Press info: “The title comes from a misheard lyric from Don McClean‘s “American Pie,”
a song that for Young fittingly evokes the death of innocence and the American Dream. After he moved to Los Angeles – a city the band has grown up being captivated by – he
was forced to wrestle with the disillusionment that comes when expectations, dreams,
and reality don’t quite meet.
Justin Hayward-Young (frontman) : “The album is about reconciling with loss, but it’s
also filled with gratitude for the people and places we once loved.”Pink carnations symbolise gratitude and tell a person they’ll never be forgotten. So whether it’s the loss of a lover, or a friend, or even just a dream, the record is a reminder that they’ll live on in whatever capacity the mind allows them to. And it’s a reminder to keep on dreaming.”
Album artwork
NME says: “Over a decade on from their breakout moment, The Vaccines remain dependable,
if frustratingly predictable. That’s not to say it doesn’t work. It might not offer anything new, but
it doesn’t necessarily need to. There’s a reason why they’ve remained a festival favourite for over
a decade – they’re good at what they do, even if it’s nothing particularly groundbreaking.”
Score: 3/5.
TUTV: Tune after tune after tune is what you get. That’s what The Vaccines do since day one and their cracking debut LP What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? (2011). The new one will help to fill their jukebox further on with whistle/sing/hum along vaccines. Why making complex music, if you can make people happy with simple, boosting TUNES.
This was the first single of their best album to date Islands In The Sky. A terrifically juiced-up power-pop chant triggering your limbs to get up and move. And when the under the spell of joy choir joins Bonnie Bloomgarden on the elated chorus you just know that this stunning tune is a winner.
We are living in a simulated world
And we are simulated girls!
The sassy spirit of fiery Riot grrls, the primal screams of X-Ray Spex‘s late genial vox Poly Styrene, the unbridled DIY mentality of The Slits. It’s all here to get in the macho faces of all macho males. Lads Lads Lads is a loud and clear clamorous uppercut. Trash and slash punk turmoil. Holy fucking smoke!
(Photo by Turn Up The Volume – Brugge, Belgium 2023)
“The lyrics were related to whatever we were talking shit about that day.
Dirt-cheap ’baccy and annoying, invasive TikToks. It’s hard to recall.”
Riverstone is an excessive electro-industrial sledgehammer doing your head,
your ears and your mind in. Bang-bang-bang-bang. Deafening drones, psychotic
guitars, and schizophrenic vocals, it’s all here to have an electric brain-frying
chair experience.
All-round Canadian singer/songwriter nailed it with this efferscent swirling knockout.
This is the kind of 24-Carat gold banger that makes your day, that boosts your worried state of mind, that puts a big smile on your face, that works faster than any stimulant and most of all, that gets you on your feet, triggers your best rotating dance moves and make you embrace life. Reality is not all doom and gloom, as many (mostly politicians) want us to believe to push their own power-greedy agenda. To hell with them.
These vigorous Brits hit big time with this flamboyant ripsnorter.
It’s full tilt ahead from the get-go. No brakes, no breaks, and
creeping under your skin faster than you can say this is super-duper.
A whirlwind of scorching guitars, pounding drumming, a revolving bass line
somewhere in the middle, go-getting vocals and a dynamite chorus combine
for a badass belter. 2023 was the year for 32 Tens.
This contagious cracker celebrates forer Italian football star Roberto Baggio
Kane:“I was eight years old when I first saw Baggio on TV, it was during the
1994 World Cup. I was taken back by his presence, his look and his talent. It was
the first time I’d seen a man look so different and unique. Seeing Baggio led me to
e obsessed with that Italian football team for many years later.
Baggio is one of those typical Kane tunes. Immediately recognisable with its
uplifting 60s/70s beat and blissful melody. But it’s a glorious guitar fragment
and accompanying harmonious, backing vocals that lift the song to a five-star
pop level.
This new supergroup features Shaun Ryder & Bez (Happy Mondays/Black Grape),
Andy Bell (Ride/Oasis) and drummer Zak Starkey, yes Ringo’s son, who actually came up with this project’s idea and describes it as “a fantastic psychedelic groove from a band of misfits, outsiders and innovators.”
First single Gorilla Guerilla is a mind-boggling techno-rock stomper
to start and end all (il)legal raves with and fill dancefloors around the
globe with. This seasoned collective is a mean groove machine.
The duo launched their 12th LP, called UK Grim last March.
This rattling piece is my absolute favorite.
