It's just been brought to our attention that when we announce our Tracks Of The Week winners, we neglect to do it in reverse order, which is the time-honoured method of introducing unnecessary tension on such occasions. So here goes.
In third place... Crown Lands, with Through The Looking Glass.
In second place... The Meffs, with Business.
And our winner... is Hollie Rogers, for her now widely celebrated single Everything’s Fine, which features Elles Bailey and Beth Nielsen-Chapman. So congratulations to her. And indeed, them.
That was fun, wasn't it?
This week's contest starts below, and it's up to you to decide which one is the greatest. Please enjoy the listening.
Spell - Take My Life
Mixing melodic 80s theatre with lip-smacking heavy metal guitars, Spell’s latest single is a brooding yet beefy affair shot through with mystique and lashings of dry ice. If Ghost hung out at biker rallies with Judas Priest, they might have come up with something like this. “Take My Life is about an intimate encounter with death, and the power dynamics at play,” singer/bassist Cam Mesner says. “Where I’ve had to make a decisive move, and been fearful, but others have given me confidence.”
CJ Wildheart - One Of The Boys
All punk’n’roll heart-on-sleeve guts and glory, One Of The Boys has been billed as a potential swansong for CJ Wildheart. As such its raucous goodtime bravado and rollicking singalong energy comes with a bittersweet undercurrent – CJ’s unending love of the music butting up against the growing challenges of life as an independent artist. Will this ultimately be his farewell work? Time will tell. For now, though, we can say that his eighth solo album, DEViL, will come out in June.
Pieces Of Molly - Don't Take Me To The Disco (You Call Rock N Roll)
Previous Tracks Of The Week winners Pieces Of Molly are back with a new one, and it rocks hard. "It's a response to the idea that rock'n'roll is dead," say the feisty New Zealanders. "Our response is 'it's not dead, it's just been watered down by the nonsense a lot of people call rock'n'roll." It'll come as no surprise, therefore, that Don't Take Me To The Disco (You Call Rock N Roll) is an absolute blast, screaming along in excess of the speed limit, propelled by a turbocharged riff and an equally boisturous chorus. Throw in a video that features more leather than a Judas Priest-themed jumble sale and the ladies of the Dead End Derby roller derby team, and it's clear that rock'n'roll is very much alive, at least in one corner of Christchurch.
The Moon City Masters - Everybody
Back with a fresh slice of their forthcoming musical cake, The Moon City Masters go full Rush on this swooping, proggy blast of deft bass twiddles, starry-eyed melody. By turns emphatic, hard-grooving and dreamlike, it’s a commanding new taste of their work with Crown Lands’ beardo-in-chief Kevin Comeau. “Lyrically, the song reflects on how people must come together during these dark and uncertain times,” MCM (aka Jordan and Talor Steinberg) say. “The result is a modern prog anthem that feels both technically explosive and irresistibly catchy while carrying a message of unity and resilience.”
Split Dogs - Rock n’ Roll Business
Beefing up their noisy punk vibe with riffy, beer-soaked strains of Rose Tattoo, Bristol-based rock’n’rollers Split Dogs up their game with satisfying heft on this early taste of their next album Nice ‘N’ Rough (coming out in September). “Rock ‘N’ Roll Business imagines the music industry as a classic British gangster film,” says singer Harry Martinez. “Dirty deeds, big egos and people you wouldn’t trust with your last ciggie. It’s tongue-in-cheek but it’s also our big middle finger to the whole thing cus it’s mostly true."
Robert Jon & The Wreck - Run Back To Me
Dreamed up by songwriter Desirae Megan, and fleshed out with partner/RJ&TW keyboardist Jake Abernathie), Run Back To Me is a lovelorn, sweetly bluesy southern rocker with a heart full of old-school soul and heartache. A tender ode to missing loved ones while on the road, with a chorus that doesn’t quite go where you expect it to, and sounds all the better for it. Like what you hear? Catch them on tour across the UK in April.
Bolan feat Danko Jones - At War With Myself
He’s been Skid Row’s nose-chained bassist, songwriter and stalwart tentpole for forty years, but now Rachel Bolan is stepping into the spotlight with his first ever solo album, Gargoyle Of The Garden State. Is it any good? Well, first taster At War With Myself makes a promising first impression, all tight, chugging guitars and high-caffeine hard rock with punk dirt under its nails. Plus guest artiste Danko Jones is clearly having a marvellous time, singing ‘my life is Marlon Brando, inside insane-a-go-go’, which is so gloriously dumb it might be genius.
Suzi Quatro feat. Alice Cooper - Kick Out The Jams
In which two Detroit legends combine their considerable force to cover a song by a third, the MC5. It probably won't come as a surprise that Quatro and Cooper's version of Kick Out The Jams isn't quite as frantic as the original – and that gloriously iconic opening "motherfuckers!" is bleeped out – but it rattles along nicely with a friskiness that belies the pair's combined age of 153, and there's a lovely bit where they sing lyrics from each other's songs. Quatro's 18th album, Freedom, came out on Friday.
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