Last week’s winners were Blacktop Mojo, followed by Inglorious in second place and The Magpie Salute in third. Super songs from all three, bravos and backslaps deserved all-round. But who’s going to sway your vote this time? Listen in then vote for your favourite.We’ve got a lip-smacking buffet of new rock goodies, from progressive darling Steven Wilson to buzzing new kids like Starcrawler and Mount Holly. You want new music? We’ll give you new music.
But first, let’s have another listen to last week’s winners:
Steven Wilson – Pariah
“OMG!” crieth passionate Wilson-ites everywhere, “it’s the first proper taste of former Porcupine Tree founder-turned-enigmatic-soloist Steven Wilson’s new album!” Having signed to Caroline/Universal for his next solo album To The Bone, the omens look good for Steven so far. Pariah is no 12-minute epic – which will no doubt peeve some proggier-than-thou fans – but for anyone in the mood for intelligent, captivating pop/rock/progressively-minded music this should do nicely.
Starcrawler – Ants
LA kids Starcrawler are, quite literally, kids – as in, all aged between 15 and 17, and fronted by a really tall force of nature called Arrow De Wilde (daughter of music photographer Autumn De Wilde). But this doesn’t mean they don’t know a thing or two about raucous, infectious rock’n’roll, as Ants proves. They play their first London shows 15-17 May. Check ‘em out.
Vintage Trouble – Knock Me Out
Two years on from their fantastically successful stint supporting AC/DC (winning over those fans is no mean feat…) Ty Taylor and co are back with stylish new tuneage. Select dancy beats are woven amongst classic-sounding guitars and Ty’s eternally soul-charged pipes; a little more streetwise than their last songs, then, but it’s caught our attention. We’re intrigued to hear what the whole next album sounds like.
Ivy Crown – Timeout
These three Danish girls come bearing an absolute face-puncher of a riff, followed by verses and chorus that mix moody metallic oomph with No Doubt-esque aggro (their singer sounds a bit like Gwen Stefani crossbred with a symphonic metal frontwoman). Fierce and shouty, in a good way.
Ex People – Not A Drill
Cut from a similarly stoner-ish cloth to Black Moth and Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard (who, incidentally, they also share a record label with), Londoners Ex People blend mighty, sludgy grooves with noise rocking edginess – plus a pleasing hint of riot grrrl bite. Music with which to get baked and head-bang like a muthafucka. Nice.
Koyo – Lost In The Kingdom
And now for something lush and spacey, in a Pineapple Thief-meets-Tame Impala-via-Radiohead sort of way – with a healthy shot of melodic, late 80s/90s prog sensibilities. Easy and inviting on the ear, yet gratifyingly ambitious and big stage-friendly.
Vallkyrie – Lost Soul
This lot are interesting. They’re Maori. They merge hip-hop touches with punching hard rock. They describe their visual approach – epitomised in this new, slightly Mad Max-ish video – as ‘new age goth’. Think Halestorm, but much more gothy. Cool stuff.
Mount Holly – Get Up
Classic Rock first caught wind of guitarist/co-founder Nick Perri when he played with snappy hard rockers Silvertide – of whom we became rather fond during their ‘moment’ in the mid-00s. Now he plays with swaggered up rockers Mount Holly, mixing classy, good-time rock’n’roll with bluesy, Rival Sons-nodding soul in this super new tune.
