Today’s Track: Jitwam – ‘Brooklyn Ballers’

May 5, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Chalo co-founder Jitwam in a promotional photoshoot for ‘Brooklyn Ballers’ (2022) (Photo via PR)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to give a shout-out to the Broolyn Ballers and each of the readers from elsewhere as we get prepared for yet another 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 self-described “Psychedelic Soul Savant” who was born in North-East India, now based between New York and Sydney, moved to New Zealand and Australia to spend his formative years there, later living in monasteries in Thailand and washed-out apartments in London, Jitwam is the co-founder of Chalo, an ambitious creative project alongside Dhruva Balram that supports up-and-coming Indian, Pakistani and Kashmiri artists, with a full-length self-titled album being released via The Jazz Diaries in 2020 that had its proceeds donated to the Human Rights Law Network and the Zindagi Trust. As a solo artist, however, he’s released a string of EP’s and a few albums, with 2019’s ‘Honeycomb’ serving as his latest LP. Jitwam has also collaborated with numerous artists including Dam Swindle, Mike Bloom and renowned Broken Beat maestro Kaidi Tatham. Other career highlights include his placements on Moodyman’s DJ-Kicks compilation series, embarking on a national NTS Radio tour in India, touring across the US and Europe, and opening a show for the acclaimed Funk virtuoso Roy Ayers with his full live backing band. His brand new single – ‘Brooklyn Ballers’ – is a one-off release from what I gather, but it offers an energetic ode to his passion for (just) one of the area’s that he has lived in throughout his eventful lifetime. Give it a spin below.

“Brooklyn Ballers is a homage to the city in all its hustle and bustle“, Jitwam explains about the far-reaching notes of the track which are delivered below the soulful and radiant instrumentation, adding, “The magic in the air, that can make dreams come true and can turn your fears into your worst nightmares“, in his own single’s product description on the Bleep website. The opening reminds me of one of Skule Toyama or Night Tempo’s modern Chillwave records, where the summer atmosphere shines right through thanks to the raucous sampled guitar hook that induce the nostalgia of the 70’s Disco-Rock era, before the track soon evolves into more of a Detroit House style of record with additional elements of Hip-Hop and World Fusion music. The lead vocals have a spoken, but catchy and rhythmic, delivery to them where subtle nods to Guns ‘N’ Roses ‘Paradise City’ and Joe Smooth’s ‘Promised Land’ creep in due to the lyrics and the key song structure. A myriad of styles, including Psychedelic Soul and Vaporwave, make their way into the instrumental-driven sections of the track. Jitwam melds together the Gospel-esque backing vocals, some Madlib-style sampling and some Maribou State-style cues of World-Funk and Dub into the mix too to finalise the package, which plays out as a chilled soundtrack to his simple love for the location and a very deep, percussive groover that acts as an ode to some of New York’s most respected producers. The area’s energy is almost embodied by the Jazz inflections and the Detroit House influences, creating a laid back shuffle that gradually builds and draws upon various elements to expand it beyond the original state. A chef’s kiss.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Brooklyn Ballers’ (Single) (Released on March 23rd, 2022) (via Roya Records)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest blog post, and I’ll be ready to take you through a new entry of ‘New Album Release Fridays’ tomorrow as we take a quick preview of one of the weekend’s new and notable album releases. The record in question comes from the Prog-Jazz and Electronica sides of the Alternative Music spectrum by a duo made up of two members from The Comet Is Coming. The duo’s drummer has also toured with Sons Of Kemet, Melt Yourself Down, and Yussef Kamal.

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Today’s Track: Hard Feelings – ‘Sister Infinity’

December 27, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Hard Feelings’ (Self-Titled LP) (Released on November 5, 2021) (via Domino Recordings)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke and, it’s just about time to go back to normal after Bank Holiday Monday after 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! For my new year’s week coverage this year, we’re going to be looking at some of the off-the-radar music that you may have missed in a year that was otherwise full of new Adele, ABBA, Ed Sheeran, Sam Fender, The Lathums and Billie Eilish album releases that were all very successful. My year-end list counting down my top 25 favourite albums of the year (Split into a few different parts to keep it more short and sweet than last year) will also be coming up your way as soon as possible. The first of my underappreciated suspects is the new collaborative duo of Joe Goddard and New York-based crooner Amy Douglas, who record music together under the project of HARD Feelings. You may know Goddard as a veteran of Hot Chip fame and as one of the busiest guys in the business, having produced new singles for Ibibio Sound Machine and collaborated with Hayden Thorpe in recent months, and he used to be one half of The 2 Bears alongside Raf Rundell. Meanwhile, Amy Douglas is a prominent name in the New York Post-Disco scene having worked with artists like Treasure Fingers, Horse Meat Disco, Luke Solomon and Juan MacLean. Douglas also wrote the single ‘Something More’ for Roisin Murphy’s latest album – ‘Roisin Machine’ – that was released last autumn. Together, Hard Feelings supported Goddard’s bandmates for their first live show on November 9th. They also released their first full-length album – which was self-titled – on November 7th via Domino Recordings. Described by Goddard and Douglas as “an opera of sad bangers”, the pair say the LP is loosely conceptual and, song by song, it focuses on the unraveling of relationships and their nuanced mystery. On the album’s second single and closing track – ‘Sister Infinity’ – the funky dance duo bring up a Sci-Fi twist to Synth Pop. Let’s give it a spin.

