Ambient

Today’s Track: Daniel Avery – “Hazel and Gold”

June 14, 2021 — Leave a comment

Texture as smooth as the layer of Salted Caramel on a Wispa Gold bar. New post time!

  • Pictured: Vinyl Copy of “Together In Static” (LP) (Released on June 24th, 2021) (via Phantasy Music)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke – getting proceedings off to a start for the new week – with your 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! A DJ known for his Andy Weatherhall tribute track, ‘Lone Swordsman’, and his production work for the likes of Metronomy and Little Boots, the Bournemouth-based electronic music producer Daniel Avery has announced the follow-up album to 2020’s ‘Love + Light’, which he “surprise released” last June in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, entitled ‘Together In Static’. A positive and relaxing ambient track, ‘Hazel and Gold’ is the new single from the upcoming album, which releases on June 24th via Phantasy Music and Mute Records. Avery’s new album was originally being composed specifically for a live performance which happened at Hackney Church in May, but, for those who could not get tickets for the socially-distanced show, Avery has a ticketed live-stream planned for June 23rd. Let’s give it a spin with the Tom Andrew-created visuals below.

Avery – who filled in for Mary Anne Hobbs on an episode of her BBC Radio 6 Music programme 6 Music Recommends in 2019 – spoke of the new LP release, “As with many things this past year, the project took on a power and a life of it’s own right in front of me”, adding, “I started to make music specifically for the shows yet, as plans continued to shift, I fell deeper into the waves”, concluding, “By the time I came up for air, I realized I had a complete record I wanted to share. I feel like it’s some of my best work and I’m gassed for you all to hear it”, in his publicity statements. His latest single, ‘Hazel and Gold’, reminds me fondly of ‘Lone Swordsman’ in the ways that it takes on a quite minimalist, honest approach. I wouldn’t say that it’s particularly basic or necessarily simplistic, but the formula remains intact. It’s different to many IDM or Techno tracks of the modern time in the way that it’s not hard, fast club music that aims to exploit the artifice of technology, but it rather embraces the electronic production to create a smooth and comforting tone in it’s soft, downtempo and lightly seasoned textures. We start off with a chiming, melodious Drum melody that eventually forms a smooth and relaxed bassline. The sound becomes more of a Techno-inducing trance during the midway point, as the warmth is stripped back, and the Synth melodies start to glisten. The atmosphere has an undoubtedly optimistic and emotionally-driven quality, with joyous Synth sequences and a whistling backing beat that conjures up a chilled, inviting atmosphere. The late stretch implores the listener to go down the rabbit hole, with a gently increased tempo that adds a dream-like tone to the mix, as the previously threatening drum melodies begin to mimic a bell-like percussion. It’s a short-and-sweet track which doesn’t overstay it’s welcome, and certainly fits the ideas of positive change and joy in attending physical shows that Avery is reflecting, and the cheer that comes from spending time in a crowd together.

  • Pictured: Daniel Avery photographed for Sonar Festival, Barcelona (2019) (Photo via Techno Archive)

If you haven’t heard enough of today’s ‘Golden’ artist yet – then you can also make sure to catch up on Daniel Avery’s Andy Weatherhall tribute track, ‘Lone Swordsman’, taken from his 2020 EP, ‘Dusting For Smoke’, which has been previously covered on the blog, here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/11/12/todays-track-daniel-avery-lone-swordsman/

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Dusting For Smoke” (EP) (Released on September 1, 2020) (via Phantasy Sound)

That has taken us to the end of your blog post for another day! Thank you for joining me – and please feel free to keep your eyes peeled for the site again tomorrow, for some brand new music from an emerging Art-Rock quartet formed in Manchester whose latest single has seen daytime airplay from BBC Radio 6 Music. They shared university halls together and studied popular music at the Royal Northern College Of Music in their hometurf, and they recorded a cover of Disclosure’s ‘White Noise’ for their debut mixtape. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Joey Pecoraro – “You Never Told Me That”

May 18, 2021 — Leave a comment

A humble fella making Music For Happiness and your Imagination. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Old Time Radio” (LP) (Available from May 21, 2021) (via Alpha Pup)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke and, as you may have probably imagined by now, it’s time for me to get typing up for your track of the day on the blog, as per usual, since it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! Aged 26, the Detroit-based independent electronica producer Joey Pecoraro studied Film at The University Of Michigan. That’s where he fell in love with the films and, evidently, the Radio plays of the 1930’s and the 1940’s, and he began to make his own music in his bedroom ever since 2014. His music takes on a Chillwave sound that also incorporates elements of Lo-Fi and Instrumental Hip-Hop music. He also loves to keep his own details very brief, simply describing himself as “Joey is a guy from Michigan who makes music for your emotions” for his biography on Spotify. His new album, ‘Old Time Radio’, follows up 2019’s ‘Deep In A Dream Of You’ EP and 2020’s ‘Sea Monster’ LP, and it releases this Friday via the Los Angeles-based indie label Alpha Pup Records. Check out his new single – ‘You Never Told Me That’ – below.

