Today’s Track: Jockstrap – ’50/50′

November 29, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Georgia Ellery (Vocals/Violin) and Taylor Skye (Vocals/Producer/Flute) (2019) (Photo via BBC News)

Good Morning to you! You’re tuned into the text of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to get a little wackier than usual for today’s entry on the blog, not forgetting that it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If you have been a regular follower of my blog for some time (Firstly, thank you for doing so), you may already know that I’m an enamored fan of Jockstrap, a wildly experimental electronic duo who have released some masterful singles like ‘Acid’ and ‘The City’, as well as the ‘Wicked City’ EP on Warp Records previously. The link-up is between violinist/vocalist Georgia Ellery (Who is also a member of another stunning band – Black Country, New Road) and the DJ/Producer Taylor Skye, who have been working together since they met while studying at the Guildhall School Of Music and Drama in 2016. They performed at the virtual Eurosonic Festival earlier this year but, other than that activity, Jockstrap have remained a little quiet in recent months outside of a few tour dates and amicably so. However, that all changed when they released ’50/50′, a new single, after some teasing around on social media, last week. It arrives with a new video that was filmed on a handheld camera at The Glove That Fits, a Hackney-based live venue in London, during an encore from one of their recent shows. It also, presumably, seems to feature some of Ellery’s bandmates from Black Country, New Road too. Let’s take a ’50/50′ chance on the new recording below.

Although Ellery and Skye’s genre-fluid material has always been a decent fit for the forward-thinking label of Warp Records, ’50/50′ marks their signing to Rough Trade Records for this time around. A brief press release accompanying ’50/50′ also states that, ironically, Skye constructed the crunching beats for the new single whilst recovering in bed from tonsillitis. It doesn’t seem like too far-fetched a story after hearing how ’50/50′ disregards conventional structure traits so delicately and how vibrant the production feels as the shape-shifting anthem rolls along to its nearly four minute duration. Jockstrap has always worked well by blending a mix of classical training with cutting-edge electronic production that warps the meaning of words around and makes the lyrics sound witty at times, with Ellery’s half-whispered and angelic vocals creating a stunning contrast to the unpredictable beats of Skye that branch out into weird yet wonderful territory that surround her minimalist presence with an often cascading soundscape. ’50/50′ builds on that dynamic, but it certainly feels more club-oriented and a little more melodic than usual. To me, it sounds as if it’s their take on the 2010’s Lo-Fi House movement that saw producers like Ross From Friends and DJ Seinfeld become prominent names in Electronica. This time, it feels even more intense. Ellery quickly calls us to holler in the outset, before the twisted and glitchy sounds unsettle the listener and flip the switch. It develops with elements of Techno and Acid as the track moves along, while Ellery’s vocals similarly come through in patchy emissions that flip between emotive and sardonic when audible, complemented by the mangled beats of Skye behind the decks that feel a little ethereal in the third quarter, becoming equally fragmented and infectious, as they thrash and thump along to their own pace. All inclusively, it has the same slap-bang impact that have made previous Jockstrap recordings a hit with critics and audiences alike. Different but not immediately accessible to mainstream pop charts, ’50/50′ is a treat for those who enjoy their music for the wonky side. A lab experiment gone right.

Pictured: Georgia Ellery & Taylor Skye in a promotional photoshoot for ‘Acid’ (2020) (Photo via DIY Mag.com)

If I have coloured you intrigued about Jockstrap, you can find out more if you revisit my take on ‘Acid’, which was originally one of their earliest singles, here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/03/21/todays-track-jockstrap-acid/. You can also experience more of their unique methods with my take on ‘The City’ from their ‘Wicked City’ EP here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/06/17/todays-track-jockstrap-the-city/.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Wicked City’ (EP) (Released on June 19th, 2020) (via Warp Records)

That’s all for now! Thank you for remembering to visit the site everyday, and I’ll be back tomorrow to do it all over again. Much like Jockstrap today, tomorrow’s post will feature a gang of youngsters who made their debut appearance on the blog with peaceful protest anthem ‘Nobody Scared’ during the summer, but I also really enjoyed their latest single and I wanted to write about them again. A Manchester-based Art Pop quartet who will likely appeal to fans of Alt-J or Everything Everything, they supported Cory Wong at Manchester’s 02 Ritz prior to UK Lockdown in 2020. Support has flooded in from Clash, DIY, BBC Radio 6 Music & Radio X’s John Kennedy.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: Relaxer – ‘Narcissus By The Pool’

November 23, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Daniel Martin-McCormick in a Red Bull Studios Spotlight Session (2016) (Via RedBull.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for you to slip into something more comfortable for your daily track on the blog, since it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A New York-based experimental electronic music producer, Daniel Martin McCormick has enjoyed a career that reads like a long list of small achievements. He’s also known for releasing specialist music under the alias of Ital, and he is known for his frequent collaborations with the fellow DJ Aurora Halal. He has also been a member of groups like Black Eyes and Mi Ami, and he is the co-founder of Climate Of Fear, as well as being the founder of Lovers Rock Recordings. In 2019, he established a new alias of Relaxer and he released ‘Coconut Grove’, an album which delivered something that felt more close to a pure Techno album than his earlier releases. The follow-up, 2021’s ‘Concealer’, is his first album to be released on Planet Mu in ten years. It drifts towards hyper digital sounds and it marks his return to using PC hardware. The album’s cover art, created by the NY-based graphic designer Bjorn Copeland, is an indication of his new album’s sound, which explores the sub-genres of Dark Ambient and Microhouse. McCormick notes that it reflects “this open, airy material squeezed and wrestled into a contorted shape, suspended in air with an empty center. That’s exactly how the album felt. In this sense, I wanted to take myself out of it, to let the materials bloom into their own shape, guided by my hand but not defined by my intellect or any market concerns”, in a press statement. Let’s check out ‘Narcissus By The Pool’ below.

