Ballad

New Album Release Fridays: Gang Of Youths – ‘In The Wake Of Your Leave’

February 25, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Angel In Realtime’ (Released on February 25th, 2022) (via Mosy/Warner Bros. Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, of course, and the time has come for me to talk about one of the weekend’s most fascinating new album releases with ‘New Album Release Fridays’ on the blog, which ties into my goal of writing up about a different piece of music every day! ‘In The Wake Of Your Leave’ marks the second appearance on the daily blog for the surprisingly good Southern Rock-influenced rock band Gang Of Youths led by the frontman David Le’Aupepe of Samoan and Māori heritage. These guys are from Sydney, Australia and they seem to be more well-known there – having won four awards at the ARIA Music Awards Of 2017 including ‘Album Of The Year’ and ‘Producer Of The Year’ alongside Adrian Breakspear for their second album, ‘Go Farther In Lightness’, that was also released that year. However, they have been gaining daytime airplay from Radio X and BBC Radio 2 in recent years, they have performed on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ in the US and they have toured arenas in support of Sam Fender too, and so it seems to me that they have been gaining mainstream traction in the rest of the world in recent months. It may expand even more when the masses hear ‘Angel In Real Time’, Gang Of Youths’ third studio album, which arrives today. Announced on Twitter last November, the new LP tackles the subjects of grief and loss – as Le’Aupepe has sadly lost his father – as well as indigenous identity. Describing his father in a press release, he says, “My dad was a gifted and passionate gardener. It’s where he funneled a lot of his energy and sensitivity, and despite our humble economic status, we were always surrounded by beauty”. Let’s hear a song about the subject – ‘In The Wake Of Your Leave’ – below.

This has been shaping up to be a crowded 2022 for Gang Of Youths as they continue to sell out headline solo gigs, and of the heart-wrenching recent single that we have just seen above, the ringmaster David Le’Aupepe recalls, “I wanted to reflect on how I became dependent on grief for solace and inspiration”, explaining, “The cycle from numbness to acceptance to yearning plays a role in my approach to grieving my dad’s death. As a result, most of the time, I feel a bit futile as a person”, in his own words via press release. Featuring backing harmonies by the Auckland Gospel Choir, percussion from drummers from the Cook Islands and sweeping string arrangements by Tom Hobden, L’Auepepe sounds both self-lacerating and liberating on the fast paced and emotive ballad as he recites lyrics like “So, as you canyoneered from our world upwards and the angels take their place/I was the loser at your funeral/No emotion conveyed” to the sound of some free-wheeling guitar melodies and energetic drum backings, as he shifts through a story of accepting loss and the cycles of moving on from a heavy bereavement at a concise structure and speed. The vocal delivery in the verses feels a little more poetry-based, with urgent lyrics like “I was drawn out in vain/And the idiot I am just figured/In the wake of your leave/That I’d never hear from you again” that feel like they are being half-spoken with a winking eye as the vague sense of humor shines through. Sung against a crescendo of uptempo guitar riffs and a grandiose backdrop of backing vocals and strings, the chorus of “My hand on heart/It’s not a thing that I’ve been dreaming of/And it goes without my blessing” and “But it comes and goes/And shows me all I’m missing” provides a very triumphant response to the death of a close relative and puts a little focus on the person who is suffering from the event, instead of solely the father himself. Introspective in the songwriting, confronting difficult topics with a brave sense of personality, and conjuring up some excellent instrumentation that gives it the anthemic feeling that it strives for, what really – quite honestly – amazes me about ‘In The Wake Of Your Leave’ is how it takes a concept that is deeply relatable and quite appealing to the mainstream in a way, but it still manages to feel intimate and unique to Gang Of Youths, as the track does a good job of convincing me that only David L’Aupepe could have wrote the track as it feels so reflective and expressive of himself. Most of the bands who have released music that Gang Of Youths remind me of – like Kings Of Leon or Liam Gallagher – have often released material that simply feels a little manufactured to me and I have found tricky to relate to as an individual – so I can often take it or leave it. I’m glad to say that with Gang Of Youths, the former is the case. Overall, ‘In The Wake Of Your Leave’ is pretty bloody fantastic in my opinion. A track that has a fair share of influences that it wears on it’s sleeves and it feels like it is about the person who made it, as all of the most moving music does to me, while feeling like an authentic tribute to L’Aupepe’s lost father. An irresistible mix of Bruce Springsteen, 80’s Blues Rock and this more modern, cinematic incarnation of The War On Drugs that we heard on Kurt Vile’s bands’ recent album. This is a really great piece.

Pictured: David Le’Aupepe (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Piano), Jung Kim (Keyboard/Synths/Acoustic Guitar), Max Dunn (Bass Guitar), Tom Hobden (Violin) and Donnie Borzestowski (Drums/Percussion) (2021) (via PR)

As mentioned before, ‘In The Wake Of Your Leave’, is the second single from Gang Of Youths to earn a little bit of attention on the blog. You can check out what I made of ‘The Angel Of 8th Ave.’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/08/14/todays-track-gang-of-youths-the-angel-of-8th-ave/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘The Angel of 8th Ave’ (Single) (Released on June 15th, 2021) (via Warner Bros. Records)

That was all that I really had to say about Gang Of Youths today, and I hope that you enjoyed this week’s entry of ‘New Album Release Fridays’ on the site, as your support is always highly appreciated. ‘Scuzz Sundays’ returns in two days time where we’re going to revisit a Post-Britpop classic from Richard Ashcroft’s old band. Before then, I’ve got some more accessible music lined up for you tomorrow as we listen to one of the latest tunes by an established Electronic Pop group from Devonshire, England who have remixed many artists over the years including Lady GaGa, Franz Ferdinand, Goldfrapp, Sebastien Teller and Gorillaz. Their seventh album was released last week.

