Another week is already disappearing into the distance in rock's rearview mirror, but before it drops over the horizon, we'd like to congratulate the winners of our most recent Tracks Of The Week competition. That's The Karma Effect, who now award-winning single Dangerous Love scooped up a third of the available votes.
Joanne Shaw Taylor's Hell Or High Water held onto the runner-up position by a single percentage point from Brass Camel's Ice Cold, but we're sure they'll both be back to try again. In the meantime, here are eight new contenders, all primed and buffed and ready to rock. Enjoy!
The Black Crowes - It’s Like That
Continuing this latest stage in their phoenix-like rise from acrimonious separation back into happy band life, both Robinson brothers fly high on this rich, rollicking barnstormer. It’s got that alluring mix of style, swagger and rock’n’roll lifer grit that they do so well, and which makes this such an appetising cocktail – think Cuban-heeled cool with a Blue Steel stare and dirt under its nails. Nice.
Skindred - This Is The Sound
A scorching follow-on from You Got This, the first taste of the ragga-metallers’ next album, This Is The Sound is a gleefully slamming stomach-punch of party-hard vibes and no-nonsense, get-shit-done energy. As mic-boss Benji says: “This Is The Sound pulls together evil dance hall vibes with a booming metal grind that hopefully makes you want to bang your head and scream along with the chorus. THIS IS THE SOUND THAT MAKES YOU GO CRAZY!” He is not wrong about any of this.
Creeping Jean - Supercharger
The vibey Brighton-based rock’n’rollers continue to up their artistic ante on Supercharger – a dirty, hard-grooving ‘fuck you’ to the soaring costs of living in the UK. “Everything is thrown back on the public, on the high street, on the small business, on the independent venues,” frontman Olly Tooze says. “We wanted a track that has a drive and an urgency that reflects the difficulties of modern-day living, hence the raucous guitars, driving bass and thumping drums.”
Maebe - Brain Paint
Imbued with a raw, meaty sense of fun and feeling seldom captured in noodly instrumental music, Brain Paint makes a commanding opening statement for the math-rockers’ next album (also called Brain Paint). “Brain Paint is a bombastic riff fest – it’s a pretty bold statement of intent, but it’s fun and heartfelt, too,” says mastermind and guitarist Mike Astley-Brown. “Everyone in the band listens to a lot of instrumental music, and I don’t think any of us have heard anything quite like this.”
Tedeschi Trucks Band - I Got You
Building up some heartwarming, spirit-lifting heat ahead of their next album, Future Soul, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks and their talented crew of kindred souls pour their emotionally nuanced sunshine into a pop-sized package on I Got You. Expect roots, rock’n’roll, a whole lotta soul and a stirring, infectious chorus that’s still playing in our heads as we type. Irresistible.
Karnivool - Animation
All beautifully arranged light and shade, the enigmatic Aussie progressive metallers’ latest single packs in a lot without ever feeling ‘fussy’ or unfocused. Softer verses build to crushing, beefed up choruses, progressing through clever melodic shifts, pace changes and gorgeously dreamy passages. If you looked up the term ‘moody’ in a musical dictionary, this would be one of the more compelling examples. Taken from their long-awaited new album In Verses, which comes out this week.
The Road Hammers - Till The Wheels Fall Off
As befits a band whose songs are largely about trucking, Canadian southern rockers (northern southern rockers?) The Road Hammers' latest single Till The Wheels Fall Off rattles along like an eighteen-wheeler with failing brakes. Featuring Big Wreck's Ian Thornley on guitar and Theory of a Deadman's Tyler Connolly on vocals, it's the sort of thing Big & Rich might come up with if Mutt Lange was behind the desk, with a climax bigger than a Kenworth W900. “A lot of modern music is in such a rush to get to the chorus,” says frontman Clayton Bellamy, “but we wanted to extend that intro, let the chant build, let the groove simmer, and get into your soul like a slow-burning whiskey."
Suzi Quatro - Freedom
Suzi Quatro returns with the title track of what we believe to be her 18th solo album, scheduled to arrive in March. It's good old-fashioned rock'n'roll (borrowing heavily from Little Richard's The Girl Can't Help It), but it's delivered with such joie de vivre it would be churlish to moan that she hasn't embraced nu-core or blackgaze. "It’s all about getting back to who you are, and it applies universally," says Suzi. "We all wear masks to get by in this world. For me it’s all about being comfortable in your own skin, having nothing to prove to anyone, and not accepting any BS!"
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