It’s Sleaford Mods by – very good – numbers. The mods still spit and sneer
against Tories‘ merciless pressure and devastating regime. And they still do
it with rappin’ vibrations.
The waterfall wordsmith from Hull (UK) released her tip-top debut EP Chaos Of Time
and followed it with this booming corker. Glittery, glammy and trashy (like the video).
Sing happy birthday to 6-year-old princess Jodie midway. Don’t worry afterward you
can continue to pogo around the table.
10. ‘Dicks In Tanks’ by MORLOCKS (Gothenborg, Sweden)
2023 photo by Krichan Wihlbor
This Swedish turbo founded by mastermind J.Strauss had
a new flabbergasting album out, named Praise The Iconoclast,
this year.
Single Dicks In Tanks features vocal efforts from Sascha Konietzko of KMFDM,
dark ambient electro queen Karin My and black metal maestro Heljarmadr
of Grá/Dark Funeral.
Morlocks‘ cynical take on war is sharp-cutting like a first-class Swiss knife
“Salute every hard on, a call to arms / this is my klaxon / sound the alarms”.
It all starts with warning war sirens and marching soldiers chants.
90 seconds later, it’s all hens on deck when this industrial rock missile
erupts with a blitzkrieg fierceness.
Think Rammstein and NIN having a fight with riot guns.
11. ‘An Individual Soul’ by PRINCESS UGLY (Portland, US)
This blitz duo – J. Christopher-Rome (lyrics/vocals) and Christopher Moncrieffe (music/instruments) mix post-punk, early 80’s goth, shoegaze, and new wave
into their own brand of sound.
An Individual Soul is a multi-layered serpent of a track.
After a short shock intro, psychobilly guitars take over and riff
and roll all the way through, surrounded by glowing synths waves.
Add Christopher-Rome’s creepy whispering and you’ll feel transported
somewhere into a twilight zone where Goths party. Princess Ugly’s ominous
mind mystifies and the enigmatic she-devil in the video is a misleading
magnet.
These Dutch-American misfits have their roots firmly planted in both the regional
and international counterculture. They produce a raw, dirty groove influenced by
punk, provo and punk icons. Their poetry is packed with social criticism.
Huevos Rancheros, from their new longplayer Good Busy is a song about
seeing life clearly through all the haze and confidently strolling through the
daze.
It’s a tremendously sticky and melodic tune that mesmerises from the kick-off.
Stimulated by a sparkling and melancholic guitar riff à la Kurt Vile, a footstompin’
beat and word-smith Joshua Baumgarten‘s expressive storytelling it becomes an
electrifying humdinger, after a couple of spins.
The singular psych-folk-pop-rock wanderers released, this year,
one of their best albums ever withSea Of Mirrors
Wild Bird is The Coral at its relaxing best. A characteristic psych-pop gem
that pleased my ears on repeat since it came out. Breezy and heartwarming,
causing an I-feel-so-much-better-now thrill in the end.
Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr worked in 1979 on the demo
of this previously unreleased John Lennon beauty, but didn’t finish it at the time.
Now, using advanced technology and a curatorial touch, McCartney
and Starr have completed what they started with George, and turned
it into a fully orchestrated nugget of a love song
This young outfit from Newport, Wales drew TUTV’s
attention in an eye/earblink with Nice To Say Hello.
It’s only their 3rd single, but this young team sounds as if they’ve been
around for years. Nice To Say Hello is a top-pop thrill. Irresistibly catchy
and captivatingly melodic. Layers of glimmering guitars with an endearing
resonance, that brings, yes, Noel Gallagher’s strumming play of his solo
work to mind.
The charming vocals and the infectious chorus
make the sonic picture complete. Fabulous feat.
Chic Choc are three musically seasoned Amazons from NYC using drum machines,
synthesizers, guitars, voice and a variety of sound filters and pedals to make
their point.
Freedom is their crystal clear debut single that criticizes, 200% rightly so, the fact that women still have to fight for so many fundamental rights. It’s bloody 2023 and so much female injustice is still a reality.
Sonically it’s a striking EBM earworm to fill dance floors with. Brisk beats, cool chorus, sensuous vocals and a protesting choir, combine for a spirited piece. Bang-on.
18. ‘You’re So Cool’ by KAT KOAN (Berlin, Germany)
This Berlin-based songstress released her arresting debut full-length LUSTPRINZIP last year. This year, she recorded/shared three rad singles.
