Turn Up The Volume picks 10 gems of favorite bands/artists
21 November 2022
Artwork debut EP
Indie heroes THROWING MUSES started their journey back in 1981 in Newport, Rhode Island with stepsisters Tanya Donelly and Kristin Hersch. Donelly left in 1990, worked
a short time with Kim Deal and her band The Breeders and formed Belly in 1991.
The Muses made/recorded 10 longplayers between 1986 and 2020.
(When you click on the album’s title you can stream it in full).
Released: September 1986 – debut LP AllMusic:“Throwing Muses’ self-titled 1986 debut is still a startling collision of punk energy, folky melodicism, and Kristin Hersh’s mercurial voice and lyrics… A powerful debut, Throwing Muses puts the work of most self-consciously “tortured” artists to shame; its fluid, effortless emotional shifts may not make for the most accessible music, but they’re unquestionably genuine.” Score: 5/5.
Released: 15 November 1986 – debut LP AllMusic: “Perhaps Licensed to Ill was inevitable, a white group blending rock and rap, giving them the first number one album in hip-hop history. But that reading of the album’s history gives short shrift to the Beastie Boys; producer Rick Rubin, and his label, Def Jam… The Beastie Boys fueled this record through their passion for subcultures, pop culture, jokes, and the intoxicating power of wordplay.” Score: 5/5.
Released: 29 September 1986 – fourth LP AllMusic:“This was a New Order with nothing more to prove – witness the tossed-off
lyrics – aside from continuing to make great music… the songs and the band’s production
had reached such a high level. Score: 4/5.
Released: March 1986 – fifth LP AllMusic: “Moving to a major label doesn’t affect Hüsker Dü’s sound greatly — although the production is more full-bodied than Spot’s razor-thin work, the Hüskers don’t change their blazing attack at all.” Score: 3.5/5.
Released: 3 November 1986 – fourth LP AllMusic:“The Bad Seeds turn from the interpretive triumph of Kicking Against the Pricks to another strong high, the mostly-original ‘Your Funeral…My Trial’… Arguably Cave and company have by now so clearly established their overall style that the album is much more a refinement of the past than anything else, but so good is their work that resistance is near impossible.” Score: 4/5.
I love the smell of rock and roll.
Here come Turn Up The Volume’s
20 Knockout Tracks of 2020.
Nothing but the best! Hands down!
1. ‘State Of The Union’ byPUBLIC ENEMY (Long Island, New York)
Time to get up and leave the White House, Donald Dumped. You split the USA right down the middle, you’re a disgrace for America, for humanity and the whole wide world. GO!
Unprecedented, demented, many president’d / Nazi Gestapo dictator defended / State of the Union, shut the fuck up / Sorry ass motherfucker / Stay away from me / State of the Union,
shut the fuck up…
2. ‘Ultra Plus Ultra’ by ELEFANT (Belgium)
The Belgian sound-exploring motherrockers unleashed their second stupefying album Behajung early this year with Ultra Plus Ultra‘ as one of the dazzling highlights.
A schizophrenic sonic blast with balls. Abso-fucking-lutely cool! VREE WIJS! You betcha!
3. ‘Hot Slick’ byPINS (Manchester, UK)
A hot stuff disco stomper that should be played in all discotheques around the globe,
from one of the coolest gangs on the planet. Bad girls forever. Title track from their swirling party album. Saturday night pins fever all the way!
4. ‘Under The Spell Of Joy’ by DEATH VALLEY GIRLS (Los Angeles)
Sickly sticky like first-class glue. With an angelic choir, feet-tapping drum beats, sweaty
sax flames and a mental finale. Yes, it’s Death Valley Girls en-joy-ing themselves in a new sonic zone. Don’t resist the spell! From the rad, same titled full length.
5. ‘I Found Out’ by OFFWORLD (UK) Hard-Fi‘s frontman Richard Archer and imposing vox Krysten Cummings realized a high-powered tour de force. An epic heart and soul explosion! TOP! Waiting for the album!