I first caught wind of Joey Pecoraro’s bedroom productions by hearing ‘Train, Cold, Snow’ on KCRW’s Today’s Top Tune podcast filled of daily samplers that you can download for free, and I’ve been keeping up with the new singles from his new album with keen ears since then. An interview from last year that I found suggests that he’s been listening to a lot of Buerno Pernadas and Westerman since the Lockdown era began last Spring, which have no doubt inspired the sonic direction for his latest body of work, which seemingly sees Pecoraro experimenting with samples from radio dramas he has either filtered or looped to make them sound vintage, or has used clips from authentic radio plays of a bygone era. Either way, it feels unusual and creative, and he certainly seems to be very unique for his age, especially. For ‘You Never Told Me That’, we freefall easily into what sounds like dialogue from a dated radio play scene of the 50’s or a deleted out-take from an old-time Christmas film like ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’. It’s not exactly clear what is being said, but it just establishes the tone softly and sweetly. From there, the creative direction goes into a more Instrumental style because the intellectual delivery of the script gets swiftly replaced by the sounds of insects chirping happily, twinkling Keyboard melodies and Classical String sections that seem happy to lurk out of the centre. Wordless vocals are layered above the top with a harmonic progression, as the Synths of the track continue to pave their own way for an arrangement that feels lush, relaxed and soothing. It all feels virtuosic, with seemingly obscure samples that have been tinkered away at and merticulously layered to create an absorbing atmosphere that induces calm and invites for you to have a moment to think as it’s listener. Sure, it never really goes anywhere. However, it doesn’t need to. This one disregards typical traits of Pop and Rock music like catchy hooks or poly-rhythms for the most part, and instead, it dedicates a space to convey a mood and a feeling. It also reminds me of The Avalanches, and he said that he loves them while responding to a YouTube comment from a fan asking him about them in one of his recent single uploads. This music is totally right up my street. Love this one.

  • Pictured: Joey Pecoraro in a Magnetic Magazine press shoot (2020) (Photography by Diana Georgie)

That’s all, folks! Join me again for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ tomorrow, where we will be revisiting an unlikely UK Top 20 chart success upon it’s re-release in 1984 produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley who have produced records for Madness and Elvis Costello back in the day. The artist was an English stand-up comedian, whose surrealist humor is in the vein of Monty Python or Billy Connolly, who was voted the 18th ‘Greatest Stand-Up Comic Of All-Time’ by the viewers of Channel 4’s ‘100 Greatest Stand Ups’ television one-off programme in 2007. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

New Album Release Fridays: Andy Stott – “Hard To Tell”

April 16, 2021 — Leave a comment

The Manchester-based IDM producer who puts zero Faith In Strangers. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Never The Right Time” (Released on April 16th, 2021) (via Modern Love Records)

Good Morning to you – My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s finally time again for me to get typing up with today’s track on the blog, as always, because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This week’s new release schedule is a bit more subdued than usual for me, with nothing that immediately strikes a great deal of familiarity with me. Your options include the first new album from The Offspring in nearly a decade, the sixth studio album from unique Dublin-born multi-instrumentalist Imelda May, and also the tribalism-centric second studio release from the cult Michaigan band Great Van Fleet, who have drummed up some buzz overseas. However, the name that I am going to focus on today is Andy Stott, who rings a small bell with me because I enjoyed what he did with ethereal textures and haunting percussion on 2014’s ‘Faith In Strangers’. I haven’t kept tabs on him much since then, but the Manchester-based producer of Dub and Techno music has remained prolific, releasing five long-player albums on the Modern Love label. The cerebral new album was reportedly finished last year, but after dealing with a heavy set of personal issues, no doubt, worsened by the isolated nature of the Covid-19 pandemic, he decided to re-develop the record into one that he describes as a “kind of inner-world sadness trip”, and it follows up 2019’s double EP release of slow and raw ambient tunes, ‘It Should Be Us’. Check out the lead single ‘Hard To Tell’, with vocals from Stott’s Piano teacher and frequent collaborator, Alison Skidmore, below.