You’re So Cool (me?) is one of them. A sexy dance stomper with an instant impact on your hip movements. And, as usual, Koan‘s sultry voice tickles your imagination and makes you light some candlelights, and seduces you to do some shadow-dancing.
The Vanity Project is a London-based queer freak pop duo featuring Flora Jackson and Rob Paterson. The project is a multi-instrumented, multi-genre fever dream fusing new-wave, modern art-pop and PC Music influences with dashes of jangle pop, Latin alternative and drum and bass, dazzling hooks, and wryly humoured dystopian lyrics. All accompanied by eccentric visuals.
‘Eureka!’ was one of the standout singles on their debut album, named We Never Should Have Come Here, that landed last September.
Combine the madcap vibrancy of Sparks‘ early days and some glamourous Queen bombast and you’ll scream out loud Eureka!. These misfits produce
eccentric pop pleasure, sonically and lyrically, without mainstream
restrictions.
They sound kooky and look kooky, but make no mistake, this tantalizing
tandem know perfectly well how to fabricate and construct entertaining
music.
One of my all-time fav bands, on record and on stage, returned, finally,
this year with their acclaimed LP God Games and this arousing bluesy piece
is one of the highlights.
21. ‘Dead Moon Rising’ by CACTUS FLOWERS (Houston, Texas)
Cactus Flowers is a psych-rock outfit from Houston, Texas fronted by Jessica A.M., whose mother photographed bands for Rolling Stone during the magazine’s counter-culture heyday.
With Dead Moon Rising we get a mid-tempo garage blues-rock corker fuelled
by echoing, rollicking riffs, steady drum hits and arresting Jessica A.M. vocals.
This raw cracker resonates like glorious legends The Cramps in slo-mo with a
mean machine vibe, rock-and-psycho-billy swagger and hefty dynamics. From bad moon rising to dead moon rising.
(Photo by Turn Up the Volume – Lokerse Feesten, Belgium – 2022)
The British guitar pop idols will make their fans happy with their new, sixth
full-length, baptized Pick-Up Full Of Pink Carnations out on 12 January 2024.
This is one of the 4 singles they dropped so far. It’s The Vaccines alright.
Sickly sticky guitar euphoria. Totally crazy.
With this year’s three-part rock operaAtum chief
pumpkin Billy Corgan released one of his sonic dreams.
And with Spellbinding the band delivered a robust rocker infused with radiant synths, exploding now and then into a feverish haymaker on the flaming chorus and ending
with a dreamy fade out.
2LIBRAS is a Seattle-based Cyberpunk duo that create dark, synthy beats infused with melodic guitars and vocal harmony since 2018. Their music infuses genres of industrial, dark electro, synthwave/synthpop and rock.
Heart On was one of the singles of their notable debut album World’s End.
It just was the best 2023 Valentine tune. An intoxicating mid-tempo groover. Both spicy and funky, lustful and provocative with hypnotizing vocals. Its slow-mo synth-bass beat crawls under your skin, and progresses steadily towards your restlessly pounding motor while your mind tries to figure out what is going on. Amorous communication isn’t easy, let your heart do the talking. It’s made for it.
In order to not miss a beat Turn Up The Volume scans the musical
horizon daily (doing it for years now, actually) to stay in touch with
all new things sonically great and shares the results on a weekly
basis.
Check the 10 new rad cuts just
added to this rad 2023 playlist.
“This song was inspired by the awkward silence of passengers towards an individual visibly struggling on the tube. Is everyone too busy, or do they just not know what to say? Maybe this person wants to be left alone? Who knows. Everyone at one moment in their life at least has had their own struggles whilst on public transport.”
Tears On The Underground is not a happy piece story-wise but musically it’s a ravishing and captivating pop gem with emotive vocals, upfront and in the back, subtle piano play, riffs left and right and a big-time chorus.
Top!
Last week, the Californian power pop darlings released a ‘best of’ album, named Rebel Diamonds. A 20-track jukebox containing one new song, titled Spirit. A 24-carat killer.
This full-impassioned belter thrives on torrid emotions inflamed with
psych-crazy guitars, expressive vocals and a titanic chorus. The ongoing
vitality is overwhelming. It’s the title track of Highwayves new excellent
5-track EP
Leyton is a seasoned musician who’s been around for a while, playing
in bands and solo later on. Singerman is a supersonic projectile.
About the song: “I wanted to send a shout-out to a great friend and life-long rock ‘n roller, Robert Singerman, who I met at MIDEM and helped us out at CMW back in 2012. He used to be the manager for The Fleshtones from NYC and is just an amazing person – he deserves a song!”
