Acid-Rock

Today’s Track: Young Prisms – ‘Honeydew’

March 1, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Drifter’ (LP) (Available from March 25th, 2022) (via Fire Talk Records)

Good Morning to you! You’re tuned into One Track At A Time, and this is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m here to sweeten the deal as we head into Pancake Day with yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! The San Francisco-based Shoegazers known as Young Prisms (Whose current line-up includes Stefanie Hodapp, Matt Allen, Giovanni Betteo and Jordan Silbert) have just recently returned from, what their A&R team describe as, a “sabbatical” of an entire decade ahead of the release of a new full-length studio album, ‘Drifter’, which is finally set to see the light of day when it releases on March 25th via Fire Talk Records. Formed back in 2009, in their original run, Young Prisms never quite reached the commercial success of some of the peer acts of the Dream-Rock and Acid-Rock music scenes. However, they gained positive reviews from sources like AllMusic and BUST Magazine, and they toured all over the US and Europe. They released two albums, a few 7″ records and one EP at the time, with their influences ranging from traditional Shoegaze bands like Mazzy Star and Slowdive to more progressive or cult acts including My Bloody Valentine, The Radio Dept and The Jesus & The Mary Chain. Heading into their new era, Young Prisms have enlisted the help of producer Shaun Durkan, a member of Weekend and a frequent collaborator of Soft Cell, to help them bring their imaginations to life. A press-release describes their long-awaited album as an exploration of “the tension and release that comes with bringing your head down from the clouds to make sense of the tangible entanglements that make up everyday existence”, and the lead single of ‘Honeydew’ has been accompanied by an official music video that was filmed in one take and it was directed by the group’s own Betteo and it stars band-mate Holdapp. Check it out.

The sublime music video for ‘Honeydew’ makes it clear that Young Prisms are going to be re-imagining their career trajectory as they re-enter the evolved Shoegaze genre after a ten year hiatus, and Betteo has said, “I always wanted to make a video that was focused on restraint, especially with choreography being key and shock so prevalent”, when talking about the behind-the-scenes stages of his somber video that was created with no cuts at all, and he concluded, “It feels like a bit of a contradiction for someone, who can’t seem to record a song without an excessive number of filters and effects, to make a video that is in black and white and wholly driven by minimalism”, in a press statement. Back to ‘Honeydew’ itself, and we start off with a winding sound as the delay pedal effects of the guitar riffs mimic the pace of a car revving up as the fuzzy guitar work arrangement transitions naturally into view, and Hodapp delves into the hazy Dream-Pop atmosphere as she sings enigmatic lyrics like “Take a turn back to 101/We’ve been here before/A show under the moonlight and stars” as the soundscape continually feels like it could blasting out of a car’s stereo on a sunny 90’s morning as the gauzy, rich vocals and the blissful guitar melodies, that are drenched in a wide array of effects and filters in the traditions of Shoegaze music. “Take my hand before you disappear and walk right out of here” precedes the optimistic and smile-inducing chorus, while the question of “Do you believe? I believe in you, honeydew” leaves us on a hopeful note. As far as Shoegaze goes, it is nice to see Young Prisms keeping their sound simple and they address the evolution of Shoegaze over the years when they were missing in action by retaining the warmth of their influences, as there’s definitely an underlying sense of positivity to the melodies in the soundscape. While treading their toes in retro – more so than progressive – ‘Honeydew’ finds the San Francisco quartet deliver a sturdy yet sentimental little statement about stretching their course further than they had originally run in the 10’s. Overall, ‘Honeydew’ is an engaging Shoegaze single of a classical style for its genre that neatly breathes some liberating energy into a band we thought were gone.

Pictured: Stefanie Hodapp (Lead Vocals/Producer), Matt Allen (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Giovanni Betteo (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Jordan Silbert (Drums/Percussion/Backing Vocals) (2022) (Photo by Jared Silbert)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest post on the blog, and please keep in mind that I always highly appreciate your support very much, and so I thank you for spending some time by visiting the site today. Tomorrow, we take a break away from my recent recommendations for a short while as we revisit some of the seminal sounds of the past with ‘Way Back Wednesdays’, Join me then for the second appearance on the blog from a Brit-Pop band who were formed in the West Midlands in the late-80’s and their frontman became one of the UK’s national treasures when he kept us entertained by his Tim’s Twitter Listening Parties in the lockdowns of 2020.

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New Album Release Fridays: Trentemøller – ‘All Too Soon’

February 11, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Memoria’ (LP) (Released on February 11th, 2022) (via In My Room Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to get through the last few hours of your tiresome working week with the aid of yet another daily track of the blog of the ‘New Album Release Fridays’ variety, given how it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! One of today’s most eventful album releases comes from Trentemoller, a Danish film score creator, producer and multi-instrumentalist from Copenhagen, Denmark who has released lush compositions of a cinematic style for over 20 years now by drawing on elements such as Minimalism, Glitch, Dark Wave, Downtempo, Instrumental Hip-Hop, Synthwave, Post-Rock and more with productions that feel eerie and progressive for his grounded discography. Trentemoller started making music in the 90’s as a part of different Indie Rock projects and he has since founded his own label – In My Room Records. He also headlined the Orange Stage at Roskilde Festival in 2009 with a set designed by his close friend and touring drummer Henrik Vibskov, a night that saw him playing in front of 60,000 people with innovative visuals to captivate them. Today, he is releasing his sixth full-length studio album – ‘Memoria’ – via his own label. This is the follow-up LP to 2019’s ‘Obverse’, a record that was nominated for IMPALA’s European Independent Album Of The Year award of that same year and it also saw him collaborate with Warpaint’s Jenny Lee Linberg and Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell. For one of his latest singles – ‘All Too Soon’ – he has reached out to his own girlfriend Lisbet Fritze for a glistening series of radiant backing vocals. Let’s give it a spin below.

