We Make Hits

10 BEST GIGS OF 2024 According To The Ears/Eyes Of TURN UP THE VOLUME

Posted on by JL

31 December 2024

Band: FAT WHITE FAMILY
Who: British misfits team led by maestro Lias Saoudi.
One of the best live bands of the past 15 years. Hands
down.

They released their 5th and unquestionbly their best
longplayer this year with Forgiveness Is Yours.

Trix Club, Antwerp – 1 June

No rest for the wicked.

Instagram – Spotify
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Band: Lambrini Girls
Who: Hefty post-punk
turbo from Brighton, UK.

The grrllzz have their debut LP Who Let The Dogs Out
out on January 10th. They will be all over the place.

L’Aeronef, Lille, France – 17 February

Earthquake experience.

Instagram – Spotify
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Band: ILA
Who: Belgian top rock/pop outfit
fronted by charismatic songwriter
Ilayda Cicek.

They scored one of the best debut
albums of the year with Anya.

Charlatan, Ghent – 14 November

Magnetism in motion.

Instagram
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Artist: LIAM GALLAGHER
Who: Our kid.

O2 Arena in London, 6 June.

We all felt supersonic.

Instagram – Spotify
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Band: DITZ
Who: Overwhelming post-punk
bulldozer from Brighton, UK.

On 24th January Ditz will launch
their second album, titled Never Exhale

Sonic City Fest, Kortrijk Belgium, 10 November

Illegal amount of decibels.
Helter skelter.

Instagram – Spotify
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Band: FRANK CARTER & THE RATTLESNAKES
Who: British tattoo artist and his gang.

Authors of one of the best longplayers
of 2024 with Dark Rainbow.

Ancienne Belgique, Brussels – 26 February

Passion, passion, passion.

Instagram – Spotify
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Band: THE NEW EVES
Who: Otherwordly all-female
indie act from Brighton, UK.

Botanique, Brussels – 24 May

Bizzare and different.
BRILLIANT!

Instagram – Spotify
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Band: YARD ACT
Who: Rap-pop-rock indie
celebs from Leeds, UK.

With Where’s My Utopia they
delivered their 2nd triumphant LP.

Botanique Nights Fest, Brussels – 28 April

Party from start to finish.

Linktree – Spotify
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Band: WARMDUSCHER
Who: Disco punk cowboys from the UK.

This hit team nailed it with this year’s
album Too Cold Too Hold (their 4th).

Botanique, Brussels – 24 May

Imagine James Brown being a punk.

Instagram – Spotify
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Artist: RICARD ASHCROFT
Who: British power pop expert

Lokerse Feesten, Belgium – 6 August

Bittersweet symphonies.

Instagram – Spotify

All photos by Turn Up The Volume

YARD ACT – The British Hip-And-Head Shaking Groove Team Found Their Utopia In Brussels

Posted on by JL

5 May 2024

Last week, British indie rock unit YARD ACT, who shot to the top like
a comet last year with their ace debut LP The Overload, conquered
Brussels at Les Nuits Botanique Festival.

Last March, they unleashed their 2nd longplayer, titled WHERE’S MY UTOPIA.
A bit of ‘The Overload’ #2, sonically that is. Weird, as a fresh sensation, YA already sound familiar with their wayward, hip-and-head shaking grooves and James Smith ‘s non-stop parlando and his poetic stories. Who cares that they sound familiar as long as they keep on throwing super sticky hits at our ears, on repeat, like this one.

The concert was a rhapsodic celebration of the end of a 2-month tour around the UK/Europe. Yard Act left it all on the floor as if it was their final gig ever. Performing
with extra help from two utterly cool female soul singers, a sassy saxophonist and
all amps to the max, the crowd went into a euphoric trance from start to finish. Not one
body wasn’t moving. Smiles and elation everywhere.

During the finale, Smith thanked everybody on stage and the whole YA team for
the past two months and invited the audience for support for Palestine, Ukraine
and Soedan. The Leeds team and all of us found their Utopia in Brussels.

Without a shadow of a doubt one of the best concerts of 2024. Hands down.

ALBUM


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YA: Instagram

Photos by Turn Up The Volume

YARD ACT Will Get Bigger Than They Already Are With Their 2nd Full Body-Shaking Album ‘WHERE’S MY UTOPIA?’

Posted on by JL

7 March 2024


Album artwork

British indie rockers YARD ACT shot to the top like a
comet last year with their ace debut LP The Overload.

Last summer they came back with a high-caliber, stand-alone single,
named The Trench Coat Museum. A harbinger for album number two,
titled, WHERE’S MY UTOPIA that is out now.

Press info:” The return of Yard Act. Where’s My Utopia? is the follow up to the Leeds
band’s critically-acclaimed debut record The Overload which arrived in January 2022. Written in snapshots of time between a relentless touring schedule, and produced jointly by the band and Gorillaz’ Remi Kabaka Jr, the quartet’s second act is a giant leap forward into broad and playful new sonic waters. Across the record, influences ranging from Fela Kuti to Ennio Moricone via Spiller’s ‘00s pop smash ‘Groovejet’ make themselves known.”

NME: “The Leeds quartet seek to obliterate the ‘post-punk’ tag with an eccentric second album that’s packed with surprises… Co-produced by Remi Kakaba Jr of Gorillaz, ‘Where’s My Utopia?’ is sonically playful from the get-go. Where’s My Utopia?’ marks an outlandish yet assertive second chapter for Yard Act, going toe-to-toe with the peculiar world that we find ourselves in.” Score: 4/5.

TUTV: Sonically much richer and versatile than YA’s debut, and they still make your
hips sway, your feet move from left to right and back, and your head shake in circles,
“we make hits”, and that’s what counts the most to my ears.

Yep, 10 sickly sticky tunes and one 7+ minute spoken-word story with waterfall
wordsmith vocalist James Smith, who became a father amidst touring and dealing
with sudden fame, asking himself “I attained perfection / So why the fuck was I still
wondering what wankers would think of album two?”. Give it a couple of spins and
you will discover a masterly entertaining record.

Yard Act will get even bigger than they already are.

Singles/clips: Dream Job / Petroleum / We Make Hits

– DREAM JOB –

– PETROLEUM –

– WE MAKE HITS –

ALBUM


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YA: Facebook – Instagram

Leeds’ Famous Mavericks YARD ACT About Their Dream Job – ‘WE MAKE HITS’

Posted on by JL

New striking strokes

17 January 2024

British indie rockers YARD ACT shot to the top faster than they could
realise, last year with their ace debut album LP The Overload.

And they have the intention to go on with their own fervent flow.

Second LP, baptized, WHERE’S MY UTOPIA will show up on 1 March.

Pre-order info here.


Album artwork

James Smith (frontman): “You can see the cynicism and the silliness on the surface
of “We Make Hits” without much effort, but at its core, for me, it’s really an ode to friendship and the unfiltered joy you feel when you’re making music with the people you hold dear in your life. Meanwhile back in the Yardiverse, we’re getting the origin story of the hitmen Dynamite Dave and Dudley Sunglasses. A valid parable about the trappings of late capitalism, and the compromises we have to make to survive sometimes.”

With WE MAKE HITS they share new track #3.

Can’t argue with that. They produce (from their debut LP on) tune after tune after
tune. It’s what they do, it’s their dream job and their reward is, deservedly, gigantic.

WATCH/LISTEN

STREAM


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UK/Ireland

US

YA: Instagram