Turn Up The Volume’s 20 BEST TRACKS Of The Month – AUGUST 2022
A stream of rattling rippers, jagged jams, and magnific musings
All 20 on Spotify.
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TRACK BY TRACK
Band: GILLA BAND
Who: Raw Irish post-punk projectile
New album: Most Normal,
their third, out on out 7th October.
Dara Kiely (frontman man): “The lyrics are from a stream of consciousness rant, weird imagery and all that. The track is about attraction – fancying someone and not knowing what to say exactly. It’s an indirect love song, knowing you like someone but can’t quite articulate it.”
Single: BACKWASH
No brakes, no breaks. Always forward.
The Irishmen rock big time. Bang-on.
GILLA BAND: Facebook – Instagram
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Band: MUSE
Active: Since 1994 / 9 LPs (new one included)
New Album: WILL OF THE PEOPLE, released 26 August.
Single: WILL OF THE PEOPLE
This is Muse turning up the decibels. Giant gem.
MUSE: Facebook – All Albums
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Band: SUEDE
Who: Britpop champions from London
Active: 1989–2003, 2010–present
9 longpayers so far (new one included)
New album: AUTOFICTION
Out: 16 September
15 Again is 90s Suede.
Epic. Monumental. Glamtastic.
Tune in and feel young again.
SUEDE: Facebook – Instagram
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Artist: BUZZKILL JOY
Who: A genre-fluid punk in pink from the North of England
who always aims to energise, inspire and surprise.
New single: LEHMAN WEEKEND
It follows the character of Billy as he loses his job, his house, his wife and kids, and ultimately maybe his life. After pursuing everything at all costs, we follow Lehman brother’s banker Billy as he chronologically loses everything throughout the worst day of his life, after the bank collapses and everything just keeps going wrong.
Be ready to jump up and down, left and right. This not-so-happy song sounds terrifically happy. A riveting pop tune that could come straight from a Yungblud album. If this devil-may-care earworm doesn’t make you go gaga I don’t know what will.
Volume to max.
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BUZZKILL JOY: Facebook – Instagram
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Band: THE BANKROBBER
Who: Italian alt-pop band led by
brother ad sister Giacomo and
Maddalena Oberti‘.
New single: HATE ME
From their new, second full-length Lighters and Lovers
arriving on 23 September.
New single: HATE ME
Turned-on guitars and Oberti‘s quick-fire vocals – on the cracking
chorus he goes as fast as a rapper – inflame this straightforward
standout. From bankrobber to bankrocker.
Fantastico!
THE BANKROBBER: Twitter – Instagram
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(photo by Sandra Ebert)
Band: MODERN WOMAN
Who: London-based act that began as the songwriting project of Sophie Harris.
The band’s music, still based around Harris’ songwriting, explores a diverse range
of sounds drawing from their melting pot of influences.
New single: FORD
Following their splendid 2021 debut EP Dogs Fight In My Dream these up-and-coming gunslingers score again with their new sassy bass/drums motorized and guitar-spiced stunner, extra energized with Sophie Harris‘s clear-cut vocals and a schizo finish. They should get the same attention as Liverpool‘s sensation The Mysterines. NOW!
MODERN WOMAN: Facebook
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Band: THE KILLERS (Los Angeles)
Active: Since 2001 / 7 studio albums
New single: BOY.
Brando Flowers (frontman): With ‘boy’, I want to reach out and tell
myself, and my sons, to not overthink it. And to look for the ‘white arrows’
in their lives. For me now, white arrows are my wife, children, my songs
and the stage.”
The tunesmiths experts do what do best, writing
lyrical anthems for huge stadiums.
Boy, oh boy.
THE KILLERS: Facebook – Instagram
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Artist: WHERE WE SLEEP (London, UK)
Who: Alter ego of Beth Rettig, former
front force of electro-rock band Blindness
New single: BROKEN BONES
It follows the ambient 5-track EP Experiments In The Dark (2019)
and soul-stirring debut album The Scars They Leave (2021)
This slow-mo reflection on personal turmoil is driven by an ongoing bass-riff that got under my skin and kept on rotating in my head after just one spin. And when Rettig adds psychedelic guitar pizazz and flashy fingertip touches, the bone-chilling progression gets even more poignant. Her shadowy vocality seduces once again. To hypnotise, magnetise and mesmesize are familiar Where We Sleep characteristics I never get tired of.
