Brit-Rock

Today’s Track: SPRINTS – ‘Up and Comer’

January 9, 2024 — Leave a comment

Jacob to Planet Earth. Surprisingly, this is not a false drill. I respond with a new post!

It gives me – Jacob Braybrooke – great pleasure to wish you a very happy new year as I have finally returned to address you as the writer of One Track At A Time, a website that was previously a diary of discovery when it came to finding new music and exposing the dynamic duo (known as your eyes and ears) to a range of unique bands that I would never wish to fly under your radar otherwise. If you are following the blog and, of course, reading this – I want to say a huge thank you. The main reason why I’ve been on hiatus for so long is the ‘D’ word – and I’m not talking about ‘Drums’ or ‘Drill & Bass’, or whatever basic innuendo that your mind conjures up, but the ‘D’ that worms into your brain and lies to you. Telling you about your inadequacy and lack of worth. Conveniently timed at a period where I was leaving the ‘Cocoon’ known as university life. I began working a stop-gap job in retail and I’m accepting that I’m becoming older and that, to be honest, I absolutely hate said stop-gap job. Therefore, I’ve decided to pick myself up off the canvas and search for career opportunities in the music industry. Although, however armed with excitement and nostalgia that I am to be writing about a fantastic new band once again that I am, I have to face the facts that my writing is very rusty now. Therefore, I’ve decided to start posting again. Not everyday – maintaining my own radio show, job applications, stop-gap job and writing every single day, like I used to back in the peak day, is going to be a little overwhelming. As a result of this, I will simply post a few times over the upcoming weeks, maybe not even publicise it so much, treat you like the old friend that you are and sharpen my skills for the mountain of impending cover letters and personal statements that are inevitably on my way while creating a platform for emerging artists to thrive because my mission, as an individual, is to combat the generic that you hear everywhere from the mainstream media trying to mass market. It’s been about that all along not just holding the fort for a company solely interested in profit.

In my first comeback post of 2024 – although ‘Love Myself’ by Hailee Steinfeld or ‘Fight Song’ by Rachel Platten’ may be a little more fitting of my current mindset – I present to you the Dublin-based indie punk-rock band who are called SPRINTS. It’s always difficult to find new music in the dustbin grounds of January, but these Clash-supported rockers are taking the alternative rock scene in the UK by storm all of a sudden. They were formed in 2019 when they went to see Savages and they were inspired by how deaf the gig was slowly making them. This past weekend, the 4-piece released their debut studio album ‘Letter To Self’ to positive reviews by The Guardian, DIY, Dork and Loud & Quiet. Bolstered by powerfully intimate tracks which explore the self-image of frontwoman Karla Chubb as an independent Punk pioneer of the new wave of futuristic Post-Punk acts in the UK, it’s definitely one that appeals to fans of Paramore and Catatonia. Check out the single that says it all, ‘Up and Comer’, below.

“I understand that women should have access to abortion, and I understand that mental health services are not adequate to stop people from committing suicide, so yeah, I don’t know exactly how much money is being spent on it but I don’t need to in order to tell you that it’s not enough“, Karla passionately writes in the band’s bio on the City Slang Records website, adding, “It’s just a class barrier to make people feel like, if they’re not educated enough, then they can’t be involved in the conversation. But you don’t have to be Usain Bolt to run a race, and you don’t have to understand the theory of everything to understand that, morally, someone’s an asshole.” to her speech on what inspires the political aspects of her band’s songwriting on their label’s page.

These themes of how mental health affects feminimity are abundantly clear on ‘Up and Comer’ – today’s track – which begins with a barrelling power-pop guitar riff that steadily builds to create a crescendo of anger when the bass and drums kick in. “I swim the seas between paranoia and disbelief/I reach the surface but the air is hard to breathe” and “Wear a smile like it’s a runner/Your despise like a badge of honour”. she croons, as the swelling guitar chords and the upbeat yet controlled drum beats push and pull the rhythm. There’s a seething quality to the mood of the track, where the rage boils like a kettle as the chorus kicks in and gently retreats as the verses appear. The pace is smooth and clear, however, with the rhythm retreating at a more subtle rate than you may expect. It keeps the fiesty emotion of the track in relevance but it allows the chorus to stand out by increasing the intensity that is maintained to a lesser degree of abrasion. I love the lyrics of the chorus too, where Karla croons, “They say she’s good for an up and comer”, in response to how she feels patronised by those who are commenting on her level of prominence as an emerging artist despite feeling that she’s as experienced as those other artists who have already made an impact. Overall, ‘Up and Comer’ is an effective Punk tune that sounds accessible and catchy, but they personally establishe a truthful quality that leans into the aggressive edge of the quartet’s sound. In this case of finding success on the long and winding road of sustaining yourself as an indie musician, it’s easy to see why the press have quickly encouraged a SPRINT and not a marathon for this promising band.

That’s all for now! I hugely appreciate your time and attention that you have given the post that you have just read. The next one won’t take 10 months to complete – you’ll be pleased to know. I currently run a weekly podcast titled Eclectic & Electric that fulfills a similar purpose of challenging the “generic” that the powers be love so deeply which you can find here: https://www.mixcloud.com/jacob-braybrooke/eclectic-electric-first-show-of-2024-january-8th-2024-spotted-in-ely-radio/. You can also find me on the social media accounts below to stay in touch and discover new music.