Taking us through the narrative behind ‘All Too Soon’ on his own Bandcamp page, Trentemoller says, “All Too Soon examines ostensibly diametric relationships of light and dark, life and death, day and night, love and hate, while actually presenting them as dualistic, and symbiotic, influencing each other as they interrelate. What might appear to be a dispiriting take on our mortality could just as easily be interpreted as its acceptance being liberating”, in his own description. Beginning with a light acoustic guitar strum that becomes more intense and darkens the atmosphere before Fritze’s mysterious vocals kick in, who croons pained lyrics like “Have you ever fallen in/Into an inner void?” and “Do you feel like I do? Abandoned from it all” with an enigmatic presence, with a Trip Hop-influenced soundscape that morphs into a more glitched and distorted picture frame of a piece as the four minute duration of the track takes its time. Trentemoller complements the scattering Shoegaze opus of the chorus – with regretful lyrics like “We can’t live forever/If we could, we would” being sprawled all below percussive feedback stabs by Fritze – with sumptuous melodies of melancholic Drums and antagonized trails of reverb. Together, it makes up for an ethereal combination of psychedelic Dream Rock and textured Progressive Pop with a few vague lyrics like “Is a growing darkness/All you see?” creating a platform of intrigue. Through the means of collaborating with his girlfriend, Trentemoller toys with the idea of connections, with lyrics like “Is it day or night/Is it love or hate/Is it anything between?” that contrast each other and his instrumental work employs some warm percussion that counteracts the more cold, dry tones of the guitar and drums. Overall, ‘All Too Soon’ is a detailed and well-informed exploration of items that are bound together, yet they are opposite and he soundtracks these relations with his pivoting instrumentation and his emotive yet guarded lyricism that doesn’t reveal much in terms of laying out a direct meaning, with an underlayer of Pop that ensures that light is appropriately clashing with darkness throughout his soundscape.

Pictured: Anders Trentemøller in an official photoshoot for ‘Obverse’ (2019) (Photo by David Ampong/Waves.com)

That leaves me with nothing left to say other than to thank you for time and wish you well on your way to the weekend. ‘Scuzz Sundays’ will return in two days time for the usual throwback to the ‘trashy teen’ era of our lives, but I’ve also got some new music to share with you tomorrow that comes from an Indie Rock duo from the Isle Of Wight who have been all played over BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 6 Music since their debut single – ‘Chaise Lounge’ – went viral last year. They are shortlisted for BBC’s ‘Sound Of 2022’ poll and they began touring in the US in December as they keep finding success.

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Way Back Wednesdays: The Smashing Pumpkins – ‘Cherub Rock’

February 9, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Billy Corgan (Lead Vocals/Chief Songwriter/Producer), James Iha (Bass Guitar), Jeff Schroeder (Keyboard/Rhythm Guitar) & Jimmy Chamberlain (Drums/Percussion) in a press shot for ‘Cyr’ (2020) (Photo via PR)

Good Afternoon to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m here to deliver a ‘Smashing’ new entry into our exhaustive library of weekly ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ posts on the blog as we remember some of the seminal sounds of the past with another daily track on the blog, given how it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! TNA promoter, of all surprising side hustles, Billy Corgan is a 90’s-leaning songwriter with an artistic drive who always puts a great effort into the visual aspects and the guitar effects within his material. Although some of his Smashing Pumpkins work has varied in quality, he is still going today and, as I’ve mentioned on the blog in previous relevant posts, he is never without inherently uninteresting ideas and one of his risks paid off neatly with ‘Cherub Rock’, a 1993 hit that was taken from his band’s second studio album – ‘Siamese Dream’ – that was unveiled to the globe as the first single from the release at the time. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for ‘Best Hard Rock Performance’ and it was later covered by Rochester-based indie rock band Roses Are Red in 2005. ‘Cherub Rock’ was one of the last songs to be written for ‘Siamese Dream’ and it peaked at #31 in the UK Singles Chart. The influences and lyrics of ‘Siamese Dream’ stood out among other Alt-Rock releases at the time despite recording sessions fraught with high tensions and some difficulties, and it was regarded as one of the most critically-acclaimed alternative albums of the 90’s by institutions like Rolling Stone. Let’s revisit ‘Cherub Rock’ below.

