Weekly Column: The Hot Five

Track of the week: Queens of the Stone Age – ‘My God Is The Sun'

When there is a lack of decent guitar-driven music, you can always rely on Joshua Homme to produce the goods – whether that’s Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures or any of his impressive other projects. ‘My God Is The Sun’ is, for want of a better word, ballsy. To be honest, that’s why I love it. It’s got that classic Homme feel to it, heavy riffs sounding more like Songs For The Deaf than some more recent QOTSA material, which is certainly no bad thing. I’m hoping that the rest of …Like Clockwork continues in the same style. The new album will be released on 3^rd June … It’s not soon enough! At the bottom of the QOTSA website you see the words “YOU WON’T BE DISAPPOINTED”. No, I don’t think I will! Cheers Josh. I haven’t even mentioned Dave Grohl yet, but that part is self-explanatory – everything he touches turns to gold – so yet another reason to get REALLY excited about this album.

The Leisure Society – ‘Another Sunday Psalm’

I found this song almost accidentally whilst darting around last week trying to gather my tracks. At the time I didn’t go with it, but after a few listens I found myself humming it. Sure, it’s inoffensive folk-slash-pop-slash-rock but it’s a good listen. In 2011, The Leisure Society backed Laura Marling on her UK cathedral tour, yet they’ve managed to remain relatively unnoticed up until now, despite some famous fans. Alone Aboard The Ark is available now, if it takes your fancy, and was recorded at Ray Davies’ studio in North London, and Guy Garvey (HERO) has declared himself a fan.

John Fullbright – ‘Satan and St. Paul’

Okay, so maybe I stole this track from Later …  but it’s a great track. The album it’s on, From The Ground Up, was released last May, but clearly Fullbright is going from strength to strength at the moment, as his exposure increases. Across the Atlantic he is already getting comparisons to the great Bob Dylan, critics suggesting that he is beyond his years. What stands out in this song, like Dylan, is Fullbright’s fantastic way with words. The opening exchange of  “Don’t tell me that you love me, I’ve got nothing left in turn, except this empty bag of promises, and second degree burns” suggests an intelligent classic writing style that compliments his bluesy guitar style perfectly.

Knox – ‘Candy’

This track is so new that it hasn’t been released yet. Frustratingly I’ve found a track that I think sounds great, and I can only listen to half of it! Admittedly I had no idea who Knox was, as I’m sure most people won’t. He’s described as “homegrown and real” according to his website, and I can definitely see that. His musical style sits somewhere between blues, soul, reggae, and most notably folk … all via Fiji. I cannot tell you how nice it is to hear something different to your typical Indie rock track that doesn’t quite make the grade. ‘Candy’ is set for release on Wednesday April 17, with a show planned to compliment the release in Sydney. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a full version of the song during this week and update the page so we can all hear it!

“Hidden” track of the week: Radiohead – ‘The Daily Mail’

Unfortunately this was going to happen at some point, as my Radiohead obsession knows no bounds. It’s difficult to know if this song can really be classed as a hidden track or not…  I know that Radiohead are well known, but I’m not sure the track is. It was recorded in the ‘From the Basement’ sessions that accompanied the band’s most recent album, The King of Limbs. I genuinely think that it is one of the best songs the band has produced. The contrast of the two halves of the song – Thom Yorke subtly accompanied by piano and the full band emphatically entering complete with a brass arrangement from Johnny Greenwood. It’s just perfect; maybe I should leave it at that! (I’m not biased ...) Enjoy!