Easy Listening

Today’s Track: Bien Et Toi – ‘Haiku’

February 5, 2024 — Leave a comment

“Some heat for anyone to play when they get the aux” is all you need. New post time!

Pictured: LA-based electronic producer Gianluca Buccellati aka Bien Et Toi (2023) (Photo by Bellamy Brewster)

Good Afternoon! I’m Jacob Braybrooke and it was previously my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day before my adulthood got right in the way! If you like music that personifies the statement that you saw in my intro above, more pleasure awaits you when you check out the ‘Voici’ EP by the LA-based producer who said it! The man in question is Gianluca Buccellati, an electronic music producer who has enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with well-liked artists like Hazel English, Biig Piig, Terry Presume and Declan McKenna. Most notably, he fulfilled production work on Arlo Parks’ blockbuster release ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams’ which won the Mercury Prize, also receiving some album of the year nominations at the BRIT Awards and the Grammy Awards following its release in January 2021. As a solo musician, he started out as a member of White China during a run in New York and he has represented artists as an A&R scout operating from mini studios that he set up in Air BnB’s dotted around the globe. His music is recorded and released under the alias of Bien Et Toi which translates to “Well, and you” from French to English. Therefore, his answer must be very predictable if you were to ask how he’s doing. Bright and aestival are two words which accurately describe the sumptous sounds of his six-track EP ‘Voici’ released last year. I feel particularly cold today and his EP makes for a perfect antidote for dull weather in winter. Therefore, why not sample ‘Haiku’ below?

“This collection of songs was created when I was in a completely care-free state of flow”, the emerging producer tells us about his six-track EP ‘Voici’ in a revealing press statement, finishing off his sentence with, “After my last EP [2022’s ‘London Safari] I wanted to create a body of work that had less features and felt more personal. This EP is for people to let loose to, a soundtrack for pool parties or warmer nights” as he describes the production process of the release. It traverses through the chillout music sounds of 00’s compilation albums that have been lost to the domination of the internet and deviates into downtempo Electronica that cleanses the palette of the listener after a long hard day’s on shift at work, inviting you to build a fantasy in your mind that feels as kind as the “Well, and you” translation of his recording name. ‘Haiku’ is never afraid to showcase Gianluca’s work with many Hip-Hop producers by opening with a basic drum beat set above some auto-tuned vocals that feel obscured as to create a sense of intrigue around the track’s meaning. The textured Synths enter the fray promptly, raising the tempo and wrapping layers around the cryptic vocals while conveying a comforting space that puts a hand on your shoulder. A buzzing sound keeps the pace going even while the synths are retreating, before the winning crescendo rewards your attention once again. While the track never veers into hugely melodic and Pop-oriented territory, it maintains your focus by giving its electronic instrumentation a more human quality. There’s an emotive feel in how the multi-layered Synths control the pace of the track and feel like a cohesive pairing with the mechanical vocals in terms of drawing you in with its sense of invitation. Overall, this is one that fits whatever suit you need it to whether that’s a moment of reflection late at night or a trip to view a midsummer sunrise with the roof of your convertible down.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for the ‘Voici’ EP (Released on August 29th, 2023) (via Temple Records)

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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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Way Back Wednesdays: Beryl Marsden (feat. Gospel Garden) – ‘Hello, Stranger’

May 4, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Changes: The Story Of Beryl Marsden’ (Released on January 31, 2012) (via RPM Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for us to go ‘Retro’ with another old-school edition of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ on One Track At A Time, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! The latest favourite of Cherry Red Records to grace the feature, Beryl Marsden’s story began in the Merseyside boom of the 60’s where she found fame on the Liverpool club circuit after singing with local groups like Howie Casey and The Crew, after she won a talent competition at the age of 14. One child in a family of ten, she would start performing at the Star Club in Hamburg, re-locate to London and subsequently sign with Decca Records as a solo artist with Tony Stratton-Smith as a manager. In her career since then, Marsden supported The Beatles on their final UK tour in 1965 and participate in projects like Shotgun Express (Which Rod Stewart, Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Peter Green were also all members of), The She Trinity, Simbad, Gambler and The Beryl Marsden band. Her material was mostly centered around a then-contemporary Pop and soulful R&B style, although her solo records unfortunately gained little commercial success. Nevertheless, she has built up a reputation as an undeservedly neglected talent praised by sites like AllMusic and The Liverpool Echo. She has also been remembered in recent times with a theatrical musical – ‘One Dream: The Beryl Marsden Story’ – that was performed at the Cavern Club for two nights, which Beryl Marsden would close with a live performance. She was also portrayed by actress Gemma Sutton in 2013’s ‘Cilla’, a three-part TV drama series about Cilla Black. Her lack of success commercially was mostly contributed to how her singles were never released in a traditional album format, and this notion did not change until January 2012 when her first compilation – ‘Changes: The Story Of Beryl Marsden’ – was finally made available. Check out ‘Hello Stranger’ from it below.

