This week’s tracks are ready to burst out of the internet and make a bid for freedom, a bit like that scene in Alien, but without the subsequent death and terror. We hope you enjoy their company.
The Hypnos - Cold September
We’ve no idea what it is they’re eating over in Sweden (apart from Fläskpannkaka and Raggmunk), but it’s clearly paying dividends in the recording studios of Gothenburg. Cold September is a classic bit of new-skool old-skool hard rock, and somehow manages to sound like Scorpions and Judas Priest and Thin Lizzy all at the same time. Good song, too.
Sixx:A.M. - Rise
Remember when MTV used to be good? They’d play lavishly-funded videos from dusk until dawn, CDs sold by the gazillion, and record companies would ferry their petty cash around in wheelbarrows. These days, with budgets crushed and MTV concentrating on reality TV, the lyric video is King. They’re relatively cheap — you don’t need to hire caterers or scout locations — and have become an important weapon in every artist’s arsenal. So here’s the new one by Sixx:A.M.
Massive Wagons - Tokyo
Massive Wagons release their new album Welcome To The World at the end of April, and if this track is anything to go by it’ll be a doozy. It’s British hard rock, with a hint of American arena about the chorus, which is bigger is than a rhinoceros and sounds like it would fit right into a remake of Rock Of Ages, were it based in Lancaster instead of LA.
Knifeworld - High/Aflame
Psychedelic Londoners Knifeworld are back with wibbling, wobbling, oscillating freakout that sounds like a Krautrock Spiritualized. They’ll be launching their album with a show at the capital’s Bush Hall in May, and we’ll be down the front clutching a kaleidoscope and a bong.
The Dirty Nil - Wrestle Yü To Hüsker Dü
We’ve included this because it’s hands-down the best song title of the week, but also because it’s from a band who describe themselves as “a cross section of the most key and essential parts of rock’n’roll”. And with a video that promises “illegal smoke bombs in confined spaces”, we could hardly ignore them, could we?
The Wans - Run Baby Run
The email introducing us to The Wans says they’re like “The Stooges having a baby with Stone Temple Pilots with a load of other things,” which sounds like a pretty uncomfortable pregnancy, but we’re nonetheless delighted to be sharing Run Baby Run with you, as it does indeed sound like The Stooges having a baby with Stone Temple Pilots - the former on the verses, the latter on the chorus.
Cadillac 3 - Soundtrack To A Six Pack
Cadillac 3 released a new video in the UK this week, but over in the US they’re promoting another track from the album, the altogether more boozy Soundtrack To A Six Pack. Four years in the writing, it’s a tribute to the undiluted satisfaction provided by party pack of cold beer, and features some authentically southern-style slide guitar.
The Golden Grass - Get It Together
We like it when new bands appear to have dropped in from an earlier age, apparently untouched or untroubled by anything that’s happened since about 1974. The Golden Grass are one of those bands, a modern-day extension of the Allman Brothers and Grand Funk Railroad and their ilk, but without any actual hint of modernity. Groovy!