X (Formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/JacobBraybrook2

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New Album Release Fridays: Bloc Party – ‘If We Get Caught’

April 29, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Alpha Games’ (LP) (Available from April 29th, 2022) (via BMG/Infectious Records)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and its time for me to get writing up for yet another daily track on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! With new albums by Royksopp, Toro Y Moi, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Kelly Lee Owens, Honeyglaze, Dana Gavanski and more all arriving today, you really can take your pick for ‘Album Of The Week’ because there seems to be something for everybody among the release slate today. I have been coloured intrigued by Bloc Party, therefore, as the established PLUG Award-winning and 30 million album-selling London rock band are entering a crucial new chapter of their careers with ‘Alpha Games’ – their sixth studio album – which is out now, as of today, via BMG/Infectious Records. The main draw for the record is how it is their first to feature their new line-up, as Gordon Moakes and Matt Tong have been replaced by Louise Bartle and Justin Harris. The urban rock band have been actively promoting the record as a twist on the band’s old dynamic, giving the sense they are steering away from their tried-and-tested formula in favour of something new, as Kele Okereke said “We’re not the same band now. The chemistry is different” and “We have a history and a legacy, but I’m more excited about the energy we have right now“, in a recent interview with NME’s Mark Beaumont. It also brings producers like Dan Carey, of Speedy Wunderground fame, on board as well. It has been backed by interesting singles like ‘Traps’ and ‘The Girls Are Fighting’, which have sounded edgy in new ways despite feeling like Bloc Party. Check out the latest single – ‘If We Get Caught’ – below.

“There are only two songs that I feel like have any tenderness on the record, and ‘If We Get Caught’ is one of them“, Kele Okereke says about the LP’s penultimate track in a press release, adding, “It’s really about recognizing that the game is coming to an end and about trying to steal a moment of tenderness with your partner before the curtain comes crashing down. I think it’s about trying to find moments where you can really connect with someone amid all of the chaos that’s going on in the world“, in his evaluation. While the other singles have boasted a sharper set of fangs, being defined by their sleazy punk theatrics and their intense guitar riffs, ‘If We Get Caught’ feels more like an indie anthem by-the-numbers with a decidedly more downbeat, yet still melodic, pace. A subtle, vintage Art-Rock touch and the staccato vocals of the chorus, where the acidic and playful vibes of singles like ‘Traps’ and ‘Sex Magic’ are replaced by a sound that seems more emotionally driven. Okereke chimes in with lyrics like “Where you go/I will go” and “Stick to the story, better with an alibi/Create diversion, take control with sleight of hand” that, while retaining a relatively straightforward Dance-Rock feel, are supported neatly by a slight rap delivery that Okereke uses in the verses, before he is supported by some cooing backing vocals by Bartle and airy bass guitar riffs in the chorus. Lyrics like “If we get caught/I want you to know/I will always, ride for you” capture the quality of trying to eek out a final moment of intimacy before an inevitable final goodbye, wringing out the joy of a doomed relationship, nicely in the chorus. A light channeling of the indie rock ghosts of the 80’s and 90’s mostly characterizes the visuals and emotions here, with Okereke and the rest of the band creating a sense of unity and strength by giving the impression that there is little sense of anger whatsoever. I feel that Okereke has created a fresh outlet for himself in his solo material, with side project releases like ‘2042’ feeling more fascinating and inspired than some of his main Bloc Party music in some cases, and I can see some of that influence spreading out into new avenues here. While ultimately not quite as interesting or experimental, it feels different to the music that I’ve heard by Bloc Party or may expect to hear from them because it feels more intimate, and so I feel like the goal of mixing up their recycled tropes has been achieved here, even if the sound is a little more generic in some ways. An enjoyable single that would sound great on the UK’s mainstream radio, ‘If We Get Caught’ makes it clear that Bloc Party are not attempting to emulate their past efforts too slavishly, as this one strikes a more full-tilted and introspective chord with me – and this is an effective way to play the game.

Pictured: Kele Okereke (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Electric Piano/Samples/Synths), Russell Lisack (Lead Guitar/Samples/Programming), Gordon Moakes (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals/Keyboard/Synths/Glockenspiel) and Matt Tong (Drums/Percussion/Occasional Backing Vocals) (2014) (Image via whenthegramarphonerings.com)

If you’re already a fan of this NME Album Of The Year-winning band, the party doesn’t need to end here as you can check out each of my other Bloc Party-related posts here:

‘Traps’ (2022) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2022/01/08/todays-track-bloc-party-traps/

‘Helicopter’ (2021) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/11/07/scuzz-sundays-bloc-party-helicopter/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Silent Alarm’ (LP/Album) (Released on February 2, 2005) (via Wichita Recordings)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest post on the blog, and we will be looking ahead to the new month tomorrow with my review for a recent single by an established Australian indie rock band who will be releasing a new album within May. Formed in Melbourne in 2013 by three vocalists-guitarists, they have gained attention by the AIR Awards, Australian Music Prize, Music Victoria Awards and others.

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Scuzz Sundays: Hard Fi – ‘Hard To Beat’

April 17, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Stars Of CCTV’ (LP) (Released on July 4th, 2005) (via Necessary Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m wishing you a good Easter Sunday with my latest installment of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on the blog, given how it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! To be 100% transparent, I barely thought about ‘Easter’ this year and since ‘Easter Music’ isn’t really a thing, and it is not inclusive for all cultures and relgions anyway, I thought that I’d simply cover a band who have been in the news lately this week. The band in question is Hard-Fi, who released three albums between the years of 2004 and 2011 which all did decent business, spawning well-remembered hit singles like ‘Cash Machine’ and ‘Living For The Weekend’ in the process, before going on hiatus in 2014. The band received one Mercury Prize and two BRIT Awards nominations for their work, as well as a #1 album in 2007 and a 2x platinum certification for the sales of their debut album. They also dipped their toes into podcasting with their series ‘Hard-Fi: Rockin’ The City’ that was widely available in 2007 and even got nominated for ‘Best Podcast’ at the Digital Music Awards that year. I think that ‘Hard To Beat’ must be their best-known single as it did the rounds on the soundtracks of ‘FIFA 06’ and ‘MLB 06: The Show’ shortly following release and it reached #9 on the UK Singles Chart as well as #34 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks Chart in the US too. If you’ve been following Hard Fi-related news lately – and you would be forgiven if you haven’t honestly due to them not being around for such a long time – they have been teasing a rare fifteenth anniversary show for ‘Stars Of CCTV’ with posters spotted on the London Underground that features a date pointing to a gig in mid-October. Just don’t shout ‘Hard-Fi’ if you see it next to your fellow passengers because they would probably take you for some kind of a mental lunatic. Let’s revisit ‘Hard To Beat’ below.