McCormick has revealed that his latest LP was “made in a very private way” and he describes this process as being akin to “peering into materials – the materials defined the record”, adding, “Rather than making a record that’s about an emotion, or a political scenario, or the dance floor, or the empty dance floor, or any narrative, this record was about communicating with the materials and letting them speak with me” in his own press notes. Taking a mellow approach to proceedings on mid-album cut ‘Narcissus By The Pool’, McCormick takes influence from old-school 90’s Glitch and more forward-looking minimalist Techno. By disregarding traditional Dance music traits and the normal contexts of finicky textures and spacial tricks that characterize popular Industrial music, he creates a more detailed recording that is defined by how the music flows and the intimate textures that it creates on its own. Using a slightly acidic Synth line and a chiming Chiptune melody, McCormick creates something simple and effective that would not have felt out of place if it was originally released during the mid-2000’s. It is far from just a nostalgic throwback anthem, however, with some downtempo oddities in sound and a peak-time euphoria feeling that creates something that feels more firmly post-modern. In conclusion, this is a beautiful record that isn’t focused on big hooks and catchy melodies, so it falls into a bit of a niche. However, there’s absolutely nothing that is inherently wrong with that, as it feels diverse enough to appeal to different sub-sections of audiences, like those who study at their computer to the beats of Lo-Fi radio channels on YouTube and those who are likely to take things down a notch right before bedtime with their ear plugs tuned into a podcast like ‘Ambient Focus’ on the BBC Sounds app. Whatever the case, this is meticulous, very thoughtfully crafted music that is approached like a sculpture.

Pictured: Relaxer (Daniel Martin-McCormick) performing with Halal at Rewire Festival (2020) (via PR)

That leaves me with little left to say! Thank you for reading the blog today, and I’ll be back tomorrow to resume the ‘Countdown To Christmas’ this year. Our next entry is a cover version of ‘Frosty The Snowman’ which was released in 1993 by a pioneering Scottish Shoegaze outfit whose lineup featured the head boss of Bella Union Records.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: Confidence Man – ‘Holiday’

November 18, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Janet Planet, Sugar Bones, Reggie Goodchild and Clarence McGuffie (2019) (Photo via PR)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to ensure that yet another daily track on the blog bursts your eardrums in spirit, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A quirky Alternative Dance group, led by the wacky characters of Sugar Bones and Janet Planet, the Brisbane native indie pop band Confidence Man have continued to find success throughout their musical journey since their debut album, ‘Confident Music For Confident People’ brought their dorky concoction of costumed rhythms and lightly acidic beats to the international club circuit in 2018. The band have found themselves performing at many festivals like Splendour In The Grass Festival and Falls Festival, while also remixing the likes of DMA’s, Working Men’s Club and Erasure over the years. They have also received wins and nominations at the AIR Awards, J Awards, National Live Music Awards and Queensland Music Awards over the years since they became active in 2016. Although singles like ‘Does It Make You Feel Good?’ and ‘First Class B**ch’ have filled the gap a little, Confidence Man have just announced their first album in four years. Their second studio album, ‘Tilt’, will be released on April 1st, 2022 via the I OH YOU label. According to a press release, the new album is “fierce, flirty and full of anthems” and listeners “might need to sit down before you hit play”. Back in September, Confidence Man also unveiled an extensive run of rescheduled and new tour dates across the UK and Ireland that will hopefully start in May of next year. The list includes dates in Brighton, Cambridge, Norwich, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Sheffield and more. Before then, let’s book a ‘Holiday’ below.

Talking about the inspiration behind ‘Holiday’ – the Aussie dance outfit’s latest euphoric anthem – Janet Planet stated, “No one tells Confidence Man what to do. Who said a holiday can’t last forever?”, explaining, “Spend big and live free, that’s our motto. And it can be yours too. A vacation is just sunburn at premium prices but a holiday is a state of mind”, in her joint press notes with Sugar Bones. Elaborating on the ideas of holiday and relaxation as a mindset instead of a physical destination, Planet and Bones join their fellow bandmates in conjuring slightly acidic Synth beats and some high tempo Drum rhythms to the tune of lyrics like “Best weed back on the block, I’ll take it” and “When I was a child, I was so naked” that creates the distinctly nerdy and comedic attitude that Confidence Man are known for evoking. The instrumentation continues to add some variety to the proceedings, with a lengthy sequence of backing harmonies in the opening sequence and some 80’s film soundtrack-esque Synth stabs to create silky ambient washings in the closing sequence, continuing to give off a light-hearted and care-free Summer formula. The vocal hooks are super sized, with the likes of “I live it up on the go/I’m getting high, I’m never low” and “Kicking off and I lose control/I’m born to fly/I want it all” being recited quickly, as to match the frivolous energy of the Acid Disco rhythms and neatly aligned basslines. While there’s no subtlety to the vocals, the brief String sections and the stinging Synth stabs are complemented by the floor-filling feel of the sound. A decent reminder that Confidence Man are all about having fun, ‘Holiday’ is a familiar summer anthem to see their own country of Australia throughout the summer months. Due to this ‘summer release’ feel, however, it feels a little odd when you are listening from the rest of the world as the rain gets frequent and the bitterness of the cold keeps sharpening. This also feels a bit more straight-faced than usual from the group than usual, although they’re still donning some Synths that wouldn’t sound out of place on the ‘Top Gun’ soundtrack. Despite not being in season for me, this is still a solid return from Confidence Man. Camp, unique and irreverant, ‘Holiday’ is everything you might want (and expect) from the forward-thinking Australian project.

