As a new week begins, we offer sincere congratulations to our old friend Tuk Smith – once of The Biters and these days leader of The Restless Hearts – whose Take The Long Way so dominated our last Tracks Of The Week competition that we feel almost embarrassed to point out that he accumulated more votes than the other seven acts put together. But congratulate him we will, as any other act would be churlish.
We should also mention Mark & Mick, a.k.a. Mark Knopfler and Mick Mars, whose own releases finished in second and third positions, albeit with less support than your soaraway favourite Tuk. Here he is again ⬇.
And now it's on with this week's battle. We hope you enjoy our choices.
Moon City Masters - Stuck On You
New York City’s sparkliest twins are joined by horn players from funk-soul collective Cool Cool Cool on this irresistibly funky, feelgood new single. Harmonised to the max, as is their way, and full of 70s warmth and colour. “The music came together while we were on our first European tour and the lyrics poke fun at something we’ve all been through, a break up,” the brothers explain. “The song was designed to make people dance and sing along all while throwing in little hints of progressive rock!"
Silveroller - The Other Side
Aaron Keylock’s band of longhaired, flare-jeaned brothers return to TOTW with another taste of their debut EP, and it finds them back in rootsy, sunkissed 70s hippie territory. This time, though, they’ve put the slide guitar front and centre – thick, fuzzy and swampy, complimented by Johnnie Hodson’s rock n’ soul cries. Catch them on tour, opening for fellow retro youths DeWolff, in March.
The Pineapple Thief - It Leads To This
The title track of the British progressive outfit’s next album is an enveloping, gently haunting affair. Light and dreamy but with a dark heart, it finds them stirring stylish basslines, tight drum flourishes, clean tones and angsty distortion into one hypnotic whole – part love song, part meditation on the future of the world. An intelligent, intriguing song (and is a proper song, for all its cleverness) that slips down extremely easily. Their UK/EU tour starts later this month.
Kit Trigg - Light At The End Of The Tunnel
Just when you thought skate rock was a thing that boomed in America in the 90s, along come Kit Trigg, from Farnham in the UK. Their new track is all shaggy hair, baggy jeans and chops to match (think Weezer with a gnarly touch of Dinosaur Jr), but they have a brightness and energy that makes us want to keep listening. Plus there’s a lyric about ‘sociopaths in yoga pants’, which has a certain spunkiness to it.
Ferris & Sylvester - Headache
The Laurel Canyon-ified wife-and-husband duo lean into the honeyed country end of their spectrum on the gorgeously harmonised Headache – all delicate, bluegrassy atmosphere that morphs into something more hotblooded and electric. Ostensibly sweet and melodic, like most of the best americana it also taps into some tasty dark sides. Like the sound of that? They tour the UK all through February and March.
Them Moose Rush - Sundog Sunburn
Billed to us as Croatia’s answer to Mars Volta or Monty Python, Them Moose Rush turn an oddball collection of prog, psychedelic and math-rock ingredients into a surprisingly hooky musical cake. Expect jagged yet insistent guitars, hazy freakout pockets and a beautifully weird animated video – a surrealist mash-up of desert sand, parrots and heavy machinery, like Mad Max being taken over by a zoo, or something.
Haunt - Serenade
Arriving in 2024 as if piped in from the NWOBHM era without touching the sides, Haunt let their t-shirts do the talking. The video for Serenade finds the Fresno metallers sporting Diamond Head, Mercyful Fate and Brooklyn-based old school rockers Tanith, and their sound suggests – in the best possible way – that the band haven't listened to much hard rock released since about 1983. This all comes together in a song that starts all brooding and mysterious before gathering momentum and shaping itself into something Blizzard Of Ozz-era Ozzy would have been happy to get his teeth into, with solos a-plenty and a spoken word section. New album Dreamers is out in early March, and we reckon it's their 11th album in six years. Cripes.
Uuhai - Khar Khulz
If you've ever listened the Mongolian folk-metal sensations The Hu and thought, 'You know what? I'd like to hear more of this sort of thing," well, here's more of that sort of thing. "Uuhai" means "Hoorah" in English, and Khar Khulz features all the elements that make Mongolian metal so intriguing, from the galloping rhythms to the use of the morin khuur (horse head violin) and khoomei (throat singing). "Shouting 'uuhai' in unison has roots as a spiritual mantra as a sign of goodwill," say the band, "leading to good fortune and was used as a way of releasing energy, emboldening one’s spirits and stimulating the elements of one’s body."