6. ‘Never Ever Ever’ by BOA Vs COBRA (Belgium)
Don’t mess with charismatic frontwoman Sandy Fee who rants unambiguously about a toxic relationship from the very start when ‘Bad bad bad boy‘ bursts out of your speakers. The decibels turn up when the ablaze chorus kicks in. Stunning uppercut!
7. ‘American Dream’ by TOKYO TABOO (London, UK)
A steamy stunner with an explosive in-your-orange-face-intro, kick-starting this
clamorous jackhammer instantly with a titanic wall-of-blazing-riff hurly-burly and deafening percussion slams. YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!
Hey Mr President
You’re just a joke
Kids dodging bullets
World’s up in smoke
8. ‘Sweet’ by PORRIDGE RADIO (UK)
A towering loudQUIETloud haymaker with Margolin‘s repeating magnetically ‘I’m charming, I’m sweet and she will love me when she meets me‘. Emotive belter from the band’s excellent album Every Bad. Porridge Radio is on its way to world domination! Capeesh??
9. ‘Mr. Motivator’ by IDLES (Bristol, UK)
A riff-roaring ripper made to start crowded moshpits at gigs (for now you need to pirouette yourself bananas at home). A red-hot-blooded corker that does your head in. Hells Bells! Album: Ultra Mono.
10. ‘A Hero’s Death’ by FONTAINES D.C. (Ireland) ‘Life isn’t always empty ‘ states frontman Grian Chatten in his characteristic parlando
flow while the band grooves non-stop. Album:A Hero’s Death.
11. ‘Dark Blue’ by THROWING MUSES (California)
A firm banger driven by a solid beat with a pounding guitar groove, Kristin Hersh‘s characteristic sensual voice, and a catchy polyphonic chorus. Throwing Muses rocks!
From the band’s highly acclaimed longplayer Sun Racket…
12. ‘The Rise And Fall Of America’ byTHE MOODS (Manchester, UK)
A crystal clear stream of cutting lines as sharp as a brand-new Swiss knife. It’s The Moods‘ towering take on the bombastic American National Anthem. They rock, roar and rage. The Moods kick ass! Go home Donald Duck Trumpet!
13. Psychopath’s Monologue by THE CHRONICLES OF MANIMAL AND SAMARA
A 2020 Apocalypse Now Odyssey. It all starts enigmatically with Samara reciting her Dante’s Inferno inspired poem in a haunting foreplay tone until Manimal shows up and all metallic hell breaks loose. Learn more about this year’s most intriguing act in their interview with Turn Up The Volume righthere.
14. ‘Paycheck’ by LEG PUPPY
A dizzy disco-ball drone making you jump up and down like a kangaroo on E. It goes bang, bang, bang, and bang with crazy duet vocals all over it and that psych-o-delic surf guitar riff that messes up your mind the way you like it. Dance floor blast. PAY THEM!
15. ‘A Reason To Celebrate’ by bdrmm (Hull, UK)
Delightful shoegaze rainbow. Like a nightingale symphony waking you up in the morning. From – yes, ladies and gents – the best debut LP of the year with Bedroom.
16. ‘Out Of The Shadows’ by GREAT HARE (Sweden)
From the stimulating intro on you’ll tap your feet, without even noticing it. This is the wake-up-call I want to hear when I can’t get out of my bed in the morning. You simply can’t resist this shot of adrenaline. This is what elevating pop is all about.
. 17. ‘Man Of Chaos’ by FLIGHT ATTENDANT (Nashville, US)
A feverish cracker and jaw-dropping power slam. The sensual, magnetic, and spellbinding vocals create a sort of delirious trance. And when, unexpectedly, bouncy strings kick in as a harbinger for a vibrant finish you’ll reach a sonic orgasm.
