Electro-Rock

Way Back Wednesdays: The Beta Band – ‘Squares’

January 26, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Steve Mason (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Richard Greentree (Bass Guitar/Keyboard), John Maclean (DJ/Samples/Producer) and Robin Jones (Drums/Percussion) (Date n/a) (Photo via NME.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for us to take a break away from the new year of new music releases by revisiting a small sample of the seminal sounds of the past as we go ‘Way Back’ for Wednesday on yet another daily track on the blog, given that it is my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A late-1990’s and early 00’s Alternative Rock group who have been remembered as “The self-destructive pop saboteurs who did it all wrong in all the right ways” by James McMahon, a writer for NME, in 2018 – The Beta Band are the rare case of a band that were, perhaps, a little misunderstood by the contemporary critics of their heyday, and they have only really been seen as highly influential in more modern times. Known for their experimental blend of Folktronica, Trip Hop, Plunderphonics, Psychedelic Rock and Progressive Pop, The Beta Band were praised by Oasis and Radiohead, eventually opening up for their live shows in 2001 and went on to build a healthy cult status with audiences alike. In 2001, in a very strange coincidence, both The Beta Band and Sheffield-based indie pop duo I, Monster decided to add a vocoder and some beats to The Gunter Hallam’s Choir’s ‘Daydream’ to form their own sample-based tracks of ‘Squares’ and ‘Daydream In Blue’, respectively, and the tracks melodies seem similar enough at first glance as to listeners being confused between the two but, upon a further inspection, ‘Squares’ has a more edgy, nightmarish feel in comparison to I, Monster’s more commercially successful adaptation of the 60’s piece. It was taken from The Beta Band’s sophomore album – ‘Hot Shots II’ – which was included in the 2010 edition of the book ‘1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die’ and it also reached #13 on the UK Albums Chart and it was co-produced by Colin Emmanuel. Let’s revisit the music video below.

The Beta Band’s music was memorably featured in a scene of the 2000 Romantic Comedy/Drama hybrid movie ‘High Fidelity’ that was based on the Nick Horny-authored novel of the same title. In an iconic clip from the film, a record store owner portrayed by John Cusack states “I will now sell five copies of The Three EP’s by The Beta Band” and he dances around to a full minute or so of ‘Dry The Rain’, a scene that exposed the cult Scottish group to a wide range of new listeners, especially in the US and internationally, and so there’s a fun slice of trivia for you. Back to the task at hand, we start with the immediately familiar lyrics of “I’ve seen the demons, but they didn’t make a sound” and “They tried to reach me, but I lay upon the ground” that get repeated later on, with Steve Mason sounding positively forlorn as he murmurs about seeing darkness trying to control him. You get the sense right away that things are off, with a very glitched Hip-Hop beat meandering and playing with the pitch of the melodies by itself, and a traditional beat only forms barely until the iconic String loop of the sampled track bursts through. The iconic lyrics of “Daydream, I fell asleep beneath the flowers” and “I saw miles and miles of squares, where’s the feeling there?” are met with Faust-like towered Drum backing beats and a neat Kosmiche guitar solo in the final half, forming an ankle-deep Electronica groove that is disorienting textually, almost as if Mason is simply wending through a humid fog but he is neither cynical or clueless. ‘Squares’ by The Beta Band and, also, ‘Daydream In Blue’ by I-Monster have two nearly identical hooks, but while ‘Daydream In Blue’ came and went a little more after it’s initial impact on pop culture, this revision of the sampled track by The Beta Band feels remembered more often, and I think that it has stuck simply because of a better use of sampling. ‘Daydream In Blue’ was memorable for adding a vocoder and a beat-driven style to the track, but that was largely it. However, ‘Squares’ just has more depth to it when you read between the lines. It features the usual hallmarks of The Beta Band in terms of it’s Radiohead-like experimental rock approach, but it also feels more minimalist in it’s light blending of R&B, Hauntology and Hip-Hop elements that are small, but stand out. The darkly psychedelic sounds feel like they’re playing off what you’ve heard before to give it a more nightmarish context that comes with the alienated fear of an awful acid trip. The risk pays off, and we get a half-remembered track that feels strong for this effect.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Hot Shots II’ (LP) (Released on July 16th, 2001) (via Regal Recordings)

That’s all for today! Thank you for being the companion to my Doctor Who with our throwback post today, and I’ll be back tomorrow with some more music, of the fresh variety, that you’re hopefully going to enjoy. We’re looking at a recent single from the London-born DJ and Writer Chris Menist, who began the project of Awkward Corners when he was living in Islamabad. His releases have since spanned record labels like Boomkat, and early recordings were made with local artists from Thailand & Pakistan.

