Ballad

Today’s Track: Lucy Dacus – “Hot & Heavy”

June 21, 2021 — Leave a comment

I was very hot and my head was very heavy in Wednesday’s heatwave. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Home Video” (LP) (Available from June 25th, 2021) (via Matador Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here – and it’s finally time, yet again, for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, like usual, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A former member of the Boygenius trio (with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker), Virginia’s Lucy Dacus is the kind of singer-songstress that we should all be paying a little attention to. Bridgers’ scored one of the most raved about LP’s of the last year with ‘Punisher’ in 2020, and Baker’s ‘Little Oblivions’ – released in February of this year – is on track to make an appearance on critics’ year-end lists. Dacus’ new album, ‘Home Video’, her third solo long-player overall, gets its time to shine in the spotlight when it releases on Friday. The LP was also promoted by the singles ‘Thumbs’ (Which made a previous appearance on the blog) and ‘VBS’. In between the two offerings, we got ‘Hot & Heavy’, which has enjoyed huge support from BBC Radio 6 DJ’s Steve Lamacq and Mary Anne Hobbs in recent weeks. Home Video is an integral aesthetic for the new album, and she uses it in her new music videos. As she explains in a press release, she “wanted to visualize the moment when you first reflect on your childhood, which I think can also be the moment that childhood is over”. Let’s hear ‘Hot & Heavy’ below.

“I thought I was writing ‘Hot & Heavy’ about an old friend, but I realized along the way that it was just about me outgrowing past versions of myself”, Dacus told NME, adding, “So much of life is submitting to change and saying goodbye even if you don’t want to. Now whenever I go to places that used to be significant to me, it feels like trespassing the past. I know that the teen version of me wouldn’t approve of me now, and that’s embarrassing, and a little bit heartbreaking, even if I know intellectually that I like my life and who I am”, to her evaluation for her new tune. Boasting a similar tone to Jordana’s ‘I Guess This Is Life’ or Claud’s ‘Cuff Your Jeans’, Dacus’ ‘Hot & Heavy’ skews as an intimate and nostalgic anthem about oneself and finding purpose. Barreling along with a faint Piano section and soft, charming acoustic guitar riffs that feel introspective, Dacus’ reminisces on sweet memories that have turned sour. Her lyrics, such as “Get me to the floor even though I’m not a dancer/Ask me all the questions that you wouldn’t answer”, swap the subdued beginning for excitable Drums and child-like electric guitar melodies that chug along at a brisk pace as Dacus delivers a testimony of-sorts, with a vocal pitch that gradually becomes swifter as the track’s duration happily skips along to the warmth of the mood. Lyrics like “You used to be so sweet/Now you’re a firecracker on a crowded street” acknowledge the changes of a specific friend that has been important to Dacus’ life, and we build to a louder, but no less vulnerable, bridge where Dacus declares “Now you’re the biggest brightest flame, You are a fire that can’t be tamed” and “You’re better than ever, but I knew you when/It’s bittersweet to see you again” as the shimmering bass guitar and the upbeat Piano arrangements, balanced by a muted String section, commands the space. It reminds me of the music that my mother used to listen to, from Sara Groves and Natalie Imbruglia, with it’s clear vocal delivery and lack of distortion, with an overall soft and brief Pop or Folk sound. I think that’s a good testament to Dacus because it shows that she is very mature for her age, at just 26 years old, with the words that she writes. She comes across as very self-aware on this track, and, as a student who is graduating from university, her reflections on change and upbringing are easy to connect with. This isn’t typically my type of music, to be honest, because it’s simply not usually something that I would be in the mood to consume when I’m hankering down after a long day of hard work. Therefore, I feel it’s a good indication that Dacus is in top form here with her astute musicianship. A gorgeous, poetic piece where there is so much to unpack, and that’s because she has got so much to tell you.

  • Pictured: Lucy Dacus performing ‘Next Of Kin’ (2018) (Photography by Timothy Hiatt/WireImage)

Dacus’ kicked the marketing machine for ‘Home Video’ into gear when she sent randomly selected VHS tapes of the single ‘Thumbs’ to her fans, which has been a set-closer in her live sets since 2018. Luckily, you don’t need a cassette player to hear it, since you can get caught up with it here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/04/12/todays-track-lucy-dacus-thumbs/

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Thumbs” (Single) (Released on March 9th, 2021) (via Matador Records)

That’s all I’ve got lined up for now! I’m basically moving house tomorrow, and so I won’t be around for long. However, I’m going to sneak in a quick one that I’m going to script up beforehand. It comes from a popular indie pop band from Leicester who fuse indie rock with alternative R&B, Neo-Soul and melodic Hip-Hop, and they are often played on BBC Radio 1. It marks their second appearance on the blog.  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: Allison Ponthier – “Harshest Critic”

June 10, 2021 — Leave a comment

Whoever said we are our own critics never auditioned for Big Brother. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Cowboy” (Single) (Released on March 8th, 2021) (via Interscope Records)

Good Evening to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog (Now that my million other tasks for the day have finally been completed), because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! I’m going to introduce you to a brand new artist today – and that indie folk/country singer-songwriter goes by the name of Allison Ponthier – who describes herself as “a wide-eyed misfit” from the outskirts of Dallas, Texas. She’s recently caught the ears of the major Sony-owned label Columbia Records, following a stint of meeting Lord Huron and collaborating with them, with the two acts going on a tour in the US later this year. She appeared on ‘I Lied’ from Lord Huron’s new album ‘Long Lost’, which is what exposed me to her, and she’s also performed on the major US late-night TV talk show ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ with them. The self-confessed ‘Jazz School Dropout’ has also been undergoing strange activities to pass the time when in quarantine last year, telling The Guardian in a brand new interview, “I’ve started making sculptures of little alien people”. Whatever floats your boat. ‘Harshest Critic’ is just her second single – and the follow-up to March’s Claymation-inspired ‘Cowboy’. Check out the music video below.