‘Hello Stranger’ is likely one of Beryl Marsden’s more well-known original recordings because it was used in the 1997 film ‘Another 9 1/2 Weeks’ (Which was also released as ‘Love In Paris’ in certain markets) which starred Mickey Rourke and Angie Everhart, which features the clips that you just saw in the video above. It was also credited to “Gospel Garden (feat. Beryl Marsden)” in some territories too, but it was nonetheless one of her more radio pop chart-friendly works. Gospel Garden’s blueprints are also clear, as the track gets off to a start with some ethereal Synths and ambient washings of Bass that conjure up an atmosphere that, to fit the title, feels strange yet familiar. Marsden’s lyrics are more emotionally driven, as she waxes nostalgic with sustained refrains like “Have you had a good time?/It makes me smile when you look at me that way” that leads melodically into the bridge, where she questions the interest of a former lover with lyrics like “Can I come home with you tonight?/Is that what you’re asking?” and “You say you’re gonna treat me right/A stranger’s touch is what I need tonight” as the bassline builds up to some playful keys that lead nicely into the heightened pace of the chorus, where catchy hooks such as “It’s a strange kind of magic/When we touch” and “Strangers you and I will always be” play out above the soulful combination of keys and drums, which feels different to the slow-burning energy and gradual progression of the main verses that establish a slightly more gritty and subdued quality. The track is still quite lushly produced, and it demonstrates how richly her voice has aged throughout the decades too as her darkened vocals are conveying a decent variety of emotive qualities during the verses before the more formulaic Dance-Pop song structure creeps in around the halfway mark, but these elements still work cohesively together because of her uncertain presence. Her voice was enough to give you a light tingle down the spine, and that’s executed clearly here.

Pictured: Beryl Marsden in a rare promotional photoshoot (Date n/a) (Photo via REX/Associated Newspapers)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest post on the blog, and I will be back tomorrow to review a recent, eclectic single by a self-described “Globetrotting Psychedelic Soul Savant” who is one of the co-founders of the Chalo project. I can’t wait to bring his exciting new single ‘Brooklyn Ballers’ to your notice and it follows variable collaborations with artists such as Dam Swindle, Mike Bloom & Kaidi Tatham.

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Scuzz Sundays: The Caesars – ‘Jerk It Out’

April 24, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Love for The Streets’ (LP) (Released on April 22nd, 2002) (via Virgin Records/Dolores)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for us to pay a visit to one of the old ghosts of Pop-Punk’s past with a new addition to our ‘Scuzz Sundays’ library, given that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Love For The Streets’ was released on April 22nd, 2002 via Virgin/Dolores as the third full-length LP effort for the Indie Rock band The Caesars, as they are most widely known, who were formed in Stockholm, Sweden in 1995. Therefore, as of this week, the record has just celebrated its 20th anniversary. It makes for a really great opportunity for us to remember ‘Jerk It Out’ – the band’s most well-known track – that was taken as a single from the album. Following one re-issue in 2003 and another, more wider, re-release in 2005 – ‘Jerk It Out’ became an international success as it reached #8 in the UK Singles Chart and #70 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. It is definitely one of those tracks that you have heard many times before, but you most probably have not heard it in ages or did not know who performed it because, admittedly, the group did not have much more impact on popular culture outside of their domestic market in the years after. The Caesars are also known by two other names, as they were originally known as Caesars Palace natively. However, they changed their name to The Caesars to avoid confusion with the famous Las Vegas-based hotel of the same name and, likely due to copyright, they are known as Twelve Caesars in Scandinavia. My head is spinning with confusion, so please do me a merciful favour and press ‘Play’ on the ‘Jerk It Out’ music video below.

