We've been running our Tracks Of The Week contest for more than 10 years now, publishing something in the region of 500 editions. That's 4000 songs, hundreds of thousands of votes, and one mission statement: to bring you the best new rock music on the planet.
Last week we succeeded in our mission, with Marisa & The Moths' Borderline (below) beating out stiff competition from The Midnight Calls' So Cold and The Cold Stares' Coming Home, and this week we hope to succeed again.
Enjoy the rock.
Below you'll find this week's rockin' horses. Enjoy the ride.
The Hellacopters - Stay With You
Opening in positively Jim Steinman-esque fashion with bright, pounding keys, the Swedish garage rockers’ new single dives quickly into the sort of rollicking, straight-shooting rock’n’roll they do so well, with notes of Thin Lizzy and just a hint of theatre in the background. Seemingly they’ve rediscovered their mojo since reassembling in 2022 for Eyes Of Oblivion (having previously called it a day in 2008) – in fact, they’re working on a new album right now. “It [Stay With You] was originally intended to be included on the upcoming LP,” frontman Nicke Andersson says, “but we decided to do a Beatles and release it as a stand-alone track with a B-side.”
Amyl & The Sniffers - U Should Not Be Doing That
The punkoid Aussie rockers are back with their first single in three years, and it’s a good ‘un. Built on a taut mega-groove and Amy Taylor’s signature cocktail of snark and spittle, it’s a bit like hearing Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer get a facelift by X-Ray Spex. “U Should Not Be Doing That makes me laugh,” Taylor says, “but it’s also in a way poking fun at the shock that people still feel at a little bit of skimpy clothing, and the bitchy high school way that the music community still is (yes I’m talking to you random 40-year-old metalheads sitting around a table doing lines and bitching about a 28-year-old chick in a band for wearing shorts and “selling out”).”
Troy Kingi - Ocelli
Māori musician Troy Kingi is well-known in New Zealand, where he’s currently working on a 10-albums-in-10-years-in-10-different-genres project. So far this has included funk, deep roots, folk, 80s' synthpop and psychedelic soul, and now he’s shifted gears again. All heavy, sandblasted grooves with tripped out little twists (it's no surprise that Queens Of The Stone Age is one of Kingi’s favourite bands) Ocelli is taken from number eight, the excellently titled desert rock album Leatherman & the Mojave Green. Who knows what the final two will bring, as he completes his 10, but if he did set up camp in this desert-y territory he could do far worse.
Bywater Call - As If
If you enjoy the swampy rock n’ soul fusions of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, along with the funkier end of Joe Bonamassa’s catalogue, you'll want to check out Bywater Call. Raised along the storied bayous of…erm, Toronto, they mix the heat, flavours and rhythms of the American south with a West Coast breeze on As If (as with all the best ensembles there are no weak links, but singer Meghan Parnell and Dave Barnes’ guitar lines are the cherries on this particular cake). Like the sound of that? They’re coming over to the UK for shows in October
Collateral - Just One of Those Days
Glossy like a prize show pony and produced to within an inch of its life, the Kent rockers’ latest is cheesier than a fondue marathon. It’s also, for our money, one of their best tracks yet. Beneath all the hair-tossing and dicking around with head towels and toilet scenes in the video (seriously guys how old are you, like, eight?) lies a brilliantly catchy, well-crafted song that flows through shades of Bon Jovi, boybands and arm-waving AOR glitter, with subtle tone shifts that lend some moody sunset colours to their summertime sheen.
Louise Patricia Crane - Celestial Dust
Growing from delicate acoustic guitars through sweet yet dark prog, folk and rock textures, Louise Patricia Crane’s new song (the latest from her upcoming album, Netherworld) evokes the spirits of Kate Bush and Tori Amos, with a smoky, gothic palate of Crane’s own – not to mention a big classic rock guitar solo. All of it accompanied by a video that pays homage to “the cold glamour and romantics of Old Hollywood, with a touch of David Lynch's Twin Peaks dark surrealist allure”.
Black Rainbows - The Secret
If we had a Riff Of The Week contest, The Secret – from Italian psych-fuzz trio Black Rainbows – would surely stomp off holding the prize aloft. For The Secret is a mighty beast indeed, full of churn and bounce and changes of pace and riffs that appear on top of the original riff, like a crazed bong party at the end of the universe. It's from a six-track split EP made with the great Californian stoners Nebula, which goes under the suitably stellar name In Search of the Cosmic Tale: Crossing the Galactic Portal Split. Fans of spending money will be delighted to learn that the EP arrives on June 9.
Deap Vally - It's My World
With Deap Vally now in Europe for the farewell tour, final single It's My World sums up the duo's approach nicely. "It's My World is about living your best life," says guitarist/vocalist Lindsey Troy, "being authentically you without giving a damn what anybody else thinks." It's a bangin' way to go out, with squealing guitars, a huge chorus, and predictably huge bags of sass. Perhaps uniquely, Deap Vally's final gig will be on a boat, at Bristol's Thekla venue on June 9.
