dramas, and the personal turmoil of frontwoman Eline Chavez.
Her soul-stirring and powerful (Aretha Franklin / young Tina Turner) vox, the weeping
guitars, and the electrical intensity are at times overwhelming and heartbreaking. Impressive!
Turn Up The Volume: The essential message of this new powerhouse album is loud and clear: noise-challenging turbo Pink Room is here to stay! Their tsunami energy is beyond any decibel regulation. Again, loudmouth Bart Cocquyt leads the rip-roaring trio.
As I said before his vocal range is out-of-this-world. He easily could front a death metal band (Stay Black/Stay White) or a Nirvana reunion (Losing/Skin) or kick Ozzy Osbourne‘s ass (Hail Satan). Expect ear-shattering jackhammers, over-the-top frenzy, and clamorous lockdown paranoia.
Putain, putain, c’est vachement bien, nous sommes quand même tous des bohemiens.
Band: THE KILLERS (Los Angeles) Song: IN ANOTHER LIFE Performance: On American TV, on the Late Late Show with James Corden
The gripping song is from the band’s recent album Pressure Machine. A nostalgic
look back at frontman Brandon Flowers‘ youth in his hometown Utah. No bombastic rockers this time, but sensitive, tender musings with a Springsteen-eque songwriting signature.
Band: THE KILLERS(Las Vegas) Active: Since 2001, for 20 years now.
7 studio albums (including the new one)
New album: PRESSURE MACHINE Out: 13 August – order info here
Brandon Flowers (frontman): “I had a lot of time on my hands.
Before I’d normally be gearing up to tour, all of that time has gone
back into writing more songs. It’s been pretty fruitful.”
2022 Tour
My special Killers memory – Brussels, 2004 – max 100 people in a 150 cap. club
Last summer THE KILLERS released their sixth LP Imploding The Mirage proving
again that they’re the kings of melodramatic, bombastic, and anthemic pop. You
just can’t ignore their sky-scraping impact.
Shortly after, they announced that another new album
would appear within “about 10 months.”
But first this. The band just came up with a deluxe edition of the new LP including
new track C’EST LA VIE. No idea why this wasn’t on the original tracklist. It’s a playful, zestful, and catching tune with frolicsome eurhythmics.
Artwork: Painting ‘Dance of the Wind and Storm’
by American artist Thomas Blackshear
The Killers ringleader Brandon Flowers said: “They just look like gods.
I just started to see a path open up in what these two people could
represent for me. We blew up terrible lo-res versions of them and stuck
them up in the studio.”
NME‘s verdict: “The band blast through Battlestar Vannucci once more, roaring into a distant soundscape with enormo-ballads and futuristic bangers aplenty… In continuing ‘Wonderful Wonderful’’s atmospheric experimentation with canyon rock enormity, The Killers have made another dazzling statement of ultra-modern pomp, and one arguably even more in step with new generations of alt-rock. It’s a musical DeLorean: rooted in mainstream Americana but speeding into adventurous horizons.” Full review here. Score: 5/5.
Keywords: Big pop / Big Tunes / Big hooks / Big beats / Big melodies / Big strokes
Singles: My Own Soul’s Warning / Dying Breed / Caution / Fire In Bone
