00’s

Scuzz Sundays: Razorlight – ‘In The Morning’

February 13, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Razorlight’ (Self-Titled LP) (Released on July 17th, 2006) (via Mercury Records)

Good Morning to you – If you have indeed joined me ‘In The Morning’ for yet another edition of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on the blog, the weekly feature where we pay a visit to one of the ghosts of Pop-Punk’s past to see if they still send chills down our spines in 2022, which fits my theme of writing up about a different piece of music every day! An indie rock band from London with more line-up changes than anybody can shake a stick at, Razorlight were a mid-00’s pop/rock group who have gone through several rotations of members with lead vocalist Johnny Borrell tying the connections together as the sole permanent member. They are probably best known for crossover chart hits like ‘Golden Touch’ and ‘Wire To Wire’ that reached the top ten of the UK Singles Chart, along with ‘America’ which was actually a UK #1 hit for them. ‘In The Morning’ was another example of their most well-known material and it peaked at #3 in the UK Singles Chart as the lead single to be taken their second studio album – a self-titled effort, unusually for a follow-up release – that was released to a mixed reception from critics in 2006. The album did decent business, however, and Razorlight have since gone on to take some awards home from 2007’s Eska Music Awards, 2005’s Silver Chef Awards and the Muso Awards in 2005. Razorlight are still releasing new music today, although quite sporadically, with 2018’s ‘Olympus Sleeping’ being their most recent album release – which was their first in ten years. Let’s revisit ‘In The Morning’ below.

‘In The Morning’ has been certified as Gold in the UK to mark a milestone of over 400,000 copies to get sold commercially, and the associated album went straight to the top of the UK Album Charts, as well as reaching the Top 40 in countries such as Germany, The Netherlands, Ireland, Austria, New Zealand and more. What doesn’t raise their profile, however, is that it was nominated for ‘Worst Album’ at the NME Awards in 2007, a (dis)honour that went to Robbie Williams’ ‘Rudebox’, and I’ll leave it up to you to decide if that distinction was just a little bit harsh or if it was fair in your own opinion. Back to the task at hand, and it is clear that ‘In The Morning’ sets the tone for a hangover mood after a party that got out of hand, as Borrell croons lyrics like “The songs on the radio sound the same/Everybody just looks the same” that mix a shade of meta commentary while toeing a line between slightly reflective Pop and sultry Garage Rock with the simple mixture of the ramshackle Drum beats and the repetitious lead guitar hooks. Meanwhile, the then-26 year-old wistfully recounts the olden and golden days of young adulthood with the refrains of “Remember when you were young/You’d lose yourself” and “But then last night was so much fun” that he is perhaps a little too young to entirely relate to and make totally convincing, but the fact that the track has a slightly deeper meaning than what’s on the surface is a welcome breath of fresh air. Borrell recites his lyrics with a rock and roll drowse that isn’t far off his peers, with Franz Ferdinand and Maximo Park all coming to my mind, and he leads a chant-along verse with “Are you really going to do it this time?” that reaches out to festival crowds as the instrumentation builds upon its tension with a heightened sense of pacing. There’s not a whole lot else to say about ‘In The Morning’, but it’s certainly not a bad song by any stretch of my mind. It’s just a fairly average one, with little depth to the lyricism and nothing that makes them feel like they were doing something different to similar bands like Toploader and Hard-Fi who each scored chart hits at their time with their Pop/Rock hybrid sounds. You get the sense that Borrell is still a bit young for his reflections to come across as undoubtedly mature, but there’s nothing that offensive to it either. ‘In The Morning’ was simply fine overall, with simple and repetitive melodies that connect with mainstream audiences and the basic production is exactly what makes it a reasonably catchy tune that you can whistle along to. Razorlight won’t go down in the history books as a stand-out band, but there’s enough quality – within reason – as to not make it feel too outdated.

Pictured: Johnny Borell (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Keyboard/Piano), Reni Lane (Keyboard/Synths), David Sullivan Kaplan (Drums/Backing Vocals) and David Ellis (Lead Guitar/Bass Guitar) (in 2018) (Photo Credit: Andy Hughes)

That brings us to the end of another weekly installment of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on the blog as we sleepwalk into another week of winter. Thank you for giving me a moment of your time today, and please catch up with me tomorrow as we kick the week off with an exciting single release from a familiar favourite of 2020 on the blog, who will be releasing her first album to be recorded in a studio in May via Grand Jury Music. She is a young bedroom pop singer-songwriter originally from Wichita, Kansas who will tour with Wallows this year. She has collaborated with TV Girl and Magdalena Bay.

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Scuzz Sundays: Boy Kill Boy – ‘Suzie’

February 6, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Civilian’ (LP) (Released on May 22nd, 2006) (via Vertigo Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to pay another visit to one of Pop-Punk’s ghosts of the past with yet another weekly entry of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on the daily music blog, given that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! During the heyday of Scuzz TV, many of the most regularly featured bands were American with stateside favourites like Fall Out Boy, Bowling For Soup and Green Day proving popular with the station’s executives, and so we’re spicing things up by looking at one of the British hopefuls to rival The Killers from the time, but it sadly didn’t quite work out that way for Boy Kill Boy – a Leytonshire native rock band led by Chris Peck, who released two albums before splitting up in 2008, citing a host of issues regarding their label and some disappointing sales for their second LP – 2008’s ‘Stars And The Sea’ – as factors to their downfall. It started out promisingly for them, with the band opening the Radio 1/NME stage at Reading and Leeds Festival in 2005 and headlining NME’s New Bands Tour in 2006, as well as getting lots of support slots for Feeder, Maximo Park, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Cribs, The Automatic, The Charlatans, The Long Blondes and more throughout the UK, US and internationally. Their debut album – 2005’s ‘Civilian’ – also managed to do decent business despite largely ‘meh’ reviews from critics, with the band developing a cult following and it simply went wrong when their label did not see this band as marketable due to their very classically influenced guitar rock sound – according to Peck in subsequent interviews – but they struck a chord with audiences. Boy Kill Boy’s most well-known single is probably ‘Suzie’ as it is also their highest-charting. It reached #17 on the UK Singles Chart, while other singles like ‘Back Again’ and ‘Civil Sin’ also reached the Top 50. The band also performed ‘Suzie’ on an episode of BBC’s ‘Top Of The Pops’ back at the time. Let’s catch up with ‘Suzie’ below.