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Way Back Wednesdays: Pat Benatar – ‘Love Is A Battlefield’

February 23, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Pat Benatar performing with Neil Girado in New York (2012) (Photo via Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke – and it’s time for you to sharpen your sword and pick your poison for yet another daily track on the blog, as we revive one of the most combative Synth-Pop hits of the 80’s for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’, given that it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music each day! ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ and ‘Heartbreaker’ were just two of the biggest hits that New York-born 80’s singer Pat Benatar – who had eight consecutive Platinum-certified albums over in Canada – graced our ears with throughout the decade. However, none of the four-time Grammy winner’s hits struck quite the chord that 1983’s ‘Love Is A Battlefield’ had done with mainstream audiences and, although I often veer into the Alternative side of music for most of my musical musings, it is still important for us to remember that some of the artists that we all like have enjoyed commercial success. Often producing her music with guitarist Neil Giraldo, who also became her husband in the process, Benatar has had 15 top 40 singles on the US Billboard charts and she has sold a reported figure of over 35 million albums worldwide. ‘Love Is A Battlefield’ represented her move from melodramatic rock ballads to more melodic pop, and, even now, it is often still used to represent the sound of the 80’s, having been used recently in the hugely popular TV series ‘Stranger Things’. Memorable for its music video, which saw Benatar playing a rebellious young girl who runs away from home, the single was ranked at #30 of VHS’ list of the 100 Greatest Hits Of The 80’s and it reached the #1 spot in several territories, including Australia and The Netherlands, as well as the Rock Tracks Chart in the US, shortly following release. Let’s revisit it below.

Written by Holly Knight and Mike Chapman, ‘Love Is A Battlefield’ was initially meant to be a mid-tempo ballad, but Benatar was the only one to really see potential in the track because the studio executives had originally disliked it. After a little bit of time monkeying around with husband/producer Neil Giraldo on the drum machines in the studio, they created the more electronic sound of the finished piece. You can still hear that the guitars are present, but it put a unique spin on rock ‘n’ roll music at the time and it was quite a large switch in sound for Benatar to make back then. Given that it went straight to #5 on the US Billboard Chart, however, it’s fair to say that her risk paid off nicely. Moreover, the lyrics are kept to the point with a self-explanatory nature, as the lead character feels scorned and scarred by love. Benatar keeps her vocal performance feeling dynamic, with a spoken opening refrain that battles with her cleaner verse, and some twisting effects in the chorus. Hook-based lyrics like “We are strong/No one can tell us we’re wrong/Searching our hearts for so long” prove that Benatar is capable of producing some decent, catchy lyrics. The soundscape consistently shifts, with the refrain of “You’re begging me to go/Then making me stay” leading the slower refrain in the bridge that keeps the emotive vulnerability of a ballad intact. You can definitely hear that it was originally going to be a ballad and see where the significant rewrites were made when you know the backstory, but that background also clearly has something to do with what makes the lyrics so punchy and what makes the instrumentation feel so strong. Going from slow and somber to angry and melodic, ‘Love Is A Battlefield’ was simply a great Pop song from the 80’s and the Synths suit her vocals in place of the heavy rock influences of her earlier work, and so it is no wonder that it became one of the 80’s most cherished recordings.

Pictured: Pat Benatar in a PR photoshoot for ‘In The Heat Of The Night’ (1979) (Photo via V13.net/Chrysallis)

That’s all for now! Thank you for enjoying another swift blast from the past with me, and I’ll be back tomorrow to take you through some more brand new music. My next pick comes from an Alternative Folk singer-songwriter from New Zealand who was spotted by Anika Moa, another Folk-Pop singer-songwriter from New Zealand, who asked her to support her that night after finding her busking outside of the venue that she was going to play at. She has since released music on 4AD, Spunk and Flying Nun, and her fourth full-length LP – ‘Warm Chris’ – is set for its release on March 25th, 2022.

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New Album Release Fridays: Beach House – ‘Once Twice Melody’

February 18, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Once Twice Melody’ (LP) (Released on February 18th, 2022) (via Sub-Pop Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to give you a sneak peek at one of the weekend’s most exciting new album releases, given that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! In most typical weeks, my choice for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ on the blog is a highly anticipated affair that we’ve only got two or three singles from at most prior to the big moment of release, however, in the case of ‘Once Twice Melody’ – you can hear three quarters of it already. The latest LP project from the Baltimore, Maryland duo of Victoria LeGrand and Alex Scally, otherwise known as Beach House, a Chamber Pop duo who have been nominated for a GAFFA Award in Sweden, ‘Once Twice Melody’ is effectively a double album that contains 18 tracks that have all been presented in four chapters of four tracks that have seen staggered releases since November 2021, a risky move that notably finds music contributing to the streaming algorithm more closely than ever before. In aid of supporting the behemoth of a record, Beach House will be touring the UK and Europe in May and June 2022, as well as performing alongside fellow Psychedelic acts like Tame Impala and Lorde at this summer’s Primavera Sound Festival. ‘Part 1’ was released on November 10th, 2021 followed by ‘Part 2’ on December 8th, 2021, followed by ‘Part 3’ on January 19th, 2022 and, finally, the final chapter releases today alongside a full release of the project on Vinyl and Streaming. The duo have also recently provided the soundtrack to ‘Marin’s Dreams’, a short film. With their drawing and expansive sound that has been focused on conveying an abstract reflection of a message that idyllic moments are never quite as fruitful as fantasy, I have a lot of faith in LeGrand and Scally to pull out all of the stops with this mammoth of a release. For a sampler, let’s revisit the title track below.

