Today’s Track: Bien Et Toi – ‘Haiku’

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

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.

Connect With One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jbraybrookerecords/

Eclectic & Electric (Radio Show – Mixcloud): https://www.mixcloud.com/jacob-braybrooke/

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

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.

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/

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.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: Everything Everything – ‘Teletype’

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to save some space on your hard drive for the retrieval of some new digital (and legally purchased) MP3 files as we get 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! First getting their break out via BBC Music Introducing in the mid-2000’s, Everything Everything is a familiar and friendly name for many longtime UK Indie fans given their established profile and diverse discography over the past couple of decades, with the Manchester-based Alternative Pop – bordering on Art-Pop, Industrial Rock and Microhouse – band receiving five Ivor Novello Awards nominations and one Mercury Prize nomination to their name for their efforts. The band also follow in similar foot steps to projects like Django Django, Talk Talk, The The, Duran Duran and The Linda Linda’s in giving their name a multiple repeated title – and if you can think of any more good ones, please feel free to let me know on Twitter (As the link is below) or leave me a note in the comments section. Anyhow, ‘Raw Data Feel’ is the follow-up to 2020’s ‘Re-Animator’ and it will be released on May 20th via Infinity Industries/AWAL Recordings. To make the album, the band enlisted the help of an AI programme that was fed information – including terms and conditions of LinkedIn, the poems regarding Beowulf, 4Chan posts and the teachings of Confucius – to create experimental lyrics, track titles and album artwork for their full-length project. Check out the new single ‘Teletype’ below.

Everything Everything have also confirmed a handful of live UK tour dates taking place between May and September 2022 – including a recent appearance at London’s Roundhouse on April 13th – which includes support slots from L’Objectif, Phoebe Green, Do Nothing and Liz Lawrence. Whetting our appetite for the band’s upcoming sixth studio album, the quartet says of ‘Teletype’ as a single outing, “This song began in a very experimental way, with Alex and Jon sampling voice and guitar then putting it through a process that randomized each chord in a chaotic and glitchy rhythm. A very direct song, straight from the heart, with a fresh new openness that we felt was a good scene-setting for the record”, in a press release. While my work is almost done, I need to share my thoughts on the track to give you a unique take on it. It starts off with a warped Synth-led instrumental which leans loosely into Breakbeat, with a scattered sense of pace that gives refrains like “It’s easy to lie when nothing makes sense anymore” and “I’m a liar, but I’m lying next to you, and you don’t care” a more psychedelic quality. These observations on the confusing world that 2022 presents to us are pushed to the forefront when the bridge closes and the chorus sweeps in, as the 8-bit inspired rhythms and the modular Drums are replaced by a more brooding bassline and a more percussive Drum beat that chirps along to the upbeat tempo of hooks like “You don’t talk a lot but I like it, ‘Cause I can’t tell you everything that went on” and “You might be everything that I want” that mold the glitchy Techno-driven production and the galloping melodicism of Jon’s vocals into a more anthemic and catchy chorus, despite the inherent aggression of the electronic instrumentals or the harshness of the Bass never quite changing much in any dramatic sense. The track maintains it’s Breakbeat origins and Glitch-Pop influences throughout, and the vocals manage to feel distinctly unsullied because there’s a lack of overdub, filtering effects or backing vocals to drown out the emphasis on Jon’s voice. Just because this is an electronically driven track does not mean that auto-tune has to make it sound overly processed, and I like that the band took that direction on this track and it avoids the feeling of the track seeming cheap or tacky. Some of the lyrics, like “I feel alright, yeah, I feel good” and “Gonna take a bit/Maybe this will take a little time to heal”, are slightly lacking in the depth department for me because they feel so straightforward, but their rhythm is still catchy despite the songwriting suffering a little from the AI programme’s influence in my opinion, although the use of the said AI scheme is still a mildly interesting idea on paper. The instrumentation is more effective, however, as the guitar and glitched samples remind me of their ‘Get To Heaven’ era and they give the track its vibrant, experimental feel that catches on infectiously. Overall, this is a vivid single that swiftly avoids the problem of not feeling like one thing, nor the other.

Everything Everything have been around for 15 years and my blog has been active for a few years, and so it is only natural that stars have aligned before. Find out how here.