Lead vocalist Chris Peck started his own solo project when he teased ‘Riversong’ on YouTube in 2011 and keyboardist Peter Carr went on to play the keyboards in the backing band for Marina and The Diamonds in case you were wondering what happened to some of Boy Kill Boy’s line-up. They also reformed for two gigs at Oslo, Hackney, London in November 2016 to sold out sales and critical acclaim, but it’s unclear what has happened to them all outside of those few details. However, ‘Suzie’ represents the band at their peak period, with dimly dressed vocalist Peck squelching “This is not a movie, Things just ain’t the same as your favourite video” after the Synth-led intro that feels like The Killers. The Synths roll along suggestively, while the hyper guitars and drums boast a fast-paced workout with a feel that isn’t entirely commercial because the buoyancy feels quite ramshackle in delivery, and the vocals boast an unpolished sense of agitation, yet there’s some questionable accents put forth by Peck throughout the song when you listen attentively to his half Scottish and half Irish, somewhat laddish, type of croon at close attention. The structure feels catchy, with quick sections like “They said, don’t let me down again” being repeated a few times, as to wind up a live crowd and get them involved with the sing-along nature of the chorus, where Peck screams “Countdown to the disappointment” with a bitterness in his voice that is counteracted by the more blithe instrumentation where the keyboards are engaging and the Synths have a brightness to them. I enjoyed owning the full album for ‘Civlian’ when I was eight or nine years old – possibly younger – and when you listen back, it doesn’t feel outdated by a terrible amount as such. The issue is more that, at some points, you can hear them trying to recycle the laddish tropes of Kaiser Chiefs or The Ordinary Boys, and at some other times, you can hear Peck having a bash at being Maximo Park with his give-and-take live crowd-oriented delivery, and so you end up with something that feels like a re-hash of the tried-and-true tropes of peer groups from (around about) their contemporary time. That said, there’s a charm to the unpolished production with relatable lyrics about dealing with your own pessimistic spirit and how that shapes a relationship within that environment, as we all go through times like Peck’s issues with ‘Suzie’ where we think that things are going to be better than they really turn out to be. Moreover, there’s an anthemic quality to ‘Suzie’ that I feel, if we were living in a different world, could have put them more firmly on the map. As it stands, while some things aren’t quite as good as you remember them, ‘Suzie’ was certainly not a failure. It was just oddly sweet in knowingly fulfilling the London fashionista trends of 00’s ‘Indie landfill’ as the critics call it, rather than setting the world of guitar-driven rock alight for an extended period of time outside of initial success. It was only a slight disappointment.

Pictured: Chris Peck (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar/Rhythm Guitar), Kevin Chase (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), Peter Carr (Keyboards/Synths/Backing Vocals) and Shaz Mahmood (Drums/Percussion) (2006) (Photo Credit: NME.com)

That’s all for now! Thank you for giving me a moment of your attention today, and I’ll be back tomorrow to kick off a new week’s worth of hyper-active blog posts, in daily succession, with a recent single by a non-binary rapper/producer from Philadelphia, Pensylvania who has been a member of Liberal Art, Third Eye Optiks and Indigold. They released their third studio LP, ‘CANDID’, on Les Fleurs Records last Wednesday.

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Scuzz Sundays: Amber Pacific – ‘Always You (Good Times)’

January 30, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Matt Young (Lead Vocals/Chief Songwriter), Will Nutter (Lead Guitar/Keyboard/Backing Vocals), Dango (Drums), Justin Westcott (Rhythm Guitar) and Greg Strong (Bass Guitar) (2010) (Photo Credit: Nicole Jordan)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for us to pay a visit to one of the ghosts of Pop-Punk’s past for another weekly entry of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on the blog, which fits in with my challenge of writing up about a different piece of music every day! A Seattle-based Alternative Rock band, Amber Pacific were first formed in 2002 as Follow Through while the founding members were still juniors in their high school and, although not really seen as a major name in the industry, they have sold over 150,000 records worldwide. The band have gone through a fair share of line-up changes, such as when rhythm guitarist Justin Westcott was replaced in 2006 by ex-Yellowcard member Ben Harper, who subsequently left by 2007, and Westcott went on to rejoin his colleagues again in 2011, however, Amber Pacific are still active on the live touring circuit and they have recorded new music as recently as 2014 for their fourth LP release – ‘The Turn’. They also had a memorable stint as part of the Victory Records label, having released two albums there. Amber Pacific were more-or-less the definition of Scuzz’s TV music video output, with a decidedly ‘Emo’ style that you could liken to The All American Rejects, Story Of The Year and The Audition. One of their best-known singles is 2005’s ‘Always You (Good Times)’, which was taken from their debut LP release – ‘The Possibility and The Promise’ – which arrived via the California-based independent label Hopeless Records that same year. It was originally included on their debut EP, but it was later heard by a mass audience when it was featured on the soundtrack for ‘Burnout 3: Takedown’, a popular mid-2000’s arcade-style racing video game created by Criterion Games in 2004. Let’s remember it below.

