TRACKS OF THE WEEK - 27/01/13 - Night Engine, Alice in Chains, Wake Owl, Joe Gideon and the Shark, Mexican Institute of Sound

Five tracks that laughed in the face of snow this week!

Shell Hunter:-

Night Engine - 'I'll Make It Worth Your While' 

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across a Guardian tip off for 'Ones to watch out for in 2013' and I saw a friend from my college days in the photo! I knew he was seriously into music so I had to look into them and wow, Night Engine totally float my boat! Being a big fan of 80's music but no particular genre, meant that as soon as I heard tracks like Seventeen, Treat Me Like A Baby and this one, made me want to kick my legs out and break into a running man like frenzy. You can hand pick your favourite influences such as Bowie and Talking Heads but I'll Make It Worth Your While gives me a bit of Weird Science by Oingo Boingo! Believe me that's not a bad thing, and there aren't enough bands doing it now in my opinion! Catch them at the Borderline in London on 20th Feb if you are lucky enough to get a ticket or get their first single Seventeen / Treat Me Like A Baby which will be released on February 18th.

You can catch them on Sound Cloud, Facebook plus Twitter! 

www.nightengine.net

London Scouser:-

Alice In Chains - 'Hollow' (2013)

Once again they are back, and once again it sounds like they have never been away. I was absolutely gutted when they disbanded when Layne Staley died as they have been a huge influence on the heavier side of my musical taste. They returned in 2009 with the brilliant Black Gives Way To Blue album, and in March they are releasing an as yet untitled album. I for one cannot wait. They will be playing at 'Download' this year which has a great line up (click here) including Korn, Rammstein, QOTSA & Iron Maiden, but alas I'm working and won't be able to go. Hopefully they will throw in some other gigs in the South that I can go to. 

http://aliceinchains.com/

SFW:-
Wake Owl - Gold (2013)

As the "new folk" genre gains in popularity and more and more artists come to the fore, this week we have Wake Owl vying for our attention. Wake Owl is the project of singer/songwriter Colyn Cameron and "Gold" is the first single off the Wild Country E.P. His style is very similar to Ben Howard, (not a bad thing) and with sweeping strings and gentle touches, it is the perfect track to accompany a long winters day walk!

Old Pa's Corner:-
Joe Gideon and the Shark - The Insignificant Bullet(2013)

Joe Gideon and the Shark are a brother/sister duo from London. The Shark (aka former Olympic ribbon gymnast Viva Gideon) are now on their second album release 'Freakish (2013)' released this January, is a concoction of blues, beats and spoken word. This track the 'Insignificant Bullet' (great title) really is a mish mash, I can hear The Velvet Underground, The Talking Heads, Pulp and even The Strokes, all in this one song.  This is definitely an interesting one.

I'll tell you what!, I like shark music.  


Flycasual:-
Mexican Institute of Sound - 'Mexico' (2012)

I've only just heard this despite it being released last summer, all thanks to last months Songlines CD sampler, I just love the horns! The excellent 'Mexico' is taken from Mexican Institute of Sound's (the name given to DJ Camilo Lara's creation) third album 'Politico'. Politically charged tracks on the state of the country (drug violence, contested election) all delivered with wit and humour (if a little sobering judging by the video), a spattering of Hip Hop/Electro and sprinkled with Mariachi trumpets, what's not to like!

Checkout previous Tracks of the week here

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