A series of social media posts relating to ‘Stars Of CCTV’ have been posted gradually by Hard-Fi elsewhere and they have not performed live together since 2014. In April 2020, Richard Archer – the frontman of the Staines-Upon-Thames formed indie rock outfit – told NME that Hard-Fi were considering a return to the stage to mark their unforgotten first album’s 15-year milestone, saying, “That album has defined people’s lives and when they were growing up. We’ll definitely do it at some point, but with new music too so we’re not just trading on past glories”, in an interview. ‘Hard To Beat’ takes obvious cues from Daft Punk’s ironically overplayed 2002 hit track ‘One More Time’ with filtered disco guitar sounds mixing with a more urban twist created by the lightly distorted Synths and Grunge-driven Bass melodies. Lyrics like “You in a short skirt/Shining eyes of deep brown/You had a dirty hook, you caught me on your hook” feel rhythmic and have a catchy twang to them, but the light darkness of the sexually aroused emotions consummates the rather evident marriage between the LCD Soundystem-influenced House genre explorations and the more “ladd-ish” feel of the ruthlessly driving mid-00’s lead guitar riffs. A hint of paranoia comes through, with lyrics like “I said come on, let’s dance/We’ve got to take our chance/You whispered in my ear/You wanna get out of here?” that talk about living in an environment like London, even though the band are much closer to Cornwall. Some obvious shots of Franz Ferdinand and The Clash are in here too, with the danceable Synths drawing out the vocals at the end and gruff Drum melodies riffing against the slightly more expansive electronic effects that create the Disco vibe most vibrantly. There is a light political commentary on surveillance and urban decay within their songwriting in the grander scheme of things beyond ‘Hard To Beat’ as a standalone single, but Archer doesn’t quite have the sharp-pointed vocal dexterity of Maximo Park’s Paul Smith or the socially observational abilities of Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner – two comparable indie rock bands that also found fame in a similar timeframe – but there’s an admirable attempt to ground the material in a sense of place that isn’t just tied to London in here, nevertheless. The Disco vibe is damn infectious too, but the lyricism works better when they’re smoothly trying to pick up love interests instead of reciting pains of urban dilapidation. That said, the track is a fun and melodic single that wears it’s influences on it’s sleeves and it simply feels very catchy. It felt a little disposable for the time but, admittedly, it still gets a fair amount of airplay today. It has stood the test of time because it is so memorable and pretty dynamic, if nothing very special. It goes to show that sometimes a simple throwback is, well, hard to beat.

Pictured: Richard Archer (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar), Kai Stephens (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), Steve Kemp (Drums/Backing Vocals) and Ross Phillips (Rhythm Guitar/Synths/Backing Vocals) (2006) (Photo via Getty Images)

Thank you for checking out my latest post because your support is absolutely valued every time, and I will be here kicking off the brand new week’s worth of music posts tomorrow with a review for a recent release by an Atlanta-based Hip-Hop duo who are also founding members of the Spillave Village collective. Their well-received second studio album, ‘Ghetto Gods’, was released in February via Dreamville Records.

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Today’s Track: Porridge Radio – ‘Back To The Radio’

April 8, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Dana Margolin (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar/Writer), Georgie Scott (Keyboard), Maddie Ryall (Bass Guitar) and Sam Yardley (Drums) in an official photoshoot to promote the release of ‘Every Bad’ (2020) (Photo via Last.fm)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to add some variety to your weekend with a review for a new track from a recent favourite 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 music every day! I remember covering ‘Born Confused’ by Brighton-based indie rock band Porridge Radio in 2020 because I loved lead vocalist Dana Margolin’s interchangeable switches between moods on that track so dearly, and so I was chomping at the bit for more when I heard that the Secretly Canadian-signed band will shortly be releasing a new album – ‘Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky’ – on May 20th. This will be the follow-up to 2020’s ‘Every Bad’, an album that was nominated for the Mercury Prize and also appeared in year-end best lists compiled by Pitchfork, NME, Under The Radar, Stereogum, Paste and Brooklyn Vegan. During their time together, Porridge Radio have also appeared on The Guardian’s Top 40 New Artists of 2018 list and they have performed two great live sessions for Marc Riley’s show on BBC Radio 6 Music. Porridge Radio have also released three more singles since 2020 including a collaboration with LaLa LaLa and they have recently collaborated with Metronomy for a track taken from their latest LP ‘Small World’ that the group released in February. To co-incide with their upcoming album, Morgolin’s band of misfits will be embarking on a run of in-store performances and a UK tour to support their imminent release around the UK, kicking off in May and October, respectively. You can catch the band playing in Cambridge, Sheffield, Exeter, Nottingham, Leeds, Southampton and more locations throughout the year, with tickets now on sale. Check out the eclectic new single ‘Back To The Radio’ below.

