Dubstep

Way Back Wednesdays: Orbital – “The Naked and The Dead”

February 17, 2021 — Leave a comment

On gut reaction, I’d rather be in the former situation than the latter. Let’s go Way Back!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Radiccio” (EP) (UK Release) (Released in 1992) (via FFRR Records)

Good Morning to you – my name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time again for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, because it is routinely my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I’m pretty suprised that I’ve not covered any of Orbital’s work on the blog before, since the Kentish DJ brother duo of Phil & Paul Hartnoll are very much within my alley of 90’s electronic dance music releases. Yet, here we are – and it’s taken our weekly archive dig to get me there. A lost cut from the “Halycon” EP, which was released in the UK as the “Radiccio” EP here for us in the UK, and in Japan too, “The Naked And The Dead” is one of those deep dives Orbital tunes that time forgot, as is naturally the case with these projects. This EP barely managed to crack the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, but “Halycon” is still one of the better known tunes from the Hartnoll brothers, especially in the mainstream, and Orbital remains to be one of the most critically acclaimed groups from the 90’s peak of IDM and Acid Techno music. Known for their improvisational style in live DJ set performances, and the photographs of atomised Orbitals on their cover sleeves, Orbital took their name from the M25 orbital motorway of Greater London, which was central to the early rave scene in the South East during the early days of Acid House music. Let’s check out their deep dive below.

Orbital were mainly active between the very late-80’s and 2004, but they have reunited twice in the 2010’s since, with new albums each time to boot. According to the Hartnoll brothers, this old tune represents: “Consumer goods are tending to lose all use-value. Their nature is to be consumable at all costs”, elaborating on this,”Which is to say: Non-values or empty, fictitious, abstract values, you are no longer as old as you feel, or as new as you look, but as old as what you buy” in the original archives of the EP’s press notes. Touching on consumerist values and adapting lifestyles to fit social stereotypes as contextual themes, “The Naked and The Dead” gives me a somewhat dystopian vibe, because it’s simply one of the heavier releases that I’ve ever heard to come from the creative minds of the two Hartnoll brothers. Struck by an unrelenting Jungle influence, the drum beats sound tribal and the bassline hits a fast tempo. The vocals are a sample taken from Scott Walker’s version of the track “Next”, which, in turn, is a cover version of an old pop tune originally sung by Jacques Brel. The inspiration behind the “Halcyon” EP also revolved around Hartnoll’s mother’s addiction to the drug Triazolam for many years, which is obviously known as Halcion otherwise. This darker variation of tones, especially compared to past Orbital hits like “Chime” and “The Mobius”, feels reflective of that matter. The repeating hook is sporadically layered under a polished Drum sequence, while the Synths give off a viably more strobe lighting-like effect that was a good fit for late-night festival sets. While retaining it’s dance-oriented roots, the layering of the synths and the drums is quite merticulous, with the ethnological drum beats and the trickling Synth sequences replacing old Drill ‘N’ Bass production with the West African-influenced percussion. After the sweat dries, the track likes to keep itself afloat by repeating the opening sequences and incorporating the Scott Walker sample to add a slightly soulful quality. It would ware a bit thin by the end of the long 12 minute remix also found on the EP, but it works for the short version. It wouldn’t be classed as one of their greatest hits, but it’s worth a tad more recognition than it gets.

  • Pictured: Phil Hartnoll (DJ/Producer) and Paul Hartnoll (Synths/Drums) (2017) (via Channel 4 News)

And… we’re back in the present! Join me tomorrow, where I’ll be contrasting these ancient throwbacks with some brand new music that I’ve recently discovered through the Bandcamp app. Join me again then – for an in-depth look at a single from the sophomore album to come from a Danish indie Post-Punk Revival band, who have just released the new LP on Fat Possum Records. Boasting a decade of experience, the 21-year-old frontman has previously been a part of his local indie rock band Cola Freaks, and has ran two indie music labels under his wing – Shordwood and 100 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/

Today’s Track: Pan Amsterdam (feat. GUTS) – “Carrot Cake”

