Last week’s Tracks Of The Week was won by Blacktop Mojo, followed by A Thousand Horses in second place and Saturn in third. A good week for newer bands, all in all. Smashing. But who’s the tastiest in this week’s chocolate box of rock? Listen, enjoy, maybe have a dance, vote for your favourite at the foot of this page… you know what to do.
Have good weekends y’all. Rock on.
Deep Purple – All I Got Is You
Gillan, Glover, Paice, Airey and Morse (cover stars on the latest issue of Classic Rock) have a new album, InFinite, out in April – from which this appetising cut is taken. It’s a slightly softer, more contemplative take on the classic Purple tone, but with enough high-octane bursts to merit some healthy head-bobbing. Nicely done gents.
Joanne Shaw Taylor – No Reason To Stay
The Black Country’s foremost contemporary blues rocker headlines the Royal Festival Hall later this year, after her latest album, Wild, hit the top 20 in 2016. This pensive, super-stylish number comes from said album, and proves she’s not just a bloody good guitarist; she can write a warmly more-ish, soulful tune as well.
KXM – Noises In The Sky
Korn, Lynch Mob and King’s X…they don’t immediately spring to mind as musical bedfellows, but the brilliant Noises In The Sky shows it’s actually a rather ingenious combination. The full album, Scatterbrain (their second) is out today, and comes recommended by us lot.
Otherkin – Bad Advice
“We want our records to be punchy, lean and blazing. Straight in, no kissing”. Thus reads the mission statement of these Irish noiseniks, and judging by Bad Advice it’s working out pretty well for them. This is the driven, dance-along sound of four happy boys who’ve listened to a lot of Stooges records and hit the Red Bull in a fairly major way. Joyous.
Animals As Leaders – Cognitive Contortions
AAL’s Tosin Abasi, if you don’t already know him, is an insane guitar player. Praised by Joe Satriani when we spoke to him recently, he’s one of those virtuosos who’ll have you gasping ‘how-the-actual-FECK-did-he-do-that?’ faster than you can say ‘eight-string’. OK, so this won’t win any awards for catchiness, but as an absorbing display of inventive, freakishly skilled progressive rock, it’s up there with the best.
Fat Goth – Guestbook
Because nothing says ‘take me now’ like the words ‘Fat Goth’… In all seriousness though, this number from the Dundee-hailing rockers is extremely enticing, cramming brawny riffage, noisy freak-outs and garage punk energy into just under five propulsive, perfectly formed minutes. Groovy.
Hunter & The Bear – D.R.K
Modern, riffy rock from Britain’s most ruggedly named guitar-wielding foursome (it’s a Hunter, with a BEAR! Grrrrr!). They’ve ingested a lot of classic influences (Skynyrd, Clapton etcetera), which now come stirred with contemporary, metallic punch and hints of soaring ‘arena rock’ scale. Think Wasting Light-era Foos with a touch of Soundgarden, propelled by their own good ideas.
Steel Panther – I Got What You Want
It’s Friday, we’ve just gone to press here at Classic Rock, so let’s have a nice bit of Steel Panther for the road. Taken from Lower The Bar, perhaps their most rampantly sex-driven record yet (yes, even by Panther standards), I Got What You Want continues their loving homage to hard n’ shiny 80s rock – and Michael Starr’s “five and a half inches of love”, natch.