Amber Pacific’s music can also be heard on the soundtrack of the 2007 animated movie ‘TMNT’, a reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise that used ‘Fall Back Into My Life’ during a few scenes. Their other single to be taken from 2005’s ‘The Possibility And The Promise’ – ‘Gone So Young’ – was also used for a TV spot to promote ‘Flicka’, a family adventure-drama film that spawned a little franchise in 2006. Musically, Amber Pacific continued to find success with the follow-up album – 2007’s ‘Truth In Sincerity’ – which reached #64 on the US Billboard 200 album chart. As for ‘Always You (Good Times)’, lead vocalist Matt Young delivers one of his most bittersweet and striking vocal performances in Amber Pacific’s library of releases with heartfelt lyrics like “Good times last forever/I’ll keep my heart with yours” and “For every minute I am gone/Swear you’ll never leave me” that sound romantic but declarative, while the chorus seems pleasant on the ears with the catchy refrain of “I’ll be there every time/In your heart and in your eyes” that is upbeat and immediately accessible to a wide pool of listeners who like their Pop and Rock to be kept straightforward and simple enough. The vocals or the lyrics never ascend to create any very memorable moments, but they are still solid enough in conveying the track’s theme of remembering positive memories in the past while you head towards a future that looks uncertain. It all feels very non-convoluted as a whole, with driving bass guitar riffs and scorching Drum melodies that keep the flow going at an uptempo pace, and Amber Pacific manage to pull off most of the goods despite there being a feeling of the band never really branching out of their genre’s comfort zone. The problem is that ‘Always You (Good Times)’ is quite generic, for the lack of a better term. There’s certainly nothing offensive or directly harmful here, but the songwriting is generally pretty bland and the chorus aren’t different enough, in comparison to their peer acts, for them to feel transcendant in any real way or stand out very much. That said, while it is not very original, everything is technically competent here. The musicianship is perfectly composed enough and the lyrics are logical enough, but the record is just perfectly adequate as opposed to truly great. Overall, I felt like Amber Pacific did a great job in creating some simple and straightforward Pop-Rock here. There’s little else to say, but it never really overstayed its welcome. Decent but cliche.

Pictured: Amber Pacific performing on their ‘Warped Tour’ (2007) (Photo Credit: John Kloepper/WikiCommons.org)

That is all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest post, and I will be back tomorrow to diversify things ahead of the new week as we review a single taken from a recent Hip-Hop album release that has found a wide audience through a steady set of acclaim from critics and popularity through its Bandcamp sales. It comes from a Chicago-born rapper, producer and songwriter who was a part of the alternative Hip-Hop collective Odd Future in the late-00’s – led by Tyler, The Creator – and he used to perform his music under the name of Sly Tendencies. He recently performed his new track, ‘2010’, on the latest episode of ‘The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon’ in the US.

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Way Back Wednesdays: The Beta Band – ‘Squares’

January 26, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Steve Mason (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Richard Greentree (Bass Guitar/Keyboard), John Maclean (DJ/Samples/Producer) and Robin Jones (Drums/Percussion) (Date n/a) (Photo via NME.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for us to take a break away from the new year of new music releases by revisiting a small sample of the seminal sounds of the past as we go ‘Way Back’ for Wednesday on yet another daily track on the blog, given that it is my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A late-1990’s and early 00’s Alternative Rock group who have been remembered as “The self-destructive pop saboteurs who did it all wrong in all the right ways” by James McMahon, a writer for NME, in 2018 – The Beta Band are the rare case of a band that were, perhaps, a little misunderstood by the contemporary critics of their heyday, and they have only really been seen as highly influential in more modern times. Known for their experimental blend of Folktronica, Trip Hop, Plunderphonics, Psychedelic Rock and Progressive Pop, The Beta Band were praised by Oasis and Radiohead, eventually opening up for their live shows in 2001 and went on to build a healthy cult status with audiences alike. In 2001, in a very strange coincidence, both The Beta Band and Sheffield-based indie pop duo I, Monster decided to add a vocoder and some beats to The Gunter Hallam’s Choir’s ‘Daydream’ to form their own sample-based tracks of ‘Squares’ and ‘Daydream In Blue’, respectively, and the tracks melodies seem similar enough at first glance as to listeners being confused between the two but, upon a further inspection, ‘Squares’ has a more edgy, nightmarish feel in comparison to I, Monster’s more commercially successful adaptation of the 60’s piece. It was taken from The Beta Band’s sophomore album – ‘Hot Shots II’ – which was included in the 2010 edition of the book ‘1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die’ and it also reached #13 on the UK Albums Chart and it was co-produced by Colin Emmanuel. Let’s revisit the music video below.

The Beta Band’s music was memorably featured in a scene of the 2000 Romantic Comedy/Drama hybrid movie ‘High Fidelity’ that was based on the Nick Horny-authored novel of the same title. In an iconic clip from the film, a record store owner portrayed by John Cusack states “I will now sell five copies of The Three EP’s by The Beta Band” and he dances around to a full minute or so of ‘Dry The Rain’, a scene that exposed the cult Scottish group to a wide range of new listeners, especially in the US and internationally, and so there’s a fun slice of trivia for you. Back to the task at hand, we start with the immediately familiar lyrics of “I’ve seen the demons, but they didn’t make a sound” and “They tried to reach me, but I lay upon the ground” that get repeated later on, with Steve Mason sounding positively forlorn as he murmurs about seeing darkness trying to control him. You get the sense right away that things are off, with a very glitched Hip-Hop beat meandering and playing with the pitch of the melodies by itself, and a traditional beat only forms barely until the iconic String loop of the sampled track bursts through. The iconic lyrics of “Daydream, I fell asleep beneath the flowers” and “I saw miles and miles of squares, where’s the feeling there?” are met with Faust-like towered Drum backing beats and a neat Kosmiche guitar solo in the final half, forming an ankle-deep Electronica groove that is disorienting textually, almost as if Mason is simply wending through a humid fog but he is neither cynical or clueless. ‘Squares’ by The Beta Band and, also, ‘Daydream In Blue’ by I-Monster have two nearly identical hooks, but while ‘Daydream In Blue’ came and went a little more after it’s initial impact on pop culture, this revision of the sampled track by The Beta Band feels remembered more often, and I think that it has stuck simply because of a better use of sampling. ‘Daydream In Blue’ was memorable for adding a vocoder and a beat-driven style to the track, but that was largely it. However, ‘Squares’ just has more depth to it when you read between the lines. It features the usual hallmarks of The Beta Band in terms of it’s Radiohead-like experimental rock approach, but it also feels more minimalist in it’s light blending of R&B, Hauntology and Hip-Hop elements that are small, but stand out. The darkly psychedelic sounds feel like they’re playing off what you’ve heard before to give it a more nightmarish context that comes with the alienated fear of an awful acid trip. The risk pays off, and we get a half-remembered track that feels strong for this effect.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Hot Shots II’ (LP) (Released on July 16th, 2001) (via Regal Recordings)