‘Love For The Streets’ has actually been certified as Gold in sales in their native country of Sweden, and you may also remember their hit ‘Jerk It Out’ from a global advertising campaign for the old iPod models and the, now rather obsolete, iPad Mini products designed by the corporate tech giant Apple. An easy track to write about due to it being so straightforward, ‘Jerk It Out’ dives headfirst into the 00’s Garage-Rock revival trends with an outrageously catchy Keyboard/Synth hook that twists and turns ferociously, as the sharp yet undemanding Drums kick in and the spaced-out effects on the keyboard gives the track the swirling, dizzying vibe that has made it feel so memorable. The lyrics are incredibly laid back and clear cut, as hooks like “Wind me up, put me down, start me off and watch me go/I’ll be running circles around you sooner than you know” and “Because it’s easy once you know how it’s done/You can’t stop now, it’s already begun” convey the themes of perseverance and finding reward out of taking risks very evidently. A distorted organ sample and a gentle guitar solo, towards the end of the track, keep the mid-60’s Garage Pop quality from becoming too predictable, and the catchy lyrics are married to the unique Synth style fairly well. That is all there really is to write about the track because it is just a fun, but simple, piece of music that feels like it could have been recorded in 1966 by a Garage band in Ohio. It equally sounds like a rather basic band manifesto in writing a three-minute pop gem designed to be a hit in the charts, which doesn’t usually sit very well with me, but I give The Caesars the benefit of the doubt on ‘Jerk It Out’ because the track is well-produced in being filled with so many simple, but catchy, segments. While being pretty much the definition of a one-hit wonder, ‘Jerk it Out’ is still just good fun.

Pictured: Joakim Åhlund (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), César Vidal (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), David Lindqvist (Bass Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals) and Nini Keller (Drums/Percussion) (2003) (Photo via ACharts.co)

I think I’ve ‘Jerked’ out however much I can handle (No, I do not mean it like that, Rude) musically on the blog today, but thank you for continuing to support the site every day. I’ll be back tomorrow as we begin the final week of April with the diverse voice of a Los-Angeles based vocalist and violinist currently signed to Stones Throw Records known for her electric blending of African music and futuristic R&B. Earlier in the year, she headlined the Stones Throw showcase live event at South By Southwest.

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Today’s Track: Maia Friedman – ‘First To Love’

March 21, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Under The New Light’ (LP) (Released on 11th March 2022) (via Last Gang Records)

Good Morning to you! This is hard-working writer and aspiring radio producer Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has finally come for me to keep your ears entertained by yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Maia Friedman was already a skilled vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter before she even embarked on a solo career, as you may already know Friedman from her roles in the Brooklyn-based indie rock bands Dirty Projectors and Coco. Growing up in the Sierra national forest region of the Central California area with her father (a film editor) and her mother (a Jungian Psychoanalyst), Friedman began learning how to play instruments at a very young age and she has since become a big part of her local music scenes for her various roles in musical projects including Toebow, Bobby and Uki Ika Ai – as she joked to Melody Maker in an interview, “Collaborating gives me the juice”, a few weeks ago. Her latest full-length album – ‘Under The New Light’ – finds Friedman undertaking the role of a spiritual comforter and a serene healer for the listener, where she tackles the deep contrast between topics such as intimacy and growth, and light and darkness, throughout the duration of the long-awaited solo record. She began working on the material four years ago as she balanced putting the track listing together with her duties of being a music teacher in New York. Dan Molad, her fellow band-mate from Coco, helped her to produce the album. Additional work also came by way of her collaborators Tom Deis and Peter Lalish. Check out the single – ‘First To Love’ – below.

‘First To Love’ is given even deeper meanings by the aid of the Joshua Kilcoyne-directed music video, and Maia Friedman says of the new cut, “It is a humbling privilege to love someone in all their humanness and imperfection, to not only support but celebrate them through their journey of growth and exploration, to be by their side as they evolve into new versions of themselves”, adding that her lyrics roughly translate to, “I will love even the deepest layers of who and what you are. A question I pose to myself is, what if this person were me?”, in her press statement. Her ethereal track starts off with glitched Synths that replicate the sound of a heart monitor of a hospital to my mind, a polished sequence which runs throughout the track, and they are softly set against the backdrop of a warmly acoustic guitar melody and a soft bassline. Lyrics like “Look as the clouds pass overhead/I will count them until the daylight ends” and “Wait as the roots find their way/They’ll grow deeper with each passing day” are softly spoken and they carry the verses with a low-lit and wide-eyed tone. The chorus features more swooping and direct refrains like “Peel away/Keeping me up through the night” and “Escape/Be whatever you like” that position Friedman in a unique sense of directly addressing you as her audience, with the details of her personal situations feeling a little enigmatic in favour of giving you a space of reflection and free-wheeling tranquility as a listener. I feel like these more Folk-inspired sections recalls the cinematic soundtrack style of her work in Coco, but it goes quite far beyond an ‘Expansion Pack’ mentality of that sound as the intriguing electronic textures and the whimsical Classical influences of the serene vocals feel different enough to her material with those other projects. Overall, ‘First To Love’ is a bit of a slow burn, but it builds up to a nice sense of energy and it has a strong emotive core that is filled with wistfully produced Strings and warm Dream-Pop instrumentation that placed an emphasis on the most smallest and profound aspects of what it means to be a human and the details of subjects like sensuality and touch with an in-depth contrast that finds her striking out sturdily, as a relatable songwriter.