“Back To The Radio feels like a huge introductory hello or a big ceremonial goodbye”, says the 4-piece’s leading lady Dana Margolin, who later adds, “The song grew out of a feeling of intense loneliness and being unprepared for what everybody was promising me was about to happen – and a strong desire to escape without knowing what I wanted to escape to. To me, there’s a huge feeling of catharsis in this song, of letting go and letting it sweep you away”, in a press release. ‘Back To The Radio’ finds the band gradually finding their flow with a tension-releasing string of static effects and chugging guitar riffs, as well as a slow groove of steady drums, with an outpour of lyrics like “Nothing’s the same and I swear that I’m haunted/It’s not fair to you, and it’s not what I wanted” and “I miss what we were, but you’ve closed yourself off to me/We sit here together, the same as we’ve always been” that present a scathingly honest depiction of quiet fears that slowly grow to become more frightening anxieties. It’s not an all-out, hyper melodic rock anthem designed for radio chart domination by any means, but it provokes some interesting thoughts on how we confront change and how we construct our own doubts for ourselves in a relatable way that builds up to an emotionally scattered finale that feels genuinely uplifting despite some stressed lyrics. An emotional call to arms where Margolin sings “Lock all the windows and shut all the doors and get into the house and lie down on the cold, hard floor” and “Talk back to the radio, think loud in the car, I miss everything now, We’re worth nothing at all” to the assist of the backing vocals from the rest of the band with a mood that ultimately releases a lot of tension despite the tension never properly going away, as such. It plays out in the tried-and-tested fashion of Porridge Radio, with a slightly euphoric feel within the final sing-a-long of a sweeping verse that plays off how Margolin has the unimitable gift of holding you hostage, as the listener, to her commanding presence as soon as she opens her mouth. Her fears are comparable to a stressed teenager, and so the track feels like a satisfying exploration of those situations where we feel everything all at once and have no idea how to handle all of it, in a sense. This feels witty at times, but the band are absolutely taking their message seriously. There is definitely an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to the track where it’s recycling the band’s usual shtick as opposed to innovating their sound very much, but it definitely plays to their strengths and creates the sense of clearing clouds that Margolin really conveys through her vocals and she is supported, as always, by a solid performance by the rest of the band, who add even more depth and substance to her interchangeable vocal delivery. It is nothing new, but it gets you warmed up for the album, because it captures the vibe that only they could release it.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky’ (LP/Album) (Available from May 20th, 2022) (via Secretly Canadian)

If you loved ‘Back To The Radio’, why not check out ‘Born Confused’ on the blog too?

‘Born Confused’ (2020) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/11/todays-track-porridge-radio-born-confused/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Every Bad’ (LP/Album) (Released on March 13th, 2020) (via Secretly Canadian)

That’s all for today! Thank you for checking out the latest post on the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow to take you through another weekly entry of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ as we remember the ghosts of Pop-Punk’s past with a signature track by a 90’s Glam Metal band that were previously led by Jerry Cantrell, who sadly left us in 2002. They have sold over 14 million records in the US and they have received eleven Grammy Awards nominations. They have also been ranked as the 15th ‘Best Live Band’ by Hit Parader.

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Today’s Track: Honeyglaze – ‘Female Lead’

April 7, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Anouska Sokolow (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar/Rhythm Guitar), Tim Curtis (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Yuri Shibuichi (Drums/Percussion/Occasional Backing Vocals) (2022) (Photo Credit: Holly Whitaker/DIYMag.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to cut to action on the set of another daily track on the blog, with a movie theme today, that helps me to fulfill my goal of writing up about a different piece of music every day! Born out of lead songwriter Anouska Sokolow’s “un-desire to be a solo act”, according to Red Light Management, Honeyglaze are an emerging indie rock trio based in Southern London who met officially at their first rehearsal together just three days prior to what would become a near-residency at The Windmill in Brixton, where bands like Black Midi and Squid have also found their footing. They have also performed at festivals including Green Man Festival, Fred Perry’s All Our Tomorrow’s Festival, Live At Leeds and Cardiff’s SWN Festival across the last couple of years too. Their debut studio LP is self-titled, and it will be coming out on 29th April 2022 via Speedy Wunderground, a Dance-influenced Post-Punk label that is, of course, partially run by well-respected producer Dan Carey. Pierre Hall, the A&R representative of the label, says “We’re so excited to announce Honeyglaze as our next proper signing to the label. We were blown away as soon as we heard their music, and then, furthermore, when we met them in person. It’s felt like such a natural partnership and they’ve created something really special. We can’t wait for the world to hear. Be prepared to fall in love”, about Honeyglaze’s music. The latest catchy single to be taken from their upcoming 11-track project is ‘Female Lead’, which gets accompanied by a music video that was directed by James Ogram and Sokolow herself, and it stars Jojo Macari, an actor who has also starred in Netflix’s ‘Sex Education’ TV series. Check out the pre-release offering below.

Honeyglaze will be performing headline gigs at venues in London, Portsmouth, Margate, Manchester and Hull throughout May in the UK, and it follows their support slots for Katy J Pearson and Wet Leg. Talking about the video for the track, Sokolow says, “Given that the song itself is so narrative heavy, we knew we wanted to make something with it’s own seperate story”, adding, “It started off with some ideas about duality and stolen identity. I had recently watched ‘Casablanca’ and that’s where we got the idea of this movie character coming to life and we ended up writing a full scene for a made-up, 50’s romance.”, in a press release. Tackling these themes of self-understanding and personal worth in the track itself, the trio back up Sokolow’s explorations of changing your appearance and feeling overwhelmed in your ambitions through the lens of flashy hair dye. Lyrics like “I put it in my black hair, and waited for an hour/But when I washed it out, oh, god, I’ve let my mother down” and “I look nothing like Madonna/More like an 80’s horror film/I’ll have to wear a hat, Until my golden hair turns black” are geared towards the witty side, but they provoke serious thoughts about how we view ourselves and compare ourselves to famous faces. The narrative builds up with soft vocals, steady drums, melancholic guitar riffs and delicate splashings of Bass that are kept simple and concise within the song’s short 2-minute runtime. The key lyrics are delivered to a vintage-leaning tune that was influenced by The Shangri-La’s, according to the trio themselves, and the buzz of the British narrative-based Pop songs that were all of the rage in the cinematic 60’s. They replicate the vibe well, while adding a ‘timeless’ feel to the track. The vocals sound pure and intimate, with a fragile mix of a spoken and haiku-like format to present what is being written between the lines with a rather direct sense of well-versed clarity. Although it is kept short and to the point, ‘Female Lead’ has enough depth and substance overall to spread its message of romanticized ideals and self-judgment through the temporal era of retro cinema. Who knows, going by this track record, maybe Honeyglze will put in a more Oscar-worthy performance in the future?