Singerman is a supersonic rocket pushed by hungry guitars/drums,
fervent vocality and a roasting refrain. Near the end, Leyton takes
a breather before heading towards the blustery climax.
This Italian outfit describe themselves as instinctive and in the same time flickering,
fuzzy, aerial, groovy, bizarre and distor. And they are totally right when you’ll hear this
new mesmeric piece from their upcoming third album “Termination”, set to be released
in March 2024, is out via Little Cloud Records, clostridiumrecords, and Sister 9 Recordings.
Bartleby is a hypnotizing 5.30-minute psych jam that progresses with a puzzling
and darkwavish cadence. The color is black, the tone is sinister, and the male/female
vocals have a creepy timbre. Think British nightdreamers The Underground Youth.
7. ‘All I See Is Trouble’ by BEATOWLS(Liverpool, UK)
All I See Is Trouble is part of the band’s brand new, intriguing album Marma.
The Liverpool’s cult synth-noir outfit bewitch with this mystifying slow-moving trip. Meditative male/female vocals and cinematic synths augment the chilling trip-hop vibe. Trance-like sonority. References? Massive Attack and Portishead. I know, big names.
The Bristol indie punk mavericks have album #5, named Tangk out on 16 February 2024.
This new cut is a bittersweet ballad. Idles show their soft side here and it sounds great.
This darkwave synth duo from Glasgow-based have their
7th album out, named Worship. Stream it here.
Falling Tooth is one of the standout tracks. A synth riff rotates throughout with
an eerie resonance. It boggles your mind and psyche. The vocals accentuate the
obscure atmosphere even more. Striking score.
I love the way these New Yorkers descibe themselves: The Carpenters meet Slayer. Hilarious.
“At face value our new song “Mood Pills” simply refers to a pill one takes to enhance their mood. The song deals with what that does to a relationship – how it affects the overall dynamic of a relationship when one person is taking a mood-altering drug. Though love and drugs are common songwriting topics, I wanted to take a stab at writing about a different side of that – namely, the sexual dysfunction that comes from taking psychiatric drugs.”
And yes, on Mood Pills I hear echoes of the legendary pop duo The Carpenters‘ musings, but less sugary and them singing about taking mood-changing drugs back in the day is unthinkable. Oh, I think Slayer showed up too late to fuck up this explicit pearl.
In order to not miss a beat Turn Up The Volume scans the musical
horizon daily (doing it for years now, actually) to stay in touch with
all new things sonically great and shares the results on a weekly
basis.
Check the 10 new rad cuts just
added to this rad 2023 playlist.
TRACK-BY-TRACK
1. ‘Weather Warning’ by LEISURE FM (Poland-born / London-based)
Leisure FM are twins Milena & Weronika, born in Poland, who lived in Wales as
children and now calling South East London home. Driven by late-night contemplation
and experimental spirit, they started producing music in their bedrooms a few years
back to combat lockdown blues, alongside DJing regularly.
They just released one of the most notable debut EPs of 2023. Stream fableshere.
Weather Warning is the opener and sets the tone for Leisure FM’s sensual and enigmatic sound. It’s a trippy vibe that circles around a bewitching beat and subtle guitar sparks. Midway, a surprising, 15-second classical strings/flute fragment comes on before that mesmeric beat returns. Magnetic piece.
After almost 4 decades of wayward pop tunes with his band, THE LEMONHEADS and
some solo records EVAN DANDO (born in Massachusetts, now aged 56) is still around.
He co-wrote Fear Of Living last year, with the late
frontman Dan Lardner of NYC’s indie band QTY.
It’s a jangly jingle with Dando‘s
voice resonating quite low.
The Background is the Belgian band’s 3rd single of the year. It highlights the challenges
of mental health and feelings of being lost in modern life. The single explores the inner struggle of a person who feels lost in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, through metaphors related to the film world, and who desperately tries to find his/her place in
a world that moves too fast.
Sonically bouncy guitars and the harmonies colored chorus create, despite the delicate content, a brisk and jaunty flow that seems to suggest that there’s still a light shining at
the end of the tunnel.
It’s been 5 years since this Belgian garage guitar indies released
their debut album Common Specimen/Indoor Mold.
But they’re back now, and they didn’t lose their electrical mojo nor their stompin’ swagger. Cracking drums, afire guitars and tense vocals are what you get. Don’t miss their return.