That’s all for today! Thank you for being the companion to my Doctor Who with our throwback post today, and I’ll be back tomorrow with some more music, of the fresh variety, that you’re hopefully going to enjoy. We’re looking at a recent single from the London-born DJ and Writer Chris Menist, who began the project of Awkward Corners when he was living in Islamabad. His releases have since spanned record labels like Boomkat, and early recordings were made with local artists from Thailand & Pakistan.

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Scuzz Sundays: Goldfinger – ’99 Red Balloons’

January 23, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Stomping Ground’ (LP) (Released on March 28th, 2000) (via Mojo Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to pay another visit to one of the ghosts of Pop-Punk past with another weekly iteration of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on the blog, given that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A fresh set of faces to our trashy feature, Goldfinger are a Ska-Punk band who were formed in Los Angeles, California during sometime in 1994, originally beginning as a contributor to the small movement of third-wave ska that was happening alongside peer acts such as No Doubt and The Toasters around the 1980’s and 1990’s by blending elements of Carribean monto and Calypso with more traditional Rock elements from the US mainstream, but by the time that 2002’s ‘Open Your Eyes’ and 2005’s ‘Disconnection Notice’ were released, the distinct act had shed most of their Dub & Reggae influences in favour of a more conventional pop and rock creative direction. They were mostly famous for their twisted covers of tracks like Joe Jackson’s ‘Is She Really Going Out With Him’, and in 2000, they decided to create a Metal-tinged cover of Nena’s ’99 Luft Balloons’ (Or also known as ’99 Red Balloons’ in terms of the English version, as the German version was actually more successful), a track that everybody and your grandmother knows that was an 80’s Synth-Pop classic written about the aftermath of the Cold War. It was taken from the band’s third studio album – 2000’s ‘Stomping Grounds’ – that was produced by Tim Palmer and John Feldmann and mixed by Tim Palmer. Give it a spin.

Reflecting on Goldfinger’s subject cover of ’99 Red Balloons’ in 2000, the band’s vocalist/guitarist John Feldmann said, “I don’t speak a word of German, but I had this coach that kind of helped me and I listened to it and go, “Wow, I speak German”, in a conversation with RealVideo, later adding, “At the time, I had no clue, but it’s definitely a war time song. It’s funny, ’cause when I was a kid and I heard the Nena version – and even when I heard the 7 Seconds version – it seemed more like a Pop song. I mean, it’s 99 air balloons – they’re talking about the end of World War II and stuff”, when discussing when he grasped the true meaning of the still well-liked original version from 1983. Goldfinger, meanwhile, had eventually set up sync deals for the track to appear in movies like ‘Not Another Teen Movie’ and ‘Our Lips Are Sealed’ among a few other productions. Musically, we take set for land off with a textured guitar riff that lightly ascends to the lyric of “You and I in a little toy shop/Buy a bag of balloons with the money we’ve got” before the bouncy Synth riff of the original is replaced by a lightly distorted guitar riff. The rest of the track leans into your typical Metal tropes, with heavy chords giving the falsely joyous hooks of “99 red balloons floating in the summer sky/Panic bells, it’s red alert” and “The war machine, it’s red alert/Opens up one eager eye” a more kinetic soundscape that feels more visceral in aggression than Nena’s original, yet the upbeat tone of the original version remains intact. It mixes a little bit of Megadeth and The Scorpions into a blender, while paying a faithful homage to Nena’s “You think this was an innocent and happy tune, didn’t you?” card by enhancing the “We know it’s daft but we’re just having a bit of fun” card that Goldfinger play in return. The melodies are still very recognisable when compared to Nena’s original, however, and a key point of the vocals see Feldmann reciting a verse in German. It definitely incorporates a lot of elements from both the English and German version of the classic recording, both lyrically and instrumentally, but there’s just a small hint of Rush in the opening arrangement and the more softly spoken final verse feels euphoric after the pudding-like mix of Black Sabbath and Queensryche during the main bulk of the track. Overall, I had a lot of fun with this and it was better than I expected it to be as it didn’t become uneven or overstay it’s welcome. I have to say that I didn’t hear the Ska roots of the band coming through strongly at all and it really isn’t anything more than just a fun ‘messing about’ style of cover version, but it brings a few new dimensions to the original track and it is technically competent, if not superb. All things considered, it was perfectly enjoyable.

Pictured: Goldfinger performing a live set in Philadelphia, Pensylvania (June 2008) (Photo via thisisbossi/flickr.com)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest blog post, and I’ll be back tomorrow for an in-depth look at some brand new music from an Irish band who were formed in Galway and released the ‘Waves’ EP last March to critical acclaim. They pin down sweet 80’s and 90’s rock bands like The Cure and The Smashing Pumpkins as their influences, and their music has been played on the daytime A-list of BBC Radio 6 Music. Their next EP – ‘Banshee’ – is set for release in February via Fair Youth Records.