‘Arch Enemy’ (2020) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/08/04/todays-track-everything-everything-arch-enemy/

That brings us to the end of another roughly 24 hour period on the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow to add a new entry of the weekly ‘Scuzz Sundays’ feature. Thank you for giving me a few minutes today, and join me then as we reminisce over the 20th anniversary of a Gold-certified album in Sweden by a Stockholm-formed indie rock band who are known by many names including Caesars Palace and Twelve Caesars. They are probably best known for their 2002 hit ‘Jerk It Out’ that reached #8 in the UK.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: Whatever The Weather – ’17ºC’

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has arrived for me to get typing up for yet another daily track on the blog, whatever the weather, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! An experimental club music producer who majored in Commercial Music at The University Of Westminster, Loraine James took Piano lessons at a young age when she was introduced to the allure of 00’s Alternative Rock bands like Death Cab For Cutie, yet she also discovered a love for Acid Techno, Drill ‘N’ Bass and IDM, citing Squarepusher and Telefon Tel Aviv as some of her heroes within the experimental electronic landscape of the 1990’s. I was delighted to hear about Whatever The Weather, James’ newest solo side project, because I’m already an existing fan of her work, much like BBC radio presenter Tom Ravenscroft – who has the fanboy T-shirt to prove it. ‘Reflection’ was released last year, and it found a place in the top three of my year-end list of the Best Albums Of 2021 – with more publications including Mojo, Uncut, Pop Matters, Beats Per Minute, The Quietus and Pitchfork showering the record with praise too because it was a deep and diverse exploration of the brain of a modern queer black woman from Enfield, South London. James has a true affinity for creating strange and hypnotic grooves, which she builds with rapid percussion and hazy filters that really create an in-depth atmosphere with deliberately disorienting production to neatly complement her themes of mental health and peak-pandemic paranoia from ‘Reflection’ in 2021. She released that album on Hyperdub, and she fits right in with the experimental club heavyweights like Burial, Jessy Lanza and Kevin ‘The Bug’ Martin that have established their own legacies through releasing their work on the forward-thinking London-based label. She’s already set to follow it up – in a way – with ‘Whatever The Weather’ in April, by setting up a new moniker and a new album, with the interesting concept of naming her track titles after different temperatures and making tunes that permeate the moods in which they evoke for her. I cannot wait for it! A strobe warning comes with the music video for ’17°c’ below.

‘Whatever The Weather’ will be released on April 8th via Ghostly International, and James has cited the likes of Deftones’ Chino Moreno and American Football’s Mike Kinsella as her inspirations while pitching her voice for the specialist project. She also collaborated with director Michael Reisinger for the video, and she states that she began working on the creative project while she was finishing up ‘Reflection’ last year. She also teases, “There’s a song in there with a melody I made when I was 13 and finally used it in a song”, for the self-titled LP release on Instagram. She also describes ‘Whatever The Weather’ as a more “ambient-minded project” on her Bandcamp page, and this is a direction that I can understand through listening to the lead single. Themes of Electronica and Industrial are noticeable from the glitchy outset, as we start with a simulating set of Synths that have an atmospheric gloom and an underlying warmth to the textures, but James mixes up the tone when the skittering Bass patterns and the cerebral, yet percussive and rapid-fire Drum rhythms, competes with a gently operatic female vocal sample to lead the track with a potent blend of aggressive Synths and textured percussion sounds. Much like the weather, and how the tone and interchangeability of the weather takes place unpredictably at times in a typical day, James’ sonic combination of crackling Bass and electronic Drums also has a feel of synesthesia, of-sorts, to it when she encapsulates the specific temperature of the track’s title. She makes sure that the structure of her track is full of meticulous micro-adjustments and that her Synths have a wide range of flexibility to them to mimic the weather and the effect on nature that it provokes within a landscape. That’s not to say that her patterns are random, but they are irregular and carefully mapped out as to convey the shifting patterns of rain and the subdued warmth of the hot weather that lies beneath the drizzle, and so the tune contains a lot of the technical production standards that I’ve praised James for producing in the past, in one respect. In another, however, the lack of traditionally recorded vocals from James allows for a larger emphasis on her ambient influences and allows the tone and textures of her electronic instrumentation to evoke a certain mood that she specifies instead of telling a more fixed narrative. The same, but also very different, to the work that I’ve loved hearing from James in recent history – Whatever The Weather is shaping up to be a very successful side project that, while falling into a bit of a niche regarding its reach to audiences, feels free-form and reflects the production strengths of James as an artist while tackling a conceptual risk that more mainstream IDM-based artists may never fully consider. The new album is going to be ‘radical’ – if that is a cool thing that the edgy youth would still say at the Littleport Skate Park near me.