Broken Bones is a triumph in sound and vision.
Listen/watch
WHERE WE SLEEP: Buy on Bandcamp – Instagram – Facebook
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Artist: MEAGN THEE STALLION
Who: R & B rapper born Megan Jovon Ruth Pete,
27 years ago Megan Jovon Ruth Pete
New album: Traumatize – her 2nd one
Track: HER
MTS is a non-stop word waterfall embedding her stories
in bulletproof disco stompers like she does it here.
Roll the tape and dance.
MEGAN THE STALLION: Instagram
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(Photo by Kris Parenti)
Band: ULTRA SUNN
Who: Cold/darkwave duo – Sam Huge and
Gaelle Souflet – from Brussels
New single: THE SPEED
B-side: Out Of The Cage
With The Speed this Belgian darkwave duo invites you once more to get off your
lazy couch, to dress black and head to the nightclub where they are waiting
to make your booty shake to their ghostly bass synth riffs. Nirvana guaranteed.
Here’s why.
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ULTRA SUNN: Facebook – Instagram
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Artist: JODIE LANGFORD
Who: A swirling wordsmith from
the Hull / East Yorkshire area.
New single: HOW IT IS feat. Marx
Jodie: “How It Is, the recurring tale of getting messy with your mates to escape from the standard 9 to 5 working life. This track celebrates the poor life choices made after deciding to go for a drink with your friends/colleagues and the chaos and amusement experienced along the way. “
It’s only Langford‘s third single.
This new one is a brisk clap-along groover with an instantaneous swaying
impact on your hips. Could be the ideal remedy when trying to get out of bed after
a 48-hour weekend revelry and shake your hangover off. Sheeny synths, hip-hopper
Marx‘s jaunty contribution, and the zestful chorus, it all comes together seamlessly.
A hattrick! Let’s drink to that.
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JODIE LANGFORD: Instagram
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Band: TUHAF (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Who: The fusion of different types of musicians and all kinds of genres
– Anatolian folk, indie rock, free jazz, Danish traditional songs and US
roots rock – wondrously merges into the sound of TUHAF. The band is
fronted by Turkish-born singer Berrin Bas.
New single: HAFLA
From their debut album ‘Mere Guld’,
out this Friday.
Berrin: “‘Hafla’ is about celebrating oneself. It is dedicated to
Bicop (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and everybody
can join the party.”
Hafla is a sensual groove with an exotic Eastern vibe. Its ongoing vibe
gets you, slowly but surely, into an elevating trance, while Berrin Bas‘s
vocals add a mesmerizing touch that works as a magnet.
Everybody is invited to Tuhaf‘s politically progressive party to celebrate
diversity with them. Music has the power to unite people. We all should
use that power to get together and respect each other as humans without
any kind of discrimination. Tolerance of diversity is the one and only key
to live together, side by side.
The marvelous black & white video will help
you to get in the right mood to dance…
TUHAF: Facebook – Instagram
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Band: BURN THE LOUVRE
Who: The musical project of singer/songwriter Jordan Speare
assisted by guitarist/bassist and friend Andrew Billone
New single: HEY STACEY
Jordan Speare: I wrote “Hey Stacey” for a friend of mine named Stacey, who also just
so happens to be one of the best people I’ve ever met. I remember when we first met, she
had mentioned how she hated whenever she’d meet new people, they would always make
a reference to that Fountains Of Wayne song “Stacy’s Mom” – she would joke: “it’s not funny
and my name isn’t even spelled that way!” I thought that was hilarious, so I wrote this song especially for her, with her name spelled correctly, of course.
Jingle jangle pop at its exciting best. Hey Stacey is a steamy swinger with all
cylinders rollin’ all the way. It’s sticky as first-class glue and you can sing
the chorus to your lover.
Check the vibe.
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BURN THE LOUVRE: Facebook
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Band: THE ZINVANDELS
Who: 4 uproarious rockers from Wales
New single: BLACKHOLES
Their sixth one. A statement of intent
ahead of their debut LP release.
Oh my, oh my. Expect riff schizophrenia bucking up this flipped-out
corker for its whole 4 minutes. Blackholes is a rollicking post-punk
juggernaut that scurries full tilt without looking back.
