This week’s band are Swedish classic rockers Hoof. With hints of Deep Purple, Hendrix and a significant nod in the direction of the funky Paice, Ashton and Lord, Hoof are original and they’ve got a bundle of great tracks available for download on their website.

I’ll start with the oldest set of tracks, So Long. The slowest set of tracks, melodic, and almost Doors like (I’m a big Hammond organ fan), these three tracks from 2002 featured an early lineup of the band, the full history of the band being available on their excellent website. My favourite of this set being And You Are There the third track.

Bringing the band up to date are two sets of tracks from 2004, the Been on a Show “album” is more fluid and punchy than their earlier tracks, Child of a Vicious Mind and The Colours wouldn’t have been out of place on Deep Purple In Rock or Fireball (without the air conditioning noises). The third track, Too Tired is pure PAL, and the fourth and fifth tracks are funkier and slow the pace down whilst adding a little variety, my favourite of the bunch are And The Colours, and The Media Club with its superb lyrics.

There’s also a third set of songs – Live In Replokal. These won’t win any awards for musical fidelity being unmixed and merely recorded on a single stereo microphone at Hoof’s rehearsal studios, but they prove that Hoof can actually play and are a tight and together band, rather than the product of some painstaking studio work piecing together samples.

Hoof are smart guys, they’re the only TPN Rock featured band I’ve seen so far using Last.fm to promote their music, surely this is an obvious route for small bands to get their music heard?

So, in summary, great band, superb tunes, stylish website, the only downside being they don’t seem to gig very often. Next time they play in Stockholm I’m very tempted to grab a cheap flight and beg some floor space from Gustaf for the night (in exchange for a few beers, natch).

Yet another top band, it’s going to be tough finding something for next week, or is it?