Pictured: Maia Friedman in Coco (along with Dan Molad & Oliver Hill) (2021) (Photo Credit: Stella Hartmann)

If you’d like to hear some of the magic that Maia has created in Coco – look no further.

‘Last Of The Loving’ (2020) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/10/22/todays-track-coco-last-of-the-loving/

‘Come Along’ (2021) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/12/06/todays-track-coco-come-along/

Pictured: Cover Art for Coco’s ‘Last of The Loving” (Single) (Released on 4th August, 2020) (via FCA Records)

That brings me to the end of the page for another day! I have little else to say, other than to thank you for checking out what I had to share with you for today, as your support is always highly appreciated by me. I’ll be back tomorrow to review one of the promotional singles from an imminent album being put out by a TrumsØ-formed Progressive House and Dark Ambient duo whose achievements include two Grammy Awards nominations, some worldwide tour performances, and a Robyn collaboration.

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Scuzz Sundays: Nickelback – ‘How You Remind Me’

March 6, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Silver Side Up’ (LP) (Released on September 11th, 2001) (via Roadrunner Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to don some dodgy eye mascara as we revisit the music that we used to tolerate during our younger and most questionable emo phases of life for ‘Scuzz Sundays’ as we re-evaluate their quality or value in the present day, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! When you review the history of rock music, particularly throughout the 2000’s, the Canadian rock group of Nickelback provide a fairly interesting case. They were a punching bag for music enthusiasts, garnering almost unanimously negative reviews for their recycling of ideas and their continued relevancy in the mainstream, but they were still one of the most successful rock bands of the time when you really think about it. Their list of achievements includes enormous sales figures of over 50 million albums worldwide, five SOCAN International Achievement Awards, and a whole host of hit singles across multiple territories including ‘Rockstar’, ‘Far Away’ and ‘Photograph’ among a few others. They are also pretty active today, as they are currently working on their upcoming tenth studio album to finally follow up on 2017’s ‘Feed The Machine’. They have recently celebrated the 20th Anniversary of their fame-propelling third studio LP – 2001’s ‘Silver Side Up’ – which has been certified as Platinum eight times in Canada. The record included, arguably, their biggest hit of all – ‘How You Remind Me’ – which is a Karaoke favourite of my mother’s choice. The single’s commercial success led to their first arena tour of the UK, and, in 2009, Billboard ranked it as their best selling rock single overall. You know it already, but you can hear it for the first time in ages below.

Chad Kroeger – the lead vocalist of Nickelback – wrote ‘How You Remind Me’ as a response to a conflict with his then-girlfriend at an airport in Vancouver, where she set up shop in his basement and improvised the lyrics loudly in the hopes that she would hear him and catch the drift that he was, well, pretty angry. It makes sense considering how the guitar riffs have a nice grit to them and the pacing of ‘How You Remind Me’ has a harsher energy to it than some of Nickelback’s more melodramatic ballad work explored on the likes of ‘Far Away’ during the 00’s. The single starts off with the familiar lyric of “Never made it as a wise man/I couldn’t cut it as a poor man stealing” that Kroeger delivers in a husky voice as the laidback and casual sound of the mid-range guitars, in terms of tone and reverb, wind on up to a slightly more dissonant and aggressive style, although the instrumentation never becomes truly harsh, for lack of a more suitable term. The chorus has a rougher edge too, with rhythmic lines like “This is how you remind me, of who I really am” and “It’s not like you to say sorry/I was waiting on a different story” bordering between a spoken and a chanted delivery. The guitar riffs don’t progress a great deal, but the drums and the bass is more prominent in the chorus and increases the speed of the core melodies. There are elements of Punk and Grunge here, but they are measured and the violence of their mood is kept at a radio-friendly level. It also explores love-sickness lyrically, with fun sequences like “I’ve been wrong, I’ve been down” and “This time, I’m mistaken/For handing you a heart worth breaking” that sound assertive, but not completely outside of the realm of forgiveness or reconciliation for the dwindling relationship that Kroeger is referencing. As one of the most snobbish music critics out there – which my parents would probably tell you, believe me – I don’t mind ‘How You Remind Me’ very much. I’ll admit that the guitar riffs are a little bland, but it is a fun track that is a fun time and has it’s catchy moments. It’s not a masterpiece, but it is melodic enough and it established a few selling points for Nickelback that admittedly got recycled a little too frequently over the years, but there’s a reason why the tune was successful and I can see why Kroeger’s band would go down to the well for it as a point of reference for later work. A solid standalone single that still sounds fine today.

