New Album Release Fridays: 박혜진 Park Hye Jin – “I Need You”

September 10, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Before I Die’ (LP) (Released on September 10th, 2021) (via Ninja Tune)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is finally time for me to whet your appetite up for one of the weekend’s biggest new album releases, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! ‘New Album Release Fridays’ is the feature that really does what it says on the tin, and this week’s helping of new long-players include fresh servings from the likes of modern West London-based modern Rock ‘N’ Roll unit shifters The Vaccines, Welsh legends Manic Street Preachers, the Montreal-based Experimental R&B producer Homeshake (I’ve got more on that one coming up shortly on the blog), quirky Melbourne-based Pub Punk revivalists Amyl & The Sniffers, and Margate’s 80’s-inspired Lo-Fi Pop crooner Art School Girlfriend (Refer back to Tuesday on the site for more on that one). However, my personal pick for this week’s iteration of the feature comes from Park Hye Jin, a Seoul-born DJ from South Korea who now spends her time between Los Angeles and Australia, who you may remember as a familiar face on the blog in the past, since she appeared on my ‘Best EP’s Of The Year’ list with her second EP release – ‘How Can I’ – released last June on the excellent and forward-thinking Ninja Tune record label. I was not alone in handing her that praise because Billboard and The Guardian also included that release on their year-end best lists, and Park Hye Jin has continued to earn decent reviews from publications like Rolling Stone, Exclaim and Hypebeast, and she has been played on the radio by stations like KEXP, KCRW and SiriusXMU. Her first full-length album recording, ‘Before I Die’, has been released via Ninja Tune today. Check out her latest single – ‘I Need You’ – below.

A fan-pleasing Experimental House record from Park Hye Jin, ‘Before I Die’ builds on her pre-existing sonic palette, as she draws on a range of Ambient, Downtempo Hip-Hop and Chillstep influences that she has pulled into an ambitious 15-track release that was entirely self-written and self-produced by her, and it includes some guest spots from the likes of Blood Orange, Nosaj Thing, Clams Casino and Take A Daytrip. A soothing single that leaves the typical slow-winding melodious chimes of Park Hye Jin’s low-pitched vocals for a more intimate space of a softer and low-lit delivery, ‘I Need You’ feels more akin to a West Coast 90’s Hip-Hop artist with House influences than having a chillout atmosphere that thrives on sustained chords and ethereal percussion. She uses a rather direct form of emotional expression, simply delivering the line of “I Need You” in both English and Korean vocabulary throughout the tight three minute duration of the new track, with a sense of longing in her voice that allows for her to fully conjure up a mood, which, in essence, totally plays up to her strengths. Her lyricism feels ‘grounded’ enough, but they never feel too dark or foreboding to put your mind at much unrest, and the skittering breakbeat dressing gives the main melody a sense of propulsive, melodic percussion for Jin’s delivery to bounce off. It’s always been a balancing act for Hye Jin’s music, where she has a sense of aggression that feels moody enough but the synth tones have a more upbeat quality to ensure that her beats never feel too rigid in character for her own good, and so there’s a decent level of tenderness to be enjoyed on ‘I Need You’, although determining whether this style feels suitable for an extended album listen may feel questionable at times, since her simple formula runs the risk of being a bit tedious at times. ‘I Need You’ really works as a standalone single, however, and so this may not be something to feel greatly concerned about. There’s a soulful approach to her songwriting that calls back to Little Dragon or RHYE, and the airy electronic sounds dabble in a sensual manner that’s often reserved for Bedroom Pop, and so there is enough variety to keep things moving. A plentiful exercise in digital tightrope walking.

Pictured:박혜진 Park Hye Jin performing at a live DJ set (2019) (Photo Credit: The VinylFactory.com)

As mentioned earlier, Park Hye Jin is no real stranger to the site, and I initially caught up on her steam in the industry with ‘Like This’ last July. Find out more here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/07/10/todays-track-%EB%B0%95%ED%98%9C%EC%A7%84-park-hye-jin-like-this/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “How Can I” (EP) (Released on June 26th, 2020) (via Ninja Tune)

That’s all for now! Thank you for reaching the end of the page with me, and I’ll be back tomorrow for more of the same fresh content, as we turn our attention to one of the most high-profile recent Hip-Hop releases from a bigger name, and this release comes from a legendary 90’s New York-born rapper who has released seven Platinum-certified albums over the course of a career that spans over 25 years, and he used to record demos for Large Professor. Last year, he won the Grammy award for ‘Best Rap Album’ and he’s recently released a direct sequel to that record through his own label.