Pictured: Vinyl copy of’Honeyglaze’ (Self-Titled LP) (Available from April 29, 2022) (via Speedy Wunderground)

Thank you for checking out my latest post, and I look forward to bringing a new entry of ‘New Album Release Fridays’ to your eye line tomorrow, as we turn our attention to a multi-time Mercury Prize nominee who came out as non-binary in 2020. A breath of fresh air on the Spoken Word genre, they share one particular thing in common with Honeyglaze. They also had a residency at The Windmill in Brixton. Aside from music, they are a Sunday Times best-selling and Costa Book Of The Year-nominated author.

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Today’s Track: Fontaines DC – ‘Jackie Down The Line’

April 2, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Grian Chatten (Lead Vocals/Tambourine), Carlos O’Connell (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Conor Curley (Rhythm Guitar/Piano/Backing Vocals), Conor Deegan (Bass Guitar/Acoustic Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Tom Coll (Drums/Percussion/Occasional Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals) (2019) (Photo Credit: TheIndependent.co.uk)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for us to sit comfortably and find our reading glasses as we prepare to get invested in yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Since bonding over their shared passions for literature and poetry while attending college together at BIMM in The Liberties, Dublin – Fontaines D.C. have become renowned for their extensive live touring and the consistently upwards trajectory of their career, as their critical acclaim and public popularity veer closer towards the mainstream consciousness with every successful album release. They signed up to Partisan Records in 2019, before their debut album – ‘Dogrel’ – was released in 2019 to widespread acclaim since it was voted ‘Album Of The Year’ by BBC Radio 6 Music, as well as listed as ‘Album Of The Year’ on Rough Trade’s website. It was also nominated for the Mercury Prize and the Choice Music Prize. They quickly followed up these credits – to similar results – with 2021’s ‘A Hero’s Death’, a bleak but therapeutic record that was nominated for ‘Best Rock Album’ at the 2021 Grammy Awards. Known for writing and recording material in the midst of their touring duties, as well as their frequent collaborations with high in demand producer Dan Carey, they are set to release yet another album – ‘Skinty Fia’ – on April 22nd. The band have promised for their new LP to feel “much more expansive and cinematic” than the previous two aforementioned efforts in their press materials, and the group recently performed the lead single ‘Jackie Down The Line’ on ‘The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon’, bringing their confessional brand of taut Post-Punk and self-loathing spoken word lyricism to the US. The track’s title derives from ‘Jackeen’, a derogatory term used against the folk of their hometown of Dublin although they are currently based in London. Check out the Hugh Mulhern-directed music video below.

‘Skinty Fia’ is an Irish phrase that roughly translates to “The damnation of the deer” in English, and it is used to express annoyance or disappointment, and it resonates with vocalist Grian Chatten as a response to the “mutation” of Irish culture abroad. Speaking about the highly-anticipated new album and it’s main themes, Chatten has stated, “A large part of what Skinty Fia is about is the way Irishness becomes exaggerated and embellished when we’re abroad and how whether it’s parts in London, Boston or Vancouver, we still cling together for various reasons including the discomfort of being ‘othered’, which I’ve been feeling. It’s fertile soil for creativity”, in an interview with Hot Press. ‘Jackie Down The Line’ is an exploration of these ideas, with Chatten casually reciting lyrics like “My friend Sally says she knows ya, Got a funny point of view, Says you got away with murder, Maybe one time, maybe one time” that talk about cheating in a relationship, and the later refrain of “What good is happiness to me?, If I’ve to wield it carefully/For care I’ll always come up short, It’s only right” makes it more evidently clear that qualities of paranoia, alcohol abuse and drug abuse have led to the demise of the relationship. His vocals feel dark and brooding, but there’s an 80’s softness to the guitar rhythms that gives it a mature and very accessible approach, and the sing-along hook of “I don’t think we’d rhyme, I will wear you down in time, I will hurt you, I will desert you/I am Jackie down the line” addresses how his Irish culture just doesn’t gel with the former partner while the rhythmic structure creates something deceptively melodic about the otherwise dark, edgy Post-Punk anthem. The songwriting feels rather clever in this sense, yet the instrumentation feels quite simple. The chorus has a spoken-sung pace that glides across the subtle Grunge influence of the bassline, while the lead guitar and the drums add sparse, but gloomy, ripples of textures that add further intensity and drama to the proceedings. There’s nothing massively complicated about this, but it feels on-brand for the band and it sharpens the edge of the knife lyrically, so to speak. If you have ever heard anything from Fontaines DC before, even casually, I think ‘Jackie Down The Line’ will feel familiar because it feels like a continuation of their journey thus far rather than a re-invention of the wheel, and it offers the same unapologetic and thought-provoking fare that previous records have earned their strong reviews for, and I feel that ‘Jackie Down The Line’ has managed to catch my attention because it feels more exciting for them because it sounds more catchy while retaining the harsher, dissonant elements of their pre-existing sound in the process, although I’ve never been a huge fan of this style before. Jackie has her authority here.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Skinty Fia’ (LP/Album) (Available from April 22nd, 2022) (via Partisan Records)

That brings us to the very end of yet another daily track post on the blog. I hope that you enjoyed reading it, and I will be back tomorrow for another weekly iteration of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ that is delivered on a somber and reflective note, as we take the chance to pay tribute to the recently deceased Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.

