This week’s list was brought to you by Tuborg lager, pulled pork burritos, and mud. We hope you enjoys its striking effervescence.
Eagles Of Death Metal - Complexity The cheekiest, bounciest thing you’ll hear all day - perhaps all year - Jesse Hughes and Josh Homme are back with the brassy, ballsy bounce of Complexity. It’s the lead track from new album Zipper Down - which they describe as “an eargasm trapped inside a crazerbeam” - so slick that hair back, stick the aviators on, and ride the winds of space, like Elvis on a moon-hog.
Thunder - Black Water Fresh from battling the elements at this year’s Download Festival, Thunder return with a video for the suitably aquatic Black Water. Taken from the band’s Wonder Days album, it’s archetypal thunder, grit versus grace, as Danny Bowes’ voice floats like a butterfly and Luke Morley’s guitar stings like a bee.
The Black Queen - The End Where We Start And now for something darkly soothing as Nine Inch Nails meets Dillinger Escape Plan in the LA four-piece known as The Black Queen. DEP frontman/Black Queen vocalist Greg Puciato talks of 80s sci-fi, urban blight and “heavily emotional music” regarding their forthcoming debut album Fever Daydream. Have a peep at this Game Of Thrones-like snowy mini-movie for a taste of things to come.
Heyrocco - Loser Denial Louche grunge meets wide-eyed pop, wrapped up in 90s rock’n’roll sensibilities, from this South Carolinian group. The sort of thing Nirvana might have made - if they had Pick-a-Mix instead of drugs, and jammed with Mudhoney.
Steve Hooker - Otis Lift Me This originally came out last year, but Steve is about to go on tour, so re-promotion is the name of the game. This delights us, for Otis Lift Me is a savage sound indeed, a howling wedge of maniac rockabilly steeped in the fiery spirit of Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Walter.
John J Presley - Come Calling A fuzzy, howly ‘new blues’ fest, from a similar school of thought to the likes of Jon Spencer - with a touch of woozy psych for good measure.
Hamish Anderson - Little Lies This track came to us via the editor of Blues Magazine, Ed “Ed” Mitchell, and when he speaks we pay attention, because Ed knows a thing or two about a thing or two. Hamish is a 23-year-old Australian guitarist, and was recently proclaimed as one to watch by none other than Gary Clark Jr, who also knows a thing or two about a thing or two. So watch.
degreed - The Scam We’ve always had a soft spot for songs that start with a “Let’s Go!” followed by a “Woo!”, and The Scam features both. It’s a youthful, zesty hunk of melodic hard rock with some clear classic rock influences, and just the kind of thing you’d expect from Sweden, where children are expected to engage with melodic hard rock from a very early age.