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Today’s Track: The Mushroom Herders – ‘Gainesville Square’

January 20, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘HERE!’ (LP) (Released on December 18th, 2021) (via 2189610 Records DK)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, as per usual, and it’s time for us to invest just a little bit of time into 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! A self-described “North Georgia Cat” as per his Bandcamp profile, The Mushroom Herders is the underground indie rock project of singer-songwriter Christopher James Estrada, who has spent time in a few places like Colorado and Atlanta, but has always returned to his “original stomping grounds” of the Northern Georgia area. Introduced to the likes of Cypress Hill, The Offspring and AFI by his close brother at twelve years old, Estrada became enamored with the acoustic guitar and fell in love with genres like the 60’s Psych scene, the 70’s Punk scene and the late-80’s Alternative scene in his young adulthood. He likes to describe his music as “music for the common people” and says he thinks “It’s always been about inspiring others to feel the motivation to create their own world” when reflecting on his own work in recent times. He released his latest LP – ‘HERE’ – on 19th December, 2021 via 2189610 Records DK, a collection of recordings that he’s been producing and writing since 2016. After a few years, he re-discovered the rough recordings on a burned disc in his car and retrieved the files via his PC’s hard drive and, after feeling nostalgic about the length of time the unreleased material has been kicking about, he has decided to publish it for the world. I loved ‘Gainesville Square’ when I first heard it, which gets the music video treatment below.

“Gainesvile Square means a lot to me. There are stomping grounds for me. It’s wild. I first started performing it on the square out of convenience. It didn’t seem to bother anyone that I would play my loud, silly music here”, Estrada says about his productive live experience in the video’s description, adding, “Eventually, I started bringing out actual amplifiers and playing louder music, and even that didn’t seem to bother people, surprisingly. This allowed me to flourish creatively. It gave me an open space to try out weird, strange sounds in the public eye. It allowed me to really discover what I wanted to play and perform for people”, as he comments on the connection between the outdoor environment and musical influences of the track. Kicking off with a modulated vocal sample that progressively gets warped and just surrounds the listener with an atmospheric gloom reflective of the informality of the track’s title location, we soon get a driving drum loop that kicks into gear and raises the tempo with percussive handclaps. The vocals are screwed and chopped, providing a hazy and psychedelic 90’s backdrop for the delayed pedal effects to create a buoyant melody from. The lyrics are difficult to hear in the mix, but the soundscape is detailed with helicopter sound effects and drowsy backing beats that feel a little trippy, continuously adding more intensity to the layered melodies that each reflect the sprawling, open and public setting of the track’s title. A strange groove of playful keyboard riffs and hazy guitar loops is created as the buoyant Synth riffs and the glistening Keys merge together to provide an overall psychedelic shine of production that makes the leading hook of the chorus of “Just sitting around on Gainesville Square” feel very triumphant and not mundane as it may appear on paper, but it feels relaxed and calm because the tone of the rhythms are positive and high-spirited in the mood they evoke. The lyrics are simplistic yet very bright, with sequences like “There’s leaves on the ground, and leaves all around” that describe the scene in a catchy flow, while other lyrics feel more wide-eyed and observational in delivery, as “There’s cars and there’s people too, and there’s me and you” that address you in the second person tense and make you feel more believably absorbed into the scene. Overall, it becomes not only a track about finding cheer and joy in your current surroundings, but a light commentary on the philosophy between making music and where you perform it. By the sounds of it, it is also a location that I really want to visit.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Midnight Outings & Blacklight Showers’ (LP) (Released on August 16, 2011) (Self-Released)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest post and giving ‘Gainesville Square’ a few minutes of your time, and I’ll be back tomorrow to celebrate one of the weekend’s most exciting album releases for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ as we mark the debut album release of a Leeds-based indie punk 4-piece who have admittedly featured on the blog a few times before, but there’s a huge air of anticipation about their first LP. They have been supported regularly by BBC Radio 6 Music for the past eighteen months and they are included on BBC’s ‘Sound Of 2022’ poll. I also got the chance to see this band perform live at The Portland Arms (Cambridge) in September.

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Today’s Track: Mandy, Indiana – ‘Bottle Episode’

January 4, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Valentine Caulfield (Lead Vocals/Chief Songwriter), Scott Fair (Rhythm Guitar/Producer) and Liam Stewart (Drums/Percussion) (2020)(Photo by Will Shields)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m thrilled that you’re getting invested in yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Formerly known as ‘Gary, Indiana’ – which is a true story according to Pitch Perfect PR – a bizzare twist of events saw this Manchester-based Alternative Punk project settle on Mandy, Indiana as their current name. Originally a duo comprised up of Valentine Caulfield (Vocals, Lyrics), Scott Fair (Guitar/Producer) and Liam Stewart (Drums/Percussion), the band mesh Noise-Punk with experimental recording methods that have found SFX of cluttering footsteps and muffled piano appearing on their debut EP release – ‘…’ – which was released digitally on November 19th, 2021 and later physically issued on December 10th, 2021 via Fire Talk Records. Their tracks for the EP were recorded in a variety of different places, from the band’s rehearsal spaces and traditional studio set-up to outside locations like a cavernous industrial mill. The band are also known for directing their own music videos that combine found footage clips with a style of macabre film-making craft which the batch of musicians state were influenced by film directors like Leos Carax and Gasper Coe in style and structure. ‘Bottle, Episode’ was recently featured on KEXP’s ‘Song Of The Day’ podcast, and you could also know Stewart from commonly touring with Lonelady. Let’s check out the new single below.

