Today’s Track: Dawn Richard – “Nostalgia”

September 20, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Dawn Nostalgia in a ‘Second Line’ official press shoot (2021) (Photo by Alexander Le’Jo)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to, yet again, get writing up on the blog for another daily track on the blog, not forgetting that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A multi-talented Disco producer, Louisiana’s Dawn Richard is a singer, songwriter, dancer, model, actress and animator who shot to success when she auditioned for the US TV reality talent series ‘Making The Band 3’ in 2004 as a member of the US girl group Danity Kane, who were officially active from 2005 until 2009. Since that time, Richard joined the duo of Dirty Money with her fellow American singer-songwriter Kalenna Harper, and she began her solo career as DAWN in 2011, before releasing six full-length albums on her own merit. Her latest, ‘Second Line’, was released through Merge Records and Entertainment One to critical acclaim earlier in the year, and the title refers to the parade tradition of the same name that occurs in Richard’s hometown of New Orleans, with the new record exploring the African-American cultural heritage of the practice and fuses elements of R&B, Disco, Hip-Hop and Ambient Pop together as a tribute to, as Richard states in the LP’s product description, “A movement to bring pioneering Black women in electronic music to the forefront”. The recent album also follows Richard’s alter ego as King Creole, an “assassin of archetypes, a Black girl from the South at a crossroads in her artistic career”. Sounds good! Her latest single, ‘Nostalgia’, has also seen tremendous support from BBC Radio 6 Music, KCRW and MPR’s The Current. Give it a listen below.

Regarding the album’s themes, Dawn Richard explained when her latest album was announced, “The definition of a Second Line in New Orleans is a celebration of someone’s homecoming. In death and in life, we celebrate the impact of a person’s legacy through dance and music”, adding to her press release, “I’m celebrating the death of old views in the industry. The death of boxes and limits. I’m celebrating the homecoming of the future. The homecoming to the new wave of artists. The emergence of all the King Creoles’ to come. This is our revival”, and so, on that note, it’s not tricky to see why forward-thinking radio stations like 6Music have pushed the track so heavily in recent months. A feel-good dance anthem for the modern society, ‘Nostalgia’ has a retro-revivalist sound that strikes me as Sophie Ellis Bextor goes experimental in terms of its creative direction, with Richard constantly asking rhetorical questions like “What does it mean to Second Line? To give the good footwork with the good work” atop a video game-like soundtrack that mixes twinkling Keys with chilled Lo-Fi House melodies. Later lyrics, like “I’m trying to find purpose/But I’m lost in your circus” are highly processed, and pulsates off the back of flickering bass lines that feel bouncy in texture, and uses spaced-out synths and ad-lib vocal sequences to put a more contemporary twist on the euphoric street dance traditions of the big, colourful parades of 80’s New Orleans. She also repeatedly asks the likes of “Do you love me anymore?” and “Can we work this out?” atop a robotic monotone ad-lib effect towards the end of the track, before declaring “I want those days back” in a stilted tone. The grooving synths and the rhythmic utters, however, thread different elements of Psych-Funk, Prog-Pop, House and R&B together in an effective way by mixing a slightly comical delivery with a nostalgic throwback feel that leans into Soul and engaging Synth-Pop. All in all, this is a well-developed dance track which feels eclectic and varied, and Richard nods to the past while pointing to the future in the way that she re-contextualizes the traditions that inspired the record.

Pictured: Dawn Richard in an official press shot for 21Ninety.com (2021) (Photo by @steviedphotos)

That’s all that I have time for today! Seriously… I have a shift at work coming up right after I’ve published this one. I’ll be back tomorrow, however, as we globe trot outside of my native UK again. My next pick comes from a Brazillian Alternative Folk singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger who has enjoyed heavy support from KCRW in recent months. Netflix fans will know him for performing ‘Tuyo’, the theme track for the Netflix original TV series’ ‘Narcos’ and ‘Narcos: Mexico’.

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Today’s Track: Caroline Polachek – “Bunny Is A Rider”

September 18, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Caroline Polachek in a PR shoot for a ‘Fader’ interview (2019) (Photo Credit: Nedda Asfari)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for us both to take a few minutes out of our frantically busy Saturdays to invest in yet another daily track on the blog, seeing that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If you asked me to give you a list of solo artists that I feel could be right on the cusp of breaking out into mainstream territory, the New York-based electronic Art Pop singer-songwriter Caroline Polachek would be near the top of such a list. She began to explore her interests in music production when she studied at The University Of Colorado, where she attended gigs by the Post-Hardcore, Dark Pop and Post-Punk bands of the Brooklyn scene of the late 90’s and early 00’s. Since that time, she co-founded the indie pop band Chairlift, who were active until 2017, and she worked on her solo side projects of Ramona Lisa and CEP. In more recent years, she has started releasing music under her own name and she began working frequently with the producer Danny L. Harle since the release of her debut solo album, ‘PANG’, in 2019. Polachek has now worked extensively with other artists, including Charli XCX and Blood Orange, and she wrote Beyonce’s single ‘No Angel’, which was released in 2013. She has also penned music for Travis Scott and SBTRKT. ‘Bunny Is A Rider’, her new single, was released last month, and it yet again finds her working with Danny L Harle as her producer. She will also be supporting none other than Dua Lipa on her ‘Future Nostalgia’ tour that starts in February. Let’s give it a spin.

First making its grand debut as Annie Mac’s ‘Hottest Record In The World’ on BBC Radio 1 on July 14th, according to Polachek, “Bunny Is A Rider is a summer jam about being unavailable”, which she states in her press notes. She tells us, “Bunny is slippery, impossible to get ahold of. Maybe it’s a fantasy, maybe it’s a bad attitude. But anyone can be blurry, at least for three minutes and seventeen seconds”, and she finally concludes that the single “features a scorching Bass performance from Danny L. Harle, plus his baby daughter’s first vocal cameo” in the statement. I would start by writing that I think classifying this one as a total Afrobeat tune is a bit of a push, but I can definitely sense an influence of the Nigerian genre in the spicy and absurd palette of sonic sounds. The lyrics are vague, with Polachek simply using lyrics like “Bunny is a rider/Satellite can’t find her” and “No sympathy/Ain’t nothing for free” that skew towards Art Pop and create a sense of intrigue for the song’s real meaning. It is unclear what ‘Bunny’ represents, with some allegories for ‘Alice In Wonderland’ and ideas on the illusion of womanhood being scattered around the electronic Pop direction of the freshly conceived melodies. For the verses, Polachek even switches to a first-person perspective, reciting lyrics such as “But I’m so non-physical/I do, I do, feel like a lady” with a twitchy and gliding delivery that feels widely processed to a point. There’s also some parallels to Of Montreal’s tune ‘Bunny Ain’t No Kind Of Rider’ from 2007 in the track title and subject matter, but it’s no more clear whether this is an intentional decision or a pure coincidence. The production feels more detailed, however, with Danny L. Harle mixing up some catchy R&B backdrops and a punchy bassline to make the single feel accessible enough to casual listeners, despite some obscure lyricism that feels literacy-based, and I think the songwriting would have been more effective when given the context of a full album to connect the themes more tightly together. Overall, what we’ve already gotten here is pretty decent. The creativity feels unique enough to not draw an immediate comparison with her contemporary peers and so the track feels quite original on the whole. The enigmatic lyrics are given plenty of energy to bounce from too, with the chopped child vocal samples and the snappy, Pop-driven Synth arrangements giving the single a light-hearted danceability. Although not dream-like, it’s a cryptic puzzle of mostly pleasure.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Bunny Is a Rider’ (Single) (Released on July 14th, 2021) (via Perpetual Novice)

That note brings us to the end of the page for another day, and, thank you for your support, because it is always very much appreciated. It’s ‘Scuzz Sundays’ tomorrow, and we’ll be revisiting one of the few surviving Pop-Punk groups of the very cheesy era of Emo anthems. The Wichita Falls-based rockers have made two appearances on the blog, although it has been a while since we’ve heard from them, and so I’m letting myself off a bit for the potential overexposure. Today’s youth might know them for releasing a rather nerdy rock anthem titled after the female WWE wrestler Alexa Bliss.

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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.

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Today’s Track: Mykki Blanco (feat. Blood Orange) – “It’s Not My Choice”

September 16, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Broken Hearts & Beauty Sleep’ (Mixtape) (Released on June 18th, 2021) (via Transgressive Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke and, as you’ve probably figured out already by this point, it is time for me to get typing up about yet another track for today’s post on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! An Alternative Hip-Hop and Psych-Soul rapper and solo singer-songwriter – as well as being an activist, poet and visual performance artist – Mykki Blanco has enjoyed a steady ride to fame, having worked with such lucrative mainstream mega stars like Taylor Swift and Kanye West. Blanco was first born in Orange County, California as the daughter of an IT specialist and a Paralegal at the North Carolina Patent and Trademark Office, before Blanco began hormone therapy for her transgender transition in 2019, having used different gender pronouns throughout their career to this point. They also published a manuscript of poems – ‘From The Silence Of Duchamp To The Noise Of Boys’ – in 2011. Having since contributed to works with Teyana Taylor, Blanco is now one of the leading figures in New York City’s LGBT popular culture scene. In June, they released a new mixtape, ‘Broken Hearts & Beauty Sleep’ on the Transgressive Records label, the first of two short-form albums that Blanco is set to release this year and, technically, it marks their first proper studio music release since 2016’s ‘Mykki’. The new record sees them join forces with several guests like God Colony, Jamila Woods and Bruno Ribiero, and a physical release of the project is set to hit record shop shelves next month. ‘It’s Not My Choice’ finds Blanco working with the famous Soul mega producer Dev Hynes, who was previously a member of Test Icicles and he has since produced music with artists like Harry Styles, Blondie, Carly Rae Jepsen and Jazmine Sullivan, and he has released several critically acclaimed albums under the moniker of Blood Orange. He’s also directed the music video for this collaboration with Blanco. Give it a listen below.

“Creating with Dev Hynes [Blood Orange] as director of this video was as effortless as creating the song together”, Mykki Blanco said in a press statement, later explaining, “This video was carefree and captured what I feel to be some quintessential summer moments. Being with friends, being in nature, and having a sense of poise no matter your own personal thunderstorm” in their assessment of the collaboration’s process and influences. ‘It’s Not My Choice’ seems to find Blanco pondering the pro’s and con’s against deciding to end a relationship that has become dysfunctional. There are no sour regrets to this one, so to speak, but it finds them torn on whether to keep the romance afloat or to allow a natural change of heart to take precedence. These mournful lyrics are given a clean polish from Hynes’ production that, for my liking, has long taken cues from Prince and Janet Jackson in 80’s Synth-Pop flair. There is a soulful female vocal sample that adds radiant and long harmonies to the forlorn sounds, and Dev Hynes uses the strength of a catchy Piano beat and a smoky Trumpet backbeat to complement the Hip-Hop melodicism of Blanco’s lyrical delivery, as the two provide a tense and punchy soundtrack to the deliberation of a potential break up. The bassline feels understated and a little basic, but it’s given plenty of fresh energy from the explosive Synth pads, the ruminating Keys and the wistful Horn sections, while the more plaintive Percussion gives a more optimistic outlook to the emotional tug of war being evoked by the vocals, which Hynes also adds to with a crooning refrain towards the beginning of the tune, leading to a nice and apologetic vocal section that gives us some closure of the pre-built narrative when we reach the finale of the joint venture. Overall, this was pretty good. One of my minor gripes is how the album itself is only around the 30 minute mark in length, and so I think it could have done with two or three more tracks to flesh out the interesting ideas that Blanco has a little more thoroughly. Their sense of self-awareness mixed with the melodic production of the track is right on the cutting edge of rap-inspired Pop, however, and the contemporary twist gives fresh life to the 80’s influences. There is a bit of a niche here, and I would not say that I’m really the ‘target audience’ for this music, as such, but it does certainly feel like the right time to get some more diverse voices, that are worth hearing, into my ear plugs and Blanco is included in that for the good chemistry they exhibit with Hynes here. A crowd pleasing, infectious Pop record.

Pictured: Mykki Blanco performing at a fashion event (2020) (Photo by Getty Images/Edward Berthelot)

That brings us to the end of the page for another day, and so all that’s left for me to say is thank you for supporting the blog once again. I’ll be back tomorrow for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ as you would expect, and I’m going for a pick that feels more left-field this week, as we’re going to be taking a closer look at the Footwork movement that was developed in 2010’s Chicago. It’s tied in with the new release from a pioneer of the genre, who has released a series of well-reviewed records on Planet Mu Records. In his earlier times, he made mixtapes for the Bud Billiken Parade.

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Way Back Wednesdays: Portishead – “Glory Box”

September 15, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Dummy’ (LP) (Released on 22nd August, 1994) (via Go! Beat/London Records)

Good Morning to you! This Is Jacob Braybrooke and, you guessed it, it’s time for me to guide you through an in-depth look back at one of the seminal sounds of the past that has been influential to those of the present for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’, because it fulfills my mantra to write up about a different piece of music every day! A female-led group who were largely seen to be the companions of Massive Attack in mid-90’s Bristol, Portishead were one of the greatest pioneers of the Trip-Hop music genre – a blend of Hip Hop and Electronica with elements of Dancehall, R&B and Soul that obscure the two core values to feel quite unrecognizable at times – between their years of activity between 1991 and 1999, with a reunion to follow up in 2005. Fronted by Beth Gibbons, Portishead were named after the nearby town to Bristol of the same name, which can be found roughly a few miles west of Bristol along the coast. The band are mostly known for their debut studio album, ‘Dummy’, which was showered with universal praise from both critics and audiences alike when it saw the light of day in 1994, quickly becoming a landmark British album of the 1990’s. A further two well-liked albums followed in 1997 and 2008, but ‘Dummy’ inevitably won the Mercury Prize in 1995. They also cited an engineer, Dave McDonald, as their fourth member ahead of some releases, and, in 1999, the band received the ‘Outstanding Contribution To British Music’ award at the Ivor Novello Awards. These days, Beth Gibbons has continued to work on projects as a solo musician, and she worked as a judge for the tenth annual Independent Music Awards, supporting the careers of independent music creators. Check out one of their earlier singles, ‘Glory Box’, below.

Built from a sample of Isaac Hayes’ ‘Ike’s Rap II’, ‘Glory Box’ reached the #13 spot of the UK Singles Chart when it was released as a single from Portishead’s iconic triple Platinum certified debut album ‘Dummy’, in January 1995 and the legacy of the track continues to take off because, in 2011, Slant Magazine ranked the tune at #21 in their article of ‘The 100 Best Singles Of The 1990’s’ and it has also been used in a variety of TV drama programmes, including appearances in episodes of ‘Lucifer’, ‘Snowpiercer’ and ‘The Vice’. Kicking off with a classical Bond-like instrumental created from the aforementioned sample piece, Gibbons reflects on post-feminism and what it means to seek love as a woman during the more contemporary times of the track, slowly crooning nail-biting lyrics like “Leave it to the other girls to play/For I’ve been a temptress too long” to the tune of a mellow, ambient and fairly spacious musical backdrop made up of a slow hip-hop breakbeat dressing and a lustful, darkly hypnotic Dub template. There’s a push-and-pull sense of tension to these sounds, with a harsh guitar solo that continually enters the fray at brief intervals, which gives the energy of the track an uplift in the more rough-edged moments, where Gibbons croons lyrics like “We’re all looking at a different picture/Through this new frame of mind” that feel slightly more optimistic, in outlook, than the more swooned delivery that came before. The chorus of “Give me a reason to love you/Give me a woman”, for example, explores her feminime out-and-out dejection with an emotional payoff, while the downtempo Jazz sensibilities knowingly nod just enough in the direction of Plunderphonics and Lounge Jazz. The rest of the production feels very potent, with Gibbons matching the cinematic string-infused instrumental with a voice that almost feels like it’s coming out directly from an antique radio on the beach. It isn’t quite a ‘Chillout’ record of slowed dance melodies and Ambient Pop production that were all the rage for a brief period during the late 90’s and the early 00’s, but the psychedelic backdrop oozes a balanced mixture of melancholy and momentary bliss. Overall, this is a liberating and terrifying anthem for post-feminist despondency of the time, with edgy production that kept things fresh and well-paced instrumentation that amplifies the power very carefully. An iconic “Final Torch” moment from their landmark album.

Pictured: Portishead’s Beth Gibbons performing at Roskilde Festival (2011) (Photo by Bill Ebbesen)

That’s all for now! Thank you very much for your continued support for me and the blog, and thank you, as always, for getting this far to the end of the page with me. Tomorrow, I’ll be looking at a popular recent release from a California-born rapper, performance artist, poet and activist who has been opening doors in the Alternative Hip-Hop and Neo-Soul genres, and, as of 2019, has identified as transgender after beginning hormone therapy for a gender transition in that same year. They have rubbed shoulders with huge mainstream mega-stars like Kanye West and Taylor Swift.

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Today’s Track: Homeshake – “I Know I Know I Know”

September 13, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Vinyl Copy of ‘Under The Weather’ (Released on September 10, 2021) (via Dine Alone Records)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the text of Jacob Braybrooke and, as per usual, the time has come for me to get typing up for another daily track on the blog, because its always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Homeshake (Or HOMESHAKE, as he stylizes it) is the solo Alternative R&B project of the Canadian electronic music singer-songwriter and producer Peter Sagar, who was born and is still currently based in Montreal. He initially got one foot in the door of the music industry as a member of Mac DeMarco’s touring band, and, in 2013, he released his debut solo record as a cassette – ‘The Homeshake Tape’ – through the Fixture Records label. He has quietly amassed five solo studio albums since that time, each of which have been released over the years to a generally favourable reception from the critics. His latest, ‘Under The Weather’, is the follow-up to 2019’s ‘Helium’, and it was released over the past weekend on Dine Alone Records. Mostly written in 2019, the album chronicles the periods of isolation that Sagar has felt before, and during, the Covid-19 pandemic, using the process of equating making music with writing a personal journal. Check out the new single – ‘I Know I Know I Know’ – below.

‘I Know I Know I Know’ comes to us accompanied by the sparkling animated video directed by Keith Rankin, of Giant Claw and Orange Milk Records fame. The director states, “I had been wanting to work with the dancer Azuki Umeda for a while”, saying of the exciting collaboration, “She had made a few pieces of choreography for me, and I put one against the Homeshake song thinking it might be too frantic, but it actually matched perfectly”, adding, “Me and my partner Ellen Thomas came up with an abstracted figure look and did rotoscope animation over the dance sequence, I hope it looks like a dream landscape” in Sagar’s press release. Thriving on a low-lit feel and a smooth low tempo, Sagar creates a slow and sultry love song that feels sentimental and warm for ‘I Know I Know I Know’ as he builds layers with a diversity of minimalist elements. The open guitar chords, the lightly pulsating drum machine riffs, and the percussive bassline work to explore an intimate personal depth, and they are matched with some scintillating keyboard melodies that glisten along to the underlying sweetness of the subtle fluctuations in pacing. Sagar’s lyrics feel sensual and cut to the chase, with lines like “It’s no use/That I’ll never stop loving you” and “It’s crushing me longer than it’s supposed to, Holding me closer than you ought to” that feel a little flirtatious, but Sagar uses a crooner falsetto in his delivery that gets a more shy and fearful emotion across to me, as a listener, with a concise chorus that echoes from its rather subtle increase of tempo. Although a little bit dreary, Sagar does a good job of making his vocals sound quite intriguing and using heartfelt instrumentation to really set up a scene, as he matches the sense of euphoria with solidarity through the hazy sounds of his laidback instrumentals and the differing textures that he creates. The musical equivalent of whisking you into your bed covers.

Pictured: Peter Sagar wrapping up ‘Helium’ in his recording studio (2019) (Photo by RedBullMusic.com)

That leaves us with the end of the page, and all I really have left to say is thank you for the support. The fun doesn’t stop there, however, because I’ll be back tomorrow with an in-depth look at some more aggressive music from a new album that quickly became one of the most highly anticipated releases of the summer, having been released in the same month that it had been officially announced. It comes from an electronic music producer and journalist who has been releasing music under several guises since the 90’s. His projects include ICE and Techno Animal, and the project of King Midas Sound (with the poet Roger Robinson and the visual designer Kiki Hitomi).

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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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Today’s Track: Still Woozy – “Get Down”

September 2, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is’ (LP) (Self-Released on August 13th, 2021)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of an, as of about teatime, 23-year-old Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s now time for me to spend a little time of the day by delivering your daily track on the blog to your eye line, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! One of the latest albums that I’ve been nodding my head along to is ‘If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What It Is’, the debut studio album from the US indie bedroom Pop artist Still Woozy – his real name is Sven Eric Gamsky – who released the record on August 13th via his own Still Woozy Productions sub-division of the Interscope Records label. Gamsky began producing his own Pop music at home at just 13 years of age, and he grew up in the Moraga part of the San Francisco Bay area near Oakland, California. You may previously know him as a member of the Experimental Math-Rock band Feed Me Jack, who split up on amicable terms in 2016. Gamsky has now become very prolific in a short span of time and he aims to release a new single every 7 or 8 weeks, which IQ happily finds to be “genre-bending” music. Check out the single ‘Get Down’ below.

A self-reliant producer with a Major in Music from The University Of California in Santa Cruz as of 2015, Gamsky will be taking his sounds on the road for the upcoming festivals including Life Is Beautiful and Firefly, and many of the tickets for his solo shows in the US – for locations like Washington DC and Philadelphia – have been sold out already. UK fans can catch him in Brighton, Glasgow, Birmingham, Bristol and more next Spring. ‘Get Down’ definitely feels influenced by his majoring in a classical guitar emphasis and his minor in electronic music during his time of studies, where merticulously planned guitar patterns control the briefly fluctuating signatures of the funky guitar lick patterns. He largely goes for a mix of modern Indie and commercial Funk, delivering the vocals with a hushed croon and giving the tempo a mid-speed treatment. The backbeat feels easy-going and accessible, while the struftul Drums feel like a clean accompaniment to the playful lyrics about young romance and sexual tension. He weirdly sounds similar to Mac Millar here, as he pairs a bubbling and upbeat backing beat with a blissful, Synth-driven instrumental that moves along fast enough, but emphasizes the feelings of regret and striving for something greater that you can identify in his voice. The rest of his lyrics play out as a confident reminder to follow your instincts and go with the flow of things when it comes to pursuing a friend as a love interest, as he lets out brief sighs when reciting lines like “She gave me a look that made me sweat/I think about it and I won’t forget” and “I had you on the dance floor/I swear, it was in the air” while he steps outside of his bounds briefly. The main hook of “She wanna get down” has an air of Soul to it, while the chorus draws from Folk and Psych-Rock a little bit with the tight basslines and the swift guitar work. If I were to offer my constructive feedback, I would have liked the chords to progress a little bit more and introduce more instruments to the mix to give the sounds a little more variety. Other than that, this is a really nice and catchy Pop-oriented tune that feels eclectic enough, and it should appeal to a sizable crowd of listeners due to the accessibility and his relatable songwriting concepts. A tightly arranged Pop package.

Pictured: Sven Eric Gamsky (Still Woozy) (2019) (Photo via Tim Mosenfelder/FilmMagic/Getty Images)

That brings us to the end of the page for another morning! I’ll be back tomorrow for ‘New Album Release Fridays’, and it’s going to be a good one because we’re learning more about one of the most highly anticipated Hip-Hop releases of the year and it comes from a female rapper who I admire very dearly. It is the follow-up to 2019’s ‘Grey Area’, which won the Album Of The Year at the NME and the Ivor Novello Awards.

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Today’s Track: B-Wey – “Psych Police”

August 24, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Section 1’ (LP) (Released on July 16th, 2021) (via Self-Released/Bandcamp.com)

Good Morning to you! You are here with Jacob Braybrooke, as always, in time for yet another daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Approaching the cusp of 30 years of age, South East London-based independent rapper Ben Weyman has been reflecting on his twenties in his tell-all debut album, ‘Section 1’, which he self-released last month. The new record examines tragedy – familial grief, mental health struggles and his run-ins with the law. This is a very hard-hitting and stripped-back listen that was partly inspired by the tragic loss of his parents, which occurred due to battles with cancer and within only four months of one another. The record was also named after his development of Bipolar Disorder which has led to an arrest pertaining to his share of psychotic, manic episodes. Brutally honest, B-Wey has laid bare on the taster track, ‘Psych Police’, which specifically refers to the heavy-handed treatment of those who need support. The new LP was mixed and mastered by Ryan Sullivan, the former head engineer of Red Bull Studios, and Weyman wants you to know that he has been stable for 3 years – and hopes his work can guide others to peace. Spin ‘Psych Police’ below.

Following a tumultuous period, Ben Weyman has turned to music as a way to express himself like never before, writing, “My musical journey and influences give way to a unique production style while my life experiences give me something tangible to write about and gives my music a real direction. I hope to raise awareness and influence change in his neat address to the music press. A deeply personal call to others going through serious pains, B-Wey delivers some candid, and catchy, lyrics that cut like a knife sunk in deep to your heart. The repeating hooks of “What they want from me, I’m not sure/Now they’ve got me pinned to the concrete floor” and names the likes of corporate greed and the vanity of 20’s youth as the stigmas surrounding his times of downfall. The refrain of “1 to the 2 to the 3 to the 4/Psych police are knocking at my door” is a memorable and wickedly melodic one, while he spits the rest of his bars with a rough-edged first person perspective. His beats harken back to J Dilla and Madlib, where his sampling goes for a more playful brand of style collage, and his turntable scratches equally evoke the old-school Hip-Hop production of Boom Bap. He peppers this material with some sombre Piano notes and a gently ethereal female backing vocal that get the dramatic subject matter across to the listener in a way that continues to ditch flashy Synth schemes or the mincing of his words. I like how the overall track feels rather unpolished to an extent, as this really allows for Weyman’s personality and his expression to come across naturally and without any hesitation of mentioning the more hardcore scenarios of his narrative, as he continues to seek introspection through his lowest of moods. Overall, this is an effective example of DIY UK Hip-Hop production, and it harkens back to the days of The Streets or Kate Nash that feel increasingly rare to come by in this day and age. A hard-hitting listen, which B-Wey’s personality makes all the more attention-grabbing.

Pictured: B-Wey (Ben Weyman) (2021) (Photo via slavestotherhythm.monkjackpublishing.com)

On that note – we’ve reached the end of the page. Thank you very much for joining me for another day, and, as I have already mentioned, I will be going on a short break starting from Thursday because I’m busy attending my sister’s big day! I shall leave you tomorrow with a track, taken from our ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ feature, from a particularly special act. This androgynous Synth-Pop and New Wave band were formed in 1983 and they found their fame after supporting Depeche Mode’s tours in 1985 and 1986. The group have been described by The Houston Press as “forward thinking” for their lyrics that used to deal with gender politics and sexual orientation.

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Today’s Track: Curtis Harding – “Hopeful”

July 26, 2021 — Leave a comment

“Hope is seeing light, in spite of being surrounded by darkness”. Time for a new post!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Hopeful’ (Single) (Released on May 18th, 2021) (via Anti- Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for another optimistic 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! ‘Hopeful’ is the latest single from the Atlanta-based Soul singer-songwriter Curtis Harding, who records his own music with his self-described ‘Slop ‘n’ Soul’ style where he carries across the influences of R&B, Blues, Gospel, Psychedelic Rock and Country into his process of songwriting and musicality. In the past, Harding has been known for backing mainstream star CeeLo Green. Also, he is a founding member of Night Sun, an R&B-infused Garage-Rock band with former members from Black Lips, which has been active in Atlanta since 1999. Harding has now inked a solo record contract with Anti- Records, the same label which is also home to the likes of Booker T. Jones, Deafheaven, Mavis Staples and The Black Keys. There’s no news on a new album release associated with ‘Hopeful’ yet, but it has been four years since his last album material. ‘Hopeful’ arrives with a music video directed by Lynsey Weatherspoon, which directly references the events of 2020, like the Black Lives Matter protests, of which the lyrics were influenced by. Let’s give it a spin below.

A peaceful protest for the current racial affairs of the present times, Harding reflects on ‘Hopeful’ as, “I wrote ‘Hopeful’ some time ago, but in theory it goes far beyond a time and place”, Harding explained in a press release, noting, “I’ve always tried to carry it {Hope} wherever I am. Darkness finds us all, hope allows us the fortitude to seek out the light” in his self-assessment. For us, it’s the unmatched energy that his vocals bring to the track that brings home what we were all feeling in the millions last year, and how we can progress our mindset as a society to craft a brighter future for all. A radiant Gospel backing vocal of ‘Hopeful’ spreads across the canvas, while a melodic Hip-Hop delivery and tight Drums piece the decisive emotions together. Harding’s voice conveys qualities of vulnerability, longing, tenderness and peace as the stabbing Percussion and the funky Guitars provide an upbeat, yet golden era of Jazz-leaning, backbeat. Lyrics like “Now in this present darkness/All ears listen just a mass has formed to cure the common condition” and “A catalog of parables that’s broke down in a tongue/That’s been corrupted no substance to be hidden from” are delivered with a rhythmic flow. It feels like an effort split into two acts, with a long Wah-Wah guitar solo signaling the transition into a more melodramatic vibe. Horns, Strings, Brass stabs, cinematic female backing vocals and soulful Psychedelia carry the angrier, bluesier direction through to the perceptible climax, while the first half of the instrumental arrangements are a notch more Pop-driven, aside from a few quiet Organ chords that whistle briskly in the soundscape, marking a shift in the times. On the whole, this is a solid single that tells us that Harding is back, but, it also tells us that attitudes change for the better, and, as a society, we are fundamentally good and typically have our combined hearts in the right place, although a straight road to such positive unity can have it’s fair share of twists. Although it may feel a tad too 2020 for the next year at the first glance, the instrumentation definitely has a timeless feeling, and so do the key messages and personal values that Harding is raising awareness of.

Pictured: Curtis Harding in a PR shoot for ‘The 405 Exchange Podcast’ (2017) (via Ken Grand-Pierre)

That leaves us on a very Hopeful note to end the day with, but please feel free to join me again tomorrow for some more intriguing new music. The pick in question comes from a Los Angeles native who proclaims herself as the “Wal-Mart Marilyn Monroe” because she has been associated with the entertainment industry since a very young age. She was a child star on screen and is professionally trained in tap dancing. She has just released her debut solo album on Johnny Jewel’s label – Italians Do It Better.

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