Local Blood is a dystopian post-punk band from Vilnius, Lithuania. They just released their 2nd, intriguing, eight-song album named Loverman revealing a multi-layered, even more mature, more complex sound. Thematically it reflects experiences of a man in the 90s, in the troubled Lithuania of that time. Stream/buy here.
The ominous guitar-riff/drum driven title track has both an impassionate and mysterious sonority mostly caused by the creepy vocals and grows in intensity along its eerie way.
7. ‘The Great Upheaval’ by “THE ALTER KRAKERS (Canada)
This loose, careening, ’70s rock ‘n’ roll inspired trio wrote this track, inspired by The Great Upheaval Art Exhibitt at the AGO in Toronto, the song is told from the perspective of Russian/French painter Marc Chagal in the first verse “I made my
name as a painter; I helped create a new style, and we changed the landscape for a
while” and then Picasso in the second verse: “I’ll put your ass on a canvas, cut you
into cubes; they’ll know your name but never recognize you.”
Expect Mona Lisa to be part of a riff-roaring rock ripper.
Blending a love of 90’s alt-rock with modern indie sensibilities, Jiants
is a Toronto-based group led by ex-pro skateboarder Jesse Landen.
They have a brand-new full-length out, named Tall Tales. Stream it here.
The uplifting title track is basically a classic ‘get your girl back’ song. It’s about realizing you have a special bond with someone and deciding whether to step forward with them or leave each other behind forever. It’s from the perspective of someone feeling uncertain but offering up their full commitment this time.
A frisky and captivating tune that your ears will embrace on the spot.
9. ‘Good Lookin’ Liars’ by THE BLIPS (Birmingham, Alabama)
This seasoned Alabama rock team just released their
2nd lonplayer, baptized Again. Stream it here.
I don’t know if ‘Good Lookin’ Liars‘ is an autobiographical song, but what I do now is that it has enough jangly riffs and a banging chorus beat that’ll boost your state of mind instantly. I suppose you know where to find the repeat button.
In The Middle is the first song these Canadians have released in over three years.
Lyrically, the song is a warning not to get too close. Written as one voice speaking to another, the song documents the feeling of desiring closeness while nonetheless knowing that you are changing and evolving. This song tries to provide a snapshot of the emotions we feel in those moments when love and growth fight for dominance in our lives.
It’s an intimate, vulnerable, yet tender musing that brought
the touching voice of Perfume Genius to my mind.
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.
In order to not miss a beat Turn Up The Volume scans the musical
horizon daily (doing it for years now, actually) to stay in touch with
all new things sonically great and shares the results on a weekly
basis.
Check the 10 new rad cuts just
added to this rad 2023 playlist.
A couple of weeks ago Deap Vally, one of the best bands of the past 10 years
according to my ears and eyes, announced the end of their amazing journey.
They’ll say farewell with an extensive tour starting next month (all dates here),
a new vinyl edition of their debut LP Sistrionic (pre-order here), and this new
smashing version of their smashing single from that smashing debut album.
Superstar LENNY KRAVITZ (born Leonard Albert Kravitz in New York City
59 years ago) returns next year – 15 March 2024 – with his 12th album,
a double one, baptized Blue Electric Light.
Lead single ‘TK421’ is a 24-Carat funky rocker.
On the accompanying video Kravitz shakes a lot of bare body parts.
3. ‘Flutter On Your Signal’ by DEAD ANYWAY (Gloucester, UK)
I discovered this two outspoken and life-observing duo – Kate Arnold (lyrics/vocals)
and Marc Symonds (beats/instruments) only last week after on the occasion of an interview with politics driven, American punk poet Joshua Baumgarten of Dutch rock unit The Irrational Library.
Dead Anyway produces the very post-punk turmoil and
society-critical stories that I have loved since I was born.
Flutter On Your Signal comes from their new 4-track EP B-Sides And Oddities.
It’s a synth-shoving and drum-beating groover with turbulent spoken-word
vocals rolling over it. Think The Stone Roses‘ 1989 pysch jam Fools Gold. Yes,
that good.
“The song is a poignant reminder of the black hole the mainstream media and commercial
TV landscape can create in today’s society. Sometimes you have to change the channel to truly escape what is going on in our reality, but still somehow end up feeling remote. The song pulls together speaker, ripping guitar tones, driving bass lines, thumping drums and waving synthesisers for a very floaty vocal to sail on top of to hopefully fine you a channel that’s for you.”
This addictive LSD snorter invites you to channel your restless thoughts. It’s spiraling tempo, layered orchestration, poppy harmonies, afire guitars and zippy chorus combine for an amplified, psychedelic triumph.