Seeking to capture a tale of conflict between armed forces for ‘Bottle, Episode’ – Caulfield says, “I wanted to build up on the military style of the track, but in a very slow crescendo, and not in a very obvious way”, as she explained in a press statement. Fair added, “The inspiration for the guitar line was based upon a recording of a flood siren in Todmorden. I was going to use the recording as a sample but then I decided to try and recreate it with the guitar”, to the conversation. Seeking to capture a somber and hawkish tone with their intriguing single, the band get off to a riotous start with a ramshackle drum beat that patters along to a brisk pace as Caulfield delivers some foerign language vocals, before a taut guitar melody is introduced to the fray in mimicry of a siren, as Caulfield snaps with her vocal pitch as the sinister pulse of the single violently screeches along with its layered soundscape of carefully programmed snare beats and destructive guitar riffs that, ironically, feels very combative in nature. Lyrically, war is never explicitly being mentioned, but there are clearly bleak themes afloot as Caulfiend’s growling vocals imply that men are all waiting for a massacre of-sorts. Instrumentally, however, it relies a little on a Club-oriented sound as the melodicism rises gradually as to introduce the new elements of the track in coherent ways and the battle between harsh abrasian and lyrical edge owes some debt to the No Wave music of decades past. While not for the faint-hearted, ‘Bottle Episode’ conjures up some disturbing imagery of bullets tearing apart the lives of soldiers in effective ways as it feels similar to a dance-oriented track in it’s layering, but they’ve made sure the chords are dark and dissonant enough and the arrangements are brutal enough to convey the very dark textures of the lyrics to strong effect. Overall, a strangely fun but all the more sinister recording that certainly includes some fascinating production tactics that has a unique selling point for the band and a stark visual reminder of the brutality of military conflict that earns notice.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘…’ (EP) (Released on December 10th, 2021) (via Fire Records)

That’s all for now! After an understandably bleak note on the site today, we’ll be turning up the good times tomorrow as ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ makes its return to the blog as a weekly fixture. We’ll be remembering the third and final single to be taken off a UK top five album from the original Trip-Hop act of 90’s Bristol. The band won a BRIT Award for Best British Dance Act and have sold over 13 million copies worldwide. The trio have won two Q Awards and a pair of MTV Europe Music Awards.

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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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Today’s Track: The Spirit Of The Beehive – ‘I Suck The Devil’s C***k’

December 30, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH’ (LP) (Released on April 9th, 2021) (via Saddle Creek Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and you’re tuned into the final part of my underrated underground series leading up to New Year’s Day as I deliver yet another daily track on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘I Suck The Devil’s ****’ is a title as irreverent as they come, and one that I write about hesitantly due to the demonic implications of the name, however, this is the most suitable representation of ‘ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH’ – the latest album from the Pensylvania-based Prog Rock band The Spirit Of The Beehive – that we’re going to get. An insanely beautiful yet intensely difficult project to wrap your head around, the record reflects late-night paranoia music that is enigmatic and cryptic. It is also intimate without giving any significant details away, and that’s made it a favourite among the year-end lists of high-brow critics this year. Taking their name from a Spanish cinematic masterpiece released in 1973 with the same title, the band are signed up to Saddle Creek Records and boast Zack Schwartz among their lineup who honed his Vaporwave craft as a former member of Glocca Morra. A reclusive release that has gained universal acclaim this year – and one of my back-and-forth favourite listens of 2021 – ‘ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH’ is the band’s first album without the former drummer Pat Conaboy and rhythm guitarist Kyle Laganella who left the band in 2020. The second single – ‘I Suck The Devil’s ****’ – is a four-part song that essentially feels like four different singles sewn together through post-production trickery. The workout-in-hell themed music video was also helmed by a trio of different directors (Part 1 is by Ada Babar, Part 3 is by Documavision and Parts 2 and 4 by Noah Burke) that each unfold in four chapters along with the music recording. You will just have to see how it all fits together below.