Allison Ponthier has been adding more friends to the feathers in her industry cap by collaborating with Jordan Bahat on the music video for ‘Harshest Critic’ and co-writing her material with frequent collaborator Adam Melchor, but the lyrics of ‘Harshest Critic’ are about the pressures that Ponthier feels to meet audience’s expectations – and her own – in being a music artist, as she explains in her press release, “I wrote ‘Harshest Critic around the time when labels were knocking on my door”, adding, “It ended up being a song about how, when you’re an artist, everything feels like life and death. But, in reality, it’s your happiness and who you are, as a person, that really matter. You might as well enjoy the ride, because no-one’s ever going to be as hard on you as you are”, when describing her songwriting approach and practices. Comparisons to Julia Jacklin or Alice Phoebe Lou could be made on ‘Harshest Critic’, with a crooner style that feels decorated by little sprinklings of Grunge and sparsely placed Americana elements. Lyrics like “What if all my fears were on display/Right in front of all of the world/Under a spotlight/Would they be on my side” and “I’m terrified/Of the way I look when it’s through strangers eyes/Wish I had a way to peak inside their minds” are very reflective and always place Ponthier’s own insecurities at the centre of the concept. The chorus finds her crooning, “If I’m being honest, don’t know if I can tell you/Who’s the harshest critic in the room?” and “It could be the studio audience/But they’re just payin for admission/And I’m the one with everything to lose” as Ponthier opens up about her stress and pressures in a highly confessional manner. The instrumentation takes a backseat to the vocals, with a tender guitar ballad and a soft, steady percussive trail of drum beats that mirror the beating of her heart as the vocals unfold. Overall, it’s difficult to be overly critical of Ponthier’s performance here, despite her own harsh judgments, in this track. I don’t think the sound was that terribly exciting, and I’m a little concerned that the label might fast-track her to become the next Lana Del Rey instead of the first Allison Ponthier, but, overall, she’s a very likeable presence because she feels very human. The words feel very poetic and expressive, with a simple theme that doesn’t run it’s course, because the sophisticated guitar chord changes and the heartfelt moods keep proceedings fresh enough, and her voice may conjure no critical panning of any form.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Harshest Critic” (Single) (Released on May 13th, 2021) (via Interscope Records)

Thank you for reaching the end of today’s blog post – your support means a lot. We’ve already reached Friday by the time that 24 hours rolls past again, and so we’ll be sifting through this week’s notable new releases. We’ll be focusing our minds on the return of a pack of Post-Punk veterans, well-known for several crossover chart hits in the 1980’s and 1990’s from Madison, Wisconsin. Their name was reportedly inspired by a conversation with a friend, who frequently told them that their early material sounded “like Garbage”. 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: Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five – ‘Friendship’

June 9, 2021 — Leave a comment

Keep your friends close and keep your close friends closer to you. Let’s go Way Back!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Disc D: 1947-1949) (Released on July 18, 2006) (via JSP Records)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for you to read 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! When writing about the sounds of the past that have influenced those of the present for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’, Louis Jordan and his 6-piece accompaniment Tympany Five certainly qualify for such an equation. An inductee of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Fame, Louis Jordan was an Arkansas-based Saxophonist who was a seminal figure in the development of R&B and Rock ‘N’ Roll in the 1940’s and 50’s. His witty lyrics, his interactive stage presence and the jolting, engaging rhythms of his music aided him to become one of the first African-American artists to enjoy a crossover popularity with the predominantly White audience of his time. It’s tricky to pinpoint exactly when and where today’s recording, ‘Friendship’, was issued for release in it’s first form. You can hear it on the 1984 Vinyl re-issue of ‘Louis Jordan & Friends’, a double single release in 1952 as the b-side to ‘You’re Much Too Fat’, a 2006 reissue of ‘Disc D; 1947-1949’ on streaming platforms and CD, or, like me, as a part of the ‘Mafia 2’ video game soundtrack of 2010. Either way, give it a spin.