October 9, 2020 — Leave a comment

Let’s pray the whole dessert doesn’t have a soggy bottom. It’s time for your new post!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Carrot Cake” (Single) (Released on August 5th, 2020) (via Def Pressé)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke and, just like always, I’m here to write up about your daily track on the blog, since it is routinely my day-to-day pleasure to get typing about a different piece of music every day! Pan Amsterdam is a very tricky one to give many introductions about, and that’s because he is a producer and composer who thrives on being an enigma. He writes for his online biographies, “We really don’t know exactly where Pan Amsterdam comes from. He was found on the coast of Miami, Florida in a state of apparent amnesia”, later adding, “Pan Amsterdam must have been unconscious on the coast for 22hrs before he was discovered by none other than rock icon and ‘The Godfather of Punk’, Iggy Pop”, who has always been a very frequent collaborator for this musical mystery. His accent has a very Eastern American sound though, and he has nodded to his accent as a cross between Brooklyn, Jersey or Manhattan in a track on his debut album, “The Pocket Watch”, which was released in 2018. Since then, it’s been reported that Pan Amsterdam is supposedly the alias of a New York-based trumpeter and songwriter, Leron Thomas. Nevetheless, the usual two-year turnaround period has just come and gone, and “Pan Am” is back with the follow-up to his critically-acclaimed (If critically-dumbfounded, more like) debut record. “HA Chu” was released last Friday, on October 2nd, via the Def Pressé label. With high-profile new album releases from Róisín Murphy, Groove Armada and The National’s lead member Matt Berninger, and impressive lower-key releases from Working Men’s Club and Loraine James, it really has been one of the most busy weekends of new music releases, for me, in quite some time, and “Pan Am” looks to be no exception to the former rule, given his ascending popularity. Guest work on the album comes from Iggy Pop, Jimi Goodwin (Doves) and Jason Williams (Sleaford Mobs). Let’s have a tasty slice of “Carrot Cake”, featuring GUTS, down below.

Critics have noted that “Pan Am” goes for a more darkly textured sound on the bulk of “HA Chu” in comparison to his more Jazz-infused predecessor, as he gets together with the collaborators that I have listed above, and a couple of surprising notables to record one of the strangest and most enigmatically endearing releases of the autumn season. “I’ll funk like rotten milk and pass the expiration date/I’ll make your granny’s cow lactate” are just a few little snippets of the quirky songwriting that “Pan Am” uses to his odd advantage throughout the course (the Dessert one) of “Carrot Cake”, as he mixes up an exceptionally abstract two-step Parisian drum groove with a hazy, laidback synth rhythm that, for me, goes back to the late 60’s era of “Pre’ Hip-Hop” in conceptual spades. GUTS adds the female backing vocal of “Come In Closer” to create a weirdly soothing backing vocal that adds textured layers of good sensual feelings to proceedings. The male vocals are seemingly unrelated to this, and the lyrics being drawn upon are mostly a mix of creative wordplay and dry humour, which combine with the whirling keyboard riffs and the funk rhymes to create the subtle early Hip-Hop sensibility which carries the comic relief along to a robustly paced effect. He throws obscure pop culture references on the cards, almost muttering: “Because I don’t fight/I eat chips, and I watch a lotta’ Kung-Flu flicks/Way Of The Dragon be my profile pic” at a steady pace to an intelligent wit. The production is rooted in G-Funk and Soft-Pop, and that’s before we get to the Trumpet instrumental outro, which feels smoky and old-school in it’s delivery. Lyrically, the substance is almost non-existent because they do not really make any actual sense, but they manage to subvert your expectations of a contemporary record, and “Pan Am” strings the words together to a quirky, rhythmic pattern which makes up for a cohesive flow, and they sound good together as a result. This really takes a bit of skill, but “Pan Am” makes it seem easy. Overall, it’s tricky for anybody to properly identify what’s going on here, but I like it – and I think that’s the main point. One of the most essential tunes for the present time.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “HA Chu” (Album/LP) (Released on October 2nd, 2020) (via Def Pressé)

Thanks for checking out your daily blog post! I’ll be back tomorrow to kick off the weekend with an in-depth look at a track which was released earlier in the Spring by an artist who recently appeared on KEXP’s “Live At Home” series of virtual gigs. He has also performed at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend festival, and he has earned praise from radio broadcasters including Annie Mac, Huw Stephens and Jack Saunders. None of his two songs are the same! 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: Andy C & Shimon – “Body Rock” (2001)

September 24, 2020 — Leave a comment

Right. That is it. It’s time for us to quit the ‘Clowning’ around! It’s time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Andy Clarke performing with MC TONN PIPER at Rampage Festival (2019) (via YouTube.com)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke and I am writing up about your daily track on the blog, as always, because it is routinely my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! 2001, in September to be exact, saw the release of a polarizing little club track of the title “Body Rock”, which was a collaboration between Andy Clarke, the co-founder of RAM Records, and his RAM Records signee Shimon. Clarke, best known as Andy C, is a Wasall-based English DJ and electronic producer who was a pioneering staple of the Drum-and-Bass genre of EDM music. He was a part of the RAM three, a circle of artists who raised prestige for the Drum-and-Bass genre through this specialist record label, which also includes Shimon and co-founder Ant Miles. Most popularly, the likes of Chase & Status, Sub Focus and Wilkinson have found chart success through releases on the RAM Records label. “Body Rock” reached #28 on the UK Singles Chart, and it was divisive because of it’s unusual sound, which we’ll get to in a bit. For now, let’s have a listen to it below.

Just in case you hadn’t realized, “Body Rock” divided most of Andy C’s more hardcore fanbase because of the “Clown-ish” sequencing effects used as the sampled hooks, which combines with a swinging pendulum rhythm to form an oddly patterned loop of synthesized melodies. As a matter of fact, some listeners even went so far as to give it a derogatory term of “Clown-Step” as a phrase to describe similar tracks that arrived soon after “Body Rock”, as it was obviously a huge commercial success, so other producers who were just looking for hits were started to follow the sound as a commercial trend. One fun theory that has circulated around the internet is that Andy C and Sub Focus used a sample of Rocky Horror’s “Timewarp” to fit the tune when mixing the track live to form the beat, but it’s unclear whether there is any evidence to prove this to be the truth. In whichever case, “Body Rock” starts off with a swinging triplet rhythm that precedes a few strange vocal parts. It gets more off-kilter and bizzare when the Snare Drum kicks in, and hits on the recurring Synth loops. This is followed up by the introduction of a really Staccato-heavyweight bassline that calls upon Acid Techno and Alternative Jungle influences to create a fluid, fluctuating synth beat which feels acidic and meandering in it’s continous, skittering nature. A brief interlude of odd, slowed ambient wind samples follows up on the main bassline drop, before an eclectic Kick Drum beat and Hi-Hat snare drops make the proceedings a little more percussive and progressive in it’s textures. Overall, it’s certainly rather unusual for an experimentally layered Drum-and-Bass track such as this to reach the mainstream – with single CD/Vinyl sales of 38,000 copies in shops (Yes… Physical Shops!) to boot. However, I believe the most important point to take away from this is that whether different groups of music lovers loved it or not… It gained a strong reaction. For me personally, although I can see where most angles of the nitpicks of criticism were coming from, I think that it’s innovative and a lot of fun. It was something very different at the time, and it still retains a unique ring to it today.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Body Rock” (Single) (Released on 3rd September, 2001) (via RAM Records)

Thank you very much for reading my daily blog post! I’ll be back tomorrow with a switch of gears, as we move from Experimental Drum-and-Bass to a more Alternative form of Post-Punk and Industrial-Rock. Tomorrow’s track comes from a Japanese 4-piece Math-Rock and Noise-Rock group formed in London, England who have performed collaboratively with Savages, Damo Suzuki and Faust. They are currently signed to Stolen Recordings and they are licensed to Sony Music Associated 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/