In what initially feels like a labyrinth of a near 7-minute recording, the band notes, “It’s our take on ‘A day in the life’. A man, overworked and undervalued discovers a portal to another time and a place where he hears a familiar song on the radio. In the context of the record, this track specifically encapsulates the dread of required performance, ultimately leading to a freeing death”, in a joint press statement. As the band channel a multitude of influences including Post-Hardcore and Vaporwave among many others, the band deliver a lengthy ego death sentence that blurs the lines between homespun Lo-Fi Rock to mangled Dream-Pop to aggressive Post-Rock to dis-associative Ambient Pop – all while wrapped in a noise collage Shoegaze thread – to create a very psychedelic journey that takes listeners from upside-down textures to inside-out downbeat sounds. Through these ever-winding spirals of self-reflection, the group pull us from one realm of bizzare fantasy to another, while creating enough compelling rhythms and bold, if fairly obscured, textures that make up the highly experimental piece of twisted Psych-Rock and melodic bursts of Post-Rock that echo glimmering fragments of Tame Impala and Black Country, New Road among other diverse comparison points. There aren’t any particularly memorable lyrics, but there are multiple planes of eclectic instrumentation that underscore the more emotive qualities of lyrics like “Scared of needles, but not of everything” and “Another middle class dumb American, falling asleep” to a notably playful effect, and so the complete package is more enticing, lyrically, than the wonky title of the track may lead you to believe. The music, however, sounds just as mischievous – mixing up some ethereal guitar rock with peculiar tangents that keep you guessing what may come next as the trio continue to create unpredictable shifts in tone. At each point in this release, I would forgive you for thinking you were listening to a different track with each few beats skipped, but it is a testament to the band’s abilities to create something so captivating through playing with cohesion, as the track cycles through its chaotic vignettes to build to an acknowledgment of an insignificant fate of the lead character, if you will. If you have been on the fence about Spirit Of The Beehive at any point, this kind of rare recording will certainly help any listeners to decide to be on the right one.

Pictured: Zack Schwartz (Co-Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar/Samples), Rivka Ravede (Co-Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar/Percussion), Corey Wichlin (Keyboard/Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals), Kyle Laganella (Bass Guitar) and Pat Conaboy (Drums/Electronic Drum Kit/Backing Vocals) (in 2018) (Photo Credit: Natalie Piserchi and Isabel Liang)

That brings us to the end of a very interesting post. It was nice to deviate from my typical formula a little with this segmented single, and I thank you for joining me by reading the results. Tomorrow, we’ll be looking back at a mid-00’s winter Folk classic in the spirit of the New Year’s Eve and Christmas season. The single comes from a well-known and critically acclaimed Seattle-formed Alternative Folk band who took a hiatus between 2013 and 2016 when the frontman pursued an undergraduate degree.

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Today’s Track: Calva Louise – ‘Euphoric’

December 28, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘EUPHORIC’ (LP) (Released on August 20, 2021) (via FRKST Records/300 Entertainment)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, of course, and thanks for joining me today as we fill up the awkward post-Christmas and pre New Year’s slot with some music that got a little underrated during 2021 with yet another daily track on the blog, since it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Formed in 2016, Calva Louise are a Manchester-based indie punk and post-grunge band who take their influence from many variations of Noise-Rock and Synth-Punk between both UK and US outfits, while also getting in touch with their Latin Rock heritage throughout the two albums to their name so far. Fronted by the bold creative vision of vocalist/guitarist Jess Allanic – the trio have supported the likes of Razorlight, Highly Suspect and Albert Hammond Jr in their time together. Earlier in the year, they released the ambitious multi-media project of ‘EUPHORIC’, which was fronted by a concept album about the duality of being human and the different perceptions of reality. The band have stated that the lyrics detail episodes of the dreamer’s experiences in the form of an inner conversation with his other self – the counterpart of the human being – that seeks to experience freedom and have an encounter with the unknown. The sophomore album was produced and mixed by Bobby Bentham of Strange Bones fame. Moreover, the album was accompanied by a 45-minute Animation short film that was entirely created by Jess Allanic, who used software like After Effects and Blender to bring the Graphic Novel-inspired visuals of her band’s creative record to life. For now, let’s have a sample of the title track below.

Released digitally in late August and finally manufactured on physical vinyl copies in December by Blood Records, Calva Louise collectively say, “Our passion for audiovisual production is constantly intertwined with the concept of the album and that is why each new step to take becomes a new challenge, it is as if each completed experience gradually reveals the signs that guide us on our way”, noting, “The perception we have of this adventure shows us horizons that seem to be beyond our rational understanding as artists, and in order to see clearly we try to express these experiences through visual effects, as a complement to the music and the lyrics of the songs”, to their LP’s product description. ‘EUPHORIC’ feels like an expository title for the project, bolstered by a title track that is filled with meaty hooks and soaring melodies that hints about how you may feel after completely listening to the album in a single bingeable session. With eruptive drumming and partially processed vocal peaks, lyrics like “I wait in line, Your head is on fire, Ahead we cry in a simple way” and “When you and me are nothing, Only one of us will be euphoric” that set a fiery temper for the underground feel of the track, Allanic powerfully backs her vocals to some thrashing electronic melodies – including some gradually bubbling Synth riffs in the opening that become more acidic throughout the first verse – and some old-school Punk personality that complements the moody tone of the lyrics. The vocals are partially screamed at different intersections, but the pacing is fairly even, as Allanic uses some slower guitar notes towards the end to give the vocals just a little space to breathe. Meanwhile, the electronic production of the single goes heavy and hard by trading some twinkling keyboard riffs for a hefty amount of grit instead, with plenty of glitchy bass riffs that sweep in for a futuristic tone and Allanic concentrates hard on making her ferocious vocals feel as knife-edge as she can, and she even recites some non-English language lyrics towards the latter half to remind us of her Venezuelan upbringing, and the heavy dancehall influence of this particular touch reminds me of Arca in a few ways, especially with the audio-visual medium of the project hanging in the balance. Overall, while the more Noise-Rock based riffs get a little repetitive at times there is no doubt that Calva Louise explore decent ideas on this project altogether. It is very interesting to see the band expressing their ideas with intriguing ways by leaning into the sci-fi themes that audio-visual side projects can enhance for them. As well as giving them a unique selling point, it gives them more space to create their art, and I certainly like how there is more than just music to this. The sound, meanwhile, is an energetic one that becomes very unrelenting and combines qualities from Nu Metal and Prog Rock with dramatic results. Overall, this is an exciting band and a fresh project that, while not perfect, are certainly worth a look.