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Scuzz Sundays: The Darkness – ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’

March 27, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Permission To Land’ (LP/Album) (Released on July 7th, 2003) (via Atlantic Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us folk to spread the love to our elders for Mother’s Day with a ‘Scuzz Sundays’ anthem that vaguely resembles the theme in some way 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 music every day! Justin Hawkins – the frontman of Mercury Prize-nominated British Glam-Rock band The Darkness – has recently made a few appearances on television screens in the UK, first mentoring one of the teams of pensioner rock stars on BBC Two’s ‘Rock Till You Drop’, and appearing in a Karaoke segment for ITV 1’s ‘Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway’ to sing ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ for likely the three billionth time in his life, and so we’re going to remember his band’s arguably most well-known track – as I’d argue that ‘Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)’ may also take the cake for that title – for this week’s entry of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ as it is just a simple song about love that will resonate with many over the course of this Mother’s Day. In their time, The Darkness have headlined Download Festival in 2011 and the Isle Of Wight Festival in 2012 and, despite some of the original members splitting off to pursue seperate projects and Hawkins indulging his fancy in a few side projects over the years, they are still active today, having released a new album – ‘Motorheart’ – last year. ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ saw Hawkins’ band rise to prominence in 2000 because it reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart, beaten to the punch only by the similarly erm… lovely…. classic of ‘Where Is The Love?’ by The Black Eyed Peas. I bet you haven’t seen the video for a few years, so let’s get nostalgic with the piece below.

‘Permission To Land’ – the album that ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ was taken from as a single – is widely considered to be the catalyst for The Darness’ Brit Award-winning and Hammersmith-performing success, as it topped the UK Album’s Chart and it reached the top 40 of the Billboard 200 in the US. The memorable hook of “My heart’s in overdrive and you’re behind the steering wheel” was also reportedly inspired by the love of cars that Hawkins’ Dad has, according to Duncan Haskell of Songwriting Magazine. The rest of the track is crowd-pleasing and anthemic stuff, with catchy hooks like “I wanna kiss you every minute, every hour, every day/You’ve got me in a spin but everything is a-okay” and “There’s a chance we can make it now/We’ll be rocking till’ the sun goes down” that are straightforward and communicate the brash romanticism of the track in the clearest way possible. The bass and the drums are upbeat, while the vocals and the costumes scream 90’s Glam Rock with a hint of more progressive styles when the bulky, arena-sized guitar solo kicks in. You get a sense that the track was designed to build the solo’s as much as the repetitous chorus, and it was also designed to have the guitar breaks in it. Hawkins’ presence is a very charismatic one, although his screeching breaks could get a little tiresome for some. I also think it helps to complement the visual presentation too, where we’re getting traditional Glam Rock turned right up to eleven. Overall, ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ isn’t necessarily a track that I’m a particularly huge fan of due to its repetition and simple design, but it is a fun crowd pleaser that doesn’t take itself very seriously and it’s definitely more like “a stick it on at a wedding and everybody knows it” hit rather than anything complicated. They all played it straight.

Pictured: Justin Hawkins (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Keyboard), Dan Hawkins (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Frankie Poullain (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) & Rufus Tiger Taylor (Drums/Vocals) (2019) (Photo by Neill Barston)

That’s all of the love that I could muster up on the blog today! Once again, a happy Mother’s Day to all readers that it applies to, and thank you for supporting myself and independent creatives by following the site. It’s back to the daily grind tomorrow as we start off another week’s worth of posts by taking a more soulful route. We’re going to be listening to a recent single by a London-born R&B and Gospel singer who has earned national support from BBC Radio 1. He has toured with James Bay, Chance The Rapper and Allen Stone. His debut full-length studio LP, ‘Untidy Soul’, is out now.

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Scuzz Sundays: Maximo Park – ‘Our Velocity’

March 20, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Paul Smith (Lead Vocals/Keyboard/Producer/Rhythm Guitar), Duncan Lloyd (Lead Guitar/Bass Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals) and Tom English (Drums/Percussion) (2020) (Photo via readdork.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for us to revisit one of the more ‘Scuzzy’ indie anthems of the mid-00’s as we remember the ghosts of Pop-Punk’s past for ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on the blog, which ties in to my goal of writing up about a different piece of music every day! Released in 2007, ‘Our Velocity’ is a ferocious Pop/Rock single coming from Newcastle Upon Tyne’s Maximo Park, led by their excellent and really energetic frontman Paul Smith. They seem to have been pigeon-holed a little into the ‘Indie Landfill’ of the 00’s where there were heaps upon heaps of other bands following some similar ideas musically, but Maximo Park have stood the test of time as they are still recording today. In fact, they gained a rather kind amount of praise for ‘Nature Always Wins’ – their latest full-length album record – an architecturally designed set list of tracks that became something of an unlikely comeback to the UK’s rock mainstream for the band, as a surprising campaign was led to help it score the UK’s number one album spot. It ended up reaching #2 – I like to think that some of the love was aided by my support on the site – with just a few hundred sales separating it from Architects ‘For Those That Wish To Exist’ at the #1 spot – at the time of it’s first week of release in February, 2021. At the time that ‘Our Velocity’ was being issued alongside its crafty music video, the band were following up on their Mercury Prize-nominated debut LP with ‘Our Earthly Pleasures’ in 2007. Suprisingly, their first album was actually released on the legendary experimental label Warp Records – the home of IDM pioneers such as Aphex Twin, Plaid, Boards Of Canada and Squarepusher. ‘Our Velocity’ was produced by Gil Norton, and it reached Silver sales certification status in the UK. Let’s remind ourselves of the hit track below.

