Artist: MAVIS STAPLES Who: Legendary soul/blues/rock voice who, along with family, had a long and
greatly accomplished career under the name ofThe Staple Singers (1948-1994).
She’s 86 now, singing and swinging like a 36-year-old.
Band: CHARM SCHOOL Who: The latest project from singer-songwriter Andrew Sellers
who, originally from Louisville, has paid his dues in both the
NYC and LA DIY music scenes.
NME: ‘Again’feels like Belair Lips Bomb
are auditioning to be the biggest band
in the world.”
TUTV: Just one spin and I knew this LP was a winner. Ace tune, after ace tune, after
ace tune. Guitar pop at its most move ‘n groove exciting. In the middle, vocalist and
guitarist Maisie Everett draws all attention. Wonderful voice, striking performance.
She’s backed by a well-oiled rock turbo. Hype or not, these
revved-up Aussies are going places, all around the globe
that is.
Press info: “The album explores themes of unnecessary hatred and
division. It’s political, but ultimately personal. More Genet or Kafka
than Orwell or Huxley.
TUTV: Without a shadow of a doubt, the perfect soundtrack for Doomsday.
Sledgehammer after sledgehammer, drone after drone, brainfucker after
brainfucker. Always tension in the air.
Any track would work in a zombie horror movie. And we know all
about horror, right? Just take a look outside the window, and you
see a lot of it. For free.
Cal Francis‘s spoken word performances are bone-chilling. Their primal screams
send shivers down the spine. Lyrically, they operate in a space where reality and
surreality meet. No room for birds and bees.
Cal Francis – Pukkelpop Fest 2025 – Photo by TUTV
Never Exhale is an other-worldly Götterdämmerung experience.
It smells like something is alive and kicking here. No regression,
only progression.
Sprints about the LP: “While the world is literally burning down around us there are voices that seem hell bent on pointing the finger at anyone but those actually responsible. There’s no need to dream-up dystopia, we’re living in it. And somehow, while the world has never seemed uglier, our life has never been more beautiful.”
TUTV: Their riff-ripping quiet/loud/quiet formula works again, big time. Their sucker-punches hit you, piece by piece, hard in the teeth while Karla Chubb‘s hepped-up vocals rule again. Here and there, her unbridled explosiveness brings young Courtney Love‘s borderline cry-outs to mind. Only the 6 last cooking/boiling/bloodcurdling haymakers
are already worth a full album.
Band: LAMBRINI GIRLS Who: Two razorblade riot girrrrlzz – vox/guitarist Phoebe Lunny
and bassist Lilly Macieira – from Brighton (UK), with an insatiable
appetite for mass moshpits.
NME said: “Lambrini Girls prove punk is alive and kicking. They’re unapologetically amplifying chaos, calling out societal wrongs, and daring us all to feel something. This record is loud, raw, and impossible to ignore.”
TUTV:
Faster than a Formula One Ferrari.
Louder than a supersonic jet.
Punkier than any punks around.
Press info: Inspired entirely by the life and mythos of actor Dennis Hopper, Mike Scott
and The Waterboys created this expansive album as tribute to one of American popular culture’s most compelling public figures.
TUTV: This a remarkable piece of work. It could be the soundtrack for a yet to be made Dennis Hopper documentary. Hats off to Mike Scott for his boldness, imaginativeness, and ingenuity to score this musical movie, constructed marvellously with its sonically cinematic versatility.
Pop, rock, blues, country, bar-room jazz, and musing balladry take turns and puzzle
a most coherent and highly entertaining whole together, spiced with magnificent vocal contributions by Fiona Apple, Steve Earle and others. Never a dull moment with its varied stream of entertaining songs and Scott‘s awe-inspiring vocality throughout.
TUTV: Trois is one of the most balanced, the most arousing and the most vitalizing
noise rock records I heard in a very long time. Heisa grab you by the throat for 40 wicked minutes, and you won’t protest for one second. The cliché all killers, no fillers is so accurate here.
No arty farty tricks, no unnecessary overdubs, no useless volume exaggerations.
The production is flawless, and is an instrumental factor for the overall organic
resonance of this expressive exploit.
TUTV: Loudmouths Andrew Falkous and Damien Sayell still spit and sneer their 4 lungs
out and rip politicians to shreds while they wield their razor-sharp axes. Chainsaw guitars everywhere, backed by a hellacious drum/bass duo. And they’re still maddening masters when it comes to search and destroy punk havoc.
Press info: An intense and raw reflection
of grief, trauma, and the desire for healing.
‘A Mass In The Water’ roughly describes the last day of Wolf Vanwymeersch‘s father,
who took his own life during a psychotic episode. The album balances between
mockery, anger, powerlessness, grief, understanding, compassion, and love.