Pictured: Jess Eastwood (Vocals/Guitar), Alizon Taho (Bass Guitar) and Ben Parker (Drums) (2021) (Photo via PR)

That’s all for now – and thank you for reading about the euphoric melodies highlighted in today’s post. I’ll be back tomorrow with more content that concerns an operatic Conneticut-based indie rock band with one of the longest names in the business. Their discography includes a key collaboration with the Spoken Word artist Christopher Zizzamia – and their influences include Battles and Explosions In The Sky.

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Countdown To Christmas 2021: Billy No Mates – ‘Christmas Is For Lovers, Ghosts & Children’

December 21, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Billy Nomates in a PR shot for her live set at the Farmfestival in Somerset (2020) (via PR/press shoot)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for us to pause for reflection over how others handle financial or familial stress over the festive season with yet another entry of our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ series of daily posts, since it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Every year, there’s always a few Christmas songs that have been released for charity that remind us to take care of others during the holiday season, often with a heartfelt message or some novelty value to increase its appeal to casual audiences in the mainstream. One of this year’s suspects turns out to be an Alternative Post-Punk artist who I’m already fond of, which is the New Wave-inspired music of Leicestershire-born singer-songwriter Tor Maries, who releases her indie rock music under the aptly titled project of Billy Nomates. I really enjoy the visceral attitude and the fiery, retro personality of her lyrics that set her apart in a somewhat saturated market, and given her experience of being a part of several side projects in the past and striking out as a solo artist with a no-nonsense spirit, could well become more of an icon for her genre in the next ten of fifteen years. If you’re a fan of Sleaford Mods, you would also know Maries from touring with them and collaborating on their track ‘Mork ‘N’ Mindy’ from their latest album ‘Spare Ribs’ released last January, and she performed it with them on national TV during ‘Later… With Jools Holland’ for BBC Two. Currently based in Bristol and now signed to Invada Records, Maries is also known for her self-titled debut album – which BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Amy Lamé chose as her favourite album of 2020 – as well as the follow-up EP of ‘Emergency Telephone’ that took things to a more 80’s-leaning and characteristically aggressive creative direction in March. Her latest single, ‘Christmas Is For Lovers, Ghosts & Children’, has been released to Bandcamp on a pay-what-you-can basis with the sales going directly to Feed The Homeless Bristol. Let’s check it out.

Launched in 2016, Feed The Homeless has been providing extra care and help for people in Bristol who have needed to eat the most for the past five years by supporting them with nutritious meals distributed through their vans to people who are sleeping rough and are less fortunate than ourselves, and this year, they’re hoping to make Christmas more pleasant for those who can’t afford the essentials, yet alone the luxurious food that luckier people will be tucking into this year and the charity are raising money to keep the organisation’s van of ‘Trevor’ on the road to achieve the mission during the cold winter months that are very difficult for people. For Maries, ‘Christmas Is For Lovers, Ghosts and Children’ is another excellent single that is well meaning and socially significant. Despite the rather agonizing title, this is not an Anti-Christmas single and it doesn’t seek to demonize Christmas in any way. Instead, she is simply encouraging you to spare a thought and give a helping hand to people who really suffer during this exuberant time of the year. With hard-hitting lyrics like “What I’m seeing, what I’m hearing/Doesn’t add up to the season, that I’m feeling”, she highlights a disconnect between the extravagant meals and media representation of the Christmas season that advertisements draw us into and the more isolated reality that most experience at the time of yuletide. Moreover, the chorus of “When the people that you love/Go slowly disappearing/and when you gave your heart, yeah they give it back” encourages a simple recognition that Christmas doesn’t feel the same or mean the same to everyone in our modern society. She still presents Christmas as an enjoyable time, but one that also provokes thoughts and reminds us of the invisibility cloak behind the commercialism. All the hallmarks of a decent Billy Nomates track are here, with gently psychedelic Synth riffs and a danceable Drum Machine riff that bounces along the Euphoric bassline. This also feels suitable for the season, however, with some percussive Jingle Bells and soulful handclaps which complement the overarching request of supporting less fortunate souls during the season nicely, while her vocals are more sentimental, although I wouldn’t say totally vulnerable, than the typical Tor Maries track that you may find on one of her albums or EP’s regularly, but they are still tough and firmly rooted in the old-school Punk philosophy of her production. Overall, the customarily direct lyricism and the starkly honest style of the track make it a stand-out of this year’s Holiday-themed releases. I also like that it’s a charity single with some credibility and quality to it, as opposed to the likes of LadBaby whose novelty Sausage Rolls-themed offerings are waring thin on me, as it was only really funny the first time and not the fourth. A kind-hearted and well-produced charity single which is certainly worth a little change from your pocket.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Emergency Telephone’ (EP) (Released on March 5th, 2021) (via Invada Records UK)