Self-produced entirely by themselves, the ambitious LP project by Beach House was mixed by Alan Moulder, Dave Fridmann, Caesar Edmunds and Trevor Spencer, and it has been recorded over the past two years in a handful of studios spanning across Los Angeles, Baltimore and Cannon Falls. The lyrics for the title track speak of a girl that is placated by her own eccentric imagination, an unnamed character with an enigmatic narrative that we experience with refrains like “Nights fly by in her mind/All along the boulevard” and “She tries to understand/A never, never land” that find LeGrand focusing on the finer details of her mindset and they play out above a gorgeous sequence of looping synths and live drums on the title track. Guitar arpeggios continue to conjure up a sweeping and decorated soundscape that evoke sinking into the grass or the sand from an hourglass slipping through your fingers while LeGrand croons about the sensual slow pace of a hot, gauzy summer’s day. Lyrics like “Days go by/In her eyes/Belle De Jour in front of me” and “The purple on the vine/The velvet deep tree line” find the prismatic mood of the vocals basking in the far-away lands that have been constructed by our shy character’s wandering mind. It feels lush and vibrant as a complete package, with LeGrand and Scally telling a mysterious yet intriguing tale of the illusion of a crystal clear universe of fiction that are polished carefully with intimate Strings and a symphony of creative backing vocals, and yet the idealizations of our leading lady are never truly filled in. The sound simply takes you back to the very core of Shoegaze and Dream Pop music, which is all about filling a simple few melodies with meticulous details and an atmosphere that is simply designed for you to get lost in – and the kicking drums/synths combo of the vivid instrumentation escalate their own levels of intensity as the sprawling sounds move up to a higher scope. Therefore, I have a lot of faith that despite the sheer length of ‘Once Twice Melody’ as a full release, LeGrand and Scally will give the project plenty of depth and variety as to not grow tiresome and justify the length in creating music that doesn’t lose it’s intimacy over a run time. I concur that Beach House are brilliant!

Pictured: Victoria LeGrand and Alex Scally (2018) (Photo Credit: Robert Johannson/InterviewMagazine.com)

I’m off to visit my sister in Kent today, and so I haven’t got any longer to chat about all things music with you for today, but thank you very much for checking out the blog and your support is highly appreciated! If you deeply love your Dream-Pop and your Shoegaze styles of music, you’re also going to enjoy tomorrow’s post, which is why I decided to cover these two tracks so tightly together. It comes from the main solo project of the French multi-instrumentalist and producer Melody Prochet who got a 9/10 score from Drowned In Sound’s Dom Gourlay for her debut studio album in 2013.

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Today’s Track: Lo Moon – ‘Dream Never Dies’

January 25, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Matt Lowell (Guitars/Vocals), Crisanta Baker (Synth/Bass/Samples), Sam Stewart (Bass Guitar) and Sterling Laws (Drums/Percussion/Occasional Backing Vocals) (2022) (Photo via Twitter.com/Strngr Recordings)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, as you will be already aware if you’ve read the blog before, and the time has come for me to write up about some wistful sounds with yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! Comprised of Matthew Lowell, Crisanta Baker, Sterling Laws and guitarist Samuel Stewart – who is the also the son of Eurythmics’ David A. Stewart and Bananarama’s Siobhan Fahey – Lo Moon are a nice California-based outfit known for their wide-eyed explorations of uplifting Dream Pop and melodic Indie Rock who have previously been signed to major label Columbia Records after forming in 2016, where they released their self-titled debut album to positive reviews in 2018. Although they seem like a fairly low-profile name, Lo Moon will be supporting The War On Drugs on tour soon. They have also opened for a wide variety of more familiar bands – including Phoenix, Glass Animals, CHVRCHES, Air and London Grammar – along the way. You may have also seen them cap off these rigorous touring schedules with their solo sets at festivals including All Points East in London, Lollapalooza in Chicago and Governor’s Ball in New York City as well. Two years after their debut LP was released, their sophomore album has recently been given a title and a release date. You can hear ‘A Modern Life’ from February 25th – this time via the Strngr Recordings label, and so any die-hard fans of Lo Moon’s little universe will be very excited in just a month’s time. The first single – ‘Dream Never Dies’ – was co-produced by Yves Rothman (Yves Tumor, Miya Folick) and the accompanying music video aims to take you, as the listener, through the broad architecture of ambitions and expectations, as directed by Michael Hili (The Killers, John Carroll Kirby, Lemon Twigs). So, lets check out ‘Dream Never Dies’ below.

