Hello, and welcome to a new Spotify playlist-embiggened Essential Guitar Tracks. As you may well know, every seven days (or thereabouts), we endeavor to bring you a selection of songs from across the guitar universe, all with one thing in common: our favorite instrument plays a starring role.
Our goal is to give you an overview of the biggest tracks, our editor’s picks and anything you may have missed. We’re pushing horizons and taking you out of your comfort zone – because, as guitarists, that’s something we should all be striving for in our playing.
So, here are our highlights from the past seven days – now with a Spotify playlist!
Flat Black – It’s Your Lack of Respect
It’s been a little while since we heard from Explorer-toting session man-turned metal guitar hero Jason Hook following his departure from Five Finger Death Punch back in 2020. In that time, he’s been working on Flat Black, a punishing new project, partly recorded at his home studio. Dubbed “unapologetically defiant” by the man himself, It’s Your Lack of Respect nods to Pantera in both its attitude and sonic approach, with groove metal throwdowns, pitch-shifter squeals and some molten, fleet-fingered pentatonic interjections from Hook. It’s good to have him back. (MAB)
Marnie Stern – Plain Speak
Hearing new Marnie Stern after an absence is like a dose of distilled joy. Plain Speak is a bouncing, technicolor shuffle – full of bright, melodic tapping, cycling riffs and skittering vocal hooks – that channels the busy, overwhelming blur of modern life’s notifications and dings into something altogether positive. (MP)
Kenny Wayne Shepherd – Sweet & Low
After temporarily trading his Fender Strat for Duane Allman’s ‘Layla’ Les Paul – and following his sensational live run-out with David Gilmour’s Black Strat – Kenny Wayne Shepherd returns to more familiar single-coil territory for a sauntering, blues-y effort that paves the way for his upcoming album, Dirt On My Diamonds Volume 1. Come for those earworm turnarounds, stay for that scorching wah-drenched solo. (MO)
Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven
I Got Heaven – the new single from Philly quartet Mannequin Pussy – is chock full of classic punk spirit. It’s got all the power and vinegar you could ever want, but we really love those Graham Coxon-like warbles in the second verse – punk with interesting musical background characters is really the best. (JM)
Lynch Mob – Time After Time
Despite being well into his 60s (although he really doesn’t look it – playing fast does reverse the passage of time), George Lynch has never been busier. This year, the shred great has dropped new solo material, as well as collaborations with Sweet & Lynch, The Banishment, and now Lynch Mob, who are back under their original moniker, despite a mooted name change in 2020. The first single from their latest incarnation recalls The Cult in its hooky guitar arpeggios and riffs, while Lynch’s dialed-back solo showcases his emotive feel away from the hemi-demi-semi-quavers. (MAB)
Ty Segall – Void
Void sees the prolific Orange County songwriter embrace his progressive rock passions with both hands, forgoing the short-sharp shocks of his early work and incorporating the space-y slowburn elements of Hawkwind and Soft Machine. It’s a masterful construction of woozy acoustic and dynamic heavy fuzz riffing. (MP)
Blackberry Smoke – Dig a Hole
Your weekly fix of rootsy rock and swampy riffs courtesy of the kind folks at Blackberry Smoke, whose new single Dig a Hole comes supercharged with lashings of chromatic turnarounds and gritty hooks, all of which lead up to a ‘board-traversing solo. (MO)
awakebutstillinbed – airport
Bay Area emo band awakebutstillinbed will soon release chaos takes the wheel and i am a passenger (what a name!) and if airport is anything to go by, it’ll be a must-listen if emo is any way your speed. With emo at mass saturation, you really need great songwriting to separate yourself from the pack, and bandleader Shannon Taylor is one hell of a songwriter. With bouncy riffs, jangling arpeggios and twisty leads aplenty, airport is infectious, and a perfect entry point to awakebutstillinbed’s discography. (JM)
Holy Wars – Deus Ex Machina
A nu-metal dungeon run that thunders in and out of hip-hop territory with unhinged aplomb. Guitarist and producer Nick Perez layers it up with some appropriately mechanical riffs and a tight Tom Morello-style ‘malfunctioning whammy’ solo that, shockingly, does not sound terrible. (MP)
Darryl “DMC” McDaniels – Kingdom Come (feat. Big K.O.)
Harking back to groundbreaking Run-D.M.C. rock/hip-hop crossovers Rock Box and King of Rock, Kingdom Come showcases the production and guitar talents of Big K.O., who locks into the track’s drum machine groove with chunky powerchords and hard-rock slides that will have you bouncing like it’s 1985. (MAB)
Miki Ratsula – lied to your therapist (feat. OSTON)
The muted fingerpicking that powers lied to your therapist – the latest single from Finnish singer/songwriter Miki Ratsula’s forthcoming i'll be fine if i want to album – is both ominous and beautiful in a way that recalls Andy Summers’ most inventive work with the Police. It sets things up beautifully for when Ratsula grabs a Tele and kicks this cathartic kiss-off into high gear. (JM)
Also on this week’s playlist…
- Laang 冷 – Baoyu
- Tim Montana – Devil You Know
- Grrrl Gang – Better Than Life
- King Falcon – Rabbit Gets the Gun
- Molybaron – Reality Show
- Baroness – Shine
