Our Singles Of The Week have been pruned from the branches of the new music tree, and what a harvest we have! From delirious Dutch choreography influenced (we think) by Sufism to a tribute to disappearing London performed by actual Cats In Space, it’s all delicious.
De Staat - Witch Doctor
A testament to the magic that can happen when you combine a single green-screen shot and six months hard work on the cgi, this promo from Dutch rockers De Staat is - quite frankly - one of the greatest videos we’ve ever seen. And we’ve seen dozens. We’d also like to be the first ones to point out the Sufi mysticism was probably an influence on the choreography.
Anthrax - Evil Twin
The first track to emerge from the sessions for Anthrax’s 11th album, Evil Twin was inspired by the Charlie Hebdo killings. “People who go to that extreme, who feel they have become judge, jury and executioner over their fellow man, because you or I don’t believe the same thing they do – I think that’s the evil twin of humanity,” Scott Ian explains.
Civil War - Braveheart
Where Heavy Metal meets Monty Python, Braveheart retells the stirring tale of William Wallace and his battle to defend sacred Scottish soil from those awful English oiks. It’s the kind of song that makes you want to dress in furs and leather, then lurch around a bonfire drinking mead from a horn.
Cats In Space - Last Man Standing
This song - a gleaming shard of mellifluous, harmony-heavy AOR - pays tribute to London’s Tin Pan Alley, an important part of the city’s musical heritage currently threatened by so-called development. “To see such places demolished and turned into multi-million-pound apartments is extremely sad,” says Cats In Space guitarist Greg Hart. “They were not just guitar shops, they were landmarks.” Quite.
Rush - Closer To The Heart (live)
It’s difficult for some of us to hear Rush’s Closer To The Heart without being reminded of the gurning face of Bubbles from the Trailer Park Boys, but that doesn’t mean we’re not still drawn in by the band’s Plato-referencing tale of alienation, creativity, balance and belonging. This is from the R40 DVD, which is great.
God Damn - Dead To Me
A racket of hair-shakingly grizzly, groovy punk rock from noisiest Wolverhampton – in which guitarist Thom Edward goes to the park, the chip shop and the back of the van with drummer Ash Weaver. The snag? Edward is a bit… well, dead. Macabre yet mighty.
Faith No More - Sunny Side Up
Well. That was unexpected.
Tim Bowness - Sing To Me
No-Man man Bowness is back with another example of the kind go thing he does so well, a sad and shimmering tale of woe and domestic difficulty that shows why he’s held in such high regard by those in the contemporary progressive music community. If you ever get the chance to see him live, do: it’s big venue music performed in criminally small venues.