Pictured: Chad Kroeger (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Chief Songwriter), Ryan Peake (Lead Guitar/Keyboard/Backing Vocals), Mike Kroeger (Bass Guitar) and Daniel Adair (Drums/Backing Vocals) (2021) (Photo Credit: Paul Bergen)

That brings us to the bottom of the page for another day! I’m going to be swiftly off now as I’m planning to see my family for two days running, but I’ll be back tomorrow to guide you through some gorgeous new experimental electronic music from an Enfield-based IDM producer who reached the top three of my ‘Best Albums Of 2021’ list with her Hyperdub-signed hit ‘Reflection’ that was also loved by Tom Ravenscroft.

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Today’s Track: Metronomy – ‘Things Will Be Fine’

February 26, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Small World’ (LP) (Released on February 18th, 2022) (via Because Music)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m here to add a music-related pleasantry to your weekend with another nice and simple 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! Today, we’re checking with the indie pop veterans Metronomy who have been surviving since the 00’s with a range of electronic recordings that have always been grounded and progressive, and they have made previous appearances on the blog with ‘405’ (feat. Biig Piig) and ‘Salted Caramel Ice Cream’ as they hold the status of being a safe pair of hands. A 5-piece led by Joe Mount, they have remixed countless artists including Kate Nash, Sebastien Teller, Lady GaGa, Gorillaz, Franz Ferdinand and more. You may have also heard several collaborations involving the likes of Robyn, Nicola Roberts, Spill Tab, Brian Nasty and Sorry that Metronomy have co-created over the past two decades. Following 2019’s ‘Metronomy Forever’ and last year’s ‘Posse: Volume 1’ EP – the Rober Awards Music Poll-winning band have just released their seventh studio album – ‘Small World’ – via Because Music. With a positive score of 74/100 on review aggregate site Metacritic, Metronomy describe the fresh LP as an exploration of peace, serenity and simple nature. It also features a new collaboration with Porridge Radio, and Joe Mount notes, “I’ve been remembering what it was like as a kid when I’d be sitting in the backseat of my parents’ car and they’d be playing their music and I’d think “this is awful”, but there’d be one or two songs I would like. I thought it would be fun to make that kind of album”, in the press release for the LP. The final pre-release single was ‘Things Will Be Fine’, that was accompanied by a retro-themed music video that was put together by Metronomy themselves and the directors of Thibaut Caesar and Juliet Casella. Let’s give it a spin.

‘Small World’ is a record influenced by the roots of the period of time that it was written and recorded in, meaning 2020 and the rippling effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and other news events, and Metronomy will be taking their new tracks on the road during a UK and Ireland tour that begins in April, with the band stopping off at locations in Dublin, Oxford, Torquay, Glasgow, Bristol and each of the normal other places. Plugging into live acoustic instruments and percussion, such as the gliding guitar notes that open up the track and the Bongo drums that add some cheerful melodies to the chorus, for ‘Things Will Be Fine’, the band focus on their hearts instead of their heads for the recent single and they bring the upbeat, quirky arrangement a new-found energy. Lyrics like “The sooner you tell someone, the better you will feel/So please, put your trust in me” touch upon the relief of discussing a complex problem with a loved one and mental health is a definite topic here, in this case. Other refrains such as “Just like the first time in that teenage misery/Yeah, I wish things were as easy” recall the brightness of the past and how life gets more intricate or cumbersome as it progresses, connecting to the overarching themes of the full-length album. It is a fairly basic and happy song in tone, but it plays into the conceit of unfettered hopefulness of seeing things play out when you worry and it’s difficult not to engage yourself in the joyful message, however generalised it may feel, that Metronomy seem intent on communicating when they leans towards nostalgic 80’s Dream-Pop and soft 70’s Disco for rhythmic inspiration, with sultry crooning from Mount as he states that his goal may be to “save the day” or “change the world” as he exclaims in the chorus. It admittedly does feel a little safe for my personal tastes and likely designed to fit squarely into the BBC Radio 6 Music playlist, but there’s a humble heart to the track and some radiant, firm pacing that broadly appeals with it. It feels like a great track to remind us that summer is on the way as we take a few tentative steps outside of the bitter, melancholic mood of the modern winter in the UK. ‘Things Will Be Fine’ retains their core values of the project while skillfully avoiding ‘twee’ categorization and teasing more mature directions for them as their collaborative career moves forwards. A simple and sweet, yet uplifting, single.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Metronomy Forever’ (LP) (Released on September 13th, 2019) (via Because Music)