If you’ve just been converted into the Billy Nomates fan club, why not also join the ‘Hippy Elite’ here?: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/08/todays-track-billy-no-mates-hippy-elite/

Pictured: Billy No Mates pictured on the cover art for her self-titled debut album (2020) (via Invada Records UK)

That’s all for now! Don’t forget to spare a thought for those who need it this Christmas, and I’ll be back tomorrow to pitch a dance track as an addition to your disco playlist at your office Christmas party on Friday night before we go all in on the cheese for Christmas with something jazzy on Thursday the 23rd. It comes your way from an Australian Electronic Dance music duo who have just released their first album in seven years on Future Classic and it has reached #6 in the Australian Albums Chart. They have worked with none other than Kylie Minogue – as well as including vocalists like Channel Tres, Bishop Nehru, Owl Eyes and Reggie Watts on their music.

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Countdown To Christmas 2021: Marc Bolan & T-Rex – “Christmas Bop”

November 27, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Marc Bolan (from T-Rex) in a rare photoshoot (Date n/a) (Photo Credit: Roger Bamber)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and now is the time for you to relax, sit down and slurp your warm Gingerbread Latte as we continue our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ with yet another daily track on the blog, seeing as it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! As a legendary Glam Rock band who were inducted into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Fame last year, T-Rex were a group of 70’s Psych-Rock icons – led by the famous English guitarist and poet Marc Bolan – who barely need any introduction from me. However, their yuletide anthem – ‘Christmas Bop’ – is a very different story. Despite my greatest efforts in researching the track’s rich history for this here entry on the blog, it remains to be one of, if not, Bolan’s most elusive records and I couldn’t pinpoint the song’s exact origins to a clear place. A popular story goes that Bolan originally recorded it in 1975 and he planned to release it with ‘Metal Guru’ and ‘Telegram Sam’ as a triple single on Vinyl, but that first iteration of the record was never released or printed because it was withdrawn due to Bolan’s fears of plagiarism, since he was mindful that EMI had experienced prior problems with George Harrison’s ‘My Sweet Lord’ due to similarities with Ronnie Mack’s ‘He’s So Fine’, however two of the labels that would have been pressed for the release have circulated around and sold at auction in November, 2004 for £896.00 as an antique. Rate Your Music also have a ‘Marc’s Christmas Box’ release of the original triple single dated for 1996. There is also another variation of the single in existence because it features some awful alternative cover artwork, where Marc is playing his guitar on a stage. Furthermore, it was also re-released as the ‘T-Rexmas’ EP by Bolan Boogie via Bandcamp in 2011. Therefore, I am thankful that we have YouTube in modern times to find the audio through. Check out the rare record below.

Another interesting fact about ‘Christmas Bop’ is that a small snippet of the track, featuring the backing vocals from his real-life girlfriend Gloria Jones, briefly appeared on a commercial for the US shop Target in 2011. ‘Christmas Bop’ was also, apparently, also included on 1994’s ‘Messing With The Mystic’ compilation of unreleased singles, as well as T-Rex’s ‘The Best Of The Unchained Series’ similar compilation dated for 1997. Bolan and his associated Children Of The Revolution may not seem like the most likely champions to back a Baby Born doll, but when it comes to advertising something like a giant LEGO dinosaur, it’s as logical a choice as any. Switching back to the task at hand, ‘Christmas Bop’ is a fairly conventional festive pop/rock crossover by usual standards. However, it noticeably pulls in some of the Disco and Soul ideas that Bolan was picking up from his girlfriend Jones at the time. It doesn’t lean into the darker influences of T-Rex’s discography, and it reminds me of The Beatles ‘Twist & Shout’ in the way that Bolan attempts to invent a new dance move for casual listeners to associate the music with. “T-Rexmas” is an amusing lyric, while he also commands us to perform actions like “Get on your silk jeans/And your space shoes” and “Hey baby, lend me your ear/Christmas time is drawing near” to give the vocals their warm, upbeat and involving character. While it may sound like Bolan is aiming for primary school disco’s by my description, he luckily embeds some instrumentation that feels more eclectic than your bog-standard 70’s Christmas song into his assortment of sounds. Therefore, it still feels more like a T-Rex song in essence than a Pop song that Phil Spector would have likely been producing. The hazy, fragmented Synth riff that bounces above the choral backing vocals is a highlight of the song because it makes things feel a little wonky in the best way. It was also nice to hear some raw vocals and Surf-like guitar rhythms that reminded me a little bit of The Avalanches since Marc’s vocals sound like something that Australian duo would sample among their hundreds of unreleased recordings. Although a little forgettable, ‘Christmas Bop’ is still a good alternative to the annualized yawners from Elton John or Paul McCartney with its mix of rarity and nostalgia. Despite studio issues, it is a well-produced Psych-tinged effort.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Messing With The Mystic” (LP) (Released In 1994) (via Edsel Records)

