Well. What a battle that was. Last week's Track Of The Week was one of the liveliest in living memory, with Revival Black taking on all comers and defeating most of them quite resoundingly.
The exception was Troy Redfern, whose Come On single batted well but was beaten in the final furlong, as Liz Truss might say about a basketball game. And if we're allowed to continue in this manner, we must also congratulate Deraps, whose Veins Of My Heart scored a home run and a triple-double but ultimately lost in the third quarter shoot-off.
This week, we've got eight more free agents tuning their engines for another kick-off return. Pucks away! One-hundred-and-eighty!
A’priori - Nah Nah Nah Nah
Blackpool trio A’priori have featured in this portion of the interweb before; now they’re back with a funky, fuzzed up new number that swaggers along like Red Hot Chili Peppers hitting the town with Clutch. With deliciously sinewy riffs, a readily chantable chorus and a video packed with ‘random’ wedding photo booth-friendly items (santa hats, lightsabers, horse masks…), it’s clear that they’re having an excellent time – creating the sort of party atmosphere you want to get involved in.
Capital Theatre - Fait Accompli
Another trio now, this one with a modern alt rock bent and based in Auckland, New Zealand. The chorus is an emotive, soaring affair, and the whole track is steadily built up with electronics, a keyboard section and even strings as the bridge climaxes. But really, for us anyway, it’s all about that monster guitar hook – slathered on after those bouncy, slightly Stranger Things-y opening synths. Their debut album, A Hero’s Journey, is out now.
Dub War - Get Back Up
Need a boost? Dub War have your back. Faith No More drummer/longtime fan of the band Mike Bordin guests on this driving, heart-stirring taste of new album (DW’s first in a whopping 25 years) Westgate Under Fire – out on August 5. "I’ve always wanted to empower and lift those who are going through a tough time,” mainman Benji Webbe explains, “and in days like this, who isn’t.. This is what Get Back Up was created for.”
Ryan Hamilton - Paper Planes
‘Fold your worries into paper planes!’ Thus reads the whimsical advice of this cathartic, uber-catchy dose of power pop rock; the sort of roots-flecked, feelgood tuneage with a heart of darkness that chimes with Ryan’s past Ginger Wildheart collaborations. Like what you hear? The Texan songster comes to the UK this October for a full-band, co-headline tour with Jason & the Scorchers man Warner E. Hodges.
Brutus - Dust
Something ominous and atmospheric now, for anyone craving something a little less sweet. The likes of Metallica, Foo Fighters, Biffy Clyro and Converge are fans, all of which make a lot of sense when you listen to this Belgian threesome’s bleak yet towering hybrid of post-rock, metal and shoegaze sensibilities (if ‘shoegaze’ didn’t imply staring at your shoes – this feels more synonymous with looking upwards at a wild, stormy sky). Beautifully dark matter that pulls you inside Brutus’s headspace.
Tedeschi Trucks Band - Playing WIth My Emotions
Taken from I Am The Moon: II. Ascension – the second instalment of their four-album I Am The Moon series – Playing With My Emotions captures that smoky-sweet, bourbon n’ honey richness that Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks and their crack soul-rock squad do so well. Parts three and four (complete with films) will follow in August and September, and they come over to the UK in November, so there’s loads more good stuff where this came from.
Erja Lyytinen - Bad Seed
With a riff that sounds like a riff might had it been written by Billy Gibbons on a trip to Nashville after he's been listening to When The Levee Breaks in the car, Finnish blues-mistress Erja Lyytine's Bad Seed is a great way to announce a new album. "I wanted to make a track that you could dance to," says Erja. "This track has a fat groove and instantly makes you want to move." Indeed it does. That new album is Waiting For The Daylight, and it's out in October.
Goo Goo Dolls - Yeah, I Like You
Goo Goo Dolls have a thirteenth album on the way (Chaos In Bloom, out August 12), and new single Yeah, I Like You suggests they've lost none of their songwriting nous. You could probably write a fairly lengthy Wikipedia page about songs written about the perils of social media, but this one is a goodie, with razor-sharp lyrics and a chorus that soars like an endorphin rush. "Celebrity in this age has a very quick burn," says lead Doll John Rzeznik. "It was hard not to be consumed by it during the pandemic."
