THE EVIL HAS NEARLY LANDED AS QUEENS OF THE STONEAGE PREPARE FOR THEIR NEW ALBUM RELEASE NEXT WEEK
- Aug 17, 2017
- 5 min read
Jesus fucking christ this NEW Queens of the Stoneage album is going to be an absolute bloody belter isn’t it? We’re now but 8 days away from its arrival on store shelves and streaming platforms worldwide. Here at TRW HQ we’re QOTSA mad as I’m sure our loyal followers will know by now. It’s sending our hearts, minds and pretty much all bodily organs into absolute meltdown knowing that in just over a weeks’ time we get to sit down and listen to this puppy in full. Sad as it is we’re hosting a listening party! The limited edition Indie store version of the vinyl release has been pre-ordered for our personal collection and should hopefully arrive promptly next Friday. EYE’S PEELED FOR OUR FULL ALBUM REVIEW!
So far we’ve been getting poked with a stick, much like a hive full of eager bee’s. Josh and his band of smooth seducers have been prodding us relentlessly with teaser video after teaser video for the past few months and it’s been a nail biting. They’re playing their cards close to their chests having only dropped the two singles prior to release day but a few vital secrets have been made common knowledge. We know that Mark Ronson was the producer which, along with the release of “The Way You Used To Do”, has all but confirmed that the pioneers of Desert Rock are heading down the sexy, dark, dusty road of Dance Rock. Expect lots of jazzy swing beats, burlesque style guitar licks and thunderously commanding rhythm sections.
We’re not going to go into too much detail though, we need to save those sharp metaphors and comparisons for our full album review in a week’s time. The reason for this post is to briefly discuss the new releases, “The Way You Used To Do” and “The Evil Has Landed”. It’s been two months since they dropped the first of the albums singles “The Way You Used To Do”. Time flies when you’re having fun, or when you’re just generally under the spell of QOTSA and their dangerously infectious music. TWYUTD is a song built around and inspired by the fundamentals of swing and jazz beats. You can feel the swagger and euphoric aroma that the song emits as soon as the first note of that guitar riff swoops in. With the catchy hand claps plodding along throughout this track makes you want to hit a freshly waxed dancefloor in a pair of glittery flair trousers and strut your best moves. We can feel a lot of drunken living room breakages, drops and accidents coming hand in hand with this song. Saturday’s come round you’ve had a glass of Pinot too many, some loose fucking nutter sticks this track on and as if by magic the Dirty Dancer inside of you bursts to the surface and goes for the 10/10 jitterbug complete with lifts. Someone’s asking for a foot or head to collide with a light fitting. You get the picture though, your hips will disconnect from your body and conscience, develop a mind of their own and take the 11:35pm straight to boogie town.
THE EVIL HAS LANDED. That’s right it certainly fucking has, but for some reason it’s got an unnervingly big smile and bouncy stride on it. Imagine if Satan has his own chat show, something like Graham Norton or Jonathan Ross on a Friday night. That’s the kind of light hearted aura this song projects but fear not it’s got one hell of a bite. The second of QOTSA’s single releases is none other than “The Evil Has Landed”. Now I know we always seem to jump into rash assumptions very early on into an album or a tracks life and some may think it’s only the honeymoon period talking BUT we’ve always been pretty accurate so far. Here it is…. we think this has the potential to be one of our favourite QOTSA songs of all time. Jeeeeez…. we can hear all those sharp intakes of breath from here. Seriously give it time; it’s an absolute masterpiece of epic proportions. Standing tall at a staggering 6:30 long this tracks fails to disappoint. It’s forever moving from section to section weaving in and out of the prominent riffs like a ninja that’s been bathed in some of Ann Summer’s finest lubricant.
The main lick plays off that notorious Josh Homme scale that all of you budding young guitarists out there will surely know about by now. If you don’t get reading it’s an essential bit of kit if you want to add a bit of a sexy/ freaky drive into your riffs and soloing. Again there’s such a vibrant and happy feel to this song it plods along with a grand ol’ smile on its face dropping into that sharply overdriven chord progression that makes you weak at the knees. It’s what Summer playlist dreams are made of. Okay so it’s 11:00AM on a sunny morning, you’re strutting down the road in your summer garms, the smell of freshly cut grass masks the air like a faint spray of Gucci’s new Eau De Toilette, everything in your life seems to have fallen into a harmonious space of content and fulfilment. You’ve clicked shuffle on the latest TRW playlist you only moments ago followed (do it now!) and as if by some miracle this song drops full blast through your headphones, what could be better? You tell me, cos that right there sounds like a slice of pure unfiltered heaven!
If this is the calibre of track QOTSA have up their sleeves, then this album has the potential to be one of the best rock albums of the past decade. The fresh, modern swagger will appeal to the masses. A friend of mine recently said, whilst listening to one of the new tracks, ‘it’s the kind of song you can stick on in the background at a party and not a soul in the room would have a problem with it’. Now that’s a fairly interesting revelation. How many times have you been to a party and seen a clash over the aux cable. If you say no, then clearly you’re a 40 year old hermit that lives in your mum’s basement still. It’s a universal issue! How many different preferences and styles does one have to cater to when curating the ULTIMATE party playlist. There’s always some fucking bellend that’ll walk up to me as soon as the faintest aroma of a guitar comes on in a song and say what’s this greebo bollocks. For fuck sake mate read a bloody book or something, actually no for starters just stop binge watching MTV Hits. Yeah can you believe it music is also made with physical instruments, it doesn’t all come from magical computer fairies that hire rappers to colloquialise their empty, champagne drenched lifestyles. Fuck that got real ranty then, I do apologise! Point is, QOTSA have struck an impossible blend with these first two tracks. They’re uplifting, eye catching and vibrant but best of all they’re driving rock and roll into the 21 century with a blindfold on; flicking ash out the window. No-one does it as cool as QOTSA, that’s a fact!
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