Electronic Soul

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: YĪN YĪN – ‘Takahashi Timing’

January 26, 2024 — Leave a comment

A three week gap between posts is a new record in recent times. Time for a new post!

Pictured: Kees Berkers (Drums), Remy Scheren (Bass Guitar), Erik Bandt (Lead Guitar) & Robbert Verwijlen (Keys) (2023) (Photo via Periferias.org.uk)

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! January is always a difficult time to find new music because we’re gearing up for the festival season where more opportunities for promotions at live festivals are greater and the mood of the globe is generally low. However, the mantle has been adopted by Bill Ryder-Jones, Marika Hackman, Sleater-Kinney, The Vaccines, Patricia Taxxon, Sprints (See my previous post for more on that) and a few others to fulfill this year’s lineup of take-whatever-you-can-get lineup of the bleak midwinter supplies. My favourite LP release of the month was from Yin Yin, a 4-piece from Maastricht (The Netherlands) who pitch their rich, comforting sound as Khruangbin meets Kraftwerk.

If you are enticed by a vibrant concoction of Psychedelic Funk, vintage-leaning Disco and East Asian-influenced Soul as the gin connected by a colourful blend of Surf Rock and Japanese instrumental sounds as the mixer, I feel you would enjoy their vibe too. I have been aware of Yin Yin’s flair for a few years, having seen their performance on KEXP’s YouTube channel and vaguely dipping into their space travel inspired record ‘The Age Of Aquarius’ (2022) and the Samurai Cinema-enhanced ‘The Rabbit That Hunts Tigers’ (2019) debut LP in the past, both of which make for nimble, curious and rewarding listens. For their latest album, they have democratically replaced founding member Yves Lennertz (Organ, Stylophone and Percussion) with new lead guitarist Erik Bandt. ‘Mount Matsu’ (out Jan 19th via Glitterbeat Records) was produced in their studio-turned-home in Belgium with the dynamic quartet combining traditional synthesizers with conventional Chinese instruments, most notably a Guzheng, which is known for its spacious flow between melodies. My sampler is ‘Takahashi Timing’, a single which Yin Yin calls an ode to their tour manager who ensures their punctuality.

“Art and ideas are personal and precious and the process of doing this truly together has been about more than just making an album, it was also a study of how collectives work”, the Dutch band say about their most recent full-length, adding, “We have decided to only use vocals sparsely, which leaves plenty of room for the listener’s imagination: you can really let your fantasy run wild as you listen and dance to it”, in an article for Ebb Music, as they visualise the process of creation like the ascension of the fictional mountain of the album’s namesake, hence the title’s theme.

A real sense of bond strikes through on ‘Takahashi Timing’, which kicks off with a groovy, percussive intro which brings the evocation of warmth to the dancefloor – or my headphones. The guitarist strums away at an uptempo pace before the glistening qualities of the bell-type percussion creates a groove that seems reminiscent of La Roux’s ‘Supervision’ album tracks. “Never too late” is the recurring vocal refrain that suggests a positive and uplifting tone, while the decent collection of disparate Disco and soulful Funk elements drive the beat forwards. New elements get added to the mix at their respective intersections, with some particularly refreshing Synth chords towards the end that modernises the experience of hearing the track. The track feels quite busy, admittedly, but it never sounds too chaotic for its own right. Instead, the sound is one that feels characterised by a passionate bunch of musicians cheerfully jamming away at real-time in a studio. Overall, it’s a hands-in-the-air style of track that manages to channel an alternative spirit while remaining accessible and radio-friendly enough to pick up potential listeners along the way because the mood is straightforward but the influences are more complex and niche. It appeals to a fairly general audience but its worthy of the credibility of any crate-digging vinyl fans’ shelf.