As I mentioned, James is a highly praised alumni on the blog, and you can check out some more posts that are related to her, if you enjoyed ’17°c’, below:

‘Running Like That’ (feat. Eden Samara) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/07/01/todays-track-loraine-james-feat-eden-samara-running-like-that/

‘Don’t You See It?’ (feat. Jonnine) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/10/07/todays-track-loraine-james-feat-jonnine-dont-you-see-it/

That brings us to the end of the post for today! Thank you very much for joining me, and I’ll be back to do it all over again tomorrow with an ‘International Women’s Day’ special just in celebration of the titular day. We’ll be listening to a track from one of my favourite female artists with a track title that is very fitting of the day’s theme. She won the BRIT Award for Best New Artist and she has acted in Netflix’s ‘Top Boy’ series.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Way Back Wednesdays: The Beta Band – ‘Squares’

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.

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.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

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

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

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

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

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: Fasme – ‘ICI’

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for some big room melancholy that comes courtesy of 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! Said ‘big room melancholy’ is one niche that the Belfast-formed dance duo of Bicep (Matthew McBriar & Andrew Ferguson) have become a pair of unofficial kings of, scoring Best British Group and Best New Artist nominations at last year’s BRIT Awards for their concoction of Italo-inspired Electronica and multi-layered Breakbeat production. However, the duo have set a few new parameters for curatorial duties with the launch of their appropriately titled imprint label, Feel My Bicep. Their first signee is the Paris-born and Nantes-based experimental electronic dance music producer Tom Ferreira, who releases his music under the moniker of Fasme. Having caught the attention of the big-league’s Bicep when he released the ‘Stretched World’ EP last April, Bicep found ‘ICI’ on YouTube and so began playing Ferreira’s music in projects like a Friday Guest Mix for Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC Radio 6 Music and the duo’s own FMB radio podcast on Apple Music. Fasme has recently supported them on tour in October and he performed a live DJ set at Sarcus Festival in France in late September. Ferreira has said that “Fasme” is a nickname that his aunt gave him at her house during the summer one year. He takes his style from the Braindance, IDM and Techno Ambient scenes of the 00’s and he has named acts like RX 101, Binary Digit, James Shinra, David Harleydson and EOD as his influences. ‘ICI’ is taken from the new ‘Home’ EP which he released in late October via Feel My Bicep, of course. Check it out.

Bicep, as the co-managers of the Feel My Imprint indie EDM sub-label, writes that “his melodic sound is created on analog synths, evolving between Acid, Electro and Braindance” on the Bandcamp listing page for Ferreira’s recent ‘Home’ extended play, adding that Ferreira describes himself as “more of a live performer than a studio man” in the product’s description page. A track that reminds me of Aphex Twin’s ‘Druqks’ double album released in the early 00’s of misfit recordings with it’s set of minimalist Classical influences and Tin Man-esque Acid Jazz wiggling production that aims to conjure up some ‘Alien-like’ qualities overall, ‘ICI’ is a mid-tempo Trance serving that wants to provide a great example of why Fasme is a decent fit for Bicep’s Feel My Bicep label. Thankfully, this is a goal that Ferreira seems talented enough to succeed within, and ‘ICI’ has all the building blocks required to be in place to keep the festival crowds grinning, as well as feeling soft and melancholic enough to please those who would rather listen while tucked into their beds with their headphones at a good volume late at night because the chords never feel too overpowering and the distorted electronic Keys sounds never feel too harsh or aggressive for the scene either. It has it’s moments of melodicism with some moody chords that take a dark approach to the layered Lo-Fi production and some big emotive Synth hooks, as well as some mechanical electronic drum kit programming that gives the tone of the track a suitable uplift, but it never quite channels these sounds into an explosive track full of beat-driven sounds and plenty of ‘Bro-Step’ energy. Instead, it feels like a more pensive and contemplative wind-down for the end of a long night. A nebulous mix of acidic Synths, heartbroken Piano chords and neat, warm Bass stabs – ‘ICI’ is more concerned with multi-layered Synth loops and powerfully entrancing moments. Overall, ‘ICI’ is an impressive little recording that pulls off the fairly difficult task of making the Bicep-esque rave-ready despondency sound a tad more positively wistful.