Prior to the second new single ‘Raincoats’, ‘Dream Never Dies’ marked an important statement for Lo Moon as it was their first new material in three years. Vocalist Matt Lowell says about this track, “As I get older, I’ve become more and more nostalgic about my youth. I had way less anxiety, I didn’t fear losing the people closest to me, or have to face the bigger questions of life”, adding, “Hope and optimism were just a little bit easier back then. I work hard not to let the complexities of life suck the hope out of me. This song, if nothing else, is a reminder to try my best and not let that happen”, to his press release. Kicking off with a floating array of rich Piano accents, the beat settles into a groove with deep percussion as Lowell recites motivational lyrics like “Locking eyes, late at night butterflies, hold me the rest of my life” and “Let this go, what’s the use?/The more you know, the more we lose” as he mimics swift poetry with a soaring style of vocals that punctuate the verses, and later, the chorus. Later on, the soundscape develops further with cinematic Synths backing up his warm vocals and a sprawling guitar solo that continues to widen the scope of their sound. The chorus, meanwhile, feels nostalgic and radiant as open lyrics like “What happened to all the east days of summer/Back when we were younger” and “Radio still blasting, heaven’s everlasting” ascend momentarily above some reverb-drenched instrumentals and some amplified Strings, before Matt Lowell uses some nascent refrains like “If I could bring you back/All I have to do is close my eyes” to complement the beautifully moving, and often cinematic, Chamber-esque melodies. There’s certainly a Talk Talk-like motif to Lowell’s towering vocals here, where the 00’s Brit-Rock elements and the ache of summer nostalgia collide to create an exciting, if a little basic, lyrical theme that we can all relate to. A wholly personal affair that sounds stunning, ‘Dream Never Dies’ is a powerful and poetic piece that will keep you awake.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘A Modern Life’ (LP) (Available from February 25th, 2022) (via Strngr Recordings)

That brings us to the end of another daily post on the blog! Thank you for helping my dream not to die by checking it out, and I’ll be back tomorrow for a new iteration of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ as we revisit a beloved Scottish Experimental Rock band who achieved a cult following with their pioneering brand of ‘Folktronica’ in the late-90’s until disbanding in 1994. The band’s music, and a name-drop of them, was used in a famous scene starring John Cusack as a record shop manager in 2000’s ‘High Fidelity’.

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Way Back Wednesdays: Death Cab For Cutie – ‘Information Travels Faster’

January 19, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Benjamin Gibbard (Lead Vocals/Piano/Rhythm Guitar), Nick Hammer (Bass Guitar/Keyboard/Organ), Jason McGerr (Drums/Percussion), Dave Depper (Lead Guitar/Synths/Occasional Backing Vocals), Zac Rae (Keyboards/Guitars/Backing Vocals) (2021) (Photo via UpsetMagazine.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time again for us to remind ourselves of how old we all are with another installment of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ on the blog, not neglecting that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Known for their very description-defying variety of instrumentation and the idiosyncratic voice of frontman Benjamin Gibbard, Death Cab For Cutie were a surviving Alternative Rock band from the commercial ‘Indie Boom’ of the 00’s who have achieved plenty of good attention, both critically and commercially, over the last handful of decades. They actually got their name from a track originally written by Neil Innes and Vivian Stanshell for The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band partially created for The Beatles’ film ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ of 1967, and the outfit who took that name have since found their material being used by film and TV productions like ‘Twilight’ and ‘The O.C.’ in their own right. Early albums like 2005’s ‘Plans’ have been certified Platinum, but the band have continued to release a steady stream of quite well-liked releases as recently as 2018’s ‘Thank You For Today’ during their lifetime. Three of the band’s most high-charting singles, however, were found on 2001’s ‘The Photo Album’, a record that was their only full-length album to feature drummer Michael Scorr. To mark two decades since it initially arrived, Death Cab For Cutie have digitally released a 35-track remastered edition of the album with all of the usual suspects – cover versions of the likes of Bjork’s ‘All Is Full Of Love’ and The Stone Roses’ ‘I Wanna Be Adored’, studio outtakes, unreleased tracks, rarities and UK-exclusive B-sides that was released digitally on October 29th but will be availalble physically on Vinyl in Spring 2022. The rework includes an alternative version of fan-favourite track ‘Information Travels Faster’, so we’re going to hear the original below.

Another alternate version of the album was released in the form of a limited edition extended play titled ‘The Stability EP’ that appeared briefly in early 2002, containing bonus tracks from the original version of the album and Japanese versions of ‘The Photo Album’ as well. Beginning with the powerful refrain of “I intentionally wrote it out to be an illegible mess/You wanted me to write your letters, but I’d rather lose your address” as the sultry mid-tempo tones between the treble-assisted lead guitar riffs and the low-end angle of the bass guitar melodies create a poetic opening for Gibbard to recite some heartfelt lyrics above a bitter mood. The band provide a steady backing for him as he croons hooks in the bridge like “Sewing circles are not solely based in trades of cloth/There’s spinsters all around here taking notes, reporting on us” as he pens a letter to an anonymous contact to say farewell. It is left ambiguous as to what the lyrics are truly about, but there is a solemn refrain in the chorus of “As information travels faster, in the modern age, as our days are crawling by” that teases a deeper meaning between how we communicate with other contacts and how we find it difficult to communicate what we really mean to say when we’re not face to face, which feels like a near-precursor to the true social media days that came shortly after the album was being released. Released at a pivotal point of their career where it was time for the band to decide if they should quit their day jobs to pursue music full time, it moulds some atmospheric Piano-based backdrops to Gibbard’s desires to use pre-modern methods to correspond with others. Although it doesn’t quite hit me emotionally, we definitely get to hear how Gibbard’s mind works with the interesting themes of the lyrics and the technical instrumentation used by the rest of the band to pull off the poetic backdrop well. A compelling track that was written about a memorable topic that the younger generations may never experience.

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

Although we have never covered any of Death Cab For Cutie’s traditional output before, the lead talent of Benjamin Gibbard has enjoyed a revolving door of posts on the blog, including his mid-2020 quarantine single ‘Life In Quarantine’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/25/todays-track-benjamin-gibbard-life-in-quarantine/ and the late summertime-fueled Tycho collaboration ‘Only Love’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/10/02/todays-track-tycho-benjamin-gibbard-only-love/

Pictured: Benjamin Gibbard performing a live acoustic solo set (2018) (Photo Credit: Roberto Ricciuti/Getty Images)

That’s all for now! Thank you for corresponding with me today, and I’ll be back tomorrow as we nearly get through to another weekend with a post concerning the underground sounds of today. My next pick comes from a self-described “North Georgia Cat” who was introduced to music by the Alternative Rock circuit of the Scuzz Sundays life span – the likes of Sublime and System Of A Down – by his older brother.

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Today’s Track: KAINA – ‘Anybody Can Be In Love’

January 13, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: KAINA in an official PR photoshoot for ‘Next To The Sun’ (2019) (Photo Credit: Vacalo Radio.org)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time to reflect the rising warmth of the slowly arriving Spring with yet another radiant daily track on the blog, by remembering that it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A Minneapolis-based Alternative R&B singer-songwriter who was raised in Chicago but born of both Venezuelan and Guatemalan heritage, Kaina Castillo (who goes by the shortened name of KAINA when releasing her music) is new to my ears but is definitely worth the mainstream keeping an ear on by these standards of her recent single ‘Anybody Can Be In Love’, a heartfelt track that blends mellow Neo-Soul and early 00’s Garage-Pop influences (Think ‘Flowers’ by Sweet Female Attitude) together warmly. Signed to Berlin-based independent label City Slang Records (The home of artists like Noga Erez and Roosevelt), KAINA has worked with prolific Pop producers such as Sen Morimoto and Luke Titus on her discography that includes 2019’s ‘Next To The Sun’ – her previous album – as well as EP’s like 2016’s ‘Sweet asl’ and 2018’s ‘4U’ that lyrically dealt with the themes of representation and self-identity. Her next album – ‘It Was A Home’ – is set to arrive on March 4th with a few featured guests including Helado Negro and Sleater-Kinney. To coincide with the announcement, KAINA has provided our first taster of her new record with the aforementioned single that is accompanied by a psychedelic music video that was directed by Weird Life Films that clearly takes inspiration from Mr. Rogers TV show with the Utopian visuals. Let’s take a listen to the eminent new track.

The soon-to-be touring musician says, “Anybody Can Be In Love is about letting go and accepting love when it comes to any sort of relationship, romantic or platonic” in her latest press release, adding, “I’ve seen myself and my close friends miss out on a really great moment we’ve wished for or a great relationship because we’re so fixated on getting hurt or being fearful”, as she makes it clear that she aims for the track to make listeners feel inspired to take a chance on the potential around them. Opening with a hazy psych-inflected drum beat and a calm String section that struts along confidently, KAINA opens up her heart with honest lyrics like “Everybody’s looking for a sign that they won’t trust, Missing moments we’ve been dreaming of” that spread a widely relatable message that inspires urgency while getting the point across in a calmly defiant way with mid-tempo String sections and a soulful set of bass guitar riffs that undercut the headstrong lyrics of “Doesn’t take much to get along/Doesn’t take much to take the time” as the chorus meanders along with a vibe of tranquility and clarity. There’s a neat focus on dream-inflicted ambiance where the delicate vocal performance meets in the middle with an intoxicating blend of soft pop melodies and visionary Neo-Soul elements. The textures complement the mellow tone quite nicely too, with a fiercer guitar tone that builds up the call to personal action within the song while not overbearing the illustrious atmosphere of KAINA’s fragile vocals by showing the correct amount of gentle restraint. Whether you choose to love yourself more intimately after hearing the track or taking a chance on somebody around you after hearing the bright track, the message is put across in a clear-cut way that still maintains the warmth of the subtle Soul sound. While ‘Anybody Can Be In Love’ could have possibly done with a few more interesting lyrics, it’s still a poignant little track that encourages seeing the beauty in the simplicity of your surroundings and the sweeping melodies ooze a sense of relaxation that feels wide-eyed and encouraging without feeling overwhelming at any point, and so this is really nice work from KAINA.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘It Was A Home’ (LP) (Available on March 4th, 2022) (via City Slang Records)

That’s all for now! Don’t forget to be kind to yourself today, and I send my love to you for checking out my latest blog post. Exciting developments are here tomorrow as the first part of my year-end list of 2021’s best albums gets published on the site and ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ makes it’s routinely return to the site after a brief few weeks away as we sample the new full-length album from the former frontman of The Maccabees.

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Scuzz Sundays: Green Day – ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’

January 2, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Nimrod’ (LP) (Released on October 14th, 1997) (via Reprise Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has arrived again for me to see find out if a series of Pop-Punk style hits from between the 90’s and 00’s can match up to quality in the modern times for ‘Scuzz Sundays’ – not forgetting that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! When thinking about the bands who popularized heavier variations of Rock in the mainstream of the US during the specified period of the Scuzz TV days – bands like Panic! At The Disco, Feeder, Bowling For Soup, Weezer, All American Rejects and The Bloodhound Gang call to my mind for various reasons. However, it feels shocking that we haven’t covered Green Day to any extent for my feature, a very famous 90’s/00’s East Bay native punk rock band who have sold over 75 million records worldwide and released a new album as recently as 2020, before. That’s mostly because I can’t stand ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’ at all because I had to perform it SO MANY TIMES for a music class in secondary school. However, one of their other most famous recordings – ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’ – should subside in kicking off the new year with some solid familiarity. A single that showed a softer side to Billie Joe Armstrong, who was previously known for playing his edgy teen-angled music loud and proud, the band’s famous ballad of 1997 reached the top 20 of the charts in several countries including Australia, Iceland, the UK, Canada and the US. It has also been downloaded over 2.6 million times – and I should think it went some way in securing a Broadway stage musical spot related to the band’s other massive hit ‘American Idiot’ in sturdy fashion before the theatrical piece premiered in 2010. On that note – I hope you have the time of your life with ‘Good Riddance’ below.