TUTV: It’s both a scary and flabbergasting opus that takes a lot of courage to make and share with the world. The album’s ominous dynamics, distorted vocals, and riff-roasting razzmatazz resonate like if you are listening to the soundtrack of a modern day horror movie.
Vanwymeersch and Wholes created their own Dante’s Inferno.
Bloodcurdling, pitch-black, and bone-chilling. Helter-skelter.
TUTV: Nele Janssen bewitches with her crystalline voice and enchanting piano play. Intimate, passional and heartfelt. From a Peuk scream to a solo whisper. A beautiful,
soul-stirring record that silences you from start to finish.
Eleven bittersweet reveries for the midnight hours. Stony Beds is an ideal companion
for cold winter nights, while relaxing with dimmed light on your couch and your favourite drink at hand.
Band: THE NEW EVES Who: Must hear/see indies from Brighton (where everybody is in a band).
They cruise from folk to punk, using, besides traditional instruments (guitar,
bass and drums) also cello, flute, violin and other classical gear.
NME: “A record that mines the unpredictable free-spiritedness of freak
folk, the loose, louche nature of rock’n’roll and the no-rules attitude of punk.”
TUTV: Eccentricity is the new normal. Poetic, medieval music is among us. The New Eves are something special, really special. Next to drum/bass/guitar
they use more untraditional instruments such as cello, flute, violin and other
classical music gear.
At their core, musically, they’re a folk punk rock band, an outlandish one, that is.
One of those that play gloriously out of tune at times, enthuse up with splendacious chants and have your bewildering attention for the full 40 baffling minutes. One of
the most innovative full-lengths of the year. Hands down.
TUTV: TAP funk and punk, buzz and fuzz, move and groove on this voltaic
record. They shoot a series of titanic tunes from their hips with a hair-raising
impact.
Avalanche Party have become masterly songwriters who know exactly how to construct adrenalized knockout killers with the right combination of roasting riffs, jagged hooks, bang-on licks, powerhouse drumming, effervescent synths and sultry horns here and there. Stupendous record.
TUTV: With The Clearing, the changing, musical process since their debut LP is complete. It’s now more ELLIE + THE WOLF (yes, FLORENCE + THE MACHINE territory) than before. Pop music in all its seducing and alluring ways. It’ll make them superstars in and outside the UK.
Laurenne: “The songs were written in the style of vintage jazz standards, but are then drenched with Rhodes piano and sparkling horn parts, with upright bass and triphop beats holding down a groovy, downtempo feel underneath. The vocals are the polar opposite of my garage rock sound in The Darts – in Black Viiolet, I am quietly telling you secrets in the dark.
TUTV: After You is delectable music for the midnight hours that massages
your ears for 40 minutes. The most sensual record I heard in a long time.
It transfers you to a place where you can dream away, far from today’s
depressing outside world.
Artist: PREWN Who: The moniker of Massachusetts‘ born, LA-based chilling
singer-songwriter Izzy Hagerup. She released her debut album Through The Window in 2023.
Hagerup: “I need to tap into my grief and sadness and stuff because it’s there. And when
you don’t live in it then you’re just numb. You can’t see the beauty and you are running from
the pain. It’s this Groundhog Day feeling. I feel that’s the antithesis to art, love, and connection, and giving a shit about the world.”
TUTV: The combination of creepy violins, ominous cello shadow play, and last but
not least Hagerup‘s wailing voice dominate this record causing bone-chilling sensations.
Her laments evoke moments of uncomfortableness, but her grip is so overwhelming
that you just can’t get away of her sonic exorcism. Like watching a traumatic thriller
you can’t escape from without knowing the end of the story.
Press Info: “This album, was born from the difficult experience of the floods that hit Valencia on October 29, 2024. During this time, the duo lost part of their studio and actively participated in the cleanup efforts in their city.
The Valencian duo offers six tracks (plus two digital bonus tracks) to remind us that despite
the difficulties we may face, we must always fight to get ahead, get back on our feet, and not
be swept away by the current.”
TUTV: Eight titanic techno thrills, eight 90s inspired trance tunes. Think Chemical Brothers, The Orb and The Prodigy. The pair’s Mire Chronicles have a hammering impact on their post-drama demons. At the end of the traumatic tunnel there’s a Spammerheads light that
illuminates a healing future.
Album: LOVE CHANT
Their first in 19 years,
their 11th overall.
TUTV: Dando has resurrected himself and his band gloriously. Now and then he touches turbulent memories from the past and does some soul-searching again, but you can feel he’s truly happy, healthy and excited to be here in great artistic shape. A welcome reaffirmation of The Lemonheads‘ riveting pop mastery.
TUTV: Writing songs is Doherty‘s oxygen. He has music running through his veins.
Enter this new solo album. A collection of daily life tunes that puts a smile on your
face. The man entertains, charms and shows his inspiring skills once again. It’s clear
that the French air stimulates his productivity. Poetry in motion.