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest post, and we’ll be counting down to Christmas with another festive-themed post featuring a track that left its mark on the niche in 2005. At the time, the track was written and performed by a Philadelphia-based indie rock band, but the project is now the solo work of multi-instrumentalist and producer Alec Ounsworth. The band appeared in the 2008 film ‘The Great Buck Howard’, and David Bowie was famously seen at some of their shows.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: Jockstrap – ’50/50′

Good Morning to you! You’re tuned into the text of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to get a little wackier than usual for today’s entry on the blog, not forgetting that it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If you have been a regular follower of my blog for some time (Firstly, thank you for doing so), you may already know that I’m an enamored fan of Jockstrap, a wildly experimental electronic duo who have released some masterful singles like ‘Acid’ and ‘The City’, as well as the ‘Wicked City’ EP on Warp Records previously. The link-up is between violinist/vocalist Georgia Ellery (Who is also a member of another stunning band – Black Country, New Road) and the DJ/Producer Taylor Skye, who have been working together since they met while studying at the Guildhall School Of Music and Drama in 2016. They performed at the virtual Eurosonic Festival earlier this year but, other than that activity, Jockstrap have remained a little quiet in recent months outside of a few tour dates and amicably so. However, that all changed when they released ’50/50′, a new single, after some teasing around on social media, last week. It arrives with a new video that was filmed on a handheld camera at The Glove That Fits, a Hackney-based live venue in London, during an encore from one of their recent shows. It also, presumably, seems to feature some of Ellery’s bandmates from Black Country, New Road too. Let’s take a ’50/50′ chance on the new recording below.

Although Ellery and Skye’s genre-fluid material has always been a decent fit for the forward-thinking label of Warp Records, ’50/50′ marks their signing to Rough Trade Records for this time around. A brief press release accompanying ’50/50′ also states that, ironically, Skye constructed the crunching beats for the new single whilst recovering in bed from tonsillitis. It doesn’t seem like too far-fetched a story after hearing how ’50/50′ disregards conventional structure traits so delicately and how vibrant the production feels as the shape-shifting anthem rolls along to its nearly four minute duration. Jockstrap has always worked well by blending a mix of classical training with cutting-edge electronic production that warps the meaning of words around and makes the lyrics sound witty at times, with Ellery’s half-whispered and angelic vocals creating a stunning contrast to the unpredictable beats of Skye that branch out into weird yet wonderful territory that surround her minimalist presence with an often cascading soundscape. ’50/50′ builds on that dynamic, but it certainly feels more club-oriented and a little more melodic than usual. To me, it sounds as if it’s their take on the 2010’s Lo-Fi House movement that saw producers like Ross From Friends and DJ Seinfeld become prominent names in Electronica. This time, it feels even more intense. Ellery quickly calls us to holler in the outset, before the twisted and glitchy sounds unsettle the listener and flip the switch. It develops with elements of Techno and Acid as the track moves along, while Ellery’s vocals similarly come through in patchy emissions that flip between emotive and sardonic when audible, complemented by the mangled beats of Skye behind the decks that feel a little ethereal in the third quarter, becoming equally fragmented and infectious, as they thrash and thump along to their own pace. All inclusively, it has the same slap-bang impact that have made previous Jockstrap recordings a hit with critics and audiences alike. Different but not immediately accessible to mainstream pop charts, ’50/50′ is a treat for those who enjoy their music for the wonky side. A lab experiment gone right.

If I have coloured you intrigued about Jockstrap, you can find out more if you revisit my take on ‘Acid’, which was originally one of their earliest singles, here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/03/21/todays-track-jockstrap-acid/. You can also experience more of their unique methods with my take on ‘The City’ from their ‘Wicked City’ EP here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/06/17/todays-track-jockstrap-the-city/.