Pictured: VInyl Cover Art for ‘Mount Matsu’ (LP) (Released on January 19th, 2024) (via Glitterbeat Records)

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New Album Release Fridays: Soccer 96 (feat. Salami Rose Joe Louis) – ‘Yesterday Knows Me’

May 6, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Inner Worlds’ (LP/Album) (Released on May 6th, 2022) (via Moshi Moshi Records)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has finally arrived for us to enjoy some celestial analog Synths and lumbering Hi-Hat Drums with 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! Sharon Van Etten, Belle and Sebastian, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Sunflower Bean, Peaness and – as my mother just informed me earlier this morning – Emeli Sande are all taking advantage of the warm weather (and a gap in the release schedule before Kendrick Lamar unleashes his new cryptic juggernaut next week) with new albums this week. Another LP release worth keeping an eye on is the latest album by the London-based Prog-Jazz duo Soccer96, which is comprised of keyboardist Dan Leavers (Danalogue) and drummer Max Hallett (Betamax) who are also members of The Comet Is Coming. The two musicians like to keep busy in their separate careers as well. Leavers has performed alongside Scratcha DVA and Henry Lu, and he has produced albums for Ibibio Sound Machine, Snapped Ankles and Flamingods. Meanwhile, Hallett is also a member of Hot Head Show and Super Best Friends Club – and he’s also played the live drums with Sons Of Kemet, Yussef Kamal and Melt Yourself Down. They have become a regular addition to my digital library with their ethereal blend of Sci Fi-leaning Electronica, post-apocalyptic Ambient and poly-rhythmic Grime-Jazz. For their live sets, the diverse duo also pride themselves on using no laptops, sequencers or software when they perform, instead opting to play each of their parts in the moment. ‘Inner Worlds’ is the follow-up to last year’s ‘Dopamine’, an ambitious record based loosely on a narrative centered around a corrupt AI system that landed a spot on my very own ‘Top 25 Best Albums Of The Year’ 2021-end list that was published back in January on the blog. It releases today digitally, but it won’t be available to purchase on physical formats until May 27th via Moshi Moshi Records. The leading single – ‘Yesterday Knows Me’ – enlists the aid of Salami Rose Joe Louis, who previously provided the vocals for ‘Sitting On A Satellite’ that was taken off 2021’s ‘Dopamine’. Check out the music video for the single below.

Rozi Plain, Simbad, Tom Herbert and The Colours That Rise also appear on the new release, and Soccer96 pitch it for your pleasure by noting, “We’ve been reflecting on the relationship between our inner worlds and outer worlds, how our minds shape our experience and our experience shapes our mind“, in the LP’s product description on their Bandcamp profile, concluding, “How caring and nurturing our inner worlds can improve our relationship with our outer experiences. We see the creation of music as the bridge between these two worlds“, in their own words. Building off the unorthodox time signatures and Space-Pop synths of ‘Dopamine’, Soccer96 invite us all into the alluring and deliberately mechanical tone of ‘Inner Worlds’ with a typically whimsical arrangement of multi-layered vocals and gently Trip Hop-leaning instrumentals. Their beats feel ‘broken’ and ‘wonky’ to a characteristic degree, and they are tuned well to the sounds of the Soul-tinged vocals by Joe Louis that feel slow-burning and almost robotic in delivery. Instrumentally, it’s all about the texture for Soccer96 as always, as the duo continue to lay out their formula of intense textures and rather meticulous compositions that straddle the line between chaos and order like a well-balanced walk on a tight rope, while giving off the hazy and psychedelic vibes that distort the vocals and loop the drums in a sense of propulsion that slowly ascends and descends gradually. The crunching break-beat plays catch up to the more upbeat keyboard work for the most part, while the sequences bass ostinato provides subtle hints to 70’s Psych-Funk and 90’s New-Age recordings at differing points. Towards the end, there’s also a squelching solo where the electronics are really turned up to eleven and replace the wide-eyed mood of the verses with an extra angle being added between the melee of the drums and keyboard where the cut is more focused on brute sonic impact. Musically, the lead single feels very varied while the barely audible lyrics add another dimension to the light grooves. The cohesion is solid though, and there’s certainly the creativity here to warrant the genre-fluid variety of styles feeling suitable together. It’s not really a major departure in sound for the duo, but it shows the experimental and independent duo doing what they do best and embracing their creative freedom to deliver a fascinating and imaginative tapestry of textures, moods and functions. This is bound to be another Soccer96 record that you should not miss.

Pictured: Dan Leavers (Keyboard/Synths) and Max Hallett (Drums/Percussion) (2021) (Photo Credit: William Barnes)

Looking for more where that came from? Check out my previous Soccer96 post here:

‘Sitting On A Satellite’ (feat. Salami Rose Joe Louis) (2021) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/09/24/new-album-release-fridays-soccer96-feat-salami-rose-joe-louis-sitting-on-a-satellite/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Dopamine’ (Released on September 24th, 2021) (via Moshi Moshi Records)

That brings us to the bottom of the page once again, and I thank you very much for your support today and over the years. Remarkably, I have just reached the milestone of 1,000 posts being published on the site, as of yesterday. There will be no new daily post tomorrow in the traditional sense, but please stay tuned to the homepage and the social media profiles for an important announcement arriving in the coming days.

