This year’s best tracks (so far)…

Yes, we have already reached the middle of 2020. A surreal year we will never forget.
Fortunately, the music – on record that is – kept most of us alive and kicking.
Here are Turn Up The Volume’s 15 best tracks of 2020, so far…

‘I Found Out’ by OFFWORLD (UK)
Hard-Fi‘s frontman Richard Archer and imposing vox Krysten Cummings have the right human mindset and rad songs to confirm that. ‘I Found Out’ is a high-powered soul tour
de force. An epic heart and soul explosion from their upcoming album. Top stroke!

‘Hot Slick’ by PINS (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. These bad girls forever also made one of
the best party albums of the year (so far) with eponymous longplayer Hot Slick. Bingo!

‘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 uppercut with balls. Abso-fucking-lutely mental! You betcha!

‘Dark Blue’ by THROWING MUSES (Boston, US)
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!
The band’s brand new longplayer SUN RACKET hits the street on 4th September.

‘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 crystal clear start when ‘Bad bad bad boy‘ bursts out of your speakers. Don’t forget to turn up the decibels, even more, when the ablaze chorus kicks in.

‘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 finale you’ll reach a sonic orgasm. Heated stuff from Nashville!

‘Mr. Motivator’ by IDLES (Bristol, UK)
A riff-roaring ripper made to start crowded moshpits at gigs (for you only can pirouette yourself bananas at home). A red-hot-blooded corker that does your head it. Hell’s Bells!

‘Crossbow’ by TAMAR APHEK (Israel)
A shattering juggernaut, dynamized by a rattling machine-gun drum, mind-blowing bass vibrancy and a thunder and lighting guitar force. This is a cutting crackerjack rolling over you like an unstoppable high-speed train, with a fiery and exploding finale. Yeah!

‘Control‘ by AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS
This Australian tornado – the new Stooges fronted by head-spinning punkette AMYL – woke up the dead with their boiling debut LP last year. To keep up the heat they dropped a live EP recently with ‘Control‘ as the brain-breaking standout. Go nuts, right here right now…

‘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‘. Passionate belter from their excellent album Every Bad. Porridge Radio is on its way to world domination! Capeesh??

‘Downer Surrounded By Uppers’ by MRS. PISS (US)
Bloodcurdling shrieks from hell. Goth hysteria by gloom and doom sisters in crime Chelsea Wolfe and Jess Gowrie. More bone-chilling screams on their pitch-black LP Self Surgery.

‘Home Thru Hell’ by DEAP LIPS (CA, US)
When led zep blues-rock duo Deap Vally and symphonic fairy-tale eccentrics
The Flaming Lips team up you can expect firework like on this Yahama motor highlight from their self-titled debut album. One of the best longplayers of 2020 (so far).

‘Hopeless Romantic’ by OH BROTHER (UK)
A loud and crystal clear invitation to get out of your straitjacket, to open your windows, and scream at the top of your lungs to ventilate all your rage, frustration, and fury while jumping like a kangaroo on tons of speed. A stone gold 24 Karat rocker. Bang Bang!

‘Lockdown’ by From The Specials – Neville Staple (UK)
Swinging 2Tone lockdown humdinger written in isolation by original Rude Boy Neville Staple and his wonderful wife Sugary. Perfect tune for a safe house-party. Get up, stand up, and fight for your right to do some ska moves in these special(s) times. Shake your booty.

‘United We Stand’ by CONFIDENCE SURVIVAL (Nigeria born, Canadian based) )
Black lives matter. Black music matters. This the official COVID-!9 Victory Song
written by this highly caring Nigerian reggae artist. The only way to survive is by
doing it together in unity. Listen to her excellent full EP Confidence Is Key.

‘Murder Most Foul’ by BOB DYLAN
A 17-minute epos about America in the sixties, centered around the world-changing assassination of president John F. Kennedy on 22 November 1963. Only living legend Bob Dylan (the best singer-songwriter-poet of all time in my book) can write such a compelling, epic story. It sounds like a musical book. Brilliant piece by the Nobel Prize winner.

All together on Spotify…

.
Have a great summer, music junkies…