The music video for ‘Sister Infinity’, which features the narrative of Joe Goddard communicating with a quirky AI programme to help him conceive the song itself in a dystopian future, was directed by Tim Wagner and inspired by ‘Weird Science’, and the duo say that it “matches the song itself, a Discotastic pulse racing, HI NRG rollercoaster and HARD FEELINGS at our most futuristic and perhaps insidious version of the mad scientist and his creation scenario” in their press release. Flavours in the mix of ‘Sister Infinity’ include the likes of Kraftwerk, Stereolab, CeCe Peniston, Candi Staton and Kylie Minogue to my ears, and their own cited influences of Chaka Khan and Loose Ends feel particularly present on the retro ballad ‘Sister Infinity’, which brings some propulsive Disco tones and a slightly dark variation of moods to the dancefloor. Douglas murkily sings lyrics like “Write my name up in the sky, Seeing that with my third eye, I know you’re always here with me” and “Break my heart either way/I will bend time, where I want it to go” as she contemplates her own ability to be loved and how that stretches her comfort zone beyond a confident point. Meanwhile, the 70’s-leaning Disco synths provide a nostalgic electro-disco beat that bobs between a heartfelt and a heartbroken emotion, while the powerhouse Pipes and the twinkling Drum Machine loops provide some rhythmic, evocative undertones and some latex-polished production for Douglas’ performance to cohere with. It is a little low budget, but it still manages to feel cinematic and broad with it’s sweeping, euphoric Synth melodies. The sound is a little dated, but it certainly has a slick niche and the early New York Synth-Punk sound that Hard Feelings tap into are relatively unexplored in the modern ages, and so it manages to feel refreshing enough while nodding towards ABBA, Diana Ross and Depeche Mode throughout. The production is also very polished, with seamless segues between the different elements at play, giving ‘Sister Infinity’ an immersive and connected feel with its fusion of many Synth-related sub-genre qualities. Overall, I enjoyed how mature that ‘Sister Infinity’ feels overall, and it’s great that Hard Feelings are gaining some popularity from stations like KEXP and BBC Radio 6 Music as we await new releases in the new year because they feel diverse enough to stand out and they have their USP, for a lack of a better term. A distinctive pair who want to create an experience – as opposed to just music.

Pictured: Amy Douglas (Lead Vocals/Guitar/Keyboard) & Joe Goddard (Synths/Producer) (2021) (Photo via PR)

That’s all for now – so I’ll leave you to simply dance the bank holiday away – or just do whatever else that you choose to do as a past time. I’ll see you tomorrow for more musical action as we highlight another very distinctive Alternative Rock trio from Manchester who have supported Razorlight on tour. Earlier this year, they released a new concept album that was accompanied by a 45 minute animation movie that was created by the punk band’s frontwoman, Jess Allanic, using Blender and After Effects.

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Today’s Track: Flight Facilities (feat. Channel Tres) – ‘Lights Up’

December 22, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Hugo Gruzman (DJ/Producer) and James Lyell (DJ/Producer) (2021) (Photo via James Gourley/Getty)

Good Morning to you! I am Jacob Braybrooke, of course, and it’s time for me to help you fill up the funky playlist for the disco at your Office Christmas Party at the end of this working week, since it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Flight Facilities are the Australian Electronic Dance duo of Hugo Gruzman and James Lyell who were formed in Sydney in 2009 and also perform under the name of Hugo & Jimmy. On previous recordings, they have worked with prominent names in the industry including the ‘Princess of Pop’ Kylie Minogue herself – as well as Bishop Nehru, Reggie Watts, Stee Downes and Owl Eyes. Although the seven year gap has not been a complete drought of material for the die-hard Flight Facilities fans out there – it is still testament to the streaming-dominated state of the modern music industry that their second LP record ‘FOREVER’ – released on November 12th via Future Classic – was their first true album release since 2014. It has reached #6 on the Australian Albums chart and it features another array of guest vocalists including Emma Louise, BRUX, BROODS, Jody Felix, Your Smith and DRAMA. In a statement, the AIR Award-winning duo said, “The best way to describe this album is a combination of where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re going. As true as it was from our first release, the foundations and glue for all our work has consistently been ‘collaboration’. While our musical journey has always been an intentional exploration of multiple genres, our hearts and roots lie on the dance floor. We applied that same explorative ethos to this record, taking a concerted dive delve into the previously untouched niches and era’s of dance. It’s been a long time coming, and only the same time will tell if it was worth the wait “, in a press release. The new album will also be supported by the ‘FOREVER’ tour that will commence in Perth during March 2022. The lead single, ‘Lights Up’, features the high in demand Compton producer and vocalist Channel Tres. Buckle your seat belt up and mount into it below.