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Way Back Wednesdays: Death Cab For Cutie – ‘Information Travels Faster’

January 19, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Benjamin Gibbard (Lead Vocals/Piano/Rhythm Guitar), Nick Hammer (Bass Guitar/Keyboard/Organ), Jason McGerr (Drums/Percussion), Dave Depper (Lead Guitar/Synths/Occasional Backing Vocals), Zac Rae (Keyboards/Guitars/Backing Vocals) (2021) (Photo via UpsetMagazine.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time again for us to remind ourselves of how old we all are with another installment of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ on the blog, not neglecting that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Known for their very description-defying variety of instrumentation and the idiosyncratic voice of frontman Benjamin Gibbard, Death Cab For Cutie were a surviving Alternative Rock band from the commercial ‘Indie Boom’ of the 00’s who have achieved plenty of good attention, both critically and commercially, over the last handful of decades. They actually got their name from a track originally written by Neil Innes and Vivian Stanshell for The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band partially created for The Beatles’ film ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ of 1967, and the outfit who took that name have since found their material being used by film and TV productions like ‘Twilight’ and ‘The O.C.’ in their own right. Early albums like 2005’s ‘Plans’ have been certified Platinum, but the band have continued to release a steady stream of quite well-liked releases as recently as 2018’s ‘Thank You For Today’ during their lifetime. Three of the band’s most high-charting singles, however, were found on 2001’s ‘The Photo Album’, a record that was their only full-length album to feature drummer Michael Scorr. To mark two decades since it initially arrived, Death Cab For Cutie have digitally released a 35-track remastered edition of the album with all of the usual suspects – cover versions of the likes of Bjork’s ‘All Is Full Of Love’ and The Stone Roses’ ‘I Wanna Be Adored’, studio outtakes, unreleased tracks, rarities and UK-exclusive B-sides that was released digitally on October 29th but will be availalble physically on Vinyl in Spring 2022. The rework includes an alternative version of fan-favourite track ‘Information Travels Faster’, so we’re going to hear the original below.

Another alternate version of the album was released in the form of a limited edition extended play titled ‘The Stability EP’ that appeared briefly in early 2002, containing bonus tracks from the original version of the album and Japanese versions of ‘The Photo Album’ as well. Beginning with the powerful refrain of “I intentionally wrote it out to be an illegible mess/You wanted me to write your letters, but I’d rather lose your address” as the sultry mid-tempo tones between the treble-assisted lead guitar riffs and the low-end angle of the bass guitar melodies create a poetic opening for Gibbard to recite some heartfelt lyrics above a bitter mood. The band provide a steady backing for him as he croons hooks in the bridge like “Sewing circles are not solely based in trades of cloth/There’s spinsters all around here taking notes, reporting on us” as he pens a letter to an anonymous contact to say farewell. It is left ambiguous as to what the lyrics are truly about, but there is a solemn refrain in the chorus of “As information travels faster, in the modern age, as our days are crawling by” that teases a deeper meaning between how we communicate with other contacts and how we find it difficult to communicate what we really mean to say when we’re not face to face, which feels like a near-precursor to the true social media days that came shortly after the album was being released. Released at a pivotal point of their career where it was time for the band to decide if they should quit their day jobs to pursue music full time, it moulds some atmospheric Piano-based backdrops to Gibbard’s desires to use pre-modern methods to correspond with others. Although it doesn’t quite hit me emotionally, we definitely get to hear how Gibbard’s mind works with the interesting themes of the lyrics and the technical instrumentation used by the rest of the band to pull off the poetic backdrop well. A compelling track that was written about a memorable topic that the younger generations may never experience.

Pictured: Benjamin Gibbard recording ‘Life In Quarantine’ at home (2020) (Photo Credit: KEXP.org)

Although we have never covered any of Death Cab For Cutie’s traditional output before, the lead talent of Benjamin Gibbard has enjoyed a revolving door of posts on the blog, including his mid-2020 quarantine single ‘Life In Quarantine’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/25/todays-track-benjamin-gibbard-life-in-quarantine/ and the late summertime-fueled Tycho collaboration ‘Only Love’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/10/02/todays-track-tycho-benjamin-gibbard-only-love/

Pictured: Benjamin Gibbard performing a live acoustic solo set (2018) (Photo Credit: Roberto Ricciuti/Getty Images)

That’s all for now! Thank you for corresponding with me today, and I’ll be back tomorrow as we nearly get through to another weekend with a post concerning the underground sounds of today. My next pick comes from a self-described “North Georgia Cat” who was introduced to music by the Alternative Rock circuit of the Scuzz Sundays life span – the likes of Sublime and System Of A Down – by his older brother.

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Scuzz Sundays: Bullet For My Valentine – ‘Scream Aim Fire’

January 16, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Scream Aim Fire’ (LP) (Released on 28th January, 2008) (via Jive/20-20 Entertainment)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to totally not ‘Jump The Gun’ with our weekly throwback to the Pop-Punk of the past for another installment of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on One Track At A Time, given that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Since forming in Bridgend in 1998 and later securing a high-stakes five album deal with Sony/BMG in 2002, the Welsh alternative rock outfit of Bullet For My Valentine have sold over 3,000,000 albums worldwide and they have made several appearances at top rock festivals like Download Festival and Kerrang! XXV over the course of two decades of cultural currency. Part of the Cardiff music scene, the band have also undertaken a US tour with Rob Zombie and have earned the distinction of being the most successful band in the category of ‘Best British Band’ given by the Kerrang! Awards with three wins. At the time when they were just hitting their crossover commercial peak, the Metallica-influenced rock band released the follow-up to their debut album – 2005’s ‘The Poison’ – which was certified as Gold by the RIAA in the US – in the form of 2008’s ‘Scream Aim Fire’. It was still a huge seller in the UK with over 1,400,000 copies sold there – but the style of the material was noticeably less scream-core related than ‘The Poison’, but had a harsher shine on the instrumentation that meandered towards Thrash Metal. The title track was the lead single and it is their highest-charting track globally. Let’s watch the Tony Petrossian-directed video below.