“I am talking directly to God in this song. Whatever the concept of God is.
Real, fake, whatever. I am not flat-out saying what I believe. Though, I am
sure people are smart enough to know what and how I feel.”
Smith has so far two albums on his résumé, Rubedo (2022)
and last summer’s Obscura and no signs of a pause yet.
Black Angel is a sky-scraping standout of a song, with Smith‘s astonishing voice
as the hero in the middle. This impassioned doozy bursts with expressive emotion
and stirring sensibility. Bluesy, soulful, guitar-crazy Americana. I’m sure God added
it to his divine Spotify playlist.
Fulvetta are a Dublin-based 4-piece. They imbibe influences from a variety of
genres and bands without being in hock to them – dreamy, reverb-laden shoegaze pioneers My Bloody Valentine, classic 90s era Smashing Pumpkins and fuzzed up
noise from the likes of Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth.
Disregard is a bittersweet shoegaze symphony going sky-high, propelled by layers
of guitar commotion after a dreamy intro. This sonic process repeats it itself with
dense intensity and grows towards a rhapsodic finale. Magnificent.
9. ‘Thorazine Bender’ by INSTANT SMILE (Philadelphia)
Philly‘s DIY rockers, husband-wife (guitarist Greg Phoenix and drummer Erin Berry)
draw influences from 60s and 70s era pop, classic rock, psych, and prog, and reformulate them into a thoughtful, satisfying, modern – and unique – take on rock and roll.
Opener Thorazine Bender is a blues-rock ripper spiced with rockabilly
guitar electricity, rattling drums, and edged vocals. I hear white stripes vibes
in my ears.
“The songs is about the beginning stages of a relationship, how you try to make yourself more intriguing or impressive than you are in order to keep that person interested. It also describes the feeling of hopefulness, bliss and loss of control that the start of any new relationship brings.”
No it’s not a new single from British shoegaze heroes Slowdive‘s brand new LP, but my ears tell me that All I Die For has the quality to be part of it. The breezy combination of shiny synths, radiant guitars, floating melodiousness and the whispering vocals will reveal why I made that comparison.
In order to not miss a beat Turn Up The Volume scans the musical
horizon daily (doing it for years now, actually) to stay in touch with
all new things sonically great and shares the results on a weekly
basis.
Check the 10 new rad cuts just
added to this rad 2023 playlist.
The Russian rebellious riot Grrls really like joining forces with other acts. This time they get clamourus help from British female tornado Nova Twins. Expect vivid disco punk fireworks.
Glam and glitter veterans DURAN DURAN have no intention whatsoever to retire.
They canned album number 16, baptized DANCE MACABRE and they will share it
with the world on 27 October.
Ahead of it comes this second appetizer. Some funky shit. Yeah!
“Dungens Puls was born out of a collective experience in the woods, where we felt as
a part of this greater being: nature. Pulsating in harmony with our surroundings.”
This Swedish psychedelic team will take your mind to a Utopian place with this ongoing jam, spiced with repetitive Krautrock-like dynamics. A place far away from our rat race reality. Spellbinding, intense and far-out.
Inspired by a mutual passion for the sights, sounds and creative experimentation of the mid to late 1960s, The Crystal Teardrop, with its distinct blend of garage rock, psychedelia and acid folk, have (only) their 2nd single ‘By The River‘ out following superb debut single Nine Times Nine.
They take you in their time-machine back to the kaleidoscopic and psychedelic sixties with a sitar-driven, instantly sticking pop tune, that’ll float around in your dizzy head for a while.
The closest in their songbook to a ballad, ‘Fade Away’ is a sulphurous, windswept thing which the band describe as “a song about separation and virtuality. We hope we managed to paint the bittersweet feeling of love mixed with rage. Musically, the song oscillates between dreamy, surreal soundscapes and grungy rhythmic rides”.
This is a stunning composition that grows in emotional intensity
and sonic vehemence along its impassioned course.
True is a crystal power pop gem painted with shoegazy guitar layers and tranquil vocals that trigger your daydreaming modus. It features on their new album Lines, stream here.
Rovers is the opener of the band’s new 4-track EP Songs Of Saints & Reivers.
It’s a riff-crazy emo belter with sky-scraping vocals and a Herculean chorus.
These Texan Rockers have their 2022 album, named Harbor out on vinyl
today. For this occasion, they shared a brand-new video of the magnificent title track.