The Techno reformist has always been credited as a musician whose music draws from a snapshot of where he feels he stands creatively, functioning as a reflective spearhead of whatever curiosities have been nagging his mind persistently, and he says of the new release, “Definitely in the past, my productions were organic, quite dense and thick. There was something really false and thin and delicate about these new sounds”, adding, “At the same time, there was something really beautiful about it and it sparked my interest. It triggered these other things that I had heard in my mind and I realized I could get the same vibe with that sound”, to hint at the possible new music directions. Whereas ‘Faith In Strangers’ was a little more beat-oriented and strangely suited for a wind-down scene at a dark and dingy nightclub, his latest crawls towards more Dark Ambient and interior sounds. The opening feels reminiscent of a Nigerian or Taiko drum beat, building a sense of ‘Things are not as they seem’ before a polished, twangy bass guitar riff enters the scene. The vocals of “Don’t have to feel, No need to fight” are very depressive and grim, with washing waves of aching Synth melodies trickling their way into the fray. The vocals of “Sharp like a needle, This life I’ve bought” and “Street lights and cars gleam/Ferociously” sit uncomfortably and disorientingly in the mix, but the instrumental bed effects offer enough of a hint at Stott’s more melodic past work on ‘Faith In Strangers’ to feel strangely comforting at points, and act like an open acknowledgement of misery and pain, and a shoulder to cry on. We simply don’t hear a great amount of music about things like chaos and destruction these days, and ‘Hard To Tell’ also reminds me of The Future Sound Of London’s ‘Dead Cities’ from 1996 with it’s slow-building progression and it’s slightly Cinematic undertones, which makes me picture some post-apocalyptic imagery of urban decay. I think the track relies on a little co-operation from the listener to use ‘Theatre Of The Mind’ to get the strongest effect from this tune, and it’s probably not something that you would just slip on at some house party, but there’s an excellent balance of weight and light to the proceedings. If you are a listener like me who likes to just indulge in the sadness at times for melancholy therapy, however, this works pretty well for that situation. Dreary and Bleak – but in the most hauntingly solid way.

  • Pictured: Andy Stott at the live “Modern Love Showcase” (2014) (Photo via Detroit Metro Times)

That’s all for now – I’ll leave you to enjoy your weekend, or grieve along to this, either way, enjoy what you do. My first new Scuzz Sunday featured post in two weeks will arrive in two days’ time with style. Before then, however, I’ll be back tomorrow, for the second appearance on the blog from a slightly off-the-radar Folk multi-instrumentalist, signed to the Secretly Canadian indie label, who has released her latest single as an ode to the “Lost Musician” that is Nick Drake. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Nils Frahm – “O I End”

April 13, 2021 — Leave a comment

The bold Hamburgian Piano virtuoso who is anti-NFT and All Melody. New post time!

  • Pictured: Nils Frahm (in 2015) (Photo Credit: Joseph Okpako/Redferns/Pitchfork.com)

Good Morning to you – I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up on the blog for your track of the day, as per usual, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A German composer who has gained wide critical acclaim and sizable global success since the mid-2010’s, Nils Frahm is known for combining sensibilities of electronic music and ambient Jazz with his distinct slice of self-composed Contemporary Classical music. His elaborate set-up kit of a grand piano, an upright piano, Roland Juno-60, Rhodes piano, drum machines and a Moog Taurus synth are the tools at his disposal to help him convey emotions and thoughts through his brand of mostly improvised work. He’s hugely prolific, with close ties to similarly inventive modern composers like Ólafur Arnalds, Anne Müller and F.S. Blumn, through frequent collaborations. He also performs with Frederic Gmeiner and Sebastien Singwald as Nonkeen. If I had to flip a coin, it would probably land on ‘All Melody’ as being my personal favourite album of his, and I’ve been an avid follower of Frahm’s recordings for the last four or five years. ‘O I End’ turned out to be a teaser single for ‘Graz’, an album which Frahm recorded in 2009 that never saw the light of day until this point. He ‘surprise dropped’ the nine-track recording in appreciation of World Piano Day on March 29, and you can also put your name down to pre-order the vinyl release of ‘Graz’ due on May 21st via Erased Tapes, and it was mixed by Thomas Geiger. Let your anxieties dissipate with ‘O I End’ below.

A fun fact about ‘World Piano Day’ is that actually happens specifically on the 88th day of the year – and that has been determined to represent the 88 total keys on a Piano. In a press statement on the belated release of ‘Graz’, Nils Frahm had an ambiguous comment to make, and all he had to say was this: “Sometimes, when you hear a Piano, you might think it’s a conversation between a man and a woman”, continuing, “At the same time, it can hint at the shapes of the universe, and describe how a black hole looks”, concluding, “You can make sounds that have no relation to anything we can measure”, in his gently philosophical musings. He’s also been in the news lately for his stance against the digital art format of the NFT which is generating a lot of buzz in the business, saying “Some of my heroes like Aphex Twin are selling, sorry, crap for 130,000 bucks… It’s unforgivable to participate in something which is so bleak and so wrong” in his take on the popular digital format, which he seems to feel is much more of a fad, although I still can’t get my head around what the platform even is. In any case, these comments were a reminder to me on what Nils Frahm is all about. What keeps us coming back to his work is the sense that, in the emotive qualities of his practices, he has an artistic gift of composing music that gives me the feeling of time slowly dissipating, and the more superficial worries of the world becoming much less important through these subtle melodies. It’s a staple from his old bag of tricks that he manages to pull off, once again, on ‘O I End’, a track which sounds contemplative and downbeat. While direct contextual meanings are open to interpretations based on your own feelings and daydreams when you listen to the track, it gives me a feeling of looking back on the fragmented memories of my life. Paired with the rather dark track title of ‘O I End’, it makes me imagine an elderly character reflecting on his life while playing an improvised sequence alone at a piano. The rhythms are deep and soulful, as the washing waves of rolling Piano melodies calmly ease their way from one moment through to the next. The downtempo keys feel isolated, but schooled in a vintage Classical music training that also meets the spontaneity of instrumental Jazz music. It’s gentle, but raw enough to make you feel as though you may be intruding on a more personal experience of the auteur’s soul. It doesn’t really “go anywhere” in the traditional sense, but you could argue that it just doesn’t need to. This is just a well-paced, but soothing and still, moment of reflection.