Artist: MARK STEWART Who: One of the most adventurous/inventive/original post-punk & dub artists/performers
ever. He was a founding member of genre-bending new wave group The Pop Group and released lots of solo and collaborative records. Unfortunately, he passed away 2 years ago,
only 62.
As a prolific solo artist, he scored 7 LPs, collaborated with countless
other artists, and caused poignant waves with his Mafia outfit.
Album: THE FATEFUL SYMMETRY
His 8th solo LP, released posthumously
by Mute Records.
Album artwork
TUTV:Stewart expresses again his mixed emotions about humanity and its messy planet. Both pessimistic and optimistic reflections, but always with sparks of hope. Musically, it’s
a very accessible pop work with several crooning musings.
His characteristic, captivating voice, both heartrending and heartwarming at the same time, feels so real, so close, and as always, engaged and genuine. Mark Stewart was one
of a kind and will always be in my book.
TUTVTalkin To The Trees brings Young‘s 1975 masterwork Tonight’s The Night instantly
to mind, sonically that is. Raw and rough, as if the LP was recorded live in one take, in
a garage with lots of echo and plenty of ramshackle guitars, buzzing electricity and Young‘s characteristic, ardent vocals. Very familiar, very entertaining.
It’s vintage Young, musically and thematically, wondering about the world’s future, warning for environmental pollution dramas, difficult times to come for our children, and the need of a big positive change.
They met in 2022 at the SXSW festival. They met again while exhibiting visual
and conceptual art pieces in London and began recording together early
last year.
Album: LIMINAL
The duo’s third in only 5 months.
Talking about a fertile collaboration
TUTV: I always loved and embraced Eno‘s sonic ambient paintings, his chimerical and fanciful synth symphonies with its calming impact and starry-eyed radiance. Liminal is another Eno opus I added to my headphone music playlist for psychological relaxation.
An invitation to ease your mind and ears in their
phantasmagorical universe. A record to cherish.
Scottish luminariesTHE WATERBOYS scored their best known song (almost 200,000
million streams on Spotify) and biggest hit with THE WHOLE OF THE MOON. It was
released ss a single today 40 years ago, on 14 October 1985. It featured on their
3rd full-length This Is The Sea.
It was composed by songsmith/frontman Mike Scott. It’s a tribute to an inspirational
figure or figures. In each line, the singer describes his own perspective and immediately contrasts it with that of the song’s subject, summarizing the difference with the line “I saw the crescent / You saw the whole of the moon”.
The song wasn’t a huge hit right away. It peaked at #26 in the UK.
Only on its re-release in 1991 the masses embraced it. It went to #3
that time.
“You were there in the turnstiles
with the wind at your heels
you stretched for the stars
and you know how it feels
to reach too high
too far too soon
you saw the whole of the moon”
Scottish rockers THE WATERBOYS, the brainchild of singer-songwriterMike Scott
released their splendid 3th LP THIS IS THE SEA today 40 years ago, on 16 September 1985.
It’s considered by critics to be the finest album of the band’s early
rock-oriented sound described as “epic” and “a defining moment”.
Themes of the LP include spirituality (Spirit, The Pan Within), romantic love (Trumpets),
and English politics (Old England), while the album’s eponymous single This Is The Sea utilizes the allusion of the flowing river as a life affirming recognition of constant
renewal and regeneration.
It peaked at #37 on the UK Charts.
Kerrang said: “A veritable shoal of musical ideas, held firm by a ballast of keyboard horizons and string tugs. Several songs thrive with life in the fullest sense of the term. This isn’t merely aural wallpaper but a strident, confident attempt at eliciting response; the art of texture and dynamics has rarely been better illustrated.”
Band: LAMBRINI GIRLS Who: Two razorblade riot girrrrlzz – vox/guitarist Phoebe Lunny
and bassist Lilly Macieira – from Brighton (UK) with an insatiable
appetite for mass moshpits.
Photo by Turn Up The Volume – Lille, France – 24 February 2024
Press info: “The album rips through a laundry list of social ills. Sirens blare over a heavy distorted bass and a live drum breakbeat. The band dance between upbeat poppunk, dirty grunge tones and discordant post-punk. There’s even some noise-popcheer for putting yourself first, whether it’s having an autistic meltdown or doing apoo at your mate’s house.
With instrumentals that inhale you like a Level 5 tornado and sentiments that make you want to kick the nearest door through, it’s a take-no-prisoners debut from one of the UK’s most fun and fearless bands.”
TUTV said:
Faster than a Formula One Ferrari.
Louder than a supersonic jet.
Punkier than any punks around.
Press info: “The album explores themes of unnecessary hatred and
division, Space/Smile and It smells like something died in here, aging, Senor Siniestro
and the separation of the physical from reality, The Body As A Structure. It’s political,
but ultimately personal. More Genet or Kafka than Orwell or Huxley.