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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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Today’s Track: Sondre Lerche (feat. CHAI) – ‘Summer In Reverse’

May 2, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Avatars Of Love’ (LP/Album) (Released on April 1st, 2022) (via Self-Released)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for us to wish for warmer weather as we get settled down for the Bank Holiday with 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 Norweigan singer, songwriter and guitarist now based in Los Angeles, Sondre Lerche grew up in a Bergen suburb where he became fascinated by 1980’s Pop, Bossa Nova and Neo-Psychedelia, captivated by bands like The Beach Boys and Prefab Sprout. He began formal guitar instruction at the age of 8, played regular acoustic gigs at the club where his sister worked as a teenager, wrote his first track at the age of 14, and got scouted by eventual mentor H.P. Gunderson. Since that time, Lerche has released eight full-length studio albums, signed up to a lucrative record deal with Virgin Norway, and he’s gained praise from various sources including Brooklyn Vegan and Stereogum, additionally earning the award for ‘Best New Act’ at the Norweigan Grammy’s within his first year of writing and producing music. Lerche’s been busier than ever lately, having released ‘Avatars Of Love’ – a double album featuring 14 tracks that run past 90 minutes in total – on April 1st, 2022. The project was created at home in Norway following what Lerche thought would be a temporary move from Los Angeles in March 2020, but it was completed in a brief yet intense period of a year. Rather than letting his material pile up, Lerche decided to just simply record each track as soon as it had been written, working with a variety of musicians and producers in-person in Bergen as well as reaching out to a variety of international collaborators over the internet. Among the guest list are AURORA, Mary Littlemore, Dirty Projectors’ Felicia Douglass, Anne Mülle and Rodrigo Alarcon. A melancholic but sweet new single from it, ‘Summer In Reverse’ features the Japanese Alternative Pop outfit CHAI, who admittedly seem to be cropping up on everything nowadays – having worked with Gorillaz, Superorganism, Mondo Grosso, JPEGMafia, MNDSGN & Ric Wilson in recent times. Let’s check out the official music video below.

“This song was written on January 1, 2021, so it’s a bit of a hangover song really. A hangover jam about trying to unhook and ready yourself for a new year through facing some brutal truths“, Sondre Lerche says about the soulful single, adding, “I wanted someone else to sing the pre-choruses, kind of like a soft Greek chorus and I had just heard and loved ‘Donuts Mind If I Do’ by CHAI, so I reached out. I’ve been immensely inspired by Japanese city Pop and ambient New Age, and I love how the two go hand in hand somehow. I was thrilled to have some company on the song, so it didn’t feel so pathetic and sad“, to amusingly describe his collaborative experiences with CHAI. The jumping ramp for the single starts with a glitched drum beat and a looped, light Samba-inflicted guitar melody. The playful combination introduces a slightly twisted, widescreen splashing of Synths after the opening verse, as Lerche’s radiant crooning blends together with the dream-like qualities of CHAI’s backing vocals to create a breezy groove that doesn’t cool down and lets up for the occasional sampled String crescendo, adding a virtuosic feel to the section that reminds me of Jens Lekman or The Avalanches from a production standpoint. I like how there’s a melancholy and a bitterness to the instrumentation, but it still retains a warm feeling due to the soulful and Prog Jazz-leaning influences. I really like a lot of the lyrics here too, with refrains like “We should get together every summer/and make each other miserable all fall” and “Or can you only love me in the summer?/Or, never at all?” managing to convey a wide spread of emotions while also seeming endlessly quotable at the same time. In conclusion, this is a fantastic single that really took me by surprise in how it feels both aesthetically pleasing and dynamically rich in texture, unleashing a tapestry of moods that feel like the definition of bittersweet. Clever, playful and elegant. A total package.