  • Pictured: Nils Frahm in Berlin, Germany (2018) (Photo by Mustafah Abdulaziz/The New York Times)

There’s my musical musing for the day – but please don’t forget to check back with me here tomorrow, for a new entry in our weekly ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ feature where we throw back to the sounds of the past that have influenced the recognizable sounds of the present – or sometimes look back at old rarities that are simply a bit bonkers. The mood strikes me for tomorrow for a flash back to an early recording from a Welsh rock band who are colloquially known as “The Manics” and were a key figurehead of the Welsh Cool Cymru cultural movement in the 1990’s. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Way Back Wednesdays: Boards Of Canada – “Seeya Later”

March 17, 2021 — Leave a comment

Ripe for repeated listening, or is it easy to get Board of this instead? Let’s go Way Back!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Twoism” (EP) (Released in August, 1995) (via Music70)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke and, well – you know the drill by this point – it’s time for me to get typing up for your weekly revisit of the sounds from the past which have influenced those of the present, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If the name of Boards Of Canada seems familiar to you, you’re either already one of the beloved cult followers of the group who possibly paid $800 to obtain your own copy of their debut ‘Twoism’ EP following it’s release in 1995, since the original distribution was scarcely limited to 100 copies before Warp Records gave it a quiet re-issue in 2002, or you read my previous post about them back in October or November time. Whichever route applies to you – the fact remains that Boards Of Canada are, if not the most well-known in terms of mainstream recognition, still one of the most devotedly followed Electronic music acts of our time. Just for the record, the bandwagon for 1998’s ‘Music Has The Right To Children’ is one that I’ve definitely jumped onto, as I think that it is a truly exceptional record. Made up of the Scottish brother DJ duo of Marcus Eoin and Mike Sandison, BOC represent an interesting flipside for electronic music production practice for me, where the tropes of club music being developed in London or Birmingham are turned on their heads by the brothers originally creating their music with vintage synthesizers and dated samples in a rural community in Scotland, where they have since kept very reclusive from the media, with very little interviews or performances existing. I’ve been delving deep into the back catalog of the brothers over the last two months or so, and so it’s been interesting to see where their formula of nature centric themes and nostalgic qualities started for them. In the typical BOC fanbase fashion, you can check out the fan-made video for ‘Seeya Later’ – taken from their debut EP ‘Twoism’ – created for YouTube by Saint Santiago – below.

Eoin and Sandison took their name from the children’s educational films distributed from The National Film Board Of Canada which they grew up watching at a toddler-level age, and they also pulled off the most, if not one of the most, elaborate ‘Easter Egg’ hunts in the marketing campaign building to the release of their most recent release, 2013’s ‘Tomorrow’s Harvest’. There really is a lot of fascinating information about them out there, which is too lengthy for just a simple blog post, so I would look them up after you’ve read this if that sounds interesting to you, but, for now, it’s back to the matter at hand. ‘Seeya Later’ was originally released by the duo as part of the ‘Twoism’ EP on their own label, Music70, and it later appeared on their ‘Hi-Scores’ EP in 1996 as well, where you can also find earlier versions of a few tracks that later appeared on their aforementioned breakthrough release, MHTRC. Chris Horne, a since lost third BOC member, also contributed to this release. Although not as commonly talked about as ‘Sixtyniner’, I feel that ‘Seeya Later’ still makes for an effective insight into the core formula of BOC’s initial musical practice. The track has a slightly darker vibe to some of MHTRC’s most popular recordings for me. Although not as haunting as the anti-religion nods of ‘Geogaddi’, it sounds like something that you may expect to hear on Aphex Twin’s ‘I Care Because You Do’ all the same. The bassline lightly throbs among the high percussion sounds, with trickling synths that evoke a somewhat unsettling atmosphere. This instrumentation doesn’t fluctuate very much throughout the track, but it remains interesting enough due to the ghostly textures and the intriguing ambience that hold your interest. The melancholic drum beats and the more downtempo influences, like much of BOC’s work, is housed in a driving Hip-Hop breakbeat dressing, which gives it a sense of memorability and pushes the beats forward. I would say that it feels a little bit unfinished, but I think the BOC brothers primarily used the ‘Twoism’ EP as a demo tape to get interest from labels, and so I can forgive the very direct and singular beats being a little exhausting by the end here. Overall, though, it is still a fascinating companion piece to their later work, with less of a child-like feel, more of a dream-like trance. Although it may feel like a sonically incomplete Boards Of Canada, that can make this all the more appealing to seek out.