That’s all for now! Thank you for remembering to visit the site everyday, and I’ll be back tomorrow to do it all over again. Much like Jockstrap today, tomorrow’s post will feature a gang of youngsters who made their debut appearance on the blog with peaceful protest anthem ‘Nobody Scared’ during the summer, but I also really enjoyed their latest single and I wanted to write about them again. A Manchester-based Art Pop quartet who will likely appeal to fans of Alt-J or Everything Everything, they supported Cory Wong at Manchester’s 02 Ritz prior to UK Lockdown in 2020. Support has flooded in from Clash, DIY, BBC Radio 6 Music & Radio X’s John Kennedy.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Way Back Wednesdays: Stereolab – ‘French Disko’

Good Afternoon to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to take you back to a much simpler time for another weekly entry of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A cult favourite and influential band who were one of the first bands to be dubbed as “Post-Rock” in the 1990’s, Stereolab have seen a few line-up modifications in their share of time since they formed between London and France, but they currently tour and record music together as a 5-piece. Known for combining some elements of Kraut-Rock, Lounge Jazz and Motorik music together, and realizing some philosophical and sociopolitical themes of Surrealist and Situationist themes within their lyrics, Stereolab were a key figure for renewing interest in older analogue equipment during the Synth-oriented times of the 90’s. Also drawing from Brazillian and Funk influences in their sound, Stereolab have been regarded as one of the world’s most important bands and have once managed their own record label, Duophonic. Despite achieving relatively little commercial impact in their 90’s heyday, the band have reunited as recently as 2019 and they have hopped between the likes of Warp Records and Elektra Records when releasing their material. 1993’s ‘French Disko’ is one of their most recognizable singles, and it had originally appeared on their EP, ‘Jenny Ondoline’, before finding a second life on their 1995 compilation, ‘Refried Ectoplasm (Switched On, Vol. 2’. As someone who’s been to a handful of gigs before as a young adult in Cambridge and Stoke-On-Trent, I can say that I often see a die-hard in the crowd with a Stereolab shirt. Give them a spin below.

‘French Disko’ has been covered by the likes of Editors, The Raveonettes and Cineplexx since Stereolab’s original release in 1993. Another very interesting fact about the track is that in the UK, due to ‘French Disko’ becoming a surprise commercial success due to unexpected commercial radio airplay, the ‘Jenny Ondioline’ EP had stickers that read “Includes French Disko” on the cover art, and so the EP was being sold on the strength of ‘French Disko’ as an unnofficial single at one point. Stereolab also gained attention with the live performance on TV above, which was broadcast on a programme called ‘The Word’ that was designed to replace ‘The Tube’ in Britain. The track itself, ‘French Disko’, isn’t really the soulful and funky disco tune that you may expect when reading the title, and it instead places an emphasis on driving 60’s Motorik beats and absurdist lyrics that act as a call to arms for action against a dominant socio-political force. Refrains like “Well, I say there are things worth fighting for”, often recited by Lætitia Sadier, feel conversational and catchy, bolstered by a wry delivery that plays on the absurdity of the overall themes of the songwriting. There’s some elements of the Grunge era led by Nirvana in the 90’s with the distorted bass guitar riffs, and there’s some slower sections of the recording that point towards a more Acid Rock-oriented sound. The vocals have an air of 70’s Jangle Rock about them, mainly in their upbeat and quick-witted delivery. Other lyrics, such as “Though this world’s essentially an absurd place to be living in/It doesn’t call for a total withdrawal” and “Acts of rebellious solidarity/Can bring sense in this world”, that play on how we believe the things that we read in the news as humans, and how the media is typically motivated by a secret agenda. Overall, the concise lyrics are touching upon personal freedom and how there’s a path to a better future if you’re going to spend time calling out what clearly isn’t working. These themes still feel relevant today, in a world where we’ve been following instructions on how to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic as a mass society. While Stereolab are dealing with a rich assortment of some complex themes here, the sound of the track itself felt contemporary for it’s time and the formula of Sadier intonely droning above the harsh Synth climax and the noisy, collage-like guitar and drums melodies creates enough of a late-80’s New Wave element to balance a retro and modern style for its time to a point where it feels original and not outdated. The hook of “La Resistance” is a powerful and ominous one, and the track has an overall playful style to it that weaves together the band’s different influences of Kraut-Rock, Prog-Rock, Drone, Noise-Pop and Synth-Rock in a way that feels accessible yet stacked. Therefore, it’s that reason why I would suggest ‘French Disko’ as a good entry point into the rest of Stereolab’s discography if you are not familiar with their music. In conclusion, ‘French Disko’ is a very punchy cocktail of academic influences that still sounds unique today.

