It feels like only yesterday that we were putting our last Tracks Of The Week selection together, but no, it's been a full week. And so here we are again, separating the rockin' chaff from the rollin' wheat.
Last week's winners were The Cold Stares, whose Mojo Hand received more votes than LostAlone's The Last Drop Of Forever and Dorothy's A Beautiful Life, plus the other five tracks, whose details we've already forgotten.
This week's eight contenders follow. We've included a handy voting mechanism at the bottom, which you may use to choose your favourite. Thank you.
Slash feat. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators - April Fool
An upbeat, groovy highlight from 4, the latest album from this band of brothers, April Fool grinds, swaggers and soars into your heart from the first lick – a megawatt Slash affair with brawn and bounce. “It's one of my favourites,” says Myles. “A really fun track. Lyrically it's about being played, and ultimately you realise you've had enough, and you decide you're going to have the last laugh in the end.”
Gaupa - RA
If Bjork fronted a psychedelic stoner group, this could have been the result (and yes that’s a weird notion, but bear with us…). A strange yet seductive swirl of folk, doom and beefy, fuzzed up guitar riffage – dipped in balloons, as the video shows – it’s a well-in-advance sample of the Swedish oddballs’ new album, Myriad, which comes out in November and promises to be just an elegantly eclectic and unpredictable as RA.
The Chats - 6L GTR
The full-throttle, no-brake-applied opener of new album Get Fucked (I mean…that title alone tells you everything, right?) 6L GTR is a frantic, Redbull-guzzling cartoon of a song, covered in pizza boxes, beer and cigarette butts. It’s sort of dumb and maybe sort of brilliant, but you don’t have time to deliberate either way because it’s so damn fast. Fans of their fellow Aussie noisemakers Amyl & The Sniffers – and anyone else with an ear for fast n’ furious punk and power pop – should look this way.
Moon City Masters - Spinning Wheels
Images of summer sunsets, rainbows and beach umbrellas arise in kaleidoscopic droves, when you listen to this “power bopping groove-a-thon” from New York’s Technicolour twins. Part southern rock boogie, several parts Queen-meets-Boston fun fest, it’s the sort of thing you’d want to be play in the car at the start of a long-anticipated holiday. It would take a harder heart than ours to not be swept up in the Steinbergs’ passion for rock’n’roll’s redemptive powers.
Fantastic Negrito - They Go Low
Fantastic Negrito’s storyteller voice acquires a new level of command on They Go Low; an “anti-anthem”, condemning the American ruling class in three and half sweet minutes. Effortless and utterly urgent at the same time, it’s the melodic focal point in this clear, classy mesh of blues, soul, pop and hip-hop. His new album, White Jesus Black Problems – another palate-freshening progression for this bona fide musical maverick – is out June 3.
Deepshade - Life Is Beauty
Pummelling grunge beef rubs up against gauzy psychedelia on this new single from Brit stoners Deepshade. By turns far out and hard riffing, it taps into All Them Witches, Sabbath and QOTSA-esque tones without ripping off any of those bands, stirring them into their own tripped out infusion. Taken from the new EP Gloaming is out on May 13.
Halestorm - Wicked Ways
This is peak Lzzy Hale. If we're completely honest it's not Halestorm's best song, but such is Hale's dominance of Wicked Ways – she's at full throttle from the opening seconds – that you barely notice. With voice powerful enough to burst statues, it's a miracle she can keep this up on tour without putting herself in ER on an almost nightly basis. For more of the same, check out new album Back From The Dead, which is filled with full-throttle commitment to rock's almighty cause.
Drive-By Truckers - Every Single Storied Flameout
With the kind of half-spoken, half-sung lyrics Mike Cooley is so good at, Drive-By Truckers have added horns to the mix on Every Single Storied Flameout, bringing a twist of Muscle Shoals soul to their southern rock grind. "I wrote that song when my son was turning 16 and going through a rough patch for a bit,” Cooley says. “Luckily, he’s turned it around and he’s doing great now, but it was a tough time for a while." Upcoming album Welcome 2 Club XIII is out next month, and very good it is too.