Album artwork
TUTV: Without a shadow of a doubt, the perfect soundtrack for Doomsday.
Sledgehammer after sledgehammer, drone after drone, brainfucker after
brainfucker. Always tension in the air.
Any track would work in a zombie horror movie. And we know all
about horror, right? Just take a look outside the window and you
see a lot of it. For free.
Cal Francis‘s spoken word performances are bone-chilling. His primal screams
send shivers down the spine. Lyrically, he operates in a space where reality and
surreality meet. No room for birds and bees.
Cal Francis – Belgium 2024 – Photo by TUTV
Sonically Ditz produce a volcanic and bombastic wall-of-helter-skelter havoc.
Blood-curdling emo-punk exorcism. Chainsaw chaos. Flabbergasting and
jaw-dropping are the keywords.
Never Exhale is an other-worldly Götterdämmerung experience.
It smells like something is alive and kicking here. No regression,
only progression.
Press info: “HEISA embarks on a new chapter with the release of their third
album. This album showcases an evolution in their sound, keeping the bombastic
drums, droning guitars, and dynamic vocals, but pushing further into melody and
experimentation.
On this new record, Heisa brings their emotions to the forefront, revealing a raw, edgy
intensity in tracks like “Lazar” and “Sad Dancer,” where vulnerability and tension intertwine.”
TUTV: Trois is without a shadow of a doubt the most balanced, the most arousing and
the most vitalizing noise rock record I heard in a very long time. No, never a dull moment. Heisa grab you by the throat for 40 wicked minutes, and you won’t protest for one second. The cliché all killers, no fillers is so accurate here. In a normal world this should be a hit record.
Les trois singles (Nandor / Flowers / The Harmonist) were the harbinger for something really special. Which we experience now. Every song stands as tall as the Eiffel Tower. There’s always an enigmatic anxiousness in the air that tests your nerves and boggles your mind.
On several occasions (Flowers / After Hours / Shifting / Sad Dancer) Heisa tease you with voltaic foreplay riffs before heading towards an orgastic burst of demonic hullabaloo. Primal screams out of the darkness, schizophrenic guitars and raw and rough post-punk dynamics work together to create a hell-raising turbulence. Think Fugazi and The Jesus Lizard .
No arty farty tricks, no unnecessary overdubs, no useless volume exaggerations.
The production is flawless, and is an instrumental factor for the overall organic
resonance of this expressive exploit. I’m quite sure that the late great Steve Albini
would have loved it.
Heisa is going places. Don’t miss them.
Embrace them. Join them. Love them.
Band: MCLUSKY Who: Welsh notorious noiseniks featuring Andrew Falkous, made
a loud and clear mark on the indie list of decibels-producing acts between
1993 and 2004 with three ear-piercing and politically loaded albums.
In 2015 Mclusky suddenly returned for a benefit gig in London and played
some more here and there. In 2023, they released a new 4-track EP, called Unpopular Parts Of A Pig / The Digger You Deep to fund a delayed US tour.
Press info: “Having formed in the late nineteen-nineties and releasing music, if that
is what it was, from 2000-2004, Mclusky disbanded soon afterwards in a slow motion
farce of not enough drama to get much press off the back of it.
Falkous with Mclusky – Brussels, 9 May 2025 – photo by Turn Up The Volume
TUTV: The world is still spinning and Mclusky decided to come back after 21 years
to see what’s going on and let us know what they experienced/experience in their
own tumultuous way. To be honest, it’s Mclusky by numbers, but their furious
numbers still slice and slash as a set of first class Swiss knifes.
Loudmouths Falkous and Damien Sayell‘s immense, clamorous, badass voices rip
politicians to shreds while wielings their razor-sharp axes. Chainsaw guitars everywhere,
backed by a hellacious drum/bass duo. They’re masters when it comes to search and destroy punk havoc.
Press info: Inspired entirely by the life and mythos of actor Dennis Hopper, Mike Scott
and The Waterboys created this expansive album as tribute to one of American popular culture’s most compelling public figures.
Deeply conceptual, this album of all original songs brings together high-profile
featured artists like Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple, and Steve Earle to musically
weave through Hopper’s life, including a song for each of Hopper’s wives.
Ghent, Belgium – 5 July 2025 – photo by Turn Up The Volume
TUTV: This an amazing piece of work. Could be the soundtrack for a yet to be made Dennis Hopper documentary. Hats off to Mike Scott for his boldness, imaginativeness, and ingenuity to score this musical movie, constructed marvellously with its sonically cinematic versatility.