Although ‘Cherub Rock’ was not as widely marketable or commercially successful as ‘Today’ by critics upon its initial release, it remains to be a fan favourite and it was given a new lease of fresh life during the 00’s when it was included on the playable soundtracks of popular rhythm action video game franchises like ‘Guitar Hero’ and ‘Rocksmith’ available for multiple console platforms. Starting off with marching drums that remind me of The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, who arrived on the scene a bit later on, that morphs into a prominent set of guitar riffs that have a heavy Grunge aura to them, we thrust defiantly into fuzzy and soft instrumentation that is energetic and driving in its excess of feedback. This glitched delivery has a clear Shoegaze element that also points towards My Bloody Valentine or Ride with the textually thick balance of hypnotic Post-Punk and high-cadence melodic precursor to mid-90’s Brit-Pop. Lyrically, Corgan relates to his own relationship with the ‘Indie’ music community of the 90’s and his perceptions within the larger media, with forceful lyrics like “Doesn’t matter what you believe in/Stay cool” that encourages you to follow your instincts as an artistic matter and “Hipsters unite/Come align for the big fight to rock for you” that carry his determined ethos to bring rag-tag gangs together to enjoy music socially and within a communal environment that is free for you to express yourself in as an artist or audience member, with a bad-tempered hook of “Let me out” that mirror the relationship of a songwriter and a record label getting sour as towering creative differences ware on. Corgan delivers one of his most fiesty vocal performances and the soaring guitar solo is a highlight in showcasing his skills as a guitar player. What is interesting is how he recorded the prominent effect section of his guitar parts by recording the music to two different tapes at simultaneous fashion, and he clearly alters the speed of one of his tapes. What this means is that it makes the effects feel as though they are not really coming from the guitar, leaning into his Shoegaze influences most directly. Overall, ‘Cherub Rock’ still sounds great as the lyrics ring true, the instrumentation is more diverse than it may feel at first glance, and you have a well-informed vocal performance by Corgan who layers his furious songwriting on top of the stellar drums and the distortion-drenched guitar melodies to build up a cascading wall of sound around him as to convey his emotions with a swelling buoyancy. Drifting through Shoegaze, Alternative Rock, Electronica, Psych-Rock, Prog-Punk and Dream Rock through a vicious cycle that is paced coherently, ‘Cherub Rock’ could represent Corgan at his most creative and most visually detailed.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Siamese Dream’ (LP) (Released on July 27th, 1993) (via Virgin/EMI Records)

If you’re looking to smash some more pumpkins, you’ve come to the right place. You can get festive with my write-up of the rare track ‘Christmas Time’ from 1997 here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/12/19/santas-scuzz-sundays-the-smashing-pumpkins-christmas-time/. You can dive into some of Corgan’s latest material with ‘Wyttch’, a promotional single taken from his 2020 album ‘Cyr’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/11/27/todays-track-the-smashing-pumpkins-wyttch/. Or take a trip to the moon with my older assessment of ‘Tonight, Tonight’ with this post: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/10/27/scuzz-sundays-the-smashing-pumpkins-tonight-tonight/.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Mellan Collie and The Infinite Sadness’ (LP) (Released in 1995) (via Virgin/EMI Records)

Thank you for checking out my latest post, and it is always a pleasure to join you in remembering the creatives who bought the excellently produced LP ‘Mellan Collie and The Infinite Sadness’ to the world in the 90’s. I’ll be back tomorrow, however, with a large emphasis on fresh new music as I introduce you to a very interesting Berlin-based Experimental Rock musician who made a name for themselves as a part of LA’s LGBT community of underground producers. They have performed alongside Charli XCX and Flume, and they’ve received positive support from the likes of Mixmag.

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Today’s Track: Alt-J – ‘Hard Drive Gold’

January 29, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Joe Newman (Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar/Rhythm Guitar), Augustus Unger-Hamilton (Keyboard/Synths/Percussion) and Thomas Stuart Green (Drums/Backing Vocals) (2021) (Photo by Rosie Matheson)

Good Morning to you! You’re tuned into the text of writer Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to plug our eardrums into yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I really enjoy promoting music from lesser-known artists during the week, but it’s also nice to check out some new material from slightly higher profile names that still fits the Alternative brand of my work at the weekend, and so we’re going to be listening to the latest single from Alt-J today. Alt-J are certainly seen as reliable veterans of the Indie Pop and Art Rock genres in the UK’s indie rock scene, and they have been garnering acclaim from the music press since they began releasing material as Dajit Dhaliwal and Films in the mid-2000’s. Currently operating as a trio, Alt-J won the Mercury Prize in 2012 for ‘An Awesome Wave’ – their debut album – and the follow-up, 2014’s ‘This Is All Yours’, quickly reached the top spot of the UK Albums Chart. 2017’s ‘Relaxer’ also debuted at #5 on the Billboard Album chart in the US. Alt-J’s fourth studio LP release – ‘The Dream’ – is set to arrive on February 11th via Infectious Music, and the album’s cover artwork features a drawing by the artist Joel Wyylie. The latest single is ‘Hard Drive Gold’, which is accompanied by a music video directed by the band’s own lead vocalist Joe Newman in association with his partner Danny Wallace. The gifted musician has always been involved in Alt-J’s visual output to date so far, but this directorial role marks a certain step up for Newman. Let’s check it out below.

