Today’s Tracks Of The Week are here to do battle against the forces of evil, and are guaranteed to bring harmony to the good citizens of any receptive galaxy. They also rock.
Galactic Empire - Star Wars Main Theme
With a line-up including Boba Fett and Darth Vader, plus a Stormtrooper, an Imperial Guard and a Shadowtrooper, Galactic Empire were always going to cause a stir, especially as the latest instalment of that movie — Son of Spaceballs or More Morons From Outer Space or whatever it’s called — is out this week. Dis is nutsen, as Jaj Jar Binks once so wisely said.
Imperial State Electric - Anywhere Loud
From Galactic Empire to Imperial State in one fell swoop? It can only mean a disturbance in the force. Or perhaps a new track by the band led by former Hellacopters man Nicke Andersson. “Låten handlar om att musik på hög volym är livsviktigt för somliga,” says Nicke. “Delad första plats med luft och vatten,” which means something about loud music being as important as air and water.
Birth Of Joy - You Got Me Howling
This Dutch trio describe themselves as being like “the Sixties on steroids,” and You Go Me Howling suggests that this hyperbole is more than mere hyperbole. The video features a waving maneki-neko cat, something that explodes, and an organ that howls so psychedelically we fear it may be harmful to those who make direct contact.
Red House Glory - Pray Now
For some reason this reminded us of Rockcetera by Starfish, the great lost grunge band, with Pixie-ish riffs and loud bits and stuff, and anything that reminds us of Starfish is cool, even if it’s from London in 2015 rather than Texas 20 years ago. Great video, too, in which love triumphs over prejudice in an extremely satisfying fashion. Literally hooray.
A Thousand Horses - First Time
We featured A Thousand Horses in our High Hopes column recently, where they revealed their love of the Black Crowes and the Rolling Stones, and you can hear it in every second of this, from the slinky riff to the honky-tonk piano to the Gimme Shelter-style backing vocals. Colour us considerably impressed.
Ten Benson - Snowman Showgirl
First released as the b-side to the band’s 2000 single Black Snow, Snowman Girl has been re-recorded for the 2015 Christmas market, where it would almost certainly peak at the top of the chart on any planet other than this, such is it’s churning, sleazy magnificence. Imagine if The Sweet were from Memphis, and you’re about 41% of the way there.
David Bowie - Lazarus
Such is the frenzied excitement surrounding the return of The Dame that the Internet almost exploded with joy as this single was released into the wild. Conversely, however, this is bleak Bowie — which many many consider to be peak Bowie — with a restless, austere verse giving rise to a climactic, triumphant chorus.
The Cult – Deeply Ordered Chaos
What more can you say about a new single from The Cult, apart from “here’s a new single from The Cult”? Not much, it would appear. Having said that, Deeply Ordered Chaos is something of an epic, with a churning riff accompanying a video of rockets and hummingbirds and snow leopards and things. And, weirdly, Ian Astbury sounds in places like David Bowie.