Metronomy have been doing the rounds for quite a long while, and so they aren’t necessarily new to the blog. You can also check out how I felt about 2019’s ‘Salted Caramel Ice Cream’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/08/26/todays-track-metronomy-salted-caramel-ice-cream/. There’s also a post featuring 2021’s ‘405’ (feat. Bigg Piig) that you can visit here if you want more info about that track: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/10/09/todays-track-metronomy-feat-biig-piig-405/.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Posse Volume 1’ (EP) (Released on September 15th, 2021) (via Because Music)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out the latest post on the blog, as your continued support means a great deal to me, and I’ll be back tomorrow to turn to the dark side for another ‘Scuzz Sundays’ post, as we continue to broaden our horizons by mixing in some Post Brit-Pop with the US-based Pop-Punk bands of that specific timeline. We shall be revisiting a former 90’s UK #1 hit by Richard Ashcroft’s old group.

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Today’s Track: Khraungbin & Leon Bridges – ‘B-Side’

January 7, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Khruangbin (Laura Lee, Mark Speer & Donald Johnson) and Leon Bridges (2019) (Photo via Dead Oceans)

Good Morning to you! You’re reading text by the familiar face of the blog, Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to put your anxieties on pause for a few minutes as we listen to yet another daily track on the blog, since it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Having spent the past three years as an independent music writer, I have learned in my experiences that music often brings together a magical meeting of the minds to blend together. One pair of acts that have issued some robust material in the past together are the Grammy-nominated contemporary Jazz songwriter Leon Bridges and the Houston-based soulful Psych-Funk trio of Khruangbin who host the ‘AirKhruang’ podcast that you can hear via Apple Music and Facebook Live. I’ve written about the Laura Lee-led outfit, with Mark Speer on guitar and Donald Ray ‘DJ’ Johnson on Drums in tow, several times before on the website since I’m already a huge fan of their 60’s Thai-influenced music. In 2020, Bridges and Khruangbin released the ‘Texas Sun’ EP together, and they will be releasing a direct sequel or companion piece to that mellow record entitled ‘Texas Moon’ on 18th February, 2022 via Dead Oceans in partnership with Night Time Stories and Columbia Records. They decided to combine their efforts once again because, as Khruangbin note, “Without joy, there can be no real perspective on sorrow” and “Without sunlight, all this rain keeps things from growing. How can you have the sun without the moon?” in the EP’s product description. It’s going to be an exciting new year for Bridges and Khruangbin, and the five tracks on the new EP offer our first taste of what’s in store for them both and so I’m excited to hear the full results in a brief handful of weeks’ time. Check out their lead single – ‘B-Side’ – below.

Drawing sonically on the shared location of Texas which Bridges and Khruangbin both call home as an influence, the project aims to redefine “how people perceive Texas music – that beautiful marriage of country and r’n’b – and really paying homage to that”, as Bridges also notes in a press release. Filmed in a re-creation of an 1800’s Western village, the music video denotes this idea exponentially and feels right at home with Khruangbin’s installments of the LateNightTales’ compilation series of records that we’ve been following over the last few years. For pre-existing fans of Khruangbin, you already know there isn’t really any major adjustments being made to their sound on ‘B-Side’ with Bridges, however, it’s another stellar guitar performance from Speer and Lee that meshes beautifully with Johnson’s drums to create a tapestry of warm sounds that feel bright and mellow with a light Disco influence, all being dressed in their typically Psychedelic fashion that makes for their winning formula, and so the slick Funk-inflicted grooves and the pounding Bass and Drums combo, make for classic Khruangbin material which feels excellent, if familiar. Bridges’ vocals, meanwhile, are on-point too as he goes for a lovesick Falsetto croon that allows lyrics like “Deeply miss your love/When I’m far away, in another place” and “When I fly above/Weeks roll into days” to feel radiant while having the room to breathe as the pacing feels neat. His soulful style reminds me a lot of Michael Kiwanuka, while the classic, traditional Jazz template of his involvement with the instrumentation is more reminiscent of Curtis Mayfield and so it feels ‘Golden’ overall in terms of sounding vintage without coming across as outdated in any real way. The chorus really captures what it means to be missing somebody, as opposed to just what it feels like, as a result of the engaging vocal performance that blends cohesively with Khruangbin like a hand fits a glove, and so he just feels like another part of the band here and feels connected to them. Overall, there’s nothing that feels massively new here but, once again, the cool synergy between Bridges and Khruangbin clicks together pretty seamlessly and each of the performances are solid. We all know that we’re in really safe hands with these four musicians, and this is another expansion of the ideas the folks have explored together before that’s been created charismatically.