As you may have guessed by the images of conflict being displayed on the large screens throughout the video, which are cut between Matt Tuck’s vocal performance and the mostly pure band performance, the lyrics for ‘Scream Aim Fire’ were written about “going to war” as Tuck has explained during live sets, with the shouted refrain of “Over the top” mirroring a reference to the trench warfare of the first World War of the 1910’s. It was not expected to be a huge hit for Bullet For My Valentine, but Tuck reflected on the song’s success during a feature with LOUDER in 2020 by saying, “That moment in time was, looking back now, super-special, very vibrant, competitive and healthy. I didn’t realise it at the time, but looking back, it was an amazing time to be in a metal band” while also complementing the similar success found by peers like Bring Me The Horizon and Avenged Sevenfold. Going for a classic rock, very frenetic and thrash-like metal flair on ‘Scream Aim Fire’, Bullet For My Valentine immediately hit the ground running with a hyper speed concoction of highly frenzied guitar riffs and very technical drum notes that builds a platform for the more melodic vocals to come through clearly. Bleak lyrics like “Wounds are hurting, death is creeping for me” and “Hearts are pounding, chaos soon ignites” are interspersed with a hyperactive cocktail of In Flames and Slayer in terms of comparable sounds. Originality does take a backseat here, but the band settles into a more contemporary identity with the Chino Moreno-isms and the harrowing shed-fest of the main guitar solo in the latter stretch. It feels a little over-bearing, but it never comes across as far too ‘cheesy’ or ‘pretentious’ by any real means. While the formula is full of sounds that emit a lot of noise, the instrumentation is actually very technical and balances out the more customary feel of the blackened death-core arms race of the slightly ‘hokey’ lyrics. While the lyrics themselves may not say much outside of their surface value, they still create a sense of gloom that builds up some tension and atmosphere in the delivery. The mainstream influences are in here, but it certainly calls back to Metal bands like Queensrÿche and Iron Maiden with a decent sense of taste and conviction. Overall, while it’s not a complete home run for me, as the lyrics feel a little generic and there’s nothing really groundbreaking here, it hasn’t aged badly at all and the band carry an aura of poise and sincerity to them by delivering crowd-pleasing and high-energy speedcore that is technically rewarding and boasts some quality musicianship. It feels skillfully aimed towards pre-existing fans who were hungry for solid new material and not necessarily new sounds and in that sense, its tricky to fault what has been served.

Pictured: Matthew “Matt” Tuck (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Synths), Michael “Padge” Paget (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Jamie Mathias (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Jason Bowld (Drums) (2022) (Photo via Ticketmaster.com)

That brings us to the end of today’s breakdown about Bullet For My Valentine! Thank you for your time today, and I’ll be back tomorrow to start off a new week’s worth of posts. The first one features a London-based musician and street artist who is the founder of HIJINXX and she’s hosted radio shows for NTS Radio and Radio Primavera.

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New Year’s Eve 2021 Special: Fleet Foxes – ‘White Winter Hymnal’

December 31, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Fleet Foxes’ (Self-Titled LP) (Released on June 3rd, 2008) (via Bella Union Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for a fleeting (If you see what I did there…?) moment of cool reflection in the midst of ringing in the New Year, with yet another daily track on the blog, seeing that it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Although they took a reasonable hiatus between 2013 and 2016 so that lead singer-songwriter Robin Pecknold could pursue an undergraduate degree, the Washington-based Alternative Folk group of Fleet Foxes have always churned out their strong share of critically acclaimed and commercially successful material over the years and they released their fourth album – ‘Shore’ – as recently as last September via Anti- Records – a very enjoyable record that was featured on my ‘Top 25 Albums Of 2021’ list last January. The band stood up to prominence in mainstream consciousness, however, with the release of their self-titled debut album in 2008 via Bella Union Records. The hit that its associated Simon Raymonde-ran label needed to stay afloat at the time, the retro LP was the band’s first example of blending their refined vocal harmonies and tribalistic lyrical qualities together to widespread acclaim. The album was eventually made available to buy in places as common as your local Tesco’s supermarket shelves after it eventually reached #1 on the UK Albums Chart. Since being considered one of the best albums of the 2000’s and a highly impressive debut release, Fleet Foxes have continued to make ‘White Winter Hymnal’ a popular addition to festive playlists (both befitting of the Christmas and New Year’s season), a Silver-certified single full of beautifully layered vocals that has also been used in media productions like Hulu’s ‘The Path’ and 2015’s ‘Love The Coopers’. The track was also ranked as #66 on Pitchfork’s decade-end list of the greatest singles of the 00’s – and it has been covered by other established names such as television presenter Alexander Armstrong and A-capella act Pentatonix. Get swept away in the sound of ‘White Winter Hymnal’ below.