You’ve probably heard ‘Good Riddance’ played in sentimental spaces like your wedding or a high-school prom night, but the original source of inspiration behind Armstrong’s anthem came from a heart of anger. He told Loudersound in 2016, “It’s about an ex-girlfriend who had moved to Ecuador. In the song, I tried to be level-headed about her leaving, even though I was completely p***ed off. So, I named it ‘Good Riddance’ just to express my anger”, before a late-night house party influenced him to write the material under an Acoustic music guise, a move that he told NME was stylistically different for the band and a risky choice at the time. On this record, Armstrong manages to be relatable and effective in this simplicity and, while seeing a band previously known for darker Punk material turn to a more reflective tone for a gentle ballad isn’t an unprecedented move and a fairly predictable deviation in the modern times, it’s still good to see that Green Day weren’t afraid to change their style up for the benefit of varied material to shape up their discography. Setting this scene with the opening of “Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road” and “Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go” that trade raucous riffs for intimacy, the band are confident in backing up Armstrong’s restrained vocals with a fragile String section and a shifting series of warm vintage acoustic guitar strums. The memorable hook of “It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right/I hope you had the time of your life” has an air of vengeance buried underneath the warmer delivery, but it comes across as heartfelt enough through the reflective vocals that refrain from auto-tune manipulation. While the song does sound very commercial, it was not over-produced. The vocals are a bit formulaic, but they are honest and packed with a small sense of genuine emotion and, really, Green Day are a decent band for being able to achieve these effects with such a radio-friendly recording. I think it’s the ubiquity of the sentimental value that transcends the immediate context of the songwriting that feels timeless and makes the song continually find new popularity with more passing generations and, really, that is still a solid achievement. Overall, this was an often misinterpreted little track that – while not revolutionary – has found a reason to be popular. Peaceful – if commercial – music with enough heart to stand the test of time.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘American Idiot’ (LP) (Released on September 21st, 2004) (via Reprise Records)

‘Good Riddance’ may remain to be a frequent staple for the end of Green Day’s live performances, but the show must always go on here at One Track At A Time. Join me for the rest of a seemingly never-ending encore tomorrow with our first entirely regular track post in a short time. It comes from a now-solo English musician who was formerly a member of Spaceman 3 and, among line-up changes, his associated band won awards like NME’s Album Of The Year 1997 – beating Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer’.

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New Year’s Day 2022 Special: Al Stewart – ‘Year Of The Cat’ (Live In Seattle, 1976)

January 1, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Year Of The Cat’ (LP) (Released in July 1976) (via RCA Records/Parlophone Records)

This is Jacob Braybrooke and I’m wishing you a good version of your own of what has been the best day of the year so far for me with yet another daily track on the blog, since it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A Scottish folk revivalist figure who found prominence in the 60’s and 70’s as a unique songwriter who would combine soft rock songs with stories of different characters or significant events from history, Al Stewart is a talent of delicate weaving who once recorded a very fitting single to ring the New Year in with his 1976 offering, ‘Year Of The Cat’. For a musician who played a live set at the inaugural Glastonbury festival in 1970, reportedly knew Yoko Ono before John Lennon caught wind of her activist work, and shared a flat in London with equally memorable artist Paul Simon when he was frequently collaborating with Bruce Woodley of The Seekers fame in his younger years – Al Stewart scored a #8 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1977 with ‘Year Of The Cat’. Famously described by AllMusic as “one of those mysterious woman songs” nearer to the time, Stewart recorded the track as the title single of his seventh studio LP release during a session at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London, before recording sequences from his live tour, including one performance in Seattle, for a live album, ‘The First Year Of The Cat Tour Live In Seattle’, to spring off its success one year later, where the album had become a top five chart hit in the US. Becoming a popular record to be used to demonstrate Hi-Fi demonstration, ‘Year Of The Cat’ was certified Platinum to indicate sales of over one million copies in the US during 1977. Get the kettle on, take a moment to reflect, and hear a tale of a love affair in Casablanca as we enter 2022 as a ‘Year Of The Cat’ below.