  • Pictured: Marcus Eoin and Marcus Sandison in a vintage press shot (unknown date) (via Warp Records)

If you think the BOC are brilliant, you can check out how I initially felt about their music through an early listen of ‘An Eagle Of Your Mind’ from 98’s ‘Music Has The Right To Children’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/11/03/todays-track-boards-of-canada-an-eagle-in-your-mind-1998/

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Music Has The Right To Children” (LP) (Released in 1998) (via Warp Records)

Thank you for checking out my latest blog post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as per usual, with an in-depth look at a recent track from an emerging Folk/Blues singer-songwriter who, by day, teaches English in Boyle Heights but, after dark, gets busy writing tunes like ‘Swim Test’, which is based on her father who can’t swim, despite living next to the beach for decades. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Way Back Wednesdays: Bibio – “Cantaloup Carousel”

February 10, 2021 — Leave a comment

Over two decades on, is there still fun to be had at this fairground? Let’s go Way Back!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Fi” (LP) (Originally released in 2005) (via Mush Records)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up your weekly pre-00’s throwback as we do right here on Wednesdays, because it’s routinely my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! “Cantaloup Carousel” was released in 1999, and so it only just falls before the deadline of our Wednesday flashbacks, but I’m counting it. After all, I’m the one writing this. You’re not going to report me to the music police, are you (Or those little boycott gremlins who hang around on websites like Metacritic) I hope not. Anyways, this track is thought to be the first music recording to ever be produced by Bibio (aka English folktronica multi-instrumentalist Stephen James Wilkinson), which eventually landed a spot on the track listing of his debut album, “Fi”. At the time of the late-90’s, Bibio produced the track in his prison ce… (I mean, bedroom) of his university halls of residence in Wood Green, North London – using just a budget sampler, a casette desk and a “cheap plastic microphone” in his own words. Later re-released on his first solo album in 2005, on his self-release label Mute Records, the album was later re-issued and digitally remastered on vinyl by his current label, Warp Records, in 2015, to mark 10 years since the original release. It received mixed to positive reviews from critics at the time, and Bibio has later become known to expand his influences by tapping into sub-genres like Instrumental Hip-Hop, Alternative R&B, Neo-Soul and Indietronica in the years since. Now a very prolific artist, let’s cast our minds to his beginnings below.

“My approach back then was trying to make layered guitar compositions”, Bibio said on Fi’s reissue, “but the lack of professional recording equipment (or know-how) led to this lo-fi sound – a sound which started to feel like a signature and one I started to feel quite excited about”, before ending on, “It’s such a great feeling to see this album finally come out on Warp 10 years after it’s initial release. My younger self would have been blown away”, when talking about the album’s restoration. It’s evident that Bibio was interested in creating a sound of his own to build upon, but there’s still a playful and subversive edge to the character of this release. The style feels very well-rounded, very smooth and quite minimalist. There’s no vocals being recorded by Bibio for this offering, and the narrative arc of-sorts is instead being led by a piano piece. There’s also a light acoustic guitar strum that repeats throughout the duration of the track, along with some deceptively simple four-chord riffs and a very subtle Synth line that lurks in the background. The most striking element of the track is probably the toy-box like quality of the acoustic instrumentation. The simple and cheerful guitar melodies feel unaltered and child-like, and untouched by any artifice whatsoever. It also gives off a theme of nature and forests, with basic production practices that make me picture playing outside with my friends as a small child, and having a joyful time out of that. It doesn’t feel hugely electronic at all, but the time signatures are constantly peaking and retreating, followed by a leading guitar beat that alternates through this soundscape of speed alterations. It allows room for slight adjustments to the tedious melodies, creating a warm and absorbing atmosphere. It was produced with a very low-budget, and the technology obviously feels dated now. However, it’s an interesting entry point into the work of Bibio for newcomers. It’s true that there’s a limited bag of tricks here, and the feel of invention may be lost underneath the hypnotic effects, but the simplicity allows Bibio to experiment to the full, and it undeniably gave him a platform in which to fully firm-up his inspirations together. Overall, despite its sense of dated-ness and being possibly too tedious for some listeners, it holds up pretty well as the solid jump-off point it would prove to be.

  • Pictured: Bibio (aka Stephen James Wilkinson) in a PR shoot for “Ribbons” (2019) (via Warp Records)

You can take a breather now – that’s all I have got for you today! Regular service resumes again tomorrow, as you would probably expect, and I’ve got some brand new music to share with you then. Tomorrow’s track is an excellent new piece recorded by an emerging 21-year-old Indie-Pop and “Bedroom Pop” singer-songwriter who has recently gained traction on social media and streaming platforms since the release of her debut EP in 2018. So far, her latest track – about an intergalactic crush – has amassed over 10 million streams, and landed a spot on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Charts in the US. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Bullion – “Thirty Two”

February 1, 2021 — Leave a comment

A Bullion of silver – let’s see if this music is worth it’s weight in gold! New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Heaven Is Over” (Released on September 25, 2020) (via Jagjaguwar Records)

Good Afternoon – I’ve just seen the Royal Rumble, and that means it’s time for me to get typing up for your 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! We’re kicking off the new month with a familiar face to the blog – and one of the releases that you might have missed in 2020. We’ve covered Bullion’s work once before – and this is the electronic music alias for NTS Radio host Nathan Jenkins, who largely self-produces his own material from his studio in West London. The follow up to the “We Had A Good Time” EP, which released at the very beginning of last year, was the “Heaven Is Over” EP, a little release that I would really recommend for it’s subversive, Warp Records-esque production tools. Under his pseudonym, Jenkins has released a multitude of work for the Young Turks, R&S, The Trilogy Tapes and Jagjaguwar Records companies. During his time-frame, Jenkins has also established himself in the European dance scene, where he’s lived in Lisbon, Portugal for a number of years. My eyes were really drawn to this beautiful fan-made video to his track, “Thirty Two”, which was uploaded onto YouTube last October by TRUTH CRAB, with the Japenese anime’ visuals being taken from Ai Monogatari’s 90’s mini-series, “9 Love Stories”. Let’s take the beauty in below.

“Thirty Two” was, indeed, taken from the “Heaven Is Over” EP from Bullion – which got it’s digital release last September, and a physical 12″ vinyl release followed that December. I’d say it would have made for a brilliant Stocking filler at yuletide time – and the five-track EP was also released as a part of the “Friends Of” project – which was launched, then, as a joint initiative between the Jagjaguwar Records, Secretly Canadian and Dead Oceans label to provide financial support for independent artists affected by the difficulties of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Jenkins also kept himself busy throughout the year by producing Westerman’s debut solo album, “Your Hero Is Not Dead”, along with collaborating with Sampha and Talking Heads’ David Byrne. Even though “Thirty Two” was never officially released as a single, I think it’s still a solid reflection of the 80’s euphemisms and the self–quoted “Pop, Not Slop” attitudes that Jenkins brings to the table. Some might find the lack of any vocals to turn them away, but we’re instead treated to a richly detailed atmosphere that evokes a nostalgic, child-like emotion that would be fairly difficult to replicate with real words. The odd hum, or two, from Jenkins is enough to create a Shoegazed, dream-like backing track to the instrumental sounds. Speaking of those, we get a more electronic style of sound than some of the more piano-based compositions you would find on the EP, with shuffling drum beats and slightly grooving guitar licks evoking a gently propelling sound, while 80’s New Wave-inspired synth lines glide slowly beneath the organic instrumentation to blend these soft instrumentals with a more child-like ambience. It reminds me slightly of Boards Of Canada – with toy Organ chords and mid-tempo Synth lines creating a lightly psychedelic haze to the overall sound. Together, these soft instrumentals gently ascend in tempo, while the odd rumble of bass brings the celestial Synths back down to Earth. I know that some listeners really don’t like the lack of vocals in their music, but I really liked this little release. “Thirty Two” feels very relaxed and quite child-like, but there’s still a light melancholy to the sound with it’s mid-tempo pacing and the push-and-pull bassline. Overall, it is a very nicely laid out little track, and the possible flaws are easy to shake.

  • Pictured: Bullion (a.k.a. Nathan Jenkins) in a photoshoot for his NTS Radio Show (2017) (via NTS)

If you liked “Thirty Two”, I get the feeling that you will also like the title track from Jenkins’ “We Had A Good Time” EP release last February. Check it out right here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/27/todays-track-bullion-we-had-a-good-time/

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “We Had A Good Time” (Released on February 28, 2020) (via DEEK Recordings)

That’s all I’ve got to share with you today – and so I’m going to move on with my shorter working day. Join me again tomorrow for an in-depth look at one of my favourite singles in quite a long time, and this next one is currently really blowing up online with the 6Music crowd of listeners. The track comes from a London-based, female-led Post-Punk group who have recently signed up to the well-known 4AD indie music label, and they were inspired to write and perform their own music by bands including The Feelies, The Necessaries, Pylon and even The B-52’s of wide “Love Shack” fame. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

New Album Release Fridays: Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio – “Call Your Mom”

January 29, 2021 — Leave a comment

What do you get if you drop an Organ onto an army base? A flat major. New post time.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “I Told You So” (LP) (Released on January 29. 2021) (via Colemine Records)

Just one more day to grind through. Good Morning, I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m here to write up your daily post on the blog, because, as I say to you every day, it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Another weekend means that it’s time for a crop of new releases to drop, and the calendar is heating up as we leave the drought of January that we typically have at this time of year. In fact, this week is rather stacked. Many people have been looking forward to Arlo Parks’ debut album which arrives today. There’s also the 20th album release from Ani DiFranco, the formal debut album from the BBC’s Sound Of 2020 winner, Celeste – along with additions to the canons of Madlib and Four Tet, Weezer and more. However, I’m going to jive to a bit of Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio this week. Sometimes abbreviated to DLO3, this is a fantastic Jazz, Soul, Funk and Blues band who are native to Seattle, Washington and have found wider success after heavy airplay on the state’s KEXP community radio station. 2016’s “Close But No Cigar” was their debut LP, and it charted at #1 on the US Contemporary Jazz Albums chart. “I Told You So” is their long-awaited follow-up record, and it’s arrived today – via Colemine Records. Describing their own sound as “improvisation over organ grooves” and “soul music with a strong jazz influence”, the self-taught trio have been devising tightly flavored compositions since 2015. Let’s take a listen to “Call Your Mom” below.

I think it’s an understatement to say that Delvon Lamarr, Jimmy James and Dan Weiss play their instruments beautifally, and what also striked out to me when listening to “Call Your Mom” for the first time was the way they really connect their dots together as a group, a chemistry that Delvon Lamar points out: “While we were recording in the studio, the studio engineer, Jason Gray, asked me what was the name of the song? I said ‘I have no idea'”, and “Call Your Mom” was decided when Gray suggested it to them, but they didn’t know until months later that it’s a reference to a sticker in the back of a Jazz club they played in Alabama, and it’s a story that you simply couldn’t make up. A few others have also pointed out that “Call Your Mom” shares similarities with the sound of Booker T & The MG’s, as a confident and upbeat slice of instrumental funk just struts along a tight groove. A Horn section and an ascending bass guitar riff immediately enter the fray, while the drums are densely packed into the later stages of the track. The organ melodies quickly emerge and retreat from the picture, almost teasing a breaking of the continous groove, before we settle back into that polished mid-tempo production once again. It’s almost like the Organs and the Guitar are trading lines, but working with tandem in one another, instead of fighting for control – despite each tool having a respective solo in the mid-way point. Despite being very repetitous, I never found it tedious. The 60’s Motown feel is created by the energetic and soulful drumming signatures, and the turn-taking in the different instrumentation keeps things interesting. It leads to a neatly structured finish, where a feel of a “suited-and-booted” vibe puts across a vintage aesthetic. It also feels more improved than some of their earlier work, with the brief diversions from the groove and the confident atmosphere showing a more meticulous layout for the single – in comparison to some of their work prior for me. To conclude, this probably won’t fall under the wheelhouse of everybody because it’s sorted as a niche, but I think those who like their groovy and funky instrumental jazz will love it, and I think it deserves a chance from everybody. It’s played wonderfully, and evokes class from start to finish.

  • Pictured: Delvon Lamarr (Keyboard/Piano/Organ/Bass Guitar), Jimmy James (Rhythm Guitar) and Dan Weiss (Drums/Percussion) (2018) (Photo Credit: Bebe Labree Bresch/KEXP.org)

Back in the worldwide lockdown in Spring – the group also found themselves busy. Check out the review for “Inner City Blues” from the Brighter Days Ahead series here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/08/14/todays-track-delvon-lamarr-organ-trio-inner-city-blues/

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Inner City Blues” (Single) (Released on May 22nd, 2020) (via Colemine Records)

That concludes my musical message for today! Scuzz Sundays is inside the oven for release in two days time, as per usual. Before then, take a look at the blog tomorrow – Where we’ll be taking a look at the highly popular new album to come from a Midlands Electronic Post-Punk duo who have released several albums to critical acclaim. The vocalist was influenced by his sub-cultural love of Wu Tang Clan, and he started out by recording music with Bent and Spiritualized as a session musician for local artists. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Jeremiah Fraites – “Chilly”

January 28, 2021 — Leave a comment

It’s pleasant to see the critics aren’t giving this one a frosty reception! New post time.

  • Pictured: Jeremiah Fraites in a PR shoot for “Piano Piano” (2020) (Photo by Roberto Graziano Moro)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke – and once again – it’s time for me to get typing up about your daily track on the blog for today, and that’s because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It’s not very often that I cover any form of Classical music on the blog, but “Chilly” is a little track which caught my ear. It was one of the singles from “Piano Piano”, which was an album released last Friday by the New Jersey-based Folk songwriter Jeremiah Fraites. Fraites is the co-founder of The Lumineers, a US Folk group who are probably best known in the wider public eye for “Ho Hey”, a single from their debut studio album, which became a huge hit on the charts internationally back in 2012. It’s the classic case of “Who Knew?” in terms of this release, although it is a side solo project that Fraites has been firming together for nearly half a decade now. A solo album of mostly instrumental piano compositions, Fraites also performs the guitar, synths and drum machine programming parts himself on the record, although it also features a notable Violin part arranged by Lauren Jacobson, also of The Lumineers. It was engineered by David Baron (Shawn Mendes, Jade Bird, Vance Joy), and distributed via Dualtone Records in the US – and Mercury XX internationally. Things are getting “Chilly” below.

Jeremiah Fraites wanted to tackle an idea of spaciousness with this release, as he told American Songwriter: “I’ve always been attracted to music when I hear big spaces”, and the now-composer has found a very proud appreciation for his new track, stating: “It reminds me of the epitome of minimalism, the epitome of really trying to find a simple idea and moving and expanding and letting it evolve very slowly”, before he concluded, “I think honestly it’s my favourite track on the album currently”, in his press release. “Chilly” makes up for it’s lack of vocals in it’s shifting spectrum of moods. The beginning feels restrained and solemn, before we slowly make our way to a more involved instrumental, where quick chords and movie-like ambience are peppered throughout the atmosphere. The textures remain somber, but enriched with a soothing and intimate quality, and I can easily sense that Fraites was going for the feeling of a late-night fireplace slowly burning its logs, or a bittersweet, neither happy or sad, walk through a heavy snow terrain. As we drift towards the end on a mid-tempo basis, the rhythm becomes more interspersed with soft loops of Horn instrumentation which almost resembles a choral backing vocal. The mood isn’t mournful as such, to me, but the Cello riff at the end and the slight rumble of Bass puts across a more emotive and deep sense of reflection. The results are a lightly soothing journey across different minimalist elements. It feels hearty and pleasant, with the piano piece never changing it’s harshness a great deal, but remaining quite merticulously layered. Although I would say that the situations in which you might listen to this piece of work are pretty limited – it fulfills it’s purpose with a solid cohesion when you’re in the mood for a winter atmosphere in the middle of a cold and very Covid-ridden January – and it does come across as a nice suprise altogether.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Piano Piano” (Released on January 22nd, 2021) (via Dualtone Records)

Nothing more for today – but I’ll be back tomorrow for a new installment in our weekly New Album Release Friday series, where we take a comprehensive view at one of the weekend’s new full-length releases, seeing as they’re all released on a Friday. I wonder when that unwritten rule was decided. Anyways, I’m going to take a turn for the unexpected again tomorrow, as we shift our attention to the brand new album to come from a US Jazz, Soul and Blues trio whose debut album reached the top of the US Contemporary Jazz Albums Chart when it was released in 2016 – and the three musicians are regular favourites of Seattle’s radio station – KEXP. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Tycho – “Outer Sunset”

January 9, 2021 — 1 Comment

Better keep my grammar in check on this one. Nobody wants a ‘Typo’. New Post time!

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

Good Morning to you – my name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to – once again – fulfill my daily duties of typing up your daily track on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write to you about a different piece of music every day! A little bit like Boards Of Canada, Tycho is an ambient electronic music producer (currently based in San Francisco) who loves to blend multiple aspects of media tools within his disposal to fully realize vital themes of Nature and Environment within his compositions. From taking samples of weather broadcasts and pre-recorded dialogue, Scott Hansen usually creates a luscious set of rural soundscapes to allow his elements of downtempo guitar and analogue production to breathe. In fact, you may also know his work already – as the graphic designer ISO50. “Outer Sunset” was the lead single from his most recent album, “Simulcast”, which was released back in last February as a co-distribution between Ninja Tune and Mom + Pop Records. This work is connected to “Weather”, Hansen’s previous LP record, of which Hansen has removed the vocal sections, and Hansen had decided to expand upon the ambient instrumentation instead. It’s a very timely record to hear during Lockdown – a time where one of the few positives has been the re-positioning of nature and birdsong as one of the world’s beauties outside of our windows – and it sadly fell under my radar a bit beforehand. That’s about to change. Let’s have a listen to “Outer Sunset” below.

Many critics have attributed that “Simulcast” finds Hansen strip down his futuristic technology for a dip back into the dreamy, lo-fi electronica that originally bought him to the dance. Hansen said of the LP: “A Simulcast is the transmission of a program across two different mediums and two different languages”, expanding with, “With these two albums, I wanted to present the same ideas in two languages, one more literal, and the other more open to interpretation”, before explaining, “Simulcast expands on the concepts laid out in ‘Weather’, but shifts into the abstract, with instrumental soundscapes in place of lyrics, opening up a visual space and translating the message into a new language”, in his press notes. “Outer Sunset” fuses hazy guitar lines with a chilled-out electronic synth loop, although I feel the melodies are beat-driven enough to sustain an indie, ‘pop’ flair. The beats aren’t entirely off-kilter, but they feel serene and simple. There is a palpable sense of stillness about it, with some sun-licked guitar tones to add a fair rumble of bass, and a merticulously layered sequence of shuffle beats that are carefully plucked beneath them, to an almost DJ Shadow-ish degree of subtle Hip-Hop breakbeat influences. The melodies present a feeling of coming-of-age and nostalgia to me, and this leaves me cutting off from the outside world for a few minutes and delving into my own thoughts for a little while, this showing a visual effect of the mellow Indietronica stylings. These elements of Synthwave, modern Chillout and 10’s Vaporwave are upbeat enough to carry the airy Pop beats all of the way through, although the tone is still fairly laidback, and the chord progression remains simple. It shapes up to be perfect “In The Bathtub” music.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for "Simulcast" (Released on February 28th, 2020) (via Mom + Pop Records)
    Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Simulcast” (Released on February 28th, 2020) (via Mom + Pop Records)

Thank you for checking out today’s post – It was better late than never, eh? It’s already going to be time for a new entry in our Scuzz Sundays series tomorrow, and we’re going to be making up for the lack of notable new releases with a “big name” post from the past instead. It’s a less obvious pick from the band in question though, even if it is that legendary Grunge trio who used to feature now-Foo Fighter Dave Grohl in the drumming seat amongst the famous line-up. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/