Mexican sisters The Warning are currently engaged in a sold-out tour of Europe, and our most recent Tracks Of The Week contest is yet another reason for celebration. Why? Because they romped to victory in a style rarely seen since the Parthian Empire romped to victory against the Roman Empire in The Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC.
So congratulations to them, and also to the vanquished: The Cold Stares and Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse.
Below you'll find this week's selection. And they sure taste good.
Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown - Snake Oil
Since taking the DIY route with their own label, Rattle Shake Records, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown have written and recorded pretty much non-stop – knocking out bluesy rock headbangers with the tenacity of a group unbeholden to the schedules of the major label world. Fresh from Tyler’s Nashville studio, Snake Oil is their latest, and it’s a groovy, snake-hipped affair that sounds like it grew out of the desert, all rich yet gritty analogue production with swagger in its Cuban-heeled step. Their new album, Electrified, is out next month.
Royal Republic - Ain’t Got Time
They ain’t got time to dance, they ain’t got time to boogie, they ain’t got time to talk… The snazzily dressed Swedish disco freaks did, however, have time to knock out one of the week’s catchiest refrains, brimming with falsettos, treadmills, 80s workout headbands and other such accoutrements that shouldn’t be rock’n’roll, but kind of are. Another fizzing, shamelessly fun appetiser for Love Cop, their next album, which is out in June.
The Lemon Twigs - How Can I Love Her More?
Once again picking up where the Monkees and the Beach Boys left off – and where Jellyfish called time a couple of decades or so later – New York’s young maestros of sugar-dusted harmonies and bittersweet 60s pop feels give that reputation of theirs an extra polish on How Can I Love Her More?. Cuddlier than a basket of teddy bears, in one sense, but with enough dark micro-twists and clever tunesmithery to keep the whole thing zingy, not sickly.
The Mysterines - Sink Ya Teeth
Hinged on a weighty bass riff, the Merseyside alt rockers’ latest is a heavy, hypnotic affair, combining atmospheric melancholia with a fierce set of gnashers – all midnight city vibes that swirl into the head-spin of the early hours. Nice. “Sink Ya Teeth is a testament to the brutality of real love,” singer Lia Metcalfe says. “Written during a time where the boundaries of pain and passion were warped amidst the chaos of addiction and desire.”
The Karma Effect - Promised Land
Ploughing a bell-bottomed furrow somewhere between The Temperance Movement, Dirty Honey and Rival Sons, the retro London five-piece groove and shimmy like disco kids with Les Pauls on Promised Land – the danceable title track of their soon-to-be-released second album. With other lives as session musicians and music teachers between them, they know how to nail an instantly likeable banger with that ‘loose tightness’ that all the best classic rock bands tend to have, as this newbie proves.
Marisa & The Moths - Just Like Me
“For me, this song is like a Christopher Nolan film playing in the shadows of my mind,” Marisa says of this grungy metal number – four minutes of heavy, brooding pallor, plus added eyeliner and goth bling (think Deftones with Halestorm and Pretty Reckless flavours stirred into the pot). “It feels familiar yet infinite, like a stormy fractal landscape where patterns repeat endlessly. Like some kind of beautiful nightmare.”
Bat - Streetbanger
Metal-punk trio Bat are straight outta Virginia with the kind of unrestrained thrash that suggests that while Lemmy may have departed, at least part of his spirit lives on within the full-throttle grooves of new single Streetbanger. It's from Bat's second album, Under The Crooked Claw, which will be released via Nuclear Blast Records next month. "For the video, we walked the streets of our hometown, Richmond, VA, and shot the performance in our actual rehearsal space," says Bat man Ryan Waste (his day job is with crossover thrashers Municipal Waste). We especially like the bit where the wheelie bin gets knocked over.
Joanne Shaw Taylor - Devil In Me
Joanne Shaw Taylor gears up for the release of new album Heavy Soul in June with new single Devil In Me, and a rattling good time is had by all. Joanne pairs her husky voice with a series of licks that couldn't be hotter were they baked in a pizza oven, and once you've thrown in gospel-style backing vocals and some savage soloing you're left with something that's almost biblical in scale. "This started as a jam at sound check that quickly became a full-fledged track," says Joanne. "I love how minor key and dark it sounds. I decided the lyrics needed to be equally as dark, hence writing about someone that is a very bad person."