Pictured: Sondre Lerche in a recent photoshoot to promote ‘Avatars Of Love’ (2022) (Photo by Tonje Thilesen)

That leaves me with little else to say today, other than to thank you for supporting the site today. I’ll be back at it again tomorrow with an exciting in-depth review for ‘Fine Everything’, which is probably the most well-known single by an emerging indie rock band that I discovered on a recent episode of Steve Lamacq’s ‘Roundtable’ on BBC Radio 6 Music, where it gained positive reviews from the show’s panel. This trio have worked with Blood Red Shoes’ Steven Ansell as a producer. They have also supported the likes of Sasami, Penelope Isles & She Drew The Gun for live gigs across the UK too.

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Today’s Track: Sudan Archives – ‘Home Maker’

April 25, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Sudan Archives (Brittney Denise Parks) in a CN Traveller photoshoot (2018) (Photo by Ross Harris)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and its time for you to put those D-I-Y tools down for a few moments while I deliver yet another daily track on the blog to your eardrums and eye sight, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Also known for her recent cover of Yoko Ono’s ‘Dogtown’ for last month’s ‘Ocean Child: Songs Of Yoko Ono’ compilation album, Sudan Archives (the solo music project of violinist and vocalist Brittney Denise Parks) is a psychedelic soul and experimental R&B artist who has built up a reputation amongst the internet music community with her well-received blending of organic, African-inspired instrumentation with more futuristic, electronic music elements. She is yet to follow up on her debut album, 2019’s ‘Athena’, which included the fantastic single ‘Confessions’. Nonetheless, her resume includes the headline artist slot for the Stones Throw Showcase at the South By Southwest cultural festival earlier this year. Parks has studied ethnomusicology at Passadena City College, she has performed as part of a string quartet and she has earned plenty of support from sources like BBC Radio 6 Music, KEXP, The Guardian and The Quietus. Her latest single – ‘Home Maker’ – is an exploration of the bliss which Parks can feel in her domestic life, and it was prompted by her emotions when moving from Los Angeles to her place of birth in Cincinnati, Ohio. Let’s watch the Jocelyn Anquetil-directed music video for this below.

Parks is set to perform live at the All Points East Festival in London this August, and, talking about the single’s themes of approaching the mundanity of domestic chores by re-imagining them as dream-like activities set to a lush, Utopian background, she says, “It took nesting – building a home, investing in partners that were worth my investment – to shake my anxiety and depression”, explaining, “For me, homemaking is a service to mental health and coping with fear and isolation. This song is about the effort put into making a relationship work and giving love a place to live”, in her press release. The opening has a darker tone than expected, as Parks recites a rhythmic series of lyrics like “Only bad b**ches in my trells/And baby, I’m the baddest” and “I’ve just got a wall mount for my plants/And hoping that they’ll thrive around the madness” with a sturdy Hip-Hop deliver that contrast the warmth of urging a partner to be around you at your lowest times with the darkness of cultivating a nest of your own self-doubt. Shifts between utter confidence with later lyrics like “Won’t you step inside my lovely cottage/Feels so green, it feels like f***ing magic” and self-created uncertainty with other lyrics like “My mood’s been real sloppy/I cry when I’m alone” that feel confessional in mood while self-accepting in total as she concedes her issues with mental health, and these shifts similarly show contrasting qualities between self-assured pride and self-loathing jabs. It is also quite interesting when “I’m a home maker” is made to sound like “I’m a heart breaker” in the chorus, as it shows that she’s conjuring up a seductive vision of home life despite nothing explicit being argued, while the more cheerful sections effectively banish any thought of anxiety. One of the big highlights is the bridge where, elevated by percussive hand-claps and the occasionally sweeping string, Parks chants the refrain of “Do you not feel at home when you’re with me” as she goes full throttle into Nu-Disco mood with the Jazz influence. The rest of the track’s instrumentation soundtracks her journey to discovering self-worth, through all of her trials and tribulations mentally, in similar ways. We start off with a high-Bass synth that evolves into a smoother Synth groove punctuated by glistening Keys and the rare strum of a rhythm guitar, which is all based around the programmed drums too, before the bridge allows us to breathe a sigh of relief with its more upbeat qualities. Overall, ‘Home Maker’ is a truly excellent new single that evokes a sense of really inviting us into her world, while feeling diverse enough to tell a loose narrative and feeling experimental with its blend of different genres, proving that she’s capable of bending genre rules to meet her needs.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Home Maker’ (Single) (Released on March 16th, 2022) (via Stones Throw Records)

Thank you for checking out my latest post on the blog, and don’t forget how much that your support has meant to me today, as I just reminded you of it. I’ll be back tomorrow for more music-related musings as we review one of the latest singles by an emerging indie punk 3-piece formed in Glasgow and London born out of a shared interest in unconventional songwriting. They have received support from DIY, The Line Of Best Fit and Amazing Radio. The group have over 2k monthly Spotify listeners.

