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Last Monday, Europe returned to the Tracks Of The Week referendum, with what we believe to be their first release since the UK left the EU, and what a return it was, as Joey Tempest led his men to a convincing, thoroughly deserved victory. So congratulations to them.
Bringing up the rear, so to speak, were American hopefuls The Bites and other American hopefuls Stanley Simmons, so congratulations to them, too. Eight new contestants are ready to do battle below, armour shining and broadswords sharpened.
Goose - Good Times // End Times
Goose, like the Grateful Dead, might be one of those bands it's difficult to "get" without partaking in the whole live experience thing, but Good Times // End Times is a pretty good entry point for the uninitiated, coming on a like a joyful mix of the E Street Band, Range-era Bruce Hornsby, Steely Dan and Ben Folds, but also sounding like none of those. Excellent New album Big Modern! is out now, and the band return to New York's fabled Madison Square Garden for a pair of shows this week, once it's been tidied up after all those Knicks celebrations.
Des Rocs - Fall Together
It seems that every rock band worth its salt tries to write their own version of Kashmir at some point, and Fall Together is Des Rocs' version. He's gone all-in, with the Middle Eastern melodies, the epic strings, the mystical lyrics ("Laced crown / Placed on meat / Red dogs devour me, devour me, devour me"), the towering ambition and whatnot, and who are we to argue? No one, that's who. New album To Hell And Back is out now.
Joanne Shaw Taylor - Tired Of Being Right
Over in the Keeps Getting Better Corner, Joanne Shaw Taylor's latest is a relaxed, apparently effortless soul-blues, the kind of thing that's mainstream enough to attract a large audience yet skilful enough to keep the purists happy. "A very personal song for me," says Joanne. "A song about always holding out hope that the one you love might finally step up, but sadly sometimes you have to give yourself clarity and permission to leave. Sometimes people will never change no matter how long you invest in them." Well, that's us told.
King Falcon - Nothing Feels Amazing
Nothing Feels Amazing takes a while to get where it's going, but Brooklyn alt-rockers King Falcon eventually explode into a chorus that's both fast and frothy. They're very much in the New York tradition of spiky, guitar-led bands – fans of The Strokes or the much-missed Ambulance Ltd will feel immediately at home – but there's a frisky, power-pop side to this band that marks them out as more than just another bunch of Williamsburg wannabies.
Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse - Me Ye Ye Yow!
If Tracks Of The Week were a song-title competition, Me Ye Ye Yow! would swiftly banish its fellow contestants to the outer reaches of the songwriting realm, but it isn't. Thankfully, Me Ye Ye Yow! (there we go again!) stands up on its own, powered by a street-walkin' cheetah of a riff, a typically dominant vocal from Greta Valenti, and a video starring counter-surveillance operatives the Kitty Cat Gang, who may be the greatest gang of all time.
The Warning - Ritual
Last time The Warning were in our Tracks Of The Week contest, they accounted for 98% of the total votes. The time before that, it was 97%. Can anyone step up to thwart the inexorable rise of the popular Mexican sisters, or will their trudge to the top remain unhindered? Only the next seven days will tell, but in the meantime, Ritual – which comes on like Rammstein playing footsie with Halestorm – makes a very big noise, in all the right, arena-straddling ways.
All Them Witches - The Welterweight
All Them Witches' new album House Of Mirrors is shaping up to be one of the finest albums of 2026, and The Welterweight is just one of a literal plethora of highlights. With a grown-up, atmospheric arrangement and instrumentation that's somehow restrained but dramatic at the same time, it's the kind of song that makes you wonder why other bands don't do more with the traditional sonic palette. Nice use of cicadas at the end of the video, too. We like cicadas.
The Last Internationale - People, Let's Stop the War
We didn't have The Last Internationale covering Grand Funk Railroad on our 2026 rock bingo card, but the New York City band's version of People, Let's Stop the War – presumably released in tribute to Donald Trump's Sun Tzu-like mastery of military strategy – is an appropriately incendiary beast indeed, filled with such explosive fury it probably should come shrink-wrapped to a fire extinguisher. It's available on limited edition 7" vinyl and will be on sale at the band's upcoming dates with Tom Morello. Promises to be a quiet night out.