When Al Stewart stormed the mainstream with ‘Year Of The Cat’, you may be forgiven for believing him to be an overnight sensation but, in reality, it took him six previous albums worth of material and logging a bundle of hours on the Folk festival circuit before achiveing his stardom. Described by Stewart during his live set at Seattle’s Paramount theater as “a South African love song”, it remains to be the only appearance in the UK Singles charts for Stewart, who reached #31 with ‘Year Of The Cat’, a track which he ironically wrote and recorded during the Vietnamese Year Of The Cat, as it was the Year Of The Rabbit previously in China. Kicking proccedings off with a straightforward Piano line, the guitars flutter along beautifully as Al continues to kick into a higher gear with his combination of soft Rock ‘N’ Roll melodies and Progressive Pop rhythms that eventually morph into a stirring symphony of romantic guitar arrangements and radiant Piano chords as Stewart’s moving vocals concerning a whirlwind relationship in an exotic locale hit their timeless mark. Lyrics like “On a morning from a Bogart movie, In a country where they turn back time” hit their stride as Stewart sets up a vibrant scene of a one-time fling transforming into something much more substantial. Lyrics in the verses like “She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running, Like a watercolour in a rain” ignite more poignant sparks that make the otherwise sensual lyrics feel genuinely meaningful in the story, which is nicely complemented by the elegant String sections and the somewhat downbeat vocals by Stewart that provide a grounded take on the flirtatious dialogue between the two partners. It almost feels like Stewart is singing a duet meant for two vocalists on his own for the most part and he strikes a great balance between poise and sincerity with the delivery. Moving on to the instrumentation, we find Stewart bursting through various styles and motifs throughout the song – including a long instrumental section that leans towards classical Jazz with a colourful Saxophone solo and taking turns between the explosive guitar solo and the abruptly placed Brass instrumentation, but his production feels coherent enough as all of these varied elements complement the warmth of the lyrical mood. Overall, through melding his anecdotal storytelling that seems quite influential for the likes of Jens Lekman later on, and playing with the contemporary Blues song structure of the time, Stewart created a suitable story for New Year’s season with a very stylish and sophisticated range of talents. With that – I wish you a fantastic new year, and I cannot wait to hear the music contained within it.

Pictured: Al Stewart in a publicity shot before his performance at the Libbey Bowl (2018) (Photo via Noozhawk.com)

That brings us to the end of the coverage for the best day of the year so far on One Track At A Time and, as always, I thank you a great deal for your interest and support towards the site every day. After a brief hiatus, ‘Scuzz Sundays’ returns to its normally scheduled placement from tomorrow onwards, where we will be remembering a popular track from a very famous East Bay native punk rock band who found fame in the early 1990’s as we kick off the new year with familiarity. One of their tracks is the centerpiece of a Broadway musical, ‘American Idiot’, that was first performed in 2010.

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Today’s Track: The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – ‘Queen Sophie For President’

December 29, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Illusory Walls’ (LP) (Released on October 8th, 2021) (via Epitath Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, of course, and it is time to get your ears stuck into yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! *deep breath* The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die are an emo Prog Rock band with what must be the longest band title in the business and, yet, in a digital age of streaming services and IP resurgences, they must also be applauded for ending their latest album on two epic pieces that total half of it’s near 70-minute duration. Their fourth LP record – ‘Illusory Walls’ – is the record in question, an underground release that took its inspiration from the infamously difficult ‘Dark Souls’ series of popular role playing video games. Bridging the gap between genres like Space Rock, Atmospheric Rock, Post-Hardcore and Post-Rock, the Emo collective have released a number of EP’s and Splits, including a memorable collaboration with Christopher Zizzamia, a Spoken Word artist, and they cite a diverse range of influences including Battles, Caspian, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Explosions In The Sky for their fretwork-style material. A double album released via veteran Nu-Metal label Epitath Records, the new LP is the band’s first album since the death of founding member Tom Diaz and the departures of guitarists/vocalists Dylan Balliet and Tyler Bussey. Now, the members of the 5-piece are split between the bear-filled woods of rural Connecticut and the quarantines streets of Covid-ridden Philadelphia, and it is the band’s first project that recruits outside producers in the form of Greg Thomas (Misery Signals, End), the studio partner of lead vocalist/guitarist David F. Bello, who helped the rest of the band to remotely write and finish the ambitious record within the most part of one year. According to Bello, the new album’s title of ‘Illusory Walls’ “refers to a hidden surface that seems to prevent entry, but upon inspection is nothing more than a visual illusion”. Check out the third single ‘Queen Sophie For President’ below.

Elaborating on the LP’s development stages, Bello says, “The extra time gave the band time to manage the unexpected, such as Katie Dvorak sustaining an injury that meant she was unable to sing or talk for a couple of months at the end of 2020. Had they been on a normal recording schedule, she wouldn’t have been able to get her vocals done”, concluding, “Instead, she was able to channel what happened into her songs. Though ‘Queen Sophie For President’ is ostensibly about the tenacity of oppression, whether on a personal or political level, it is heavily influenced by her injury” in his press statement. While ‘Queen Sophie For President’ scales up the bombast, it also puts a twist on the band’s sad emo-style foundations of their sound by introducing vocals that feel lighter and nostalgic, thanks in part to the keyboardist taking on the lead vocal duties. Lyrics like “Impossibly persistent, waiting for the chance to take over” have a dizzying darkness to them and they blend into Chris Teti’s intricate guitar work with a pulsating 80’s rock sound. A wide array of evocative lyrics like “Never get better and never do anything” chime the chorus along with a feeling of urgency, while rapid-fire refrains like “It won’t burn with the oven off/That damn persistent slime, just burn the whole house down” owe more to Opera Rock with their haunting harmonies that permeate angst and anxiety, riddling the zoned-out Synths of the soundscape with a deep flavour of hard-hitting songwriting that is more anthemic. Instrumentally, the barreling guitar riffs and the percussive drum beats, topped off by a punchy lead guitar solo towards the end, retain their warmth and intimate nature while delivering highly technically proficient production all-around. Most of all, however, it is the fact that Dvorak’s increased involvement threatens to steal the show at times that makes it all more worth the while, and it is the very robust chemistry between Dvorak and Bello, on vocals, which clicks together and strikes the biggest chord with me – if you see what I did there. Dvorak’s sugar-coated vocals blend together with Bello’s emotional croon, as well as the fancy handiwork from guitarist Chris Teti, very cohesively. This creates some of the most enjoyable ‘Jam Band’ moments that you could hear in 2021. An extravagant piece of ferocious Jangle-Pop meets sophisticated Post-Rock, ‘Queen Sophie For President’ is a tour-de-force of feel-good indie and profound lyrical proportions that definitely gets my vote.

