The Hot Five - August #2
- Written by Tom Fake
The Hot Five – My favourite new tracks of the week, usually rounded off with a classic, obscure or alternate track from my music collection.
Track of the week: Saint Agnes – ‘Old Bone Rattle’
It is widely acknowledged that guitar music is having a bit of a tough time of it at present. Saint Agnes’ rock n roll style trippy Western inspired psychedelic-rock certainly reminds us of what we’re missing. ‘Old Bone Rattle’ is raw, it’s bold, and it’s seriously fucking cool. Saint Agnes, aka Jon Tufnell and Kitty Austen, initially bonded over a mutual love of Nick Cave and Jack White, and those influences are as strong as the dual vocal line that erupts from the tracks first hook. This is an instant classic.
Black Rivers – ‘The Ship’
Just the other day I was listening to a couple of tracks from Doves’ 2009 album Kingdom Of Rust, and I wondered what had happened to them. It turns out that Doves announced a hiatus in 2010, but recently twin brothers Jez and Andy Williams have announced the formation of a new band, Black Rivers. The two-piece’s first single starts with a sparse intro, before developing the track with electronic synth sound that build ‘The Ship’ into an atmospheric piece typical of Doves at their best. The song is available as a free download from this link.
Bruno Merz – ‘Into The Air’
Sit back, relax, and take in ‘Into The Air’, the first track to be shared from New Zealand folk artist Bruno Merz’s new album Highways. As a track, ‘Into The Air’ is tranquil, and if you take the time to listen to this song in the right settings you will definitely be rewarded. The quality of the fragile vocal gives such character to the song, and the minimal arrangement works perfectly to create a relaxing atmosphere. If this track isn’t fitting for a Muso, I don’t know what is.
You can download this track for free via Bruno Merz’s official website
William Fitzsimmons – ‘Fortune (Acoustic)’
Liked the last track, yeah? Definitely press play on this one then. William Fitzsimmons is known for his cleverly emotive songwriting, and his raw talent really shines through when you strip the arrangement down to its bare essentials. In this acoustic arrangement the focus is on the delicate vocal line, which is simply mesmerizing. New EP The Acoustic Sessions is available now, with four new stripped down arrangements of previous recordings.
Hidden track of the week: Radiohead – ‘Staircase’
Radiohead were voted the most influential band on the planet this week…. Like I really need an excuse to share a Radiohead song. ‘Staircase’ was recorded in the TKOL From The Basement session alongside ‘The Daily Mail’, and was released in 2011. Radiohead are set to regroup in the near future to begin work on a potential ninth studio album.
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