Having previously released ‘U&ME’ and ‘Get Better’ as two singles from the upcoming album, ‘Hard Drive Gold’ adds a third entry to that list, and the band’s Joe Newman explains, “Hard Drive Gold is a slightly tongue-in-cheek song written at what we thought was the height of the Cryptocurrency gold rush. It’s the story of the ultimate childhood fantasy, the schoolboy who becomes a millionaire overnight, and the different interactions he has with people in his life from teachers to neighbours”, adding, “How ironically you interpret it’s message is entirely up to you…”, to offer another tease of the new LP’s creative direction. Kept at a concise three minute length in terms of duration, ‘Hard Drive Gold’ kicks off with a synth-driven drum machine workout that makes quotable lyrics like “Gimme that gold, straight into my hard drive” and “Gimme that fire” a strange and odd feel that gives Newman’s processed and chopped vocals an amusing ring to them, while he sets up the narrative with fairly descriptive refrains like “Oh mama, did you tell Sue that I’m a millionaire now, baby/Trading that crypto” and “My teacher took me to one side and told me I was (Scum), I left then googled neo-liberal” that feel witty and even a little sardonic, while Newman delivers the lyrics with a husky vocal style that feels like a twisted subversion on the Rock ‘N’ Roll peak of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s – think Elvis Presley and Django Django chucked into a blender and you’re halfway there. It is intriguing lyrically, but the instrumentation is still firmly rooted in the Art Rock blueprints of Alt-J, as well as London-based indie bands from the same original era like Everything Everything or the aforementioned Django Django, with Groove-centric Drum rhythms that gradually incorporate wacky sound effects and a sleek set of glistening Keyboard riffs into the equation, before we go a little off-the-rails with a dazzling keyboard solo that feels 80’s and deliberately out-of-place in its effect, and this mix of witty, bouncy vocals and unpredictable instrumentation make for a highly derogatory piece that mocks the ‘fad’ trends of digital retailers and notable current electronic trends. An effective and catchy, while controllably chaotic, mock-up of the idiots who peddle NFT’s and try to break big on Cryptocurrency, which is amusingly also the target audience for Alt-J’s new record, in a way. This is such a lot of good fun.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘The Dream’ (LP) (Available from February 22nd, 2022) (via Infectious Records)

That leaves me with little else to write other than to thank you for checking out my latest post and that your support is truly appreciated. I’ll be back tomorrow for a new weekly edition of our ‘Scuzz Sundays’ feature, as we remember a still active Seattle-based Pop Punk band who found commercial success when their 2005 track ‘Always You (Good Times)’ was featured on the soundtrack for ‘Burnout 3: Takedown’ in 2004.

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Today’s Track: The Mushroom Herders – ‘Gainesville Square’

January 20, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘HERE!’ (LP) (Released on December 18th, 2021) (via 2189610 Records DK)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, as per usual, and it’s time for us to invest just a little bit of time into yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A self-described “North Georgia Cat” as per his Bandcamp profile, The Mushroom Herders is the underground indie rock project of singer-songwriter Christopher James Estrada, who has spent time in a few places like Colorado and Atlanta, but has always returned to his “original stomping grounds” of the Northern Georgia area. Introduced to the likes of Cypress Hill, The Offspring and AFI by his close brother at twelve years old, Estrada became enamored with the acoustic guitar and fell in love with genres like the 60’s Psych scene, the 70’s Punk scene and the late-80’s Alternative scene in his young adulthood. He likes to describe his music as “music for the common people” and says he thinks “It’s always been about inspiring others to feel the motivation to create their own world” when reflecting on his own work in recent times. He released his latest LP – ‘HERE’ – on 19th December, 2021 via 2189610 Records DK, a collection of recordings that he’s been producing and writing since 2016. After a few years, he re-discovered the rough recordings on a burned disc in his car and retrieved the files via his PC’s hard drive and, after feeling nostalgic about the length of time the unreleased material has been kicking about, he has decided to publish it for the world. I loved ‘Gainesville Square’ when I first heard it, which gets the music video treatment below.

“Gainesvile Square means a lot to me. There are stomping grounds for me. It’s wild. I first started performing it on the square out of convenience. It didn’t seem to bother anyone that I would play my loud, silly music here”, Estrada says about his productive live experience in the video’s description, adding, “Eventually, I started bringing out actual amplifiers and playing louder music, and even that didn’t seem to bother people, surprisingly. This allowed me to flourish creatively. It gave me an open space to try out weird, strange sounds in the public eye. It allowed me to really discover what I wanted to play and perform for people”, as he comments on the connection between the outdoor environment and musical influences of the track. Kicking off with a modulated vocal sample that progressively gets warped and just surrounds the listener with an atmospheric gloom reflective of the informality of the track’s title location, we soon get a driving drum loop that kicks into gear and raises the tempo with percussive handclaps. The vocals are screwed and chopped, providing a hazy and psychedelic 90’s backdrop for the delayed pedal effects to create a buoyant melody from. The lyrics are difficult to hear in the mix, but the soundscape is detailed with helicopter sound effects and drowsy backing beats that feel a little trippy, continuously adding more intensity to the layered melodies that each reflect the sprawling, open and public setting of the track’s title. A strange groove of playful keyboard riffs and hazy guitar loops is created as the buoyant Synth riffs and the glistening Keys merge together to provide an overall psychedelic shine of production that makes the leading hook of the chorus of “Just sitting around on Gainesville Square” feel very triumphant and not mundane as it may appear on paper, but it feels relaxed and calm because the tone of the rhythms are positive and high-spirited in the mood they evoke. The lyrics are simplistic yet very bright, with sequences like “There’s leaves on the ground, and leaves all around” that describe the scene in a catchy flow, while other lyrics feel more wide-eyed and observational in delivery, as “There’s cars and there’s people too, and there’s me and you” that address you in the second person tense and make you feel more believably absorbed into the scene. Overall, it becomes not only a track about finding cheer and joy in your current surroundings, but a light commentary on the philosophy between making music and where you perform it. By the sounds of it, it is also a location that I really want to visit.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Midnight Outings & Blacklight Showers’ (LP) (Released on August 16, 2011) (Self-Released)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest post and giving ‘Gainesville Square’ a few minutes of your time, and I’ll be back tomorrow to celebrate one of the weekend’s most exciting album releases for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ as we mark the debut album release of a Leeds-based indie punk 4-piece who have admittedly featured on the blog a few times before, but there’s a huge air of anticipation about their first LP. They have been supported regularly by BBC Radio 6 Music for the past eighteen months and they are included on BBC’s ‘Sound Of 2022’ poll. I also got the chance to see this band perform live at The Portland Arms (Cambridge) in September.

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Today’s Track: The Spirit Of The Beehive – ‘I Suck The Devil’s C***k’

December 30, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH’ (LP) (Released on April 9th, 2021) (via Saddle Creek Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and you’re tuned into the final part of my underrated underground series leading up to New Year’s Day as I deliver yet another daily track on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘I Suck The Devil’s ****’ is a title as irreverent as they come, and one that I write about hesitantly due to the demonic implications of the name, however, this is the most suitable representation of ‘ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH’ – the latest album from the Pensylvania-based Prog Rock band The Spirit Of The Beehive – that we’re going to get. An insanely beautiful yet intensely difficult project to wrap your head around, the record reflects late-night paranoia music that is enigmatic and cryptic. It is also intimate without giving any significant details away, and that’s made it a favourite among the year-end lists of high-brow critics this year. Taking their name from a Spanish cinematic masterpiece released in 1973 with the same title, the band are signed up to Saddle Creek Records and boast Zack Schwartz among their lineup who honed his Vaporwave craft as a former member of Glocca Morra. A reclusive release that has gained universal acclaim this year – and one of my back-and-forth favourite listens of 2021 – ‘ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH’ is the band’s first album without the former drummer Pat Conaboy and rhythm guitarist Kyle Laganella who left the band in 2020. The second single – ‘I Suck The Devil’s ****’ – is a four-part song that essentially feels like four different singles sewn together through post-production trickery. The workout-in-hell themed music video was also helmed by a trio of different directors (Part 1 is by Ada Babar, Part 3 is by Documavision and Parts 2 and 4 by Noah Burke) that each unfold in four chapters along with the music recording. You will just have to see how it all fits together below.

In what initially feels like a labyrinth of a near 7-minute recording, the band notes, “It’s our take on ‘A day in the life’. A man, overworked and undervalued discovers a portal to another time and a place where he hears a familiar song on the radio. In the context of the record, this track specifically encapsulates the dread of required performance, ultimately leading to a freeing death”, in a joint press statement. As the band channel a multitude of influences including Post-Hardcore and Vaporwave among many others, the band deliver a lengthy ego death sentence that blurs the lines between homespun Lo-Fi Rock to mangled Dream-Pop to aggressive Post-Rock to dis-associative Ambient Pop – all while wrapped in a noise collage Shoegaze thread – to create a very psychedelic journey that takes listeners from upside-down textures to inside-out downbeat sounds. Through these ever-winding spirals of self-reflection, the group pull us from one realm of bizzare fantasy to another, while creating enough compelling rhythms and bold, if fairly obscured, textures that make up the highly experimental piece of twisted Psych-Rock and melodic bursts of Post-Rock that echo glimmering fragments of Tame Impala and Black Country, New Road among other diverse comparison points. There aren’t any particularly memorable lyrics, but there are multiple planes of eclectic instrumentation that underscore the more emotive qualities of lyrics like “Scared of needles, but not of everything” and “Another middle class dumb American, falling asleep” to a notably playful effect, and so the complete package is more enticing, lyrically, than the wonky title of the track may lead you to believe. The music, however, sounds just as mischievous – mixing up some ethereal guitar rock with peculiar tangents that keep you guessing what may come next as the trio continue to create unpredictable shifts in tone. At each point in this release, I would forgive you for thinking you were listening to a different track with each few beats skipped, but it is a testament to the band’s abilities to create something so captivating through playing with cohesion, as the track cycles through its chaotic vignettes to build to an acknowledgment of an insignificant fate of the lead character, if you will. If you have been on the fence about Spirit Of The Beehive at any point, this kind of rare recording will certainly help any listeners to decide to be on the right one.

Pictured: Zack Schwartz (Co-Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar/Samples), Rivka Ravede (Co-Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar/Percussion), Corey Wichlin (Keyboard/Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals), Kyle Laganella (Bass Guitar) and Pat Conaboy (Drums/Electronic Drum Kit/Backing Vocals) (in 2018) (Photo Credit: Natalie Piserchi and Isabel Liang)

That brings us to the end of a very interesting post. It was nice to deviate from my typical formula a little with this segmented single, and I thank you for joining me by reading the results. Tomorrow, we’ll be looking back at a mid-00’s winter Folk classic in the spirit of the New Year’s Eve and Christmas season. The single comes from a well-known and critically acclaimed Seattle-formed Alternative Folk band who took a hiatus between 2013 and 2016 when the frontman pursued an undergraduate degree.

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Today’s Track: Calva Louise – ‘Euphoric’

December 28, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘EUPHORIC’ (LP) (Released on August 20, 2021) (via FRKST Records/300 Entertainment)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, of course, and thanks for joining me today as we fill up the awkward post-Christmas and pre New Year’s slot with some music that got a little underrated during 2021 with yet another daily track on the blog, since it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Formed in 2016, Calva Louise are a Manchester-based indie punk and post-grunge band who take their influence from many variations of Noise-Rock and Synth-Punk between both UK and US outfits, while also getting in touch with their Latin Rock heritage throughout the two albums to their name so far. Fronted by the bold creative vision of vocalist/guitarist Jess Allanic – the trio have supported the likes of Razorlight, Highly Suspect and Albert Hammond Jr in their time together. Earlier in the year, they released the ambitious multi-media project of ‘EUPHORIC’, which was fronted by a concept album about the duality of being human and the different perceptions of reality. The band have stated that the lyrics detail episodes of the dreamer’s experiences in the form of an inner conversation with his other self – the counterpart of the human being – that seeks to experience freedom and have an encounter with the unknown. The sophomore album was produced and mixed by Bobby Bentham of Strange Bones fame. Moreover, the album was accompanied by a 45-minute Animation short film that was entirely created by Jess Allanic, who used software like After Effects and Blender to bring the Graphic Novel-inspired visuals of her band’s creative record to life. For now, let’s have a sample of the title track below.

Released digitally in late August and finally manufactured on physical vinyl copies in December by Blood Records, Calva Louise collectively say, “Our passion for audiovisual production is constantly intertwined with the concept of the album and that is why each new step to take becomes a new challenge, it is as if each completed experience gradually reveals the signs that guide us on our way”, noting, “The perception we have of this adventure shows us horizons that seem to be beyond our rational understanding as artists, and in order to see clearly we try to express these experiences through visual effects, as a complement to the music and the lyrics of the songs”, to their LP’s product description. ‘EUPHORIC’ feels like an expository title for the project, bolstered by a title track that is filled with meaty hooks and soaring melodies that hints about how you may feel after completely listening to the album in a single bingeable session. With eruptive drumming and partially processed vocal peaks, lyrics like “I wait in line, Your head is on fire, Ahead we cry in a simple way” and “When you and me are nothing, Only one of us will be euphoric” that set a fiery temper for the underground feel of the track, Allanic powerfully backs her vocals to some thrashing electronic melodies – including some gradually bubbling Synth riffs in the opening that become more acidic throughout the first verse – and some old-school Punk personality that complements the moody tone of the lyrics. The vocals are partially screamed at different intersections, but the pacing is fairly even, as Allanic uses some slower guitar notes towards the end to give the vocals just a little space to breathe. Meanwhile, the electronic production of the single goes heavy and hard by trading some twinkling keyboard riffs for a hefty amount of grit instead, with plenty of glitchy bass riffs that sweep in for a futuristic tone and Allanic concentrates hard on making her ferocious vocals feel as knife-edge as she can, and she even recites some non-English language lyrics towards the latter half to remind us of her Venezuelan upbringing, and the heavy dancehall influence of this particular touch reminds me of Arca in a few ways, especially with the audio-visual medium of the project hanging in the balance. Overall, while the more Noise-Rock based riffs get a little repetitive at times there is no doubt that Calva Louise explore decent ideas on this project altogether. It is very interesting to see the band expressing their ideas with intriguing ways by leaning into the sci-fi themes that audio-visual side projects can enhance for them. As well as giving them a unique selling point, it gives them more space to create their art, and I certainly like how there is more than just music to this. The sound, meanwhile, is an energetic one that becomes very unrelenting and combines qualities from Nu Metal and Prog Rock with dramatic results. Overall, this is an exciting band and a fresh project that, while not perfect, are certainly worth a look.

Pictured: Jess Eastwood (Vocals/Guitar), Alizon Taho (Bass Guitar) and Ben Parker (Drums) (2021) (Photo via PR)

That’s all for now – and thank you for reading about the euphoric melodies highlighted in today’s post. I’ll be back tomorrow with more content that concerns an operatic Conneticut-based indie rock band with one of the longest names in the business. Their discography includes a key collaboration with the Spoken Word artist Christopher Zizzamia – and their influences include Battles and Explosions In The Sky.

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Today’s Track: Hard Feelings – ‘Sister Infinity’

December 27, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Hard Feelings’ (Self-Titled LP) (Released on November 5, 2021) (via Domino Recordings)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke and, it’s just about time to go back to normal after Bank Holiday Monday after another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! For my new year’s week coverage this year, we’re going to be looking at some of the off-the-radar music that you may have missed in a year that was otherwise full of new Adele, ABBA, Ed Sheeran, Sam Fender, The Lathums and Billie Eilish album releases that were all very successful. My year-end list counting down my top 25 favourite albums of the year (Split into a few different parts to keep it more short and sweet than last year) will also be coming up your way as soon as possible. The first of my underappreciated suspects is the new collaborative duo of Joe Goddard and New York-based crooner Amy Douglas, who record music together under the project of HARD Feelings. You may know Goddard as a veteran of Hot Chip fame and as one of the busiest guys in the business, having produced new singles for Ibibio Sound Machine and collaborated with Hayden Thorpe in recent months, and he used to be one half of The 2 Bears alongside Raf Rundell. Meanwhile, Amy Douglas is a prominent name in the New York Post-Disco scene having worked with artists like Treasure Fingers, Horse Meat Disco, Luke Solomon and Juan MacLean. Douglas also wrote the single ‘Something More’ for Roisin Murphy’s latest album – ‘Roisin Machine’ – that was released last autumn. Together, Hard Feelings supported Goddard’s bandmates for their first live show on November 9th. They also released their first full-length album – which was self-titled – on November 7th via Domino Recordings. Described by Goddard and Douglas as “an opera of sad bangers”, the pair say the LP is loosely conceptual and, song by song, it focuses on the unraveling of relationships and their nuanced mystery. On the album’s second single and closing track – ‘Sister Infinity’ – the funky dance duo bring up a Sci-Fi twist to Synth Pop. Let’s give it a spin.

The music video for ‘Sister Infinity’, which features the narrative of Joe Goddard communicating with a quirky AI programme to help him conceive the song itself in a dystopian future, was directed by Tim Wagner and inspired by ‘Weird Science’, and the duo say that it “matches the song itself, a Discotastic pulse racing, HI NRG rollercoaster and HARD FEELINGS at our most futuristic and perhaps insidious version of the mad scientist and his creation scenario” in their press release. Flavours in the mix of ‘Sister Infinity’ include the likes of Kraftwerk, Stereolab, CeCe Peniston, Candi Staton and Kylie Minogue to my ears, and their own cited influences of Chaka Khan and Loose Ends feel particularly present on the retro ballad ‘Sister Infinity’, which brings some propulsive Disco tones and a slightly dark variation of moods to the dancefloor. Douglas murkily sings lyrics like “Write my name up in the sky, Seeing that with my third eye, I know you’re always here with me” and “Break my heart either way/I will bend time, where I want it to go” as she contemplates her own ability to be loved and how that stretches her comfort zone beyond a confident point. Meanwhile, the 70’s-leaning Disco synths provide a nostalgic electro-disco beat that bobs between a heartfelt and a heartbroken emotion, while the powerhouse Pipes and the twinkling Drum Machine loops provide some rhythmic, evocative undertones and some latex-polished production for Douglas’ performance to cohere with. It is a little low budget, but it still manages to feel cinematic and broad with it’s sweeping, euphoric Synth melodies. The sound is a little dated, but it certainly has a slick niche and the early New York Synth-Punk sound that Hard Feelings tap into are relatively unexplored in the modern ages, and so it manages to feel refreshing enough while nodding towards ABBA, Diana Ross and Depeche Mode throughout. The production is also very polished, with seamless segues between the different elements at play, giving ‘Sister Infinity’ an immersive and connected feel with its fusion of many Synth-related sub-genre qualities. Overall, I enjoyed how mature that ‘Sister Infinity’ feels overall, and it’s great that Hard Feelings are gaining some popularity from stations like KEXP and BBC Radio 6 Music as we await new releases in the new year because they feel diverse enough to stand out and they have their USP, for a lack of a better term. A distinctive pair who want to create an experience – as opposed to just music.

Pictured: Amy Douglas (Lead Vocals/Guitar/Keyboard) & Joe Goddard (Synths/Producer) (2021) (Photo via PR)

That’s all for now – so I’ll leave you to simply dance the bank holiday away – or just do whatever else that you choose to do as a past time. I’ll see you tomorrow for more musical action as we highlight another very distinctive Alternative Rock trio from Manchester who have supported Razorlight on tour. Earlier this year, they released a new concept album that was accompanied by a 45 minute animation movie that was created by the punk band’s frontwoman, Jess Allanic, using Blender and After Effects.

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Countdown To Christmas 2021: Marc Bolan & T-Rex – “Christmas Bop”

November 27, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Marc Bolan (from T-Rex) in a rare photoshoot (Date n/a) (Photo Credit: Roger Bamber)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and now is the time for you to relax, sit down and slurp your warm Gingerbread Latte as we continue our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ with yet another daily track on the blog, seeing as it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! As a legendary Glam Rock band who were inducted into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Fame last year, T-Rex were a group of 70’s Psych-Rock icons – led by the famous English guitarist and poet Marc Bolan – who barely need any introduction from me. However, their yuletide anthem – ‘Christmas Bop’ – is a very different story. Despite my greatest efforts in researching the track’s rich history for this here entry on the blog, it remains to be one of, if not, Bolan’s most elusive records and I couldn’t pinpoint the song’s exact origins to a clear place. A popular story goes that Bolan originally recorded it in 1975 and he planned to release it with ‘Metal Guru’ and ‘Telegram Sam’ as a triple single on Vinyl, but that first iteration of the record was never released or printed because it was withdrawn due to Bolan’s fears of plagiarism, since he was mindful that EMI had experienced prior problems with George Harrison’s ‘My Sweet Lord’ due to similarities with Ronnie Mack’s ‘He’s So Fine’, however two of the labels that would have been pressed for the release have circulated around and sold at auction in November, 2004 for £896.00 as an antique. Rate Your Music also have a ‘Marc’s Christmas Box’ release of the original triple single dated for 1996. There is also another variation of the single in existence because it features some awful alternative cover artwork, where Marc is playing his guitar on a stage. Furthermore, it was also re-released as the ‘T-Rexmas’ EP by Bolan Boogie via Bandcamp in 2011. Therefore, I am thankful that we have YouTube in modern times to find the audio through. Check out the rare record below.

Another interesting fact about ‘Christmas Bop’ is that a small snippet of the track, featuring the backing vocals from his real-life girlfriend Gloria Jones, briefly appeared on a commercial for the US shop Target in 2011. ‘Christmas Bop’ was also, apparently, also included on 1994’s ‘Messing With The Mystic’ compilation of unreleased singles, as well as T-Rex’s ‘The Best Of The Unchained Series’ similar compilation dated for 1997. Bolan and his associated Children Of The Revolution may not seem like the most likely champions to back a Baby Born doll, but when it comes to advertising something like a giant LEGO dinosaur, it’s as logical a choice as any. Switching back to the task at hand, ‘Christmas Bop’ is a fairly conventional festive pop/rock crossover by usual standards. However, it noticeably pulls in some of the Disco and Soul ideas that Bolan was picking up from his girlfriend Jones at the time. It doesn’t lean into the darker influences of T-Rex’s discography, and it reminds me of The Beatles ‘Twist & Shout’ in the way that Bolan attempts to invent a new dance move for casual listeners to associate the music with. “T-Rexmas” is an amusing lyric, while he also commands us to perform actions like “Get on your silk jeans/And your space shoes” and “Hey baby, lend me your ear/Christmas time is drawing near” to give the vocals their warm, upbeat and involving character. While it may sound like Bolan is aiming for primary school disco’s by my description, he luckily embeds some instrumentation that feels more eclectic than your bog-standard 70’s Christmas song into his assortment of sounds. Therefore, it still feels more like a T-Rex song in essence than a Pop song that Phil Spector would have likely been producing. The hazy, fragmented Synth riff that bounces above the choral backing vocals is a highlight of the song because it makes things feel a little wonky in the best way. It was also nice to hear some raw vocals and Surf-like guitar rhythms that reminded me a little bit of The Avalanches since Marc’s vocals sound like something that Australian duo would sample among their hundreds of unreleased recordings. Although a little forgettable, ‘Christmas Bop’ is still a good alternative to the annualized yawners from Elton John or Paul McCartney with its mix of rarity and nostalgia. Despite studio issues, it is a well-produced Psych-tinged effort.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Messing With The Mystic” (LP) (Released In 1994) (via Edsel Records)

That’s enough of my ‘Bopping’ to Bolan for today! Thank you for continuing to support my content daily on the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow with a post that has an air of sadness to it. That’s because it will be our last regular installment of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ until the beginning of January, as I have something special planned for December. To end the series on a high note, we’ll be looking at a well-known single by a mid-90’s Alt-Rock group whose frontwoman was vital to Black British music history.

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Today’s Track: Sam Evian – ‘Never Know’

November 22, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Time To Melt’ (LP) (Released on October 29, 2021) (via Fat Possum Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I hope to inject some energy into your Monday as we go for something that sounds a little retro, not forgetting that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! A New York-based songwriter, producer and guitarist, Sam Evian is a Broolyn-born indie rock and psychedelic pop recorder whose music is pitched as a soft blend between 60’s Jangle Pop, Americana and 70’s tinged Psychedelic soft rock that nods towards Sly & The Family Stone and T-Rex, as well as each of the classic Soul legends who have inspired him. Having previously released his material on Saddle Creek Records, his third studio album – ‘Time To Melt’ – has shifted him over to Fat Possum Records, and it has received a positive reception from publications like The Quietus, Uncut, Mojo and Glide Magazine, with further support from BBC Radio 6 Music DJ Huw Stephens and MPR’s The Current, since it was released a handful of weeks ago. The follow-up to 2018’s ‘You, Forever’ – which Digital Trends have included in their rankings of their best albums of that year – ‘Time To Melt’ is a backward-looking collection of fun tracks where his studio does the talking. It was recorded at his own studio, Flying Cloud Recordings, located in a Catskills Town in Upstate New York with his frequent collaborator and real-life partner, Hannah Cohen, during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic last year. It also features remote production work from The War On Drugs’ producer Jon Natchez, as well as contributions from Chris Bear and Spencer Tweedy. Check out his final pre-release single off the LP, ‘Never Know’, below.

Sam Evian had this to say about ‘Never Know’ in his press release, “Never Know is kind of about escapism, dystopian realities and aliens. Sometimes it’s more fun to sit there and look out, you know?”, adding, “It’s a wild time to be alive, for better or worse. It used to be that we only had fiction and conspiracy to feed off our real-world fantasies. Now we have fighter pilots coming forward about strange, impossible experiences they’ve had in the sky”, to his notes. Exploring some distinctive subject matter on ‘Never Know’, Sam Evian seems to suggest that George Harrison was his favourite member of The Beatles with his slide guitar outro and his instrumentation which nods towards progressive Soul artists like Curtis Harding and Issac Hayes. Evian calls out to the skies for answers beyond our understanding with lyrics like “I look in the eyes of the one who loves me/Can we live in the afterglow?” and he touches on how he sees the world as a human with later lyrics like “Is there life in the great wide open?/I saw some in the sky today/But my eyes are always joking” above some twinkling keyboard riffs and slightly distorted bass riffs that echo the science vs. fiction themes of his songwriting. Therefore, he uses the idea of escaping our world to a path beyond our own by looking past the social constructs of our current reality and leaning into what could be as a hook being expressed through the swooning basslines that imply a sense of fantasy and reverie. Overall, Sam Evian manages to strike a good balance between serious and silly on his recent track, ‘Never Know’, as he combines honeyed vocals with nostalgic, 70’s-esque guitar riffs with some more ethereal elements of his Dream-Rock and Psychedelic-leaning sound. As a result, it never feels like too much of a bad pastiche or a caricature, but it takes solid influence from the vintage to fall on the softer side of pioneering 70’s Funk and Soul acts like Parliament.

  • Pictured: Sam Evian in promotional artwork for ‘Time To Melt’ (2021) (Photo Credit: Josh Goleman)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking in with me on the blog today, and I’ll be back tomorrow for something that diverts our focus to the electronic and ambient realm of releases instead. The music comes from another artist who is based in New York. Formerly known as Ital, his brand new album has just been issued on Planet Mu.

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