With his low-pitched and sensual vocal delivery, Channel Tres has been a lyricist that everybody in the dance industry has been itching to include on their tracks. In the last few years, Tres has worked with a gigantic list of electronic dance producers including Disclosure, SG Lewis, Tokimonsta, Polo & Pan, Emotional Oranges and many more – so he has been everywhere as if he is the Jimmy Carr, Rosie Jones or Rob Beckett of dance music. ‘Lights Up’ features noticeable influences of Future Garage and Detroit Techno – and Flight Facilities note, “We’ve always loved the sound of the early Detroit House scene that crossed over with the Paradise Garage era. Combined with our love for Channel’s voice, it seemed like a perfect fit”, in their press release. ‘Lights Up’ almost sounds like a track that was being recorded whilst at a secluded street party with industry friends in Chicago, with Tres opening the scene with “Y’all should’ve called me to work on the album earlier/We could have been making something great” over a muffled vocal delivery following a lengthy fade-in to the track. The rest of the vocals mix an informal delivery with a quickly paced Spoken Word spin on gentle Hip-Hop, with Tres splurting out lyrics like “Trying to catch a Bass, and I’ll slide on you” and “I’m a MC, BYOB, bring your own bottles” that he recites with the silky and mildly sexual low-pitched croon that we’ve heard him use to similar effect on Disclosure and T’Challa King feature spots before. It definitely feels like his trademark and although it does not feel unexpected, it works smoothly here and plays to familiar strengths as usual. It establishes a tone of confidence for the rest of the track, which jolts along at an uptempo but not overly heightened pace. An influence of Detroit Techno – from the likes of Joe Smooth – drips from every note of Hugo and James’ production, with some velvet-smooth Synths that reassure us that this flight is going to be a smooth and relaxed ride. The personality of the track is charismatic enough, however, and one particular highlight of the track for me is towards the end where Tres repeats the refrain of “Got the whole city going up” while Horns continually whirr in the backbeat, giving off an impression that Horns are lighting things up in the background, as this section gives the Synths some added momentum to increase the aggression of the instrumentation slightly and drive the melodies forwards. Meanwhile, the two-step drum beats and the fluctuating Bass patterns blend together with Tres’ accentuated vocals nicely during the main bulk of the track. Overall, this was a strong effort from all involved that does ‘Dance Music’ in a modern enough way, while also respecting some of the relatively forgotten sub-genres of House and Techno from the past, giving it a retro-futurist feel. The track originally dates back to April so, although it fits more of a summer vibe than a cold December one, remember that it is summer in Australia.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘FOREVER’ (LP) (Released on November 12th, 2021) (via Future Classic)

That’s all for now! Thank you for your smooth sailing with me today, and I’ll be back tomorrow to ‘Light Up’ the eve of Christmas Eve with an affectionate lump of seasonal Silton coming from a Rochford-born Jazz singer and BBC Radio 2 presenter who has famously covered Radiohead’s ‘High and Dry’ to mainstream success in the UK charts.

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Today’s Track: Confidence Man – ‘Holiday’

November 18, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Janet Planet, Sugar Bones, Reggie Goodchild and Clarence McGuffie (2019) (Photo via PR)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to ensure that yet another daily track on the blog bursts your eardrums in spirit, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A quirky Alternative Dance group, led by the wacky characters of Sugar Bones and Janet Planet, the Brisbane native indie pop band Confidence Man have continued to find success throughout their musical journey since their debut album, ‘Confident Music For Confident People’ brought their dorky concoction of costumed rhythms and lightly acidic beats to the international club circuit in 2018. The band have found themselves performing at many festivals like Splendour In The Grass Festival and Falls Festival, while also remixing the likes of DMA’s, Working Men’s Club and Erasure over the years. They have also received wins and nominations at the AIR Awards, J Awards, National Live Music Awards and Queensland Music Awards over the years since they became active in 2016. Although singles like ‘Does It Make You Feel Good?’ and ‘First Class B**ch’ have filled the gap a little, Confidence Man have just announced their first album in four years. Their second studio album, ‘Tilt’, will be released on April 1st, 2022 via the I OH YOU label. According to a press release, the new album is “fierce, flirty and full of anthems” and listeners “might need to sit down before you hit play”. Back in September, Confidence Man also unveiled an extensive run of rescheduled and new tour dates across the UK and Ireland that will hopefully start in May of next year. The list includes dates in Brighton, Cambridge, Norwich, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Sheffield and more. Before then, let’s book a ‘Holiday’ below.