Louis Jordan took on the honorific nickname of ‘The King Of The Jukebox’ due to his exposure in the media, and he went on to continually refine his qualities in duetting with most of the other stalwarts of the time, such as Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, and, although comprehensive sales figures are not available, trajectories suggest that he shifted up to four million-selling units of his singles during the Swing era of his heyday. ‘Friendship’ was one of his many leading recordings during his career, before we sadly lost him due to a heart attack in Los Angeles in 1975. It was most famous for it’s refrain of ‘You ain’t friend of mine’ that he delivers at the end of the track. The talkative, near-duetting backing vocals from his Tympany Five feel very conversational, with the vocals being delivered in a Spoken Word section where Louis arguably never sings. He talks about the trials and tribulations of friendships, and how people used to treat each other during his time, using a character called Zeke as a muse for this. Anecdotes like “And what about that night I came home and caught lipstick on your face” and “But when she feeds you chicken and steak, and gives me Irish stew/You’s a little lizard in the bushes, that’s what you are” as his band members react to the little stories that have fractured Jordan’s connection with Zeke. It soon becomes clear that Zeke was just using Jordan as a way to get to his wife, an implication of cheating and abusing of trust. Sequences like “And even when we went on our Honeymoon/The bellboy told me you rented the very next room/I know you’re my friend, but I didn’t want to see you that soon” make this narrative clear, before the famous closing section of “Do you call that friendship?/You ain’t no friend of mine” closes things off. However, the bitter resentment in Jordan’s voice and the confrontational style of songwriting also makes him look like a ‘lost boy’ in some aspects, an angry character that has a certain viewpoint that takes us along the narrative. It’s possible to consider that his wife wasn’t happy with him, or Zeke was getting payback for a past activity, and so Jordan’s feelings may consume him. Therefore, there’s a lot of complexity underneath the hood, which Jordan carries along in his stride as his Tympany Five quibble in the background. The instrumentation is obviously dated, with a light Alto Saxophone melody and a classical Piano riff being the only real elements in play to really speak of. Limited technology aside, it’s tremendous to remember what Jordan has achieved in his time and through the tools that he had in his disposal. The gentle embrace of an old friend.

  • Pictured: Louis Jordan (Lead Vocals/Saxophone), Courtney Williams (Trumpet), Lem Johnson (Tenor Sax), Clarence Johnson (Piano), Charlie Drayton (Bass Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals) and Walter Martin (Drums/Percussion) in New York City between 1946 and 1948 (Photo by William P. Gottilieb)

That’s all for now! Please feel free to join me again tomorrow, as we go down the route of Country and Folk with an in-depth look at an emerging female solo artist who was born in Texas and is now based in Brooklyn, and has inked a new deal with Columbia Records. She recently collaborated with Lord Huron on ‘I Lied’ from their new album ‘Long Lost’, and she tells The Guardian that she has started making her own sculptures of little alien people in her bathroom… If that’s what floats your boat. 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 Friday: Mustafa – “Ali”

May 28, 2021 — Leave a comment

When Smoke Rises, we’re left with a “Brimful of Asha” on the 45. Time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Mustafa performing ‘Air Forces’ for a COLORS session (2021) (via COLORS/YouTube.com)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here – and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, as per usual, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I believe we’ve made it to Friday once again, meaning there’s a new batch of releases ready for you to buy, download or stream. Some of this week’s notable new releases come from UK indie favourites Easy Life and Sports Team, among the debut solo record from New Young Pony Club’s Lou Hayter (Watch this space for more on that). The obvious choice for me to have gone for would have probably been ‘Cavalcade’ from the cult influential Math-Rock group Black Midi, however, here’s something else that piqued my interest. ‘Ali’ was the lead single from ‘When Smoke Rises’, the debut solo album from Mustafa The Poet, a Canadian poet once known as a member of the Halal rap collective. Since then, he’s rubbed his shoulders with several celebrities. He once wrote a poem that popular actress Emilia Clarke wore on a dress to a Vogue fashion event. His poems have been shared by Drake on Instagram, and he was appointed to Justin Trudeau’s Youth Advisory Council to advise the Canadian government on youth muslim policies. Described as “Inner City folk music” by the Poet himself, Mustafa co-wrote the new album with James Blake, Sampha, Jamie XX, and a few others. Check out ‘Ali’ below.

‘When Smoke Rises’ arrives today on Mustafa’s own label, Regent Park Songs, as a tribute to Toronoto’s Regent Park community, and, in 2017, he started exploring the Canadian hip-hop communities with his own documentary. ‘Remember Me, Toronto’, which discusses the loss of artists through gun violence and systemic racism in his area over the past decade, was a documentary he created in 2019. ‘Ali’ serves as an expansion of these ideas, as a dedication to his friend, Ali Rizeig, who was devastatingly shot dead and killed four years ago outside of his house, and Mustafa feels a lot of regret for, in his perspective, failing to persuade his friend to depart from the home that sadly prompted the shocking event. Mustafa laments the life that Ali could have had, reciting poetry like “Ali, you know our hearts were at their fullest/Ali, there were no words to stop the bullets” and “Now it’s only me that needs to save himself/Feel like I can’t be here while you’re in that realm” and he raises the question of whether he grieved enough, or paid homage to Ali enough in his own life and actions, with further poetic readings like “I see you on your sisters shirt/And it’s hard to mask the hurt/And it’s hard to mask your worth” as he plagues the lyrics with prayers for his friend’s survival that will be left unanswered. The instrumentation is quite folk-tinged, as Ali chips away on an acoustic guitar with his wordplay, and spacious gaps in the guitar riffs add some pauses for emotional effect. The Drums mimic a heartbeat, the slow riffs on the Piano feel withdrawn, and the use of reverb on his voice for the refrain towards the end, followed by a sample of his friend speaking, really hammers the point home with a deep, convincing amount of weight. Looking at the good, I felt very moved by it. His voice is crisp and golden, and the songwriting gives me chills in it’s echoes of Joni Mitchell or Leonard Cohen. There’s an intimate space to the plucked guitar rhythms, and the light shavings of R&B is a suitable tone for the very serious lyrical matter. If I were to offer a little bit of constructive criticism, I found the instrumental to get slightly bland by the end, and it may have been improved by a little more oomph musically here or there. That said, I want to point out that I feel the cover artwork is very good. It depicts Mustafa very much as a secondary character or a piece of the ambience, and so that’s a brave reminder that Mustafa hasn’t really conceived the full-length project just for himself. On the whole, I think the pro’s are certainly enough to outweigh the con’s, and I enjoyed my time listening to ‘Ali’. It’s a very emotionally-driven piece of music, and Mustafa is representing his ethnic minority, to the wider press and in the media, in a way that sticks up for them, which is quite a significant thing to take away from it too.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘When The Smoke Rises’ (Released on May 28, 2021) (via Regent Park Songs)