Add a steamed-up drums/bass tandem and poignant vocals and you
know this head-over-heels thunderstorm will attack your speakers
mercilessly.
These Welshmen are a burning engine.
THE ZINVANDELS: Facebook – Instagram
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Band: STICK TO YOUR GUNS
Who: The famous Californian hardcore tormentors
Active: Since 2003 / 7 studio LPs (new one incl.)
New album: Spectre
Released: 29 July 2022
Track: OPEN MY HEAD
The slowest and moodiest piece on the LP. But as intense
and fanatical as their hard-screeching-core missiles.
STICK TO YOUR GUNS: Facebook – Instagram
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Photo Credit: August Wolfe
Band: REIGN MAKER
Who: Australian prog rock band formed in Melbourne, Victoria in 2020.
Reign Maker is the collaborative project of passionate, activists who weave
politically charged, social commentary throughout their songs to raise
awareness and give voice to a wide range of current issues faced
in the world today.
New single: THE KILLING
The band take a stance here against racial discrimination and
police brutality needlessly taking the lives of innocent people.
This mighty-powered and impassioned ballad blows your mind in sound and vision.
Its metallic sonority and its titanic fervency send shivers down your spine. Astonishing.
And the monumental heart-and-soul cutting vocals are just flabbergasting, making me think of the haunting voice of Tarja Turunen from Finnish metalheads Nightwish. Midway, when the decibels go sky-high, the delirium increases to a jaw-dropping level.
Goosebumps all the way.
REIGN MAKER: Facebook – Instagram
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Band: GATHERING OF STRANGERS
Who: Impassioned indie rockers from Manchester
New single: RED & GOLD
Sky-scraping emotions.
Blazing orchestration.
Mammoth chorus.
Feverish vocals.
Sickly sticky.
Get the picture? Yes, this is a towering stonker
with an aroused impact. Touchdown.
Don’t be a stranger, press play
and get overwhelmed.
Right here, right now.
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GATHERING OF STRANGERS: Facebook – Instagram
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Band: ERASE ME
Who: Sludge pop band from Phoenix, Arizona. Their songs cover the gamut of topics but are often driven deep into what it’s like to be piece a of desert trash blowing through gentrified downtown phoenix landscapes, just tryin’ to survive.
Single/clip: JOAN OF ARKANSAS
From their brand new, hit-and-run EP
¡Distortionista!.
Expect a hugely catchy guitar booster with a head-spinning cadence, an electrical rush, and elated vocals As short as a Ramones song. For some reason, my ears tell me that this could be Pavement if they would write a pop tune as silver-toned as this one. Sounds like kick-ass fun, right? You betcha
Listen/watch.
JOAN OF ARKANSAS: Facebook
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(credit: Bianca Petris)
Band: THE CASE
Who: Firm 4-piece from Romania who started their journey in 2012, always
refining their rock & grunge sound. On their creative process, the band reckons
they “tried to create a space where originality prevails, to detach themselves from
the current musical cliches while glorifying their lord and savior David Bowie.”
New single: FEVER
“‘Fever’ is about the passage of time, about the failed attempts to correlate the quality of
a relationship with its duration and intensity. The song is about happiness, sadness, breakup, and forgiveness. It would be love if we were to associate our new single with just one word.”
This is a mind-magnetic and slow-burning sonic torch. Sounds both riveting and piercing as American alt-rockers The Afghan Whigs did/do so impressively for years. The Case develop a similar sensation of vivacity.
A cast-iron winner.
THE CASE: Facebook – Instagram
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Band: THE TRUSTED (Southend-on-Sea, UK)
Who: Formed in 2016, making music with strong melodies and catchy hooks. Being inspired by the new age Brit-rock bands like The 1975 and Catfish and the Bottlemen, The Trusted have made their own unique sound by the fusion of post-punk and punk energy with a little hint of modern rock.
“A song about being abandoned by the good guys.”
It was composed during lockdown. The band couldn’t write together
face to face. The creative collaboration went through computers.
Smooth synths, and gently weeping guitar lines take you immediately
on a dreamy head-in-the-clouds trip that moves slowly, heading to an
epic climax. Stylishly composed, greatly arranged.
A bittersweet symphony.
A romantic beauty.
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THE TRUSTED: Facebook
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