We've got some really good new music this week, but that was also true of last week, and of the week before. Almost certainly.
And we're delighted to announce that Cats In Space are the incoming champions of rock'n'roll, with their Broadway-musical-meets-melodic-rock experiment Poke The Witch coming out on top in last week's vote. Well done fellas! Let's watch that video again, shall we?
Second place went to former Jellyfish men Lickerish Quartet with the similarly melodic New Days, while lively punkettes IDestroy have confused matters brilliantly by coming third with a song that's actually called Jellyfish.
Who'll win this week? Well, we don't know, and that's why we're doing it. So don't forget to vote at the foot of the page.
Dorothy - A Beautiful Life
Probably our favourite song on the new album, Gifts From The Holy Ghost (out now), single A Beautiful Life is an empowering, ferociously catchy rock anthem that’ll make you want to check out everything they’ve ever done. Born in Hungary but based in Los Angeles, singer/mastermind Dorothy Martin has the sort of voice that pairs easily with big old hard rock and metallic riffs, without feeling strained or forced out. Lzzy Hale fans will love her, but there’s a healthy mix of 80s Hollywood and grunge flavours that reach far across the rock listener spectrum.
The Cold Stares - Mojo Hand
Filthy blues rock, served flaming hot – and, in keeping with the tone of last year’s Heavy Shoes record, laced with gonzoid, southern gothic depth (it’s easy to see the influence of Son House and other delta greats on frontman/chief songwriter Chris Tapp). Circulated last year via the Keanu Reeves-starring video game Cyberpunk 2077, the Indiana trio’s blistering tale of “a woman that is like a force of nature” gets a proper release, ahead of their summer UK tour, which runs 21 June until 1 July.
Hot Breath - Feeling ‘Bout This
From America to Sweden now, for these Gothenburg rockers’ urgent fusion of garage fury and 60s Detroit cool. All raw, recorded-in-a-tin-can tones and jutting punk’n’roll guitars, it sounds a bit like something Dr Feelgood might have written with The Hives – after several days of listening to the Stooges, and daydreaming about people they fancy. "Feeling ‘Bout This is about when you find a person who has the same rhythm and desire as you in life,” the band explain, “both in the mind and in bed."
Rammstein - Angst
There are some big riffs on Rammstein’s new album, Zeit. Angst has one of the biggest, and for that it’s worth singling out. Capitalising on the balls, bravado and budget that come with years of marching (very successfully) to your own mad but brilliant drum, it comes with the latest addition to the Rammstein video universe. Expect scary cheerleaders, Max Max-esque headgear, the band mowing lawns in knitted tank tops… All kinds of artfully dark stuff. It’s a lot to take in. But when all’s said and done Rammstein’s best songs are, to put it simply, the ones that rock hard – and Angst does exactly that.
LostAlone - The Last Drop Of Forever
Sounding like the sugared up lovechild of Queen and My Chemical Romance, Derby trio LostAlone are back with their first single as a band in eight years – having called it a day in 2014. “The three of us are buzzing to be back making music again together,” says singer/guitarist Steven Battelle, who’s been a prolific writer and solo artist since the split. “I didn’t realise until recently that a part of me had been lying dormant these last few years, but now – without wanting to preempt the future – I feel like I’ve that part of me back for good'.
Sheryl Crow - Forever
If you need a ballad today (or if TOTW finds you in a low, need-of-catharsis sort of place), this one’s for you. Taken from the soundtrack of new feature-length documentary Sheryl, new song Forever is a pensive, sun-dappled mesh of country and americana, set to a spine-tingling melody that lilts and shifts in gorgeous ways. Soul-soothing stuff. When Sheryl’s good, she’s really good – and this is really good.
The Black Keys - It Ain't Over
This is good right from the get-go, with the short, somewhat other-worldly intro recalling the sound of one of Dan Auerbach's other projects, garage rockers The Arcs, or even Ethiopian jazzer Mulatu Astatke. There's also a bit in the chorus that sounds like Showdown-era Jeff Lynne at his yearning best. Confused? Don't Be, for It Ain't Over comes together to form one of the chillingest tunes you'll hear this summer. Stunningly well-crafted, it's a lesson in soulful under-statement, and we imagine it takes a lot of work to sound this effortless.
All Them Witches - Slow City
All Them Witches continue their ongoing, month-by-month Baker’s Dozen project with a cover of Slow City, originally by Finnish experimentalists Pharaoh Overlord. It starts off with a single guitar that sounds like one Of David Gilmour's echo-driven intros, and gradually assembles itself into a lengthy piece of hypnotic, looping krautock of the kind conjured up by avant garde legends Nurse With Wound during their Simple Headphone Mind collaboration with Stereolab. Throw in some Hawkwind and you're there. Space literally is the place.