Teletext’s Planet Sound music page named ‘Our Velocity’ as the best single of 2007, and it was also used in Channel 4’s ‘Hollyoaks’ TV series, as well as video games like ‘Guitar Hero: On Tour – Modern Hits’ and ‘Project Gotham Racing 4’ shortly following its release. Written by guitarist Duncan Lloyd and lyricist Paul Smith, the track was written as a response to the international conflicts that the UK was involved in at the time, mostly being the middle eastern wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. ‘Our Velocity’ starts off with a blend of 8-Bit synth effects that wouldn’t sound too out of place in a ‘Super Mario’ video game title, before the squelching guitar riffs and the tight Drum section introduces us to the next part of the track, where Smith recites dramatic yet poetic lyrics like “I’m not a man, I’m a machine/Chisel me down until I am clean” and “There is a poison in the air/A mix of chemicals and fear” that hit quite hard when you know about the influences behind the songwriting, and they are accentuated brilliantly by the vibrant mix of rock ‘n’ roll and electronic production. The rest of Smith’s lyrics come across like a ramble that comes from a stream of consciousness, with aggressive quips like “I’ve got no one to call in the middle of the night anymore/I am just alone with these thoughts” flowing out in contrast to more politically charged lines like “You’re asking for commitment/When I’m somewhere in-between” that pack a more socio-economic punch. True, if outspoken, lyrics like “If everyone became so sensitive/I wouldn’t have to be so sensitive” set the scene up too. The guitar riffs wind through the breakneck stages of being faster and faster each time, while the bass is frenzied and the pace briefly pulls away for a few minutes as Smith delivers the pre-chorus refrain, before the dizzying drums and the fizzy guitar riffs of a gently camp abandon separates the structure up a little to resemble a more radio-friendly sound. ‘Our Velocity’ is packed with a precise amount of lyrics and references, with plenty of ideas in terms of the instrumentation too, although it may come across to me as just a tad bit over-ambitious at times due to the chaotic nature of the layout. Paul Smith was bang on the money as the front-man of the piece however, and the execution of the music video is faultless. A superb showing that packs a lot into a concise run time.

Pictured: Maximo Park in a promotional photoshoot for ‘Nature Always Wins’ (2020) (Photo Credit: Em Cole)

Underrated no longer, you can check out some of Maximo Park’s most recent stuff here:

‘Baby, Sleep’ (2020) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/11/30/todays-track-maximo-park-baby-sleep/

‘All Of Me’ (2021) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/02/27/todays-track-maximo-park-all-of-me/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Nature Always Wins’ (LP) (Released on February 26th, 2021) (via Prolifica Inc.)

That’s all for now! Thank you for taking a little share of your time from your day to check out what’s been going on today right here at One Track At A Time, and your support is very highly appreciated by me. I’ll be back tomorrow to start the new week’s worth of music posts with a review of a recent single by a wonderfully proficient Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter who has just released her debut solo album – ‘Under The New Light’ – via Last Gang Records. You may know her for her foremost roles in other bands and musical projects such as Dirty Projectors and Coco.

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New Album Release Fridays: The Mysterines – ‘Dangerous’

March 11, 2022 — Leave a comment

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke – and this is the time for us to pick up something for the weekend as we take an in-depth preview of one of the weekend’s most noticeably notable new album releases, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! There’s stiff competition from Dirty Projectors and Coco’s Maia Friedman, as well as rock band The Districts, this weekend – but The Mysterines have the vote of ‘Album Of The Week’ from One Track At A Time for this fine Friday of March 11th. A fair share of music publications frequently seem to assume the emerging Alternative Punk 4-piece of The Mysterines are from Liverpool, but they were actually originally formed in Merseyside. Led by vocalist/guitarist Lia Metcalfe, The Mysterines have been gaining fans all over the music and radio industry across the last couple of years and various tracks by them have each received daytime rotational airplay from BBC Radio 6 Music. They have performed at festivals as beloved as 2021’s Sound City Festival, and I’m sure there are some die-hard UK Hard Rock fans who have been desperately awaiting what’s in store for them as ‘Reeling’ – their first full-length album – finally lands on store shelves today. ‘Reeling’ was recorded in sessions that took place throughout 2021, where The Mysterines worked with Catherine Marks (Foals, The Killers, Eliza Shaddad) as their producer. The record will be supported by a string of tour dates in locations like Cambridge, Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Leeds and more throughout the spring. Teasing the style and direction of ‘Reeling’ when it was initially announced, Metcalfe said, “It’s a pretty ambiguous title for most people, but for me, ‘Reeling’ sums up every emotion of the album in just one word”, in the band’s press statement. On that strong note, let’s check out the final pre-release single – ‘Dangerous’ – below.

The final advance single to drum up hype for the album, Lia Metcalfe also said in a seperate statement about the visceral Alt-Rock tune, “Dangerous is about those wild cycles that life sometimes traps you in, the ones that seem desirable at first but quickly become very dangerous”, as The Mysterines’ dynamic frontwoman explains, concluding, “Whether it be with people, places, relationships – the hardest part is always letting go”, in her thoughtful and provoking press notes. ‘Dangerous’ gets off to a heated start as a slightly Folk-led opening guitar riff slowly turns sour in tone and becomes more thunderous at a brisker pace, and Metcalfe soon croons refrains like “I was willing and able/But I was caught in your jaws” and you caught me standing on the table/I saw you watching me fall” that invite you into the Post-Punk style of the single with dramatic lyricism that touches on toxicity and cyclical break-up as key themes. For the chorus, the hooks become more melodic and infectiously catchy as the simple refrain of “It’s such a danger/It’s such a dangerous thing” is given an infuriated amount of emotional weight that grinds under the relentlessly electronic-enhanced electric guitar riffs. Metcalfe’s vocal delivery has a noticeably potent and, most crucially, masculine quality to it, with the rest of the band backing up her gently husky voice by driving the beats forwards with a more standard ‘Indie’ formula of punchy guitar riffs and compact drum riffs. It is probably not the heaviest track that The Mysterines will likely present on the new record, but they have a bunch of ears that show a great knack for catchy melodies that interplay between the Pop and Punk elements of the track. ‘Dangerous’ also feels more eclectic than you may assume, given the title of the track on paper, because there’s some Grunge influences that pull from the more bombastic flair of more modern rock bands too. They were clearly influenced by Nirvana and The Strokes, and there’s a nice mixture of slightly different Rock influences being pulled together pretty neatly in ‘Dangerous’. It, perhaps, does feel like a fairly obvious choice for a radio-friendly single to promote the album as I could definitely envision ‘Dangerous’ being played on a daytime BBC Radio 1 programme as equally as on the next FIFA video game soundtrack, and so they do adhere to a more conventional structure and sound on the track more so than other examples of their music, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing as it ensures The Mysterines are keeping their ambitions broad and attaining more reach with their music to entice others to check out the full record, where the more experimental tracks can find a larger audience. There’s also a Brit-Pop styling, especially in the raw vocals and the lightly distorted guitar riffs, that can appeal to older listeners while balancing out their more off-beat tracks naturally too. Overall, The Mysterines seem primed for sturdy success on ‘Dangerous’, a solid single that feels as though it is fairly diversified while giving the more casual fans of their genre some crowd-pleasing riffs.