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Way Back Wednesdays: Book Of Love – “Book Of Love”

August 25, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Susan Ottaviano (Lead Vocals/Chief Songwriter), Ted Ottaviano (Keyboards/Sampling/Programming/Piano/Melodica/Tubular Bells/Occasional Lead Vocals), Lauren Johnson (Synths) and Jade Lee (Percussion) (1985) (Photo via PostPunkMonk.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and this is ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ – the part of the week where we take a good, hard look at the sounds of the past that have become influential to the present, and that fits in with my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Book Of Love were a Synthpop band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who were releasing their own innocent brand of New Wave and sultry Dream-Pop during the height of those genres’ popularity in the 1980’s, and they were later based in New York. Comprised of lead vocalist Susan Ottaviano, keyboardist Ted Ottaviano (bizarrely – of no biological relation to Susan), Synths programmer and other keyboardist Lauren Johnson, and percussionist Jade Lee. The quartet gained exposure in the 80’s as the support act for Depeche Mode on tour in 1985 and 1986, and the band have been praised by the Houston Press as “forward thinking” for lyrics dealing with gender politics and sexual orientation. Book Of Love released four reasonable successful albums before the band decided to move on with their solo projects in 1994, but they scored a massive club hit with ‘Boy Pop’ in 1993, a track that reached the top five of the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart. Their self-titled debut album, released in 1986, was a huge hit with the critics. Four singles were released from the LP, including the title track named after the band, and each of them gained a place on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play and the Hot Dance Singles Sales charts in the US. Let’s give their signature title track a spin below.

The band seemingly didn’t want to become a parody of themselves, and I can understand their decision of gradually getting out of the game when the fangs of the 1990’s bit deep into the neck of sweetness through synthesizers. There was simply limited demand for dreamers in a musical landscape that was dominated by Hip-Hop, Grunge and Dance music, and their final album – 1993’s ‘Lovebubble’ – sold poorly and had little promotion to reflect this. However, most of the band’s members found new success with side projects like The Myrmidons. Book Of Love’s images were notably murky and low-lit, and this could potentially be down to cost-cutting production or simply a reality of printing graphics on their type of cardboard, but it still nicely reflects the slightly Gothic aesthetics that can be seen with an act like Book Of Love, a band who aimed to harness the energy of all the summers expired and the past of children playing freely in the playground for the nostalgic sound of singles like their self-titled signature cut. Built on some simple and strong melodies, ‘Book Of Love’ is a Hypnagogic Pop anthem that becomes more catchy with subsequent listens. Twinkling Keyboard melodies get the child-like atmosohere across, while lyrics like “Pages from my book of love” and “If you should ever happen to leave/I’ll add your book to my lovelorn library” feel poetic and gentle, delivered with a cheerful vocal pitch over the top of forlorn Drum jolts and soulful Synth sequences. The sprawling Horn section and the dreamy use of a Glockenspiel bring an aura of Shoegaze to the table in the later stages, adding some beautiful sounds to the track as it naturally draws to a close. The track’s verses remind me of The National, where strangely ebullient vocals match the slowed quality of the joyous instrumentation. Overall, ‘Book Of Love’ is rather of-its-time, but that time seems to have been an irrepressible one for the band. The band play with simplicity to perfection, and the honesty of their throwback feel to their songs is what puts them over effectively, not affectedly. A bookmark for an essence that could no longer quite be recaptured fully.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Book Of Love’ (Self-Titled LP) (Released on April 1st, 1986) (via Sire Records)

That’s all I’ve got lined up for you today, and thank you for reaching the end of the page with me! As I have already mentioned before, I will be taking a few days away from the blog to celebrate my sister’s wedding. Also, when it really is your day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day, it can sometimes feel like a lot of work, so I’m looking forward to resting and refueling. I will see you on Sunday!

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Today’s Track: Kozmodrum – “Wormhoooooooooole…”

August 23, 2021 — Leave a comment

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and now is the time for me to pollute your ears with another daily track on the blog, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write to you about a different piece of music every day! This is a shortened week of project work for me on the blog this week, and so I’ll be going away for my sister’s wedding during the week, but I still wanted to sneak ‘Wormhole’ in, and this new one comes from a Croatian 5-piece group called Kozmodrum. Exploring Dub, Techno and House, the quintet have found success in their domestic market and they seem to be looking to gain new fans overseas with the release of their self-titled third full-length album, back in June, via Rika Muzika. Describing their sound as “Organic House Music”, the band use the framework of a DJ set by producing electronic compositions that were designed to be played openly, where they loop beats until a cue point is given to indicate a switch to another part. On Facebook, they pitch this as “Jazz-infused Post-Rock meets Ambient Electronica meets Tech House with a percussion twist”, and that sounds really good to me. A 5-piece led by a classically trained drummer – Janko Novoselić – Kozmodrum won a Porin Award (The Croatian equivalent to the BRIT’s) for their second LP, ‘Gravity’, released in 2017. I was really pleased that John Ravenscroft introduced me to this project on BBC Radio 6 Music a number of weeks ago because it’s been growing on me ever since. Check out the lead single of the band’s new album, ‘Wormhole’, below.

Kozmodrum cites Tycho and Elektro Guzzi as their stylistic influences for their new record, and they told Twisted Soul, “After our first two albums, that were each very different in their own way – the first one being an exploration of Jazz/Fusion moods and the second veering toward more electronic/ambient atmospheres – this album is the most truthful representation of how we really sound live” in their own promo message. ‘Wormhole’ is a tune that was being developed over the space of five years until it reached its final form that you can hear on the new LP, and this tireless dedication to their own craft clearly shows in the meticulous structuring and the layers that build throughout the track. The six-minute duration seems to be on the longer side of things, but the instrumentation is paced nicely and it feels packed neatly considering the various Drum, Synth, Keyboard and Bass sequences in play. There’s no vocals, just pretty guitar melodies and splashings of rumbling Bass that gets a light-hearted tone across, and the animated music video adds nicely to the hand-woven aesthetic of the overall proceedings. As you would expect for a mix between Jazz and non-traditional Dance music, there is a fairly minimalist start to things before the different layers keep building and then evolving to form new loops, creating some sublime electronic grooves that have a bright warmth to them in the process. More complex, fragmented and harmonic Synth sounds follow in the later stages and small elements of Prog-Jazz and Math-Rock are evoked through the specific timing schemes. I really like how the track takes cues from Nu-Jazz, non-traditional Punk and experimental Electronic music to do something unique with the instruments being used, and the resulting sound is a blissful and chilled affair that is never afraid to throw some rougher sounds into the mixture. Once established, the grooves bump and slither their way through a Psychedelic concoction of genres that just slips neatly into your ears and keeps you actively listening out for the chord changes at the same time because they feel interesting and carefully textured. In summary, it is a lovely listen and definitely worthy of more ears than it’s been getting.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Kozmodrum’ (Self-Titled LP) (Released on June 25th, 2021) (via Rika Muzika)

That brings us to the end of the page for another day! Thank you for reaching this historic part of the day for me, and please feel free to join me again tomorrow as we do it all over again. I’ll be supporting more music from a lesser-known artist in John Peel style again as we take a detour into some DIY Hip-Hop production. My next pick comes from a 30-year-old rapper from South East London who has based his new album, ‘Section 1’, on the tragedies that have all defined his twenties, such as mental health struggles and familial loss. It’s a hard-hitting listen that demands your hearing.

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Today’s Track: Mochipet – “Godzilla League Of Legends”

August 19, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Godzilla Resurgence’ (EP) (Released on May 11, 2021) (via Daly City Records)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the text of Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come around again for me to get typing up for your 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! You’ve probably read the title of today’s track, and it looks pretty absurd, but this is a little EP release that I genuinely felt was pretty cool. My mother reads the blog every single day, and so this one’s also a not-so discreet nod and a wink at her, since we’ve been having a few little jokes about the ‘Godzilla’ franchise lately. She was very thrilled to see the latest one was added to Prime video. This one comes to you from the Taiwanese-American electronic house/EDM producer David Wang, who uses his own musical alias of Mochipet, which was based upon his long-term obsession with dinosaurs. As Mochipet, he has released music for several different labels – including Peace Off, Violent Turd and Death $ucker, and he is also the founder of the Daly City Records indie label. Wang’s latest EP, ‘Godzilla Resurgence’, was released in May as a tribute to his late father, who passed away as the project was nearing its completion. It is, of course, named after the mythical Kaiju who has starred in many films since the 1950’s. Proceeds are going towards his dad’s burial costs. Give it a Kaiju breath below.

“I saw my first ‘Godzilla’ movie when I was around 10 years old in Taiwan”, Wang told MixMag Asia late last year, later adding, “I actually didn’t like it at first. I didn’t understand why Godzilla was destroying Japan and I didn’t like that it was in black and white. It was not till later in my life, I began to appreciate Godzilla for its representation of human need for control and the Atomic Bomb that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki and destroyed many lives during World War II”, Wang spoke of how Godzilla’s symbol of death and destruction due to mankind’s quest for power has become an influence for his heavy blend of psychedelic EDM and no-nonsense ‘Brostep’ style of electronic production. On ‘Godzilla League Of Legends’, Wang really doesn’t pull back any of his skills for another day, and he instead mimics the fire-breathing giants of the EP’s namesake through the variety of weighty Bass sounds. The slower fade out at the beginning sets the tone for a cinematic affair, before the instrumentation comes in and displays a much more fiery side by putting the harsh distortion and the thick basslines into full throttle. The gears are changed slightly, in intervals, by a whimsical female backing vocal that goes for a little ethereality, and I felt this part of the equation was a nice touch since it was textured more gently than the core drum and bass melodies. The tune, in its entirety, is a solid evocation of Japanese manga animation series or action-heavy video game soundtracks, with a sonic palette that feels packed with rather aggressive melodies and it creates a very Animated feel to the heightened atmosphere overall. There’s plenty of tension found in the segmented decrease of the overall tempo, while the synths feel pretty playful at times. The drums feel smooth, and the long fade-out brings a cooling energy to the tune when it nears its conclusion. It may drag on just a little bit, but I rather enjoyed the unique style that it goes for and the subject matter feels pretty original, as this is not a single about typical topics like a break-up or a night out, and so it demands some attention to get the most out of. If you enjoy the heavier stuff, this one’s for you.

Pictured: Mochipet (aka David Wang) at a monster’s tea party (2019) (Photo via aaronswartzday.org)

That brings us to the end of the page for another day, and many thanks again for sticking with me until this point. If you’re looking for some exciting new releases to get a hold of tomorrow, please look no further than the blog as we delve into ‘New Album Release Fridays’ tomorrow. This week’s pick comes from a Dublin-formed indie folk band who will be performing at The Junction in Cambridge in October. They have been shortlisted for the Mercury Prize twice, and won the Choice Music prize in 2010.

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Today’s Track: Pachyman – “Destroy The Empire”

August 10, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Return Of…’ (LP) (Available from August 16th, 2021) (via ATO Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to upload yet another daily post about a 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 university-trained Reggae musician, LA’s Pachy Garcia is perhaps best known as the drummer and vocalist of the LA-based Prog-Punk band Prettiest Eyes, although he was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. During his upbringing, Garcia was obsessed with vintage instrumental Dub recordings from his greatest influencers, Scientist and King Tubby, and he now aims to recreate their vibes with his own unique take on the genre. His latest album, ‘The Return Of…’ is set for release on Friday, August 13th, through ATO Records – the same label where you would also find the likes of Nilüfer Yanya, Allen Stone and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. He’s been gaining traction lately, with airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music and KCRW, and he won the ‘2021 Discovery Award’ at this year’s Latin Alternative Music Conference. Check out ‘Destroy The Empire’ below.

With ‘The Return Of..’, Pachy Garcia wants to show how the ‘Caribbean flow’ of his heroes can be transnational, and he tells the press, “With this project, I was looking to make positive music and radiate good energy; something to kinda disconnect from the negative things that were happening at the moment”, Garcia – aka Pachyman – explains. He adds, “I am trying to make this product a service for humanity in the sense that I just wanted to shine a positive light” to his notes, and his sound is built from a rich tradition of musical forms that resounds from Jamaica and San Juan, to Mexico and Southern California. With a simple, reverberated shout of “Destroy The Empire”, we’re immediately off to the races with the beginning of his latest single. Garcia radiates some good energy with the opening drum riffs that begin to just effortlessly scatter themselves around some more traditional Dub instrumentation, creating an initial soundscape that subtly develops throughout the rest of the track’s duration. Garcia delicately introduces Twangy rhythm guitar riffs and sultry Drum beats to the mixture that add a soulful, honeyed skew to the bright, summertime sound. Another highlight is the wobbly Cuíca melody, which gives proceedings a more quirky and, perhaps, falsely exotic lift. There’s also some gently rattling Maraca melodies to add some more spacious percussion to the laidback mood of the sound, and more shimmering sounds that seem to be coming from the Guiro, although I’m not entirely sure whether this is the correct instrument he uses or not. Either way, when thrown together, these sounds create a globally influenced atmosphere that feels bright and inviting, but Garcia pays homage to these Dub and Latin American sounds of old with his tongue in his cheek a bit, although he is absolutely believing in the music that he is making. He just manages to provide a light-hearted take on these heroes of his, and so his hazy and breezy melodies radiate with a quirky personality throughout. It probably falls under a niche overall, but I find that approach rather charming and likeable, and it’s clear that he’s done his research to pull it off. It’s not entirely clear who the ‘Empire’ is, and my gut tells me that it’s a nod towards Brazil’s Tropicalia movement, but I certainly am quite excited to destroy it with him on Friday.

Pictured: Pachy Garcia (Pachyman) in a ‘At 333 House’ PR shoot (2021) (Photo by Total Control/AUS)

That brings us to the end of the page for another day, and thank you very much, as always, for reaching this point. I’ll be back tomorrow for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’, as we take an in-depth visit back to one of the sounds of the past that have been influential for the present! My next pick comes from a Jamaican vocalist, producer and songwriter who was known as ‘The Queen Of Dancehall’, and she was the first female DJ to become a Grammy-winning and Platinum-selling artist during her peak.

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Today’s Track: Peggy Gou (feat. OHHYUK) – “Nabi”

August 5, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Peggy Gou in a recent press shoot (2021) (Photo courtesy of Jungwook Mok/Edm.com)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and now is the right time to cheer yourself up with your daily track on the blog, as per usual, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Her first new solo tune since 2019’s ‘Starry Night’, the South Korean DJ and Producer Peggy Gou has brought her A-game to the global clubs again with ‘Nabi’. We last heard from her on 2020’s ‘Jigoo’, a guest spot on Maurice Fulton’s ‘Earth’ EP. She’s had an interesting career trajectory so far – from releasing her ‘DJ Kicks: Peggy Gou’ mix on !k7 Records, to launching Gudu Records, an independent EDM label of her very own. She has also released her material on Ninja Tune and Phonica, and Gou has even spent her time in London, at 18 years of age, studying for a degree in Fashion at the London College Of Fashion, before graduating and subsequently working as the London Corresponding Editor for Harper’s Bazaar Korea. She is now currently based in Berlin, Germany – where she spends her time tinkering away with downtempo dance anthems like ‘Nabi’. Gou’s new single sees her enlists the help of OHHYUK, from the South Korean rock band Hyukoh, who added, “It’s been a long time since Covid-19 has adapted to the changes it has made in society. It contains the desire to become a butterfly and fly away from the beautiful days before” to Gou’s press release. Give ‘Nabi’ a spin below.

“We’ve all been through so much over the last year and it’s {Nabi} about facing up to the problems and negativity in our lives and learning how to deal with it”, says Gou on her process for creating ‘Nabi’, who added, “When people hear ‘Nabi’, they’ll hopefully feel the same sense of healing – that feeling that everything’s going to be OK – that I feel when I listen to the songs that inspired it”, to her press notes. Starting off with a kick drum sample and Hi-Hat snares, we’re treated to a feel-good 80’s-style dance track with gorgeously plush instrumentation and sultry Korean vocals. Some of these lyrics roughly translate to “Time, amid that emptiness/I’m about to leave now” and “In my silence time/I can only see hatred in the distance” in English, some cryptic and poignant songwriting about the passages of time, and how the natural progression of time can lead to positive change. I loved the 00’s throwback feel of ‘Starry Night’ and also the wonky experimentation on ‘Jigoo’, but I’ve noticed how ‘Nabi’ skews more towards a retro-revivalist aesthetic, with more focus on building an atmosphere with the floaty vocal harmonies and the thudding drum machine riffs. The BPM framework isn’t wildly frenetic, but the subtle Dub influences of the bright Piano rolls and the late-80’s Lounge Jazz feel of the more soulful chorus keep the pace moving quickly due to the refreshing extracts of these influences being pulled from. The spoken word piece from OHHYUK adds another intriguing layer to the sound, while the subdued warmth of the hazy, sunshine sounds of the sparse percussion and the earworm vocal hooks hints towards Gou possibly exploring a more 00’s ChillOut or Chillwave style of electronic production in the future, but the fundamentally nostalgic dressing of the laidback beats keeps the cohesion in balance rather robustly. Overall, this was a very satisfying return from Gou, with an eclectic palette of some varied influences that are embossed neatly into the soundscape, and this would be a great pick for BBC Radio 2.

Pictured: Peggy Gou performing at Dimensions Festival (2018) (Photo via TheVinylFactory.com)

Thank you for sticking with me until the end today, and, if you’re new to the blog and would enjoy more of this style of content, then please feel free to join me again tomorrow for the ‘New Album Release Fridays’ as we shine the spotlight on one of the weekend’s notable new album releases. I know that Kanye West is dominating the headlines tomorrow for the release of ‘DONDA’, but I’m instead going to be writing about something that got delayed to this Friday, in July, that I’ve been very excited to hear. This is a collaborative LP between the frontman of Bombay Bicycle Club and a 28-year-old rapper from East London, who first popped up in 2012 with the ‘BAEP’ EP.

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Today’s Track: Myd – “Born A Loser”

August 2, 2021 — Leave a comment

You are either born like a Teenage Dirtbag – or a privileged politician. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Born A Loser’ (CD) (Released on April 30th, 2021) (via Ed Banger Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for you to bring your trunks and a towel to the beach while you read all about my daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! Myd is an electronic dance music producer and sound engineer from Paris, France who was certainly aiming for ‘Summer Anthem’ status when he released ‘Born A Loser’, his debut solo studio album, on Because Music and Ed Banger Records back in April. The 14-track project features guest spots from Mac DeMarco, Bakar and Juan Wauters, and is billed as his coming-of-age story and a soundtrack to the eccentric side of life, although the title track flips that style of mood on its head for a neat twist. Myd got his foot in the door of the music industry as a prior member of the 4-piece experimental House group Club Cheval, and he has worked as a producer for French Hip-Hop acts like Alonzo, SCH, Lacrim and Georgio. Give ‘Born A Loser’ a whirl below.

Built from a sample of Bobby Lee’s quirky 1966 track, ‘Born A Loser’ is an intriguing Alt-House track which Myd bills as “The song is an anthem dedicated to all the people who think they are losers. This feeling should give them the strength they need to go and achieve great things”, in his own words, according to a press release. A terrific house re-work, created from hitting the switch to twist a memorable male vocal sample, that we didn’t know we ever needed – the tune deviates from the happy-go-lucky, sunshine beach melodies of the Funk-leaning efforts from the new record by taking some notable influence from the Hauntology sub-genre. Starting off with an ecstatic kick drum beat, Myd soon subverts the more cheerful and Jazz-oriented tone with a quickly warping Synth sequence that leads smoothly into a male vocal that represents a form of wailing sadness, as the pitch becomes maddened and frenzied by the unrelenting, yet comical and bouncy, bassline that carries the atmospheric qualities of the sound forwards to some driving beats and rumbling Bass sequences. While feeling minimalist and a little simple in execution on paper, the track quickly encompasses fine elements of Chicago House, with the fist-pumping Bass and the chanting backing vocals that lie with subtlety behind the main picture, and elements of Neo-Psychedelia with the modulated sounds and the vibrant keyboard riffs. It plays out almost like a drunken round of Jazzercise, as opposed to a lazy paddle in the pool, with a darker variation of tones and a gyrating pace of noise that gives the sound a nicely wonky and curvy feel. Although the track’s natural habitat would be a summer festival or a club performance, which is a shame, there’s definitely enough substance to accommodate at-home listening to a very good extent. This is Tres Bien.

Pictured: Myd in the official music video for ‘Together We Stand’ (2021) (Photo via PR/YouTube.com)

Thank you for celebrating your inner ‘weirdy’ on the blog with me today, and please feel free to join me for more fresh music tomorrow, with my pick being from one of my favourite albums in the last three months, and a single that I’m obsessed with to boot. It comes from a Nu-Funk, Soul and soft Jazz singer-songwriter, producer and graphic designer from Los Angeles, California who has recently performed a KEXP ‘Live From Home’ session. Last year, he released a collaborative album with Lionmilk.

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Today’s Track: Glüme – “Get Low”

July 27, 2021 — Leave a comment

Just like a Tree, this Las Vegas native has been ‘Logging’ in to her PC. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘The Internet’ (LP) (Released on April 30, 2021) (via Italians Do It Better)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m heading towards your screen with 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’ve got a very interesting one today from a Los Angeles native, Glüme Harlow, who has just released her debut solo LP, ‘The Internet’ on Johnny Jewel’s (from Chromatics) label Italians Do It Better. A simple Google search reveals a ton of very fascinating details about her, from playing Shirley Temple on a Broadway stage, to being a professionally trained Tap dancer influenced by Ginger Rogers. She proclaims herself as the “Wal-Mart Marilyn Monroe” and she’s been a part of the Arts industry since a very early age. She was a child star, with credits for the ‘101 Dalmations’ and ‘Kingdom Hearts’ IP’s, and credits for an acting role in one of Japanese anime icon Hayao Mizaki’s films, according to her IMDB profile. Tragically, she has also been diagnosed with Prinzemetal, a rare heart disease where a coronary artery supplying blood and oxygen to the heart goes into Spasm and suddenly narrows. The writing process of her new record saw her confined into a restricted space due to the effects of her illness, and it pairs her intimate experiences at the time with a homage to old-time Italo cinema. Get a taster with ‘Get Low’ below.

“I didn’t like the vision of myself as a sick person. So I went on The Internet”, Harlow told KEXP in a press release when the title track from her new LP was featured on their ‘Song Of The Day’ podcast, adding, “My online presence was my truth even though it was a lie. I have this self at home who is sick, & then this self on the Internet that’s doing amazing. The world wasn’t looking for me. But online, I could live the life I wanted to live”, to her explanation of the album’s idea and concept. On ‘Get Low’, Harlow sings about falling in love, and how this affects your brain chemistry and nervous system, but, since she suffers from a heart condition, lyrics like “You light up my nervous system/Save me from this autonomic prison” come across more literally, with an accessible Avant-Garde arrangement being conveyed through her personal experiences of dating with autonomic dysfunction, and it reflects how her feelings conveyed can be a literal, cascading time for her. It feels wonderfully inventive, with lyrics like “I could drown in your mind/Careful, I’ll undress your mind” feeling both raunchy and sincere in nature, as these harsh observations permeate through the 80’s, New-Wave Synths and the prominent Bass stabs. The arrangement combines melodic digital Drum beats with some vintage, screeching Keyboard riffs, often feeling harsh and cerebral, yet oddly intimate, in reflection. She also goes to the end of the world with her visuals, veering into Art-Pop styles with her organized imagery of an out-of-time tap-dancing misfit, or a Baby Jane-type child star with an unknown maturity, and she uses this gently developed character as a cover for her to speak her mind with an innocence and honesty. Although her real name isn’t exactly a secret, it feels irrelevant to the work at hand because it never feels significant to her image itself. Overall, this is a well-inspired and a thoroughly enjoyable listen, and I’d highly recommend checking out the track ‘What Is A Feeling?’ from the debut record as well.

Pictured: Glüme in a PR shoot for a Q&A interview with Weirdo Music Forever (2021) (Photo via PR)

That’s all I’ve got to share with you for now, but please feel free to join me again for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ tomorrow, where we revisit one of the sounds of the past that has been influential to the sounds of the present. This week’s pick comes from a 90’s US Hip-Hop duo from Queens, New York who spent six years together before they disbanded in 1995. In that time, they were a credible asset to the ‘Native Tongues’ collective comprised of East Coast Hip-Hop groups A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul & The Jungle Brothers. The rap duo cited creative differences as their reason to split up.

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Today’s Track: Baba Ali – “Black Wagon”

July 20, 2021 — Leave a comment

This house is not a house – It’s just a couple of sticks. Well below Zero. New post time!

Pictured: Baba Ali in a PR shoot for the ‘Rethinking Sexual Pleasue’ EP (2020) (Photo via Twitter.com)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and allow me to be your cool down away from the shining sun for your daily track on the blog, as per usual for this past week, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! A London-via-New York songwriter and producer, Baba Ali is never far away from reliable airplay on Alternative radio stations like BBC Radio 6Music and Cherry Red Radio, and he’s announced that he will be releasing his debut solo album, ‘Memory Device’, on August 27th via Memphis Industries. Ali was previously a member of the Alt-Soul duo Voices Of Black, before he moved to the UK to pursue a solo career and to study a Masters degree in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, a university in London. He’s since supported acts such as Kele Okereke (The lead vocalist of Bloc Party) and Gold Panda on tour, and he will be adding Leeds Post-Punk breakouts Yard Act to that list later this year. A musing on community and mortality, check out ‘Black Wagon’ below.

Working with Joe Goddard (from Hot Chip) and Al Doyle (from LCD Soundsystem) as producers for ‘Memory Device’, Baba Ali is now striving to get the glittery dancefloors moving again, after the year-plus long spell of the pandemic’s delays, with modern Disco records like ‘Black Wagon’. Ali says of the single, “Where I live in London, my window faces the High Street and I’m not far from a church. In the autumn, there were a lot of funerals, and the horse and carriage procession would often come down the street. It’s quite an arresting image; It feels like it’s from a different era. That’s the “Black Wagon” and the rest of the lyrics are me reminiscing about the feeling of going to raves and coming home at sunrise”, per his press notes. The path of Baba Ali’s ‘Black Wagon’ has taken him from a native home in New Jersey to a winding road in East London’s mixed community. Along the way, he fuses the styles of 90’s New-Age and electric Post-Punk for an effortlessly cool Alt-Disco beat. He opens with “Hopped on the 109/Wiping the cold out of my eyes” as an air of New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’ hits the ground running as a shimmering bassline and flickering Synth patterns drives the melodic tempo forwards. Some lyrics, like “It’s a winding road/And every corner’s blind” observe paranoid society at a distance, while others, like “We caught the Metro North/We took in all the sights/A long way from home”, discuss the after close experience of a multi-cultural club night. The beats begin as fairly subdued, before the instrumentation pulls elements of Future-Soul and New-Wave into the fold with twisting Synth hooks and warped Keyboard riffs. The chorus goes for a euphoric feel, as Baba Ali sings “Round we go/Where we end, nobody knows” and “Black Wagon roll/Where we land we’ll dig our whole” as the songwriting becomes quite cryptic, but the added reverb to the Synths and the soaring bass guitar brings new energy to the equation. Ali comments on the experiences of changing a life cycle through living in different cities and experiencing different communities in a stimulating and thought-provoking way, but there’s some tension to the slightly distorting Synths and the loud guitar sample in the home stretch. A merticulously produced and elegantly balanced offering, ‘Black Wagon’ rolls along its road at a brisk pace, with plenty of engagement.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Memory Device’ (LP) (Available from August 27, 2021) (via Memphis Industries)

That’s the end of the road for ‘Black Wagon’, but please feel free to join me tomorrow for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ as we go retro once again for an in-depth look back at a mostly forgotten London-based dance music group who peaked within the UK Singles Chart on two occasions during the very early 1990’s. A handful of their tunes also reached the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, including a #1 entry on that specialist chart. The duo worked with musicians like ‘The Red King’ and Mike Spencer.

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Today’s Track: Al Wootton – “Over”

July 12, 2021 — Leave a comment

All bear ‘Witness’ to the underground DJ king of England’s East Coast. New post time!

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, just like always, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Your pick for today is a little more dated than usual, considering how the ‘Witness’ LP actually came out last summer, but it will still feel recent enough. The release in mind comes from the respected Dubstep and Deep House producer Al Wootton, who I heard spotlighted on a recent episode of 6Music Recommends curated by John Ravenscroft, and it caught my interest. I had not heard of him before, but my research tells me that Wootton first arrived on the UK’s club circuit in 2009 under the ‘Deadboy’ alias, and he sported influential recordings like ‘U Cheated’ and ‘If U Want Me’ on the underground dance scene, releasing his material on labels including Well Rounded and Numbers. He is now the owner of Trule, his own label, with signees including the likes of Pugilist, Jubilee and Bash. ‘Witness’ is his first album to be released under his actual name, which he created in his home studio in his town of Ramsgate. Check out ‘Over’ below.

Writing about his process regarding the album release, Al Wootton notes: “I allowed tracks to develop and mutate as I introduced new sounds and textures with a much greater sense of freedom than when I am focusing on making tracks work solely in a club context, but I don’t feel like that dampened the energy of any of the tracks”, adding, “The creation of ‘Witness’ was, for me, one of those rare times when the practical and technical conditions are just right, and creativity flows from some unknown source beyond yourself and all you have to do is get out of your own way”, to the product description of his ‘Witness’ LP on Unearthed Sounds. The free-flowing mentality of his process is exemplified blatantly on ‘Over’, a euphoric and slightly melancholic glide between Acid House and Dark Ambient. The textures are rich, as a tinge of somber darkness mixes with a ghostly scream. These dingy sections remind me of Manchester-based IDM producer Andy Stott, as the Spectogram-like vocal sample distorts itself around a murky aesthetic, mimicking a cry of pain. This points back to some of the work that Aphex Twin explored on ‘I Care Because You Do’ too, most similarly to ‘Ventolin’, as an abrasive pulse playfully develops over the top of the more Garage-like bass rumbles. The journey to the cooling synths are not that neat of a ride, bearing in mind, with it’s harsh mirage of Plump kicks, and the flourishes of Hip-Hop breakbeats that peek in as occasional flurries. The ethereal Synth pads and the tonal changes of the deep ambience, however, are always there to inject a short shower of energy and emotion into the proceedings, however. It feels like a broad sweep of niche electronic dance genres in a single track, with production that feels positively unpredictable and melodies that feel infinitely tinkered with, as these beats naturally develop past the gloomy Burial-style intro at the start. I came away refueled.

Pictured: Al Wootton in a photoshoot to promote a Balamii radio show (2021) (Photo via Twitter.com)

That’s all for now! Please feel free to join me again tomorrow for some more tips of recommended listening. Then, we’ll be delving deep into the latest single from an underground UK rapper who comes from the Peckham district of South London, who fell in love with the art-form of Hip-Hop due to J Dilla and A Tribe Called Quest in the 90’s. He was one half of the ‘Con+Kwake’ duo with drummer Kwake Bass. On tour, he has supported the likes of Public Enemy, Slum Village and Mos Def.

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