That’s enough of my ‘Bopping’ to Bolan for today! Thank you for continuing to support my content daily on the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow with a post that has an air of sadness to it. That’s because it will be our last regular installment of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ until the beginning of January, as I have something special planned for December. To end the series on a high note, we’ll be looking at a well-known single by a mid-90’s Alt-Rock group whose frontwoman was vital to Black British music history.

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Countdown To Christmas 2021: Cocteau Twins – “Frosty The Snowman”

November 24, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Snow” (EP) (Released in December, 1993) (via Fontana Records)

Good Morning to you! I am Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to revisit a unique spin on a vintage Carol as we ‘Countdown To Christmas’ with 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! ‘Frosty The Snowman’ really is a tale as old as time, but a lesser-known cover version of the track came from the 90’s Shoegaze legends Cocteau Twins back in 1993. Drawing influence from early alternative rock bands like Joy Division and Siouxsie and The Banshees, Cocteau Twins scored a UK top 30 hit with ‘Pearly Dewdrops Drops’ in 1984. They also produced critically acclaimed albums such as ‘Heaven Or Las Vegas’ and ‘Treasure’ on indie labels like 4AD and Fontana Records. However, the ‘Snow’ EP they released in December 1993 has become a rarity. A double single release featuring covers of ‘Winter Wonderland’ and ‘Frosty The Snowman’, the short-form release was only available in extremely limited quantities and Pitchfork have named their take on ‘Frosty The Snowman’ as the 36th best holiday song of all time. Another interesting fact about the record is that one story says Robin Guthrie, the trio’s bassist, was very reluctant to record any kind of true Christmas songs, and so Liz Frser and Simon Raymonde opted to record non-specific winter songs instead. Let’s hear their distinctive spin on ‘Frosty The Snowman’ below.

Although the ‘Snow’ extended play had received a pretty positive reception from the contemporary music press of the time, one expert suggested that fewer than 5,000 copies were ever put together. Nowadays, the record is out of print but the two songs later appeared on the ‘Lullabies To Volaine’ boxset compilation that 4AD released in October 2005. As for the cover of ‘Frosty The Snowman’ as an individual piece, Cocteau Twins strike an equal balance between familiar and ethereal. The lyrics are the same ones that we all know already, but the instrumentation adopts a darker daydream approach to the songwriting and this provides for a great contrast against the playful, child-like style of the overly joyous original track. Beginning with a radiant Piano riff, the band match the customary lyrics of the traditional anthem with a flood of vocal effects and distorted guitar riffs that create a chiming array of breezy bass guitar melodies and a dizzying bassline. In terms of the vocals, Liz Fraser almost replicates the vibe of the wind swooping all around the title character of Frosty as her multi-layered effects include some nice breaks where Fraser spaciously croons atop the programmed drum sequences alone, and it’s a highlight of the song. We have always known Cocteau Twins to be a group who were never focused on singing conventional lyrics, and so they fill their take on ‘Frosty The Snowman’ with their own gravitas here as you may expect. You could never properly hear any of their lyrics anyways in usual terms, but it is a common trope of the band that plays a decent role here. They are fairly easy to make out, but she really twists those words around with a variety of different shapes and, at times, these moulds are equally as unintelligible as the fascinating beats that swirl around her pitch. To conclude, the Scottish Alt-Rock icons did a pretty spectacular job with this rendition of ‘Frosty The Snowman’ as it brings some solid insight into the unique vocal style and diverse instrumentation of the associated band, while also sounding recognizable and warm by covering such a widely known carol, and so it fits the theme of the festive season without explicitly mentioning Christmas, so they succeed in making the beat sound as cheerful as ever.

  • Pictured: Elizabeth Fraser (Lead Vocals/Writer), Robin Guthrie (Lead Guitar/Producer/Drum Machine) and Simon Raymonde (Bass Guitar) in a press shoot for “Garlands” (1982) (Photo by Chris Garnham)

If you can’t get enough of this, why not check out my thoughts on ‘Lorelei’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/08/01/todays-track-the-cocteau-twins-lorelei/

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Treasure” (LP) (Released on 1st November, 1984) (via 4AD)

That’s all for now! Thank you for your continued support for the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow to delve deeply into the highly anticipated return track from a London-based Electronic Afro-Jazz collective who last released ‘Doko Mien’ in 2019 on Merge Records. They performed at KEXP’s ‘International Clash Day’ concert of the same year.

