Two days from now, Turnstile will release their hotly anticipated, widely debated new album Never Enough. We just ran our Premature Evaluation review. I think Eli Enis did great work on that, even though I like the album a lot more than he does. It's immediately right up near the top of my own personal album of the year race, alongside Pulp's More, another album that drops Friday. We are eating right now! Turnstile jumped out of the DIY hardcore leagues and started playing late-night shows when they released their last album, 2021's Glow On. Last night, they played Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show and debuted a couple of Never Enough tracks.
Turnstile have already shared the early singles "Never Enough," "Seein' Stars," "Birds," and "Look Out For Me." On Fallon, they played two Never Enough tracks that aren't yet available for public consumption. They'd never played either of them live before. They started off with "I Care," a relatively sleek new wave song that slowly erupts, and they transitioned directly into "Dull," a very short rager that does not live up to its title. They played on a custom stage set, and everyone in the band wore gigantic matching headphones.
These guys know how to perform, and Brendan Yates and Franz Lyon went especially hard in a room that's not especially conducive to going hard. They only rated a two on the Jimmy Fallon "that's how ya do it" scale, but Fallon said both of those with emphasis, and he also jumped up and down a little. Watch the performance below.
For some real serious context, consider this performance next to the last one that Turnstile gave. On Sunday night, they headlined the Detroit hardcore fest Tied Down, where they were added at the last minute. Much like their recent free show at Baltimore's Wyman Park, it looked crazy. The fan video might make you want to jump off the roof of a moving car and onto the roof of another moving car like you're playing Frogger in real life. (I understand that the frog in Frogger is avoiding cars, not jumping onto their roofs, but that's the visual that came into my head.) Here, behold:
Tomorrow, Turnstile will play their Never Enough release show under Brooklyn's K Bridge, with openers Teezo Touchdown, Boy Harsher, Big Boy, and just-added Baltimore comrades End It. This weekend, your Stereogum staff will get to see them play a late-night set in motherfucking Barcelona, and I am amped. Never Enough is out 6/6 on Roadrunner.