Talking about the inspiration behind ‘Holiday’ – the Aussie dance outfit’s latest euphoric anthem – Janet Planet stated, “No one tells Confidence Man what to do. Who said a holiday can’t last forever?”, explaining, “Spend big and live free, that’s our motto. And it can be yours too. A vacation is just sunburn at premium prices but a holiday is a state of mind”, in her joint press notes with Sugar Bones. Elaborating on the ideas of holiday and relaxation as a mindset instead of a physical destination, Planet and Bones join their fellow bandmates in conjuring slightly acidic Synth beats and some high tempo Drum rhythms to the tune of lyrics like “Best weed back on the block, I’ll take it” and “When I was a child, I was so naked” that creates the distinctly nerdy and comedic attitude that Confidence Man are known for evoking. The instrumentation continues to add some variety to the proceedings, with a lengthy sequence of backing harmonies in the opening sequence and some 80’s film soundtrack-esque Synth stabs to create silky ambient washings in the closing sequence, continuing to give off a light-hearted and care-free Summer formula. The vocal hooks are super sized, with the likes of “I live it up on the go/I’m getting high, I’m never low” and “Kicking off and I lose control/I’m born to fly/I want it all” being recited quickly, as to match the frivolous energy of the Acid Disco rhythms and neatly aligned basslines. While there’s no subtlety to the vocals, the brief String sections and the stinging Synth stabs are complemented by the floor-filling feel of the sound. A decent reminder that Confidence Man are all about having fun, ‘Holiday’ is a familiar summer anthem to see their own country of Australia throughout the summer months. Due to this ‘summer release’ feel, however, it feels a little odd when you are listening from the rest of the world as the rain gets frequent and the bitterness of the cold keeps sharpening. This also feels a bit more straight-faced than usual from the group than usual, although they’re still donning some Synths that wouldn’t sound out of place on the ‘Top Gun’ soundtrack. Despite not being in season for me, this is still a solid return from Confidence Man. Camp, unique and irreverant, ‘Holiday’ is everything you might want (and expect) from the forward-thinking Australian project.

Pictured: Janet Planet and Sugar Bones in a promotional photoshoot (in 2019) (Photo Credit: Zac Bayly)

If you liked the sound of ‘Holiday’, you may like the various other tracks by Confidence Man that have appeared on the blog over the years at various points. If you want something still recent, you can check out my review of ‘First Class B**ch’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/10/20/todays-track-confidence-man-first-class-bh/. If that doesn’t mate you feel right, you can see if this ‘Does It Make You Feel Good’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/02/26/todays-track-confidence-man-does-it-make-you-feel-good/. Or, for something more in tune with the festive season, you can view their seasonal single ‘Santa’s Comin’ Down The Chimney’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/12/04/todays-track-confidence-man-santas-comin-down-the-chimney/

Pictured: Confidence Man performing at ‘The Great Escape’ (2017) (Photo via Brighton & Hove News)

That’s all for now! I hope that you enjoyed the trip, and thank you for continuing to support my content like this. I’ll be back tomorrow for ‘New Album Release Fridays’, as we divert our attention to an indie rock band from Croydon in South London who have been signed to the Boston-based label Counter Intuitive Records. They have toured in the UK with NOAHFINNCE and they went on a debut headline tour this year.

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Today’s Track: Baba Ali – “Black Wagon”

July 20, 2021 — Leave a comment

This house is not a house – It’s just a couple of sticks. Well below Zero. New post time!

Pictured: Baba Ali in a PR shoot for the ‘Rethinking Sexual Pleasue’ EP (2020) (Photo via Twitter.com)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and allow me to be your cool down away from the shining sun for your daily track on the blog, as per usual for this past week, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! A London-via-New York songwriter and producer, Baba Ali is never far away from reliable airplay on Alternative radio stations like BBC Radio 6Music and Cherry Red Radio, and he’s announced that he will be releasing his debut solo album, ‘Memory Device’, on August 27th via Memphis Industries. Ali was previously a member of the Alt-Soul duo Voices Of Black, before he moved to the UK to pursue a solo career and to study a Masters degree in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, a university in London. He’s since supported acts such as Kele Okereke (The lead vocalist of Bloc Party) and Gold Panda on tour, and he will be adding Leeds Post-Punk breakouts Yard Act to that list later this year. A musing on community and mortality, check out ‘Black Wagon’ below.

Working with Joe Goddard (from Hot Chip) and Al Doyle (from LCD Soundsystem) as producers for ‘Memory Device’, Baba Ali is now striving to get the glittery dancefloors moving again, after the year-plus long spell of the pandemic’s delays, with modern Disco records like ‘Black Wagon’. Ali says of the single, “Where I live in London, my window faces the High Street and I’m not far from a church. In the autumn, there were a lot of funerals, and the horse and carriage procession would often come down the street. It’s quite an arresting image; It feels like it’s from a different era. That’s the “Black Wagon” and the rest of the lyrics are me reminiscing about the feeling of going to raves and coming home at sunrise”, per his press notes. The path of Baba Ali’s ‘Black Wagon’ has taken him from a native home in New Jersey to a winding road in East London’s mixed community. Along the way, he fuses the styles of 90’s New-Age and electric Post-Punk for an effortlessly cool Alt-Disco beat. He opens with “Hopped on the 109/Wiping the cold out of my eyes” as an air of New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’ hits the ground running as a shimmering bassline and flickering Synth patterns drives the melodic tempo forwards. Some lyrics, like “It’s a winding road/And every corner’s blind” observe paranoid society at a distance, while others, like “We caught the Metro North/We took in all the sights/A long way from home”, discuss the after close experience of a multi-cultural club night. The beats begin as fairly subdued, before the instrumentation pulls elements of Future-Soul and New-Wave into the fold with twisting Synth hooks and warped Keyboard riffs. The chorus goes for a euphoric feel, as Baba Ali sings “Round we go/Where we end, nobody knows” and “Black Wagon roll/Where we land we’ll dig our whole” as the songwriting becomes quite cryptic, but the added reverb to the Synths and the soaring bass guitar brings new energy to the equation. Ali comments on the experiences of changing a life cycle through living in different cities and experiencing different communities in a stimulating and thought-provoking way, but there’s some tension to the slightly distorting Synths and the loud guitar sample in the home stretch. A merticulously produced and elegantly balanced offering, ‘Black Wagon’ rolls along its road at a brisk pace, with plenty of engagement.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Memory Device’ (LP) (Available from August 27, 2021) (via Memphis Industries)