Pictured: Janet Planet and Sugar Bones in a promotional photoshoot (in 2019) (Photo Credit: Zac Bayly)

If you liked the sound of ‘Holiday’, you may like the various other tracks by Confidence Man that have appeared on the blog over the years at various points. If you want something still recent, you can check out my review of ‘First Class B**ch’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/10/20/todays-track-confidence-man-first-class-bh/. If that doesn’t mate you feel right, you can see if this ‘Does It Make You Feel Good’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/02/26/todays-track-confidence-man-does-it-make-you-feel-good/. Or, for something more in tune with the festive season, you can view their seasonal single ‘Santa’s Comin’ Down The Chimney’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/12/04/todays-track-confidence-man-santas-comin-down-the-chimney/

Pictured: Confidence Man performing at ‘The Great Escape’ (2017) (Photo via Brighton & Hove News)

That’s all for now! I hope that you enjoyed the trip, and thank you for continuing to support my content like this. I’ll be back tomorrow for ‘New Album Release Fridays’, as we divert our attention to an indie rock band from Croydon in South London who have been signed to the Boston-based label Counter Intuitive Records. They have toured in the UK with NOAHFINNCE and they went on a debut headline tour this year.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

New Album Release Fridays: Helado Negro – “Outside The Outside”

October 22, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Far In’ (LP) (Released on October 22nd, 2021) (via 4AD)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘New Album Release Fridays’ is the time of the week where we unbox one of the most exciting new LP releases of the weekend, and this week’s line-up includes plenty of options to choose from. The likes of Elton John, Self Esteem, HONNE, JPEGMafia, Parquet Courts, Biffy Clyro and Don Broco are all releasing new albums today, but, for me, the Miami-born and New York-based Nu-Disco producer Helado Negro (the main alias of Roberto Carlos Lange) is the little artist who could. You may recognize his voice from ‘Close’, the closing track of Colombian electronic music producer Ela Minus’ album ‘Acts Of Rebellion’, which he was featured on last year. As a solo artist, Lange won the United States Artists’ Fellow In Music in 2019 and he was later the recipient of the 2019 Grants To Artists Award from the Foundation For Contemporary Arts. He was also the winner of the Joyce Foundation in 2015, so there’s plenty of critical acclaim under his belt. Lange has been producing a significant amount of musical and visual art work since he first became active in 2009 through various aliases, and he’s known for his non-conventional approaches to Avant-Pop while also expressing his Latinx identity and his pluralistic sensibilities. 2021’s ‘Far In’ is his seventh full-length solo album, and it is the follow-up to 2019’s ‘This Is How You Smile’ and 2016’s ‘Private Energy’, as well as his first record to be issued on the 4AD label. Born to Ecuadorian immigrants, the record explores his childhood anxieties of feeling like an outsider in his family’s community, and his road to finding a sense of belonging. Lange simply said, “Escape is never out there, you have to look inward”, in a press release. The notable single ‘Outside The Outside’ is married beautifully to a music video consisting of camcorder footage of his family’s South Florida house parties of the 1980’s, so let’s give it a listen.

“This is a song about intimate partnerships and long-loving friendships. To be loyal freaks and an outsider amongst outsiders”, he says about the standout single ‘Outside The Outside’, while adding, about the video, “My family came to this country as outsiders looking for and finding community. People would come to our house and bond through music, family and dancing. They usually began at 8 PM and lasted until 5 AM”, he says of the guests who would stay up all night to dance the Salsa or Merengue, before he concluded, “I used to wake up and it would be 7 AM in the morning and people would still be downstairs drinking”, with a laugh in a recent interview. I think it’s fair to say that this particular concept is alien to us Brits, and so ‘Outside The Outside’ does a great job of creating a late-night vibe with an infectious groove and calling to mind the alienation that Lange struggled handling when he was being raised as a South Florida native despite his rich descent. Lyrics like “There we were/Up all night/Terrified, kissing you twice” and “They were mine/Changed my life, I forgot to show you why” feel hushed and intoned, while the electronic Synths warping around these words feel Lo-Fi and Minimalist in production. The chorus is a simple one, while a touch of introspection touches the other lyrics, as if Lange is reminiscing over the innocence that he also used to feel at the parties while growing up, as he uses lyrics like “Because my world only opens/When your world comes in” to demonstrate these emotions, and discuss how a group of lost souls coming together has formed close relationships. While the lyrics are well-written and inspired enough, it’s also the instrumentation and production that makes the track come together so strongly like it does. The track has a dance music feel, yet it goes for a more reflective and nostalgic tone instead of a swooping and euphoric one, not relying on dancefloor-ready builds and festival-friendly basslines, and instead going for something more subdued and hushed. It feels like a nice platform for Lange’s crooning vocals to create a variety of moods from, while the glistening Disco melodies and the spiraling percussion feels melodic enough to dance along to, whether as a casual listener or a hardcore fan of his work. Overall, ‘Outside The Outside’ is a cracking single that confidently captures the feelings of fostering an environment that feels supportive and comfortable that have shaped the inspiration of Lange’s new album, and the only light we see is that of a dangling Disco ball on the house’s ceiling.