Pictured: Lia Metcalfe (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Keys), George Favager (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), Callum Thompson (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Paul Crilly (Drums/Percussion) (2022) (Photo via WirralGlobe.co.uk)

That leaves me with little else to say other than to thank you kindly for lending a moment of your day to find out what I had to say about The Mysterines today, and I hope that you are looking forwards to their new album as much as most of their devoted fans are. I’ll be back tomorrow on the eve of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ to shine a spotlight on one of the UK’s most lively Grime artists who has just released his new LP ‘Reason To Smile’ via the major label Island Records. He has collaborated with the likes of Mahalia and Swindle, and he has received three nominations at the MOBO Awards. His ’23Winters’ EP reached #3 on the UK Rap & Hip Hop Albums Chart in 2016.

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Way Back Wednesdays: The Charlatans – ‘You’re Not Very Well’

March 2, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Tim Burgess (Lead Vocals/Harmonica/Piano), Mark Collins (Pedal Steel Guitar), Martin Blunt (Bass Guitar) and Tony Rogers (Keyboard/Organ/Flute/Mellotron/Percussion) (2017) (Photo Credit: Andy Richardson)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to revisit one of the seminal sounds of the past for another weekly entry of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ on the blog, which fits my goal of writing up about a different piece of music every day! If I’m being wholly transparent with you, I wasn’t quite born yet when the ‘Madchester’ or ‘Baggy’ mini-movements began here in the UK, and so it’s thanks to my Dad and the records that he used to play in the car that I really have as much significant knowledge about the time that I still do. Although not quite one of the most chart-bothering bands of the time, like The Stone Roses and Ocean Colour Scene perhaps were, The Charlatans are still an active rock group who boasts the mid-pandemic Twitter hero Tim Burgess as their ringmaster, who have released thirteen albums to date. A set-closer that was the opening track of their debut album, ‘Some Friendly’, released in 1990 – ‘You’re Not Very Well’ is just one of the recordings that helped their debut album to enter the UK Albums Chart at #1. Introduced to the industry by the visual programming wonders of ITV’s ‘The Chart Show’, a still-lamented show, The Charlatans have scored hits like ‘The Only One I Know’ and ‘Then’ that reached the Top 15 in the UK. Let’s see them perform it at Manchester’s The Ritz from 1990 below.

The story behind 1990’s ‘Some Friendly’ is a well-documented one, since the record suffered from all sorts of production issues during the time of development. The recording sessions near Wrexham, Wales were awkward because ‘Burgess and buds’ fell out with the owners of the studio. The label executives were very keen on pushing them, and they wanted the band to record the album’s tracks despite them not having wrote many of them, and Burgess didn’t have the opportunity to stockpile songs beforehand. In spite of this, it still received great reviews from journalists and the record has been certified as ‘Gold’ in UK sales, and so that’s an achievement, whether it’s down to coincidence or raw fate is another dilemma. Opening track ‘You’re Not Very Well’ got the 90’s LP off to a start with prominent Organ stabs and repeating Bass hooks, with willful lyrics like “I don’t like all these sharks in the city/They don’t do much for me anyway” and “There’s that car that I used to swerve/This town traffic is knocking me over” that talk about how you can outgrow your surroundings while reflecting on the nostalgic moments that you’ve enjoyed within a certain area, as Burgess goes back and forth on his feelings regarding the people that he has met and the time that he has spent while growing up, with lyrics like “One step forward into mine/Faking pictures and opening doorways” and “Intervene and you privatise/Health is health and I don’t know about it” that each express anything but warm, sunshine-filled sentiments. There’s splashings of the slide guitar here and there to follow the Brit-Pop trends of the time while following an undercurrent of Funk as an influence. It is not necessarily steady on it’s feet as an overall piece, but ‘You’re Not Very Well’ is very pointed and it has a 1960’s Beat Groove with plenty of ‘Baggy’-ness and ‘Madchester’ elements to it that ensures that Burgess and his band-mates are delivering their instrumentation and vocals with a decent amount of cadence. An eclectic 90’s track that feels decent, if not particularly classic, which laid out a diverse, rhythmic framework for The Charlatans for decades to come.

Pictured: Tim Burgess performing with The Charlatans at Picnic In The Park (2019) (Photo by Rune Hellestad-Corbis)

If you are looking for some more catchy melodies by The Charlatans, then you need to look no further than my blog. Here is my take on The Charlatans’ 90’s classic ‘The Only One I Know’: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/04/28/way-back-wednesdays-the-charlatans-the-only-one-i-know/. You can also check out some of Tim Burgess’ solo work by giving ‘Empathy For The Devil’ a spin here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/29/todays-track-tim-burgess-empathy-for-the-devil/.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Some Friendly’ (LP) (Released on September 8th, 1990) (via Beggars Banquet Records)

That’s all of the time that I have got for now! Thank you for revisiting some ‘Baggy Brilliance’ with me today, and I’ll be back at it again tomorrow with new music from a ‘Post-Punk Poet’ who has often been featured on the blog before and she topped my ‘Best EP’s of 2020’ list that was published two years ago. She has toured with The Brian Jonestown Massacre across the UK and Ireland, and she has recently been working with Speedy Wunderground’s Dan Carey as her producer. She will finally be releasing her highly-anticipated debut LP record in June through Chess Club Records.

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