That’s the end of the road for ‘Black Wagon’, but please feel free to join me tomorrow for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ as we go retro once again for an in-depth look back at a mostly forgotten London-based dance music group who peaked within the UK Singles Chart on two occasions during the very early 1990’s. A handful of their tunes also reached the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, including a #1 entry on that specialist chart. The duo worked with musicians like ‘The Red King’ and Mike Spencer.

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Today’s Track: Rachel Lime – “Voyager 3”

June 17, 2021 — Leave a comment

Hello – from the children of the planet Earth. Time to get intergalactic for a new post!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “A.U.” (LP) (Released on June 11th, 2021) (via Inside Voices)

Greetings and good evening to you, it’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, as per usual, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! We are going cosmic today – with ‘Voyager 3’ from the fresh new Minnesota-based singer-songwriter Rachel Lime, who makes sample-enhanced music in the wheelhouse of Alternative Pop, Chamber-Pop and Electronic Rock, and her PR’s artist biography on Bandcamp and Spotify simply reads as “Music in search of other worlds”. She released her debut solo album, ‘A.U.’, last week through Inside Voices, the new label managed by the Big Bld founder and High Pulp drummer Rob Granfett. It follows a span of her career where she has dropped music on her Soundcloud account quietly for the last decade or so, and her own musical journey began when she decided to learn how to play the Piano at the age of 7. The influences for the record go beyond music, with Lime noting the work of astronomer and author Carl Sagan, especially on his 1985 novel ‘Contact’, as her inspirations. Like The Avalanches have explored on their latest material, Lime also looked to NASA’s Golden Voyager record for her theme, a record put into space in the hopes of extraterrestrial life learning about humanity by unveiling it. Let’s check out Alan De Lean-Taverna’s music video for ‘Voyager 3’ below.

“I wrote this song inspired by the tradition of space disco, and the Voyager golden record, sent into space with Voyager 1 and 2 by NASA”, Rachel Lime told Jasmine Albertson in a recent interview with KEXP, adding, “This interstellar message in a bottle has always really moved me. This idea of humanity trying desperately to communicate itself to Someone Out There, to attempt to connect, to prove that we have created beautiful things”, when expanding on the driving forces behind her process of writing the tune and co-producing the storyboards for the music video. It opens with the iconic sample from the Golden Voyager record, and the greeting of ‘Annyeonghaseyo’ in Korean where Lime has her heritage. A soulful keyboard riff that feels woozy and off-key sets the scene, as lyrics like “I sing a song in a bottle, I give it to the interstellar waves” and “The future’s nice/In the starlight” permeate through the synth-led beats with disorienting vocal effects. The vocals feel almost sensual and flirtatious, or alien and unusual, with interludes which see Congo drums and guitar instrumentals fill the space. The production feels merticulous and tinkered away at, with a slower bridge that finds Lime wishing, “We want to make contact/We gave you a code to break” as the rhythm slowly builds it’s way back to the retro-futurist Keys and the virtuosic Drums that scatter along the undeniably 80’s bassline. It feels paced similarly to a dance track, with different instruments and effects that have their turns, and are each built to gradually. This works really nicely because it gives the total aesthetic a quirky edge, and this makes Lime feel memorable amongst her peers. I’m certain that an alien would love a jive in the kitchen to this. If they ever find it. That is.

Pictured: Rachel Lime in the music video for “Voyager 3” (in 2021) (Photo by Alan De Leon Taverna)

That’s it for today’s trip! Don’t forget to join me again tomorrow where, as it’s Friday, we’ll be looking at one of the most notable new album releases of the weekend. We’ll be giving the opportunity to a 20-year-old singer-songwriter making her own Art-Pop music from the suburb of Little Ferry, New Jersey. Born to a Mexican father and a Dominican mother, her new album is based on her love for 80’s-era Michael Jackson. 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: Girl Ray – “Give Me Your Love”

June 8, 2021 — Leave a comment

The North London ladies are back with a Hot Chip on their shoulder. New post time!

Pictured: Poppy Franklin (Lead Guitar/Lead Vocals/Keyboard), Iris McConnell (Drums) & Sophie Moss (Bass Guitar) (2019) (via PR)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, as per usual, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, just like always, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Give Me Your Love’ is the first piece of new material in two years from the North London Indie Pop trio Girl Ray, who premiered the new single on Lauren Laverne’s Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 6Music last week. It’s the follow-up to 2019’s ‘Girl’, Girl Ray’s second studio album, which I grew rather fond of ever since it’s release, because it was a well-made Pop record that was an updated and slightly tongue-in-cheek homage to the Jangle Pop girl group of the 70’s. Their latest piece of work is an 8-minute summer festival set closer that was recorded at London’s Relax & Enjoy with co-production from Joe Goddard and Al Doyle from Hot Chip, giving the track a more dance-based coat of paint in comparison to the more down-tempo, crooner sound of the previous album. The music video was shot in Kent and directed by Alex Cantouris as a spoof or homage to the shocking 2019 Pagan horror film, ‘Midsommar’. Give it your love below.