Pictured: Helado Negro performing for GRAMMY’s ‘Press Play At Home’ series (2021) (Photo via PR)

That is all for today! Thank you very much for joining me, and I’ll be back for more musical musings tomorrow. We’ll be listening to the latest single from the quirky indie New Zealand Psych-Pop group Unknown Mortal Orchestra, who have teamed up with the puppeteer of The Muppets and Sesame Street to produce their latest music video.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: Maya Jane Coles – “Night Creature”

October 21, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Maya Jane Coles in the official music video for ‘Run To You’ (2021) (Photo via PR/EDM.com)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to add yet another daily post to my monstrous tally of past uploads, because for the last two years, it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Today’s track is ‘Night Creature’ – and this aptly titled drum-and-bass tune comes your way from the award-winning Maya Jane Coles, an electronic house music producer and studio engineer who was born in London, and Coles is an icon of the LGBTQ+ music community. Her success is no overnight sensation, however, because Coles has instead spent numerous years playing at festivals and clubs, and she has gained attention from making remixes for the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Depeche Mode, along with getting sampled by mainstream stars like Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry. Ever since Coles became active in 2006, she has collaborated with names like Tricky, Peaches and Young M.A. on her own original work. Coles has a new album coming out, ‘Night Creature’, which is her first release under her actual name since her ‘Would You Kill (4 Me)’ EP that was issued last year, but she also released her second album under the Nocturnal Sunshine side alias – ‘Full Circle’ – in 2019. She was previously a part of the electronic Dub duo of She Is In Danger with Lena Cullen, and you may also recognize her from her other secondary alias of CAYAM, which she has also released her music under. She confirmed her latest album last month alongside the release of a Triple Single where she shared the mixes ‘Night Creature’, ‘Survival Mode’ and ‘Need’ from her new LP, which sees the light of day on 29th October via her own label, I/AM/ME, and it features guest feature spots from the likes of vocalists Julia Stone, Lie Ning and Claudia Kane, and her frequent collaborator Karin Park, who are all participating on the new 13-track collection of cuts. For Coles, a DJ of Japanese descent, her new record feels like the antidote to our recent collective experiences under Covid-19 restrictions, as the LP will be exploring the allure and energy of the rave experiences which comes to life when the evening gradually turns into night and the light becomes dark. Check out the title track below.

This is spooky season after all, and after performing recent DJ sets at Fabric and Leeds’ Mint Festival late last month, Coles has been building up a sense of terror and dread for next week’s perfectly timed release, explaining about the new LP in a press release, “When it comes to my music-making, I’ve pretty much always been a creature of the night. My creativity tends to work at its best during those peaceful hours when my surroundings are at a standstill and I feel completely in my own world”, before contrasting and comparing with, “Then on the flip side, in the club, the night can shift into the most energetic and ecstatic moments in time” in her press statement. ‘Night Creature’ – the title track of the record – feels like a fitting musical transfer of these ideas, starting off with a mix of twinkling and otherworldly Horn melodies, before the Bass kicks in and the tranquil Synth melodies continue to run through some rougher melodies and a paced increase in aggression. There’s a little distortion to the bassline, which begins with a relatively slow-burning energy before the tempos frequently become more erratic and irregular in their nature. Shimmering patterns in the later portions of the track contrast the more extra-terrestrial themes naturally, as the Techno-inspired drops of Bass rumbles and kick Drum melodies become more versatile and display contrasting moods to the other aspects of the single. It feels like an eclectic dance track that would really benefit from the high energy of the crowds within the European festival circuit, and there’s a rather ominous atmosphere that undercurrents the whole package. Although there’s not a great deal left to say about the track, it certainly feels groovy and danceable in an unconventional way as the Halloween theme fits the harder melodies and the cerebral production, and it is nice how the track never veers into an over-the-top ‘Bro-Step’ style of production, sticking to her roots in club-oriented Techno and rumbling Hyperdub-like, UK-synonymous Dubstep flavours instead. A monster-mash of good ideas, both visually and musically.

Pictured: Maya Jane Coles performing a DJ set at Parklife Festival (2015) (Photo by Derek Bremner)

That’s all for today! Thank you for checking out my latest post, and I’ll be back with more posts to celebrate ‘Spooky Season’ next weekend. In the meantime, though, ‘New Album Release Fridays’ is another matter for me to deal with, so feel free to revisit the site tomorrow as we talk about the new LP from a Florida-based musician of Ecuadorian descent whose previous album got a rave review from Pitchfork. He was the recipient of 2019’s Grants To Artists award in music from the Foundation For Contemporary Arts, and he appeared on a tune from Ela Minus’ debut album last year.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – “The Distance”

October 16, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: TEED (Orlando Higginbottom) in an ‘I Can Hear The Birds’ EP shoot (2020) (via Pia Riverola)

Good Morning to you! You’re reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and I’ve got a new dance track to jumpstart your weekend for your daily track on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! As I teased yesterday, ‘The Distance’ comes to you from a London-born Electronic House producer who I honestly believe is frequently at the top of my own underrated lists. The musician who consistently lives up to that pressure is Orlando Higginbottom – aka Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – who swept me right off my feet and onto both the dancefloor and the bedroom with 2012’s ‘Trouble’, his major label debut album on Polydor Records. Although he has not released a full-length follow-up album since that year, to say the prehistorically-themed producer has been in hibernation until now would be simply far from the truth. In 2014, he launched the Nice Age cross platform label with a collaborative track featuring Anna Lunoe, and he’s continued to release a string of emotive yet vibrant singles like ‘Energy Fantasy’ and ‘Body Move’ and he even released a breath of fresh air during lockdown last year with his ‘I Can Hear The Birds’ EP, which was immensely enjoyable. I was delighted to hear ‘The Distance’, the title track from a new forthcoming EP that he will be releasing on his Nice Age label on October 27th, which is his first piece of new music since his ‘Heartbreak’ collaboration with Bonobo early last year. He is also a classically trained musician and the son of a former Oxford choir conductor, and he’s been injecting some colour into the UK’s club environments with his music and costumes since his late teens, commenting to Spin that he was looking for a name that “couldn’t be cool, couldn’t be put into some kind of scene that gets hip for six months and then falls out of fashion” in 2015. His 2012 album, ‘Trouble’, also found places in best of year lists compiled by DJ Magazine, iTunes UK, NME and the BBC. Let’s go ‘The Distance’ below.

Higginbottom has kept rather hush-hush about the influences behind his new EP, but his Bandcamp page has been teasing that ‘The Distance’ finds him stripping the sounds back to the core roots of his very early material that he released as mixtapes on the Greco-Roman label in the late 00’s and the early 10’s, where he explored warm Jungle melodies and ambiguous melancholy with a unique twist of emotional, quintessentially English heft of depth. The title track starts off with some chirping birds and a trickling series of Synth lines, with a muted croon about a lost lover from Higginbottom floating nicely over the top, before a more cinematic burst of Bass and some carefully treading Drum beats provide a more melodic and boastful bassline. The rest of his lyrics are delivered quite hazily and nostalgically, with Higginbottom singing quietly about the memories of a past romance of which, however much that he tries to let go and live on, continues to submerge him in memory and youth. There’s certainly a slight hint of nostalgia in his vocal performance that feels small but profound, and it works very smoothly when married by the atmospheric instrumentation and the diverse tones of the electronic production that he creates. The melodies are a little disorienting and they feel fragmented in nature, which fits the themes of temporary pleasure and preserved sentimentality that is explored by the irregular time signatures and the wistful textures of his sound. Overall, ‘The Distance’ is an outstanding tune that continues to cement his status as one of the UK’s most exciting talents over the course of his career, and he lives up to my lofty anticipations once again pretty confidently and easily. It really takes me back to why I enjoyed his work so much in the first place, and that’s because he makes ‘The Distance’ feel like more than just another dance track from one of the UK’s hundreds of electronic music producers. He takes me back to the tone and style of his previous work by recording vocals that sound deliberately shaky and plaintive. They are imperfect, and this gets a wealth of genuine emotional depth across to my ears as the listener. The diffracting melodies feel deep and fractured, yet the Synth lines feel as refreshing as the first rays of sunshine after a pitch black and frosty January night, and the combo of the Drum and Bass sections continue to inject vibrancy and energy into the recording, with a cohesive variation of dance-based genre influences and an archetypal English feel to the harsh, but fair, bleakness of the songwriting. A truly exceptional effort from a genuinely talented and fulfilling, remarkable music creative.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Distance’ (EP) (Available on October 27th, 2021) (via Nice Age Records)

I hope that you enjoyed my latest blog post, and that you feel encouraged to check out some of Orlando Higginbottom’s other work. You can start with a few snippets on my blog, with a short review of his Bonobo-led collaboration for ‘Outlier’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/10/06/todays-track-bonobo-totally-enormous-extinct-dinosaurs-heartbreak/. I have also talked about his birdsong EP released in lockdown in 2020, which makes for a refreshing change of pace and it was named my second favourite EP of the year. Sample ‘Los Angeles’ from it here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/08/05/todays-track-totally-enormous-extinct-dinosaurs-los-angeles/

Pictured: TEED with Bonobo (Simon Green) in a ‘Heartbreak’ PR shoot (2020) (Photo by Grants Panier)

Thank you for checking out my blog today, and please feel free to revisit some of the ghosts of Pop-Punk past with me for a fresh new entry in our ‘Scuzz Sundays’ library tomorrow. This week’s entry marks the debut appearance from a Florida Rock group who met at an AP Music Theory class in 2001. They have released five albums to date.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: Tycho & Benjamin Gibbard – “Only Love”

October 2, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Tycho (Scott Hansen) & Benjamin Gibbard in a PR shoot for ‘Only Love’ (2021) (Photo via PR)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time to liven up your day with a clash between two titans on the blog, whilst reminding you that it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Today’s new selection marks the joint venture point between Ben Gibbard – the frontman of the Platinum-selling Alternative Rock group Death Cab For Cutie – and the nature-centric IDM producer Tycho (aka Scott Hansen) who you might also know as the graphical designer ISO50. As well as being known for his visual art, Hansen is known for using environmental sounds as a resource for his material, such as the sounds of weather footage that he blends with Ambient Electronica sounds and his Folk-led, downtempo guitar work. We last heard Gibbard on the hard-hitting mid-pandemic charity single ‘Life In Quarantine’ on the blog last summer, while we covered Tycho’s single ‘Outer Sunset’ – taken from his ‘Simulcast’ album of reworked mixes from 2019’s ‘Weather’ LP – back in early January on the blog. ‘Only Love’ is a new single that brings the two notable names in music together. It is interesting to note that it is also the first time that Gibbard has participated in a major electronic collaboration since his Platinum-certified work with The Postal Service more than a decade ago. ‘Only Love’ originally began its life as an instrumental track with a crucially missing vocal element, before Hansen decided to reach out to Gibbard as a fan of his work with an offer to produce a remix for Death Cab For Cutie’s 2016 track ‘The Ghosts Of Beverley Drive’, a trail of correspondence which has led to the two musicians crafting something in the studio together. Gibbard has also recalled in interviews that the lyrics and concept of ‘Only Love’ were influenced by a section of Naomi Klein’s book ‘This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate’ which Gibbard read in 2004. Let’s hear their results below.

A peaceful protest tune with a calm tone, Hansen said in a press release, “Ben’s voice was a very inspiring element to work with from a production standpoint; I felt it really meshed well with the kinds of sounds and instrumentation I gravitate toward”, while Gibbard has also shown a labor of love for the link up in his own press notes, telling Rolling Stone about the literature influence, “When Scott sent me the music for ‘Only Love, it seemed perfect for this statement. Since reading Alexis’ words, I’ve carried them as a universal truth; that the only way we preserve the people, places, or things we care for is with love, not hatred” in his own words. When I first heard ‘Only Love’, I honestly felt that it sounded a lot like Miami Horror. The vocal harmonies are very radiant and 80’s-leaning, while the Synth arrangements are soothing and bright. There are some bubbling guitar riffs that add some more colour and Pop-oriented melodies to the proceedings, while the Drums explode with a somewhat psychedelic and progressive Folk flair. The lyrics are kept concise and tight, with Gibbard just promising “No voices of anger/No threshing fists” and “No last chances missed/No Savior to arrive” above the sparkling Synthwave beats and the Lo-Fi production that pings around in your head. There’s a delicate sense of longing to the vocals, while the repeating line of “Only love can save this place” continues to repeat amongst the mixture of mid-tempo arrangements. A vibe of cathartic and deeply humanist lyricism is present as usual from Gibbard’s performance, while the 80’s-inflicted Synth Pop style of Tycho’s production adds a simple, but timeless feeling to the proceedings. There isn’t a ton of variety to the songwriting here, but the different arrangements and the nostalgic feel of the overall production seems like enough to maintain your interest. It is unclear whether this is a one-off release or whether Hansen and Gibbard will come together for a project like an EP (As we have seen with short-form releases from combinations like Khraungbin & Leon Bridges and MNDSGN & Lionmilk over the last few years), but I would certainly enjoy hearing more ideas being explored by this team-up. Quite uplifting and human in character, ‘Only Love’ sounds like a worthy addition to the discography of two great musicians who have probably earned a spot in your own record collection, in some form and at some point, already. A solid listen.

Pictured: Tycho (aka Scott Hansen) at Greek Theatre, Los Angeles (in 2019) (Photo Credit: Jon Bauer)

As mentioned earlier, we have previously taken a look at some solo work from Benjamin Gibbard and the San Francisco-based composer Tycho. If you haven’t shaken off those face mask and hand sanitizer blues yet, you can still take things down a notch with my assessment of Gibbard’s ‘Life In Quarantine’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/25/todays-track-benjamin-gibbard-life-in-quarantine/. Or, for more of Tycho, plug your earphones in and listen to ‘Outer Sunset’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/01/09/todays-track-tycho-outer-sunset/

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

That’s all for now! Thank you lots for joining me on the blog today, and I’ll be back tomorrow for something completely different in tone as we celebrate ‘Scuzz Sundays’ for yet another week. This week, we’re going back to the early-00’s discography of a very popular US heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa who had a number one album within the UK Albums Chart as recently as 2019. Their frontman, Corey Taylor, once appeared on an episode of BBC 2’s ‘QI’ as a panelist that was broadcast in 2016.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: DJ Seinfeld (feat. Stella Explorer) – “She Loves Me”

September 27, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: DJ Seinfeld in an official photoshoot for the ‘Galaxy’ EP (2019) (Photo via TicketArena.co.uk)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke and, as you’ve probably figured out by now, it is time for me to get typing up for another daily track on the blog, since its always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! DJ Seinfeld is the alias of the Swedish House music producer Armand Jakobsson, who now finds himself being based in Germany after rising to prominence a few years ago as a key part of the new wave of Lo-Fi electronic music producers alongside names like Saint Pepsi and Ross From Friends around the time of 2016. He’s been known for releasing his electronic dance material under names like Birds Of Sweden and Rimbaudian, and he is the founder of the Young Ethics indie label. Jakobsson has since played DJ sets on the stages of The Warehouse Project and Sonar By Night, he has curated one of BBC Radio 1’s ‘Essential Mix’ sets, and, to top it all off, none other than the legendary tinkerer Aphex Twin has been known to play Jakobsson’s track ‘Sakura’ in one or two of his live DJ sets. The latest release from Jakobsson is ‘Mirrors’, his first solo album in four years following his 2017 debut, ‘Time Spent Away From U’, which is out now on Ninja Tune. It’s an expansion of the style that he explored on 2019’s ‘Galaxy’ EP and 2020’s ‘Mezcalita’ EP, with the ten-track project being recorded between Berlim and Malmo, and leaning into the realms of Ambient Electronica and late-90’s Dubstep for inspiration. The album is titled ‘Mirrors’ as a reference to how the producer views a reflection of himself in the mirror and how the throes of a nasty breakup in recent times has changed these internal perceptions. He tells us in a press release, “On this album, I wanted to retain a lot of the raw emotionality that brought people to my music in the first place, but I also wanted to become a much better producer. It’s been an arduous process but it’s a real statement of where I’m at as a producer and person right now”. The new LP includes a stunning opening track, ‘She Loves Me, which finds the experimental creative working with the emerging South African-Swedish vocalist Stella Explorer. Check it out below.

Speaking of the collaboration, Stella Explorer said in a press statement, “The fine line between self-affirmation and paranoia is alluring to me, and in music it’s always present. It’s deceptive, and lyrics can change meaning at any time”, before expanding on the duality that she feels in ‘She Loves Me’ by writing, “I think the fewer words you use, the more they shift and by combining that with different intentions like you do when you collaborate with someone (like this), it makes the outcome exciting” for her press notes. For me, as a listener, ‘She Loves Me’ highly reminds me of Burial – not necessarily in the sound itself, but the way that Seinfeld selects a very small snippet of an emotive vocal and twists the context and textures of the piece, and he has a way of saying a lot without really saying anything at all, which is similar to the techniques that Hyperdub legend Burial built his career on using as his niche. ‘She Loves Me’ are the first words that can be heard on the new album, and it sets the stage going forward by exploring diverse, new avenues of his production style. The vocals feel confused and drowsy, with lyrics like “With you, so much time/Still pieces of my mind” and “She loves me/Why does she?” morphing their way around skittering Trap beats and sparkling Synth textures that evoke a little bit of Seinfeld’s Garage roots, but they largely feel focused on a bittersweet melancholy. Lyrics like “She loves me/Yes she does” float seemlessly above a meticulous amount of saturated tape effects that evoke feelings of lost nostalgia, and the more euphoric combination of gentle lo-fi synths and very thick basslines mix the nice energy that runs underneath with an inescapable feeling of change, and a tightrope between longing and reminiscence. Overall, this track was a real suprise, and I find myself to be absolutely loving it whenever I hear it. I wasn’t quite as keen on some of Seinfeld’s other material with the more Big Beat-based Garage sounds, but I love how Seinfeld plays with the meaning of vocals on this track, and the contributing vocals from Stella Explorer adds some even more delightfully clunky emotion to the formation. This one is a real treat.

Pictured: DJ Seinfeld producing an ‘After Party Playlist’ mix for BBC Radio 1 (2018) (via BBC.com)

If you loved what you just heard, you may be pleased to know that some other DJ Seinfeld-related content has been posted on the blog before. Check out what I thought of ‘Electrician’, a single previously released from the ‘Galaxy’ EP here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/01/28/todays-track-dj-seinfeld-electrician/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Mirrors’ (LP) (Released on September 3rd, 2021) (via Ninja Tune)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest blog post, and I’ll be back tomorrow for more of the same shtick. My next pick comes from one half of one of my favourite rap duo’s in quite a long time, who have released great projects together via Mello Music Group. You may have caught them at Sound City in Ipswich last weekend.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

New Album Release Fridays: RP Boo – “Haters Increase The Heat”

September 17, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Established!’ (LP) (Released on September 17th, 2021) (via Planet Mu)

Good Morning to you! You’re reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke and, of course, the time has arrived for me to get typing up for yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! The cycle of day-to-day life has kept going, and so we’ve reached another ‘New Album Release’ Friday yet again. This week sees new albums from Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, Hot Chip’s frontman Alexis Taylor, New Zealand-Australian soul star Jordan Rakei and “Gothic Blues” singer-songwriter Adia Victoria hitting record store shelves and digital marketplaces. There’s also the highly anticipated new nature-themed LP from Gothenburg crossover folk songwriter Jose González and St. Vincent’s soundtrack release for ‘The Nowhere Inn’ vying for your attention too. However, I wanted to select something more leftfield this week, and that’s ‘Established’ – the new solo LP from Chicago experimental House producer RP Boo – which is out on Planet Mu today. RP Boo is one of the most prominent figures, alongside DJ Rashad and DJ Spinn, in the evolution of the Footwork dance movement from Chicago. Footwork is a style of dance music that has derived from the roots of Chicago House, and incorporated elements of Juke House and Ghetto House along the way, and it quickly found success in the Mid-west region of Chicago, later finding popularity across the state, in the 2010’s. The rhythms typically draw from the sub-bass frequencies of Drum & Bass, the tracks usually feature syncopated samples of Hip-Hop and Future Funk, and the BPM is around 60. Footwork is reliant on the street dance of the same name, performed by the sub-cultural youth of Chicago. As one of the originators of Footwork, RP Boo started making music in the late-90’s with a Roland R-70 drum machine and an Akai S01 digital sampler, and he has since gone on to craft the mixtapes used for the Bud Billiken Parade, which is the largest annual African-American parade in the US. His new LP, ‘Established’ is highly inspired by his early times of creating Footwork music, and he channels the competitive nature of ‘dance battles’ for the release. Check out the single, ‘Haters Increase The Heat’, below.

“I want the listeners to really get close to something beautiful, to enjoy with family and friends”, RP Boo says of the highly experimental new release in a press statement, continuing by telling us about the sample track above, “I was feeling heat that I detected targeting me in the scene and I grab it and tracked it out and that’s what fueled the track”, he says about ‘Haters Increase The Heat’, the new single, where he reflects on his younger days where he developed passion for Paul Johnson’s Disco records from the late-90’s. Built from stabbing synth rhythms, a flickering drum machine pattern and an aggressive, yet fairly moderately paced, bassline. It all feels like a propulsive combination on the whole, with Boo strategically structuring the witty sample flips and the blaring siren-like sounds of the modulated Synth patterns to keep the rhythm feeling thick and fast, but perfectly paced for a high-stakes dance battle. Across the course of the track, the prominent male vocal sample gradually contorts into more of an unfamiliar grunt, while a soft female backing vocal sample feels barely recognizable among the heavy syncopation effects, but it certainly adds some ethereal tones to the mix, with bruising synth pad melodies and frisky keyboard patterns which add a joyful sense of playfulness to the sound. Before too long, we’re left with the musical equivalent of a dizzying game of Jenga, where the stripped-back foundations of alternative House music are contorted to a large extent that nearly combat the repetitive nature of the production, and the vocals strongly come across as an Urban dance battle track that often nearly doubles up as a gentle personal philosophy in the process. From a pure at-home listening standpoint, it is quite a challenging listen as the rhythmic dexterity marries the sample voice and drum machine arrangements to a level that warps each element beyond noticeable recognition, but these fundamental values are what keeps RP Boo feeling as relevant as ever, and it keeps Chicago as one of the finest purveyors of House music, albeit in numerous slightly different forms. As the music continues to evolve, so do the artists.

Pictured: RP Boo (aka Kavain Wayne Space) at a live DJ set (2019) (Photo via Backspin Promotions)

That brings us to the end of the page, and all that’s left for me to do is thank you for checking out the blog today. I’ll be back tomorrow, as per usual, with some more new music, this time coming from a New York-born indie pop singer-songwriter who co-founded the Art Pop trio Chairlift while studying at The University Of Colorado. Now gaining mainstream popularity as a solo artist, she has collaborated with producers and artists including Charli XCX, Blood Orange, SBTRKT and Danny L Harle, and she has written songs for none other than Beyonce and Travis Scott. Not too shabby at all.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: The Bug (feat. Flowdan) – “Pressure”

September 14, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Fire’ (Album/LP) (Released on August 27th, 2021) (via Ninja Tune)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke and it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day, so it’s time to put that into practice by publishing yet another daily track on the blog! Having been active in the UK’s underground Techno scene since the 1990’s, notably as one of Hyperdub’s most significant signings during the early 2000’s, Weymouth-based electronic music producer and journalist Kevin ‘The Bug’ Martin has dabbled in the genres of Dubstep, Post-Hardcore, Industrial Hip-Hop, Dancehall, Power Electronics and more in experimental ways throughout the course of the last two decades, fronting different music projects like ICE, Curse Of The Golden Vampire and Techno Animal. There was also the collaborative moniker of King Midas Sound, which he has fulfilled with graphic designer Kiki Hitomi and poet Roger Robinson. There’s an air of 80’s Avant-Punk on his recently released solo album, ‘Fire’, which quickly became one of the year’s most anticipated hardcore album releases when it was released in the same month that it was announced, arriving in late August on the excellent Ninja Tune label. The album features collaborations with several vocalists including Logan, Flowdan, Nazamba, Manga Saint Hilare and more. This is Martin’s first solo album release since 2014, and he’s pitched it as a spiritual sequel to 2008’s ‘London Zoo’ and 2014’s ‘Angels & Devils’. The record has a scorching hot tone and it explores a range of socio-economic tensions and climate issues. Give the single, ‘Pressure’, a listen below.

“I’m always asking – how can I ramp this up more? How can I get more people out of control? For me, a live show should be unforgettable, should alter your DNA, or scar your life in a good way – that’s always been my goal, to set up shows that are unforgettable”, Martin told us in a press release, adding, “I like friction, fanning the flames with sound, and this album is the most reflective of the live show in terms of intensity and sheer f**k-off attitude of those shows”, he explained. ‘Fire’ is certainly one of Martin’s heaviest releases for a few years, but, as per usual from Martin, this isn’t a record that simply feels like a turn up the dial and shout for the sake of noise, in a Scuzz Sundays guilty pleasure way, but it instead uses Drone sounds and Dark Ambient influences to comment on a diversity of issues that seem to plague the modern world that we’re all a part of today. Working with frequent partner Flowdan on ‘Pressure’, Martin kicks the intensity of the new release into full gear with some anthemic two-step Drum beats and some relentless attacks from a string of reverb-drenched rumblings of Bass. Flowdan’s Hip-Hop vocals show serious flair, with the London-based MC adding a heavy Grime element to the chaotic energy of the tune, spitting thought-provoking lyrics like “Babylon time dun/Yuh sing for the stretcher” and “Wait for the revolution, but the revolution can’t stand” at a breakneck pace, as he conjures up some striking imagery of fleeing refugees and recent events in Alfghanistan that hit at a great speed and with an understandingly strong impact. Martin’s electronic soundscape deserves plenty of credit for the well-developed and uneasy atmosphere too. He kicks off the tune in riotous fashion with a jagged blast of sirens and foghorns, before he complements Flowdan’s hard-hitting vocals that rails against poverty and inequality at the fault of the government with a genuinely post-apocalyptic variety of sounds that shows his considerable experience and doesn’t hide behind the vocals from Flowdan as a literary device. Instead, the two together decide to hit their problems at their core with a passionate energy. On the whole, this is certainly not a mainstream release by any stretch of the imagination, but Kevin Martin and Flowdan do an absolutely brilliant job of unleashing a barrage of pent-up rage with good intelligence and academic creativity. There’s a ton of atmosphere as a result here and it feels undeniably cool. A release which you certainly should not skip.

Pictured: Kevin ‘The Bug’ Martin in a studio PR shoot for ‘Fire’ (2021) (Photo via TheVinylFactory.com)

That brings us to the end of the page for another day, and thank you very much for your continued support with my daily project. I will be back tomorrow for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’, as we take a break from my recent recommendations to revisit one of the most influential sounds of the past for the present. This week’s pick comes from a female-led band who were one of the greatest Bristol-based pioneers of Trip-Hop in the mid-90’s, and they were named after a nearby town of the same name. The trio sometimes bought a fourth member, Dave McDonald, on board as their own engineer.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE