Another glorious week has been consigned to the musical dumper, but before we begin another, there's just time to congratulate the three bands who dominated our latest Tracks Of The Week contest. First up, Chris Catalyst's new project Radio Everything, whose song It’s The End Of The World might just be the beginning of something, if its poll victory is to be believed.
The Cold Stares came in second with Nowhere To Go, and Big Big Train hustled their way into third place with Counting Stars. This week's entrants are below, and they're ready for you.
The Karma Effect - Dangerous Love
The British “modern vintage” rockers come out fighting with this juicy fistful of sumptuous riffs, Dude Looks Like A Lady-style brass and powerhouse vocals to match. As frontman/band mastermind Henry Gottelier says: “The way I've always written music and performed is with the objective of: ‘How can we take what we do to this club full of people and make them feel like they're watching something in a giant outdoor arena in New Jersey’, or something like that.” All of which you can hear in Dangerous Love.
Girl Tones - Volcano
Classically trained sisters Kenzie and Laila are the brains behind this smart, fuzzy dose of pop rock sugar and spit – sort of like The Kills throwing a really fun party with a few riot grrrl stars. Fizzing with likeable energy but clever enough to keep you on your toes. “[It’s about] How helpless it feels when chaos strikes,” Kenzie says. “One thing I’ve learned is to flip chaos on its head and make something new out of it. Pressure isn’t always a bad thing.”
Elles Bailey - Growing Roots
Live and sort of unplugged, this slice of Elles’ game-raising new album Can’t Take My Story Away has a Little Feat-esque sway to it – all warm syncopated touches, beats, keys and some gorgeous southern sunset soloing from co-writer/producer/ Luke Potashnik (also of The Temperance Movement). Her voice hits a new stride here too; a little bit Susan Tedeschi, a little bit Beth Hart, but very much Elles all the way, rock n’ soul huskiness in excelsis.
The Claypool Lennon Delirium - WAP
Billed by the band as “a warped meditation on morality, artificial intelligence safety, and the slippery slope of optimisation without empathy,” WAP (aka ‘What A Predicament’) finds Sean Lennon and Primus oddball-in-chief Les Claypool doing their trippy yet hooky thing – whimsical experimental prog rock with a groovy psychedelic backbone. Keep your eyes peeled for a new album.
Wytch Hazel - The Citadel
Depending on your threshold for Jethro Tull-esque theatre, Rick Wakeman’s fashion choices and the more wizardy, minstrel-y moments of the 70s in general, chances are you’ll either love or hate the Lancastrians’ new video. The ivy on the amps! The crucifixes! The gold tights with matching cape! But even if such ingredients send you running for the hills, just listen to it: Wishbone Ash-via-Lizzy twin lead guitars, a brilliant solo from main main Colin Hendra, all of it sprinkled with acoustic Renaissance-y twinkles but packing a serious punch – Biblical lyrics an’ all.
Sugar - Long Live Love
“I wrote Long Live Love in 2007 while living in Washington DC,” mainman Bob Mould says of this driving, distorted swirl of anger, despair and ultimately joy, as Sugar continue their much-hoped-for comeback. “It was the George W. Bush era, I was deep in my DJ world with Blowoff, yet still writing pop songs on guitars. Garbage 2.0 is one of my desert island albums, so it's not surprising that Long Live Love reminds me of a long-lost Garbage song!”
Brass Camel - Ice Cold
Produced by Crown Lands' Kevin Comeau and mixed by old-school Rush collaborator Terry Brown, Brass Camel's Ice Cold is simultaneously the most Canadian thing we've ever seen – the video takes place on a hockey rink, with some prominent marketing for Labatt's beer – but also a reminder that there are at least two Canadas. "It’s my musings about northern resilience and a way of life that seems almost incomprehensible to us here in the mild south of the country," says frontman Daniel Sveinson. The music is funk-prog, if that's a thing, with riffs that bump and slither and other bits that speed up without any concern for the rules.
Joanne Shaw Taylor - Hell Or High Water
JST's first new material since last year's acclaimed Black & Gold album, Hell Or High Water is something of an epic, mixing acoustic and electric guitar and winding its way from spooky spiritual beginnings to a rousing, take-it-to-the-church climax. "Hell Or High Water is a defiant, soul‑bearing blues/gospel anthem about surviving the war inside your own head and refusing to give in,” says Joanne. “It’s about resilience and self-belief even in the hardest of times.” Taylor's UK tour kicked off last night in Edinburgh.
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