Issued on 7″ Vinyl as well as the digital MP3 format, ‘White Winter Hymnal’ was written by Pecknold from personal experience, as he was inspired to write the lyrics about a time where his friends ditched him in middle school. Although the lyrics might have been about childhood past, the source of the melody came from the familiar source of Walt Disney. Pecknold recounted to Rolling Stone during an interview in 2012, “The idea was a song like ‘Whistle While You Work’ from Snow White”, adding, “So it started with that very beginning thing, the first kind-of like, melody. And then once the verse was done, it just seemed like it lent itself to repetition”, in the discussion. Beginning with “I was following the pack” as the backing vocals of the band harmoniously overlap each other to capture the melancholy of winter and snow, ‘White Winter Hymnal’ was memorable for creating the effect of a dense cloud of harmonies that mimic a Cathedral reverb. Later lyrics like “White snow red as strawberries in the summertime” and “With scarves of red tied around their throats” feature imagery that is undeniably much stronger and the meaning of the track is left quite ambiguous. However, refrains like “To keep their little heads from falling in the snow” make me think of blindly following a bad influence without considering the repercussions. Instrumentally, the stirring drums and the ascending guitar melodies mimic the feeling of a sled that is riding down a path at a breakneck pace. The minimalist vocals, however, are more likely to convey a sense of contentment and peace, but the cavernous layered harmonies have a frosty and distant sound that relates to a white sheet of ice on a tranquill snowy morning. What was very interesting, and really quite groundbreaking, about the track is that, in seasonal terms, Indie and Pop music often tend to be more celebratory towards the summer season and, therefore, the qualities of a Christmas carol hidden in the melodies are more reminiscent of a traditional hymm and so Fleet Foxes’ ode to cool reflection in the winter was refreshing. Overall, ‘White Winter Hymnal’ had all the makings of a modern classic back in 2008 and that’s a quota that the Grammy-nominated band have fulfilled in 2021 with a recording that still sounds as gorgeous and as nostalgic as the first time it hit the radio airwaves. Cheers to a merry new year!

Pictured: Robin Pecknold (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Skyler Skjelset (Mandolin/Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Casey Wescott (Keyboard/Synths/Backing Vocals), Christian Wargo (Bass Guitar) and Morgan Henderson (Upright Bass Guitar/Woodwinds/Violin/Saxophone/Percussion) (in 2020) (Photo via PR)

If you told me that Fleet Foxes were covered on the blog more recently – ‘Can I Believe You?’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/10/26/todays-track-fleet-foxes-can-i-believe-you/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Shore’ (LP) (Released on September 22nd, 2020) (via Anti- Records)

That’s all for today and so all I have left to say for you in 2021 is… See you next year! Join me then for a special New Year’s Day edition of my regular posts tomorrow that you’ll really enjoy if you’re a fan of my weekly ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ feature! We’re going to be remembering a well-received late-70’s single by a prominent Scottish figure of the British Folk revival scene in the 60’s and 70’s. Famously described by AllMusic as “one of those mysterious woman songs”, the album of the same title as the song is a #5 hit in the US. The singer used to share a London flat with Paul Simon.

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Christmas Day 2021 Special: The Killers (feat. Wild Light & Mariachi El Bronx) – ‘¡Happy Birthday Guadalupe!’

December 24, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Don’t Waste Your Wishes’ (LP) (Released on November 18, 2016) (via Island Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke – wishing you a very merry Christmas – if you have the time to put those mince pies and gin cocktails aside for a few minutes or require a short break away from those who are driving you insane in the house today, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Las Vegas natives The Killers are one of the most all-around crowd-pleasing bands in the world with their beloved Desert Rock sound that has established them as key headline acts for huge stages like Glastonbury and Madison Square Garden, as well as selling their way to over 28 million records worldwide, but they started a small festive tradition of their own with the release of 2006’s yuletide track ‘A Great Big Sled’. Since that year, the 21st century rock icons used to release a new Christmas-themed track for charity every year, often featuring collaborations with the likes of Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant, Elton John, Dawes and Ned Humphrey Hanson, among others, on December 1st to co-incide with World AIDS Day, as they released these singles annually between 2006 to 2016 in support of the Product Red Campaign, with proceeds going to the campaign led by U2’s Bono and Bobby Shriver. You can catch all of these singles on a compilation album – ‘Don’t Waste Your Wishes’ – that was released in 2016 both digitally and physically. Debuting at #41 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart at the time, it featured all eleven of their Christmas songs and, by the time of the box set’s release, music videos were also produced for every one of them. Check out 2009’s ‘Happy Birthday Guadalupe’ below.

The Mexican-themed music video for ‘Happy Birthday Guadalupe’ starred the ‘Beverley Hills 90210’ and ‘The Fifth Element’ actor Luke Perry, and, musically, Brandon Flowers and company decided to enlist the diverse help of indie four-piece Wild Light and Mariachi El Bronx – who both toured with The Killers throughout 2009 – to complete the fourth chapter of their series in aid of Product Red. Paired to the noir-esque visuals of Perry searching for his long-lost love of Guadalupe across the Mexican desert, the super-group of wild artists create a Mariachi-flavored take on heartbreak during the most wonderful time of the year, as per Andy Williams. The Killers clearly wanted people to feel that anything is possible during the much-hyped holiday season with lyrics that talk about how a Christmas day hook-up can lead to a long-lasting relationship in the form of the expedition to find Guadalupe. Like most of The Killers’ songs, it combines an Americana sound with a more radio-friendly Punk one – with earnest Killers-like lyrics that tell a brief narrative, and they contribute to the ‘Alternative’ side of Christmas music by providing sunny disposition for a season that is typically associated with ice and snow, instead depicting the excessively hot and dry environment of a Latin American desert with a Spanish guitar backdrop and some Mariachi style chords. I feel this blend is a little uneven at times, with some refrains like “Living in a difficult time” rubbing against the over-the-top Tex Mex cheer of the tone. However, it is very catchy and quite memorable – with some jaunting moods and exciting instrumentation that manages to make it feel different for a Christmas track. Overall, it is a bit rough around the edges in the way of seeming messy at points because it doesn’t quite pull of the balance of severity and frivolity quite rightly, however, it will definitely keep you entertained and the idea of mixing Mexican angels with seasonal salutations is an intriguing and daring one, so I still find it to be quite enjoyable and pretty cheerful to listen to. All that remains for me to say to you on this morning is have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Joeyux Noel!

