Fantastic Negrito, courtesy.

This week’s Tuesday Tracks is heavy on the guitar featuring blues rock, soul rock, ’70s SoCal rock, funk, indie rock and three-time Grammy winner Fantastic Negrito, who’s whatever kind of rock he feels like being today.

Fantastic Negrito, “Trudoo” — Friend of the site Xavier “Fantastic Negrito” Dphrepaulezz is one of the best musicians working today. His first three albums under the Negrito moniker won a Grammy, so when another is on the horizon we owe it to ourselves to pay attention. This third single from his upcoming concept album White Jesus Black Problems blends the blues, country and a touch of EDM into something totally unlike what he’s done previously—or, for that matter, unlike anything you’ve ever heard.

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Ghost Hounds, “Smokestack Lightning” — Ghost Hounds’ cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s 1956 blues classic “Smokestack Lightning” is absolutely done right. Mixing old-school rock and roll with the blues guitar that inspired it, the Pittsburgh band is the perfect group to take it on—but key to making it work is Tre Nation’s vocals that get under your skin and into your soul. Somewhere, Howlin’ Wolf is proud that his tradition is still alive.

Cory Wong, “Power Station” — Funk guitar virtuoso Cory Wong is at his absolute funkiest here, and it’s frankly what we as a species need right now. I believe it’s no coincidence he’s from Minneapolis because, like fellow native Prince, he’s a master at the craft in a genre where it’s not usually the focus. Now don’t get me wrong, he’s no Prince—I don’t think he would find that insulting or disrespectful because nobody ever has been or will be—but he does bring the same power and joy to the instrument. And he doesn’t usually sing, but maybe he should.

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Seratones, “Pleasure” — Keeping the guitar-driven rock fusion theme going is soul rock powerhouse (and three-time Tuesday Tracks pick) Seratones, with their new track “Pleasure.” It, of course, mixes soul and rock with an ambient quality that makes the bass-driven power feel almost mellow. It sounds impossible, and it should be, but here we are anyway. It’s an astounding achievement in not letting tempo dictate a song’s feel, which is rare in large part because of its difficulty.

Michigander featuring Manchester Orchestra, “In My Head” — A lot of alt-rock can start to sound the same. As any genre matures, it can homogenize, with artists focusing on the parts of each other’s work that sounds best until they’re all playing the same thing. To the credit of singer-songwriter Jason Singer, Michigander has not fallen into that trap. The key is Singer’s superb songwriting, which sticks to a rock structure—supported by Atlanta’s Manchester Orchestra—as a framework but builds on that core to be something unique and, frankly, better. And yes, he is actually from Michigan.

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Al Staehely, “Live Like a River” — I’m cheating a little bit with this one, because while the song is a new release it’s in no way new music. Former Spirit singer Al Staehely wrote and recorded this more than 40 years ago. But I’ve decided it counts anyway because it’s new to us (it’s been locked in Staehely’s figurative vault this whole time). Also, it sounds remarkably modern, possibly because of how much inspiration current rock takes from late-’70s Southern California rock and possibly because good songs are timeless. Most importantly, it doesn’t hurt that the music video is also intensely charming.

Danny’s pick: Everything Fantastic Negrito does is amazing. If he can do wrong, he hasn’t proven it yet, so “Trudoo” leads the pack this week. What else am I supposed to do when only one of six songs is instantly a frontrunner in the Grammys solely by existing?

Follow editor Daniel J. Willis at Twitter.com/BayAreaData.