Wud Records: January 2022 top ten tracks published at SoundCloud
The top ten SoundCloud tracks for January 2022 from Wud Records have been published in a new playlist.
Tracks are arranged from one to ten according to their popularity. The algorithm we use gives greatest weight to reposts, then likes and comments (active engagement) over plays.
When somebody reposts a track, that gives it the opportunity to be heard by a potential new fan. This is always a tremendous help for creative souls!
Songs published at Bandcamp and other platforms are omitted from the SoundCloud statistics because they would require separate treatment.
Archive tracks and bonus tracks are also ignored, as are likes and comments from people who clearly didn’t listen to the music.
Massive thanks go out to everybody who helped to support all of us during January 2022 by listening to, commenting on and reposting our bands’ tracks on SoundCloud, as well as other platforms.
All the wonderful fans of our bands who supported us with downloads from Bandcamp are especially appreciated because they genuinely help us keep the fires burning. May you be blessed by the gods of rock n roll! :)
We would also like to say a special thank you to all the splendid people on Twitter who have been enjoying and reposting our tracks to their followers. All the support and positive feedback has been incredibly heartwarming for us all. It makes our endeavours here seem worthwhile.
Congratulations to Dark Company! At the very top for a second month on our chart is Crash, from Dark Company‘s first album, Signmaker.
Crash is a high octane esoteric mix of hard rock and jazz funk. It has been likened to AC/DC, ZZ Top and The Who amongst others. It was originally an Alien Heat song, and Alien Heat used it to open their live show. Sadly, no recording of the Alien Heat version still exists, as far as we know.
There is also a different work-in-progress version of Crash on Dark Company‘s forthcoming Alien Heat album and a wonderful remix featuring lots of voice samples from an omnibus edition of EastEnders, broadcast on BBC television in late 1991.
There are five songs in total by Dark Company, who enjoyed another splendid month for Wud Records on SoundCloud during January 2022.
Down three places this month to number six is Slave of Days. Like all its bedfellows on Dark Company‘s Mind Dance album, Slave of Days is work-in-progress. It’s a simple and joyful slab of punk rock, or hard rock maybe, with a fun shout-along chorus hook line.
Also down three places, to this month’s number seven position, is Horizontal Hold, a very wonderful song that is still work-in-progress. This version is from Dark Company‘s forthcoming fourth album, Can of Worms. It features the thought- and smile-provoking lyrics of Speedy Pete Greatorex and was reworked on the subsequent Mind Dance album with guitars as Broken Tubes.
Up one place to number eight this month is Dark Company’s awesome alternative / hard / psychedelic rock and funk song Dancing In The Dark. The version you can hear is still work-in-progress.
Pete wrote the lyrics in 1989 and the song was originally performed by Alien Heat. Dancing In The Dark describes his memories of going nightclubbing in the West End of London after being revved up by his good friend Billy.
Pete was not actually terribly keen on the song and would always refer to it as “Farting in the Park”.
Back in the days of Alien Heat, Dancing In The Dark included Graham’s drum solo. This was when everyone in the band would roll a cigarette (or something a little more flavoursome) while he performed it, hopefully having the deed done and the object lit in time to carry on with the song at the drum solo’s conclusion.
The final Dark Company song we see in the new chart is Cable Guy from Noir. This is such a great song! It really motors along and includes a sample from Donald Rumsfeld’s famous speech about knowns and unknowns from 2002. Cable Guy is still very rough, like all of the songs on Noir, and little more than a demo which we hope to complete one day. All the same, you can still hear the brilliance of the song and its awesome raw power.
Flicker had a good month on the new chart, occupying three of the positions. All three of the Flicker tracks are from their wonderful 2002 album At Least 1000 Words.
Remaining at number two this month is Oily Road Hideaway, a delightful latin jazz dance. Oily Road Hideaway is the only track from Flicker‘s first album with programmed drums. It also has twin bass guitars playing in unison, with Dave on his Fender and George on the Plank.
Welcome to the Family moves up four places on the new chart from seven to three. This is another latin-jazz-rock-fusion instrumental. It builds from its acoustic guitar beginings to a heady climax of guitar feedback and noise. There is a lovely bass solo from Dave, who also plays the keyboard parts most admirably.
Back into the top ten at number nine comes Week Five by Flicker. This one has a remarkably live-sounding feel for a studio recording and is a breezy feel good latin rock dance number that wouldn’t sound out of place in a set from Carlos Santana.
Flicker‘s second album, HappySad, is under construction and you can listen to it as it stands right now by clicking here. Several more tracks are likely to be released in the coming weeks and months, so please keep an eye and an ear on our News service and Twitter.
The remaining songs on the January 2022 chart come from The Bastard Sons of Dennis and Alchemeon.
Good Times is a fun acoustic funk and progressive rock song about a man who told a very strange tale to a hitchhiker he picked up one day. The Freaks (Shall Inherit The Earth) was a chart topper last year and has been a tremendously popular cosmic rock song for several years.
None of our other acts made it onto the chart this month.
If you prefer to listen right here at the Wud Records website, you will find that it is the new default music player. You will find it on all non band-specific pages at the site, including our Links collection and homepage.
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