Poppy Hankin from Girl Ray spoke of the collaboration: “We worked on this song with Al Doyle and Joe Goddard from Hot Chip in their studio off Brick Lane in London. We had one day left with them, so we thought we’d unearth an old demo of a slightly house-leaning song I’d been working on a few months before”, adding, “With all of the awfulness of 2020 in our heads – it was important to us that it sounded optimistic and hopeful; a song for future summers where people can dance and enjoy music together once again”, to the press release. Starting off with a tribal-like drum part that becomes more like tropical in substance as the track continually wares on, we get long backing vocal harmonies and washed-out Synth chords that gets the joyous instrumentation rolling along to a summer dance beat. Lyrics about unrequited love and heartbreak despite a warm setting peek through, with lines like “Heat is in the air/And the sun is going down/I need your touch” and “Hazy little dreams/The sparkle of the scene/Beautifal girls” are given an echoing effect, building up the summer atmosphere. The chorus raises the tempo, with a melodic hook, as “I know that it’s right but it still hurts/Every single time, I make it worse” and “Keep me in your sights/I’ll keep you in mine/Tell you every night how much you’re worth” that creates more optimism. It’s a very lengthy track with a near 8-minute duration, but it has a clear two-act structure. The first half is a more traditional Girl Ray tune that we’re used to hearing from them, and the second half has the clear Hot Chip blueprints in it’s grasp as we’re taken to a lengthy instrumental with vibrant, robotic vocal samples and a glitzy House sound. The overall production is very detailed, with light brushings of Steel Pans and forlorn Piano chords making up the background. However, these different elements feel consistent enough as to not present a clash of two styles here. A lot of work clearly went into the collaboration to achieve this. I felt that the length got a little tiresome towards the end, however, a shorter radio edit is available on streaming platforms if you’d prefer that option, and so that’s not a major critique. Overall, I felt it was a nice way for Girl Ray to make a return because it presents an expansion upon their earlier sound. It’s nothing drastic, but it keeps everything fresh enough and it still screams ‘Summer Festival’ the entire way through, and so I would not regret taking myself to the beach with a deck chair and a Pina Colada for this one.

Pictured: Girl Ray in a promo photoshoot to promote “Earl Grey” (in November 2015) (via PR)

Like what you hear? If you want more, you can give my post about Girl Ray’s ‘Girl’, the title track and promotional single from their previous LP release, your love here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/11/27/todays-track-girl-ray-girl/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Girl” (Released on November 22nd, 2019) (via Moshi Moshi Records)

There’s Tuesday’s track over with! Feel free to show your kind support again tomorrow, as we switch gears from looking at the most notable new music releases to reminiscing over the sounds of the past that have influenced those of the present with ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ on the blog. Tomorrow’s selection is a real golden oldie from the late-1940s that you can find on the ‘Delta Radio’ soundtrack of the ‘Mafia 2’ video game from 2010, originally composed by an American Saxophonist who was known as ‘The King Of The Jukebox’ and was a Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame inductee. 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: Lou Hayter – “Telephone”

May 29, 2021 — Leave a comment

I’ll be working in a Call Centre if my MA degree fails. That’s my calling. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Private Sunshine” (LP) (Released on May 18, 2021) (via Skint Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, as always, with your daily track on the blog. Don’t forget that it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It’s been a long time coming, but yesterday saw the release of the first full-length solo record from Lou Hayter. I loved ‘My Baby Just Cares For Me’ on the blog last November, and the London house scene figurehead has been building up to the release of her retro-futurist Pop delight ‘Private Sunshine’ with a steady stream of singles up to this point. Hayter’s not a newcomer to the business, and she’s already built up an imposing list of credits to her profile. These include her time as the keyboardist of New Young Pony Club, and her time collaborating with Jean Benoit-Dunckel from Air on the experimental Dance-Punk project Tomorrow’s World, which led to their self-titled debut album in 2013. One of her most notable single offerings was ‘Telephone’, a slinky 80’s-esque Synth-Funk jam that fits together with the slow burn promotion of Hayter’s latest LP. Let’s take a ‘Telephone’ call below.