Pop, rock, blues, country, bar-room jazz, and musing balladry take turns and puzzle
a most coherent and highly entertaining whole together, spiced with magnificent vocal contributions by Fiona Apple, Steve Earle and others. Never a dull moment with its varied stream of top-tier songs and Scott‘s awe-inspiring vocality throughout.
Movie shots from Hopper‘s parts in doom and gloom films such as Blue Velvet, Apocalypse Now, True Romance, Speed and, of course, counterculture classic Easy Rider pop up on the screen in your head. He was at his best when he played psychotic characters. And Scott is here at its best too. Supreme accomplishment.
Band: THE MOONLANDINGZ Who: English electro-pop combo started by the Eccentronic Research Council
duo, featuring Adrian Flanegan and Dean Honor back in 2015. Lias Saoudi (Fat
White Family, Decius, author, modern day, philosopher) joined them, as well as
different guests.
Press info: “No Rocket Required delivers brassy squawks, motorik convulsions and
sinister soothing vocals from a righteous line-up of guest singers and ranters: Nadine
Shah, Iggy Pop, Jessica Winter and Ewen Bremner. Plus, of course, there’s The Moonlandingz’ own front man, Johnny Rocket aka Lias Saoudi.
What to do, as we potter and fret, as we watch bodies, homes and lives destroyed every day while our elected leaders, so forensic and so sensible, use their weasel words, shrug their coward shoulders and saunter off to raise our bus fares. Dancing of course and togetherness, looking out for each other, and that’s not enough. What kind of fight are we bringing? We will always need to organise, to fight, to collaborate, to connect and to dance dance dance. And that is what The Moonlandingz do.”
TUTV: Where the first album was a 24-hour party affair, this 2nd one is musically a
sonic melting pot of 70s disco (like Sign Of A Man that clearly is inspired by 1978 classic Born To Be Alive by Patrick Hernandez) and 80s house uppers (like Yama Yama) and midnight hour downers (like Roustabout, and the romantic ballad It’s Where I’m From with perfectly matching vocals by the one and only Iggy Pop) that messes with your mind, body and soul.
To make sure that you hit the (dance)floor in the end, Flanegan and Honor knock you
out with the 9-minute hyperkinetic brainbreaker The Knack Drought Suite (Pts 1-3) that hammers your head in relentlessly and gives the last word to film-noir crooner Lias
Saoudi. Lyrically, NRR echoes Twin Peaks‘ unhinged stories from the dark side of the
human psyche. Everybody happy now? I definitely am.
This project blends his iconic Madchester groove with fresh, infectious energy,
delivering music that’s both raw and transcendent, and also features the irrepressible vocals of Rowetta making the sounds of 1990 come alive again in glorious fashion.
Gaz: “Yogi-G and The Family Tree are not hippies, we give a fuller human experience that
is more devolved from the punk experience, where you never quite know if you’re going to
get a hug or a headbutt. Life is filled with peace and love but equally excitement and pain.
I got fed up waiting around to try to agree to write a new Mondays album. When it
became apparent, we couldn’t agree, I decided to do my own. I think it’s bloody great
and the support has been outstanding and for all the good ones we’ve lost along the way
like Gil Scott Heron, Tony Wilson and more recently my bandmate Paul Ryder, this is for
them and for all those who just love to get off on good music.”
TUTV: Madchester 2025? Absolutely. And why not? ‘Show Me The Truth‘ is the Happy Mondays album, that should have been the perfect follow-up to their 1990 masterpiece Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches rather than the mediocre Yes Please!. It’s an album that activates your hips, and makes you ignore our daily rat race, for at least 40 minutes
This dance-and-turn-around-inviting record with several vocal guests, doubles your adrenalin production. From happy-7-days-a-week gospel stimulants The Blind Man And
The Monkey, Shine On Brother and Show Me The Truth to groovy-orchestral musings Black Symphony, and The Return Of Apollo Creed (be ready Rocky) from the special(s) ska vibes
of The Ballad Of David Bowie to the closing sing-hum-whistle chant We The Peaceful.
Yep, there’s way more sonic versatility than on any Happy Mondays longplayer. There’s
no way to delete today’s grim reality, but look around and you’ll find a lot of love, peace, happiness, family and friends too. That’s the hopeful spirit that Yogi-G And The Family Tree celebrate. Join them. Embrace their soul-uplifting gusto. Shake your booty.
Press info: “Talkin To The Treesis a personal and powerful album featuring
ten new compositions by Young. “Big Change”, the first song from the album,
comes with a message that left no doubt where Neil Young stands in these
challenging times.
The Chrome Hearts are Spooner Oldham (Organ); Micah Nelson (Guitar and Vocal); Corey McCormick (Bass and Vocal); Anthony LoGerfo (Drums); with Neil Young (Guitar, Harp, Piano, Vibes). The album is co-produced by Lou Adler and Young, and recorded at Shangri La Studios in Malibu.”