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Today’s Track: Neil Frances – ‘Dancing’

April 21, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Jordan Feller (Drums/Synths) and Marc Gilfrey (Samples/Producer) (2022) (Photo by Victoria Smith)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come time to shine your favourite pair of dancing shoes before we get invested in yet another daily track on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Saying “We like the idea of our music sound-tracking people’s weekends” to Karen Gree of NME in a recent interview, Neil Frances is not a solo artist – but rather the Los-Angeles based Alternative Soul duo of Sydney-born musician Jordan Feller and Southern California native producer Marc Gilfrey, who have named their debut studio album ‘There Is No Neil Frances’ to illustrate the fact. Out now via Nettwerk Music Group, the LP was recorded in Echo Park Studio over the past year and it follows the loose narrative of an insect who is trying to find its place in a utopian dreamscape. Exploring a wide assortment of Alternative Pop and Experimental House sounds on previous releases like 2018’s ‘Took A While’ EP and 2021’s ‘Stay Strong, Play Long’ EP, Neil Frances met in New York and began the project in 2016 with their intention of creating honest and authentic music. The duo have opened up a sold-out show for SG Lewis at The Shrine. They have also supported the likes of Jungle, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Poolside on tours across the US. The duo will also be performing at the Shabang Live Music & Arts Festival, WonderStruck Festival and Firefly Music Festival throughout 2022 as well, and so there’s a handful of places that you can find them love if you thoroughly enjoy the new album like I have, which features contributions by Benny Sings and GRAE. Give ‘Dancing’ a listen below.

Neil Frances have gained support from KCRW, Under The Radar, Magnetic, Flood and Brooklyn Vegan in the past few years, and their own cover version of Stardust’s ‘Music Sounds Better Than You’ has amassed over 70 million streams. Explaining the concept behind their latest outing, the duo say, “Our new album is about self-realization and becoming the person that you dream of. The concept is that we are insects on Earth who ascend into outer space to become divas at a galactic ball”, in their descriptive press statement. As the ninth track on the long-player, ‘Dancing’ marks a transition point into more accessible sounds that seem easier to groove to, compared to the slower build of the earlier tracks, with it’s silky and smooth Nu-Disco vibe. An airy, gently processed lead vocal mixes together with the World Fusion-based Drums in the opening as atmospheric lyrics like “As the sea comes speaking to me/Time will voice its drift out of key” and “When I see this all to my brain/Tell the lord we’ve trouble where we went” cleanly kick-starts the dense journey of Psych-Funk, Trip Hop and Progressive Soul that flows cohesively throughout the single. A bold, one-note hook of “When dancing is seeking delight” illustrates the themes of the track beautifully in the chorus. Musically, the instrumentation represents an ethereal blend of Future Funk and soft R&B that gets stretched out by effective sampling, light vocals and manipulated sounds to create the slow-burning textures and give the groove a hypnotic quality in the process. The sparse danceability reminds me of ‘The Slow Rush’ by Tame Impala, while the vintage-leaning dance music elements recall back Gilligan Moss to my mind and the calming mood of the soulful vocals makes me reminisce over MNDSGN’s material. There’s an eclectic range of influences in here, but Feller and Gilfrey manage to make the spatial trip through these layers of music their own by developing their 90’s New-Age influences with a neat amount of detail and showing their versatility as producers who are not constrained to one specific genre. Overall, ‘Dancing’ is a song that will make your feet move involuntarily to the rhythm.

Pictured: Neil Frances in a photoshoot for ‘Finding Rhythm’ (2021) (Photo via NorthernTransmissions.com)

That brings us to the end of another roughly 24-hour period on the blog, and I really want to wish you great luck for the rest of your week in return for your generous support. I’m going to be back for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ tomorrow as we turn our attention towards the long-awaited and slightly delayed debut album release by an Australian Psychedelic Rock 4-piece who created their own Lazyfest music festival.

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Today’s Track: Blue Lab Beats (feat. Fela Kuti, Killbeatz, Kaidi Akinnibi & Poppy Daniels) – ‘Motherland Journey’

April 4, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Namali Kwaten (aka NK-OK) and David Mrkapor (aka Mr DM) (2019) (Photo Credit: Blue Note Records)

Good Afternoon to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, as usual, and I’m writing fresh off this marathon of a WWE WrestleMania 38 weekend with 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! Pitching their sound as “Jazz-Tronica”, Blue Lab Beats are the North London-based experimental electronic music duo of sampler and producer Namali Kwaken (aka NK-OK) and multi-instrumentalist David Mrkaor (aka Mr DM) who have sat in the additional production seats for their work with artists like Ruby Francis and Age Of Luna, and they have remixed A-list pop culture superstars like Dua Lipa and Rag ‘N’ Bone Man. The follow-up to 2021’s ‘We Will Rise’ EP is the Grammy award-winning and MOBO-nominated musicians’ latest full-length studio album ‘Motherland Journey’ which they released in late February on the legendary Blue Note Records label. The new creative project explores a whole suite of Avant-Jazz, Prog-Jazz, Afro-Funk, Trip Hop, Boom Bap, Northern Soul and Contemporary R&B influences, and it has been described as an “extremely special album” to the duo, who say, “This album took us two-and-a-half-years to finish, or longest process to make an album, but it was so worth it. On this album you’ll hear many fusions of genres and inspirations that we gathered throughout that time frame and especially to work on so many of the songs during the first lockdown, it was a test in itself”, about their recent release. The title track samples Afrobeat activist icon Fela Kuti’s 70’s song ‘Everything Scatter’ and they were given permission by the BLB estate themselves to use that sample. It features guest contributions from Kaidi Akinnibi and Poppy Daniels, while they also travelled to Ghana to record it along with Killbeatz as the producer. Let’s give it a spin.

Much like all of the classic Afrobeat music releases of the 70’s and 80’s, ‘Motherland Journey’ is designed to replicate a communal experience where all of the different influences and the guest contributors are welcome as long as the album’s flow is not disrupted, and the duo also comment, “When we got confirmation to have Fela Kuti’s vocals from his publishers in Nigeria we were honestly blown away that he could really feature on our tracks. An absolute dream come true.”, on Kuti’s featured artist credit for the eclectic track. The track gets off to a bright and warm start immediately, with a quickly established groove formed by the percussive African drums and the prominent Amapiano stabs that pulls apart the standard tropes of their favourite genres with the introduction of the electronic music elements and the sparse guitar melodies to give the classic sound a more modern, updated feel. The pair layer up some of the Trumpet samples and the Afrobeat-tinged backing vocals together to blur the contrasted electronic and organic sounds together occasionally, but the rotating instrumentals and the upbeat textures creates the most dominant impression where we’re witnessing something improvisational and organic from a live house band, like the performers who used to visit Kuti’s shrines at the heart of the Afrobeat cultural movement, who are simply taking to center stage and jamming with one another, creating a timeless feeling as opposed to overtly recycling outdated ideas for simply nostalgic effect. It is not necessarily futuristic, but it feels well-built and structured neatly, with new melodies being bought into the mix to keep the grooves from getting a little tiresome. Overall, ‘Motherland Journey’ is a wonderfully encouraging listen that pulls off a fresh re-boot of it’s ideas by blending the organic percussion of the classic Afrobeat days with the progressive electronic production standards that we’re used to hearing more often from the west. The final results feel quite accessible and engaging to a fairly wide audience, without the feeling of commercialism ever truly dominating their sound in a blatant way. It just feels timeless and eminently buoyant.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Motherland Journey’ (LP) (Released on February 25th, 2022) (via Blue Note Records)

That brings us to the end of another uplifting track on the blog, and thank you for continuing to support the site. I’ll be back tomorrow to discuss the new single from an Oxford-born classically trained electronic music producer who has been covered more than once before, since I’m such a huge fan of his work. He’s going to release his first album in a decade this July, and his collaborative single ‘Heartbreak’, which he created with Bonobo, was nominated for this year’s ‘Best Dance/Electronic Recording’ honour at the Grammy awards. The British musician is currently based in Los Angeles.

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Today’s Track: Maylee Todd – ‘Show Me’

March 10, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Toronto’s Maylee Todd in a recent photoshoot to promote ‘Maloo’ (2022) (Photo via TheStar.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has arrived for me to guide you through yet another exciting daily track on the blog from a very brave and ambitious singer-songwriter, given how it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Brave’ and ‘Ambitious’ are just two words that describe the Toronto-based Art Pop musician Maylee Todd, who is new to this young writer’s eardrums, who has experimented with instruments as obscure as the Paraguayan Harp and the Tenori-on in her career since she began recording material in the 00’s. Todd has played across numerous festivals including the Crossover Jazz Fest and the Billboard Live Stage, she has performed alongside the likes of Janelle Monae, The Budos Band, Aloe Blacc and Thundercat on stage throughout the years, and she contributed her vocals to Bob Wiseman’s collaborative LP release ‘Giuletta Masina At The Oscars Crying’ in 2012. Todd was also the creator of Virtual Womb, a practical art exhibition where the audience walks through an enlarged CGI image of a Vagina and lies on the floor, awaiting the vibrant projections that float across on the ceiling, in 2017. Maylee Todd’s music seems just as visual and provoking, as a wide assortment of Indie Pop, Prog Jazz, Psych Funk, Bossa Nova and more have been incorporated into the sounds of her musical projects. Her latest full-length album – ‘Maloo’ – was released on March 4th via Stones Throw Records – an eclectic Funk, Jazz and Soul specialist label based in Los Angeles, California that has introduced several amazing artists like MNDSGN, John Carroll Kirby and Kiefer to my streaming libraries throughout the last few years of my work. Let’s give ‘Show Me’ a listen below.

To produce her latest artsy-craftsy LP project, Maylee Todd spent a lot of time researching VR throughout the pandemic, which led to some ideas on utopian, futuristic technology. The result is ‘Maloo’, a fictional character that she has designed in virtual reality that she created while working on the story and setting of a prototype VR video game, as she learned the skills of 3D modelling and body tracking to bring her vision to life. Dubbed as ‘The Age Of Energy’, a virtual space where the character is based, the concept album and the ‘Maloo’ avatar are influenced by intimate, personal origins. As Todd writes, “We participate in the digital landscape and our digital life has real-life implications”, in her press statement. Musically, she wrote and recorded ‘Show Me’ as the introductory single with the Yamaha Tenori-on – a discontinued electronic sequencer that was built by Toshio Iwai, a Japanese interactive media and installation artist. Her single begins with some glitched keyboard chords that convey visuals of futuristic cyberspace and post-modern technology immediately. The bass grooves grow deeper as her downtempo vocals become more hypnotic, and she allures you in to ‘Show Me’ with a noticeably Soulful skew that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Sly & The Family Stone or a Toro Y Moi record in it’s nostalgic, but free-form, nature. Lyrics like “Watch the birds, take their form/Icy hands, blood is warm” complement the peaceful and tranquil vibes, while the minimalist chorus of “Show me, your heart” is deep and intimate in it’s Lo-Fi textures. ‘Maloo’ may be conceptually driven and visually influenced at large, but the single is accessible enough to a fairly mainstream because it feels simple yet not simplistic. I also really admire the work that Todd has put into ‘giving the project her all’ by focusing on how the audio-visual aspects of the piece were written in tandem with her vocals. It reminds me of Bjork and St. Vincent, who are undoubtedly driven artists that have similar characteristics of boldness and communicating an idea through all aspects of the media at their disposal. In conclusion, it seems clear that Maylee Todd has a lot more to ‘Show Me’ – and I look forwards to seeing the rest of it.

Pictured: Vinyl Copy of ‘Maloo’ (LP/Album) (Released on March 4th, 2022) (via Stones Throw Records)

(That brings us to the end of the page for another day! Thank you very much for reading what I had to say about Maylee Todd for a few moments today, and I’ll be back tomorrow to guide you through a sneek peek at one of the weekend’s notable and new album releases. This week’s post involves the debut LP release from an emerging Alternative Rock 4-piece Post-Rock band who have been supported by the daytime playlist of BBC Radio 6 Music and they have been praised by NME. If you’re a fan of hard rock outfits such as Coach Party and Kid Kapichi – you’re going to enjoy it!

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Today’s Track: Toro Y Moi – ‘Postman’

February 15, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Mahal’ (LP) (Available from April 29th, 2022) (via Dead Oceans)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has arrived for me to virtually hand-deliver yet another daily track on the blog to your letterbox, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! We start the day with ‘Postman’ – a track that my mother is bound to enjoy since parcels are her thing. This is the new single from the South Carolina-born producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and graphic designer Toro Y Moi (aka Chad Bear), who is typically recognized as a figurehead for the Chillwave and Synthwave genres from the 2010’s, but his music also toes the line between a brevity of genres including Noise-Pop, Hip Hop, Post-Disco, Psychedelic Soul, Bedroom Pop, Ambient House and Alternative Rock. He has supported the likes of Ruby Suns, Phoenix and Caribou on tour and he has performed his single ‘Ordinary Pleasure’ on Ellen’s talk show. ‘Postman’ has been released as a double single that also includes ‘Magazine’ which features Salami Rose Joe Louis as the featured credit. These two singles are leading his new album ‘MAHAL’ that explores his Fillipino descent and it will be releasing on April 29th via Dead Oceans – the same label as the likes of Mitski, Shame, Khruangbin and Bright Eyes. The new record is a generous 13-track collection which includes contributions from Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson, Sofie Royer, The Matson 2 and Alan Polomo (of Neon Indian). Let’s pay his ‘Postman’ a visit below.

‘Postman’ and ‘Magazine’ are the follow-up singles to 2019’s ‘Outer Peace’ – Bear’s sixth studio album. He also collaborated with Flume on ‘The Difference’ during May of 2020, a collaborative single that scored a Grammy nomination and it was used in a global Apple AirBuds advertising campaign. Channeling his inner Bootsy Collins with ‘Postman’, Bear lays out some slinky Psych-Soul beats and some low fidelity Funk grooves that are accelerated by some breezy percussion, like the rattling Tambourine melodies, and the more melodic, driving Bass melodies. Aside from some occasional electronic yelps that sound amusing in how comedically processed they are, the vocals are pretty spacious. Lyrics like “Just another bill today/Just another bill to pay” are direct and to the point, while the repetition of questions like “Mr Postman, did I get a letter?/Did I get a postcard” reflect on the good old-fashioned anticipation that you experience while waiting for an inevitable arrival of a piece of post, a time that we’ve all been through. The last verse, however, features a more emotive lyric of “Mama wrote a letter/A Long time ago/Then she hit her head/God bless her soul” that implies that something more dark is occurring beneath the surface, albeit in a playful way when mixed to the slow rhyming scheme of Bear’s vocal delivery, followed by the glitched outro that feels slightly futuristic by heading towards indie computer music in the brief sequence. Bear clearly leans into how post is a little non-existent in our modern day and age to create some fun and give his track a feel that is both nostalgic and a little progressive. We get a strong grower overall that is a little bizzare, but in a good way, because the composition is frisky and the repetition builds on you with a few repeated listens, and it is the kind of track that can annoy you by getting stuck in your head at work all evening – and that’s coming from my personal experience – thus becoming a catchy little ear-worm. I really liked it with subsequent listens, and I’ve enjoyed quite a lot of Toro Y Moi’s music in the past since it has an air of ‘Almost Pop’ to it where he has a knack for structuring catchy chords and writing high-spirited hooks by directing a decent diversity of various influences, yet it is within his Lo-Fi and Minimalist production that really controls the pace. It has also been a long time since we’ve heard some new solo material from him in comparison to most other artists these days, perhaps, too – and so it feels like a welcome breath of fresh air to hear from him again on ‘Postman’. An engaging and quirky letter of revival and return.

Pictured: Toro Y Moi with Flume in a PR photoshoot for ‘The Difference’ (2020) (Photo Credit: Joyce Kim)

If you want to hear how Toro Y Moi’s style meshes with Flume, you can gauge ‘The Difference’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/06/06/todays-track-flume-feat-toro-y-moi-the-difference/

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Difference’ (Single) (Released on April 30th, 2020) (via Future Classic Records)

That’s all that I have time for today, but I hugely appreciate your support by checking out the blog every day, or for the first time today, as you continue to spread the love to the site this Valentine’s Day despite it being finished. ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ is lined up for tomorrow, where we’ll be revisiting a classic of the Hip-Hop genre of the 1990’s by the Alternative Hip-Hop collective who made Charli 2na a household name.

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