That’s all for now – Thanks, as always, for reaching the end and supporting content creators like myself. We’re going for a ‘Pure Pop moment’ to continue the Bank Holiday weekend in style tomorrow. I’ve kind-of already given the clue away, as we take a closer look at the debut solo album from a prominent figure in the London Nu-Disco and House music scene which has certainly been a long time coming. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime

Way Back Wednesdays: Moby – “Porcelain”

May 26, 2021 — Leave a comment

I’d be horrified to hear what took place in his 2020 Quaran-Dreams. Let’s go Way Back!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Play” (LP) (Released on May 17, 1999) (via Mute Records/V2 Records/Virgin)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for today’s track on the blog, just like always, because it’s still my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! Moby’s ‘Reprise’ comes out on Friday, the 19th studio album release from the 90’s EDM cornerstone Richard Melville Hall, which features new reworkings of orchestral and acoustic variations of some of his favourite tracks with numerous guest artists joining him. The guest list includes Gregory Porter, Kris Kristofferson, Skylar Grey, Jim James and others. So, to coincide with the release of that project later this week, I thought it would be a great time to revisit the original version of Moby’s highest-charting single for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’, as it was certainly one of the sounds of the past that influenced the present. ‘Porcelain’ reached #5 on the UK Singles Chart following it’s release as a single in June 2000. One of the few tracks on his 1999 breakthrough ‘Play’ to feature his own vocals, Hall wrote ‘Porcelain’ as a rather melancholic electronic/classical blend of production with lyrics reflecting on the recent break-up of a relationship. The album would have been exposed absolutely everywhere back in the day, and I read an interesting statistic online that each track from the album has been used in a film, TV series or advert of some kind. Check out the Jonas Åkerlund-directed video below.

In addition to his career writing and producing music, Hall is also a notable Vegan who heavily supports humanitarian aid and animal rights programmes. He’s drawn a fair share of criticism over the decades for his political views and thee different stories in the press concerning him, but he was, before July 2020, the owner of Little Pine, a Vegan restaurant in Los Angeles, and the Circle V non-meat food festival. You can read more about his life and career in the two memoir books that he’s authored: 2016’s ‘Porcelain: A Memoir’ and 2019’s ‘Then It Fell Apart’. The title track of his first memoir was a very important release in bringing electronic music to the mainstream eye. From this, you can hear a chilling and emotional atmosphere of experiencing the vigorous emotions of an ideal romantic scenario never quite materializing, as lines like “I never meant to hurt you/I never meant to lie/So, this is goodbye?/This is goodbye” start by questioning the flaws of the situation, before a light call-and-response form of vocal affirms the decision and mutually agrees with it. Dreams is also a common theme of the lyrics, with the two verses starting with lyrics like “In my dreams I’m jealous all the time/When I wake, I’m going out of my mind” and “In my dreams, I’m dying all the time/Then I wake, it’s kaleidoscopic mind” as the fragile mood of the fluttering String sections, evoking a cinematic affair, gradually turn into a more soothing affair, with twinkling Piano melodies that are more melodic. There’s also a Trip-Hop influence that flows very nicely throughout the moods, with the distorted vocals of “To tell the truth, you’ve never wanted me” being dressed up in a very soft Hip-Hop breakbeat production that reminds me of Boards Of Canada or Joey Pecoraro, and a soulful backing vocal created through a sample that I believe goes “Hey, Woman, It’s alright, go on” that gets looped over the top of the techno evolutionary sounds, and this part just emphasizes the themes of the vocals and the simple points of the personal reflection being made. The track may have got a little over-exposed over the day, including it’s notable use in a scene of 2000’s ‘The Beach’, and so I can definitely see why you may have grown tired of it, and some of the more radio-friendly cuts on ‘Play’ may have perhaps been a little too close to comfort to his contemporaries of the time. However, I do certainly think that ‘Porcelain’ is a more interesting track than it possibly appears on the surface. A fragility can be felt in both the shaky vocal delivery and the wavering moods of the instrumentals within the piece, and it’s surprisingly varied in it’s sampling that evokes diverse genres. It’s also important to remind ourselves sometimes, as well, that it was a big hit and that it did cross over to the charts of the mainstream. I’m not particularly a huge fan of Moby emotionally, but I’ve always found him to be an interesting chap who has made some fascinating music, although the consistency of it’s quality hasn’t always landed with me every time. As for ‘Porcelain’, it was definitely an influential example of how to framework some fragility with sympathetic musicality, and it’s partially made by the rather understated, sublime vocal performance from Hall himself. It’s pretty beautiful.

  • Pictured: Moby (aka Richard Melville Hall) in a promotional shoot (2019) (Photo Credit: Mo Kaufer)

Eons ago on the blog, we also looked at ‘Power Is Taken’ from Moby, a much more rave-oriented single that would eventually appear on last year’s album, ‘All Visible Objects’. If that sounds cool to you, why not give me a few views here?: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/03/07/todays-track-moby-power-is-taken/

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Power Is Taken” (Single) (Released on January 14, 2020) (via Mute Records)

That’s it for another throwback! As always, on Friday, we’re going to be sampling one of the weekend’s notable album releases. As for tomorrow, I’ve got some brand new music to share with you. It comes from an emerging Manchester-based indie rock singer-songwriter signed to Memphis Industries, where he will be releasing his forthcoming second LP, ‘Mircale’, next month. His 2019 debut album, ‘A Dream Is U’, garnered critical acclaim from global publications such as Uncut, Paste Magazine and The Line Of Best Fit. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime

Today’s Track: Field Music – “Orion From The Street”

May 6, 2021 — Leave a comment

A spherical far cry from the time where we thought the Earth was flat. New post time!

  • Pictured: Peter & David Brewis (Vocals/Synths/Keys/Guitars) (2021) (Photo by Memphis Industries)

Good Afternoon to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and, as you’ve likely realized already by now, it’s time for your daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A now-pair of London Art Rocker veterans, Field Music have released nine albums in the last 16 years, scoring a Mercury Prize nomination and three UK Albums Chart top 40 entries in that time. Members of Maximo Park and The Futureheads have been featured as a part of their line-up over the last few decades, but the core members are Sunderland brothers David & Peter Brewis. Their latest release is ‘Flat White Moon’, which has gained critical acclaim since getting released last weekend on Memphis Industries. There’s usually a two-year gap to their cycle, on the exact day of their prior album, but ‘Flat White Moon’ is an outlier of that Easter Egg because we only heard from them last year on ‘Making A New World’, a concept album about World War 1 with eerie parallels to the time. Named after a constellation of stars, ‘Orion From The Sun’ was the lead single of the release, which was seemingly inspired by the 70’s Glam Pop of David Bowie, Led Zeppelin and Talking Heads. It’s fair to say that professor Brian Cox would be having a ‘Field Day’ with this. Check out the brilliant music video below.

Writing new material quicker than usual with the release of ‘Orion From The Street’, Peter Brewis writes: “It’s full of accidental quotes and allusions – the first couple of lines I overheard in a Cary Grant documentary, but they sum up the whole song – how intense impressions of love, hate, grief and guilt can be an almost hallucinatory experience” in Field Music’s recent press statements after penning that he wrote the promotional tune in a daze. Kicking off with a pack of twinkling keyboard melodies that gets a low-key groove of dramatic synths and colourful guitar riffs shimmering from that point onwards, permeating with a high radiance during the chorus, we get a propulsive and buoyant musing on stargazing and astronomy with uptight bass rhythms and wholly positive electronic tones in the familiar, yet nostalgic, Field Music mould. The vocals complement the brief pokings at Prog-Funk nicely, with Brewis imagining a world where “Death is but a dream” and “Memories that fall like rain are spirited away” over a wistful, psych-hinting background. It’s refreshing to hear a track which isn’t really addressing heavy and modern topics like race, femininity or LGBT circles, as the lyrics ponder gentle philosophy and cosmic themes instead with a vivid synth palette. I feel that it makes for a very nice change from the typical “indie” sound of the 2020’s, as the vocals signal for a means of escape from reality. A vivid set of instrumentation and cascading music production make proceedings feel fresh and the hooks are quite memorable. The odd guitar licks and the cymbal crashes give it an off-kilter flair, and a nice Horn section provides a fluttering highlight towards the middle. Overall, I like it because it’s just a pretty song that does something different to it’s peer contemporaries. While the meaning isn’t particularly definable, it provides an intricate moment for you to stop and nod your head along to. The hard effort clearly shows, with a solid update on the Alternative Rock sound of the mid-2010’s, as a retro nuance adds more depth to the package than it may first appear on the Lunar surface.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Flat White Moon” (LP) (Released on April 23, 2021) (via Memphis Industries)

That’s all for today, but we’re going back to the basics on the blog tomorrow, as we delve into one of the weekend’s biggest new album releases. This week’s pick marks the much-anticipated release of the debut album from Brighton’s promising Post-Punk prodigies who are one of Warp Records latest signings and appeared on the Independent Venue Week documentary ‘On The Road’ where they were seen playing a dustbin lid with an asparagus! 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: Emawk – “Highroad”

May 4, 2021 — Leave a comment

Hit the Road, Jack, and never come back, no more, no more, no more. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “HIGHROAD” (Single) (Released on January 27th, 2021) (via Self-Released)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and, you know the drill by now – I need 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! Born in Boston, raised in Kenya, and based in New York City, singer-songwriter and self-producer Kwame Nkrumah – who uses the moniker of Emawk – is a young graduate of the Berklee College Of Music who has spent the last handful of years writing and recording his music entirely on his own, despite an odd collaboration with actor Hart Denton from the hit US TV series ‘Riverdale’. Nevertheless, Emawk’s Hip-Hop music is gathering a healthy following on the internet, with his recent output gaining support from third-party promoters like Beats1 and Majestic Casual. Accompanied by a B-side, ‘Beads’, his first new track of 2021 was ‘HIGHROAD’, which kicked off an ambitious new audio-visual project that sees Emawk documenting a testimony of his personal life through steady new single releases during the year, which recently picked up with slick R&B, woozy offering ‘ACOUSCOUS’. Let’s hit the ‘HIGHROAD’ for a sample of his work below.

‘HIGHROAD’ marked the new point for Emawk to take a more candid approach to his craft, as he told Equate Magazine in a recent interview, “While I’m proud of the lyrics and the time I took to write them, it was one of the few times where writing was mostly about the vibe”, adding on ‘HIGHROAD’ and ‘Beads’ by penning, “I made the instrumental for Beads and just vibed with it. Hopefully, that comes across and hopefully whoever listens can vibe with it as well”, after joking about how cheesy the role of ‘Vibe’ played into the two tracks. As for ‘HIGHROAD’ specifically, Emawk prides himself in a cut where his self-expression feels at his most unsullied, and his natural instincts gave him the platform to transition from 2020 to 2021 with a refreshing attitude and a new start. A soulful and Gospel-backed mood reflects this, as slick and polished bass grooves interweave with a sun-soaked vocal outpouring of reflections on growing maturity. The first verse leans heavily into self-respect, with lyrics like “You talk a good game, tried to cross up my brain” and “I let you think that you won, I flip the script like I want/Then stepped over the spot where you tripped” and the second verse is a personal reflection on changes that could be made for the better, as lyrics like “I’ve got a lot of old fears that I’ve got to unlearn and I’m unlearning” as he picks himself up to encourage becoming more open to others. The final bridge of “Shout out to anyone who ever caught me on a bad day, And decided that’s all that I could ever be” hits hard, and he gets the last laugh on “I ain’t got the time to throw stones” as the self-confrontational messages draw to an end. Raw and heated are the words I’d use to describe the tone of the track. As for the instrumentation, we weave through sweet and steady flowing rhythms of Dub instrumentals, low-key synth tones that feel warm, and a honeyed production that sees the radiant, lo-fi acoustic guitar pluckings add a finishing touch during the home stretch. While there’s nothing here that truly blows me away, as I think it could have done without the briefly distracting auto-tune near the end, it’s fresh and it sounds good, with varied instrumentation and an intimate feel which lets Emawk off the leash to show personality among the polish.

  • Pictured: Emawk in the music video for “18” (2019) (Photo Credit: TMRWMagazine.com)

Well, it’s time for me to hit the ‘HIGHROAD’ and get on with my work deadlines for the rest of the day now. A break from the new music spotlight is on the docket for tomorrow, just like usual, however, as we delve into a retro hit from one of my own Dad’s favourite 90’s groups, and beyond, in roughly 24 hours time. The Liverpool indie rock trio are still gaining decent radio airplay, however, particularly for a national football anthem that saw them work with comedian David Baddiel and Absolute Radio presenter Frank Skinner for a sporting sensation that made it to the top of the charts in 1996 and 1998, and then again, in 2018. 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: Dropkick Murphys – “Queen Of Suffolk County”

April 30, 2021 — Leave a comment

Did you know The Stranglers used to be an 8-piece? The Suffolk Eight. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Turn Up That Dial” (LP) (Released on April 30th, 2021) (via Born & Bred)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, as per usual, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A bundle of new releases arrive today – including the new fairground-inspired double album from The Coral, the debut LP from the modern LGBTQ+ icon Girl In Red, a new outing from Gojira (the French Metal band who hold the record for the loudest concert ever recorded at the Stade De France), and, if loudness is your thing, the new outing from the Brit Award winning rock duo Royal Blood may tip your fancy. It’s not a far cry from the ever-charismatic Dropkick Murphys either, who are releasing their tenth studio effort, ‘Turn Up That Dial’, today, as always, through their Born & Bred label. Since 1996, the Celtic Punk band from Massachusetts have earned three Top 10 albums on the Billboard Top 100 chart, generated half a billion streaming figures, and released a near double platinum hit in ‘I’m Shipping Up To Boston’, and so it’s not been shabby business for them at all. There’s some brilliant track titles on the new album, I must say, which Dropkick Murphys have confirmed goes for a lighter tone than previous offerings, including the likes of ‘Middle Finger’ and ‘Mick Jones Nicked My Pudding’ in the recording. There’s also ‘Queen Of Suffolk County’, which has a music video, below.

“When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and things were so down, more than ever, we thought, nobody wants to hear an album about how bad 2020 was in 2021” were the exact words that leader Ken Casey used to promote the new album, one which celebrates the importance of a good sing along in music, and the title of ‘Turn Up That Dial’ really embodies the style of the music in it’s namesake, with tracks like ‘Queen Of Suffolk County’ playing on the relief from worry that comes when you “turn up that dial” on the speakers and blast your phobia away. The playful personality of the group is on show as per usual, with lyrics that recollect stories about a knife-toting local femme fatale, with Casey advising “You best stay out of her way, You know she’s here to stay” and “She don’t joke, and she don’t play” over the top of a usual and traditional Celtic soundscape, with an ounce of rock coming in for the chorus. The verses are on the lighter side as Bagpipe melodies and a slower Banjo melody gives way to witty lyrics like “She had style, she had grace, She had a knife and she had a mace” and “She was fire, she was lust, she was the devil, with a bit of angel dust” that paint a vivid picture of this character hailing from their local area, who had a penchant for taking what was hers. It almost feels quite nostalgic in places, with the past tense of the vocals and the up-tempo pacing making for a cheerful, playful anthem. I like all the one-liners, and it’s ultimately not something that they’re relying on you to take too seriously. I don’t think I have ever listened to a full album from Dropkick Murphys front to back, but I’ve always enjoyed the odd tracks that I’ve heard from them before because they’re very charismatic as performers and the simplicity of their joyful sounds cheers you up when you’ve had a few bad days. Overall, while there’s nothing too experimental or unpredictable about this, it feels perfectly solid and it’s an enjoyable track to listen to. The humor is on-point, and the simple formula of the music is one that works and comforts. Also, to be frank, I think it’s fair to say that we’ve all known a wild character like the ‘Queen Of Suffolk County’.

  • Pictured: Ken Casey (Lead Vocals, Bass Guitar), Matt Kelly (Bodhran), Al Barr (Backing Vocals), James Lynch (Lead Guitar), Tim Brennan (Accordion, Mandolin, Tin Whistle), Scruffy Wallace (Bagpipes) and Mark Geanakakis (Drums) (2018) (Photo via PR)

Here’s one to save as a bookmark and come back to when the festive season rolls around again, it’s my post about the seasonal Dropkick Murphys single ‘The Season’s Upon Us’, and you can check it out here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/12/23/todays-track-dropkick-murphys-the-seasons-upon-us/

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Signed And Sealed In Blood” (Released on January 8, 2013) (via Born & Bred)

That’s all for now – but tomorrow’s post comes by way of a household name. A famous electronic dance music duo who have just released a new track, and were originally called ‘The Dust Brothers’ when they started out in 1995 before they had to change this moniker due to the existence of a different musical act with that same name. They have also seen international success, winning six Grammy Awards 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: Skullcrusher – “Song For Nick Drake”

April 17, 2021 — Leave a comment

The harbinger of death by warm vocals, pastoral synths and subtlety. New post time!

  • Pictured: LA artist Skullcrusher (aka Helen Ballentine) in a PR shoot (2020) (Photo by Silken Weinberg)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and, just like usual, it’s finally time again for me to get typing up for your track of the day on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! I would usually publish a review for a slightly more established music artist or something a bit different to my day-to-day output in the week on a Saturday, but, this time, I felt this one deserved the platform and exposure. It comes from Skullcrusher, who is an American singer-songwriter from Terrytown, New York whose real name is Helen Ballentine. At first glance, Skullcrusher sounds like an alias that you’d expect some death metal band from Norway, or something very stereotypical like that, to have, but her music is actually very relaxed. The textures are airy and delicate, paired with a lot of acoustic-driven sounds and old-fashioned instrumentation. Signed to the Secretly Canadian label, ‘Song For Nick Drake’ is her latest single, recently released as the follow-up to her self-titled debut EP from last July. It functions as her ode to Nick Drake, who, in a similar vein to the cult Liverpool figurehead Jimmy Campbell, is one of the ‘lost musicians’ who never found a wide audience in his activity, but remains critically beloved and has a dedicated following. There is no known video footage of Drake’s performances or interviews, since he was very reclusive from the media, so he was only captured through photographs. Check out Ballentine’s tribute to him below.

When releasing the salute to Nick Drake, Ballentine wrote to the press: “Song For Nick Drake is about my relationship to the music of Nick Drake. It recalls moments in my life that are viscerally intertwined with his music, specifically times spent walking and taking the train”, concluding, “The song really is my homage to music and the times I felt most immersed in it” as she connected the dots of her own artistry to her connections with Nick Drake as a music artist. We have perhaps come to expect the folk-led style and the crooner vocals of ‘Song For Nick Drake’ from Ballentine at this point, as she sets the table with lyrics like “All day at the bookstore, Curled up in the same chair” and “I was lost in what we shared” that are recited over the top of some summery guitar chords and a focus on the Banjo melodies. The lyrics also comment on how it sometimes takes a piece of music more than one listen through to have a profound effect on your philosophies and emotions, with the finale of “I walked home alone, With your song in my head” and “Finally understanding something, In what you said” making a passionate call back to a personal experience that was just too internal to describe in words. It feels like Ballentine at her most expressive yet, as she sings about the journeys that have been sound-tracked by her favourite artist above a somewhat romantic, dream-like gaze of soft guitar tones and the odd smattering of a String section here and there. Her voice is unsullied by auto-tune, and this gives her a distinct sense of identity. One of the reasons why I just actively despise auto-tune so much (and I’m never afraid to remind you on the blog about that, let’s be honest) is because it just makes everybody sound the same. This makes me feel taken away and distanced away from the artist, rather than drawing me in. I probably come across a bit snobbish, but I’ve just never really understood why you would want to just sound like somebody else, especially in modern pop music, but this is a gorgeous track that serves as both a reminder of an artist who has touched the life of another, but also a track about developing a connection with music as a form of art. It’s absolutely lovely.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Song For Nick Drake” (Single) (Released on Feb 1, 2021) (via Secretly Canadian)

(If you felt as touched and gently stroked by ‘Song For Nick Drake’ as I did, I reckon you might enjoy hearing what else Skullcrusher has to say to you. I was a little greener and less familiar with her back then, but you can still start with my review for ‘Day Of Show’ from her self-titled EP here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/28/todays-track-skullcrusher-day-of-show/

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Skullcrusher” (EP) (Released on July 24th, 2020) (via Secretly Canadian)

That’s all for now! A bit of a jarring contrast is set for tomorrow, as we celebrate the return of Scuzz Sundays for the first time in a two-week gap, due to Easter and WrestleMania. I love to embrace the normality sometimes, and so we’re going to be looking at a perhaps lesser-known track from one of the most famous Metal bands of all time, which was written and recorded for the soundtrack of the movie ‘Mission Impossible 2’ in 2000. 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: Sinead O’Brien – “Kid Stuff”

April 15, 2021 — Leave a comment

This Irish Brian Jonestown Massacre tour supporter is all growing up. New post time!

  • Pictured: Promo Image for the “Drowning In Blessings” EP (2020) (Photo via Chess Club Records)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke – and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, as per usual, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I have been a keen follower of the Limerick-based Irish Post-Punk poet of Sinead O’Brien, down to the point where her debut record, ‘Drowning In Blessings’, released last September via Chess Club Records, ultimately scooped up the pole position spot of my Top 5 “Best EP’s Of The Year” section of my blog from 2020 earlier this year. An architect of words and a futuristic innovator of Post-Rock, Sinead is truly one of the most fresh, unique and distinctive voices out there. A new single, entitled ‘Kid Stuff’, has just been released – and it was premiered last Thursday on Steve Lamacq’s Drivetime show on BBC Radio 6 Music. O’Brien has her own headline tour pencilled in for later this year, and she’s going to be supporting IDLES at Brixton Academy, and so the relative critical success for O’Brien is making her future look even brighter. Check out her official music video for ‘Kid Stuff’ – directed and also choreographed by Saska Dixie – below.

Produced by Dan Carey of Speedy Wunderground. who has worked on dance-oriented recordings with very successful alternative music acts like Squid and Goat Girl, ‘Kid Stuff’ is an exploration of the child-like and the peaceful memories that we’ve had, and how these experiences shape the person you are in your adulthood, at least to my interpretation, a new track which Sinead says: “Kid Stuff” shows up all different tones on different days. There’s something alive in it which cannot be caught or told. It is direct but complex; it contains chapters. This feels like our purest and most succinct expression yet.” about in her own press release. Starting off with a shredding, angular bass guitar-led backing, she gives a spoken word delivery as she muses about the sense of mundanity in life and waiting for chance, as lyrics like “Watching clocks, kettles, Sunset after Sunset, For a sign of change” and the fantasies we fascinate ourselves with as we grow older, singing “Picture a portrait of yourself, And that is what you are, Cropped, master of the edit”, as the drum beats swell with a brazen attitude. Meanwhile, the instrumentation carries a chaotic quality as the guitar melodies progressively get sharper, forming a unique type of almost danceable groove. There was always something appealing in ‘Drowning In Blessings’ in regard to this style, but it feels more focused and less ambient than found in that prior EP. In this case, O’Brien may be saying that we must remind ourselves of our ‘Kid Stuff’ to take the chance to sit with ourselves, away from the influence of the media, until we confront the nagging doubts that we choose not to face, signaled by “Spend time on it, Meditate a ring around the sun, Not to leave until I know that, That which I ignore” that builds up to the key change in “Which reminds me, I am still on the run, That which is not lost, is not gone” as the lead guitar melody briefly dips, before becoming more intense and visceral in it’s raised tempo. The vocals sit in the mix disoriently, with lyrics like “Someone quiet said that, Someone that I forgot” that plays on how we retain fragmented memories of people from our younger lives. I love the instrumentation in this tune because it feels so headstrong and rhythmic, with the Spoken word vocals playing off an almost “Peter Pan” effect where it just gyrates around your ears. It’s probably not going to be for everybody and the overall sound is perhaps too obscure for some, but I think it’s dead cool and I probably wouldn’t like it so much if everyone did. This is surprisingly melodic and incredibly original overall. Yes, she’s released new material. I think it might be the best thing she’s ever done yet.

  • Pictured: Sinead O’Brien for a Q&A feature on DIYMag.com (2020) (Photo Credit: Louise Mason)

Another Sinead O’Brien-centered post, another rave review! If you’re new to the John Cooper Clarke supporter, who was also part of NME’s ‘The 100’ last year, and you liked this, make sure to seek out her other material. You can start off with my thoughts on ‘Strangers In Danger’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/03/todays-track-sinead-o-brien-strangers-in-danger/, and ‘Taking On Time’, when I was a little greener myself, here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/20/todays-track-sinead-o-brien-taking-on-time/

  • “I don’t think anyone should be afraid to use their words” (2019) (Photo Credit: Zac Mahrouche)

That’s all I’ve got time for today – but tomorrow marks the date for another weekly entry in our ‘New Album Release Fridays’ series, where we take an in-depth look at one of the weekend’s recommended new releases. This week, I have settled on a Manchester-based IDM producer of Dub and Techno music, who has released five albums with the Modern Love label. His second studio album received year-end awards from Resident Advisor and Pitchfork in 2012. 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/