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

September 13, 2021 — Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

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Today’s Track: Kozmodrum – “Wormhoooooooooole…”

August 23, 2021 — Leave a comment

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and now is the time for me to pollute your ears with another daily track on the blog, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write to you about a different piece of music every day! This is a shortened week of project work for me on the blog this week, and so I’ll be going away for my sister’s wedding during the week, but I still wanted to sneak ‘Wormhole’ in, and this new one comes from a Croatian 5-piece group called Kozmodrum. Exploring Dub, Techno and House, the quintet have found success in their domestic market and they seem to be looking to gain new fans overseas with the release of their self-titled third full-length album, back in June, via Rika Muzika. Describing their sound as “Organic House Music”, the band use the framework of a DJ set by producing electronic compositions that were designed to be played openly, where they loop beats until a cue point is given to indicate a switch to another part. On Facebook, they pitch this as “Jazz-infused Post-Rock meets Ambient Electronica meets Tech House with a percussion twist”, and that sounds really good to me. A 5-piece led by a classically trained drummer – Janko Novoselić – Kozmodrum won a Porin Award (The Croatian equivalent to the BRIT’s) for their second LP, ‘Gravity’, released in 2017. I was really pleased that John Ravenscroft introduced me to this project on BBC Radio 6 Music a number of weeks ago because it’s been growing on me ever since. Check out the lead single of the band’s new album, ‘Wormhole’, below.

Kozmodrum cites Tycho and Elektro Guzzi as their stylistic influences for their new record, and they told Twisted Soul, “After our first two albums, that were each very different in their own way – the first one being an exploration of Jazz/Fusion moods and the second veering toward more electronic/ambient atmospheres – this album is the most truthful representation of how we really sound live” in their own promo message. ‘Wormhole’ is a tune that was being developed over the space of five years until it reached its final form that you can hear on the new LP, and this tireless dedication to their own craft clearly shows in the meticulous structuring and the layers that build throughout the track. The six-minute duration seems to be on the longer side of things, but the instrumentation is paced nicely and it feels packed neatly considering the various Drum, Synth, Keyboard and Bass sequences in play. There’s no vocals, just pretty guitar melodies and splashings of rumbling Bass that gets a light-hearted tone across, and the animated music video adds nicely to the hand-woven aesthetic of the overall proceedings. As you would expect for a mix between Jazz and non-traditional Dance music, there is a fairly minimalist start to things before the different layers keep building and then evolving to form new loops, creating some sublime electronic grooves that have a bright warmth to them in the process. More complex, fragmented and harmonic Synth sounds follow in the later stages and small elements of Prog-Jazz and Math-Rock are evoked through the specific timing schemes. I really like how the track takes cues from Nu-Jazz, non-traditional Punk and experimental Electronic music to do something unique with the instruments being used, and the resulting sound is a blissful and chilled affair that is never afraid to throw some rougher sounds into the mixture. Once established, the grooves bump and slither their way through a Psychedelic concoction of genres that just slips neatly into your ears and keeps you actively listening out for the chord changes at the same time because they feel interesting and carefully textured. In summary, it is a lovely listen and definitely worthy of more ears than it’s been getting.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Kozmodrum’ (Self-Titled LP) (Released on June 25th, 2021) (via Rika Muzika)

That brings us to the end of the page for another day! Thank you for reaching this historic part of the day for me, and please feel free to join me again tomorrow as we do it all over again. I’ll be supporting more music from a lesser-known artist in John Peel style again as we take a detour into some DIY Hip-Hop production. My next pick comes from a 30-year-old rapper from South East London who has based his new album, ‘Section 1’, on the tragedies that have all defined his twenties, such as mental health struggles and familial loss. It’s a hard-hitting listen that demands your hearing.

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Today’s Track: Peggy Gou (feat. OHHYUK) – “Nabi”

August 5, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Peggy Gou in a recent press shoot (2021) (Photo courtesy of Jungwook Mok/Edm.com)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and now is the right time to cheer yourself up with your daily track on the blog, as per usual, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Her first new solo tune since 2019’s ‘Starry Night’, the South Korean DJ and Producer Peggy Gou has brought her A-game to the global clubs again with ‘Nabi’. We last heard from her on 2020’s ‘Jigoo’, a guest spot on Maurice Fulton’s ‘Earth’ EP. She’s had an interesting career trajectory so far – from releasing her ‘DJ Kicks: Peggy Gou’ mix on !k7 Records, to launching Gudu Records, an independent EDM label of her very own. She has also released her material on Ninja Tune and Phonica, and Gou has even spent her time in London, at 18 years of age, studying for a degree in Fashion at the London College Of Fashion, before graduating and subsequently working as the London Corresponding Editor for Harper’s Bazaar Korea. She is now currently based in Berlin, Germany – where she spends her time tinkering away with downtempo dance anthems like ‘Nabi’. Gou’s new single sees her enlists the help of OHHYUK, from the South Korean rock band Hyukoh, who added, “It’s been a long time since Covid-19 has adapted to the changes it has made in society. It contains the desire to become a butterfly and fly away from the beautiful days before” to Gou’s press release. Give ‘Nabi’ a spin below.

“We’ve all been through so much over the last year and it’s {Nabi} about facing up to the problems and negativity in our lives and learning how to deal with it”, says Gou on her process for creating ‘Nabi’, who added, “When people hear ‘Nabi’, they’ll hopefully feel the same sense of healing – that feeling that everything’s going to be OK – that I feel when I listen to the songs that inspired it”, to her press notes. Starting off with a kick drum sample and Hi-Hat snares, we’re treated to a feel-good 80’s-style dance track with gorgeously plush instrumentation and sultry Korean vocals. Some of these lyrics roughly translate to “Time, amid that emptiness/I’m about to leave now” and “In my silence time/I can only see hatred in the distance” in English, some cryptic and poignant songwriting about the passages of time, and how the natural progression of time can lead to positive change. I loved the 00’s throwback feel of ‘Starry Night’ and also the wonky experimentation on ‘Jigoo’, but I’ve noticed how ‘Nabi’ skews more towards a retro-revivalist aesthetic, with more focus on building an atmosphere with the floaty vocal harmonies and the thudding drum machine riffs. The BPM framework isn’t wildly frenetic, but the subtle Dub influences of the bright Piano rolls and the late-80’s Lounge Jazz feel of the more soulful chorus keep the pace moving quickly due to the refreshing extracts of these influences being pulled from. The spoken word piece from OHHYUK adds another intriguing layer to the sound, while the subdued warmth of the hazy, sunshine sounds of the sparse percussion and the earworm vocal hooks hints towards Gou possibly exploring a more 00’s ChillOut or Chillwave style of electronic production in the future, but the fundamentally nostalgic dressing of the laidback beats keeps the cohesion in balance rather robustly. Overall, this was a very satisfying return from Gou, with an eclectic palette of some varied influences that are embossed neatly into the soundscape, and this would be a great pick for BBC Radio 2.

Pictured: Peggy Gou performing at Dimensions Festival (2018) (Photo via TheVinylFactory.com)

Thank you for sticking with me until the end today, and, if you’re new to the blog and would enjoy more of this style of content, then please feel free to join me again tomorrow for the ‘New Album Release Fridays’ as we shine the spotlight on one of the weekend’s notable new album releases. I know that Kanye West is dominating the headlines tomorrow for the release of ‘DONDA’, but I’m instead going to be writing about something that got delayed to this Friday, in July, that I’ve been very excited to hear. This is a collaborative LP between the frontman of Bombay Bicycle Club and a 28-year-old rapper from East London, who first popped up in 2012 with the ‘BAEP’ EP.

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Today’s Track: MNDSGN – “Hope You’re Doin’ Better”

August 3, 2021 — Leave a comment

Massaging the inner workings of your crowded mind on a bright day. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Rare Pleasure’ (LP) (Released on May 14th, 2021) (via Stones Throw Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for me to unload with another music recommendation for you, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Rare Pleasure’ is the brilliant new album on Stones Throw Records from the Los-Angeles based singer-songwriter and graphic designer Ringgo Ancheta, who releases his own Soulful blend of laidback Jazz and soft Funk music as MNDSGN. That does look pretty unpronounceable at first glance, but you are supposed to say it as “Mind Design”. He is very new to my ears, in all honesty, but he has been doing the rounds for several years, collaborating with Danny Brown for ‘Classic Drug References, Vol. 1’ in 2013, working in the side project of Vivians with The Koreatown Oddity for a self-titled album in 2015, and, last year, he released the gorgeous ‘Forever In Your Sun’ collaborative album with Lionmilk. He is the youngest brother of four in his family, of Filipino descent, and he developed his interests in music when he learned how to play the Organ at a young age, before his older brother introduced him to Hip-Hop music and beat production. If you’re a fan of Thundercat or Toro Y Moi, you’d love this. Check out ‘Hope You’re Doin’ Better’ below.

To gain your interest further, Stones Throw Records’ description of ‘Rare Pleasure’ reads like: “Inspired by soundtrack music, Samba, Exotica and 70’s/80’s library records, Rare Pleasure is intensely intimate, sourcing lyrics from MNDSGN’s family and interpersonal experiences, and reflective of the world at large”, and the new LP features guest appearances from Anna Wise, Kiefer, Carlos Niño, Devin Morison and more, who all contribute precisely to Ancheta’s mellow sonic soundboard. The title more or less tells you all that you need to know about the track, with Ancheta singing about the severed bonds of friendships when circumstances of life naturally change, and how distance or disagreement plays a role in the cycle of human nature. Lyrics like “Going through the motions like that” and “You know you’ve got a friend whenever you need one” make his intentions clear, while Anchetta delivers these vocals with a familial warmth and the musical equivalent of a polite smile, bolstered by some mid-tempo keyboard riffs and some light influence from 1970’s Funk that plays out like George Clinton has just gradually slowed down to a crawl at one of his Parliament and Funkadelic parties. The soulful grooves are quite cerebral in pace, mellow in tempo and they are given a more airy weight, but the reverberated Synth patterns and the clear Neo-Jazz production, created by some gently pulsating Drum melodies and some tight Brass samples, feel rhythmic enough to get a funky groove going. It’s not a dance track by any means, but it feels very soothing, and these softly catchy melodies allow the timed duration of the track to slowly dissipate away as you tune in to the thick basslines, simply relaxing your ear-drums and conveying some very hypnotic effects in the process. The dreamy vocals call back to Frank Ocean at his most haziest, and the soothing guitar melodies reminds me of late J Dilla, while some child-like qualities carry the basic themes of the songwriting to a more compelling level. This is a truly excellent lead single from a fantastic new album, which has been on regular rotation among my lists and my libraries for the past crop of weeks, and I would highly recommend streaming the full record the whole way through for more. ‘Slowdance’ is another top-notch single with a similar, but more flirtatious, tone to it. A very well-arranged new release that is impossible not for me to recommend. Bravo.

Pictured: MNDSGN (Ringgo Ancheta) in a photoshoot for ‘Medium Rare’ (2021) (Photo via KRCW.com)

Thank you for your continued support for the blog, and, if you’ve been going through a tough time lately, I hope you’re doin’ better. Please feel free to join me again tomorrow, as we go ‘Way Back’ to late-1960’s Jamaica for our weekly Wednesday throwback, as we revisit one of the most prolific female vocalists of the old-school Jamaican Reggae scene, who released her material on Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label.

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Today’s Track: Crumb – “Trophy”

July 22, 2021 — Leave a comment

I won’t be winning any trophies for the puns that I have for my slogan. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Ice Melt’ (LP) (Released on April 30th, 2021) (via Crumb Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and we’re picking up the pace with 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! Thursday’s tune comes to you from the Brooklyn-based musicians Crumb, a female-led indie Psych-Rock quartet led by Lila Ramani. The group have garnered huge support from critics since forming in 2016, with Paste Magazine describing their sound as a meld of “60s Psych, loose Jazz, and freeform Indie Rock into a soothing Pop amalgamation”. The 4-piece band met while studying at Tufts University on the Northern borders of Medford and Somerville in Massachusetts in the US, before they started to divide their time between Boston and New York, distributing their first two EP’s with limited vinyl runs and cassette stock released by DIY label Citrus City Records. The band have now gone fully independent, self-releasing their latest LP, ‘Ice Melt’, this past April via Crumb Records. The follow-up to 2019’s ‘Jinx’, their second full-length record was allegedly named after the blend of coarsely ground salts used to dissipate ice on your front steps, by absorbing water and giving off heat, that you can get in US hardware shops. Check out ‘Trophy’ below.

The mysterious Dark-Pop band have enlisted the help of Haoyan Of America to direct the music video for ‘Trophy’, a surrealist visual affair that seems to tap into something supernatural aesthetically for the surrealist quality of the music itself, as the skewed rock elements of the track are paired with opening visuals of an award ceremony, a jolt through a racers’ podium, and a monstrous bunch of animated, living trophies singing away. It’s a suitable accompaniment to the enigmatic sound of ‘Trophy’ itself, which reminds me of the 00’s ‘Chillout’ compilations of slowed down dance remixes and some reworked popular culture songs that my grandmother rarely used to buy. Ramani’s lead vocals have a slow, gliding effect where the use of echo and reverb tell a wistful tale about, as she sings, a “deadbeat tour loner”, in her own words. The soft Keyboard riffs, the electric Jazz/Rap-leaning instrumental bassline, and the persistent Cymbal melodies give the sound an uplifted, yet whimsical and slightly Dark element. Like the most strange dream that you could occasionally have, there is only a sort-of logical sense to things, with a slick 90’s Avant-Rock sound which combines relaxed electronics and deep guitars in a way that feels soothing on the surface, but begins to show a more haunting side as you settle deeper. The lyrics, with a cryptic series of quotes like “The test it came back said you’re prone to, Chew yourself right to the bone, I guess you don’t like to be alone” and “Take your time ’cause it’s all over/You’re a deadbeat doll loner” add an airy harmony to the gradually evolving field, but there’s also a gently irreverent sense of humor to them, as they pay homage to Math-Rock and Prog-Rock with their tongue set firmly in their cheek at brief times. Finally, the distorting vocals of the post-bridge go for a rougher and Grunge-influenced edge. On the whole, it’s an intriguing mix of 90’s Alt-Rock songwriting and a loosely springing effect of instrumentation that tickles the cells of your brain as the studio-tinkered chords craft up a dread-filled space around you, and it’s working very well, which is mostly down to Ramani’s reserved, nocturnal vocals and a decent sense of chemistry between the band in connecting their ideas. An auditory feast for your pillow at night.

Pictured: Lila Ramani (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Jesse Brotter (Bass Guitar/Unclean Vocals), Bri Aronow (Keyboard/Saxophone) and Jonathan Gilad (Drums/Percussion) (2019) (Photo by Shan Khan)

That’s it for another day! Just like always, it’s ‘New Album Release Fridays’ tomorrow, and so we will be tasting one of this weekend’s biggest new album releases, and so please get caught up with me on the site then for more recommended listening. Eight years in the making, this week’s top album pick marks another collaboration in the unlikely side project of the very prolific Chilean-American composer Nicolas Jaar and the Brooklyn-born multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington from the Psych band ARMS.

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

June 14, 2021 — Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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: Fana Hues – “Lay Up”

May 24, 2021 — Leave a comment

She’s not one to heal a dreadful illness by basically just laying around. New post time!

Pictured: Fana Hues pictured for the “Icarus” music video premiere (2020) (Photo by Drew Robinson)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for you to read your daily musical diary entry on the blog, as per usual, since it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A 25-year-old Neo-Soul singer-songwriter from Pasadena, California – Fana Hues doesn’t only take up music as a passion or a profession, but as a tightly woven line of string that has been woven through her family tree. She’s one of nine siblings in a large family of musicians, and she had to battle illness to get to the spot where we find her today. When she was a child, she was diagnosed with Scarlet Fever, Tonsillitis and Strep Throat at the same time. It was up to her mother, who is a dancer, to concoct natural remedies and herbal elixirs that would eventually restore her voice, which was taken by illness. Now, her supporters include the US rapper-producers Tyler, The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt, and, last December, she released her debut EP, ‘Hues’, seemingly as a joint venture between Sweet Virtue and Westminster Recordings. For some reason, it’s taken Hues until now to finally release a music video for ‘Lay Up’, the 6th in a series of visuals that Hues notes are “a deep sigh of relief after a dark time”. Check it out below.

For Hues, her debut EP collection is a series of tracks that ultimately focuses on the complexity and intricacy of human emotion in both a personal and universal way, as she notes in her press release, “I thought it was super important for me as a black woman to be open about that because so many times I feel like I’m not allowed to express my emotions. I’m kind of all over the place”, Hues says, “But there’s always a method to the madness. It’s all centered, it all has a purpose”, of her emotional experiences by growing up with music around her for all her life. ‘Lay Up’ feels peaceful and has a calming ambience, with a repeating Synth section that mimics the sounds of Doves chirping. Her vocal harmonies are long, and the beats are kept loose to dress everything up in a rap-like breakbeat. The lyrics are often explicit to a sexual degree, with lines like “I’ll rest on his face right in the mirror, And make sure you hear us, and them come and kiss ya” and “I rest on his face, We up at your place, You led me astray, What can I say” that sell the intensity of lust, and it’s difficult to tell whether these sexual scenarios are a rich expression of real-life experiences, or some scene of daydream fantasy playing out in her head. The melodies are melodic, with sparse helpings of R&B and Indie Pop which give the chorus of-sorts some ascension in the mixture, with “You set in ways that got my emotions all screwed up and dazed” coming across as a more catchy, rhythmic part of the structure. It’s otherwise a chilled out affair of Madlib-like sampling and softly funky guitar licks, although I wouldn’t say that it’s particularly mellow, but more mid-tempo. It’s all sounding good, on the whole. Her interesting backstory makes me feel drawn to her as an artist, and it has the vibe of “Corinne Bailey Ray, but good” for me. Remember her? An inspiring human being, with a knack for creating an intriguing perspective for her art.

Pictured: Cover Art for “Hues” (LP) (Released on Dec 11, 2020) (via Sweet Vine/Westminster Recordings)

That’s all for now! Join me again for more tomorrow, as we focus our attention to one of the bigger Electronic music releases of the past weekend. Tomorrow’s serving of song comes from a Cardiff-born DJ and Ambient Music producer who initially spent years of her life trying to hack her target of becoming a Pop singer. Now based in London, she is the co-founder of the Femme Culture label that she runs alongside DJ Saint Ludo. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

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

May 18, 2021 — Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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/