Band: ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN Who: The indestructible Liverpool post-punk-pop rockers who have
no expiration date, fronted by big mouth/songwriter Ian McCulloch.
UNCUT (British music monthly magazine) says: “The album draws deep on Mac’s rich and strange memories of the 1970s, outside of the holy trinity of Bowie, Cohen and Reed. On an album keen not to outstay its welcome, you feel, quite reasonably, that this one should have
run maybe three times as long.
Album artwork
TUTV: Almost 50 years into their career, The Bunnymen come up with their first masterwork of the 21st Century after 4 average albums, but in the meantime, still delivering electrifying goods on their never-ending touring. It matches their 1999 LP What Are You Gonna Do With Your Life?
Like that grand opus, this new one is a near-solo Ian McCulloch effort, musically
and lyrically. Longtime brother in arms, Will Sergeant‘s role is relatively minimal.
As the line “Is this the blues I’m singing?” goes in their 1980’s classic cracker Rescue
that sentiment is all over the place right here. At 67, McCulloch also gets gripped by melancholia, by memories of a lifetime. He translates them into his often cryptic, poetic,
and shadowy language and embeds them in a stunning series of astounding tunes enflamed by his eternally awesome voice.
The outcome is strikingly vital. Not one weak moment, and with Can’t Be Sold, Brussels Is Haunted, I’ll Be Your Sunshine, The Light That Surrounds You, Lab Rats Ran, and We Prayed In The Dark as the 24-karat gold nuggets.
TUTV: The downfall of Trump’s Divided States Of Hate (“We got a criminal running this
place. He got lies written all over his face”) makes Seasick Steve angry, confused, mournful and combative. Except for MAGA, almost the whole wide world despises today’s America
for its current failure on many levels and its global, disastrous impact.
That’s the record’s main theme. Dark clouds hang all over Steve‘s doomful grooves
and his brooding ballads. He also goes after all “useless motherfuckers and parasites
in the music industry“.
Steve doesn’t rock out much. He spits and sneers on many occasions. He boils inside.
No, this is not a happy album. It reflects the ill-omened signs of this historic, damaging,
and dangerously tumultuous American era.
Yet, in the end, Steve still believes in a healing metamorphosis if we all get together and make it happen, as he sings on the funky footstomper Bad Things: “There’s bad things, but we still can change. If you believe in hope, we can rearrange. I still believe in the power of love.”
It’s not over yet is Steve‘s underlying belief in a redeeming turnaround.
KEY SINGLE
It’s the last season of America
And we’ll never watch again
The show that we loved
On Half-Told Stories,half of the tracks are designed to rock out and freak out while trying
to pogo your way around the dancefloor in your head. More and more, the long-serving duo’s mix of trippy electronics and bouncy rock undercurrents comes with pumped-up, pounding decibels, like you can experience, among other stompers, to the full extent on the 3 dumbfounding singles (hear below)
Then again, half the record contains laid-back breathers, letting poetic storyteller Moffatlook out the window and reflect on all things weird whirling in his mind, with his trademark wit and dark humour.
Put everything – low and slow, fast and fervent – together and you know for a certified
fact that the Scots delivered another buzzworthy showpiece for end-of-the-year lists.
DIY Magazine (UK) wrote: “A tense, exhilarating follow-up that digs even deeper into
the dark, searching for signs of light. The 10 tracks creak, judder and detonate, riding fuse-like guitar scratches and claustrophobic drums. There’s doom and gloom, but Gurriers aren’t cheap nihilists – they understand the human spirit and the vitality of kinship.
Album artwork
TUTV: Without a shadow of a doubt, one of the hottest records of the year. They rock,
they punk, and they punch with blood-and-guts fervour. They’re on a quest to find the
light at the end of the tunnel to replace today’s dark times. Watch your back, Fontaines, your fellow committed countrymen are coming fast.
Pitchfork says: “Exploding its signature blend of noise-punk and dance music to masterful extremes, the Irish band gets louder, rawer, funnier, and more methodical on its exhilarating fourth album.”
TUTV: I follow/love these Irishmen since I saw them live in Belgium in 2014
as nervous snotnoses hadn’t a record out yet, as support act for Fat White
Family. Their chainsaw hullabaloo went through bone and marrow.
And it still does. Mind you, their songs had and still have bloodcurdling body and returning, capriocious structure that’s bone-chilling and mind-blowing at times, while frontman Dara Kiely fights upfront to vomit his eccentric lyrics. If your eardrums survive
this electric-chair experience, you’re ready for some more sonic Gilla Band blitzkrieg.
On Half-Told Stories,half of the tracks are designed to rock out and freak out while trying
to pogo your way around the dancefloor in your head. More and more, the long-serving duo’s mix of trippy electronics and bouncy rock undercurrents comes with pumped-up, pounding decibels, like you can experience, among other stompers, to the full extent on the 3 dumbfounding singles (hear below)
Then again, half the record contains laid-back breathers, letting poetic storyteller Moffatlook out the window and reflect on all things weird whirling in his mind, with his trademark wit and dark humour.
Put everything – low and slow, fast and fervent – together and you know for a certified
fact that the Scots delivered another buzzworthy showpiece for end-of-the-year lists.
“It’s a song about impossible tasks. It’s about trying to do everything you have been told to do in life, and never achieving what was promised. The goalposts have shifted, no, that isn’t how you do it.”
TUTV: Really Good Time are manic motherrockers, racing and rushing with puissance and roasting power. They develop a kind of Gilla Band disturbance, but less chaotic, way more movin’ and groovin’. Whether you want it or not, your head goes 360. Blimey.
Band: FARVEBLIND Who: Electro dance-pop-rock trio from Copenhagen, Denmark that fabricates
sonic touchstones ranging from Battles and The Chemical Brothers to Underworld
and Viagra Boys.
TUTV: A cocksure, motorik-feverish dancefloor filler for sweaty nightclubs. A tsunami of synth extravaganza hits you straight in the face, while rollicking vocals add a jaunty feel.
Artists: ARAB STRAP Who: Trippy Scottish electro-pop vets, Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton (1995–2006, 2011, 2016–present).
Track: YOU YOU YOU
First single from their new full-length Half-Told Tales,
their 9th, out on September 4th. Tracklist here.
AS: “A disco-metal sound and lyrics that explore
overcoming troubles and tumultuous times”.
TUTV: Trip Trip Trip! Hip Hip Hip! We We We!
“I’ve got a portly paunch I just can’t shift/I feel undesired, dismissed, adrift/
My get-up-and-go is long gone/ and the days keep dragging on/ But I’ve got
you, you, you”
Okereke wrote the record in the wake of a more than decade-long relationship.
“Every lyric you’re hearing on this record was something that actually happened to me.
I had to tell the story, from start to finish.”
TUTV: Damn. Time flies with supersonic speed. BC are entertaining our eager eardrums since 1999. Well Okereke took time, now and then, for solo work, but it’s always a sonic pleasure to hear them coming up, again and again with firm, dance-spiked singles.
TUTV: Soft Cell on adrenaline. Erasure on amphetamine. Enriching electro pop nirvana
at its most beautiful. Ignore the outside bedlam for about 6 minutes on repeat. The beat goes on and on and on. Twirl yourself dizzy.
Track: WHAT FUTURE
The title song of his new album.
Carr: “I’ve been putting together these sounds for many years but this
is the first time where I thought ‘this doesn’t really sound like anything else
and decided to put it out.”
TUTV: Techno daft-punk on the run. Electro rock shock. Winding mix of paranoic synths, bass booms, and some helium-infused Carr interventions. Good grief. What a brainfucker.
TUTV: This is a sassy, kind of fuck you stunner, that speeds all over your
trembling stereo with Rønnenfelt throwing sneers around. Vicious sucker
punch all the way.
Band: THE CHRONICLES OF MANIMAL AND SAMARA Who: London-based DIY duo – Daphne Ang (Singapore) and Andrea Papi (Italy)
that fills a gap in music by bringing literature, art, and history together into a
space where rock and metal meet electronica.
Track: GIROTONDO
Single from their forthcoming 4th album, named Misantropi.
Out June 22nd. Tracklist and pre-order info here.
TUTV: This Metallica-echoing shocker thunders unstoppably and peaks every time its fistpumping chorus kicks in. TCOMAS rock here as never before. They kick ass with this striking uppercut.
Band:SOCIAL DISTORTION Who: The robust, generational Californian rockers fronted by the only
original member, voice/guitarist/songwriter Mike Ness, who beat tonsil
cancer a few years ago, are one of the most notorious and celebrated
American punk bands ever.
Band: CASSIUS WOLF & DAS ABS Who: The musical project of Cassius Wolf and Don Watson. Formed in Liverpool during the original wave of post-punk and new wave. Now, decades later, that same spirit is driving the band’s long-awaited return.
Track: LOSING SLEEP
Single from their brand new full-length, An Afternoon in Bedlam. Stream here.
TUTV: When I say that this avid anthem has an epic Echo & Bunnymen sonority,
you should pay attention instantly. The flamboyant flair, the whirling drive, the
euphoric vocals. I see Ian McCulloch standing around the corner, with a big smile
on his face.
Band: DELFOI ROAD Who: A Finnish alternative rock act, formed at the turn of the millennium.
The four-piece blends artistic sensitivity, strong melodic songwriting, and
atmospheric depth with an energetic and dynamic edge.
Track: TAKE ME AWAY
New piece from their upcoming debut full-length, planned to come out in the fall. “It’s one of the catchiest and most radio-friendly tracks on the album.”
Artwork single
TUTV: Think Mumford and Sons‘ arousing passion and vocal eagerness. Take Me Away draws you into its stirring spirits, its intensifying orchestration,
and its exhilarating euphoniousness. Towering tour de force.
BZ: “I’ve spent a long time thinking about where to take my musical journey next & Real Problems, ironically, has become an unexpected solution. I wrote this track off the cuff a while back, as an outlet for feeling disconnected from the so called “real world”. For my entire life I’ve been told “that’s just how the world is” but all I’ve learnt in my 23 years alive is that it seems the world was never meant to be like this.
Humans have this disturbing desire to disconnect themselves from the natural world & forget that we’re in fact all a part of it. Real Problems is my attempt to reconnect to that part of myself that I feel has been hidden away due to societal noise. I’ve never met ‘these people’ & they’ve never met me, so why am I expected to uphold their ideas of who I was meant to be!”
TUTV: Industrial slam-bang EBM for all dance-addicted misfits out there.
You need to be in top shape to catch up with Bizarre Fae. She zooms with
steamy swiftness throughout this boomtastic missile. Face your problems
and sway them into oblivion. Trust me, it’s unquestionably worth a try.
Artist: KAT FIVE Who: EBM songstress from London. She fuses together a raw
punk energy with a dark pop magic, she consistently creates
indefinable, politically-engaged glitched-up anthems.
FIVE: “This is a call out to all kinds of creators, and also a shout out
for some simple moves you can make against techno-feudalism.”
TUTV: Kat Five offers a both luring and foreboding-sounding EBM tune for
shadow-dancing fans. Despite the hazardous times worldwide, she suggests,
rightly so, that togetherness is the only way to get out of the intolerant chaos
we have to go through right now.
Artist: SOUTHPAW GRAMMAR Who: British garage musician and producer. He has toured extensively with some
of the biggest names in popular music. His music speaks directly to the realities of working-class life while delivering dancefloor-ready grooves.
“It captures the evolution of a generation raised on late nights and pirate radio, now navigating mortgages, energy bills, and nursery pickups. With his signature dry wit and unmistakably British storytelling, Southpaw Grammar delivers a relatable anthem for anyone who’s swapped the rave for responsibility but still hears the bassline in everyday life.”
TUTV: This is cheer fun. Its ska-esque beat and jumpy flow kick-start hectic body movements. Bouncy piano touches and frolicsome rappin’ piggyback the feel-good tone. Ideal to play when workin’ out, although I fear that many of us (certainly me) will fall over our feet when trying to follow the pace. Fervid ambiance.
LV: “At least four or five of the songs on the record speak to a life lived being in bands, the bonds forged, and the life of a musician and performer, with themes of loss, addiction, death and redemption woven through. All the cliches about spending your time in bars, being on the road, being ‘out’ and not at home, are real.”
TUTV: Overall, this is a warm, hearty, and nostalgic energizer, spiced with classic textbook riffs and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed vocals. A stimulating upper for moody moments. It’s only rock ‘n’ roll, but we’ll never stop liking it.
Another batch of 5 new, stellar tracks have
been added to Turn Up The Volume’s Jukebox.
Turn it up.
ALL TOGETHER
. TRACK BY TRACK
Photo by Luke Bovill
Artists: ARAB STRAP Who: Trippy Scottish electro-pop vets, Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton (1995–2006, 2011, 2016–present).
Track: YOU YOU YOU
First single from their new full-length Half-Told Tales,
their 9th, out on September 4th. Tracklist here.
AS: “A disco-metal sound and lyrics that explore
overcoming troubles and tumultuous times”.
TUTV: Trip Trip Trip! Hip Hip Hip!
“I’ve got a portly paunch I just can’t shift/I feel undesired, dismissed, adrift/
My get-up-and-go is long gone/ and the days keep dragging on/ But I’ve got
you, you, you,.”
Band: GETDOWN SERVICES Who: Wacky and ironic disco-rap-punk duo from Bristol, UK
who made an instant impression in their home country with
their festive 2023 debut LP Crisps, followed by a couple of EPs.
“This song is really about friendship and betrayal, getting stuck in a dynamic and letting things fester. It’s about pain and confusion — no one trains you for the ups and downs of a friendship between two women — but it’s also about a love so enduring that you find compassion no matter what.”
“It’s a song that feels hopeless on its first listen, but if you look at it more deeply it’s a call to action, no one is going to rise up if everyone expects someone else to do it. We all have to do our part in creating the change.”
TUTV: Bedazzling post-punk corker. Infectiously nerve-racking.
These Irishmen continue their indie-supertop quest. You bet.