That’s all for now – and, as I mentioned yesterday, ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ will be going on a short break until Wednesday 5th January, 2021, because it’s time to begin our ‘Countdown To Christmas 2021’ feature that we’ll be spreading throughout the days of the coming weeks because Santa’s on his way – whether we like it or not. With the goal of adding some Alternative festive options to your playlists, we’ll be mixing some of the latest seasonal releases with older tunes from some of our favourite on-brand names on the blog. Tomorrow is ‘New Album Release Fridays’ and we will be shifting our focus to the new LP from multi-time ARIA award winner Courtney Barnett.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: Hiro Ama – ‘Autumn Colours’

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to enjoy a stroll in the Autumn along to your daily track on the blog, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Autumn, which is more widely known as ‘Fall’ to any Americans reading this for some strange reason, is a month where we all love to reflect. This is clearly very significant for the Japanese-born and now London-based Japanese Ambient composer Hiro Ama, who has just released the seasonal new single, ‘Autumn Colours’, via PRAH Recordings. Dabbling in the Contemporary Classical, Drone and Electronica genres, Ama is perhaps best known for his ‘Uncertainty’ EP that he released in 2020. On that record, Ama mixed tonal references to his Japanese homeland with pared-down House melodies and Pan-Asian instrumentals and it was self-produced within one month in his London flat during lockdown. Keen gig-goers may have noticed that Ama is also the drummer of the British Indie Pop group Teleman, alongside vocalist Thomas Sanders and bassist Pete Cattermoul, whose three studio albums have all reached the Top 75 of the UK Singles Chart and they opened for Belle & Sebastian on a tour in 2016. For his solo work, Ama has taught himself how to play the both Guitar and Piano. He has also remixed the likes of Rozi Plain and Alabastor De Plume. Out now on his Bandcamp page, ‘Autumn Colours’ is the first taste of his upcoming second solo EP, ‘Animal Emotions’, which comes after a rare break from live touring in eight years, will be released at an undetermined point of time. Settle into Ama’s ‘Autumn Colours’ below.

“As the song title says this is a song for Autumn which is my favourite season. Autumn makes me feel nostalgic and melancholic somehow and I like those feelings. Spring is too pretty and Summer is too happy – I feel Autumn represents myself perfectly”, Hiro Ama explains on his Bandcamp page, adding, “I find a bit of sadness or darkness makes music more beautiful, maybe because it’s imperfect or fragile”, to his discussion behind his latest single’s themes and explorations. Opening with an easy-going kick drum beat that rolls along at a joyous pace, ‘Autumn Colours’ bursts into life with a contemplative Piano riff and a scattering Bass line that occasionally crackles along to the upbeat tempo of the instrumental grooves. The floating Piano riff cascades into a variety of colourful guitar licks and spacious Drum grooves, with a reflective tone that keeps the proceedings feeling warm and relatively bright, but gentle and grounded in delivery. The second half of the song is where things get a little more progressive, as a harsh Synth riff introduces a more distorted nature into the track and continues to add some more diversity to the ongoing spiral of pretty, yet a little somber, Piano melodies and the Drums/Bass combo that adds a more melodic quality to the beats. There’s no need for the vocals, as the more downtempo feel of the Classical instrumentation and the more buoyant acoustic instrumentation conjoin together for a relaxing mix of laidback melodies with a darkened, sometimes rougher, undercurrent. The wavering Synth riff, found in the latter half of the track, continues to add more contemplation to the emotive style of the track and blur the lines between the lighter feelings and the more intense sequences. Overall, ‘Autumn Colours’ is a seasonally appropriate mix between an interpretation of surroundings and an internal monologue, with some hazy melodies and an ever so slightly more sinister touch, yet the Easy Listening style and flair of the track and the blissful instrumentation keeps a fairly light-hearted Jazz element in tact, as the jolly feel of seasons past draws to a close and the leaves turn brown in a surprisingly short notice.

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest blog post, and I’ll be back tomorrow for the final entry in our ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ feature of the year, as the series will be taking a short hiatus until very early in the new year. That’s because Chrimbo is a-coming, and so we’ll be beginning our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ where we review some alternative festive anthems, both old and new, that could make your seasonal playlists this December. We’ll be rounding things off with a bang instead of a whimper, as we divert our attention to a cult classic single from a French-English Avant-Pop group who are still one of the most influential bands to reach our shores as they renewed interest in older analogue equipment at a desperate time of need. They combined elements of Kraut-Rock & Lounge Jazz, and founded their Duophonic label.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE