Over the last seven day, Tracks Of The Week has been Big In Canada. We know this because Canadian contestant Eric Bolton rallied his Canadian followers in support of his video The Home Light.
And rally they did, voting in such vast numbers that he beat out extremely stiff competition from Blurred Vision & Mollie Marriott's Dear John single, with Buckcherry settling for third place with the very frisky Gun.
So congratulations to Eric - and, by extension, to all of Canada - and here's your opportunity to watch his winning video once again, before we embark on this week's competition.
Crazy Lixx - Rise Above
The expression ‘so wrong it’s right’ could have been coined for Crazy Lixx’s new single. With a truly terrible band name, a look that could’ve been dreamt up by Steel Panther on a particularly gung-ho day and music to match, this is clearly awful. And yet it’s brilliant. We literally can’t get enough of it. Like Steel Panther these Swedes’ chops and pipes are pitch-perfect. Unlike Steel Panther, they’re deadly serious about their brand of 80s hair metal-come-hard rock revivalism – albeit with a smiling spring in their step. Fans of H.e.a.t would do well to check this out.
The Moon City Masters - Real Thing
There’s nothing like a new track from these harmonising brothers to make you feel like summer’s back already. An uplifting “neo-classic rock” power bop, Real Thing finds the Steinbergs flexing their falsetto muscles in a glossy, yacht-ready manner of which Steely Dan and Boston would approve. Possibly you’ll wonder how on earth they’re still in their twenties. Is it real? Or some kind of shamelessly retro hallucination? Does it matter when it’s this fun and bouncy? Probably not.
The Courettes - R.I.N.G.O
Flavia and Martin Couri’s band story is tied up in their love story. Back in 2013 they defied the literal ocean separating them (she’s Brazilian, he’s Danish), got married and formed the Courettes. Now, as exemplified on this ode to the Beatles’ own Richard Starkey, they’re cooking up their own ice-cool fusion of 60s sensibilities – think surfy Ronettes-esque pop with a rumbling proto-garage underbelly. Plus that key lyric, ‘I’m done with McCartney/ I want Richard Starkey', never stops being fun to sing along to.
Scarlet Rebels - Take You Home
These Welsh rockers pummel feeling into every note of this big-hearted single. Verses find the band packing in the riffs and building momentum, but it’s the chorus that really flies – making good on the Bon Jovi and Foo Fighters records that inspired them. It all builds up to a soaring sweet spot that makes it suddenly easy to picture them thriving on big stages. They’re supporting Buckcherry on their upcoming UK tour, so it won't be long before you can see for yourself...
Kills Birds - Cough Up Cherries
Fuzzy strains of Nirvana gleam through this introspective slice from the LA foursome. Singer Nina Ljeti has that Kurt Cobain-esque ability to convey detachment and full-throttle fire within seconds of one another – backed by bandmates that mirror this interplay between melancholy and livid disenchantment. “The song touches on feelings of loneliness, paranoia, and hopelessness that we all experienced,” Ljeti says. “In addition, Cough Up Cherries also addresses the identity crisis we all face in the digital age. What our performative personas are vs. who we really are when we’re left alone."
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Lava Lamp Pisco
If the quality weirdos of Western Australia turn you on (Tame Impala, Pond etc etc) these guys should definitely be on your playlists as well. Complete with an animated video from Bristolian artist Gina Tratt – so trippy it makes Ken Russell’s Tommy look positively square – Lava Lamp Pisco is an intoxicating whirlwind of driving guitar fuzz, colourful twists and far-out vocals. From a band called Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, we probably shouldn’t have expected anything less.
Green Lung - Upon The Altar
Is there anything more likely to entice the curious viewer into watching a video than a warning from YouTube that it may be "inappropriate for some users"? We think not. And so we watched, and we found much to our liking: blood, sacrifice, nudity, Satanic costume, knives, a lovely hen, and an intro that sounds like every Black Sabbath song ever jammed together with haemoglobin. Upon The Altar has been wrestled from the dark grooves of new album Black Harvest, out via Svart Records on October 22. Warning: This video may be inappropriate for some users.
Johnossi - Something = Nothing
We're not sure how we missed this (it came out last month), but miss it we did. And boy, do we look stupid! For Something = Nothing from Swedish duo Johnossi rattles along like a runaway train, burning up calories and endangering wildlife, and it's way more exciting than Jeff Bezos sending William Shatner into space just because he can. Sure, it's blues rock at heart, but it's stuffed full of brash, fiendish energy, and we can see exactly why EA Sports have selected it to feature in their upcoming NHL2022 videogame. Go Penguins.