Pictured: David Bello (Lead Vocals/Percussion), Katie Dvorak (Keyboard/Synths/Backing Vocals), Josh Cyr (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), Chris Teti (Trumpet/Lead Guitar) & Steven Buttery (Drums) (2021) (Photo by Adam Peditto)

That’s all I’ve got lined up for you on the blog today – and I’ll be back tomorrow with the final part of my series shedding light on some of this year’s most unforgettable underground releases, before we go fully back to normal, with a post regarding a band who have made many year-end lists for 2021. Signed to Saddle Creek Records, the trio take their name from a Spanish Drama film of the same title released in 1973.

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Countdown To Christmas 2021: Max Headroom – ‘Merry Christmas Santa Claus (You’re A Lovely Guy)’

December 23, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Merry Christmas Santa Claus (You’re A Lovely Guy)’ (1986) (via Chrysalis Records)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to leave a place in your front drive for Santa Claus (I know him!) to park his sleigh in the early hours of tomorrow morning after reading about your daily track on the blog, given that it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! It is pretty tricky for me to describe what Max Headroom truly is, since I was not born at the time and it sounds like an awkward concept to wrap your reindeer’s ears around in the first place, but ‘Merry Christmas Santa Claus (You’re A Lovely Guy)’ is certainly a candidate for being the most bizzare track that has ever been covered on the blog. To the greatest of my understanding, Max is not an artist at all and is, in fact, a character of artificial intelligence portrayed by comedian Matt Frewer in prosthetic make-up and aided by some simplistic editing trickery, that had a cult TV show in the 1980’s. Created by the trio of George Stone, Annabel Jankel and Ricky Morton, Max was known for his wit, harsh lighting and pitch-shifting voice – and he was called “the first computer generated TV personality”. He had his own television series in 1984 that aired on Channel 4 in the UK, but the idea came from a British short sci-fi film – ‘Max Headroom: 20 Minutes In The Future’ – that found popularity after being shown on Channel 4, which is set in a futuristic dystopia that is ruled by a network of television channels. The idea was originally to create a series of five-minute episodes to tell his origin story, but the producers realized that this was impractical from a viewership standpoint, and commissioned an 80-minute TV movie instead. Although a US version of the show was made, it was never repeated and only fourteen episodes of the pretty faithful remake aired on NBC were ever made – and all of this great info comes from clivebanks.co.uk online. There was a little-known Christmas special, however. I have read another story that the special was terrible, however, and even cameos from big then-contemporary stars like Tina Turner or Robin Williams failed to save it’s quality. The finale was a Christmas song that was released as a single, which failed to chart, with a Country-influenced B-side of ‘Gimme Shades’, and a crop of YouTube channels have restored the video from MTV 2 to decent audio/video quality. Let’s boot him up.

Forever Young gives us context with, “1986 was a big year for Max (and Matt Frewer) – they already scored an international hit with “Paranoimia” (with The Art Of Noise), there was a British cult TV show called ‘The Max Headroom Show’ in its third and final season, and they were on the verge of an American drama series, Max Headroom, which started in the spring of 1987 – and Coca-Cola commercials somewhere in-between. Not long after the success of “Paranoimia”, Max Headroom did a holiday special in the UK, ‘Max Headroom’s Giant Christmas Turkey’, and from that special, a limited edition 7″ holiday single was commissioned and then released on Chrysalis Records” on their website. Forever Young states that the producers thought it was a good idea to have Max perform several jolly ballads throughout the episode, and it gradually built into this climactic finale for the special and, safe to say, it unfortunately did not take the world by storm. Lyrically, Headroom jolts through different contexts of Christmas, such as recalling the night that baby Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem, with some passionate Jingle Bells that build momentum as we transition to a snowy winter exterior, where the Southwark Gospel Choir join him for a final sing-along of the chorus. The main bulk of the track revolves around Father Christmas being a selfless and underappreciated soul, and Headroom continues to make light of all the usual holiday TV special tropes with his pitch-shifting voice and the structure of the video performance. While the vocals range from horrible to slightly creepy to wholly deranged, it is a fun four minutes to spend a bit of time from your day with, and I think that I enjoyed it purely because of how niche and obscure it is, as well as how strange and peculiar the music was. A less remembered alternative Christmas anthem that was crafted in the same ilk as Bo Selecta’s ‘Proper Chrimbo’ or South Park’s ‘Mr. Hanky The Christmas Poo’, this fluttering rendition of ‘Merry Christmas Santa Claus (You’re A Lovely Guy)’ takes things to weird proceedings and it makes you feel quite cheerful despite its inherent dreadfulness. So yeah. This exists…

Pictured: Terry Wogan interviews Max Headroom on a television show (August 1985) (Photo via BBC Archive)

That’s all for now and thank you a lot for sparing a moment with me on the blog for Christmas Eve. It’ll probably be a short and sweet one tomorrow as it is Christmas Day, but I must fulfill my mission of writing up about a different piece of music every day! I have crowd-pleasing Desert Rock lined up for you tomorrow as we shift our focus towards a brilliant Alternative Rock anthem from popular Las Vegas natives who headlined Glastonbury, in 2019, on the main stage on Saturday on that weekend.

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