While the world’s most athletic athletes in the world are running, jumping and making horses dance sideways in Rio de Janeiro, we’ve had better things to do, quite frankly – namely rounding up the best new releases of the week. Here they are, in some sort of digital pen.
GREEN DAY – Bang Bang
A breakneck blast of riotous pop punk, this new Green Day song – from forthcoming twelfth record Revolution Radio – feels very much like the brattiness of the band’s late ’80s era mixed with the political conscience they channelled throughout 2004’s American Idiot – it takes a shot at both America’s culture of mass shootings and social media obsession. Welcome back.
ANDY BLACK – Ribcage
For his solo album, Black Veil Brides frontman Andy Biersack created the character of Andy Black in order to keep the two projects separate. He needn’t have worried – this ominous, electro-tinged track turns up the darkness and the Goth tones, and is much more akin to Depeche Mode than the music his main band makes.
DINOSAUR JR. – Goin Down
This video for Dinosaur Jr.’s new single – taken from their just released album Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not – partying with and playing for a bunch of skaters, proving that you’re never too old for an ollie or a kick flip-underflip. Which is a real thing, apparently. Tony Hawk would be proud. The song’s pretty great, too.
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SUICIDAL TENDENCIES – Clap Like Ozzy
35 years after forming, Suicidal Tendencies are just as full of energy and rage as ever. This track, which features oodles of noodling guitar, is an instant thrash metal classic. It’s the opening track from the band’s upcoming album, World Gone Mad, which comes out at the end of September, and, as its title suggests, is a bit of a tribute to the Prince Of Darkness himself.
DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT – Failure
You can always count on Devin Townsend to make intense and ambitious music, and this track, from the forthcoming Devin Townsend Project fell-length Transcendence, is no exception. Mixing spacey atmospherics with heavy chugging riffs, it opens up a world all of its own in same the way that Devin Townsend always does.
BIG JESUS – Lock & Key
They were the New Band Of The Week on Monday, and now Big Jesus have released a new song from debut album Oneiric. Full of fuzzy, fizzy guitar sounds that come straight out of the mid-’90s, Lock & Key recalls the heyday of the Smashing Pumpkins, albeit without Billy Corgan’s distinctive, Henry’s Cat vocals. A wonderful slice of musical time travel.