“I started making Pop tunes in a hip-hop kind of way by sampling and looping, and then it opened up a whole new world of making music for me”, Hayter said on the ‘Telephone’ single in it’s respective press notes, before she added, “Telephone is one of the first ones I made like this. I love the vibe it has, it’s a nice laid-back summery tune. The Sax solo was the cherry on top”, to expand on it’s development and post-production. The vocals come in quickly after the repetitious guitar hook, with Hayter crooning: “If it was right, you wouldn’t have to think twice/I know it’s hard but you were just my type/When there were two hearts in this house but one broke” over the top of retro, late-70’s Funky bass guitar licks and strutting Drums which get a slowly bumping bassline moving along. Lines like “Remember when you used to hold me tight/It doesn’t matter if the sun shines bright/’Cause there are raindrops falling on my head without you” that are delivered more poetically. The bridge of “Now, I’m walking in the rain without you” continues to peel back the layers, as Hayter’s lyrical themes of lamenting some missed opportunities to kick-start a relationship come to the forefront of the soundscape. Speaking of the soundscape, it’s decorated with intriguing samples of telephone blips and sultry rhythms of distorting Synths that weave in and out of the fray, while a more involved chorus places the focus on the glossy production choices of Hayter’s vocals. She delivers these lines with a charming and flashy delivery, before it’s all rounded off by the bustling Saxophone solo that adds an unexpected Jazz element to the sound. There’s not any real emphasis on modernity here, and although the well-produced vocals don’t quite feel dynamic enough to entirely hit deep in emotional heft, the sashaying rhythms of the Funky instrumentation and the unexpected Jazz touches cut it. A well-inspired affair that reminded me strongly of La Roux, with a 00’s House feel that reminds me of some of the music that I used to hear around me, and in the charts, when growing up. It’s a sexy, summery and sentimental Pop sound with enough creative flair to hit the mark.

Pictured: Lou Hayter DJ-ing with Henri at a BAFTA-Netflix party (2016) (Photo courtesy of Twitter.com)

There was your ‘Pure Pop’ moment of the weekend here on the blog. If that isn’t enough for you, however, then you can still ‘Pop’ along to my other Lou Hayter-featured post on the site to discover what ‘My Baby Just Cares For Me’ has to offer. Check it out here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/11/17/todays-track-lou-hayter-my-baby-just-cares-for-me/

Pictured: Cover Art for “My Baby Just Cares For Me” (Single) (Released on August 25, 2020) (via Loaded Records)

That’s all for today. ‘Scuzz Sundays’ is on track for tomorrow morning, as per usual, as we turn our attention back to the very cheesy Pop-Punk throwbacks from the late-1990’s through to the mid-2000’s, that will most definitely take you back to THAT phase of your Emo teenhood. This week’s pick comes from one of the scene’s final big acts that we have yet to cover on the site so far. It comes from an American Heavy Metal band from Los Angeles, who, other than the guitarist Dino Cazares, no longer have any of the original members as a part of their line-up. The track is a cover of Gary Numan’s original, with the cult UK music icon pulling a guest appearance on the reworking. 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: CHAI – “Action”

May 22, 2021 — Leave a comment

Stirred in a milky heritage, “Chai” is actually the Hindu word for “Tea”. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “WINK” (LP) (Released on May 21st, 2021) (via Sub-Pop Records)

Good Morning! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for you to read all about your daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! I played this one on my Thursday night radio show two weeks ago, and I still can’t get enough of it. ‘Action’ is one of the singles that was taken from CHAI’s new album, ‘Wink’, which is brand new out this weekend. The girls are a 4-piece Alternative Pop or Disco-Punk (It’s hard to pin them down to any one label, really) band from Nagoya, Japan – Who we previously explored on the blog with ‘Maybe Chocolate Chips’ featuring Ric Wilson, who they met at the Pitchfork Music Festival in 2019. For Western audiences, you’d probably more likely know CHAI from collaborating with Gorillaz and JPEGMafia on a track from Gorillaz’s ‘Song Machine: Season One – Strange Timez’ viral video series and compilation, and they toured with Superorganism as their support act in 2018. Take ‘Action’ by viewing the video below.

“A person who winks at a person is one who lives with a pure heart, who lives with flexibility, who does what they want” is what the CHAI girls of Kana, Mana, Yuuki and Yuna penned in a press statement to explain the at-first-glance random title of ‘Wink’ for their new LP release. They added, “A person who winks is a person who is free. With this album, we’re winking at you. We’re living freely and we hope that when you listen, you can wink an live freely, too”. The band were, although half the world away, inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests that took place across the US last June, and so they decided to put their assessments of it into words for ‘Action’. The refrain feels like a nod to Chemical Brothers’ ‘Hey Boy, Hey Girl’, before CHAI intersect these echoes with lines like “Action is more than words” and “It’s okay, it’s okay, everything is okay/Because I believe in you and me” that get the message across simply, but effectively. The instrumentation is buoyant and charming, as shiny Disco-House motifs and a rolling Electronic breakbeat helps to turn ‘Action’ from a title into a self-affirming mantra. The chorus mixes Asian vocals with a punchy, shimmering Synth riff that replaces the strutting drum machine of the verses, building to an instrumental that encourages you to get your groove on. Shadings of R&B, Hip-Hop and Acid House help CHAI to set the mellower mood, but it’s still undeniably Pop music with a highly electronic, danceable series of beats. The lyrics call for a better future and turn these ideas into a sense of cross-cultural encouragement made with their own irresistibly playful edge where the nods to Acid-House and the huge reverb effects widen the scope of the Synth melodies. It’s message continue to show relevancy as people take to the streets to show solidarity with the situation in Palestine, and, for a variety of reasons, this is one of the best singles that I’ve heard all year. Just absolutely brilliant.

Pictured: KANA (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Yuuki (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), MANA (Keyboard and Yuna (Acoustic Drum Kit) in a promotional image shoot for “WINK” (2021) (via Music.Mxdwn.com)

If you’ve not had enough of CHAI yet, why not take some ‘Action’ on it by checking out what I had to share about ‘Maybe Chocolate Chips’, an earlier single from the new album, where the band sing about changing their perspectives and viewing moles on their faces like the enhancements of your favourite cookie treat. Catch up here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/03/16/todays-track-chai-feat-ric-wilson-maybe-chocolate-chips/

Pictured: CHAI performing at Ameoba, San Francisco (2017) (Photo Credit: Jeff Clayton/YouTube.com)

That’s all for now! However, ‘Scuzz Sundays’ returns tomorrow for an entry that will have any players of the old WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 Xbox 360 video game chomping at the bit. 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: James Righton – “Release Party”

May 17, 2021 — Leave a comment

Following last year’s debut LP, it’s certainly not time yet for a Right-off. New post time!

Pictured: Cover for “Deewee 050 – Foundations” (Compilation) (Released on May 7, 2021) (via Deewee)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to make a start to the new week with Monday’s daily track on the blog, as always, since it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Last Saturday, we looked at Charlotte Adigery’s new single from the ‘Foundations’ compilation album that was put together by the DEEWEE label owned by Soulwax & 2 Many DJ’s for release on May 7th. Stratford-born singer-songwriter James Righton has followed in her footsteps, by releasing an exclusive new track for the project of his own. In case you are not familiar, Righton used to be the lead Vocalist and Keyboard player of Klaxons, a ‘New Rave’ band who scored a Mercury Prize win and a few hits in the charts during the mid-2000’s. Since then, he recorded under the ‘Shock Machine’ project that saw him work with director Saam Farahmand. He released his debut album, ‘The Performer’, last March on the DEEWEE label. It’s an album that received generally positive reviews, and an album which I rather really liked too. It looks at the guise of being a ‘Performer’ where one minute you’re playing pop star and the next you’re fathering two children. It does so under an engaging 70’s Neo-Psychedelic Pop sound mixed with delightful String sections and Baroque influences. Righton posted on social media, “Release Party was written in my garage during Lockdown before, completed at DEEWEE studio with Dave & Steph [Dewaele] of Soulwax and 2 Many DJ’s, working together remotely”, about this latest single. Give it a taster down below.

One fun fact about James Righton that you may never guess is that, of all people, he is married to Keira Knightley. The two began dating back in 2011, and were married in the south of France in 2016. Now living in the Islington district of London, they have two children together. Back to the subject at hand, the new bassline-grooving single makes commentary on “tension and release, and the dreams and fantasies we make”, according to Righton, who added that said “Party” is to be confirmed at a later date, hinting that a disco following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions was crucial to his concept of the euphoric Nu-Disco offering. Starting off with a fragmented 80’s Synth line and a propulsive Disco drum machine sequence that wavers and meanders to create a polished electronic groove that feels ready for a retro-futurist dance, his familiar voice greets us with lines like “I wanna see you honey/I wanna meet you on the street” and “There’s no time for us to waste/The precious/Let’s move to the beat now” which add a very instructive vocal to the soundtrack of the party you could be having. Righton’s vocals carry some essence of George Michael in the 80’s, as there’s a sense of flirtation to his mid-tempo tone and spacious breaths, while the chord progression of the track struts and sways it’s way along it’s near five-minute duration. The key hook of “I can feel the release” is kept basic and vague, but a bobbing Keyboard bass creates a slick build and drop-in that adds a lot of shine to the main section. While it may be easy to dismiss compilation-exclusive singles as throwaway efforts or quick promotions, the recent tracks from James Righton and Charlotte Adigery are simultaneously proving otherwise. On Righton’s latest, he continues to establish his name as one of UK Pop’s most criminally underlooked of the scene. He does what he does very well on ‘Release Party’ in making undeniable Pop that has something to it, as opposed to sounding generic and too safe. The smaller touches harken back to Prince of the 90s in the funky Synth undertones, while the erotic quality of his vocals make me think of Lou Hayter. Inspired Pop that’s distinctive and sounds great, and just has something about it, rather than just begging for a quick hit.

Pictured: James Righton in Paris, France to promote “The Performer” (2020) (Photo via DEEWEE)

That may be all that I have to say for now. However, if you liked the sound of this, or if you’re new to James Righton and you’re interested in hearing more of him, why not start with my analysis of his single ‘Edie’ from last year’s solo LP, ‘The Performer’? Check it out right here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/02/todays-track-james-righton-edie/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “The Performer” (LP) (Released on 20th March, 2020) (via DEEWEE)

That’s it for now! I’ll be back tomorrow to introduce you to a recent discovery of mine, who described himself as “A guy called Joey from Michigan who makes music for your emotions” in his own artist biography. His latest album, ‘Old Time Radio’, releases this Friday on the Los Angeles-based independent label Alpha Pup Records. 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/