TUTVTalkin To The Trees brings Young‘s 1975 masterwork Tonight’s The Night instantly
to mind, sonically that is. Raw and rough, as if the LP was recorded live in one take, in
a garage with lots of echo and plenty of ramshackle guitars, buzzing electricity and Young‘s characteristic, ardent vocals. Very familiar, very entertaining.
From riff-robust rockers (Family Life, Dark Mirage, Let’s Roll, Big Chance) to country-bluesy musings (Silver Eagle, Moving Ahead), to melancholic balladry (Talkin To The Trees, Battle Of Love, Thankful).
It’s pure Young, musically and thematically, wondering about the world’s future, warning for environmental pollution dramas, difficult times to come for our children, and the need of a big positive change. At 79, he’s still socially and climate concerned as he was in his prime and he still delivers soul-and-ear pleasing records.
Laurenne: “The songs were written in the style of vintage jazz standards, but are then drenched with Rhodes piano and sparkling horn parts, with upright bass and triphop beats holding down a groovy, downtempo feel underneath. The vocals are the polar opposite of my garage rock sound in The Darts – in Black Viiolet, I am quietly telling you secrets in the dark.
After You was recorded by nine producers on two continents with fourteen French and American jazz musicians – including Digable Planets drummer Conrad Real – and contains thirteen original tracks that I wrote all the parts for and arranged, plus one special cover song, “My Baby Just Cares For Me.” My influences include spy movie themes, Nina Simone, Portishead, Budos Band, Lovage, Nouvelle Vague, Digable Planets, Propellerheads, Sneaker Pimps, Forniquette, Nick Waterhouse, Hooverphonic, and even cartoon character Jessica Rabbit!”
TUTV: Imagine Nicole Laurenne‘s sultry alter ego coming from behind a curtain
on a stage in a smoky nightclub, leg by leg, with a bright spotlight on her and
making all spectators go ‘sigh‘.
From there on she becomes Black Viiolet. A femme fatale that entertains us with
bouncy trip-hop vibes à la Portishead (AboutA Woman / Never Know / New Day / Drop),
jazzy candlelight musings (Don’t Leave Me On The Dancefloor / Not It / Stayin / You Can’t Afford Me) and a seductive version of 1930 jazz standard My Baby Just Cares for Me
made immortal by the late great soul diva Nina Simone.
The record is subtly, yet richly orchestrated. The instrumentation at work here – contrabass, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, piano – serves the overall mood perfectly.
On top of it comes Viiolet‘s near-whispering, hoarse and sensual voice to complete the arousing sonic picture with a saucy sensuality. The ambiance is spellbinding and ravishing.
After You is delectable music for the midnight hours that massages your ears for
40 minutes. The most sexy record I heard in a long time. It transfers you to a place
where you can dream away, far from today’s depressing outside world.
Dim the lights, relax, sit down, have a bottle of your favorite wine at hand, close
your eyes and let Black Viiolet enter your spicy fantasy of choice. Trust me, you’ll
love the tantalizing trip.
Since Doherty got clean (already several years) and living in France with his wife and big dog, far away from the temptations of party cities he became quite productive releasing albums with one-time outfit Puta Madres, with French musician Frédéric Lo and with his first-and-forever band The Libertines he scored one of the best albums of 2024 with All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade.
Press info:“Felt Better Alive is Peter Doherty’s most confident solo collection yet,
sprinkled with radiant playfulness, almost innocence at times, shot through with
Peter Doherty’s signature melodic nous, quirky poetic realism, and visual storytelling
gifts.”
Brugge, Belgium – 14 June 2025 – Photo by Turn Up The Volume
TUTV: Writing songs is Doherty‘s oxygen. He has music running through his veins.
Enter this new solo album. A collection of daily life tunes that puts a smile on your
face. The man entertains, charms and shows his alluring skills once again. It’s clear
that the French air stimulates his productivity. Poetry in motion.
Band: THE WATERBOYS Who: Scottish pop-rock-folk heroes orchestrated by
songsmith Mike Scott with 16 LPs, new on included,
on their most impressive résumé.
Press info: “Inspired entirely by the life and mythos of actor Dennis Hopper, Mike Scott and The Waterboys created this expansive album as tribute to one of American popular culture’s most compelling public figures. Deeply conceptual, this album of all original songs brings together high-profile featured artists like Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple, and Steve Earle to musically weave through Hopper’s life, including a song for each of Hopper’s wives.”
TUTV: This an amazing piece of work. A soundtrack for a yet to be made Dennis Hopper documentary. Hats off to Mike Scott for his boldness, imaginativeness, and ingenuity to score this musical movie, constructed marvellously with its sonically cinematic versatility.
Pop, rock, blues, country, bar-room jazz, and musing balladry take turns and puzzle
a most coherent and highly entertaining whole together, spiced with magnificent vocal contributions by Fiona Apple, Steve Earle and others. Never a dull moment with its varied stream of top-tier songs and Scott‘s awe-inspiring vocality throughout.
Movie shots from Hopper‘s parts in doom and gloom films such as Blue Velvet, Apocalypse Now, True Romance, Speed and, of course, counterculture classic Easy Rider pop up on the screen in your head. He was at his best when he played psychotic characters. And Scott is here at its best too. Can’t stopping listening to it and discover new things with every spin I know it’s only April but this pièce de résistance is, unquestionably, a contender for album of the year. Let’s fuck.
Band: THE MOONLANDINGZ Who: English electro-pop combo started by the Eccentronic Research Council
duo, featuring Adrian Flanegan and Dean Honor back in 2015. Lias Saoudi (Fat
White Family, Decius, author, modern day, philosopher) joined them, as well as
different guests.
Press info: “No Rocket Required delivers brassy squawks, motorik convulsions and
sinister soothing vocals from a righteous line-up of guest singers and ranters: Nadine
Shah, Iggy Pop, Jessica Winter and Ewen Bremner. Plus, of course, there’s The Moonlandingz’ own front man, Johnny Rocket aka Lias Saoudi.
What to do, as we potter and fret, as we watch bodies, homes and lives destroyed every day while our elected leaders, so forensic and so sensible, use their weasel words, shrug their coward shoulders and saunter off to raise our bus fares. Dancing of course and togetherness, looking out for each other, and that’s not enough. What kind of fight are we bringing? We will always need to organise, to fight, to collaborate, to connect and to dance dance dance. And that is what The Moonlandingz do.”
TUTV: Where the first album was a 24-hour party affair, this 2nd one is musically a
sonic melting pot of 70s disco (like Sign Of A Man that clearly is inspired by 1978 classic Born To Be Alive by Patrick Hernandez) and 80s house (like Yama Yama) uppers and midnight hour downers (like Roustabout, and the romantic ballad It’s Where I’m From with perfectly matching vocals by the one and only Iggy Pop) that messes with your mind, body and soul.
To make sure that you hit the (dance)floor in the end, Flanegan and Honor knock you
out with the 9-minute hyperkinetic brainbreaker The Knack Drought Suite (Pts 1-3) that hammers your head in relentlessly and gives the last word to film-noir crooner Lias
Saoudi. Lyrically, NRR echoes Twin Peaks‘ unhinged stories from the dark side of the
human psyche. Everybody happy now? I definitely am.
KEY SINGLE
ALBUM
. Instagram – Linktree
——————————————————————————————————————————- Album artwork
Artist: ANIKA Who: British, Berlin-based songstress. She released two splendid
albums with indie band Exploded View and has her 4th solo one
out now.
Press info: “Anika channels her frustration, anger, and confusion with the world.
The album captures raw energy with minimal overdubs, resulting in a visceral and
urgent 10-track journey fueled by intense emotions.
Abyss reflects Anika’s desire to create a space where people can unite and feel free to express themselves amidst the chaos of the world. With influences ranging from 90s grunge and Courtney Love to Patti Smith and Genesis P-Orridge, the album is driven by
a rebellious spirit.”
Press
TUTV:Abyss is sonically, her most heavy-laden longplayer. From revved-up pop crazing (Hearsay / Honey / Last Song) to psych rock shocks (Abyss / Oxygen / Out Of The Shadows).
It’s Anika Vs Anika and the outside world as she makes clear in Walk Away with the lines “The truth is, I don’t really like myself / And the truth is / I don’t really like anyone else.”
Anika still struggles with all kinds of demons (media moguls, a broken relationship, being trapped in your own narrative, patriarchy, toxic masculinity, and other mind-destroying dangers). Eventually, she’s at her best when she faces and fights her worst nightmares and she knows she’s not alone. We’re all in it together. We should try not to hate each other and be tolerant for a chance. L’union fait la force. 2025 is Anika‘s year.
Band:VIAGRA BOYS Who: Swedish punk-rock dropouts fronted
by the human tattoo Sebastian Murphy.
New album: VIAGR ABOYS
Not their smartest LP title, but
already their 4th one.
Press info: “The LP sees VB turn inwards, leaving the acid-laced, conspiracy-addled societal commentary of previous LP Cave World behind to journey into the acid-laced, conspiracy-addled landscape within. Absurd, intense and surprisingly tender, viagr aboys shuts out the noise to find that the important part of being alive in the big, stupid world is figuring out that the world inside of you that is equally big and stupid.”
Press photography by Fredrik Bengtsson
TUTV: At their core, Viagra Boys still are the mean groove machine we know from
their swirling start. Whether they speed up, slow down, or move somewhere in
between (except for the closing, tender piano ballad), they always have an intense
impact on your body’s movements.
Wordsmith Murphy still keeps on rattling and rap-like rolling non-stop, but the overall
sonic vibe is more varied this time. From catchingly capricious to one-direction punk crazy, to sultry saxy. I’m not sure all the time what Murphy rambles about, but our messed-up times are always in the middle of his bizarre stories. Ultimately, it’s all about love, the only answer to hate. Another great job, boys.
Artist: NELL SMITH Who: A highly talented teenage singer-songwriter, who died
in a car crash last October, only 17. Cruel, really cruel.
As a dedicated Flaming Lips fan, she got in contact with the Oklahoma band aged 13,
and after frontman Kevin Coyne found out that Nell has a great voice and musical skills,
they recorded a Nick Cave covers album together, titledWhere The Viaduct Looms together in 2021. A once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Full of confidence, Nell Smith started to write songs for herself,f which are now collected on her posthumously released album, named ANXIOUS produced by renowned siblings Jack and Lily Walter.
It displays her artistically, far-reaching potential, with 10 spirited, real-life pop songs.
All beautifully orchestrated tunes. A combination of mixed emotions, reflective reveries and jaunty ruminations, with Smith‘s crystalline voice as the star in the middle. This record is/will be an everlasting memory of a bona fide artist in the making, who was taken from life abruptly, way too soon.
A concept one, glorifying the late, notorious, and fascinating actor (1936-2010).
Press info: Inspired entirely by the life and mythos of actor Dennis Hopper, Mike Scott and The Waterboys created this expansive album as tribute to one of American popular culture’s most compelling public figures. Deeply conceptual, this album of all original songs brings together high-profile featured artists like Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple, and Steve Earle to musically weave through Hopper’s life, including a song for each of Hopper’s wives.
Mojo Magazine: “The hit rate is high, and Mike Scott is clearly having fun cutting himself free from The Waterboys’ past, and playing fast and loose – much like the mercurial subject of this album.”
TUTV: This an amazing piece of work. A soundtrack for a yet to be made Dennis Hopper documentary. Hats off to Mike Scott for his boldness, imaginativeness, and ingenuity to score this musical movie, constructed marvellously with its sonically cinematic versatility.
Pop, rock, blues, country, bar-room jazz, and musing balladry take turns and puzzle
a most coherent and highly entertaining whole together, spiced with magnificent vocal contributions by Fiona Apple, Steve Earle and others. Never a dull moment with its varied stream of top-tier songs and Scott‘s awe-inspiring vocality throughout.
Movie shots from Hopper‘s parts in doom and gloom films such as Blue Velvet, Apocalypse Now, True Romance, Speed and, of course, counterculture classic Easy Rider pop up on the screen in your head. He was at his best when he played psychotic characters. And Scott is here at its best too. Can’t stopping listening to it and discover new things with every spin I know it’s only April but this pièce de résistance is, unquestionably, a contender for album of the year.
Singles/clips: I Don’t Know How I Made It / Hoppers’ On Top / Andy (A Guy Like You)
Scottish pop-rock-folk band THE WATERBOYS orchestrated
by Mike Scott told us at the start of 2025, that they canned
their 16th longplayer.
A sort of concept one, glorifying the late notorious actorDennis Hopper.
It is named Life, Death and Dennis Hopper and features guests Bruce
Springsteen, Steve Earle, Fiona Apple and Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes.
It features American songstress Fiona Apple, who covered The Waterboys‘ signature
tune ‘The Whole Of The Moon’ in 2019 for TV Show The Affair, in a stupendous vocal duet with Scott. Wowzers. What a stupefying performance.
Scottish pop-rock-folk band THE WATERBOYS fronted by orchestrated Mike Scott told us at the start of 2025, that they bagged their full length
number 16.
A sort of concept one glorifying the late notorious actorDennis Hopper.
It is named Life, Death and Dennis Hopper and features guests Bruce
Springsteen, Steve Earle, Fiona Apple and Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes.
Release date: 4 April.
Scott: “It’s the story of Dennis Hopper’s life
in songs, and the story of his and our times.”
A melancholic musing in which Scott wonders
how he came to what he is now. Enchanting.
In the accompanying video clip he sing and plays in the New Mexico desert
intercut with black and white photographs shot by Dennis Hopper in the 1960s.
Scottish pop-rockers THE WATERBOYS led by maestro Mike Scott just
announced the birth of their 16th album. A sort of concept one glorifying
the late notorious actorDennis Hopper. It’s named LIFE, DEATH AND DENNIS
HOPPER and features guests Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle, Fiona Apple and
Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes. Release date: 4 April.
Scott: “It’s the story of Dennis Hopper’s life
in songs, and the story of his and our times.”
The first single HOPPER’S ON TOP is a frolicsome and fun showtime
tune with a honky-tonk piano catchiness and a frisky Scott chorus.