Pictured: Brandon Flowers (Lead Vocals/Synths), Dave Keuning (Lead Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals), Mark Stoermer (Bass Guitar/Rhythm Guitar) and Ronnie Vanucci Jr. (Drums) (2018) (Photo via Press Hire Publicity)

(EMBED LINKS TO PREVIOUS THE KILLERS BLOG POSTS HERE)

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Imploding The Mirage’ (LP) (Released on August 21, 2020) (via Island Records)

That’s all for today – and I’ll leave you be to enjoy a hot meal and a day off work. Christmas for the adults, am I right? Anyways, I’ll be waiting for you here on Boxing Day with another brief one coming from an Australian artist who has been covered on the blog recently because she has just released her third solo studio album on Mom + Pop Records. One of the singles, ‘Write A List Of Things To Look Forward To’ was included on Barack Obama’s new list of his favourite singles to be released from 2021.

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Countdown To Christmas 2021: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – ‘In This Home Of Ice’

December 8, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Alec Ounsworth (Lead Vocals/Synths/Drum Machine/Rhythm Guitar), Lee Sargent (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Tyler Sargent (Bass Guitar), Robbie Guertin (Keyboard/Backing Vocals) & Sean Greenhalgh (Drums/Percussion) (2011) (Photo via TuneFind.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to get those jingle bells ringing as we carry on with our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ series of winter posts this year, not forgetting that it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘In This Home On Ice’ arrives to your attention from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, which used to be an indie rock collective of musicians based in Brooklyn and Pensylvania who were popular in the mid-00’s. However, as of 2012, it now exists as a solo project of their frontman, the multi-instrumentalist and producer Alec Ounsworth. The band never expected to find much commercial success when they were formed, but the demand for their rare debut album was so high they were required to reprint the CD following its release in 2005. The likes of David Bowie & David Byrne were also spotted in attendance within the crowd of their live shows around the time too, and so that certainly helped their case, with the band becoming a solid alternative to the more rowdy Brit-Pop movement of the 00’s indie scene that saw rock bands like Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs finding overseas popularity with their more brash melodies, and the more cerebral style of production from Ounsworth was largely a refreshing change of pace, leading to strong word of mouth as a good, old-fashioned way for the group to set themselves apart. ‘In This Home On Ice’ remains to be a favourite of Ounsworth’s discography and it was released as a single from 2005’s self-titled debut LP. The album found fame on the back of buzz built up from various MP3 blogs and music publications like Pitchfork and songs from the record have appeared in wider popular culture like the 2011 teen drama film ‘The Art Of Getting By’ and an episode of ‘The Office’ in the US during 2005. The band themselves have appeared in the 2008 film ‘The Great Buck Howard’ and scored a track for the 2008 film ‘Woodpecker’ along with James Lavino. Released as a single in the UK in 2005 by the indie label Wichita Recordings, ‘In This Home On Ice’ peaked at #68 on the UK Singles Chart. This one is still a crowd favourite at live performances, and Ounsworth’s performed it as recently as 2015 for a ‘Live On KEXP’ gig seen below.

Although Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is now considered to be solo act, Alec Ounsworth remains to be as active as ever in releasing new material and keeping the fans that have stayed with him engaged. In fact, he self-released a new album – ‘New Fragility’ – as recently as February 2021 to favorable reviews from critics who enjoyed his dark expression of mature themes like divorce on the album. If you live locally to me, you can also get tickets to see him live at The Portland Arms on 7 June 2022. As for ‘In This Home On Ice’, however, Ounsworth presents a distinct flair of a mirror in small pieces as the production feels quite fragmented and documents a nervous breakdown to the beat of some barbarically styled post-grunge rock. It features lyrics that are hard to decipher at times, much akin to the work of Shoegaze bands like Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine in the early-90’s. Explicable as both a document of a tough breakup or a critique of how society treated romance in the early 00’s on the whole, he goes for some aural textures and some winter-themed lyrics that feel like a neat complement to the uptempo guitar melodies. It feels like he’s also borrowing from bands like RIDE and The Sundays as the contents lean more towards some bedroom pop production that wouldn’t feel out of place in the popularity of that genre nowadays, and the sweeping vocal whines of Ounsworth feels like a mixture of Stereophonics and Blur in terms of wider Brit-Pop influences. While not strictly a Christmas song, there’s an upbeat vibe to the tune and key refrains that compare frost and ice to the trials and tribulations of how “confusion becomes a philosophy”, in Alec’s lyrical words, when it comes to the fantasies that watching TV creates and how the memories that we salvage from a failed romantic partner can impact our expectations of what a successful partnership should look like, as well as touching upon the visual cues of love and he disfigures the illusionment from the perspective of a disjointed Circus fugue. I would have liked the melodies to feel a little more festive and the melancholic mood may become unsettling after a while, but it’s a good track that encourages me to let my guard down and enjoy some wholesome Pop music. There’s nothing that is intently very original about the songwriting or instrumentation as such, but it has an air of nostalgia and vibrancy to it that is more important to me. I also like how you can barely hear what Alex sings because it creates the kind of Shoegaze mood that encourages you to co-operate with the music to map more onto it, and it allows you to nurture a more personal connection with the fuzzy textures of the guitar and drums, as opposed to having too much of a clear-cut narrative that you are told to follow. While not technically a Christmas song by any means, this is pure 00’s indie that is lovely to associate with this frosty festive season.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’ (LP) (Released on June 28th, 2005) (via Wichita Recordings)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out the latest post on the blog and it is highly appreciated as always. Tomorrow, we’ll be catching up on a cracking new single that was originally released in September by an LA-based Asian-American singer songwriter who graduated from The University Of Southern California’s music department alongside fellow alumni including Remi Wolf and Jensen McRae. She cites everybody from Ben Howard to Blood Orange as her influences. On her excellent track, ‘Suburbia’, she reflects upon her personal experience of growing up in Chicago.

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