Pictured: Khruangbin performing at Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival (2019) (Photo by Frazer Harrison)

If you need a reminder of how ‘Texas Sun’ sounded ahead of the successor, you can check out my post about the title track here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/01/06/todays-track-khruangbin-feat-leon-bridges-texas-sun/. Alternatively, if you want to read more about Khruangbin, then you can check out ‘Pelota’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/06/26/todays-post-khruangbin-pelota/. There is also ‘So I Won’t Forget’: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/20/todays-track-khruangbin-so-we-wont-forget/, ‘Time (You and I)’: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/02/todays-track-khruangbin-time-you-and-i/ and ‘Christmas Time Is Here’: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/12/13/todays-track-khruangbin-christmas-time-is-here/.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Texas Sun’ (EP) (Released on February 7th, 2020) (via Dead Oceans)

That’s all for now and thank you for continuing to support for the first day or lending a few minutes of your day to it for the first time if you are a new reader. Variety is the splice of life, so we’re going to be looking at some new music from a big name together. Led by Kele Okereke, the 2000’s indie rock band have sold over three million records worldwide and have been known for inflicting their guitar-oriented sound with elements of House music and urban Electronica music. In April 2022, they will be releasing their first new full-length album which will be directly involving the new members of the project who joined up when the original line-up was changed in 2015.

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Today’s Track: Spiritualized – ‘Always Together With You’

January 3, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Jason Pierce (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar/Keyboard) (2018) (Photo via Juliette Larthe/Nasty Little Man)

Good Morning, it’s Jacob Braybrooke! How has your year been? It’s time for me to write up about yet another daily track on the blog, since it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This is the first of roughly 250 ‘Today’s Track’ on the blog aside from my other features in 2022, so I thought it was only fair to kick things off with a cosmic bang alike to a big meteor hitting a Volcano – or something not quite as dramatic as that. Either way, ‘Always Together With You’ is a fresh new single by Spiritualized that I’ve been hearing on the radio lately, and I really can’t get enough of it. Spiritualized is now the solo project of Jason Pierce (J. Spaceman) of former Spaceman 3 fame who was born in Rugby, Warwickshire. Spiritualized used to be a group featuring the likes of guitarist Doggen Foster, drummer Kevin Bales, keyboardist Tom Edwards and more, among a few line-up changes over the years. At the time, Spiritualized won NME’s ‘Album Of The Year’ award in 1997 by beating stiff competition like Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer’ and The Verve’s ‘Urban Hymns’ with their critically acclaimed album release ‘Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating In Space’ that year. Pierce’s ninth studio album under the Spiritualized project – ‘Everything Was Beautiful’ – has recently been announced with a release date of February 25th, 2022 via Fat Possum Records. On the new record, Pierce plays a staggering amount of 16 different instruments that he recorded in his home and in 11 different studios. More than 30 musicians, including Pierce’s former band-mate John Coxon and his daughter Poppy, will also appear on the new album. Penned during lockdown, Pierce says the album was written in a state of embracing the isolation while viewing it as a “beautiful solitude” and noting “I felt like I’d been training for this my whole life”, as per a press note. Let’s check out the opener below.

“There was so much information on it that the slightest move would unbalance it, but going around in circles is important to me. Not like you’re spiraling out of control, but you’re going around and around and around and on each revolution, you hold onto the good each time”, states Pierce – who will be taking his Spiritualized act on the road for tour dates beginning with North American gigs running through April – adding, “Sure, you get mistakes as well, but you hold on to some of those too and that’s how you kind of… achieve. Well, you get there”, in his own words. Thankfully for Pierce, his new single begins with pin-point precision by kicking off with a whirring Synthesizer loop and a settling, if distant, voice amid the soft strums of the guitar melodies and the spacious backing vocal that feels ragged in delivery. Simple lyrics like “If you will be my lonely girl/I would be a lonely boy for you” and “If you want another world, I would be another world for you” make up the fragmented soundscape as discordant yet lightly textured Post-Punk bass guitar riffs and hard-edged Drum beats quicken the pace of the swelling sounds. The vocals are layered yet forceful and the quietly shimmering backdrop of diverse sounds make for a detailed but fairly grounded arrangement. Towards the end, a sudden crescendo of Strings set to lyrics like “If you walk the galaxies/I would walk the galaxies for you” and “Always together with you/If you’ve got a lonely heart” that transforms the brief moonlight of his vocal textures in the early going into more full-blown Space Rock as Pierce gathers up his dreams and allows the themes of high romance and space opera to collide more fully. Lonesome yet humble, Pierce looks inwards while gazing upwards with this beautiful new tune that feels beautifully textured and carefully produced with thoughtful pacing choices to the point where the peak cinematic explosion between Psychedelic Pop and slightly classical Rock feels astounding. This is an artist who clearly knows what he’s doing, and the new single is a very effective teaser for a pretty and intricate new album exploring heartache and tranquility with a sense of grandeur that will hopefully be met promptly. A fantastic single that could only be Spiritualized.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Everything Was Beautiful’ (LP) (Available on February 25th, 2022) (via Bella Union)

Thank you for journeying into a galaxy of new music with me today, and I’ll be back tomorrow for our second best regular post of the year so far with an intriguing Alternative Punk track that I recently found through KEXP’s ‘Song Of The Day’ podcast recorded by a Manchester-based band with over 2.3k monthly listeners on Spotify. The 4-piece’s producer and third member – Liam Stewart – has toured with Lonelady.

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Scuzz Sundays: Green Day – ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’

January 2, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Nimrod’ (LP) (Released on October 14th, 1997) (via Reprise Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has arrived again for me to see find out if a series of Pop-Punk style hits from between the 90’s and 00’s can match up to quality in the modern times for ‘Scuzz Sundays’ – not forgetting that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! When thinking about the bands who popularized heavier variations of Rock in the mainstream of the US during the specified period of the Scuzz TV days – bands like Panic! At The Disco, Feeder, Bowling For Soup, Weezer, All American Rejects and The Bloodhound Gang call to my mind for various reasons. However, it feels shocking that we haven’t covered Green Day to any extent for my feature, a very famous 90’s/00’s East Bay native punk rock band who have sold over 75 million records worldwide and released a new album as recently as 2020, before. That’s mostly because I can’t stand ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’ at all because I had to perform it SO MANY TIMES for a music class in secondary school. However, one of their other most famous recordings – ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’ – should subside in kicking off the new year with some solid familiarity. A single that showed a softer side to Billie Joe Armstrong, who was previously known for playing his edgy teen-angled music loud and proud, the band’s famous ballad of 1997 reached the top 20 of the charts in several countries including Australia, Iceland, the UK, Canada and the US. It has also been downloaded over 2.6 million times – and I should think it went some way in securing a Broadway stage musical spot related to the band’s other massive hit ‘American Idiot’ in sturdy fashion before the theatrical piece premiered in 2010. On that note – I hope you have the time of your life with ‘Good Riddance’ below.

You’ve probably heard ‘Good Riddance’ played in sentimental spaces like your wedding or a high-school prom night, but the original source of inspiration behind Armstrong’s anthem came from a heart of anger. He told Loudersound in 2016, “It’s about an ex-girlfriend who had moved to Ecuador. In the song, I tried to be level-headed about her leaving, even though I was completely p***ed off. So, I named it ‘Good Riddance’ just to express my anger”, before a late-night house party influenced him to write the material under an Acoustic music guise, a move that he told NME was stylistically different for the band and a risky choice at the time. On this record, Armstrong manages to be relatable and effective in this simplicity and, while seeing a band previously known for darker Punk material turn to a more reflective tone for a gentle ballad isn’t an unprecedented move and a fairly predictable deviation in the modern times, it’s still good to see that Green Day weren’t afraid to change their style up for the benefit of varied material to shape up their discography. Setting this scene with the opening of “Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road” and “Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go” that trade raucous riffs for intimacy, the band are confident in backing up Armstrong’s restrained vocals with a fragile String section and a shifting series of warm vintage acoustic guitar strums. The memorable hook of “It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right/I hope you had the time of your life” has an air of vengeance buried underneath the warmer delivery, but it comes across as heartfelt enough through the reflective vocals that refrain from auto-tune manipulation. While the song does sound very commercial, it was not over-produced. The vocals are a bit formulaic, but they are honest and packed with a small sense of genuine emotion and, really, Green Day are a decent band for being able to achieve these effects with such a radio-friendly recording. I think it’s the ubiquity of the sentimental value that transcends the immediate context of the songwriting that feels timeless and makes the song continually find new popularity with more passing generations and, really, that is still a solid achievement. Overall, this was an often misinterpreted little track that – while not revolutionary – has found a reason to be popular. Peaceful – if commercial – music with enough heart to stand the test of time.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘American Idiot’ (LP) (Released on September 21st, 2004) (via Reprise Records)

‘Good Riddance’ may remain to be a frequent staple for the end of Green Day’s live performances, but the show must always go on here at One Track At A Time. Join me for the rest of a seemingly never-ending encore tomorrow with our first entirely regular track post in a short time. It comes from a now-solo English musician who was formerly a member of Spaceman 3 and, among line-up changes, his associated band won awards like NME’s Album Of The Year 1997 – beating Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer’.

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