Our most recent Tracks Of The Week scrap was an unusually titanic affair, with the fans of Ireland's Preyrs and New Zealand's Pieces Of Molly going head-to-head on the battlefield of rock, trading blows and spilling blood and voting repeatedly, until the Kiwis finally emerged victorious by the narrowest of narrow margins. So congratulations to them.
Congratulations also to Wolfgang Van Halen, whose Mammoth project snaffled up the third place, although they were so far behind the other two it's scarcely worth mentioning.
Below, you'll find eight more rockmonauts, ready to blast off.
Starbenders - The Beast Goes On
A typically spooky but epic slice of goth-rock-electro-pop greatness from Atlanta's Starbenders. Kimi Shelter still sounds like Stevie Nicks on a broomstick (in the best possible way), the guitars ring and chime, the chorus soars, there's a mysterious breakdown bit, and it's yet more evidence that the band's apparently bottomless well of songwriting smarts isn't in danger of running dry soon. Although as much as we're enjoying the steady trickle of singles over the last year or so, what we'd really like is a fourth album. Pleeeease?
Rebels Opera - Smile Now, Cry Later
Classic Rock/Tracks Of The Week regular Tuk Smith (formerly of Biters, now Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts) wrote and produced this one, delivered with proper panache and charisma by Nashville rock’n’rollers Rebel’s Opera. If you enjoy AC/DC-cut riffage with torn skinny jeans, tattoos and a healthy layer of dirt under its fingernails, this will slip down very nicely indeed. Tasty.
Bywater Call - Ain’t No Friend Of Mine
The rock’n’soul Canadian collective add some serious ‘roll’ to their sonic equation on this rollicking, mightily toe-tapping party tune – all hand-claps, groovy /Radar Love/-esque undercurrent and streaks of brass, backing vocals and juicy slide guitar. Like the sound of that? Catch ‘em on the road across the UK this month, and see how many members they fit on the stages they play…
Crobot - Gun To My Head
Back with a new rhythm section and a deliciously groovy, heavy cocktail shaker of riffs, fuzz, funk and other good stuff – think Clutch at their sassiest and most dancefloor-friendly – Crobot make a strapping opening case for their next album. “Sometimes you’re forced to take a step back and reflect on what really matters,” says hair-wheeling, luxuriously moustached frontman Brandon Yeagley. “Every note has a reason, every word a purpose. We’re etching something in-blood into the Crobot discography - and Gun to My Head felt like the best taste of what’s to come.”
Subsolar - Here And Now
All dreamy expansive indie rock textures and big feelings – its gauzy vocal layers teamed with big, driving guitars and a few 90s Britrocky solo licks – Here And Now finds Subsolar mastermind Joe Grange navigating a world of emotional tensions following the death of his father. All with a sense of lightness and breathing space, free of maudlin cliches. "I was caught between wanting to be present in my relationship and needing to pull away entirely,” he says. “I wasn’t ready to accept that my Dad wasn’t going to be around anymore, and that grief made it hard to fully be there for someone I cared about.”
Märvel - A Beautiful Corpse
It might have the trappings of a Halloween gimmick (the nocturnal drive into the Swedish woods, the bloodshed that follows…) but the masked mavericks’ latest is basically a thumping Thin Lizzy-via-Hellacopters romp at heart. And for that we are thankful. “A Beautiful Corpse stares aging straight in the eye — the ghosts we collect, the fears that creep in, the fight to stay alive. It’s dark, defiant, and a little haunted,” the guys explain. “A wry Halloween anthem for everyone who refuses to fade quietly.”
Soho Dukes (featuring Spike and Dave ‘Bucket’ Colwell) - A Stone’s Throw
All sunglasses indoors, bottom-of-the-pint-glass regrets and last orders melancholia, A Stone’s Throw is a heartfelt, ultimately hopeful ballad from these warriors of Wardour Street (joined by Quireboy mouthpiece-in-chief Spike and Dave ‘Bucket’ Colwell, one of those rock lifers who’s guitar-ed in about a hundred bands including Bad Company, FM, Humble Pie and Samson), laced with pretty barroom keys, sax lines and a gorgeous solo from Colwell. They’re not reinventing the wheel – or even bothering to grease it – but sometimes that’s what you need.
Dirty Blonde - Rage (Makes Me Feel Pretty)
Manchester alt-rockers Dirty Blonde inject their louche swagger with some grungy 90s heartache on this latest banger. “This song is about owning every emotion - especially the messy ones - and finding power in letting them out,” they say. “For anyone who's ever been told to calm down, this is your song! Anger isn’t something that defeats us, it’s something that completes us!"
