It's always a pleasure to hear new music from The Darkness, and recent single The Longest Kiss was pleasurable indeed, mixing The Beatles, Queen and ELO in an effervescent orgy of technicolour whimsy. So much, so, in fact, that it triumphed in the latest round of our Tracks Of The Week contest in an epic battle with the Virginmarys. Huge congratulations to both of them, and also to the Von Hertzen Brothers, who finished a distant third.
This week? Who knows. Let's meet back here in seven days sand find out.
Don't forget to vote - do so at the foot of the page.
Starbenders - Tokyo
Back with a bang and a new drummer, Chinese virtuoso Qi Wei, in their ranks (following the departure of original stickswoman Emily Moon earlier this year), the Atlanta-based glamsters are on deliciously smoky, post-punky form on Tokyo – the first taste of their next album, due in early 2025. All nocturnal smoke, dark space and tension, like the rogue offspring of David Bowie and Siouxsie Sioux, it’s a pleasingly promising introduction to this next chapter in their story.
Austin Gold - Not Enough
One of our favourite tracks from the Peterborough foursome’s forthcoming album, Ain’t No Saint, this mid-tempo rocker has a beautiful melody and a sweet, searing sadness – tempered with hope as it climaxes – that lingers in the mind. The sort of pensive but catchy songwriting they do very well, in other words. "This song is all about the inability to see what you truly have,” says singer/guitarist David James Smith. “When you feel like what you have is just not enough, despite someone, everyone, telling you exactly what is great about your life but you still don’t see it and it’s still ‘Not Enough’."
The Hot Damn! - Fizz Buzz Crash
One of those ‘happy-go-lucky’ rock songs with smart, nuanced layers woven into it (bittersweet melody shifts, a dreamy bridge section, lyrics like ‘I’m a bit of a mess but I’ll be alright’ which are simple but leave a deceptively moving aftertaste) the opening track from the British rockers’ debut is pop rock with a heart of gold, balls (ovaries?) of steel and rainbow-coloured nails. Catch them when you can – album release shenanigans and gigs are underway as we speak…
Massive Wagons - The Good Die Young (feat Colin Doran)
Lancashire's finest are joined by Hundred Reasons singer Colin Doran on this piece of their new album, Earth To Grace, which comes out in November. Doran’s attractively weathered pipes pair well with Baz Mills’ own distinctive timbre, and the whole thing adds a soaring, early 00s, almost Biffy Clyro-esque ‘bigness’ to the Wagons’ signature roll. “My dad always said to me when I was younger ‘I might be 50 on the outside son but I’ll always be 10 upstairs!’” Mills says. “And that always got me, hard to understand until you start to get some miles under your belt yourself, but when you do you start to know exactly what he’s on about.”
Amyl & The Sniffers - Big Dreams
The Aussie punks turn down a softer, moodier path, mixing sparse, outlaw atmosphere with 90s rock flavours to create something simple but poignant. An effective vehicle for tales of time passing, unfulfilled hopes and, ultimately, a grain of hope. “It’s about the fact that our generation is spoon-fed information,” says singer Amy Taylor of Big Dreams’ parent album, Cartoon Darkness. “We look like adults, but we’re children forever cocooned in a shell. We’re all passively gulping up distractions that don’t even cause pleasure, sensation or joy, they just cause numbness.”
Thieves Of Liberty - Sick Pup
Straight-shooting hard rock from Sunderland now, with whispers of RATM’s Killing In The Name in the central groove and In Absentia-era Porcupine Tree in some gnarly, crunchy guitar moments. “We really wanted to encapsulate the hectic side of our live performances when recording Sick Pup,” singer James Boak says. “It’s always a song that demands a kind of raw aggression that we love to produce live and we thought it would be the ideal single to release to contrast our previous feel-good single - Sweet As Today.” Like what you hear? Keep an ear out for new album, Shangri-La.
Fantastic Negrito - Crooked Road
Another track from Fantastic Negrito's upcoming album Son Of A Broken Man, out October 18 on Xavier Dphrepaulezz's own label Storefront Records. It's part delta and part disco, a funky blues wrapped built upon a distorted guitar featuring some lovely shifts of gear and vibe. "I wrote Crooked Road about determination, never giving up, deep breath, reset, refresh." says Negrito. "This has been the theme of my life and it continues to be. I thrive off inspiration and this song embodied it for me. We might think that our life has serious challenges, but trust me, someone else out there has even more than you."
Rosalie Cunningham - In The Shade Of The Shadows
Proving that psychedelic queens can sing the blues, Rosalie Cunningham's spooky In The Shade Of The Shadows takes its cues from New Orleans and Vaudeville, with tinkling piano, a dramatic vocal playing out over the most restrained of rhythms, and horns that provide ultimate liftoff. The equally spooky video might be a budget affair, but it suits the music perfectly. "It's amazing what you can do with a phone, a torch, some free child labour, a tree surgeon and some sass," says Rosalie.