18. ‘Rainbow Records’ by OCEANOGRAPHY (Oakland, CA)
Glorious guitar pop stonker getting your aural attention from the get-go with a repetitive riff sticking immediately. Inflammable passion, scintillating ardency, and vehement fervor. Big tune, big sentiments and a big voice reminding me of Greg Dulli‘s imposing vocals at times.
. 19. ‘Maggot Line’ by THE BATTERY FARM (Manchester, UK) “We all gonna die and it’s our fault.” This is not just a punk slogan. It’s the fucking truth. Middle-finger to all those buffoons who ignore global warming, corona and The Battery Farm. NO MERCY!
20. ‘No Rock Save In Roll’ by CORNERSHOP (UK)
A rattling Stones-esque garage rocker with an unstoppable groove that makes you
want to jump in the street and have a sweet little dance (with mouth mask on).
SUN RACKET, the new THROWING MUSES arrives
on 4th September. So let’s start counting forwards
“Sun Racket knew what it was doing and pushed us aside, which is always best.
After thirty years of playing together, we trust each other implicitly but we trust
the music more,” says leading lady Kristin Hersh.
So far we could experience three brisk pieces: ‘Dark Blue’, ‘Milk At McDonald’s’
and ‘Bo Diddley Bridge‘. You can stream this trio below via the Bandcamp link.
Kristin Hersh
And here’s the fourth cut. FROSTING is a harsh rocking stomper to keep you
hot-blooded in winter. A firm stroke pushed by trashing Neil Young guitars
and a relentless drumbeat while Hersh‘s voice sounds like she has a knife
between her teeth. Barbed wire stuff indeed.
“In heaven maybe they don’t call you crazy.“
(I wonder what they call you in hell…)
Clips that will have an impact on your eyes and your ears…
24 July 2020
As already announced several weeks ago Boston’s indie darlings THROWING MUSES led by the gorgeous KRISTIN HERSH will launch their tenth longplayer, entitled SUN RACKET on 4th September. Pre-order info here.
“All it asked of us was to commingle two completely disparate sonic vocabularies: one heavy noise, the other delicate music box. Turns out we didn’t have to do much. Sun Racket knew what it was doing and pushed us aside, which is always best. After thirty years of playing together, we trust each other implicitly but we trust the music more” says Hersh about the new record.
The band gave us three tracks so far, firm rocker Dark Blue, darksome reverie Milk At McDonald’s and the puzzling Bo Diddley Bridge. And here – just shared – is the video
clip for lead single Dark Blue.
“’Dark Blue’ starts in California, drives to New Orleans, then flies to Reykjavik. I think it ends
in dark New England at a blue table covered in blue flowers; my kitchen by the ocean last year. Sorta grim, kinda pretty.Ultimately, “Dark Blue” says that in running from black holes, you only increase their density and drawing power. They will cross time zones to hunt you down in dreams and songs to tell you that you’re loved, whether or not you wanna know that.”
explains Hersh.
Watch the John-Mark Lapham directed, cut and pasted clip here…
If you missed them,
here are the two other tracks…
KRISTIN HERSH is one of those rare artists who don’t lose their high-quality songwriting strength and eager ambition to create new arresting music, even after a long succesful career. With THROWING MUSES (Hersh, David Narcizo, and Bernard Georges) she’ll share 10th LP, entitled SUN RACKET with the world on 4th September.
“All it asked of us was to commingle two completely disparate sonic vocabularies: one heavy noise, the other delicate music box. Turns out we didn’t have to do much. Sun Racket knew what it was doing and pushed us aside, which is always best. After thirty years of playing together, we trust each other implicitly but we trust the music more” says Hersh about the new record.
And here is number three. BO DIDDLEY BRIDGE is a twofold song starting with a heavy groove and turning blue halfway with an almost whispering Hersch. Storm before the calm. Pretty special!
“My little boy, Bo, used to fish off Bo Diddley Bridge down the street before it collapsed, around the time our life collapsed. But we lived; we swam in a life sunshine somehow. And both bridges – the Bo Diddley one and the life one – were rebuilt around us.”