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Today’s Track: White Lies – ‘As I Try Not To Fall Apart’

November 16, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘As I Try Not To Fall Apart’ (LP) (Available from Feb 18, 2022) (via PIAS Recordings)

Good Morning to you! You’re tuned into the words of Jacob Braybrooke and it’s time for another quick daily track on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! The calendar for a new year of album releases seems to be filling up all of a sudden, with the likes of Charli XCX and Metronomy set to issue anticipated new long-players in the early months, but the Ealing-based Post Punk Revival group White Lies, who were originally formed as Fear Of Flying in 2007, are yet another cog in the machine of 2022 releases. A band who gained popularity at a similar time to their peers of Editors, The Pigeon Detectives and The Bravery, White Lies have survived the ‘Indie Distortion’ of the 00’s as a critically acclaimed live act. Their debut album, ‘To Lose My Life’, was a number one hit on the UK Albums Chart in its first week on sale, and they were also recruited for BBC’s ‘Sound Of 2009’ poll, and nominated for the BRIT’s Critics Choice Award. They are shortly going to issue their sixth LP, ‘As I Try Not To Fall Apart’, which they recorded within two studio sessions at the Assault & Battery and Sleeper studios in their homestead of London, where they resumed their partnership with frequent collaborator Ed Buller as their engineer. It was also co-produced and mixed by Cladius Mittendorfer, who has previously spent time behind the decks with Panic! At The Disco and Weezer. The title track and lead single, ‘As I Try Not To Fall Apart’, is our first taste of the record, which the Indie Rock trio describe as their most ambitious project yet. It has been accompanied by a music video directed by James Arden, which finds vocalist Harry McVeigh embossed in an hourglass of sinking sand. They will be touring the UK and Europe in Spring of 2022, and the accomplished new single explores the anxieties of modern masculinity in a mental health position. Let’s give it a spin below.

“We wrote this song quickly, late at night, and often the songs which come quickest are written from the gut and the heart, not with the head”, the band collectively say about their latest single, noting, “We wanted the melody to feel like a hymn, to give the confessional lyrics weight despite being wrapped up as a Pop song. It’s about accepting vulnerability as a man, and knowing it’s ok to be broken. There’s never been a more pressing time to spread the message that it’s ok to not be ok”, in their press statement to announce their forthcoming full-length album. Built on an intoned, Synth-enhanced drum groove that should be familiar to fans of Joy Divison or Interpol, bands that White Lies have cited as their inspirations, McVeigh reflects on the strength that modern men are pressured to conform to, with lyrics like “It’s not the way a man like me behaves/It’s not the way the world would make me play my part” in the chorus, and the opening refrain of “Am I a faulty kind of man so tender in the heart?” says a lot about how the band view the stereotypes of men being quiet and well-composed, somewhat cold and emotionless, in British society. Meanwhile, the instrumentation decorates the scene with glistening, 80’s New Wave Synth hooks and a vocal delivery that feels silky, but the brooding evocations of the lyrics are still a little bleak and colder than your average Pop/Rock record. It feels a little gothic and dark, which is representative of the band’s earlier work, while also giving the hooks a more distinctly airy sound. They follow a conventional Pop/Rock structure, with the bright tonality of the Synths counteracting the more harsh, aggressive guitar-led beats. It walks a delicate tightrope between 80’s Pop and Post-Punk, and, thankfully, it is a tightrope that White Lies walk confidently. In fact, given how I haven’t seen the trio to be particularly relevant in recent years, I was suprised how much I enjoyed this new track and that’s because I personally really, really enjoyed it very much. This is very catchy Post-Rock music that feels influenced merticulously by the band’s own late-00’s image and the likes of Tears For Fears from the 80’s. It manages to fulfill the ‘Indie Dancefloor’ niche of their genre, while the post-modern existentialist lyrics within the songwriting give you something more to feel and think about that resonates beyond the commercial accessibility of the new track, and so it feels brooding and bleak enough to please Post-Punk fans while reeling in some audiences who may typically steer away from the Alternative Rock scene. Overall, this was an excellent single that feels catchy and easy to access yet intriguing, as with each listen, I can find something new to come to light that I may have skipped beforehand. While it is perhaps not likely to tip the planet over on its axis, this was a solid and engaging single from a band who simply know what they’re comfortable with doing and what to give their fans, and stick to it well, while gradually evolving their style with subtlety.

  • Pictured: Harry McVeigh (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Charles Cave (Bass Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals) and Jack Lawrence-Brown (Drums/Percussion) (2017) (Photography by Red Light Management)

That’s all for now! Thank you for joining me on the blog today, and I’ll be back tomorrow for the newest entry in our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ feature, as we look at some Festive music that’s new and original, coming from an American Singer-Songwriter and Pianist who has won nine Grammy awards and she was ranked 60th on Billboard magazine’s artists of the 2000’s decade chart. She also made her acting debut in the 2007 movie ‘My Blueberry Nights’ – which was directed by Wong Kar-Wai.

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